Tag: Days

Categories
Health

Marc Lewitinn, Covid Affected person, Dies at 76 After 850 Days on a Ventilator

Marc Lewitinn, Covid Patient, Dies at 76 After 850 Days on a Ventilator

None of them come close to Mr Levitinn’s streak, a combination, doctors say, of his physical and mental strength and the speed with which the medical establishment has developed protocols for long-term care for Covid.

“He had a long and difficult road,” wrote Dr. Abraham Sanders, one of his doctors at Weill Cornell, in an email. “He was a strong man and benefited from sophisticated medical care.”

Murad Albert Lewitinn was born on March 12, 1946 into a Jewish family in Cairo. (As a child, he anglicized his first name to Marco and later dropped the O.) His father, Albert Lewitinn, was a medical technician and his mother, Sarah (Amiga) Lewitinn, was a homemaker. He grew up speaking Arabic and later learned English, French and Spanish.

Egypt had a thriving Jewish community of 75,000, but after the Arab nationalist revolution in 1952 and the Suez Crisis in 1956, which pitted the country against Israel, France and Britain, they faced deteriorating conditions. The government took over the elderly Mr. Lewitinn’s business, and after a brief imprisonment, he and his family were expelled in 1958.

They settled in Baltimore, where Albert Lewitinn was hired by Johns Hopkins University to work on organ transplant technology.

As a young man, Marc lived in New York City and Los Angeles, where he briefly attended college, then in Paris, where he met Ondine Green, the sister of a childhood friend from Cairo. They married in 1968.

Categories
World News

Taliban Take Second Afghan Metropolis in Two Days

Taliban Take Second Afghan City in Two Days

KABUL, Afghanistan – Another provincial capital, the second in two days, nearly fell in Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said, this one in the north of the country, where a Taliban offensive has encircled several cities since international forces began in May, to retire.

The capital Sheberghan in Jowzjan Province collapsed less than 24 hours after the Taliban took over a provincial capital in southwest Afghanistan.

“The whole city has collapsed,” said the deputy governor of Jowzjan, Abdul Qader Malia. “Nothing is left.” On Saturday afternoon, government troops were still controlling the airport and army headquarters outside Sheberghan.

However, much of the province bordering Turkmenistan is now under the control of the Taliban.

The Taliban’s victories – and the defeats of the Afghan government – come despite continued American air support and are the result of an insurgent strategy that has overwhelmed and exhausted the Afghan government forces.

Sheberghan’s fall comes after the Taliban captured around 200 of the 400 or so districts in Afghanistan in the past few months – often without firing a shot. They penetrate deep into the north of the country, even though the region has a reputation for being an anti-Taliban stronghold and relatively safe.

The insurgent offensive has turned into a brutal urban struggle as Taliban fighters advanced into cities like Sheberghan and Kunduz in the north, Kandahar and Lashkar Gah in the south, and Herat in the west, and tens of thousands of civilians amid a desperate struggle for control. Hundreds were killed or wounded and many more were displaced.

On Friday, government forces in Sheberghan reportedly repelled the Taliban incursion after insurgents entered the city and attempted to raid government buildings such as the police headquarters and the prison. The number of civilian victims is unclear.

“The situation in the city is so scary,” said Matin Raufi, a Sheberghan resident. “We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

The Taliban returned on Saturday and penetrated deep into the city, despite desperate attempts by security forces to defend what was still theirs.

“The government troops have withdrawn to the army brigade and the airport, the two places that are still under their control, to regroup and plan counter-attacks against the Taliban,” said Mohammad Karim Jawzjani, member of parliament from Jowzjan.

Sheberghan is the hometown of Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum, a notorious warlord and former Afghan vice president who survived the last 40 years of war by cutting back and changing sides. It was long expected that Marshal Dostum would muster the same Uzbek militias that fought in the country’s civil war in the 1990s and helped overthrow the Taliban after the 2001 US invasion to serve as a bulwark against the group’s recent boom .

The Sheberghan case is evidence that, despite the resurgence of these militias – which the Afghan government advocates as a complement to its troops – these militias are currently unreliable when it comes to fighting the Taliban.

Marshal Dostum returned to Afghanistan in the past few days after weeks in Turkey – where he is resident and has close ties – to recover from health problems. The aging warlord has left much of his frontline duties to his son Yar Mohammad Dostum, who leads the fight against the Taliban on social media.

On Saturday, Marshal Dostum met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in the capital, Kabul, where Marshal Dostum pledged his continued support to the government’s security forces, according to a palace statement.

The warlord’s militias are only part of a kaleidoscope of armed groups that are regaining importance as American forces aim to complete their retreat by the end of August and the Afghan government tries to hold onto territory. The return of the militia is a terrifying throwback to the 1990s, when an ethnically charged civil war helped create the Taliban after the same armed groups brutalized civilians.

The fall of Sheberghan means the Taliban can now move their troops elsewhere, most likely to other besieged cities in the north. The same situation is playing out in southwest Afghanistan, where the insurgents captured Zaranj, the capital of Nimruz province, on Friday.

“Sheberghan and Zaranj can hardly be called cities given their small size, and although these are propaganda victories, the Taliban are still fighting to take the larger cities like Herat and Kandahar,” said Ibraheem Bahiss, an adviser to the International Crisis Group and a independent research analyst. “In these places they encounter considerable resistance and make sacrifices.”

Zaranj, known for its poor governance, lawlessness and illegal economy, will no doubt serve as the starting point for future Taliban operations in the west and south. This is especially true of the capital of neighboring Helmand Province, Lashkar Gah, which is dangerously close to collapse. Fierce fighting in recent days has left parts of the city to rubble and civilians killed.

This leaves the Afghan government few options in both provinces: counterattack and try to recapture the lost territory or relocate troops to another location to defend other besieged cities.

American air support, which is slated to last until the end of the month – or longer if the Pentagon gets permission to continue – is being launched from outside the country, meaning there are insufficient resources to defend every Afghan city attacked .

Categories
Health

Fauci’s 2,000 emails a day present how little U.S. officers knew within the early days of the Covid pandemic

Fauci's 2,000 emails a day show how little U.S. officials knew in the early days of the Covid pandemic

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Direktor am National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, nimmt an einer Anhörung des Gesundheits-, Bildungs-, Arbeits- und Rentenausschusses des US-Senats teil, um die COVID-19-Reaktion zu untersuchen, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf einem Update von Bundesbeamten auf dem Capitol Hill in Washington liegt , 18. März 2021.

Anna Geldmacherin | Schwimmbecken | Reuters

Am 12. April 2020 schickte ein Beamter der National Institutes of Health eine E-Mail an Dr. Anthony Fauci, den führenden Experten für Infektionskrankheiten des Landes, und den damaligen CDC-Direktor Dr. Robert Redfield, der sich über die zunehmenden Feindseligkeiten zwischen den USA und der Weltgesundheitsorganisation wegen des Coronavirus Sorgen machte Pandemie.

Dann drohte Präsident Donald Trump, der internationalen Gesundheitsorganisation die Finanzierung zu entziehen, weil sie „jeden Aspekt“ des Ausbruchs falsch gemacht hatte

„Ich bin besorgt über den jüngsten Kampf zwischen den USA und der WHO, weil er die aktuellen weltweiten Bemühungen zur Kontrolle der Ausbreitung von COVID-19 beeinträchtigen könnte“, heißt es in der E-Mail, die auch Fragen zur Genauigkeit des chinesischen Covid-19-Falls aufwirft und Daten zum Todesfall.

Fauci antwortete: „Diese Pandemie war für viele Länder auf der ganzen Welt, einschließlich China und den USA, eine extreme Herausforderung. Ich kann nur sagen, dass ich (und ich bin mir sicher, dass Bob Redfield genauso denkt) lieber nach vorne blicke und keine Schuld zuschreibe.“ oder Schuld.”

“Es liegen genug Probleme vor uns, die wir gemeinsam bewältigen müssen”, fügte er hinzu.

Notfallmediziner (EMT) heben einen Patienten, bei dem eine Coronavirus-Krankheit (COVID-19) festgestellt wurde, in einen Krankenwagen, während er Schutzkleidung trägt, während der Ausbruch der Coronavirus-Krankheit (COVID-19) in New York City, New York, andauert. USA, 26. März 2020.

Stefan Jeremiah | Reuters

E-Mails veröffentlicht

Die Nachricht des NIH-Beamten, dessen Name geschwärzt ist, wurde als Teil einer Sammlung von Tausenden von Faucis E-Mails aus der ersten Hälfte des Jahres 2020 veröffentlicht, die BuzzFeed News und andere Medien über das Informationsfreiheitsgesetz erhalten hatten. Als Direktor des Nationalen Instituts für Allergien und Infektionskrankheiten innerhalb der NIH stand Fauci im Mittelpunkt des Sturms.

Die ängstliche Note und Faucis ominöse Antwort veranschaulichen das Chaos des Augenblicks.

Covid-Fälle und Todesfälle in den USA hatten erschreckende neue Höchststände erreicht, seit Trump einen Monat zuvor die Pandemie zum nationalen Notstand erklärt hatte. Staatsoberhäupter hatten drakonische Sperrbefehle erlassen, die Millionen von Menschenleben auf den Kopf gestellt und einen wirtschaftlichen freien Fall ausgelöst haben. Tests, soziale Distanzierung und Kontaktverfolgung steckten in den Kinderschuhen, Krankenhäuser waren überfordert, wichtige Schutzausrüstungen wurden knapp und Impfstoffe mussten noch entwickelt werden.

US-Präsident Donald Trump erklärt die Coronavirus-Pandemie zu einem nationalen Notfall, während Vizepräsident Mike Pence und Gesundheitsminister Alex Azar während einer Pressekonferenz im Rosengarten des Weißen Hauses in Washington am 13. März 2020 zuhören.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Der Präsident, der im Januar und Februar Chinas Reaktion auf den Ausbruch des neu auftretenden Virus gelobt hatte, hatte seinen Ton scharf geändert, die WHO und Peking kritisiert und beide für die Krise verantwortlich gemacht.

Fauci hatte in den Tagen und Wochen vor der offiziellen Erklärung der WHO am 11. März 2020 E-Mails von Personen erhalten, die besagten, dass eine Pandemie wahrscheinlich sei.

Einige fragten ihn, ob sie große persönliche Veranstaltungen absagen sollten, während andere Ideen für mögliche Behandlungen und Lösungen für den Ausbruch ausspuckten. Einige fragten, ob er der Meinung sei, dass die Amerikaner angemessen vorbereitet seien.

2.000 E-Mails pro Tag

Fauci bewies Geduld, Diplomatie und Fleiß in seinen oft nächtlichen Antworten an hochrangige US-Beamte, berühmte Künstler und normale Menschen. Die E-Mails zeigen auch den enormen physischen und manchmal emotionalen Tribut, den die Pandemie von Fauci forderte, der unter einer manchmal unzusammenhängenden Reaktion unter der Trump-Administration zu einer der vertrauenswürdigsten Informationsquellen zu Covid-19 geworden war.

Am 18. Februar 2020 erhielt Fauci eine E-Mail von einem scheinbar alten Bekannten, der fragte, ob er am Wochenende zu einem möglichen Treffen in der Stadt sei. Fauci entschuldigte sich, schrieb, dass er keine Verbindung herstellen könne und fragte, ob sie sich ein anderes Mal treffen könnten, während er ununterbrochen arbeitete.

„Das Weiße Haus und HHS haben mich rund um die Uhr, einschließlich Samstag und Sonntag, mit der Coronavirus-Krise beschäftigt. Ich habe meine Frau … in den letzten 10 Tagen insgesamt etwa 45 Minuten lang gesehen“, schrieb er. “Ich hoffe, dass du verstehst.”

Anthony Fauci, Direktor des National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Center, spricht, während US-Vizepräsident Mike Pence (rechts) und Deborah Birx, Koordinatorin der Coronavirus-Reaktion, während einer Pressekonferenz im Besprechungsraum des Weißen Hauses in Washington zuhören. DC, USA, am Montag, 2. März 2020.

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Bis Ende März, als die USA etwas mehr als 153.000 Covid-Fälle hatten, entschuldigte sich Fauci dafür, dass er so lange gebraucht hatte, um zu einem anderen alten Freund zurückzukehren, und sagte, er erhalte mehr als 2.000 E-Mails pro Tag. In einer separaten E-Mail einige Tage später an Dr. J. Larry Jameson, einen Arztkollegen an der University of Pennsylvania, sagte Fauci, er sei „völlig überfordert“ und bekomme „3 bis 4 Stunden Schlaf pro Nacht“.

Hilfsangebote

Seine E-Mails sind gespickt mit Pitches von Leuten mit sehr unterschiedlichem Fachwissen, die ihre besten Vermutungen zum Umgang mit der anhaltenden Krise abgeben.

Eine Person, die sich Anfang März meldete und sich selbst als „weder Arzt noch Wissenschaftler“ bezeichnete, schlug vor, dass die Regierung US-Erwachsene anderen bekannten und „weniger tödlichen“ Coronaviren aussetzt, um zu versuchen, ein gewisses Maß an Immunität gegen das neue Virus zu entwickeln.

Fauci antwortete um 22.50 Uhr: “Danke für Ihren Hinweis. AS Fauci.”

Quilter Ami Simms hat sich Mitte März gemeldet, um dem NIH ihre Dienste bei der Herstellung eines Musters für Gesichtsmasken anzubieten. Sie sagte, sie habe in der Vergangenheit Quilter für andere Zwecke mobilisiert und es gab “Millionen von Kanalisationen, die sich freuen würden, jetzt zu helfen und zu helfen”. Fauci leitete die E-Mail an Dr. Andrea Lerner, eine Top-Ärztin seiner Agentur, weiter.

Frau mit hausgemachter Gesichtsmaske

Isabel Pavia | Moment | Getty Images

Seine Antworten zeigen, dass die Eingabe, die den Posteingang verstopft, nicht immer willkommen war.

„Bitte lesen Sie dies und finden Sie heraus, worüber er spricht, und handeln Sie nach Ihrem Ermessen“, schrieb Fauci in einer E-Mail vom 7. ” zur Covid-Erkennung.

„Heute Abend sind nur noch 498 E-Mails zu versenden“, fügte Fauci hinzu.

Die vielfältigen Ratschläge und Fragen, die Fauci in diesen ersten Monaten erhielt, zeigten, wie viel führende US-amerikanische und internationale Wissenschaftler, einschließlich Fauci selbst, zu Beginn der Pandemie nicht über Covid wussten.

Unheimliche Frühwarnungen

Die Frage nach Masken kam früh und oft auf, und einige von Faucis Ratschlägen erwiesen sich später als falsch.

In einer E-Mail vom 5. Februar 2020 an die Präsidentin der American University, Sylvia Burwell, die unter dem ehemaligen Präsidenten Barack Obama als HHS-Sekretärin tätig war, riet Fauci ihr davon ab, am Flughafen eine Maske zu tragen. “Die typische Maske, die Sie in der Drogerie kaufen, ist nicht wirklich effektiv, um das Virus fernzuhalten, das klein genug ist, um das Material zu durchdringen”, schrieb er.

Fußgänger, die Schutzmasken tragen, um die Ausbreitung eines tödlichen Virus zu stoppen, das in der chinesischen Stadt Wuhan begann, gehen am 25.

Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty Images

Der chinesische Immunologe George Gao wandte sich Ende März an Fauci, um sich für die Kritik an der US-Maskenpolitik zu entschuldigen. „Wie konnte ich so ein Wort ‚großer Fehler‘ über andere sagen? Das war die Formulierung des Journalisten. Ich hoffe, Sie verstehen“, schrieb Gao am 28. März.

Die USA würden ihre Maskenrichtlinien erst im Juli ändern.

Einige der E-Mail-Ketten erwiesen sich auch als unheimlich prophetisch.

Der Kolumnist der Washington Post, Michael Gerson, wandte sich am 2. März 2020 an Fauci, als es in den USA 91 bestätigte Fälle gab, und sagte, NIH-Direktor Dr. Francis Collins habe ihm gesagt, dass 5 bis 20 % des Landes mit Covid infiziert sein könnten.

“Eine Pandemie erscheint jetzt wahrscheinlich”, sagte er. “Abhängig von der Sterblichkeitsrate könnte dies zu Hunderttausenden von Todesfällen führen”, schrieb er. Fauci sagte, er habe Recht. Selbst wenn die Sterblichkeit bei 1% lag und nur 5% der US-Bevölkerung sie bekam, “könnten wir ein paar hunderttausend Tote haben”, antwortete er um 6:11 Uhr

Wuhan Institut für Virologie

Eine E-Mail vom 1. Februar von Faucis stellvertretendem Direktor am Nationalen Institut für Allergien und Infektionskrankheiten, Hugh Auchincloss, zeigt an, dass die Agentur versuchte festzustellen, ob sie an der sogenannten Funktionsgewinnforschung am Wuhan Institute of Virology beteiligt war. Das Labor wurde seitdem ins Rampenlicht der Debatte über die Ursprünge des Virus gerückt, nachdem Medienberichte aufgetaucht waren, dass mindestens drei Forscher dort im November 2019 an einer Covid-ähnlichen Infektion genug erkrankt waren, um sich in ein Krankenhaus zu begeben.

Während des Besuchs des Teams der Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO), das mit der Untersuchung der Ursprünge der Coronavirus-Krankheit (COVID-19) beauftragt ist, am 3. Februar 2021 in Wuhan, Provinz Hubei, China, halten Sicherheitspersonal Wache vor dem Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Thomas Peter | Reuters

Fauci hatte Auchincloss eine 2015 in Nature Medicine veröffentlichte Studie mit dem Titel „Ein SARS-ähnlicher Cluster von zirkulierenden Fledermaus-Coronaviren zeigt Potenzial für die Entstehung des Menschen“ geschickt. Die Studie wurde teilweise vom NIAID finanziert und hatte mehrere Autoren, meist von renommierten US-Institutionen. Einer von ihnen war jedoch am Wuhan-Institut ansässig, wo Forscher den umstrittenen Forschungsstil verwendeten, der einen Krankheitserreger aufnimmt und ihn tödlicher oder ansteckender macht, um Wege zu seiner Bekämpfung zu untersuchen.

“In dem Papier, das Sie mir geschickt haben, heißt es, dass die Experimente vor der Verstärkung der Funktionspause durchgeführt wurden, aber seitdem vom NIH überprüft und genehmigt wurden. Ich bin mir nicht sicher, was das bedeutet, da Emily sicher ist, dass keine Coronavirus-Arbeit das P3-Framework durchlaufen hat. Sie wird es versuchen.” um festzustellen, ob wir entfernte Verbindungen zu dieser Arbeit im Ausland haben.”

US-Präsident Joe Biden sagte im vergangenen Monat, er habe den US-Geheimdiensten befohlen, sich eingehend mit den Ursprüngen von Covid zu befassen, und sagte, es sei ebenso wahrscheinlich, dass es aus der Natur hervorgegangen oder aus einem Labor durchgesickert sei.

Fauci der Frauenschwarm

Als angesehener Experte für Infektionskrankheiten in wissenschaftlichen Kreisen, machten Faucis hochkarätige Rolle und sein sachlicher Stil als führende Autorität in der Pandemie ihn zu einem bekannten Namen – und zu einer widerstrebenden Popkultur-Ikone, wie seine E-Mails zeigen.

„Ich hätte mir das nicht einmal ausdenken können“, schrieb Fauci am 10. April über einen Artikel in The Atlantic, in dem er seinen schnellen Aufstieg zum „Herzenschwarm“ -Status inmitten der Pandemie beschrieb.

Brad Pitt als Dr. Anthony Fauci bei den “Fauci Cold Open” bei “Saturday Night Live” am 25. April 2020.

ABC | NBCUniversal | Getty Images

“Unsere Gesellschaft ist wirklich total verrückt”, schrieb Fauci als Reaktion auf einen ähnlichen Artikel, der “Fauci Fever” und die Online-“Sexualisierung” des heute 80-jährigen Virologen dokumentiert.

Sein Gesicht war auf Kleidung, Essen und Getränken eingebrannt, und er wurde ständig sowohl in den Nachrichten- als auch in den Unterhaltungsmedien erwähnt. Fauci reagierte in einer E-Mail vom 31. März auf einen Artikel der Washington Post über seine „Kultgefolgschaft“ und nannte ihn „wirklich surrealistisch“.

“Hoffentlich hört das alles bald auf”, schrieb Fauci. Er fügte in einem Follow-up hinzu: “Es ist überhaupt nicht angenehm, das ist sicher.”

Aber die Aufzeichnungen zeigen, dass Fauci von mindestens einer Darstellung von ihm geschmeichelt wurde: Brad Pitts Version von Saturday Night Live. “Pitt war unglaublich”, schrieb Fauci am 27. April an einen Kollegen. “Ein Rezensent der SNL-Show sagte, dass Pitt ‘genau wie ich’ aussah. Diese Aussage hat mein Jahr gemacht.”

“Jetzt haben Sie auch die Antwort darauf, wer Sie in dem Film spielen würde”, antwortete Tara Schwetz, die stellvertretende Direktorin des NIH. Fauci frönte der Idee: “Du könntest die Rolle meiner Freundin vom Medizinstudium spielen, was dir die Möglichkeit geben würde, mit Brad Pitt zusammenzuarbeiten.”

Categories
Politics

E-Waste disavows inventory value days after $100 million New Jersey deli firm does identical

$100 million New Jersey deli company owner kills consulting deal with shareholder

Hometown deli, Paulsboro, NJ

Mike Calia | CNBC

Shell company E-Waste Corp. rejected its own sky-high market valuation of $ 106 million on Monday, three days after an identical move by the mysterious company that owns only one small deli in New Jersey.

The deli company Hometown International has multiple links with E-Waste, which has no actual business operations.

Both companies are thinly traded on the over-the-counter market at best.

The successive denials of their respective market capitalizations in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission came after more than two weeks of articles from CNBC setting out legal and regulatory issues relating to individuals and organizations related to Hometown International and E-Waste.

Maso Capital, a Hong Kong-based company, continues to seek to position both companies as vehicles for acquisition by privately held companies in order to be publicly traded in the US stock markets.

In its filing with the SEC on Monday, E-Waste’s management stated that it “is opposed to the price of its publicly listed shares in the OTC markets under the symbol” EWST. “

“Management has no basis for basing the company’s stock price on its earnings or assets,” it says in a language consistent with the filing made by Hometown International last Friday.

Last week, both Hometown International and E-Waste entered into advisory agreements on the same day with a North Carolina company controlled by the Hometown chairman’s father.

The moves quoting the “recent negative press” were praised by Maso Capital founder Manoj Jain. He said, “We look forward to both public companies moving forward with their stated acquisition plans.”

E-Waste raised $ 2.5 million last month from several institutional investors in a private placement offering, according to the announcement filed on Monday.

“Management announced that the proceeds from this private placement would be used for working capital and general corporate purposes to seek, investigate, and, if appropriate, operate a business combination with a private company whose business presents an opportunity for the company’s shareholders,” said the filing.

The filing was signed by E-Waste President John Rollo, whose company reported a net loss of nearly $ 58,000 for the past nine months in November.

66-year-old Rollo, a Grammy-awarded sound engineer, worked as a patient truck in a New Jersey hospital last year.

According to the OTC Markets Group, E-Waste’s share price closed at $ 8.50 per share on Monday with no business in the pink market.

With 12.5 million shares outstanding, E-Waste has a market capitalization of $ 106.25 million.

Hometown International’s stock, also traded on the Pink Market, closed at $ 13.40 per share, with just 2,866 of the nearly 7.8 million outstanding common shares trading in trading.

This share price gives the company a market capitalization of $ 97.85 million. That’s many times the combined revenue of just $ 35,000 in his hometown Deli in Paulsboro, New Jersey, for the past two years.

On April 21, OTC Markets Group downgraded Hometown International from the more prestigious OTCQB platform to its pink market due to “irregularities” in its public announcements. The stock also had a “buyers watch out” label affixed to it by OTC Markets, which CNBC told CNBC at the time that it was also reviewing E-Waste’s financial reports.

It remains unclear why anyone – either close to either company or not – would have paid a lot for both stocks in the past year, let alone updated them from their current valuations, given that they didn’t have any significant business.

Both companies have stated bluntly in their public statements that there is no guarantee that they can survive in their current condition.

E-waste was supposedly created to start an e-waste recycling business in 2012. However, these efforts have ceased and no revenue has been reported for years.

A key figure associated with both companies is Peter Coker Sr., the father of Hometown International Chairman Peter Coker Jr. The elder Coker is an investor in Hometown International.

Last year after a Macau, China-based company called Global Equity Limited bought 6 million restricted shares in E-Waste, a controlling interest, E-Waste’s registration and phone number were moved to Coker Sr.’s Carrboro office , North Carolina. and started paying $ 250 a month for a one-year lease there.

Global Equity is also the largest shareholder in Hometown International.

E-Waste began paying $ 2,500 per month to Tryon Capital from Coker Sr. under an advisory agreement last year.

And Coker Sr. has personally loaned E-Waste $ 255,000 at an annual rate of 8%, according to financial reports. Tryon Capital also raised an additional $ 15,000 per month from an advisory agreement with Hometown International.

These consultancy contracts were terminated last week after CNBC reviewed the agreements.

In late November, E-Waste Hometown International issued a $ 150,000 bond at a rate of at least 6% per annum. This emerges from an SEC filing. This notice indicates that Hometown International loaned this amount to the Shell company.

The promissory note was recognized by Paul Morina, CEO of Hometown International, who is the director of Paulsboro High School, whose prestigious wrestling team he also coaches.

Hometown deli, Paulsboro, NJ

Mike Calia | CNBC

Categories
Politics

To Promote His Infrastructure Plan, Biden Revisits ‘Amtrak Joe’ Days

To Promote His Infrastructure Plan, Biden Revisits ‘Amtrak Joe’ Days

PHILADELPHIA – President Biden returned Friday to a place almost as tied to his identity as his decades-long quest for presidency: an Amtrak station.

This time, however, Mr. Biden did not launch a presidential campaign from the back of a train in Wilmington, Delaware, as he did in 1987. He barely had time to meet with commuters, a daily tradition during his decades in the Senate.

And he flew into town on Air Force One.

“I’ve ridden an Amtrak for almost as long as there has been an Amtrak,” said Mr Biden from a podium at the freight yard celebrating 50 years of rail transport, remembering a conductor named Angelo holding it Called “Joey”, baby! “and squeeze his cheeks.

The president came to Philadelphia to come up with his $ 2 trillion infrastructure proposal that critics believe is too big. He spent on a variety of topics, including broadband and care for the elderly and disabled, and projects aimed at tackling racial differences. His appearance on Friday was a message to Republicans that his plan includes lots of money for more traditional projects like railroads and bridges.

Mr Biden’s economic proposal includes $ 80 billion in funding for railroad projects, including improvements to the busy Amtrak corridor from Washington to Boston and expanding the service to 160 communities, including Las Vegas, Nashville, Atlanta and Houston .

The agency typically receives nearly $ 2 billion in annual Congressional funding. The Republicans have countered with $ 20 billion in railroad investments.

The president spent much of his pitch thinking about his connection with Amtrak.

He started traveling by train in the earliest days of the patched federal railroad in the 1970s, when he drove home to Delaware every night to look after his two sons, Hunter and Beau, after his wife and young daughter were killed in a car had been crash.

Many politicians have emphasized their daily origins. (The picture of Abraham Lincoln as a rail splinter was an early publicity campaign.) Mr. Biden earned his nickname as “Amtrak Joe” because he made an estimated 8,000 round-trip trips on the route. He would often sit in a window seat reading the newspaper in the morning light on the way to the Capitol.

He spoke to others, including Gregg Weaver, a retired Amtrak worker whose son Blake Weaver called the president “one of Amtrak’s most frequent drivers” on Friday.

Gregg Weaver said Mr. Biden always asked about his children and parents.

He was “just another passenger on the train,” said Weaver.

But Mr Biden offered some perks. He was going to invite some Amtrak employees to his Delaware home for Christmas parties. When he started driving with an entourage of the President, he often apologized to fellow travelers for the lack of space and admonished reporters who blocked the way to the seats.

Mr Biden was quick to remind the crowd of Amtrak staff, congressmen and local officials that Friday’s trip was not his first visit to William H. Gray III’s 30th Street Station.

“It’s likely because I took the late train back from Washington and slept through the stop in Delaware,” he said. “I’ve only done it about four times.”

Mr Biden also referred to his history in defending rail transport in the Senate. When the Bush administration proposed a restructuring of Amtrak, which would have relied on states to make up some of their deficit, he called it “cockamamie”.

In 2016, he announced a federal loan to fund a new high-speed Acela. One such train was stationed behind him when he spoke on Friday.

He had even planned to recreate his 90-minute trip from Wilmington to Washington for his swearing-in as president, but this was canceled for security reasons.

Just like this week in his first address to a joint congressional session, Mr Biden emphasized how investing would not only fight climate change but also create jobs. In his speech to Congress, he appealed directly to workers, saying 90 percent of the jobs created under his plan would not require a college degree.

On Friday, Mr Biden said it would be good for the environment to encourage more people to drive Amtrak instead of driving cars or trucks. The plan to expand the service would also connect big cities and job opportunities to underserved communities, he argued.

“It will create jobs and it will also add jobs,” said the president. “This means cities that were in danger of being left out and left behind are back in the game.”

However, Mr. Biden’s attempts to expand Amtrak lines will face challenges. A growing debate about restoring service between Mobile, Ala. And New Orleans could be a preview.

The White House says increased service will help reverse construction projects that have created racial differences. But in Mobile, a city councilor, Joel Daves, said that any city money spent on upgrading rail transport in the Gulf Coast Corridor only funded a “joy ride for the wealthy.”

Rail freight companies, which own much of the United States’ railroad tracks, have also argued with Amtrak over concerns that sharing the track could hurt its business. Amtrak’s petition to restore service is before the Surface Transportation Board.

“President Biden sees the importance of connectivity that passenger transport brings to cities and towns,” said John Robert Smith, former Amtrak chairman. “If the impasse between the interests of the freight railroad and the pursuit of passenger railways is not resolved, the comprehensive vision of a party for the passenger railroad is not a vision but a hallucination.”

Jim Mathews, executive director of the Rail Passengers Association, an advocacy group, said in an interview that Mr Biden’s support would boost Congress “to address transformative discussions.”

But on Friday, Mr. Biden did not return to Washington to stand up for lawmakers. After his speech, he commuted to Delaware – this time not on the train, but in a presidential motorcade.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs reported from Philadelphia and Pranshu Verma from Washington.

Categories
World News

Why Did the Couple Marry four Occasions in 37 Days?

Why Did the Couple Marry 4 Times in 37 Days?

In Taiwan, one of the few places in the world that offers marital leave to couples who go to the altar, a bank clerk married his partner on April 6, 2020.

They were divorced days later on April 16.

Then they married again the next day.

Another divorce and third marriage followed on April 28 and 29.

After a third divorce on May 11th, they were married for the fourth time on May 12th.

It was all a conspiracy to use the self-governing island’s release policy for couples getting married – eight days vacation – the man’s employer, a Taipei bank, said on public records.

The bank declined to approve the man’s request for paid time off beyond the eight days required for his first marriage. This prompted him to file a complaint with the Ministry of Labor for violations of vacation entitlements. The bank was fined $ 700 last October but appealed the fine in February claiming the employee had abused his rights.

After much public debate, Taipei City Labor Department head Chen Hsin-Yu announced last week that the bank’s fine would be lifted. The bank, the man and the woman were not identified (the name of the bank was redacted in public documents). But the couple’s rapid succession of marriages and divorces stunned officials.

“I am stunned,” Taipei Deputy Mayor Huang Shan-shan wrote on Facebook last week. “The law exists for people and not for exploitation, profit or harm. Of course, enforcing the law is important, but not knowing when to be flexible is the real disaster! “She added.

The case has also messed up labor authorities in capital Taipei, raising questions about how easy it is to take advantage of marriage vacation policies. In a statement, Ms. Chen, the labor officer, urged the officers not to lose sight of common sense.

“Although my colleagues had studied the labor laws seriously, they had not made a breakthrough about whether the bank clerk had abused his rights.” Ms. Chen added, “Instead, they dug into the black hole to see if the marriage was real.”

Marital leave was introduced in Taiwan as part of other employment benefits, such as holidays and paid time off for sickness and grief, when the island’s labor laws were introduced in 1984, said Chiou Jiunn-yann, professor of labor law at Taiwan Chinese University of Culture.

“Traditionally, Asian regions have placed great emphasis on families, and since ancient times in China, getting married has been seen as the first step in starting a family,” he said in a telephone interview. He added that traditional wedding customs could be time consuming. “When the Labor Standards Act was drafted,” he said, “this” marital leave “was included.”

The marriage leave set out in Taiwan’s Labor Code is generous compared to the few other jurisdictions around the world that offer such leave. Malta offers two working days. Vietnam allows three days for one’s own marriage and one day for a child’s wedding. In China, the length of the vacation varies depending on the region: most offer at least three days, but Shanxi Province offers 30 days.

Taiwanese marriage leave does not set quotas for those who take it, nor does it limit the frequency with which workers can take leave. Eligibility is simply renewed for each marriage, including those who marry repeatedly. (Compared to marital leave, employees receive five days of parental leave.)

“The worker has the right to leave if he remarries,” said Chen Kun-Hung, the chief labor standards officer in the Taipei City government.

The sentence imposed on the bank was lifted after the case was brought up by local news outlets, which fueled public debate, he added. “The public believed that there were concerns about the abuse of labor rights, and the abuse has not been regulated by law or discussed by the central government to clarify the situation,” he said in a telephone interview on Thursday.

Professor Chiou added that the government should consider appropriate measures to ensure fairness to both employers and employees.

“If there is no plan to solve this, there is no guarantee that there won’t be someone playing this type of game with you 365 days a year,” he said.

Categories
Business

Amazon’s Clashes With Labor: Days of Battle and Management

Amazon’s Clashes With Labor: Days of Conflict and Control

In the past few weeks, there has been a heated discussion on Twitter about whether Amazon employees have to urinate in bottles because they don’t have time to go to the bathroom – a level of control few modern companies would dare to practice.

“Amazon is reorganizing the nature of retail work – something that is traditionally physically undemanding and has a large amount of downtime – into something that resembles a factory that never wears off,” said Spencer Cox, a former Amazon employee who writes his Ph .D. Thesis at the University of Minnesota on how the company is transforming work. “For Amazon, it’s not about money. This is about controlling the workers’ bodies and every possible moment of their time. “

Amazon had no comment on this story.

Signs that Amazon is putting more pressure on its control are mounting. In February, Lovenia Scott, a former warehouse worker for the Vacaville, Calif., Company accused Amazon in a lawsuit of “doing such an immense amount of work” that she and her colleagues were given no breaks. Ms. Scott is seeking class action status. Amazon didn’t respond to a request for comment on the suit.

Last month, the California labor officer said 718 delivery drivers who worked for Green Messengers, a Southern California contractor for Amazon, owed $ 5 million in wages that never made it to their wallets. Drivers were paid for 10-hour days, the labor commissioner said, but the volume of parcels was so large that they often had to work 11 or more hours and through breaks.

Amazon said it no longer works with Green Messengers and would appeal the decision. Green messengers could not be reached for comment.

An Amazon warehouse in the Canadian province of Ontario showed a rapid spread of Covid-19 in March. “Our investigation found that a shutdown was needed to break the chain of transmission,” said Dr. Lawrence Loh, the regional medical officer. “We gave Amazon our recommendation.” The company, he said, “didn’t answer.” Health officials ordered workers to self-isolate and close the facility for two weeks. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment on the situation.

And five US senators wrote a letter to the company last month asking for more information on why it fitted its vans with surveillance cameras that constantly monitor the driver. The technology, the senators said, “raises important questions about privacy and worker surveillance that Amazon needs to answer.”

Categories
Business

He Constructed a $10 Billion Funding Agency. It Fell Aside in Days.

He Built a $10 Billion Investment Firm. It Fell Apart in Days.

Until recently, Bill Hwang sat on one of the greatest – and perhaps least known – fortunes on Wall Street. Then his luck ran out.

Mr. Hwang, a 57-year-old veteran investor, managed $ 10 billion through his private investment firm Archegos Capital Management. He borrowed billions of dollars from Wall Street banks to build huge positions in some American and Chinese stocks. By mid-March, Mr. Hwang was the financial force behind $ 20 billion worth of ViacomCBS stock. This made him the largest single institutional shareholder in the media company. Few knew of his overall exposure as the shares were held primarily through complex financial instruments called derivatives, created by the banks.

That all changed in late March after ViacomCBS’s shares fell sharply and lenders began demanding their money. When Archegos couldn’t pay, they confiscated its assets and sold them, resulting in one of the biggest implosions for an investment firm since the 2008 financial crisis.

Almost overnight, Mr. Hwang’s personal wealth dwindled. It’s a story as old as Wall Street itself, where the right combination of ambition, skill, and timing can generate fantastic profits – only to collapse in a moment when conditions change.

“This whole matter is an indication of the loose regulatory environment in recent years,” said Charles Geisst, a Wall Street historian. “Archegos was able to hide its identity from regulators using the best example of shadow trading through banks.”

The collapse of Mr. Hwang’s company had ripples. Two of his bank lenders have reported losses in the billions. At ViacomCBS, the share price has halved within a week. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a preliminary investigation into Archegos, two people familiar with the matter, and market observers are calling for closer scrutiny of family offices like Mr. Hwangs – the wealthy’s private investment vehicles that control an estimated trillion dollars in assets. Others are calling for more transparency in the market for the types of derivatives being sold to Archegos.

Mr. Hwang declined to comment on the article.

It’s a proverbial American story from rags to riches. Born in South Korea, Hwang moved to Las Vegas in 1982 as a high school student. He spoke little English and his first job was as a cook at a McDonald’s on the Strip. Within a year his father, a pastor, had died. He and his mother moved to Los Angeles, where he studied economics at the University of California at Los Angeles, but was distracted by the excitement of nearby Santa Monica, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills.

“I always blame people who started UCLA in such a beautiful neighborhood,” he said in a 2019 speech to parishioners for the Promise International Fellowship, a church in Flushing, Queens. “I couldn’t go to school that often, to be honest.”

He barely graduated, he said, with a Masters of Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He then worked for about six years at a South Korean financial services company in New York and finally got a plum job as an investment advisor for Julian Robertson, the respected stock investor whose Tiger Management, founded in 1980, was considered a pioneer of hedge funds.

After Mr. Robertson closed the New York Fund to outside investors in 2000, he helped found Mr. Hwang’s own hedge fund, Tiger Asia, which was focused and growing rapidly in Asian stocks, and at one point managed $ 3 billion for outside investors Investors.

Mr. Hwang was known to swing big. He made big, focused bets on stocks in South Korea, Japan, China and elsewhere, using copious amounts of borrowed money or leverage to add to his returns or destroy his positions.

He was more humble in his personal life. The house he and his wife Becky bought in an upscale suburb of Tenafly, New Jersey, is worth about $ 3 million – modest by Wall Street standards. A religious man, Mr. Hwang founded the Grace and Mercy Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit that sponsors Bible reading and religious book clubs, growing its net worth from $ 70 million to $ 500 million in less than a decade. The foundation has donated tens of millions of dollars to Christian organizations.

“He gives ridiculous amounts,” said John Bai, co-founder and managing partner of equity research firm Fundstrat Global Advisors, who has known Mr. Hwang for about three decades. “But he does it in a very humble, humble, not boastful way.”

In business today

Updated

April 2, 2021, 3:58 p.m. ET

However, he took risks in his investment approach and his company violated regulators. In 2008, Tiger Asia lost money when the investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy at the height of the financial crisis. The next year, Hong Kong regulators accused the fund of using confidential information obtained to trade some Chinese stocks.

In 2012, Mr. Hwang reached a civil settlement with US securities regulators in a separate insider trading investigation and was fined $ 44 million. That same year, Tiger Asia pleaded guilty to federal insider trading fees in the same investigation and returned money to its investors. Mr. Hwang was banned from managing public funds for at least five years. The supervisory authorities officially lifted the ban last year.

Shortly after Tiger Asia closed, Mr. Hwang Archegos, named after the Greek word for leader or prince, opened. The new company, which invested in both US and Asian stocks, resembled a hedge fund, but its assets consisted entirely of the personal assets of Mr. Hwang and certain family members. The deal protected Archegos from regulatory scrutiny due to a lack of public investors.

Goldman Sachs, who had loaned him to Tiger Asia, initially refused to deal with Archegos. JPMorgan Chase, another prime broker or large retail company lender, also stayed away. But as the company grew, eventually reaching more than $ 10 billion in net worth, its lure became irresistible to someone familiar with the size of its holdings. Archegos traded stocks on two continents, and banks could charge substantial fees for the deals they helped create.

Goldman later changed course and became a prime broker for the company alongside Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley in 2020. Nomura also worked with him. JPMorgan refused.

Earlier this year, Mr. Hwang had loved a handful of stocks: ViacomCBS, which had high hopes for its emerging streaming service; Discovery, another media company; and Chinese stocks, including e-cigarette company RLX Technologies and education company GSX Techedu.

ViacomCBS traded at around $ 12 a little over a year ago and rose to around $ 50 by January. Mr. Hwang continued to amass his stake, said people familiar with his trading, through complex positions he arranged with banks called “swaps,” which gave him economic exposure and returns – but not actual ownership – the share provided.

By mid-March, when the stock moved toward $ 100, Mr. Hwang had become the single largest institutional investor in ViacomCBS, according to these individuals and a New York Times analysis of public filings. People valued the position at $ 20 billion. However, since Archegos’ stake was backed by borrowed money, it had to pay the banks to cover the losses or be quickly wiped out if ViacomCBS shares unexpectedly reversed.

On Monday March 22nd, ViacomCBS announced plans to sell new shares to the public. The deal hoped to generate $ 3 billion in new cash to fund its strategic plans. Morgan Stanley carried out the deal. When bankers wooed the investing community, they reckoned that Mr. Hwang would be the anchor investor who would buy at least $ 300 million of the stock, said four people involved in the offer.

But sometime between the announcement of the deal and its closing on Wednesday morning, Mr. Hwang changed his plans. The reasons are not entirely clear, but RLX, the Chinese e-cigarette company, and GSX, the education company, had developed in Asian markets around the same time. His decision resulted in ViacomCBS’s fundraiser ending up with $ 2.65 billion in new capital, well below the original target.

ViacomCBS executives were unaware of Mr. Hwang’s tremendous impact on the company’s share price, nor that he had canceled plans to invest in the stock offering until two people close to ViacomCBS said it was closed. They were frustrated to hear about it, people said. At the same time, investors who had received a higher-than-expected participation in the new share offering and discovered that it fell short, sold the share, which lowered the price even further. (Morgan Stanley declined to comment.)

On Thursday March 25th, Archegos was in critical condition. ViacomCBS’s falling share price triggered “margin calls” or demands for additional cash or assets from its prime brokers, which the company was unable to meet in full. Hoping to buy time, Archegos convened a meeting with its lenders and asked for patience while it quietly unloaded assets, said a person close to the company.

These hopes were dashed. Sensing the impending failure, Goldman began selling Archegos’ assets the next morning, followed by Morgan Stanley to get their money back. Other banks soon followed.

When ViacomCBS stock hit the market that Friday due to the massive sales by the banks, Mr. Hwang’s fortune plummeted. Credit Suisse, which acted too slowly to calm the damage, announced the possibility of substantial losses. Nomura announced losses of up to $ 2 billion. Goldman finished dissolving his position but made no loss, said a person familiar with the matter. ViacomCBS stock has fallen more than 50 percent since its peak on March 22nd.

Mr. Hwang calmed down and only made a brief statement describing this as a “challenging time” for Archegos.

Kitty Bennett contributed to the research.

Categories
World News

Dozens Gunned Down in One in every of Myanmar’s Bloodiest Days Since Coup

Dozens Gunned Down in One of Myanmar’s Bloodiest Days Since Coup

At a military parade on Saturday, the general, who led the overthrow of the civilian government in Myanmar last month, said the army was determined to “protect people from all dangers”.

Before the day was over, security forces under his command had shot dead a 5-year-old boy, two 13-year-old boys and a 14-year-old girl. A little girl in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, was hit in the eye with a rubber bullet, even though her parents said she was likely to be alive.

The children killed were among the dozen of people killed on Saturday as security forces cracked down on protests across Myanmar. This appeared to be one of the deadliest days since the February 1 coup led by Major General Min Aung Hlaing, the commander of the Tatmadaw, as the military is known. A news agency, Myanmar Now, put the death toll at 80 on Saturday.

“Today is a day of shame for the armed forces,” said Dr. Sasa, a spokesman for a group of elected officials who say they represent the Myanmar government, in a statement.

The killings took place on Armed Forces Day, a holiday in honor of the Tatmadaw that gave rise to General Min Aung Hlaing’s speech in the capital, Naypyidaw.

The general promised to pave the way for democracy despite rejecting the results of the November 8 elections and arresting many of those elected to parliament that day. He reiterated his promise to hold new elections but did not offer a schedule.

More than 3,000 people arrested by the military since the coup include the fallen civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint. Your party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide in November.

In his speech to the assembled troops, which was broadcast on national television, General Min Aung Hlaing stated that the Tatmadaw was founded by General Aung San, a national hero. He did not mention that the general was Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s father.

The Armed Forces Day ceremony, a highlight of the year for the Tatmadaw, is usually attended by a large number of foreign diplomats. This year there were fewer representing China and several other neighboring countries.

Also present was Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, who was honored by General Min Aung Hlaing for his praise. On Friday the general gave Mr. Fomin a medal and a ceremonial sword.

Russia has been a major arms supplier to the Myanmar military and, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, can be trusted to work with China to block any attempt by the international body to impose sanctions on Myanmar.

The United States said Thursday that it is imposing its own financial sanctions on two military conglomerates that control much of Myanmar’s economy.

On Saturday, US Ambassador to Myanmar Thomas Vajda said security forces “murdered unarmed civilians, including children,” and called the bloodshed “terrible”.

The U.S. embassy said shots were fired on Saturday at their Yangon cultural center, the American Center. The embassy said no one was injured and that it was investigating.

In an apparent blow to the military on their vacation, the ethnic rebel group known as the Karen National Union said on Facebook that they had overrun and seized a Tatmadaw camp. The group posted photos of weapons it allegedly confiscated, including what appeared to be machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

The Tatmadaw has fought with various ethnic groups in Myanmar, including the Karen, for decades. Some opposition leaders hope that urban protesters, mostly from the majority of the Bamar ethnic groups, can form a coalition with the ethnic groups to resist the Tatmadaw.

The widespread murders on Saturday came a day after military-run television threatened protesters “shot in the back and in the back of the head” if they continued to oppose military rule.

About a quarter of those killed before Saturday were shot in the head, according to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, which has tracked arrests and killings since the coup.

Saturday’s killings took place in more than two dozen cities across the country. Many of the victims were spectators.

14-year-old Ma Pan Ei Phyu was at home in Meiktila, a city in central Myanmar, when the security forces accidentally started shooting in the neighborhood, said her father U Min Min Tun. that she had been killed until she fell to the ground. She had been hit in the chest.

In Yangon, 13-year-old Maung Wai Yan Tun was playing outside when the police and soldiers arrived. Frightened, he ran away and was shot, his mother told the online news agency Mizzima. The family went to retrieve his body, but when they found him surrounded by security guards, they did not dare go near.

One of the bloodiest incidents occurred in Yangon’s Dala Township. Police arrested two demonstrators at their home on Friday afternoon.

Soon after, neighbors gathered in front of the police station and requested her release. Police responded by firing rubber bullets and stunning grenades at the crowd, a witness said.

Residents withdrew but returned to the police station after midnight. This time the security forces opened fire with live ammunition after a long break. At least 10 people were killed and 40 injured.

Categories
Health

His Sister Died 12 Days After Struggling Mysterious Spells. Now He Had Them.

His Sister Died 12 Days After Suffering Mysterious Spells. Now He Had Them.

It was the resident’s third or fourth day of no response when someone on the team suggested they consult the metabolic service. Metabolic disorders are disorders that disrupt the processes that convert food into energy at the cellular level. Most of these disorders are inherited – caused by genetic mutations that change the structure or function of one of the body’s tools that are used to metabolize carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and other nutrients. And while most of these diseases are rare, there are many of them. It is estimated that up to 1 in 1,000 people are affected by metabolic disorders. Still, most show up in infancy or childhood, not by the age of 35.

The neurologist called a friend of the metabolism service, Dr. Tyler Peikes, who immediately went to Sean. He checked the records, examined the patient, and received the story from Sean and his family. It didn’t sound like any of the metabolic diseases he knew. The rapid course of the sister’s illness was atypical. He ordered tests to look for diseases that are usually intermittent.

The neurologist kept looking for answers. And slowly the results flowed in. There was no exposure to a metal like arsenic or mercury. It wasn’t an autoimmune disease. It wasn’t an infection. At the end of each day, the resident made another X on her calendar and went home worried. The only hopeful sign was that the patient’s episodes were decreasing. She wasn’t sure why, but hoped they had enough time.

On the 11th day, one of the tests ordered by Peikes finally came back positive. The patient had a rare form of a rare condition called maple syrup urine disease (MSUD). Patients with MSUD are born with abnormalities in the machinery that breaks down certain amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. This leads to the accumulation of unmetabolized protein components that can harm the body. If left untreated, the disease can lead to significant, often fatal, swelling of the brain. The name comes from the smell of maple syrup in urine and sweat, sometimes caused by the build up of amino acids during episodes of protein overload. The patient has never experienced that.

The frequency of a patient’s seizures and the age at which they start depend on how badly the machinery is defective. With intermittent MSUD – the version this patient had – the body can handle low amino acid levels, but a protein-rich meal or severe physiological stress can overwhelm the system and allow toxic components to form. A simple blood test provided the answer. Ultimately, genetic testing showed the specific defect. A subsequent test on Andrea’s tissue revealed the same abnormality. Patients with MSUD must have a low-protein diet. This is the only way to prevent these crises.

It has been more than two years since Sean was diagnosed. He says he misses the occasional steak or burger, but the memory of what happened to him and his sister is enough to keep him away. It was Sean’s family who brought this story to my attention. His mother hoped that by sharing her children’s history, she could help doctors and families consider the possibility of these rare metabolic disorders when patients have a psychiatric or neurological condition that no one can figure out. “It’s not a tough test,” said the mother. “You just have to think about it.”