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AI developments in mind-reading technology are putting privacy, freedom at risk

Face recognition and personal identification technologies in street surveillance cameras, law enforcement control. crowd of passers-by with graphic elements. Privacy and personal data protection,

Recent developments in AI have allowed researchers to ‘read’ someone’s thoughts as a continuous flow of text

by Miriam Frankel

 

(The Conversation) For the first time, researchers have managed to use GPT1, precursor to the AI chatbot ChatGPT, to translate MRI imagery into text in an effort to understand what someone is thinking.

This recent breakthrough allowed researchers at the University of Texas at Austin to “read” someone’s thoughts as a continuous flow of text, based on what they were listening to, imagining, or watching.

It raises significant concerns for privacy, freedom of thought, and even the freedom to dream without interference. Our laws are not equipped to deal with the widespread commercial use of mind-reading technology – freedom of speech law does not extend to the protection of our thoughts.

Participants in the Texas study were asked to listen to audiobooks for 16 hours while inside an MRI scanner. At the same time, a computer “learnt” how to associate their brain activity from the MRI with what they were listening to. Once trained, the decoder could generate text from someone’s thoughts while they listened to a new story, or imagined a story of their own.

According to the researchers, the process was labor intensive and the computer only managed to get the gist of what someone was thinking. However, the findings still represent a significant breakthrough in the field of brain-machine interfaces that, up to now, have relied on invasive medical implants. Previous non-invasive devices could only decipher a handful of words or images.

Here’s an example of what one of the subjects was listening to (from an audiobook):

I got up from the air mattress and pressed my face against the glass of the bedroom window, expecting to see eyes staring back at me but instead finding only darkness.

And here’s what the computer “read” from the subject’s brain activity:

I just continued to walk up to the window and open the glass I stood on my toes and peered out I didn’t see anything and looked up again I saw nothing.

The study participants had to cooperate to both train and apply the decoder, so that the privacy of their thoughts was maintained. However, the researchers warn that “future developments might enable decoders to bypass these requirements.” In other words, mind-reading technology could one day be applied to people against their will.

Future research may also speed up the training and decoding process. While it took 16 hours to train the machine to read what someone was thinking in the current version, this will significantly decrease in future updates. And as we have seen with other AI applications, the decoder is also likely to get more accurate over time.

There’s another reason this represents a step-change. Researchers have been working for decades on brain-machine interfaces in a race to create mind-reading technologies that can perceive someone’s thoughts and turn them into text or images. But typically, this research has focused on medical implants, with the focus on helping the disabled speak their thoughts.

Neuralink, the neurotechnology company founded by Elon Musk, is developing a medical implant that can “let you control a computer or mobile device anywhere you go.” But the need to undergo brain surgery to have a device implanted in you is likely to remain a barrier to the use of such technology.

The improvements in accuracy of this new non-invasive technology could make it a gamechanger, however. For the first time, mind-reading technology looks viable by combining two technologies that are readily available – albeit with a hefty price tag. MRI machines currently cost anywhere between $150,000 and $1 million.

Legal and ethical ramifications

Data privacy law currently does not consider thought as a form of data. We need new laws that prevent the emergence of thought crime, thought data breaches, and even one day, perhaps, the implantation or manipulation of thought. Going from reading thought to implanting it may take a long time yet, but both require pre-emptive regulation and oversight.

Researchers from the University of Oxford are arguing for a legal right to mental integrity, which they describe as:

A right against significant, non-consensual interference with one’s mind.

Others are beginning to defend a new human right to freedom of thought. This would extend beyond traditional definitions of free speech, to protect our ability to ponder, wonder, and dream.

A world without regulation could become dystopian very quickly. Imagine a boss, teacher, or state official being able to invade your private thoughts – or worse, being able to change and manipulate them.

We are already seeing eye-scanning technologies being deployed in classrooms to track students’ eye movements during lessons, to tell if they’re paying attention. What happens when mind-reading technologies are next?

Similarly, what happens in the workplace when employees are no longer allowed to think about dinner, or anything outside of work? The level of abusive control of workers could exceed anything previously imagined.

George Orwell wrote convincingly of the dangers of “Thoughtcrime,” where the state makes it a crime to merely think rebellious thoughts about an authoritarian regime. The plot of “1984,” however, was based on state officials reading body language, diaries, or other external indications of what someone was thinking.

With new mind-reading technology, Orwell’s novel would become very short indeed – perhaps even as short as a single sentence:

Winston Smith thought to himself: ‘Down with Big Brother’ – following which, he was arrested and executed.

Reprinted with permission from The Conversation.

 

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Portrait of a movement: Mural narrates the fight to save native corn

by Tracy L. Barnett

 

At a noisy back entrance to one of Oaxaca City’s oldest markets, not far from one of the sites where corn originated some 9,000 years ago, muralist Mariel Garcia stood on scaffolding in the sun for three weeks. and painted his heart.

“When you turn the daily news into a mural, you turn it into a legend to be admired by history students in the future… this mural tells the story of how all of Mexico came together to save the culture of the milpa,” she explained. Chris Wells, founder of the All Species Project, the driving force behind the mural and Garcia’s inspiration.

The milpa, the ancient and complex agricultural system that has supported life for millennia throughout Mesoamerica, is much more than corn, Wells explained. Recent studies have documented up to 191 different edible plants in a traditional milpa, including beans, squash, various varieties of chili peppers, tomatoes, edible vegetables, and even medicinal plants. It is also a habitat for a wide variety of animals.

“The milpa is Mexico’s gift to the world,” Wells said.

In the best tradition of Mexican muralism, Wells, a former native corn farmer, worked with Garcia for a year planning the mural and the unveiling and raising the money to cover expenses. Garcia and other members of the collective donated her time.

The mural, the backdrop for the entire event, features a lush, green cornfield. Superimposed on that vegetation is a biodiverse cast of characters. To the right are the deer and the jaguar and the red-tailed hawk; there is the monarch butterfly and other pollinators; there are corn, beans, and quelites, or edible vegetables that have evolved among the dozens of different foods and medicines that have evolved from this ancient agroecology.

Also represented in the middle of the milpa are the human elements behind that ecosystem: the peasants who for millennia have developed more than 1,000 varieties of maize, each one specific to a particular bioregion.

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Study: Consuming more antioxidant flavanols slows memory decline in older adults

by Evangelyn Rodríguez

A recent study published in the journal PNAS linked age-related memory loss to a diet low in flavanols.

The study found that replenishing these phytonutrients improved the performance of older adults on memory tests, indicating the importance of flavanols for optimal brain health in aging populations.

The research, which included more than 3,500 older adults, found a correlation between flavanol intake and memory performance. Particularly, adults over 60 whose diets were low in flavanols showed improved memory test scores after increasing their intake of these phytonutrients. The findings support the hypothesis that the aging brain requires certain nutrients to stay healthy, similar to the developing brain.

What are flavanols?

Flavanols, also known as catechins, are compounds naturally present in plants that possess antioxidant properties. Flavanols are the main polyphenols that give cocoa and dark chocolate their many health benefits.

Because flavanols are potent antioxidants, they can protect cells, including brain neurons, from oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is known to damage healthy cells and has been shown to play a role in the development and progression of chronic diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease. The accumulation of oxidative damage in the brain as well as reduced antioxidant defenses are also thought to contribute to age-related memory deficits in older adults.

Because plant-based foods like tea, onions, kale, grapes, berries, tomatoes and lettuce contain high amounts of antioxidant flavanols, they are considered excellent foods for supporting a healthy brain. This means it is possible for older adults to maintain optimal brain performance by eating a diet rich in these brain superfoods.

Flavanol-rich diet does wonders for the hippocampus

In their paper, the researchers noted that cognitive aging occurs in the hippocampus based on multiple studies. This part of the brain is said to be crucial for learning and long-term episodic memory, and is what enables people to recall personal experiences.

Because there is evidence that diet – particularly flavanol consumption – can influence cognitive aging, the researchers investigated the effect of increased flavanol intake on hippocampal-dependent memory among older adults who infrequently consumed flavanol-containing foods. They also looked at the effect of the dietary intervention, which involved regular supplementation with cocoa extract for three years, over extended durations.

After a year of monitoring over 3,000 participants (mean age, 71), who were randomly assigned either cocoa extract or a placebo, the researchers found that increased dietary flavanol intake helped improve hippocampal-dependent memory in those with initially poor flavanol consumption. The improvements were quantified based on the participants’ scores on the ModRey test, which evaluates list learning and episodic memory recall.

The researchers also reported that the degree of improvement they observed on the ModRey test was associated with the magnitude of increase in flavanol biomarker concentrations in the urine of the participants, which further proves that flavanol intake significantly impacts memory performance.

This benefit, the researchers noted, may have to do with the ability of flavanols to promote angiogenesis, or the formation of new blood vessels. By increasing blood flow to the hippocampus, flavanols enable the brain to perform better, thus restoring memory and halting cognitive aging.

An earlier study published in Neurology also reported a similar benefit, but this time of flavonols. Like flavanols, flavonols are a class of flavonoids with potent antioxidant properties. They are the most ubiquitous flavonoids found in foods and are present in abundance in various fruits and vegetables.

After analyzing data from 961 participants of the Rush Memory and Aging Project, researchers found that higher intakes of flavonols were associated with slower rates of decline in global cognition, episodic memory, perceptual speed, semantic memory, working memory and visuospatial ability. The study specifically associated intake of two flavonols, namely, kaempferol and quercetin, with slower global cognitive decline in older adults.

Kaempferol, a widely studied antioxidant, is known for its beneficial effects against inflammatory-related diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative disease. It can be found in superfoods like tea, broccoli, cabbage, kale, tomatoes, strawberries and grapes. Some popular herbs used in traditional medicine, like ginkgo biloba and moringa, and bee propolis are also rich sources of kaempferol.

Quercetin is a bright yellow pigment that’s widely distributed in plants. Another powerful antioxidant found in foods, quercetin has been found to help reduce inflammation, ease allergy symptoms, lower blood pressure and protect against Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Rich sources of quercetin include capers, yellow and green peppers, shallots, asparagus, red apples, red grapes, berries and tea.

Flavanols are beneficial compounds that can support healthy brain function. To maintain optimal brain performance as you age, add flavanol-rich foods to your daily diet, such as tea, fresh fruits and plenty of green, leafy vegetables.

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Unions, environmental advocates press to reform ca referendum process

Illustration picture shows a ballot paper in its envelope his just before being placed in the ballot box in Paris, France, on April 10, 2022. French voters head to the polls to vote for the first round of the presidential election, to elect their new president of the Republic. Photo by Victor Joly/ABACAPRESS.COM

by Suzanne Potter

Unions, environmental groups and other progressive organizations are leading the charge to reform California’s referendum process, which allows voters to repeal laws passed by the legislature.

Assembly Bill 421 came about after the oil industry gathered signatures to repeal a law blocking new drilling in neighborhoods.

Asm. Isaac Bryan, D-Los Angeles, who introduced the bill, said the current system incentivizes signature gatherers to mislead voters.

“The oil companies then spent nearly $25 million in 90 days to gather the signatures to pause the law, so they could apply for new drilling permits and put it on the referendum,” Bryan recounted. “And there was hours of documented video evidence that many of the signature gatherers were just outright lying to people.”

Currently, it is legal to word a referendum in a confusing way, in which a “yes” vote would overturn the law in question. Under the proposed bill, voters would simply decide whether to keep or repeal the law. The California Chamber of Commerce opposes the measure, arguing it would make signature gathering more expensive and should require a constitutional amendment.

Bryan added the bill would require signature gatherers to wear a badge with their name, identification number and photo.

“Folks should have to have adequate training and also be registered,” Bryan contended. “So that it’s clear that, if they are violating the ethics of signature gathering, that can be reported in a way that’s accountable.”

The bill would require petitions to identify the referendum’s top three donors and mandates at least 10 percent of signature gatherers be community-based volunteers. The bill has already passed the State Assembly. Its next stop is the State Senate Elections Committee.

 

Experts: wildfire risk hurting ca home values, increasing insurance costs

It is getting increasingly expensive to have a home on the edge of the woods in California, in terms of home value and insurance costs.

A new study from the nonprofit think tank Resources for the Future found home values in a fire hazard severity zone drop 4.3 percent, an average of $21,500, when sellers make the required disclosure.

Margaret Walls, director of the climate risks and resilience program for Resources for the Future and the report’s co-author, said the market is driving the price drop.

“We want to know that people understand the risks when they choose where to buy a house,” Walls explained. “And if they do know the risks, we would expect them to be reflected in the prices.”

Walls pointed out to mitigate the risk of a destructive wildfire, local governments can limit building in the urban/wildland interface. The state and federal governments can reduce the fuel load on public lands. Homeowners can remove brush and other flammable materials, make sure building materials are fire-resistant, and build in defensible space.

Two large insurance companies, State Farm and Allstate, just announced they are no longer writing new homeowner’s policies in California, in large part due to the risk of wildfire. Walls noted the effects of climate change are taking a financial toll.

“If you’re in a high-fire-risk area, it’s already hard to get insurance,” Walls stressed. “So now two more companies are unavailable to you. So you’ll probably end up going to the FAIR plan, considered the insurance of last resort.”

The FAIR plan is a state-run risk pool offering fire insurance in high-risk areas not served by traditional insurers.

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On Father’s Day you should reflect on his presence in the lives of your children

In these days of political-social confusion, where man-hating feminism has infiltrated almost every sphere, from the judiciary and legislatures and social services, where men generally lose, from child custody to banning visits to see them, even leaving them on the street during separations or divorces and financially bankrupt.

I have witnessed how certain feminist political ideologies are guilty of the loss of men’s rights, because they are men.

I am referring to situations where men are unjustly harassed and abused by some insensitive women who take advantage, stripping them and taking them away from their children without being able to enjoy them and accompany them on important dates – just as they grow up without their father. Of course, I exclude those abusive men who mistreat women or their own children and are irresponsible.

The absence of a father in many families has undoubtedly contributed to the neglect of these children in many cases.

We know that children who grow up with absent parents can suffer lasting damage. They are more likely to end up in poverty or drop out of school, become addicted to drugs, have a child out of wedlock, or end up in prison.

Children who lag behind score lower on cognitive tests and academic tests, and are also less likely to attend college. In particular, the absence of the mother appears to have persistent negative effects on children’s development.

It is important that the father is present, and is given the opportunity to exercise paternity and develop love for his children.

A committed and affectionate father provides better self-esteem, more social skills, supports better school performance, and provides psychological well-being for boys and girls.

This month of June is Father’s Day. It is a day that should be commemorated in the name of the children, and remember that it is not easy for those who grow up without the figure of a man. It is the equivalent of the positive and negative energy that governs the field of electricity. Together they form two different perspectives, which are the force that makes children develop, grow by developing their own personality to achieve their own goals. The union of two parents promotes the healthy development of their children so that they can later form their own family. This is the heritage that sustains the pillars of a society.

Due to the absence of the father in the family, studies say, it is that today’s young people are taking paths of violence and drugs, as a refuge from the lack of love that they lack at home.

It is important to remember that the father must be motivated so that he does not forget his role and manages to develop a strong connection with his children from childhood to adolescence.

My memory goes to my father who is in Heaven.

El Reportero joins in this celebration, Happy Father’s Day.

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Advocates call on FDA to follow law on wireless radiation

por Suzanne Potter

In 1968, Congress passed a law requiring the Food and Drug Administration to minimize people’s exposure to wireless radiation, but the agency dropped the ball, according to a new petition filed by a coalition of consumer advocates.

The group wants the FDA to evaluate the public’s exposure to radio-frequency radiation emitted by things such as cellphones, laptops, tablets, routers, game consoles and smart meters.

Doug Wood, founder and national director of Americans for Responsible Technology, spearheaded the petition.

“All those things that depend on and emit RF radiation fall under the purview of FDA,” Wood explained. “It’s the only agency right now, that has both the authority and the responsibility to protect the public health by trying to minimize those exposures as much as possible.”

Wood wants the FDA to measure and analyze the public’s exposure, especially kids in modern classrooms packed with wireless technology. Then the agency could develop and publicize best practices for minimizing exposure.

The FDA has said it relies on the industry RF radiation exposure standard developed in the 1980s and adopted in 1996 by the Federal Communications Commission. The FDA considers safe any device coming in under the limit.

Wood argued the standard is outdated, considering multiple studies — including a huge one in 1996 from the National Toxicology Program — found RF radiation from cellphones led to cancer in rats.

“So they’re kind of caught between a rock and a hard place,” Wood contended. “On the one hand, they’ve got a trillion-dollar worldwide industry, depending on them to not say this stuff is dangerous. And they’ve got a law from Congress saying you are required to protect public health by minimizing that exposure as much as possible.”

Ellie Marks, director of the nonprofit California Brain Tumor Association, said her husband Alan is fighting brain cancer which developed right where he held his cellphone for many years.

“Had the FDA done their jobs and properly advised consumers, my husband and family would not have suffered as we have,” Marks asserted. “And I know many others quite young who are now deceased from cancers related to their cellphone use.”

The FDA has 180 days to evaluate the petition. If it is rejected, advocates would have the option to file suit.

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Wild foods you can forage and pickle for long-term storage

by Olivia Cook

 

Thursday, June 01, 2023 – Here are a few wild foods to pickle for long-term storage that you need to try.

Burdock root

Try to choose roots from plants that are between two and four years old. Anything smaller than that will be too insignificant for the effort, and older roots are woody and bland. A burdock plant’s age can be determined by its size.

While any vinegar can be used to pickle foraged roots, try using Japanese rice vinegar to make “yamagobo” – pickled burdock root marinated in a mixture of rice vinegar, sugar and salt. Tangy, sweet and refreshingly crunchy, yamagobo is incredibly easy to make and great as an accompaniment to sushi rolls or rice meals.

Simply put rice vinegar, sugar, salt, water and food coloring in a saucepan, then heat until the sugar and salt are completely melted. Let the mixture cool down.

In the meantime, add the cut gobo (burdock) sticks into a container or mason jar. Add the marinade, cover with the lid and place it in the refrigerator. It’s ready after three days, but you can store it in the refrigerator for up to one month.

Cattail hearts

Young cattail hearts taste quite a bit like asparagus when steamed, and also take on other flavors easily – making them ideal to forage and pickle. Harvest a big bunch of shoots, and cut them into pieces that will fit comfortably into mason jars. Then remove the outer skin, leaving just the white/pale green heart intact.

Drop a couple of garlic cloves into each jar, along with a generous sprig of fresh dill and about 1/2 a teaspoon of pickling spice. Add the cattail hearts until they’ve packed the jar, putting in smaller chunks to fill any spaces.

Bring a vinegar-water mixture to a boil, with either salt or salt and sugar added to taste. Pour this into the jars, and slop around in there with a chopstick to release any air bubbles. Then cap and seal them, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. (Related: Edibles in plain sight: 15 Common wild plants that are safe to eat.)

Dandelion bud capers

Harvest dandelion buds when they’ve just appeared above the basal rosette leaves. They’ll be small and densely packed. Harvest about two cups’ worth if possible, rinse them and drain them well.

Mix 2/3 cups vinegar with 1/3 cup water and about one teaspoon of sea salt in a saucepan. Transfer the buds into a clean, sterilized jar and bring the vinegar mixture to a boil. Pour the boiling liquid into the jar, leaving half an inch of headspace, then seal. Process in a water bath for 10-15 minutes.

Spruce tips

Spruce tips provide a bright, lemony flavor that remains intact when pickled. It can be complemented by different spices added in to the brining mixture. Spruce tips often appear in early springtime as tender, soft and bristly tips – best harvest and preserve them.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 3 tbsp honey
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • ¼ cup water
  • 2 cups spruce tips, rinsed well

Preparation:

  1. In a small saucepan, add vinegar, honey, salt, pepper and water and, over high heat, bring to a boil.
  2. In a 500 ml mason jar, pack the spruce tips well. Once the brine reaches a boil, carefully pour it into a mason jar over the spruce tips.
  3. Leave the jar to cool (stir 3 or 4 times to ensure all spruce tips are submerged in the hot brine).
  4. Once it’s cool, cover the jar with a lid and store it in the fridge indefinitely.

Wild mushrooms

Foraged mushrooms that aren’t poisonous can also be preserved for future use. Chanterelles, morels and chicken of the woods are great when pickled. They often go well with game fowl like partridge, grouse and wild turkey.

Only use young mushrooms for conserves and pickles, small tight buttons will yield the highest quality product. Larger, more mature mushrooms are better dried. However, be warned that adding too much herbs, spices and garlic to the pickling liquid for the mushrooms could make them taste like medicine.

Ingredients:

  • Scant 2 lbs small young mushroom buttons. 28-30 oz will fit a quart jar
  • Chanterelle buttons
  • 3 cloves (7 grams) garlic, thinly sliced
  • ½ cup flavorless oil for sauteeing
  • 1 teaspoon (5 grams) of kosher salt a generous teaspoon
  • ¾ cup water
  • ½ cup rice wine vinegar (white wine vinegar can also be used, but it will have a stronger flavor)
  • 2 teaspoons fresh chopped thyme
  • 1 bay leaf (can either be dried or fresh)

Preparation:

  1. Clean mushrooms by swishing them quickly in cold water to ensure they’ll have liquid to give up when heated. Transfer the mushrooms to a tray lined with a few paper towels and allow them to rest and release some liquid. Ideally, the mushrooms should be refrigerated overnight so they dry out a bit.
  2. In a wide pan with high sides or a soup pot, gently heat the oil and the sliced garlic slowly on medium heat until the garlic begins to turn golden. While a more intense color on the garlic will yield a better-tasting preserve, avoid burning the garlic.
  3. When the garlic is perfectly golden, add the mushrooms, salt and herbs, stir so the salt can help draw out the mushroom liquid, then cover the pan, cooking on medium heat, and allow the mushrooms to give up their juice and halt the cooking of the garlic. The mushrooms should give off a good amount of water.
  4. Once the mushrooms have wilted and given up their juice, add the water and vinegar. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil.
  5. Finally, put the mushrooms in a quart jar and pack them down. Pour the boiling liquid over the mushrooms. Wiggle a chopstick around in the jar to get out air pockets, adding extra pickling liquid as needed.
  6. From here the mushrooms can be stored in the fridge and will last for months as long as they’re kept under their liquid.
  7. For water bath canning, leave a half-inch headspace at the top. Depending on the size of the mushrooms, a little pickle liquid and some mushrooms will remain.
  8. Press the mushrooms down to make sure they are completely covered with liquid. Add a little oil to cover if they threaten to pop up, then screw on the lid. Process the jars in a water bath like regular cucumber pickles: 10 minutes for pints, 15 minutes for quarts.
  9. Store opened jars in the fridge. news
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US and Mexico seek WHO help with fungal meningitis outbreak

by Mexico News Daily

 

Mexican and United States authorities have asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a public health emergency over a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak linked to two clinics in Matamoros, Tamaulipas.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday that two people in the U.S. with probable cases of meningitis linked to the outbreak had died.

President López Obrador said Thursday that meningitis cases among people who underwent surgical procedures at the River Side Surgical Center and Clínica K-3 in Matamoros were caused by contaminated medication.

“A substance, a medication used as an anesthetic for plastic surgery, was contaminated. It was discovered that it was in a bad state,” he said.

The CDC said there were 11 probable meningitis cases in the U.S. linked to “procedures performed under epidural anesthesia” in Matamoros, 14 suspected cases and 195 people under investigation.

Both the River Side Surgical Center and Clínica K-3 were shut down by Mexican authorities on May 13.

The federal Health Ministry said Thursday that health authorities in Matamoros had identified 547 people who underwent surgical procedures at the two private clinics between Jan. 1 and May 13. It said there are five confirmed cases of fungal meningitis in Mexico, four suspected cases and five probable cases.

CDC epidemiologist Dallas Smith said Friday that Mexican and United States authorities had asked the WHO to declare a public health emergency of international concern because people in Canada and Colombia – in addition to Mexican and U.S. Citizens – were at risk of developing meningitis, an infection of the protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord.

“Because patients in Mexico, the United States, Canada, and Colombia were on the exposed list, we wanted to make sure these countries were aware, and provide such situational awareness, through a public health emergency of international concern,” Smith said during a webinar for scientists and medical providers.

It was unclear whether the WHO would make such a declaration, which would require a committee to first be convened.

“[We] are notified of hundreds of events every day and assess each one,” WHO spokesperson Margaret Ann Harris told CBS news.

Most of the U.S. residents potentially exposed to meningitis are women who traveled to Matamoros to undergo procedures including liposuction, breast augmentation and Brazilian butt lifts.

Smith said that medications used in the epidural for anesthetic purposes or complementary drugs such as morphine could have been contaminated.

“There’s a shortage currently in Mexico, and there could be potential for a black market that could have contaminated medicine,” he said.

The epidemiologist said that the current meningitis outbreak is “pretty similar” to that in Durango last year that claimed 39 lives among 80 people confirmed as infected.

“It has the capacity to have this high mortality rate, and just devastate families and communities,” Smith said.

Mexico’s Health Ministry said that the confirmation of five cases of fungal meningitis in Mexico came via the detection of the fungus Fusarium solani, which also sickened patients who underwent procedures in four private hospitals in Durango last year. Most of the victims in the Durango outbreak were pregnant women who received epidurals during childbirth.

The CDC advises anyone who had epidural anesthesia at the River Side Surgical Center or Clínica K-3 between Jan 1. and May 13 to go to their nearest health care facility to be evaluated for fungal meningitis, even if they don’t currently have symptoms. MRI scans and spinal taps are commonly used to diagnose fungal meningitis, a non-contagious illness treated with anti-fungal medicines.

Symptoms of fungal meningitis include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, and confusion, the CDC said.  

“It can take weeks for symptoms to develop, and they may be very mild or absent at first,” the public health agency said.

“However, once symptoms start, they can quickly become severe and life-threatening. Early testing and treatment can save lives.”

With reports from CBS, Infobae, BBC and The New York Times

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San Francisco Public Library presents Xitlalli-Xolotl Aztec Dance

by Magdy Zara

To learn about the beautiful tradition and dance form with roots in pre-Columbian culture, the San Francisco Public Library presents the Xitlalli-Xolotl Aztec Dance Ensemble, which is dedicated to preserving the rich culture and ancient customs that incorporate the dance movement. dance and the spiritual philosophy of the Aztec/Mexica tradition.

This presentation will take place this Sunday, June 4, at 3 p.m., in the Excelsior Meeting Room, located at 4400 Mission Street, San Francisco.

 

Enjoy the summer with your family with Free Music in the Plaza

For 14 consecutive Fridays, the Free Music festival will be held at Plaza 2,023 in downtown Redwood City.

According to the organizers of the event, this year it will be celebrating its 17th anniversary by bringing free music, during the nights, on summer Fridays.

Regarding the artists that will be presented this year, it was learned that they will be top quality local and national musicians, ranging from rock and reggae groups to American music and much more.

The inauguration carried out on June 2 was in charge of the Neon Velvet group; and for next Friday, June 9, there will be a tribute to Santana, with the band formerly known as Caravanserai.

The group has chosen to continue with the name “Carnaval” and they present themselves with the same instrumentation, soul and passion that fans have enjoyed for decades.

The presentations that began last Friday, June 2, will end on Sept. 1. They will take place starting at 6 p.m. completely free at Courthouse Square, 2200 Broadway Street, Redwood City.

 

Piñata Dance Collective presents: Four Middle Winds from Nowhere

As part of the San Francisco Art Festival programming, the Piñata Dance Collective presents the work Four Winds: Middle of Nothing, a multimedia dance-theater production that confronts the fears and strategies of walking alone.

Colectivo Danza Piñata, is directed by choreographer Liz Duran Boubion, who is an interdisciplinary dance-theater artist, presenter, and registered somatic movement therapist dedicated to the practice of liberation through body language in relation to oneself, the another and with the world in general.

Part of the show is based on research, workshops, and conversations with artists and women who work with families actively searching for their missing and murdered loved ones in Mexico.

Presentations are scheduled for June 8 and 10, at 6 p.m. at 401 Alabama St, San Francisco. The cost of the tickets is from $20.

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Ballet about the life of Sor Juana premieres in New York City

Shared from/by Mexico Desconocido

 

On Thursday, the New York City Center will be the stage for the premiere of “Sor Juana,” the latest work by Texan choreographer Michelle Manzanales inspired by the life of the 17th-century Mexican poet and nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

Performed by 14 dancers of the Ballet Hispánico, the ballet uses contemporary dance to tell “an abstracted version” of the life of Sor Juana, “considered by many to be the first feminist in the Americas,” Manzanales told news agency EFE. Ballet Hispánico is a leading U.S. dance company and describes itself as the “largest Latino/Hispanic cultural organization” in the United States.

Sor Juana, an icon of Mexican culture whose face appears on the 100-peso bill, is not as well known in the U.S., although the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago does host an annual festival bearing her name. The piece, then, was a perfect fit with Ballet Hispanico’s mission to disseminate “the narratives of [the Latino] diaspora,” Manzanales said.

Born Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana in 1648, Sor Juana was the illegitimate child of a Spanish officer and a wealthy criolla woman. After spending her adolescence as a lady-in-waiting in the court of the Viceroy of New Spain, marriage or taking religious orders were the only options available to a woman of Inés’ social status. She chose the latter: “Given the total aversion I felt toward the idea of marriage,” she wrote in 1691 letter, convent life “was the least unreasonable and most decent choice I could make.”

Largely self-taught, she devoted her life in the Convent of San Jerónimo to producing a body of literary and poetic work that covered subjects as varied as astronomy, music, religion and love. She studied the Greek and Roman classics as well as logic, rhetoric, physics, music, arithmetic, geometry, architecture, history, and law.

Sor Juana is now seen as an important precursor of feminism before that concept even existed. In a public letter written to the bishop of Puebla, she argued that women had the right and ability to dedicate themselves to intellectual life, not just prayer or raising children.

Though her bravery in criticizing a church superior would lead to her being admonished by the Archbishop of Mexico, a moment that marked the beginning of the end of her literary production, Sor Juana’s prolific work gained her the respect and admiration of viceroys, clergy and intellectuals of her time. Today, Sor Juana is regarded as one colonial Latin America’s of the most important writers and thinkers and an inspiration for those who seek to live “without shame or censorship,” Manzanares added.

In an interview with The New York Times, Manzanares said that she “was intrigued by all the different things [Sor Juana] did, and the things she was fighting for at that time, and how relevant they are even today.”

One aspect of Sor Juana’s life that modern audiences have found is the possibility that she may have loved women, an idea explored in works like the 1990 film “I, the Worst of All,” which suggests a romantic relationship between Sor Juana and the Countess of Paredes, who in addition to being a patron of Sor Juana was Vicereine of New Spain from 1680 to 1686. This theme has also been explored in the 2016 Canal Once miniseries “Juana Inés” and Octavio Paz’s 1988 book “Sor Juana: Or, the Traps of Faith,” a critical re-examination of Sor Juana’s work.

Manzanares’s ballet explores this thesis in a passage for two women. In the scene, Sor Juana, danced by Gabrielle Sprauve, delicately emerges and begins a hypnotic dance with another woman, danced by Isabel Robles, as a voice recites one of Sor Juana’s love poems. This passage, described as the ballet’s central scene, invites the audience to question the connection between the two women.

Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director and CEO of Ballet Hispánico, emphasizes that “sor Juana”  is the result of “a woman creating for another woman,” which shows how the dance company is leading change in an industry dominated by men.

“Sor Juana” will premier at the opening of a charity gala that remembers the legacy Tina Ramírez, Ballet Hispánico’s founder.

With reports from López Dóriga and The New York Times

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