Teen 'Choking Game' Played Solo Points to Suicide Risks

(HealthDayNews) -- About 4 percent of U.S. teens surveyed admit to trying the "choking game" -- a potentially deadly game of temporary strangulation.

And new research suggests that kids who "play" the game alone are much more likely to harbor thoughts of suicide.

The so-called choking game is the practice of using hands, fingers or external wrapping materials -- such as a belt, tie or noose -- to apply strong pressure against the carotid arteries lining either side of the neck.

Located on the right and left side of the windpipe, these arteries are critical conveyors of blood and oxygen to the brain. By interrupting the usual blood flow, and then suddenly removing pressure to restore flow, individuals reportedly trigger a short-lived feeling of euphoria.

But, the practice carries a high risk for asphyxiation, loss of consciousness, and even death. And the risks grow when "players" act alone without anyone around to intervene and stop an out-of-control strangulation process, the study authors said.

"We know from earlier research that youth who engage in the choking game also report higher levels of suicidal thoughts than those who don't participate in the choking game at all," said study co-author Sarah Knipper.

"This new study tells us that within that group of kids, those who participate alone are even more likely to have suicidal thoughts," added Knipper. "[They're] five times more likely than those who participate in a group."

Knipper is a school health epidemiologist with the adolescent and school health program in the Oregon Public Health Division of the Oregon Health Authority in Portland.

The study authors pointed to prior estimates suggesting that somewhere between 5 percent and 11 percent of American children have tried the choking game at least once. Fatality figures remain unclear, however, as related deaths are often lumped in as undefined suicides or accidents.

The new study looked at mental health data on roughly 21,000 students in grades 8 and 11 in Oregon. The information was collected in 2011 and 2013 by the Oregon Healthy Teens Survey. Oregon is the only state that routinely monitors choking game behavior in its surveys, the study authors said.

The researchers found that nearly 4 percent of both boys and girls said they had participated in a choking game at some point in their lives. Of these, about 18 percent said they had done so by themselves.

What's more, teens who had tried the practice alone were almost five times more likely to have thoughts of suicide than those who had done it in groups, and more than twice as likely to say they were in poor mental health overall.

Knipper said that "many parents are not aware of the choking game at all."

Is Getting Rid of Fake News Bad for Facebook’s Business?

(fortune.com - In the wake of the surprising-to-many election of Donald Trump, Facebook has emerged in some circles as scapegoat of choice. A chorus of voices, saying that false news stories shared on the platform helped sway the election, are callingon CEO Mark Zuckerberg to take drastic action to control what’s shared on the site. And he’s responding with some concrete pledges.

The unfolding public relations headache presents several competing imperatives. Facebook broadly prefers to be seen as a neutral platform for social sharing. The shift towards editorial oversight involves serious technical challenges, as well as some uncomfortable regulatory implications.

But Facebook faces a third conundrum—getting rid of fake news might actually hurt its ad revenue. Interacting with news that confirms pre-existing beliefs triggers positive emotional responses in users and drives huge user engagement. News is a major part of what people interact with Facebook, and whether a piece of content is true or not has no clear correlation to how many clicks it generates.

As media expert Clay Shirky put it to The Guardian, “We love bedtime stories.” Even, perhaps especially, when they’re fairy tales.

Filtering fake news would also have second-order effects that could not only reduce daily engagement, but drive users away from Facebook altogether, at least as a news source. While Trump supporters have been particularly skeptical of large news organizations and traditional fact checking, more than half of Clinton backers feel the same way. We’re a nation in the late stages of democracy, with a populace deeply distrustful of any and all authority and expertise. Social media’s dominance is both a cause and effect of that. We spend time on Facebook because we think our friends are better sources of information than pinhead professors or noodling newspaper editors.

If Facebook were to be perceived as having become just another top-down entity telling people what to believe, it would endanger a core element of its appeal. There would be a significant opening for a competing social-news platform that positioned itself as more open and unfiltered.

That said, there are counterpoint business arguments in favor of filtering fake news. Facebook has avoided many of the concerns about trolling and harassment that have been such a drag on Twitter’s prospects, in part because of evolving features that allow users to filter and report content and tailor their ad preferences. However, toxicity fueled by partisan fake news could eventually generate headwinds for Facebook similar to Twitter’s woes.

Zika Is No Longer a Global Emergency, W.H.O. Says

NewYorkTimes) - The World Health Organization declared an end to its global health emergency over the spread of the Zika virus on Friday, prompting dismay from some public health experts confronting the epidemic.

An agency advisory committee said it ended the emergency — formally known as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern — because Zika is now shown to be a dangerous mosquito-borne disease, like malaria or yellow fever, and should be viewed as an ongoing threat met as other diseases are, sometimes with W.H.O. help.

Committee members repeatedly emphasized that they did not consider the Zika crisis over.

“We are not downgrading the importance of Zika,” said Dr. Peter Salama, executive director of the W.H.O.’s health emergencies program. “We are sending the message that Zika is here to stay and the W.H.O. response is here to stay.”

Like all mosquito-borne diseases, Zika is seasonal and may repeatedly return to countries with the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry it, Dr. Salama added.

Individual countries facing serious new Zika outbreaks could still declare local emergencies, said Dr. David L. Heymann, chair of the advisory committee.

But other experts worried that the W.H.O.’s declaration might slow the international response to an epidemic that is still spreading, and lull people at risk into thinking they were safe.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is funding efforts to find a Zika vaccine, suggested that it was premature to lift the state of emergency since summer is just beginning in the Southern hemisphere.

“Are we going to see a resurgence in Brazil, Colombia and elsewhere?” he asked. “If they pull back on the emergency, they’d better be able to reinstate it. Why not wait a couple of months to see what happens?”

His agency would not slow down its vaccine efforts, he said.

Since the W.H.O. first declared a state of emergency on Feb. 1, the Zika virus has spread to almost every country in the Western Hemisphere except Canada. Thousands of babies suffer deformities caused by the infection, and more are expected.

Recent outbreaks and related birth defects have also been detected in Southeast Asia, although scientists believe the Zika virus has circulated there for decades.

The most severe deformity is microcephaly, a tiny head with a severely underdeveloped brain; but fetuses have also been killed by the virus, and infected infants have been born blind, deaf, with clubbed feet and permanent limb rigidity.

Scientists also fear that many infected babies who appear normal now may suffer from intellectual deficits or mental illnesses later in their lives.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expressed no opinion about the W.H.O.’s decision, but noted that it “did not change the urgent need to continue our work.”

The agency also reiterated the warning it issued in January that pregnant women should avoid traveling to areas where the virus was being transmitted. (SourceText)

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Related Reuters- Myanmar health authorities struggle to prepare for Zika outbreak

FTC takes action against the homeopathy industry's false and misleading health claims

(minnpost - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it intends to finally take action against homeopathic "medicine" manufacturers who make bogus — indeed, ridiculous — health claims for their products.

The commission has had the authority to take such action before, but it has tended to turn a blind eye to the multibillion-dollar homeopathic industry’s continuous stream of misleading advertising.

Most homeopathic medicines are just innocuous “sugar pills,” or placebos, which pose more of a peril to consumers’ pocketbooks than to their health. But some of these products can be dangerous. In late September, for example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned parents to stop using homeopathic teething tablets and gels. The agency said it had received hundreds of reports of babies experiencing serious side effects after using the products, including vomiting, fever, breathing difficulties and seizures. Officials were also investigating 10 reports of infant deaths.


The teething products may have contained unsafe amounts of a popular homeopathic ingredient, belladonna (which is also known as deadly nightshade). Most consumers are unaware that homeopathic products — along with other so-called alternative medicines — are not tested for safety or effectiveness before they appear on store shelves.

Of course, another danger from homeopathic medicines is that people will use them instead of real medicines to treat serious illnesses. Such a tragedy occurred in Australia a few years ago when a nine-month-old girl died painfully and unnecessarily after her parents treated her eczema with homeopathic rather than conventional medications. (Both parents were jailed for manslaughter.)
Clear disclosure

As explained in a press release issued Tuesday, the FTC will now “hold efficacy and safety claims for OTC [over-the-counter] homeopathic drugs to the same standard as other products making similar claims. That is, companies must have competent and reliable scientific evidence for health-related claims, including claims that a product can treat specific conditions” — the same scientific evidence the commission requires of other companies making such claims for their products.

The companies will also have to clearly disclose on their products’ labels and in their advertisements that 1) there is no scientific evidence that the homeopathic product works and 2) theories of homeopathy date from the 1700s and are not accepted by most modern medical experts.

Just how effective these disclaimers will be is unknown. The FTC says it’s going to “carefully scrutinize the net impression of OTC homeopathic advertising or other marketing employing disclosures to ensure that it adequately conveys the extremely limited nature of the health claim being asserted.”

“If, despite a marketer’s disclosures, an ad conveys more substantiation than the marketer has, the marketer will be in violation of the FTC Act,” the commission adds. (FullText)

Jobless Claims in U.S. Decline to Lowest Level in Four Decades

bloomberg.com) - The fewest Americans since 1973 filed for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the U.S. labor market is getting tighter.

Jobless claims dropped by 19,000 to 235,000 in the week ended Nov. 12, which included the Veterans Day holiday, a Labor Department report showed Thursday in Washington. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey called for an increase to 257,000. Continuing claims fell below 2 million to a 16-year low.

The biggest drop in initial claims since June suggests employers are loath to fire workers as the economy continues its modest expansion and the number of experienced applicants available for hiring remains limited. Filings for unemployment benefits have stayed below 300,000 for 89 straight weeks -- the longest streak since 1970 and a level typical for a healthy labor market.

“We’re exhausting the pool of workers that we can draw from out of the unemployed,” said Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. “We’re approaching full employment, so we’re seeing really strong job gains, but they can’t continue for very long.”

Estimates for initial claims in the Bloomberg survey ranged from 245,000 to 275,000. The prior week’s reading was unrevised at 254,000.

The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, declined to 253,500 from 260,000 in the prior week.

The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped by 66,000 to 1.98 million in the week ended Nov. 5. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits fell to 1.4 percent from 1.5 percent. These data are reported with a one-week lag.

No states had estimated claims last week and there was nothing unusual in the data, according to the Labor Department.

Though applications for unemployment insurance are at historic lows, there are other factors that have pushed claims down in recent years, including cuts in the duration of benefits and changes to claim-filing technology. (FullText)

Obama in Europe urges 'course correction' on globalisation

- Berlin (AFP) - US President Barack Obama arrived in Berlin Wednesday for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a European tour aimed at reassuring key allies about transatlantic ties under his successor Donald Trump.

On the final leg of a European farewell tour, Obama touched down in the German capital from Athens where he delivered a sweeping speech warning of the dangers to modern democracy.

The US leader acknowledged that globalisation had fuelled a "sense of injustice" and needed a "course correction" to address growing inequality.

"The global path of globalisation demands a course correction," Obama, 55, said in Athens.

"When we see people, global elites, wealthy corporations seemingly living by a different set of rules, avoiding taxes, manipulating loopholes... this feeds a profound sense of injustice," he added.

However, his remarks also contained a ringing defence of democracy, open markets and social inclusiveness.

"I firmly believe that the best hope for human progress remains open markets, combined with democracy and human rights," the outgoing president said.

Trump welcomed Britain's shock vote in June to leave the European Union (EU) and has been a critic of global free trade agreements.

But Obama argued that "when people have opportunity and they feel confidence in the future, they are less likely to turn on each other and less likely to appeal to some of the darker forces that exist in all our societies, those that can tear us apart".

European governments, especially eastern countries close to Russia's orbit, have been shaken after Trump appeared to call into question Washington's near 70-year security guarantee by saying he would only help NATO allies if they paid their way.

In comments Tuesday, Obama cautioned the world must guard against "a rise in a crude sort of nationalism or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around an 'us' and a 'them'".

- 'My closest partner' -

Obama has been at pains to stress that Europe -- and NATO -- would remain the cornerstone of US foreign policy.

"Today more than ever, the world needs a Europe that is strong and prosperous and democratic," he said.

The US-led NATO grouping is "absolutely vital" to US interests and a strong, unified Europe was good for America and the world, the president said in comments aimed at calming old partners' fears.

"We know what happens when Europeans start dividing themselves up... the 20th century was a bloodbath," he said pointedly on Tuesday.

Obama has described Merkel as "probably... my closest international partner these last eight years."

During his time in Berlin, he will also meet the leaders of Britain, France, Spain and Italy, as Europe desperately seeks clues to future US policy in a Trump world.

Strength!: U.N. officials denounce ‘inhuman’ treatment of Native American pipeline protesters

washingtonpost) - The United Nations' special rapporteur on the rights of freedom of association and peaceful assembly released a forceful statement Tuesday, calling out U.S. security forces for using violence against protesters peacefully opposing the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota, as well as what he called “the inhuman and degrading conditions” those arrested faced in detention.

The official, Maini Kiai, is a reputed human rights lawyer from Kenya who also traveled to the United States this summer to survey mounting racial tensions in the lead-up to last week's presidential election. His statement on the protests in North Dakota, which are largely being carried out by Native Americans, was endorsed by a slew of other high-ranking U.N. officials, including special rapporteurs on drinking water, the environment, free speech, cultural rights and the rights of indigenous peoples.

Kiai said that security forces, both public and private, had used unjustified force in dealing with and detaining more than 400 protesters.

“Protesters say they have faced rubber bullets, tear gas, mace, compression grenades and beanbag rounds while expressing concerns over environmental impact and trying to protect burial grounds and other sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe” on whose land the ongoing pipeline construction is taking place, according to the statement provided by Kiai's office.

The statement notes that Kiai acknowledged that some protesters had resorted to violence, too, but that the response of security officials was disproportionate and targeted protesters who were doing so peacefully.

U.N. officials have been taking U.S. security forces and its government to task more frequently. For instance, in September, a U.N.-affiliated group released a report that concluded that the country's history of slavery justifies reparationsfor a large portion of its African American population. “There has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent,” the report stated. (FullText)