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Sport

NHL playoff standings: Predictions for the Flyers’ end

  • Tim Kavanagh, ESPN.comMar 14, 2024, 06:30 AM ET

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      Tim Kavanagh is a senior editor for ESPN digital editorial. He’s a native of upstate New York.

The Philadelphia Flyers have been one of the biggest surprises of the 2023-24 NHL season. In the preseason, the front office attempted to be realistic with the fans regarding the ongoing rebuild and how this might not be the season for a playoff return. But then the team kept piling on win after win, something that wasn’t a shock to the players on the ice.

Philly did a fair bit of dealing ahead of the March 8 trade deadline, but it remains in a playoff spot heading into Thursday night’s matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+/Hulu). What should fans expect from here on out? Let’s project a bit.

The Flyers are currently in the No. 3 spot in the Metro Division; they’re two points ahead of the first wild card, the Tampa Bay Lightning, but one regulation win behind (and the Lightning have a game in hand). They are four points and five regulation wins ahead of the New York Islanders, who currently sit in the second wild-card spot but are also aiming for the Flyers’ position in the Metro. New York has two games in hand on Philly.

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Overall, the Flyers have a 77.1% chance of earning a playoff bid of some variety, per Stathletes. If they remain the No. 3 seed in the Metro, it’s becoming increasingly likely that this will result in a first-round matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes; the Canes are six points and two regulation wins behind the New York Rangers. The Flyers have lost both of their home games to the Canes this season, but they won the game in Raleigh, with one more game there remaining (March 21).

Should the Flyers slip back to a wild-card spot, a matchup against the Rangers would not be the preferred route: they’ve lost both contests to the Blueshirts (with two remaining, March 26 and April 11). On the other hand, if they draw the Florida Panthers, they might have a puncher’s chance: the Flyers have won both matchups thus far against them (with one game remaining, March 24).

Nevertheless, Stathletes does not necessarily foresee a long playoff run: the Flyers are projected with a 27.2% chance of making the second round, 10.7% chance of making the conference finals, 3.9% chance of reaching the Stanley Cup Final, and 1.4% chance of winning it all. Of course, this current Flyers club has ample experience silencing the doubters this season, so perhaps they have more surprises in store.

As we traverse the final stretch of the regular season, it’s time to check in on all the playoff races — along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2024 NHL draft lottery.

Note: Playoff chances are via Stathletes.

Jump ahead:
Current playoff matchups
Today’s schedule
Last night’s scores
Expanded standings
Race for No. 1 pick

Current playoff matchups

Eastern Conference

A1 Florida Panthers vs. WC2 New York Islanders
A2 Boston Bruins vs. A3 Toronto Maple Leafs
M1 New York Rangers vs. WC1 Tampa Bay Lightning
M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. M3 Philadelphia Flyers

Western Conference

C1 Colorado Avalanche vs. WC1 Nashville Predators
C2 Dallas Stars vs. C3 Winnipeg Jets
P1 Vancouver Canucks vs. WC2 Vegas Golden Knights
P2 Edmonton Oilers vs. P3 Los Angeles Kings

Thursday’s games

Note: All times ET. All games not on TNT or NHL Network are available via NHL Power Play, which is included in an ESPN+ subscription (local blackout restrictions apply).

New York Islanders at Buffalo Sabres, 7 p.m.
Boston Bruins at Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m.
Arizona Coyotes at Detroit Red Wings, 7 p.m.
New York Rangers at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7 p.m.
San Jose Sharks at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7 p.m.
Florida Panthers at Carolina Hurricanes, 7 p.m.
Ottawa Senators at Columbus Blue Jackets, 7 p.m.
Toronto Maple Leafs at Philadelphia Flyers, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+/Hulu)
New Jersey Devils at Dallas Stars, 8 p.m.
Anaheim Ducks at Minnesota Wild, 8 p.m.
Vegas Golden Knights at Calgary Flames, 9 p.m.
Washington Capitals at Seattle Kraken, 10 p.m.

Wednesday’s scoreboard

St. Louis Blues 3, Los Angeles Kings 1
Nashville Predators 4, Winnipeg Jets 2
Edmonton Oilers 7, Washington Capitals 2
Colorado Avalanche 4, Vancouver Canucks 3 (OT)

Expanded standings

Atlantic Division

Points: 94
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: A1
Games left: 16
Points pace: 117
Next game: @ CAR (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 91
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: A2
Games left: 15
Points pace: 111
Next game: @ MTL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 82
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: A3
Games left: 18
Points pace: 105
Next game: @ PHI (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.7%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 74
Regulation wins: 27
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 17
Points pace: 93
Next game: vs. NYR (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 88.8%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 72
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 17
Points pace: 91
Next game: vs. ARI (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 22.2%
Tragic number: 34

Points: 67
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 83
Next game: vs. NYI (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 5.8%
Tragic number: 27

Points: 60
Regulation wins: 15
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 17
Points pace: 76
Next game: vs. BOS (Thursday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 22

Points: 56
Regulation wins: 19
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 19
Points pace: 73
Next game: @ CBJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 22

Metropolitan Division

Points: 90
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: M1
Games left: 17
Points pace: 114
Next game: @ TB (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 84
Regulation wins: 33
Playoff position: M2
Games left: 17
Points pace: 106
Next game: vs. FLA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 76
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: M3
Games left: 16
Points pace: 94
Next game: vs. TOR (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 80.1%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 72
Regulation wins: 21
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 18
Points pace: 92
Next game: @ BUF (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 74.2%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 69
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 18
Points pace: 88
Next game: @ SEA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 20.2%
Tragic number: 33

Points: 66
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 17
Points pace: 83
Next game: @ DAL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 5.4%
Tragic number: 28

Points: 65
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 18
Points pace: 83
Next game: vs. SJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 3.6%
Tragic number: 29

Points: 54
Regulation wins: 17
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 17
Points pace: 68
Next game: vs. OTT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 16

Central Division

Points: 89
Regulation wins: 36
Playoff position: C1
Games left: 15
Points pace: 109
Next game: @ EDM (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 89
Regulation wins: 29
Playoff position: C2
Games left: 15
Points pace: 109
Next game: vs. NJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 87
Regulation wins: 36
Playoff position: C3
Games left: 17
Points pace: 110
Next game: vs. ANA (Friday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 80
Regulation wins: 31
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 15
Points pace: 98
Next game: @ SEA (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 94.1%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 71
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 88
Next game: vs. MIN (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 1.7%
Tragic number: 26

Points: 71
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 88
Next game: vs. ANA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 20.2%
Tragic number: 26

Points: 57
Regulation wins: 21
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 71
Next game: @ NYI (Thursday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 12

Points: 39
Regulation wins: 12
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 17
Points pace: 49
Next game: vs. LA (Friday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Pacific Division

Points: 92
Regulation wins: 36
Playoff position: P1
Games left: 15
Points pace: 113
Next game: vs. WSH (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 83
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: P2
Games left: 18
Points pace: 106
Next game: vs. COL (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 77
Regulation wins: 28
Playoff position: P3
Games left: 17
Points pace: 97
Next game: @ CHI (Friday)
Playoff chances: 84.1%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 77
Regulation wins: 27
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 17
Points pace: 97
Next game: @ CGY (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 88.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 68
Regulation wins: 22
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 18
Points pace: 87
Next game: vs. WSH (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 9.9%
Tragic number: 27

Points: 67
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 17
Points pace: 85
Next game: vs. VGK (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 1.2%
Tragic number: 24

Points: 49
Regulation wins: 17
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 17
Points pace: 62
Next game: @ MIN (Thursday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 6

Points: 39
Regulation wins: 12
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 18
Points pace: 50
Next game: @ PIT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

P — Clinched Presidents’ Trophy; Y — Clinched division; X — Clinched playoff berth; E — Eliminated from playoff contention

Race for the No. 1 pick

The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the draw for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process can be found here. Sitting No. 1 on the draft board for this summer is Macklin Celebrini, a freshman at Boston University.

Points: 39
Regulation wins: 12

Points: 41
Regulation wins: 13

Points: 49
Regulation wins: 17

Points: 54
Regulation wins: 17

Points: 56
Regulation wins: 19

Points: 57
Regulation wins: 21

Points: 60
Regulation wins: 15

Points: 65
Regulation wins: 23

Points: 66
Regulation wins: 26

Points: 67
Regulation wins: 25

Points: 67
Regulation wins: 26

Points: 68
Regulation wins: 22

Points: 69
Regulation wins: 24

Points: 71
Regulation wins: 25

Points: 71
Regulation wins: 26

Points: 72
Regulation wins: 23

* The Penguins’ first-round pick was traded to the Sharks as part of the Erik Karlsson trade. However, it is top-10 protected.

Categories
Technology

French MoD faucets 5 startups to develop fault-tolerant quantum pc

Quantum computers have an almost mythical status among data scientists and researchers. The dream of emerging out of the NISQ (noisy intermediate-scale quantum) era into a world of fault-tolerant qubits generating unbreakable encryption or solving climate change keeps many startups going despite difficult investment propositions with longer return horizons.

But quantum technologies don’t only inspire wonder and excitement — they are also a growing geopolitical concern. More and more countries are setting up ambitious quantum strategies, and the US has placed export controls on equipment that supports quantum technology development to China.

As part of its €1bn National Strategy for Quantum, France just launched what is called the PROQCIMA initiative. The aim of the €500mn program is to develop a universal fault-tolerant quantum computer with 128 logical qubits by 2032. And the Ministry of Defence has selected a cohort of five quantum startups to battle it out for the funding. 

“Cat qubits” reducing quantum computing errors 

One of the companies selected is Alice & Bob. The startup says it has developed what it calls “cat qubits.” Without getting too technical (meaning trying to bend our minds around qubit superposition), this significantly reduces one of the major issues with quantum development, namely error correction.

Its “cat qubit” is protected against what is called bit-flip errors, where the qubit’s state flips from 1 to 0 or vice versa. These can occur due to interactions with the environment or imperfections in quantum gate operations, and lead to computational inaccuracies.

According to research conducted by the company in collaboration with Inria, the French national research institute for digital science and technology, this approach could mean a 200-fold reduction of the resources needed to execute complex quantum algorithms, including code-breaking applications. 

Quantum race is on for the French startups

The PROQCIMA initiative, which also foresees the industrialisation of a 2048-logical-qubits computer by 2035, will run as a competition for the next five years. After four years, three startups will remain. After eight years into the program, only two companies will continue to get funding.

“This initiative will support establishing our global leadership and fueling the whole ecosystem’s growth,” said ThĂ©au Peronnin, CEO and co-founder of Alice & Bob. “We stand ready to contribute our cat qubit fault-tolerant architecture to PROQCIMA, driving innovation and committing to deliver the full potential of quantum computing.”

Alice & Bob (named after the world’s most famous cryptographic couple) is based in Paris, France, and Boston, US, has secured €30mn in funding thus far, and employs over 90 people.

The other startups joining the company for PROQCIMA are:

  • PASQAL, a company specialising in what is called neural-atom quantum computing with a roadmap to deliver a 10,000 qubit system by 2026.
  • C12, developing custom quantum hardware for integration with classical supercomputers and using materials that eradicate so-called nuclear spin noise.
  • Quandela, which has developed Prometheus, a high-quality generator of optical qubits based on single photons.
  • Quably, which wants to build scalable quantum computers using existing European semiconductor fabs.
Categories
Entertainment

Kristin Cavallari Posts Peek of Youngsters’ Spring Break After Romance Debut

Kristin Cavallari will always be a mom first. 

After sharing insight into her budding romance with Mark Estes, 24, The Hills alum, 37, detailed her Los Angeles Spring Break trip with her and ex Jay Cutler‘s three children Camden, 11, Jaxon, 9, and Saylor, 8. 

In an Instagram Stories post shared on March 14, Kristin posed for a mirror with Camden, and a peek of Jaxon’s shoulder, writing, “Spring Break fit check.” 

Kristin, who now primarily lives in Nashville, donned an all-white outfit, complete with a long silk skirt, tank top and a touch of blue with her Adidas sneakers. Meanwhile, Camden was the yin to her yang—wearing an all black ensemble, including a Nike basketball T-shirt, paired with beige cloud slides and Nike socks.

The Laguna Beach alum added a few subsequent Story snaps, including a sunny strip of stores on a palm tree-lined street, a photo of her daughter Saylor showing love for pal Char Riley‘s daughter Elle, and a selfie showing off a new purchase, which she captioned, “New glasses who dis.”

Categories
Science

NASA and Boeing Launch New Rendering of their X-66 Sustainable Experimental Airliner

Climate change is arguably the single greatest threat facing the world today. According to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), average global temperatures are set to increase between 1.5 and 2 °C (2.7 to 3.6 °F) by mid-century. To restrict global temperatures to an increase of 1.5 C and avoid the worst-case scenarios, the nations of the world need to achieve net zero emissions by then. Otherwise, things will get a lot worse before they get better, assuming they ever do.

This means transitioning to cleaner methods in terms of energy, transportation, and aviation. To meet our climate commitments, the aviation industry is developing technology to significantly reduce air travel’s carbon footprint. To help meet this goal, NASA and Boeing have come together to create the X-66 Sustainable Experimental Airliner, the first experimental plane specifically focused on helping the U.S. achieve net-zero aviation. Last week, NASA released a new rendering of the concept, giving the public an updated look at the future of air travel.

This configuration is identical to the one unveiled by NASA and Boeing at the Experimental Aviation Association‘s (EAA) AirVenture Oshkosh airshow last year. As you can see from the renderings (above and below), the design features the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing concept. Developed by Boeing, this design features extra-long, thin wings stabilized by diagonal struts. This configuration is based on “Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Reach (SUGAR)” research, a series of studies that began in 2011 to evaluate the benefits of truss-bracing and hybrid electric technologies.

The X-66A is the X-plane specifically aimed at helping the United States achieve the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Credits: NASA

Combined with an advanced propulsion system, a sophisticated systems architecture, and advanced materials, this configuration could reduce fuel consumption and the resulting emissions by up to 30% (compared to top-of-the-line commercial aircraft). Development of the X-66 began in early 2019 through the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator (SFD) project, which is an integral part of NASA’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership (SFNP) – where NASA Aeronautics partners with industry, academia, and other agencies to accomplish the goal of net-zero aviation by 2050.

To build the X-66A, Boeing has been working with NASA to modify a McDonnell Douglas MD-90 single-aisle passenger aircraft. Modifications include a shortened fuselage and the replacement of its wings with the longer, thinner truss-braced variant. The engines have also been relocated from the tail section to under the wings and replaced with gas-electric models. Boeing transported the MD-90 aircraft to its facility in Palmdale, California, in August of 2023 and has since removed its engines and completed the 3-meter (10-foot) model wing they will use for aerodynamic testing.

The project’s ultimate goal is to inform a new generation of more sustainable, single-aisle aircraft, which account for the largest share of air travel worldwide. The program is also part of the U.S. Aviation Climate Action Plan, which seeks to not only meet the nation’s ambitious climate goals but also to improve the quality of life for those living near airports and under flight paths through reductions in noise and pollutants. As NASA Administrator Bill Nelson remarked in a press statement last year:

“At NASA, our eyes are not just focused on stars but also fixated on the sky. The Sustainable Flight Demonstrator builds on NASA’s world-leading efforts in aeronautics as well [as] climate. The X-66A will help shape the future of aviation, a new era where aircraft are greener, cleaner, and quieter, and create new possibilities for the flying public and American industry alike.”

Further Reading: NASA

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Categories
Health

Biden administration investigating Change Healthcare cyberattack

In this photo illustration, the UnitedHealth Group logo is displayed on a tablet.

Igor Golovniov | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched an investigation into UnitedHealth Group following the cyberattack on its Change Healthcare unit that has disrupted crucial operations in pharmacies and hospitals across the U.S.

The HHS Office for Civil Rights said in a statement Wednesday that it’s investigating the incident due to the “unprecedented magnitude of the cyberattack.” The OCR enforces the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s security, privacy and breach notification rules, which most health plans, providers and clearinghouses such as Change Healthcare are required to follow to protect health information.

“OCR’s investigation of Change Healthcare and UHG will focus on whether a breach of protected health information occurred and Change Healthcare’s and UHG’s compliance with the HIPAA Rules,” the department said.

Change Healthcare offers electronic prescription software and tools for payment and revenue cycle management. Parent company UnitedHealth discovered that a cyber threat actor breached part of the unit’s information technology network on Feb. 21, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

UnitedHealth told CNBC in a statement that it will cooperate with the investigation from the OCR.

“Our immediate focus is to restore our systems, protect data and support those whose data may have been impacted,” the company said. “We are working with law enforcement to investigate the extent of impacted data.”

UnitedHealth took the affected systems offline after identifying the threat, according to the SEC filing. The company said on Thursday that it expects to restore its networks by mid-March. As of Friday, UnitedHealth said electronic prescribing is “fully functional,” and it expects electronic payment functionality to be available starting March 15. The company will “begin testing” to reestablish connectivity to its claims network on March 18.

In late February, Change Healthcare said that ransomware group Blackcat was behind the attack. Blackcat, also called Noberus and ALPHV, steals sensitive data from institutions and threatens to publish it unless a ransom is paid, according to a December release from the Department of Justice. 

UnitedHealth has not disclosed what specific data was compromised in the attack, or if it has agreed to pay a ransom to bring systems back online.

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Categories
Sport

The Nebraska wrestler who beat flesh-eating micro organism

  • Ryan HockensmithMar 13, 2024, 07:30 AM ET

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      Ryan Hockensmith is a Penn State graduate who joined ESPN in 2001. He is a survivor of bacterial meningitis, which caused him to have multiple amputation surgeries on his feet. He is a proud advocate for those with disabilities and addiction issues. He covers everything from the NFL and UFC to pizza-chucking and analysis of Tom Cruise’s running ability.

THE FIRST SIGNS that Peyton Robb’s body is under siege are so subtle that he hardly notices.

He wrestles in his NCAA championship semifinal against Penn State’s Levi Haines and loses 5-3. But Robb’s coaches sit in his corner and feel like something is just a little bit off about him on the night of March 17, 2023. He had one last gear to reach against Haines at the end of their 157-pound bout, but he couldn’t hit it.

The Nebraska coaches think maybe it was nerves, or perhaps Robb was worn down after a long, grueling season. Maybe it was both. Having to cut a few pounds to make weight probably didn’t help, either.

The next morning, panic begins to settle in. Robb makes weight as he tries to wrestle back through consolation matches to finish third. But he can’t get warm. Coaches watch as he puts on a coat over his warmups. He jogs. Jumps around. Rolls with teammates. Jogs more. And yet he’s shivering.

Robb feels nauseous and lightheaded, and his left shin is killing him — he has a nasty bruise he must have gotten about the night before. The coaching staff confers about having him forfeit his first consolation match. That would drop Robb down to the fifth-place match, but they figure he could rest for an hour and try to be ready for that one.

As the 149-pound matches wrap up, the announcer calls for Robb and his opponent, North Dakota State’s Jared Franek, to come to the mat. Robb runs to the mat in his singlet and headgear and says, “I’m gonna go.” The match goes to overtime, but Robb is in agony out there, grinding away with whatever gas is still in the tank. Franek, who is 27-3 and seeded fourth, lands a takedown in overtime to win 3-1.

Robb barely makes it off the mat before he feels like he has to throw up. He crouches down, grabs a trash can and starts vomiting. His coaches go from perplexed to concerned, especially when they see his leg. The bruise seems to have expanded and gotten much more purple.

During the time between matches, Robb finds his parents in the stands. They drove from their home in Minnesota to the tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Can you take a look at this?” Robb asks as he pulls his pant leg up. His mom and dad gasp and immediately tell him he needs to go to the emergency room. When Nebraska’s athletic trainer, Tyler Weeda, takes a closer look a few minutes later, he agrees.

Robb forfeits and gets his sixth-place medal before Weeda drives him to a local hospital. He gets some IV fluids and an antibiotic and feels a little better. In retrospect, he probably should have stayed for a night or two. But the long wrestling season is over, and he wants to get back home and hang out with his girlfriend, Taylor, and his Rottweiler, Greta. So he asks to be discharged.

The next morning, the Nebraska wrestlers and coaches board a jumper bus back to Lincoln. As they pull out for the nearly seven-hour drive home, Robb crawls inside one of the sleeper bunks and closes the door for the longest ride of his life. He had no idea then, but his body was already in the middle of a life-or-death match with a microscopic foe: flesh-eating bacteria.

At the hospital, Robb went through nearly every medical test imaginable. “So many scans. Cat scans, MRIs, you name it,” he says. Courtesy Peyton Robb

IN THE GRAND SCHEME of history, germs have killed more people than war, famine or just about anything else. The bubonic plague bacteria claimed the lives of anywhere between 25-200 million people. Pneumonia caused by bacteria once had a death rate of 30-40%. More than 1 million people still die from tuberculosis every year, a disease that historians believe killed 1 in seven people who ever lived before the year 1800.

People often use the words “virus” and “bacteria” interchangeably, but neither is a good germ to tangle with. Viruses enter the body and rely upon human cells to survive and multiply. Modern vaccines have a remarkably successful track record of thwarting even strong viruses that wear down our immune systems. The most lethal virus, smallpox, killed about 500 million human beings before 1980, when the WHO declared that the disease had been eradicated.

Bacteria, on the other hand, are much larger single-cell organisms that can survive inside or outside the human body. Their complexity makes it harder to design preventative vaccines. They furiously replicate, fighting to establish a community of brothers and sisters in our bloodstream. Regular old bacteria cause UTIs, pneumonia and food poisoning, and succeed by sheer quantity, overwhelming our immune systems by multiplying so ruthlessly and efficiently in the body. The best way to visualize this is to think about one of those silly “Could Conor McGregor beat up 10 15-year-olds?” propositions. Our immune systems, evolved over millions of years, are McGregor and almost always wins. But sometimes the 15-year-olds are really, really good fighters, and sometimes the 10 can turn into 50 in minutes.

Robb had some of the scariest bacteria fighters known to exist, Group A Streptococcus. It commonly pops up as strep throat but in very rare circumstances can attack other areas of the body and morph into necrotizing fasciitis, which is commonly referred to as a flesh-eating bacteria. The CDC says 700 to 1,150 cases have been reported each year in the U.S. since 2010.

What necrotizing fasciitis does, though, isn’t necessarily eating flesh — it might be worse. These bacteria release toxins that destroy blood vessels and choke blood flow to the region, which strangles the life out of that area, and then it rapidly spreads. With diseases like necrotizing fasciitis and bacterial meningitis, that process can take less than 24 hours. “They dissolve blood vessels, and that is a real problem for physicians to treat,” says Dr. Bill Sullivan, a renowned infectious disease expert and professor at Indiana University.

It’s easy to consider Robb’s case as a wrestling-specific issue — wrestling matches are bloody and sweaty and the mats are petri dishes for horrifying bugs — but the truth is, sports culture is pretty gross across the board. Studies show that cell phones tend to carry 10 times more bacteria than a public toilet, so you can imagine what lab swabs pick up on gymnastics mats, in locker rooms, treadmills and team laundry rooms.

But here is the good news: Most serious bacterial infections (including necrotizing fasciitis) are quite rare, and our immune systems and antibiotics these days have evolved to the point where even scientists sleep fine at night. “Most people have b—-in’ immune systems that fight off these bacteria effectively,” Sullivan says. “There has never been a better time to be alive — I would not want to have lived in the pre-antibiotic era.”

The obvious question that Robb gets all the time is: How and why did he get sick? The answer isn’t satisfying; he doesn’t know for sure, and he never will. The vast majority of necrotizing fasciitis cases occur when the bacteria enters the body through a cut or abrasion, even one so small that it can’t be seen with the naked eye. Robb doesn’t remember any kind of open wound, just bruising, but his calf is the likely culprit. It’s possible he picked up the bacteria from another wrestler or the mats, then a small brush burn was the only opening the necrotizing fasciitis needed to start swarming.

And that’s exactly what happens. In retrospect, Robb is lucky to be alive. On the team bus back to Lincoln, he occasionally sticks his head out of his bunk to vomit before retreating. He considers stopping off somewhere to get to a hospital. But all he can think about is getting home to Greta and Taylor.

He limps out of the bus when the Huskers get back to campus. His teammates are haunted by how feeble he looks. Robb is a physical tank, 5-foot-8 and 157 pounds of mostly muscle. He has a Minnesota niceness to him that leaves his body when he puts on a singlet. He walks with a stoic confidence that the toughest people always do. But that’s not who hobbled off the bus that evening last March.

He hugs Greta and Taylor when he gets back to his apartment. Then he lays down in his bedroom. “I just need to sleep,” he tells Taylor.

An hour or so later, she hears him go into the bathroom and throws up. In a move that may have saved his life, she swipes his phone and calls his mom. “Carrie, Peyton is really, really sick,” she says. “I think he needs to go to the emergency room but it needs to come from you.”

Carrie makes a critical decision on her end of the call: She hands her phone to her husband, Tracey. “He probably would have listened to me,” she says. “But there’s something between him and his dad where I knew he’d do it if his dad told him.”

Tracey works with Carrie at a sand and gravel company in Minnesota and is a wrestling lifer. Tracey and Peyton spent hundreds of hours in cars over the years, driving from one youth wrestling tournament to another, many times leaving home before the sun was up and returning after it went down. It’s not so much that he values his dad’s opinion more than his mom’s, it’s that during those trips, they problem-solved together hundreds, maybe thousands of times, and Tracey usually offered advice or suggestions only when he thought it was necessary. There was weight to when he would give Peyton feedback.

The 10-second conversation they have on Sunday, March 19, 2023, is one of those times — the most important time. “I think you should go to the hospital,” Tracey says, and Peyton agrees.

Peyton can’t even get to his car, let alone drive it. Only his roommate, Nebraska 141-pounder Brock Hardy, knows how to drive stick. So he loads up Robb and starts driving. Hardy rode on the team bus with Robb and knew how badly he was struggling — but it was never like this.

“Taylor, who’s going to walk Greta?” Robb asks him.

Hardy stares at him, realizing that his friend is completely out of it, calling him by his girlfriend’s name. Hardy doesn’t say anything. He keeps driving until Robb breaks the silence again.

“Taylor, what’s going to happen with Greta?” he asks. Hardy hits the gas and assures Robb that Greta is being taken care of.

The next four days are a blur. Robb’s vital signs spike and fall on Monday and Tuesday. He has alarming test results about his heart, lungs and kidneys. But by Wednesday, his key organs seem to be improving, and there’s talk he might be sent home the following day.

But nobody looks close enough at his leg until the next morning. And that’s when a fire-breathing doctor arrives with a terrifying answer to what Robb is up against.

Robb, who is 5-foot-8 and 157 pounds of muscle, is a physical tank. He has a Minnesota niceness that leaves his body when he puts on a singlet. Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

ON THURSDAY MORNING, Robb is in his hospital bed, surrounded by his parents, his girlfriend and a Nebraska associate head coach, Bryan Snyder. Snyder and his entire family had caught some sort of bug leading into NCAAs, so he drove himself to Tulsa and coached while sick. He spent the first part of that week agonizing that maybe he’d passed along the illness to Robb and that’s why he was in the hospital.

But as they stand around Robb in the room, the orthopedic surgeon on duty enters the room with a scan in his hand, and he is coming in hot.

“Holy f—!” he barks, startling everybody in the room. He looks at the scan again and can’t help himself: “F—, I’m so sorry, Peyton.”

Robb’s parents, Tracey and Carrie, are so shaken by his tone that they walk out of the room to compose themselves. While they’re in the hallway, the doctor pulls out his cell phone and starts taking photos of Robb’s leg and the scan. “I need to send these to some other doctors that I know,” he says.

Robb thinks to himself: How bad does a leg injury have to be that the surgeon has to show it to all of his friends?

The doctor puts his phone down and asks Robb’s parents to come back into the room. He begins to explain what he’s seeing with Robb’s leg. That’s the first time they hear the phrase “necrotizing fasciitis,” and he says they have no time to waste.

“Peyton, we have to take out all the dying tissue,” he says. “Everything. Or you will die. And we will not know how bad it is until we get in there. You have to be OK with the idea that if we need to, we will take your leg off.”

Robb nods. “Do what you have to do to save my life,” he says.

The doctor leaves. Nobody speaks at first. They’re all stunned, unsure of how to process the outburst that just happened. Less than a week earlier, Robb was in the semifinals of the 157-pound weight class, pushing for a national title. Now, he’s hoping he can keep his leg, with the not-so-subtle implication that he could die.

Everybody spends 10 heavy seconds staring at each other. Snyder, the associate head coach who wrestled Robb at almost every practice for three years, says he’s going to step out of the room so Robb can be with his parents and girlfriend before surgery. He leans close to Robb’s face.

“Peyton, you are not going to be a statistic,” he says. “You are strong, and you can do this. You have a fight in you, and it’s time for that fight to come out. I love you.”

Snyder’s words hit Robb hard, but the whole room needs to hear them. “The timing was…,” his mom, Carrie, says now. Her eyes swell up. “The timing was spiritual to me. He came along at the perfect moment.”

Snyder hugs Robb one last time and walks into the hallway, where he sees the doctor on the phone nearby. “No, I need an operating room now,” he tells the person on the other end. “Nope. No! Not acceptable. We have your next room.”

He hangs up the phone as a punctuation point, and it works — Robb is assigned an operating room. That’s when Snyder realizes something that almost everybody else has come to believe months later: They needed the jolt that the doctor provided. “I don’t think I had a full grasp of what was happening until that moment,” Robb says.

Less than 10 minutes later, Robb is wheeled down the hallway by strangers as his loved ones all stand in the doorway. He doesn’t talk on the way down. He thinks a little about wrestling, his family, his girlfriend, his friends. But his mind keeps drifting to how much he wants at least one more walk with Greta. If he loses his leg or even part of his leg, he isn’t sure if he’ll be able to handle the 100-pound Rottweiler when she takes off after a squirrel. And if he doesn’t wake up… well, he can’t think about somebody else taking care of his furry friend.

As hospital workers push him through the doors and into the room, the anesthesia begins to overpower him, and Robb takes one last look down at his left leg. In case he never sees it again.

As doctors struggled to identify the source of his condition, Robb leaned on what he knows best: his Nebraska teammates. Courtesy Peyton Robb

ROBB REMEMBERS WAKING UP about two hours later and feeling relieved. But his girlfriend says after about an hour in the post-operation room, Robb opened his eyes for a second. “He doesn’t remember this,” she says. “But I swear, he looked at his leg and his toes and he smiled. It was a little smile. But I saw it.”

Robb had five surgeries in five days, each cleaning out the wound area to remove as much dead tissue as possible. But by the end, he had two gruesome wounds on his lower leg, including one 8-inch football-shaped spot where you could see his shinbone.

After the clean-out surgeries were over in early April, Robb spent a few weeks healing up before a critical skin graft procedure. His calf was almost completely gone at that point; the tissue had been suffocated to death by the bacteria. When he had healed sufficiently, he went back in to have a large rectangular hunk of his left thigh removed and placed in the divots where his calf used to be.

The skin graft pain was excruciating for about 48 hours. His thigh felt like he’d spent 12 hours sliding into home plate over and over again until all the skin was gone. But in this case, it served a good cause. The removed section of his thigh ended up becoming his calf, and his left thigh eventually recovered enough that he had to outline the faint rectangular scar with his fingers to be able to see it.

Weeda, the Nebraska trainer, stayed close with Robb’s medical team, and after a follow-up appointment from the skin graft, he came back and told the coaching staff that the surgery was a home run. “He’ll have to wear a sleeve to protect the skin,” Weeda told the coaches, “but he’s about two weeks from being able to start training.”

Snyder was shocked. “Wait, two weeks? How is that possible?” A month-and-a-half earlier, he’d given Robb a pep talk about surviving the surgery and being OK if he lost his leg. Now he was ready to roll?

But it was true. From the end of May till late June, Robb worked out with Weeda to strengthen his leg and get back in shape. In early July, Robb met Snyder in the wrestling room and they went at it for about a half hour. They didn’t go hard. They were just glad to be there, grappling lightly. “That’s when I knew he was going to be back,” Snyder says.

He also got back to being a 23-year-old. Robb isn’t shy, but he also isn’t loud. His voice mirrors his personality — firm and steady. He’s mostly serious, but he laughs a little when he describes why he started shaving his head. “It was getting a little thin up there,” he says.

About six months after a flesh-eating bacteria almost devoured his lower leg, Robb is at Nebraska’s first practice in October. His calf area has almost no feeling, and he had to learn to deal with the loss of some muscles that helped operate his foot. Other than the sleeve, it’s hard to tell anything happened to Robb’s leg last March.

Doctors stapled a skin graft from Robb’s thigh onto his calf. When it healed, they removed the staples. But Robb felt so much pain that his girlfriend Taylor placed a cold washcloth on his head so he didn’t pass out. Video screengrab courtesy of Robb

By late December, Robb looked close to his old self, going 7-0 against a relatively soft November schedule. That had him up to a No. 3 ranking as he headed to the Cliff Keen Invitational tournament on Dec. 1-2 in Las Vegas.

His parents drive down from Minnesota to most home matches and decided to travel to Vegas to be with Robb as he entered a bracket with four top-8 opponents, all of whom were previous All-Americans. Facing the tournament’s toughest weight class, this would be a significant gauge of where he was in his recovery.

He ripped off four wins by a combined 60-12 score to get to the finals, where he found undefeated Arizona State senior Jacori Teemer. They’d battled at NCAAs two years earlier in a 6-4 Robb victory that left them both so wiped out that they laid on the mat and shook hands from their backs. That moment has become iconic in the college wrestling world, an embodiment of what makes the sport special, and Snyder has a photo of it framed above his desk. “The hard work, the sportsmanship, the gratitude … everything that makes Peyton special is in that picture,” Snyder says.

But Teemer is a handful in Vegas. Robb pounces on him from the first whistle, working the head and pushing the pace. He shoots on Teemer’s legs immediately, but Teemer counters and gets the first takedown. Robb escapes, then powers through an exchange that plants Teemer on his back. Robb goes on to a 6-4 win that seems to draw a louder ovation than the other finals that day. When his hand is raised, Robb looks over to his corner and flexes, then runs over and slaps Snyder’s hand hard. They hug, and both of them have a brief collision of contrasting memories, between that last moment in the hospital room before surgery and now.

Robb is with his parents on the floor of the arena a little while later as the tournament winds down. Family members and wrestlers are milling around while fans head for the exits. Robb’s story had spread far and wide in wrestling circles. So it wasn’t a tremendous surprise when the announcement came that the Most Outstanding Wrestler award went to Peyton Robb of Nebraska.

Yet, it still overwhelms the Nebraska contingent. Robb, his mom and dad, Snyder… everybody finds their eyes misting up.

Peyton Robb is back. Or so he thinks.

Heading into NCAAs, Robb is 94-32 in his career. He’ll need to win the first, second or third round in the tournament to earn All-American honors. Photo by Dillon Galloway, Courtesy UNL Athletics

ROBB WINS HIS first match 18-1 at a January meet with Wyoming and Northern Iowa.

Against UNI 90 minutes later, he runs into a scrapper named Ryder Downey, who’s ranked No. 13 in the country. Robb gets the first takedown but is trailing 6-5 in the third period with 1:00 left. He needs to make a final push, and he tries. But there’s a burst that never comes, and he loses for the first time. That kicks off a span of four straight losses, which might be the only time Peyton Robb has ever lost four matches in a row.

After the UNI loss, Robb’s parents wait for him at the bottom of the stands. They aren’t sure how he’ll react. He’s not someone who throws chairs after a loss. But he also had never been trying to win a national title with a calf that used to be his thigh.

A few minutes later, Robb finally comes out. A flock of little kids stall him out 10 feet from his dad, asking for his autograph. He signs them and eventually makes his way over. His dad launches up off the bleachers for a hug and hits his son directly in the groin with his hand. Robb doubles over for a second and then stands up. “Ouch, Dad, watch it,” Robb says.

They hug and laugh about it, and a few minutes later, his dad sits back down and pretends he is about to clip him again on the way down. They both laugh, and they head home. Robb seems bummed out about losing his first match, especially the way he couldn’t rally late. “I just didn’t get it done today,” he says. “Sometimes I get them, and sometimes they get me.”

The next day, Robb opens the door to his apartment in the middle of a wrestling match with Greta. She’s a beast, but a friendly, slobbery one. She likes people and small dogs, but big dogs beware. “She tries to show them that she’s boss,” Robb says.

She had been one of the most painful parts of his health ordeal — the longer he’d been in the hospital, the more sadness he felt about her. Taylor and friends would take care of her, and he knew she was in good hands. But … they weren’t his hands.

He asked Taylor constantly about how she was doing, who she was staying with, if she seemed to miss him. All he wanted in the world some days was for his calf to be healed so he could leave the hospital, horse around at home with Greta on the floor for a few minutes and then take her for a walk. When he first got released and could finally return home, he was heartbroken when his metal crutches freaked her out so much she ran and stood across the room. He tried calling her over but she wouldn’t come. He eventually laid the crutches on the ground and hopped over to the couch. She sniffed them for a minute, then she rushed over to her dad.

For the next hour on this January day, Greta sits beside him as Robb goes through his entire life story, from wrestling road trips with his dad as a kindergartner to that fateful week after NCAAs last year. Toward the tail end, Taylor arrives after an over six-hour drive. They’ve been dating since they were 16. She’s finishing up a physical therapy degree at Minnesota, where she ran cross-country and track. They’d always seen themselves together forever, and his health scare only codified that belief.

At one point, Taylor is talking about the dark days of the week when he had five surgeries. Robb just listens for most of the time, pulling on a rope toy that Greta is latched onto. When she stops talking, he says, “I’m just so grateful about everything.”

Grateful? That’s a surprising word to describe what he went through.

“Think about how many things needed to happen for me to survive,” he says. “The doctor who was swearing? We needed to hear that level of concern. So I’m glad he acted that way. We needed it.

“And then Snyder showing up at the absolute perfect time, the time I needed to hear his voice,” he continues. “And then the surgery going the way it did, with me losing pretty much the bare minimum of what I thought I’d lose. I have a lot of gratitude about that. When I went under that day, I wasn’t sure what I was going to wake up to.”

He and Taylor exchange a look, a look of two 23-year-olds with more wisdom than most people their age. Taylor steps out of the room to unpack her stuff, and when she’s gone, he says, “I don’t know what I would have done without her.”

There’s silence in the room for a few seconds. “You know,” I say, “it’s possible that you and Taylor just went through the worst thing that will ever happen to you. And it’s possible that that will serve you well, and that when you hit bumps down the road, you will know the way through.”

He gives me a quizzical look, and I reveal something to him that I often keep to myself. I tell him that when I was in college, I’d been dating someone for about a year when I came down with bacterial meningitis. I spent a week in a coma as my girlfriend, Lori, and my family just hoped I’d wake up again. When I did regain consciousness, I had a non-f-bombing doctor explain to me the same thing he was told — that they had to start cutting the dead parts of my body off so that the good tissue could survive. I ultimately had the ends of both feet amputated, and I went from a size 12 foot down to a size 4.

“That’s nuts,” he says quietly. “I am sorry you had to go through that.”

He asks me a few questions, and I can tell he’s feeling the same sense of eeriness that I felt as he spoke. Bacterial meningitis and necrotizing fasciitis are both on the small list of the most lethal diseases possible, and we are each blessed to be walking around at all. Both of us were probably saved by our age. Both of us hated the wound care more than the surgeries; we both know all too well that doctors use a medical term, “debridement,” that translates as “rip gauze out of your own gaping injuries and try to get as much bad stuff out of there so the good can survive.” And both of us probably wouldn’t have been able to bounce back without the love and support of our partners — my girlfriend became my wife, and we’ve been together ever since. When I had to go to rehab for opioid and alcohol addiction in 2008, Lori and I struggled… but we also felt like we had the scars to prove we could make it. Taylor and Peyton have that in their back pocket now.

It’s an unlikely common ground to find with another person, and our conversation immediately jumps five levels when we land there. I know what he and Taylor have pushed through. On paper, they’re in college. But their last 12 months haven’t been college — that was adult stuff.

“As a young guy, I felt like I could do anything. That made me feel like I am not invincible,” Robb says. “Now I am so grateful for the chance to wrestle.” Photo by Sammy Smith, Courtesy UNL Athletics

I ask if I can look closer at his leg, and he plops it up on the couch beside me. He has no sheepishness about his calf, which is a place I have never been able to get to. I feel the same way as Robb does about getting sick, that I never would have chosen it but now would never give the wisdom back. But I just can’t bring myself to fearlessly show my toeless, mangled feet to the world the same way he has.

“Can I touch the skin?” I ask, and he says yes.

It’s firm and leathery and a little darker than the rest of his leg. The oblong scar is big enough that it seems like it’d be a problem when another 157-pound All-American wrestler is wrenching on it. “It doesn’t hurt at all,” he says. “I feel no real impact at all.”

He puts his leg back down and I pause for a moment.

“Can I show you my feet?” I finally say.

He nods and sits forward. I pull the sock off my left foot and show him, and he looks at it closely. Then I show him my right foot, and we have a bonding experience over the use of staples to sew a human body back together. He had staples in his calf at one point, and my entire right foot looks like an old shark bite wound from all the spots where 20 or so staples fused the front and side of the foot back together. “Holy cow, when they pulled those out, I got lightheaded and had to lay down,” he says. “I needed a cold washcloth on my head, and I had to hand it to Taylor then because she almost passed out, too.”

I mention to him that for my senior year at Penn State, I couldn’t live with anybody else. Yes, I was 23 years old and liked hanging out with other 23-year-olds. I even liked to party quite a bit (see: rehab, 2008). But I had no patience anymore for weird hair clumps in the shower, pizza boxes everywhere and video game all-nighters. It only takes one or two debridement sessions to feel like you aged out of your own demo.

Robb made the same choice. He loves his teammates and other Nebraska friends. He loves going over to their apartments for a few hours. But the 2 a.m. Taco Bell trips and mystery stains on the couch are in the rearview for him. He wanted to live with Greta and have Taylor come visit when she could as he chases an NCAA title one final time. Pestering roommates to do their dishes and pay for their half of rent … no thanks.

Robb, now 24, is wrapping up a degree in nutrition and health sciences and hopes to pursue international wrestling after college. He’s not sure where he’ll live and what he’ll be doing, just that Taylor and Greta will be there. Right now, he has a singular purpose: winning a national title. This year has been up and down, with a 21-6 record. He bounced back after four consecutive losses and has been in the top 10 all year of a very difficult 157-pound weight class. He has a legitimate chance to win at the NCAA championships on March 21-23.

We finish talking right as Taylor comes back into the living room. We’d planned to have an early dinner at a local Indian place, so I thought maybe they’d want to go now. But Robb and Taylor need to push it back an hour. They have something very important to do first.

“Greta needs a walk,” Robb says.

Categories
Entertainment

Simon Guobadia Flirts W/ Influencer Amid Trolling Porsha Williams 

Less than three weeks since Porsha Williams filed for divorce, Simon Guobadia is on the prowl via the ‘gram! Fans of the estranged couple peeped Simon recently sliding into the comment section of fitness influencer Get Bodied By J.

As we last told y’all, Porsha filed to end their union on Feb. 22 after 15 months of marriage and two lavish ceremonies consisting of seven wardrobe changes! After PEOPLE broke the news of Porsha’s petition, she thanked her fans for the “prayers and support.” Meanwhile, her estranged hubby promised that he “will stop loving [his] wife when the divorce is final.”

RELATED: Porsha Williams & Simon Guobadia React To The ‘RHOA’ Star’s Divorce Petition

To the latest knowledge, the pair is still working out the divorce kinks in court. Yet, Simon has already turned a lil’ eye towards another baddie.

Simon Flirts With Fitness Influencer Bodied By J

As mentioned, fans of the couple pointed out that he’s been slipping and sliding all over the fitness influencer’s Instagram page. He’s also one of her 657,000+ followers — and Ms. Bodied is one of his.

On Mar. 11, Get Bodied By J shared a photo of her curvy body from an above angle. The abs and hips were giving, and Simon let the influencer know it! In addition to liking the post, he dropped three fire emojis in the comment section.

Simon has also dropped likes on the following three posts, including one made today (Tuesday) of the influencer in a white dress.

No telling what his intentions are, but what we can note is that Simon Guobadia likes what he sees!

Simon Recently Trolled Porsha Williams About Her “Truth”

While dropping complimentary emojis for the fitness influencer, Simon seems to have a different energy for his estranged wife.

On Mar. 11, Porsha shared a cryptic message via her Instagram Story. The post read, “If you keep telling your LIES
I will start speaking my TRUTH!” 

Though she didn’t name-drop her estranged hubby, he seemed to troll her after The Shade Room reposted her message.

Simon slid into TSR’s comment section, adding, “Can’t wait” with three popcorn bucket emojis.

Peep his clapback below. 

It’s unclear what TRUTH Porsha is referring to, but honesty — we know — is one characteristic she’s requested in their divorce process.

About two weeks ago, Porsha requested that Simon refrain from destroying, concealing, or altering any documents related to his finances. The update, reported by Page Six, demands he keep spares of “financial records or statements; all income records; all tax records; all expense records; all recordings or evidence reflecting relevant conduct by either party.”

Porsha Williams also wants their Nov. 2022 prenuptial agreement to be enforced and requests that Simon Guobadia cut the check for her legal fees!

Despite loving posts in the weeks leading to the divorce, Williams said in her petition that their union is “irretrievably broken” with “no prospects for a reconciliation.”

RELATED: Clock It! Tammy Rivera Tells Waka Flocka To Check His “Lil Girl” Girlfriend After Internet Claims They Were Shading Each Other
Categories
Technology

Mind stimulation tech wins €5M to battle melancholy at house

Depression affects approximately 280 million people all over the world, and disproportionately affects the female population — it is 50% more common in women than men. Treatments range from psychotherapy and lifestyle adjustments to antidepressants and more experimental concepts: brain stimulation therapies.

Sooma, a medtech startup based in Helsinki, Finland, is focused on the latter. The company has developed a portable brain stimulation device for Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS).

Its neuromodulation device is already the most prescribed tDCS therapy worldwide, with over 20,000 people having received treatment. Sooma announced today it has secured additional growth funding of €5mn to further develop the product and expand in new and existing markets.

What is tDCS for depression? 

tDCS is a form of neuromodulation (the process of regulating nervous system activity by controlling the physiological levels of neurons) that uses a low electrical current to stimulate specific parts of the brain.

So how exactly does wearing a swimming cap with electrodes alleviate depression symptoms? The mild electrical currents administered through the cap can influence the activity of specific brain cells, responsible for releasing neurotransmitters related to mood. In addition, a 2023 study published in Nature found that specific set-ups of tDCS generated more grey matter, key component of the brain’s neural tissue, in areas of the brain associated with loss of grey matter from depression.

Sooma was founded in 2013. Credit: Sooma

“Everyone battling depression deserves a chance at a brighter tomorrow,” said Tuomas Neuvonen, co-founder and CEO of Sooma. “We are dedicated to reaching especially those underserved by medication, or those with limited access to psychotherapy, ensuring everyone suffering from depression has access to the best possible care.”

While Sooma’s device may be used in the home, the treatment is prescription-only. Patients can use it as a stand-alone intervention, or in combination with other therapies. The system pairs with a digital platform that allows doctors to monitor how well patients follow the prescribed therapy, and adapt it to individual needs.

Fast-tracking FDA certification

The startup also wants to help bridge the mental health care gap in the US, following an FDA Breakthrough Device Designation. This is an identification that states that a device should receive expedited certification for patient access because of its potential to provide more effective treatment than the standard means of care.

Woman sitting on a sofa wearing brain stimulation devicePatients can administer the treatment by themselves at home. Credit: Sooma

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“Gaining FDA approval would not just open up the therapy for patients throughout the US but also serve as a stamp of approval for regulators around the globe,” Neuvonen said. In September last year, Sooma also became the first tDCS device manufacturer to receive European Medical Device Regulation certification.

The €5mn funding round was led by renowned Nordic early-stage investor Voima Ventures, who were joined by Singapore-based Verge HealthTech Fund, and existing investor Stephen Industries, a Helsinki-based family office investing in health tech and other impactful technology solutions.

Categories
Science

Aussie Inexperienced Get together Chief Used Non-public Jets, Expensed $1 Million to Taxpayers – Watts Up With That?

Aussie Greens Leader Adam Bandt flew a private jet to give a speech on the evils of fossil fuel.

How Greens leader Adam Bandt spent thousands on private jet flights while lecturing you about climate change

By DAVID SOUTHWELL FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

PUBLISHED: 12:25 AEDT, 12 March 2024 | UPDATED: 20:48 AEDT, 12 March 2024

Greens leader Adam Bandt has come under fire for racking up an expenses bill of almost $1million a year, including hundreds of thousands on printing and two private jet flights.

The anti-fossil fuel campaigner also claimed $12,000 on a taxpayer-provided vehicle and petrol allowance plus $29,000 on government COMCAR trips and taxis, according to figures from the Department of Finance.

Despite his party’s core policy of cutting C02 emissions Mr Bandt used two private jets during the 2022 election campaign, landing tax payers with the $23,000 bill.




Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13184903/How-Greens-leader-Adam-Bandt-spent-thousands-private-jet-flights-lecturing-climate-change.html

What can I say? Another green leader outed as a total hypocrite. Is this even news?

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Categories
Health

Eli Lilly Alzheimer’s drug FDA approval delayed

Eli Lilly headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana, US, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. Eli Lilly & Co.’s shares climbed in early US trading after its experimental drug for Alzheimer’s slowed the progress of the disease in a final-stage trial, paving the way for the company to apply for US approval.

AJ Mast | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Eli Lilly said Friday that the Food and Drug Administration has pushed back its approval decision deadline for the drugmaker’s experimental Alzheimer’s treatment donanemab in a surprise move.

The agency plans to call a last-minute meeting of its outside advisors to further review the treatment’s safety and efficacy in a late-stage trial, Eli Lilly said. The FDA has not disclosed the date of that meeting, so a potential approval would likely come after this month.

The FDA was expected to decide whether to greenlight the medicine by the end of the first quarter. That deadline was already delayed from an expected approval last year. 

Eli Lilly’s drug significantly slowed Alzheimer’s progression in a late-stage trial. But the treatment, along with similar drugs, carries safety concerns related to brain swelling and bleeding.

The agency’s decision to call for an advisory meeting reflects the high stakes of developing treatments for Alzheimer’s. The condition affects more than 6 million Americans and currently has no cure, leaving patients who have it with few effective care options. 

It’s another setback for Eli Lilly, which is racing to compete with Biogen and Eisai. Their treatment Leqembi won approval last year, becoming the first medicine proven to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s in people at the early stages of the memory-robbing disease. 

Both Leqembi’s and Eli Lilly’s drug are monoclonal antibodies that target buildups of a protein in the brain called amyloid plaque, which is considered a hallmark of the disease.

Eli Lilly called the delay “unexpected,” but said it is confident in donanemab’s “potential to offer very meaningful benefits to people with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease,” according to a release. 

“We will work with the FDA and the stakeholders in the community to make that presentation and answer all questions,” said Anne White, president of neuroscience at Eli Lilly, in a release.

Eli Lilly noted that while it is unusual for the FDA to hold an advisory panel meeting after a set action date, the agency has convened similar meetings for two other amyloid plague-targeting therapies that it previously approved.

The FDA often turns to an advisory panel for advice on whether an unapproved product is safe and effective.

The agency usually follows the recommendations of its advisors, but isn’t required to. In 2021, the FDA approved an earlier, ill-fated Alzheimer’s drug called Aduhelm from Biogen and Eisai, despite a negative recommendation from the agency’s advisory panel.

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The FDA will examine an 18-month phase 3 trial, which followed more than 1,700 patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s who had a confirmed presence of amyloid plaque. The agency is interested in understanding the safety results and how the trial’s “unique” design affected efficacy.

Eli Lilly’s study allowed patients to stop taking the drug once the amyloid plaques were shown to be cleared from the brain. Alzheimer’s drugs, including Leqembi, don’t have designated stopping points for patients.

Eli Lilly’s drug showed positive results in that trial. Patients who received the drug demonstrated a 35% slower decline in memory, thinking and their ability to perform daily activities compared with those who did not receive the treatment, data shows.

But 37% of people who took donanemab had brain swelling or bleeding, including three who died, according to the trial. That compares with around 15% of people who received a placebo. 

Those side effects have also been observed in Leqembi.

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