#FVC

[impact-newswire]

ClearOne - Complete professional audio and video solutions and cloud collaboration services.

#middleeast #africa #telecommunications @ClearOne  @FVC

[borgialucrezia]

(When asked if the slap was real and unscripted) "Yes. Yes He did! We only did one take, he warned me it was coming, but Jeremy isn't the kind of actor to do something without a genuine intention!" — DAVID OAKES

[twst-fvc]

hm... anything look.. crispier? better? how strange..

[salt-volk]

they were talking about if eating boogers was cannibalism lmao and the pet thing was in context of objecting towards the "your cat would eat you if you died" either way, it's very lukewarm. don't know what those askers are complaining about tbh

worse conversations have happened tbh

[oreoskys]

sends 🌼 your way… who would like to be his frens…..

I THINK!!! if you wanted to torture the poor boy, Bambi is a very fun choice because, although she's in RSA she's a menace. She's abt 6'3 with platforms on so... air jail

She will in fact pick up anyone at any moment. and if he's eepy she can hold him like a pretty princess (I'm lying she'd carry him like a sack of potatoes, BUT! Bronya would carry him like a pretty princess!) WHICH segways into if you were being nice to him... Bronya would be a perfect friend! Easy to spot in crowds, mom friend, sunflower themed, holds her friends regularly. I mean Brisa, Bronya's best friend is one step away from being undead so she knows how to be careful with her buddies, but she does get carried away with hugs sometimes!! He'll be fine I'm sure. <3

[dustcollectingbones]

okeyyyy dokey if anyone needs me i'll be downwards spiralling down a dysmorphic self hate spiral time to kill myself!!!!!!!

[claubenaventer]

FUNDEA impulsa inversiones para agricultura resiliente al cambio climático en Guatemala

FUNDEA contó con la grata visita de Andrés Rubio y Ana Paula Mendoza Gunter representantes del BID-LAB- Guatemala y Fondo Verde para el Clima FVC. El propósito de la visita presencial fue la presentación de los resultados del proyecto innovador que está destinado a fortalecer la capacidad de adaptación y mitigación frente al cambio climático de los agricultores guatemaltecos. Esta iniciativa…

[evidence-based-activism]

IOC Study on Transgender Athletes Severely Flawed

So, to a certain extent, the question of "should transwomen be able to compete female sports?" is an ideological question (i.e., "should identity supersede reality?").

That being said, there's a recent report [1], funded by the IOC, that is being used to "prove" that transwomen do not have a biological advantage over non-trans women. This report is severely flawed and does not actually lend support to the idea that transwomen have no biological advantage in sports over female people.

(I will mimic the language used in the report (e.g., using "ciswomen").)

Significant differences noted by the report that do NOT support transwomen's inclusion in women's sports:

Transwomen were substantially taller than ciswomen

Transwomen had more lean/fat-free mass than ciswomen

Transwomen had better lung function than ciswomen, as measured by forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in one second, and peak expiratory flow. (See the next section for a discussion on the ratio.)

Transwomen had greater hand grip strength (a proxy for overall strength measurement)

Transwomen had higher absolute peak power (lower extremity) compared to ciswomen. (See next section for a discussion on the relative measure.)

Transwomen had the same "absolute strength" as cismen

The data showing no significant difference between transwomen and ciswomen has substantial flaws:

The sample size was too small to reliably determine differences in bone mineral density

For lung function only the FEV1:FVC ratio was lower for transwomen, but the values are generally within the normal range for both groups. The impact of this difference is therefore questionable, as the transwomen have greater absolute values on each measurement and the ratio is not showing any abnormalities. In addition, the effect size (size of the difference) is much smaller than the effect size of the absolute differences described above. The conclusion here is simply that the participants do not have any obstructive respiratory diseases, and the transwomen have greater absolute lung function. (Although there are better tests for this.) There is also one outlier in the transwomen group that is likely driving this relationship in the ratio; unfortunately they do not perform the expected control analyses to demonstrate the retention of results without the outlier. [2]

The researchers decided to examine power in the lower extremities relative to lean/fat-free mass, which yielded a lower result for transwomen compared to ciswomen. However, this methodology make absolutely no sense. We have already established that transwomen have significantly greater lean/fat-free mass, and this paper is interested in determining equitably in sport performance. In general, sports aren't divided out by mass (and certainly not by lean mass), therefore we are interested in absolute differences, not in differences adjusted by some other factor. (Particularly not when that factor is established to be significantly different between transwomen and ciswomen!)

The same criticism applies to their analysis of cardiac function. But even more importantly, "the most crucial variable influencing VO2_max was not assessed in the present study" which is a significant oversight given the stated goals of this paper.

There are numerous other limitation and issues with this report:

This study is of "cross-sectional design, making it challenging to establish causation or examine if the performance of athletes changes as a result of undergoing GAHT"

"The athlete training intensity was self-reported. Therefore, the results may suffer from selection and recall bias." [emphasis mine] -> In other words, these results may be "comparing apples and oranges" with varying rates of fitness impacting the results.

"The athletes participating in the present study represented a variety of different sports, and this would have undoubtedly impacted the results of the study as different sports stress different training and sports modalities." [emphasis mine] -> This is a significant limitation, as comparing the strength of a ciswoman weight lifter to a transwomen distance runner (or vice versa) is meaningless. It's true that measures of fitness tend to correlate, but comparing across sport disciplines for highly competitive sports (where they are focusing on improving specific characteristics) distorts the results. (They explicitly note this: "Exercise type, intensity and duration all have an impact on physiological responses and overall laboratory performance metrics.")

"Social media recruitment leaves this study open to sample bias"

"The gender-affirming treatment of the transgender athletes was not controlled"

"The participants were not screened by a clinician before participation, and any medical conditions were self-reported"

The transwomen in this study all suppressed testosterone to ciswomen's levels and increased oestradiol above ciswomen's levels. This is a limitation because this degree of success in hormone suppression is uncommon, meaning that even these these poorly-supportive results are likely inapplicable to the majority of transwomen. [3]

There is a significant conflict of interest: this study was funded by the IOC after they had already changed the rules to remove the "hormone suppression" requirement [4]

All in all, this study is a classic case of researchers misrepresenting their data in the study's abstract. The data they actually collected shows that transwomen on hormone suppression maintain significant advantages over ciswomen. Further, the flaws in the study limit the applicability of their results.

---

In addition, there are other studies that contradict this result:

This review [3] discusses numerous sources describing "the inherent male physiological advantages that lead to superior athletic performance and then addresses how estrogen therapy fails to create a female-like physiology in the male"

This review [5] found "the performance gap between males and females becomes significant at puberty and often amounts to 10–50% depending on sport" and that "longitudinal studies examining the effects of testosterone suppression on muscle mass and strength in transgender women consistently show very modest changes, where the loss of lean body mass, muscle area and strength typically amounts to approximately 5% after 12 months of treatment. Thus, the muscular advantage enjoyed by transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed."

This study [6] found that transwomen "generally maintained their strength level" during "gender-affirming therapy".

This study [7] found that all physical advantages were present after one year and that some are retained even after years on hormone suppression. They also specifically hypothesized that "gender dysphoria could stimulate the opposite behaviour [differences in exercise habits] in transwomen, decreasing push-up performance and explaining why transwomen performed fewer push-ups than [cismen] prior to starting oestrogen." This motivation difference likely won't apply to elite athletes, which further supports the idea that transwomen athletes should not be competing with female athletes.

As this position statement [8] indicates we know that there are substantial differences in athletic performance for male and female people.* However, there is little high-quality, definitive evidence concerning the effects of hormone suppression/replacement on people's athletic performance. The current state of evidence suggests that hormone suppression/replacement fails to bridge the physiological gap between male and female people, but we need further higher-quality evidence to definitively prove this.

(That being said, the burden of proof here is on the people attempting to initiate a change; that is equitably between transwomen and female people should be (have been) established prior to eliminating biological sex-separation.)

*Before anyone jumps on this: this is not a moral difference. There is absolutely no reason why running faster or lifting heavier things would make someone "better". The biological difference in performance exists, but it does not in anyway suggest superiority of men over women. Beyond that, it is unsurprising that men outperform women on traditional sports given that sports were designed by and for men. In sports that cater to women's physiological advantages (e.g., endurance, flexibility), women outperform men. [9]

---

So, given all this, what would we actually need to make determine transwomen's relative advantage over female people?

The "perfect" study would involve (at least) these elements:

Random selection from the desired population(s) of transwomen (e.g., top-ranked athletes in a specific sport, non-athletic, etc.) with matched (for population) non-trans female and non-trans male controls

Observation (not self-report) of activity level prior to, during, and following a standardized treatment (hormone suppression/replacement) initiation

Continual measurement of various physical and athletic performance, preferably with a range of laboratory (e.g., spirometry, body measurements) and naturalistic (e.g., actual sports competitions) tasks along with monitoring the treatment and clinical/health issues in all participants (again, not via self-report)

Large enough sample sizes to allow for sufficiently powered tests of all groups/differences of interest

A double-blinded assessment approach (or "placebo" controlled) such that both the researcher assessing the participants and the participants do not know what is being evaluated until the study is complete. For example, you may tell one half the transwomen participants that you are tracking the long term health effects of the intervention (hormone therapy), while you tell the other half that you are assessing differences in athletic performance as a result of the intervention. This will allow for the evaluation of demand characteristics like the ones impacting [7].

There are likely even more factors I have not currently thought of. Of course, completing the "perfect" study would likely be almost impossible. It would certainly be impossible to do for every population of interest (e.g., Olympic weight-lifters, adolescent track and field athletes, sedentary office workers) at the same time.

That being said, a study that fails to include all of these factors (particularly the blinded approach, matching of control participants, and sample size) is not going to meet the standard of evidence needed to make decisions of this magnitude (i.e., choosing to change the priority from biological categorization to ideological categorization). In reality, we would likely need many studies that individually evaluate each group of interest (e.g., transwomen olympic-level weight-lifters vs female olympic-level weight-lifters), each applying as many of the ideal study characteristics as possible.

In conclusion, the IOC has failed to perform their stated duty to regulate and ensure fair competition in sports. There is no current evidence suggesting that transwomen have lost their male-advantage in sports, much less any evidence suggesting they are at a disadvantage.

References below the cut:

Hamilton, B., Brown, A., Montagner-Moraes, S., Comeras-Chueca, C., Bush, P. G., Guppy, F. M., & Pitsiladis, Y. P. (2024). Strength, power and aerobic capacity of transgender athletes: a cross-sectional study. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 58(11), 586-597.

Al-Ashkar, F., Mehra, R., & Mazzone, P. J. (2003). Interpreting pulmonary function tests: recognize the pattern, and the diagnosis will follow. Cleveland Clinic journal of medicine, 70(10), 866-881.

Heather, A. K. (2022). Transwoman elite athletes: their extra percentage relative to female physiology. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(15), 9103.

“International Olympic Committee Issues New Guidelines on Transgender Athletes.” NBC News, 3 Jan. 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/international-olympic-committee-issues-new-guidelines-transgender-athl-rcna5775.

Hilton, E. N., & Lundberg, T. R. (2021). Transgender women in the female category of sport: perspectives on testosterone suppression and performance advantage. Sports Medicine, 51, 199-214.

Wiik, A., Lundberg, T. R., Rullman, E., Andersson, D. P., Holmberg, M., Mandić, M., ... & Gustafsson, T. (2020). Muscle strength, size, and composition following 12 months of gender-affirming treatment in transgender individuals. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 105(3), e805-e813.

Roberts, T. A., Smalley, J., & Ahrendt, D. (2021). Effect of gender affirming hormones on athletic performance in transwomen and transmen: implications for sporting organisations and legislators. British journal of sports medicine, 55(11), 577-583.

Pitsiladis, Yannis MMedSci, PhD, FACSM; Harper, Joanna MS; Betancurt, Jonathan Ospina; Martinez-Patino, Maria-Jose; Parisi, Attilio MD; Wang, Guan; Pigozzi, Fabio MD, PhD. Beyond Fairness: The Biology of Inclusion for Transgender and Intersex Athletes. Current Sports Medicine Reports 15(6):p 386-388, 11/12 2016. | DOI: 10.1249/JSR.0000000000000314

Ro, Christine. The sports where women outperform men. (2024). From https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240731-the-sports-where-women-outperform-men

[melinoegoddessofghosts]

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A post shared by Jon Urquhart (@jonurquhart_)

Guys, the Delaware ACLU is trying to push oralism-first in Deaf education. PLEASE sign this petition to stop that. The U.S. has a bad history with oralism based in eugenics beliefs and attempted cultural genocide. Please help preserve access to American Sign Language for Deaf students in Delaware.

Here's where you can sign the petition.

UPDATE: The Delaware ACLU is reviewing their claim. Their new petition claims that they don't support any form of education that limits access to American Sign Language. They reference the backlash from the Deaf community and the influx of complaints they've received in part of their decision to review the lawsuit. Thanks so much to everyone who signed!

FURTHER UPDATE: The Delaware ACLU has amended their complaint. They now want broader Deaf education for students who can't get to the Delaware School for the Deaf. They also apologize for saying that oral education was the "gold standard". The new complaint argues that ASL is incredibly important for Deaf students, as well. They amended the complaint to say that Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing children in Delaware should have more options when it comes to education.

Community action works! Signing petitions works!

(Video in American Sign Language with English subtitles)

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[furvillaconfessions]

users: "why is the site dead?" *random user shows up and does one thing wrong (often accidentally)* users: "noooo!!! against the rules!!! call them out on fvc!!! report them!!! ban ban ban!!!" *random user is now banned and likely won't bother with the game again* users: "why is the site dead?"

[justinssportscorner]

Robert Dineen at The Telegraph:

Transgender female athletes are at a physical disadvantage compared to cisgender women in several key metrics, research funded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has found. The landmark study reported that physically active transgender women performed worse in certain cardiovascular tests and had less lower-body strength than their cisgender females. Researchers at the University of Brighton also found that, contrary to previous claims, transgender women’s bone density was equivalent to cisgender females. Bone density is linked to muscle strength. The research paper, which has been published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, could have a significant effect on the debate around gender-inclusion in sport.

It is the first research relating to the issue that the IOC has funded and is the first scientific study of “athletes” who have undergone gender-affirming hormone therapy. The authors, who included a member of the IOC’s medical and scientific commission, said their results showed that sporting federations should caution against banning transgender women from the female category without further research into their individual sports. “While longitudinal transitioning studies of transgender athletes are urgently needed, these results should caution against precautionary bans and sport eligibility exclusions that are not based on sport-specific (or sport-relevant) research,” the paper said in its conclusions. They added that the research could be used to inform policy-making at a time when several sports have excluded transgender women from the female category – including athletics, swimming and cycling – but could not on its own provide the basis for decisions.

How the study worked

Designed to examine the effect of transitioning from male to female and vice versa among physically active subjects, the study collected data from 69 volunteers, who had responded to social-media adverts seeking participants in the research.

The cohort comprised 19 transgender women, 20 cisgender women, 19 cisgender men and 11 transgender men. To qualify for the study, they had to be taking part in competitive sport or physical training at least three times a week. The transgender volunteers needed to have undergone hormonal therapy for at least a year. None of the subjects were competing in national or international sport. They were assessed across three categories: cardio-respiratory fitness, strength and body composition. Researchers found that transgender women performed worse than cisgender women in the countermovement jump that tests lower-body strength. It involves jumping vertically with hands on the hips. Transgender women’s average jump was 36.4cm with a standard deviation (SD) of 7.9cm. Cisgender women’s average was 40.7cm with a SD of 5.8cm.

Cisgender women also performed worse in an important test of lung function called the FEV1/FVC ratio, which compares subjects’ Forced Expiratory Volume with their Forced Vital Capacity. The former is the maximum amount of air that is expelled during the first second following a deep inhalation. The latter represents the volume of air that can be exhaled following a deep inhalation and is a measurement of lung size. Transgender women had a lower FEV1, leading to a lower FEV1/FVC ratio of 0.83, with a SD of 0.07, compared to 0.88 and a SD of 0.04 for cisgender women. This, the study says, represents a significant difference and could adversely affect transgender women’s athletic performance. There was no meaningful difference between the two groups’ haemoglobin profiles and bone density – both of which are related to athletic performance – even though, the researchers noted, previous studies of sedentary subjects found that transgender women performed better in both.

The IOC released a study that trans women are at a physical disadvantage compared to cisgender women.

[pr3st0n-the-cl0ne]

since someone else did it to Riggy I'm m!aing you into a human for 10 asks

WHAT THE FVC-

[twst-fvc]

NOT DEAD I SWEAR....

just doing some... renovations to the blog and the school! May or may not go crazy and let my cringe self unleash

[pandorias-box]

Data Log: ??? (User ID: FVC-8272793-Ω)

((TW: death, derealization, depersonalization, repeating words))

Log No. _

Hopefully the voice-to-text configuration is working. Good, good. Thank the Blinding One or else there would have been even more technical complications. And that’s something I’m far too accustomed to. The sector said it was a good idea to do audio logs as a sort of reflection, and I can see why. I can just…speak my mind without being glared at. A-anyways. This is my first time doing something like this. I always thought it was a waste of time, but…it may just help me with my thoughts.

Orienteering and initiation went well, I suppose. My studies in the field have been preparing me for this all my life. It was either this, or try to get a minor position as an ambassador for the High Council, but petty politics was never my strong suit. Besides, I am unfit regardless. At least with being in the genetic engineering sector, I can finally get a better understanding as to what my condition is. I fear that it may worsen as time goes on, but it is best not to waste it thinking on worst case scenarios. Regardless, I want my research and potential findings to help people, especially those like me. It may seem like a fruitless and idealist venture, but even now we have lights in the darkness.

I’ll update this log whenever I can or when it is deemed appropriate.

Log No. __

I met someone. I mean, I meet people almost every day due to being in one of the largest growing sectors, but she wasn’t a part of it. We had some discussions regarding our areas of expertise. She was a historian, the exact opposite of what I study, and yet she was captivated by my desire to just…help people with my work, whatever it may be. It’s all hypotheticals now, but maybe I’ll find something from her, as crazy as it sounds. Genetics, history, both are tied and connected to memory and what came before. Maybe instead of focusing on the future, perhaps the answer I’m looking for is right in front of me or it lies within the past itself. But, I haven’t come up with a hypothesis yet. Stars above, I think I’m getting distracted by someone whom I’ve never even met before now.

Log No. __

I never thought that I’d get inspiration from the Creation myth and yet…here we are. Look, I know it sounds unrealistic as to what I am trying to accomplish, but if it is possible, then maybe we could usher in a new era for Ultra Megalopolis. It is not a surprise to us that transgenic organisms exist. The sector was the one that approved and perfected doing so on edible plant material in order to sustain our population because normally, the crops taken from outside of U-Meg would normally die. In order to counteract this, we modified some specimens so that they had specific nightbloom lichen genes in them so that they could survive in dark conditions. And it worked.

But, back to what I was saying earlier. In one interpretation, it says that we and the Ultra Beasts are separate, but in another it says that we shared one common ancestor and at some point a distinction was made and we diverged from them. If there is evidence to suggest that we had some sort of genetic ancestor, or primogenitor, that connects us to UBs, then that can lead to a myriad of possibilities for genetic therapy. We could, for example, use a gene that results in regenerative body growth in order to combat atrophy and other genetic conditions that result in the deterioration of the body and mind. But…there’s a limit to what we can do for now. This may only be a dream and my proposal may not be taken seriously. I just want this pain to cease. I don’t want to run out of time yet when there’s so much ahead of me.

Log No. ___

It worked. By the Blinding One, it worked. The genome therapy that I and others worked on within the genetic engineering sector ended up resulting in a successful operation on a subject who had degenerative bone growth. It did not work instantaneously due to the process taking moons on end, but their injuries have healed. By using the genome of [redacted], I can give people a chance again. Maybe this can work with other specimens and their specific genomes. I could give someone with muscular deterioration the ability to sustain themselves again by potentially using Buzzswole genomes. This…this can be our future. The people who worked on me with this ‘primogenitor’ project are very much excited to see where our research will end up next.

Log No. ___

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

I can move my arm again. It is no longer paralyzed and…no, I should explain. I used the solution on myself. I know it is risky and selfish of me to do it, but after seeing this success, I wanted to know if I could have a chance again. And I can. The initial injection…hurt quite a bit, but I hope this pain is just temporary. I cannot wait to tell her. Altana, I mean. Has it been so long that I forgot to update the log about-

Log No. ___

The person whom I first gave the genetic therapy to. They’re dead. They’re dead because of me. Nobody in the URS knows besides me and the others who worked on the project. I didn’t want this to happen. This was the last thing I wanted to happen, actually. And I…oh, Blinding One, have mercy on me. I did the very same to myself. Why? Why was I such a fool? I had all of this time to calculate and formulate countermeasures to if the treatment ended up being defective, and yet I failed. I don’t want this to be what gets me expelled from the URS. Please…

Log No. ____

Connection. There’s something that connects us all. Aura. Beasts. Light. A progenitor that came before everything else. Why have these thoughts now come to plague me? This is the next step in the project. The next logical course of our evolution, it-.

What am I saying? How many mad ravings can I go on? I feel like I’m losing myself and I can’t even tell her about it. I don’t want her to be concerned. She…has too much to deal with already. But, I feel even more of me slipping away as the march of time goes on. My hair is even starting to whiten. Is it stress? A genetic mutation because of… I don’t have time to think about this. I don’t think I have much time left. They’re going to find out I did more ‘gene therapy’…

I never meant for them to-.

[ALL SUBSEQUENT AND EARLIER DATA FILES HAVE BEEN LOST AND/OR CORRUPTED]

[oreoskys]

apologies for breaking into ur inbox again but maybe prof 🦟 and any of ur ocs that would get on his nerve the most 😇

OHOOHOHOHOHO.... Let's see...

I had to take a while to rack my brain to find the most annoying oc possible.. in my head it's a tossup between Disi and Sabra

They're ideally annoying in different ways, Disi is the FVC's Ace counterpart, except she's the daughter of a teacher already so she has some semblance of boundaries, at most she'd be the class clown and be like "my mom's a better teacher than you lol"

but.... Sabra has NO respect for authority. NONE. She'd call him Marshy Warshy. She'd call him Stellar Skeeter. Blood Sucking Bastard too, if she failed a test... Sabra would probably cause him to end up in a hospital I won't lie. She'd steal his cane 0 hesitation. She would give it back but.. only after she's done messing with him.

Kro would definitely be an annoyance, but not as much as the other two... They're more conniving than annoying, perhaps he would see a reflection of himself in Kro and that's why he doesn't like them. :3c