Latest news with #Abazeed
New York Post
08-07-2025
- Health
- New York Post
Even if you've never smoked, you could still be at risk of lung cancer, doctors warn
Lung cancer, the second-most common cancer in the U.S., is often associated with smoking — but even those who have never had a cigarette could be at risk of the deadly disease. While it's true that those who smoke face a much higher risk, up to 20% of lung cancers affect people who have never smoked or have smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Despite this, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) does not recommend lung cancer screening for those who have never smoked, as the agency states the risks may outweigh the potential benefits. Most lung cancers fall into two groups: non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to the American Cancer Society. NSCLC, which encompasses about 80% to 85% of all lung cancers, includes adenocarcinoma (common in non-smokers), squamous cell carcinoma and large cell carcinoma. 7 While it's true that those who smoke face a much higher risk, up to 20% of lung cancers affect people who have never smoked. Tetiana – The remaining lung cancers are classified as SCLC, a more aggressive type that tends to spread faster and has a poorer prognosis. Mohamed Abazeed, M.D., Ph.D., chair of radiation oncology and the William N. Brand Professor at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, agrees that the share of lung cancers diagnosed in never-smokers is increasing, particularly among women and patients of Asian ancestry. 'While overall incidence is declining due to reduced smoking rates, the relative share of never-smokers is growing and is reflected in clinical practice, where we increasingly diagnose patients without a traditional smoking history,' he told Fox News Digital. 7 Most lung cancers fall into two groups: non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC). utah51 – Dr. Lauren Nicola, a practicing radiologist and chief medical officer at Reveal Dx in North Carolina, said she is also seeing an increase in the rate of newly diagnosed lung cancer in non-smokers, particularly among women and younger adults. The main factor driving up the share of non-smokers among lung cancer patients, according to Abazeed, is the successful drive to reduce tobacco consumption in the U.S. 'Other factors include improvements in imaging and broader use of CT scans that have enhanced early-stage tumor detection,' he noted. 'Evolving environmental factors may also be contributing to this change, with pollutants potentially driving lung inflammation, which in turn has been implicated in cancer development.' Modifiable risk factors 7 The main factor driving up the share of non-smokers among lung cancer patients is the successful drive to reduce tobacco consumption in the U.S. New Africa – Some of the biggest non-smoking risk factors for lung cancer include ambient air pollution and secondhand smoke, according to Abazeed. Exposure to thoracic radiation (high-energy radiation in the chest area) — along with occupational hazards like radon, asbestos and diesel exhaust — can also increase the risk. Lifestyle-related inflammation, which is often linked to poor diet and sedentary behavior, can also play a role, Nicola noted. 7 Some of the biggest non-smoking risk factors for lung cancer include ambient air pollution and secondhand smoke, according to Abazeed. utah51 – 'Some of these, like radon and air quality, can be addressed at the household or policy level,' Abazeed said. 'Lifestyle interventions — such as exercise, diet and avoidance of indoor pollutants — may play a modest protective role.' Both doctors pointed out that former smokers, especially those who smoked more often and for longer periods of time, remain at elevated risk even decades after quitting. 'The greater the number of pack-years, the higher the risk,' said Nicola. 'Risk declines over time after quitting, but never returns to the baseline of a never-smoker.' Genetic risk factors 7 Doctors pointed out that former smokers remain at elevated risk even decades after quitting. – Some people inherit a higher risk of developing lung cancer due to their DNA. 'It is estimated that about 8% of lung cancers are inherited or occur because of a genetic predisposition,' Abazeed told Fox News Digital. 'Inherited predisposition is an area of active investigation, particularly in younger patients or those with a strong family history.' Having a first-degree relative with lung cancer roughly doubles the risk of developing the disease, even after controlling for smoking exposure, according to Nicola. 'Cancers in non-smokers are more often associated with specific genetic mutations and genomic profiles,' she said. 'This suggests that these malignancies have a different underlying biology compared to tumors in smokers.' Screenings in question 7 Having a first-degree relative with lung cancer roughly doubles the risk of developing the disease, even after controlling for smoking exposure. didesign – Current U.S. screening guidelines call for annual low-dose CT scans for high-risk individuals based on age and smoking history, Abazeed reiterated. The USPSTF recommends screening for 'adults aged 50 to 80 years who have a 20 pack-year smoking history and currently smoke or have quit within the past 15 years.' 'There is a growing interest in expanding eligibility to include non-smoking risk factors,' Abazeed noted. 'Evidence is accumulating that could potentially change current population-wide guidelines.' 7 Current U.S. screening guidelines call for annual low-dose CT scans for high-risk individuals based on age and smoking history. Doodeez – There are some potential risks linked to expanding screening, experts say, including the potential for overdiagnosis and false positives. 'The problem with screening everyone for lung cancer is that up to 50% of all chest CTs will detect at least one pulmonary nodule,' Nicola noted. 'The vast majority of these nodules are benign, but a small percentage will turn out to be cancer.' Based primarily on the size of the nodule, the clinician may recommend follow-up imaging or biopsy. 'New tools are being developed that can help us better characterize the malignancy risk of a nodule, which will decrease the potential for harm associated with overdiagnosis in screening,' Nicola said.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Syria's Islamist rulers overhaul economy with firings, privatization of state firms
By Riham Alkousaa DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria's new Islamist leaders are undertaking a radical overhaul of the country's broken economy, including plans to fire a third of all public sector workers and privatising state-run companies dominant during half a century of Assad family rule. The pace of the declared crackdown on waste and corruption, which has already seen the first layoffs just weeks after rebels toppled Assad on Dec. 8, has triggered protests from government workers, including over fears of a sectarian jobs purge. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Reuters interviewed five ministers in the interim government formed by former rebel group the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). All described the wide scope of plans to shrink the state, including removing numerous "ghost employees" - people who got paid for doing little or nothing during Assad's rule. Under Assad and his father, Syria was organized as a militarised, state-led economy that favoured an inner circle of allies and family members, with members of the family's Alawite sect heavily represented in the public sector. There is now a major shift to "a competitive free-market economy," Syria's new economy minister, 40-year-old former energy engineer Basil Abdel Hanan, told Reuters. Under transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa, the government will work on privatising state-run industrial companies, which Hanan said totalled 107 and were mostly loss making. However, he vowed to keep "strategic" energy and transport assets in public hands. He did not provide names of companies to be sold off. Syria's main industries include oil, cement and steel. Some state companies appeared to exist solely to embezzle resources and would be closed, Finance Minister Mohammad Abazeed said in an interview. "We expected corruption, but not to this extent," Abazeed said. Only 900,000 of 1.3 million people on the government payroll actually come to work, Abazeed said, citing a preliminary review. "This means there are 400,000 ghost names," Abazeed, an energetic 38-year-old, said in his office. "Removing these will save significant resources." Mohammad Alskaf, the minister for Administrative Development who oversees public sector headcount, went further, telling Reuters the state would need between 550,000 and 600,000 workers - less than half the current number. The goal of the reforms, which also aim to simplify the tax system with an amnesty on penalties, was to remove obstacles and encourage investors to return to Syria, Abazeed said. "So that their factories within the country can serve as a launchpad" for global exports, said Abazeed, previously an economist at the Al-Shamal private university before serving as a treasury official in the rebel stronghold of Idlib in 2023. IDLIB MODEL Until sweeping into Damascus in the lightening offensive that ousted Assad, HTS had ruled Idlib as an opposition breakaway province since 2017, attracting investment and the private sector with less red tape and by clamping down on hard-line religious factions. The new government hopes for a nationwide increase in foreign and domestic investment to generate new jobs as Syria rebuilds from 14 years of conflict, three ministers told Reuters. However, to replicate the Idlib model, HTS will have to overcome widespread challenges, not least international sanctions that severely impinge on foreign trade. Maha Katta, a Senior Resilience and Crisis Response Specialist for Arab States at the International Labour Organization, said the economy was currently in no condition to create enough private jobs. Restructuring the public sector "makes sense," Katta said, but she questioned whether it should be a top priority for a government that needs first to revive the economy. "I'm not sure if this is really a wise decision," she said. While acknowledging the interim leaders' imperative to move fast to get a grip on the country, some critics see the scale and pace of the planned changes as overreach. "They are talking about a transitional process but they are making decisions as if they were a government that was legitimately installed," said Aron Lund, a fellow at Middle East-focused think-tank Century International. Transitional president al-Sharaa has promised elections, but said they could take four years to organise. SHOCK ABSORBED Economy minister Hanan said economic policy would be designed to manage the fallout of rapid market reforms, to avoid the chaos of recession and unemployment that followed 'shock therapy' imposed in the 1990s on post-Soviet nations in Europe. "The goal is to balance private sector growth with support for the most vulnerable," Hanan said. The government has announced a 400% increase to state salaries, currently around $25 a month, starting February. It is also cushioning the blow of layoffs with severance, or by asking some workers to stay home while needs are assessed. "To employees who were hired just to receive a salary, we say: please take your salary and stay home, but let us do our job," said Hussein Al-Khatib, Director of Health Facilities at the Ministry of Health. However, discomfort is already visible. Workers showed Reuters lists circulating in the labour and trade ministries that pared Assad-era employment programmes for former soldiers who fought on the government's side in the civil war. One such veteran, Mohammed, told Reuters he had been laid off on Jan. 23 from his data entry job at the labour ministry and given three months paid leave. He said around 80 other former fighters received the same notice, which he shared with Reuters. In response to Reuters questions the labour ministry said that "due to administrative inefficiencies and disguised unemployment" a number of employees had been placed on three-month paid leave to assess their job status, after which their situation will be reviewed. The plans spurred protests in January in cities including Deraa in southern Syria, where the rebellion against Assad first erupted in 2011, and Latakia on the coast. Such protests were unthinkable under Assad, who responded to rebellion with repression that sparked the civil war. Employees at the Deraa Health Directorate held placards declaring "No to arbitrary and unjust dismissal" during a demonstration by some two dozen people. Adham Abu Al-Alaya, who took part, said he feared losing his job. He supported eradicating ghost employment, but denied he or his colleagues were paid for doing nothing. He was hired in 2016 to manage records and settle utility bills. "My salary helps me manage basic needs, like bread and yoghurt, just to sustain the household," Abu Al-Alaya said, adding that he also works another job to make end meet. "If this decision goes through, it will increase unemployment across society, which is something we cannot afford," he said. MILES OF FILES Finance minister Abazeed said that since taking over, the former rebels had found monumental corruption and waste, including at Syrian Trading Establishment, a public consumer goods distributor he said received government money for a decade, until a few days before Assad's departure, without ever providing official statements of revenues. He did not disclose how much money was involved. Reuters could not verify the allegations. The new government has closed the company, Abazeed said. For now, the administration has no reliable record of government employees. It is building a database of public sector staff, asking employees to complete an online form. Alskaf, the minister for Administrative Development, said it would take about six months to set up, with a team of 50 people on the job. Acknowledging the difficulties of the task ahead, Labour Minister Fadi al-Qassem said "renovations are more difficult than new building." The government also plans to digitize employee records, currently stored in about 60 dusty and neglected rooms containing over a million folders, many tied with string and dating back to the Ottoman era that ended more than a century ago. To Hiba Baalbaki, 35, a labour ministry digitization specialist, the drive was surprising and encouraging. Under the previous administration, management shunned her efforts to bring record keeping into the 21st century, including an online platform she had been working on for two years, she said. "It introduced unwelcome changes and closed avenues for corruption and bribes," she said.
Reuters
31-01-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Syria's new Islamist rulers to roll back state with privatizations, public sector layoffs
DAMASCUS, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Syria's new Islamist leaders are undertaking a radical overhaul of the country's broken economy, including plans to fire a third of all public sector workers and privatising state-run companies dominant during half a century of Assad family rule. The pace of the declared crackdown on waste and corruption, which has already seen the first layoffs just weeks after rebels toppled Assad on Dec. 8, has triggered protests from government workers, including over fears of a sectarian jobs purge. Reuters interviewed five ministers in the interim government formed by former rebel group the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). All described the wide scope of plans to shrink the state, including removing numerous "ghost employees" - people who got paid for doing little or nothing during Assad's rule. Under Assad and his father, Syria was organized as a militarised, state-led economy that favoured an inner circle of allies and family members, with members of the family's Alawite sect heavily represented in the public sector. There is now a major shift to "a competitive free-market economy," Syria's new economy minister, 40-year-old former energy engineer Basil Abdel Hanan, told Reuters. Under transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa, the government will work on privatising state-run industrial companies, which Hanan said totalled 107 and were mostly loss making. However, he vowed to keep "strategic" energy and transport assets in public hands. He did not provide names of companies to be sold off. Syria's main industries include oil, cement and steel. Some state companies appeared to exist solely to embezzle resources and would be closed, Finance Minister Mohammad Abazeed said in an interview. "We expected corruption, but not to this extent," Abazeed said. Only 900,000 of 1.3 million people on the government payroll actually come to work, Abazeed said, citing a preliminary review. "This means there are 400,000 ghost names," Abazeed, an energetic 38-year-old, said in his office. "Removing these will save significant resources." Mohammad Alskaf, the minister for Administrative Development who oversees public sector headcount, went further, telling Reuters the state would need between 550,000 and 600,000 workers - less than half the current number. The goal of the reforms, which also aim to simplify the tax system with an amnesty on penalties, was to remove obstacles and encourage investors to return to Syria, Abazeed said. "So that their factories within the country can serve as a launchpad" for global exports, said Abazeed, previously an economist at the Al-Shamal private university before serving as a treasury official in the rebel stronghold of Idlib in 2023. Until sweeping into Damascus in the lightening offensive that ousted Assad, HTS had ruled Idlib as an opposition breakaway province since 2017, attracting investment and the private sector with less red tape and by clamping down on hard-line religious factions. The new government hopes for a nationwide increase in foreign and domestic investment to generate new jobs as Syria rebuilds from 14 years of conflict, three ministers told Reuters. However, to replicate the Idlib model, HTS will have to overcome widespread challenges, not least international sanctions that severely impinge on foreign trade. Maha Katta, a Senior Resilience and Crisis Response Specialist for Arab States at the International Labour Organization, said the economy was currently in no condition to create enough private jobs. Restructuring the public sector "makes sense," Katta said, but she questioned whether it should be a top priority for a government that needs first to revive the economy. "I'm not sure if this is really a wise decision," she said. While acknowledging the interim leaders' imperative to move fast to get a grip on the country, some critics see the scale and pace of the planned changes as overreach. "They are talking about a transitional process but they are making decisions as if they were a government that was legitimately installed," said Aron Lund, a fellow at Middle East-focused think-tank Century International. Transitional president al-Sharaa has promised elections, but said they could take four years to organise. Economy minister Hanan said economic policy would be designed to manage the fallout of rapid market reforms, to avoid the chaos of recession and unemployment that followed 'shock therapy' imposed in the 1990s on post-Soviet nations in Europe. "The goal is to balance private sector growth with support for the most vulnerable," Hanan said. The government has announced a 400% increase to state salaries, currently around $25 a month, starting February. It is also cushioning the blow of layoffs with severance, or by asking some workers to stay home while needs are assessed. "To employees who were hired just to receive a salary, we say: please take your salary and stay home, but let us do our job," said Hussein Al-Khatib, Director of Health Facilities at the Ministry of Health. However, discomfort is already visible. Workers showed Reuters lists circulating in the labour and trade ministries that pared Assad-era employment programmes for former soldiers who fought on the government's side in the civil war. One such veteran, Mohammed, told Reuters he had been laid off on Jan. 23 from his data entry job at the labour ministry and given three months paid leave. He said around 80 other former fighters received the same notice, which he shared with Reuters. In response to Reuters questions the labour ministry said that "due to administrative inefficiencies and disguised unemployment" a number of employees had been placed on three-month paid leave to assess their job status, after which their situation will be reviewed. The plans spurred protests in January in cities including Deraa in southern Syria, where the rebellion against Assad first erupted in 2011, and Latakia on the coast. Such protests were unthinkable under Assad, who responded to rebellion with repression that sparked the civil war. Employees at the Deraa Health Directorate held placards declaring "No to arbitrary and unjust dismissal" during a demonstration by some two dozen people. Adham Abu Al-Alaya, who took part, said he feared losing his job. He supported eradicating ghost employment, but denied he or his colleagues were paid for doing nothing. He was hired in 2016 to manage records and settle utility bills. "My salary helps me manage basic needs, like bread and yoghurt, just to sustain the household," Abu Al-Alaya said, adding that he also works another job to make end meet. "If this decision goes through, it will increase unemployment across society, which is something we cannot afford," he said. Finance minister Abazeed said that since taking over, the former rebels had found monumental corruption and waste, including at Syrian Trading Establishment, a public consumer goods distributor he said received government money for a decade, until a few days before Assad's departure, without ever providing official statements of revenues. He did not disclose how much money was involved. Reuters could not verify the allegations. The new government has closed the company, Abazeed said. For now, the administration has no reliable record of government employees. It is building a database of public sector staff, asking employees to complete an online form. Alskaf, the minister for Administrative Development, said it would take about six months to set up, with a team of 50 people on the job. Acknowledging the difficulties of the task ahead, Labour Minister Fadi al-Qassem said "renovations are more difficult than new building." The government also plans to digitize employee records, currently stored in about 60 dusty and neglected rooms containing over a million folders, many tied with string and dating back to the Ottoman era that ended more than a century ago. To Hiba Baalbaki, 35, a labour ministry digitization specialist, the drive was surprising and encouraging. Under the previous administration, management shunned her efforts to bring record keeping into the 21st century, including an online platform she had been working on for two years, she said. "It introduced unwelcome changes and closed avenues for corruption and bribes," she said.
Asharq Al-Awsat
29-01-2025
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Syrian Finance Minister Discusses Finances, Sanctions with EU Officials in Damascus
Syrian Finance Minister Mohammed Abazeed discussed his country's financial position and potential sanctions relief in his first meeting with European Union officials on Wednesday since opposition forces ousted the Assad regime last year. Abazeed met with Germany's temporary envoy to Syria Bjorn Gehrmann and EU representative Michael Ohnmacht in Damascus just days after the European Union agreed on a roadmap to ease its sanctions on Syria. The EU has a range of sanctions in place targeting both individuals and economic sectors in Syria, including a ban on Syrian oil exports and restrictions on access to global financial channels. 'We hope that the image Germany had of Syria before December 8 will change,' Abazeed told Gehrmann at the beginning of the meeting. 'It's a pleasure to be here in the new Syria after almost 13 years of absence,' Gehrmann responded. 'We're now in the process of reestablishing our diplomatic presence in Damascus… we have a couple of questions and a couple of messages that I would like to discuss with you today in order to start our diplomatic relations, also on the financial matters.' Gehrmann told Reuters after the meeting that the EU was still hammering out the details of which sanctions would be lifted in Brussels and it could take a few weeks. He said the meeting had explored Syria's budgetary situation and financial sector regulations and priorities for sanctions relief. 'It was the first discussion about the general situation and what we heard so far was encouraging,' he said. EU governments want to help kickstart Syria's recovery. But many have also stressed that the EU should take a gradual and reversible approach to retain leverage as it encourages the new authorities in Damascus to implement inclusive policies.
