Latest news with #UniversityofNorthCarolinaat
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Greensboro woman helps prevent ACL injuries in female athletes
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — A kinesiology professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro has invented a device to help women who play sports know if they're at greater risk for an ACL injury and ultimately prevent it. Dr. Sandra Shultz is the director of UNC Greensboro's Center for Women's Health and Wellness. She also serves as co-director of the Applied Neuromechanics Research Laboratory. She has spent much of her career exploring ways to prevent ACL injuries among female athletes. 'Before I became a faculty member, I was a clinician for 12 years. I'm a certified athletic trainer and I worked at UCLA as the associate director of athletic training and rehabilitation, and I treated a lot of ACL injuries. In fact, in one year, we had eight female athletes with an ACL injury, and it was almost epidemic, Shultz said. She says knee laxity has been one of the most consistently identified risk factors for ACL injury. In basic terms, too much laxity makes it harder to keep the knee stable during certain athletic movements. Shultz wanted to know what exactly was putting women at a greater risk. 'My research really over the last 25 years has focused on understanding why females have greater laxity than males and what implications that has for injury, specifically ACL injury,' she said. 'I really started looking at hormones and that effect because we know what's different in men and women… and really looked at how that affected laxity and saw that impact that hormones do impact laxity across the menstrual cycle.' Focusing on prevention, Shultz and her colleague Dr. Randy Schmitz, an equal co-inventor, created the GMetric3D Knee Joint Laxity Testing Apparatus. 'We wanted to develop this device that would allow us to screen for those who have greater than average laxity with the goal of identifying those who might be at risk and developing prevention strategies to mitigate that risk before injury occurs,' she said. They've spent more than five years making adjustments to improve the device. 'We would place them in the device and a key feature of it is really stabilizing the thigh so that it doesn't move, so that we're just manipulating the lower leg so we get a good accurate measure of joint displacement and then the machine or the device will actually move the knee in three planes of motion,' Shultz said. Shultz explained that other laxity devices did not work in this way. 'Most laxity devices in the past only measured… if you were to measure the movement of the lower leg on the upper leg or tibia on the femur, that's measuring anterior knee laxity or the movement of the tibia forward. This device also measures side to side and rotational laxity,' she said. The GMetric3D could have huge benefits especially because Shultz says there really isn't anything like this available in the United States. However, that could change in the near future. The team, including James Coppock and Sam Seyedin, just received a patent from the US government – a major step toward the goal of commercialization and getting it to clinicians. 'I've always enjoyed creating, and so to take something like this and move it forward and then to receive this recognition that other people see value in it is rewarding and very exciting for us,' Shultz. Shultz appreciates the support from Innovate UNCG in the process of applying for the patent. She says the next step is to secure grant funding to work with an industry partner to take the prototype to the next level for commercialization. Shultz says the patent is significant because potential industry partners are generally more willing to invest when the intellectual property is protected. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Wanda Sykes Has 1 Hilarious Theory About Bill Belichick's Cringey Couples Photo
Wanda Sykes thinks a certain mermaid fell for a ploy, hook, line and sinker. On Thursday's episode of 'Today with Jenna & Friends' the comedian and co-host Jenna Bush Hager wasted no time jumping right in to discuss University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill head football coach Bill Belichick, 73, and his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson's seemingly strange romance. After unpacking the pair's odd dynamic during a CBS News interview over the weekend — in which Hudson seemed weirdly controlling — Bush Hager was eager to analyze photos of the couple posted to Hudson's Instagram grid. The 'Pootie Tang' alum seemed particularly creeped out by one cringey photo the two shot together on the beach. The photo, which is part of a slideshow post, features the former NFL coach dressed as a fisherman holding a rod while Hudson dons a mermaid costume and lies awkwardly in the sand, belly up. 'What is this?' Sykes said with an air of disbelief before getting seriously concerned for Belichick's well-being. 'Coach, look, if there's a problem, send me one of your Super Bowl rings,' Sykes said, giving the former New England Patriot an out if he felt his life was in danger. 'Ship me one of your rings, and Jenna and I will come get you!' 'Is he OK? What's happening?' the comedian mused elsewhere in the segment. After Bush Hager and Sykes joked around about how the photos gave them secondhand embarrassment, the comedian's shock had subsided enough that she shared a theory on how they came to be. Bush Hager was under the assumption that Hudson forced the photoshoot on Belichick — and Sykes agreed, but she had a caveat. 'Just think about it,' Sykes began. 'Do you really want to have a conversation with a 24 year old?' She continued, 'I mean, I'm 61! And if someone 24 starts talking to me, I'm like, 'Oh God, make it stop. Please make it stop!' You know what? … I would go, 'You know, yeah! Let's go dress up like a mermaid' just so I can shut you up. If this will stop you from talking, give me the fishing rod. As long as I don't have to have a conversation.' The couple has received an onslaught of attention since Belichick's interview with CBS News. During the segment, Belichick was asked how the couple met, and before he could answer, Hudson piped up from off camera and said sternly, 'We're not talking about this,' essentially shutting the question down. The bizarre moment quickly went viral, prompting Hudson to do some seemingly sketchy damage control on social media, which backfired. This spurred Belichick to defend Hudson in a statement sent to HuffPost on Wednesday. In the statement, Belichick said he was told that the CBS interview would focus solely on his new book, 'The Art of Winning ― Lessons from My Life in Football,' and he was 'surprised when unrelated topics were introduced.' 'After this occurred several times, Jordon, with whom I share both a personal and professional relationship, stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion,' he wrote. Belichick emphasized that Hudson was 'not deflecting any specific question or topic' but was 'simply doing her job.' 'Some of the clips make it appear as though we were avoiding the question of how we met,' Belichick said. 'But we have been open about the fact that Jordon and I met on a flight to Palm Beach in 2021.' The couple's story that they met on a flight is one that Sykes certainly was not buying on 'Today' Wednesday. 'I think it's public knowledge how they met,' Bush Hager said. 'They met on an airplane. What's so bad about that?' 'Right… Yeah, on an airplane,' Sykes said sarcastically while side-eyeing the backstage staff and audience suspiciously — and receiving a ton of laughter in response. Check out Sykes' and Bush Hager's full conversation on the topic above!
CBS News
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Bill Belichick responds after CBS interview generated scrutiny of relationship with Jordon Hudson
Former Patriots coach Bill Belichick says his recent interview on "CBS Sunday Morning" created "a false narrative" about his relationship with his girlfriend, 24-year-old Jordon Hudson. Belichick, 73, who is now head coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, sat down with CBS News' Tony Dokoupil ahead of the release of his new book, "The Art of Winning," but many commenters online focused on the glimpses of his relationship with Hudson. In a statement released Wednesday, Belichick said, "Prior to this interview, I clearly communicated with my publicist at Simon & Schuster that any promotional interviews I participated in would agree to focus solely on the contents of the book." "Unfortunately, that expectation was not honored during the interview. I was surprised when unrelated topics were introduced, and I repeatedly expressed to the reporter, Tony Dokoupil, and the producers that I preferred to keep the conversation centered on the book," the statement continued. "After this occurred several times, Jordon, with whom I share both a personal and professional relationship, stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion." A CBS News spokesperson responded: "When we agreed to speak with Mr. Belichick, it was for a wide-ranging interview. There were no preconditions or limitations to this conversation. This was confirmed repeatedly with his publisher before the interview took place and after it was completed." Belichick's statement comes after portions of the interview posted to social media generated scrutiny of his relationship. Out of the eight-minute segment that aired on "Sunday Morning," Belichick and Dokoupil discussed Hudson, whom the football legend described in his upcoming book as his "creative muse," for about one minute and 30 seconds. Dokoupil said in the recorded voiceover that Hudson was a "constant presence" during the interview. He asked Belichick, "You have Jordon right over there. Everybody in the world seems to be following this relationship. They've got an opinion about your private life. It's got nothing to do with them, but they're invested in it. How do you deal with that?" "I've never been too worried about what everybody else thinks," Belichick replied. "Just try to do what I feel like is best for me and what's right." When Belichick was asked how the two of them met, Hudson spoke up: "Not talking about this." In his statement Wednesday, Belichick defended Hudson. "She was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track. Some of the clips make it appear as though we were avoiding the question of how we met, but we have been open about the fact that Jordon and I met on a flight to Palm Beach in 2021," he said. "The final eight-minute segment does not reflect the productive 35-minute conversation we had, which covered a wide range of topics related to my career. Instead, it presents selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative — that Jordon was attempting to control the conversation — which is simply not true." In a separate statement released Tuesday, Belichick's literary agent, InkWell Management, said the segments resulted in "a raft of hostile social media posts about his personal life." "Bill has written an authoritative and entertaining book about success that should be judged by its contents, not by the clicks generated by the segment," InkWell Management said. Belichick's book "The Art of Winning" is scheduled for release May 6.
New York Post
30-04-2025
- Health
- New York Post
How living in the suburbs can increase your risk of developing a meat allergy
There goes the neighborhood! Suburban living has its upsides — bigger homes, less noise and more natural green spaces, to name a few. Developments with grassy lawns and wooded parks draw families because they create a sense of relaxation and offer safe areas for children to explore and play, boosting physical and mental health. But some creepy, clingy intruders pose a threat to these serene settings by transmitting disease and even sparking an unusual allergy to red meat. Advertisement 3 Alpha-gal syndrome is a possibly life-threatening allergic reaction to beef, pork, lamb or other animal products triggered by tick bites. Kritchanok – Certain ticks can trigger alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a possibly life-threatening allergic reaction to beef, pork, lamb or other animal products. Scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say they have identified potential environmental drivers of AGS risk by mapping 462 confirmed cases in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Advertisement 'Since the first documented case in the southeastern US in 2009, diagnoses of AGS have increased rapidly, with reported cases increasing from 24 in 2009 to over 34,000 in 2019,' the researchers wrote last week in the journal PLOS Climate. 'AGS is the leading cause of adult-onset allergies in the US, with test positivity rates of 30.5%.' Tick saliva contains alpha-gal, a sugar molecule found in red meat. A tick bite introduces alpha-gal into the bloodstream, tricking the immune system into thinking red meat is harmful. Symptoms, which typically emerge two to six hours after eating meat, include hives, nausea, wheezing, low blood pressure and fatigue. Severe cases may lead to anaphylaxis, requiring immediate medical attention. Advertisement 3 The lone star tick is the primary culprit for alpha-gal syndrome. A lone star tick is shown here. AP The lone star tick is the most common culprit for AGS, though deer ticks also have been implicated. Lone star ticks are primarily found in the southeastern, south-central and mid-Atlantic regions of the US — they are especially abundant on Long Island, particularly Suffolk County. Advertisement UNC computer models showed that open space development, defined by large swaths of natural areas, and forests with a mix of trees pose the greatest AGS risk. Ticks thrive in warm, moist environments. They like to hide in tall grass and shrubs to ambush passing animals like deer, rodents and birds. 'Understanding environmental factors affecting AGS risk is important for identifying at-risk populations for intervention strategies (e.g., educational campaigns and diagnostic testing),' the UNC study authors said. 3 Scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill mapped 462 confirmed cases in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. It's unclear how many new AGS cases have been logged this year. The researchers noted that AGS often goes underreported because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not require healthcare providers to report suspected cases. How to prevent tick bites Tick season in New York typically runs from March to November, with peak activity from April to September. Advertisement NYC Health + Hospitals has several recommendations for reducing the odds of contracting a tick-borne illness like AGS, Lyme disease or babesiosis. Cover as much skin as you can by wearing a hat, long sleeves and gloves and tucking shirts into pants and pants into socks. Wear light-colored clothing, so it's easier to notice ticks on you. Apply insect repellent to clothes, exposed skin and outdoor gear. Check yourself, children and pets for ticks before coming inside. Wash clothes in hot water and tumble them in a dryer on high heat to kill ticks. Shower within two hours. If you spot a tick, carefully remove it with tweezers, put it in a sandwich bag and place it in the freezer in case it's needed for identification. Wash the bite area with alcohol or soap and water. Watch for symptoms such as fatigue and numbness in the arms and legs, fever, chills, rash, headache or joint pain.
Washington Post
24-04-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
There's a new form of environmentalism. It's called ‘Make America Healthy Again.'
They say the food industry is putting pesticides, dangerous food dyes and other toxic chemicals into the U.S. food supply. They eschew highly processed foods, raise chickens and grow organic vegetables in their backyards. Some call themselves 'crunchy moms,' a term once linked with 1970s liberal environmentalists. But these aren't traditional, left-wing environmentalists. They are the moms in the 'Make America Healthy Again,' or MAHA, movement: They lean conservative, distrust vaccines and support Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And they are changing what it means to be an environmentalist in the United States — and generating growing momentum to change the country's food system. 'This perception that the food industry specifically is exploiting families to profit over children's health — you can see roots of that from long ago, looking at grassroots campaigns in Berkeley,' said Lindsey Smith Taillie, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 'And that's the same kind of mindset that you see today with MAHA.' The MAHA label sprang into existence during the presidential election last year. When Kennedy dropped out of the race and threw his support behind Donald Trump, he did so with the tagline 'Make America Healthy Again,' transforming his concerns about the nation's food and vaccine policies into a bite-size, Trump-friendly slogan. 'We're going to become, once again, the healthiest nation on Earth,' Kennedy said at the time. 'That's what we mean by 'MAHA.'' Over the next few months, the label surged in conservative political circles, according to a Washington Post analysis of social media posts. As Kennedy was folded into Trump's orbit, MAHA became a way for members of the movement to recognize one another and share their support for Trump. But the movement had begun building years before, as parents became increasingly concerned about the risks of highly processed foods and vaccines. Over the past three decades, the rate of obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents; the rate of type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents doubled between 2002 and 2018. Many self-proclaimed crunchy moms started voicing concern about the downturn in children's health, linking obesity to ultra-processed foods and food additives, and blaming the rise in documented autism cases on vaccines. Epidemiologists and public health experts say there is no evidence that vaccines cause autism, citing overwhelming scientific data that there is no link between the two. Ultra-processed foods, on the other hand, are consistently linked to obesity and other metabolic issues. These foods also make up approximately 70 percent of American children's diets. 'This is an issue that has been bubbling underneath the surface for a long time,' said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, which advocates for the removal of food dyes and other chemicals from the food supply. 'Originally, I felt like I was the only one doing it. I didn't see anybody else doing it online,' said Gretchen Adler, a mother in La Jolla, California. She uses her Instagram to post meals that she cooks from scratch to more than 450,000 followers, even replicating popular snacks such as Goldfish crackers and Cheez-Its. During the coronavirus pandemic, those concerns kicked into higher gear. Conservative parents questioned the need for vaccine mandates and grew suspicious of medical science. Conspiracy theories surged. 'After the pandemic, all these people concerned about medical freedom, health sovereignty — they coalesced, in a way, they had more energy,' said Holly Jean Buck, a professor of environment and sustainability at the University of Buffalo. April LoConti, a hair salon owner, real estate agent and mother of two, spent most of her life trusting scientists and the medical system. Her children were vaccinated on the typical schedule, and she believed in Western medicine. But after a breast implant surgery, she began to have migraines and vertigo every day, for months. Doctors were baffled, and she was shuffled from one expert to the next. 'I was trying to find out what was wrong with me, and I went down rabbit hole after rabbit hole,' she said. 'I'm begging people to help me.' LoConti now thinks her illness was mostly environmental, due to heavy metals in her breast implants and mold that she discovered in her home. The experience propelled her to research other toxins that could be in her home and food, and led her into a new world — one where she sees food as one of the key causes (and cures) for medical ailments. Now she grows vegetables in her backyard, raises chickens and tries to make most foods from scratch. 'I'm living low-tox,' she said. 'I'm like, 'What's in your house? What can you do in your everyday life so you don't end up down the Western medicine hole?'' In some ways, the MAHA movement and environmentalism overlap. Both MAHA moms and environmentalists think government agencies have been captured by powerful corporate players — particularly the food industry. Both worry about heavy metals, chemicals from plastics and petroleum, and other pollutants entering the food and water supply. There, however, the similarities end. Environmentalists tend to be aligned with mainstream science: They generally support vaccines and masking to avoid illness and the coronavirus, and they want stronger regulations. Historically, environmentalists are more willing to subordinate individual needs for collective needs — driving or flying less to reduce carbon emissions, for example. MAHA moms, on the other hand, are often more focused on how individuals can navigate what they see as a corrupted system. 'It seems to be really individual-centered: 'How does the food industry affect my kid?'' Taillie said. While traditional environmentalism focuses on risks to communities from air pollution and climate change, Taillie said, the MAHA movement focuses more narrowly on risks in the household. MAHA also has links with wellness culture and social media influencing. Some MAHA moms critique ultra-processed foods and products, while directing followers toward what they see as more holistic or healthful brands. Others use their emphasis on cooking and homesteading — raising chickens, goats and cows — to create a large social media following. Brandy Bright, a MAHA mom in Myakka City, Florida, who co-hosts a podcast with LoConti, doesn't consider herself an environmentalist. For Bright, who goes by Brandy Lemire on social media, the focus on climate change is a sign of how the public has grown to accept — or ignore — the chemicals right around them. 'There's a lot of issues with toxins, whether it's food or vaccines or chemicals in our homes,' she said. 'People focus on these bigger issues because they don't even see the smaller issues.' Still, the movement also supports policies that some would associate with traditional liberal environmentalism. Many MAHA activists want food regulations in the U.S. to look more like the European Union. According to one estimate, the U.S. allows 950 additives in the food supply that are not permitted in Europe. In an email, a Health and Human Services Department official said that since taking office, Kennedy has met with food industry CEOs to find ways to eliminate harmful food additives and dyes from the food supply, directed federal agencies to examine chemicals in America's food, and collaborated with the state of West Virginia on banning some food dyes. Taillie said some aspects of the movement align with what nutritional experts encourage: avoiding ultra-processed foods and foods that have long lists of hard-to-pronounce ingredients. However, some of MAHA's food concerns, she said, are not backed up by science. 'The MAHA movement has a hyperfocus on a very narrow set of additives,' she said, pointing to concerns over food dyes and seed oils. 'If you ask me what would be the one thing that we need to do in order to prevent obesity and type 2 diabetes — removing food dyes would be way down on the list.' Seed oils, she added, are common in ultra-processed foods, which is why they can be correlated with health harms. But isolated seed oils in fresh foods, Taillie said, are considered healthy and even recommended by nutritionists. That focus on food dyes has already been visible in the new administration. On Tuesday, Kennedy announced he would phase out petroleum-based food dyes, saying that rather than imposing a ban, he had reached an 'understanding' with food companies, and they would begin moving away from the ingredients. Melissa Hockstad, president and CEO of the Consumer Brands Association, a trade group for the food industry, defended them even as she indicated that the industry is moving toward alternative ingredients. 'The ingredients used in America's food supply have been rigorously studied following an objective science and risk-based evaluation process and have been demonstrated to be safe,' Hockstad said in a statement. Experts say the MAHA movement could represent a moment of bipartisan agreement to address the nation's food supply. 'People regardless of party are right to demand healthier food,' said Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group. Faber sees the move toward removing food dyes as mostly talk. 'An agreement requires two parties,' he said in an email. 'This is more like a marriage proposal that has not been accepted.' Still, the mothers of the MAHA movement are excited about the change. 'Moms like me have been waiting for this for years,' Bright said. 'It's a step in the right direction.' Taillie worries that, under Kennedy and Trump, any changes may not be based on scientific evidence — exchanging one ingredient for another, for example, while ignoring the problem of too much sugar and too many processed foods in Americans' diets. 'It's possible for it all to be nothing but a smoke screen,' she said. Faber pointed out that the Trump administration recently laid off 3,500 Food and Drug Administration employees — crippling the agency's ability to monitor for foodborne diseases. 'People are right to worry that the government is putting industry science ahead of real science,' he said. 'But we do not share their optimism that the Trump administration will deliver.'
