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There’s a bench just outside UMBC’s Public Policy building. It’s a quiet, unassuming bench. But if you take a moment to read its engraved plaque, you’ll see there’s a story behind that bench — a story about a man named Jim Kruger.
Jim is a 2013 graduate of UMBC, but in many ways, he’s very different from his classmates. For starters, Jim’s a grandfather. He came to UMBC through Maryland’s Golden ID program, which helps people over 60 return to school to earn or complete a degree.
When he graduated from high school, Jim went straight to the Community College of Baltimore County. But, in the way that it does, life happened. Jim and his wife Kathy got married and had kids. As any parent knows, working and raising a family takes time and energy, and so Jim left school to devote himself to raising his beautiful family and running his own business. But as his kids got older and he moved into retirement, Jim had an idea.
“As I watched my daughters graduate [from college],” he says, “I realized, ‘I should do that, too.’”
He went back and finished his associate’s at CCBC, then decided he’d seize the chance to transfer to UMBC and earn his bachelor’s degree. He met with an admissions counselor and decided to study political science. He still remembers his very first class with Professor Laura Hussey. “She owned the classroom,” he recalls. “I was so impressed with her.”
Jim found that he loved being in the classroom. In particular, he enjoyed the wide range of perspectives and experiences that his classmates brought to the coursework. He found himself with a whole new group of friends and mentors.
Jim also got involved outside the classroom. “I took advantage of the full range of the UMBC experience,” he says. He and his wife regularly attend theatre productions and he likes to take his grandsons to basketball games. It’s no surprise how integral he became to the UMBC community.
When Jim walked across the stage to receive his diploma in May 2013, Kathy knew she wanted to commemorate the occasion with a meaningful gift. She settled on a bench, which would beautify the campus and give Jim a place to rest when he was walking between classes, since he had decided to continue on as a graduate student at UMBC.
“He’s enjoyed being here,” says Kathy. “To me, it was a nice connection.”
Jim, of course, loves the bench. “It’s the perfect gift,” he says. “That’s community–it makes people linger and talk.”
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Featured image/thumbnail, uses flat iPad mockup via Pixeden
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From The Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2013
By Angela Chen
The IUD is making a comeback more than 30 years after a generation of women was scared away from the birth-control device by the faulty Dalkon Shield.
This year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals' Skyla, the first new intrauterine device on the market in 13 years. Planned Parenthood has launched a nationwide campaign in its clinics promoting a copper IUD as the most effective form of emergency contraception. And in New Orleans, three-year-old startup Bioceptive Inc. is engineering a one-step implantation device that its founders say will reduce the time it takes a doctor to insert an IUD to less than two minutes, from a procedure that currently can take five minutes to, at worst, an hour.
As of 2010, about 2.1 million U.S. women were using an IUD, the highest level since the early 1980s, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-rights organization with offices in New York and Washington, D.C. Of women using contraception, about 5% use an IUD, which is still significantly less than the 27% who use the hormonal pill—the most popular method.
The IUD is 20 times more effective than birth control pills, the patch or vaginal ring, according to a 2012 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. That is because the IUD virtually eliminates the risk of human error.
Researchers tracked nearly 8,000 women and found that, over three years, nearly 10% of participants using the short-term birth control methods accidentally became pregnant. In contrast, accidental pregnancy occurred for only 0.9% of women with an IUD.
IUDs on the market now differ in design from the Dalkon Shield. Today, IUDs are small, T-shaped devices that use either hormones or a copper material to prevent sperm from joining with an egg.
Unlike the Dalkon Shield, they don't have multifilament strings, which can attract bacteria and cause health complications. Common side effects include headache, cramps, spotting and mood changes.
The IUD fell from favor in the late 1970s after the Dalkon Shield IUD became the target of highly publicized lawsuits claiming it caused pelvic infection and infertility. Manufacturer A.H. Robins Co. pulled the product from the market in 1974 after more than 300,000 Shield-related lawsuits. The company paid billions to plaintiffs and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1985.
IUD use began to pick up in the 1990s with the release of the nonhormone ParaGard from Teva Women's Health Inc., owned by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd. brought its hormonal Mirena IUD to market in 2000.
Now pharmaceutical companies, policy makers and engineers are working to lower remaining barriers, which they say include cost and misinformation. After the Dalkon Shield lawsuits, gynecologists became cautious and didn't recommend IUDs unless a woman was finished having children, says Eve Espey, a professor of gynecology at the University of New Mexico and spokeswoman for the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a trade group.
Studies have shown no connection between the new IUDs and pelvic infection or infertility, says Dr. Espey.
The newest IUD, Skyla, is a smaller device marketed to women who haven't had children before, says Marcy Funk, a spokeswoman for Bayer Healthcare, part of Bayer AG. Skyla's smaller size can cause less pain and be more appropriate for women who haven't had children, since they tend to have smaller uteruses, some doctors say [NewzGuyz doesn't like anonymous references].
The upfront cost of the IUD has been a barrier for some women, as it can range from $500 to $1,000. Now, the Affordable Care Act's birth-control provision covers the cost of the device, preliminary consultation and follow-up appointments. (There are caveats: Insurance from houses of worship are exempt. Also exempt are select, "grandfathered" health-care plans that existed before March 2010, says Mara Gandal-Powers, legal counsel for the National Women's Law Center, a D.C.-based women's rights organization. She adds that 90% of this group should be covered by the act by the end of 2014.)
Lauren Barry, a 26-year-old paralegal in San Diego, says her employer-provided insurance covered all of her Mirena IUD, which she has had for a year. She previously took birth control pills and used the NuvaRing, a hormonal contraceptive vaginal ring, but both made her nauseated. The IUD is more cost-effective, she says, and she liked that she didn't have to remember to take pills. But the first few months on it involved cramps and spotting and the initial, 10-minute insertion was "incredibly painful, like one really, really bad cramp," she says.
Ben Cappiello, chief scientific officer at Bioceptive, is hoping to solve that problem. Mr. Cappiello studied biomedical engineering at Tulane University, where he learned that the complexity of the insertion process is partly responsible for the IUD's relatively low popularity.
"It takes a lot of expertise to do it perfectly every time, and in a lot of places the IUD isn't offered because people don't know how to insert it," he says. The current procedure involves a few separate medical devices, including the cervical tenaculum, which Mr. Cappiello describes as "a sharp, prong-like tool that is used to pierce the tissue of the cervix and clamp it and pull on it."
The company's device, currently called the Bioceptive Inserter, makes insertion a one-step process using a suction-based method. The IUD is loaded into the device, which is inserted into the patient. The company says it takes 90 seconds.
The group has done preclinical testing using both synthetic uterus models and tissue taken from women who have had a hysterectomy. According to Mr. Cappiello, Bioceptive has several patents and will be pursuing FDA approval in the U.S. in 2014, with the goal of the device reaching the market in 2015.
While the IUD has traditionally been used for long-term family planning, the device is one of the most effective forms of emergency contraception, says Deborah Nucatola. Dr. Nucatola is senior director of medical services for Planned Parenthood, which launched the EC4U campaign promoting the copper IUD ParaGard for this purpose.
Recent studies have shown that Plan B and other "morning after" pills are sometimes not effective for overweight women. "Body mass has no effect on the effectiveness of the copper IUD," says Dr. Nucatola. The device uses copper because its ions kill sperm. Data about the effectiveness of the hormonal IUD as emergency contraception isn't available. Nine U.S. clinics will receive $12,000 each through a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to record best practices in regard to educating women on the copper IUD for emergency contraception, Planned Parenthood says.
BIAS DETECTOR:
Overall, NewzGuyz gives this article an A. While bias in favor of IUD's was visible, we are nevertheless impressed with the quality of reporting. We feel that the main aim of the article was to assist in restoring the IUD image as a viable birth control option. However, a woman weighing her options should not use this article as their sole source when making a decision.
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From The New York Times, November 28, 2013
By Sheelagh McNeill and Nate Schweber
The [New York] City Council is seeking to add electronic cigarettes to New York’s ban on smoking in public places.
The city has long prohibited smoking in workplaces, and since 2002 under the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has extended the ban to bars and restaurants, parks, beaches and plazas. Now, a councilman and the city’s health commissioner say that more and more people are using electronic cigarettes — battery-powered, smokeless nicotine-delivery systems (Not all e-cigarettes deliver nicotine. There are in fact a large number of "flavors" that have no nicotine)— in public places, and that this poses a threat to public health and may encourage a new generation to smoke.
The councilman James Gennaro, one of the lead sponsors of the proposal to ban e-cigarettes in public places, and the commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, said that a loophole in current law allowing for electronic cigarettes was sowing confusion.
People are lighting up electronic cigarettes in restaurants, creating conflict with other patrons and waiters who have to mediate, they said. Mr. Gennaro said children who could not differentiate between regular and electronic smoking were getting the message that smoking is socially acceptable.
“We see these cigarettes are really starting to proliferate, and it’s unacceptable,” Mr. Gennaro said on Wednesday. “I get reports of people smoking cigarettes in public libraries. Certainly, they’re becoming more common in restaurants and bars.”
But the makers of electronic cigarettes say that they are safe because they do not burn tar or tobacco, and they signaled their readiness on Wednesday to fight the proposed ban vigorously. They say the e-cigarettes are a good alternative to regular smoking for people who cannot quit.
“I think you have to ask yourself, if you make it just as inconvenient to use an electronic cigarette as a tobacco cigarette, people are just going to keep smoking their Marlboros,” said Craig Weiss, president and chief executive of NJoy, one of the larger electronic cigarette companies. “That does not benefit the public.”
A public hearing before the Council is set for next Wednesday, and the Council is expected to vote on the proposal on Dec. 19, at its last scheduled voting meeting before new members and a new mayor take office.
New York and Chicago are among the first large cities to consider banning e-cigarettes. New Jersey, North Dakota and Utah have recently included electronic cigarettes in their bans on smoking in workplaces, bars and restaurants, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.
So have dozens of localities, including Pittsfield, Mass.; Savannah, Ga.; Ketchum, Idaho; and Suffolk County, on Long Island.
Electronic cigarettes are designed to imitate conventional cigarettes by using a heating element to vaporize a flavored liquid and, typically, nicotine. The vapor is inhaled, a process sometimes called “vaping” rather than smoking, and (sometimes) transmits the nicotine that smokers (often) crave.
Dr. Farley and other advocates of a ban say that electronic cigarettes have not been well studied and should be treated warily because their potential hazards are unknown. “While more study is needed on electronic cigarettes, waiting to act is a risk we should not take,” he said.
But Mr. Weiss said that to argue against something based on lack of knowledge was not a reasonable way to make public policy.
“ ‘Without the information, I’m going to regulate’ — that’s not an appropriate thing to do,” he said. Karen Blumenfeld, executive director of an antismoking group called GASP [Newzguyz thinks this is an awesome acryonym for an anti-smoking group], for Global Advisors on Smokefree Policy, said on Wednesday that the claim that electronic smoking was safe reminded her of the “'40s, ‘50s and ‘60s, when doctors used to say smoking was good for your throat, it would calm your nerves.”
Opponents of e-cigarettes also argue that they are a gateway to conventional cigarettes, particularly for teenagers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that the percentage of middle- and high-school students who use electronic cigarettes [regularly] more than doubled from 2011 to 2012 [The actual increase was from 1.5 to 2.8 percent. The study can be viewed here]. In a statement with that report, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the C.D.C. director, said teenagers who used e-cigarettes could become addicted to nicotine and go on to smoke regular cigarettes.
But Mr. Weiss, the NJoy executive, said: “There is no scientific data to support the argument that e-cigarettes are a gateway to smoking. On the contrary, there is a significant amount of research that indicates e-cigarettes can be a novel approach for moving smokers away from tobacco cigarettes.”
The e-cigarette industry is growing and seems to have a hip image. One electronic cigarette company, Blu, has been acquired by the tobacco company Lorillard.
The former Facebook president Sean Parker and Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal, have invested in Njoy. Mr. Weiss said that he saw Mr. Parker’s and Mr. Thiel’s investment as evidence not so much of trendiness as of a prediction that electronic cigarettes were “paradigm shifting” in the way of successful Internet companies.
At several bars in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Wednesday evening, patrons and bartenders said they were not bothered by electronic cigarettes.
[Warning: Testimonials Below. NewzGuyz does not approve of testimonials]
Lisa Graziano, 39, a bartender at the Charleston, said she enjoyed smoking e-cigarettes, even though she abhors regular cigarettes.
“I’m very much against smoking, but with these there’s no smoke,” she said, blowing billows of sweet-smelling steam after drawing on a thin, black tube with a tip that glowed lavender.
“I remember when Bloomberg passed the original ban, I was so happy,” she said. “I don’t even smoke but I love the hookah” — a type of electronic cigarette. “You push the button and you get the flavor.”
To emphasize her point, she smoked it next to a pregnant woman, who said she was not bothered.
“It certainly doesn’t bother anyone around here, and that’s the point,” Ms. Graziano said. “I despise regular cigarettes.”
David Slifkin, 45, the Charleston’s manager, said he did not think business would be affected by any ban. “The people who smoke those in here, it’s less than 2 percent,” he said.
Cory Sterling, 27, a bartender at the Gibson, called the proposed ban “a little silly.” He added, “It doesn’t seem to bother any of the customers, and when it’s cold and no one wants to stand outside, it’s a good alternative.”
*NewzGuyz Notes: As of December 19, 2013, New York City's ban on smoking was extended to e-cigarettes.
BIAS DETECTOR:
Overall, NewzGuyz gives this article a B. While bias was visible, it was not so pronounced as to distract from the main point or reach the point of activism. We feel that most omissions were borne of a sincere desire to remain objective and unbiased, but crossed a line with the heavy reliance on testimonials and the opinion statements of strong advocates and opposers of the bans.
The article is clearly proceeding with caution, making sure to not include any information which may give it the impression of favoring or opposing bans on e-cigarettes. While NewzGuyz approves of this approach, it has limitations... limitations that have been met and exceeded when relevant, accurate information is omitted and 60% of your article is opinions from both sides.
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