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.
--------
Question: With an alcohol by volume figure of 43 percent, the 2-ounce sachets are about as intoxicating as a typical 16-ounce beer, but consumers say that’s just one of their virtues. Kouame claimed they give him a jolt of energy other drinks can’t match — just what he needs to face a long day of hectic traffic, run-ins with police and testy fare negotiations. “It inspires me. It gives me a bit of courage to confront the challenges of life,” he said. From now on, however, Ivory Coast’s government wants Kouame to get his courage elsewhere. Last month, officials announced a ban on alcohol sachets, citing their health risks and the need to combat alcoholism, especially among youth. The measure is one of more than a half-dozen bans or partial bans on alcohol sachets in effect in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Health Organization. Other countries with bans include Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and South Sudan, said Jean-Marie Vianny Maurice Yameogo, the WHO’s Ivory Coast representative. Tracking the sales of alcohol sachets, many containing spirits distilled from palm wine, is difficult because they are often produced outside regulated markets. The sachets are typically mass-produced in West Africa, with colorful packaging. The drink “Amour Profond,” or “Deep Love,” shows a man standing behind a bare-shouldered woman, whispering into her ear. The sachets are not necessarily more potent than other drinks available. Palm wine-based traditional drinks such as koutoukou, which are similarly cheap, can have alcohol by volume rates of more than 50 percent. But sachets are more likely to contain toxic chemicals such as methanol, or wood alcohol, Yameogo said. And the packaging often boasts of health and other benefits that Yameogo said have no basis in science. Some are said to provide cures for maladies such as hemorrhoids, while others are reputed to function as appetite-suppressants or aphrodisiacs. Moreover, the small sachets are easy to hide, making them especially tempting for schoolchildren, according to the Ivorian government and the WHO. “It’s something that’s accessible to everyone. You can buy a sachet, put it in your pocket and just walk around like that,” said Patrick Gbodou, president of School Anti-Drug, an Ivorian organization that campaigns against drinking and drug use by students. The official drinking age in Ivory Coast is 21, but it is rarely enforced, and teenage drinking is common. Vendors are worried they will take a huge hit if the ban on sachets is enforced, as many drinkers go for sachets and nothing else. “The government needs to have pity on us,” said Adjo Abega, the owner of a bar in Abidjan’s Port-Bouet district. Drinkers generally acknowledge the health risks posed by alcohol sachets, but some criticized the government for cracking down on their favorite vice while permitting other health hazards such as cigarettes. Desire N’Guessan, an unemployed 26-year-old, began drinking sachets when he was a teenager. He said he relies on them to ward off illness and for motivation to keep looking for work. “When you are not able to overcome your timidity, it can be difficult to operate in your neighborhood,” N’Guessan said. If the government makes good on the ban, he warned, Ivorian children could turn to drugs. He also predicted marches and protests. But Kouame, the taxi driver, was less worried. In the absence of alcohol sachets, he said he would switch up his morning routine by drinking glasses of palm wine instead, adding: “Man can adapt to anything.”

Answer: Ivory Coast is latest to crack down on alcohol sachets.


Question: The story reports not only the cost of the blood test ($60), but the cost to detect one case (including follow-up), which the researchers calculated to be $28,600. This is excellent context. The story would have been better if it had noted that the people included in this study were at unusually high risk for developing this cancer. The 34 cases found after screening 20,000 people is almost 200 times the typical annual rate in the US and other countries (less than 1 per 100,000 people per year). The ultimate measure of cost is cost-effectiveness (cost per life-year saved) which requires survival data. These analyses can also be adjusted for quality of life. While most of this story is careful to note that this test has yet to show clinical effectiveness, that caution is trampled by the claim that this blood test “boosted patients’ chances of survival,” something that this type of study cannot determine. The claim that this test is more accurate than existing methods is also premature, since the study did not directly compare the blood test to existing methods. Finding more early-stage cancers is a necessary but hardly sufficient step in the pathway of demonstrating benefit for a new screening test. Clinical trials are needed to address issues of false positives, over diagnosis, over treatment, and survival. The story reports that developers of this blood test still need to show low rates of false positive or negative results. A low false negative rate means there are fewer missed cases of serious disease. The trade-off, though, is a higher false positive rate. All positive tests will need to be evaluated with a gold standard diagnostic test and the safety, acceptability, and costs of that gold standard test will profoundly affect the uptake of the new screening test. While the story reports that this study was a “proof-of-concept” experiment, it then says the test boosted survival, something that can only be known after directly comparing the new test to existing methods. Making treatment “dramatically more effective” can be proven only with randomized trials. All screening tests that can detect cancers at an earlier stage will be associated with an apparent increase in survival time, but as explained in more detail below, this does not necessarily mean that patients with screen-detected cancers actually live longer than they would have otherwise. Efficacy can be established only with an RCT. The story could have done a better job pointing out the many limitations in the work. For example, there was no follow-up testing for people who had negative blood test results. Even though the researchers surveyed participants a year after the testing, they didn’t produce any data on how many of the people with negative blood tests actually had cancer. What’s more, the researchers compared the survival rates of their patients to a different group of cancer patients from another study, which raises questions about how comparable the groups really are. There was also no discussion of the possibility that at least some of the tumors discovered through this screening might not have developed into dangerous cancers. The story does not address lead-time bias (that longer survival might be at least partly due to finding the tumor earlier in its natural course, rather than to just the effect of treatment). The researchers noted that the effect of lead time bias can only really be known through a randomized, controlled trial. We will rate the story satisfactory on this criterion because it is careful to note that this test is not ready for clinical use and that the study results apply to only one type of cancer. However, the story would have been better if it had pointed out just how rare this cancer is, less than one case per 100,000 people in the US per year. That is about 3,000 cases in the US per year — out of about 1.7 million cancers diagnosed annually. And the comment that the cancer “is prevalent” in southern China and Southeast Asia may be misleading. While it may occur more often in the region, rates are still on the order of 10 to 20 per 100,000 which is hardly widespread. The story squeaks by on this criterion because it includes a quote from an editorial in the journal that was written by an independent source. It would have been more useful to readers to include more comment and context from someone without financial ties to this study. The story is upfront about the financial interests of the researchers themselves and the company that owns the rights to their work, noting the keen interest in bringing this test to market. Although the story reports that “that nasopharyngeal carcinoma typically goes undetected until later on, when patients report symptoms such as recurring nosebleeds,” it does not tell readers anything about how often these cancers are found at an early stage. Readers are not given a sense of how patients typically fare with existing methods of diagnosis. The story clearly reports that the test is still experimental and that developers have yet to show that it could be practical and effective in clinical practice. The story highlights the desire for a new blood test that could be clinically useful. The story doesn’t appear to rely on a news release. It includes quotes from a telephone interview with an executive at the company developing this test.

Answer: Silicon Valley Startup Grail Sees Hope for Cancer Blood Test


Question: "A student takes part in an ""antigravity"" yoga class at the Om Factory in New York August 16, 2011. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton Experts say if you adhere to the learning curve, going anti-gravity can be just the thing to relieve overused joints and revitalize an earthbound routine. Stephen Csolak, fitness manager at a Manhattan branch of Equinox, the national chain of luxury fitness centers, uses an anti-gravity treadmill, called Alter-G, on a range of clients, from marathoners to the morbidly obese. “You have this bubble around you and you’re floating on top,” he said, describing how the Alter-G, which was developed from NASA technology, uses air pressure to gently lift the user. “If we remove a percentage of someone’s body weight by altering the effect of gravity, we come up with a lot of different benefits for a lot of different populations,” he said. So marathoners can train for speed and endurance with reduced risk of injury, older adults can exercise with reduced pressure on their joints and the obese can work out unencumbered by their extra pounds. “Being on the anti-gravity treadmill allows the obese client to feel their target weight, what they’d feel like if they were 20, 30 or 40 pounds (nine, 14 or 18 kilograms) lighter,” Csolak said. First lessons on the Alter-G are supervised, he said, and clients get hooked easily because it’s such fun. “I don’t believe there’s anything like it, other than swimming,” he said. “Swimming’s also a zero-to-minimal impact cardiovascular workout.”   Jessica Matthews, a spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise, said she’s seeing more anti-gravity group fitness classes. “I think of anti-gravity as anything where you’re physically suspended,” said Matthews, a California-based exercise physiologist. Offerings range from yoga classes where participants hang from hammocks, to group instruction in executing Cirque du Soleil-style stunts. “There can definitely be a place for this,” she said. “But in a group setting, when you have 30 to 40 people hanging upside down in a room, safety is key.”   Sabrena Merrill, a Kansas City, Missouri-based fitness expert, has developed a fitness program that uses aerial silks suspended from the ceiling. She said her goal is to bridge the gap between the performance and fitness worlds. “Climbing silks, doing foot locks and body wraps twice a week in lieu of resistance or weight training, definitely works the body hard,” Merrill said. The mechanics of being in the air forces your core to work differently, she explained, but the focus of her workout remains on the basic components of strength, flexibility and endurance. “Most women can’t imagine doing a pull up,” she said, “But after this training, they will do a pull up. Upper body strength will change.”   Merrill, who trains fitness professionals in the class, agrees that safety is crucial. Clients are screened for pregnancy, high blood pressure and medication. “We just don’t go very high off the ground, about one foot off the ground for most. And there’s a protective mat underneath,” said Merrill. She doesn’t contend that the aerial silks workout is superior resistance training, but it might be more fun. “It’s not better or worse, just different,” she said. “I can’t stress enough the enjoyment of the play. You feel like you’re a circus performer.”"

Answer:
Gravity-defying workouts lift fitness routines.