Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.

Ex Input:
Monsoon rains and rising rivers submerged a dozen districts in the greater Jakarta area starting Wednesday after extreme torrential rains hit on New Year’s Eve, causing landslides in hilly areas on the outskirts of the capital that buried scores of people. It’s the worst flooding in the area since 2007, when 80 people were killed over 10 days. More than a thousand soldiers and health workers sprayed disinfectant in hard-hit areas on Sunday to anticipate possible diseases spread by flooding, such as dengue and leptospirosis, a potentially fatal disease spread by rat’s urine, said Ridwan Carman, who is in charge of emergency response and recovery for the Indonesian Red Cross. About 11,000 health workers were deployed to provide medical care for people affected by the flooding, Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto said in a statement. He said there had been no recorded cases of leptospirosis, tetanus or serious waterborne diseases. In Lebak, a district in neighboring Banten province, where flash floods and mudslides swept away more than 1,700 houses and destroyed several villages, rescuers were still searching for a 7-year-old boy reportedly dragged away by flash flooding that killed at least nine people, said Zainal Arifin, a local search and rescue agency chief. He said mudslides that covered much of the area, blackouts and lack of telecommunications were hampering the search efforts. Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday failed to meet survivors in the devastated village of Sukajaya, where the highest number of deaths were reported, as his helicopter was unable to land due to bad weather, the presidential secretariat said in a statement. The village is in the hardest-hit district of Bogor, where 16 people were killed by flash floods and landslides. Waters have receded in most parts of greater Jakarta, allowing many residents to return and clean up, but scores of tightly packed settlements close to rivers that often suffer from floods during the rainy season remained inundated or covered in mud and debris. Tens of thousands of people remained crammed in damp shelters, mostly in western Jakarta and its satellite city of Bekasi. Government data on Sunday showed that some 92,200 people were still unable to return home as the filthy waters submerged their houses up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) high. In a cramped and damp emergency shelter at a sports center in south Jakarta, mothers breast fed their babies near piles of smelly wet garbage. “My baby is not sleeping as the rain comes in, the wind comes in,” Yuyun Yuniarti said while holding her 7-month-old baby in a sling. “It is disgusting here, but we are stuck.” Yuniarti said food and medicine appeared to be sufficient, with most shelters visited in recent days by authorities and private organizations delivering regular supplies of food. A temporary clinic was treating patients close to where Yuniarti was sleeping, including many suffering from respiratory illnesses. Save the Children, an international child rights organization, expressed its concern about the dire situation for children. At least six kids have died from the floods and tens of thousands have had to leave their homes in Jakarta. “We call on all involved to make sure children are kept safe and have a roof over their heads, and food to eat,” Dino Satria, Save the Children’s humanitarian director in Indonesia, said in a statement. He said his organization would provide school kits, tents and hygiene kits to prevent the outbreak of diseases. Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said that more downpours were forecast for the capital in the coming days, and that the potential for extreme rainfall would continue until next month across the vast archipelago nation. The government on Friday started cloud seeding in an attempt to divert rain clouds from reaching greater Jakarta to prevent possible flooding, the agency said. Indonesia is hit by deadly floods each year, and Jakarta, the capital of Southeast Asia’s largest economy, is not immune. But this year’s floods have been particularly bad, with nearly 400,000 people seeking refuge in some 270 shelters across the greater metropolitan area as floodwaters reached up to 6 meters (19 feet) in some places.

Ex Output:
Indonesia’s flooded capital disinfected to fend off disease.


Ex Input:
The story doesn’t mention cost at all. Since Lucentis can cost $2,000 per injection, that’s a significant oversight. It would also be useful to tell readers how Lucentis injections compare with the cost of laser treatment. The benefits are, for the most part, reasonably well explained. But those explanations lack numbers to back them up and are overstated in at least one place. “One benefit discussed in the release is that study participants who received laser treatment were more likely to suffer peripheral vision loss than participants who were treated solely with Lucentis — although this isn’t quantified. A second benefit was that participants who received laser treatment were more likely to require subsequent surgery to remove blood from the eye — and this was quantified. But the release pushes things a bit when it comes to vision, or visual acuity. The release states: “At two years, vision in the Lucentis group improved by an average of about half a line on an eye chart, compared with virtually no change in the laser group.” But here’s how the journal article puts it: “There was no statistically significant visual acuity difference between the ranibizumab and PRP [laser] groups at 2 years. The language in the journal article itself stresses that what was being evaluated was whether Lucentis was at least as good as laser treatment — and they found that, after two years, the visual acuity of patients who took Lucentis (and had no laser treatment) was as good as patients who had the laser treatment. The release could have simply stated this and avoided confusion. In short, this was a close one — but the lack of numbers on peripheral vision and the overstatement of the visual acuity results make this a “Not Satisfactory.” The release mentions that one study volunteer in the Lucentis group developed an eye infection and stated that “serious systemic adverse events,” namely cardiac arrest and stroke, occurred at similar rates among the two groups undergoing the two different procedures. We’ll rate that satisfactory for the disclosure although the release might have gone even further by mentioning the other side effects named in the study including inflammation and elevated intraocular pressure which occurred in both treatment groups. The release does a good job of describing the study design, the number of participants, and the fact that this was a randomized clinical trial. A few words about the limitations of the study — e.g. the investigators and patients could not be masked to which treatment they were getting, would have be useful as well. No disease mongering here. The release does tell readers that the study was funded by the National Eye Institute. However, it does not make clear that Lloyd Paul Aiello — who is quoted in the release — was also a co-author of the journal article. The release also fails to mention that several co-authors receive research funding or consulting fees from Genentech, which developed ranibizumab and markets it in the U.S., and Novartis, which markets the drug outside the U.S. The release does a good job of comparing Lucentis to conventional laser treatment for PDR and we’ll award a Satisfactory rating on that basis. However, we’d note that these are not necessarily the only two options. Lucentis is classed as an “anti-VEGF” (anti- vascular endothelial growth factor) drug — by blocking a protein called VEGF, the drug can reverse abnormal blood vessel growth and decrease fluid in the retina. Other drugs in this category include Avastin and Eylea. Are those drugs under consideration for trials related to PDR treatment? If so, it’s worth mentioning — particularly since Avastin costs around $60 per dose, as compared to Lucentis’s $2,000 per dose. The release notes that Lucentis is already used to treat other diabetes-related eye problems, and “should be considered a viable treatment option for people with PDR.” The clinical trial at issue here appears to be the first to look at the use of Lucentis as a treatment for PDR, particularly in a randomized study with direct comparison to laser treatment. However, the release doesn’t tell readers that. On the other hand, the release does make clear that this is the first significant advance in clinical treatment for PDR since the 1970s — that’s good context. The release does a good job of avoiding hype and explaining what was a complex study.

Ex Output:
Lucentis Proves Effective Against Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy


Ex Input:
Malaysia is the world’s second-biggest producer of palm oil, a widely consumed commodity used in everything from chocolate spread to lipstick. Several studies have shown that palm oil is a major contributor to deforestation, along with cattle ranching and soybean production. The European Union passed a law earlier this year to phase out palm oil from renewable fuels by 2030 due to deforestation concerns. “The claims linking palm oil to deforestation is baseless, unfair and unjustified,” Mahathir said at an event on Malaysian forests. “These claims bring negative impact to Malaysia which depends highly on the palm oil industry to raise the socio-economic well-being of our people,” he said. Mahathir also said the palm oil industry in Malaysia has been developed sustainably and responsibly. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a Switzerland-based group of governments, conservation organizations and scientists, has said oil palm expansion is a major driver of deforestation and degradation of natural habitats in parts of tropical Asia and Central and South America. At least 50% of all deforestation between 2005 and 2015 in Borneo - an island shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei -   was related to oil palm development, the IUCN has said. Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, supply around 85% of global palm oil, much of which is used in foods. Environmentalists and locals have alleged deforestation continues to this day in Borneo and other parts of Malaysia. Mahathir also said Malaysia was focused on improving productivity and yields of oil palm, rather than expanding land. He said the government would limit oil palm cultivation at 6.55 million hectares (16.2 million acres) by 2023, reaffirming an earlier target set by the minister in charge of palm oil. Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Malaysia has launched a global public relations and lobbying effort to protect the reputation of palm oil, especially in Europe. The campaign is centered around small holder farmers, carried out by platforms that say they represent farmers but are created or run by public relations firms hired by a government agency responsible for promoting palm oil.

Ex Output:

Malaysia's Mahathir says linking palm oil to deforestation 'baseless'.