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Early last month, Steven Novella, a materialist neurologist, made a somewhat surprising claim in his Neurologica blog, "A recent open-access study of learning and decision-making in mice shows that the human mind is merely what the human brain does. That's a lot for mice to prove."

In this research, the mice were trained to choose holes where food is placed. The activity of mice's brains was gauged as they learned and decided which holes were best.

Furthermore, thestudylooked particularly at "quick and intuitive decision-making" against slower decision-making. It also involved an evaluation of the situation.

In this research, it was discovered that analysis-based decisions in the mice encompassed brain activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain's region in the fissure between the hemispheres.

(Photo : Tibor Janosi Mozes on Pixabay)A recent open-access study of learning and decision-making in mice shows that the human mind is merely what the human brain does.

From the perspective of understanding the link between mind and brain, this research is said to be unremarkable. Undoubtedly, that perception usually engages activity of the brain of some sort.

Meanwhile, dualists, those who think that the mind of a human is using the brain but is not the same as it, and materialists, who think that the mind is simply what the brain is doing, do not have any disagreement here.

In this research is a detailed correlation of activity of the brain in mice may be nice to know. However, Novella is taking his so-called unremarkable study and drawing whatMind Matters Newsdescribed as an "absurd conclusion."

Such a conclusion specifies that Novella feels obliged to emphasize that research like this totally destroys the idea of 'dualism,' that mental function exists, one way or another, outside of or independent from the brain's biological function.

So far, the materialist neurologist explained, the 'neuroscience' hypothesis, "that mental function is brain function is working quite well."

The brain,Novella, continued explaining, is a multifaceted biological computer, and they could discover how it works by investigating it.

He also concluded that even the most sophisticated cognitive processes like analytical decision-making, for one, are evidently occurring in the brain.

Moreover, aside from having zero-evidence for what the study describes as a dualist hypothesis, it is entirely unimportant, which is "a fate in science even worse than being wrong."

Novella has been attempting to sell his materialist ideology in the appearance of neuroscience for over 10 years now.

This study is just the most recent in a series of his unusual claims, which includes his claim in 2008 that the "materialist hypothesis, the brain causes consciousness," has made numerous predictions, and every single forecast has been verified.

That is an ideal example of theDunning-Kruger effectwhere individuals overestimate their expertise in an occurrence they do not understand. Specifically, in neuroscience, materialist ideology is the answer, only if one does not understand the question.

Novella's claimthat the research of brain activity, particularly in trained mice, totally destroys any idea of dualism is said to be hopelessly nonsense.

As how materialist ideology is described, Novella is getting the answers wrong as he does not understand the questions.

More so, to Roger Scruton, a paraphrase philosopher, the materialist neuroscience of Novella is an extensive collection of answers without memory of the questions.

ALSO READ: Study Finds Spending Long Time on Mobile Phone is Not Harmful to Mental Health

Check out more news and information onBrain Functionon Science Times.

Neuroscience

Global Neuroscience Antibodies and Assays Market Size, Comprehensive Analysis, Development Strategy, Future Plans and Industry Growth with High CAGR…

December 3, 2020 medical

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Neuroscience

Caltech Continues the 2020"2021 Watson Lectures with David J. Anderson, Seymour Benzer Professor of Biology – Broadway World

December 3, 2020 medical

On Wednesday, December 9 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time, David J. Anderson, Caltech's Seymour Benzer Professor of Biology; the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience Leadership Chair; director of the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience; and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, continues the 2020-2021 Watson Lecture season by exploring "The Inner Life of the Brain: Fear, Sex, and Violence."

Human Behavior

Human Behavior Study Identifies Four Basic Personality …

December 3, 2020 medical

Summary: 90 percent of the population can be classified into one of four main personality types, and of those, 30 percent fall under the envious personality type, a new study reports.

Source: Carlos III University of Madrid.

A study on human behavior has revealed that 90 percent of the population can be classified into four basic personality types: optimistic, pessimistic, trusting and envious. However, the latter of the four types, envious, is the most common, with 30 percent compared to 20 percent for each of the other groups.

This is one of the main conclusions of a study recently published in the journal, Science Advances by researchers from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, together with colleagues from the universities of Barcelona, Rovira i Virgili and Zaragoza. The study analyzed the responses of 541 volunteers to hundreds of social dilemmas, with options leading to collaboration or conflict with others, based on individual or collective interests.

Specifically, this work is part of game theory, a branch of mathematics with applications in sociology and economics, which examines the behavior of people when they face a dilemma and have to make decisions. These decisions will have different consequences which will also depend on what the other party involved decides to do. Those involved are asked to participate in pairs, these pairs change, not only in each round, but also each time the game changes. So, the best option could be to cooperate or, on the other hand, to oppose or betray .. In this way, we can obtain information about what people do in very different social situations, explained one of the authors of the study, Anxo Snchez, who is a professor in GISC (Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos / Interdisciplinary Group of Complex Systems), which is part of the Department of Mathematics at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M).

According to Yamir Moreno, who is the coordinator of the Cosnet group (Grupo de Redes y Sistemas Complejos / Networks and Complex Systems Group) at BIFI (Instituto de Biocomputacin y Fsica de Sistemas Complejos / Institute of Biocomputation and the Physics of Complex Systems) at the Universidad de Zaragoza, and also president of the Sociedad de Sistemas Complejos (Complex Systems Society), The results go against certain theories; the one which states that humans act purely rationally for example, and, therefore, they should be taken into consideration in redesigning social and economic policies, as well as those involved in cooperation. He goes on to say that, these types of studies are important because they improve existing theories on human behavior by giving them an experimental base.

After carrying out this kind of social experiment, the researchers developed a computer algorithm which set out to classify people according to their behavior. The computer algorith organized 90% of people into four groups: the largest group, accounting for 30%, being the Envious those who dont actually mind what they achieve, as long as theyre better than everyone else; next are the Optimists who believe that they and their partner will make the best choice for both of them on 20%. Also on 20% are the Pessimists who select the option which they see as the lesser of two evils and the Trusting group who are born collaborators and who will always cooperate and who dont really mind if they win or lose.

There is a fifth, undefined group, representing 10%, which the algorithm is unable to classify in relation to a clear type of behavior. The researchers argue that this allows them to infer the existence of a wide range of subgroups made up of individuals who do not respond in a determined way to any of the outlined models.

Anxo Snchez explains this with an example of a specific dilemma: Two people can hunt deer together, but if they are alone, they can only hunt rabbits. The person belonging to the Envious group will choose to hunt rabbits because he or she will be at least equal to the other hunter, or maybe even better; the Optimist will choose to hunt deer because that is the best option for both hunters; the Pessimist will go for rabbits because that way he or she is sure to catch something; and the hunter who belongs to the Trusting group will cooperate and choose to hunt deer, without a second thought.

Experiment based on citizen participation

The study is based on an experiment organized by Barcelona City Council and the Barcelona Citizen Science Office, within the framework of the DAU festival, also in Barcelona. One of main principles of this study is the fact that the experiment has been developed in such a way to encourage the participation of citizens within the framework of one of the citys public activities, explains Josep Perell, leader of the group, OpenSystems in the Condensed Matter Physics Department at Universitat de Barcelona, and also coordinator of the Barcelona Citizen Science Office. In this sense, the results have been shared with the participants, thus, the subjects of the study become active participants in the research, concludes the researcher.

The really funny thing is that the classification was made by a computer algorithm which could have obtained a larger number of groups, but which has, in fact, produced an excellent rating in four personality types, explains Yamir Moreno. Jordi Duch, a researcher at Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, and one of the authors of this study, goes on to explain, This type of classification algorithm has previously been used with success in other fields, such as biology. However, its application to the study of human behavior is quite revolutionary, given that previous works prefixed the behaviors expected before the experiment was carried out, instead of allowing an external system to then automatically give us information about which groupings were most logical. This is of capital importance because it isnt something imposed by the researchers. The objective of using mathematics was precisely to guarantee impartiality, adds Anxo Snchez.

Previously, the experiments were performed by dozens of people. Now, with this platform, it is possible to significantly increase the volume of participants in the study, as well as being able to test using the heterogeneous population; this also allows us to record much more specific data on how the participants behave during the experiment. This has opened up the door to setting up much more complex tests than those that have been carried out so far in this field, says Jordi Duch.

In the same way, the research results shed light in relation to what moves the collective or individual interest in the processes of negotiation, and as such, it is useful for the management of business, organizations or for political reformulation. Furthermore, it also serves to open the door to improving machinery, to make robots more humanized, concludes Anxo Sanchez.

About this psychology research article

Source: Francisco Javier Alonso Carlos III University of MadridImage Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to UC3M.Original Research: Abstract for Humans display a reduced set of consistent behavioral phenotypes in dyadic games by Julia Poncela-Casasnovas, Mario Gutirrez-Roig, Carlos Gracia-Lzaro, Julian Vicens, Jess Gmez-Gardees, Josep Perell, Yamir Moreno, Jordi Duch and Angel Snchez in Science Advances. Published online August 5 2016 doi:10.1126/sciadv.1600451

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=MLA]Carlos III University of Madrid. Human Behavior Study Identifies Four Basic Personality Types. NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 7 October 2016.<https://neurosciencenews.com/behavior-personality-types-5238/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=APA]Carlos III University of Madrid. (2016, October 7). Human Behavior Study Identifies Four Basic Personality Types. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved October 7, 2016 from https://neurosciencenews.com/behavior-personality-types-5238/%5B/cbtab%5D%5Bcbtab title=Chicago]Carlos III University of Madrid. Human Behavior Study Identifies Four Basic Personality Types. https://neurosciencenews.com/behavior-personality-types-5238/ (accessed October 7, 2016).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]

Abstract

Humans display a reduced set of consistent behavioral phenotypes in dyadic games

Socially relevant situations that involve strategic interactions are widespread among animals and humans alike. To study these situations, theoretical and experimental research has adopted a game theoretical perspective, generating valuable insights about human behavior. However, most of the results reported so far have been obtained from a population perspective and considered one specific conflicting situation at a time. This makes it difficult to extract conclusions about the consistency of individuals behavior when facing different situations and to define a comprehensive classification of the strategies underlying the observed behaviors. We present the results of a lab-in-the-field experiment in which subjects face four different dyadic games, with the aim of establishing general behavioral rules dictating individuals actions. By analyzing our data with an unsupervised clustering algorithm, we find that all the subjects conform, with a large degree of consistency, to a limited number of behavioral phenotypes (envious, optimist, pessimist, and trustful), with only a small fraction of undefined subjects. We also discuss the possible connections to existing interpretations based on a priori theoretical approaches. Our findings provide a relevant contribution to the experimental and theoretical efforts toward the identification of basic behavioral phenotypes in a wider set of contexts without aprioristic assumptions regarding the rules or strategies behind actions. From this perspective, our work contributes to a fact-based approach to the study of human behavior in strategic situations, which could be applied to simulating societies, policy-making scenario building, and even a variety of business applications.

Humans display a reduced set of consistent behavioral phenotypes in dyadic games by Julia Poncela-Casasnovas, Mario Gutirrez-Roig, Carlos Gracia-Lzaro, Julian Vicens, Jess Gmez-Gardees, Josep Perell, Yamir Moreno, Jordi Duch and Angel Snchez in Science Advances. Published online August 5 2016 doi:10.1126/sciadv.1600451

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Human Behavior

ABC27 Exclusive: Current COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania more than triple what CDC expected a month ago – ABC27

December 3, 2020 medical

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) The fall resurgence of COVID-19 was widely expected. The extent of it, as measured by CDC forecasts as recent as a month ago after the surge, as its also known, began was not.

An ABC27 analysis found the CDC, in early November looking ahead then toward early December underestimated the now-known actual death counts by two-thirds, in terms of what the CDC considered a likely scenario.

Even its near-worst-case scenario (technically the upper end of its 95-percent confidence interval) was less than two-thirds of reality. The CDCs forecasts, in turn, rely on the work of 36 other organizations from Ivy League universities to companies like Microsoft that meet the CDCs data quality requirements.

As of Nov. 2, 2020, the CDCs midpoint expectation for weekly deaths now was about 225. It was 95 percent confident weekly deaths wouldnt exceed about 375. The real number, counting the 194 new deaths reported for Tuesday alone? 661.

Why were the forecasts off by so much? Possibly because the biggest variable of all isnt molecular.

In essence, models that do this kind of prediction, you have to predict human behavior, which is hard, said Dr. Mark Roberts, a professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburghs Graduate School of Public Health and also director of the universitys Public Health Dynamics Laboratory.

And human behavior, Roberts said, has been unhelpful.

The cases and the spread is because were, you know, COVID-tired. Were not social distancing. Were losing the intensity with which were supposed to socially distance, Roberts said.

He said this tool, developed by Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School, is useful for gauging different pandemic outcomes based on different inputs public policy, human behavior and so forth and would have done a good job predicting the current state of affairs, given the correct assumptions about behaviors such as Thanksgiving travel.

Asked Tuesday whether the degree of the surge has caught the PA Department of Health by surprise, Michael Huff, the departments director of testing and contact tracing, said were not surprised by anything we see anymore but agreed with the idea that the surge has been supercharged by conducive behavior, including Thanksgiving gatherings.

Ominously, considering the current numbers, he said we wont see those cases for another week, maybe 10 days.

Hospitalizations and deaths, in turn, typically lag diagnoses by another week or two. This is a very dangerous time, Huff added.

Here are Pennsylvania COVID-19 deaths per day for the most recent seven days available:

Day-to-day variance occurs partly because not all deaths are reported the day they occur. Epidemiologists consider seven-day moving averages, on the other hand, to be more stable representations of reality.

One major difference between the current surge and the first surge, in March and April, is that the majority of deaths during the first surge occurred in long-term care facilities.

Indeed, despite a recent reversal of this trend, fully 64-percent of COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania 6,885 out of 10,757 deaths since the pandemic began have occurred in what the state classifies as nursing and personal care facilities.

But now? Of the 180 deaths reported Monday, just 30 or 17 percent occurred in such facilities.

Although a Department of Health spokeswoman couldnt confirm this, the ABC27 analysis found a high probability that the state is now setting new COVID-era highs for daily deaths due to community spread outside long-term care facilities.

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ABC27 Exclusive: Current COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania more than triple what CDC expected a month ago - ABC27

Human Behavior

Three Science-Backed Ways To Increase Covid-19 Compliance (And One Way Not To) – Forbes

December 3, 2020 medical

BERLIN, GERMANY - DECEMBER 02: Police officers take security measures as a group against Covid-19 ... [+] measures named "Querdenken 30 " gather in front of ZDF television channel's building located at Unter den Linden street to protest media outlets in Berlin, Germany on December 02, 2020. Protesters hold banners and chant slogans as they march in front of buildings of media outlets such as Axel Springer, Funke, Tegesspiegel, Berliner Verlag and Tageszeitung. (Photo by Abdulhamid Hosbas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Since the beginning of the pandemic, psychologists and social scientists have been working diligently to understand the best ways to encourage people to comply with Covid-19 directives.

A new working paper published by researchers at the University of Amsterdam suggests they are having an easier time figuring out what doesnt work than what does.

It turns out, for instance, that deterrence efforts such as punishment severity and punishment certainty do little to move the needle.

Deterrence, in the form of both punishment severity and punishment certainty, is not linked to compliance in the majority of studies, state the researchers, led by Dr. Emmeke Kooistra. This indicates that fining people for not following the Covid-19 social distancing measures the major intervention for authorities to increase compliance will most likely not result in more compliance.

They hedged this conclusion a bit, saying it would take more research to fully understand the relationship between deterrence measures and behavioral compliance.

The critical question, however, is what can be done right now to increase compliance. Analyzing the combined results of 45 studies conducted during the first wave of the pandemic, the authors offer the following three suggestions.

#1. Self-interest reigns supreme

People are more likely to comply with social distancing directives to the extent that they view Covid-19 as a serious threat. To be exact, 22 out of the 34 studies that measured the perceived threat of the virus found it to be a significant driver of compliance behavior.

People comply because they see a benefit in doing so: it keeps themselves, friends and family, and possibly society at large safe from the disease, state the researchers. For authorities, this means that they should keep informing the public of the risk of the disease, and especially in between peaks when fear of disease may reduce temporarily.

Also playing into the self-interest equation is peoples age. Older people, in general, are more likely to comply with social distancing guidelines than younger people. They also happen to be more susceptible to the viruss negative effects.

Psychologists and behavioral economists are quick to point out the limits of rational self-interest as an explanation for human behavior, however. In this case, it fails to explain why women exhibit higher coronavirus fear and greater compliance than men even though data show that men have higher Covid-19 mortality rates than women. It also fails to explain why punishments such as fines havent been all that effective at increasing social distancing compliance.

#2. Psychological factors are an important part of the equation

The researchers found a strong relationship between the personality trait of impulsivity and Covid-19 compliance. Impulsive individuals were far less likely to follow social distancing guidelines.

They also found that negative emotional states such as depression decreased the likelihood that people would keep up with social distancing directives.

The finding that people with feelings of depression are more likely to violate the rules should be a warning for policymakers that they should not disregard mental health in their attempt at preserving physical health, state the researchers.

#3. Situational factors also make a difference

Perhaps the best way to encourage people to remain compliant is by tapping into the power of social norms. Of the studies analyzed, two-thirds showed that people who were more likely to see others complying with the rules, or who were more likely to feel socially judged by not complying, were more compliant overall.

People who believe that others follow the rules are more likely follow the rules themselves, state the researchers. Accordingly, [policymakers] may benefit from emphasizing the group of people that do follow the measures, as opposed to the group that does not.

Conclusion. Until a vaccine is ready, behavioral change is the best weapon we have in the fight against Covid-19. The authors conclude, These insights provide vital theoretical lessons about crisis-induced behavioral change and compliance with policy measures.

Full coverage and live updates on the Coronavirus

Human Behavior

The Internet of Things: Difficult to Define, Quick to Grow – ETF Trends

December 3, 2020 medical

As difficult as it may be, when you look for positive things in 2020, you may cite the internet of things (IoT). Among many other things, the internet has helped to facilitate communication amidst a pandemic stressing the need for social distancing. It is certainly benefitting the Global X Internet of Things ETF (SNSR).

Per Morningstar performance numbers, the fund has been able to generate a return of 29% year-to-date amid the pandemic. It boasted a stellar 48% gain in 2019. As more societal demands on social distancing increase as the number of coronavirus cases rise, the internet will continue to play a vital role through the end of 2020 and beyond.

SNSR seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx Global Internet of Things Thematic Index. The fund invests at least 80% of its total assets in the securities of the underlying index.

The underlying index is designed to provide exposure to exchange-listed companies in developed markets that facilitate the Internet of Things industry, including companies involved in wearable technology, home automation, connected automotive technology, sensors, networking infrastructure/software, smart metering, and energy control devices.

Per a CRN article, the pandemic took a hit on worldwide IoT spending this year, according to research firm IDC, but double-digit growth is expected to return in the next few years. Among the drivers for this increased spending which will reach an annual growth rate of 11.3 percent over IDCs 2020-2024 forecast period will be a greater need for connected devices to enable remote operations and artificial intelligence to monitor human behavior.

That said, SNSR should continue to experience exponential growth.

The COVID-19 pandemic drove businesses and employees to become more reliant on technology for both professional and personal purposes, Forrester wrote in October for its Predictions 2021: Technology Diversity Drives IoT Growth.

For more news and information, visit the Thematic Investing Channel.

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The Internet of Things: Difficult to Define, Quick to Grow - ETF Trends

Human Behavior

Block by block: Northampton resident walking all of the city’s streets – GazetteNET

December 3, 2020 medical

NORTHAMPTON You may run into Francine M. Deutsch while taking a walk in Northampton if youre walking on a street that starts with a letter midway through the alphabet.

Shes on a mission to walk the entirety of every street in the city and has been walking them in alphabetical order. On a recent Saturday, she was walking on Kingsley Avenue and on a later weekday she strolled down Lake Street.

Im sort of compulsive person, she said. I like these projects where you do all of something. She added, When I was a kid I wanted to read all the books in the library until I realized it was impossible.

Deutsch retired in 2017 from her job as a professor of psychology and education at Mount Holyoke College, and started walking all the streets as a hobby.

I was just doing it very haphazardly, she said. But when COVID-19 hit in the spring, she started doing it religiously. Since March 15, Ive been doing it pretty much every day.

A 2014 list of city streets, the most recent one she could find, serves as her guide.

She has lived in Northampton for more than 30 years, but says shes now seeing a lot shes never seen before.

The most amazing thing is I didnt realize how big, physically big, Northampton is, she said. And also there are just so many little neighborhoods that even though Ive live here for over 30 years, theres so many places Ive never been to.

She was also struck by how many really rural or wild paces there are in Northampton horses, farms, woods, beautiful views of the mountains.

There are about 160 miles of paved and unpaved roads in Northampton, according to Donna LaScaleia director of the Department of Public Works. Some streets are too long for Deutsch to walk in one day, like Burts Pit Road, which she did over two days.

Deutsch is also documenting her walks with photos. I have thousands of pictures of Northampton, she said.

Those snapshots include houses, political signs and people. When she runs into someone on a walk, she asks to take their photo for record. About half of people she asks say yes, she estimated.

Im always curious about why people dont want their picture taken, she said. Im a social psychologist, so Im interested in human behavior. Its funny, people will sometimes say things like, not today, as if I am coming back next week. There are also many who are happy to be photographed. Thats just an interesting aspect of human behavior that I get to observe.

Deutsch saw William Helmreich walk all of New York Citys streets more than 6,000 miles. He was sort of my inspiration, she said. Helmreich died of COVID-19 in March. I always imagined I would meet him sometime and tell him how he inspired me, she said.

Though winter is around the corner, Deutsch plans to continue the project. I have cleats on my shoes which I recommend to everyone, she said. As long as were not in a blizzard I plan to keep going as long as its not zero degrees or inclement weather.

Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.

Human Behavior

Local Hospitals See Rush Of Severe COVID-19 Cases As Second Surge Intensifies – 27east.com

December 3, 2020 medical

A second wave of the coronavirus pandemic continued to explode across Long Island this past week, much like it did last spring, as government and health officials scrambled to find ways to tamp down the wildfire as well as prepare to defend against its onslaught.

Local hospitals have seen new patients streaming in with severe symptoms of COVID-19 infections, some requiring intensive care and the support of ventilators to help them survive the respiratory distress.

Health officials said that contact tracing has continued to show that the spread of infections is mostly tied to small social gatherings of people from different households at which attendees do not wear face coverings or adhere to social distancing recommendations. The recent Thanksgiving holiday, officials say, seems certain to exacerbate that trend in the mushrooming spread.

East Hampton Town this week continued to see the steepest rise in new cases it has seen since the start of the pandemic. Between November 25 and December 2 there were 58 new cases confirmed in the town, an increase of 13 percent. There have now been 489 total infections confirmed among town residents since March.

Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said that the town is teetering on the edge of being classified as a microcluster under the state Department of Healths zone classification system. If the town were to reach the threshold for the first tier of microcluster designation, known as the Yellow Zone, there would have to be new testing protocols for schools, further restrictions on the size of public gatherings and how restaurants can operate.

Despite our constant urgings, the disease seems to be spreading within the community, he said, nodding to the pleadings in recent weeks of elected officials and public health experts for people to avoid social gatherings at which social distancing precautions are not being followed. This is concerning.

In Southampton Town, there were 131 new infections confirmed since November 25, a 7-percent increase in the total number, which now stands at 1,853.

There were 609 new cases confirmed on Tuesday, a 5.2 percent positivity rate among all those tested in the previous 24 hour period. The countys seven-day positivity rate is 4.2 percent.

As health officials said they have been expecting, the rising number of cases earlier this month is now staring to reflect in rising numbers of hospitalizations.

Both Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead reported steep increases to the number of COVID-19 cases they are treating in the past week.

As of Wednesday morning, PBMC had 31 admitted patients, even after two patients were discharged on Tuesday. There were just seven COVID-19 admissions on November 17.

Stony Brook Southampton Hospital has seen the number of patients it is treating nearly double in the past seven days, from eight on November 24 to 14 as of Wednesday morning. Four of those patients are in the hospitals intensive care unit, and two of those have had to be put on ventilators to help them breathe because of severe respiratory distress.

The hospital last week again halted all visitation by friends and family of admitted patients because of concern about spreading infection.

At the height of the first surge in the spring, the hospital had as many as 51 patients admitted for treatment of COVID-19 symptoms, and 20 in its intensive care units.

There are now more than 260 people hospitalized across Suffolk County, 48 of them in intensive care. Three people died on Tuesday from complications due to COVID-19 infections.

On Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered that all hospital networks begin planning for load balancing distributing patients among their various hospitals so that certain hospitals are not overwhelmed while others are mostly empty.

We are not going to live through the nightmare of overwhelmed hospitals again, he said.

He also ordered hospitals to begin organizing retired doctors and nurses as reserves to their current staffing to be prepared for a sustained surge in the number of COVID-19 patients being treated.

The governor said that the patterns of the new spread means there will not be an opportunity for one region of the state where infections are low to lend assistance to another region where they are higher, like in the spring, when the vast majority of infections and hospitalizations were in downstate regions.

Mr. Cuomo also hinted that if the state again approaches a hospitalization crisis, it could be forced to return to the NY Pause restrictions on non-essential businesses that were imposed, and largely paid dividends, in the spring.

Perhaps the lone bright spot in the renewed surge has been that it has not manifested itself in schools. On Tuesday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said that the lack of spread in schools has been remarkable and is a testament to how well the infections spread can be controlled when the recommended protocols are adhered to. He said it also should mean that the region will not be closing schools a key fear of parents and childhoold education experts alike.

As long as students and faculty are kept safe, schools should be kept open, Mr. Bellone said.

Where the sort of protocols that are protecting students from spreading the virus have not been followed namely small gatherings infections have exploded, the governor said.

This is all a function of human behavior, he said. If you wanted to get the rate to near zero, you could do it if you agree to certain behavior patterns.

Because that has not proven to be the case of late, the state expects the growth in cases to continue through the middle of January, Mr. Cuomo said, before plateauing, at a much higher level of infections than has been seen since the first surge waned in May.

So we have to settle in, he said on Monday. The good news is, New York is doing better than almost any other state. New York is better prepared than any other state. We did this before and well do it again.

Human Behavior

Letters: Student loans, OSU’s name and restoring unity in the USA – The Columbus Dispatch

December 3, 2020 medical

Letters to the Editor| The Columbus DispatchCollege students should be responsible, pay off loans

There is talk circulating that some in the new administration want to forgive student loan debt. Really!

My family was not "dirt poor," but we were poor. When I started college in 1958 they did not have student loan programs and tuition assistance programs like today. I had to work while attending college, 32 hours weekly during the school year and 40 hoursIn the summer.

On Mondays and Thursdays, I went in at 3 p.m.and got off the next morning at 2 a.m.,followed by 8 a.m.classes. I survived and carried a 3.22 GPA (out of 4.0). By working, I missed the card parties, the drinking at local pubs, the tennis and golf matches, etc. Instead, I learned valuable life lessons regarding financial management and how to take care of myself.

Many kids today have an entitlement mentality and think the world owes them everything. Put everything on the "tab" and pay later. To those I say: "you reap what you sow." You run up the tab, you pay for it. It is called being responsible.

James A. Gambert, Pickerington

Here is the answer for Buckeyes who don't know why theTheis capitalized.

When I enrolled atOhio State Universityin 1954 (tuition was $75/quarter, season football tickets $18),we had a fraternityalumni adviser named Tom Johnson.Johnsonalsowas stadium announcer for OSU football games.

EverySaturday when the band came down thenorth ramp and into formation at thenorth goal post,Johnsonwould announce "Ladies and gentlemen,TheOhio State University marching band!!"

Thus, TheOhio State University.

Robert Leftwich, West Chester

Seventy million people voted for Donald Trump.This country is not just divided, but dangerously divided. The Democrats need to stop celebrating the win and start thinking about what they need todoto change some minds.

Susan Miller, Columbus

Public policy change requires more than three-word catch phrases. Calling for public policy change invites clever phrases suitable for media moments. However, these phrases often mask the complexity of real change and undermine real change.

Nancy Reagans Just say no! campaign sounded like a good idea but failed because public policy related to drug abuse is more complicated than three words. Trickle-downeconomics sounds good in theory but has never worked because the economy and human behavior are more complicated than three words. In this context, I am concerned about defund thepolice.

I am horrified by the racist abuse and killings by police and policing culture locally and nationwide. I strongly agree we need to include social workers, crisis intervention specialists, educatorsand other nonpolice resources in our public safety strategies. However, if someone steals my car, I dont want a crisis intervention specialist trying to find it.

If I see a car speeding the wrong way on a busy street, Im not going to call a social worker to stop it. Defunding police sounds like an easy solution to a complicated problem. It also has the effect of polarizing the community. We need to increase funding for prevention activities, crisis intervention, treatment, civilian review of police,police culture changeand more.

We also need public participation in creating and monitoringthoughtful policies that reflect best practices of public health, safety andinclusion.

Chris Kloth, Columbus

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Letters: Student loans, OSU's name and restoring unity in the USA - The Columbus Dispatch