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Startup that aims to prevent tissue adhesions after surgery wins inaugural Apis health competition

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From top left, clockwise: Apis fund manager Allen Nieman, MC Jolene Anderson, and Karios CEO Gregory Grover. (Apis Image)

Houston-based Karios Technologies won the inaugural Apis Health Angel Conference, launched in Seattle to connect investors and health-related startups.

The program is modeled after the Seattle Angel Conference, which has educated investors and funded companies for more than ten years through its startup competition.

More than 50 companies started with the Apis cohort late last year, and six made it to the final competition Thursday evening. They presented pitches to more than 25 participating angel investors.

The Apis conference is virtual and accepted applicants from all over the country. The investors each contributed $5,000 to the winner’s pool. Karios took home $145,000.

RELATED: Seattle Angel Conference launches new health startup competition to help educate angel investors. 

Karios is developing a way to help prevent tissue adhesions after surgery, using hydrogel technology spun out of the University of California Los Angeles and UC San Diego. The startup is focused on children with congenital heart defects.

“Our passion is to bring this product into clinic to improve the quality of life of these young patients and then transition in other high impact areas of surgery,” said CEO Gregory Grover in a statement. Grover was previously a bioengineering postdoctoral fellow at UCSD and has held senior positions at biotech and medical device companies.

The five runners-up are:

— BodiGuide, a Bellevue-Wash.-based startup developing an ankle bracelet to detect fluid retention in patients with heart failure.

— Violett, which is based in Seattle and has built a device to disinfect air using ultraviolet light.

— Estrigenix Therapeutics, a Milwaukee-based biotech company developing a therapy to boost mental health in menopausal women.

— NanoPharmaSolutions, which offers technology to help formulate biopharmaceuticals and is based in San Diego.

— Remedium Bio, a Needham, Mass.-based biotech company developing gene therapies for a broad range of conditions.

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West Oakland environmental group sues to stop proposed port gravel facility

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Exactly one month after the Port of Oakland approved construction of an open-air gravel and sand facility, a West Oakland environmental group has filed a lawsuit to stop the project.

The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project alleges that the Port of Oakland approved the facility without adequately taking into account the air pollution and other impacts it could have on surrounding neighborhoods.

The group is seeking an injunction to stop the project until the port completes a more thorough environmental study of the project and requires the company, Eagle Rock Aggregates, and the port to commit to more safeguards to prevent pollution.

“This sand and gravel project would have severe negative impacts on the health of the people in my community,” Ms. Margaret Gordon, co-founder of WOEIP, said in a press statement today.

The 18-acre gravel yard would store as much as 2.5 million tons of sand and gravel each year, offloaded from roughly 48 ships visiting the port. Roughly 70,000 truck trips per year would ferry the material through West Oakland and on freeways to regional cement plants. 

WOEIP is concerned that dust from the rock and sand piles, which will not be covered, could blow into surrounding neighborhoods, worsening already high rates of asthma and other illnesses that have been linked to industry at the port. Increased ships and truck traffic will also emit harmful particulate matter and greenhouse gasses.

Port of Oakland Director of Communications Robert Bernardo said the port cannot comment on active litigation.

The project’s environmental impact report and comments from various community groups and other public agencies can be viewed here.

Cement from the facility would be used in the foundations of large buildings and other major construction projects in the Bay Area. Eagle Rock Aggregates has operated in the East Bay since 2007 through the privately-owned Levin Terminal in Richmond. Cement made from the company’s imported gravel was used to build the Bay Bridge and downtown Oakland high-rises.

Brian Beveridge, co-founder of WOEIP, acknowledged that the lawsuit is a “serious challenge to the Port’s authority” but said his group feels that legal action is necessary. “The Port Commission has abandoned its obligation to protect our public interests in the shoreline and our air.”

WOEIP is not alone in criticizing the gravel project. The California Air Resource Board, a state agency that oversees clean air laws, noted in a letter to port officials two years ago that the project will “increase exposure to air pollution in disadvantaged communities,” and that the port and Eagle Rock should do more to reduce emissions of dust from the rock piles and trucks that will transport the gravel.

The lawsuit was filed in Alameda County State Superior Court. Laura Beaton of Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger is representing WOEIP.

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Experts warn of intense allergy season as pollen counts rise over time

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MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — With spring comes budding flowers, trees and, unfortunately for people who suffer from allergies, it also brings pollen. 

Experts say the sneezing and itching may be starting earlier for some people. Although the pollen isn’t coming from trees here in SE Wisconsin yet, warm temperatures and winds have carried pollen and other allergens to Wisconsin already. 

Gary Steven is an allergist at Allergy Asthma & Sinus Center. Steven says he’s already tracked some tree and grass pollen in the air. 

Allergy season could begin here in Wisconsin as early as this weekend. That’s when allergy sufferers will really start to notice those symptoms, especially when they’re outside. 

“Allergies are additive, so the more things you’re allergic to the worse your symptoms are going to be,” said Steven. 

Steven says data shows the maximum pollen count is up 133 percent over the last 25 years. 

The reason is because warmer temperatures are causing trees to produce more pollen and for a longer time. 

“We’ve seen this in our own area. I’ve been sampling pollen since 1995, and over the last 25 years we’ve seen the tree pollen season extending by 17 days. it’s about 27percent longer than it was at the turn of the century,” said Steven.

The rising pollen count means it’s more important than ever to get yourself treated if you think you have allergies. 

According to the CDC, extreme rainfall and rising temperatures can also contribute to indoor air quality problems and stir up allergens inside.

19.2 million people were diagnosed with Hay Fever over the last 12 months, that’s an allergic reaction to pollen and more than 

With longer seasons and more pollen in the air, the CDC says more people are at risk. 

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La Nucia tap water is safe to drink

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PURE WATER: Bernabe Cano with ‘before and after’ glasses of drinking water
Photo credit: La Nucia town hall

LA NUCIA’S town hall assured the local population that the town’s tap water was safe to drink.

As often happens during and after heavy rain, the water arriving from the Guadalest reservoir has been noticeably turbid.

Following numerous queries from residents, Aqualia’s La Nucia manager, La Nucia’s mayor Bernabe Cano and Miguel Angel Ivorra, councillor responsible for Water, visited the municipality’s €1.5 million purification plant, built in 2018 to solve the intermittent problems caused by cloudy water.

“The La Nucia plant eliminates all cloudiness, ensuring that the local supply meets standards that are even higher than those required by the health authorities,” Cano said, holding up “before and after” glasses of water.

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Out on a Limb: Corona memories for your descendants

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If you’re a genealogist, it’s time for you to write down your personal pandemic experiences for those relatives who will follow you.

After all, wouldn’t we as genealogists gain valuable insights about our ancestors if we could read – in their words – what it was like to live through historical eras of plague, yellow fever, influenza and other diseases that have struck our world down through the ages?

Wouldn’t you like to know how they responded to knowledge that disease was among them, that it was spreading, that cures (if any) were off in the future?

There’s lots we wish they could have told us. What changes did they make in life? What fears did they harbor? What losses did they suffer? When did they start to experience a sense of relief?

It’s not too late to get started on your personal and family coronavirus memoir, and you certainly don’t have to be a professional writer. Write it the way you’d write a letter to a relative, which is exactly what you’re doing. Whether you prefer a pen and legal pad or a computer, here are some suggestions for getting the job done. Just sit down and do a few sentences on each of these points.

Alarm: When did you hear or read about the oncoming pandemic? Describe your initial thoughts. How worried were you? Did you begin following pandemic news closely? Did you discuss it with family and friends?

Responses: What were your thoughts when the first national responses such as quarantines and contact tracing were undertaken? When did you begin to experience practices like wearing masks, keeping distant from others and disinfecting hands?

Routines: What changes occurred at your workplace or at stores and other venues you frequented? Were there adjustments in days and hours? Were you angry or disoriented when events and travel you’d looked forward to were no longer allowed?

News: As time went on, did you follow pandemic news avidly, or did you settle into just looking for highlights? Did the onrush of information about progress with vaccines become highly important to you, or did you grow frustrated over the daily reports?

Vaccines: If you sought inoculation, how did you find out about it and where did you go to get your shots? What precautions did you continue to take even after receiving the shots? How nervous were you, and did you suffer any side effects?

Fatigue: As time went on, did you fear that the spread of the coronavirus was unending? Did you follow the daily charts on TV and in the newspapers? Did continued use of masks and distancing and the continued reductions by businesses and social organizations annoy you?

Changes: How did you adjust to working from home (if you were required to do so)? If you had children, was distance learning by the schools a problem in your household?

Illnesses: Did you or any of your family or friends contract the coronavirus? What was their experience? How about yourself?

Well, there is certainly more you could put into your document. Make several copies. Keep it with your genealogical materials, and future family generations will thank you for it.

News Notes: If you’re reading this before March 31, here’s something great. At 6:30 p.m. that day the Luzerne County Historical Society will offer, via Zoom, a genealogy workshop featuring the resources of its own Bishop Library. Amanda Fontenova, director of library and archives, will conduct the session. Questions will be accepted. Go to the society’s Facebook page for registration information.

Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy columnist. Reach him at [email protected]

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Mekedatu Drinking Water Project: Karnataka Assembly passes resolution condemning Tamil Nadu’s stand on the project

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Bengaluru: In retaliation to the Tamil Nadu’s (TN) Assembly resolution opposing Mekedatu Drinking Water Project along Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border,  the Karnataka Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution strongly condemning the TN resolution and reiterated that the State Government is committed to implement the project.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai presented the resolution in the Assembly which was passed unanimously. The resolution also urged the Central Agencies not to approve the illegal projects of TN till the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of River Linking is approved by Karnataka.

Pointing out that TN Assembly on Mar. 21 in a resolution, had opposed the Karnataka’s Mekedatu Project, the resolution passed by the Karnataka Assembly said that it has also taken note of the many illegal projects being planned unilaterally by TN Government. Stating that Mekedatu project is in no way detrimental to the interests of TN, CM Bommai informed that Mekedatu Project is proposed to provide 24 TMC of drinking water (4.75 TMC for consumptive use) as allotted by the Supreme Court after modifying Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and also to produce Hydro-Electric power and added that Karnataka has the Constitutional authority to implement the project.

The resolution says that the Mekedatu Project is in line with the National Water Policy which gives priority to drinking water and the implementation of the  project is also not in violation of Water Tribunal’s directive in any way.

Using the surplus Cauvery water from Karnataka, the TN Government has proposed to take up many illegal projects unilaterally. These projects include Kunda-PSP, Sillahally-PSP, Hogenkal-Phase1, Cauvery (Hattale) Vaigai-Gundar linking. The resolution passed by the State Assembly also demanded that the Peninsular River Development Project under which surplus Godavari water is linked to join the Cauvery-Krishna-Pennar-Vaigai-Gundar Project should not be approved till the water share of States including Karnataka is decided.

 TN wants Karnataka to seek its approval for the Mekedatu Project. But at the same time, it is going ahead with many illegal projects unilaterally displaying its duality. The resolution strongly condemned all such illegal projects and said that it would oppose them at all forums. The resolution also unanimously urged the Central Water Commission to approve the DPR of Mekedatu Project so that it can get the subsequent approval of Environment and Forest Ministries.

Resolutions

1. The resolution strongly condemns the resolution passed by TN Assembly opposing Mekedatu Project even though the project does not affect that State in anyway.

2. The resolution urges the Central Water Commission, Union Ministry of Environment and Forest to give immediate approval to Mekedatu Project.

3. The resolution demands that the Central Agencies should not approve the project of linking Godavari-Krishana- Pennar-Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar Rivers till the water share of all stakeholders including Karnataka is decided.

  It may be recalled that Chief Minister Bommai in his maiden Budget speech had announced in the Assembly that he has reserved an amount of Rs.1,000 crore for the implementation of Mekedatu project. The Congress party also took out a padayatra in two phases demanding the implementation of Mekedatu project.

JD (S) supports State’s  resolution Former Chief Minister and JD (S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy has said that his party fully supports the resolution passed by the State Assembly condemning the controversial resolution passed by the TN Assembly. He also urged the State Government to get approval of Union Environment and Forest Ministry and start the work on Mekedatu project at the earliest. There is a BJP Government at the Centre and the State Government should display commitment to implement the project, he added.

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Spring Cleaning Up 10%: American Cleaning Institute

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A recent survey conducted by Ipsos Research on behalf of the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) found that 78% of Americans spring clean at least once per year, up nearly 10% from just one year ago. For these Americans, a big motivator behind cleaning is having a healthy home.

 

According to the survey, three out of four Americans spring clean every year, with kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms topping the list of spring-cleaning targets.

 

Although fewer Americans reported spring cleaning yearly in 2021 than in 2022, which could have been due to the increased amount of time spent at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans will pull out their spring cleaning supplies this year to help keep their homes healthy and safe. In fact, a majority (71%) of Americans are motivated to clean because they want to have a healthy home environment, emphasizing the intrinsic value cleaning plays in today’s society and its connection to a safe, healthy and robust future.

 

“At ACI, we know that cleaning is caring. For so many Americans, cleaning is no longer viewed as just a chore, but as a means of caring for one another and creating a healthy and safe home,” said Brian Sansoni, ACI senior vice president, communications and outreach. “After being cooped up for long periods at a time, many people are ready to open up their windows and get rid of a winter’s worth of dust, dirt and grime.”

 

Among those who spring clean, survey findings show Americans focus their targeted hygiene practices on the kitchen (64%), bedrooms (61%) and bathrooms (59%). When choosing their cleaning products, Americans who spring clean rank effectiveness (44%) as the most important, followed by multi-purpose (18%) and cost (12%).

 

ACI offers a wide range of resources to make spring cleaning simple, easy and effective such as cleaning basics; room-by-room guide; de-cluttering; and home cleaning problems and solutions.

 

 

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We’ve relied on industry to protect us from air toxics. That approach has failed.

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What if you found out you and your family might have been breathing in an invisible poison for years?

It sounds like a science fiction plot. But it’s a question that we and thousands of other Coloradans have been asking ourselves. Even for us, as professionals in health fields, trying to answer it leads to a bunch of scary unknowns.

Both of our communities, Pueblo and Lakewood, are near industrial facilities that emit pollutants known as “air toxics.” These pollutants — including chemicals like benzene, hydrogen cyanide, chromium, and ethylene oxide — can cause cancer or serious health impacts such as breathing difficulty, nausea, birth defects, or even death. And they’re more common in Colorado than you might realize.

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Perhaps the scariest part: Colorado doesn’t currently have health-based standards that limit how much of these toxic substances industries can emit. The federal government has identified over 187 hazardous air pollutants, but in many communities, there is little or no monitoring of how much is in our air. We’ve been placing too much trust in industries that have a record of prioritizing profit over our health to be transparent and protect us from air toxics. This approach has failed, and the harm falls most on those living close to industrial pollution, who disproportionately tend to be people living on lower incomes, people of color, and the workers at these facilities themselves.

So we are thrilled to see a bill at the Colorado statehouse that would make significant strides towards monitoring and limiting toxic air pollution. We applaud the sponsors Reps. Chris Kennedy and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, and Sen. Julie Gonzales, who are leading the fight for House Bill 22-1244, “Public Protections From Toxic Air Contaminants.”

The harm falls most on those living close to industrial pollution, who disproportionately tend to be people living on lower incomes, people of color, and the workers at these facilities themselves.

The bill directs our state’s air quality experts to identify the pollutants that pose a risk, and establish health-based standards for the amount of toxics in our air. It also provides resources for monitoring air toxics around Colorado, and empowers communities to set up their own EPA-quality air monitoring systems and send the data to the state.

One of us, Theresa Trujillo, has been fighting this toxic pollution in Pueblo for years. Theresa and her family have seen how the city they’ve lived in for generations is treated as the dumping ground for the industrial pollution that the rest of the state doesn’t want in their backyards. As a health equity advocate, Theresa is deeply concerned about the higher rates of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer in Pueblo, particularly in communities of color. We should do everything we can to stop air toxics from compounding the health disparities we already see.

Another pernicious thing about toxic air pollution is that it can slip by unnoticed. One of us, Jessica Barnette, didn’t know until she started researching this bill that a medical facility in her own community was emitting potentially dangerous levels of a chemical linked to cancer.

At least 15 other states, including Texas, Oregon, California and Kentucky, have already taken up this issue and adopted comprehensive state and local-level strategies to address air toxics.

HB22-1244 would ensure Colorado doesn’t remain one of the shrinking number of states that leave their most impacted residents in the dark about their health.

Contrary to opponents’ alarmist claims, this bill isn’t going to spell economic downfall for industries. In fact, it fosters collaboration between state agencies and industry to implement advanced technologies that help cut air toxics emissions and better protect their neighbors.

The presence of toxic air pollution threatens other economic drivers like tourism and recreation.

Most importantly, poor air quality costs Coloradans millions of dollars a year in additional health care costs, insurance premiums and missed work due to health complications. When it comes down to it, no amount of industry profit or short-term economic gains are worth sacrificing the health and well-being of Coloradans.

Like an invisible poison in science fiction, toxic air pollutants can easily disappear out of sight, out of mind. But Colorado families deserve better than simply accepting toxic pollution in our air.

We have an obligation to our children and to future generations to start cleaning up the mess we’ve made, and to stop making these messes to begin with. We hope our legislators will choose a legacy of clean air and health equity for all Coloradans instead of profit for a few.

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EPA Publishes Best Practices for Indoor Air Quality in Combating COVID-19 | Jackson Lewis P.C.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released new guidance on best practices to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) as part of the administration’s overall pandemic response plan for combating COVID-19.

Called the “Clean Air in Buildings Challenge,” the guidance advises, “[b]uilding owners and operators should engage experts, facilities managers, and others who are skilled, trained, and/or certified in HVAC work to develop and implement plans to improve IAQ and manage air flows.”

Recommended Best Practices

The guidance outlines the steps building owners and operators should take:

  1. Create an action plan for clean indoor air in buildings that assesses indoor air quality, plans for upgrades and improvements, and includes HVAC inspections and maintenance. This involves first determining how clean outdoor air is brought into the building and distributed to all occupied spaces and understanding and documenting how the building’s HVAC systems work. The guidance recommends working with an HVAC expert to assess and inspect systems for ventilation, filtration, and air cleaning. The assessment should determine whether carbon dioxide monitors are needed, determine how much clean air (outdoor air + filtered HVAC recirculation air) is needed, measure air delivery for each room or space, and determine whether particular spaces need a different direction of air flow. Building owners or operators should have an HVAC expert verify the system is working properly through testing and create a preventive maintenance schedule, including filter replacements and upgrades or improvements as needed.
  1. Optimize fresh air ventilation by bringing in and circulating clean outdoor air indoors. Ensure outdoor air is acceptably clean or is adequately filtered as it is brought into the building, run HVAC systems during all hours when the building is occupied and even for an hour or two after the building when the building is unoccupied to circulate fresh air, ensure exhaust fans in bathrooms are functioning and running when the building is occupied, increase the volume of clean, outdoor air at times of higher risk (e.g., at times of elevated risk of COVID-19), adjust HVAC settings while considering thermal comfort, humidity, outdoor air quality, and energy use, and, as much as possible, enable cross ventilation by opening windows and doors at opposite sides of the room or building. 
  1. Enhance air filtration and cleaning using the central HVAC system and in-room air cleaning devices by installing MERV-13 air filters or the highest rated MERV filters the HVAC system can accommodate. Use portable air cleaners and consider using an upper room Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation system.
  1. Communicate with building occupants to increase awareness about IAQ, commitment to improving IAQ, and solicit feedback and suggestions from building tenants.

According to the EPA, implementing these measures can reduce the risk of exposure to particles, aerosols, and other contaminants and improve the health of building occupants.

OSHA

Throughout the pandemic, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has provided guidance for mitigating COVID-19 in the workplace, which has included assessing, improving, and regularly maintaining HVAC systems. OSHA last updated its guidance on August 13, 2021.The OSHA website now states that the guidance will be updated soon.

In what is known in the safety world as the hierarchy of controls for managing safety and health hazards, engineering controls (such as ventilation systems) are the next best mitigation strategy if elimination or substitution of the hazard cannot be achieved.

The new EPA guidance is couched as a strategy for combatting COVID-19 and focuses on an engineering control that should exist in every building. It is not yet known how OSHA will view the EPA guidance. Given the importance of engineering controls to mitigating workplace safety and health hazards, OSHA may seek to rely on the EPA guidance for “industry knowledge” to support a violation under Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) 5(a)(1) general duty clause for any employer that is not attempting to mitigate COVID-19 by at least assessing its HVAC system. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the agency’s COVID-19 Vaccine-or-Test Emergency Temporary Standard and, in doing so, stated that, for most industries, COVID-19 is not an occupational hazard. As an agency whose mission is to help ensure the safety and health of workers, it is unsurprising that OSHA views that decision narrowly and does not read it to restrict its authority to enforce alleged COVID-19 violations under the general duty clause of the OSH Act.

Employers will have to watch closely for new and updated guidance from OSHA to align with other federal agency guidance on COVID-19 (such as from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and EPA).

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Closings and Delays in Aroostook County for Friday, March 25th

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Freezing rain and sleet early Friday morning has led to some slippery roads in Aroostook County and western New Brunswick. Some schools are closed and drivers are urged to slow down and use extra caution.

Houlton area schools (MSAD 29) are closed Friday due to the freezing rain and poor road conditions.

Hodgdon area schools (MSAD 70) are closed Friday.

Greater Houlton Christian Academy is closed Friday.

UMPI  will have a two hour delay today. On-site classes will resume at 10 a.m. This includes the Houlton Higher Education Center.

District and Superior Courts in Houlton, Presque Isle, Caribou and Fort Kent are closed today.

Meals on Wheels for Madawaska, Fort Kent, St. Agatha and Frenchville areas is cancelled due to slippery roads.

Aroostook Regional Transportation System will DELAY bus service 1 hour today.

This post will be updated.

If you have a storm-related message you would like included in this listing, email [email protected]

My Top-Secret Tips for Spring Cleaning Your Dirty Maine Home

Spring is here and so the time has come when we can no longer ignore the smell in our fridge and the dust on our ceilings. Here are my not-so-secret tips and tricks on cleaning your Maine home this season!

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