Tuskegee U. Becomes First HBCU to Win First-Place in National Homebuilders Contest
The Birmingham Times
Rev Jesse Jackson: The Integrity of the U.S. Supreme Court
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson
People, Places and Things
GWEN DERU
TODAY…
**READ THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES. Catch up on the news!
**THURSDAY NIGHT WORKOUTS with Live Females at the Blu Onyx.
**PSYCHO MADNESS w/THE GO-GO KILLERS, V-8 DEATH CAR & CRYPT 24 at The Nick.
**THURSDAY NIGHT WORKOUTS with Live Females at the Blu Onyx.
**EVERY THURSDAY HAPPY HOUR, 5:30 – 9 p.m. at the Kappa Komplex, 45 6th Avenue South.
**KARAOKE, 5-9 p.m. at Courtyard Alabaster Bar and Grill.
**TASTEMAKER THURSDAY – Every Thursday at Blaze Ultra Lounge, 228 Roebuck Plaza Drive, 8 p.m.- 12 a.m. with DJ Ace Twon (95.7 JAMZ) in the mix hosted by Audio Life and GMC Promo.
**THIRSTY THURSDAY at Hookah 114 17th Street No.
**THIRD THURSDAY BLUES JAM, 7 p.m. at True Story Brewing.
**TEQUILA THURSDAY at the Vibe Bar & Lounge.
**THROW BACK THURSDAY at Tha Vibe Bar & Lounge, 3801 Richard Arrington, Jr., Blvd.
FRIDAY…
**ART AFTER 5: A DIFFERENT WORLD, 5 p.m. at the Birmingham Museum of Art.
**QUE’S BAR & GRILL GROOVIN’ on 19th Street in Ensley.
**LIT FRIDAYS WITH RIPCORD, 8 p.m. – 2 a.m. at 4501 Gary Avenue in Fairfield.
**SAXOPHONIST PAUL TAYLOR at Perfect Note. (Friday and Saturday)
**RICK CARTER BOOK SIGNING APRIL FOOL’S DAY at The Nick.
**DOTS with LINNIL and JODY NELSON at The Nick.
**FREE HOOKAH FRIDAYS at Blu Onyx, 10 p.m.
**QUE’S BAR & GRILL GROOVIN’ on 19th Street in Ensley.
**AFRO CARIBBEAN NIGHTS (Every Friday Night) at Ash’s on 2nd, 7 p.m. until with
Reggae, Afro Beats, Dancehall and Top 40 Hits.
**TRIBUTE TO PRINCE WITH DOMINIQUE, 7 p.m. at Perfect Note.
**FIREBALL FRIDAY at Tha Vibe Bar & Lounge.
SATURDAY…
**SPRING FLING MARKET, 1-5 p.m. at Ross Bridge
**SATURDAYS IN THE GARDENS at Birmingham Botanical Gardens.
**WINE DOWN HAPPY HOUR, 4 p.m.- 9 p.m. at Saferoom Lounge Bar..
**MS. JOHNNIE AND THE JAMMERS Live After Five, 7-10 p.m. at Bistro on 19th located at 109 19th St. N., Bessemer. EVERY 2nd and 4th SATURDAY!!
**SOLD OUT SATURDAYS at the Blu Onyx Every Saturday.
**CIROC SATURDAYS at Blu Onyx.
**MINKA with SOULD KARNIVAL & STARSHAKER at The Nick.
**TRIBUTE TO PRINCE WITH DONINIQUE, 7 p.m. at Perfect Note.
SUNDAY…
**WORSHIP AT THE SIXTH, 9:30 a.m. at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church.
**WOODLAWN STREET MARKET, 12 p.m. at Woodlawn Street Market.
**FOODIES, BEATZ, VIBEZ, 2-9 p.m. at 604 Bar & Lounge at 604 9thSt. No.
**DIRTY HONEY at Iron City.
**GUCCIBOUTOY, AJ CASO, BYNNY DANGER & THE LACERATIONS, and YOUNG POE & LIL THOTTY at The Nick.
**2 SEXY SUNDAY at the Blu Onyx, 8- 12 p.m.
**SOULFUL SUNDAYS with SHERRY REEVES at Perfect Note.
**SUNDAY FUNDAY for the grown Folks Kickback at Tha Vibe Bar & Lounge.
MONDAY…
**EVERY MONDAY is MONSLAYYY – THE CARIBBEAN WAY, 8 p.m. at the Vault with TRINI and BRENT TRINI-FRESH PIERRE. FREE.
**BIRMINGHAM BANDSTAND (Open Mic) with Special Guest ATOMIC WHALES at The Nick.
TUESDAY…
**INDUSTRY NIGHT TUESDAY at Blu Onyx, 8 p.m.
**EVERY TUESDAY – TRUE STORY BREWING PRESENTS TUESDAY JAZZ
SESSIONS, 7- 10 p.m., 5510 Crestwood Blvd.
**TASTY TUESDAYS at Platinum of Birmingham.
**EVERY TUESDAY LIT AND JAZZ with DAVID TALLEY AND FRIENDS, 7 p.m. at Lit on 8th, 518 Rev. Abraham Woods Blvd.
**FAT TUESDAY at Tha Vibe Bar & Lounge.
WEDNESDAY…
**INTERFAITH NOONDAY PRAYER SERVICES every Wednesday, Noon at Linn Park in Downtown Birmingham.
**SARA JEAN KELLEY with REBECCA EGELAND and SARAH LEE LANGFORD at Iron City
**WEDNESDAYS WEEKLY JAZZ JAM, 7- 10 p.m. at True Story Brewing Company, 5510 Crestwood Blvd. Food until 9 p.m. Music until 10 p.m. and Drink until 11 p.m.
**OPEN BAR WEDNESDAY, 8 p.m. at Blu Onyx.
NEXT THURSDAY…
**READ THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES. Catch up on the news!
**THURSDAY NIGHT WORKOUTS with Live Females at the Blu Onyx.
**CYBERDELICS + BUGWHORE + P.O.T.I.S. at The Nick.
NEXT FRIDAY…
**QUE’S BAR & GRILL GROOVIN’ on 19th Street in Ensley.
**LIT FRIDAYS WITH RIPCORD, 8 p.m. – 2 a.m. at 4501 Gary Avenue in Fairfield.
**SAXOPHONIST PAUL TAYLOR at Perfect Note.
**COLORS R&B ONLY at Iron City.
**MOJOTHUNDER with DREAM JACUZZI at The Nick.
IN THE COMMUNITY…
**DUNDRILL HEIGHTS SPRING BREAK FILM CAMP – Film Camp is for aspiring producers, actors and artists in grades eight through twelve. Film campers will learn: creation of media content and videos, software editing, use of digital cameras, narrative filmmaking, lighting and directing techniques and directing and producing methods now through Friday, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. at YMCA Youth Center, 2400 7thAvenue North. Film campers will gain a behind-the-scenes look at the industry from the perspective of House of Payne actress-Cassie Davis, Jevon Dewand-Actor and Movie Producer, Bart Phillips-Movie Producer, Byron the Aquarius-Music Producer, Comedienne Joy-the Queen of Clean and Zack Sims-Producer. For more visit www.nadynegjohnsonfoundation.org.
**AT BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL GARDENS 2022 SPRING PLANT SALE – The nonprofit Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens will host its popular Spring Plant Sale, April 8–9 at the Gardens. Hundreds of varieties of plants that have been specially selected for our region by the Friends’ dedicated volunteer growing groups. Shoppers will have the opportunity to choose from heirloom vegetables, natives, ferns, perennials, herbs, tropicals and houseplants, trees and shrubs, and more. Members of the Friends of BBG will enjoy priority access to shop from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Friday, April 8. The sale will be open to the public from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 9. For more info, visit www.bbgardens.org/spring.
AT SIXTH BAPTIST CHURCH
…SEE YOU AT THE SIXTH …
**EVERY MONDAY MORNING MEDITATION WITH PASTOR CANTELOW, 7:15 a.m. Contact the church at (205) 321-1136 or (205) 321-1137.
**HEART HEALTH, MONDAY, 6:30 p.m. with Ann Heard-Nesbitt.
**SAVE THE DATE – COUPLES VIRTUAL SEMINAR, KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING, April 30, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. on Zoom.
FOR MEN, FOOD LOVERS AND MORE…
(Photo: Clarissa Kenty) (Photo Credit: Birmingham Times)
**GROWN MAN ISSUES – THE STAGE PLAY, April 7-10. This is a musical theatrical production mixed with R&B and Soul at Encore Theatre. CLARISSA KENTY is joining the cast as Nancy. Grown Man Issues features WILLIE TAYLOR, from Days24, Love & Hip Hop Hollywood, MTV’s Making the Band4 and Marriage BootCamp. MARC RABY writes it with musical direction by DEE HILL. Go to www.encorebham.orgfor more.
**CCDN FOOD HUBWEDNESDAY, Every Wednesday of each month in Fountain Heights Old Sardis Baptist Church, 1240 4th Street North, 10 – noon. For more, www.communitycaredn.org.
**SAVE THE DATE! APRIL 9 – HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE COLLECT DAY, 8 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. at the following locations: *First Baptist Church Gardendale – South, 940 Main Street, Gardendale 35071, *Classic Car Motoring, 3900 Grants Mill Road, Irondale 35210, and *City of Bessemer Public Works Laydown Yard, 1205 15th Avenue North, Bessemer, 35020.
**ROSS BRIDGE FARMERS MARKET, May 13, 4 p.m.
FOR MUSIC LOVERS, SPOKEN WORD AND COMEDY…
**FRIDAY NIGHT RAP, Every 1st and 3rd Friday at Crescent Cultural Center, 1121 Tuscaloosa Avenue, W.
**SELINA ALBRIGHT, April 2 at Perfect Note.
**SAXOPHONIST GERALD ALBRIGHT, April 16, 6p.m. at Perfect Note with 2 shows.
**DOMINIQUE HAMMONS, April 16, with 2 shows at Square’s on 27thStreet North.
**KEITH SWEAT, MONICA, TAMAR BRAXTON, GINUWINE and SILK, June 5 at Legacy Arena. This is Birmingham R&B Music Experience.
**WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL, April 23 featuring BIG FITZ THE POET, POETICALLY EMBODIED, MOTORCITY FATTS, CASH, FREANKNALDO, COMEDIAN EUGENE and GLENWOOD URBZ at A Place to Remember Event Center, 202 By Williams Sr., Dr. in Midfield, 7 p.m.
FOR MOTORSPORTS LOVERS…
**TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY…Close to home… Before NASCAR’s best invade Talladega Superspeedway in the fall, the track will host a spring tripleheader on April 23-24, featuring the GEICO 500 for the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday, April 24. Saturday will showcase a duo of events, kicking off with the General Tire 200 ARCA Menards Series race, a mainstay at the historic venue since 1969, and the Ag-Pro 300 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Visit www.talladegasuperspeedway.com or call 1-877-Go-DEGA for more information.
**RACING FOR CHILDREN’S IS CHARITY PARTNER OF HONDA INDY GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA – Racing for Children’s returns as the official charity partner of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. The race provides a platform for Racing for Children’s to tell their stories to the community throughout the weekend on April 29 – May 1. Children’s of Alabama and Medical Properties Trust will reveal their race car which will be on display during the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing for Children’s raises funds and awareness for the Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s, which treats more than 90 percent of Alabama children diagnosed with cancer or blood disorders. Covered by handprints of patients from Children’s, the Racing for Children’s race car presented by Medical Properties Trust will be on display at Barber Motorsports Park throughout the weekend of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, April 29 – May 1, 2022.
AT THE WORLD GAMES 2022… (Keeping it right here!!! Look for more!)
The World Games is bringing greatness to The Magic City!
**TWG MEDALS ARE HERE – Check them out on the www.twg2022.com site.
**TWG T-SHIRTS – Get your TWG2022 T-Shirts at the www.twg2022.com.
**TWG TAG – Get your TWG2022 Tag at the www.twg2022.com.
**NEWSWEEK NAMES THE WORLD GAMES ONE OF 22 GREAT THINGS IN 2022…The World Games Birmingham was named one of the 22 Great Things that will take place in 2022.
**CONDE NAST TRAVELER NAMES BIRMINGHAM ONE OF THE 22 BEST PLACES TO GO IN 2022 partially because the City is hosting The World Games 2022.
**THE WORLD GAMES 2022 BIRMINGHAM takes place from Thursday, July 7 to Sunday, July 17. This will be the 40th Anniversary of the event. There will be more than 100 countries, 3,600 athletes that will compete for gold in 34 unique, multi-disciplinary sports that include artistic sports, Bali sports, Martial Arts, precision sports, strength sports and trend sports. Tickets are available. Go to www.TWG2022.com for more.
COMING SOON
**JULY 7-17, 2022 – THE WORLD GAMES are coming. Look for more!
Well, that’s it. Tell you more ‘next’ time. People, Places and Things by Gwen DeRu is a weekly column. Send comments to my
emails: gwenderu@yahoo.com and thelewisgroup@birminghamtimes.com.
Stroke Of Genius: Electric Brain Shocks Could Help Stroke Patients Recover, Say Scientists
German researchers have discovered that paralyzed stroke patients could recover significant mobility after receiving an electric current to their brains.
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, the University Medical Center Halle and the Charite-Universitaetsmedizinin Germany’s capital, Berlin, revealed that such noninvasive brain stimulation could significantly improve patients’ impaired movement.
The therapy showed notable effects after a single application and could be individually adjusted for different patients for their optimal benefit, according to the researchers, who published their findings in the journal Brain Stimulation.
Research group leader Bernhard Sehm revealed that arm paralysis, which occurs due to physiological and structural post-stroke brain changes, is one of the most frequent consequences of brain damage.
“The basis of these changes are both reparative brain processes and behavioral patterns of everyday activities after the stroke,” said Sehm, a senior physician at the University Clinic and Polyclinic for Neurology at the University Medical Center Halle.
“With the help of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), one can influence these changes in the brain. The currents penetrate the brain tissue, where they have a local excitatory or inhibitory effect.”
The study included 24 patients with “very limited” mobility due to stroke.
“In the lab, we have a robotic system that can be individually adapted to each patient — a kind of exoskeleton that enables them to move their paralyzed arm and perform tasks in a virtual environment,” said lead author Toni Muffel of the Charite-Universitaetsmedizin university hospital in Berlin.
Muffel said the patients’ scalps were stimulated through electrodes while they interacted with the virtual objects. “In parallel, we measured how well, or how poorly, the brain stimulation helped the participants to perform the tasks,” he said.
Sehm said that brain stimulation had a noteworthy effect on the brain areas affected by the stroke.
“Our robotic system allows us to measure various motor functions simultaneously and thus gain a comprehensive picture of the stimulation effects. The data show that sensorimotor functions of the paralyzed arm are clearly influenced by tDCS,” Sehm said.
“However, we could not identify a uniform beneficial pattern across different patients. Instead, the changes in the brain areas varied depending on the task and the electrode placement,” he said.
“This means that in the future, patients will need to be closely examined before brain stimulation treatment in order to develop a targeted and individualized approach to their deficits. This simple but promising method of brain stimulation will then have a future in patient care.”
Edited by Siân Speakman and Kristen Butler
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The post Stroke Of Genius: Electric Brain Shocks Could Help Stroke Patients Recover, Say Scientists appeared first on Zenger News.
This Tech Will Cut The Cost Of Self-funded Health Coverage
By Brian Blum
Health insurance costs in the United States are out of control. That’s led large companies — and some smaller ones, too — to offer health plans that compete with giants like Aetna, Blue Cross and Kaiser.
This “self-funded” insurance now comprises about a third of the overall health insurance market and is worth some $22 billion. Reimbursement claims made to self-funded plans total more than $1 trillion a year.
To manage a self-funded insurance program, companies need a third-party administrator (TPA). That represents an opportunity for startups to bring advanced technology to TPAs and to the self-funded market overall.
Tel Aviv-based Marpai entered the TPA market in April 2021 through an acquisition of Continental Benefits, a TPA in Florida.
“All of a sudden, this young Israeli startup with 15 developers in Tel Aviv became a TPA with about $20 million in annual revenue and 50,000 members receiving healthcare services from us,” Yaron Eitan, cofounder and chairman of Marpai, tells ISRAEL21c.
The expanded company employs upwards of 100. It has ambitions to expand its services to some of the other 200 TPAs operating in the U.S.
Cut health plan costs in half?
Costs for Continental’s clients have already been dramatically affected.
“When we merged with Continental, their cost was around $8 to process a claim,” Eitan says. “Now it’s about $3, which is already lower than the standard in the industry. This is a good number, but we want to get it to $1 a claim and to cut health plan costs in half.”
Marpai Labs, the company’s R&D arm in Israel, has applied artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and neural networks to predict who will get sick, what it will cost and who’s the best (and most reasonably priced) in-network physician.
AI is driven by data and Marpai has a lot of it from members. “We know when you went to the doctor, what the doctor said, what procedure you had,” Eitan notes.
Marpai also bought four million anonymized records from the state of Wisconsin to train its AI.
“In the training stage, you have to build a mathematical model that mimics the way the human brain works,” Eitan explains. “You then run those models on your own members’ data. It’s a long and exhausting process.”
The models are used mainly “to predict costly events,” Eitan says.
There is the low-hanging fruit, such as predicting when someone will need a colonoscopy or a knee replacement. There might be a nearby practice that can do the procedure but another one a bit farther away that charges less.
Marpai can provide incentives, like transportation to the clinic or waiving the copay.
“The patient looks at the data, sees that both doctors have 5-stars, so why does he care? The member benefits and our clients benefit. It’s a nice way to save money,” says Eitan.
Data-driven predictions
Beyond the low-hanging fruit, Marpai uses AI to predict chronic disease development.
“We’re not a diagnostic company,” Eitan stresses. Its job is limited to predicting each patient’s risk of having certain medical issues down the road.
“Sometimes the only thing you need to do is to make sure a patient sees his physician. Or if you detect signs of kidney disease, early intervention might be a pill that can delay the need for more costly action. We’re constantly trying to get more data since the more data you have, the greater accuracy you have in predictions.”
The insurance companies that TPAs like Marpai work for collect premiums and take on all risk up to between $50,000 and $100,000 per claim. These companies provide Marpai with a pool of cash to pay claims.
“We have an agreement with Aetna that gives us access to their long list of providers. The key point is who takes the risk,” Eitan says.
Because a single employee could have a catastrophic, complex or long-lasting illness that could cost far more than $100,000 in hospital fees, Marpai also coordinates with “reinsurance companies” — firms that provide stop-gap insurance to pay any bills above the corporation’s maximum. That might mean a company puts $1 million to $2 million in an escrow account. Marpai buys the reinsurance on behalf of its corporate clients.
Corporations pay a small extra fee per member to have Marpai handle the reinsurance. The per-patient monthly fee is about $80 per member including reinsurance.
Actuary with AI
Eitan and Marpai cofounder and CEO Edmundo Gonzalez previously worked together at healthcare IT company 340Basics, which was sold in 2020 and rebranded as Nuvem. Their third cofounder is deep learning PhD Eli David.
“Marpeh” is Hebrew for “cure” — they appended “AI” at the end to emphasize the artificial intelligence piece.
The company raised $10 million prior to its acquisition of Continental. When the combined entity went public on Nasdaq, it raised another $25 million.
Eitan described what Marpai does as being “like an actuary,” a job that assigns weights to different risks for individuals and populations.
“We’re using AI to do a much better job. The beauty of our technology is that we can be much more accurate in underwriting a particular population.”
Technology is what will allow Marpai to bump up the number of members served from 50,000 today to Eitan’s goal of half a million in the coming years. In the last quarter, Marpai grew its membership by 20 percent. It has customers and staff across the United States.
Some TPAs may support 10,000 members while others, like the inhouse TPA at Boeing, might have 50,000 members.
Although Marpai’s solution would work for non-self-funded health insurance programs, like private (Blue Cross) or government (Medicare) insurance, Eitan tells ISRAEL21c there’s enough opportunity in the self-funded space to keep Marpai focused on that sector alone.
With self-funded insurance plans expected to increase by 5% in 2022, technology that can curb costs is always welcome.
“What Marpai is doing is revolutionary in the self-funded market,” says Ed Ligonde, executive vice president of the Nielsen Benefits Group.
“Most TPAs just focus on paying claims. Marpai is organized around the member and brings the advanced technology this sector needs to improve member health and reduce claims costs as a result. AI with a member-centric approach is a real game changer.”
“Marpai is doing a lot of things aimed at improving health without increasing costs which is what we all want,” adds Marnie Zimmerman, the healthcare benefits consultant at Ward-Kraft, a Marpai client.
Mobile app
Marpai’s mobile app allows clients of its partner TPAs to see their spending and deductibles, view claims, review benefits, access telehealth and find providers. The app also links with members’ electronic health records.
Other Marpai tools:
- TopCare Provider — guides members to lower-cost in-network providers. Marpai aims to save its customers as much as 50 percent — or on average $1,500 — on complex cases.
- Marpai Cares — a set of algorithms to predict near-term health events related to chronic illness and major procedures to reduce costly claims for members.
- Gaps in Care — identifies members due for annual exams, screenings and vaccinations and sends personalized texts and emails to remind them to make an appointment.
- Premium Health Partners — Marpai’s technology integration with third parties.
The U.S. healthcare industry is “a multi-trillion-dollar industry and inefficient,” Eitan adds.
Employer health plans cover 156 million Americans and 64% of those plans are self-funded. And yet, “healthcare costs keep going up. A lot is being done with technology, but it’s not structured correctly. We are participating on our own small scale in transforming this huge segment of healthcare.”
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Produced in association with ISRAEL21c.
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The post This Tech Will Cut The Cost Of Self-funded Health Coverage appeared first on Zenger News.
