Bipolar disorder is little researched, but doctors at Johns Hopkins aim to change that

• October 16, 2023

Angela Roberts | Baltimore Sun

Two months before Charita Cole Brown was supposed to graduate from college — and about two years after she experienced her first manic episode and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder — her doctors told her parents they should prepare for the likelihood that she may one day not be able to care for herself.

It was March 1982 and Cole Brown had just experienced a psychotic break eerily similar to what her grandmother had experienced years earlier. Despite her doctors’ prediction that she would never lead a “normal” life, however, within a few years, a counselor had helped Cole Brown find a combination of medication and other wellness strategies that worked for her.

She graduated from college, went to graduate school at Towson University, fell in love and raised two daughters to be “some of the kindest women you will ever meet.” Later, during her parents’ final years, she cared for them both.

“Bipolar is not an easy illness. I don’t have any enemies, I don’t think, but if I had an enemy, I would not wish this on them as a punishment,” said Cole Brown, who lives in Park Heights and published a memoir in 2018 called “Defying the Verdict: My Bipolar Life.”

But, she added, “you can live well.”

Charita Cole Brown, of Park Heights, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when she was 21-years-old and suffered a psychotic break at 22. She is interested in participating in a Johns Hopkins longitudinal study on bipolar disorder.

More than 40 years after Cole Brown’s diagnosis, bipolar disorder — a serious mental illness characterized by dramatic shifts in mood, energy, activity and cognition — remains under-researched, even compared to other mood disorders. While an estimated 2.6% of Americans who are 18 or older have bipolar disorder, people with the condition, especially those who are Black or African American, are often misdiagnosed.

Researchers and clinicians at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, however, hope that will soon change. They’re recruiting people with the diagnosis for a longitudinal study, in which researchers will follow participants for at least five years with the aim of better understanding the disease and how to treat it.

Hopkins is one of six research institutions around the country that were recruited for the project by BD², a Washington, D.C.-based organization launched last year to bring more resources to studying bipolar disorder. Three family philanthropies joined the Milken Institute to fund the organization, together contributing $150 million to accelerate breakthroughs in treating and understanding the disease.

The institutions leading the five-year study — including the Mayo Clinic, University of Michigan and University of California, Los Angeles — plan to recruit 4,000 people with bipolar 1, a type of the disorder characterized by more severe elevated mood episodes than bipolar 2.

Researchers later hope to expand their focus to bipolar 2 as they attract more funding, said Cara Altimus, managing director of BD². While the organization has enough funding to support the project for five years, researchers hope to follow patients for even longer to get a better sense of how their symptoms and the trajectory of their disorder changes as they age.

Projects of this breadth and scope are rare, even for more frequently studied health problems. Longitudinal studies are expensive and require extensive buy-in from scientists, patients and funders — a trifecta that’s hard to nail down. But, Altimus said, they’re incredibly valuable.

“So much of our science is happening in snapshots — in three month intervals, in one year intervals,” she said. “But we all know that our past, medications we’ve taken, life experience very much impact the way that health progresses overtime. And you can’t capture that unless you’re looking over a much longer time period.”

Researchers will collect hordes of data from participants, including annual brain scans and blood samples, as well as information from their smartphones, like when they first and last use the device each day. The results of this process, known as “deep phenotyping,” will be uploaded into a repository shared with all six research sites and will be used to understand differences between disorder subtypes and trajectories.

Hopkins researchers plan to recruit about 300 people for the study and connect with community organizations to ensure they attract a diverse group.

The effort will be led by Dr. Fernando Goes, who is also the director of the school’s year-old Precision Medicine Center of Excellence in Mood Disorders.

There are no eligibility requirements for the study beyond being diagnosed with bipolar 1 and being willing to commit to a long-term project, Goes said. However, he added, participants ideally would be patients in the Hopkins medical system. That way, the study’s findings could be translated easily to improving the patient’s care — even before the project is over.

While that could be accomplished with people who are patients outside of the health care system, Goes said, “the easiest is within our health care system, so that the investigators and the clinicians are either the same people, or they rub shoulders with each other in the hallways.”

Preparations for the study lasted even longer than the study itself is expected to last.

It took 80 months — nearly seven years — of planning and an additional nine months of selecting the sites and preparing them, Altimus said. During the lead-up, researchers surveyed nearly 6,500 people with bipolar disorder, depression or both to ask them what they’d like to be studied.

They listed priorities such as metabolism, sleep, cognition and social engagement, Altimus said — areas that were a departure from the simplistic model researchers often use to examine bipolar disorder, which divides the disease into periods of depression and mania.

“What we often miss is that people with bipolar also experience changes in energy and changes in cognition and changes in ability to engage in life,” Altimus said. “That’s why this study is so important.”

“What we’re really hoping to do is move beyond our understanding of bipolar as just kind of the outward expression of mania and depression and bring this into a space of really understanding the whole person, as bipolar affects them,” she went on, “and how that affects their ability to get out of bed in the morning or their ability to have energy over time or how that affects sleep and wake cycles, or the ability to engage socially or not, or think clearly or not.”

Kerry Graves, executive director of NAMI Metropolitan Baltimore — a mental health organization that aims to bolster public understanding of mental illnesses — spoke excitedly about the fledgling bipolar study. While it’s expensive to study mental health conditions, it’s also expensive to care for someone with a mental health condition, Graves said.

“Mental health conditions, in general, are some of the most treatable conditions out there,” Graves said “If we can get the correct treatment strategies through research, the changes that would make are really, really dramatic.”

It’s been more than 25 years since Cole Brown, the memoir author, was last hospitalized because of her bipolar disorder. Her recovery has survived the death of her husband and parents, as well as her older sister, whom she described as the “glue” of her family.

She gets enough sleep. She takes her medications. She meditates on scripture. She prays. She doesn’t drink alcohol. And above all else, she holds onto hope.

“My life is proof that you can live differently than what people thought,” she said. “It’s also what you think for yourself. What do you have in your heart? What do you believe about who you can become? What are you willing to do to stay well?”

Those interested in participating in the study can email [email protected].

©2023 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

The family who left the U.S. to live in their ancestral Italian cave

• October 16, 2023

There’s an island off the coast of Rome where locals have been living in cozy grottoes since the dawn of time.

The shores and fishermen village of Ponza – the largest island of the Pontine archipelago, which sits offshore between Rome and Naples – are dotted with cave dwellings cut into the ragged sea cliffs, offering stunning views.

These homes, fresh in summer and warm in winter, require neither heating or air conditioning. They’re the island’s gem, and now popular with vacationers.

Since the 19th century, locals have been emigrating abroad, mainly to the US in search of a new life. However, they’ve held on to their traditions – which includes their traditional housing style.

One family to emigrate were the Avellinos. Luigi Avellino was the first of his family to leave Ponza at the beginning of the 20th century, initially going back and forth between the island and New York, before settling in the US permanently.

Attilio Avellino – one of his nine children, and born on Ponza – joined his father in the Big Apple in 1946.

But now, after decades in the US, their descendants are back on the island – living inside their old casa grotta (cave home), which they’ve renovated to a modern standard.

Homes sculpted from the rock

Brigida Avellino, 70 – Attilio’s daughter – lives with her daughter Loredana Romano, 44, in one of Ponza’s most beautiful cave homes. It has thick, rough whitewashed walls, and a terrace with views of the uninhabited island of Palmarola. Couches, chairs, benches, stairs, beds, tables and cupboards are all cut out from the cave.

“These grottoes are part of our DNA and heritage – each time a new baby was born the parents would dig another room inside the cliff, expanding the cave home,” Romano tells CNN Travel.

The younger generations moved to Ponza in 1980 when Attilio Avellino had a heart attack in New York. His doctor there recommended fresh air, no smog and a peaceful place to live – so the family returned to his birthplace.

Avellino has fond memories of her childhood in the US. While Ponza offers a slower-paced lifestyle, she misses the Big Apple’s hectic world.

“I have learned that you can take a girl away from the big city, but you can’t take the big city away from her. It sticks, even if I’ve been back in Ponza for decades now,” she says.

Avellino moved to New York alongside her mother in 1955 when she was two years old. Her father and grandfather were already living and working there, alongside her uncles and aunts.

“I worked in a steel factory for 22 years. I loved the chaos, the traffic, the buzz, the noise and all those people rushing to work at all times of the day,” says Avellino now.

Her father and grandfather did all sorts of jobs when they landed in the US, from running a fishery to working on container ships, cooking Italian cuisine and building skyscrapers.

“Call me crazy, but I really miss New York’s beat. I used to go around the whole time on weekends, take the trains, go to the movies with my friends, to restaurants, to the hairdresser, and just walk, walk walk. I still dream of that city energy,” says Avellino. On Ponza, she says, there are no hairdressers in winter.

Despite her age and growing health issues, she says she’d love to go back to experiencing the thrill of the frenetic, pro-active New York City lifestyle that allowed her to meet many people.

“NYC gave me the chance to have so many experiences and job opportunities. It was an exciting life,” says Avellino.

“I miss everything of the Big Apple: the workaholics, the traffic and the constant noise. The buzz of the steel factory and the supermarket’s quick beat, where I also worked. I was always on the run. Ponza is beautiful, the panorama is stunning but there’s nobody here.”

During summer, the island’s population rises to over 20,000 people, with hordes of beachgoers cramming Ponza’s paradise-like beaches. But in winter there are barely 1,000 residents in Le Forna district, where Avellino and Romano live. It is the most offbeat neighborhood, far from the touristy spots, where Ponza’s oldest families still live.

Culture clashes

Ponza goes from being ‘dead’ in winter to packed in summer.(Image Professionals GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo via CNN)

Ponza natives live off farming and fishing, but mainly seasonal tourism. The island comes to life from June to October, with the remainder of the year being quite “dead and sleepy,” as Romano calls it.

Avellino, who says she feels more American than Ponzese, says that she’s happy she got an American education and passport, which she keeps in her bedside closet.

In fact, she says, it was a blow for her when she eventually had to return to Ponza after her father had a heart attack. On Ponza, she met her future husband, Silverio – a native Ponzese – and gave birth to Loredana, who kept ties with relatives back in the US.

She went back and forth between the US and Ponza between the ages of 20 and 30, working as a waitress at one of her aunt’s restaurants in Florida. Today, she’s now proud to be living in the cave home which her great-grandfather dug from the cliff with his own bare hands.

She’s now on a mission to recover her ancestral origins.

“I inherited this cave, which I recently lavishly restyled. My great-grandpa built it just before leaving for the US for work. He wasn’t really an economic migrant, nor was he poor, he just wanted to change life and look for new opportunities on the other side of the Atlantic,” says Romano.

The 860-square-foot cave dwelling is located in Ponza’s most scenic spot, overlooking two natural sea pools sheltered by white granite cliffs. It has direct access to the tropical-like waters.

The living room features an old well used in the past as a cistern to collect rainwater, which Romano still exploits when there’s little running water during summer.

This year, she redid the cave’s façade, and planted a small garden and vegetable plot of eggplants and zucchini, with which she makes local recipes.

Unlike her mother, Romano – who works in Ponza’s tourism sector – doesn’t feel nostalgic of the US lifestyle.

“In Florida I lived in the Italian neighborhood. Americans are extremely kind – they always say hello – but when you live in a metropolis with tons of people and you don’t know many, you really find yourself alone and more isolated than on an island,” she says.

Americans, in her view, live only to work. They don’t have time to go to the grocery to buy fresh food or to spend quality time with friends and relatives. They don’t cook but prefer to eat out, she says.

Ponza, on the other hand, is a small island which makes Romano feel safer. Neighbors watch out for one another, and partake in sorrows and joys.

“Here, when there is good news, like a wedding or birth, the entire neighborhood parties, we’re a big family. When there’s a funeral, we’re all sad.”

The-CNN-Wire & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

​ Orange County Register 

US pushes to contain Israel-Hamas war, warns Iran about escalation

• October 16, 2023

Henry Meyer, Fiona MacDonald, Samy Adghirni | (TNS) Bloomberg News

The U.S. and its allies are ratcheting up efforts to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from engulfing the wider region, acting on concerns that an invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces could prompt Iran to enter the conflict.

The U.S. has warned Iran in recent days through back-channel talks about the risks of escalation, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday on CBS News’s Face the Nation. He said the U.S. couldn’t rule out Iran intervening either directly or via Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militia group that it sponsors.

Israel’s emergency government has vowed to wipe out Hamas and mobilized 300,000 reservists ahead of a major ground attack. With hostilities centering around the blockaded enclave in Israel’s south, the U.S. has asked Qatar to tell Hezbollah not to open up a second front to the war, a person familiar with the negotiations said, asking not to be named because the talks are delicate.

The danger is that the conflict spreads beyond the region and a sense of panic is palpable in the rounds of shuttle diplomacy. U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told Sky News on Sunday he’s urged Israel to minimize civilian deaths to avoid fanning the flames.

“It is in Israel’s interest to avoid civilian casualties and Palestinian casualties, because Hamas clearly wants to turn this into a wider Arab-Israeli war, or indeed a war between the Muslim world and the wider world.” Cleverly said. “None of us, including Israel, want that to be the case.”

Qatar has become a vital conduit for trickier conversations between the U.S. and other nations, and has particular sway in this instance because it hosts the political office of Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group in the U.S. and E.U. and which perpetrated the shock cross-border attacks that killed 1,300 Israelis last weekend. Regional governments are uniting to try to stop the spreading of the conflict, a person familiar with Gulf efforts said. For Kuwait, there’s a huge fear of Iran getting involved, a different person familiar with these diplomatic negotiations said.

While on a frenetic tour of the Middle East aimed at enlisting the help of Arab nations in containing the fallout, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also held his first call on the issue with his Chinese counterpart, asking Foreign Minister Wang Yi to deploy Beijing’s influence in the region toward the same goal.

The Israeli army is poised to stage a large-scale offensive in Gaza after suffering its most deadly attack in decades when Hamas struck into southern Israel on Oct. 7. Already more than 2,300 Palestinians have died in Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza, amid concerns that the attack will spark a humanitarian catastrophe.

Iran, which provides money and weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah, has vowed that its so-called “axis of resistance” will respond to Israel’s “war crimes.”

If Israel pursues its invasion of Gaza “no one can guarantee control over the situation and prevent the conflict from spreading,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said in a meeting with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha.

Israeli officials say they hope the U.S. deployment of warships to the eastern Mediterranean will deter Iran and its proxies, but they’ve rushed reinforcements to their northern border with Lebanon and Syria all the same. The Iranian foreign minister also met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday to discuss a response to Israel’s actions, the state-run Iranian IRNA news service said.

Turkey believes the U.S. deployment of warship strike groups in the eastern Mediterranean is encouraging Israel to use excessive force in its response to attacks by Hamas. While the U.S. says it is a deterrent force, Turkey fears that the presence of U.S. warships are only working to fuel tensions rather than lowering them.

Mortars were fired on Saturday and Sunday over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and a squad of infiltrators was stopped by Israeli aircraft, according to the IDF. Hezbollah has an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets and missiles, some of which can reach central Israel, where Tel Aviv is located. Israel and the Lebanon-based group fought a month-long war in 2006.

Israel has framed the unprecedented assault as its Sept. 11. It says its goal is to destroy Hamas’s military and political leadership in the coastal Gaza Strip where it’s held control since 2007. That war aim could take months, and risks unleashing major casualties.

The aim of containing spillover is central to the many conversations France’s President Emmanuel Macron has been having with regional leaders since the atrocities began, according to a top French official who asked not to be named.

France has also communicated this message to Hezbollah and Iran, the official said, while European Union leaders are scheduled to hold a video meeting to discuss the crisis on Tuesday.

In a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday, President Joe Biden pledged “unwavering” U.S. support for Israel. In a separate call, he also offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “full support” for bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza, which has been under a years-long blockade and to which Israel has cut off water, fuel and electricity in recent days.

Speaking at a dinner in Washington, Biden accused the Palestinian militants of using “innocent Palestinian families,” of whom “the vast majority that have nothing to do with Hamas” as human shields. His envoy Blinken plans to make a second stop in Israel on Monday for further consultations with senior Israeli officials.

Averting war on two fronts

Retired Major General Yaakov Amidror, who was Netanyahu’s national security adviser a decade ago, said Israel is preparing whatever is needed logistically and operationally to deal with any threat from Lebanon. “They are forces movable in minutes if it will be needed. Of course it is not easy to deal with two fronts at the same time” but Israel’s army “can do it,” he said.

Some commentators are taking a more aggressive approach. Ariel Kahana, senior diplomatic correspondent for right-leaning Israel Hayom newspaper, said Israel must not wait for Hezbollah to attack.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah have deployed forces to the southwestern Syrian border, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War reported Oct. 9. The deployments are consistent with the scenario in which the Gaza conflict expands into a multi-front war surrounding Israel, it said.

National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a late night briefing Saturday that Israel’s goal is avoid getting “drawn into a double-theater war” and its focus is the south.

“We hope that Hezbollah doesn’t bring about Lebanon’s destruction because it won’t be less than that if they attack from there,” he warned.

_____

(With assistance from Iain Marlow, Ethan Bronner, Selcan Hacaoglu and Michael Nienaber)

_____

©2023 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Ana police seek hit-and-run driver in deadly collision with pedestrian

• October 16, 2023

SANTA ANA — Santa Ana police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who killed a pedestrian Sunday night.

Police received multiple calls just after 10 p.m. Sunday about the collision at Warner Avenue and Brookhollow Drive. The pedestrian — 32-year-old Sergio Diaz of Santa Ana — was pronounced dead at the scene, Santa Ana police Officer Natalie Garcia said.

Diaz was crossing Warner east of Brookhollow Drive when the eastbound driver struck him and then fled the area, police said. The victim’s name was not immediately released.

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Diaz was either walking to or from work at the time, Santa Ana police Officer Natalie Garcia said.

There were some witnesses to the collision, so police have some leads, but investigators have not released any details on the make or model of the suspect car, Garcia said.

Anyone who has helpful information for detectives was asked to call 714-245-8215 or 714-245-8200.

​ Orange County Register 

Bravo for these students and teachers excelling

• October 16, 2023

Portola High School alumna selected for Television Academy Foundation internship

Portola High School alumna Cecilia Mou has been selected for the prestigious Television Academy Foundation Fall Internship Program. She is one of just nine students chosen by Television Academy members from across the country for the 2023 fall program.

The foundation’s Fall Internship Program provides 13-week part-time paid internships at top Hollywood studios and production companies to college students nationwide.

Mou, a sophomore at USC majoring in film and television production, will be a production management intern at Disney Branded Television in Burbank this fall.

Mou credits her sixth grade teacher for inspiring her to seek a career in television.

“(She) once gave me full creative freedom on a history project we had due in class (and) suggested that I create a video to practice my media literacy — and that one project spiraled into a love of filmmaking,” Mou said. “By simply giving someone the freedom creatively, she inspired years of love and dedication to the craft of storytelling within me.

“I am incredibly excited to get the rare opportunity to work alongside professionals of the highest caliber as well as learn from the endless amount of mentors fostered by the Television Academy Foundation,” she added. “There is no limit to the amount of valuable experience, relationships and skills you can learn with this program.”

The internship program also provides professional development sessions and customized seminars covering personal brand-building and navigating the job market ahead for participating students. Interns also become lifelong members of the foundation’s alumni family, giving them access to events and networking opportunities as they build their careers in the industry.

The Television Academy Foundation shapes the art of creating television by engaging and educating the next generation of television professionals, providing essential resources that help them discover their voices, refine their skills and forge rewarding careers in every sector of the television industry.

The internship program annually provides students from across the nation with hands-on work experience, mentorships and opportunities for accelerated career development in more than 30 industry disciplines.

– Submitted by the Television Academy Foundation

Foothill High School students win Dragon Kim Foundation’s Dragon Challenge

A one-week STEM camp that offered a basic foundation in science with hands-on chemistry experience and engineering projects to children living in under-resourced areas of Orange County was selected from four finalists as the winner of the Dragon Kim Foundation’s 2023 “Shark Tank”-style Dragon Challenge.

The teens behind the winning project they called Creative Labs are Foothill High School students Carson Ly and Robert Padilla, both of Tustin. Their camps were held this summer at Boys & Girls Clubs, Jamboree Housing and The Mix Academy. As winners, they received an additional $5,000 to continue their community service project.

“I always knew I wanted to do something to help my community, but I never knew what I would do or how I would do it. Fortunately, I found chemistry, and my passion for the subject has allowed me to set guidelines for future goals,” Carson said. “Winning the Dragon Challenge has made me realize that I can expand my horizons and explore more options, knowing I have what it takes to achieve success.”

Robert said: “Before the Dragon Kim Foundation, I was very shy and had little ambition, never knowing where my calling was. I found what makes me happiest thanks to the foundation. Somehow at every single training weekend, I learned something new about myself or acquired a new life skill. The foundation was a life-changing experience for me.”

The Dragon Challenge caps the 2023 Dragon Kim Fellowship program of the Dragon Kim Foundation, an Orange County-based nonprofit whose mission is to inspire youths to impact their communities while discovering and pursuing their passions.

This year marks the eighth anniversary of the foundation, whose fellowship program empowers high school students of all demographics and social backgrounds to go out into the world and make a difference in the lives of others, especially those who are disadvantaged.

Annually, the fellowship program awards community service grants of up to $5,000 to the teams that enables them to create and manage a service project that will impact their community.

The four finalists were chosen from the 47 fellowship projects run this summer by 80 high school students in Arizona, California and Nevada. Together, the projects directly impacted 10,874 individuals and empowered 815 volunteers to contribute to the fellows’ vision and cause.

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Garden Grove teacher named finalist for Bill of Rights Institute’s National Civics Teacher of the Year

Sean Redmond, a teacher from Bolsa Grande High School in Garden Grove, is a finalist for the Bill of Rights Institute’s prestigious National Civics Teacher of the Year award.

This year’s finalists represent 10 states and every region of the country. Redmond was selected after a nationwide search that encouraged educators, students, parents and community members to submit outstanding civics teachers for consideration. All nominees submitted essays highlighting the role of civics educators in helping students live the ideals of a free and just society.

Although he didn’t win the top spot, as a finalist, Redmond earned a $1,000 prize from the Bill of Rights Institute.

– Submitted by Bill of Rights Institute

The Bravo! section highlights achievements of our residents and groups. Send news of achievements for consideration to [email protected].

​ Orange County Register 

Israel opens another ‘safe passage’ for Gazans to move south

• October 16, 2023

Galit Altstein, Henry Meyer and Salma El Wardany | (TNS) Bloomberg News

Israel announced another “safe corridor” in Gaza as it urges civilians to move to the south of the territory from the north, where it’s concentrating the bulk of its military activities.

The Israel Defense Forces said it would “refrain from targeting a designated axis” between 8 a.m. and midday local time on Monday “to allow safe evacuation from north c to the area south of Wadi Gaza and Khan Yunis.”

Israel has made similar daily announcements since Saturday. The military is urging civilians to move for their own safety and last night said that 600,000 people had left northern Gaza. Israel is blaming Hamas for trying to stop civilians evacuating. It has emphasized that the safe corridor does not amount to a ceasefire.

Over one million people, around half the total population of Gaza, have already been displaced, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which serves Palestinian refugees. It said 400,000 have taken refuge in UNRWA facilities, “much exceeding our capacity to assist in any meaningful way, including with space in our shelters, food, water or psychological support.

According to the United Nations, the IDF initially set a 24-hour deadline for the evacuation when it was first called for on Friday. The UN said that would involve the movement of 1.1 million people, most of them in and around Gaza City, and would be “impossible.” Israel denies it ever gave a deadline of 24 hours.

Israel is widely expected to launch a ground assault on Gaza as it looks to “wipe out” Hamas following the group’s Oct. 7 attacks, which killed at least 1,300 Israelis. More than 2,650 people have since been killed in Gaza because of Israeli airstrikes.

The enclave, which is ruled by Hamas, is now under a near-total blockade. Israel isn’t allowing people or goods in or out and has cut power to it.

Convoys of humanitarian aid are lined up in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula waiting to cross into Gaza, according to the head of the Egyptian Food Bank, an aid organization. That’s in anticipation of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt being opened for a short while to allow aid deliveries, though none of the Egyptians, Israelis or Hamas have confirmed that will happen.

Israel said that 199 people are confirmed to have been taken as hostages to Gaza during the Oct. 7 attacks, when Hamas and other militants swarmed into southern Israel and rampaged through communities and military bases.

Hezbollah Tensions

Separately on Monday, the IDF said it would evacuate residents of northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon. Tensions there are rising with Hezbollah and the Israeli military exchanging fire frequently.

Israeli residents living within 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of the border will be moved to state-funded guest houses. Israel has already evacuated communities and towns near Gaza in the south.

The IDF said its response to a more aggressive action from Hezbollah, one of the most powerful militias in the Middle East, would be “lethal.”

Hamas and Hezbollah are both backed by Iran and designated as terrorist groups by the US.

©2023 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Hosting a Halloween soiree? Try these 5 spooktacular cocktail recipes

• October 16, 2023

Whether you’re hosting a horror movie night with friends, a full Halloween costume party or you just want something seasonal to sip on while you hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, it’s nice to have some themed cocktails on deck.

It’s also handy when those cocktails don’t involve too much fuss and a long list of ingredients, though there are a few that are absolutely worth the effort. If all else fails, you can also mix the drinks in batches for multiple pours, just keep track of those added up ounces while you shimmy to the “Monster Mash” and try to avoid spilling on your costume.

Several big alcohol brands are starting to share their spins on Halloween-themed adult beverages, so we rounded up a few that not only tasted amazing but looked the part for the spooky season. From a sophisticated smoky bourbon old-fashioned to a fun candy corn-inspired glass of goodness, here are five cocktails to try out this season.

Jack The Ripper

1 ounce vodka

1/2 ounce raw carrot juice

1/2 ounce Bauchant orange liqueur

Lemon twist

Mix all ingredients in a mixing glass and pour into a shot glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

Candy Corn Cocktail

1/2 ounce Sorel Liqueur

2 ounces Skrewball Whiskey

1 ounce fresh lemon juice

0.75 ounce simple syrup

1 egg white

Combine whiskey, lemon juice, simple syrup and egg white in a cocktail shaker. Shake until combined and foamy, about 10 seconds. Add ice and shake until chilled, about 10 seconds. Strain into a cocktail glass and top with the liqueur.

Talum Devil

1 ounce Cenote Reposado

1/2 ounce creme de violette

1/2 ounce lime juice

2 ounces ginger beer

Pour all ingredients into one glass and stir over ice, strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lime wedge or fresh blackberry.

Palominado

1 1/2 ounces Smokehead Tequila Cask Terminado

1 ounce fresh grapefruit juice

1/2 ounce fresh lime juice

1/2 ounce agave syrup

Top with Grapefruit Soda

Crushed ice

Add Smokehead Terminado, fresh grapefruit and lime juice and agave syrup to the shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Top with grapefruit soda.

Related links

The top 10 spookiest spots in the US
Halloween 2023: Tips for costumes, decorations and more
See which special guests will join Danny Elfman for ‘Nightmare’ at Hollywood Bowl
Fairplex strikes fear in Pomona with Lights Out Halloween event
Photos: Carved lights up the night anew at Descanso Gardens

The Smoked Old Fashioned

1 1/2 ounces of Devil’s Gate bourbon

1/2 ounce of Grand Marnier

3 dashes of aromatic bitters

Orange peel

Add ingredients to mixing glass and stir. Smoke it with a cocktail chimney and add orange peel.

​ Orange County Register 

Can frozen DNA help species survive extinction? San Diego’s Frozen Zoo, conservationists partner to put biodiversity banking on the map

• October 16, 2023

Emily Alvarenga | The San Diego Union-Tribune

For nearly half a century, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has been taking the fantasy world of “Jurassic Park” from fiction to reality — minus the dinosaurs and destruction.

As wildlife populations plummet and biodiversity is lost worldwide, the alliance has been working to collect and preserve genetic samples, taken during routine exams or after animals have died, from as many species as it can with what it calls its Frozen Zoo.

Now its conservation efforts are being recognized globally, as it was designated Wednesday by a major conservation group as its first-ever center focusing on gene banking to help rare and endangered species survive.

The Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature — the world’s largest conservation organization — has partnered with the wildlife alliance to form the union’s newest Center for Species Survival.

It will be one of the organization’s just 17 such centers around the world and the only one to focus on a specific strategy to prevent species extinction, such as biodiversity banking, rather than on a particular species or environment.

The announcement is an indicator of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s progress in gene banking and the promise of its efforts in helping endangered wildlife survive through reproductive assistance, stem cell therapy and cloning.

In recent years, it has led to advances scientists hope could make cloning viable enough to help restore wildlife species — provided they prove capable of successfully breeding.

Escondido, CA, October 11, 2023: Fibroblast cells of a black-footed ferret, which are used for cloning are shown at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Wildlife Biodiversity Bank Frozen Zoo on Wednesday, October 11, 2023 in Escondido, CA. The cryobank at the Frozen Zoo holds thousands of types of individual animals. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

While there are “Jurassic Park” connections — the art director of Steven Spielberg’s film found inspiration from the Frozen Zoo and from the Safari Park’s entry gates — that work isn’t the stuff of science fiction.

Biodiversity banking, or biobanking, refers to the process of preserving living cells, tissue, eggs or sperm, seeds and other biomaterials. Those genetic materials are carefully frozen in liquid nitrogen so they can be studied and used for years to come.

“This loss of genetic diversity is our fault — it’s because of our actions — so we are actually resolving an ethical problem,” said Barbara Durrant, director of reproductive sciences at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

The survival of the northern white rhinoceros and dozens of other species could hinge on these preserved cells amassed in the last nearly 50 years, according to the organization’s researchers.

The local collection has become the largest and most diverse of its kind. To date, the Frozen Zoo contains nearly 11,000 living cell cultures representing about 1,280 different species and subspecies of rare and endangered animals.

Biodiversity banking not only preserves unrecoverable genetic diversity in wildlife species — potentially giving them better chances at withstanding environmental factors — but also expands the capacity for genetic research and rescue, making “an everlasting contribution to conservation,” Durrant explained.

“These cells should be here long after you and I are gone,” said Marlys Houck, curator of the Frozen Zoo.

Escondido, CA, October 11, 2023: Kurt, the world’s first cloned Przewalski’s horse eats carrots and apples at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park on Wednesday, October 11, 2023 in Escondido, CA. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Locally, a cloned Przewalski’s horse named Kurt born in August 2020 was among the first genetic milestones in the alliance’s efforts to help restore endangered animal populations.

He’s the world’s first successfully cloned Przewalski’s horse, a breed native to Mongolia and formerly extinct in the wild. They were reintroduced to their natural habitat in recent years and are now the only true wild horse left in the world.

Named for Kurt Benirschke, who founded the Frozen Zoo, the horse was cloned from skin cells taken from a stallion in 1980 and cryogenically safeguarded.

Now 3 years old, scientists hope Kurt can soon start helping to further safeguard his species by joining the herd of Przewalski’s horses at the park as part of a conservation and breeding program.

But before that can happen, Kurt has to learn how to be a wild horse. He’s spent the last year doing so in the Safari Park’s Central Asia field habitat alongside Holly, a female Przewalski’s who’s just a few months older.

Though not always easy — it includes some kicks to the face — learning the behavioral language will help him secure his place in the herd.

​ Orange County Register