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The Antman and G-Dawg talk about the woman who made their Los Angeles comedy show have to move, Gavin rips Ant on his latest Antman antics, they touch on the Ant/Norton WABC show, and they talk about weed in the 70s. After talking about the decline of socialization, they have a rousing discussion on homophobia, AOC, the DNC and the vast differences between men and women.
Gavin and Anthony discuss the Ant Man's new irrepressible ego, how much is must suck to be in an old timey war, the inability to lust trans, cover bands, and how Trump will change the Western world forever.
In this episode of the podcast, Zoë discusses enhancing leadership thinking through a recent article on transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) and its implications for cognitive abilities. She introduces guest Dave Martin, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author of "Mega Thinking," who outlines a four-step process to improve strategic thinking: capturing initial thoughts, socializing with trusted individuals, conducting focused research, and synthesizing final thoughts. The conversation also touches on the role of AI in knowledge acquisition and concludes with leadership tips and resources for further learning. SHOWNOTES are here. Key Quotes You are what you think; your environment matters." Zoë Routh "Thinking far deep and wide is essentially how you can fast track upscale, deepen, broaden, improve your strategic thinking." Zoë Routh "It's important to select people who you respect and who have different views; this diversity can lead to new information that enhances your understanding of the topic." Dave Martin "Going deep means analysing what the current situation looks like, which involves environmental scanning and understanding underlying causes rather than just seeking quick fixes." Dave Martin Questions Asked How might we improve our thinking as leaders? What does 'Mega Thinking' actually mean? What are the specific four steps of the Mega Steps process? How do we select individuals to socialise our thoughts with? Take Action Reflect on your current strategic thinking methods and identify areas for improvement. Engage with trusted colleagues or mentors to discuss your ideas and gather diverse perspectives. Explore the implications of AI in your leadership approach and consider how to integrate it effectively without over-reliance. Tip of the Week Review the collaboration self-checklist - available for subscribers only. Join the community here. You'll get 40 book summaries and recommendations on Leading Strategy and Performance, along with a special secret audio from my award-winning book, People Stuff. Key Moments 00:00 Introduction and Weekly Question 00:15 Exploring Neuroplasticity and Brain Stimulation 01:18 Leadership and Environmental Influence 01:55 Personal Updates and Upcoming Projects 02:31 Improving Strategic Thinking 03:54 Deep and Wide Thinking Strategies 05:16 Introducing Dave Martin and Mega Thinking 06:05 The Concept of Mega Thinking 12:49 Steps to Achieve Mega Thinking 32:02 The Pitfalls of Overconfidence in Leadership 32:42 The Importance of Truth-Seeking in a Sea of Opinions 34:15 Exploring Perspectives and Finding General Principles 35:13 The Role of Books in Deepening Understanding 36:43 Simplifying Complex Topics with Mega Steps 38:49 The Value of Interpersonal Skills in Leadership 45:14 The Future of AI and Its Impact on Industries 48:20 Leadership Tips and Participative Leadership 49:56 The Fast Three: Technology, Leadership, and Reading 52:03 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Not Just a Chiropractor for Stamford, Darien, Norwalk and New Canaan
Catch Headache Video Here : Have you ever experienced a headache that's far more intense than usual and localized to one side of your face, accompanied by perhaps some tearing or nasal congestion? These could be signs of Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalgia (TAC), a condition that's significantly more debilitating than your typical headache. Distinguishing between these and more common types of headaches is not just about managing pain but understanding a possibly serious underlying condition. Understanding trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TACs) begins with recognizing their unique and debilitating symptoms. As an experienced chiropractor for headaches, Dr. Brian McKay of Core Health in Darien offers cutting-edge therapy to eliminate TAC's. TAC's often present with unilateral pain that can be excruciatingly severe. This pain is frequently accompanied by autonomic symptoms such as eye watering, nasal congestion, or eyelid drooping, primarily affecting one side of your face. Dr. Brian McKay and his team specialize in non-medication headache relief techniques, which can be particularly beneficial if you're dealing with the intense pain of TACs.This podcast welcomes your feedback here are several ways to reach out to me. If you have a topic you would like to hear about send me a message. I appreciate your listening. Dr. Brian Mc Kayhttps://twitter.com/DarienChiro/https://www.facebook.com/ChiropractorBrianMckayhttps://chiropractor-darien-dr-brian-mckay.business.sitehttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/not-just-chiropractor-for-stamford-darien-norwalk-new/id1503674397?uo=4Core Health Darien-Dr.Brian Mc Kay 551 Post RoadDarien CT 06820203-656-363641.0833695 -73.46652073GMP+87 Darien, Connecticuthttps://youtu.be/WpA__dDF0O041.0834196 -73.46423349999999https://darienchiropractor.comhttps://darienchiropractor.com/darien/darien-ct-understanding-pain/Find us on Social Mediahttps://chiropractor-darien-dr-brian-mckay.business.site https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNHc0Hn85Iiet56oGUpX8rwhttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nJ9wlvg2Tne8257paDkkIBEyIz-oZZYy/edit#gid=517721981https://goo.gl/maps/js6hGWvcwHKBGCZ88https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=Uhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/darienchiropractorhttps://www.facebook.com/ChiropractorBrianMckayhttps://sites.google.com/view/corehealthdarien/https://sites.google.com/view/corehealthdarien/home
Send us a textDiscover a hidden engine powering Alberta's tech innovation as we sit down with Ken Doyle, Executive Director of Tech-Access Canada. Uncover the world of Technology Access Centres (TACs), where Alberta's entrepreneurs transform bold ideas into tangible advancements. Ken shares how these specialized R&D hubs offer invaluable support to small and medium-sized enterprises, providing access to state-of-the-art facilities and expertise that help refine prototypes and boost productivity. Get an insider's look at how TACs are crucial in overcoming Canada's productivity hurdles, emphasizing the need for expanded capacity to sustain Alberta's edge in the competitive tech landscape.From their exponential growth to 67 centers in a decade to their collaborative efforts with Alberta's Regional Innovation Networks and Colleges and Polytechnics, Technology Access Centres operate within Technology Readiness Levels four to eight, bridging critical gaps in applied R&D. Ken highlights inspiring stories of companies that have excelled with TAC support, like those enhancing solar panel efficiency and pioneering nanobubble disinfectant systems. These examples showcase the bespoke nature of TAC engagements and their vital role in enabling tech entrepreneurs to compete globally.Explore Canada's road to technological leadership and the trends that will shape its future. Our discussion highlights the critical need to lower innovation barriers, bridging the commercialization "valley of death." From AI to renewable energy, Ken emphasizes the promise of Canada's unique industrial landscape in leading value-added processes. The conversation also brings to light the importance of sustainability and the circular economy, drawing lessons from Quebec's pioneering efforts. This episode is a must-listen for anyone invested in the future of tech innovation and the pivotal role TACs play in driving national and provincial competitiveness.Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.
Gavin and Anthony recap Atlantic City, animals having consciousness, and the apparent alien invasion.
Magazine de ocio, actualidad y cultura de Vigo.Este martes hemos hablado con el conselleiro do Mar, Alfonso Villaresdesde Bruselas para analizar las cuotas de pesca y los recortes quequiere hacer en los TACS la Unión Europea. También saludamos alalcalde de Nigrán después del reconocimiento en Madrid de Unicef comoCiudad Amiga de la Infancia. Saludamos al alcalde de Tui, EnriqueCabaleiro para analizar los espectaculares datos del Camino deSantiago y de Tui como lugar de origen.En la entrevista dual tuvimos a los Hey Hematoma que tienen doblefecha en La Fábrica de Chocolate este viernes y sábado.
La medicina ha experimentado una verdadera revolución en el último siglo y, en parte, se debe al desarrollo tecnológico. En los últimos años, esas novedades se han ido implementado en el diagnóstico y tratamiento, desde diferentes puntos de vista. Lo encontramos en lo que se ha llamado medicina de precisión, también conocida como medicina personalizada o medicina individualizada. Otra cuestión, al margen de esta nueva tendencia médica, son las posibilidades que la tecnología da a la medicina para mejorar en diagnósticos y tratamientos y que están implementados en el sistema. Hablamos de radiografías, ecografías o TACs, que son herramientas que forman parte del día al día de los profesionales de la medicina y los pacientes. Y la otra parte en la que se refleja el uso de la tecnología en la medicina está en la cirugía, con el uso de robots en muchas operaciones.La medicina de precisión es un enfoque innovador que utiliza información sobre características genómicas, las ambientales y el estilo de vida de una persona para guiar la toma de decisiones a su atención médica. El objetivo es proporcionar un enfoque más preciso para la prevención, el diagnóstico y el tratamiento de enfermedades. Un ejemplo lo tenemos en algunos tratamientos del cáncer, con técnicas que ayudan a dar un tratamiento más preciso y con menos efectos secundarios. Carlos López Otín, explica que la medicina de precisión, junto a la inmunoterapia, es la tendencia actual en el diagnóstico y el tratamiento. Esa nueva estrategia terapéutica se usa en la sanidad. De ella nos habla José Luis Alonso, jefe de Oncología del Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca de Murcia.La tecnología hace posible el uso de técnicas para mejorar en los diagnósticos. Ese asunto lo explica Florentina Guzmán, jefa del Servicio de Radiodiagnóstico del Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca de Murcia; y Andrea Martínez Lozano, investigadora de la Universidad Miguel Hernández, de Elche. Además, el uso de nuevas herramientas, como la inteligencia artificial, abre la vía a especialidades muy complejas, como la medicina interna. De esas posibilidades nos habla Ramón Puchades, coordinador del Grupo de Trabajo de Medicina Digital de la Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna.Las innovaciones tecnológicas se pueden aplicar en la investigación, pero también en la búsqueda de diagnóstico y tratamientos de otras enfermedades que pueden tener una importante influencia genética. Hablamos de las enfermedades poco frecuentes. Un ejemplo lo tenemos en el proyecto Únicas, para detectar y conseguir tratamientos para pacientes con enfermedades raras, se hace en el Hospital San Joan de Déu, en Barcelona. Lo hace Encarna Guillén, la genetista murciana, que hasta ahora ha sido jefa de Pediatría del Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca. Precisamente, para esta investigación es muy importante un correcto uso de los datos y la disponibilidad de herramientas informáticas, como explica Ángel Esteban Gil, jefe de la Plataforma de Informática Biomédica y Bioinformática del Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria de la Región de Murcia. Las innovaciones tecnológicas llegan a todos los campos de la medicina. En el caso de la cirugía ha sido con la robótica y la Región de Murcia dispone de varios robots que se están utilizando en la clínica, como indica Pablo Guzmán, coordinador regional de cirugía robótica.
If Kamala wins, the show will go on but we'll be broadcasting from a very different America. Not one with hope to stem the massive bleeding but a bloodless husk that resembles Venezuala much more than the country we knew and loved. Vote like your life depends on it. It does.
The bosses are back! It's time to catch up on drunk chicks, that union boss guy, the VP debates, and how close Anthony came to dying in Hurricane Helene.
●YouTube影片● https://voh.psee.ly/6gl2sk ●FB粉專影片 ● https://voh.pse.is/6gl2vy 本集主題：勞資顧問 訪問：謝小班 現職： 金豐企業管理顧問(股)公司 執案顧問 學歷： 國立臺北大學 會計系科系 碩士在職專班 國立臺北商業大學 應用商學系 二技 國立臺北商業大學 財務金融科 五專 學 術 專 長： 勞動法令實務諮詢、勞資爭議處理、勞動檢查因應與處理、勞資會議成立及運作、勞動契約設計、工作規則及管理規章建立、薪資獎酬結構分析、人力成本節省及控制、社會保險實務分析、職業災害預防與處理、企業留才計畫設計、ESG勞資關係促進、財務診斷、簡報設計 專 業 認 證（證照）： 1. TACS台灣企業永續學苑台灣永續獎112年度見習評審委員 2. 企業勞動法務人員能力鑑定(中華民國全國工業總會-民國110年12月15頒證) 3. RFA退休理財規劃顧問(中華民國退休基金協會-民國110年12月1日頒證) 4. 交通事故爭議調解人認證(高雄市爭議調處人員職業工會-民國109年8月23日 頒證) 5. 第27屆中小企業財務管理顧問培訓台北班(財團法人台灣中小企業聯合輔導基金會-培訓期間：108年7月27日-109年06月21日/民國109年6月 21日頒證社會保險師)獲第二、三階段課程之團隊輔導實作報告暨口試成績第一名 6. 社會保險師(財團法人中華勞資事務基金會-民國109年5月 29日頒證) 7. 勞資事務師(財團法人中華勞資事務基金會-民國109年5月 29日頒證) 8. 大陸勞動關係協調員(國家三級證照)(上海市職業技能鑒定中心-民國105年12月 29日頒證) 9. 大陸註冊勞資法務師(中國教育發展戰略學會行業教育協作委員會-民國105年05月20日頒證) 10. FChFP國際特許財務規劃師(中華保險與理財規劃人員協會-民國98年頒證) #李基銘 #李基銘主持人#fb新鮮事#生活有意思#快樂玩童軍 #廣播之神#廣播之神李基銘#漢聲廣播電台 YouTube頻道，可以收看 https://goo.gl/IQXvzd podcast平台，可以收聽 SoundOn https://bit.ly/3oXSlmF Spotify https://spoti.fi/2TXxH7V Apple https://apple.co/2I7NYVc Google https://bit.ly/2GykvmH KKBOX https://bit.ly/2JlI3wC Firstory https://bit.ly/3lCHDPi 請支持粉絲頁 廣播之神： / voh.god 李基銘主持人粉絲頁： / voh.lee 李基銘的影音頻道粉絲頁： / voh.video -- Hosting provided by SoundOn
Gavin got spotted in Berlin, Anthony was right about America and both of them have had enough of diversity-mongering.
The IRS has made progress in customer service, especially for people calling its Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs). But the TACs still have issues, such as difficulty in dealing with calls to change appointments. In fact, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has a few recommendations for the IRS in this regard. For details, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with the Director of TIGTA's management and exempt organization audits, Carl Aley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The IRS has made progress in customer service, especially for people calling its Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs). But the TACs still have issues, such as difficulty in dealing with calls to change appointments. In fact, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has a few recommendations for the IRS in this regard. For details, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with the Director of TIGTA's management and exempt organization audits, Carl Aley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Nexalin Technology CEO Mark White joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share positive results from a clinical study evaluating Nexalin's Gen-2 tACS device for reducing pain in veteran patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI). The study was conducted at The University of California, San Diego, and involved collaboration with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) San Diego Healthcare System, as well as the Radiology, Psychiatry, and Neurosciences Departments of UC San Diego. mTBI is a significant concern for veterans and the general public, leading to various physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral deficits. However, effective treatments for post-concussive symptoms (PCS) are limited, and the underlying pathophysiology is not fully understood. Symptoms of PCS often overlap with those of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), further complicating diagnosis and treatment. The clinical trial was conducted as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study over an eight-week period, involving two groups: an active tACS group and a sham tACS group. Twenty-four veteran patients with mTBI received twelve sessions of either active or sham tACS over four consecutive weeks, followed by a four-week follow-up period to assess outcomes. The positive results from this study are significant, especially considering the substantial market potential for treatments addressing traumatic brain injuries. According to Global Market Insights, the Traumatic Brain Injuries Assessment Market is projected to reach over $7.2 billion by 2032. Nexalin's innovative approach offers promise in addressing the needs of individuals suffering from mTBI, potentially improving their quality of life and providing hope for effective treatment options in the future. #proactiveinvestors #nasdaq #nxl #nxliw #invest #investing #investment #investor #stockmarket #stocks #stock #stockmarketnews
La medicina privada mata. En este caso, en sentido literal. Acompáñennos a un periplo por los médicos y enfermeras más mortíferos de la historia. Gente que hacía lo opuesto a su trabajo: quitar vidas en lugar de salvarlas. Seres como Harold Shipman, aka Dr. Death, médico de cabecera inglés que causó al menos 250 muertes; Michael Swango, que administraba arsénico sin compasión, acabando con la vida de al menos 60 personas; el siniestrísimo Charles Cullen, aka “Ángel de la Muerte”, siempre vestido de blanco y programando muertes (se le sospechan 400) como el que programa Tacs; la célebre Jane Toppan, Enfermera Envenenante, que en su impresionante spree de 1895 finiquitó a 11 pacientes de una tacada; y el “Ogro de Reading”, Amelia Dyer, peor nodriza concebible y terror de los bebés victorianos.
PODCASTER SENIOR: Dr.ssa Renata Rao; PODCASTER JUNIOR: Dr.ssa Anna Gardin;RAZIONALE: I pazienti che lamentano dolore in regione facciale vengono spesso valutati da diversi specialisti, a seconda della prevalente localizzazione del dolore stesso: oculisti, odontoiatri, otorinolaringoiatri, chirurghi maxillo-facciali, neurochirurghi ed anche noi neurologi. Le possibili cause sottostanti, infatti, possono essere di competenza di diverse branche mediche e/o chirurgiche. Nel campo neurologico, una delle diagnosi più comuni è la nevralgia del trigemino, ma possono essere prese in considerazione anche altre categorie di cefalee, quali per esempio le cefalee autonomiche trigeminali (TACs). Nel 2020 è stata inoltre pubblicata la prima classificazione internazionale dei dolori orofacciali (https://doi.org/10.1177/0333102419893823), che rappresenta un altro valido aiuto per poter meglio inquadrare questa tipologia di pazienti, la cui condizione spesso arriva ad essere limitante per le attività della vita quotidiana.
Merhabalar Her zaman olduğu gibi yine acilci.net aracılığıyla en kısa sürede güncel bir kılavuzu okurlarımıza ulaştırma heyecanı içindeyiz. Akut batın cerrahisinde yeni zamanlama yani yeni TACS sınıflandırmasını 2023 Delphi çalışması ile sizlere ulaştırmak istiyorum. Sadece acil camiasına değil cerrahi branşlara da hitap eden bu yazımızda birebir çeviri olmasa da bir önceki kılavuzdaki değişiklerle oluşturulan güncel kılavuza değineceğiz. İyi okumalar diliyorum. Giriş Acil genel cerrahi (EGS) endikasyonları için ameliyathaneye zamanında erişim, büyük ölçüde ameliyathanenin müsaitliği ve personel kısıtlamalarından kaynaklanan, dünya çapında bir zorluk olmaya devam etmektedir. “Akut bakım cerrahisinde zamanlama” (TACS) sınıflandırması, EGS hastalarının ameliyathaneye zamanında ve uygun şekilde erişmesini önceliklendirecek yeni bir araç sunmak amacıyla daha önce yayınlanmıştı. Bu çalışma, TACS sınıflandırmasını iyileştirmeyi ve uluslararası uzmanlarla standartlaştırılmış bir Delphi yaklaşımı aracılığıyla yeni TACS sınıflandırmasının uygun kullanımı konusunda daha fazla fikir birliği sağlamayı amaçlamış. Genel bilgi Acil cerrahi prosedürleri dünya çapındaki hastaneler için büyük ve planlanmamış bir iş yükünü temsil etmektedir. Acil durumlardaki küresel yükün %28'inin cerrahi olduğu tahmin edilmektedir 1. Acil ortamda cerrahi prosedür uygulanan hastaların ölme olasılığı, aynı prosedürü elektif olarak geçiren hastalara göre 8 kat daha fazladır ve ek olarak yüksek sağlık sistemi maliyetleri de söz konusudur2 . Erken tanı ve yönetim, tüm hastalarda sonuçların iyileştirilmesi ve morbiditenin, hastanede kalış süresinin ve mortalitenin azaltılmasının en önemli odak noktasıdır. Tanı koymada ve ameliyathaneye ulaşımda gecikme, özellikle zayıf, yaşlı ve kritik hastalarda sonuçları etkiler. Hastanelerin çoğunda acil cerrahi için ayrılmış ameliyathane(OR) yoktur: prosedürün hemen yapılması gerekiyorsa, planlanmış prosedürler iptal edilmeli veya ertelenmelidir; aksi takdirde, eğer hasta hemodinamik olarak stabilse acil cerrahi prosedür, planlanan elektif cerrahi prosedürlerin sonunda yapılabilir. Acil cerrahi operasyonların klinik senaryoya ve hastalık şiddetine göre zamanında ve etkili bir şekilde gerçekleştirilmesi postoperatif komplikasyonları azaltmak için çok önemlidir. Tüm acil durum prosedürlerinin aynı şiddet ve önceliğe sahip olmadığı iyi bilinmektedir. Ameliyathane akışının etkili bir şekilde kontrol edilmemesi durumunda, OR 'boşa zaman' ve bekleme süresi artacaktır. Akut karın veya travma nedeniyle Acil Servise (AS) başvuran hastalar için etkili bir triyaj sistemi, acil olarak ameliyat edilecek hastaların öncelik sırasının belirlenmesine yönelik karar vermede önemli bir adımdır. Triyaj süreci üç faktörü içerir: hastanın hemodinamik durumu, cerrahi hastalığın türü ve sepsisin ciddiyeti 3. Acil ameliyathane akışını organize etmenin ve yönetmenin anahtarı, basit, açık, doğrulanmış, kapsamlı, tekrarlanabilir ve güvenli bir triyaj sistemi aracılığıyla her hastanın öncelik ve ciddiyetinin hızlı ve güvenli bir şekilde değerlendirilmesidir. Akut bakım cerrahisinde zamanlama (TACS) sınıflandırması 4, uluslararası akut bakım cerrahlarının da dahil olduğu deneyimli bir panel tarafından tasarlanmış ve önerilmiştir. TACS sınıflandırması, "trafik ışığı renk kodlama sistemi"ne göre geliştirilmiş bir renk triyaj sistemidir (Şekil 1). Ameliyathaneye kabul için 5 sınıf öncelik/şiddet/zamanlamayı içerir. Bunlar: KIRMIZI/acil ameliyat; TURUNCU/bir saat içinde ameliyat; SARI/6 saat içinde ameliyat; YEŞİL/12 saat içinde ameliyat; MAVİ/ameliyat 24 veya 48 saat içinde. Her renk kodu sınıfı, teşhisten ameliyata kadar ideal bir süre ile ilişkilidir. Bu, acil cerrahi hastalarını klinik özelliklere ve ameliyathaneye erişimin geciktirilmesinin sonuçlar üzerindeki potansiyel olumsuz etkilerine göre sınıflandırır. Bekleme sırasında hastanın durumunda bir değişiklik olması durumunda renk kodu sınıfı,
Un estudio internacional confirma la asociación entre someterse a una tomografía computarizada (TC o TAC) de niño o de joven y el riesgo de desarrollar más tarde un cáncer de la sangre. El estudio EPO-TC, publicado en Nature Medicine, pone de manifiesto la importancia de seguir aplicando estrictas medidas de protección radiológica en la población pediátrica. La tomografía computarizada (TC), antes llamada tomografía axial computarizada (TAC), es la obtención de imágenes con rayos X de cortes o secciones de algún objeto. No confundir con las ecografías o las imágenes por resonancia magnética (IRM) que obtienen las imágenes con otros medios. Las TC o TACS, son una técnica de la radiología que permite obtener imágenes en 3D. Un estudio internacional de casi un millón de personas confirma una fuerte y clara asociación entre la exposición a la radiación de las tomografías computarizadas en jóvenes y un mayor riesgo de desarrollar un cáncer de la sangre.Así lo estipula el estudio EPI-TC liderado por el Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona, centro impulsado por la Fundacion “La Caixa”. Los resultados fueron publicados en Nature Medicine.Elisabeth Cardis es epidemióloga, responsable del grupo de radiación de ISGlobal de Barcelona, y es la autora principal de este estudio:
Hoje é dia de falar da loucura. No sentido mais amplo do mundo. Da saúde mental, da boa saúde, dos médicos psiquiatras, das dores de alma dos doentes, das famílias e dos seus vínculos. É uma sopa rica de temas. E por falar em comida, foi precisamente num jantar que conheci a Inês Homem de Melo. Num jantar muito especial com pessoas de uma organização chamada Manicómio. Que se dedica a integrar pessoas com doença mental através da arte. E nesse jantar-debate foi-nos entregue a tarefa de moderar os comensais. Não na comida, mas na partilha de ideias. E foi sem surpresa que se percebeu que isto da saúde mental, ou da falta dela, toca a todos, independentemente da sua condição social ou económica. Nesta edição passeamos por esses labirintos das forças e fraquezas da nossa mente. Inês Homem de Melo é médica psiquiatra. E também música. Pensa rápido e ainda fala mais rápido. Nesta conversa torrencial faço o papel do jogador que tenta acalmar o ritmo do jogo enquanto ela corre para marcar mais um par de golos na minha baliza. A Inês pensou várias vezes em desistir do curso de medicina até que se encontrou com a psiquiatria. E isso mudou tudo. Vamos por partes. Sendo isto um podcast sobre comunicação, Inês Homem de Melo faz questão de ter tempo para ouvir os seus doentes. Sim, ouvir. E falar com eles. E explicar tudo. E voltar ao início outra vez. É uma espécie de raro cuidado num mundo em aceleração desmiolada. De que se fala no consultório da Inês? De sofrimento. Principalmente de sofrimento. Afinal vamos ao psiquiatra quando algo nos dói muito cá dentro. E não dá para encontrar respostas fazendo análises, radiografias ou TACs. Só se chega lá pela palavra dita. Pela palavra escutada. Pela fala interpretada. Pela reinvenção dos significados. É neste momento em que juntar a ciência e a criatividade dá um grande jeito. Em momentos em que é importante entender a fronteira entre o normal e o patológico. No fundo, o assumir da absoluta diversidade que somos apagando o conceito do que é normal. O normal é um conceito, talvez, demasiado valorizado. Posto isto, apertem os cintos. Vem aí uma conversa sobre famílias, adolescentes, drogas, vínculos emocionais, conflitos existenciais, pessoas com défice de atenção, depressões e ansiedades. Tópicos: [00:00:00] Abertura [00:00:13] Loucura, Saúde, Arte Na Psiquiatria [00:07:22] Diagnóstico E Fronteira Da Normalidade [00:12:39] Síndrome do Impostor e Transtorno do Déficit de Atenção com Hiperactividade TDAH [00:17:33] Psicodrama [00:29:30] Emoções Intensas E Doença Mental [00:39:40] Intervenção Precoce Na Saúde Mental [00:48:43] Relações De Vinculação E os seus Impactos [00:59:40] O Tempo É Relativo. Leia mais TRANSCRIÇÃO AUTOMÁTICA 0:00:13 - JORGE CORREIA Olá vivão. 0:00:14 - Bem-vindos ao Pregunta Simples, o vosso podcast sobre comunicação. Hoje é dia de falar da loucura no sentido mais amplo e lato do mundo da saúde mental, da boa saúde dos médicos, psiquiatras, das dores de alma dos doentes, das famílias e dos seus vínculos. Desde a mais tem realidade. É uma sopa rica de temas. E por falar em comida, foi precisamente num jantar que conheci Inês Homem de Mélod, um jantar na ordem dos médicos, um jantar muito especial com pessoas de uma organização chamada Manicómeo, que se dedica a integrar pessoas com doença mental através da arte. E nesse jantar de bate foi-nos entregue a tarefa de moderar os comensais não na comida mas na partilha de ideias. E foi sem surpresa que se percebeu que isto da saúde mental, ou da falta dela, toca a todos, independentemente de sua condição social ou econômica. Nesta edição vamos passear por esses labirintos das forças e das suas coisas da nossa mente. Inês Homem de Mélod é médica, psiquiatra e também música. Pensa rápido e fala ainda mais rápido. Nesta conversa torrencial eu faço o papel do jogador que tenta acalmar o ritmo do jogo enqua...
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.08.01.551431v1?rss=1 Authors: Misselhorn, J., Fiene, M., Radecke, J.-O., Engel, A. K., Schneider, T. R. Abstract: Attentional control over sensory processing has been linked to neural alpha oscillations and related pulsed inhibition of the human cortex. Despite the wide consensus on the functional relevance of alpha oscillations for attention, precise neural mechanisms of how alpha oscillations shape perception and how this top-down modulation is implemented in cortical networks remain unclear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that alpha oscillations in premotor cortex are causally involved in top-down regulation of visual cortex responsivity to contrast. We applied intermittent transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) over bilateral premotor cortex to manipulate attentional preparation in a visual discrimination task. tACS was applied at 10 Hz (alpha) and controlled with 40 Hz (gamma) and sham stimulation. Importantly, we used a novel linear mixed modeling approach for statistical control of neurosensory side-effects of the electric stimulation. We found a frequency-specific effect of alpha tACS on the slope parameter, leading to enhanced low-contrast perception and decreased perception of high-contrast stimuli. Side-effects affected both threshold and slope parameters, leading to high variability in parameter estimates. Controlling the impact of side-effects on psychometric parameters by linear mixed model analysis reduced variability and clarified the existing effect. We conclude that alpha tACS over premotor cortex mimicked a state of increased endogenous attention potentially by modulation of fronto-occipital connectivity in the alpha band. We speculate that this network modulation allowed for improved sensory readout from visual cortex which led to a decrease in psychometric slope, effectively broadening the dynamic range for contrast perception. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.07.04.544349v1?rss=1 Authors: Renaud-D'Ambra, M., Aksenov, A., Mesnildrey, Q., Hartwigsen, G., Volpert, V., Beuter, A. Abstract: This study explores differences in spatiotemporal cortical dynamics between five people with chronic post-stroke aphasia and five healthy subjects. Electroencephalography was recorded during picture naming in both groups. Frequency-specific Global Field Power (GFP) results showed that the delta band has higher power to discriminate between healthy subjects and people with aphasia (PWA) than theta and alpha bands. EEG topologies computed at the time of GFP peaks in the delta band revealed strong activation oscillating between posterior and anterior areas in PWA. On the other hand, EEG topologies from healthy subjects were variable. Then, Spatial ERP (S-ERP) were developed to add spatial resolution to classical ERP analysis. S-ERP and associated analyses confirmed the previously observed oscillatory pattern in the delta frequency band among PWA during picture naming. This oscillating pattern was alternating between occipital and prefrontal areas with almost opposite phases, a characteristic not observed in healthy subjects. In addition, all PWA performed well on the picture naming task, suggesting that this oscillating pattern may be a cortical adaptation mechanism enabling them to succeed. The observation of large-scale oscillating delta activity across the scalp in all post-stroke subjects who have substantially recovered from aphasia holds the potential to inspire innovative rehabilitation methods employing non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.05.03.539327v1?rss=1 Authors: Fujiyama, H., Williams, A. G., Tan, J., Levin, O., Hinder, M. R. Abstract: Background: The efficacy of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is thought to be brain state-dependent, such that tACS during task performance would be hypothesised to offer greater potential for inducing beneficial electrophysiological changes in the brain and associated behavioural improvement compared to tACS at rest. However, to date, no empirical study has directly tested this postulation. Objective: Here we compared the effects of tACS applied during a stop signal task (online) to the effects of the same tACS protocol applied prior to the task (offline) and a sham control stimulation. Methods: A total of 53 young, healthy adults (32 female; 18-35 yrs) received dual-site beta tACS over the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) and pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA), which are thought to play critical roles in action cancellation, with phase-synchronised stimulation for 15 min with the aim of increasing functional connectivity. Results: EEG connectivity analysis revealed significantly increased task-related functional connectivity following online but not offline tACS. Correlation analyses suggested that an increase in functional connectivity in the beta band at rest following online tACS was associated with an improvement in response inhibition. Interestingly, despite the lack of changes in functional connectivity at the target frequency range following offline tACS, significant improvements in response inhibition were still observed, suggesting offline tACS may still be efficacious in inducing behavioural changes, likely via a post-stimulation early plasticity mechanism. Conclusion: Overall, the results indicate that online and offline dual-site beta tACS are beneficial in improving inhibitory control via distinct underlying mechanisms. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC
The last weapon will be decided for Nick and Cody's Texas Death Match, and we're both very afraid of light tubes. 3. Tacs v 14. Ladders 5. Light Tubes v 11. Title Follow us at: https://www.facebook.com/friendlycomppod/ https://twitter.com/friendlycomppod https://www.instagram.com/friendlycomppod/ https://twitter.com/codynat_20 Email: Friendlycompetitionpodcast@gmail.com
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.03.28.534386v1?rss=1 Authors: Zhou, Y.-P., Wilks, M. Q., Dhaynaut, M., Guehl, N. J., Moon, S.-H., El Fakhri, G., Normandin, M. D., Brugarolas, P. Abstract: Purpose: 4-Aminopyridine (4AP) is a medication for the symptomatic treatment of multiple sclerosis. Several 4AP-based PET tracers have been developed for imaging demyelination. In preclinical studies, [11C]3MeO4AP has shown promise due to its high brain permeability, high metabolic stability, high plasma availability, and high in vivo binding affinity. To prepare for the translation to human studies, we developed a cGMP-compliant automated radiosynthesis protocol and evaluated the whole-body biodistribution and radiation dosimetry of [11C]3MeO4AP in non-human primates (NHPs). Methods: Automated radiosynthesis was carried out using a GE TRACERlab FX-C Pro synthesis module. One male and one female adult rhesus macaques were used in the study. A high-resolution CT from cranial vertex to knee was acquired. PET data were collected using a dynamic acquisition protocol with 4 bed positions and 13 passes over a total scan time of ~150 minutes. Based on the CT and PET images, volumes of interest (VOIs) were manually drawn for selected organs. Non-decay corrected time-activity curves (TACs) were extracted for each VOI. Radiation dosimetry and effective dose were calculated from the integrated TACs using OLINDA software. Results: Fully automated radiosynthesis of [11C]3MeO4AP was achieved with 7.3 {+/-} 1.2 % (n = 4) of non-decay corrected radiochemical yield within 38 min of synthesis and purification time. [11C]3MeO4AP distributed quickly throughout the body and into the brain. The organs with highest dose were the kidneys. The average effective dose of [11C]3MeO4AP was 4.27 {+/-} 0.57 Sv/MBq. No significant changes in vital signs were observed during the scan. Conclusion: The cGMP compliant automated radiosynthesis of [11C]3MeO4AP was developed. The whole-body biodistribution and radiation dosimetry of [11C]3MeO4AP was successfully evaluated in NHPs. [11C]3MeO4AP shows lower average effective dose than [18F]3F4AP and similar average effective dose as other carbon-11 tracers. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC
Marshall Ulrich is an extreme endurance athlete—ultrarunning icon, Seven Summits mountaineer, and adventure racer— who is considered the “Endurance King” by Outside magazine, and “Superhuman” by Stan Lee. Ulrich's specialty is competing in extreme conditions. He has ascended the Seven Summits, including Mount Everest, all on first attempts; crossed Death Valley (on foot, in July) a record 30 times; and finished more than 131 ultramarathons averaging over 125 miles each. At the age of 57, he broke two transcontinental speed records when he ran 3,063.2 miles in 52.5 days from San Francisco to New York, averaging almost 60 miles per day.Heather Ulrich is Marshall's wife and serves as the Team Assistant Crew (TAC) for the Stray Dogs. Although not an athlete herself – although she did run the Umstead 50 and Big Desert Ultra 25 – she has felt very welcomed by the Stray Dogs and the adventure racing community, including other athletes, TACs, race and production staff, and volunteers. She was the solo TAC for the Stray Dogs for The World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji 2019, and was part of three-person crew for the Stray Dogs at Primal Quest, Lake Tahoe in 2003.Ultrarunning legend Marshall Ulrich and his wife Heather are excited to announce the 2nd Annual Route 66 UltraRun November 11-13, 2023. Runners will journey through iconic Americana along 140 miles of Historic Route 66 from Seligman to Topock66 Colorado River, Arizona. NEW for 2023: Team Division! That's right; this year you can take on the entire 140 miles yourself, with your crew of at least 2 people (and no more than 4) for a chance to win the Andy Payne Cup and a coveted Route 66 Stray Dogs belt buckle, or gather some friends and compete as a team. Teams can be 4, 5, or 6 people – you decide!Join Travis and Mace plus their close friends to celebrate 100 EPISODES OF THE TRAVIS MACY SHOW through this fun and personal reflection on a classic ultra adventure.In This Episode: Route 66 Ultra Run Instagram | Facebook | WebsiteEli Neztsosie | Ultra Running in Navajo NationPrevious episodes:Episode 4 - Team Endure Episode 11 - Team Stray Dogswww.neuroreserve.com/travismacy and code TRAVISMACY for 15% off RELEVATE by NeuroReserve: Core Dietary Nutrients for Lifelong Brain Health- - - - - - - - - - -If you like this podcast, please consider our book, A Mile at A Time: A Father and Son's Inspiring Alzheimer's Journey of Love, Adventure, and Hope*30% off with discount code MACESubscribe: Apple Podcast | SpotifyCheck us out: Instagram | Twitter | Website | YouTubewww.AMileAtATimeBook.com
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.02.08.527578v1?rss=1 Authors: Shibusawa, S., Kawashima, T., Amano, K. Abstract: Background: The aftereffects of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), especially targeting occipital alpha oscillations, have been reported to show large individual differences in behavioural effects and neural responsiveness. We predicted that this variance at least partly originates from the fact that multiple alpha components are affected differently by alpha-tACS. Objective: To test the above prediction, we decomposed several alpha components from the data and evaluated the aftereffects separately for each component and participant. More specifically, we tested how the difference between the stimulation frequency and peak frequency influences the aftereffects of tACS on each alpha component. Methods: Eighteen participants received 20-min tACS or sham stimulation on separate days. Ten minutes of magnetoencephalography data were collected before and after stimulation, and spectral analysis was performed with a high-frequency resolution (0.1 Hz) to disentangle different alpha components based on the difference in peak frequencies and spatial patterns. Results: The results revealed three alpha components with slightly different frequencies. tACS increased or decreased the power of these alpha components depending on the relative frequency difference from electrical stimulation. Furthermore, observable components differed among participants, possibly because of anatomical differences in each alpha source. Conclusion: When each alpha component is not analysed separately, the change in overall alpha power will be a combination of decreased or increased components, and inter-individual differences will become larger. Our study highlights the importance of noting the presence of multiple alpha components with relatively small differences in the peak frequency for experimental design and analysis. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC
#neurofeedbackpodcast #eeg #brain Jay Gunkelman is the man who has read well over 500,000 Brain Scans and he discusses on the NeuroNoodle Neurofeedback and Neuropsychology Podcast Brain Anatomy and Function that start with the letter F Jay Gunkelman and Pete Jansons also discuss the most watched videos of 2022 Other Topics include: falx cerebri, function, perfusion, Brain Perfusion, Ian Cook, Frontal Cortex, gyrus, sulcus, Einstein's Brain, Left Hemisphere, right hemisphere, SMR, Motor Strip, Cingulate, Flexibility, OCD, Obsessive Compulsive disorder, Temporal Lobe Split, Cochlea, B.A.R.E Testing, Pianist the keyboard is the motor strip, Wernicke's Area, Word Salad, Bruce Willis, Homunculus, Motor Homunculus, Abdominal Epilepsy, Insula, Frontal Eye Fields, High Speed Fiber Tracks, Versículo Most Watched Episodes 2022: "The Little Known Reason Why Michael Jordan Sticks out His Tongue?" https://youtu.be/qGo0rSPNfjQ "What happened to Bob Saget?" https://youtube.com/shorts/4I4H-E5VE0M "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - What is it?" https://youtu.be/a0klWnoIUyQ "How Light Can Improve Mental Health: Photobiomodulation with Dr. Lew Lim Founder Vielight" https://youtu.be/0gYz7HQyx-8 "Does it Matter Where You Place the EEG Electrodes?" https://youtu.be/nN2HusIlnPg "The Jay Gunkelman Story Part 1" https://youtu.be/inKwhggsLsY "Electroencephalogram Certification Types" https://youtu.be/zuGGzftNBMc "Neuroinflammation, tACS, tDCS and SMR" https://youtu.be/h1zryEossTM "Ruth Lanius Interview: PTSD, Emotions, and More with Sebern Fisher and Jay Gunkelman" https://youtu.be/sANme28BCZE "QEEG vs SPECT Scan? Snippet from NeuroNoodle Neurofeedback Podcast" https://youtu.be/HWJ-4raVDz0 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/neuronoodle/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/neuronoodle/support
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.01.04.522700v1?rss=1 Authors: Radecke, J.-O., Fiene, M., Misselhorn, J., Herrmann, C. S., Engel, A. K., Wolters, C. H., Schneider, T. R. Abstract: Background: Covert visuo-spatial attention is marked by the anticipatory lateralization of neuronal alpha activity in the posterior parietal cortex. Previous applications of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at the alpha frequency, however, were inconclusive regarding the causal contribution of oscillatory activity during visuo-spatial attention. Objective: Attentional shifts of behavior and electroencephalography (EEG) after-effects were assessed in a cued visuo-spatial attention paradigm. We hypothesized that parietal alpha-tACS facilitates attention in the ipsilateral visual hemifield. Furthermore, we assumed that modulations of behavior and neurophysiology are related to individual electric field simulations. Methods: We applied personalized tACS at alpha and gamma frequencies to elucidate the role of oscillatory neuronal activity for visuo-spatial attention. Personalized tACS montages were algorithmically optimized to target individual left and right parietal regions that were defined by an EEG localizer. Results: Behavioral performance in the left hemifield was specifically increased by alpha-tACS compared to gamma-tACS targeting the left parietal cortex. This hemisphere-specific effect was observed despite the symmetry of simulated electric fields. In addition, visual event-related potential (ERP) amplitudes showed a reduced lateralization over posterior sites induced by left alpha-tACS. Neuronal sources of this effect were localized in the left premotor cortex. Interestingly, accuracy modulations induced by left parietal alpha-tACS were directly related to electric field magnitudes in the left premotor cortex. Conclusion: Overall, results corroborate the notion that alpha lateralization plays a causal role in covert visuo-spatial attention and indicate an increased susceptibility of parietal and premotor brain regions of the left dorsal attention network to subtle tACS-neuromodulation. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC
This week's guest, Julie Bianucci, was only 18 years old, far away from her hometown of Lake Tahoe, NV and fresh out of secretarial school when she went to interview for a job at a company she'd never heard of, MTS, Inc. For over 10 years Julie was Tony Valerie's Executive Secretary. In addition to telling us about Tony Valerio as a boss and a person, she walks us through the Accounts Payable process for those who want to know. Following Stan Goman's initiative to get the Managers together every year, Julie took on the role of Travel and Meetings Department Manager where, with her team, she coordinated the yearly Tower Annual Conferences (TAC) as well as all corporate travel and planning. At it's height, a TAC involved making arrangements for over 800 attendees and over 20-25 bands and musical artists each year. Julie tells us about one memorable TAC where one beloved artist who was performing, asked specifically to meet another legendary artist who was famous for staying in their tour bus. Julie also tells us about an artist who threatened to walk because they didn't like the way their equipment was being handled. While overseeing TAC, Julie was met each morning by the Hotel's security team who briefed her on the previous night's shenanigans, often not giving Security the response they were anticipating or hoping for. Julie also reminds us that these events were held in the 90's by revealing one of the largest expenses Tower had to pay out of pocket at each Conference.“He spent his whole life working on staying young” is how she describes Tower Records founder Russ Solomon and fondly recalls her friendship and working relationship with the head of the company she'd never heard of. Learn all about the behind the scenes logistics of working 19 hour days to make yearly TACs a time to remember.
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.12.15.520077v1?rss=1 Authors: Cassara, A. M., Newton, T. H., Zhuang, K., Regel, S., Achermann, P., Kuster, N., Neufeld, E. Abstract: Temporal interference stimulation (TIS) is a new form of transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) that has been proposed as a method for targeted, non-invasive stimulation of deep brain structures. While TIS holds promise for a variety of clinical and non-clinical applications, little data is yet available regarding its effects in humans. To inform the design and approval of experiments involving TIS, researchers require quantitative guidance regarding exposure limits and other safety concerns. To this end, we sought to delineate a safe range of exposure parameters (voltages and currents applied via external scalp electrodes) for TIS in humans through comparisons with well-established but related brain stimulation modalities. Specifically, we surveyed the literature for adverse events (AEs) associated with transcranial alternating/direct current stimulation (tACS/tDCS), deep brain stimulation (DBS), and TIS to establish known boundaries for safe operating conditions. Drawing on the biophysical mechanisms associated with the identified AEs, we determined appropriate exposure metrics for each stimulation modality. Using these metrics, we conducted an in silico comparison of various exposure scenarios for tACS, DBS, and TIS using multiphysics simulations in an anatomically detailed head model with realistic current strengths. By matching stimulation scenarios in terms of biophysical impact, we inferred the frequency-dependent TIS stimulation parameters that resulted in exposure magnitudes known to be safe for tACS and DBS. Based on the results of our simulations and existing knowledge regarding tES and DBS safety, we propose frequency-dependent thresholds below which TIS voltages and currents are unlikely to pose a risk to humans. Safety-related data from ongoing and future human studies are required to verify and refine the thresholds proposed here. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.11.30.518460v1?rss=1 Authors: Tan, J., Iyer, K. K., Nitsche, M. A., Puri, R., Hinder, M. R. Abstract: A growing body of research suggests that changes in both structural and functional connectivity in the ageing brain contribute to cognitive declines observed in later life. In recent years, transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) has garnered substantial research interest as a potential tool for the modulation of functional connectivity. Here, we report the findings from a double-blind crossover study that investigated the effects of dual-site beta tACS over the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) and pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA) on the response inhibition performance of healthy older (n =15, aged 61-79 years) and healthy younger (n = 18, aged 18-34 years) adults. Two tACS conditions were administered in separate sessions: in-phase tACS, where electrical currents delivered to rIFG and preSMA have a 0 degree phase difference, and anti-phase tACS, where the currents have a 180 degree phase difference. In-phase tACS was found to significantly improve response inhibition of only younger individuals, with better inhibitory performance associated with stronger rIFG-preSMA functional connectivity. Anti-phase tACS did not result in any significant changes in response inhibition or functional connectivity for either age group. It was posited that these findings were due to the disparity of tACS-induced field strengths in the stimulated regions, inter-individual variability in the tACS-induced effects on rIFG-preSMA connectivity, and age-related brain atrophy. The current study sheds light on the complex nature of responses to non-invasive brain stimulation, which potentially contributes to the development of novel neuromodulation-based therapeutic interventions for the maintenance of cognitive function in older adults. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.11.24.517788v1?rss=1 Authors: Lai, S.-f., Huang, W.-Y., Wang, W.-H., Hong, J.-B., Kuo, S.-H., Lin, S.-J. Abstract: Growing hair follicles (HFs) harbor actively dividing transit amplifying cells (TACs), rendering them highly sensitive to radiotherapy (RT). Clinically, there is still a lack of effective treatment for radiotherapy-induced alopecia (RIA). We aimed to dissect the effect and mechanism of local prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) pretreatment in RIA prevention. We found that PGE2 pretreatment reduced RIA by preventing premature termination of anagen through enhancing HF self-repair. Mechanistically, PGE2 did not activate HF stem cells, but preserved more TACs for regenerative attempts. Pretreatment of PGE2 lessened radiosensitivity of TACs by transiently arresting them in the G1 phase, thereby reducing TAC apoptosis and mitigating HF dystrophy. The preservation of more TACs accelerated HF self-repair and bypassed RT-induced premature catagen entry. Promoting G1 arrest by systemic administration of palbociclib isethionate (PD0332991), a CDK4/6 inhibitor, offered a similar protective effect against RT. Therefore, PGE2 protects HF TACs from RT by transiently inducing G1 arrest, and the regeneration of HF structures lost from RT is accelerated to resume anagen growth, thus bypassing the long downtime of hair loss. PGE2 has the potential to be repurposed as a preventive treatment for RIA. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.11.15.516556v1?rss=1 Authors: Pariz, A., Trotter, D., Hutt, A., Lefebvre, J. Abstract: Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) represents a promising non-invasive treatment for an increasingly wide range of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. The ability to use periodically oscillating electric fields to non-invasively engage neural dynamics opens up the possibility of recruiting synaptic plasticity and to modulate brain function. However, despite consistent reports about tACS clinical effectiveness, strong state-dependence combined with the ubiquitous heterogeneity of cortical networks collectively results in high outcome variability. Introducing variations in intrinsic neuronal timescales, we explored how such heterogeneity influences stimulation-induced change in synaptic connectivity. We examined how spike timing dependent plasticity, at the level of cells, intra- and inter-laminar cortical networks, can be selectively and preferentially engaged by periodic stimulation. Using computational simulations informed by human experimental data, we analyzed cortical circuits comprised of multiple cell-types, alongside superficial multi-layered networks expressing distinct layer-specific timescales. Our results show that mismatch in neuronal timescales within and/or between cells - and the resulting variability in excitability, temporal integration properties and frequency tuning - enables selective and directional control on synaptic connectivity by tACS. Our work provides new vistas on how to recruit neural heterogeneity to guide brain plasticity using non-invasive stimulation paradigms. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.11.03.515008v1?rss=1 Authors: Potok, W., van der Groen, O., Sivachelvam, S., Baechinger, M., Frohlich, F., Kish, L. B., Wenderoth, N. Abstract: Stochastic Resonance (SR) describes a phenomenon where an additive noise (stochastic carrier-wave) enhances the signal transmission in a nonlinear system. In the nervous system, nonlinear properties are present from the level of single ion channels all the way to perception and appear to support the emergence of SR. For example, SR has been repeatedly demonstrated for visual detection tasks, also by adding noise directly to cortical areas via transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS). We mathematically show that high-frequency, non-stochastic, periodic signals can yield resonance-like effects with linear transfer and infinite signal-to-noise ratio at the output. Here we tested this prediction empirically and investigated whether non-random, high-frequency, transcranial alternating current stimulation (hf-tACS) applied to visual cortex could induce resonance-like effects and enhance performance on a visual detection task. We demonstrated in 28 participants that applying 80 Hz triangular-waves or sine-waves with hf-tACS reduced visual contrast detection threshold for optimal brain stimulation intensities. The influence of hf-tACS on contrast sensitivity was equally effective to tRNS-induced modulation, demonstrating that both hf-tACS and tRNS can reduce contrast detection thresholds. Our findings suggest that a resonance-like mechanism can also emerge when non-stochastic electrical waveforms are applied via hf-tACS. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.10.17.512611v1?rss=1 Authors: Geffen, A. R., Bland, N., Sale, M. V. Abstract: Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) has been proposed to modulate neural activity through two primary mechanisms: entrainment and neuroplasticity. The current study aimed to probe both of these mechanisms in the context of the sensorimotor -rhythm using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG) to assess entrainment of corticospinal excitability (CSE) during stimulation (i.e., online) and immediately following stimulation, as well as neuroplastic aftereffects on CSE and EEG power. Thirteen participants received 3 sessions of stimulation. Each session consisted of 90 trials of -tACS tailored to each participants individual frequency (IMF), with each trial consisting of 16 seconds of tACS followed by 8 seconds of rest (for a total of 24 minutes of tACS and 12 minutes of rest per session). Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were acquired at the start and end of the session (n = 41) and additional MEPs were acquired across the different phases of tACS at 3 epochs within each tACS trial (n = 90 for each epoch): early online, late online, and offline echo. Resting EEG activity was recorded at the start, end, and throughout the tACS session. The data were then pooled across the three sessions for each participant to maximise the MEP sample size per participant. We present preliminary evidence of CSE entrainment persisting immediately beyond tACS and have also replicated the plastic CSE facilitation observed in previous -tACS studies, thus supporting both entrainment and neuroplasticity as mechanisms by which tACS can modulate neural activity. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC
Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.09.26.509537v1?rss=1 Authors: Gurumoorthy, R., Ayanampudi, V., Kumar, V., Krishnan, A., Walker, M. P., Ivry, R., Knight, R. T. Abstract: Insufficient sleep is a major health issue. Inadequate sleep is associated with an array of poor health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, certain forms of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, depression, anxiety, and suicidality. Given concerns with typical sedative hypnotic drugs for treating sleep difficulties, there is a compelling need for added alternative interventions. Here, we report results of a non-invasive electrical brain stimulation approach to optimizing sleep involving transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). A total of 25 participants (mean age: 46.3, S.D. +/-12.4, 15 females) were recruited for a null-stimulation controlled (Control condition), within subjects, randomized crossed design, that included two variants of an active condition involving 15 minutes pre-sleep tACS stimulation. To evaluate the impact on sleep quality, the two active tACS stimulation conditions were designed to modulate sleep-dependent neural activity in the theta/alpha frequency bands, with both stimulation types applied to all subjects in separate sessions. The first tACS condition used a fixed stimulation pattern across all participants, a pattern composed of stimulation at 5Hz and 10Hz. The second tACS condition used a personalized stimulation approach with the stimulation frequencies determined by each individual's peak EEG frequencies in the 4-6Hz and 9-11Hz bands. Personalized tACS stimulation increased sleep quantity (duration) by 22 minutes compared to a Control condition (p=.04), and 19 minutes compared to Fixed tACS stimulation (p=.03). Fixed stimulation did not significantly increase sleep duration compared to Control (mean: 3 minutes; p=0.75). For sleep onset, the Personalized tACS stimulation resulted in reducing the onset by 28% compared to the Fixed tACS stimulation (6 minutes faster, p=.02). For a Poor Sleep sub-group (n=13) categorized with Clinical Insomnia and with a high insomnia severity, Personalized tACS stimulation improved sleep duration by 33 minutes compared to Fixed stimulation (p=0.02), and 30 minutes compared to Control condition (p less than 0.1). Together, these results suggest that Personalized stimulation improves sleep quantity and time taken to fall asleep relative to Control and Fixed stimulation providing motivation for larger-scale trials for Personalized tACS as a sleep therapeutic, including for those with insomnia. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by PaperPlayer
Want to be on the show? Email me! matt.custodero@gmail.com Sources: SNT: https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/home/topics/mood-disorders/depressive-disorder/fda-clears-saint-neuromodulation-system-for-major-depressive-disorder/ https://www.medicaldevice-network.com/news/magnus-saint-neuromodulation-system-fda/ https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/appi.ajp.2021.20101429 TACS: https://www.lifespan.io/news/neuromodulation-improves-memory-in-older-adults/ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-022-01132-3#Tab1 Business: https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/09/05/2509762/0/en/Neuromodulation-Devices-Market-to-Hit-14-16-Billion-by-2030-Growing-at-a-CAGR-of-10-29.html
In This Episode You Will Learn: Where are you in your career right now? Neuroscience research is fascinating. Dr. Ted is most interested in attention, perception, and memory. These three things work together harmoniously because you can't remember something you ignore, and it's difficult to notice something if you don't perceive it in the beginning. Dr. Ted studied how the brain encodes beats. He uses music perception to enable people to pay attention, listen, and remember information. He worked with Adam Gaza and researched aging's attention, memory, and perception. Their research indicated that some memory issues stem from attentional issues, inhibiting irrelevant information. How does this process change as we grow? It's not a problem with memory capacity; it's more on the intentional filtering issue. When you add distraction (in a lab setting), adults will show deficient memory performance compared to young adults when you test them on the content they were told to remember. But if you test them on the content they were supposed to ignore, older adults remember the better. The research now is more on assessing the different potential therapeutics to help people focus their attention and improve their memory performance. There are two ways: musical training to facilitate attention to memory performance and noninvasive neurostimulation using a magnetic field of electrical currents to retrain neuro oscillation that underlies attention to memory processes and rescues the brain's cognitive abilities to mediate age-related problems. What aspects of perception do you focus on? Dr. Theodore focuses on perceiving or experiencing things such as the sound of one's voice or picture. Dr ted is focused chiefly on vision and audition. That's humans' ability to see and ability to hear. The brain has a region dedicated to visual processing and another region for auditory processing. These regions are highly connected. The brain can ramp out or tune out noises. Like a radio equalizer, the brain controls the volume to either ramp up a particular sound to hear more or tune out from other background noise. You can focus on one person's voice even in a noisy crowd. Why is brain oscillation significant? Brain oscillation means the frequencies at which the brain and neurons are firing. They become active at different frequencies. When you sleep, you get these slow bursts of activities. We call these delta waves. The neurons can burst in a range of thousand hertz. The brain oscillates at lower frequencies, but the other neurons pick up the slack. If you record a large group of neurons, you will get high frequencies. Dr. Ted uses EEG or fMRI to look at large swabs of the cortex. It includes hundreds of thousands of neurons in one group. When you get that number of neurons synchronously firing together, you get temporal resolution and can detect oscillations. While you can't get the resolution you need for an individual neuron, you can get a lot of exciting information from 70 Herts and below. What would the program look like? The research is mainly on assessing how attention, memory, and perception. We are looking at the interaction of these things across the lifespan, how it degrades potentially as people get older, and how we might be able to remediate that. In studying the brain, they've identified specific mechanisms for specific interventions. The frontal theta activity seems to be involved in the complex cognitive function of one's multitasking ability. For example, one study looked at how people multitask. Research shows that people peak at multitasking in their twenties, which declines as they age. The process was a little car simulation where respondents had to drive a car and respond to street signs. The goal was to assess how w brain can multitask by driving a car and responding to streetlights simultaneously. Younger adults were better at it, but a month into playing the simulation paradigm, older people were able to improve their multitasking abilities. It shows that frontal data is related to one's ability to focus your attention and remember objects. Another study was done to shorten the brain's improvement to multitask. They had young adults at their peak, stimulating their brains at six Herts. It's what they call theta stimulation. Results showed that after an hour, this group improved this multitasking ability as opposed to those who could feel the stimulation but didn't get the total dose. This method was then replicated in older adults. The session ran over an hour initially. But for the older adults, the protocol was done in three days. The Variables There are a lot of individual variabilities here since not everyone responds the same to the treatment. Even then, we can now estimate the conductivity and resistivity of the skin, the scalp, the cerebral spinal fluid, the gray matter, and the white matter in the brain. But, to do that, we needed to have an actual picture of each brain. Dr. Ted and his team brought the respondents for an MRI to take a high-resolution picture of their heads, including the scalp, the brain, and the CSF. The results allowed them to assign resistance to all the tissue types. Eventually, they were able to get into each person's brain. It's helpful to know that the efficacy of stimulation can be affected by one's anatomy. As a person ages, the brain degenerates and shrinks a bit. The more it does, the less current is likely to go into the brain. When dealing with an aging population or people with neurodegenerative disorders, that's important. When dealing with an aging population or people with neurodegenerative disorders, that's important. People with more atrophy will likely need a higher dose of stimulation for the current to reach the brain. This result helps us understand the individual differences of people. Other brains work faster, so they need fewer pulses per second for the current to reach the brain. It means people won't function as efficiently when stimulated at the inaccurate Hertz level. This means that brains need to oscillate at a frequency that matches. What does this mean for people with neurogenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's? Intensity is an important question here. They tried different intensities, showing that the higher the intensity, the more effective it is. However, they still saw some improvements in memory, even with lower intensities. Lowered beta-load is one of the biomarkers associated with Alzheimer's. With the stimulation, we saw an increase in microglia. These neurons help clear the amyloid plaques. TACS is a more practical solution than other types of neurostimulation requiring complicated electronics. If this demonstrates the efficacy, it can be used with other treatments for Alzheimer's. The study is still in the research phase, but still, this is a practical solution. What's great about this neurostimulation is that if you stimulate a node of network regions that are functionally connected, you can manipulate brain activities. Even if the stimulation doesn't reach the hippocampus, if they're able to hit a region of the cortex that communicates with the hippocampus, then it's believed that it can impact the hippocampus and fire out activities in the rain. TACS Stimulation It's hard to hit a specific quadrant in the brain and stimulate it. It takes some time before the stimulation can start seeing real effects. Right now, it's still in its early stages. So, it's just about seeing what works, understanding the why, and looking for answers. Everything comes at a cost. There are activities that people do that affect how the brain functions and be stimulated. The same is accurate with the hertz and other frequencies. The stimulation and work may impact the brain at a specific frequency. People could be doing other things to improve multiple functions, but at the moment, science is doing this, and hopefully, it bears good results. About the Guest: Dr. Theodore Zanto Director of Neurology at Neuroscape and Assoc Prof at UCSF. He specializes in brain imaging and non-invasive studies on the brain, especially on attention, perception, and memory studies. For more information about your assessment options for cognitive issues or Alzheimer's, contact Kemper Cognitive Wellness in Cleveland, Ohio. Email: info@kemperwellness.com Website: https://kemperwellness.com/ Phone: (216) 337-1400.
Sam Primm is a Real Estate Investor, Educator with over 40 million dollar Real Estate using people's money He started a successful Rental Real Estate company, Wholesale company and he does Flips as well. In this episode we talked about: * Sam's Bio & Background * The First Investment in Real Estate * Using Other People's Money to Buy Real Estate * Network Building * Private & Institutional Lenders * Capital Structure * Interest Rate Risks * Journey on Social Media * The Process of Property Acquisition * Mentorship, Resources and Lessons Learned Useful links: Book “Pitch Anything” by Oren Klaff Book “Eat that frog” by Brian Tracy https://www.instagram.com/samfasterfreedom/?hl=en https://fasterfreedom.com Transciption: Jesse (0s): Welcome to the working capital real estate podcast. My name is Jesper galley. And on this show, we discuss all things real estate with investors and experts in a variety of industries that impact real estate. Whether you're looking at your first investment or raising your first fund, join me and let's build that portfolio one square foot at a time. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Jennifer gala and you're listening to working capital the real estate podcast. My guest today is Sam prim. Sam is a real estate investor educator with over $40 million worth of real estate using other people's money. He started a successful rental real estate company, a wholesale company, and he does flips as well. We just kind of went over a little bit about his portfolio right now, Sam, how's it going? Sam (45s): It's going well, man, it's going well, appreciate you having me on. Jesse (47s): Yeah, thanks so much for coming on. I think one thing we miss here in the intro is just the fact that your social media presence with real estate is pretty pronounced. It's part of the reason that we connected, I saw what you were doing online. And I said, you know, I think that listeners would get a lot of value about you coming on, telling your story, and also talking a little bit about that presence online. So thanks for coming on. Really appreciate it. Why don't we take a couple of steps back as we normally do here and talk a little bit about your background and how you got into real estate, you know, from, you know, where you started and where you're at today. Sam (1m 23s): Yeah, for sure. So I don't have the most exciting story, like, you know, some guests and some people I know that, you know, came over here or grew up super, super poor and didn't have, you know, much of an upbringing. I had a normal upbringing, you know, my parents were middle-class. My dad was an engineer. My mom was a teacher. My dad worked for the same company for 40 years and retired. That was kinda what I was grown up in. That was kind of how I was raised, you know, save money, save money, save money, invest, and went to college and was kind of planning that path. But kinda during college, I started a, a house, you know, painting company with my buddy. We started to kind of paint in the summers, painted exteriors of houses and fences and decks, kinda got some entrepreneurial itches and then went to school and finished school and then, you know, graduated and got a job out of school. And he got an engineering degree and we were just doing our own thing. And then we started to connect and talk real estate and we decided to go in and buy one house a year for 10 years was our goal. And just kind of start to just see what real estate can do for us on the side. And that kind of ballooned into what I'm doing today. I kind of really kind of ventured away from that traditional mindset of work for somebody else, your whole life. I was able to quit my full-time job and go full-time in real estate a few years later and really enjoying now showing other people that you do have an option. You can do the traditional path, but if that's not for you or you can't do that, or whatever, whatever the reason may be, you do not have to work for someone else, your whole life. You can do what you want when you want and real estate's the best, you know, kind of bridge to help you get to that life. Jesse (2m 53s): So, Sam, what was the first investment in real estate that you, that you ever did? What did that look like? Sam (2m 60s): It was a single family rental. I actually bought it in 2014 into 2014, bought it with the thought that you got to, I was going to fix it up and sell it and take that profit and put 20% down on a rental. So back then, even when I started, you know, investing in real estate, I thought 20% down on rental property. So, all right, I don't have 20% to put down, so I'm going to flip a house, take that profit and then put 20% down. So I thought for every, you know, one rental I wanted to buy, I had to flip one, so two houses to get one rental. But during that process, I learned a, about the cash out refinance and kind of leveraging money and leveraging bank funds and all that, all that stuff that I'm sure a lot of your viewers know about, but I didn't know about it. And I ended up actually turning that one into a rental that worked out pretty well. So just, you know, jumped in and was figuring it out and then found out about refinancing and, and all that cash out stuff. And you haven't looked back since, and haven't had to put 20% down of my own money on anything since. So Jesse (3m 55s): That's great. So in terms of the actual debt side of the equation, when you are looking for properties and over your career, when you've been looking for properties using other people's money, I mean, people hear that and they, you know, intuitively understand what that means. You know, you understand what the words mean, but in terms of actually executing that and doing it in a way that doesn't put you in a unreasonable amount of risk, how do you approach that? And what does that look like for you when you're saying you're using other people's money to buy real estate? Sam (4m 26s): Yeah, for sure. Cause if you're, if you're not using your own money, you're putting 20% down, you know, you could be overleveraging yourself, like you said, and putting yourself at unnecessary risk, you know, shift in the market could sink you. And, and that did a lot in oh eight, it's sunk a lot of people. So the key to using other people's money in your own money honestly, is making sure there's equity in the property. Everybody thinks that banks care about that 20% down when you're buying rentals, they don't, they care about that 80%. They want to just make sure that they are not over leveraged themselves and that there's 80% equity in the deal. So if you can creatively use somebody else's money to find distressed properties, you know, fix them up, manage them well, whether we're talking, you know, single families, commercial multi-families, whatever it is, if you can just find the deals out there and use other people's money and, you know, find a good enough deal and increase the value enough that there is at least 20% equity at the end, then you're not over leveraged. If, if you bought a million dollar apartment complex and put $200,000 down, there's 80% equity. If I've, you know, did the same thing and use somebody else's money and have $800,000 of somebody else's money in the deal, and it's still worth a million, why it's the same position? There's, you know, there's, there's not any risk there. As long as that equity is built in, obviously there's some more intricacies that go into it and there's a ton different ways to do it. But I think the key concept that you brought up and kind of wanted me to drive home is as long as you're buying at a discount and managing it properly, you shouldn't over leverage yourself. If you do it the right way, it's not buying things at market value, you know, a hundred percent of costs, a hundred percent of value, a hundred percent of loan. It's, you know, we're, we're deep, we're much less than that. There's a lot of equity built in at the end of these deals that just grows over time. Jesse (6m 5s): So during that time 2014, and I guess the, the few years after that, that got you to where you're at today, the actual network that you had, the people that you went to to actually raise money from, how did that evolve? You know, did you have somebody in the beginning that you were doing this with, that kind of showed you who the ideal people would be that would invest with you? What did that look like? Sam (6m 25s): Yeah, kind of. So I knew that you could use other people's money to buy and fix up a property. I think, I don't remember. I think that flip or flop the torque and Christina moose or whatever, the ones that was on HTV. I remember seeing them go to like their lawyer's somebody's house and they would get the money and then they would fix up the house and they would split the profit with them. So I knew you could do that. So I knew that you could borrow money to buy and fix up a house. I just didn't know about the 20% down. And that's what I did on my first property. I borrowed the money to buy it and fix it up. It was from like a kind of a friend of a friend kind of thing. It was one of my dad's friends that owned a business. I'd known him growing up a little bit and he'd always talked about, you know, if we ever get into business, you know, he'd like to help me out kind of like a, a mentor type thing, but he wasn't a real estate investor more just on the business and mindset side of things. And we talked and, you know, met a few times and, and showed them the plans and show them what we wanted to do. And he said that he would be willing to give us, you know, you know, a hundred thousand dollars to buy and fix up a house. If we found something that worked and showed him the deal and ran through the numbers and we did that. And then we did it again. And I continued to use that same private lender for, for a long time. My first, first three or four years in investing in real estate, I had a full-time job. So it probably maybe a 20, 20 rentals or so. So it was good, but it wasn't anything crazy. But then after that, you just make connections and know the right people and that lender talks to other people. And then eventually we, you know, got more money than we know what to do with now, just as far as, you know, sourcing deals for private lenders, it's, it's just, it can be tough to find private lenders. So I was pretty lucky, but I always tell people whether it takes you two months or two years to find a private lender, always be looking one private lender can change your life. There's other, there's other options. In the meantime, you can wholesale, you can use hard money, you can use lines of credit, you can do a ton of different things. Self-directed IRAs, all those are great. But, you know, using a, having a private lender that has flexible terms that will lend you a hundred percent of purchase and rehab on, you know, whatever the property may be is life-changing so be looking for one, you may stumble across when, right away, you may not, but don't give up because one can change your life. For sure. Jesse (8m 27s): And what was the, I mean, flexibility, you mentioned that there w what are the other appeals that you have with private lenders, as opposed to institutional institutional lenders for what you're trying to do? Sam (8m 38s): Yeah. So private lenders are, you know, their flexibilities by far the biggest one. So, you know, if I'm buying an apartment complex, I'll go to private lenders and they'll put 20% down. And then the other 80% is institutional. Whether it be, you know, government money, Fannie, or Freddie, or whether it be, you know, bank money, but they're, they're going to be in second position. Then the private lender is okay with that. It's, you know, most hard money lenders or other institutions won't want to be in second position. They're going to want to be in first position to be most secured. So they're flexible because you have a relationship with them. There are people that, you know, or people that, you know, know that understand real estate that don't usually, they don't have millions. It's usually it's, you know, I just had a student the other day that was like, I can't find a private lender. And then all, you know, all of a sudden he was talking with a real estate agent that he was trying to buy houses from. And that agent said they always want to do invest, but they don't have the time or knowledge. And they had an extra 150 green, you know, they didn't have millions, but they took some out of the stock market and they had that and they're willing to invest with them because they knew them. So it just comes from different sources. It usually doesn't come from a rich uncle or even a rich friend of your dad like minded, but, you know, there's a ton of different places. You can find them. And they're just flexible. They're understanding. I think a couple of the second deal I did, we couldn't pay back. The private lender has full amount plus interest. So he let us roll that into the next deal. And just things like that. There's flexibility being second position on terms, and I'm on lengths of things. And, you know, when you're dealing with somebody that they have relationship with built with, you can talk about that when you're dealing with these bigger institutions, they're just a number on a spreadsheet to them. They don't give a, they don't give a crap if you had an issue or not. Jesse (10m 10s): Yeah. I feel like when you're dealing with private lenders, if the deal goes sideways, God forbid there, you know, you want to work with the person, the person typically wants to work with you where it's the bank. Like you said, if you're just a number on a spreadsheet there, you know, they can be a little bit more aggressive and saying, yeah, sorry, like this, we're going to take this action X. That might be pretty detrimental to your investment in terms of the, the, what you described there. So the 20% down from a private lender and then the balance from say an institutional lenders. So that to me is a very similar or very common for a short-term kind of, you're basically trying to stabilize an asset or you could potentially be flipping it. How do you look at the capital structure when you're dealing with more of a longer term, hold on your real estate. Sam (10m 54s): So everything, and we've done this a few times now, so I own six, six apartment complexes, and I've done this on three of them and three of them in the process of doing this. So like, what I've done in the past is for one of my second apartment complex, I bought it. No, nothing big. I haven't done any huge deals yet. This was a 32 unit. So what we ended up doing was we bought it for 1.1 million. So we've got 20% down from our private lender. So he lend us 20% down, which I guess is 220 grand. We got an $880,000 mortgage from the bank. So it was worth a little bit more than that when he bought it. So there's equity built in, but we improve the building over the next couple of years. You know, we increased cashflow by raising rent. We use some of that to fix up the property and we, you know, got efficient with the expenses and managing and just took care of everything and just kind of turn the building. Wasn't a nightmare, but we turned it around relatively quickly and just two years. And we were paying the private lender a little bit out of cashflow. And then two years later, it appraised for 1.5 million. So we took some equity out. We refinanced at 80% and paid him back as two 20 plus interest. And now we own it and we own it. Long-term and, you know, we have a one point had a one point, you know, one, something million dollar note on it. It was worth 1.5. And then two years later, which was last year, just the price for 2 million. So it just kind of shows you that you, you get one of these assets and you can force the value in force appreciation by being efficient and raising rents. You can create so much equity so fast that you can do these short term. I call them short term burst deals in two or three years. You can, you can reposition an asset and create enough equity and value by you controlling the asset properly to get enough to pay him back plus interest and move on to the next one. It's just kind of a rinse and repeat thing. I haven't, you know, done the syndication route where you're raising 20% from, you know, lenders that you're going to pay back over the next, however many years or, or anything like that. But mine's a little bit more of that, you know, smaller scale. But if you do it enough, you know, like I said, I got 40 million that I own a hundred percent of you can, you can scale pretty quickly. Jesse (12m 57s): Yeah, for sure. I mean, there's good money to be made. And both strategies might find the, like you said, almost a, like a, a variation of the burst strategy where you are buying, holding, or refinancing, renting all the RS. But if you do the syndication route, it's basically the same thing. I, the only difference would be an equity portion coming from LPs. So we, we did something very similar recently, and it is just a larger version of buying that single family house and, and doing a, doing a burst strategy with, so in terms of the, where you kind of see the market right now, obviously we're in a time right now, it's Q2 20, 22 interest rates have continued to go up. How do you look at the risk of your deals in terms of interest rate, what you typically keep in reserve? Like how, w from a risk standpoint, how do you, how do you view your, your real estate acquisitions? Sam (13m 51s): Yeah. Interest rates have gone up way more than I thought they would way quicker, but even, even with that, I'm not, not overly concerned. A majority of my portfolio, we have tied up at, at 10 year arms, you know, tenure. So the rate's not going to just, I guess for eight more years now, we locked them in a couple of years ago. So majority of it is eight is eight more years of our current rates. Modem is non-recourse with some government and funding, but as far as going forward with the current purchase, I'm just keeping that into account interest rates are going to be a little bit higher. If we do a deal now, or we have a three-year arm or something that probably going to be a little bit higher, but I don't think they're going to be substantially higher. And now that my portfolio has got to a point where I'm just trying to add good assets to it, I'm not worried about, you know, they're all good deals. They all cashflow on their own, but I'm just looking at it as more of a portfolio that I'm going to have for 20 years. So a little bit of interest rates, a little bit higher on the portion of the portfolio right now, isn't extremely concerning to me. I don't love it, but also going with higher interest rates, rents more rents going up every, I think I heard the other day or read something rent's going up every year in the past, like 90 years, except 2008 or 2009, like one is the only year rent's ever not gone up. So with increase interest rates, you also have increased expenses. We're getting more efficient in management with property, with software, with things like that. So you can offset some of that extra interest on that. You'll be paying with a higher, with a little bit higher interest rate, but you can offset that with just being smart and efficient and just scaling and not worrying about, you know, having to spend a little bit more. I feel like if your deal hinges on 50 basis points, you'd probably buy in too deep. Anyway, I understand this gone up more than that recently, but in the, in the commercial game with a small local banks who I deal with, it's it hasn't gone up. It hasn't gone up near what the residential has. That's right. Not to get too into a, you probably know this better than I do, but the, the residential, the mortgage that people hear about this going up like crazy is based on the ten-year treasury, what, what we borrow at the small local banks that I deal with. And part of the reason it's based on the fed funds rate, and that's barely gone up. So they're kind of based on two different things. And, you know, you can take advantage of one while the other one's, you know, doing something. And so there, there's always some way to be flexible and get around it. I, I'm not thinking that you're not going to be able to invest in real estate because interest rates are too high, but that's kind of how I look at it. W what do you think about that? Jesse (16m 10s): Yeah, I have very similar view. I think the 50 basis points comment, I think it actually is accurate because even though rates have gone up higher, if you're doing an analysis and underwriting a deal and say, you're playing Monday morning quarterback, and you're in the deal now, and rates have gone up. If you didn't, if you didn't have some sort of sensitivity analysis that gave you a bit of a range, you don't underwrite a deal and go, okay, I can't go higher than this. You give yourself a little bit of padding. So you, yeah. Even with the padding, you might be, you might be within 75 bips or 50 BEPS. And it, like you said, if that's going to kill your deal, then you've got bigger problems to worry about. I think the, the different approach that we're taking is just looking at things banks, when we're doing refinances or bef before LTV loan to value was a lot bigger piece of the pie. Now, debt service coverage ratio is which makes sense, right there. They're being cognizant about how much you have in cashflow. And it kind of, I think every once in a while, every five, 10 years, we need a little bit of a jolt in the real estate industry because we start getting away from the fundamentals and then we kind of need to be brought back that cashflow is, is a key aspect of what we do. So I think, you know, provided that we don't go into a global pandemic again, which is kind of, I only laugh. It's, you know, it's not funny, but only ironic in the sense that we always say, like, you know, caveat this, as long as this doesn't happen, it will be okay. Now that we have seen something very intense, like the last two years, I think investors will be a little bit more prudent, but provided that we don't have anything crazy geopolitically going forward. I think that it's not unhealthy to have interest rates go up a little bit and values of cool off, especially in some of the major markets, you know what I didn't even ask. What a, which market are you currently investing in right now? We're Sam (17m 58s): St. Louis, Missouri, everything. Everything's here within an hour, hour and a half of a, of St. Louis on the Missouri side. So yeah, everything's here local in the Midwest, not the most exciting city, but it's a great city to own rental properties in and invest in is, is pretty stable. You don't get the swings. So it's, it's a good place to be. Jesse (18m 16s): Yeah, for sure. What, switch gears a little bit here and talk about this presence on social media. It's pretty fascinating to me, especially in our space because, well, I guess any space you get all these quotation gurus online and posting random stuff, and just kind of filtering through a lot of that. I saw the content you were posting really interesting, engaging educational. You kind of go through some of the deals. We'll put a link up for listeners to check you out on Instagram. And I assume you, you know, you have a link for YouTube, but talk a little bit about that, that journey on social media as it relates to real estate. Sam (18m 52s): Yeah. So I just started posting a little bit on Facebook about what I was doing, you know, and drummed up a pretty good amount of, you know, interest from just friends and family and people that didn't know that I was investing in real estate. They just thought I had that full, you know, my full-time job. And so that kind of started to get some traction and, you know, it didn't really think a ton of it. Then I went full-time in real estate in 2018 and was focused on growing my rental portfolio and growing, you know, the flipping company and doing all that for a good year and a half, two years and occasionally posting on social media. And then we got those businesses to a pretty stable place being my business partner, Lucas, and kind of had the idea of you run those, keep those going. I'm going to try to, you know, get into this education space and try to educate people what you're doing, because the minimal exposure I had was just inundated with people. How did you do it? Can you teach me how to do it? How do you do it? You know, so I thought, well, let's, let's try to, you know, make a social media about it and try to maybe create some type of course or mentorship. So I just started by just giving away as much as I could for free on YouTube and then Instagram and slowly getting some traction. And then Pope did Tik TOK and got made fun of for a while. But I posted on Tik TOK once a day for 30 days and said, I'm just going to give it a shot. And this was back in 2020 middle to end of 2020, and then that blew up and then everything else kind of just followed from there. You know, ticktack saying is it all starts on Tik TOK? And for me, it kind of did that kind of gave me the credibility to grow the other platforms. And like, what you said is what I do. I just try to post informational stuff. I don't overreact. I could have a bigger following if I was a, fearmonger not going to name any names, but the people that have had that YouTube thumbnails for five years in a row saying the world's ending and the market's going to crash, eventually they're going to be right. But you know, those people that do that negativity and that just kind of drove me crazy. And also I knew somebody that had done three bird deals and wrote a bird book. So I was just like, come on. So anyway, so I decided to, to teach and go in a little bit more and go full-time into it. And the last I've been doing social media for about years. And as you alluded to, you've got a decent following on tic-tac YouTube and Instagram, and just trying to provide as much education as I can. It's fun. Obviously I can make money from it if people want, want me to educate them further, but regardless, it's just a good place to, you know, be creative and have fun and teach people and show them that there is another path out there that real estate can be fun. And it's a, it's a good thing to invest in and so great way to get free eyeballs. Jesse (21m 13s): So I don't think I connected with you on Tik TOK, but what was that 30 days like, was that just I'm going to post some deals, some, some tip, but what did that 30 days look like? Sam (21m 22s): I just, I just was posting and at the time my Instagram was probably like 500. My YouTube was probably like a thousand, I don't know. And I just wasn't getting as much traction on them. So I thought let's hop on Tik TOK. I had somebody told me that people were talking about real estate. I thought it was just a place for people to dance and you know, what it's turned into now, craziness. But so I got on not early, but kind of early. And then I just posted once a day for 30 days. And I think my fourth video got a hundred thousand views and I was like, holy cow, it was like a 15, 22nd video. You know, it makes sense now that people can scroll and see, you know, five different people in one minute, the only platform that really allows for that. But yeah, and then just kind of got some traction there and then other social media started to grow and then it's kind of the staple. I, I don't even, it's insane. I have 1.5 million followers on Tik TOK, and it's just like, that is like a city. And then when it does bleed over to the other platforms and now, yeah, and now that tic-tacs allowing for longer videos and things like that, I'm trying to leverage it to, to, to push people towards the other social media platforms. Cause tic Tacs fine and all, but you know, in five minutes, someone probably sees 50 different people on Tik TOK in five minutes. They've see probably 10 people on Instagram in five minutes. You just, usually one people on YouTube and same with podcasts. So the goal is to push people to the longer form content, to warm them up and teach them more. But just taking advantage of what's out there. And it's a lot easier to make a 32nd video than an engaging 30 minute podcast. So that's, that's what I was doing for a while and still do. Jesse (22m 53s): Yeah. And it's, you know, like we're talking right now, if we probably end up putting this on YouTube, you know, it's one thing to have this story. Some people, you know, you, I find a lot of people just like people are visual learners. I find we, we remember stories better. You have this long form aspect of, of Sam prim they'll remember certain aspects, but you know, like at some point in this conversation, we said, DSCR, you know, that's a 32nd video for tech doc or for Instagram. Right. But you can't get the, well, you can only get so much information out there in the short form. So that makes sense that you kind of capture them there, bring them over to longer form content. So in terms of the educational stuff, what type of, what type of stuff are you putting out there? You mentioned the course that you had. Sam (23m 34s): Yeah. So Joe, I have a, I have a mentorship currently, you know, it's a lot of different things that go and it, but basically it's everything or, you know, everything I can put into that content about creating a rental portfolio using other people's money. There's 250 videos I put in there because no one likes to sit down. No one has an hour free time, or usually they don't. So I spent about eight months making five to 10 minute clips of every single step of the way. So someone, if they got a free 10 minutes can just watch to my videos and learn a little bit or poke around and see. So there's that, there's a closed Facebook group. There's weekly mentorship calls, group mentorship calls, and then all the resources you'll need. So it's pretty in depth and it's pretty comprehensive. You know, we just launched it about six months ago, had a little over 500 people sign up. So it's, it's not, it's it's for people that are willing to take action. We'd one of the questions is making sure that they're willing to take action. We just don't want to take people's money just to take their money. If they're willing to take action and it's a good fit for you, but it's been fun. And it's just kind of one of the trickle down effects of getting a lot of eyeballs, a certain amount of those people will want we'll happily give you money to teach them further. You know, we're not holding a gun for anybody's dad to sign up. So it's, it's been, it's been a fun thing that I don't really push a ton. A lot of people don't even know I have it that follow me on social media. So I kind of like it that way. Jesse (24m 50s): Yeah. I mean, it's also too, it's a reflection of, of yourself. So this idea of just, you know, signing up a million people in the short term is, you know, a lot of people do it, but if it's something that you you're trying to build and you want it to be quality, it makes sense that you want people to actually be in there engaged because unfortunately, a lot of people, you know, we've all been guilty of it, but there are a lot of people that consume a lot of great content, but never take any action with it. Whether it's a finance real estate need, it could be anything. So it's, it's definitely one of those things you want to have that action piece connected to the actual consumption of, of information. Want to just hop back to the real estate side of things. So, one thing that we talk about with a lot of guesses, their process for acquisition now more than ever off-market deals are, seem to be the route that a lot of people are going in terms of finding properties. We'll see if that changes with the changing environment out there. What's your process when you're looking to acquire properties. And maybe you could talk about if, if it has evolved when, since you started out. Sam (25m 54s): Yeah, it has. For sure. So at first, when I was, you know, just doing this on the side, I was, you know, buying things, certain things were on market, you know, back in 2015, 16, it was a little more common to find some of these on market deals. So that's what I did at first. And then through some local wholesalers, you know, people that were out there doing the work themselves and, and drumming up the deals and bringing them to me. And then we, you know, went full-time and have our house flipping company now. So we have five full-time buyers. That's all they do every day. They buy between 30 and 60 houses a year and they go and find the deals and drum up and talk to other wholesalers and connectors and real estate agents and lawyers and senior care facilities and all those kinds of things we buy. We bought 252 houses last year. And I think like 165 of them were through no marketing spend all just through networking and our, and you know, going to find people. And then we also do the, do the advertising. You know, we got Facebook and AdWords and SEO and all those. So we do a mixture of, you know, you know, actual ads and then a mixture of networking for the sort of the houses. But for the apartments, that's a little bit different, you know, we've done some mailers specifically to owners, but we're, we got most of our deals. I've just been dealing with local brokers and, you know, local people that are wholesale on those deals. And, you know, people that come across these cause you know, the commercial space is a little bit different. An agent can get something and you kind of have a pocket listing and put shell it out. They don't have to blast it to everybody like they do on the residential side. So yeah, just getting to know people and networking our last three apartments we bought from the same broker that he brought to us first because we were able to perform on one. So relationship-based, I guess is the key to what we've done. It takes time, but it takes time upfront. You'd be friendly and get to know them, offer value. Then you get a gravy train of deals coming. And yet it takes a little bit of time, but our last three deals I've been through one guy. I mean, we'll probably buy 20 apartments from him in the next 10 years. So that's well worth it. I'm spending some time, you know, you can flood the market with advertising. That's an option, but not everybody has the money or knowledge to do that. So anybody can go network and market with people and, and, you know, come across deals that way. Jesse (27m 56s): Yeah. And it's beneficial for him as well. Right. You have a qualified buyer and he knows that when he has that pocket listing, that you're going to be one he shows. I think it's, it's just, it's interesting to see the different approaches people take. Like for, you know, a lot of people come in with mailers. I found with our market it's, hasn't been, as we haven't had seen that much advantage or that much output from mailers, but I still call direct. I'm a broker by trade. So it's a little different in the sense that, you know, I get the free quote freebies of CoStar Altice, a bunch of different software pieces that when I need to find a corporate search for a numbered company, it's something fairly easy for me to do. Whereas I know, you know, for a private investor to do that, they have to scale their business fairly, fairly big, but a lot of this stuff, depending on which state or province, if you're in Canada, in terms of, you know, where you're finding information, it's a lot of this is publicly available for on the apartment side as well. So you can usually enough elbow grease and you can find a name for a person, but you're absolutely right. It's a different animal on the commercial side, but in terms of making those relationships, I think, you know, just going back to your educational aspect, I think stuff like that is, what's so valuable in education. And one thing is, okay, you can say connect with a good broker, but there are aspects of, you know, making sure that you sound like, you know, what you're talking about and you know, do's, and don'ts when you're trying to connect with the brokerage community. And not that they're, you know, we're this, you know, just geniuses, it's just the fact that you want to be speaking our language. And there's a couple of red flags that just jump out right away. When brokers hear somebody talk that, you know, you can, you lose credibility fairly quickly, but if you do the opposite, you know, it's a, it's a list an off-market listing then I'll definitely want to get out and, you know, give to somebody that if they sound like they know what they're talking about. Sam (29m 40s): Yeah. I agree. Hundred percent like that. The education is, is just huge. And it's obviously something I believe in it's something I practice and I pay a lot of money every single year to be in a couple of masterminds and some subscription services. But it's, you know, they say you can't buy time, but you can like time, you can buy time by being more efficient and effective. If, if you know, you took 10 years to learn how to do what you do. And you know, we're putting a lot of that in this pocket. Someone keynote can spend listened to, you know, 10 hours of your podcast and get two years worth of knowledge and information. So they can be more efficient and effective. So whether it's free or paid. And I take part in this, in all my businesses and every aspect, I'm writing a book right now, and I got a ghost writer helping me write it, like taking other people's information. So you can be, and their knowledge and experience. So you can be more efficient and effective and kind of take that group path and have less headaches and, you know, do more in less time you are buying time. So yeah, that's huge. That goes along with the lingo that you're talking about and just general, you know, just having somebody keep you in the lanes and keep you out of the gutters is huge, hugely important. So yeah, I fully believe in it and sell it obviously, but also take part in it. And pretty much every business I have. Jesse (30m 51s): Yeah. Well, it's a great community be in. I find that there's a lot of like-minded people. And generally speaking for the most part, everybody is pretty encouraging when you get into this business. And I, you know, I assume it's similar for other industries, but one thing I've always loved with the real estate industry is that if you are hustling and, and you are outwardly showing that you're interested, older individuals in our industry do want to do nothing but help you. I've found that through my career is because they see a little bit of themselves in you. I want, you know, when they're 50, 60 plus, and they see a younger version of themselves kind of doing their thing. So reaching out to those people is, is something that, you know, if you can add value, it's something that I always encourage for people to do. Sam (31m 31s): Yeah. Don't, don't underestimate vanity. I see it all the time. They're, they're willing to help. They really are those older people, they a hundred percent want to help. They see themselves in you, but they're also like, Hey, this is what I did. Look at how cool I am and look, here's the secrets that I did. And I figured out, and look at me, I did this, you know, look up to me and it's, it's everybody has it as natural. I'm not trying to dog on anybody. I have it, you have it everybody. But if, you know, people will, some people have a little bit more banning than others, but having, you know, people, you know, be able to say, look what I did and have you be like, wow, that that's something and that's real. And that, that goes along with people wanting to help you're right. Real estate investors are surprisingly helpful in my opinion, compared a lot of other industries. Jesse (32m 10s): Yeah, for sure. And you're absolutely right on the vanity side, I've found that even on the podcast and it's, and again, it's not to say that in a negative way, but I get a lot more honey from people I reach out to, especially on the commercial real estate side and, and the academic side, when I said, Hey, I just read your last paper, you know, that you wrote on, you know, commercial real estate prices and their effect on X. And all of a sudden you're like, oh, read my work. Okay. Like, you know, I would test it. So yeah, definitely. That's a good aspect. I think any, any time in life, you can kind of a tickle or a, you know, a warmup through the vanities angle or a little bit of the stroke in the ego. I think it, you know, it helps Sam. We're coming up to the end here. We've got a few questions at the end. We ask every guest. So if you're cool with that, I'll, I'll send them your way. All right. All right, Sam, what you know, talking about mentorship, what is something that you would recommend or encourage for a young person getting into our industry, whether that's, you know, investing or commercial real estate as a, as a profession, you know, even on the institutional side, Sam (33m 19s): Just take advantage of all the free resources out there, your podcasts. Those is a ton of social media stuff. I'm on YouTube and Instagram and even Tik TOK. Now, like we kind of alluded to, but just take advantage of all the free stuff out there. You can learn so much for free if you're willing to spend a little bit of time and energy on it. So take advantage of the free stuff out there, and then that'll guide you to pay stuff if you want. But also get out and network, go to these meetups, go to meet people, go grab lunch with someone it's so much different commenting on somebody's Instagram or joining a Facebook group and chatting then getting in your car, driving, going to a meetup, meeting, other people that got in their car and drove and went to that meetup. Those people are so much more valuable to connect with than somebody you just met online. So do the online research, but go meet people, talk to people because those people are the people that you want to know. And you, one connection probably will eventually change your life. You just gotta meet that connection. So go connect with people in person. And if you're young, like you said, man, people like to take you under their wing, especially if you're super young and just wanting to get into it in green, you don't even have to act like, you know what you're talking about. As long as they know that you're green and you don't act like, you know what you're talking about, you'd be shocked at how many people will help you. Jesse (34m 31s): Yeah. It's almost an advantage if you act like you don't really know what you're talking about, they want to, they want to help you out. So speaking of resources, what's something, a podcast or book that you're reading right now that you could share with listeners. Sam (34m 44s): Yeah. I just talk on that. I love listening to podcasts and listened into books and kind of getting, I usually get my active information and active knowledge and, you know, from, you know, masterminds or podcasts or YouTube like this, but my overall like mindset stuff comes from more books and things like that. A book that I just read again for the second time that I, I really, really like is a pitch. Anything, if anybody's ever read a pitch, anything's a good one. And then eat that frog, Jesse (35m 13s): Oren Klaff right. Pitch anything, Sam (35m 15s): And then eat it just about, you know, conversations and how you can kind of not control the other person, but you can kind of lead the conversation to where you want and lead the relationship to, to, you know, something that's beneficial for everybody. And then also eat that. Frog's a really good, simple one that I kind of liked. It's just about, if you get the, you get the hardest thing over at the beginning of the day and everything else, it's not just like, you're done with the hard thing. It's like, you got momentum, you got the energy from it. And then everything else seems easy. You get, if you wait until the end of the day, do the hard thing, you won't do it. Or you do at the end of the day. If you do the hard thing at the beginning of the day, you get literally twice as much done. So just suck it up and do it. So that's that's I really liked that book. Jesse (35m 52s): Yeah. We'll put links to both of those. I've, you know, I can't even, it was probably three, four years ago. I read, eat that frog and I was so confused. Cause a buddy sent it to me and I was like, what is this? I don't get the, you read the book. And you're like, yeah, it makes a lot of sense. No, I mean the, the, the title, when I first saw it, I was like, what am I getting into? But yeah, it's basically getting, getting that, you know, that toughest thing out of your day and then setting yourself up for, you know, for the rest of the day, week a year. That's awesome. We'll put a couple links to those last question. We'd like to ask all of our guests just cause I'm a bit of a petrol head. First car make and model Sam (36m 26s): First car make a T at 1993. Stick-shift Toyota Corolla. Jesse (36m 31s): I like how you say stick, stick, shift. I listened to this econ talk one of my favorite podcasts and they call it a, a millennial security device. Sam (36m 39s): Yeah. I've heard that too. That that's true. That's true. That a lot of, not a lot of people can, can find those these days. Jesse (36m 46s): Awesome. We'll say for those that want to reach out, we alluded to it throughout the whole podcast, but working the working, they get to you. What's your handle for Instagram? Tik TOK or YouTube. Sam (36m 57s): Yeah, they're all. It's all the same. It's same faster freedom. So my name and then faster freedom is my brand. So same fastest freedom on Tik TOK, YouTube, Instagram, check out the stuff. If you like it, shoot me a follower and shoot me a message on Instagram. I, I try to get to as many as I can and I'll usually get to them within a day or two if I don't get them right away. So shoot me a message. If you have any questions, I'd love to help you out. Jesse (37m 17s): My guest today has been Sam prim Sam, thanks for being part of working capital. Sam (37m 21s): Thank you. I appreciate being on. Jesse (37m 30s): Thank you so much for listening to working capital the real estate podcast. I'm your host, Jesse for galley. If you liked the episode, head on to iTunes and leave us a five star review and share on social media, it really helps us out. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on Instagram, Jesse for galley, F R a G a L E, have a good one. Take care.
Chris is going through changes in his career and Jessie offers some support. Jessie had a pretty weird weekend, so she gives us the scoop and then tells us her plans to explore some new neighborhoods. We get into an embarrassing story submission that has us cracking up, and then we finish with a Hallmark pitch: Tic For Tack, a doctor story. How iconic! We love you, go check the Patreon babes!
Thunder Rosa Finally wins The AEW Women's Title in a Steel Cage Match. Also, KO and Seth face off to see who gets Stone Cold. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
/*! elementor - v3.19.0 - 05-02-2024 */ .elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px}Crisis in Ukraine: Panel Discussion /*! elementor - v3.19.0 - 05-02-2024 */ .elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block} CrossLead panel discussion, about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, sponsored by Red Cell Partners. Dave Silverman facilitates a conversation with former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Roger Ferguson, and former member of the Central Intelligence Agency, John Sipher. Resources Webinar recordingJohn SipherRoger FergusonWant to discuss some of these topics directly with Dave? Join the CrossLead LinkedIn Group. /*! elementor - v3.19.0 - 05-02-2024 */ .elementor-accordion{text-align:left}.elementor-accordion .elementor-accordion-item{border:1px solid #d5d8dc}.elementor-accordion .elementor-accordion-item+.elementor-accordion-item{border-top:none}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title{margin:0;padding:15px 20px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;cursor:pointer;outline:none}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon{display:inline-block;width:1.5em}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon svg{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon.elementor-accordion-icon-right{float:right;text-align:right}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon.elementor-accordion-icon-left{float:left;text-align:left}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon .elementor-accordion-icon-closed{display:block}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon .elementor-accordion-icon-opened,.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title.elementor-active .elementor-accordion-icon-closed{display:none}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title.elementor-active .elementor-accordion-icon-opened{display:block}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-content{display:none;padding:15px 20px;border-top:1px solid #d5d8dc}@media (max-width:767px){.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title{padding:12px 15px}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title .elementor-accordion-icon{width:1.2em}.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-content{padding:7px 15px}}.e-con-inner>.elementor-widget-accordion,.e-con>.elementor-widget-accordion{width:var(--container-widget-width);--flex-grow:var(--container-widget-flex-grow)} Episode Transcript DaveFor today’s episode, I have the pleasure of hosting a panel discussion on the developing crisis in Ukraine with two exceptional leaders and patriots. Our sponsor for this episode is Red Cell Partners. Red Cell Partners is a design and incubation studio that brings ideas, capital, resources and talent together to build technology led companies that address the nation’s most pressing challenges in finance, health care in the national security space.My first guest is John Cipher. John is a foreign policy and intelligence expert who previously served 28 years in the Central Intelligence Agencies National Clandestine Service. At the time of his retirement. He was a member of the CIA’s Senior Intelligence Service, the leadership team that guides the CIA’s activities globally. John’s has served in multiple overseas tours as both chief of station and deputy chief of Station across Europe, Asia and several other high threat environments to include Russia.He’s a regular contributor to various news outlets and publications and very active, active as a social influencer. My second guest is Roger Ferguson. Roger is a former vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Fed. Reserve. We served from 1999 to 2006. He represented the Fed on several international policy groups and served on key Federal Reserve committees, including payment systems oversight Reserve Bank Operations and supervision regulation as the only governor in DC on nine 11.He led the Fed’s initial response to the terrorist attacks, taking actions that kept the U.S. financial system functioning while reassuring the global financial community that the U.S. economy would not be paralyzed. He is a Steven A. Tananbaum Distinguished Fellow for International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations and the immediate past president and CEO of TIAA, the leading provider of retirement services and the Academic Research Medical and cultural fields, and also a Fortune 100 financial services organization.He attended Harvard for his undergrad, his law degree, and his Ph.D. in Economics In today’s discussion, we talk about Putin strategies. It relates to Ukraine, the current military, geopolitical and economic situation. How this crisis might evolve and the global implications both economically and politically. And I’d like to start with John, and I hope that you could provide some context on Russia and Ukraine and sort of how we got to where we are now.JohnYeah. Well, it’s interesting. Let me start a little bit to talk about Putin and what makes him tick, because, you know, at the end of the day, a week ago, you know, many people would have assumed he wasn’t going to invade Ukraine. And, you know, essentially nobody could answer, was it?Whether he was or wasn’t, wasn’t going to. And as much intelligence as the U.S. and Western officials have they still didn’t know because it was all in the head of one person. You know, when you’re a dictator and you’ve created a system around yourself where, you know, people have to come to you and you don’t know. You know, I have no idea.I was on his head. So a little bit about him. And then and I’ll talk a little about what he cares about, where we are now. So, you know, one thing that is most important to me about Leader Putin is he’s a career Chekist, but that means he’s a career intelligence officer. He’s a kid. It was a career KGB officer.And that term, Chekist, really relates to the original Bolshevik intelligence service called the Cheka. And any Russian intelligence officer calls themselves a proud Chekist because the check out when the Bolsheviks took over in 1918, the first thing that new government did was create an intelligence service to sort of, you know, kill off any potential domestic opponents as well as to keep their enemies at bay.And they did that right from the beginning, doing a lot of the things that we’ve seen since the 2016 election, for example. They use subversion, deception, they use disinformation assassinations around the world, all these kind of things. And they continue to do that throughout the Cold War. So that’s really important to understand. Vladimir Putin, because he grew up in a, in a system where they were using information warfare, creating false stories and disinformation and killing their opponents from the beginning.The other thing to understand about him is, you know, he was in the KGB when the Soviet Union fell. You know, and I think it’s probably hard for us here to understand how that must have affected somebody psychologically. They thought they were in the world’s second greatest superpower. Liberator was the greatest superpower. He worked for the KGB, which is a sword and shield of that of the regime.You know, the most important. Arguably part of the regime in protecting it. And his whole country fell apart. And he tells a story it even in his own biography about what that meant to him. And he talked about when he was a KGB officer in Dresden, in East Germany, when the wall was starting to fall. And there was protesters coming around his consulate where he was working.You know, he contacted the military attaché in Berlin and said, you know, we need Soviet troops here. And the military attache in Berlin called him back shortly thereafter and said, you know, we’ve been trying to contact Moscow, but Moscow is silent. And Putin talks about this and use it in his own book to suggest that when the country needed to use its monopoly on brutality, when it needed to be tough, it was silent.And his point is, whenever he would have a chance to change that, when he would ever have a chance to make sure that the regime was powerful and it used its brutality, his strength when it needed to, he would do it His view is, you know, the weaker beaten in the end. The most important thing about any government is to maintain a monopoly of power and a monopoly of brutality.And so, you know, another thing to understand about him is, you know, we often talk about how does he negotiate? What is he doing? And I think a lot of us are now seeing that he’s gone into the Ukraine. You know, he’s a sort of a serial liar and someone who sort of is always playing others. And so it was Garry Kasparov the famous chess champion that sort of talked about he says, listen, Putin doesn’t play the situation on the chess board.He plays the opponent. And so he has this sort of gift for sniffing out weakness and trying to then take advantage of that weakness to amplify it or to exploit it. So how do we get here? Like what are the things that he really cares about? So I’ll mention a few that he sort of claims and that led to this crisis.But then there’s sort of one that it’s really important that when you talk about dictator sort of the first thing to realize is this whole thing is completely manufactured. There was no threat to Russia. NATO was not expanding. There hasn’t been talks for years about including Ukraine. There is no threat from Ukraine to Russia. It’s a much smaller and weaker country.All of the things that he brought up, you know, that led to this were things that were for like the 1990s. You know, this is stuff that easily could have been discussed, negotiated, dealt with. But it has to do with that sort of mentality of the man. You know, he’s always had this sort of sense of grievance of emotional anger against the West in the United States.His narrative is that when the powerful Soviet Union fell, it was because the West in the in the United States were trying to destroy Russia. They wanted to humiliate Russia and keep it down. And of course, you know, that’s another manufactured thing. I worked in Moscow in the embassy in the 1990s for the very organization that would try to destroy Russia if that’s what we were doing.And the United States government was trying everything they do to bring Russia into the family of nations to support them economically, help them. And if there’s an argument to be had from that period of time, perhaps that we didn’t do enough, not that we were trying to destroy Russia or weaken it. And so there’s there’s a couple of things that he said consistently that he wants the death of NATO’s.He wants NATO’s to go away. He wants he doesn’t want all of these Western security services on his anywhere near his borders. You know, in fact, when he took office, it was the NATO general secretary, I think Rasmussen, who met him and said, you know, Mr. President Putin, my goal is to increase cooperation with Russia. And Putin reportedly responded with the question of his own.He said, Do you know my mission, Mr. Rasmussen? Is to make sure that your organization no longer exists. And so he’s had that view ever since. He wants the U.S. out of Europe and he wants NATO’s dead. And the other thing he wants is he wants countries on his borders to be weak and vassals of the Kremlin. It’s democratic expansion that threatens him really more than veto expansion.He doesn’t want success for democratic countries nearby, which can be a sort of a sign to his own people. What’s what’s certain possible. In fact, you know, bear with me for a second on a quote George Kennan said years ago, too long ago, he said, quote, The jealous, the jealous and intolerant eye of the Kremlin can distinguish in the end only vassals and enemies and the neighbors of Russia, if they do not wish to be one, must reconcile themselves to being the other.So with that said, those are the things he’s claimed sort of led to this problem. But the big one, and then I’ll stop for a while is he’s a dictator. It’s about survival. Dictators, you know, have to worry every day about staying in power, making sure there’s not people out there who maybe want to sort of take power from the north where they want to maintain control.And so when there’s a country, when you create a country where there’s no means for a peaceful transition of power, everything is about staying alive, staying in total control. And so Putin, in his 20 years of being in power, has witnessed a number of really strongmen fall everywhere, from Egypt to Ukraine to Georgia and around the world. And, you know, he probably has visions of Gadhafi being filmed in a sewer, being sodomized in the lead pipe.And that is what he is trying to do. It’s all about maintaining power and staying in power. And then as we go on, I don’t want to feel like I’m talking too much here. We can go on about sort of, you know, how we ended up where we are and where and what and what where we might go from here.DaveRight. John, that was amazing. Given that context and background, can you give the audience here a sense of the current situation, as you understand it, from your vast network of spies and assets that you still probably actively engage with? And, you know, one of the questions just came in is like, what was that? What was the catalyst for Putin’s making the decision to act now?JohnThat’s what’s crazy about this. There really wasn’t a catalyst. You know, he’s created these false narratives that, you know, NATO’s expanding. It’s a threat. And Will NATO’s wasn’t expanding hasn’t expanded since what, 2012 or whatever. And really, like I said, it’s about democratic expansion rather than NATO’s expansion. He worries about a successful and democratic Ukraine on his border that looks like a success to his own people.So they can say, hey, what why? If Ukraine can be successful in Western and Democratic, why can’t we be. And the answer is Vladimir Putin. And so those are the sort of things that. And so where we are now you know I think you know when you’re a dictator for 20 years it’s sort of like sort of the classic thing.There’s so much power around you. I think as time goes on, people are afraid to bring you bad news. No one wants to walk up to Vladimir Putin and say, sir, you’re very wrong about this. This is how we should change it. And so I think you know, having been in power for so long and we see it from those pictures where he’s like 50 feet away from his advisers that are at a table that sort of suggests this kind of thing.I think he’s getting to a point where, you know, he believes his own sort of bull and and thought that he had to do this. You know, he went into, if you remember, in 2014, he went into Crimea and he took the eastern part of Ukraine. I think he believed that, you know, that’s a largely Russian speaking areas.I think he believed that the Russian speakers there would rise up and be thrilled to be part of Russia and get away from Ukraine. Well, it didn’t work. And so he eventually had to send his soldiers in there to try to like, you know, fight their way in. And that still hasn’t worked. They haven’t even taken over the whole area they tried to do.And so this is sort of the third step is, you know, they’re going to go in and sort of crush Ukraine. And so I think he expected this one to go quickly. I think he’s seen, you know, Western armies and U.S. Army go in and use sort of pinpoint attacks. And very quickly, we’d be able to sort of the regime would fall.And then he would come in and put in his own sort of his own, you know, fake regime that would support Russia. And as we’ve seen, it hasn’t really worked out that way. You know, that the communication between their troops, all these kind of things have sort of gone into a mess. And they actually created a different problem for him as the whole world is now paying attention.The whole world is now you know, a lot of us have been following for Russia forever have been saying, hey, we need to crack down on him. He’s exactly the kind of person if you don’t push back, he’s going to take that as weakness. And continue to move along. And multiple administrations have failed to push back on Putin so that when this crisis arose, we had very little to deter him.He had gotten his way so many times. We had assumed every time if we gave him an off ramp, he would maybe come around and change and join the family of nations. And it never happened. He hates us. He wants us to go away. He wants to overthrow the rules based order. And so I think we now realize the rest of the world now realizes, you know, he is someone who has to be fought and deterred, is not someone we can negotiate with.So one quick thing. You know, where are we and where does it go? And so what’s hard here is it really depends on how he responds to what the world is doing to him. You know, everybody everybody from Sweden and Finland and in Switzerland, or even, you know, pushing back Switzerland was was was neutral against the Nazis. But now they’re actually pushing back against Vladimir Putin.So. So it’s a tough thing for the the world is watching. But his traditional way of doing things, as we saw him in in Syria and in Chechnya and other places, is to essentially destroy everything, to sort of carpet bomb and destroy the entire cities. And so I worry that, you know, if he sort of sees that it’s not going well rather than try to use his, you know, precision weapons, which we’re finding out aren’t so precision, they’re going to go back to the old traditional Russian way of war with massive artillery and bombing and sort of killing and murdering.DaveAnd I think we’re already seeing some of that vigorous yet. John, thank you so much, Roger. As one of the preeminent economist it’s really the last several, several decades, certainly. I’d love to get a sense from you on where we are economically. I mean, the one thing that we have noticed is that there’s been a rapid coalition of, I would say, support and focus from the E.U. and from the U.S..And to John’s point earlier, Switzerland has picked aside for the first time since the Vatican. So they’ve seen this be a sort of unimaginable even a week ago, are now sort of happening. I’d love to get a sense of where you see that current situation and how you see that playing out.RogerWell, first, thank you. And secondly, to John’s first point, you know, when I was in government, we treated this not I personally, but the government in the US. It created this notion of the G7 G8 inviting Russia and inviting them into the G20. And so, you know, they they were early on in giving this olive branch to come in and be part of the part of the international financial order.And where are we today where all of that has collapsed? We’re seeing an unprecedented coalition including, as you’ve heard, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, aligned against one country that is a large country, is that it’s not the largest it’s like the 17th largest economy in the world to be in that sort. So this is not a small country we’re dealing with.And not only is there total alignment, but we’re using in the financial world a tool that has never been used against a country the size, which is basically precision exclusion of people from swift SWIFT is the international telecommunications system. It brings in 11,000 patients from 200 countries and you cannot possibly move money around the world accurately without using SWIFT.And so what you saw is when you and the US decided to exclude an unnamed number of patients and now we know it’s just a handful of the ones immediately that led to a run of the banks, quite literally. And in Russia, individuals, you know, grabbing their rubles. We saw the ruble decline quite dramatically and they had to close the stock market and in Moscow on Monday.And so, you know, this decision to start to exclude Russian banks from the international communications system of SWIFT has had dramatic effects in that country. In terms of undermining the trust and confidence in the banking system. The second thing that was also unprecedented for a country, the size was an effort to make sure they couldn’t use lawsuits, $630 billion in reserves and their central bank, again, unprecedented.What that actually means is that they’re reserves and so reserve currencies and dollars and and euros and pounds, etc. that may be held in these countries in the West are not usable. So effectively that’s reduced their usable reserves to about, we think, a third a bit more primarily gold and also reserves like they have in the past. So their ability to support their economy, the central bank to support the economy has been dramatically weakened.And then the final thing and all of these are playing together is obviously various sanctions against individuals and also against trade. Right now, energy is theoretically exported. But we’ve seen a number of Western companies that are critical to moving Russian energy oil around the world have been unwilling to to participate in that supply chain. So even though, you know, Russian oil has not yet been officially moved into the sanction list, effectively, it has because of the lack of payment ability for us to identify and then Western companies not wanting to be involved in transporting Soviet or Russian oil.So unprecedented coalition of the willing to speak and beyond with Sweden, Switzerland, etc.. Unprecedented use of financial tools against a country that had been and still technically is, you know, in the closet with the G20. An unprecedented impact in a very large economy in terms of having the run on the banks, quite literally, that we’ve seen in driving a currency to being almost worthless.So we are living in some normal times in the standpoint of the financial architecture of the world.DaveNow, I’m going to Roger, a follow up question Where do you see this playing out? I mean, we’ve they’ve all these unprecedented actions have now taken place. Let’s assume that this is going to be a protracted fight for Russia and Ukraine. I don’t I don’t see this thing, you know, sort of getting resolved in the next you know, certainly next week or two.How do you how do you think this plays out in the affects? Do you think that’s going to have on the global economy?RogerSo with three different ways, it’s already starting to play out. One obviously is increasing the price of oil well over, I think $110 today. And, you know, a very, very important impact globally that’s increasing the discussion around some stagflation, the possibility that inflation picks up. And we still have slowing growth. The last time we had an oil shock of this magnitude back in 1973 and 1979, in fact that was one of the causes of the stagflation that we had to deal with.This time things are slightly different. To be fair. And so we have a different well in the 73 and 79, oil prices first tripled. They stayed at a high plateau and then in 79 they doubled again. So while energy prices, oil prices have clearly gone up, we’re not talking about a doubling or tripling of oil prices right now.The second thing that’s different from then is the United States has developed its own oil capabilities where energy independence and in fact we are the ability and not as much as we’re going to need, but we have an ability to export our liquefied natural gas, and others are as well to support to support the Europeans that need that as it gets.Not now, but back in the 18 season, So one thing is risk of stagflation going up. But I think it’s not probable what we saw in 69 and 79. So when the talk is certainly higher and for sure this is doing the second thing which is creating some uncertainty for all the central banks that we’re on a process of normalizing interest rates.Chairman Powell had this testimony today he opened by talking about uncertainty when he went on to continue the discussion around managing inflation. Probably not as as aggressively as some of his colleagues had been empty, but nevertheless creating some uncertainty there. The answer that he gave looks to me as other markets liked it, because there’s a lot of green now in the major indices here in the U.S. At least that’s the second issue.You have a central bank to deal with this. And then there’s a third longer term issue, which is excluding using the swift tool, excluding a major country from SWIFT at this stage of the unpredictable spillover effects on how others think about their reserves how they think about linking to the communications system. I don’t know yet how that’s going to play out, but there will certainly be talk about in some capitals, not a major one, but some smaller ones.You know, how do we think about reserves, how we think about Swift, etc. Those are questions that have really not been on the table since the fall of the Berlin Wall. So some uncertainty, some certainty. And then there’s longer term multiplier effects. Hard to gauge how that how things are up there.DaveBut you’re happy you’re not your old job. Sounds like a lot.RogerNo, just the opposite. It’s great to be in the Fed when these moments are occurring. They’ll handle it well.DaveAwesome. So I want to I want to talk now about what we think happens next. So maybe starting with you, John, you’re from that from a geopolitical standpoint, where do you how do you see this playing out over the next month or two? And I’m very curious, not just tying that to the relationship with with with with Europe, but also with how it can affect China, because my sense is Russia sort of back to Soviet days as far as isolation and isolationism from from the Western sort of markets and opportunity sets and, you know, their biggest probably partner, you know, what’s available to them, at least today is China will be interested to see how that morphs and changes and evolves over as inevitably Russia’s military efforts sort of pick up momentum and speed.JohnI’ll start by saying, I think, you know, the administration has done a pretty good job once they sort of started focusing on how to deal with Putin and deal with this crisis. But they came in with a pretty weak hand. The administration first started their policy towards Russia. It was to create a stable and predictable relationship with Russia.Now, anybody, any Russia followers who have been seeing what Putin’s been doing for the last at least eight to ten years, he’s been at war with us. He’s had a political war. That’s why he’s trying to use disinformation and cyber attacks and all these other kind of things, you know, fomenting violent groups around Europe and all these type of things.We are never going to have a stable and predictable, predictable relationship with him. He wants to overthrow essentially the rules based order. He wants us out of Europe. He wants U.S. and Europe divided and weak. And so he has tried to build a relationship with China. And just prior to the Olympics, he went out to China and met with Xi.And they put together you know, it was quite an amazing statement. I listened to former Australian Prime Minister Paul Rudd, who is a China expert and was the ambassador in China, among other things. Talk about it. And he said it was really unique for China. Because it really tie those two countries together more than ever before and suggested that China was much more on the Russian following the Russian thing, saying negative things about NATO’s negative things about the West, which was surprising because they’ve always tried to be careful about, you know, never supporting something that would break across borders and maintain their markets.And so, you know, what we’ve seen since the invasion happened is, you know, I think China had a real opportunity on the world stage for sort of really the first time to make a foreign policy statement to put themselves out there is, you know, a bigger player. And I think they really fumbled the ball here. You can argue that China is essentially winning the 21st century.Their growth is incredible. They want and need a stable rules based order because they’re winning their rules based order to becoming rich on that rules based order. Whereas Vladimir Putin is a loser of the 21st century. They are. They’re losing big time. They want to overthrow that rules based order. They want. They want to create problems inside of it.And so that that relationship doesn’t seem like a natural one to me. And I don’t understand why China would want to tie themselves to a violent and loser kind of guy like Putin with a really tiny economy the size of, you know, Portugal or Italy and you know, who might then invade countries in Europe, which then China is going to have to be stuck, whether they support that or not support that.And we can see in recent days that China is sort of again fumbling to try to say, well, you know, yes, we said we are with Russia, but we’re not really allies. But we really we don’t want war, but we want to support what we like. So they’re having a tough time dealing with these kind of issues and actually, the China Russia thing, you know, in the long term is not really natural for Russia either.You know, there’s Russia’s going to become a pariah here. Its economy is going to depend on that. Relationship with Russia and is taking a tough man as Putin is. He’s going to find himself being a little brother to China. And at some point, China is not going to care about the little brother. And, you know, Putin in Beijing is just all he wants, but he’s not.If that’s the relationship, if he’s reliant on China, he’s really sort of in a weak position even with his own people.DaveRoger, one of the questions that came in was maybe going a layer deeper on the oil piece for for Russia. You mentioned it is far as effective and isolated, but you know, I think I think the core maybe if you can go a little deeper when the question that come is given that oil prices are at a seven year high and that.Long or not, VICE has taken that next step. Do you think that’s even an option that that that Europe would consider doing, just given, you know, how much this has escalated in the last the last couple of days?RogerWell, I think the answer is given the unprecedented nature of what they’ve already done. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the next step, partially for the reasons you pointed out, which is effective Russian oil is basically a commodity that much of the West doesn’t want to touch in terms of moving it around. So already, regardless of what has been officially decided, there is clearly some motion that is making it more and more difficult to get hold of oil.And think about it. How do you know how much you’re going to pay for it? You know, it’s not all the media. Its banks are excluded from the international payment system. You know, recognize something else that happened. The Germans decided to not certify the Nord Stream two gas pipeline that would have increased the amount of gas coming from Russia into Germany and to Germany to the rest of Europe estimated 50%.So it’s pretty clear that, you know, energy as a stick is not nearly as potent as it had been before. Now, what is going on? I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen with the appointment. John made this sudden easy. Very interesting.Alliance. That’s what it is between Russia and China that has very important energy overlays to it. Right There was an agreement, I believe, between Russia and China a few years ago to trade with each other in their currencies and not in the U.S. dollar. And to the point that was made earlier, natural gas and oil would be very, very beneficial to the rapidly growing economy of China.So I can imagine the Chinese playing a bit of a game in which Russian oil comes out through, you know, perhaps some Chinese companies there are a large number of Chinese oil companies. We don’t really know how much their reserves are. We see them around the world, you know, drilling for oil or price. And so this may end up being a very helpful answer in terms of getting that useful commodity, not having to use any hard currency and avoiding some geopolitical concerns of really some very, very unsavory countries.So I can imagine that being an outcome. Let me pick up on a point that Germany I’ve observed the same thing, which is, you know, and he’s more aware of these issues than I am. But, you know, the Chinese wanting to play a constructive role, I think they submit around the Ukraine. And he’s also right that the Chinese have benefited greatly from the existing trading system and they want to stay in that system.So one of the things that might limits them is the fear of secondary sanctions against their company. So it’s a complicated story with China. We’re trying to play a leading role, trying to position themselves as the alternative to the West trying to position themselves even in the payment system world as an alternative to swift. Those things might start to arise.And this linkage on energy will find some rest more likely coming out of China. But at the end of the day, you know, I really think China is not going to get to the point where an earlier play, you know, overly supportive of Russia for obvious reasons. And therefore, I think even even with oil going up in the price, it’s not going to be sustaining the Russian economy as much as it might imagine.DaveYeah, that’s super helpful. I heard a an old colleague of mine back from that from the military days was talking about the calculus that went into Russia making this decision. John. Roger, to invade. And obviously, you know, Putin’s on record as you as you said, one, that he believes that the worst geopolitical failure of the 20 20th century was a collapse of the Soviet Union.And it’s sort of his stated objective as a sort of reconstitute that and he’s probably looking for the right time to do that if you look at the last five years, you could argue that you know traditional relationships had been sort of deprioritized or hard even frayed potentially under under you know some of the actions that you know, us and other allies have taken.And so maybe he saw as a moment of weakness. But what I heard, which was interesting, was that sort of the events of Afghanistan specifically that, you know, sort of the botched pull out of Afghanistan at the beginning of this year or so, sorry, saw that the fall of last year sort of set a clear message that says, well, look, you know, this wasn’t really handled well and wanted to it’s sort of a clear sign of like how they sort of think about your allies and partners.And that was sort of I heard like one of the major final straws I said or I can go in is probably not what these guys are going to do about. In fact, I heard about a meeting that the Russian foreign minister had with senior officials in the U.S. where he stated, hey, we may we may not go into Ukraine, but there’s nothing that America is going to be able to do about it to start the process.Right. Just so sort of like the flip it sort of arrogance. And then separately, I know there’s a lot of discussion, you know, maybe to Roger’s points that this could also be seen as an opportunity for for China to continue or saber-rattling potentially take the next step in Taiwan, which obviously had significant significant geopolitical implications. And my assumption is, given the swift response economically and how interlinked China is the global economy, that my guess is that’s pretty massive deterrent.But I’d be clear to see you guys talk about that for a second. Maybe start with you, John.JohnYeah, I do think like I said, I think multiple administrations have misplayed Putin. I think he’s essentially been at war with us sort of in their intelligence doctrine, political warfare, information warfare, whatever you want to call it, to try to weaken us from the inside for a minimum of at least ten years since 2008 when he went into Georgia and he stated it, you know, directly at the Munich conference there.JohnThat was his goal. And I think since that time, multiple administrations have tried to deal with him. And every time he’s done something where we really should have and could have pushed back, we didn’t do so because I would think we thought, hey, well, if we accommodate him, if we give him an off ramp, you know, maybe he’ll come around You know, presidents have big egos and they think that, you know, if there’s a problem, they can solve it with their wonderful personalities.And I think we realize that, you know, so we came into this in a pretty sort of weakened space. And Afghanistan was a huge problem. I mean, we we looked we we didn’t work with our allies. It was, you know, essentially surrendering to the Taliban. It was a complete mess. And it was certainly seen by the Chinese and Russians as weakness.But a bigger thing, I think, is our own tribal nature, political nature here in the United States. And he’s been trying to foment and exploit that and and use all sorts of disinformation, deception to mess with us inside. But, you know, you look what happened on January six and all these other kind of things, you know, a good portion of the Republican Party is less supportive of Putin and doesn’t care about what he does around the world.And and Americans are sort of see they we see our political opponents as the enemy. We don’t see Russia anymore as the enemy or foreign people. I think we’ve been so used to essentially years and years of success and peace and economic growth that we sort of forget there’s a price to pay for that, to try to deter people who want to change that rules based order.And of course, now we’re faced with it. And so even Biden in his speech last night said, you know, we know that we’ve learned a lesson that if you if you don’t push back against dictators, they will continue to create chaos. Well, that’s absolutely true. And we didn’t push back for quite a long time and sort of we ended up sort of stuck here.And so, yeah, Vladimir Putin, the person with grievances against the West, created sort of a false narrative about, you know, the West being a threat to him and having that nose for weakness, I think put all those things together and perhaps having been a dictator so long of not getting real information any more thought that this he could go in and the West would not be able to push back.I mean, Europe really has been weak over the last couple of decades. They have not invested in defense. They have been really inward focusing. And so, you know, he didn’t necessarily misread that, but he forgot that the size of our economies and our long history together and the fact that we have allies and they don’t allow us to sort of quickly come around and push back.And so I think hopefully he’s very surprised about how quickly Europe, the United States and Western leaning countries around the world have come together on this.RogerYeah, let me let me jump in and say, from the economic standpoint, there was an economic equivalent of not pushing back, which was when he went into Crimea. There was discussion, rumored talk of using the swift tool, moving some Russian banks out of access to Swift. He explicitly said they would be perceived as an act of war. And we didn’t do it.There was a moment when I met that they should have, but to John’s point in the finance world, clearly a point of weakness. Similarly, you know, the using the oil and more natural gas to act on the economics, perhaps decoupling Germany, Western Europe from the U.S. around that. And there have been quite a bit of friction around this question of Western Europe becoming more and more linked to Russia in the energy sphere.So perhaps you read that that’s not the sort of economic story that feeds very much into the John story. Sort of, you know, perhaps Germany won’t stand up. And one of the things that I think is really quite amazing spilling over a little bit into what John talks about. But the focus that the Germans now have on spending much more of their budget on defense from the standpoint of an economic policy, that is a pretty dramatic move to finally get up to two and a half percent of their GDP on defense.All of that triggered by this. And at that point, you think about finance using economics. Most of the early signals were, you know, maybe Europe is not going to jump behind us around these things that perhaps they’re going to go their own way. So I can imagine. I know nothing about the psychology of what I’ve just heard from John but if he were looking for points of weakness in the Western alliance on this economic topic, there could have been two or three straws in the wind that might have reinforced what he saw around Afghanistan and other things.So, you know, all of a peace and I think all of us rescued and as well are surprised at the strength of the unified voice in the economic space as well. The geopolitical space on this one it’s not clear, even if it’s one would have predicted that ten days to two weeks ago. The other thing to note economically is no other than energy, Western interaction, financial interaction, business interaction with Russia is relatively limited There are very few banks that have really like turned to Russia.They’re not normally thought of on this energy as being sort of credit worthy. And so, you know, they’re the collapse of their economy. Other than this question of energy is unlikely to have a negative spillover effect back to US banks, for example, or even most European banks. So. And then we saw today the stock market turned around. So know there are no seem to be no replications in Western economy other than how this oil thing plays out from the the turmoil and chaos that has emerged in Russia because they have over many, many years tried to decouple from the West.And the result of that is we look like we can penalize them more than they do as us in the world of finance and economics.JohnRight. Because one quick answer, one and one quick thing is in a sense, when you look at Vladimir Putin, you got to look at someone who is essentially like, you know, a bully or an organized crime boss. And he has that mentality. And so, you know, when you talk about we didn’t push back over all those years, he also has that real skill.You know, again, he’s a dictator. He doesn’t have any threats internally, have to worry about about intimidating and threatening and pushing back. So every time. You know, we even hinted that we might do these kind of sanctions. When I push back, he sort of went nuclear and pushed back and made it clear he separated us from our allies by everybody saying, hey, it’s not worth going that far because he might do something crazy.And we’re seeing that now. He’s threatening, you know, nuclear war. And you guys have said mean comments to me. Therefore, I’m putting my nuclear by your nuclear weapons on alert. I mean, it’s the same kind of thing. He’s he uses those threats to scare us and push us back and then have some, you know, allies it’s a hard thing to keep, you know, to throw allies together and things.Some people are going to be like, oh, my God, let’s back off. We need to offer them, you know, face saving measures. We need to listen to what he wants And so, I mean, he’s very, very good at that game of sort of, you know, a bully tactics of, you know, threatening and making people back off.DaveYeah. No, I totally agree. That there’s two question just came out. I want to ask you that when I guess I think they’re related. The first is, is the Russian military performing as poorly as is suggested in the press? If yes, what are the implications longer term? That’s question one. Maybe, John, you could try that. And then my question, too, is acknowledging that Putin is a dictator and that weakness is an existential threat probably to his his is his hold on power.How does this resolve in a way that allows Putin a way out that doesn’t guarantee his downfall? What does that path look like and in what timeframe specifically is they’re acceptable course of action to Putin that would lead to the end of sanctions? Maybe take that, Roger. Maybe, John, start with the Russian military performance to date, as you said, relative to our assessment of them going into it.And then and then and then what is a way out of this process? Is there a way to save.JohnA quick comment on the on the way out? Off-Ramp thing is, you know, there’s a lot of that now now that he’s made these nuclear threats. There’s a lot of that we have to have he has to have a means to save face he has to have an off ramp. He has a way and a way to stay in power here.And sort of one quick thing is, you know, he manufactured this entire thing, thing out of whole cloth. There was no threat to him. There was no pushing needle. There was nothing here is his grievances and anger are based on things from like you know, the 1990s and such. He may he he made this up and my take is like, listen he if he needs a way off to face save, he can make he can kill a bunch of people and claim victory and back off and he can, he can make up his own face.Saving things is not on us to have to somehow give him a way out of this. But on the on the military thing, it’s, you know, I’m not a military expert. It’s hard to follow these things. It’s certainly hard to follow them through the media. There’s sort of this world of, you know, military Twitter, people who are finding things in the world of Open-Source Intelligence has gotten so big, you know, the Bellingcat of the world.I don’t know if you guys follow that group, among others, that have been able to use big data sets to pull together, you know, incredible amount. You know, if there’s a bomb that goes off somewhere now, there’s so much social media and pictures taken around there, they can be sucked in and pulled together and, you know, tic Tacs and everything.So on one hand is making it hard for Putin because Ukrainians or others are sort of putting pushing out to the world the stuff they’re doing. And so, yes, it looks like they they really screwed this up. I think, again, he’s a dictator. I’m sure they’ve told him that, you know, the military is strong and ready to go.But at the same time, the people around him, you know, it’s like they’re massive criminals. They’ve been stealing money it all places. So whoever the Shoigu, who’s a minister of defense, has been saying, yes, sir, yes, sir. We got this covered. I’m sure at the same time, you know, he’s got another another crony of Putin who says, well, I want my company to do X, Y and Z.And even if that company is, that is the worst choice. That’s the way that guys skims money. And so over time, I think they’ve created this Potemkin village where they think their military is more powerful and put together. It is, but it’s often a kludge together by these corrupt cronies who are all making money off of this thing.And we’re seeing it in action now. So a lot of the things that our professional military says about communication and, you know, and surprise and all these type of things, you know, they’re not showing themselves to be terribly effective. There’s you know, they’re running out of gas. They’re running out of food. You got Russian soldiers turn around and walking home the Ukrainians are using the sort of social media against them.So it doesn’t mean that Putin can’t now go to the old school thing and just raze whole cities and stuff that certainly possible. But, you know, he does have the whole world watching now. So in terms of real details about how the military is doing, you know, doesn’t look good.DaveYet. Doesn’t, Roger, what’s the path out economically? Well.RogerI think it’s very narrow, frankly, once we’ve gone to the place we’re willing to exclude some of their banks from on the international communication networks. I indicated once we got to the place, unprecedented, where we said to a central bank we’re going to limit your ability to use or you reserve you know, it’s you you know, the only way to come back from that is to say we are going to be good financial citizens.And, you know, it doesn’t seem like that’s in the Putin playbook. The other thing it’s fascinating is that we all know when you see a run on banks as occurred during the Great Depression, there was a I’m speaking to you from from the U.K. There is a line around a bank here at 28, 2009 governments tend to change, i.e., citizens think that is unacceptable.When I am not sure that I trust the banks, the government really should be held accountable in some way for that. I don’t see how that works in Russia. You have been said so. I don’t know where a couple of questions came in. Yes, I do think west western banks that have been, you know, putting Russia in more and more off limits are going to continue to do that.You know, we have in the West all these rules about sort of know your customer and anti-money laundering, etc.. Well, the money in Russia X the you know, that’s the oil and energy is in the hands of these oligarchs. They don’t tend to bank in the West for obvious reasons. So I think what the way out is, you know, Russia becoming more and more isolated, you know, more of a small economy, more limited and their trading partners probably a broader type relationship with China and a few others.And so I think from the standpoint of economics, this is really backfiring and has pushed to the further away from any ability to actually, you know, drive and claim these kind of great economies. And we didn’t have one before. He has even less of one now. And the working around of is one big resource, which is energy and others I think is is going to continue and we’ll find other ways to get to get along without the raw materials that are, you know, the major exports from Russia.So we’ll be very, very interesting. And I don’t see around other than, you know, trying to be really good citizens and separating the average Russian from government. And I honestly have no idea how that unfolds in a dictatorship.DaveSo, John, do you think then that literally Putin’s got to do in order to fix this for Russia, the Putin has to basically go away like I mean, like like lose power be overthrown? I mean, that’s that’s sort of the doomsday scenario here because because he holds a nuclear arsenal and it’s a real threat that’s obviously creating a lot of anxiety collectively and yeah. Anyways, let me ask you that.JohnWell, the problem is he’s created a system. He’s changed the Constitution. He stayed in power. They don’t really have a means of sort of of a changing of power in a nonviolent way. And so we’re sort of stuck. And so I see a few possibilities. You know, the one is sort of this becomes an ongoing sort of quagmire.There’s a number of these. So, you know, since 2014 they’ve been stuck in in eastern Ukraine and Crimea and in Georgia and in in Moldova of these sort of frozen conflicts that aren’t completely solved. And there’s Russian soldiers in these places and you know essentially what in the quagmire possibility he bombs the hell out of the place you know kills off the leadership there you know tries to put in his own people.There’s this sort of low level insurgency against him and it sort of goes on forever like it has in eastern Ukraine for the last eight years. There’s the other one is, you know, there’s an old iron curtain comes back down over Europe. You know, the brutality cracks down. He has to crack down really at home because he worries about being overthrown.And so there’s more people thrown in jail. He types up and civic type tightens up domestically. Europeans and NATO has to rearm and sort of push up. So we have an Iron Curtain. There is a possibility of of sort of a larger war here with NATO. Right. A lot of people talk about the no fly zone. No fly zone means we’re shooting down Russian planes because this is a this is a whole different thing here.If you’re bringing in more with NATO and with the West, you know, or over time and one of these sort of frozen conflicts, we’re sort of rearming from NATO countries and the Baltic people are sending things across the border. I can imagine problems. You know, wars don’t follow a script. You never know how these things are going to go once they get going.You know, if you see if you look at the map, there’s a little small part of Russia that’s separated from the rest of Russia. In Kaliningrad, it was old German, Königsberg you know, I can imagine now that he has sort of Belarus and Ukraine, you might want to make a connection to Kaliningrad, the other part of Russia. And that goes through natal countries in the Baltics who he despises and thinks are weak.Then you’re at war with NATO or they’re there’s some sort of dirty compromise that sort of has this will go away. And then the one you mentioned, it’s the Putin in the gutter scenario that, you know, that the former foreign minister, Andrei Kozyrev, put out a tweet yesterday the Russian foreign minister saying, telling people in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that they should all quit.Like this is really something inside a country like Russia. So, you know, when there’s no legal way for this to happen, some sort of civil war, some sort of you know, violent overthrow is certainly a possibility.DaveAnd press at times. So we’re getting we’re getting to the top of the hour. We’ve got to cut this off. I’d like to hear any closing comments. Roger that. You might have before before we end the session.RogerWell, you do it unprecedented a few times. And, you know, that’s the main thing from the standpoint of finance, a country that’s not huge. What has the or not irrelevant is now clearly being made up. Ryan and I suspect from a financial standpoint is going to be a remaking of the international economic order with a rethinking of energy.And in particular and I don’t know where it’s going to where it’s going about Russia’s certainly is an important source of many commodities that we need in the West. But it’s hard for me to see quite how we pull back from all these sanctions. And so very, very messy opaque future as far as I can see here.DaveGreat. John, in closing comments for you.JohnYeah, quick and I apologize. I don’t mean this to be domestic political comment, but there is one way that Putin actually wins this thing. It’s hard to see how this comes out really well for him. But there is one way he truly can win. And in fact, if he affects our domestic politics so much that the Trump is reelected and Putin actually does win.Right. The United States pulls out of NATO that we sort of weaken our relationship with Western allies. He allows Putin to do what he wants in Eastern Europe. And so you know, there is an effect here that if if, you know, it affects our domestic politics to the point where Donald Trump or a Donald Trump like candidate wins again, that really is sort of a lifeline to Vladimir Putin.And the other one is to think about it. Right. You know, now, obviously, the Ukrainian people have incredible bravery in there is really something. And besides the Ukrainians who are suffering here, the other people to think about who are really, you know, being thrown under the bus here are the Russian people later are Putin essentially in the great tradition of the Russian czars and the Communist Party bosses, they don’t give a shit about their own people.And so they’re they they’re making their country an economic pariah. There’s no economic future for people in Russia. They’re going to be beholden to a massive China. They’re sending their men off to war to become back in body bags. This is not a good this is not a good place for Russian citizens to be either. So Russians and Ukrainians, the people are the ones that are really suffering here. And that’s.DaveYeah, well said. Thank you both so much for taking time out of your incredibly busy schedules to to talk about this. This is really this critical topic. I can’t thank you enough. And with that we’ll we’ll go ahead and end the session. Thank you, guys.JohnThanks.RogerThank you.JohnA pleasure, Roger.RogerThank you.DaveIf you want to watch the video recording of this episode, or read the full transcript, you can head over to crosslead.training to create a free account and get access to many other resources. Thanks for tuning in. I hope you enjoy the conversation I’ve have with my friends, John and Roger.
Neuropsychologists, Dr. Laura Jansons Dr. Skip Hrin, Neurofeedback legend Jay Gunkelman AND Tech Whiz Santiago Brand answer listener questions as well as: SMR tDCS tASC Sleep Disorders Lifestyle Choices Holistic approaches to neurofeedback Youtube: https://youtu.be/h1zryEossTM We thank our Patreon Supporters: https://www.patreon.com/NeuroNoodleFeatured Business: Outrageous Baking, Tor Talk, Joshua M of Alternative Behavioral Therapy, and Welcome new business supporter Micah of Amazing Brains! https://www.outrageousbaking.com/ https://tortalk.se/?lang=en https://neurofeedbackcare.com/ https://www.amazingbrains.com/ "EEG and Me". "Sandhya M", "Johnathan January-Turrall", "Rowan January-Turrall" and "Loretta T" Have an idea for a topic or guest? pete@neuronoodle.com Jansons.com DrSkipHrin.com Links of items discussed/shown on the show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lungfish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpedo_(genus) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_eel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Elder https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/specialty_areas/brain_stimulation/tdcs.html https://neuromodec.org/what-is-transcranial-alternating-current-stimulation-tacs/ https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/transcranial-magnetic-stimulation/about/pac-20384625 https://www.bfe.org/joel.html https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/mu-rhythm https://sleepeducation.org/patients/multiple-sleep-latency-test/ https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/facts.html https://www.amazon.com/Isnt-Brain-Working-Revolutionary-Understanding/dp/0985690437? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/donna-jackson-nakazawa-author-of-the-angel-and/id1537847407?i=1000539334377 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/neuronoodle/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/neuronoodle/support
Estimulação transcraniana é uma técnica terapêutica que consiste em produzir correntes elétricas em regiões específicas do cérebro para tratar problemas neurológicos ou psiquiátricos tais como dor crônica, depressão, fibromialgia, entre outros. O efeito terapêutico da eletricidade é conhecido desde a antiguidade quando descargas de peixes elétricos eram usadas para aliviar a dor. Modernamente a estimulação transcraniana ocorre pela aplicação direta da corrente usando eletrodos no escalpo (tDCS e tACS) ou usando campos magnéticos (TMS) e é uma área intensa de pesquisa. Neste programa, o médico anestesista e diretor do Laboratório de Dor e Neuromodulação do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Wolnei Caumo (Departamento de Cirurgia, FAMED/UFRGS), conversa com Marco Idiart (Depto Física, IF/UFRGS) sobre as pesquisas realizadas em seu laboratório sobre esta linha terapêutica. Produção e edição: Marco Idiart Créditos da Imagem: Pixabay
Manager Minute-brought to you by the VR Technical Assistance Center for Quality Management
Full Transcript Joining Carol Pankow in the VRTAC-QM Studio we have Chanda Hermanson, Administrator of the Disability Employment and Transition Programs in Montana, and Allison Flannagan, VR Director at Florida General. Chanda and Allison share their experience and challenges while navigating the World of VR finances. Learn how networking and team building improve understanding and develop solutions to VR's biggest financial challenges. The VRTAC for Quality Management has a number of fiscal resources meant to help you and your staff navigate the enormous fiscal responsibilities of managing this complex Federal program. Go to VRTAC-QM.org, Fiscal and Resource Quality Management. You will find the regulations, topical information, best practices, and some tools we have developed. There are more are coming all the time and we have a long list in development. Please feel free to reach out to us with any ideas you have for tools that can be of help to you. Let's help each other navigate the world of VR finances. One Manager at a time. One Minute at a time. Full Transcript VRTAC-QM Manager Minute: Is Your Fiscal Management Managed? Building a Solid Foundation for Financial Fitness. Speaker: Manager Minute brought to you by the VRTAC for Quality Management. conversations powered by VR, one manager at a time, one minute at a time. Here is your host, Carol Pankow. Carol: Well, welcome to the Manager Minute, I am so fortunate to have these two brilliant ladies in the studio today for our discussion, we have Chanda Hermanson, administrator of the Disability Employment and Transition Programs in Montana, and Allison Flanagan, VR Director at Florida General. So welcome to you both. So Chanda, it certainly has been a crazy past 18 months. How are things in Montana? Chanda: It has been a crazy 18 months, things that we've had to manage that we don't think we would have ever even thought about before. But we are coming back. Things are going well and we've learned new techniques and strategies and are coming up better. Carol: Good for you. Good for you. And Allison, in Florida also has certainly had its challenges over the past year or two. So how are you hanging in there? Allison: Well, I'm hanging. Sometimes it's hanging by a thread some days, but you could say it's been an extraordinary 20 months, for sure. I mean, everybody knows we've had challenges both personally and professionally, obviously. But I think the pandemic has brought us some good opportunities that we're going to see forever down the road. So I'm thankful for that part, honestly. Carol: Well, I'm glad to hear that. So today we're going to talk about the VR fiscal situation, and I know that many people have gravitated to working in VR because they love working with people. However, we're not always as familiar as prepared for the business aspect of this work. Yeah, VR is a multibillion dollar industry that is truly a business with a social service focus. Both of you have a long history with VR holding many different roles. Now, I personally didn't grow up in VR, but did have a long history in employment services for people with disabilities. I was also fortunate enough to participate in an RSA sponsored master's program and got my degree in the management of rehabilitation services all the way back in nineteen ninety four from DePaul University in Chicago. And that really helped to prepare me for the business end of this work, and I applied everything that I learned in every job I ever held. And even with all of that, I still remember coming to Minnesota Blind and waiting through the fiscal rules of engagement for VR and thinking, Holy smokes. I mean, this is a bunch. You add on to those new requirements, like the 15 percent minimum reservation of funds, you've got match maintenance of effort, reallotment and then COVID hit. I know that really impacted your ability to expend funds you couldn't find. The students providers were trying to gear up for virtual service delivery, and some of the existing consumers pull back. And I know it was tough finding staff to fill vacancies. There was just a whole lot going on, so I consider you both such straight shooters, and I'm really interested to dig in and find out about your approach for navigating the fiscal picture of VR today. So I want to start by getting a little flavor for the overall setup of your agencies. So, Allison, I'm going to direct this to you first. What's the organizational structure of your fiscal resources in your state? Are they centralized at the DSA? Are they within your division? Can you paint us a little picture? Allison: Sure. So Florida VR is within the Florida Department of Education, so that's our designated state agency. And even though we have like a grant management and a budget director that those services, the fiscal piece is still centralized within our DSA. We pay for those critical positions, but they're technically the answer to the DSA, folks. So not all states are organized that way, but our grants manager is actually housed within the DSA controller office, so they're still benefits there, whether they're centralized or decentralized, you can get that connection that you need. Carol: All right. How about you, Chanda? How are you guys organized? Chanda: Our vocational rehabilitation program has an internal budget analysts in the VOC Rehab Program that works closely with our business and finance division at the DSA, which is the Department of Public Health and Human Services in Montana. Our internal budget analyst works closely with myself and the program bureau chiefs to develop projections and identify errors in the work intimately with the numbers, and then also works closely with the DSA fiscal staff to do all of our federal reporting. Carol: Sounds good. Yeah, there's definitely a lot of variety in how agencies are organized, for sure. So I think many times we think of fiscal activities being something that the accounting folks have to worry about and everybody else sort of shies away from the subject. But clearly, there's a great deal of value in the non-accounting folks like all of us to speak, you know, understanding the numbers. So I think this is especially true for executive leadership as ultimately the success of the agency is largely contingent on your vision in your direction. So tell us a little bit about your start as a director in the background. You have in working with the finances. And how did you start and dig in to get a handle on the requirements? And Chanda, I'm going to kick that to you first. Chanda: All righty. When I became the director of the V.R. agency about two years ago, the agency was in Order of Selection with all categories closed and we're in the midst of an interesting financial situation due to two years of significant over enrollment of participants. At the time, there was not any staff with a lot of historical knowledge. About to be our grant, our rules, allowances, etc. Nothing. We were fortunate in 2017 to be selected for RSA monitoring, which might be surprising to hear that that was a fortunate thing, but it was what we needed it and it was a fantastic experience. The RSA monitoring team came to Montana and were on site for one week and we had the opportunity to work and learn really closely with our RSA fiscal partner. That week, she went above and beyond and out of her way to learn about our state systems and our state rules, and then partnered with us to strategize ways to manage forward through our upcoming maintenance of effort, penalties and ways that we needed to manage our budget differently. Our partnership was invaluable to ensure Montana VOC Rehab could persevere through the myriad of obstacles we were in, and we've made sure to spread that knowledge through every level of staff, so every staff member knows their role and the rules which drive our business. As you said, it takes everybody to understand how this impacts their role and where their decision making impacts the budget as a whole. Carol: I really liked when you've talked about this in the past and you've been really forthright about that fortunate monitoring from twenty seventeen and how it kind of really puts you on that different path. I appreciate that. And the tact that you've taken in your agency to really get all the levels understanding the fiscal sword. It Isn't this mystery over here somewhere to the side? So, Allison, tell us a little bit about your start as director in the background you have working with the finances. Allison: Well, let me start with the background part of it. As it relates to finances, I'm going to go way back. So in high school, math was like my best subject, and I had a goal of being a certified public accountant someday. So my first year in college, I was actually an accounting major that only lasted one year before I changed my major. But I still always had that internal skill, I guess a math type of things. So that really honestly is like the total background of my finance piece. So any of the directors out there that really don't have that finance background, it's OK. Hopefully, by the time we finish this, you're going to have a little bit of assurance that you're OK if you don't have that finance background. So in the administrative roles with VR, though, I really quickly had to learn more about the fiscal side of the VR part. When you're out in the field doing direct services counselor, you have a budget that you work within, or at least I did as a counselor, but that was really the extent of it. And then when you get to an administrative role, it's wholly different. It's a different perspective, it's a different approach. So I really had to research for those resources back then. Of course, you're talking about 10, 12 years ago when I first started in that administrative role and I had to ask lots of questions of staff, and I went even a step further than just them giving me an answer. I went further and said, OK, tell me where you got that answer. Where is that answer located? That helped me start connecting with what existing staff's knowledge or understanding is, where it actually is stated in the law regulations, you know, some regulatory guidance, whatever it is, it was almost like a puzzle back then. I started putting those pieces together. But honestly, I don't think any person in VR is going to understand all the fiscal aspects fully and wholly. It's very complicated. It's very complex. The first thing I know is you as a director have to really understand the laws and regulations and all the guidance that's out there. And there is a plethora of resources now versus 10, 15 years ago, and I'm very thankful for all those resources. So they're out there, but you have to take the time to read them and not just read them, but understand them and comprehend them. And I think we all know that if you read any kind of law or regulation, any kind of regulatory guidance, everybody can read the same sentence and we all can come out with a different interpretation. So not only reading it and understanding it, but also discussing it with your leaders so that we all get on the same page. We all have that same perception of what it means. Experience, I think, has probably brought me more fiscal knowledge. But knowing where those resources are and where it says that piece, you may not even know the whole piece of that law. But if you remember that word that stood out like reasonable, applicable, allowable, you know, the cost principles that we hear all the time, you may forget one, but you know where to go. Get it. That's what I had to do as a director, and I think it's helped me in the long run. Carol : I love that you said that I had to learn that same way because I would find myself getting in trouble it over something. And then I go in and I'm like, Well, What's it say in the regulation? And I go in and look that up? And then that's how things begin to cement in my mind, because stuff was so uniquely different in VR, you know, even the words you use, your kind of like, there strange. And so, to get that in your head, I just think that's a great approach. So, Allison, I don't know if you know this, but you know you were a huge resource to me in the early days when I was navigating Order of Selection and what went into developing this priority for services. I just wondered, was there any particular tool or resource that was helpful to you as you started in this leadership role? Is there something you can point to? Allison: People. Honestly, people were the best tool. Resource for me, and it's identifying the correct people, the ones that have the greater knowledge and skills than you do connecting with that RSA liaison, the programmatic or the fiscal liaisons is critical because when you have those one off questions that are not quite addressed completely, you've got to have those folks who go to and say help. This is what we think, but we're not sure. So people to me is the biggest resource today. It's very different than it was back when I first started. But the TA centers that RSA has funded has amazing resources out there. They develop tons of trainings. Any kind of guidance that you need is out there on those different TA centers, and I'm very thankful for that. I do think we have a lot better onboarding for directors now. I guess that's the best way to say it because there's not really a required onboarding, but definitely a lot of good things out there. Our state's website. That's where you're going to make sure that you're getting that legal guidance, all the laws, regulations. And to me, that's kind of that top tier. You know, you go to RSA first, you look at all of their guidance if you need to, you talk to your liaisons, you go to those TA centers that are supported by RSA. You look at all that information. You still are not sure. You hopefully have a really strong leadership team that you have developed as a director that all have that different perspective that they bring to your team. And you're able to say, this is what I read. Is this what you all understand? There's a lot of resources out there. It can be overwhelming. There's so many. So honestly, as a director, it's really finding the style to your learning. Are you a reader or are you a visual? Are you a tactile? Do you need to sit down with your budget guy and actually go through it with your folks? But it's really understanding what your style is and finding the people that you can trust? Carol: Yeah, I like to call it finding a buddy, You were my buddy and different people connected folks. So definitely anybody listening. You can contact us at the VRTAC-QM and we can help link you up because we understand other directors going through similar situations. And so sometimes it's nice to just have that buddy to talk to and talk through it. So Chanda, how about you? Is there any particular tool or resource that was helpful to you as you started in your leadership role? Chanda: Yeah, I was fortunate enough prior to getting this position, my previous position, I got to attend and be a participant of the National Rehabilitation Leadership Institute at San Diego State. Through that program as a yearlong program. I learned a ton of things that at the time weren't applicable to me, but when I got this job, I had resources now, materials. They rang a bell at least, and I could go back and refer to those things. But most valuable out of that experience is developing A network of peers that I got to work with throughout that year on projects and experiences and people from all over the country, all different types of agencies. Because of the relationships that we built through that experience, be able to call somebody I knew pretty well and ask the dumb questions, ask maybe embarrassing questions, you know, depending on the circumstances, especially where we were at at the time. So that networking, that experience, was invaluable to me as I got promoted through the agency just along those lines too,, through CSAVR and other opportunities again, relationships, I think the key to all of this is building relationships and finding that mentor, know who to call for what and ask the questions and have honest conversations and point you in the right direction. Also, the CSAVR leadership forums have been really valuable. I have not passed up one opportunity to get attendance. They've always hit the nail on the head talking about things that are important and critical during that time, whatever the time is. So I've always appreciated the thoughtfulness that are put into those forums because they really do influence our work and are great opportunities. And then, of course, the Technical Assistance Centers throughout the years, another great network of people to ask questions, to have hard conversations, get the answers you might not want to hear, but you know it's the right answer. Yeah, networking and relationships through all those avenues has been invaluable. Carol: Well, you both did a great job plugging all kinds of things and our allies CSAVR, the TACs. We appreciate all of that. That is super awesome. But definitely, yeah, it's the people part of this. The relationships are just invaluable. So now we're going to switch a little bit to dig in a little bit on the state of your finances in your respective state agencies. You know, are you both able to get the match you need to fully access your federal grant? And if you aren't able to, what kind of strategies have you used to work on that? And so Chanda, I'm going to kick that to you first. Chanda: Thanks. This one's kind of tricky. So historically, getting our match at a traditional grant level funding has not been challenging. Now we did have two years of significant overspend, as I mentioned previously, and that was not able to be matched because it was so situational. But historically, that's not been a problem to us. Our legislative body really sees the value in the work that we do and supporting Montana's workforce needs. We've always been really lucky in that area. Carol: That's awesome. You are very fortunate. That is not the case across the country in all places, and Allison may be able to speak to that next. Allison: So Florida Legislature has not increased our state dollars in oh, my goodness. A lot of years, but we've been OK, we've been able to meet our match, but we are at a point because, you know, your federal award is increased through the cost of living and based on the per capita and stuff every year. So your state match has to go up every year. Well, we're at a point that we're starting to see the shift where we won't have enough match. So we saw this in our forecasting and the fiscal tools that we utilize to prepare for this and we tapped into. There are funding that the legislators do. They fund specific programs is called adults with disabilities grants is what they call it. Some folks might call it legislative pet projects. That's another term for it. So we have recurring ones and we have non-recurring ones and it changes every legislative cycle, so we never know exactly what we're going to get. But the purpose of these programs was some kind of service for adults with disabilities. Not all of them were focused on employment, some were recreational, some was more like a day treatment t type facilities. But what we did was we recognized that we needed those additional state dollars or we were not going to have enough to match. We switch the way we work with those grants and now they're required to work with us, meaning all the customers they work with had to be referred to us. Of course, we had to make sure that we were only focused on those programs that would help employment outcomes. So no matter what the service was, making sure that we could connect that to employment, but it allowed us to take all of those dollars and match it. So that increased our match ability. We did the same thing with our high school, high tech funding that the legislator specifically awards to them and also our assistive technology partners the dollars they get from the state. So we have tapped into that. We still know that down the road, we're either going to have to ask for additional money through the legislators or we have to get a little more creative. And I like to have a plan, a Plan B, Plan C and so forth. So third party cooperative agreements is still in my back pocket. I had TCPAs when I first came here, they were a little bit of a mess. They were audited literally like six months before I started my position, so I missed the audit of twenty seventeen. But I didn't miss the report that came following and part of that was the TCPA findings. It's very administratively heavy for VR to do TCPAs, so we actually backed out of the TCPA because of all the findings with it. But it's still an option and we know that is down the road if we want to do it again. But I will say our TCPA was with our school districts when we pulled that out and only approach them to start as a provider for the school. We have so many more school districts that jumped on board with that approach instead of the third party cooperative agreement because they now don't have to have that percentage. And I think that's what was hurting some of that relationship with the schools. They didn't have that additional dollars. So it actually ended up being a good thing, even though we got rid of the TCPA. But any director that's looking at match challenges, you really have to try to forecast several years out down the road. You can't go to that legislator say, Oops, we need the money right now. You've got a plan out and then who could plan for a pandemic when states were holding money tightly go, no, no, no. We don't know what the next year or two years are going to look like. So always make sure you have plan a, b, c and maybe all the way down to Z. Carol: Joe Xavier likes to say, You need the microscope. You're looking at the current but the telescope to looking down the road. So yeah, I like that. Good advice. Allison: I know the Community Reinvestment Act that the VRTAC-QM is going to pile it with a couple of states. Florida is very interested in that because that's a partnership relationship and Florida is very supportive of those relationships. So that's something we're also going to be watching very closely. Carol: Oh, good. Yeah, we'll definitely be talking about that on another podcast down the road. So since you mentioned the pandemic and we know a lot's happened over the last couple of years, the pandemic has definitely changed. The face of VR in many states have had to adjust to this new normal just by flying by the seat of your pants. So what unique things have happened in your state in the past two years that have impacted the finances? And Allison, I'll have you start with that. Allison: Well, I know a lot of states have had a lot of difficulty spending their 15 percent reserve for the Pre Employment Transition Services. And I'll say one thing unique with Florida is our governor made sure that our schools stayed open. The Brick-and-Mortars had to be opened last year. There was hybrid options, obviously, to students with health concerns or COVID symptoms. But the Brick-and-Mortar had to stay open for all the school districts, and I think that is why Florida was able to spend our 15 percent PreETS funding. I mean, we were right down to the wire, but we saw our expenditures really go up this last year, that school was in place. So I do think that was a huge benefit for Florida. Carol: Good for you. Yeah, that has not been the case across the country, for sure. Allison: Flip side of that, though, the telework option that so many states have implemented for the Department of Education or DSA has fully implemented telework, and that has allowed us just in this most recent fiscal year 2020 one. We reduced our physical footprint across the state, have arranged our lease agreements, put in hoteling spaces, but just this first year, we have saved one million dollars in leases that go back to our customer services. Carol: Wow, that's big. Holy smokes. So how about you, Chanda? What unique things have happened in your state in the past two years that have impacted the finances? Chanda: Well, previous to the pandemic, we've been managing things really cautiously. Like I said, we are in Order of Selection, all categories closed. We were starting to invite people in Category one, our most significant disability population and slowly while managing the budget judiciously. And what COVID did is because obviously the spending levels dropped so significantly, so quickly because of school closures, public transit closures, business closures, that was really a silver lining for us, and we were able to pick up the pace of our Order of Selection invites. And we actually got to open Category one this past June after being closed for over three years. So that was a big win, something we're proud of. The pandemic brought a lot of challenges and difficulties, but that was definitely a silver lining for our program and the people of disabilities in our state. They've been waiting a long time to get prepared for and back to work in regard to the pre employment transition services. We're really viewing things as what are the silver linings that came from this? We also were able to expend those funds. Just a really great opportunity to analyze our current service delivery methods and figuring out differently. So we invested in virtual job shadow. We worked with our youth leadership forum and made that platform go totally virtual, which the youth were so engaged and very participatory. Traditionally, that group of students comes together one week each summer. Now they're meeting throughout the year, developing those relationships that are so important, as we talked about previously, and get to work on other Pre-Employment Transition Services outside of the school. But with this group of youth that they've worked with during the summer, so that was really cool. And I think the other silver lining through all of the shift, especially for our students to the virtual world, is we're giving them an opportunity to grow new transferable skills. How do you function in the virtual space? How do you set things up, things that we probably might not have touched on or addressed before, which can all be added to a resume now and be more competitive in the labor market? So I think that's pretty cool because I think some of these youth we might not have ever thought about, let's get on the computer and see what kind of skills we can build here. Carol: Very cool. Glad you were able to open up that first category, too. That's super cool. Yes. So, Chanda, what do you think is your biggest fiscal challenge right now? And how are you mitigating or addressing that? Chanda: Well, at this very moment, our biggest challenge is the state of the executive budget and the continuing resolution. We believe this to be our final maintenance effort penalty here. We have not received our penalty letter yet. Last time we received that in June. So it's really concerning November. We have not received that yet. On top of, we don't know what our grand award is actually going to look like because nobody's able to give us that information yet. So we're really managing in the dark of what actuals are going to look like. We have managed forward with that telescope, so we do have some carryover. So we know it's going to be fine, but we're really waiting for those letters and awards to come through. So we know that we're going to be fine. Just the reassurance that what we've done and what we've prepared for is going to be effective. Carol: Well, fingers crossed this isn't like one of those years where we had like six CRs. You know, where you kept getting, is no good. Yeah. So, Allison, how about you? What's your biggest fiscal challenge right now and how are you mitigating or addressing that? Allison: I think my budget director will tell you our biggest challenge will be our match, but it is a concern, most definitely. And I know we're going to have to go to legislators eventually, but I'm honestly going to say that my biggest concern is the decrease in expenditures. You know, with Florida being one of the big four states, we have a very large federal award that we have to spend every year. So with the pandemic and the decrease in the customers decrease in expenditures, our carry forward is extremely high. It's the highest that anyone knows it has ever been in Florida VR. So that really adds to that challenge of spending those dollars. I mean, it's typical for state to have a carry forward. Obviously, it's been in that second year, but that percentage that we typically carry forward is almost double right now. So that's just adds a whole lot of dollars when our customer count is still not up to where it was pre-pandemic. So it's all kind of connected because of those customers and spending that money on them. But we know that the VR process takes time. It's not like these folks are going to come in the door tomorrow and we could spend that money tomorrow. So it's really a strategic effort to make sure you're getting the customer in while also spending those carry forward dollars. To me, there are several ideas within my leadership team that we're all pondering. And of course, the first thing is that outreach, that marketing effort rebranding so that the individual disabilities know about the VR resource. Staff augmentation, that's something else that we are talking about here. Florida is. A private public partnership, so we have a staff augmentation through service source, we have about one hundred direct positions that are out in the field that are actually funded through that contract through a private entity. So we are actually thinking about expanding that, hiring more staff through that contract so that we can serve more people and serve them more efficiently is the key. We have a great study that we're getting ready to start. So hopefully that's going to give us additional information about any adjustments we need to make with our rates and knowing that inflation has hit. I think the latest I saw was about 15 percent up from last year on groceries. But knowing that inflation, does that mean as an agency, we need to make some adjustments to our rates or our providers and all of our vendors out there? And then because we have all this big carry forward, it's a great time for us to make sure that we are addressing any of our technology needs or updates there so that staff have the resources that they need. So there's a lot of things obviously that are tangent within this. But my big concern right now is this large carry forward and be able to spin that within that two years or the one year program year. Carol: Yeah, I think you're not alone in that. In fact, I just wanted to mention to folks. So David D'Arcangelo, he is the commissioner for the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. He was on last month, but he was also talking about these projects they had done, and he was using it with real allotment dollars. But it would apply to carry forward. And if you went to his website, they have like 20 different projects they did that were really cool, like including the Rate study. But there are a lot of very interesting ideas on ways you could spend the money, but that it would be tangible for VR. So I just did want to mention that. So as cliché as it can be, knowledge is power, and I think it is especially true for fiscal matters. You really got to know your money. So how are you building your own knowledge around fiscal matters and also the knowledge of more of your team? And Allison, I'm going to throw that one to you. Allison: I can sum it all up with one word, “Read”. how many of us have the best intentions to read the information coming out, but then you can never find the time to read it, not just read it, but find the time to read it. To me, that's a critical part is we have to stay on top of the information coming out from RSA, coming out from all of our partners, which is numerous and all the Technical Assistance Centers. But sometimes, that my reading list,, it gets off my priority list and actually during this virtual world, I don't know if you ladies have felt the same way with the last 18 20 months to me has been in a fast paced environment. Virtual is very fast and you don't have time to prepare for meetings. You just jump on these video meetings and you're like, What are we meeting about? So I recently incorporated with my leadership, Field leadership and headquarters leadership, is to designate one to two hours a week to block off your calendar to do nothing but catch up on the reading of those guidance's policies. Go to a TA website. Find those resources as a group. My leadership team is participating in the several of the resources that the VRTAC-QM has posted, like the Twenty For… Carol: The top 20 tips. Yeah. Allison: We recently did that the last couple of weeks and we had a really good conversation about it because I have 11 people on my executive leadership team. Every one of them came out of that learning something none of them knew at all. And it was amazing to hear the conversation. But it solidifies what you read and how you interpret it, and then you expand that into how it works in Florida. And then you start seeing these ideas come up this creativity. So to me, there was a real benefit in making sure that your leaders have an opportunity to do that, then you have an opportunity to discuss it. Carol: I love that you said that about reading. I still remember when those first grant award notice came probably the first time I got one and there's like 40 pages and I'm like, you know, we put it over to the side. And sure enough, there was some like big announcement in there. So I learned really quickly like, you need to read your grant award attachments because those are important, as are all those FAQs that come out. That's good advice. So Chanda, how about you? How are you building your own knowledge around fiscal matters and also the knowledge and more of your team? Chanda: Well, funny because I also put read as number one, I put read your grant award notification, and I think I actually heard that first from you, Carol. When I heard that I went back to our fiscal folks as like, Have you read these things? Actually? No. So that was wise words from Carol that I brought and read your technical system circulars and read the Green Book. That's definitely these things are piloted right by my desk and flipped through daily. Also, Allison mentioned the VR Technical Assistance Center for Quality Management has helped us problem solve throughout this past year, navigate things and questions that come up again. We're pretty rookie status in regard to our fiscal management and learning a lot, so they've been a great resource to lean into. And also, as we talked about earlier, really making sure that every role of the agency understands that they are fiscal agents and what their decision making and rules are within their role as important. So the TAC has worked with us and we've already done one., Training with just the supervisors, as to, what that means to the supervisor role, so they understand and can accept and embrace their fiscal agent role because we've never referred to anybody that way, obviously, but I think it's important to change that identity a little bit in our next step will be reaching out and training all staff, counselors and administrative support staff. So they understand that they are also fiscal agents and play a role and need to know their roles for the healthy budget for the entire program. Carol: Here, here, You've been listening to our Sara Clardy. Sara does some really great training around the whole issue of being a fiscal agent. I love that. So, Chanda, when you look at the bigger picture in the long haul for VR, what thoughts do you have on changes or approaches that could overall help the VR program? Chanda: Well, I think since the passage of the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act, that VR counselor role is significantly evolved. As you noted earlier, people gravitate to work in VR because they love working with people, and we're continually looking for ways to ease the data, entry and management from the VR counseling role so the counselors can focus on the transformational guidance and counseling experience that they truly want to do, rather than the transactional data and fiscal management. The data is really meaningful, and I think it's really starting to tell a good story of what VR does, just the breadth of all the work we do. But ensuring that data is collected and rendered accurately has significantly impacted the identity of the VR counselors and the counseling relationship and has customer retention issues. So I don't know what the change would be, but that is definitely something that is happening an impact. Carol: Yeah, you're probably hearing claps across the country. Other people are saying that very same thing. So how about you, Allison? If you were looking at the whole long haul for VR, what thoughts do you have on changes or approaches that could help the VR program? Allison: Well, let me flip the question on you a little different, Carol. Let's say you went to your boxing class and something tragic happened, and you all of a sudden found yourself with a significant disability. And tomorrow you have no job, no income. I don't think our decisions don't put our customers first sometimes. And maybe it's because I came as a counselor, but that's where my decisions always try to lie with that customer. And the one thing about VR is we take a long time. If you did not have money coming in, Carol, you would probably be like worried about your house, worried about your food, worry about, you know, so many things that we're not even thinking about that's impacting that customer. Federal law says we got 60 days to do eligibility, 90 days to do a plan. Well, that's five months right there. If you don't have an agreed upon extension, five months of no income, no job, these customers VR is being viewed as, well. It's just too complicated. It takes too long to get where I want to be. I need a job now. So in my opinion, we really need to look at the efficiency and the process of the VR. I mean, how can we get these folks into employment quicker? I know careers definitely are going to take longer because a lot of times that takes training and we know that. But a lot of folks have got to get in and get that money coming in. And there's that workforce need on the business side that we've got to address as well. But I really feel like efficiency. We need to focus on that efficiency and making sure our customers are able to find that employment outcome at a good wage in a timely way, not two, three or four years. To me, that's… that's unacceptable. Carol: Well said Allison, Well said. And I remember telling councilors at the Blind agency, you know, when they'd be frustrated with people coming in and they're kind of crabby and it's like, think about all the places they've been, you know, just trying to get here and get on the public transit and all the things that they went through just to get into this appointment. And how can we get engaged more quickly? And even though you can take that amount of time, do you want to take that amount of time? Like, can we streamline that? So I agree with you wholeheartedly. So Allison, what advice would you give to new directors and leaders to get their feet on the ground around finances? If you had a couple of good parting thoughts on that? Allison: I would say find a fellow director kind of like me and you hear all the way we connected, but find someone that can be a mentor to you that's available and willing to do that for you. Because I know not all directors have that time commitment there, but find someone utilize the RSA, the technical centers. One thing we haven't mentioned is CSAVR, the Council of State Administrators for Vocational Rehabilitation. They have great resources and always there to support the directors as well, really finding that person that you can lead on. Like I say, find your tribe no matter where they're at. I have folks in so many states that I would not hesitate to call email, Hey, I have a question, do you have a minute and find out how they're doing that in their state and talk through it to see if it's possible in my state? So finding that person you trust and can lean on, I think, is critical for any director. Carol: Well said. So Chanda, over to you for our last parting words of wisdom, what advice would you give new directors and leaders to get their feet on the ground around the finances? Chanda: I'll echo again, what Allison said. Use your peers. Use your network at RSA, use CSAVR and the Technical Assistance Centers, there's so many experts out there you just got to find them. Don't be shy. But I've learned is people really love to share their expertise and people love VR. They want to make sure that your program is thriving and meeting the needs of people with disabilities in your states. So don't be shy. People really want to help to make sure that your programs are doing the best it can. Carol: Well said, I do want to mention to our listeners that the VRTAC for Quality Management has a number of fiscal resources meant to help you and your staff navigate the enormous fiscal responsibilities of managing this complex federal program. You can go to VRTAC-QM.org Fiscal and Resource Quality Management. You're going to find regulations, topical information, best practices and some tools that we've developed. More coming all the time. And we have a list a mile long. Also feel free to reach out to us with any ideas you have for tools that can be of help to you. So thank you both for joining me today and for helping us to navigate the world of VR finances. Allison: Thank you for having us. Chanda: Thank you. Speaker: Conversations powered by VR, one manager at a time, one minute at a time. brought to you by the VRTAC for Quality Management. Catch all of our podcast episodes by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening!
PROTACs have taken center stage in the effort to drug the undruggable. Researchers are now exploring other types of TACs to degrade or alter undruggable targets by bringing them together with effector proteins. In this episode, Ray Deshaies talks to Carolyn Bertozzi, professor of chemistry at Stanford University, about alternative induced proximity platforms. Notably, her research centers around lysosome targeting chimeras, or LYTACs, that target extracellular proteins for degradation by the endosome-lysosome pathway. To dive further into this topic, please join Amgen scientists at the Undruggable Q&A webinar discussion on November 17, 2021. Register for this event here: Undruggable Q&A Undruggable is a special edition podcast series produced by The Scientist's Creative Services Team. This series is brought to you by Amgen, a pioneer in the science of using living cells to make biologic medicines. They helped invent the processes and tools that built the global biotech industry, and have since reached millions of patients suffering from serious illnesses around the world with their medicines. Beginning with the introduction of aspirin at the start of the 20th century, there have been three major waves of innovation in drug discovery. While breakthrough discoveries have been made, 85% of disease targets are still considered undruggable, which represents an ongoing barrier to discovering medicines for complex diseases like cancer and autoimmune conditions. Ray Deshaies, who has spent decades in academic research and is a senior vice president at Amgen, believes that the fourth wave of innovation is here, led by new types of multispecific medicines that will radically alter our concept of how drugs can work and pave the way for new solutions.
As the summer of saucers rages on, the 'tic tac' UFOs have received all the interest. While those videos may be compelling, there are so many incredible UFO stories sprinkled throughout history. So let's take a look at the Top Five UFO encounters of all time...http://www.troubledminds.org ⬇⬇⬇ Support The Show! ⬇⬇⬇➡ https://www.rokfin.com/troubledminds ⬅➡ https://teespring.com/stores/troubled-minds-store ⬅#aliens #conspiracy #paranormalRadio Schedule Mon-Tues-Wed-Thurs 7-9pst - https://fringe.fm/iTunes - https://apple.co/2zZ4hx6Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2UgyzqMStitcher - https://bit.ly/2UfAiMXTuneIn - https://bit.ly/2FZOErSTwitter - https://bit.ly/2CYB71Uhttps://youtu.be/ZiBnr_glUIwhttps://www.amazon.com/Stories-Fractured-Mind-Robert-Collection-ebook/dp/B07D1RVX7Yhttps://www.instagram.com/tamlbam/https://salsidoparanormal.podbean.com/----------------------------------------------------------------------------https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorman_dogfighthttps://www.history.com/news/ufo-dogfight-gorman-us-plane-fargohttp://nuforc.org/Gorman.htmlhttps://www.ancient-code.com/the-gorman-dogfight-a-ufo-chase-near-a-fargo-football-game/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lightshttps://www.the-sun.com/news/3439827/mystery-phoenix-lights-ufo-jj-abrams/https://allthatsinteresting.com/phoenix-lightshttps://skepticalinquirer.org/2016/11/the-phoenix-lights-become-an-incident/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shag_Harbour_UFO_incidenthttps://mysteriesofcanada.com/nova-scotia/shag-harbor-ufo/https://medium.com/on-the-trail-of-the-saucers/the-shag-harbour-ufo-crash-cee4110c9691https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4565https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Los_Angeleshttps://www.history.com/news/world-war-iis-bizarre-battle-of-los-angeleshttps://www.onthisday.com/photos/battle-of-los-angeleshttps://www.ufosightingstoday.org/ufo-sighting-in-los-angeles-1942/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera%C3%A7%C3%A3o_Pratohttps://conduit.fandom.com/wiki/Operation_Saucerhttps://www.ufocasebook.com/operationsaucer.htmlhttps://www.ufocasebook.com/brazil1977ufoflap.html
It's about time we desexualize conversations about sex. This week, Kenna and Brianna are joined by fellow Peer Educator and all-around cool human Tacs to talk about what it's like to be asexual in sex ed. circles, the abstractness of gender, and the importance of vocabulary, community, and communication. Below you can find a glossary of jargon-y terms we might've said on the show. AFAB: Acronym meaning Assigned Female at Birth. AFAB people may or may not identify as female some or all of the time. AFAB is a useful term for educating about issues that may happen to these bodies without connecting to womanhood or femaleness.Androgynous: Having physical elements of both femininity and masculinity, whether expressed through sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. AMAB: Acronym meaning Assigned Male at Birth. AMAB people may or may not identify as male some or all of the time. Asexual: Describes a person who experiences little or no sexual attraction to others. Asexuality is not the same as celibacy and exists on a spectrum with varying relationships and feelings towards sex. Aromantic: Sometimes abbreviated as "aro," the term refers to an individual who does not experience romantic attraction. Aromantic people exist on a spectrum of romantic attraction and can use terms such as gray aromantic or grayromantic to describe their place within that spectrum. Aromantic people can experience sexual attraction. Cisgender: Those who identify and present as the gender they were assigned at birth. In its simplest terms, cisgender describes someone who is not transgender.Gender dysphoria: Describes the distress, unhappiness, and anxiety that transgender people may feel about the mismatch between their bodies and their gender identity.Gender non-conforming: A person whose gender expression is perceived as being inconsistent with cultural norms expected for that gender. Neopronouns: A neopronoun can be a word created to serve as a pronoun without expressing gender, like “ze” and “zir.” Nonbinary: Non-binary is an umbrella term for gender identities that are neither male nor female—identities that are outside the gender binary.Words that people may use to express their nonbinary gender identity include “agender,” “bigender,” “genderqueer,” “genderfluid,” and “pangender.”Pansexual: A sexual orientation that describes a person who is emotionally and sexually attracted to people regardless of gender.Transgender: A general term used to describe someone whose gender expression/gender identity are different than the sex assigned at birth. Sometimes shortened to trans or trans*.For more information about the resources we talked about in this episode, check out the links below.Planned Parenthood website: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-southwest-central-floridaRose Dynasty Foundation: https://www.rosedynastyfoundationinc.org/Planned Parenthood Textchat: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/online-tools/chat or text PPNOW to the number 774636 (PPINFO)Special thanks to: Planned Parenthood Staff: Paola Ferst, Kelsey Hunt-Dolan, and Nan MorganAudio Editor: Martin PelaezMusic: Rascal Miles with the song “Imagination.” Also check out their new project Tailor-Made at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhJDNtkZTYI Cover Art: Brianna Nelson
Don't let Jenkins Hall get you down. This episode we talk about some of the inner workings of the Citadel. We discuss some of our interactions with the administration side as well as some stories about TACs. We try to pull back the green curtain to see who is really running the Wizard of Oz at the Citadel. Swim on sardines!
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