Popcorn With Zenger: ‘The Many Saints Of Newark’ Is Far Better-Suited For A Series

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Popcorn With Zenger: ‘The Many Saints Of Newark’ Is Far Better-Suited For A Series

By Jacob Smith

“The Sopranos” will go down as arguably the best-written television show of all time. The late James Gandolfini opened the world’s hearts to the character of Tony Soprano, a New Jersey-based Italian mobster. “The Sopranos” presented colorful characters and a realistic portrayal of the difficulties of balancing family life with being the leader of a criminal organization.

Series creator David Chase spent years balking at the idea of doing any kind of reboot or sequel for the series, especially after the sudden death of Gandolfini in 2013. But Chase was recently inspired by the events of the 1967 Newark race riots due to his family ties to the city. The event allowed Chase to come back to the table and create not a new series, but a prequel film set in that time period that would explain what led to Tony’s decision to join the family business.

The problem is, the story really doesn’t have much to do with Tony at all, which, depending on what you are expecting from this film, could be a good thing or a deal-breaker.

The Story: “The Many Saints of Newark” takes place in the late 1960s laying the groundwork for life for a young Tony Soprano. Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola) is a soldier in the DiMeo crime family, which also consists of Tony’s father Johnny Soprano (Jon Bernthal), and his brother, Junior (Corey Stoll).

Riots begin to break out in Newark as the tension between the black and Italian communities, along with police brutality, reach a boiling point. While the city burns, Dickie has a falling out with his father, which has major repercussions for the DiMeo Family.

With Tony’s father Johnny in prison, Moltisanti takes charge of handling the family business and being a father figure to Tony. But he struggles to balance his own life between his family, his goomah Giuseppina (Michela De Rossi), and his former associate Harold (Leslie Odom Jr.) who now wants to move in on his territory in New Jersey.

Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti, a father figure to a young Tony Soprano. (Warner Bros.)

Bright Spots: “The Many Saints of Newark” is a superbly acted film that feels very much like a “Sopranos” property. Standouts, such as Vera Farmiga as Livia Soprano and Ray Liotta pulling double duty as twin brothers “Hollywood Dick” Moltisanti and Salvatore “Sally” Moltisanti, complement great performances by other actors who wildly resemble younger versions of their television series’ personalities.

Gandolfini’s real-life son Michael plays a teenage Tony, and proves he was the right choice for the role. In addition, cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau is outstanding at bringing to life late ‘60s/early ’70s New Jersey in an authentic style.

The best aspect of the movie is that it focuses on characters that either didn’t have a backstory or didn’t have key details of their life explained by the original series. As we learn more about Dickie Moltisanti — who is the protagonist and at times antagonist of the film — we see him dealing with his relationship with his abusive father, focusing more of his time on his affair with his father’s wife than his own family, and dealing with a former associate who becomes inspired by the race riots to take control of his city for his own people. Having so many layered characters that add to the story makes for an interesting film but not a satisfying one.

Weak Spots: Chase’s decision to make a film rather than making an HBO Max series may have been the mistake that breaks “Saints of Newark.” The film tries to squeeze too many plot points and callbacks into a two-hour runtime and would have been far better served by a short series.

“The Many Saints of Newark” depicts life in the Italian mob in 1960s New Jersey. (Warner Bros.)

The central story focuses on the relationship between Tony Soprano and Dickie Moltisanti. However, the film focuses far more on other aspects of Dickie’s life and whenever that particular relationship is addressed, it feels too rushed to be credible.

As good as the performances are, the writing leaves much to be desired, in terms of character depth. Certain characters have flaws that don’t match how we remember them from the television series. Bernthal plays Johnny Soprano as far more ruthless and cold-hearted than he was originally portrayed.

The film’s biggest sin is that the only way it works is by adding something to a series that some would say is already perfect (minus those who have complaints about the ambiguous ending). When all is said and done, it is hard to feel like anything was gained. If anything, it adds more questions we may never get answers for.

The Takeaway: “The Many Saints of Newark” never comes to a satisfying conclusion showing the audience what led to Tony Soprano becoming the mafia boss that we all know and love. Instead, HBO attempted to tell a story about an Italian mob centered on a narrative of social injustice, leaving so many puzzle pieces on the table and so many “Sopranos” fans with an empty feeling.

See or Skip: “The Many Saints of Newark” is an intriguing idea, but there are too many flaws in a two-hour runtime to match the high bar that “The Soprano” series established.

Edited by Matthew B. Hall and Kristen Butler



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VIDEO: Drunken Truck Driver Takes Police On Terrifying Highway Chase

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VIDEO: Drunken Truck Driver Takes Police On Terrifying Highway Chase

By Joseph Golder

Wiltshire Police officers in the U.K. chased a drunken driver for over 20 miles before using a spike strip to stop the truck near Reading, England.

The incident on the M4 highway occurred on May 6. A spike strip uses rows of sharp, hollow spikes to deflates tires.

In the footage, PC Jay Clifton said he has been “on the roads policing unit for 17 years, and I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Police repeatedly bang on the stopped truck’s windows to get the driver’s attention.

Andrew Champion, driver of the 48-ton truck, was removed from the vehicle. Inside, officers discovered a half-drunk whisky bottle next to the driver’s seat. A breathalyzer test showed his breath alcohol content was almost five times over the legal limit in the U.K., according to police.

Champion was sentenced to 14 months in prison and banned from driving for four years and seven months.

The Wiltshire Police shared the footage on social media on Oct. 4 with the message: “An HGV [heavy-goods-vehicle] driver has been jailed for over a year after he was found to be nearly five times over the drink drive limit. Andrew Champion was first spotted driving his 44-tonne truck erratically on the M4 near Swindon.”

Champion was spotted veering between lanes. Police feared any oncoming car would result in fatalities.

Andrew Champion was fined, sentenced to 14 months in prison, and banned from driving for four years and seven months after pleading guilty to dangerous driving. (Wiltshire Police/Zenger)

“The truck weaved from the second lane on to the hard shoulder, missing a recovery vehicle and the vehicle being recovered by a couple of feet. How he didn’t hit them, I don’t know. It was terrifying,” Clifton said.

Clifton, part of Wiltshire’s Road Policing Unit, arrived on the scene first and saw the operator of a Highways Maintenance Vehicle had turned on his lights to warn road users of Champion’s erratic driving.

“He was effectively creating a rolling barrier on the motorway and slowing other members of the public down to stop them from passing and getting anywhere near the truck,” said Clifton.” That person’s actions, I’ve no idea who it is to this day, probably saved lives.”

Champion pleaded guilty to drunken driving and dangerous driving at Newport Crown Court on Sept. 27. Along with a jail sentence and fine of 156 pounds ($213), Champion will have to take an extended retest when his driving ban finishes.

After the sentencing, Clifton said: “It’s not the damage he could do to himself, which is going to happen. It’s the danger to other members of the public.

“Had he crossed the carriageway into oncoming vehicles, had he gone into the road works and hit a member of the maintenance crew — people could have died.”

Edited by Fern Siegel and Kristen Butler



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VIDEO: See Horse: Threatened Hatchlings Thrive In Groundbreaking Captive Breeding Program

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VIDEO: See Horse: Threatened Hatchlings Thrive In Groundbreaking Captive Breeding Program

By Joseph Golder

A Spanish aquarium will soon have on display the first baby long-snouted seahorses ever bred in captivity there, marking a milestone for the aquarium and a victory for conservation efforts for the threatened species.

Oceanografic Valencia said in a statement it was the first time they had managed to breed long-snouted seahorses (Hippocampus guttulatus) in captivity. The aquarium, located in Valencia, Spain, is the self-proclaimed largest aquarium in Europe.

Long-snouted seahorses, also known as longsnout seahorses or as spiny seahorses in the United Kingdom, are considered a threatened species in Spain. They are primarily found in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea.

Aquarium officials said they had “reached a new milestone” by succeeding in reproducing 30 long-snouted seahorses for the first time at their facility.

The scientists drew on their previous experience reproducing other species of seahorses to ensure a successful outcome for the current project.

“It is a species present on European coasts and included in the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species, so breeding in a controlled environment is considered a success for conservation,” they said.

One of the 30 hatchlings of long-snouted seahorses (Hippocampus guttulatus) that for the first time were able to reproduce in captivity, in Valencia, Spain. (Oceanografic de Valencia/Zenger)

The experts said one of the major challenges in breeding this type of seahorse in an aquarium was getting them to mate at all.

To address this problem, they designed a vertical tank to encourage the seahorses to mate, “which is characterized by the dance in which the male and female intertwine their tails and swing upward in the water column.”

It was especially important for the tank to have “adequate depth to facilitate the mating ritual.”

Even though the male seahorse is typically the one that becomes pregnant — unlike most other species on Earth — the female “plays a significant role in the gestation process as they deposit the eggs in the male’s sac.”

The experts said that even after baby seahorses were born in previous experiments, it had been impossible to keep them alive for very long.

The temperature of the water and type of food provided must all be carefully managed to ensure the animals’ survival.

Aquarium officials said the 30 hatchlings in the quarantine area need to grow in size and weight before they can be moved to a public viewing area.

They said all the hatchlings were the offspring of two specimens provided to the aquarium by the Marine Research Institute in Vigo in northwestern Spain.

The scientists aim to increase the population of the species in Spanish waters.

Edited by Siân Speakman and Kristen Butler



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VIDEO: Hope For Once-Extinct Jaguars In Argentina After Female Released Into Wild

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VIDEO: Hope For Once-Extinct Jaguars In Argentina After Female Released Into Wild

By Joseph Golder

A jaguar in Argentina has returned to the wild after the protection of a conservation program in the province of Corrientes.

The female was released into the wild in a region where the species was considered extinct for more than 70 years as a result of deforestation and poaching.

The Argentina Rewilding Foundation announced that on Oct. 1, “together with authorities from National Parks and the province of Corrientes, we proceeded to open one of the sides of the large 30-hectare corral of the Yaguareté Reintroduction Center in the Iberá Park. Almost three days later, Arami, who was in that corral, decided to make her way to freedom.

“Arami, along with her sister Mbarete, was born in June 2018 in the reintroduction center, and during these three years she was raised in special conditions, without human contact and fed with live prey to arrive well-prepared at this moment.”

Conservation officials, who are tracking Armani’s movements, said she appears to be following estuaries that meander throughout the area, where seven other freed jaguars are living.

Conservation officials are tracking Armani since she returned to the wild. She appears to be following estuaries that meander throughout the area, where seven other freed jaguars are living. (Fundacion Rewilding Argentina/Zenger)

“Arami’s mother Tania is currently raising two cubs in El Impenetrable National Park, and her father Chiqui was returned to a wildlife rescue center in Paraguay, managed by the Yacyreta Binational Entity,” the foundation said, citing jaguar reintroduction project’s efforts across “diverse institutions and countries.”

Arami will explore little by little the environment of the estuaries where she will spend the rest of her life. With her there are already seven jaguars living free in Iberá.

“The year 2021 has marked a milestone in this great dream of reintroducing the jaguar, extinct in the province for more than 70 years, with the first releases of individuals,” the foundation said.

Jaguars are listed as “near threatened” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

Arami explores the area where seven other freed jaguars are living. (Fundacion Rewilding Argentina/Zenger)

“Today, the release of Arami deserves a special distinction as, together with her sister Mbarete, they represent the first two jaguars born this century in Corrientes, and their birth in 2018 brought hope about the possible return of the jaguar to Iberá. Today that hope transforms into reality,” the foundation said on Oct. 1.

The governor of Corrientes, Gustavo Valdes, praised the conservationists for their efforts.

“This is an achievement for all Corrientes,” the governor said. “Through nature tourism, the Iberá National Park is presented as a great opportunity for the social and economic development of our province, as well as being a source of pride for Corrientes. Together we continue working for nature and this is what makes us unique in the world.”

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Kristen Butler



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Inhaled Drug Could Treat Rare Cystic Fibrosis Mutations

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Inhaled Drug Could Treat Rare Cystic Fibrosis Mutations

By Brian Blum

People living with cystic fibrosis received encouraging news in late 2019: A new Trikafta treatment combining three drugs — elexacaftor, tezacaftor and ivacaftor — reduces symptoms for this ultimately deadly disease that affects some 90,000 people worldwide.

The new medication, although not a cure, works wonders for the 80 percent of cystic fibrosis patients with the predominant mutation causing the disease, called F508del.

But what about the 20 percent of cystic fibrosis patients who have a different genetic mutation? Those 18,000 or so people are the target of a new approach from Jerusalem-based biotech company SpliSense.

The company’s technology is based on a term familiar to most people these days due to the Covid-19 crisis: mRNA.

SpliSense manipulates and “fixes” defective messenger RNA that generates a non-functioning cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein.

Gili Hart, CEO of SpliSense (Yoram Reshef/courtesy of SpliSense)

Rather than trying to repair defective proteins, SpliSense’s technology “generates a new fully functioning protein from RNA,” the company’s CEO, Gili Hart, said.

And while SpliSense’s mRNA technology is intended to address “orphan” conditions that have too few patients to warrant big pharma budgets, it can also benefit the other 80 percent of cystic fibrosis patients, Hart said.

There are approximately 2,000 variants of the CFTR gene, although only 300 cause disease. SpliSense has demonstrated in cells derived from patients that it can completely restore CFTR function.

The company is now moving on to animal models and the first human clinical trials are planned for 2022. SpliSense raised a $28.5 million Series B round in May to move the company toward trials and the development of treatments for other pulmonary ailments.

Inhaled treatment

Cystic fibrosis, a hereditary disease, causes the body to produce a thick, sticky mucus that can clog the lungs and obstruct the pancreas.

People with the condition tend to have a shorter-than-normal lifespan, developing serious breathing difficulties and sometimes requiring a lung transplant in their mid-40s.

Since cystic fibrosis primarily affects the trachea, bronchi, bronchioles and alveoli, SpliSense’s treatment is meant to be inhaled so that it reaches the lungs quickly without any uptake by other organs or the bloodstream.

If approved by regulators, the treatment would be administered weekly for 10 minutes at home throughout the patient’s life. Ideally, the cost of this expensive treatment would be picked up by health insurance providers.

SpliSense’s lead product is based on “Anti Sense Oligonucleotide” (ASO, for short), a synthetic nucleic acid molecule that can bind to specific sequences within target RNA molecules.

The ASO sequences are specific to the target mutation region in the RNA, so the treatment won’t affect (or damage) nearby organs and tissues. That should reduce potential side effects.

ASOs are used for a variety of applications including splicing modulation, hence the name of the company.

“You have an RNA sequence with a mutation,” Hart said. “We have a unique technology and algorithm that allows us to optimize and design a sequence that’s compatible and fits the RNA sequence of the gene with the mutation. In that way, we can manipulate this area and overcome the mutation.”

Hart likens it to playing with LEGOs, where you can take some parts out and bring others in to “generate a normal sequence that makes sense.”

This diagram shows how ASO splices in the other half of this RNA strand to create a fully functional protein. (Courtesy of SpliSense)
This diagram shows how ASO splices in the other half of this RNA strand to create a fully functional protein. (Courtesy of SpliSense)

ASOs have proven effective in treating other genetic diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy. This is the first time they’re being used to address cystic fibrosis.

RNA is the “instruction manual” that tells the body to generate certain proteins. So, if there’s a problem with the RNA, there will be a problem with the resulting proteins. The 3849 cystic fibrosis mutation, for example, results in RNA that includes “nonsense letters,” Hart explains – that’s what generates the non-functioning protein.

“Our ASOs mask this area so the nonsense sequence doesn’t enter the RNA.”

Manipulate, not inoculate

Although both SpliSense and the Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer use mRNA, there’s no overlap in the technologies.

“The vaccines are generating from scratch the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in order to inoculate people, while we are trying to manipulate the existing RNA in our bodies to generate fully functioning proteins in a patient,” Hart said.

Hart, an immunologist, received her PhD at the Weizman Institute of Science in Rehovot. She did her postdoctoral study at Yale Medical School and returned to Israel in 2006. She then founded PROLOR Biotech, which developed “bio-better” drugs to address conditions such as growth hormone deficiencies in children.

PROLOR was acquired in 2013 by OPKO Health, and Hart became the CEO of OPKO’s new Israeli subsidiary. Hart was recruited to become the CEO of SpliSense in 2017.

Professor Batsheva Kerem discovered the defective protein that SpliSense aims to replace. (Courtesy of SpliSense)

The science behind SpliSense comes from Hebrew University professor Batsheva Kerem, one of the team members who discovered the CFTR protein the late 1980s while she was a postdoc in Canada.

Her husband, professor. Eitan Kerem, is an Israeli pediatrician who is a world leader specializing in lung diseases among children. “He treats most if not all the CF patients in Israel,” Hart said.

Both Kerems are actively involved in SpliSense. The technology was licensed from the university by the Yissum technology transfer company of Hebrew University. SpliSenseis based in the biotech park next to Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem and employs 15 people.

SpliSense has financial backing from Orbimed, Biotel Limited, Integra Holdings and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

“Their goal is to bring treatment for every patient,” Hart said. “We’re trying to make our ASO technology work for even less frequent mutations. We have an additional five mutations for which we already have preliminary data” that SpliSense’s inhaled ASO may be efficacious.

For the 18,000 cystic fibrosis sufferers who fall outside the mainstream treatments, SpliSense offers the first real hope of relief. Its medication cannot come soon enough.

For more information, click here.

Inhaled Drug Could Treat Rare Cystic Fibrosis Mutations appeared first on Israel21C.



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VIDEO: Flappy Mother’s Day: Joy As Rare Bird Flies Back To Her Human Foster Mom

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VIDEO: Flappy Mother’s Day: Joy As Rare Bird Flies Back To Her Human Foster Mom

By Joseph Golder

It’s home sweet home — again — for an endangered northern bald ibis.

Robigus, a female, returned in an unusual way to her British foster mother who lives in Austria.

The Waldrapp Project trained the birds to follow a microlight aircraft by imprinting, in which an animal gains its sense of identification, to think that its human caregivers are their birth parents.

Rosegg Zoo, where Robigus was born, “has been a partner of the Waldrapp team for many years, one of the largest species protection projects in Europe, through which the birds are reintroduced and their migration tradition is to be taught to them. Colonies are bred and biologists fly paraplanes ahead of the young birds to show them where to move in winter,” the zoo said.

Robigus learned to fly south by following one of the more experienced birds from another colony that was brought in to teach her the way, said Lynne Hafner, who helps run the Rosegg Zoo project.

“The birds have to be taught to fly south in the first year otherwise they can never learn it,” Hafner said.

The northern bald ibis is an endangered species. (Waldrappteam LIFE)

She said it is great that Robigus has come back, especially as she did not need to return home because at 2 years old, she is still too young to breed.

Her return this year was not straightforward. Conservationists learned that she spent some time in Slovenia and then flew to live near Graz Airport in Austria before heading home. She is expected to remain at her home in Austria for another month before flying south again.

When Robigus returns next year and mixes with birds living at the zoo all year round, conservationists hope she will breed and bring her offspring south when she migrates.

Juvenile northern bald ibises follow two foster parents in a microlight aircraft from Salzburg, Austria, to Italy as part of a conservation project for the endangered species. (Waldrappteam LIFE)

The Waldrapp Project, headed by northern bald Ibis expert Johannes Fritz, works to reintroduce the endangered species to Europe. Its numbers have dwindled to between 200 and 249 mature individuals in the wild, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

The success of the project will mean an additional migratory colony alongside those that have formed from the same core group in Germany and elsewhere in Austria.

Hafner said the road to the success started in 2004 when the colony was founded.

However, the project has been hampered by hunters, particularly in Italy, who take their toll on the birds as they fly south and then return to the Alps to breed.

The northern bald ibis was native in Central Europe until the 17th century. The species was nearly wiped out by overhunting and people stealing the eggs.

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Kristen Butler



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Scans Reveal Unique ‘Team Flow’ Brain State In Study

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Scans Reveal Unique ‘Team Flow’ Brain State In Study

By Martin M Barillas

You’ve probably heard of what brain researchers call “flow” — the state the brain is in when a person is “in the zone.” Now, researchers say there’s a similar brain state shared by a group when its members get in the zone together.

“Team flow” happens when the lead guitar player, drummer, bass player and singer of your favorite band are in sync on a Saturday night as you have never heard them before. The same concept applies to basketball players when their pinpoint passes and three-point shooting lead to a rout over a hapless opponent.

Mohammad Shehata at Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan headed a team of researchers that measured the brain activity of teams working together. They found that when team members, such as in sports and music bands, “get in the zone,” they produce a unique brain state and work harmoniously to surpass performance limits.

When team members are in a team flow state, they’re brain activity becomes more synchronized and they can work harmoniously to surpass performance limits. (Elizeu Dias/Unsplash)

The researchers hope their first-of-its-kind study can provide models that will help improve and predict team performance and produce team-building strategies in business, performing arts and other activities. They also plan to use the neural signatures of team flow to address panic disorders, anxiety and depression.

For the study, published in eNeuro, it was essential to reproduce flow in a lab setting while measuring and investigating how the brain processes information. The researchers measured brain activity from 10 two-person teams using electroencephalogram (EEG) readings while they played a music video game together.

In some experiments, teammates were separated by a partition to prevent them from seeing each other, allowing a solo flow state but not team flow. In other experiments the music was scrambled to make the task more difficult, preventing a flow state but allowing teamwork.

The left middle temporal cortex (green region) is uniquely activated during team flow state. The prefrontal frontal cortex (blue region) and the inferior frontal cortex (yellow region) are activated during the flow only (Flow) and team only (Team) states, respectively. During team flow, the green region causally receives more information (black arrows) from other regions and is significantly involved in higher inter-brain integrated information (green line) and higher inter-brain neural synchrony (tan wavy line). (Courtesy of Shehata et al., eNeuro 2021)

At the end of each game, participants were asked questions assessing their level of flow. The researchers invented a method to assess the neural depth of team flow and then compared the brain activity of the participants during each trial.

They found team flow’s unique brain signature: increased beta and gamma waves in the middle temporal cortex, which is linked to information processing. Teammates’ brain activity was also more synchronized.

Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi defined solo flow in the 1970s, suggesting that in a flow state, people are challenged by a task to which full attention is given. By actively making choices, they not only have control over their actions but lose self-consciousness and gain self-confidence. Group flow is noted similarly by clarity, centering, choice commitment and challenge, research showed.

Edited by Richard Pretorius and Kristen Butler



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Pregnant Woman Who Needed Double Lung Transplant Survives — And Healthy Baby Too

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Pregnant Woman Who Needed Double Lung Transplant Survives — And Healthy Baby Too

By Joseph Golder

Canadian doctors kept a pregnant woman in urgent need of a double lung transplant alive using life-support equipment developed for COVID-19 patients so that she could give birth.

After the birth at 29 weeks of her son Cameron, Candice Cruise received the transplant, medical experts from the University Health Network in Toronto said on Oct. 3.

“Physicians recommend that patients with pulmonary hypertension avoid pregnancy, given the high risk of death for the mother and baby,” according to the University Health Network. “However, Candice Cruise was unaware of her condition until she reached 21 weeks of pregnancy. The usual medical option at this time would have been to terminate the pregnancy as the only way to save the mother in this extremely high-risk situation.”

Candice Cruise doing physiotherapy at Toronto General Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, with support from physiotherapist Nathalie Cote, in early June, before baby Cameron was born. (University Health Network/Zenger )

A team of specialists at Toronto General Hospital came up with a pioneering strategy to connect the woman to an artificial lung device called a Novalung. It artificially re-created the heart-lung blood flow, allowing doctors to stabilize the Cruise until she reached the 29th week of pregnancy so that the baby could be safely delivered and she could then be transported for the double-lung transplant.

Pulmonary hypertension is a rare, life-threatening disorder that leads to extremely elevated blood pressure of the arteries in the lungs. The increased pressure makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood through the lungs, which eventually causes the heart muscle to fail. The condition is especially dangerous during pregnancy since the growing fetus puts significant stress on the mother’s circulatory system.

Candice Cruise and baby Cameron at home in Midland, Ontario. (Courtesy Cruise family/Zenger)

Baby Cameron, who was born on June 10, was transferred to neonatal intensive care unit until he was ready to go home in September.

Cruise’s lung transplant was performed by the Toronto Lung Transplant Team at the Ajmera Transplant Centre. The identity of the donor is confidential. Cruise, who lives in Midland, Ontario, went home in August.

“Saving both the mother and the baby in this fashion, and then bridging the mother to a successful lung transplant, is another world-first achievement of the Toronto Lung Transplant Program at University Health Network,” the medical team said.

Regarding her decision to fight for her child, Cruise said: “I could feel the baby moving inside me, so strong. I knew there was nothing wrong with him, and I felt he had a good chance. I wasn’t ready to give up.”

Her husband, Collin, said: “We knew we had to prepare for the worst, which was very scary. … I wanted the safest approach to save Candice, but she kept fighting for our baby. So I put my trust in the doctors here, who are excellent. The whole team was amazing. They didn’t work only to keep Candice and Cameron alive, they really cared.”

Baby Cameron at Toronto General Hospital, ready to go home in September. (Courtesy Cruise family/Zenger)

Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, the University Health Network’s chief surgeon and the director of the Toronto Lung Transplant Program, said: “This case really touched our team. It happened in part during the third wave of the pandemic when we were losing many young people to COVID. Seeing Candice and her baby have a positive outcome, against all odds, brought joy and a glimmer of hope to everyone involved in their care.

“We had never seen a case like this. Pulmonary hypertension is a dangerous condition, even more so for pregnant women, with a high risk of death for both mother and fetus. We are incredibly happy that we were able to combine our expertise to be able to get Candice the support she needed to survive and have a healthy baby.”

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Kristen Butler



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Double Whammy: High Unemployment And Inflation Put Fed In Tough Spot

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Double Whammy: High Unemployment And Inflation Put Fed In Tough Spot

By Terry Alan Lane

As inflation reaches highs not seen since the first Gulf War in the early ‘90s and unemployment persists, America’s top federal financial regulator told Congress that its main tool for slowing price rises — raising interest rates — could also undercut job growth.

“That’s the difficult position we find ourselves in,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress last Thursday, a day before federal officials got another report showing inflation reaching a 30-year-high.

The Federal Reserve may not need to employ tools to slow inflation, said Powell, while acknowledging that the rise in prices of goods and services was well above the Fed’s annual target of 2 percent.

At 4.3 percent, the August 2021 Personal Consumption Expenditures price index reached highs not seen in 30 years. (Federal Reserve of St. Louis)

In fact, it’s more than double that, as the release of the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index showed that prices for goods and services in August 2021 were 4.3 percent over last August’s prices. The August increase of 0.4 percent mirrors its July jump, as Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, said it was the highest annual jump in inflation since 1991.

“A sharp increase in energy prices was the largest single contributor to overall inflation in August, a trend that will continue in September and is undermining the ability of low-wage workers to commute to jobs farther from urban centers,” Swonk wrote.

The inflation index is one that the Federal Reserve Board monitors for its policy decisions, noted Swonk, which will soon include whether to slow pandemic relief for markets, through its $120 billion monthly purchase of treasury and mortgage debts, or to raise interest rates by increasing the federal funds rate, which would cool inflation.

However, Powell told Congress that efforts to fight inflation through higher interest rates could also end up slowing job growth, as borrowing would become more expensive, potentially undercutting business expansion. It’s one of the unique challenges in managing the recovery, Powell said.

Personal income dropped slightly in August 2021 from the month earlier. (Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis)

Generally, inflation is low when unemployment is high, Powell said, giving the Fed a useful tool to boost the economy by lowering interest rates. However, the pandemic created a unique scenario of high inflation alongside elevated jobless levels.

While inflation is well above the Fed’s 2 percent target, Powell and members of the central bank believe the high inflation is only temporary.

“We have an expectation that high inflation will abate, because we think the factors behind it are temporary and tied to the pandemic and the reopening of the economy,” he said.

When that will happen is unclear, he told the congressional panel. Supply-chain disruptions are a major contributor to inflation, Powell said, which is something over which his organization has no control. Additionally, stimulus spending has helped drive inflation higher.

Powell said efforts to fight the pandemic will lead to more job growth, while the continued reopening of the economy will cause inflation to fall.

Consumer Prices continue rising and are now at a 30-year -high. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“Factors related to the pandemic, such as caregiving needs and ongoing fears of the virus, appear to be weighing on employment growth,” Powell said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis on Friday reported that people were spending more in August, as personal consumption expenditures increased 0.8 percent overall, and 0.4 percent after accounting for inflation.

Much of that spending was on school supplies, clothing, recreation and other nondurable goods. But spending on big-ticket items, such as cars and homes, is still down, Swonk said, partly as supply chain shortages continue to hobble markets. Also, consumers scared off by higher prices, she added.

The data show that consumer spending habits that changed due to the pandemic are still lingering, Harvard University economics professor Jason Furman wrote on Twitter Friday, as people are spending more on goods and less on services. In fact, Furman noted that compared with pre-pandemic projections, spending on goods is up 8 percent on the pre-pandemic trend, while spending on services is 5 percent below the trend.

Notably, people have largely returned to restaurants, he wrote, pointing out that consumer spending on this service has largely returned to levels expected even without a pandemic.

“Some of the large remaining service shortfalls are in health, recreation and transportation,” Furman wrote.

The inflation rate has more than doubled in 2021, according the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index for August 2021. (Bureau of Economic Analysis)

But while spending was up, people also had less to spend.

Personal disposable incomes fell 0.3 percent in August, taking inflation into account. The drop comes after the same index saw incomes rise 0.7 percent in July. Grant Thornton’s Swonk anticipates more income losses in September, as the end of extended unemployment benefits will begin to show up in the data.

“Higher wages were wiped out by the rise in inflation during the month,” Swonk said.

One factor balancing the data were payments made through monthly child care tax credits, which were expanded after Congress passed the $1.2 trillion American Rescue Plan in March. Instead of a $2,000 credit for each child, the bill expanded the credit to $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for children 6 to 17 for 2021. Additionally, the credit extension was made available as monthly payments, instead of being delivered as tax returns, said the Tax Foundation.

The effect of these credits aren’t just showing up in the economic data, but in the poverty numbers too, Swonk wrote.

“Monthly child tax credit payments helped enhance income gains in August; they also dramatically reduced the incidence of families reporting missing meals since the increases were instituted in July,” she said.

Edited by Matthew B. Hall and Bryan Wilkes



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Smarter News Quiz: Vanishing Wealth, Comedy Legends and October Baseball

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