Cornelious Brown IV throws 5 TD passes to lead Alabama A&M past Mississippi Valley State 49-35
Even with access to blockbuster obesity drugs, some people don’t lose weightMaj General Dr Ashok Kumar (Retired), Director General Centre of Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS), speaks to businessline on what 2024 means for Indian defence sector. Edited Excerpts: 2024 undoubtedly has been an year for re-calibration of defence engagements. Russia-Ukraine war is still continue to impacting the world in multiple ways. India has to continue not only maintaining the strategic balance but has to focus on indigenisation of defence equipment as majority inventory is imported that too from Russia. The stand off with China continuing since April 2020 has been largely resolved on October 21, 2024, with more progress being made during Special Representatives meeting held on 18 December 2024. While there are still certain issues to be resolved, this emerging situation will help Indian defence forces to undertake major organisational reforms related to theaterisation in the coming year. India has also focused on defence exports which has been the highest in this year. The current standoff with China in High Altitude Areas (HAA) had resulted in both sides almost being face to face and maintaining more than 50,000 troops. The current developments on October 21 and December 18, and positive steps to revert back to pre-April 2020 positions as well as number of other issues are also required to be resolved. The direction of relationship in the end of year 2024 has definitely been encouraging with both parties showing more maturity. Emerging contours of peace and tranquillity do enable India to divert its expenditure towards organisational reforms, force restructuring, infrastructure growth and capacity building. While the emerging situation has to be leveraged constructively but one has to be always ready as China cannot be trusted given its historical conduct. With the stature of defence forces rising in 2024 and India being able to maintain strategic autonomy despite multiple geo-political, geo-economic and technological challenges, I expect major structured reforms including operationalisation of theaterisation and development of whole of Nation Approach (WONA) in all our defence endeavours, a more robust infrastructure having dual use profile to see all weather connectivity, even to the remotest places where the defence forces are deployed can be expected. Force accretion in Army, Navy and Air Force as per emerging threat, indigenisation reaching critical threshold in defence manufacturing might also happen. Defence exports might reach minimum 50,000 crore. CommentsCAMPAIGNERS against a proposed new wind farm development in Coolcappa have sought the views of the 15 hopefuls seeking Dail election in Limerick County next week. The Coolcappa Community Action Group was set up off the back of plans by the Adare-based Ballynisky Green Energy company plans to locate six wind turbines that are 158m tall across a number of fields by the village. They are bracing themselves for a formal planning application from the firm, and have outlined a series of concerns including shadow flicker, which occurs when the sun is low enough in the sky that wind turbines pass it causing a brief shadow over landscapes and buildings every few seconds. READ MORE: Limerick and Tipperary Woodland Owners call for action to 'save our forests' For its part, the developer has said the turbines are designed with technology which prevents shadow flicker - a claim disputed by the Community Action Group. They requested Dail hopefuls answer a series of questions including whether wind farms should adhere to noise guidance, eliminate shadow flicker, and whether the HSE would retrospectively review all wind farm applications from a public health perspective. Five general election candidates had responded: sitting TDs Niall Collins, Patrick O'Donovan aand Richard O’Donoghue, alongside Sinn Fein’s Joanne Collins and Jim Barrett, Independent. The quartet provided supportive statements to the action group.
Unlike scores of people who scrambled for the blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy to lose weight in recent years, Danielle Griffin had no trouble getting them. The 38-year-old information technology worker from New Mexico had a prescription. Her pharmacy had the drugs in stock. And her covered all but $25 to $50 of the monthly cost. For Griffin, the hardest part of using the new drugs wasn’t access. It was finding out that the didn’t really work for her. “I have been on Wegovy for a year and a half and have only lost 13 pounds,” said Griffin, who watches her diet, drinks plenty of water and exercises regularly. “I’ve done everything right with no success. It’s discouraging.” In clinical trials, most participants taking Wegovy or Mounjaro to treat obesity lost an average of 15% to 22% of their body weight — up to 50 pounds or more in many cases. But roughly 10% to 15% of patients in those trials were “nonresponders” who lost less than 5% of their body weight. Now that millions of people have used the drugs, several obesity experts told The Associated Press that perhaps 20% of patients — as many as 1 in 5 — may not respond well to the medications. It’s a little-known consequence of the obesity drug boom, according to doctors who caution eager patients not to expect one-size-fits-all results. “It’s all about explaining that different people have different responses,” said Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity expert at Massachusetts General Hospital The drugs are known as GLP-1 receptor agonists because they mimic a hormone in the body known as glucagon-like peptide 1. Genetics, hormones and variability in how the brain regulates energy can all influence weight — and a person’s response to the drugs, Stanford said. Medical conditions such as sleep apnea can prevent weight loss, as can certain common medications, such as antidepressants, steroids and contraceptives. “This is a disease that stems from the brain,” said Stanford. “The dysfunction may not be the same” from patient to patient. Despite such cautions, patients are often upset when they start getting the weekly injections but the numbers on the scale barely budge. “It can be devastating,” said Dr. Katherine Saunders, an obesity expert at Weill Cornell Medicine and co-founder of the obesity treatment company FlyteHealth. “With such high expectations, there’s so much room for disappointment.” That was the case for Griffin, who has battled obesity since childhood and hoped to shed 70 pounds using Wegovy. The drug helped reduce her appetite and lowered her risk of diabetes, but she saw little change in weight. “It’s an emotional roller coaster,” she said. “You want it to work like it does for everybody else.” The medications are along with eating behavior and lifestyle changes. It’s usually clear within weeks whether someone will respond to the drugs, said Dr. Jody Dushay, an endocrine specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Weight loss typically begins right away and continues as the dosage increases. For some patients, that just doesn’t happen. For others, side effects such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea force them to halt the medications, Dushay said. In such situations, patients who were counting on the new drugs to pare pounds may think they’re out of options. “I tell them: It’s not game over,” Dushay said. Trying a different version of the new class of drugs may help. Griffin, who didn’t respond well to Wegovy, has started using Zepbound, which targets an additional hormone pathway in the body. After three months of using the drug, she has lost 7 pounds. “I’m hoping it’s slow and steady,” she said. Other people respond well to older drugs, the experts said. Changing diet, exercise, sleep and stress habits can also have profound effects. Figuring out what works typically requires a doctor trained to treat obesity, Saunders noted. “Obesity is such a complex disease that really needs to be treated very comprehensively,” she said. “If what we’re prescribing doesn’t work, we always have a backup plan.” ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.Piyush Goyal: India's economy not defined by quarter-to-quarter, fundamentals intact