The Sheer Power of Transparent Clothing

Lately fashion has left little to the imagination. The sheer-dress trend, while varying in levels of (im)modesty, is inescapable, as barely concealed nipples, belly buttons, and thongs have graced every red carpet from the Grammys to the Oscars. While celebrities including Rihanna, Kendall Jenner, and Beyoncé have all played a role the trend’s recent resurgence, translucent garments have been making jaws drop and eyes bulge for centuries.

The mysterious 18th-century Portrait of a Young Woman in White by an unknown artist has enjoyed a renewed cultural interest as the cover of My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. But the artwork, in which the subject’s breasts are visible through a sheer layer of fabric, is emblematic of the attire favored by French courtesans around the turn of the 19th century. The style, which writer Louis-Sébastien Mercier dubbed “à la sauvage, “did not leave the beholder to divine, but perceive every secret charm,” Mercier wrote.

Sheer garments continued to scandalize after the French Revolution. In 1913 diaphanous so-called X-ray skirts and dresses caused such outrage that the mayor of Portland, Oregon, ordered wearers be arrested, while The Oregon Daily Journal reported, “X-Ray Skirts Break Up Home of Millionaire.” Regarding her fashion-related divorce, Bertha Hanscom, 30, said, “My husband is an old fossil…I’m built for the X-ray skirt, and I’m going to wear ‘em. He doesn’t like them, but I don’t care. Wait till I get my divorce, and I’ll make his eyes pop.” (Her scandalized husband, James, 60, told the paper, “Bertha wore not only diaphanous skirts but slit ones.”)

Silent film starlet Clara Bow secured her sex-symbol status with 1925’s My Lady of Whims thanks to a scandalously see-through dress. When Bow’s character, Prudence Severn, is invited to a costume ball with the theme “the

Have your say about how to address health-related nutrition needs

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is encouraging health plans participating in the Medicaid and Healthy Michigan Plan to offer in lieu of services options to beneficiaries that address food insecurity and increase access to healthy foods

NEWS RELEASE

MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

*********************

LANSING — As a part of its commitment to strengthen health care for Michigan residents and address social determinants of health, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is seeking public input on potential services designed to address health-related nutrition needs.

MDHHS is encouraging health plans participating in the Medicaid and Healthy Michigan Plan to offer in lieu of services (ILOS) options to beneficiaries that address food insecurity and increase access to healthy foods.

ILOS are services the state considers to be medically appropriate and cost effective when provided as substitutes to other Medicaid-covered services. ILOS would be offered to eligible Medicaid and Healthy Michigan Plan enrollees by their health plan and delivered by a community-based provider such as a food bank, meal provider or a food pharmacy which is a new program model designed to increase the access to and consumption of healthy foods.

“MDHHS is working to address social determinants of health by investing in and engaging with community-based organizations,” said Elizabeth Hertel, director. “The department is excited for the opportunity to collaborate with community partners on this innovative effort to improve the health of Michigan residents enrolled in Medicaid health plans through nutrition services.”

MDHHS is seeking public input on proposed service definitions for the following four potential ILOS:

  • Medically Tailored Home Delivered Meal.
  • Healthy Home Delivered Meal.
  • Healthy Food Pack.
  • Produce Prescription.

Through a request for information (RFI), MDHHS is seeking input from community-based nutrition service providers, community-based

Biden’s budget proposal for a second term offers tax breaks for families and lower health care costs

MANCHESTER, N.H. — MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday released a budget proposal aimed at getting voters’ attention: It would offer tax breaks for families, lower health care costs, smaller deficits and higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

Unlikely to pass the House and Senate to become law, the proposal for fiscal 2025 is an election year blueprint about what the future could hold if Biden and enough of his fellow Democrats win in November. The president and his aides previewed parts of his budget going into last week’s State of the Union address, and they provided the fine print on Monday.

If the Biden budget became law, deficits could be pruned $3 trillion over a decade. It would raise tax revenues by a total of $4.9 trillion over that period and use roughly $1.9 trillion to fund various programs, with the rest going to deficit reduction.

The president traveled Monday to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he called on Congress to apply his $2,000 cap on drug costs and $35 insulin to everyone, not just people who have Medicare. He also advocated for making permanent some protections in the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire next year.

“I’m here in New Hampshire to talk about the budget I released today that would, I think, help in a big way,” Biden said.

Biden aides said their budget was realistic and detailed while rival measures from Republicans were not financially viable.

“Congressional Republicans don’t tell you what they cut, who they harm,” White House budget director Shalanda Young said. “The president is transparent.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., issued a joint statement with other GOP leaders calling the Biden proposal a “glaring reminder of this Administration’s insatiable appetite for reckless spending.”

“Biden’s budget doesn’t just miss

Health unit issues boil-water advisory for Friday Harbour Resort

Lab tests expected in next day or two following water-main break at Innisfil community

The local health unit issued a boil-water advisory on Tuesday for Friday Harbour Resort in Innisfil following a recent water-main break.

Repairs are now completed, according to the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.

“This advisory is in effect until further notice and will be lifted once the safety of the water has been confirmed by laboratory tests,” the health unit stated in a news release. 

It is anticipated that these results will be available in the next one to two days.

Public health officials say drinking water directly from the tap is not safe at this time and can result in illness.

Those most at risk include the elderly, the very young and people with weakened immune systems.

Residents are advised to boil their water before use or, as an alternative, use bottled water or commercially treated water from an approved source.

Restaurants, bars and other food services — excluding facilities that sell pre-packaged food and that have been approved to operate by the local health unit — are closed for the duration of the boil-water advisory.

To prepare your water for use, the health unit says to bring water to a “rolling boil for at least one minute.”

Allow it to cool before:

  • drinking
  • brushing teeth or rinsing dentures
  • preparing food, washing fruits, vegetables, and other food
  • preparing infant formula
  • making ice, beverages, or other mixes
  • washing dishes: Wash dishes with soap and water, rinse them and then sanitize them in a separate sink with a capful of bleach mixed with a sink full of clear water.

This advice also extends to drinking water for pets.

The health unit says adults, teens and older children can use water

The dark side of fast fashion

Global fast fashion brands are churning out more clothes than the planet can handle. Today’s trends are tomorrow’s trash, with our clothes made cheaply and disposed of quickly. It’s time to stand up for Papatūānuku, to demand sustainable ethical fashion that looks great and feels great at the same time.

A person, out of focus, holds an old Adidas shoe, in focus. In the background are two people in a landfill. Fast Fashion Research in Kenya. © Kevin McElvaney / Greenpeace
Used and new clothes are sent to Kenya from Europe and China to be sold as so called “Mitumba” but often they end up as landfill and waste disposal due to the huge amount. Nairobi.
© Kevin McElvaney / Greenpeace

What is fast fashion?

‘Fast fashion’ is what we call the rapid and cheap design, manufacture and marketing of huge (like really HUGE) volumes of clothing. This way of producing garments often uses low-quality materials and exploits low-paid labour in other countries. 

Fast fashion also refers to an approach to the design and marketing of clothing that emphasises making fashion trends quickly and cheaply. Fast fashion trends appeal to people shopping because they are cheap, stylish and trendy. Fast fashion has an irresistible offer – new shiny clothes at unbelievably low prices. 

As you can guess, large volumes of low quality garments cause large problems for both people and the environment.

How much clothing goes to landfill in New Zealand?

The clothing industry’s huge production is a huge waste problem. Every year around 180,000 tonnes of clothing and textile waste is thrown away in New Zealand landfills.

That’s equivalent to 6429 shipping containers of waste!  

Rows of shipping containers stacked up

The global statistics for fast fashion waste statistics are really shocking. Internationally 1.92 million tonnes of textiles waste is produced every year. 

A staggering 92 million tonnes of discarded garments find their way into landfills, out of the 100 billion produced every year.


A pile of clothes in a landfill, a tractor is small at top

Slow down fast fashion!

By regulating to slow down fast fashion we

Edmonton’s fire department looks to send firefighters to fewer medical calls – Edmonton

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services is about to implement a four-point plan in an effort to bring down the number of medical calls firefighters are sent to.

In 2023, the department responded to 95,496 calls for service. Of those, 69 per cent were medical calls rather than fires or other emergencies.

Between 2018 and 2023, that represented an 82 per cent increase in medical calls for Edmonton firefighters.

In comparison, 62 per cent of calls Calgary firefighters responded to were medical, 61 per cent in Toronto, 48 per cent in Vancouver and 20 per cent in Ottawa.

By 2024, EFRS expects to respond to up to 80,000 medical calls each year.

The calls include immediately life-threatening situations like cardiac or respiratory arrests, time-critical calls like chest pain or overdoses, urgent but potentially serious calls, and non-urgent calls.

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About 31 per cent of the medical calls EFRS responded to in 2023 were found to not be immediately life-threatening or time-critical.

In 2017, Edmonton firefighters started administering naloxone in an effort to help reverse drug poisonings.


Click to play video: 'Edmonton firefighters administer naloxone almost every other day: chief'


Edmonton firefighters administer naloxone almost every other day: chief


Between 2018 and 2023, the number of drug overdose and poisoning calls Edmonton firefighters responded to skyrocketed, jumping by 790 per cent.


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Breaking news from Canada and around the world
sent to your email, as it happens.

Beginning at the end of March, EFRS will begin to implement a four-point plan in an effort to ease that workload.

Starting on March 31, the lift assist protocol will be revised to more closely match the Calgary Fire Department’s.

Edmonton firefighters will only have to respond to lift assists when paramedics need time-critical help or when all other EMS resources

Quadrangle N.L. takes a closer look at 2SLGBTQ+ health care in new research project

Ainsley Hawthorn  (Submitted by Ainsley Hawthorn - image credit)

Ainsley Hawthorn (Submitted by Ainsley Hawthorn – image credit)

Ainsley Hawthorn

Ainsley Hawthorn

Ainsley Hawthorn, the project’s research manager, says some in the 2SLGBTQ+ avoid health services due to a lack of education among some health staff. (Submitted by Ainsley Hawthorn)

More than half of 2SLGBTQ+ and gender-diverse people in Newfoundland and Labrador say their mental health is poor or very poor and over 73 per cent say they needed mental health-care services but never got them.

That’s according to a research project by Quadrangle N.L., funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada.

The report considers all health-care services in Newfoundland and Labrador. The results are anything but optimistic.

“Even though we can see that there’s a need for therapy and mental health treatment, people aren’t easily able to get it,” Ainsley Hawthorn, the project’s research manager, told CBC News on Monday.

The survey had 272 respondents from people in all regions of the province. About half indicated they are gender-diverse, which is around 10 per cent of the gender diverse-population of the province, Hawthorn said.

Charlie Murphy, executive director of Quadrangle N.L., says the results of the survey indicate the need for more mental health services, across the province, free of charge, for the community.

The project also included interviews with health-care providers and health-care students.

Hawthorn said many indicated they haven’t had a solid education on serving the 2SLGBTQ+ community or the community’s particular needs.

Listen to the full interview with CBC Radio’s Newfoundland Morning:

“And generally speaking, the level of confidence was not that high among health-care providers that they could serve this community,” she said.

“We actually found that 43.8 per cent of [2SLGBTQ+] community members in the province had to educate a health-care provider on their needs in the past year. So that’s not even in their

How medieval French women used hidden social networks to share medical advice

In the medieval period, medical science was still dominated by the ancient writings of Hippocrates from the fifth century and Galen of Pergamon from the second century. Research has shown that women were increasingly being taken seriously as healers and as bearers of wisdom about women’s bodies and health. But despite this, men were preferred while women faced restrictions.

Informal networks developed in response, as a way for women to practise medicine in secret – and pass on their medical wisdom outside the male bastions.

The Distaff Gospels, first published in France around 1480, is a collection of “gospels” around pregnancy, childbirth and health. It was created during secretive meetings of French women who had gathered with their drop spindles and distaffs to spin flax.

These women, who were mostly from the regions of Flanders and Picardy, agreed to meet over the long nights between Christmas and early February to gather the wisdom of their ancestors and pass it on to the women who came after them. The meetings are believed to have been organised by a local villager who selected six older women, each chairing one night, who would recount their advice on a range of topics such as pregnancy, childbirth and marriage.

A scribe was appointed to record the advice, which had previously only been preserved through the oral story tradition of peasant women. What is most fascinating is that although the text is mediated by a male scribe, The Distaff Gospels presents the often-silent voices of the lower working-class women. One such gospel advises:

Young women should never be given hares’ heads to eat, for fear they might think about it later, once they are married, especially while they are pregnant; in that case, for sure, their children would

8 Top AI Healthcare Software of 2024

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AI healthcare software is rapidly transforming the healthcare sector, providing medical professionals with new and innovative AI tools to improve patient care, diagnosis, and treatment.

AI healthcare software uses machine learning and data analytics to analyze patient data, predict outcomes, and personalize treatment plans. These AI-powered healthcare tools can help reduce medical errors, improve efficiency, and save lives. In this best AI healthcare software review, we analyzed the best solutions available on the market and how they are improving healthcare delivery.

Top AI Healthcare Software Comparison

Top Use Medical Imaging Analysis Diagnostic Assistance Key Strength
Enlitic Managing medical imaging data Yes Yes Reduce mundane data routing tasks for PACS administrators
Merative Clinical decision support and healthcare analytics Yes Yes Treatment cost calculator provides real-time estimates of costs
Regard Automating clinical tasks Yes Yes Reduce clinician burnout
Google Vertex AI Information retrieval Yes Yes Feature-rich and highly customizable
Freenome Early cancer detection No Yes Potential to save lives
Iterative Health Detection of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases Yes Yes Improves the accuracy and consistency of endoscopy readings
VirtuSense Predictive fall prevention No No Automated and fast alerting system ensures timely response from staff
Smart Care Facility AI-assisted virtual care No Yes Real-time decision support

Enlitic: Best for Managing Medical Imaging Data

Enlitic icon.

Enlitic is an artificial intelligence healthcare software company that leverages deep learning technology to analyze medical imaging data. Its platform uses machine learning algorithms to help radiologists interpret images more accurately, leading to faster diagnoses and improved patient outcomes. Enlitic’s software can assist in detecting abnormalities in X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, and other medical images, helping healthcare providers make more informed decisions about patient care.

Enlitic offers

Winnipeg resident left without regular care during healthcare worker strike

Lorna Ross says she feels abandoned and caught in the middle of the health care worker strike at Ten Ten Sinclair. She says she’s forced to stay in her condo, waiting for services that may or may not come.

“We live minute by minute, day by day. So I never know when I’m actually going to get checked on,” she explained.

“My experience with this whole strike is very stressful, very depressing, very annoying.”

The strike began Wednesday, with workers refusing to return to work unless they get better wages. Ross says she wants to be spending her days socializing with her friends, but due to the strike, she can’t leave her condo.

“With this, it’s so different, like I can’t even make plans with my plans doing things, even if I tried, because like I said, don’t know when I’m gonna get service,” explained Ross.

Lorna Ross says since the strike at Ten Ten Sinclair began Wednesday, she’s been stressed out and unable to sleep well. (Photo Credit: Joanne Roberts, CityNews)

Ten Ten Sinclair and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority have been bringing other workers and agencies to help with residents’ care, but Ross says it’s leaving her deeply uncomfortable not knowing who is coming to her door.

“You don’t know these people. They don’t know you and you don’t know them. How are you supposed to feel safe? Like, I’m letting two people come back … and give me a bath. Sure. There’s only so much a person can handle.”

Ross’ needs are well-known to the regular healthcare workers, but she’s constantly having to remind new workers what her needs and boundaries are. She says for comfort reasons, she only works with female aides, but they keep forgetting.

“I have to expose myself to them. I have to

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