Latest news with #Wardlaw
Time of India
3 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
After a stroke, more time in bed may affect memory, experts reveal
Research indicates that increased time in bed after a mild stroke or TIA may negatively impact cognitive function. The study, involving brain scans and cognitive assessments, revealed a link between longer time spent in bed and poorer thinking and memory skills. These findings suggest disturbed sleep could signify adverse brain health in stroke survivors. A good night's sleep is essential for health and emotional well-being. However, the same cannot be said for people who survived a stroke of transient ischemic attack (TIA). After a stroke or TIA, spending more time in bed, either sleeping or trying to sleep, may not be beneficial for cognitive function, reveals new research. According to a new study published in Neurology , added sleep duration is associated with poorer thinking and memory skills. To understand the link between sleep and brain function in individuals who suffered a stroke, the researchers studied 422 adults with an average age of 66 from Edinburgh and Hong Kong who had recently experienced a mild stroke or TIA. One to three months following the event, all participants underwent brain scans, were asked to complete sleep questionnaires, and take cognitive assessments. They found that spending more time in bed was linked to lower scores on tests of thinking and memory skills and changes in their brains that can lead to dementia or a second stroke. What is a stroke A stroke occurs when blood flow to part of the brain is interrupted or reduced, depriving brain tissue of oxygen and nutrients. A transient ischemic attack (TIA), often referred to as a 'mini stroke,' involves a brief blockage of blood flow. While symptoms usually resolve within minutes or hours, a TIA can be an early warning sign of a more serious stroke. Sleep after a stroke The researchers observed that spending more time in bed does not equate to sleep. Difficulty falling asleep, fragmented sleep, poor quality sleep, or other problems are signs of a sleep disorder. The study found that both people with longer in-bed times and with longer sleep durations were more likely to have these brain changes. The study, however, does not prove that these sleep issues cause these brain changes and thinking problems; it only shows an association. What do experts think Disturbed sleep is not great for health. 'These results show that disturbed sleep may be a marker of adverse brain health, even for people with mild strokes or TIAs. While many people know that a lack of sleep can lead to health issues, less is known about the effects of sleeping longer at night or spending a long time in bed trying to make up for having trouble sleeping—whether people are doing this consciously or not,' study author Joanna M. Wardlaw, MD, of the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom said in a statement. RFK Jr. Openly Tells World To Exit 'Bloated' WHO As Global Health Officials Watch Silently In the study, the researchers found that people who spent a longer time in bed were more likely to have signs of damage to small blood vessels in the brain, including a greater volume of white matter hyperintensities, or areas in the white matter of the brain where brain tissue has been damaged. These participants were also more likely to have slightly lower scores on the test of thinking and memory skills. People who had longer sleep duration were more likely to have small areas of microhemorrhages, or microbleeds, in the brain. 'More research is needed to confirm these findings and also to look at whether prolonged sleep has negative effects on people who have never had a stroke or TIA. Of course, research is also needed on whether improving people's sleep patterns after stroke could ward off some of these possible detrimental effects,' Wardlaw added. One step to a healthier you—join Times Health+ Yoga and feel the change
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Using nitrogen gas in executions will further delay Arkansas death penalty
An oxygen mask. Alabama attaches a similar-looking mask to a condemned inmate when conducting executions using nitrogen hypoxia. (Getty Images) When it comes to administering the death penalty, perhaps the most intractable difficulty is that it's just really, really difficult to kill someone in a way that isn't cruel or unusual or messy or doesn't make us unduly squeamish. Taking someone who is alive and making them dead requires some level of violence — injecting a fatal dose of chemicals, zapping them with electricity, shooting them, breaking their neck with a rope — that raises profound moral and constitutional issues. And state legislators, including here in Arkansas, are finding new and creative ways to tinker with the machinery of death, as they try to overcome hurdles slowing the pace of executions. Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage, and Sen. Blake Johnson, R-Corning, have proposed a bill to allow the Division of Correction to use nitrogen gas as a method of execution, in addition to the current method of lethal injection. The bill has passed the House and will likely clear the Senate, given that 20 of the 35 senators are co-sponsors. When Wardlaw defended his bill in committee, he said the idea sprang from a conversation with family members of victims of last year's mass shooting in Fordyce about possible changes to the state's death penalty laws. Attorney General Tim Griffin's staff floated the idea of nitrogen executions during those discussions, he said. A firing squad would be far less painful and far less horrific than a nitrogen execution. – Rev. Jeff Hood, North Little Rock priest who witnessed an Alabama execution Only one jurisdiction in the United States has ever used nitrogen gas for executions, the state of Alabama, which has killed four men with this method. And here's what nitrogen gas executions there look like: The prisoner is strapped to a gurney, a mask similar to a fireman's mask is placed over his face, and he is then suffocated with nitrogen, a colorless, odorless gas that isn't toxic but kills by replacing oxygen in the lungs as the prisoner breathes it in. Officials in Alabama have insisted that executions with nitrogen gas are painless and result in rapid unconsciousness. Wardlaw called it 'a very quick, humane death.' But the Rev. Jeff Hood, an Old Catholic priest from North Little Rock — who witnessed Alabama's first nitrogen execution last year of Kenny Smith — said what he saw was neither quick nor painless and amounted to torture. 'This is like strapping people to the top of a rocket and saying, 'We don't know where you're going, but we're going to light the fuse,' said Hood, whose ministry includes working as a spiritual adviser to Smith and other death row inmates. Hood said he watched Smith struggle from the moment nitrogen was introduced into the mask, as his body began reacting to the loss of oxygen. Smith convulsed, strained so hard against the straps keeping him on the gurney that it shook, and pushed his face against the mask, which filled up with fluid as he struggled for air. It took 22 minutes before prison officials closed the curtains to indicate that Smith was dead. Before the execution, prison officials placed oxygen monitors in and around the death chamber and required Hood to sign a liability waiver in case he was harmed by a nitrogen leak, which he said amounted to 'the state admitting that there's a danger to the people in the chamber.' Having witnessed eight other executions using lethal injection, Hood said Smith's execution with nitrogen 'was by far the worst that I've ever seen' — so much so that he says he'd counsel inmates facing execution to select any other method if they are given an option. 'A firing squad would be far less painful and far less horrific than a nitrogen execution,' Hood said. Hood is an anti-death penalty activist, and, as such, his views were treated with some indifference when he testified against Wardlaw's bill at the Capitol. However, media reports of Alabama's executions also describe prisoners struggling as they were being suffocated. And, of course, the problem with judging whether a new method of death is truly quick and painless is that the only people who can accurately describe the experience are dead. The introduction of nitrogen gas as a method of execution comes as the death penalty has become something of a dead letter in Arkansas, primarily because the state is having trouble acquiring the drugs used in its lethal injection protocol as drug companies balk at getting involved. Death sentences are becoming rarer (the 25 men on Arkansas' death row have all been there since at least 2018), and the state has executed just four men since 2005. All of those executions took place in an eight-day period in April 2017 as Gov. Asa Hutchinson and corrections officials raced to complete eight scheduled executions before the state's supply of one of the lethal injection drugs expired — a gruesome spectacle that drew international condemnation. Presumably, Arkansas would only proceed with a nitrogen gas execution as an alternative method if lethal injection continues to be unavailable. However, Wardlaw and Johnson's bill leaves the choice of execution method entirely to the discretion of the director of the Division of Correction. The bill doesn't address the quality or concentration of the nitrogen or whether it should be administered with a mask or in a gas chamber, letting corrections officials develop a protocol for carrying out nitrogen gas executions with no guidance for how that should be done or the parameters of the protocol. Critics of the bill believe those provisions run afoul of a 2012 Arkansas Supreme Court decision, Hobbs vs. Jones, that struck down the state's death penalty statute because it gave the Department of Corrections too much discretion in what drugs would be used in lethal injections, without sufficient legislative guidance. A statute that provides 'absolute, unregulated and undefined discretion in an administrative agency bestows arbitrary powers and is an unlawful delegation of legislative powers,' the court majority said. The irony here is that should the state ever try to execute an inmate with nitrogen, it will trigger a lengthy legal battle up and down both federal and state courts, which will indefinitely delay executions that the nitrogen option was supposed to jump start. In addition, the three largest U.S. manufacturers of nitrogen gas have responded to states adopting nitrogen as an execution method by prohibiting their products from being used. And that is the conundrum at the heart of the public policy debate over capital punishment — Arkansas and other death penalty states are tangling themselves in more and more legal, ethical and practical knots as they try to rescue a policy that remains politically popular but has become increasingly unworkable. Given the legal challenges and the unavailability of drugs, there's a decent chance that none of the 25 men on death row in Arkansas — some of whom have been there since the 1990s — will ever face execution, by either lethal injection or nitrogen gas. The rational choice would be to accept that fact, move on, and stop pouring resources into defending an untenable policy. The irrational choice would be adopting a new, experimental method of execution, triggering a whole new batch of legal challenges, and pretending that we've figured out a way to kill people that's less violent than the methods already in use.
CBS News
03-03-2025
- Health
- CBS News
How Philadelphia doctors are fighting medical misinformation with "Twin Sister Docs" podcast
In a sea of social media advice these days, twin sisters from Philadelphia are prepared to be a trusted source of accurate medical information. Their new podcast is meant to cover a variety of topics in a way that reaches people beyond their typical office hours. "I am Dr. Delana Wardlaw," Wardlaw said in a trailer for the podcast. "I am a board-certified family medicine physician, and I'm one half of the Twin Sister Docs." "And I am Dr. Elena McDonald, board-certified general pediatrician," her identical twin sister said. "We're sisters, we're twins and we're physicians, hence the name: Twin Sister Docs." Launched in February, the Twin Sister Docs podcast promises to dive into topics big and small, from navigating the health care system to heart disease, obesity, vaccines and even when to go to urgent care vs. the emergency room. But the new podcast is only the latest evolution of their mission. Wardlaw and McDonald are Philly through and through. They were raised in Strawberry Mansion and graduated from Central High School, Temple University and Penn State University Medical School. The sisters now practice medicine in some of the area's most underserved neighborhoods, including Memphis Street Pediatrics in Port Richmond. "We want to make sure that we are providing the most vulnerable patients the best care possible," McDonald said. "And we've been doing it for the last 25 years," Wardlaw said. Together, they're proving representation makes a difference. "Studies have shown that when African American communities have an African American physician in their area, they have a longer life expectancy," Wardlaw said. "So, it matters." Currently, African Americans make up about 14% of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But African Americans represent only a little more than 5% of doctors nationwide, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. "And then we talk about African American women, that number goes down to 2%," McDonald said. "So, we want to make sure that there's representation in the medical community as individuals go to get their care." To that end, the sisters also run a nonprofit called Twin Sister Docs. They visit schools and community centers, providing mentorship and exposing the next generation to medicine at an early age. "It's very, very important that we're putting ourselves out there because when you see yourself in another person and you see what they're doing, it just makes it all that more attainable," McDonald said. The goal is to leave the medical field more diverse than when they entered it, in turn fostering healthier communities.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arkansas lawmakers give initial approval to bill permitting nitrogen gas executions
Deputy Solicitor General Dylan Jacobs listens to Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage, present House Bill 1489 to the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 27, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate) A legislative panel voted 10-5 Thursday to advance a bill that would allow nitrogen gas to be used in Arkansas executions. Democrats were the only members of the House Judiciary Committee to vote against House Bill 1489. Lead sponsor Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage, said the bill stemmed from conversations with families following the death of four people in a mass shooting in Fordyce last summer. 'That young man has not been found guilty yet…so we're not here because of that shooting or because of that particular incident,' Wardlaw said. 'We're here because those families were hurting after that incident.' Families proposed a list of changes to Arkansas law regarding capital punishment, which Wardlaw said he took to the attorney general's office. When he was told the recommendations couldn't legally be implemented, Wardlaw said he decided the one thing he could do is change the method used in the death penalty so it could be carried out. With election looming and no drug supply, future of death penalty in Arkansas is uncertain Acquiring the necessary drugs for lethal injection has been a challenge for states like Arkansas, which last conducted executions in 2017 under former Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The state executed four men over the course of a week in advance of its drug supply expiring. Twenty-six inmates are currently on death row in Arkansas, and a number of them are eligible for execution because they've exhausted their legal options, Wardlaw said. The Arkansas Department of Corrections has no position on the bill, he said. Four states allow execution by nitrogen gas — Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma. Alabama became the first state to use the method last January and has since conducted three more executions, most recently on Feb. 6. This form of execution involves placing a mask over an inmate's mouth and nose, and pumping it full of nitrogen gas. 'It's readily available, it's absolutely cheaper than the drugs, and it's a very quick, humane death,' Wardlaw said. Critics have challenged the humaneness of this method following reports that Kenneth Eugene Smith, the first person in the country executed by nitrogen gas, convulsed for minutes before his death. Alabama's Department of Corrections commissioner said the death row inmate appeared to be holding his breath. A lawsuit filed this month by an Alabama death row inmate challenging the constitutionality of nitrogen gas executions argued Smith's execution was 'a human experiment that officials botched miserably.' Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual adviser who attended Smith's execution, told the House Judiciary Committee Thursday that Smith's face turned red, his body heaved back and forth on the gurney, and bodily fluids poured out of his mouth as Smith struggled for more than eight minutes. 'This is not easy for me to talk about, it was devastating,' Hood said. 'Again, I've seen nine executions, I've seen eight lethal injections, and this was by far the most horrific thing I have ever seen.' Prior to entering the chamber, Hood said he and the guards had to sign waivers agreeing not to hold the state of Alabama responsible if the gas leaked and killed them, so it was 'a terrifying experience for everyone' before the execution even started. 'This is not about politics, this is not about the death penalty, this is about torture,' Hood said. 'Nitrogen hypoxia is torture.' Hood was one of five people who spoke against HB 1489. No one spoke in favor of the bill during public testimony. Rep. Nicole Clowney, D-Fayetteville, thanked Wardlaw, who said it will likely be 'the hardest bill' he'd ever run, for approaching the subject with the seriousness it deserved. However, Clowney said she had concerns about mistakes happening, noting that in 2020, tests revealed that the DNA on a murder weapon did not belong to Ledell Lee, one of the four Arkansans executed in 2017. 'As long as humans are responsible for these decisions, we will get it wrong sometimes,' she said. 'I hate to put it this bluntly, but as long as the death penalty exists in Arkansas, we will kill innocent people.' Rep. Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, said he was concerned the bill didn't have enough detail about this method of execution to make it 'constitutionally sound.' Collins noted the law doesn't specifically state that medical grade nitrogen must be used, for example, so if it becomes difficult to source, there's nothing to prevent officials from using 'an impure form' of the gas, which would make 'what is already bad worse.' Dylan Jacobs, deputy solicitor general for the Arkansas Attorney General's office, said the exact protocol of the execution, including how to keep staff and witnesses safe, will be promulgated by the state Department of Corrections. Jacobs said it wasn't necessary to include those specifics in the bill, which could tie the department's hands to perform the execution in a particular way. The bill advanced out of committee with only Republican support. It will next be considered by the full House. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Maternal health bills move forward, now Youngkin holds the final say
Tiffany Casby cradles her newborn son Zayne, shortly after birthing him at Embrace Midwifery & Birth Center in Richmond in 2017. (Photo by Cheyenne Varner). For the first time in her career, Nichole Wardlaw feels like policymakers are finally listening — not just to her, but to Black maternal health professionals and the patients they serve. 'I feel like I've been seen and heard, and I've been doing this work for a long time,' said Wardlaw, a certified nurse midwife with two decades of experience. Wardlaw has been a steady presence for parents in need, but in recent years, Virginia lawmakers have also begun to take notice. Their efforts, shaped by voices like Wardlaw's, have led to a slate of maternal health-focused bills moving through the General Assembly — collectively dubbed the 'Momnibus' package. The legislative push follows last fall's Black Maternal Health Summit at the Virginia Capitol, where medical professionals, advocates, and lawmakers from across the state and beyond convened for roundtable discussions and panels. Alongside these conversations, a rural health committee spent months touring Virginia, gathering firsthand accounts of maternal care gaps in underserved communities. The result: a range of proposals aimed at addressing disparities, from requiring implicit bias training for medical license renewals to strengthening obstetrics training in hospitals and expanding support for midwives and doulas — both critical players in bridging maternal healthcare gaps. One piece of the package, Senate Bill 1352, sponsored by Sen. Kannan Srinivasan, D-Loudoun, builds on a 2021 law that allowed midwives to establish private practices after completing 1,000 hours under agreements with other physicians. His proposal, along with House Bill 1635 by Del. Joshua Cole, D-Spotsylvania, would extend that opportunity to other types of midwives, expanding access to maternal care statewide. For Wardlaw, spending 15 years working in hospitals revealed a stark reality — many Black patients didn't feel safe in those settings. Now, as a certified nurse midwife providing care outside hospital walls, she's able to meet clients where they are, which is especially critical for rural patients who face longer travel times after a wave of obstetrics unit closures in recent years. 'What I was finding is that being in the hospital was not beneficial for many Black women,' Wardlaw said. 'A lot were leaving the hospital system because they were afraid.' Studies show Black parents-to-be experience disproportionately negative maternal health outcomes, often due to provider bias. Black women are also more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications, a disparity confirmed by Virginia's Maternal Mortality Review Team. Still, unassisted home births can pose risks if medical complications arise, making midwives like Wardlaw an essential bridge in maternal care. Certified nurse midwives are not only registered nurses but also trained specialists in pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care. Other types of certified midwives may come from different healthcare backgrounds but provide similarly vital services. Several bills in the 'Momnibus' package focus on strengthening midwifery. House Bill 1923, sponsored by Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, seeks to establish pay parity for midwives, while HB 1904, from Del. Rodney Willett, D-Henrico, would ensure midwives and nurse practitioners have 24-hour on-call services. Katie Page, a certified nurse midwife serving Farmville and Lynchburg, sees this legislative session as a turning point. She recalled speaking with lawmakers last summer when the rural health committee visited Farmville, urging them to find ways to support midwifery. 'Magic' is happening around maternal health support this legislative session, Page said. Access to maternal care remains a challenge in Virginia, where 15% of residents lack a birthing hospital within a 30 minute drive, according to a March of Dimes report. Last year, lawmakers allocated state funding to expand OB-GYN and family medicine residencies, hoping to strengthen the workforce. But while doctors trained in Virginia sometimes leave for other states, midwives tend to remain in the communities they serve. Still, Page is encouraged by lawmakers' effort to support a broad range of maternal health professionals and the governor's expressed support for addressing maternal healthcare. 'I'm glad to see lawmakers taking a both/and approach rather than an either/or one' Page said. Wardlaw had high hopes for HB 2102, sponsored by Del. Michael Feggans, D-Virginia Beach, which would have made pregnancy an automatic qualifier for Medicaid enrollment. However, the measure failed. Youngkin has signaled support for some maternal health initiatives, including funding doulas and perinatal hubs in his proposed budget amendments. But he could still block certain bills that reach his desk. One proposal that previously met resistance is SB 740 by Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, and HB 1649 by Del. Cliff Hayes, D-Suffolk, which would require implicit bias training for medical professionals during license renewals. Sen. Chris Head, R-Botetourt, co-patroned Locke's bill this year, but a similar measure was rejected in 2023. Rather than outright vetoing it last time, Youngkin proposed an amendment requiring two hours of continuing education on maternal health disparities instead of a broader bias training program. Locke rejected the revision, arguing that his approach fell short. It was 'a case of unconscious bias and a lack of cultural competency,' she said. With the 2025 legislative session wrapping up this week, Youngkin has until March 24 to sign, veto or amend the maternal health bills that make it to his desk. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
