Page 21 - Abacoa Community News- August '24

Abacoa, Page 21

governMent

Commissioner’s Update

Making Dollars And Cents Of values but are fixed fees per household or business. many essential services that benefit all residents. These
Non-ad valorem assessments are not based on property
services include managing four airports, a water utilities
Your Tax Bill Understanding your tax bill is important because it department, road and bridge maintenance, stormwater
helps you know which authority sets the millage and management, environmental resources and a parks and
By Vice Mayor who has jurisdiction over various services. For example, recreation department overseeing over 110 parks in both
Maria G. Marino school-related questions should be directed to the school municipal and unincorporated areas.
It’s that time of year board, while library-related questions should go to the So, the next time you receive your tax bill, remember
when the Board of County library authority. that I am here to be a steward of your tax dollars and
Commissioners begins the I often get asked why residents in a municipality a watchdog to ensure that the funds collected are used
budgeting process for Fiscal still pay taxes to the county. The answer varies slightly efficiently and effectively.
Year (FY) 2025 and sets the by municipality, but generally, the county provides
millage rate for Palm Beach
County. The current county
millage rate is 4.5, which
represents the amount of
tax payable per dollar of
the assessed value of a property. A mill is derived from
the Latin word “millesimum,” meaning thousandth. In
property tax terms, 1 mill equals $1 in property tax levied
per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.
To further understand your tax bill, you can visit the
property appraiser’s website at https://pbcpao.gov/index.
htm. By clicking on the tax link (property tax detail), you
will see a detailed breakdown of the taxes collected from
various districts that provide services to residents. For
instance, using the example at right of a homesteaded
house with the taxable value of $351,123 ($376,123 for
school district items) and the millage rate of 4.5, you will
be paying $4.5 per $1,000, totaling $1,580.05.
With our example, there are 13 taxing districts under
ad valorem taxes for this homesteaded property in Palm
Beach Gardens. Each district sets its own millage rate,
and properties in different areas of the county will have
a varying number of districts depending on whether they
are in a municipality or unincorporated areas. Some
areas, such as Jupiter or Juno, may have an additional
line item for fire/rescue services because those services
are provided by the county instead of the municipality.

Science On The Cutting Edge from page 20 first author Priscila Castanha, Ph.D., an assistant professor Health’s Department of Infectious Disease and Microbiology,
in the Department of Infectious Disease and Microbiology have been studying Zika virus since it emerged in the Americas
at Pitt Public Health. “This makes it very difficult to test new in 2015. Prior to its emergence in Brazil, Castanha, Marques
treatments or determine how widespread an emerging disease and Burke were studying dengue virus.
may be in areas endemic for flaviviruses, which cause a high “For every sample we tested during the 2015 outbreak,
burden of illness globally.” we had to do 10 different blood tests to confirm Zika,” said
Antibodies for Zika virus, a mosquito-borne virus that
New Synthetic Biomarker spread to the Americas in 2015 and still causes sporadic Castanha. “These tests are technically difficult and time-
consuming, making them impractical for providing clinical
Technology Differentiates disease, can be confused in many diagnostic tests with guidance. I think if we had this molecule back then, it would’ve
antibodies for dengue virus, making it difficult to tell if
been fantastic.”
Between Prior Zika And someone who tests positive previously had dengue, Zika or flavivirus antibodies is important in clinical-epidemiological
The ability for diagnostics to differentiate between
both. It is especially important for reproductive-age women
Dengue Infections to know if they already had Zika – and likely have immunity studies. Marques and Burke previously showed that for
– because infection during pregnancy can cause birth defects. Zika virus and dengue virus, patient outcomes differ based
Knowing if they have immunity or not could guide the extent on prior exposure, which poses challenges to prevention,
of people’s efforts to avoid mosquitoes in endemic areas diagnosis and care.
during pregnancy. Importantly, the PICCO screening technology used to
The research team used an approach pioneered by co-senior identify the Zika-specific molecule doesn’t require refrigeration
author Thomas Kodadek, Ph.D., a chemist with The Wertheim and could also be used for other outbreaks.
UF Scripps Institute, to screen half a million “peptide-inspired “The molecule is a molecular mimic that cannot unfold,”
conformationally constrained oligomers,” or PICCOs, against Kodadek said. “That means there’s no cold chain required,
blood samples from people infected with dengue or Zika virus. making it particularly useful for outbreaks occurring in remote
The PICCOs are nonorganic molecular shapes hooked onto or low-resourced areas.”
microscopic plastic beads. They mimic epitopes, which are Additional authors on this study are Patrick J. McEnaney,
the parts of a pathogen that an antibody would connect to in Ph.D., and Paige Dickson, Ph.D., both of The Wertheim UF
order to neutralize the threat. Scripps Institute; Yongseok Park, Ph.D., Anthea Bouwer, Ph.D.,
Chemistry Professor Thomas Kodadek, Ph.D. If any of the PICCOs match the corresponding shape of and Jodi Craigo, Ph.D., all of Pitt; Elton Chaves, Ph.D., Roberto
an antibody in the blood sample, the antibody will hook onto Lins, Ph.D., and Marli T. Cordeiro, M.D., all of Oswaldo Cruz
A newly discovered Zika virus-specific synthetic molecule them and researchers can “fish” it out. The presence of an Foundation in Brazil; Nicholas G. Paciaroni, Ph.D., and Graham
is capable of differentiating Zika-immune patient samples from antibody against a virus in someone’s blood means that they Carlson, Ph.D., both of Deluge Biotechnologies in Florida;
samples of patients previously infected with the related dengue were previously infected with or vaccinated against that virus, and Tereza Magalhães, Ph.D., of Texas A&M University and
virus. The technology may lead to the development of better prompting their immune system to produce antibodies. Universidade Federal da Bahia in Brazil.
diagnostics and vaccine candidates, scientists announced today “The technology is amazing. You don’t need to know the News release written by Kaleigh Connors for the University
in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. sequence, or the structure or even the pathogen,” said co- of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh senior author Donald Burke, M.D., Pitt Public Health dean This research was funded by a grant from the National
School of Public Health and The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps emeritus. “As long as you have chosen the right sets of patient Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01AI127677).
Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, is the first blood samples to compare, you can tease out the important
to apply an innovative “epitope surrogate” technology to Zika. antibodies that differ between the patient sets – along with the
Until now, researchers and clinicians have lacked diagnostic corresponding synthetic molecule biomarkers.”
tools to easily differentiate between prior infections with The researchers identified 40 PICCOs that engaged Zika
different flaviviruses, a family of mostly mosquito- and tick- virus antibodies. After screening against dengue-positive Captain’s was established in 1980 servicing
borne viruses that include Zika and dengue. This has posed blood, one PICCO, dubbed CZV1-1, was particularly good at Palm Beach County and is a privately
challenges for clinical-epidemiologic studies, viral diagnostics hooking Zika antibodies, but not dengue. This single CZV1- owned and managed company.
and vaccine development. 1 PICCO synthetic molecule correctly identified people Captain’s is committed to providing
Chemistry Professor Thomas Kodadek, Ph.D., says the new previously infected with Zika virus 85.3% of the time and dependable, reliable and professional
diagnostic does not require refrigeration, making it useful in only generated false positives in 1.6 percent of tests, rates ground transportation to and from all
South Florida Airports and Seaports.
remote locations. comparable to COVID-19 antibody tests. PBCVH212
“If you go to places like Brazil, nearly everybody is going Castanha, Burke and co-senior author Ernesto T.A. To reserve your vehicle:
to have some immunity to dengue, and also to Zika,” says Marques, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in Pitt Public 561-798-2180 or 800-634-7890 www.captainsairport.com