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Tag: neurological disorders and injuries

  • ‘Complete paralysis:’ Palestinian medics say disaster awaits Gaza as Israel pounds enclave with airstrikes | CNN

    ‘Complete paralysis:’ Palestinian medics say disaster awaits Gaza as Israel pounds enclave with airstrikes | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Medical and relief workers are pleading for safe passage for the 2 million civilians in Gaza as Israel pounds the enclave with airstrikes and imposes a complete siege, in response to the brutal attack launched by the militant group Hamas.

    Time is running out for the residents crammed into the increasingly battered 140-square-mile territory under Israeli and Egyptian blockades, as supplies of food and water run low. Families are desperately searching for shelter as missiles flatten buildings and towers. Medical supplies are in dire shortage. And most of the enclave has already lost power, after the fuel that generates electricity ran out on Wednesday.

    At least 1,417 Palestinians, including 447 children and 248 women, have so far been killed in Gaza, and 6,268 others injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

    In Israel, at 1,200 people have been killed, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said on Wednesday. Israel also said that up to 150 hostages, including civilians, have been taken to Gaza by Hamas – which controls the strip.

    Relief groups are calling for the protection of the many civilians in Gaza who continue to bear the brunt of the bloody war between Hamas and Israel, urging that an emergency corridor be established for the transfer of humanitarian aid.

    Smoke billows over Rafah, in southern Gaza, on Thursday. Israeli forces hammered the enclave for a sixth consecutive day.

    Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz on Thursday said Israel would deprive the strip of electricity, water and fuel until Hamas returns the hostages.

    “No electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened, and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home,” Katz wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “And no one will preach us morals,” he added.

    Responding to a question about whether Israel is upholding the laws of warfare with its siege on Gaza, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Thursday his country “abides by international law, operates by international law.”

    “Every operation is secured and covered and reviewed legally with all due respect,” Herzog told CNN’s Becky Anderson at a press briefing in Jerusalem, adding that talk about war crimes is “totally out of context.”

    Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, the co-founder of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), warned the complete siege of Gaza will pollute water and reduce oxygen supplies, depleting health indicators, including infant and maternal mortality rates, poverty, starvation and the spread of waterborne diseases and gastrointestinal infections.

    “You will have a very big rise of maternal mortality of women who are going to give birth under terrible conditions. We will see epidemics starting to spread in Gaza,” he said. “That’s also besides the number of people who will be killed by Israeli air strikes.

    “We are heading towards a complete paralysis of the medical system there.”

    Human Rights Watch earlier this week criticized Israel’s call for the complete siege as a form of “collective punishment” and a “war crime.”

    The Israeli blockade on Gaza has crippled the health system inside the Palestinian enclave, medical workers told CNN, as emergency teams struggle to triage patients amid dwindling medical supplies.

    Barghouti, the PMRS co-founder, said patients with pre-existing health conditions, including cancer and chronic kidney failure, are at risk of death because the siege has blocked access to fresh drugs.

    The PMRS has 180 doctors, nurses and psychotherapists stationed inside Gaza, alongside thousands of volunteers, he told CNN on Wednesday.

    “I receive calls around the clock from our people there [in Gaza], patients with kidney problems who need kidney dialysis, telling me that they could die in a few days,” said Barghouti, who is also the leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, a political party headquartered in the occupied West Bank.

    “Our medical teams are finding great difficulty moving from one place to another because, as people will say, there is no safe place at all. So it’s a disaster in front of our eyes.”

    A British-Palestinian surgeon working in Gaza, Ghassan Abu-Sitta, said that unless a humanitarian corridor replenishes the system, hospitals may not make it to the end of the week.

    “Unless there is a cessation of the bombing and the humanitarian corridor (opens), the Palestinian health system will not survive beyond the week,” Abu-Sitta, who was working inside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City but is now operating from a hospital in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, told CNN.

    The doctor is yet to see any aid come through.

    Palestinian citizens inspect damage to their homes, which were destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the Karama area, in northern Gaza, on Wednesday.

    Hospitals all over Gaza are overwhelmed with patients, he said, adding that power is limited to generators and already scarce drinking water is being transported in tanks. Concerns of diseases spreading, including cholera, are growing, Abu-Sitta added.

    The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned on Thursday that Gaza likely only has enough fuel for a few more hours.

    “I wanted to say we are going toward a catastrophe, but we are already in the catastrophe,” ICRC’s regional director for the Middle East told reporters during a briefing in Geneva, adding that the humanitarian situation will soon become “unmanageable.”

    Gaza’s health infrastructure is close to a breaking point, Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, said Thursday. All beds are occupied, and there is no room for new patients in critical condition, Al-Qudra said.

    Earlier Thursday the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said hospitals in Gaza “risk turning into morgues” amid power cuts.

    The Palestinian Minister of Health Mai Al Kaila on Thursday called for urgent international help to field hospitals in Gaza. Medical supplies, emergency departments and intensive care units are urgently needed, she said.

    With the current Israeli siege, the only corridor through which Palestinians or aid can pass in and out of Gaza is the Rafah Crossing, which connects Gaza to Egypt.

    Egypt on Thursday denied reports of the crossing being closed, saying it has however sustained damage due to repeated Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian side of the border.

    Palestinian officials in Gaza had said two days earlier that the crossing had been closed due to Israeli airstrikes. CNN could not independently verify whether the crossing is open or closed.

    In a statement, Egypt called on international partners to send humanitarian and relief aid to Palestinians in Gaza, adding that Egyptian authorities will be receiving aid packages at the Al-Arish International Airport in north Sinai.

    A Jordanian plane carrying medical aid for Gaza left for Egypt on Thursday, according to a statement from the Jordanian Hashemite Charitable Organization, a state-run relief agency, adding that the supplies will be delivered to medical authorities in Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.

    It is unclear how the aid will cross the border amid airstrikes on Gaza.

    CNN has reached out to the Egyptian government about the status of Rafah crossing, whether aid will be able to pass through, and whether Palestinians fleeing the conflict will be able to cross into Egyptian territory.

    The US said it is in talks with Israel and Egypt about creating a humanitarian corridor through which civilians can cross.

    “We’re talking to Israel about that. We’re talking to Egypt about that (getting civilians out of Gaza),” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday prior to departing for Israel.

    A senior Israeli official told CNN on Wednesday talks are “underway” to allow US citizens and Palestinian civilians in Gaza to cross over into Egypt ahead of any possible land invasion of the territory by Israeli forces.

    The official with knowledge of the negotiations told CNN’s Matthew Chance on Wednesday that under the proposal being discussed, all American citizens would be permitted to pass through the Rafah border crossing if they present their US passports, while the movement of other Palestinian civilians would be limited to 2,000 people a day.

    Final approval of the arrangement would need to come from the Egyptians, who control the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, but the Israeli official said it was “in Israel’s interests” for as many Palestinians as possible to leave Gaza.

    The IDF on Wednesday said it has amassed some 300,000 reservists near the Gaza border.

    “They (Hamas) will regret this moment – Gaza will never return to what it was,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said earlier.

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  • Republican congressman says Tuberville’s hold on military nominations is ‘paralyzing’ and a ‘national security problem’ | CNN Politics

    Republican congressman says Tuberville’s hold on military nominations is ‘paralyzing’ and a ‘national security problem’ | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    House Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul, a Republican, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s hold on military nominations is “paralyzing” and a “national security problem.”

    “The idea that one man in the Senate can hold this up for months … is paralyzing the Department of Defense,” McCaul said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

    “I think that is a national security problem and a national security issue,” the Texas congressman said.

    Tuberville, of Alabama, has delayed the confirmations of more than 300 top military nominees over his opposition to the Pentagon’s policy of reimbursing service members and their families who have to travel to receive abortion care. Tuberville says the Pentagon’s reproductive health policies violate the law, but Pentagon officials have pointed to a Justice Department memo that says the policies are lawful.

    A spokesperson for Tuberville said McCaul’s view “just isn’t accurate.”

    “No one can stop (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer from holding votes on these nominations. He just doesn’t want to,” spokesperson Steven Stafford wrote in an email to CNN. “It’s also inaccurate because acting officials are in all of these roles. In some cases these acting officials are the nominees for permanent roles. No jobs are open or going undone right now.”

    One senator can hold up nominations or legislation in the chamber, and Tuberville’s stance has left three military services to operate without a Senate-confirmed leader for the first time in history.

    It’s possible to confirm each nominee one by one, but Senate Democrats have argued that would take up valuable floor time – despite a five-week recess in August.

    McCaul said on Sunday that he wishes Tuberville would reconsider his stance and that the Republican Party is working on the abortion travel policy issue through the National Defense Authorization Act.

    “But to hold up the top brass from being promoted … I think is paralyzing our Department of Defense,” he said.

    The hold on promotions, which began in March, has been a growing source of public scrutiny. The three US military service secretaries told CNN last week that Tuberville’s blockage is aiding communist and autocratic regimes, and is being used against the US by adversaries such as China.

    In July, active-duty military spouses hand-delivered a petition to Schumer, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Tuberville signed by hundreds of military family members who were “deeply concerned and personally impacted by Senator Tuberville blocking confirmation of senior military leaders.”

    Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley told CNN’s Tapper on Sunday that if elected president, she would put an end to the reimbursement policy for travel for abortion care. Haley, whose husband is in the South Carolina Army National Guard, said military families should not be used as political pawns.

    “I’m not saying that Sen. Tuberville is right in doing this, because I don’t want to use them as pawns. But if you love our military and are so adamant about it, then go and make Congress, Republicans and Democrats, have to go through person by person,” the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador said.

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  • First professional female athlete diagnosed with degenerative brain disease CTE | CNN

    First professional female athlete diagnosed with degenerative brain disease CTE | CNN

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    Brisbane, Australia
    CNN
     — 

    Scientists in Australia have diagnosed the world’s first case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in a professional female athlete, with implications for millions of girls and women who play contact sport.

    Heather Anderson, an Australian Football League (AFL) player, was found to have low-stage CTE during an autopsy by scientists at the Australian Sports Brain Bank, whose peer-reviewed findings were published last week in the medical journal Acta Neuropathologica.

    CTE is a neurodegenerative disease that can occur after repeated traumatic brain injuries or hits to the head, with or without a concussion, and to date it has only been diagnosed in professional male athletes.

    But the rise of women’s participation in the same sports over the past two decades means they too are susceptible, the paper said, and especially so given research indicates that women are more vulnerable to concussion than men.

    “Colleagues overseas been watching the professionalization of women’s contact sports over the last 10 years, and the surge in popularity and surge in participation by women in contact sports, so we’ve all been sort of thinking sooner or later, this disease is going to pop up,” said neuropathologist Michael Buckland, the paper’s co-author.

    “It’s a bit like smoking and lung cancer. Early on lung cancer was enormous in men … and then women took up smoking in equal numbers. Then 20 years later, there was a big surge in women’s lung cancer,” said Buckland, a clinical associate professor at the University of Sydney.

    “So I think we’re at the start of seeing the consequences of that surge in participation, both at the amateur and professional level.”

    Anderson started playing football when she was five years old and went on to play contact sport for 18 years across two codes – AFL and rugby league – before her death by suicide at 28 last November, according to the paper.

    Her professional career included 8 games over the 2017 season with AFL Club the Adelaide Crows, before she suffered a shoulder injury that ended her sporting career. She also worked as a medic for the Australian Defence Force.

    Originally from Darwin, Anderson was known for wearing a bright pink helmet on the pitch so her vision-impaired mother could see her play. Scientists say helmets and headbands can prevent skull fractures but don’t keep the brain from moving around inside the skull when someone is hit.

    During her career, Anderson had one confirmed concussion, and suffered another suspected four, according to her family, who donated her brain to the Australian Sports Brain Bank for more answers as to why she died.

    According to the paper, Anderson had no known history of alcohol or non-prescription drug abuse and had not exhibited any signs of depression or unusual behavior in the months before her death.

    “While there are insufficient data to draw conclusions on any association between CTE and manner of death, suicide deaths are not uncommon in the cohorts where CTE is sought at autopsy,” the paper said.

    Buckland said Anderson’s diagnosis shows women’s contact sports also need CTE minimization plans to reduce players’ exposure to cumulative head injuries, and those plans need to start at the junior level.

    “I don’t think any child should be playing the contact version of a sport before high school,” he said. Other ways to reduce exposure include restricting contact during training, playing just one contact sport, and taking time off after a game when players have suffered hits, he said.

    Awareness of the risks of head injury in sport has been growing over the past two decades, and scientists are still working to examine the impact of repeated knocks on the brain.

    The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says “the research to date suggests that CTE is caused in part by repeated traumatic brain injuries, including concussions, and repeated hits to the head, called subconcussive head impacts.”

    Repeated knocks can lead to the degeneration of brain tissue and an unusual buildup of a protein called tau, which is associated with symptoms such as memory loss, confusion, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, impaired judgment and suicidal behavior.

    In the United States, the most recent research from the Concussion Legacy Foundation and Boston University’s CTE Center found that nearly 92% of 376 former NFL players who were studied were diagnosed with the brain disease. It’s also been found in the brains of former boxers, and ice hockey and soccer players.

    In Australia, lawyers representing dozens of former professional AFL players have filed a class action suit against the Australian Football League (AFL), seeking compensation for injuries caused by alleged negligence.

    The AFL has acknowledged a link between head trauma and CTE and says it’s committed to mitigating the risks. It was one of dozens of parties to provide submissions to an Australian government inquiry into the issue that is due to report on August 2.

    The AFL Player’s Association, which represents the athletes, is pushing for greater support for current and former players, many of whom are living with the impact of successive brain injuries.

    But Buckland said with so many other competing priorities, including broadcast rights and ticket sales, the industry can’t be expected to self-regulate, and an outside body needs to set the rules to ensure they’re followed.

    CTE has been diagnosed in people as young as 17, but symptoms usually don’t appear until years later.

    In 2019, about 15% of all US high school students reported one or more sports- or recreation-related concussions in the previous year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Boys’ football, girls’ soccer and boys’ ice hockey were the sports with the highest concussion rates, according to the study.

    Buckland said what’s most needed is a shift in attitudes, so that it’s no longer encouraged or even acceptable to expose children to activities where repeated head injuries are part of the game.

    “It’s more than just a medical problem, it’s a sociological problem, as well. How do we change society? I think in the long run, it’ll be like smoking. (Stopping) smoking has taken generational change, and I think that’s what we’re looking at here.”

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  • Jesse Malin reveals he had rare spinal stroke that left him paralyzed | CNN

    Jesse Malin reveals he had rare spinal stroke that left him paralyzed | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Jesse Malin is a rocker well known for dancing and interacting with the crowds at his concerts, and he hopes to get back to that someday.

    But after experiencing a rare spinal cord stroke, Malin is currently paralyzed from the waist down.

    Malin told Rolling Stone that weeks after performing at New York’s famed Webster Hall in honor of the 20th-anniversary celebration of his solo debut “The Fine Art of Self Destruction” in March, he collapsed while out to dinner with friends to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of his best friend and former D Generation bandmate, Howie Pyro.

    Malin said he felt pain in his lower back that traveled to his heels before he found himself on the floor unable to move

    “Everybody was standing above me like in ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ saying all these different things, and I was there not knowing what was going on with my body,” he said.

    According to the National Institute Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a spinal cord infarction “is a stroke within the spinal cord or the arteries that supply it. It is caused by arteriosclerosis or a thickening or closing of the major arteries to the spinal cord.”

    Malin was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and talked to Rolling Stone from a New York University rehab facility where he is currently undergoing therapy.

    “This is the hardest six weeks that I’ve ever had,” he told the magazine.

    “I’m told that they don’t really understand it, and they’re not sure of the chances,” he said. “The reports from the doctors have been tough, and there’s moments in the day where you want to cry, and where you’re scared. But I keep saying to myself that I can make this happen. I can recover my body.”

    Malin’s manager David Bason and friends launched a fund on Wednesday to help pay for expenses as the singer is currently struggling financially since he can’t work.

    Malin said he has mixed feelings about having to receive help, despite the fact that he has fundraised for others in the past who have also gone through similar challenges.

    “I always felt that we have a voice with these microphones and with these guitars and with these venues to help each other out. But it’s very hard for me to take back and be that person,” he said. “I don’t want to be a burden, but I’m learning. Just laying here and not being able to walk, it’s very humbling.”

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  • Randy Cox, who was paralyzed after being transported in a New Haven police van, reaches $45M settlement with city, attorneys say | CNN

    Randy Cox, who was paralyzed after being transported in a New Haven police van, reaches $45M settlement with city, attorneys say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Randy Cox, the man who was paralyzed while authorities were transporting him handcuffed and without a seat belt in a police van, reached a $45 million settlement with the City of New Haven, his attorneys announced Saturday.

    The settlement marked the end of a civil lawsuit filed against the southern Connecticut coastal city after the June 2022 incident in which an abrupt stop in the back of a New Haven Police Department van caused Cox to be paralyzed from the chest down.

    The settlement marks the largest involving a police misconduct case in US history, according to Cox’s attorneys, Ben Crump, Louis Rubano and R.J. Weber.

    “The city’s mistakes have been well documented, but today is a moment to look to the future, so New Haven residents can have confidence in their city and their police department,” a joint statement from the attorneys read.

    “This settlement sends a message to the country that we know we must be better than this,” the attorneys said.

    New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said in a statement that the settlement was “an important and sobering part of this accountability process.”

    “While nothing can ever return Randy’s life to the way it was prior to this incident, we trust that this settlement will allow him to receive the support and medical care he needs to move forward,” Elicker said.

    Of the $45 million settlement funds, the city’s insurance will cover $30 million while the city will pay the remainder, according to a statement from Cox’s attorneys.

    The announcement came just days after four members of the New Haven Board of Police Commissioners voted to dismiss two of the five police officers – Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera – that were involved in the 2022 incident, which happened on Juneteenth – the annual celebration marking the end of slavery in the US.

    Cox’s attorneys said the decision on Wednesday to terminate Lavandier and Rivera “reflected a commitment to accountability and justice.”

    Lavandier’s attorney, Daniel Ford, called the dismissal “an absolute rush to judgment” in a statement to CNN.

    CNN has reached out to Rivera for comment.

    On June 19, 2022, the two officers, along with Oscar Diaz, Ronald Pressley and Sgt. Betsy Segui, transported Cox following his arrest on suspicion of illegally possessing a handgun, CNN previously reported.

    A handcuffed Cox can be seen in a video of the transport hitting his head on the van’s back wall as it came to a sudden stop.

    The charges against Cox were dropped in October 2022.

    The five officers involved pleaded not guilty in January and have not gone to trial, CNN affiliate WFSB reported.

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  • 11 more US troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after attacks in Syria last month | CNN Politics

    11 more US troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after attacks in Syria last month | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The military identified 11 additional cases of traumatic brain injury following a series of rocket and drone attacks on US troops in Syria in late March, according to a spokesman for US Central Command.

    The new cases bring the number of US personnel wounded in the attacks to a total of 25, including one US contractor who was killed at a facility in northeast Syria on March 23.

    “Our medical teams continue to assess and evaluate our troops for indications of [traumatic brain injury],” said Col. Joe Buccino, spokesman for CENTCOM.

    The series of attacks on US troops in Syria began March 23, when a suicide drone hit a facility near Hasakah in northeast Syria. The drone attack killed one US contractor and injured five US service members and another contractor, the military said at the time. The attack was attributed to militias affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

    In response, the US carried out a retaliatory airstrike against facilities used by IRGC-affiliated militias. In addition to destroying infrastructure, the attack killed eight militants, according to the Pentagon.

    One day later, the volatile situation escalated further when militant groups believed to be affiliated with Iran launched more attacks on US troops in Syria.

    A series of rockets were fired on US troops at Mission Support Site Conoco, injuring one service member. A short time later, three suicide drones targeted Green Village, another position with US troops. Two of the three drones were downed by air defense systems, while the third damaged a building but caused no injuries.

    One week after the attacks, the Pentagon said six service members had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, but cautioned the number may grow since symptoms develop over time.

    At the time, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder stressed that the US “will take all necessary measures to defend our troops and our interests overseas.”

    “We do not seek conflict with Iran,” he said, “but we will always protect our people.”

    Mild traumatic brain injury, or concussion, is one of the most common forms of traumatic brain injury among service members. But traumatic brain injuries can also be debilitating; veterans described symptoms of dizziness, confusion, headaches, and irritability after sustaining traumatic brain injuries, as well as changes in personality and balance issues.

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  • Louisville gunman’s brain to be studied for CTE, father says | CNN

    Louisville gunman’s brain to be studied for CTE, father says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The family of Connor Sturgeon – who was killed after he fatally shot five people Monday morning at the Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky – plans to have his brain tested for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, commonly known as CTE, his father and a spokesperson for the family told CNN on Thursday.

    “Yes, Connor is being tested for CTE. Probably will take a while to get results,” Todd Sturgeon, Connor Sturgeon’s father, texted to CNN.

    Pete Palmer, a family friend who is speaking for the Sturgeons, said the family and the state medical examiner are looking to have Connor Sturgeon’s brain tested.

    The medical examiner’s office has completed most of its tests, and the process of testing for CTE will now begin, Palmer said.

    CNN has reached out to the Kentucky state medical examiner for further information.

    CTE, a neurodegenerative brain disease, can be found in people who have been exposed to repeated head trauma. Studies have found that repetitive hits to the head – even without concussion – can result in CTE.

    According to Palmer, the family thinks Sturgeon had three significant concussions – two as an eighth-grade football player and one in basketball as a high school freshman.

    The disease, which can only be diagnosed with an autopsy and neuropathological exam, is pathologically marked by a buildup of tau protein in the brain that can disable neuropathways and lead to a variety of symptoms including memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, aggression, depression, anxiety, impulse control issues and sometimes suicidal behavior.

    Police have not released information about a motive in the shooting.

    The testing disclosure comes as more families are talking about their loved ones who were killed.

    The daughter of Juliana Farmer, one of the five who were killed, said Wednesday night her mother had just moved to Louisville two weeks prior for a new job at the bank.

    “This monster took away my mother, and I’m hurt because my mother moved here to help me, a single mom with four kids. I only got two weeks with her here in Louisville … a city she knew nothing about,” Alia Chambers told CNN. “I’m heartbroken. I hated him. I hated him but I forgive him because my mama is in a better place.”

    Farmer moved to Louisville from Henderson, Kentucky, and was thrilled to begin her role with Old National Bank as a loan officer.

    “My mom went from working at 19 years old at Kmart to sitting with executives at a bank. I’m gonna fulfill my mama’s dream. Either I’m going back to nursing school or I’m gonna ask them, can I take over her position at that bank,” she said. “She was so excited about that job. She was happy.”

    Farmer had three adult children and four grandsons, Chambers said.

    The day before she was killed, she found out her son, J’Yeon Chambers, was expecting a baby girl, he told CNN. The baby is due in September, the same month his mother was born.

    “And so it’s just crazy how she gets taken the day after we reveal that we’re having the baby. So my child is going to be her basically all over again,” her son said. “She gave us the name that she always wanted a girl to be named and we’re going to stick with it.”

    The new details come as CNN has learned more about the victims and wounded in Monday’s workplace mass shooting, including the survival of a woman who was seated between two people who were killed.

    Sturgeon, a 25-year-old Old National Bank employee, opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle in the bank about a half-hour before it was to open to the public, killing five colleagues before he was fatally shot by a responding officer. Farmer, Joshua Barrick, Tommy Elliott, Deana Eckert and James Tutt were shot and killed, police said.

    Of the eight people who were wounded, a 26-year-old police officer remains in critical condition after being shot in the head, requiring brain surgery.

    One woman who was shot but survived was seated in a conference room between Farmer and Elliott when the attack began, according to the father of her children, Rex Minrath.

    Dana Mitchell, an employee at the bank, has returned home from the hospital and is recovering, Minrath told CNN in a phone interview Thursday. She is expected to have surgery in the coming weeks to remove “the rest of the bullet,” he said.

    “Dana was in the conference room between Tommy and Juliana. She sat between those two,” Minrath told CNN. “And then when they hit the ground, they were all on the ground together. She is fortunate because both of them weren’t so lucky.”

    Mitchell’s son, Ross Minrath, posted a series of images and updates about his mother’s condition on his Facebook page this week.

    “After positive results from blood work and her being an all around badass, my Mom was released from the hospital today,” he wrote on Tuesday night. “She is very sore but doing well. Her phone has been at the bank and hopes to start reaching out herself tomorrow.”

    In one Facebook post, he said the gunshot bruised her lung and that doctors were able to clean the wound on her back. His mother, he added, “is the toughest I’ve ever known.”

    He thanked those who had reached out to the family with well wishes and asked for people to continue to send prayers for his mother.

    In addition, the first person who was shot inside the bank survived, a city official told CNN. In the shooter’s Instagram livestream of the attack, which has since been taken down, the female bank worker said “good morning” before the gunman warned her, “You need to get out of here,” according to an official familiar with the video.

    The woman had her back to the gunman as he struggled to get the safety off and load his AR-15-style weapon properly. He then shot her in the back, an official previously told CNN.

    beshear

    Gov. Beshear shares emotional memories of his friend killed in Louisville shooting

    At a vigil Wednesday evening, scores of residents and officials gathered to mourn publicly the employees gunned down at their workplace by a coworker.

    “It’s important that we take time to acknowledge those losses and what they mean for us as people and as a community,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said during the vigil at the Muhammad Ali Center Plaza. “So, that later we can gather our energies and focus on preventing these tragedies.”

    Greenberg noted the heartbreaking impacts of gun violence in his city beyond Monday’s carnage, which unfolded less than a mile from where the vigil was held Wednesday.

    “There will be a time to act. To take steps in honor of those we’ve lost and to channel our grief and pain into meaningful action. That day is coming,” the mayor continued. “Today is to mourn, to lean on each other and support each other.”

    Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at the vigil that Elliott, a senior vice president at the bank, was one of his closest friends.

    “I’ll admit that while I am not angry, I am empty. And I’m sad. And I just keep thinking that maybe we’ll wake up,” Beshear said, his voice breaking.

    “What I know is, I just wish I’d taken an extra moment, made an extra call, tell him how much I care about him. And I know we are all feeling the same. But I also know they hear us now. And that they feel our love,” Beshear said.

    Louisville Body Cam

    Video shows officers walking head-on into gunfire to stop Louisville shooter

    Louisville police on Wednesday released a series of 911 calls showing the fear and panic both inside and outside the bank during the shooting early Monday morning.

    In one emergency call, a woman who identified herself as an employee of a different Old National Bank branch told the dispatcher she saw the massacre happen in real time while she was on a video call with colleagues at the scene.

    “How do you know you have an active shooter on site?” the operator asked.

    “I just watched it. I just watched it on a Teams meeting. We were having a board meeting,” she said. “I saw somebody on the floor. We heard multiple shots and people started saying ‘Oh my God,’ and then he came into the board room.”

    Another 911 call came from the gunman’s mother, who said her son was headed to the bank with a gun and expressed her shock and confusion.

    “My son might be (redacted) has a gun and heading to the Old National on Main Street here in Louisville,” she said. “This is his mother. I’m so sorry, I’m getting details secondhand. I’m learning about it now. Oh my Lord.”

    The woman said her son “apparently left a note” about the incident. “We don’t even own guns. I don’t know where he would have gotten a gun.”

    Other calls came from a bank employee speaking in a whisper who was hiding in a closet, a man who fled the building and took shelter at a nearby dental office, and another caller who hid under a desk inside the building.

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  • US prosecutors tell family of Shanquella Robinson they won’t pursue charges in her death in Mexico | CNN

    US prosecutors tell family of Shanquella Robinson they won’t pursue charges in her death in Mexico | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Federal prosecutors told the family of Shanquella Robinson on Wednesday that the evidence they have isn’t enough for prosecution in Robinson’s death last year in Mexico, the US Attorneys’ Offices for the Middle and Western Districts of North Carolina said.

    Robinson, a 25-year-old former student at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, died in October while staying in a luxury rental property in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur.

    “Based on the results of the autopsy and after a careful deliberation and review of the investigative materials by both U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, federal prosecutors informed Ms. Robinson’s family today that the available evidence does not support a federal prosecution,” the US Attorneys’ Offices said in a release Wednesday.

    Family members are “very deeply disappointed” in the decision, but are “not deterred” and plan to continue to seek justice for Robinson, their attorney, Sue-Ann Robinson, said at a news conference.

    “Black and brown people always have to carve their own path to justice,” attorney Robinson said. Shanquella Robinson was a Black American from North Carolina.

    A copy of Shanquella Robinson’s death certificate, obtained by CNN affiliate WBTV, listed the cause of death as “severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation,” which is instability or excessive movement in the uppermost neck vertebrae. The document stated she was found unconscious in the living room of the rental residence on October 29.

    The death certificate classified Shanquella Robinson’s death as “accidental or violent,” noting that the approximate time between injury and death was 15 minutes.

    Video posted online appeared to show a physical altercation inside a room between Shanquella Robinson and another person. It’s not clear when the video was taken or if the video depicted the moment she suffered the fatal injury.

    At the time, Bernard Robinson confirmed to CNN it is his daughter seen in the video being thrown to the floor and beaten on the head.

    It’s unclear what led to the altercation or how many people were in the room at the time. It’s also unclear if anyone tried to intervene.

    The FBI conducted “a detailed and thorough investigation of the evidence” and worked with the Robinson family to conduct an autopsy in the United States by the Medical Examiner’s Office in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, the release said.

    Federal officials met with the Robinson family and representatives on Wednesday “to offer their condolences and present the findings of the federal investigation,” the release said.

    According to attorney Robinson, the family was told that the FBI interviewed Shanquella Robinson’s travel mates and “people who were in the house,” but did not specify how many people they interviewed.

    The US officials told the family that the autopsy, which was completed after Shanquella Robinson’s body had been embalmed and transported back to the US, revealed no spinal cord injury but did show swelling on her brain, although the cause of death is still said to be undetermined, the attorney said.

    The attorney criticized what she considered a delay on the part of US investigating agencies, saying they waited to investigate until after their own autopsy was conducted.

    “There was no swift action on this case. There was absolutely no urgency on the part of the US authorities,” Sue-Ann Robinson added.

    “If you wait ‘till five months after someone committed a crime… they would have the opportunity and time and space to delete text messages if that’s what they wanted to do, to talk to each other about the case,” the attorney said.

    Federal officials said they do not normally issue public statements about the status of an investigation, but in this case, they felt it was necessary because of the public concern surrounding the case.

    “It is important to reassure the public that experienced federal agents and seasoned prosecutors extensively reviewed the available evidence and have concluded that federal charges cannot be pursued,” the statement said.

    Prosecutors in Mexico said last year they were investigating Robinson’s death as femicide, a crime defined as the “intentional murder of women because they are women.” 

    In most countries, including the United States, femicide is not different from homicide in criminal law, but Mexico is among at least 16 countries that have included femicide as a specific crime.

    The family plans to hold a march to the State Department headquarters Washington, DC, on May 19, the 200th day since Shanquella Robinson’s passing, according to the family’s attorney.

    “The message cannot be that US citizens can go overseas and commit crimes against other US citizens and come back and say that they’re on base, that they’re safe, that they’re not gonna be arrested, that there’s gonna to be such a delay in the investigation that the evidence will have time to dissipate,” she said.

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  • US health officials aim to ‘transform’ Alzheimer’s disease research with $300 million data platform | CNN

    US health officials aim to ‘transform’ Alzheimer’s disease research with $300 million data platform | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The US National Institute on Aging is moving forward with efforts to build a real-world Alzheimer’s disease database as part of its aim to improve, support and conduct more dementia research.

    Last month, the agency, part of the National Institutes of Health, posted a notice of the grant for the six-year database project, setting its earliest start date as April 2024.

    The NIH confirmed Tuesday that plans are underway to fund the Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias’ real-world data platform.

    The National Institute on Aging intends to commit $50 million per year, starting in fiscal year 2024, to fund one award.

    The nonprofit Alzheimer’s Association is among those planning to apply for the grant.

    “The newly-announced NIA funding for a large-scale Alzheimer’s disease research database is truly exciting and a very important step forward for our field, and the Alzheimer’s Association will apply for that grant,” Maria C. Carrillo, Alzheimer’s Association chief science officer, said in an email Tuesday.

    “The Association is already leading ALZ-NET, which is a national network of physicians that is collecting data – including measures of cognition, function and safety – for patients treated with new FDA-approved Alzheimer’s treatments,” Carrillo said. “The NIA funding could expand ALZ-NET’s scope to the benefit of all stakeholders.”

    She added that the Alzheimer’s Association believes everyone should have access to treatments, regardless of their registration status.

    The real-world database “aims to transform” the Alzheimer’s disease research enterprise “by serving as a central hub of research access,” the National Institute on Aging said last week in its announcement of a webinar about the project that’s scheduled for April 19.

    According to the announcement, the aim of the data registry is to provide a comprehensive and diverse database that can “improve applicability and generalizability of findings,” be used as a tool for researchers and allow scientific questions to be answered more quickly.

    Last year, the National Institute on Aging convened an exploratory workshop to discuss gaps in real-world data and opportunities to expand real-world data sources for dementia research.

    Alzheimer’s disease, a brain disorder that affect memory and thinking skills, is the most common type of dementia, the NIH says.

    More than 6 million Americans are living with dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, and the number of people affected is projected to double in the next two decades, rising to 13 million in 2050.

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  • How these mice navigating a virtual reality game may help Alzheimer’s patients | CNN

    How these mice navigating a virtual reality game may help Alzheimer’s patients | CNN

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    Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.



    CNN
     — 

    Researchers in New York developed a virtual reality maze for mice in an attempt to demystify a question that’s been plaguing neuroscientists for decades: How are long-term memories stored?

    What they found surprised them. After forming in the hippocampus, a curved structure that lies deep within the brain, the mice’s memories were actually rooted through what’s called the anterior thalamus, an area of the brain that scientists haven’t typically associated with memory processing at all.

    “The thalamus being a clear winner here was very interesting for us, and unexpected,” said Priya Rajasethupathy, an associate professor at Rockefeller University and one of the coauthors of a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Cell this week. The thalamus “has often been thought of as a sensory relay, not very cognitive, not very important in memory.”

    This new research, however, indicates that it could play a vital role in converting short-term memories to long-term memories. And Rajasethupathy said that should make the thalamus a key area of study for researchers attempting to help patients who suffer from conditions such as Alzheimer’s, who are able to recall old memories but may have trouble remembering new information.

    “it implicates a part of the brain — the thalamus — in the long-term storage of memories in a way that wasn’t even hypothesized by anyone else,” said Loren Frank, a professor of physiology at the University of California San Francisco, who was not involved in the study.

    Rajasethupathy noted that neuroscientists have long known that memories take shape in the hippocampus, and is the focus of the vast majority of research around conditions like amnesia and Alzheimer’s.

    Past research has “led to this model where memories are formed in the hippocampus but then become independent over time and slowly stabilized in the cortex,” the wrinkled, outermost portion of the brain. The question has been exactly how memories travel from one area to another, Rajasethupathy said.

    “That process has been mysterious, I would say, for more than 50 years,” Rajasethupathy said.

    It was the right time for her lab to attempt to pinpoint an answer, she added, thanks to new technology that allowed the researchers to track activity in multiple parts of each subject’s brain. The innovations enabled the team to trace how memories are traveling as the mice learned to navigate a maze.

    “I think what they did was technically very challenging,” Frank said. “Particularly where they were trying to (observe) activity from multiple neurons in three different areas at once, using this sort of fiber microscopes. That’s a pretty state of the art thing.”

    The study — led by Rockefeller graduate students Andrew Toader and Josue Regalado, working inside Rajasethupathy’s lab — involved strapping the mice into a headpiece designed to hold them steady while a machine used optical fibers to record their brain activity.

    The maze took them into various “rooms” that offered either incentives, such as sugar water, or deterrents, like a puff of air to the face.

    The mice returned to the maze for days, enough time for them to create long-term memories.

    “The analogy would be your birthday dinner versus the dinner you had three Tuesdays ago,” Toader said in a statement. “You’re more likely to remember what you had on your birthday because it’s more rewarding for you—all your friends are there, it’s exciting—versus just a typical dinner, which you might remember the next day but probably not a month later.”

    Meanwhile, the researchers used chemicals to inhibit parts of the mice’s brains to determine how it affected their ability to create and store memories.

    Not only did they find that the anterior thalamus was a crucial waypoint for these memories — they also found that by stimulating that area in the rodents’ brains, the researchers were “able to help mice retain memories that they would usually forget,” according to a news release about the study.

    Rajasethupathy added, “Some memories are more important to us than others. We found that, not only do mice need the anterior thalamus to consolidate memories, but that by activating it, we could enhance consolidation of a memory that mice would usually forget.”

    Rajasethupathy noted that there were some limitations to the study. It does not, for example, indicate that traveling through the anterior thalamus is the only route memories can take on their way to long-term storage.

    “I want to be clear that this is not the end all be all,” she said. “Maybe everything isn’t consolidated through this pathway. But I’m very confident this is one very important circuit.”

    This study also relied on mice, who don’t have identical brains to humans but have proven to be extremely useful models for discovering how our own brains function. The long-term memory storage process takes weeks in rodents, whereas it can take months for humans, Rajasethupathy added.

    It’s also possible that different types of memory take different highways, she noted. There are explicit memories, which focus on facts, figures and specific data points, and implicit memories are typically tied to emotion and can form without a person realizing it. The thalamus may not be involved in the same manner for both types of information.

    But Frank, the UCSF professor, said the study will have broad implications for future research, spurring more investigations into the thalamus’ role in memory storage.

    “It’s nice for the field to getting to the point where we can think about the long-term evolution of memories and really try to understand how that works,” he said. “And the study is definitely a step in that direction.”

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  • McConnell treated for concussion after suffering fall at DC hotel | CNN Politics

    McConnell treated for concussion after suffering fall at DC hotel | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is being treated for a concussion and is staying at a hospital for observation after a fall at a hotel in Washington, DC, on Wednesday evening.

    “Leader McConnell tripped at a dinner event Wednesday evening and has been admitted to the hospital and is being treated for a concussion. He is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment,” David Popp, communications director for McConnell, said in a statement released Thursday afternoon.

    “The Leader is grateful to the medical professionals for their care and to his colleagues for their warm wishes,” the statement said.

    The fall happened at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, DC, which was formerly the Trump International Hotel, according to a source familiar with the matter.

    McConnell was attending an event for the Senate Leadership Fund, a McConnell-aligned super PAC, another source familiar with the matter said.

    The 81-year-old is the Senate’s longest-serving GOP leader, known for helping the party achieve key Republican priorities, including stocking the Supreme Court with conservative justices, passing Trump-era tax cuts and frequently thwarting Democrats’ legislative agenda.

    His hospitalization this week comes as the Senate is narrowly divided, with Democrats controlling the chamber by a 51-49 margin.

    Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Dianne Feinstein of California have also been hospitalized in recent weeks, with Fetterman seeking treatment for depression and Feinstein for shingles.

    Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have publicly sent McConnell well wishes.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer opened his floor remarks on Thursday by wishing McConnell a “speedy and full recovery” and noted that he called McConnell Thursday morning and spoke briefly with his staff.

    House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he and his fellow House Democrats were praying for a “swift and a full and a speedy recovery,” a sentiment echoed by Senate Minority Whip John Thune, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate.

    The minority leader previously fell at his Kentucky home in 2019, fracturing his shoulder.

    This story and headline have been updated with additional information.

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  • Person in Florida dies after brain-eating amoeba infection, possibly due to sinus rinse with tap water, health officials warn | CNN

    Person in Florida dies after brain-eating amoeba infection, possibly due to sinus rinse with tap water, health officials warn | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A person in Charlotte County, Florida, has died after being infected with the rare brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri.

    The infection possibly resulted from “sinus rinse practices utilizing tap water,” according to a news release from the Florida Department of Health in Charlotte County. The release was issued in February to alert the public about the infection.

    On Thursday, the department confirmed that the infected person has died and officials are continuing to investigate the case.

    “An Epidemiological investigation is being conducted to understand the unique circumstances of this infection. I can confirm the infection unfortunately resulted in a death, and any additional information on this case is confidential to protect patient privacy,” Jae Williams, press secretary for the Florida Department of Health, said in an emailed statement.

    Infection with Naegleria fowleri “can only happen when water contaminated with amoebae enters the body through the nose,” according to the department’s news release.

    The Florida Department of Health in Charlotte County warned residents to only use distilled or sterile water when making sinus rinse solutions. Tap water should be boiled for at least a minute and cooled before using it for sinus rinsing, which typically involves a neti pot.

    Tap water that has not been sterilized isn’t safe to use as a nasal rinse since it’s not adequately filtered or treated, and so it may contain low levels of microorganisms, such as bacteria and protozoa, including amoebas, according to the US Food and Drug Administration’s website. Yet people cannot be infected by drinking tap water, as stomach acid typically kills those organisms.

    Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba, a single-celled living organism, that can be found in soil and warm freshwater, such as lakes, rivers, and hot springs throughout the United States. Commonly called the “brain-eating amoeba,” it can cause brain infections, which typically happens when amoeba-containing water travels up through the nose, such as while swimming.

    According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about three people in the United States get infected each year, and these infections are usually deadly.

    From 1962 to 2021, only four out of 154 people in the United States survived a brain-eating amoeba infection, according to the CDC. Just last year, a boy died who was infected after swimming at Lake Mead, another child in Nebraska died who was infected after swimming, and a Missouri resident died with the infection after visiting a beach in Iowa.

    Signs and symptoms of infection are initially severe headaches, fever, nausea and vomiting and they can progress to a stiff neck, seizures, hallucinations, and coma. The infection is treated with a combination of drugs, including the antibiotic azithromycin, the antifungal fluconazole, the antimicrobial drug miltefosine and the corticosteroid dexamethasone.

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  • US intelligence community cannot link ‘Havana Syndrome’ cases to a foreign adversary | CNN Politics

    US intelligence community cannot link ‘Havana Syndrome’ cases to a foreign adversary | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The US intelligence community cannot link any cases of the mysterious ailment known as “Havana Syndrome” to a foreign adversary, ruling it unlikely that the unexplained illness was the result of a targeted campaign by an enemy of the US, according to a US intelligence assessment published on Wednesday.

    The latest conclusion comes years after the so-called syndrome first emerged and defies a theory that it could have been the result of a targeted campaign by an enemy of the US.

    The new assessment echoes an interim report from the CIA last year that found it unlikely that the “anomalous health incidents,” as they are formally known, were the caused by “a sustained worldwide campaign” by Russia or any other foreign actor.

    Wednesday’s assessment also goes further in finding that there is no credible evidence that a foreign adversary has a weapon or collection device that is capable of causing the mysterious incidents, US intelligence officials said.

    Officials also explained that the medical analysis has also evolved in a way that points away from adversarial involvement.

    “I can share with you that most IC agencies have now concluded that it is ‘very unlikely’ a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs. IC agencies have varying confidence levels because we still have gaps given the challenges collecting on foreign adversaries – as we do on many issues involving them,” said Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.

    The mysterious illness first emerged in late 2016, when a cluster of diplomats stationed in the Cuban capital of Havana began reporting symptoms consistent with head trauma, including dizziness and extreme headaches. In subsequent years, there have been cases reported around the world, including clusters of at least 60 incidents in Bogota, Colombia and Vienna, Austria. There have been about 1,500 reported cases across the US government in 96 different counties including some cases reported this year, officials said Wednesday, but the number of reported incidents has dropped significantly in the last year.

    The assessment, the result of the work of seven intelligence agencies, draws on the immense resources of the US intelligence community, including a review of hundreds of incidents and a wide range of factors surrounding them, officials explained.

    Wednesday’s assessment, however, does not provide definitive answers on or what caused the ailment that has sickened hundreds of US government personnel and family members worldwide.

    There is no one explanation for these incidents. Instead, there are many different possible causes including environmental as well as social factors and preexisting medical conditions, officials said.

    The assessment is likely to lead to further frustration among those impacted who have chastised the US government for not taking the condition seriously enough or slow-rolling the investigation.

    “There is something counterintuitive to all of this. If doctors are diagnosing some of us with a qualified injury to the brain in the line of duty and we are not saying it was a foreign adversary, what was it from?” said one former CIA agency officer who experienced symptoms.

    The intelligence community workforce was notified of the assessment on Wednesday, officials said. Sufferers were notified in recent days that the assessment was coming and some received a call from CIA Director Bill Burns, one source said.

    In a statement, Burns said the assessment is “one of the largest and most intensive investigations in the Agency’s history,” stating that it “reflects more than two years of rigorous, painstaking collection, investigative work, and analysis by IC agencies, including CIA.”

    “I want to be absolutely clear: these findings do not call into question the experiences and real health issues that US Government personnel and their family members – including CIA’s own officers – have reported while serving our country,” he said.

    The investigative efforts were “extremely aggressive” and involved “a high degree of risk,” one official explained. Intelligence officers vigorously studied what happened in the hours, days and weeks surrounding the incidents, the official explained.

    In some instances they found malfunctioning HVAC systems, which can cause discomfort to humans, and in other cases there were computer mice that created surprising disruptions.

    “We weren’t finding what we expected to find,” said one of the US officials. “There is no one explanation for any of this.”

    There was also criminal activity that occurred around some of the incidents – such as the presence of weapons dealers. But when intelligence officials chased those leads – by looking into the criminals’ past, their family and their travels – they found no connection to the mysterious health incidents.

    Officials even considered extraterrestrials as a cause, but found no linkage, they said.

    Officials said that evidence pointed against foreign involvement, including citing “confusion” on the topic among key adversaries.

    On the whole, officials did not find evidence to validate one of their incoming assumptions that one or more state actor was causing the incidents, they explained.

    There is nothing to indicate that these incidents were the result of an insider attack, the officials said. The officials would not discuss if the US has a weapon that could have caused these incidents.

    The findings also follow a report from a panel of experts last year – including scientists inside and outside of government – that found that “pulsed electromagnetic energy” emitted by an external source could have “plausibly” caused the mysterious incidents. While the latest intelligence assessment doesn’t count out that possibility completely, it appears to cast doubt on it by concluding that no US adversary has the plausible weapon or mechanism that would be needed for that to happen.

    US officials said that one of the lessons learned from the investigation was that the US government needs to do a better job looking after the health and safety of the workforce.

    Over the last year, the CIA and the State Department began providing compensation to victims whose symptoms required at least a year of medical assistance. Compensation efforts are “separate and distinct” from the intelligence assessment and will continue to be implemented, officials said.

    Following the release of the assessment, administration officials were clear that support would continue.

    “We are going to continue to see to it that our colleagues who report these incidents are treated with respect and compassion, receive timely access to medical care and we’ll continue to process Havana Act payments based on the eligibility criteria that’s been spelled out in the law,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

    However, the future of the US government’s probe into these incidents is a bit murky.

    Officials would not definitively say if the intelligence community’s task force devoted to this effort would stay up and running, but Haines said that the work “will and must endure.” The Pentagon also has a team of experts that continues to investigate the matter.

    This story has been updated with additional information.

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  • NBA star James Harden speaks with hospitalized Michigan State student paralyzed in mass shooting | CNN

    NBA star James Harden speaks with hospitalized Michigan State student paralyzed in mass shooting | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden spoke via video call Wednesday with John Hao, a fan of Harden’s and one of the Michigan State University students wounded in a mass shooting on campus last week.

    A video shared with CNN by Harden’s management team shows the NBA star giving words of encouragement to Hao, who remains hospitalized.

    “Everything will work itself out. You’re strong,” Harden says during their conversation. “Keep pushing and keep fighting.”

    Hao was among those shot at Michigan State’s campus in East Lansing on February 13. The shooting killed three students and wounded at least five others, officials said.

    A bullet severed Hao’s spinal cord and critically injured his lungs, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down, according to a verified GoFundMe started for his family.

    Hao is pursuing a career in sports management, and Harden is his favorite basketball player, a representative of Hao’s family told CNN. Gifts from Harden to Hao include a pair of game-worn sneakers.

    CNN has sought comment from Harden’s agent and the 76ers.

    Classes and athletic events have resumed at Michigan State. In its first home game since the shooting, the men’s basketball team claimed an emotional victory over the Indiana Hoosiers on Tuesday, as the crowd wore white to honor those lost or wounded.

    The US has had more than 80 mass shootings in 2023 as of Thursday, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that defines mass shootings as those in which four or more people were shot, not including the shooter.

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  • With a little ‘tickle,’ a new technology gives hope to stroke patients with paralysis | CNN

    With a little ‘tickle,’ a new technology gives hope to stroke patients with paralysis | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    For nearly a decade, Heather Rendulic hasn’t been able to use her left hand to feed herself or pick up something as light as a soup can – but that changed when she became part of a clinical trial that could radically improve the lives of people who’ve been paralyzed after a stroke.

    The results of that trial were published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.

    Rendulic has a rare brain disease called cavernous angioma, a blood vessel abnormality that can cause stroke. She had series of them – five total – over a period of 11 months when she was just 22 years old that left her paralyzed on her left side.

    “The most challenging part of my condition is living one-handed in a two-handed world,” the Pittsburgh resident said.

    A stroke cuts off the blood supply to the brain, and cells start to die within minutes. A person can have paralysis if the stroke damages the part of the brain that sends messages to trigger muscles to move.

    Rendulic eventually regained some function on her left side, but she was still unable to use a fork or make a fist with that hand.

    In 2021, as a part of a joint project between the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, researchers implanted a pair of thin metal electrodes along her neck.

    Doctors already use spinal cord stimulation technology to treat persistent pain. Research has shown that the technology could be used to restore leg movement after a spinal cord injury, but hand movements are a little trickier. A hand that functions properly has a unique kind of dexterity and a wide range of motion.

    For the trial, scientists implanted electrodes along the surface of the spinal cord that look like strands of spaghetti. The electrodes give tiny impulses that stimulate specific regions and activate nerve cells inside the spinal cord.

    “The sensory nerves from the arm and hand send signals to motor neurons in the spinal cord that control the muscles of the limb,” said study co-author Dr. Douglas Weber, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Neuroscience Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. “By stimulating these sensory nerves, we can amplify the activity of muscles that have been weakened by stroke. Importantly, the patient retains full control of their movements: The stimulation is assistive and strengthens muscle activation only when patients are trying to move.”

    This technology could work with a wide range of patients, the researchers said.

    Rendulic said the stimulation feels “kind of like a tickle.” It’s never painful, but it takes a little getting used to.

    As tiny black plastic boxes light up and flashing green lights travel up and down her arm, the device allows motion that would have been unthinkable years ago.

    Even on the first day, she had a new range of movement. She didn’t have to be shown how to open the hand or reach the arm, the researchers said. For more complex tasks, a little training was needed.

    “When the stimulation is on, I feel like I now have control of my arm and my hand again that I haven’t had in over nine years,” she said.

    Rendulic can lift her arm above her head, use a fork to bring food to her mouth, and fully open and close her fist. The other person participating in the trial had similarly promising results.

    At one point during the trial, Rendulic picked up a soup can and released it on a marked spot on a board. The lab around her erupted in cheers, and she pumped her other arm in the air in triumph.

    “It’s just awesome,” she said.

    The researchers got another pleasant surprise, too: “We found that after a few weeks of use, some of these improvements endure when the stimulation is switched off, indicating exciting avenues for the future of stroke therapies,” said study co-author Dr. Marco Capogrosso, an assistant professor of neurological surgery at Pitt.

    This means even after the device is removed, with some intense physical training, subjects may have long-term improvements, the researchers said.

    No treatments are considered effective for treating paralysis six months or more after a stroke, in what doctors call the chronic stage.

    The stimulation technology needs to be tested further, but it has great potential, the researchers said.

    And it may fill a growing need. Doctors predict that 1 in every 4 people over the age of 25 will have a stroke in their lifetime, and many will develop some kind of paralysis, according to the World Stroke Organization.

    “Creating effective neurorehabilitation solutions for people affected by movement impairment after stroke is becoming ever more urgent,” said study co-author Dr. Elvira Pirondini, an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Pitt.

    “Even mild deficits resulting from a stroke can isolate people from social and professional lives and become very debilitating, with motor impairments in the arm and hand being especially taxing and impeding simple daily activities, such as writing, eating and getting dressed.”

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  • House investigation says FDA approval process of Alzheimer’s drug was ‘rife with irregularities’ | CNN

    House investigation says FDA approval process of Alzheimer’s drug was ‘rife with irregularities’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A congressional investigation found that the US Food and Drug Administration’s “atypical collaboration” to approve a high-priced Alzheimer’s drug was “rife with irregularities.”

    The report, released Thursday, was the result of an 18-month investigation by two House committees. It is sharply critical of Biogen, maker of the medication Aduhelm.

    The report says Biogen set an “unjustifiably high price” for Aduhelm to “make history” for the company, and thought of the drug as an “unprecedented financial opportunity.” Biogen priced Aduhelm at $56,000 per year, even though its actual effects on a broad patient population were unknown.

    More than 6.5 million people in the US live with Alzheimer’s, and that number is expected to grow to 13.8 million by 2060, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. There is no cure, and effective treatments are extremely limited. Before Aduhelm’s approval in June 2021, the FDA had not approved a novel therapy for the condition since 2003.

    The investigation found that Biogen planned an aggressive marketing campaign to launch the drug, intending to spend more than $3.3 billion on sales and marketing between 2020 and 2024 – more than 2½ times what it spent to develop Aduhelm.

    Dementia, including Alzheimer’s, is one of the “costliest conditions to society,” according to the Alzheimer’s Association. In 2022 alone, Alzheimer’s and other dementias cost the US $321 billion, including $206 billion in Medicaid and Medicare payments, the association says.

    Aduhelm’s cost to patients and to Medicare would be significant, the new report says. It was one of the key factors behind a big increase in Medicare premiums in 2022, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

    In anticipation of “pushback” from providers and payers, the report says, Biogen also prepared a narrative to sell the value of the drug.

    The Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Committee on Energy and Commerce found that the collaboration between the FDA and Biogen in the approval process of the drug “exceeded the norm in some respects.”

    Biogen had initially discontinued Aduhelm’s clinical trials in March 2019 after an independent committee found that it probably would not slow the cognitive and functional impairment – the decline in memory, language and judgment – that comes with Alzheimer’s. But in June 2019, the FDA and Biogen started a “working group” to see whether the effort could be saved.

    The investigation found that the FDA and Biogen engaged in at least 115 meetings, calls and substantive email discussions from July 2019 to July 2020, including 40 meetings to guide Aduhelm’s potential approval. There may have been even more meetings, but the committees say the FDA failed to follow its own documentation protocol.

    The agency then collaborated with Biogen to draft a document used to brief an independent advisory committee that met in November 2020. The trial results were mixed, with only one showing a small benefit to patients.

    At that meeting, none of the committee’s members voted to say that the studies presented strong evidence that the drug was effective at treating Alzheimer’s.

    The meeting was unusual, according to one former FDA adviser who had sat on the committee for several years. Dr. Aaron Kesselheim told CNN in 2021 that the relationship between the FDA and the company was out of the ordinary.

    “There was a strange dynamic compared to the other advisory committee meetings I’ve attended,” the professor at Harvard Medical School said. “Usually, there’s some distance between the FDA and the company, but on this one, the company and the FDA were fully in line with each other in support of the drug.”

    When the FDA approved the drug, Kesselheim and two other members of the advisory committee resigned in protest. He later labeled it “probably the worst drug approval decision in recent US history.”

    The FDA often follows the independent committee’s recommendations, but in this case, it changed course and used its accelerated approval pathway, which sets a different standard of proof that a treatment could work.

    The committee members said senior FDA leadership told them that the shift in how the drug would be approved came after an FDA expert council meeting in April 2021 provided “unfavorable feedback” for the traditional approval process, according to the new report.

    The FDA also approved the drug for “people with Alzheimer’s disease,” a far broader population than was studied in Biogen’s clinical trials.

    Internal documents from the company said that Biogen accepted this broader indication “despite internal reservations about the lack of evidence of clinical benefit for patients at disease stages outside of the clinical trials and an unknown safety profile,” the report says. Leaders expressed concern that the company could lose credibility, and it developed a communications strategy to deal with the “anticipated fallout,” the report says.

    The committees recommended that the FDA document all of its meetings with drug sponsors, establish a protocol for briefing documents and advisory committees, and update its guidance for how Alzheimer’s drugs are developed and reviewed.

    The committees also recommended that companies clearly communicate safety and efficacy concerns to the FDA and consider the value assessments made by outside experts when setting drug prices.

    “The American people rely on FDA for assurance on the safety and efficacy of the medications they take. The number of patients and families impacted by Alzheimer’s disease will continue to increase, and it is crucial that FDA and drug companies adhere to established procedures and conduct themselves with the transparency necessary to earn public trust,” the report says.

    The FDA said in a statement that its “decision to approve Aduhelm was based on our scientific evaluation of the data contained in the application, which is described in the approval materials.”

    The agency says it is reviewing the committees’ findings and recommendations and says its own review found that the interactions with Biogen were appropriate.

    “It is the agency’s job to frequently interact with companies in order to ensure that we have adequate information to inform our regulatory decision-making. We will continue to do so, as it is in the best interest of patients. That said, the agency has already started implementing changes consistent with the Committee’s recommendations.”

    Biogen said in a statement Thursday that it has been working “cooperatively” with the investigation.

    “Biogen has been committed to researching and developing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease for more than a decade. We have been focused relentlessly on innovation to address this global health challenge, and have adapted to both successes and setbacks,” it said. “Biogen stands by the integrity of the actions we have taken.”

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  • Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered concussion on Sunday, head coach says | CNN

    Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered concussion on Sunday, head coach says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a concussion against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, head coach Mike McDaniel said on Wednesday.

    McDaniel told reporters Tagovailoa’s status for Sunday’s game at the New England Patriots is uncertain and that the team is moving forward with Teddy Bridgewater as the starter.

    The 24-year-old Tagovailoa, who was diagnosed with his second concussion this season, is improving and is at the team’s practice facility on Wednesday, according to McDaniel.

    “He’s better than yesterday,” McDaniel said. “Beyond that, I feel like it’s weird to extrapolate beyond good, which is what he tells me.”

    McDaniel on Monday announced Tagovailoa was in the concussion protocol, a day after the quarterback played the entire game against the Packers. The coach could not pinpoint a moment in the game where Tagovailoa might have been injured.

    It was the second time this season the quarterback landed in the concussion protocol – the league’s policies for assessing and caring for players who sustain a concussion.

    McDaniel on Wednesday said that when he and other coaches reviewed game film on Monday they “had some questions” about Tagovailoa’s health, so the head coach urged the quarterback to see team doctors.

    Tagovailoa started the game well, throwing for 229 yards and a touchdown in the first half. It was a different story in the second half with Tagovailoa throwing interceptions on three consecutive drives to end the team’s 26-20 loss.

    “There were some things that caused us to really prod,” McDaniel told reporters Wednesday. “As a result, we felt like he needed to see medical professionals.”

    An NFL spokesperson said Wednesday the league and the NFL Players Association are reviewing “the application of the concussion protocol” in Tagovailoa’s latest case.

    “We welcome that review, and as we have done previously, we will report the results in conjunction with the NFLPA,” the NFL’s Brian McCarthy said.

    Tagovailoa was diagnosed with a concussion on September 29 after being sacked in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Tagovailoa laid motionless on the field for several minutes before he was placed on a backboard and stretcher. He missed the team’s next two games.

    That concussion came just days after Tagovailoa suffered an apparent head injury and was later allowed to continue playing in a game against the Buffalo Bills on September 25.

    Despite assurances it was actually a back injury, the NFLPA initiated a review into the handling of that case, and the union and the NFL subsequently agreed to update the concussion protocol.

    McDaniel on Wednesday was non-committal on shutting down Tagovailoa for the season even if he is cleared to play again.

    “I will do what the medical experts advise me to do, and I’m sure they’re not going to advise me in the wrong direction when it comes to his health,” McDaniel said.

    “I’m not going to go in direct conflict with what the doctors have told me to do which is to worry one day at a time. … His health is the first, foremost and only priority.”

    With a record of 8-7 and a playoff spot on the line, the Dolphins close out the season at the Patriots and then host the New York Jets on January 8.

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  • Chris Hemsworth receives ‘strong indication’ of a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s disease while filming new show | CNN

    Chris Hemsworth receives ‘strong indication’ of a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s disease while filming new show | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Chris Hemsworth embarked on a personal and physically demanding journey for his new series “Limitless” that ultimately led to a sobering discovery.

    The “Thor” actor, 39, learns in one episode of the limited Disney+/National Geographic series – which shows him exploring ways to enhance his longevity and combat aging – that he has two copies of the APOE4 gene, one from each of his parents, meaning he has a heightened predisposition for developing Alzheimer’s disease.

    “They took all my bloodwork and did a bunch of tests and the plan was to on-camera tell me all the results and then talk about how you can improve this and that,” Hemsworth shared with Vanity Fair in an article published on Thursday. “And Peter Attia, who is the longevity doctor in that episode, and overseeing a lot of the show, called [“Limitless” creator] Darren [Aronofsky] and said, ‘I don’t want to tell him this on camera. We need to have an off-side conversation and see if he even wants this to be in the show.’ It was pretty shocking because he called me up and he told me.”

    Upon learning the news, Hemsworth said he “had a bunch of questions,” later adding that he “didn’t really know what to think. I was like, ‘Am I supposed to be worried? Is this concerning?’”

    He also said that the show then “became even more relevant and important for me, even more poignant than I ever thought it would be,” adding that APOE4 is “not a pre-deterministic gene, but it is a strong indication. Ten years ago, I think it was more thought of as determinant.”

    The new information, which Hemsworth said makes him “eight to 10 times more likely” to eventually develop Alzheimer’s disease, naturally caused him to reflect on death and his own mortality.

    “There was an intensity to navigating it. Most of us, we like to avoid speaking about death in the hope that we’ll somehow avoid it,” he told Vanity Fair. “We all have this belief that we’ll figure it out. Then to all of a sudden be told some big indicators are actually pointing to this as the route which is going to happen, the reality of it sinks in.”

    “Limitless,” which shows the Marvel star engaging in various stunts and practices to prolong and enhance his life, in fact deals with facing death in the final episode.

    “I think that’s my favorite episode. That’s where I worked with the death doula and people who worked in palliative care and end of life care and then spoke to a number of people who were at the end of their days or coming upon them – even younger people that were diagnosed with cancer and didn’t have long to live,” he shared.

    “Doing an episode on death and facing your own mortality made me go, ‘Oh God, I’m not ready to go yet,’” he later added. “I want to sit and be in this space with a greater sense of stillness and gratitude. And then you start talking about kids and family and going, ‘Oh my God, they’re getting older, they’re growing up and I keep slapping another movie on top of another movie.’ Before you know it, they’re 18 and they’ve moved out of house, and I missed the window.”

    In preparing the show for air, Hemsworth also mentioned that he was “offered a version of the episode where we didn’t talk about [his discovered genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s],” but that the prospect of helping others helped him to get over any hesitation.

    “I thought, ‘No, look, if this is a motivator for people to take better care of themselves and also understand that there are steps you can take – then fantastic.’ My concern was I just didn’t want to manipulate it and overdramatize it, and make it into some sort of hokey grab at empathy or whatever for entertainment.”

    Hemsworth, who most recently appeared as the MCU’s God of Thunder in his fourth solo outing in this summer’s “Thor: Love and Thunder,” is next set to appear in another sequel, next year’s “Extraction 2.” He is also wrapping up a yet-to-be-revealed role in 2024’s “Furiosa,” costarring Anya Taylor-Joy, set in the universe of “Mad Max.”

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  • New York City announces its largest fentanyl seizure in history, eclipsing record bust from last month | CNN

    New York City announces its largest fentanyl seizure in history, eclipsing record bust from last month | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Days after federal officials announced the largest fentanyl seizure in New York City history, an even greater quantity of the highly addictive substance has been found, authorities say.

    Two people have been arrested and charged with multiple drug and firearm charges in connection to the seizure on October 7 at a Bronx apartment building, prosecutors said in a news release.

    Authorities found roughly 300,000 rainbow-colored fentanyl pills inside two closets in the apartment, and more than 22 pounds of the drug in powdered form were wrapped in clear plastic packaging in multiple rooms, according to the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York. The total sum of the drugs is worth about $9 million in street value, officials said.

    The historic seizure saved lives, according to DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino.

    “Hundreds of thousands of lethal pills were lying in wait in a Bronx apartment to be unleashed onto our streets. In today’s world, the potential to overdose is dangerously high,” Tarentino said. “There is no quality control in these fake pills and it only takes two milligrams of fentanyl to be lethal.”

    The seizure comes after federal officials announced last week that a woman has been charged with concealing about 15,000 rainbow-colored fentanyl pills in a Lego box as part of a drug trafficking scheme in September. That seizure at the time was also deemed the largest of fentanyl in New York City’s history.

    Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s highly addictive. It can be up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, the US Centers for Disease Prevention and Control said.

    Rainbow fentanyl comes in bright colors and can be used in pill form or powder.

    “Rainbow fentanyl is the latest threat we face in our fight against the opioid epidemic that sadly continues to ravage our communities – a multi-colored poison specifically designed to attract younger users,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said.

    And as Halloween nears, officials have been warning families to be especially vigilant regarding their children’s candy before they consume it.

    The dangerous drug has been a major driver of fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the US as well as the opioid epidemic.

    Although there has been a slight decrease in recent months in drug overdose deaths, the numbers remain high. About 108,000 people died of a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending May 2022 – which is down from the record high of more than 110,000 deaths reported in the 12-month period that ended March 2022, CDC provisional data published Wednesday shows.

    The latest overdose death figure remains 32% than it was two years earlier and higher than any other period before November 2021, according to the CDC data. Synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, were involved in more than two-thirds of deaths in the 12-month period ending May 2022, and psychostimulants were involved in nearly a third.

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  • NFL players’ union terminates neurotrauma consultant involved in evaluation of Dolphins’ player concussion, reports say | CNN

    NFL players’ union terminates neurotrauma consultant involved in evaluation of Dolphins’ player concussion, reports say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The National Football League Players Association has terminated the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant who was involved in the evaluation of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for a concussion during their game against the Buffalo Bills last Sunday, according to multiple reports, including from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, citing unnamed sources.

    The unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant was terminated after it was found they made “several mistakes” in their evaluation, according to ESPN, citing an unnamed source.

    CNN has reached out to the NFLPA but did not immediately receive a response.

    The National Football League and the NFLPA released a joint statement on Saturday, saying that while the investigation into the handling of Tagovalioa’s concussion protocols remain ongoing, both sides have agreed that updates to the protocols are required.

    The NFL and NFLPA said they “anticipate changes to the protocol being made in the coming days based on what has been learned thus far in the review process.”

    On Sunday, the NFLPA told the league it would initiate a review into the handling of Tagovailoa’s apparent head injury. The NFL later confirmed to CNN that a joint investigation would take place.

    In the Dolphins’ 21-19 win over the Buffalo Bills, Tagovailoa was knocked out of the game briefly in the second quarter after a hit by Bills linebacker Matt Milano forced the back of his helmet to hit the turf. The 24-year-old third-year quarterback got up stumbling and was taken to the locker room for a concussion check. Milano was flagged for a roughing the passer penalty.

    The Dolphins initially announced Tagovailoa was questionable to return to the game with a head injury but came back out onto the field in the third quarter and finished the game throwing for 186 yards and a touchdown.

    Tagovailoa told reporters after the game that he fell onto his back before his head hit the turf causing his back to lock up and the stumbling. He added that he was evaluated for a concussion but was ultimately cleared.

    “The adrenaline kept me going,” Tagovailoa added.

    Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel alluded to a back injury after the game, saying that Tagovailoa back got “bent” on an earlier play but the hit “loosened his back” causing his legs to get wobbly. McDaniel added that Tagovailoa told him that his back was like “Gumby.”

    The NFL and Dolphins are under scrutiny for the decision to allow Tagovailoa to play another game on Thursday.

    Tagovailoa was sacked by Cincinnati Bengals defensive lineman Josh Tupou in the second quarter of that game and lay motionless on the field for several minutes. The entire Dolphins sideline walked onto the field as he was placed on a backboard and stretcher before being taken to the hospital. Bengals fans in attendance at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati showed their respect as Tagovailoa was carted off the field.

    In a statement Thursday night, the NFLPA said player health and safety were at the “core” of their mission.

    “Our concern tonight is for Tua and we hope for a full and speedy recovery,” it said. “Our investigation into the potential protocol violation is ongoing.”

    McDaniel told reporters on Friday that Tagovailoa was in concussion protocol after Thursday’s but gave no timetable for his return to the field.

    Video showed Tagovailoa’s forearms were flexed and his fingers contorted – a sign that CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon, said is a “fencing response” and can be linked to a brain injury.

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