AMAZING: DOCTORS SUCCESSFULLY PERFORM FIRST-EVER BRAIN SURGERY ON PREBORN BABY
from: LiveAction News

(5 May) Doctors in Boston recently performed an incredible life-saving brain surgery on a preborn child while she was still in the womb. While other surgeries have been performed in-utero, this was the first time this particular procedure has ever been performed.

Details about the surgery were published in the medical journal Stroke this week. The preborn baby girl was diagnosed with Vein Of Galen Malformation (VOGM) at 30 weeks, a rare blood vessel malformation inside the brain. Roughly half of children diagnosed with VOGM have a malformation that cannot be corrected, leading to death shortly after birth. Yet for children whose malformation can be treated, the prognosis is very good.

According to the MIT Technology Review, the little girl's parents signed up for a clinical trial after receiving the diagnosis in hopes of saving her life.

"Over time the vein essentially blows up like a balloon," said Darren Orbach, a radiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts who treats babies born with the condition. "All of a sudden there's this enormous burden placed right on the newborn heart. Most babies with this condition will become very sick, very quickly."

Mario Ganau, a consultant neurosurgeon at Oxford University Hospitals in the United Kingdom, further explained, "It's stealing blood from the rest of the circulation." In usual cases, doctors try to correct the malformation after birth; unfortunately, by then, it can sometimes be too late.

Derek and Kenyatta Coleman spoke to CNN about their pregnancy. The couple was thrilled to be expecting their fourth baby, which eventually turned to fear. But when they learned about the clinical trial taking place at Brigham and Women's and Boston Children's hospitals, they traveled from their home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to give their baby girl – by then 34 weeks gestation – the best chance at life.

Using an ultrasound, doctors first gave the baby medication to ensure she stayed still, as well as pain relief. Then, they inserted a needle through the mother's stomach, and threaded a catheter through the needle, allowing tiny coils to fill the vein, slow blood flow, and reduce pressure.

Two days after the surgery, Kenyatta went into premature labor and baby Denver was born, weighing just over four pounds. "I heard her cry for the first time and that just, I – I can't even put into words how I felt at that moment," Kenyatta said. "It was just, you know, the most beautiful moment being able to hold her, gaze up on her and then hear her cry." [read more...]

COMMENTARY: This is amazing: doctors can successfully perform brain surgery on a preborn baby! And yet, other "doctors" can have no qualms about crushing the skulls of preborn babies to kill them. That is not the practice of medicine, it is outright murder.

'NOT DEAD YET' AND OTHER GROUPS LAUNCH LAWSUIT TO QUASH CALIFORNIA'S ASSISTED SUICIDE LAW
from: BioEdge.org

(2 May) Several groups representing people living with disability are suing in the US District Court for the Central District of California to have the state's End of Life Option Act (EOLOA) be declared unlawful and unconstitutional.

"Policies that make it easier for disabled people to die with help from their doctors are especially dangerous," said Jules Good, of Not Dead Yet, a lobby group. "Assisted suicide policies are inherently discriminatory, full stop."

NDY's director of minority outreach, Anita Cameron, says, "As a Black disabled woman, I have experienced both racial and disability discrimination in healthcare. Although few Blacks and people of color request assisted suicide, as it becomes normalized across the country, racial disparities and the devaluing of the lives of disabled people will lead to people being forced, or ‘convinced' to ask for assisted suicide."

"This lawsuit is our fight against a society and insurance industry that tells too many of us to hurry up and die," said the head of Not Dead Yet, Diane Coleman. "For all of us who've been denied the help we need to live, we're not going to lay down and die. We're Not Dead Yet and we're fighting back."

The plaintiffs allege in their 96-page, thoroughly documented, complaint that EOLOA targets people with disabilities for death and stigmatization.

"Physician-assisted suicide laws are based on ableist stereotypes, implicit biases, and long-held fears about living with disability as well as the false idea that it is rational for disabled persons to want to end their own lives. These misleading tropes are glorified in Hollywood movies like 'Me Before You' and 'Million Dollar Baby,' where the protagonist is portrayed heroically for choosing to be euthanized rather than live with their disability …"

"Over the strong opposition of those most likely to die under physician-assisted suicide laws, EOLOA sends the stigmatizing message that society should endorse and even elevate suicide when the person has a terminal disability." [read more...]

COMMENTARY: Another article from BioEdge, Canadian euthanasia: Let them die; they know what they're doing, examines this same issue: "some people with chronic illnesses, whose death is not reasonably foreseeable, are choosing to die because social services are inadequate. They do not want to, but they feel that they have no choice. Critics say that these cases show that people are being railroaded into choosing euthanasia and are unable to make a truly autonomous choice." Social pressure from relatives and "friends" as well as from government-paid medical providers can push a disabled or elderly person to decide to be euthanized.

THERE IS A “HIDDEN EUTHANASIA” OF THE ELDERLY, WARNS POPE FRANCIS
from: Aleteia

(14 Apr.) Pope Francis encouraged Italian health representatives from religious institutions to always keep in mind the poorest and the forgotten in society. He denounced "a hidden and progressive euthanasia" that consists of depriving the elderly of the treatments they need in order to "save money." He said this in a speech to the members of the Italian Religious Association of Social and Health Institutes (ARIS), whom he received on April 13, 2023, at the Vatican.

"An elderly person has to take medicine, and if in order to save money or for this or that reason they do not give him these medicines, it is a hidden and progressive euthanasia," the Pope denounced. During his speech, the 86-year-old Pontiff noted the tendency of hospitals to shorten hospitalizations, treating "the most acute phases of illness" but not "chronic conditions."

"As a result, these [chronic conditions], especially for the elderly, are also becoming a serious problem from an economic point of view, with the risk of favoring paths that are little respectful of the very dignity of people," the Pope insisted.

As he often does, Francis also highlighted the need to prioritize those who are forgotten by society. Francis criticized the "logic of profit" while asking the workers to show with their presence "God's closeness to the sick, especially the most disadvantaged and marginalized."

"Every person has a right to medicine," he explained. "The elderly who have to take four or five medicines and only manage to get two: this is progressive euthanasia, because you don't give them what they need to take care of themselves."

The head of the Roman Catholic Church also called this association involved in the management of Christian health structures to be "vigilant" and not to "speculate on the misfortunes of others."

"We need to take paths of discernment and make courageous choices, reminding ourselves that our vocation is to stand on the frontier of need; our vocation is that: on the frontier of need. As the Church, we are called to respond above all to the health demands of the poorest," the Pope encouraged. "These are the most important ones for us, the ones that are first in line." [read more...]

COMMENTARY: While we non-Roman Catholics don't recognize the Pope's headship over all Christians, we do acknowledge his importance as a moral and spiritual authority over many millions of Christians. In the above statements, he has "hit the nail on the head" and we must agree that nobody should be neglected and deprived of chronic-care, lifesaving medicines simply because they are poor.

PAYING FAMILY CAREGIVERS COULD ALLEVIATE SHORTAGE OF PROVIDERS, STUDY FINDS
from: Disability Scoop

(2 May) As a severe shortage of in-home care providers strains families and has forced some people with developmental disabilities to remain hospitalized, new research is offering up a solution.

Training family members to become certified nursing assistants and then paying them to care for their children with complex medical needs could solve two problems, a new study suggests. It could alleviate home health worker shortages and provide a continuity of care that can lead to better health outcomes.

The findings come from a study published recently in The Journal of Pediatrics comparing care provided between 2017 and 2019 by traditional certified nursing assistants and family members who were trained for the role through a Colorado Medicaid program.

Across 861 children, researchers found that the level of care was similar whether it was provided by professional certified nursing assistants or family members with comparable training, but turnover was significantly lower in cases where the caregiver was a relative even if they were being paid less.

"Colorado’s family-centered model addresses the significant shortage of health care workforce while providing additional income to parents who are compelled to leave work to care for their children," said the study’s lead author Dr. Carolyn Foster of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "This program may not be a fit for all situations but is a meaningful option for many children going without enough services."

While some states allow grandparents and other relatives to be paid to provide care, most states do not let parents receive pay to offer medical care for their children. Foster said that’s something that policymakers may want to reconsider. "Our study provides evidence that paid family caregiving as a concept is feasible and can be successfully applied to meet the home care needs of children with medical complexity," Foster said. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: One of the reasons it's so hard to find Home Healthcare workers is that these businesses are making huge profits by billing Medicare a much higher amount than they're paying their workers. According to the article Feds Want To Shake Up Rules For Home And Community-Based Services, the new rules would limit the overhead and profit to no more than 20% of the amount billed to Medicare, guaranteeing that the workers would receive at least 80% of the amount billed. Also, training family members or newly-retired seniors to serve older seniors – "Seniors Serving Seniors" – and other disabled folks is an excellent way to overcome the severe shortage of CNAs and Home Healthcare workers. Help spread the word about our *free* courses!

THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION IN WARTIME: UKRAINIAN SEMINARIES AS COMMUNITIES OF COMPASSION, REFLECTION, AND HOPE
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine

(3 May) The February 24, 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces upended the entire nation. Of course, Ukrainian theological education, in which I serve, was no different. Significant disruptions to our work provoked existential questions. For instance, in response to the war, several theological schools have found themselves on the front lines of ministry in ways that have, in turn, redefined our sense of community. These schools had to turn from holding classes to housing and feeding refugees, evacuating the vulnerable from active conflict zones, providing soul-care to the displaced, and so much more, all in coordination with one another as the war’s pressures have changed across the country.

As Ukrainian evangelical seminaries have responded missionally to the war’s horrors, we have rethought what community means. We have come to see community as an inclusive, shared mission to serve others. In doing so, our seminaries have formed a reflective community that is seeking to address pressing issues facing the church and Ukrainian society from biblical perspectives; a compassionate community that meets people’s immediate needs as they suffer violence and displacement; and a hopeful community that refuses to succumb to the darkness around us.

1. A Problematic Concept of Community
Before attempting to understand the experience of Ukrainian theological schools during the war as communities of reflection, compassion, and hope, we need to address the concept of community. The term "community" implies that we do not exist in this world alone – or, as Thomas Merton reminds us, "No one is an island." The notion that human life is inherently social has been criticized over the past century, as this view of community, based on the belief that each person is part of one and only one homogeneous unity, in which there is no room for differences, has often had devastating consequences. Two world wars and one Cold War, with all their catastrophes, have convincingly demonstrated the danger of such thinking and its inevitable tendency to violent suppression of dissent, up to and including the physical destruction of those who could not or did not want to become part of the community.

2. An Overview of Ukrainian Theological Education Before 2022
At the beginning of 2022, Ukrainian evangelical theological education was developing. Over fifty evangelical theological educational institutions existed in Ukraine, of which thirty-five were members of the Euro-Asian Accrediting Association, accounting for almost 2/3 of the association. Among all the other countries of Eastern Europe, Ukraine had the most extensive network of evangelical seminaries. Although before the collapse of the Soviet regime, Ukrainian evangelical theological education did not exist as a systemic phenomenon (we can recall various short-term and mostly underground training programs), dozens of educational institutions have been established since Ukraine’s independence.

3. The Challenges of the War
From the war’s first hours, theological educational institutions faced urgent challenges. They certainly could not continue the educational process as Russian troops rapidly advanced, amid heavy rocket and artillery fire and in an atmosphere of fear, despair, and uncertainty. Institutions in cities under threat of Russian takeover were forced to evacuate to the western parts of the country immediately. In particular, on the first day of the war, Tavriski Christian Institute began evacuating its staff and students to Ivano-Frankivsk, and Odesa Theological Seminary began evacuating to Transcarpathia. Fortunately, Odesa was not under occupation, and six months later, the staff decided to return to their hometown. Unfortunately, TCI’s campus in the recreational area on the banks of the Dnipro River in Kherson was almost completely destroyed during the Russian occupation of Kherson. Even now that the city has been liberated from the Russian invaders, the campus is a dangerous place, as much of its land is still mine-riddled and subject to mortar and sniper fire.

4. Communities of Reflection
As I mentioned in the introduction, in the war’s first days, the leaders of Ukraine’s evangelical seminaries formed a coordination group that is still active. The group has two objectives. First, it cooperates in evacuating and relocating the vulnerable and in providing people with food, medicine, shelter, and other basic necessities. Second, it consolidates and broadcasts Ukrainian theological reflections on the experience of the war. Therefore, one of our group’s first projects, which continues to this day, was the Voices series. This series is a platform through which we organize events to inform the global Christian community about the challenges the war poses to the people of Ukraine and, in particular, to evangelical churches, and about our efforts to respond to these challenges. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: There's much more to this article than what we can share here: we encourage you to click on the above link to read the whole thing!

NONINVASIVE BRAIN DECODER CAN TRANSCRIBE STORIES IN THE MIND
from: Disabled World

(1 May) A new AI (Artificial Intelligence) system called a semantic decoder can translate a person's brain activity – while listening to a story or silently imagining telling a story – into a continuous stream of text. The system developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin might help people who are mentally conscious yet unable to physically speak, such as those debilitated by strokes, to communicate intelligibly again.

The study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, was led by Jerry Tang, a doctoral student in computer science, and Alex Huth, an assistant professor of neuroscience and computer science at UT Austin. The work relies in part on a transformer model, similar to the ones that power Open AI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard.

Unlike other language decoding systems in development, this system does not require subjects to have surgical implants, making the process noninvasive. Participants also do not need to use only words from a prescribed list. Brain activity is measured using an fMRI scanner after extensive training of the decoder, in which the individual listens to hours of podcasts in the scanner. Later, provided that the participant is open to having their thoughts decoded, their listening to a new story or imagining telling a story allows the machine to generate corresponding text from brain activity alone.

"For a noninvasive method, this is a real leap forward compared to what's been done before, which is typically single words or short sentences," Huth said. "We're getting the model to decode continuous language for extended periods of time with complicated ideas."

The result is not a word-for-word transcript. Instead, researchers designed it to capture the gist of what is being said or thought, albeit imperfectly. About half the time, when the decoder has been trained to monitor a participant's brain activity, the machine produces text that closely (and sometimes precisely) matches the intended meanings of the original words.

For example, in experiments, a participant listening to a speaker say, "I don't have my driver's license yet" had their thoughts translated as, "She has not even started to learn to drive yet." Listening to the words, "I didn't know whether to scream, cry or run away. Instead, I said, 'Leave me alone!'" was decoded as, "Started to scream and cry, and then she just said, 'I told you to leave me alone.'" [read more...]

COMMENTARY: AI trains itself over time by amassing huge amounts of data. As this "big data" gets bigger and bigger, the AI engine becomes more and more accurate. So even though these initial experiments are not quite perfect, we can foresee that they will improve. This leads to some ethical questions: Is it morally right to read someone else's mind? Does this constitute an invasion of privacy?

(Get this as a separate article on our ARC-News blog at blogspot.com and share it!)