Retinal screening for Alzheimer’s disease

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A technology that originated at the University of Minnesota is well on its way to commercialization thanks to an investment award from Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF).

The investment of up to $500,000 was awarded through the ADDF’s Diagnostics Accelerator initiative. Toronto, Ontario-based RetiSpec licensed through the University of Minnesota’s Technology Commercialization program. The technology harnesses hyperspectral imaging and machine learning.

“We are focused on bringing to market a noninvasive, easy-to-use, screening technology that can change when and how we detect Alzheimer’s disease at its earliest stages including before a patient presents with symptoms,” said Eliav Shaked, CEO of RetiSpec. “Early detection provides an important window of opportunity for timely therapeutic interventions that can slow or even prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. ADDF’s investment represents another point of external validation of the promise of our technology.”

In preclinical studies and a pilot human study, the retinal imaging technology was effective in detecting small changes in biomarkers associated with elevated cerebral amyloid beta levels early in the disease process including before the onset of clinical symptoms.

RetiSpec is currently collaborating with Toronto Memory Program, Canada’s largest Alzheimer’s clinical trial site, to validate the accuracy and usability of the technology in patients.

“We believe that RetiSpec’s retinal scanner stands out and shows promise as a unique diagnostic tool among a range of technologies in development,” said Howard Fillit , MD, founding executive director and chief science officer of ADDF The technology has the potential to facilitate early diagnosis, improve the lives of patients and their loved ones and save the healthcare system money and resources. The technology will also be useful in making clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease more efficient.”

https://www.mddionline.com/feast-your-eyes-new-technology-early-alzheimers-screening

Bullied kids are more likely to develop mental health issues in their early 20s

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· Children who were bullied by siblings and peers are more likely to develop clinical depression, self-harm and think about suicide in their early twenties

· Children bullied at home and school had no safe place to escape bullying

· Education of parents and mental health professionals is needed to reduce sibling bullying, as in turn it could reduce peer bullying and lead to a decrease in issues later on in life

Depression, self-harm and suicidal ideation are more prominent in adults in their early twenties if they were bullied at home and at school, a study by researchers at the University of Warwick have found. Researchers stress that intervention is needed to educate people in bullying to reduce it.

Previous studies have identified that sibling bullying has an effect on mental health in adolescence, however researchers Professor Dieter Wolke and Dr. Slava Dantchev have now found children who were bullied by siblings and friends are more likely to harm themselves.

In the paper ‘The Independent and Cumulative Effects of Sibling and Peer Bullying in Childhood on Depression, Anxiety, Suicidal Ideation, and Self-Harm in Adulthood’ published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, researchers show there is a long shadow thrown by sibling bullying on self-harm, suicide attempts and depression at 24 years of age.

Using the Children of the 90s study, they were able to show that children who were bullied by siblings had more mental health issues in adulthood. If they were also bullied by peers this risk increased further.

The participants were asked to self-report bullying when they were 12 years old, whilst depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and self-harm were assessed at 24 years old.

Of 3,881 youths studied it was found that 31.2% experienced bullying by a sibling. Of those who both became victims and bullied siblings 15.1% were diagnosed with clinical depression, 35.7% experienced suicidal ideation and 16.1% self-harmed with a further 4.9% with the intent of suicide.

Those who experienced sibling bullying and peer bullying had double the odds of developing clinical depression and consider suicide.

Dr Slava Dantchev of the University of Warwick and the University of Vienna said: “This is the first study to show that being bullied by siblings has adverse effects on mental health into adulthood, when the siblings are not living together anymore. Those bullied at home are also more likely to be bullied by peers and have no save space at school or at home. This further increased their torment and affected their mental health”

Professor Dieter Wolke of the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick comments: “As sibling bullying often starts when children are young it will be important to educate and help parents to deal and reduce bullying between siblings in early childhood. This is an area which has been completely overlooked in mental health provision and parent support”

https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/children_bullied_by

How Fast You Walk Might Show How Fast You’re Aging

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By Dennis Thompson

Middle-aged folks who worry about healthy aging would do well to keep an eye on their walking speed.

Turns out that the walking speed of 45-year-olds is a pretty solid marker of how their brains and bodies are aging, a new study suggests.

Slow walkers appear to be aging more rapidly, said senior researcher Terrie Moffitt, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. They’ve lost more brain volume in middle-age than folks with a quicker walking pace, and also perform worse on physical and mental tests, she said.

“For those people who were slow walkers for their age group, they already had many of the signs of failing health that are regularly tested in a geriatric clinic,” Moffitt said.

In the study, middle-aged people who walked slower than 3.6-feet per second ranked in the lowest fifth when it comes to walking speed, and those are the individuals already showing signs of rapid aging, said Dr. Stephanie Studenski, a geriatrician with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

“It takes many body systems to have you walk well,” Studenski said. “It takes a good heart, good lungs, good nervous system, good strength, good musculoskeletal system and a variety of other things. Gait speed summarizes the health of all of your body’s systems.”

Gait speed tests are a standard part of geriatric care, and are regularly given to people 65 and older, Moffitt said.

“The slower a person walks, that is a good predictor of impending mortality,” Moffitt said. “The slower they walk, the more likely they will pass away.”

Moffitt and her colleagues suspected that gait tests might be valuable given at an earlier age, figuring that walking speed could serve as an early indicator of how well middle-aged people are aging.

To test this notion, the researchers turned to a long-term study of nearly 1,000 people born in a single year in Dunedin, New Zealand. These people have been tested regularly since their birth in 1972-1973 regarding a wide variety of medical concerns.

This group of study participants recently turned 45, and as they did, the research team tested their walking speed by asking each to repeatedly amble down a 25-foot-long electronic pad, Moffitt said.

Each person walked down the pad at their normal rate, and then again as fast as they could. They also were asked to walk as fast as possible while reciting the alphabet backward, Moffitt said.

All of the participants then were subjected to a battery of aging tests normally used in geriatric clinics.

In addition, they underwent an MRI brain scan to test the volume of their brains, since a shrinking brain has been linked to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

The participants also were given a variety of mental and physical tests. The physical tests involved things like balancing on one foot, standing up out of a chair as fast as they could, or gripping a monitor as tightly as they could to test hand strength.

“All these things are very subtle,” Moffitt said. “They’re not anything that would knock you over with a feather. You have to test them in order to find them.”

The findings showed that people who were in the lowest fifth for walking speed had signs of premature and rapid aging.

Studenski said, “It’s the bottom 20% that’s by far in bigger trouble than the others.”

The slower walkers also looked older to a panel of eight screeners asked to guess each participant’s age from a facial photograph.

The findings were published online Oct. 11 in JAMA Network Open.

A gait test could be an easy and low-cost way for primary care doctors to test how well middle-aged patients are aging, said Studenski, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study.

Doctors could place sensors at the beginning and end of a hallway, and test patients’ walking speed as they head down to the examination room, she added.

However, doctors would need to be taught how to interpret gait speed for middle-aged patients, the same way that geriatricians already are trained to interpret walking speed in seniors.

Middle-aged people with a slower gait could try to slow their aging by eating healthy, exercising, quitting smoking, and maintaining better control over risk factors like high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol, Studenski and Moffitt suggested.

An even better use of walking speed could be as an early test of drugs and therapies meant to counter dementia and other diseases of aging, Moffitt said.

These therapies usually are difficult to assess because researchers have to wait years for people to grow old and display the hoped-for benefits, she noted.

“They need something cheap and effective they can do now to evaluate these treatments,” Moffitt said. “If they give it to people and it speeds up their walking, we’ve really got something there.”

SOURCES: Terrie Moffitt, Ph.D., professor, psychology and neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, N.C.; Stephanie Studenski, M.D., MPH, geriatrician, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Oct. 11, 2019, JAMA Network Open, online

https://consumer.healthday.com/senior-citizen-information-31/misc-aging-news-10/how-fast-you-walk-might-show-how-fast-you-re-aging-751167.html

The False Connection Between Mass Violence and Mental Illness

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Andrew A. Nierenberg, MD

It is all too easy for politicians to, yet again, blame people with mental illness for the epidemic of mass shootings in the United States. It is also wrong.1 Study after study shows that those who live with serious mental illness are far more likely to be the victims of violence rather than the perpetrators.1 The narrative is, however, complicated because mental illness is associated with a statistically significant increase in violence, but accounts for only 4% of violent acts.2 In an FBI study of active shooters, 25% had a diagnosable psychiatric disorder and based on the literature determined that a psychiatric diagnosis was not a specific predictor of violence.3 In contrast, the group most likely to commit acts of mass violence are alienated young adult white males who have access to guns, especially high capacity automatic rifles. And if the cause is not mental illness in these young men, then what seems to be among the common variables? Alienation, isolation, rage in response to rejection or humiliation—especially by women, revenge after getting fired from a job, perceptions that one’s group is under attack (eg, that immigrants are taking over and threatening white control and white supremacy) or feeling screwed by the “system” magnified by social media, and sometimes a desire for fame or infamy.

To falsely blame those with mental illness for mass shootings is not only expedient, but leads to hollow calls for more facilities to lock up patients who have mental health challenges to protect the public; although it would be laudable to increase funding for psychiatric care and research, increases in funding rarely follow the hollow calls after a disaster. Rather than protecting the public, to blame the blameless leads instead to an increase in stigma for people who live with mental illness and their families.

To call those young men “sick” makes them “other” and confuses evil with illness. The argument goes that they must be sick to commit such heinous acts. But one does not need to have mental illness to act in ways that are vindictive, destructive, and evil. Then how can our society decrease the risk of these all too often mass shooting disasters? We cannot eliminate the conditions under which these men become enraged and violent. We can, however, restrict access to high capacity automatic rifles as was done in Australia in 1996, which led to a dramatic decline in mass shootings. As tragic and dramatic as mass shootings are, they account for a small fraction of the total deaths due to guns in the US; instead, two-thirds of all gun deaths are due to suicide and the risk of suicide by guns is higher than the risk of violence to others.4 This means that those who oppose reasonable gun control laws want people to have the right to go ahead and kill themselves.

To the politicians who oppose reasonable gun control laws, stop blaming people with mental illness and instead, consider banning automatic weapons as was done in Australia. And while you are at it, increasing funding for psychiatric care and research is still a good idea in and of itself.

References
Rozel JS, Mulvey EP. The link between mental illness and firearm violence: implications for social policy and clinical practice. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2017;13:445–469. doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093459 [CrossRef]28375722
McGinty EE. Mental illness and gun violence: disrupting the narrative. Psychiatr Serv. 2018;69:842–843. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201800172 [CrossRef]29921191
FBI.gov. A study of pre-attack behaviors of active shooters in the United States between 2000 and 2013. https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/pre-attack-behaviors-of-active-shooters-in-us-2000-2013.pdf/view. Accessed September 10, 2019.
Baumann ML, Teasdale B. Severe mental illness and firearm access: is violence really the danger?Int J Law Psychiatry. 2018;56:44–49. doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2017.11.003 [CrossRef]29701598
Authors

Andrew A. Nierenberg, MD, is the Thomas P. Hackett, MD, Endowed Chair in Psychiatry, the Director, Bipolar Clinic and Research Program, and the Director, Training and Education, MGH Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital; and a Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.

Address correspondence to Andrew A. Nierenberg, MD, via email: psyann@Healio.com.

A man saw a list of his town’s school lunch debt, and paid the entire bill.

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By Lauren M. Johnson

One man in Jupiter, Florida, decided that he could make a difference in his town by paying off the lunch debt for every child in the system. It all started with a Facebook post.

Angie Vyas-Knight, administrator of the “Jupiter Mamas” Facebook group, told CNN she was disgusted by national news stories about children who couldn’t afford to buy lunch at school. She asked the Palm Beach county school board for her district’s stats.

To spread awareness, she shared the list of nine schools’ outstanding lunch debt of $944.34. Weeks later, the list made its way to Jupiter real estate agent Andrew Levy.

Levy decided he wanted to do something about the list, and paid the balance for all 400 kids in full. He knew that the kids in debt would go without eating or simply get a cheese sandwich.

“I thought that’s crazy. Food is something you shouldn’t have to think about. Children shouldn’t learn hungry,” Levy told CNN affiliate WPEC.

But he isn’t stopping there. “I’m going to do either a GoFundMe page or a fundraising page that can raise money every quarter, so lunch debt never accumulates so that children never have to worry about a hot meal and parents never have to worry about paying the bill,” he said.

Sharing his small spark of kindness started a fire with those who found out about his personal initiative. Over 200 people offered to help on his Facebook alone. With their help, Levy can start to not only tackle the lunch debt of Jupiter but the greater debt of Palm Beach County.

A spokeswoman for the district told CNN that the total school lunch debt was around $50,000 for over 180,000 enrolled students.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/14/us/man-pays-off-school-debt-trnd/index.html

Alexei Leonov, who in 1965 was the first person to ever walk in space, has died.

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Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photo in 2013.

By Scottie Andrew

Alexei Leonov, the first person to perform a spacewalk, died this week. He was 85.

Russian space agency Roscosmos Space Corporation announced his passing Friday. State news agency RIA-Novosti reported he’d been chronically ill before his death.

Though Leonov wasn’t the first man on the moon (a goal he wasn’t shy about), he earned his own “first” in the space race between the US and Soviet Union. On March 18, 1965, he embarked on the first spacewalk, spending 12 minutes outside the Voskhod 2 capsule.

The first American to walk in space, Ed White, wouldn’t do so until June that same year.

On the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, Leonov met with US astronauts in space and gave TV viewers tours of their respective crafts, the first time Soviet and US cosmonauts collaborated in space. The mission is credited with kick-starting eventual international cooperation aboard the International Space Station.

Leonov was also a celebrated artist who brought colored pencils to space to sketch the view of Earth. His drawing of the sunrise is considered the first piece of art created in space.

His funeral will be held October 15 at Mytishchi Military Memorial cemetery outside Moscow.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/world/alexei-leonov-first-spacewalk-death-scn-trnd/index.html

Dog ownership may improve outcomes, reduce mortality risk after cardiovascular events

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Dog ownership was linked to improved outcomes after a major CV event and with a lower risk for death in the long term, according to two studies published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

“The findings in these two well-done studies and analyses build upon prior studies and the conclusions of the 2013 American Heart Association Scientific Statement ‘Pet Ownership and Cardiovascular Risk’ that dog ownership is associated with reductions in factors that contribute to cardiac risk and to cardiovascular events,” Glenn N. Levine, MD, professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, director of the cardiac care unit at Michael E. DeBakey Medical Center in Houston and chair of the writing group of the AHA’s scientific statement on pet ownership, said in a press release. “Further, these two studies provide good, quality data indicating dog ownership is associated with reduced cardiac and all-cause mortality.”

Study on Swedish patients

Mwenya Mubanga, MD, PhD, assistant undergoing research training in the department of medical sciences, molecular epidemiology at Uppsala University in Sweden, and colleagues analyzed data from 181,696 patients with MI (mean age, 71 years; 64% men) and 154,617 patients with stroke (mean age, 73 years; 55% men) between 2001 and 2012 from the Swedish National Patient Register. Patients were aged 40 to 85 years and did not have an event between 1997 and 2001. Information on dog ownership was collected from two dog registers, as dogs are required to be registered in Sweden since 2001.

Death was the main outcome that was assessed in this study. A secondary outcome included rehospitalization for the same event after 30 days.

Dog ownership accounted for 5.7% of patients with MI and 4.8% of those with stroke.

During 804,137 person-years of follow-up for patients with MI, dog owners had a reduced risk for death after hospitalization, which was seen in those who lived alone (adjusted HR = 0.67; 95% CI, 0.61-0.75) and those who lived with a partner or child (aHR = 0.85; 95% CI, 0.8-0.9).

Similar results were seen for patients with ischemic stroke during 638,219 person-years of follow-up. The adjusted HR for patients who owned a dog and lived alone was 0.73 (95% CI, 0.66-0.8) and 0.88 for those who owned a dog and lived with a partner or child (95% CI, 0.83-0.93).

Dog ownership was also associated with a reduced risk for hospitalization for recurrent MI (HR = 0.93; 95% CI, 0.87-0.99).

“One mechanism may be an increased motivation for engagement in consistent physical activity in dog owners, a factor regarded important in post-event recovery of cognition, arm function, balance and gait,” Mubanga and colleagues wrote. “Another explanation is reduced risk of depression, an important risk factor for death after myocardial infarction.”

Systematic review, meta-analysis

In another study from the same publication, Caroline K. Kramer, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the division of endocrinology and metabolism at University of Toronto, and colleagues performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of data from 3,837,005 participants from 10 studies published between 1950 and May 24, 2019.

Studies were included if they included original data of prospective observational studies, included patients older than 18 years, reported CV mortality or all-cause mortality and evaluated dog ownership at baseline.

During a mean follow-up of 10.1 years, there were 530,515 deaths.

There was a 24% risk reduction for all-cause mortality in participants who owned a dog compared with those who did not (RR = 0.76; 95% CI, 0.67-0.86). Six studies showed a significant reduction in the risk for death in participants who owned a dog.

Participants with prior coronary events who lived in a home with a dog had an even more pronounced reduction in the risk for all-cause mortality (RR = 0.35; 95% CI, 0.17-0.69; I2 = 0%). When the analyses were restricted to studies that evaluated CV mortality, there was a 31% risk reduction for CV death in participants who owned a dog (RR = 0.69; 95% CI, 0.67-0.71; I2 = 5.1%).

“Taken together, our meta-analysis suggests the need for further investigation of the potential for dog ownership as a lifestyle intervention that may offer significant health benefits, particularly in populations at high risk for cardiovascular death,” Kramer and colleagues wrote.

https://www.healio.com/cardiology/vascular-medicine/news/online/%7B32f1f7e0-a796-4e8b-8a0d-75c32fa1de7d%7D/dog-ownership-may-improve-outcomes-reduce-mortality-risk-after-cv-events?utm_source=selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cardiology+news&m_bt=1162769038120

Teacher writes own obituary before passing away at age 32

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A woman wrote her own obituary before passing away at the age of 32 after a brave battle with cancer.

Ashley Ann Kuzma began by saying, “When you have recurrent laryngeal cancer that just won’t take no for an answer, you have a lot of time to think about death. The good thing is I no longer have to worry about saving for retirement, paying off student loans, or trying not to get skin cancer??? One positive outcome from having recurrent cancer was that it taught me to let go of the insignificant things and to just enjoy the people and places.”

Kuzma said her body finally had enough after three recurrences of cancer. She passed away last month at the Cleveland Clinic.

She was a gifted teacher at a high school in Erie, Pennsylvania; and loved reading, cuddling with her cats and traveling.

Kuzma wrote that after she found out her cancer was back for the fourth time, she went to Mexico and saw Chichen Itza.

“I am extremely grateful for the life that I lived. I was fortunate to have a loving family, supportive friends, a stable and meaningful job, and a house to call my own. My wish for you is to stop letting insignificant situations stress you out. Do what is important to you. Relax and enjoy the company of those around you. What do you value in your life? In the end, that’s what matters.”

Kuzma’s family told Good Morning America they didn’t know she had written her obituary until they found it on her computer following her death.

Kuzma’s mom, Vicky, said, “When we found it we were like, ‘What do we do?’ and I said, ‘She wrote this. We have to publish this. ‘ This is her last message to us, how could we not?”

In her obituary, Kuzma asked that a celebration of life be held for her “since I think viewings are too sad for everyone.”

She also asked that donations be made to the Humane Society of Northwestern Pennsylvania (Erie Humane Society), Orphan Angels Cat Sanctuary & Adoption Center Erie, Pa., or Hope Lodge, Cleveland, Ohio.

Ashley Ann Kuzma
1987 – 2019
Ashley Ann Kuzma Obituary
When you have recurrent laryngeal cancer that just won’t take no for an answer, you have a lot of time to think about death. The good thing is I no longer have to worry about saving for retirement, paying off student loans, or trying not to get skin cancer??? One positive outcome from having recurrent cancer was that it taught me to let go of the insignificant things and to just enjoy the people and places. After three recurrences, my body finally had enough and I passed away on Sunday, September 22, 2019 at the Cleveland Clinic.

I was born on May 21, 1987 in Beaver County, Pa. I grew up in Conway and attended Freedom Area High School (class of 2005). I earned a Bachelor’s in History and Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh (class of 2009), where I also became a member of Kappa Delta Sorority. I completed my teaching certificate and Master of Education degree at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. After I graduated high school, my family moved to Erie. While I spent a few years teaching in Lancaster County, I returned to Erie to plant my roots and became a gifted support teacher at McDowell Intermediate High School. In my spare time, I enjoyed reading, cuddling with my cats, wine tasting, relaxing on my dad’s boat, watching movies, golfing, decorating my house, watching football (go Steelers!), appreciating a good sunset, and watching TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy, the original Will and Grace, and Friends. While in college I spent a semester abroad in London and was able to travel to Paris, France, Krakow, Poland (it had been a goal of mine to visit Auschwitz for many years), Milan, Venice, Florence, and Rome, Italy. Some of my favorite family vacations include experiencing the awe of the Grand Canyon and enjoying the sun, sand, and family time in the Outer Banks. After I found out my cancer was back for the fourth time, I went to Mexico and saw Chichen Itza. I am extremely grateful for the life that I lived. I was fortunate to have a loving family, supportive friends, a stable and meaningful job, and a house to call my own. My wish for you is to stop letting insignificant situations stress you out. Do what is important to you. Relax and enjoy the company of those around you. What do you value in your life? In the end, that’s what matters.

I am survived by my wonderful parents, John William Kuzma and Vicky Lynn (Barron) Kuzma of Fairview, Pa.; my sister, Kristen Marie Kuzma of Clinton, Pa.; our family dog, Lizzy; my cats, Archie and Stella; my maternal grandmother, Verda Ann (Durst) Barron of New Brighton, Pa.; and many aunts, uncles, cousins, and many friends.

I was preceded in death by my paternal grandparents, John Allen Kuzma and Dolores Marie (Gajewski) Kuzma; my maternal grandfather, Robert Eugene Barron; my childhood cat of 18 years, Sammy; our beloved family dog of 17 years, Dylan; and my cat, Leo.

Since I think viewings are too sad for everyone, I requested that my family host a celebration of my life. Please join them on Sunday, October 13, 2019 from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Perry Highway Hose Co. Oliver Rd., Erie, Pa. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Humane Society of Northwestern Pennsylvania (Erie Humane Society), Orphan Angels Cat Sanctuary & Adoption Center Erie, Pa., or Hope Lodge, Cleveland, Ohio.

This obituary was written by Ashley preceding her passing as part of the many preparations to make the transition easier on her family.

Sign the Guestbook at http://www.GoErie.com/obits.Sign the
Published in the Erie Times-News on Oct. 3, 2019

2,000 Atoms Exist in Two Places at Once in Unprecedented Quantum Experiment

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By Rafi Letzter

Giant molecules can be in two places at once, thanks to quantum physics.

That’s something that scientists have long known is theoretically true based on a few facts: Every particle or group of particles in the universe is also a wave — even large particles, even bacteria, even human beings, even planets and stars. And waves occupy multiple places in space at once. So any chunk of matter can also occupy two places at once. Physicists call this phenomenon “quantum superposition,” and for decades, they have demonstrated it using small particles.

But in recent years, physicists have scaled up their experiments, demonstrating quantum superposition using larger and larger particles. Now, in a paper published Sept. 23 in the journal Nature Physics, an international team of researchers has caused molecule made up of up to 2,000 atoms to occupy two places at the same time.

To pull it off, the researchers built a complicated, modernized version of a series of famous old experiments that first demonstrated quantum superposition.

Researchers had long known that light, fired through a sheet with two slits in it, would create an interference pattern, or a series of light and dark fringes, on the wall behind the sheet. But light was understood as a massless wave, not something made of particles, so this wasn’t surprising. However, in a series of famous experiments in the 1920s, physicists showed that electrons fired through thin films or crystals would behave in a similar way, forming patterns like light does on the wall behind the diffracting material.

If electrons were simply particles, and so could occupy only one point in space at a time, they would form two strips, roughly the shape of the slits, on the wall behind the film or crystal. But instead, the electrons hit that wall in complex patterns suggesting the electrons had interfered with themselves . That is a telltale sign of a wave; in some spots, the peaks of the waves coincide, creating brighter regions, while in other spots, the peaks coincide with troughs, so the two cancel each other out and create a dark region. Because physicists already knew that electrons had mass and were definitely particles, the experiment showed that matter acts both as individual particles and as waves.

But it’s one thing to create an interference pattern with electrons. Doing it with giant molecules is a lot trickier. Bigger molecules have less-easily detected waves, because more massive objects have shorter wavelengths that can lead to barely-perceptible interference patterns. And these 2,000-atom particles have wavelengths smaller than the diameter of a single hydrogen atom, so their interference pattern is much less dramatic.

To pull off the double-slit experiment for big things, the researchers built a machine that could fire a beam of molecules (hulking things called “oligo-tetraphenylporphyrins enriched with fluoroalkylsulfanyl chains,” some more than 25,000 times the mass of a simple hydrogen atom) through a series of grates and sheets bearing multiple slits. The beam was about 6.5 feet (2 meters) long. That’s big enough that the researchers had to account for factors like gravity and the rotation of the Earth in designing the beam emitter, the scientists wrote in the paper. They also kept the molecules fairly warm for a quantum physics experiment, so they had to account for heat jostling the particles.

But still, when the researchers switched the machine on, the detectors at the far end of the beam revealed an interference pattern. The molecules were occupying multiple points in space at once.

It’s an exciting result, the researchers wrote, proving quantum interference at larger scales than had ever before been detected.

“The next generation of matter-wave experiments will push the mass by an order of magnitude,” the authors wrote.

https://www.space.com/2000-atoms-in-two-places-at-once.html?utm_source=notification

Mayor Lightfoot and Chicago Public Library Announce Elimination of Late Fees, Outstanding Debt to Increase Access to Libraries Citywide

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Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot today joined Chicago Public Library (CPL) Commissioner Andrea Telli to announce a new policy to eliminate library late fees and remove outstanding debt for library patrons. Beginning October 1, CPL will eliminate overdue fines on all CPL-owned items currently in circulation, removing unfair barriers to basic library access, especially for youth and low-income patrons. These new policies are the latest in a series of efforts by Mayor Lightfoot to eliminate regressive fines and fees policies that have historically prevented too many Chicagoans from contributing to the local economy, and replace them with new policies to promote economic inclusion for all of Chicago’s communities.

With the announcement, Chicago becomes the largest city, and largest public library system in the U.S., to join the growing movement of eliminating overdue fines. Such fines have increasingly been found to be an ineffective tool in encouraging the return of library materials. Library patrons will still be responsible for returning books, and those who that do not return their books will still need to either replace, or pay for the value of, any materials not returned.

“Like too many Chicagoans, I know what it is like to grow up in financially-challenging circumstances and understand what it is like to be just one bill or one mistake away from crushing debt,” said Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot. “The bold reforms we’re taking to make the Chicago Public Library system fine-free and forgive City Sticker debt will end the regressive practices disproportionately impacting those who can least afford it, ensure every Chicagoan can utilize our city’s services and resources, and eliminate the cycles of debt and generational poverty because of a few mistakes.”

CPL data indicates the disproportionate impact late fines have on different communities in the city, with 1 in 3 patrons in CPL’s South District (below 59th Street) currently unable to check out items because they owe ten dollars or more in fines and fees. In CPL’s North District, from North Avenue to Howard Street, this number drops to 1 in 6. Furthermore, many of the blocked users are those who can benefit most from the resources at Chicago Public Libraries – 1 in 5 suspended library cards citywide belong to children under 14.

“I’m thrilled that CPL has taken this important step towards ensuring that the library is accessible for all,” said CPL Commissioner Andrea Telli. “CPL welcomes home the thousands of Chicagoans who have become disconnected from their local branch due to fines. We are excited to see what we can build together with equitable access to information and learning.”

By October 1, all patrons will have any outstanding overdue fines from CPL materials cleared from their accounts. Materials checked out by CPL patrons will now automatically renew up to fifteen times if there are no holds on the item. Items will be marked as “lost” and accounts will be charged replacement costs one week after the last due date, but the charge will be cleared if the item is returned. Inter-library loan items and Museum Passports (which allow free admission to Chicago museums for) will still be subject to overdue fines.

“This is honestly the most exciting thing to happen at CPL since I’ve been here,” said CPL Branch Manager Lisa Roe. “It’s amazing to ‘walk the walk’ with regard to free and open access for all patrons.”

Research from other fine-free systems has indicated that fines do not increase return rates, and further that the cost of collecting and maintaining overdue fees often outweighs the revenue generated by them. Late fines constitute just 0.7% of CPL’s total budget. Additionally, fine collection often results in negative patron/staff interactions, undermining general public trust and comfort in the public library.

“The essential mission of publicly funded libraries is free, equal and equitable access to information in all its forms,” said America Library Association Executive Director Mary Ghikas. “We applaud Mayor Lightfoot’s and Commissioner Telli’s move to eliminate Chicago Public Library fines, which create economic barriers and negatively impact the working poor, children and marginalized populations. Every member of the community has a right to library service. Eliminating fines in Chicago will transform lives through education and lifelong learning.”

As a result of these policy changes, Chicago Public Library anticipates the return of thousands of outstanding items as well as thousands of patrons whose access to library materials has been impeded by overdue fines.

Chicago Public Library’s previous amnesty periods have shown that eliminating fines has a significant impact on making the library system more accessible for all. The most recent fine amnesty in 2016 resulted in over 15,000 new patrons and patrons returning their cards to good standing and also included a return of over $800,000 of CPL material. When CPL previously offered an amnesty program in 2012, the library received 101,301 overdue items valued at approximately $2 million and waived $641,820 worth of fines. 29,500 users renewed or applied for cards. The late materials ranged from items only a few weeks overdue to one book that had been due in 1934. Almost every item returned was able to be put into circulation within a few days so that other patrons could check them out.

The CPL Board authorized the elimination of overdue fines at their board meeting on September 18, 2019. The board also approved several administrative changes to reduce punitive measures and to help increase the return rate. With new policies in place to incentivize participation in Libraries across the city, new and returning Library patrons will benefit from the recent expansion of branch locations and programs, including three new library branches co-located with CHA apartments that opened earlier this year, an expansion of teen YOUmedia learning labs to eight new locations across the city and the upcoming opening of Legler Branch, the first regional library branch located on the city’s West Side since the 1970s.

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press_releases/2019/september/EliminateLibraryLateFees.html