Here's what to know about the new Michigan Family Protection Act
Rachel Lang's journey to motherhood wasn't easy. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at 26 years old, just nine months after getting married.
"It wouldn't have been safe for me to carry a child. That's when we had decided to explore other options," said Lang.
Those options included surrogacy, where her embryos would be implanted in a gestational carrier in the hopes of having a child. Typically, that step wouldn't have been an issue, except in Michigan.
"It was the only state where it was still a felony, and it was the first state where surrogacy became a felony, and it was the last state for surrogacy to be a felony," said Ginanne Brownell, communications and research director for Michigan Fertility Alliance.
Brownell spent years working to push the nine-bill package that went into effect on April 1, officially repealing a ban that made Michigan the only state in the nation to criminalize surrogacy contracts.
The bill also offers legal protections for families that are created through assisted reproduction, like Lang's, who has waited nearly two years to formally adopt her biological daughter, Delaney.
"Surrogacy now is legal; it can be done in Michigan. Surrogacy can be compensated, and there can be contracts that protect everybody involved in the process," said Brownell.
Lang said they await Delany's new birth certificate with their names on it after her adoption was finalized last week.
With the Family Protection Act officially the law of the land, Lang hopes other hopeful parents have an easier experience welcoming their bundles of joy.
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Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Yahoo
Scientists gather in St. John's to advocate for greater effort in fight against avian influenza
The world's top experts on avian influenza are in St. John's this week, working toward a global response to the growing amount of the disease being found around the planet. Andrew Lang, a microbiologist at Memorial University and one the co-chairs of this year's International Symposium on Avian Influenza, said the disease continues to spread around the world at a rapid pace. Cases of illness from the D1.1 variant of avian influenza were discovered in Newfoundland and Labrador this spring, the same variant that infected a person in British Columbia and killed another in the United States. "Unfortunately this virus has just not gone away and doesn't seem like it's going to go away," Lang said on Monday. "So we just have to deal with that, and all the new coming changes, when this virus evolves very quickly." More than 400 people will attend the conference this week both in-person and online. St. John's is the first Canadian city to ever host the symposium. Michelle Wille, a post doctoral scientist studying viruses in wild birds at the University of Melbourne, said part of the goal of the conference is to highlight the need for greater resources in fighting the virus. The avian flu panzootic — the animal equivalent of a pandemic — started around the same time as the COVID-19 pandemic, she said. It meant people prioritized COVID-19 over the avian influenza. "COVID has provided us with lots of really useful tools, techniques, updated platforms to analyze and share data. And so we're really leveraging all of those advanced technologies to help us track avian influenza," Wille said. "What we're dealing with, the problem is massive. But we are getting very little resources to deal with that globally." Andy Ramey, part of the United States Geological Survey Alaska Science Centre, said the true scale of disease remains unknown. Birds across each continent — with the notable exception in Australia — have been infected, and antibodies have even been found in animals like foxes and bears. Ramey is pitching the need for a unified approach to fighting the virus at the conference. "One health approach is key here, because we're all connected. There's … just so many ways that health in one sector is not limited within that sector," he said. "The scale of number of infections that we thought we maybe knew about is actually probably order, or orders, of magnitude bigger than what we thought." The symposium runs in St. John's from Tuesday to Thursday. Download our to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our . Click .
Associated Press
27-05-2025
- Associated Press
Dr. Eric Lang, world-leading behavioral science and insider prevention expert, joins SRI Advisory Board
Dr. Eric Lang joins Swedish personnel security and insider prevention company Scandinavian Recruitment Intelligence, SRI, as Advisory Board member. STOCKHOLM, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, May 27, 2025 / / -- Swedish personnel security company SRI, with a clear vision of enhancing the safety and security of Swedish workplaces, the Nation, and international partners who depend on Sweden, has in recent years focused significant resources on raising awareness and educating Swedish employers about insider threats. As part of this focus, the company has collaborated with Dr. Eric Lang from the United States. Dr. Lang is a world-leading authority and expert in the behavioral and social sciences, and insider prevention. Dr. Lang is responsible for research studies and tools that are now used by governmental and private sector security functions worldwide. With the aim of becoming a leading player in security culture and insider prevention that supports both Swedish and foreign operations, the collaboration with Dr. Lang has now been expanded as SRI welcomes Dr. Lang to its Advisory Board. The need for knowledge and tools in this area is also expected to increase in the coming years, as the prevailing geo- and security policy factors have caused the situation and threat landscape to deteriorate rapidly in recent years, which has led to an increased insider threat in Sweden and throughout Europe. Dr. Lang is a social psychologist with over 35 years of experience improving organisational effectiveness, fairness, security, and well-being through science-based policy recommendations and best-practice tools. Dr. Lang has led multiple research groups and is best known for his many years as Director of the Personnel and Security Research Center (PERSEREC) – a research arm of the U.S. Department of Defense. In 2025, Dr. Lang chose to retire from government service and return to his private sector roots (e.g., he spent over 10 years as an applied scientist and leader in small and big businesses, and a 'think tank'), and now joins SRI. Dr. Lang remarked: 'Malicious and unintentional Insider Risks are increasing in Sweden and across the world. From the smallest businesses to the largest governments, organizations increasingly experience loss and compromise of intellectual property, sensitive data, staff and facility safety, and financial resources, as well as downstream consequences such as increased organizational stress, employee attrition, and decreased trust among partners and customers. Technological tools are necessary but not sufficient. The greatest gaps and opportunities in Insider Threat management center on human factors and organizational culture issues. Research-based social science insights, practices, and tools continue to be misunderstood and underutilized by most organizations. SRI leadership and staff understand these needs deeply. Their activities, reports, and tools—such as SRI's annual Summit, Annual Insider Review, and Prisma software—demonstrate skill and commitment to support their customers, partners, and Nation. I am grateful and excited at the opportunity to collaborate more extensively with SRI on this critical mission.' Dr. Lang has collaborated with SRI in various ways over the past few years, most recently at the company's 2024 annual security conference, SRI Summit, where he gave an acclaimed keynote presentation centred, in part, on his 'Seven Science-Based Commandments' journal article which is considered by many to be a foundational publication in the Insider Threat field. Dr. Lang is often consulted to help leaders and security professionals understand and manage security, organisational culture, and psychological issues related to insider risk. At SRI, Dr. Lang will join the company's Advisory board and, through it, contribute with his vast knowledge and experience. SRI's Advisory Board consists of Stefan Kristiansson, former head of the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service (Must), Therese Mattsson, former Director General of the Coast Guard and the Director General at the Swedish Customs Administration, and Joakim Paasikivi – a well-known name to many. Joakim has, among other things, served as a military strategy professor at the Swedish Defence University and held positions within Must. Pierre Gudmundson, Personnel Security Specialist and Head of Insider Prevention at SRI said: 'Eric Lang's deep knowledge and impressive experience of research and work at the absolute cutting edge of the U.S. Security Service in applying personnel-related research in counterintelligence is invaluable to us. With Eric's help, we will be able to quickly take big and important steps to help many employers in both Sweden and around the world to create safer workplaces and preventively and systematically prevent insider problems from arising.' Anders Selvehed, CEO of SRI, said: 'For us at SRI, it is extremely flattering that Dr. Lang, a world-leading authority in this field, chooses to join our Advisory Board and make his expertise available to us and our clients. Our aim is to become a leader in Sweden, the Nordics and Europe in the insider prevention segment. We have already developed our own security culture enhancing- and insider prevention program that is appreciated by Swedish employers, our own Annual Review on insiders, as well as training and lectures in insider prevention. With Dr. Lang's help, we will be able to support clients with specific needs in this area in an even better way.' About SRI: SRI (Scandinavian Recruitment Intelligence) is a Swedish-owned private company and a leading actor within background checks, protective security and operational security with an overall vision of contributing to the creation of safe and secure workplaces and a safer Sweden. SRI works with people in focus and are experts in the field of personnel security and insider prevention. Within this discipline, SRI assists public and private organizations with Security-as-a-service solutions, business intelligence, consultation and training to promote proactive and systematic security work. As a private actor, SRI contributes to qualified investigations that counteract espionage, insider activities and terror, among other things, as threats and risks are directed at Swedish operations. Anders Selvehed SRI [email protected] Visit us on social media: LinkedIn Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Medscape
15-05-2025
- Medscape
Case Closed? Study Rules Out Mystery Neurologic Syndrome
What has been described as a mysterious neurologic syndrome of unknown cause (NSUC) in the Canadian province of New Brunswick is a 'perfect storm' of 'misdiagnosis, misdocumentation, and misinformation,' according to the senior author Anthony Lang, MD, professor and past director of neurology at the University of Toronto, Toronto, of a cross-sectional study of 25 of the cases. The study, which was published on May 7 in JAMA Neurology, found 'no support for the existence of an undiagnosed mystery disease' in a cross-section of 222 cases reported to Public Health New Brunswick (PHNB). Instead, the authors suggested that all patients had 'other diagnosable neurological conditions that could benefit from multidisciplinary treatment and other resources.' 'When you start to see the evidence, as we did, you realize that it's a house of cards,' Lang told Medscape Medical News. 'The consequences of this are immense,' he continued. 'Being told you have a mystery disease that could be fatal…a progressive, fatal disease with rapidly progressive dementia, is very harmful…and we really feel that patients who have received this diagnosis need to avail themselves of a proper second opinion by experts and then have the appropriate treatment when it's possible.' Low Uptake To be eligible for the study, New Brunswick patients had to have a provisional diagnosis of NSUC, atypical prion disease, neurotoxic syndrome, or rapidly progressive dementia (RPD). Eligible patients were invited to undergo additional testing and clinical evaluation by an independent expert. But because of the controversy around the issue, which has created political heat and public mistrust since the first cases were reported in 2019, many patients either refused (n = 52) or did not respond (n = 42) to the invitation. Among 105 patients originally assessed by Alier Marrero, MD, at the Moncton Interdisciplinary Neurodegenerative Diseases (MIND) clinic, Moncton, New Brunswick, which was set up to handle the problem, consent (or waiver of consent) was obtained for only 25 cases: 14 living and 11 deceased. The median age at symptom onset in the cohort was 55 years, ranging from 16 to 81 years. Data from patients' initial consultations and follow-ups were analyzed along with the results of a second, independent clinical evaluation by a movement disorders specialist or a behavioral neurologist. Additional testing included electrophysiology evaluation for movement disorders, complete neurocognitive assessment, EEG, Dopamine Transporter Scan, and [18F]fludeoxyglucose–positron emission tomography. For the deceased patients, autopsies included pathology evaluation as part of the Canadian Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance System with extensive tissue sampling and immunohistochemical analysis for prion diseases and other dementias. Other Diagnoses All 25 patients had 'definable and diagnosable neurological disorders that really refuted the concept of a mysterious brain disease of unknown cause or an NSIC,' said Lang. Diagnoses included Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, other neurodegenerative conditions, functional neurologic disorder, traumatic brain injury, and persisting postconcussion symptoms, he said. 'Diagnostic inaccuracies stemmed from incorrect interpretation of histories (eg, overdiagnosis of RPD), inaccurate physical examination interpretation (eg, myoclonus, ataxia), and overreliance on or misinterpretation of ancillary testing such as EEG and SPECT [single-photon emission computed tomography],' wrote the study authors. 'The records were not accurate,' said Lang. 'They said the patient had hallucinations, or the patient had such and such. When we asked the patient who came back for a second opinion, they said, 'No, I never had that.' Or there was documentation of myoclonus, of ataxia, of dementia, and then we found no myoclonus, no ataxia, no dementia on clinical examination.' The researchers also used statistical modeling to calculate the probability of NSUC in the other cases not included in the study. 'We said, well, what about the other 200-some patients that had been documented in public health? What are the chances of any of them having a mysterious, undiagnosed neurological disease? And the statistics said that it was less than a one-in-a-million chance of any of those remaining patients having a mystery disease,' he said. 'So, we feel very confident that even though we have the small numbers, they are very, very convincing.' But Marrero disputed the JAMA findings. He first raised concerns with provincial health authorities in 2020 about a growing number of atypical RPD cases in the province, including several cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Marrero was initially hired as one of the clinicians who followed the patients at MIND but was fired in 2022 for performance reasons and moved to the Dr Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton. His patients were given the option to follow him or be assigned a new MIND clinician. An initial public health review and separate epidemiologic investigation of the first 48 cases concluded that the patients shared no common symptoms or syndrome. 'Although some of the cases have presentations with unusual symptomology, they do not appear to have a common illness with an unknown etiology, and there is no evidence of a cluster of a neurological syndrome of unknown cause,' it concluded, according to a provincial government website established to update the public. The investigation was closed, but after a provincial election in October 2024, the newly elected government reopened the investigation. Although public health authorities have officially recorded 222 cases, Marrero, who was disciplined for improper paperwork and reporting, told Medscape Medical News that he has now evaluated more than 500 patients in this cluster. 'I am appalled that a parallel investigation with a small number of patients has apparently been conducted for a long time without our knowledge or our patients' and families' knowledge,' he said. 'I am in profound disagreement with the study conclusions and have many questions regarding the methods and the content.' Not Convinced New Brunswick's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Yves Leger, MD, emphasized in a statement that the JAMA findings 'do not change my office's intention to complete its own investigation into cases of undiagnosed neurological illness in New Brunswick. Work has been underway on this matter since early 2023 with support from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).' 'There are too many unanswered questions for us to stop the work that Public Health is doing to be able to provide patients — and potentially future patients — with the information they need about what's causing these illnesses,' New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt told reporters in reaction to the JAMA findings. 'On request from PHNB, PHAC has also agreed to conduct a scientific review of the investigation findings once PHNB has completed its analysis and interpretation,' said a spokesperson for PHAC. 'I trust that the current process of independent multidisciplinary scientific investigation and extensive file analysis that is underway by our public health authorities could provide appropriate answers to our communities,' said Marrero. 'We are hopeful that this process would include not only comprehensive additional patient testing but also testing for water, food, soil, and air samples in the affected areas, as well as additional patient support and effective prevention and treatment measures.' But Connie Marras, MD, PhD, a University of Toronto neurologist and movement disorder specialist with an expertise in epidemiology, questioned the need for further investigation. 'It is premature to start looking at any environmental agents that might be responsible for this before we have evidence that there is indeed a cluster, and both the investigations that have been done so far don't support that,' Marras, who was not involved in any of the investigations, told Medscape Medical News. 'The evidence that has been pulled together to date strongly suggests that there is not a unifying, underlying diagnosis for these individuals.' If the current evidence is insufficient to convince public health and the public, then an ideal next step, from an epidemiologic point of view, would be to test a larger, random sample of patients, she said. The limitations of the JAMA study included small numbers and the potential for selection bias. 'If the purportedly affected people are willing to submit to further evaluation, their engagement in this is critical, for the sake of everybody.' The study 'underscores the critical importance of systematic data collection and objective evaluation (seeing) in cases of neurological syndromes with unknown causes,' wrote Michael Okun, MD, professor of neurology and director of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at the University of Florida Health in Gainesville, Florida, in a post on X. 'I completely agree with the authors that these types of unknown 'neuro' cases are 'complex neurological disorders [that will] benefit from a second, independent and/or subspecialist evaluation and require multidisciplinary support throughout the diagnostic journey.' Always ask yourself, 'Do you see what you want to see? Are you being rigorous and as unbiased as possible? Are you open to revising your initial impressions? Can a second look enhance diagnostic accuracy and outcomes?'…These authors are sharing hard data to help us to understand a phenomenon. We must always seek clarity.' No funding source for the study was reported. Lang reported receiving personal fees from AbbVie, AFFiRis, Alector, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, APRINOIA Therapeutics, Biogen, BioAdvance, Biohaven, BioVie, BlueRock, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cavion, CoA Therapeutics, Denali, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Lilly, Novartis, Paladin, Pharma Two B Ltd., PsychoGenics, Roche, Sun Pharma, and UCB outside the submitted work and litigation related to paraquat and Parkinson's disease (for the plaintiffs). Marrero and Marras reported having no relevant financial relationships.
