Global Warming Continues to Threaten Regional Livelihoods

With soaring surface temperatures and new record highs recorded every year for the past 50 years, global warming continues to be one of the biggest threats to various regions around the world. Arizona in particular just recorded the hottest summer in the state’s history, unfortunately coinciding with an increase in heat related deaths across the state. Continued effects from the result of ongoing warming trends in regional environments could pose additional challenges for individuals in the future. 

Record high temperatures can affect the body in a variety of different ways, and create unstable biological conditions that can lead to death. The high surface temperatures also pose threats to infrastructure, technology, and vital installations in urban metropolitan areas. Negative associated effects of heat exposure can be exacerbated when necessary resources are compromised in heat wave events. Officials are still tallying the number of deaths that resulted from the record temperatures in Arizona this year, and many scientists are looking to the future, concerned about new associated risks. 

Record High Summer Temperatures

This summer proved to be a record breaking year for surface temperatures across many regions in the United States, and specifically in Arizona. Record keeping for temperatures began in the state in 1895, and this year experienced three of the highest recorded months on record.

Daily average temperatures this summer holdfast at 97 degrees Fahrenheit which surpassed the three year previous record of 96.7 degrees Fahrenheit. Phoenix also set a record for a 31 day streak of temperatures at or exceeding 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat waves like that seen in Phoenix are beginning to happen more frequently as the climate in the region becomes dryer and overall global temperature averages continue to rise. Officials began recording associated deaths in 2005 to identify where policy changes could be applied to lessen the impacts of heat related casualties. They have added several categories to discern the deaths and provide a well rounded investigation into their route cause and resolution.

Heat Related Death Information

• Sex

• Age

• Race

• Ethnicity

• Location 

• Indoors vs Outdoors

• Air Conditioner present?

• Working or not working

• Electricity present?

Collecting vital information like these statistics is vital for researchers when discerning associative risk factors in severe weather events like those of this summer. These electricity statistics are important because findings have influenced power companies to maintain vital electricity powering air conditioners running during heat waves, even if clients have not paid their bills. 

Many of the deaths recorded in previous years happened due to a lapse in power, leaving the affected individuals inside their homes without a working air conditioner. Having the means to cool off is vital during extended periods of record high temperatures, especially when outside averages exceed into the triple digits. 

Counting Heath Related Deaths

Counting and recorded heat related casualties can take an extended amount of time for officials because there are many factors involved in the investigations. There are investigations into the individual's past and present related health conditions, environmental hazards, toxicology reports, autopsies, weather forecasts, and resource assessments. Mariposa county investigates heat deaths including those caused by excessive temperatures, heat stroke, and heart attacks as the result of environmental stress. 

This year's records observed almost 75 percent of the total recorded deaths to have occurred outside exposed to the elements. Almost half of those deaths were homeless people who did not have access to air conditioning, water, or other vital resources. There are an estimated 10,000 people in Mariposa county without access to a home, so the numbers could be potentially much higher if severe conditions persisted even longer. 

Less than 100 of the recorded deaths so far happened indoors in Arizona. Most of these recorded deaths occurred in homes where the in unit air conditioners were turned off or disabled. 

Future of Heat Related Deaths

As global warming continues to impact the world, many regions are experiencing rapid environmental changes. While some regions are experiencing extended winters, rain, and moisture other regions like the southwestern United States have observed quite the opposite. Southern Arizona has just experienced its hottest recorded summer with an extended period of time exceeding triple digit temperatures. These conditions are not atypical for the desert region, however their extended durations and excessively high temperatures are a direct result of the effects of climate change. 

In the future regions like this will continue to see extended periods of extreme temperatures and the cities need to establish enough access to vital resources to prevent increases in heat related deaths. This summer already showed a dramatic increase compared to past years, and hopefully it will lead to improvements in policies controlling the distribution of access to life saving resources like air conditioning, water, and shelter. 

Musculoskeletal Pain the Primary Health Risk to American Workers

Several studies exploring workplace injuries, chronic conditions, and American health has identified musculoskeletal pain as the primary risk to employees. Musculoskeletal pain can be caused by a variety of different factors, but poses risks to almost every industry in blue collar America. Scientists, and employers are working diligently to identify the root causes of the chronic illness and help industries prevent further distress. 

Statistics suggest that every 1 in 2 American employees experience some form of chronic musculoskeletal complications, supported by surveys sampling more than 252 million citizens.The industries with the highest risk of complications include software businesses, utility management, retail, transportation, hospitality, construction, manufacturing, healthcare, education, and more. These industries require employees to be sitting or standing for long periods of time, and sometimes also require heavy lifting that can pose risk to their musculoskeletal stability. Leading experts relate the hard manual labor and sedentary position of the body over long periods of time as some of the main causes of this specific injury. 

What is the Musculoskeletal System

The musculoskeletal system includes the bones, muscles, ligaments, joints, connective tissues, cartilage, and tendons. This system gives our human bodies structure and supports movement of the limbs. The MSK system is vital to a person’s mobility and can change with them over time. The overall endocrine system is stimulated by exercise and interacted with via biochemical signaling passed through other organs in the body. 

5 Main Functions of the MSK System

• Movement: The skeletal system pulls on bones causing movement at the joints. Facial skeletal muscles pull on soft tissues resulting in facial expressions. All the movement is caused by the respiratory system introducing oxygen into the blood supporting the systems, enabling the muscles to breathe.

• Support: Muscles in the system support the internal organs, but are prone to weaknesses with age or injury. Prolonged weakness to the system's muscles can result in organ displacement.

• Protection: Skeletal muscles protect vital organs and cushion exterior physical impacts taken by the body. 

• Heat Generation: Heat is a waste product of body metabolism which is maintained by keeping an internal body temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Shivering is a major control of the MSK system to regulate the body temperature and generate heat when the internal body temperatures fall below optimal levels. 

• Blood Circulation: Cardiac muscles pump the heart and control the body’s blood circulation to vital organs and other areas of the body. 

“Ergonomic injuries” are those that affect the MKS system. These injuries are the result of overuse, improper use, or exterior inflictions to the muscles, tendons, ligaments, or hard structures. Symptoms of MKS injuries include but are not limited to the inability to effectively use limbs or muscles to complete tasks, soreness, bruising, muscle tears, and bone fractures. These symptoms often accompany the hazards associated with sitting and working at a desk, impacting the employee over long periods. The study also analyzed the resulting economic expenditure associated with MSK-related injuries and discovered its national costs have more than doubled over the last decade. 

Associated Costs of Musculoskeletal Injuries

The cost to treat MSK is one of the third largest industries in the United States healthcare system, totaling more than $600 billion annually.Associated costs to treat MSK injuries include medical appointments, expert referrals, and leave from work. The injuries also have to be treated with various medications, physical therapy, and work limitations after being diagnosed. These costs fall predominantly on the employee who ends up having to take the excess leave from employment and source the kind of treatments that best fit their situation. Employers also take the brunt of any MSK injury costs by involving their insurances and liability officials. 

The Hinge study also acknowledged that the driving factor behind increasing costs is the undeniable connection between MSK and mental health treatments, as affected employees often use double the average worker’s sick days.  The average worker misses more than 8 days of work, while employees experiencing symptoms of MSK complications often miss upwards of 13 average days annually to deal with their treatment and mental health. The sheer absence of millions of workers for extended durations of time throughout the annual work year alone costs businesses and the greater US economy millions of dollars.

Impacts of New MSK Understanding 

The impacts of MSK are affecting many aspects of employee health and welfare in the United States, as medical costs and health inequities continue to increase. Access to MSK-associated healthcare, medicines, and affordable treatments have continued to drive up prices, far surpassing the economic costs shared by employers to treat other ailments like heart disease ($309 billion), cancer ($243 billion), and diabetes ($188 billion). It is no surprise that medical costs, insurance, and access to treatments have all become a much larger burden on the lower and middle working class of America.

The nuances of MSK and its lack of study have also prevented many employer insurance companies from effectively covering their employee’s risk of MSK exposure and rehabilitation. The lack of understanding has only recently resulted in studies highlighting the close relation to employee mental health welfare. Chronic pain can often intensify mental challenges resulting in increased anxiety and depression, worsening the MSK symptoms. Many health insurances fail to fill the gap in social and behavioral support needed to recuperate from mental health symptoms associated with the effects of chronic MSK in the workplace. 

Solutions recommended by the Hinge report and other health professionals suggest filling the gaps in coverage by addressing issues with physical recovery, behavioral support, and medical services. Remote care and support are ultimately important in treating the patient’s physical self-care and mental health. With digital accessibility at an all-time high, connecting patients to health professionals is easier than ever, and acquiring the kind of frequent care needed to recover from MSK complications entirely. 

Doctor’s Warn Against Using ‘My AI’ for Health Support

Snapchat is among the first of popular social media apps to incorporate emerging artificial intelligence (AI) software directly into user interface. The AI feature acts as a chatbot allowing users to ask questions and communicate for advice, planning trips, recipes, and trivia games. However, as the feature is gradually gaining more popularity and scope with new users, an alarming number of teens have begun to turn to the AI chatbot for mental health support, which doctors caution against. 

Many people have questions on the validity, safety, and scope of artificial intelligence invading day-to-day lives. The technology has observed rapid incorporations into mainstream media, employment tasks, and daily utilization over the last decade. As artificial intelligence continues to develop it also raises questions about its utility and user safety. Doctors are beginning to dissect the full potential of AI and are currently in discussions exploring associated benefits and risks. 

What is Artificial Intelligence?

The basic definition of AI is the scientific engineering of intelligent machines that expands beyond computers' ability to understand to bridge the gap between biological observance and human intelligence. Artificial Intelligence inside human technology has been a topic of interest since the 1950s, and has continued to be refined and implemented over the past 70 years. 

The simplest form of AI seeks to combine robust amounts of data enabling a program to engage in problem solving, without human interference. AI algorithms are created to synthesize datasets using machine and deep learning protocols that output predictions and classifications. 

Deep Learning

• Comprised of neural networks

• Predominantly automated extraction from datasets

• “Scalable machine learning”

• AI determines results between data inputs and outputs

Machine Learning

• Requires human intervention or facilitation to extract entire datasets

• Restricted to smaller datasets

• Human observes determine results between data inputs and outputs

A variety of different applications for AI has been developing incorporating both factors of algorithm learning. Some of the most common systems implementing AI include speech recognition, customer service, computer vision, recommendation engines, and automated stock trading. Many aspects of society are beginning to rely on artificial intelligence features to facilitate daily tasks and communications, gradually invading people’s own personal data and online activities. 

The applications of artificial intelligence are continually expanding and recent developments have spurred many doctors into researching potential uses related to patient care as the technology is already aiding X Rays, digital imaging, and hospital management.

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

Millions of users across the country are familiar with some form of artificial intelligence in their life, often acting as rollout testers as companies rush to create competitive products for users. The rapid distribution across the internet has made accessing AI tools incredibly easy for average users. These tools are most often being used to develop medical diagnoses, writing assignments, software installation, and so many other tasks. 

Critics of the technology argue large spearheading companies like Microsoft and Google have failed to completely test the safety and validity of the new tools before distributing to the public. Artificial Intelligence has already raised concerns over employment security, privacy violations, misinformation campaigns, and identity theft as even President Biden has advocated for ensuring AI’s safety, and addressing aforementioned risks. Officials agree the technology has the potential to significantly improve lives in medical settings, but only after it can meet new legal responsibility regulations. President Biden and his administration have released an AI Bill of Rights and risk management framework to begin the facilitation of the technology on its pathway to medical utility. 

AI Bill of Rights: To address urgent challenges surrounding artificial intelligence by describing five core protections each American is to be entitled.

1. Safe and Effective Systems

1. Users should be protected from unsafe and ineffective systems. 

2. Algorithmic Discrimination Protections

1. Users should not be subjected to discriminations by algorithms

2. Systems should be used and designed in an equitable manner

3. Data Privacy

1. Users should be protected from abusive data practices by installing protections and agency control governing how data is used and stored. 

4. Notice and Explanation

1. Users must be alerted to the automated system being used and understand its contributions to its uses. 

5. Alternative Options

1. Users must have an opt out option, to be redirected to a person that can consider and remedy problems manually. 

Artificial Intelligence Meets Mental Health

Many doctors agree there are a multitude of uses and potential benefits for supporting mental well being with artificial intelligence, most notably addressing the severe nationwide shortage of active providers. Technological solutions based on AI usage would allow greater accessibility to health professionals by patients, and facilitate ongoing daily treatment plans. Doctor Zachary Grinder, a psychological consultant in California even described how the technology could be used to identify concerning patterns of language and online behavior indicative of underlying mental health conditions. He also described how direct access to mental health communications can normalize the condition and get people connected with appropriate services. 

The caveat to the potential benefits is the interpersonal dependency AI interactions may inadvertently cause in a patient’s life. As the tools continue to advance and expand user applications, some users may begin to rely too heavily on their relationship with the artificial intelligence rather than human connections. Early users to tools released on several media platforms have already described how they tend to use their AI chats when lonely, looking for a ‘quick fix’ to their mental health. 

One of the most significant areas of concern for many doctors is the human-like response style and clinical authority most AI chat bots reply in. This style of dialect can be confusing to younger demographics who may not realize they are not communicating with a person. The clinical authority with which AI provides solutions is also perceived to be accurate by the user, when algorithms operating the AI sometimes fabricate answers. The complications of AI uses reach far beyond mental health vulnerability and the technology is likely to be subjected to many additional regulations as it continues to advance, attempting to limit misinformation and protect users.

Science Closer Than Ever to an HIV Cure

Scientists have confirmed that a 5th person has recently been cured from HIV. This patient joins an incredibly small group of people who have participated in treatments that have effectively eliminated HIV from their systems. Experts agree there is still a plethora of work and trials that need to take place before effective forms of large scale distribution can be applied to the more than 30 million people currently living with the disease. 

The news of another person cured from HIV brings hope to infected patients around the world, and suggests we are one step closer to finding a global cure. HIV has been studied rigorously over the past 50 years, leading to various methods to treat and manage symptoms of the disease, significantly extending patient’s lives and preventing pier-to-pier transmission. Much of the current treatment is focused primarily on reducing active viral loads found in a patient’s blood, and preventing HIV from advancing into its life threatening form as AIDS. 

As people afflicted with the disease are able to live longer and prevent further transmission, scientists are able to continue studying the harmful disease, searching for a global solution. More patient trials are scheduled to take place throughout the remainder of this decade as technology and new understanding of how to control the disease continue to advance bringing us one step closer towards a cure.  

History of HIV

HIV, otherwise known as the human immunodeficiency virus, attacks a person’s immune system increasing their likelihood of succumbing to other opportunistic infections and serious illness, effectively killing them. The disease is a lifelong affliction and can be easily transmitted through contact with the bodily fluids of another infected person. 

After contracting HIV a person may experience flu-like symptoms that gradually progress through the three stages of the disease before becoming life threatening. 

• Stage 1 Acute HIV Infection:

• Patient’s have a large quantity of HIV in their blood and are extremely contagious. 

• Patient’s exhibit many persistent flu-like symptoms like fever, sore throat, swollen glands, rash, muscle aches, fatigue. Etc.

• Stage 2 Chronic HIV Infection:

• The asymptomatic HIV infection stage where the disease is still active and producing within the body, but patients will likely not exhibit any symptoms. 

• Without treatment, the stage may continue for a decade or longer.

• Stage 3 Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

• The most severe and life threatening stage of HIV infection.

• Patient’s have high viral load and can easily transmit the disease.

• Patient’s exhibit badly damaged immune systems exposing them to various opportunistic diseases and illnesses. 

• Without HIV treatment, people with AIDS typically only live up to three years after progressing to this stage. 

An HIV diagnosis is not life threatening with adequate treatment, however it is almost always fatal if the disease is left untreated and it advances into its later Stage 3 form as AIDs. There is no cure for HIV or AIDS, however doctors have developed significant advancements in medicine usage to effectively treat the symptoms of HIV, prevent its transmission, and extend the lives of infected people. 

There are currently 38.4 million people living with HIV, all who rely on the aid of modern medicines to remain alive. The disease has been dated back to the early 1800s, thought to originate from an interspecies transmission between chimpanzees and humans.The ape virus origins is thought to have entered human populations after hunters came into contact with the infected meat of a population of chimpanzees in Africa. Over the decades following the initial transfer, the disease spread across Africa and into the rest of the world spreading to the United States of America in the mid to late 1970s. 

How Stem Cells Cured HIV

The first patient ever cured from HIV was a German patient named Timothy Ray Brown in 2009. Timothy Brown was first infected with HIV in 1995 as a student in Berlin, where he successfully controlled his viral loads using medication. However his health took a significant turn for the worse in 2006 after he was diagnosed with leukemia. He was forced to undergo several operations, including a bone marrow transplant using stem cells.

Due to his positive HIV diagnosis, the doctors operated the allogeneic stem cell transplant using stem cells from a donor with the CCR5 gene mutilation which made them resistant to HIV infections. 

Mr. Brown was forced to halt his HIV medications when starting the stem cell treatment, although he continued to get tested for signs of HIV. As doctor’s continued to monitor him, they were unable to find any signs of HIV in his blood or body for the next three years after his transplant. Additional studies were also able to identify decreases in HIV specific blood antibodies indicating the elimination of functional HIV from his system. 

After presenting his patient case at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections additional patients continued to be cured using the same methods.The other cured patients all underwent similar stem cell therapies to combat various forms of blood cancers. This method of treatment is not realistic over large scales because the human stem cell donors that bear the crucial CCR5 HIV resistant genetic mutation only account for approximately 1% of the global population, and stem cell transplantation is an extreme treatment with a myriad of associated risks.

Working Towards an HIV Cure

HIV is an incredibly complex virus that persistently spreads throughout a person’s body once infected. The disease can exhibit periods of latency while continuing to spread through cells in the body, even while under the medication of antiretrovirals (ARV). The main problem for scientists working towards a cure is finding a way to uncover and specifically target these hidden HIV cells that can unfortunately be reanimated if a patient stops using their medications, leading to reinfection.

The first step scientists are exploring on the road to a cure is to influence the hidden HIV cells to produce recognizable HIV proteins that medicine and the body can identify. Once the cells harboring the HIV are identified, specific drugs may be used to tag these cells for the immune system to exterminate. Patients will be given the treatment while continuously using the ARV medication to ensure healthy cells are protected from infection. 

The biggest problem scientists are facing developing this induce and reduce method, is reactivating the hidden HIV without causing health complications to the subject. However, with many of the world’s top scientists working diligently towards this solution, there have already been advances in types of effective medication for identification. 

The scientists remain optimistic that the world is closer than ever to having a cure for this disease. Moving forward, the studies will progress from laboratories into clinical trials, eventually determining the applications for the rest of the infected population. 

Progress Continues on Africa’s “Great Green Wall”

Climate change has already been observed to have resulting impacts in many regions of the world, including rising sea levels, droughts, famine, increased natural disaster frequency, and expansion of Sahara desert-like conditions across Africa’s plains. 

The Sahara has been gradually contributing to the degradation of surrounding landscapes as global temperatures, and storms force its expansion into the Sahel region along the desert’s southern border. The Sahel region is home to more than 500 million people at a direct risk of diminishing habitable landscapes. Rising atmospheric temperatures, wind storms, and urban expansion are all to blame for the encroaching sands.

Unfortunately, as the Sahara expands southward, it is also consuming limited habitable lands, resources, and agricultural regions and subjugating its populations to increased hardships. Expert climatologists, environmentalists, and botanists gathered to develop and implement a plan to reverse the Sahara expansion and reclaim the land’s vital resources.  

The Great Green Wall Objectives

The Great Green Wall plan was originally launched in 2007 by the African Union. This enormous task involves the cooperation of 22 countries spanning more than 8,000 kilometers across the African continent. The project has been marketed as a living symbol of hope, striving to become the largest living structure on the planet by 2030. 

Foreign investments have also been involved in large aspects of the project relying on key partnerships between the African Union Commission, the Pan African Agency, and various international contributions. 

The project's overarching goals include restoring more than 100 million hectares of degraded land along the desert’s southern border. By restoring that region, the project will sequester approximately 250 million tons of carbon and create over 10 million green jobs in the Sahel region of impacted countries. 

Restore and acquire fertile land, one of Earth’s most valuable resources. 

• Generate economic opportunities for younger generations and support those already established in the urbanizing countries. 

• Provide food security for millions of people who are already facing struggles associated with food shortages, drought, and famine. 

• Establish climate resilience in the key Sahara/Sahel region, where climate change has already forced temperatures to rise faster than anywhere else on Earth 

• Create a new, natural world wonder that spans across the 8 000 kilometer region. 

With the finite plans in place and progress already well underway, many additional public campaigns have also aided fundraising efforts and overall contributions. The urgent initiative aims for a complete timeline of 2030 by instilling a global wide movement centering the Great Green Wall as a symbol of hope for impacted communities. 

The wall's completion by 2030 will have significant welfare impacts on global climate change, food security, and resource migration conflicts. Scientists hope the wall will become a lasting partnership of man and nature working together to provide resources and habitation for many generations. 

Planning The Great Green Wall

Installation for the Great Green Wall was originally planned to span from the Djibouti region in the east to Senegal in the west. The restoration area belt was expected to be approximately 15 kilometers wide, spanning the massive 8,000 kilometers across the Sahara’s southern border. 

Each of the involved countries has specific objectives attached to its section as it relates to their regional necessities. Using an integrated landscape approach has allowed local context to be applied to the wall’s development, addressing land degradation, climate change mitigations, biodiversity, and forestry efforts. Other goals slated by impacted counties include reducing erosion, creating green jobs, increasing crop yields, and improving the number of arable areas for agricultural development.