This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Robin Ostrov has joined HVS Executive Search as Vice President With more than 20 years of expertise in retained executive search and corporate talent acquisition within the hospitality industry she specializes in placing senior executives in both private and publicly traded organizations across sectors including restaurants The Board of Trustees met on Tuesday for the first time since June 25 (Photo by Matthew Kaufman / Editor-in-Chief) Carl Gibbs officially became chair of the Board of Trustees on Oct during the Board’s first meeting of the fall semester Ostrov delivered remarks before handing the gavel over to Gibbs Ostrov and Gibbs have served on the Board together since 2017 They worked alongside one another as chair and vice chair deliberate and steady,” Ostrov said of Gibbs “You've chaired mission fulfillment and sat on business and infrastructure and governance committees for many years now I can't think of anyone more prepared or committed to pass the gavel.” Gibbs graduated from the College in 1993. Along with serving on the Board, he works as president and chief executive officer of the investment firm Sturdivant & Co., Inc. Gibbs has over 27 years of experience in the financial services industry, and has overseen planning, accounting, financial reporting functions and investor relations, according to the Board of Trustees website “Thank you for entrusting me with this responsibility as your chair,” said Gibbs “I stand ready to serve the College in this new role.” Gibbs thanked Ostrov for her leadership and extended deep gratitude to her on behalf of the entire Board The chairperson also said that the Board is fortunate that Ostrov will continue to serve on the Board in a different role Ostrov has been involved with the Board of Trustees since she was a junior at the College she served until 2002 when her term concluded Ostrov then rejoined the Board seven years ago and was eventually elected chair in 2021 I'm so grateful to each and every member of this Board and the past members with whom I served,” said Ostrov “Thank you for entrusting me with this awesome privilege and responsibility was sworn in as alternate student trustee at the meeting The next Board of Trustees meeting will be held on Tuesday Courtesy image Saint Job of Pochaiv Orthodox Church News: Saint Job of Pochaiv Orthodox Church is sponsoring a free showing of the critically acclaimed movie in English “The Island” at SALA Event Center in a small Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks while others who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal The community is invited to attend this free showing Copyright © 2012-2025 The Los Alamos Daily Post is the Official Newspaper of Record in Los Alamos County This Site and all information contained here including graphs and graphics is the property of the Los Alamos Daily Post Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted provided that the Los Alamos Daily Post and author/photographer are properly cited columnists and other contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the Los Alamos Daily Post The Los Alamos Daily Post newspaper was founded Feb Archaeological Centre OlomoucThe ancient water well was discovered in 2018 during construction of the Czech Republic’s D35 highway The crumbling wooden water well above certainly doesn’t look impressive but a tree-ring dating method revealed the oak used to build it is 7,275 years old That might make it the oldest known wooden structure in the world confirmed using this method based particularly on dendro-chronological data we can say that the tree trunks for the wood used were felled in the years 5255 and 5266 B.C.,” said Jaroslav Peška “The rings on the trunks enable us to give a precise estimate.” According to Radio Prague International the well was discovered in the town of Ostrov in 2018 during construction on the Czech Republic’s D35 highway Though the ceramic remnants found inside dated the site to the early Neolithic period no evidence of settlements were discovered nearby “We believe it was used by settlers during what we call the Neolithic Revolution during a transition from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlements,” said Peška “These people likely built simply-structured houses and domesticated animals.” The lack of settlement signs near the well suggested it was used by several settlements that were located some distance away Preservation of the well itself was due to its centuries-long submersion 2020Some of the wooden poles were felled earlier than the others suggesting they were used previously for something else before being repurposed Published in the Journal of Archaeological Science the findings detailed the well’s fairly sophisticated construction Built with an oak pole at each corner and flat planks of wood between them it measured 2.62 feet by 2.62 feet and stood 4.6 feet tall A shaft protruded out the bottom and into the ground to reach the groundwater below “The construction of this well is unique,” he said “It bears marks of construction techniques used in the Bronze and Iron ages and even the Roman Age were able to process the surface of felled trunks with such precision.” Two of the poles were felled three to nine years earlier than the others suggesting they were previously used elsewhere before being repurposed for the well Experts believe this was due to a repair on the well While it isn’t official that it’s the oldest wooden structure still in existence Though there are over 40 of these wells across Europe dating to similar timeframes those dating estimates weren’t based on dendrochronology Archaeological Centre OlomoucThe ancient artifact is now being preserved with plain white sugar It will be put on display at the Pardubice Museum in about two years the craftsmanship used to build the well and the ingenuity it displays is most remarkable part of the discovery was sufficient for sophisticated carpentry,” he said “Comparing the structure of the Ostrov well with examples of carpentry from later periods raises nothing less than admiration for the perfectly precise work.” researchers have replaced the water the well was submerged in with plain white sugar to ensure the artifact continues to be preserved “The wooden planks are submerged in this sucrose solution and will stay there for several months,” explained Peška “During that time the damaged cellular structure of the wood will be replaced by sucrose whose chemical composition is similar to cellulose in wood.” “After that it will be fixated and only then can the well be displayed in Pardubice Museum as earlier agreed the restoration process should take about two years.” After learning about the well that might be the oldest known wooden structure still in existence, read about archaeologists uncovering 3,000-year-old Scottish weapons under a soccer field. Then, learn about brewers using yeast found in a 220-year-old shipwreck to create the “world’s oldest beer.” Germany’s Postsportverein Mühlhausen 1951 e.V have advanced to the semi-finals of the Europe Cup Men joining SF SKK El Nino Praha (Czech Republic) and ASC Grünwettersbach (Germany) Spain’s Real Club Cajasur Priego Tenis de Mesa narrowly defeated Postsportverein Mühlhausen 1951 e.V but failed to replicate that result in Germany Steffen MENGEL easily overcame Diogo CARVALHO while Ovidiu IONESCU delivered a straight-games win against Hampus SÖDERLUND Only Alvaro ROBLES managed to put Irvin BERTRAND under pressure before the French player sealed the match “We are very happy to win 3-0 and qualify for the semis but at the same time we knew that at home we are the stronger team and together with our supporters we could win and qualify,” said Ovidiu IONESCU with a significantly changed line-up compared to the opening leg Only Pavel SIRUCEK appeared in both legs and won on both occasions defeating Dawid CHILICKI and Patryk CHOJNOWSKI Vladislav URSU and Andrej GACINA secured wins in the opening two matches against Piotr MICHALSKI and Patryk CHOJNOWSKI – REAL CLUB CAJASUR PRIEGO TENIS DE MESA 3-0 REAL CLUB CAJASUR PRIEGO TENIS DE MESA – Postsportverein Mühlhausen 1951 e.V The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) is the governing body of the sport of table tennis in Europe and is the only authority recognized for this purpose by the International Table Tennis Federation The ETTU deals with all matters relating to table tennis at a European level including the development and promotion of the sport in the territories controlled by its 58 member associations and the organization of continental table tennis competitions Domeniile Ostrov currently owns 1,200 hectares of vineyards located in the wine region between Ostrov and Constanța This wine region stands out not only on the domestic market but also internationally with wines exported to multiple countries across Europe and beyond Domeniile Ostrov continues to invest in modernizing production infrastructure and utilizing the most advanced equipment for grape processing The company also places a strong emphasis on environmental protection by implementing sustainable viticulture practices which are essential to meet the current market demands Domeniile Ostrov has also strengthened its position in international markets which has allowed it to become a reference brand for wine enthusiasts worldwide Domeniile Ostrov confirms its reputation as a producer of exceptional wines capable of competing with the world’s most renowned wine producers Domeniile Ostrov will continue to invest in expanding its distribution network and diversifying its product portfolio with the goal of reinforcing its position as a market leader in wine and Pelin ranges are available on supermarket shelves in Romania while the Legio and Ritual ranges are found in the HORECA sector the Vinăria Ostrov brand is also available in partner stores a beloved brand by Romanians since the company’s early days whose reputation has been passed down through generations We use cookies for keeping our website reliable and secure providing social media features and to analyse how our website is used Metrics details is one of the largest Early Holocene cemeteries in northern Eurasia with 177 burials recovered in excavations in the 1930s; originally more than 400 graves may have been present taking into account a correction for freshwater reservoir effects suggests that the main use of the cemetery spanned only some 100–300 years This coincides remarkably closely with the 8.2 ka cooling event the most dramatic climatic downturn in the Holocene in the northern hemisphere inviting an interpretation in terms of human response to a climate-driven environmental change Rather than suggesting a simple deterministic relationship we draw on a body of anthropological and archaeological theory to argue that the burial of the dead at this location served to demarcate and negotiate rights of access to a favoured locality with particularly rich and resilient fish and game stocks during a period of regional resource depression This resulted in increased social stress in human communities that exceeded and subverted the ‘normal’ commitment of many hunter-gatherers to egalitarianism and widespread resource sharing and gave rise to greater mortuary complexity this seems to have lasted only for the duration of the climate downturn Our results have implications for understanding the context of the emergence—and dissolution—of socio-economic inequality and territoriality under conditions of socio-ecological stress Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout All of the data used in this paper are included in the Supplementary Tables. The OxCal codes used for the Bayesian modelling are provided in the Supplementary Information The 8.2 ka cooling event caused by Laurentide ice saddle collapse Modeling the effect of freshwater pulses on the early Holocene climate: the influence of high-frequency climate variability Global climatic impacts of a collapse of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation The cold event 8200 years ago documented in oxygen isotope records of precipitation in Europe and Greenland Model–data comparison for the 8.2 ka bp event: confirmation of a forcing mechanism by catastrophic drainage of Laurentide Lakes The 8200 calbp ‘climate event’ and the process of neolithisation in south-eastern Europe Evidence of resilience to past climate change in Southwest Asia: early farming communities and the 9.2 and 8.2 ka events Massive perturbation in terrestrial ecosystems of the eastern Mediterranean region associated with the 8.2 kyr b.p in Environmental Disaster and the Archaeology of Human Response (eds Bawden Climate forcing due to the 8200cal yr bp event observed at Early Neolithic sites in the eastern Mediterranean Exploring human responses to climatic fluctuations and environmental diversity: two stories from Mesolithic Norway The resilience of postglacial hunter-gatherers to abrupt climate change Early-Middle Holocene archaeological periodization and environmental changes in the eastern Gulf of Finland: interpretative correlation The 8.2 ka bp Holocene climate change event and human population resilience in northwest Atlantic Europe Human responses to early Holocene climate variability in eastern Fennoscandia Radiocarbon chronology and the correlation of hunter–gatherer sociocultural change with abrupt palaeoclimate change: the Middle Mesolithic in the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt area of northwest Europe in Hunter-Gatherer Resiliency and Adaptation: A Bioarchaeological Perspective (eds Temple The Foraging Spectrum: Diversity in Hunter-Gatherer Lifeways (Cambridge Univ The emergence of Muge Mesolithic shell middens in central Portugal and the 8200 cal yr bp cold event Jørgensen, E. K., Pesonen, P. & Tallavaara, M. Climatic changes cause synchronous population dynamics and adaptive strategies among coastal hunter-gatherers in Holocene northern Europe. Quat. Res. https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2019.86 (2020) The impact of the abrupt 8.2 ka cold event on the Mesolithic population of western Scotland: a Bayesian chronological analysis using ‘activity events’ as a population proxy Oleneostrovski Mogilnik (Izdatel’stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR 47 Materialy i Issledovaniia po Arkheologii SSSR Oleneostrovski mogilnik: reconstructing the social and economic organisation of prehistoric foragers in northern Russia in Mesolithic North West Europe: Recent Trends (eds Rowley-Conwy et al.) 121–127 (Department of Archaeology and Prehistory and skeletal dimensions of a boreal forest Mesolithic cemetery Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry datelist 11 Opyt datirovaniia po 14C pogrebenii Pri-baikal’ia epokhi golotsena Olenii Ostrov: first radiocarbon dates from a major Mesolithic cemetery in Karelin A freshwater diet-derived 14C reservoir effect at the Stone Age sites in the Iron Gate Gorge Potential freshwater reservoir effects in a Neolithic shell midden at Riņņukalns Freshwater radiocarbon reservoir effects at the burial ground of Minino Freshwater reservoir offsets investigated through paired human–faunal 14C dating and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis at Lake Baikal Bronk Ramsey, C. OxCal v.4.4 https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal/OxCal.html (2020) Towards the use of radiocarbon as a dietary proxy: establishing a first wide-ranging radiocarbon reservoir effects baseline for Germany The 8k event: cause and consequences of a major Holocene abrupt climate change Precise timing and characterization of abrupt climate change 8200 years ago from air trapped in polar ice A stratigraphic framework for abrupt climatic changes during the Last Glacial period based on three synchronized Greenland ice-core records: refining and extending the INTIMATE event stratigraphy The 8.2 ka bp event from Greenland ice cores The temperature of Europe during the Holocene reconstructed from pollen data The 8.2 ka event and Early–Mid Holocene forests fires and flooding in the Central Ebro Desert eastern Baltic region: a pollen-based summer temperature reconstruction and regional comparison Holocene climate of the Kola Peninsula; evidence from the oxygen isotope record of diatom silica Modelling the vegetation response to the 8.2 ka bp cooling event in Europe and Northern Africa Environmental responses to the 9.7 and 8.2 cold events at two ecotonal sites in the Dovre mountains recorded in annually laminated lake sediments in eastern Europe Quantitative summer and winter temperature reconstructions from pollen and chironomid data between 15 and 8 ka bp in the Baltic–Belarus area Sediment isotope tracers from Lake Saarikko and implications for Holocene hydroclimatology Quantitative reconstruction of Holocene climate from the Chuna Lake pollen record Last nine-thousand years of temperature variability in Northern Europe Early Holocene vegetation and climate dynamics in the central part of the East European Plain (Russia) Spatial structure of the 8200 cal yr bp event in Northern Europe The European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus L.) at the northern boundary of its range in eastern Fennoscandia Northern hemisphere temperatures during the past millennium: inferences adaptability and transformability in social-ecological systems Holocene rapid climate changes and ice-rafting debris events reflected in high-resolution European charcoal records Late Quaternary lake-level record from northern Eurasia Late glacial and Holocene palaeoenvironmental changes in the Rostov-Yaroslavl’ area Oxygen depletion and winterkill risk in small prairie lakes under extended ice cover Oxygen demands in ice covered lakes as it pertains to winter aeration Limnological conditions in ice-covered lakes especially as related to winter-kill of fish Some features of the thermal and dissolved oxygen structure in boreal Modeling artificial aeration kinetics in ice-covered lakes Larger zooplankton in Danish lakes after cold winters: are winter fish kills of importance The influence of water level fluctuations and associated hypoxia on the fishery of Lake Võrtsjärv Recovery of the fish community and changes in the lower trophic levels in a eutrophic lake after a winter kill of fish Winterkill cascade: indirect effects of a natural disturbance on littoral macroinvertebrates in boreal lakes Ice phenomena terms on the water bodies of Northwestern Russia Mesolithic burial grounds and burial complexes in the forest zone of eastern Europe in Archaic Hunters and Gatherers in the American Midwest (eds Phillips A Comparison of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Burials of North Africa and Western Europe: Grim Investigations—Reaping the Dead The cemetery as symbol: the distribution of prehistoric Aboriginal burial grounds in southeastern Australia Farming the Forest: The Emergence of Neolithic Societies in the Baltic Region (eds Zvelebil The archaeology of ancestors: the Saxe/Goldstein hypothesis revisited in Archaeology of Settlements and Landscape in the North (ed in Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter‐Gatherers (eds Cummings Embodied Rituals and Ritualized Bodies (Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Human Territoriality: Its Theory and History (Cambridge Univ Conditional spatial patterning: beyond the nearest neighbor Mitochondrial genome sequencing in Mesolithic north east Europe unearths a new sub-clade within the broadly distributed human haplogroup C1 and Work in a Foraging Society (Cambridge Univ in Circumpolar Lives and Livelihood: A Comparative Ethnoarchaeology of Gender and Subsistence (eds Jarvenpa The significance of food storage among hunter-gatherers: residence patterns L.) 279–291 (McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Environmental determinism in Holocene research: causality or coincidence Comments on the use of Ezee-filters and ultrafilters at ORAU Current pretreatment methods for AMS radiocarbon dating at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU) Procedures for comparing and combining radiocarbon age determinations: a critique The IntCal20 northern hemisphere radiocarbon age calibration curve (0–55 cal kBP) Bayesian Approach to Interpreting Archaeological Data (John Wiley & Son Development and application of the trapezoidal model for archaeological chronologies Methods for summarizing radiocarbon datasets Techniques for development of global 1-kilometer digital elevation models In Proc American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 568–572 (Bethesda Birds in Late Mesolithic burials at Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov (Lake Onega western Russia)—what do they tell about humans and the environment Diet composition and seasonal feeding patterns of a freshwater ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis) in Taksony vysokogo poriadka v sisteme poniatii arkheologii kamennogo veka (eds Belyayeva I.) 83–93 (Sankt-Peterburgskiy Gosudarstvennyy Universitet Download references Thomas Higham & Christopher Bronk Ramsey Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) Vyacheslav Moiseyev & Dmitriy Gerasimov Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Préhistoire Europe Afrique (LAMPEA) analysed the stable isotope results and calculated the reservoir effects All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript The authors declare no competing interests Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks Henny Piezonka reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Calibration of the average age for three modern fish live-collected at YOO in 2019 The calibration makes use of an unpublished extended NH1 post-bomb dataset (Hua pers Glass negative MAE I 1886-46: From the collection of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) Russian Academy of Sciences © MAE RAS 2021 6a. The relationship between the 14C offset in human and faunal determinations and human δ13C values (r2 = 0.267, p = 0.049, n = 15); 6b. The relationship between the 14C offset in human and faunal determinations and human δ15N values (r2 = 0.311, p = 0.031, n = 15) (see Supplementary Table 4) A comparison of the predicted and observed human-faunal 14C offsets (r2 = 0.588, p = 0.001, n = 15) (see Supplementary Table 7) Graves 160 and 49 are shown but excluded from the model as outliers Median calibrated date against δ13C values (Spearman’s rho = –0.120 Median calibrated date against δ15N values (Spearman’s rho = –0.188 p = 0.272 Error bars approximate a 95% confidence interval Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01628-4 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2025) Vegetation History and Archaeobotany (2023) Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2022) Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily. Volume 9 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.1071115 This article is part of the Research TopicReproducibility and Rigour in RheumatologyView all 5 articles Antinuclear antibody (ANA) testing is common practice among health care practitioners when evaluating children and adolescents with non-specific symptoms including fatigue and aches and pains ANA results often lead to referrals to pediatric rheumatologists as these antibodies may be key indicators for specific pediatric rheumatologic diagnoses The reliability and reproducibility of ANA tests varies with assay techniques and validation and interpretation of results review of ANA testing in pediatrics is provided along with case examples that demonstrate the reliability and reproducibility of these results in specific scenarios common in the practice of pediatric rheumatology Guidelines for more accurate utilization of ANA testing are presented with the aim to improve testing and interpretation by ordering clinicians the volume of referrals for a positive ANA to our practices remains high but does afford many opportunities for pediatric rheumatologists to educate our colleagues and families about ANA interpretation the utility of ANA determination in pediatric patients with possible rheumatic diseases is reviewed with particular attention paid to evidence-based data for using ANAs in children The indications for accurate and timely diagnoses based on reliable and reproducible test results are reviewed Specific recommendations and approaches to improve ANA ordering and interpretation in pediatric practice are provided ANA results must be reliable and reproducible in the laboratory or diagnoses may be missed or risk assessment delayed Table 1. Positive ANAs in pediatric patients [Adapted from (9)] Non-rheumatologic diagnoses with positive ANA the majority of patients with a positive ANA cannot be considered to have “screened positive” for a rheumatologic diagnosis positive predictive value and negative predictive value of ANA testing In addition to PPV and NPV, one must understand the sensitivity and specificity of a test to use the results properly in patient care. Sensitivity measures true positive results, i.e., a person with SLE should have an elevated ANA titer (see Figure 1B) Sensitivity of reliable ANA testing is 97–99% indicating high probability that this test truly identifies SLE in a person who actually has this disease specificity measures true negative results A healthy person with no medical concerns should ideally have a negative ANA This represents the probability that the test means the person does NOT have SLE when they are truly disease free Since 5–13% of healthy children or up to 30% of healthy teens have a positive ANA not indicative of any identifiable diagnosis the specificity of ANA in diagnosing SLE in adolescents is only 70% laboratory techniques were developed to better measure these antibodies: indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) Laboratories are expected to summarize the titer as well as the pattern in their report to the ordering provider. Ideally ANA patterns would indicate specific diagnoses, but there is inconsistent pattern specificity for most rheumatic diseases (9, 51). ANA patterns are defined by an international consensus (51) and laboratories are expected to adhere to these guidelines the IFA is a very manual procedure which requires repetitive dilutions and subjective interpretation of titers and pattern delineation by technicians with generally low volume throughput in the clinical laboratory It is important to recognize that in many rheumatic diseases an ANA alone is the only positive serologic finding Algorithm for ANA testing in pediatric rheumatology Two-step testing: ANA must be tested by IFA and subsequent antibodies can be tested by ELISA and/or Multiplex Assay These findings highlight the need to understand assay limitations when ordering and interpreting ANA test results Therefore, while the introduction of multiplex bead techniques seemed to be an innovative approach, in children with JIA and AH, there is low reliability and reproducibility. Few studies have been done in children to further assess intra-assay inconsistencies in other pediatric disorders. Melegari et al. (55) concluded that ANA by IFA should remain the “gold standard” as stated by the ACR (44) In order to more clearly demonstrate approaches to reliably and reproducibly use ANA tests several real-world clinical examples are presented below ANA testing was part of the patient evaluation that led to pediatric rheumatology referral Each case exemplifies specific nuances related to ANA methodology and interpretation that have an impact on proper and timely diagnosis and treatment A 2 year old presents with arthritis of her knee Her community primary care provider sent her blood tests to a commercial laboratory Results summarized in consult request referral documents noted a normal complete blood count (CBC) an erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) of 40 mm/h a negative Rheumatoid factor (RF) and a negative ANA She is referred to the pediatric rheumatologist for evaluation and treatment the diagnosis of ANA negative oligoarticular JIA was made Intra-articular glucocorticoids were administered her risk of chronic anterior uveitis was considered moderate with recommended ophthalmologic examinations at baseline and every 6 months at her initial visit with the pediatric ophthalmologist 6 weeks later she was found to have moderate bilateral anterior uveitis; topical prednisolone drops were instituted it was found that her initial ANA was performed at the commercial laboratory using multiplex solid-phase methodology Upon repeating the ANA using the IFA technique the result was positive in a titer of 1:320 in a homogeneous pattern consistent with that expected in a child with oligoarticular JIA and uveitis ANA positive oligoarticular JIA with high risk to develop chronic anterior uveitis There was no sense of urgency initially to assess this patient for chronic anterior uveitis due to the false negative ANA result from unreliable multiplex test methodology which should not be used to assess uveitis risk in JIA When evaluating a child for possible JIA, ANA testing is required for risk stratification regarding development of chronic anterior uveitis (Figure 2) (4, 57). ANA by IFA is the only reliable and reproducible technique in this scenario currently. Awareness of which assay the commercial laboratory employs is crucial to reliably interpret the results (56) Most concerning in cases like these is delayed or missed diagnosis due to the widespread use of multiplex solid phase immunoassays in many clinical laboratories and lack of awareness of this issue by most ordering providers Overlooking the diagnosis of uveitis is potentially serious as this is an asymptomatic and vision threatening complication of JIA Further analyses to study and improve these more cost-effective and efficient assays in children to improve reliability and reproducibility in JIA are needed A 14 year old has 1 month of fatigue with aches and pains She is evaluated by her primary care physician and is noted to have blood pressure of 130/85 Musculoskeletal examination showed no weakness or swollen joints but tenderness and pain with motion of wrists Laboratory studies revealed leukopenia and lymphopenia with a white count of 3,000 cells/mm3 and lymphocytes of 400 cells/mm3 Anemia was present with a hemoglobin of 10.5 g/dl with normal indices Platelets were slightly decreased at 110,000 cells/mm3 Biochemical profile was normal with creatinine of 0.6 g/dl and normal liver function tests “ANA Screen” was positive by multiplex immunoassay Pediatric rheumatology consultant saw this teen 3 days later and confirmed a diagnosis of SLE with additional serologic testing: ANA by IFA positive in a titer of 1:1,280 peripheral pattern; elevated anti-double stranded DNA Complement C3 was low at 45 g/dl (normal 90–130 g/dl) and C4 was unmeasurable at 0 (normal 25–50 g/dl) Hydroxychloroquine and low dose prednisone were instituted the patient developed proteinuria and hematuria leading to a kidney biopsy with a diagnosis of diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis pSLE with positive ANA Screen by multiplex assay further confirmed with IFA and titer ANAs and other subserologies do not consistently fluctuate with disease activity Centromere pattern ANAs suggest possible limited scleroderma and SCL70 subserology positivity suggests diffuse cutaneous scleroderma with each serologic finding indicating the need to consider these etiologies in a child with RP A 16 year old is healthy except for moderate acne He failed topical therapies and was placed on minocycline he began to experience joint and muscle pain Laboratory studies revealed leukopenia with a white cell count of 2,500 cells/mm3 and lymphopenia with absolute lymphocyte count of 500 cells/mm3 He was anemic with hemoglobin of 10.5 g/dl but normal indices and had a normal platelet count of 240,000 cells/mm3 aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) were both elevated to 50 mg/dl and 65 mg/dl A diagnosis of SLE was considered by his referring physician who had expected the ANA to be positive minocycline-induced autoimmune disease was considered most likely Additional laboratory studies revealed the ANA by IFA was positive in a titer of 1:640 in a homogeneous pattern and also revealed antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) elevated in a titer of 1:1,280 in a perinuclear pattern; all other lupus and vasculitis serologies were negative Anti-histone antibodies and anti-smooth muscle antibodies were also negative Minocycline was thought to be the trigger for the autoimmune syndrome with some features of SLE and others to suggest possible AH Minocycline was held and symptomatic treatment was given One year later the ANA was negative and the ANCA had fallen to a low titer of 1:80 in a perinuclear pattern ESR and liver function tests were all normal Drug-induced lupus (DIL) and AH due to minocycline with positive ANA by IFA and ANCA by IFA the symptoms are somewhat different than idiopathic pSLE: arthralgia Laboratory findings include cytopenias as seen in this case Anti-histone antibodies are found in classic procainamide and hydralazine DIL but rarely identified with minocycline the presence of ANCA with autoimmune liver involvement is typical for DIL due to minocycline and propylthiouracil but not with other agents When evaluating a patient for possible drug-induced autoimmune syndrome be aware of the potential for a mixed autoantibody profile as found in this case The negative multiplex assay in this case exemplifies the point that with the lack of specified nuclear antigens on a multiplex assay platform ANA by IFA is the preferred method for reliable antibody determination Treatment for DIL primarily involves discontinuation of the medication and supportive therapy. Most children will remit within 3 months. Hematologic and hepatic laboratory changes may disappear over several months, but serologic changes may persist for 6 months or longer (34, 35) Medication discontinuation is the approach used although this can be challenging depending on the underlying disease activity A 13 year old was referred to pediatric rheumatology because of fatigue She had been experiencing knee pain for the past year and had been diagnosed with patellofemoral syndrome Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and physical therapy were not helpful She reported no joint swelling or stiffness but only knee pain with climbing stairs and after arising from a seated position Laboratory studies revealed a normal CBC and ESR and an ANA by IFA of 1:80 in a speckled pattern the patient was noted to have short stature with height at the 1st %ile and weight at the 5th %ile Musculoskeletal exam revealed no inflammatory arthritis; she had a positive grind test of both knees with full range of motion Subsequent laboratory studies revealed a TSH > 100 mIU/L (normal 2–5 mIU/L) and free T4 that was 0.5 ug/dl (normal 5–8 ug/dl) anti-thyroid microsomal antibodies strongly positive at 100 IU/ml (normal is < 9 IU/ml) This teen was diagnosed with severe hypothyroidism and autoimmune thyroiditis which was the cause of her positive ANA Hypothyroidism due to Hashimoto's thyroiditis with positive ANA by IFA With the frequency of thyroid antibodies indicative of impending thyroiditis in ANA positive children and non-specific symptoms it is suggested that evaluation of anti-thyroglobulin and anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies along with TSH and Free T4 be considered in the work up of unexplained ANA-positive children The presence of ANA positivity may also signal association of celiac disease with other autoimmune diseases such as Sjogren's syndrome and SLE AH can also present to pediatric rheumatologists due to non-specific aches and pains and fatigue with a positive ANA. Laboratory studies may show cytopenias and elevated liver function tests. Nearly 100% of type 1 AH is ANA positive by IFA (10) Typical subserologies in AH include anti-smooth muscle and anti-(liver-kidney-microsomal) LKM antibodies These may be included in some multiplex panels but since specific nuclear antigens are unknown in more than 1/3 of AH cases multiplex assays may lead to false negative ANA results Missing the diagnosis of AH might have severe clinical consequences due to delayed diagnosis and treatment of chronic liver disease It is recommended that only ANA using IFA on HEp2 cells be used to evaluate AH A 17 year old presents with a macular facial and body rash fatigue and joint pain with swelling and stiffness of multiple hand joints for 2 weeks His 20 year old sister has SLE and the patient is concerned about this possibility His laboratory tests reveal leukopenia and neutropenia with a white count of 2,000 cells/mm3 neutrophils 400 cells/mm3 and lymphocytes of 1,500 cells/mm3 Anemia was present with a hemoglobin of 8.5 g/dl with normal indices Platelets were decreased at 80,000 cells/mm3 ANA was negative by an ANA multiplex assay Biochemical profile: normal creatinine of 0.6 g/dl and elevated ALT and AST of 80 mg/dl for each Pediatric rheumatology consultant ordered additional testing including ANA by IFA which was positive in a titer of 1:640; other subserologies were negative including anti-double stranded DNA Complement C3 and C4 were normal and urinalysis was clear concern for viral syndrome led to Parvovirus B19 testing which revealed positive IgM titers Symptomatic treatment was provided and the patient was well in 6 weeks Virally induced ANA and autoimmune syndrome due to Parvovirus B19 It is suggested that immunogenic viruses like EBV and Parvovirus could be the trigger that tips a genetically predisposed child to develop pSLE A 12 year old has complaints of knee pain after soccer practice for the past 3 sports seasons There is no joint swelling or stiffness reported and she has no other complaints her primary care clinician obtains laboratory tests which reveal a normal CBC and a positive ANA by IFA of 1:160 in a DFS pattern There is a family history of osteoarthritis and asthma but no autoimmune disease or orthopedic disorders The patient was referred to pediatric rheumatology Her examination was normal except for patellar laxity with no inflammatory arthritis identified The positive ANA was further evaluated with a few additional lab tests: TSH Free T4 and anti-thyroid antibodies were negative Patient and family education and reassurance were provided Symptomatic treatment including an at-home physical therapy program was successfully implemented Patellar laxity and no autoimmune or inflammatory disease The ANA is positive but not indicative of any specific diagnosis These reports further support that the ANA should not be tested with low pre-test probability of autoimmune disease Ordering and interpreting ANAs in children requires understanding of laboratory techniques implications of positive results in the clinical scenario under investigation Acquiring this knowledge is the best approach for the practicing clinician to avoid over-ordering and over-interpreting the ANA result Algorithms have been proposed previously but it does not appear that such stepwise approaches have been used consistently or the over-referral for “positive ANA” would have declined the ideal test of choice for possible SLE patients could be “ANA with reflex to multiplex” if available from commercial or institutional laboratories The ACR has collaborated with the AAP as part of the national, multispecialty “Choosing Wisely” campaign aimed at improving value-based testing and care (7) Pertinent to this discussion is the advice from the ACR and AAP to only order an ANA with strong suspicion of a rheumatic disease In the campaign publication it states “The ANA has high sensitivity for only one disease but has very poor specificity for SLE and every other rheumatic disease it is not useful or indicated as a general screen of autoimmunity … Limiting patients on which to order ANAs would reduce unnecessary physician visits and laboratory expenses as well as parental anxiety “Lupus panels” and other similar panels should also not be ordered without concerns for specific autoimmune disease since the ANA may always be positive and may fluctuate in titer it is not recommended to retest it unless there is some new clinical concern.” The ACR recommends ANA by IFA as the “gold standard” of testing when compared to solid phase multiplex assays which, despite the efficiency this platform brings, may fail to detect ANAs in as much as 32% of IFA positive children (9, 44) and up to 100% of JIA patients Ordering providers should limit ANA testing to specific clinical contexts to assess a JIA patient for risk of uveitis (IFA only) to determine whether a child with RP is at risk of a systemic autoimmune diseases (IFA only) The IFA ANA testing using Hep-2 cells should remain the gold standard for ANA testing in children to avoid false negative ELISA and/or multiplex results Do not order multiplex testing for ANA determination in children to assess for possible rheumatic diseases Hospital and commercial laboratories using bead-based multiplex platforms or other solid phase assays for detecting ANAs must inform ordering providers about assay features and sensitivity and specificity compared to IFA assays Assays for detecting ANA as well as anti-DNA should be held to national and/or international standards Laboratories should specify the methods used for measuring ANAs in result reports The literature on ANA testing in children has been reviewed Cases that exemplify typical patients referred to pediatric rheumatology were presented to demonstrate reliable and reproducible use of ANA testing in practice Improved ANA utilization will benefit patients not only through timely and accurate diagnoses but also by limiting healthcare expenditures from unnecessary consultations and follow up testing The IFA ANA test should remain the gold standard for ANA testing in children The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and has approved it for publication The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher Clinical utility of antinuclear antibody tests in children The outcome of children referred to a pediatric rheumatology clinic with a positive antinuclear antibody test but without an autoimmune disease Prevalence of and annual ambulatory health care visits for pediatric arthritis and other rheumatologic conditions in the United States in 2001–2004 2016 use of rheumatology laboratory studies among primary pediatricians ANA testing in children: How much is really necessary 6. World Health Organizations. (2022). Available online at: https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/classification-of-diseases (accessed October 8 7. American Academy of Pediatric Section on Rheumatology: Choosing Wisely. (2022). Available online at: https://www.choosingwisely.org/societies/american-academy-of-pediatrics-section-on-rheumatology/ (accessed October 8 2019 EULAR/ACR Classification Criteria for SLE Autoantibodies and their judicious use in pediatric rheumatology practice Autoimmune Hepatitis: Serum Autoantibodies in Clinical Practice Comparative study of 4 diagnosis criteria sets for MCTD in patients with anti-RNP antibodies Autoimmunity Group of the Hospitals of Toulouse 2019 ACR/Arthritis Foundation Guideline for the screening monitoring and treatment of JIA associated uveitis Raynaud's phenomenon in children: a retrospective review of 123 patients Raynaud's syndrome in children: systematic review and development of recommendations for assessment and monitoring Antinuclear antibodies using HEp-2 cells in normal children and in children with common infections Frequency of antinuclear antibodies in healthy children and adolescents HLA-B27 and spondyloarthropathy: Value for early diagnosis PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar ANA testing in the presence of acute and chronic infections PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Antinuclear antibody screening by ELISA and IF techniques: discrepant results in juvenile idiopathic arthritis but consistency in childhood systemic lupus erythematous Prevalence and titres of ANA in JIA: A systemic review and meta-analysis Disease-related autoantibody profile in patients with systemic sclerosis Long-term outcome in juvenile-onset mixed connective tissue disease: a nationwide Norwegian study and EULAR/ACR 2019 Classification Criteria in Pediatric SLE Autoimmune thyroiditis in ANA positive children without rheumatologic disease PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar High prevalence of antinuclear antibodies in children with thyroid autoimmunity Rheumatic symptoms associated with hypothyroidism in children Serological and clinical comparison of children and adults with anti-endomysial antibodies A multicenter case-control study on predictive factors distinguishing childhood leukemia from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis Zou HY Gu X Yu WZ Wang Z Jiao Jiao M Detection of serum antinuclear antibodies in lymphoma patients PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Autoimmune antibodies in children and adolescents with NASH Anti-ENA antibody profiles in patients with hepatitis C virus infection PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Parvovirus infection mimicking SLE is a pediatric population Infliximab-induced autoantibodies: a multicenter study Effect of acetylator phenotype on the rate at which procainamide induces antinuclear antibodies and the lupus syndrome Minocycline induced lupus: case series in the West of Scotland PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar Biologic therapies and autoimmune phenomena The interference of monoclonal antibodies with laboratory diagnosis: clinical and diagnostic implications Hygiene hypothesis indicators and prevalence of ANA in US adolescent The initial manifestations and final diagnosis of patients with high and low titers of antinuclear antibodies after 6 months of follow-up and risk factors for fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome in adolescents: a prospective community study The epidemiology of chronic pain in children and adolescents revisited: a systematic review Presentation of two bone marrow elements; the tart cell and the L PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar 44. American College of Rheumatology. Available online at: http://www.rheumatology.org/Practice-Quality/Administrative-Support/Position-Statements ANA prevalence in a general pediatric cohort from Mexico City: discordance between IF and multiplex assays Evaluation of multiplex antinuclear antibody assay in pediatric patients CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Persistent antinuclear antibodies in children without identifiable inflammatory rheumatic or autoimmune disease The clinical spectrum of ANAs associated with the nuclear dense fine speckled immunofluorescence pattern Google Scholar Autoantibodies to dense fine speckles in pediatric diseases and controls Low prevalence of anti-DFS70 antibodies in children with ANA-associated autoimmune disease Clinical relevance of Hep2 indirect IF patterns: the International Consensus on ANA patterns perspective Autoantibody diagnostics in clinical practice Current practices in antinuclear antibody testing: results from the Belgian External Quality Assessment Scheme Comparison of three multiplex immunoassays for detection of antibodies to extractable nuclear antibodies using clinically defined sera comparative study on the reliability of an automated system for the evaluation of cell-based indirect immunofluorescence Antinuclear antibodies testing method variability: a survey of participants in the college of American pathologists' proficiency testing program PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar New insights into the role of antinuclear antibodies in SLE PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Second generation analysis of antinuclear antibody (ANA) by combination of screening and confirmatory testing Autoantibodies in COVID-19 correlate with antiviral humoral responses and distinct immune signatures COVID-19 diversity: a case of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children masquerading as juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus Review for the generalist: evaluation of pediatric hip pain PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Inappropriate use of commercial ANA testing in a community-based US hospital: a retrospective study The impact of education and clinical decision support on the quality of positive antinuclear antibody referrals Next generation autoantibody testing by combination of screening and confirmation – the CytoBead technology Citation: Ostrov BE (2023) Reliability and reproducibility of antinuclear antibody testing in pediatric rheumatology practice Received: 15 October 2022; Accepted: 13 December 2022; Published: 09 January 2023 Copyright © 2023 Ostrov. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Barbara E. Ostrov, b3N0cm92YkBhbWMuZWR1 Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish Rabbi Emily Losben-Ostrov is the spiritual leader of Temple of Israel in Wilmington she served as Rabbi of Anshe Hesed in Erie Before that she served as the Rabbi of Sinai Reform Temple in Bay Shore New York (Long Island) for seven years following her ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati in 2008 Rabbi Losben-Ostrov also served small Jewish communities as a “Student Rabbi” in Joplin Rabbi Losben-Ostrov loves to teach about Judaism and taught a weekly “Introduction to Judaism Class” for the Reform Movement in New York City “Meshuga Bands” which creates fun and whimsical Jewish products for all age groups Barbara Feder Ostrov has reported on medicine and health policy for more than 15 years She is a contributing writer for CalMatters and has covered California and national health issues for Kaiser Health News she covered the medical beat for the San Jose Mercury News for eight years and edited the website of the Center for Health Journalism at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism Barbara also worked at the Palm Beach Post and the Miami Herald Her work has been published in the Washington Post She has won awards from the Society for Women’s Health Research the California Newspaper Publishers Association An international team of archaeologists has unearthed a Neolithic water well made of oak trees at the northern border of the town of Ostrov in the Czech Republic Image credit: Archaeological Centre in Olomouc “Today, over 40 Neolithic water wells are known in Europe,” said Mendel University researcher Michal Rybnicek and his colleagues from the Czech Republic and Germany “These wells represent the oldest dendrochronologically dated wooden structures in the world.” “It is the third well from the Early Neolithic period that has been discovered in the Czech Republic within the last four years.” The Ostrov water well was excavated in 2018 during the construction of a motorway in the East Bohemian region of the Czech Republic The external dimensions of the structure were 80 by 80 cm (31.5 x 31.5 inches) and 140 cm (55 inches) in height in total “A chest-like well lining was formed by four oak corner posts in which oak planks were inserted horizontally in seven layers,” the archaeologists said “The diameter of the posts ranged from 15.5 to 22 cm (6-8.7 inches) and they had 33 to 80 tree rings.” “The well filling was poor as regards archaeological finds,” they added “Only the upper parts yielded one clay container and a fragment of an antler small fragments of ceramics were found in the remaining parts.” The researchers took samples from 21 of the wooden elements of the well for a dendrochronological analysis “The excellent conservation of the timbers from the well under waterlogged conditions allowed a detailed description of the structure and dating with dendrochronological as well as radiocarbon methods,” they noted They found that the oak trees (Quercus spp.) used for the Ostrov well were cut between 5256 and 5255 BCE “Comparing the structure of the Ostrov well with examples of carpentry from later periods raises nothing less than admiration for the perfectly precise work,” they said “This is not only the oldest discovered wooden well in Europe but also the oldest dendrochronologically dated archaeological wood in the world.” The team’s paper will be published in the March 2020 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science World’s oldest dendrochronologically dated archaeological wood construction Polish side UKS Dojlidy Białystok failed to capitalize on home advantage in the opening leg of the Europe Cup Men’s quarterfinal putting themselves in a strong position ahead of the return leg on 27th April Jiri VRABLIK opened the tie in superb style defeating Japan’s Machi ASUKA in straight games The most dramatic contest came in the second match where Patryk CHOJNOWSKI pushed Pavel SIRUCEK to a deciding game but it was the Czech player who eventually prevailed Tomas TREGLER defeated Piotr MICHALSKI in four games giving the Czech team a safe cushion going into the second leg SF SKK El Niño Praha also claimed an away victory against Slovakia’s STK Vyhne while Real Club Cajasur Priego Tenis de Mesa (ESP) edged PostSV Mühlhausen 1951 e.V (GER) 3-2 in a tightly contested quarterfinal clash UKS Dojlidy Białystok – HB Ostrov z.s Portugal’s CTM Mirandela triumphed over Czech club HB Ostrov in the opening leg of the Stage three of the Europe Cup Women Annamaria ERDELYI delivered two wins against Veronika POLAKOVA and Zdena BLASKOVA Mariana SANTA COMBA added the third point with a hard-fought five-game victory over Jana VASENDOVA BLASKOVA secured the sole point for HB Ostrov by defeating Ines MATOS We seized the opportunity to secure an advantage before the return leg in Czechia,” said ERDELYI It’s great that Mariana managed to beat VASENDOVA The return leg is scheduled for February 16th MedicineOstrov to serve as associate dean for faculty and professional developmentSeptember 21 HERSHEY, Pa. — Dr. Barbara E. Ostrov has been named associate dean for faculty and professional development at Penn State College of Medicine Ostrov will also continue her clinical work as a pediatric rheumatologist and serve as a leader in quality and safety in the Department of Pediatrics Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine in 1991 She founded the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology and has served as division chief for pediatric and adult rheumatology Ostrov served as interim chair of the Department of Pediatrics in 2006 and as vice chair of the department from 2007 until being named to the interim chair position again in 2014 Katherine Bourzac is a freelance journalist in San Francisco Nili Ostrov has always been passionate about finding ways to use biology for practical purposes when the COVID-19 pandemic hit during her postdoctoral studies she went in the opposite direction from most people moving to New York City to work as the director of molecular diagnostics in the Pandemic Response Lab providing COVID-19 tests and surveilling viral variants She was inspired by seeing what scientists could accomplish and how much they could help when under pressure doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00928-6 This interview has been edited for length and clarity How I honed my biopharma dealmaking and business-development skills after my PhD Can Germany rein in its academic bullying problem Nickel production is notoriously dirty — here’s how to make it greener How a hydrogen lab is helping to power Spain’s green-energy shift De novo design of transmembrane fluorescence-activating proteins The researchers on a quest to protect the gut from antibiotics POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW Post Summary of the role The Characterisation & Processing of Advanced Materials HT is an interdisciplinary research institute created and supported by the Italian government whose aim is to develop innovative strategies to pr.. UNIL is a leading international teaching and research institution with over 5,000 employees and 17,000 students split between its Dorigny campus Department of Energy and Environmental Materials and advance cancer research in a leading translational institute Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science Investigative stories and local news updates Coverage of the Hawaiʻi State legislature in 2025 Award winning in-depth reports and featured on-going series Get the week’s news delivered straight to your inbox The minority party boasts of unity in a Democratic-controlled state The Hawaii Republican Party at its annual state convention Saturday on Maui picked new leaders but kept the same person in the top post Shirlene DelaCruz Ostrov was voted to a second two-year term as party chair “During the past few years and leading up to the 2018 mid-term elections Ostrov worked tirelessly to thwart repeated attacks and dissension from opposition factions within the party,” the GOP said via press release Wednesday Elected as well were Vice Chairman of Coordinated Campaigns Al Frenzel Vice Chairman of Candidate Recruitment and Training Jane Tatibouet Vice Chairman of Communications Ray L’Heureux Vice Chairman of Community Service Steve Lipscomb Secretary Ka’eo Kealoha-Lindsey and Treasurer Marilyn Moniz The convention was held at the Marilyn Monroe House on the grounds of the King Kamehameha Golf Club Ostrov stated at the end of the conference “Delegates from across the islands gathered in Maui elected a unified slate of strong Conservative leaders and voted overwhelmingly for a change to ‘politics as usual.'” Republicans control only a handful of seats in the state Legislature and have historically elected only a few members to the governor’s office and the U.S Unfortunately, being named a finalist for a Pulitzer prize doesn’t make us immune to financial pressures. The fact is, our revenue hasn’t kept pace with our need to grow, and we need your help Civil Beat is a nonprofit, reader-supported newsroom based in Hawaiʻi. We’re looking to build a more resilient, diverse and deeply impactful media landscape, and we hope you’ll help by supporting our essential journalism Civil Beat has been named the best overall news site in Hawaii for the 14th year in a row by the Society of Professional Journalists Hawaii Chapter Air Force colonel Shirlene Ostrov is “a candidate who can win.” The only Republican woman who Hawaii voters have ever sent to represent them in Washington believes she has found the right candidate to follow in her stead On Tuesday at GOP headquarters in Honolulu Pat Saiki announced her pick: Shirlene Ostrov “I want to introduce to you my candidate for the United States Congress because I am sure that one day — if not this time whenever it’s going to be — eventually she is going to be there to take over my seat,” said Saiki given that Hawaii’s Democrats have controlled the 1st Congressional District seat for 52 of the 57 years since statehood And the odds are heavily in favor of former Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa to win back the seat she gave up just two years ago This is a state dominated by one party: Democrats But if anyone has an instinct for how the local GOP might win federal office who served in the House for two terms (1987-1991) to have been elected in a regular election cycle in Hawaii to either the 1st or 2nd Congressional District Republican Charles Djou served for seven months in 2010-2011 but he won a winner-take-all special election to replace Neil Abercrombie (Hawaii has also sent only one Republican to the U.S Saiki, who was also administrator of the Small Business Administration under President George H.W said that Hawaii needs to have balanced representation in Washington in which both representatives and both senators are from the same party “We have a candidate who can win,” she said Ostrov, 47, was born and raised in Honolulu and now resides in Mililani. Her military awards, according to her biography include a Bronze Star and a Legion of Merit one of them an MS in organizational leadership from George Washington University Her bachelor’s degree was in political science at the University of Florida the Pentagon and as a liaison on Capitol Hill Ostrov currently is president and CEO of a logistics-consulting firm she is also a Filipino Catholic (her full name is Shirlene Dela Cruz Santiago Ostrov) married to a Ukrainian Jew with two Samoan-Tongan daughters expressing pride in her diversity and roots “I’m running for Congress because I know I can bring my leadership skills to the table that will help the people of Hawaii and our nation,” she said “The current administration is marked by a knee-jerk partisanship I believe I have the skill-set that might be able to take on these complex challenges.” Ostrov’s priorities are national security and a U.S the maintaining of military force levels in Hawaii fiscal responsibility and an end to wasteful spending Ostrov began the press conference offering “warmest aloha” to Rep the incumbent who is not seeking re-election due to health problems She also praised Hanabusa for her public service • Stay plugged in to campaigns and candidates this election season with Civil Beat’s Hawaii Elections Guide 2016 Asked about the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee Ostrov said she supports him “fully” but declined to comment on the many concerns that continue to be raised about his candidacy President Obama lashed out at Trump’s views on restricting Muslim immigration to the U.S She also said she was not in favor of greater gun control laws but did express support in closing “loopholes” that allow for mentally ill people to obtain weapons Calls for gun control are being heard in the wake of the mass shooting Sunday in Orlando Ostrov supports the provisions of the act that protect national security but said the law should be amended so that people in Hawaii Alaska and Puerto Rico can enjoy financial relief that comes from lack of competition for imported goods Ostrov is the only Republican in the primary field Hanabusa must defeat six Democrats to advance There is also a Libertarian and a nonpartisan candidate in the running she might take solace in the fact that Hanabusa did not win in her first two tries for Congress Get engaged! Join in the discussion of candidates and issues in the 2016 elections in our new Facebook Group, Civil Beat Politics Connect with others and learn how to get involved in community issues that are central to this year’s elections (Nasdaq: ENTX) announced today the appointment of Gerald M Ostrov as a new independent director on its Board of Directors “We are pleased to have Jerry join our Board of Directors He brings with him extensive executive leadership experience from his time at several of the world’s leading pharma companies including J&J and Bausch & Lomb,” stated Mr “Entera’s proprietary development programs licensing agreements and the growing portfolio of data for its oral delivery technology for large molecule drugs are creating an increasing amount of attention from the biotech industry This positive momentum is attracting leaders from around the industry to join our executive team and Board of Directors.” Ostrov began his career at Procter & Gamble in 1973 He joined the Health Care Division of Johnson & Johnson in 1976  He left Johnson & Johnson in 1982 to join Ciba Consumer Pharmaceuticals Company Ostrov returned to Johnson & Johnson in 1991 and quickly rose to Company Group Chairman of the Consumer and Personal Care businesses in North America Ostrov very successfully served as Company Group Chairman for Johnson & Johnson's Worldwide Vision Care businesses he came out of retirement to serve as Chairman and CEO of Bausch & Lomb until 2010 streamlining and pipeline building of Bausch & Lomb following its going-private transaction Ostrov consults and invests in new technologies in the consumer medical device and consumer products fields Ostrov currently serves on the board of directors of several privately held companies a natural products company working with industry giants a developer of next generation baby and mother health monitoring for both hospital and home use Ostrov has a BS from Cornell and an MBA from Harvard which has developed some very promising programs around its Oral PTH (1-34) for the treatment of osteoporosis and hypoparathyroidism These two proprietary programs have the opportunity to revolutionize the care and patient compliance for two significant indications that impact millions of patients and drive billions of dollars in annual drug sales,” stated Mr Entera’s platform technology for the oral delivery of large molecule drugs has tremendous applications across many biological drugs that currently can only be delivered via injection The broad potential for this technology is at the heart of the research collaboration Entera recently entered into with Amgen.” Entera Bio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of orally delivered large molecule therapeutics for use in orphan indications and other areas with significant unmet medical needs The Company is initially applying its technology to develop an oral formulation of a human parathyroid hormone analog for treatment of hypoparathyroidism and osteoporosis consists of two components: a small molecule that enhances the absorption of a large molecule therapeutic agents and a second component that “protects” the large molecule from digestion in the gastrointestinal tract This synergistic system is intended to increase oral bioavailability and decrease the variability associated with the oral administration of large molecule biologics and synthetic protein therapeutic agents biological entities and other large molecules can only be delivered via injections and or other non-oral pathways oral drug delivery is the easiest method for self-administering medications offers patients greater dosing flexibility and has the highest patient acceptance and compliance rates as compared to all other routes of drug administration The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information Contact: Bob Yedid LifeSci Advisors, LLC 646-597-6989 bob@lifesciadvisors.com Snake Island sits 21 miles (34 km) off the coast of southeastern Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean Snake Island was isolated from the Brazilian mainland at the end of the last ice age trapping Earth's only known population of highly venomous golden lancehead pit vipers on a rock in the Atlantic Location: Atlantic Ocean off the coast of São Paulo state Why it's incredible: The island is so dangerous only the Brazilian navy and scientists with special permits are allowed access.  forested island off the coast of Brazil that writhes with thousands of venomous vipers which grow up to 3.9 feet (1.2 meters) long are golden lancehead pit vipers (Bothrops insularis) the Brazilian navy has closed the island to the public since the 1920s.  The island sits about 21 miles (34 kilometers) off the coast of southeastern Brazil and covers an area of 106 acres (43 hectares) which is equivalent to about 80 American football fields Rainforest blankets more than half of the island while the rest is barren rock and grassland Related: Which country has the most islands? likely because catching birds requires a swift kill.  —Cave of Crystals: The deadly cavern in Mexico dubbed 'the Sistine Chapel of crystals' —Fairy Chimneys: The stone spires in Turkey that form 'the world's most unusual high-rise neighborhood' —Perilous expedition to uninhabited island in South Atlantic confirms existence of world's 8th lava lake  Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox but also due to disease and inbreeding.  Discover more incredible places where we highlight the fantastic history and science behind some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth Sascha PareSocial Links NavigationStaff writer Sascha is a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Southampton in England and a master’s degree in science communication from Imperial College London Her work has appeared in The Guardian and the health website Zoe bread-making and browsing second-hand shops for hidden gems La Niña is dead — what that means for this year's hurricanes and weather El Cono: The mysterious sacred 'pyramid' hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest Digital 'resurrection' of the Titanic sheds light on fateful night the ship tore apart Rabbi Emily Losben-Ostrov has joined Wilmington's Temple of Israel, succeeding Rabbi Paul D. Sidlofsky She will lead her first service Friday night so learning about the Temple and its heritage has been fascinating We've had a wonderful reception from the whole community." "She is very well qualified -- very people-oriented and very community-oriented," said Richard Lerner "We think she'll be a good ambassador from the Temple to the community." Losben-Ostrov is the second woman to serve as spiritual leader to a Jewish congregation in the Cape Fear area. Rabbi Julie Anne Kozlow joined Wilmington's B'nai Israel synagogue in 2015 Sidlofsky left the Temple in June to accept a new appointment with Temple Isaiah in Stony Brook "We are very excited about our new congregation and location," Sidlofsky said "but will miss the many friends we have made here." Sidlofsky had served at the Temple of Israel since 2011. During his tenure, membership and Sunday school enrollment increased, and the Temple completed its Reibman Center for Kefillah at 922 Market St. Losben-Ostrov graduated with two bachelors' degrees from Albright College in Reading and holds master's degrees from the Jewish Institute of Religion at Hebrew Union College and from Xavier University "I've studied at a Methodist college and a Catholic university so I guess I'm accustomed to interfaith dialogue," she said She served as a student rabbi with congregations in Joplin She also served as a youth leader in Reading and served as adviser to the Missouri Valley region of the North American Federation of Temple Youth Lopsben-Ostrov comes to Wilmington from Temple Anshe Hesed in Erie The rabbi has been active in Hebrew Union College's Pesach Project, which offered educational opportunities in the former Soviet Union and worked with AIDS-related causes. She and her husband, Ruben Ostrov, founded a company, Meshuga Bands to manufacture stretch bracelets and other "whimsical Jewish products." the Temple of Israel is one of the oldest Reform Jewish congregations in the Southeast The Temple building at Fourth and Market streets is recognized as the oldest Jewish house of worship in North Carolina Reporter Ben Steelman can be reached at 910-343-2208 or Ben.Steelman@StarNewsOnline.com Wilmington's Temple of Israel will formally install its first female rabbi during Sabbath services Friday in its historic sanctuary at Fourth and Market streets Rabbi Emily Losben-Ostrov had her first service with the Temple on July 6, but her installation was postponed by Hurricane Florence in September The 143-year-old Temple building lost its roof ridge and suffered extensive water damage the congregation has been meeting in its Reibman Center at 922 Market St Friday's service will mark its first Sabbath back in the Temple building since the hurricane "We've had to do a lot of renovations," Losben-Ostrov said "It's been kind of a whirlwind introduction to Wilmington In addition to coping with the hurricane and leading the congregation through Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services, Losben-Ostrov led the congregation in mourning after the Oct. 27 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh "She's a wonderful leader for our congregation," said Temple president Richard Lerner Installing the new rabbi will be Rabbi Gary P executive director of the American Jewish Archives and a professor of Jewish History at Hebrew Union College Losben-Ostrov is a former student of Zola's and actually took his course on the Southern Jewish experience Zola will give a public lecture on "George Washington and the Jews" at 7 p.m Losben-Ostrov graduated with two bachelors’ degrees from Albright College in Reading and holds master’s degrees from the Jewish Institute of Religion at Hebrew Union College and Xavier University “I’ve studied at a Methodist college and a Catholic university so I guess I’m accustomed to interfaith dialogue,” she said She also served as a youth leader in Reading and Larchmont Losben-Ostrov comes to Wilmington from Temple Anshe Hesed in Erie The rabbi has been active in Hebrew Union College’s Pesach Project which offered educational opportunities in the former Soviet Union and worked with AIDS-related causes to manufacture stretch bracelets and other “whimsical Jewish products.” Andria Tupola and wants “to rebuild the party and offer voters a real choice.” Shirlene DelaCruz Ostrov, a military veteran and small business owner, is in the running to become the next chair of the Hawaii Republican Party “There has been a lot of news written about the Hawaii Republican Party becoming irrelevant,” she said and I am focused not on the good or bad but on this opportunity to rebuild the party and offer voters a real choice.” Ostrov will face state Rep. Andria Tupola in an election Saturday at the GOP state convention on Kauai Chairman Fritz Rohlfing is not running for a second term Ostrov’s political experience is limited She lost to Democrat Colleen Hanabusa in a congressional race in November Ostrov believes her business background will be useful to a political party has been hampered financially for years. She is president and CEO of a logistics consulting company, Ares Mobility Solutions “Finances underpin everything the party does Ostrov dismisses criticism from some quarters that Republicans are not open to diversity I would not join a team that is sexist and racist,” she said and I think there is room for women and minorities.” Ostrov said she would bring on a new finance chair an entrepreneur who owns an arts and film small business and I think there is room for women and minorities.” — Shirlene DelaCruz Ostrov Ostrov spent 23 years in the Air Force and served in Afghanistan and Sudan She received the Bronze Star and retired at the rank of colonel Ostrov wants to get more Republicans elected to the Legislature She calls it a “tragedy” that Hawaii has no Republican in its four-member congressional delegation “With the GOP firmly in control of the House and Senate and White House we need to have access to who is in charge of the national government,” she said Saiki is running for party vice chair for coordinated campaigns Others running for party positions with Ostrov are Lorraine Shin (vice chair for candidate recruitment and training) Jonathan Kunimura (vice chair for communications) Mele Songsong (vice chair for community service) Jennifer Anderson (secretary) and Gwen Honjo (treasurer) The four minority members are split 2-2 on who should represent the chamber the party’s chair has resigned over controversial tweets It’s been almost three months since the 2020 election but Republicans in the Hawaii House of Representatives can’t decide on a caucus leader Contrast that to the 47 Democrats in the 51-member chamber who settled on their leadership shortly after Nov Val Okimoto and Lauren Matsumoto disagreeing with Reps The impasse means there is no minority leader to direct caucus action on the House floor and no package of bills to emphasize GOP priorities in a development that happened over the weekend resigned her post in the wake of official tweets appearing to offer praise to QAnon and a Holocaust denier If the four House Republicans cannot reach an agreement will probably have to break the tie — something he says he’d rather not do But the entire House needs to vote on leadership positions as a pro forma matter “The GOP caucus knows that I am perfectly willing to go in and cast a deciding vote for them but what I have told them is that I want them to make this decision on their own,” Saiki told me Friday adding that he decided to let the Republicans serve on committees and informational briefings in spite of the organizational deadlock Ward, who was the minority leader during the last few sessions, clashed with House Majority Leader Della Au Belatti over the organizational standoff during the Jan. 22 floor session. Some members were confused by a Community Voice authored by Ward that ran in Civil Beat that same morning outlining GOP priorities “We are still negotiating a fair and mutually acceptable agreement and still need a few more days of privacy before we go public.” Okimoto says that she has the “greatest respect” for Ward calling him a “fixture in the building” and a mentor But she also feels that it is time for a change “The status quo has not been working for some time,” she said pointing to lopsided election results for her party “It’s an opportunity for other voices for Hawaii I feel this is the right thing to do and the right time.” The leadership dilemma was caused by the retirement of longtime GOP representative Cynthia Thielen A Democrat picked up her Windward seat last year and Republicans did not increase their elected numbers elsewhere who is only in her second term and did not come up through the GOP ranks nor cut her teeth as a legislative aide at the Capitol wants a viable two-party system — something that has not been the case locally in years It’s not the first time the Hawaii Legislature has seen battles over caucus leadership the struggle within the GOP caucus in part involves longer-serving members versus relative newcomers Recent minority leaders have included Andria Tupola, a former candidate for governor now serving on the nonpartisan Honolulu City Council, and Beth Fukumoto, who was hounded out of her party (notably by McDermott) after opposing Donald Trump in 2016 Fukumoto later switched parties and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2018 It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the Hawaii Republican Party Nick Ochs, an unsuccessful GOP candidate for the state House and leader of the local Proud Boys chapter — self-proclaimed Western (read: white) nationalists — was among those arrested in the storming of the U.S That made national news as well as locally at KITV So did this: On Jan. 24, an official with the Hawaii Republican Party resigned “taking responsibility for highly criticized tweets defending supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory,” The Hill reported The tweets were made on the party’s Twitter account (see the screenshot at left) Embarrassingly, that development came just as local GOP Party Chair Shirlene Ostrov penned an op-ed in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser titled “We want to represent the real needs of the people keep our politics aloha and serve our state honorably,” she wrote But spouting white nationalist memes, maintaining affiliations with “known extremists” and being known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric, as the Southern Poverty Law Center explains Neither is the view of QAnon, which claims that “a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles — mainly consisting of what they see as elitist Democrats, politicians, journalists, entertainment moguls and other institutional figures — have long controlled much of the so-called deep state government,” as The Wall Street Journal puts it The person who posted the sympathetic QAnon tweet, Edwin Boyette was the local party’s (now former) vice chair of communications Meanwhile, the National Review — not exactly known for being “woke” and embracing “cancel culture,” to use the vernacular of many on the right — this week dinged the Hawaii GOP for promoting on its Twitter account a Holocaust denier on YouTube named Tarl Warwick “Being represented by Mazie Hirono in the United States Senate is enough to drive anyone mad but the Hawaii Republican Party has perhaps allowed itself to slip a bit too far,” Isaac Schorr opined Nicholas Kristof of the liberal-leaning New York Times also knocked the Hawaii GOP for the tweet something the newspaper said Ostrov also apologized for referring to the Holocaust tweet but also to the QAnon tweet: that statement was made by an over-zealous party officer that was unauthorized unfounded and was total nonsense not reflecting the views of our party leaders or any elected officials “Fortunately he resigned before he was to be censured said he is worried that these views and incidents are not isolated and hopes that the local GOP will work to recruit for its party more “reasonable” people than Boyette As my colleague Nick Grube reported before the election — and who reported from D.C. when the Capitol was stormed by right-wing supporters of Trump — Hawaii Republicans are not immune from Proud Boys and QAnon appeal “It’s healthy for the Democratic Party of Hawaii to have a reasonable Hawaii GOP with whom we can debate we can discuss and disagree,” Dos Santos-Tam told me “but it’s unhealthy for us to have an extremist party that we have to work with.” In the latest development illustrating a local GOP in transition on Saturday Ostrov emailed the party’s executive committee to announce her resignation Party officials confirmed the resignation Sunday as well as the naming of acting chair Boyd Ready A statement released by the Hawaii Republican Party read in part Ostrov invigorated the Republican brand in Hawaii She brought national resources to build better candidates improved processes for educating and registering voters and increased the number of elected Republican representatives in our state legislature.” The statement noted Boyette’s resignation and added Ostrov thought she should also resign to allow the party to recover from the controversy and focus on finding excellent candidates and fighting for policies that improve the quality of life for Hawaii’s hardworking families.” “Colonel Ostrov has served her country and party well and is off to bigger and better things.” Honolulu Civil Beat is a nonprofit organization and your donation helps us produce local reporting that serves all of Hawaii Chad Blair is the politics editor for Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at cblair@civilbeat.org or follow him on X at @chadblairCB Ideas is the place you'll find essays, analysis and opinion on public affairs in Hawaiʻi. We want to showcase smart ideas about the future of Hawaiʻi, from the state's sharpest thinkers, to stretch our collective thinking about a problem or an issue. Email news@civilbeat.org to submit an idea Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed Today: Jessica Ostrov, who is on staff at Sunny Hollow Montessori school in St. Paul, teaches at Hamline University in St. Paul, and advocates for equity and inclusion in the outdoors. She is speaking on the topic at an event at 6:30 p.m July 10 at Midwest Mountaineering in Minneapolis Outdoor Afro, Trail Posse, James Edward Mills, J. Drew Lanham, Latino Outdoors, GirlTrek contemporary barriers and success stories from typically underrepresented groups in the outdoors I collect articles and stories of interest on my Facebook page: Equity and Inclusion in Green Spaces and I had the unearned privilege of not having to wonder languages or customs in wilderness settings reflect my own Once I became aware of the lack of representation of people of color in green spaces and find active ways in which to dismantle the systems perpetuating the disparity I am spending A LOT of time watching my garden grow My son and I moved into our home in August of last summer in the historic West 7th Street neighborhood of St I think about who has lived here since the home was built in 1879 I think about how life has evolved for people of color through those generations I am finishing up my 18th year working in a Montessori school, teaching at Hamline, volunteering on the outreach and inclusion committee for YMCA Camp du Nord, and speaking about diversity and inclusion in the outdoors. My son and I are enjoying early morning bike rides along the river and finding ways to stay cool! Bob Timmons covers news across Minnesota's outdoors, from natural resources to recreation to wildlife. No Section Peek inside homes for sale in the Twin Cities area After falling behind 17-0 at halftime and being dominated most of the game the Bulldogs may have locked up a spot in the College Football Playoff UB psychologist Jamie Ostrov appears in a series of web-based videos aimed at helping parents talk about bullying with their pre-schoolers Jamie Ostrov talks to Rosarita about handling bullying behavior.Watch a video. Ostrov’s work on understanding how bullying behavior develops in pre-school children has won him some influential admirers and boosters An associate professor of psychology at UB Ostrov also is a consultant for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Department of Education in their efforts to develop a uniform definition of bullying He’s assisted the federal StopBullying.gov initiative in adapting bullying-prevention materials for young children And add this recent achievement to Ostrov’s professional dossier: an October appearance opposite Big Bird and his furry friends counseling the “Sesame Street” characters on what to do when confronted with bullying behavior Ostrov is featured in a series of web-based videos to accompany a recent episode of the new season of “Sesame Street.” The series also is available on DVD “I wanted to join a club called the Good Birds Club,” Big Bird tells Ostrov in the video “They didn’t want me because my beak was too long and I was too big and too yellow.” When Ostrov suggests to Big Bird and friends that they find a grown-up and report what has happened the blue muppet named Rosita worries about being labeled a tattletale That’s not tattling,” reassures Ostrov Reporting is important when our friends are hurt It’s important to find a grown-up to report it so our friends can stay safe.” my research is geared towards preschoolers which is the target audience of ‘Sesame Street,’” explains Ostrov a developmental psychologist who also was a consultant to the Children’s Television Workshop for its bullying prevention initiative “Their messages—teaching children how to identify what bullying is and what to do if it happens to them such as seeking assistance from adults—are consistent with our intervention program that addressed aggressive behavior in preschool classrooms and that also used developmentally appropriate puppets “‘Sesame Street’ works very hard to keep the message developmentally appropriate and consistent with current research evidence as well as best practices in the field,” Ostrov says “My role was to provide both the developmental perspective as well as assist with the current understanding of how bullying is defined by scholars.” Ostrov’s research centers around understanding the development of types of aggression in children ages 3 to 5 One of those subtypes of aggressive behavior is bullying but not all aggressive behavior is bullying His research addresses what Ostrov calls “forms and functions” of aggressive behavior “Forms” of aggression are ways aggression is displayed “Functions” are the reasons why children behave in aggressive ways “Distinguishing between the various forms and functions of aggression has important implications for understanding the development of aggression and bullying in children,” Ostrov says His research also examines the developmental origins processes and outcomes of physical and relational aggression (e.g. social exclusion) in children and adolescents Some of this work has documented the processes or mechanisms by which aggression and peer victimization are linked across development Previous studies in the Social Development Laboratory in the UB Department of Psychology have shown that children who are victimized by their peers become aggressors over time and that the type of victimization they experience predicts the type of aggression they display with their peers over time children are likely learning from peer-victimization experiences how to become an aggressor,” says Ostrov He believes that with UB’s new Jean M Alberti Center for the Prevention of Bullying Abuse and School Violence the university is well-positioned to become a leading institution in the field © document.write((new Date()).getFullYear()) University at Buffalo GOP party chair Shirlene Ostrov has a hard climb to build a viable two-party system in the islands even her top-ticket candidates are feuding The leader of the Hawaii Republican Party likes to use the phrase “competition of ideas” when she describes her vision for local politics “The best thing we have to run on is to give Hawaii a balance or at least a two-party system where people can have a choice,” said Shirlene Ostrov But the dominance of the Democratic Party here is unusual governorships and Congress are dominated by the GOP “Being a Republican is tough in Hawaii,” says Ostrov a steady decline of representation in our state Legislature.” Republicans now hold just five of the 76 seats in the Hawaii Legislature All four members of the congressional delegation and the governor and lieutenant governor are Democrats The GOP has struggled to find viable candidates More than 40 of the 64 legislative seats on the ballot this year have no Republican candidate Ostrov thinks that her party may still be able to chip away at the Democrat’s legislative dominance in the Nov picking up a few seats would constitute a major victory for the minority party Ostrov says that she has been solely focused on recruiting candidates and campaign volunteers training and funding them and putting Republicans in office She’s had help from the Republican National Committee and the Washington “It’s not about policy but organizing the community,” she said But I think there is frustration with the current state of the state While Ostrov believes the party has several strong legislative candidates this year’s “up ballot” candidates (those who have been running for federal and statewide offices) have been a mix of also-rans and relative unknowns like John Carroll The local GOP’s best prospect for a contested race is arguably state Rep the House minority leader who is running for governor against Ige The race also includes a Green party candidate and a nonpartisan Tupola is widely praised as a rising talent. But she is paired with running mate Marissa Kerns, an outspoken small businesswoman and unabashed supporter of Donald Trump. Kerns has publicly demanded that Tupola acknowledge that her voting record has been too liberal Reporting on a party fundraising dinner last Friday launching the party’s fall campaign, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Sunday said that the unity message “wasn’t resonating” with Kerns who was said to have cursed and complained at the event about what she perceived as marginal treatment of her by Tupola and the GOP Kerns told me Tuesday that she had wanted to sit next to Tupola at the dinner and at one point raise her arm together with Tupola’s to show unity “The opportunity was not given to me,” Kerns said Tuesday we are a team but we have a different outlook on how we proceed and promote ourselves out there,” she said We need to take our state back and take care of corruption and where all the tax money goes.” Asked about Kerns’ demand for an apology “I think that one is an old story at this point.” Do the running mates have any planned appearances coming up Calvo said she would get back to me with a comment from Tupola she and Tupola do appear to share some views “Andria’s vision is to build a Hawaii where more people can stay in this place they call home for generations to come,” according to Tupola’s campaign website The way to do that is through decreasing the cost of living creating healthy conditions for businesses to thrive and to champion education and the underserved I think there is frustration with the current state of the state Kerns’ priorities include cutting taxes to lower the cost of living and ending corruption in state government she called on the Trump administration to cancel “all remaining federal dollars” for the first 20 miles of the “34-mile rail construction project” in Honolulu (It’s unclear where the mileage figure came from.) Kerns also wants a forensic audit of the project She is worried that “tens of millions or more in property taxes will need to be immediately diverted” to rail construction Property taxes are currently not tapped for rail Many voters may not get the chance to directly size up Tupola and Kerns against Ige and Green Tupola has unsuccessfully challenged Ige to debates on six islands so we should be open and transparent about our knowledge of community issues and our plans to address their pressing needs,” said Tupola in a press release Sept the only Ige-Tupola joint appearance is set for Oct a debate that will include Civil Beat’s participation the Ige campaign announced it was accepting an invitation to “a unique format” event Oct 15 on KHON that includes Green and Kerns “in a simultaneous discussion.” “The Ige campaign is not aware if the other candidates have accepted KHON2’s invitation,” the press release states “We don’t have a KHON debate on the books First I’m hearing about this.” As former Republican Party chair and governor Linda Lingle showed a promising way to grow the GOP is to win the top offices and bring others along on the coattails But Ostrov’s focus is “down ballot,” and she identified several races where Republicans might break through They include two open legislative seats representing the Ewa Beach area Kurt Fevella is a former Campbell High football standout active on the neighborhood board and dealing with homelessness who hopes to succeed fellow Democrat Will Espero who resigned the District 19 seat in June to unsuccessfully run for lieutenant governor “It’s an open seat, and Matt has his challenges,” said Ostrov, referring to an embarrassing moment in August when LoPresti apologized after removing an opponent’s campaign flier from a constituent’s door LoPresti’s Senate bid opened House District 41 where former Democratic lawmaker Rida Cabanilla aims for a comeback Ostrov has high hopes for Republican Chris Fidelibus who founded an ocean diving and fishing business and works as a Realtor Ostrov notes that Fidelibus is married to “a beautiful Filipino lady” active in the Catholic Church “Rida Cabanilla has her challenges and is controversial,” said Ostrov Cabanilla’s indiscretions include misusing campaign funds and helping a nonprofit obtain $100,000 in grant-in-aid money to clean up a plantation cemetery Ostrov is also banking on Diamond Garcia (“a wonderful young man”) to unseat Sen Maile Shimabukuro in the District 21 seat representing Waianae a CPA and substitute teacher looking to succeed Rep Beth Fukumoto in Mililani in a race against former Democrat lawmaker Marilyn Lee is to demonstrate that the party has values that resonate with what she described as the conservative views of many Asians and Hawaiians where we want our government to be accountable for reckless spending,” she explained “We don’t want to give all responsibility over to government communities and churches should have some responsibility But headaches and obstacles to Ostrov’s goal continue to mount Sai Timoteo, Tupola’s chosen successor in House District 43, was ruled ineligible to run because she was born in American Samoa Meanwhile, The Washington Examiner reported Tuesday that a complaint with the U.S Office of Special Counsel was filed asking for an investigation to determine if Don Benton violated the Hatch Act by speaking at the Hawaii Republican Party fundraiser Mark Blackburn resigned as the party’s finance chairman “Our party is unable to spend its money and support its nominees because Committeewoman (Miriam) Hellreich are colluding with the one-man-band of Eric Ryan,” Blackburn said in a press release “Eric Ryan exists only to stop the Hawaii Republican Party from fulfilling its role as the political opposition to Hawaii Democrats.” a breakaway group that argues the state GOP is not sufficiently conservative He has called Tupola a RINO (“Republican in name only”) a “liberal whacko” and “the socialist prom queen of litter pickups.” He calls Ostrov a “neophyte” who “is single-handedly torpedoing the 2018 campaign through an unprecedented level of incompetence Ostrov said the party believed that Timoteo was “It is unfortunate that she is not on the ballot but we have to focus on other races,” she said Ostrov said he told her he was at the Hawaii dinner in his private capacity Ostrov said the Hawaii Republican Party is just like the national party and also the Democratic Party in that it represents a “spectrum” of views She said she was grateful for Blackburn’s work for the party and noted that Ryan was kicked out of the state GOP “Anybody who pops their head out to run the party and to try and be successful will get whacked down,” she said Ostrov concludes: “But in the end I know I am doing the right thing And I would say that the rank and file are behind me but we have to unite the party and move forward Send to news@civilbeat.org and put Letter in the subject line You need to use your name and city and include a contact phone for verification purposes You can also comment directly on this story by scrolling down a little further Comments are subject to approval and we may not publish every one More than 6,000 California workers in munitions, manufacturing and other industries have elevated levels of lead in their blood that could cause serious health problems, according to a recent report from the state’s public health agency The report, containing the results of tests conducted between 2012 and 2014, comes as the state’s workplace health and safety agency, Cal/OSHA, is considering a major update of its safety standards for workplace lead exposure for the first time in decades The current standards are based on 35-year-old medical findings which at the time did not recognize the dangers of even low-level exposure to lead low-level lead exposure can cause lasting harm a worker health and safety advocacy organization based in Oakland there haven’t been adequate actions taken” by some employers READ MORE: 7 things you didn’t know about lead The soft gray metal and its various compounds have been used in many products Workers can be exposed to lead in the form of dust Most public health actions have focused on protecting children from lead exposure and quickly treating those who are exposed since the metal can severely impair their development But adults also can face serious health problems from lead exposure Some workers exposed to lead dust in the workplace have unwittingly carried it home on their clothes The authors of the report examined data from the California Occupational Blood Lead Registry 38,440 workers had their blood tested for lead and 6,051 workers were identified with an elevated level of 5 or more micrograms of lead per deciliter (about 3.3 ounces) of blood Most of these workers were men between the ages of 20 and 59 and had Hispanic surnames The California Department of Public Health did not make an expert available for comment About 14,000 of the workers had two or more blood lead tests which showed about a fifth of them had elevated blood lead levels More than one elevated blood test suggests chronic exposure linked to health problems About 60 percent of workers with higher exposures — above 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood — worked in manufacturing for companies that make and recycle batteries Workers with the highest blood lead levels — 40 micrograms or more per deciliter — mostly worked at shooting ranges or in ammunition manufacturing although some worked in other metal industries READ MORE: 18 million people served by water systems with lead violations in 2015, report says A spokesman for the California Manufacturers and Technology Association Association said the industry group did not have a position on workplace lead exposure and a representative for the Sacramento-based State Building and Construction Trades Council did not respond to a request for comment California requires employers to provide testing for workers if their work uses or “disturbs” lead (such as removing lead paint from a home) and to take steps to minimize lead dust and fumes State researchers warned that there are many other workers who may be exposed to it but are never tested While battery manufacturers and ammunition manufacturers may routinely test their workers including foundries and painting contractors “The result of this large testing deficiency is that we do not know the true numbers of California workers with elevated” blood lead levels © 1996 - 2025 NewsHour Productions LLC PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization Subscribe to Here's the Deal with Lisa Desjardins