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University campuses from New York to Los Angeles simmered with rage and recriminations on Wednesday as they dealt with the fallout from police operations to quash protests over the war in Gaza.

The University of California, Los Angeles cancelled classes for the day after a violent night-time attack by counter-protesters on an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian student demonstrators.

In New York, mayor Eric Adams blamed “outside agitators” for escalating anti-Israel demonstrations at Columbia University as he defended his police department’s conduct. New York police made 282 arrests at Columbia and further uptown at New York’s City College on Tuesday night.

Columbia said its exams and classes would be remote for the remainder of the academic year, with a police presence remaining on campus until May 17 — two days after graduation.

As the situation eased at Columbia and City College, a new encampment sprung up at Fordham University’s campus in midtown Manhattan, prompting further warnings of police action.

Pepper spray and fireworks were used during the clashes on UCLA’s campus, which began just before midnight. Police arrived in riot gear at about 1.40am but the clashes continued until about 3am.

LA mayor Karen Bass called for a full investigation into the “abhorrent and inexcusable” violence. “Those involved in launching fireworks at other people, spraying chemicals and physically assaulting others will be found, arrested and prosecuted, as well as anyone involved in any form of violence or lawlessness,” she said. “Free speech will be protected. Violence and bigotry will not.”

Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, criticised the response by the university and its security guards, saying “the limited and delayed campus law enforcement response at UCLA last night was unacceptable — and it demands answers”.

The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles called the attack by the counter-protesters “abhorrent”, saying they “do not represent the Jewish community or our values”. But it also criticised the UCLA administration and called for the immediate closure of encampments.

“People are sad and upset,” said one UCLA faculty member. “Everybody wants freedom of speech and the right to protest but it’s getting out of hand. It was a surprise to everybody that violence broke out.”

The clashes at UCLA came after two weeks of controversy at the nearby University of Southern California, where administrators cancelled the graduation speech by the valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, a Muslim woman, citing security concerns.

In New York, officers equipped in riot gear stormed the Columbia campus late on Tuesday in a dramatic raid to oust protesters from two encampments and Hamilton Hall, a building they had seized the previous night.

Adams told MSNBC: “Many people thought that this was just a natural evolution of a protest. It was not. These were professionals that were here and I just want to send a clear message out that there are people who are harmful and trying to radicalise our children and we cannot ignore these outside influences.”

The NYPD did not immediately release any details about the individuals involved, but Ben Chang, a Columbia spokesperson, echoed the mayor’s comments, saying the group that seized Hamilton Hall had been “led by individuals not affiliated with the university”.

Minouche Shafik, Columbia’s president, defended the decision to call in the police, writing to the university’s staff and students that protesters had “pushed the university to the brink” and her move came only after multiple attempts to de-escalate the situation through negotiations.

“Students and outside activists breaking Hamilton Hall doors, mistreating our public safety officers and maintenance staff, and damaging property are acts of destruction, not political speech,” she wrote on Wednesday. The university also said it was limiting access to campus, calling Hamilton Hall “an active crime scene”.

Protesters at Columbia had demanded the university divest from companies that profit from Israel and cut ties with an Israeli university. Many Jewish students complained vigorous activism had often boiled over into blatant antisemitism that would not have been tolerated by the administration if directed at other minority groups.

On Wednesday morning, the neighbourhood around the university was quiet after two weeks of drumbeating protests that prompted comparisons with the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations that rocked Columbia in 1968.

The only sign of the previous night’s raid was the military vehicle used by the police to breach the second floor of Hamilton Hall. It was parked across the street from the campus.

Inside the gates, Columbia’s main lawn appeared to have been cleared of the dozens of tents, draped in signs and banners, that formed the “Gaza solidarity encampment”.

A student who did not want to be named said he found the occupation of Hamilton Hall to be “disruptive” but the police response “disproportionately” large nonetheless. Another student said “it was about time” to clear the encampment and that Shafik could have acted earlier to prevent the protests from escalating.

In another sign that the stand-off had ended, Columbia’s student radio station, WKCR, which became a mainstay for its round-the-clock news coverage of the protest, switched back to jazz and classical music on Wednesday morning.

Low-dose estrogen can be taken orally, but it’s also now available in patches, gels and creams.

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Low-dose estrogen can be taken orally, but it’s also now available in patches, gels and creams.

svetikd/Getty Images

The benefits of hormone therapy for the treatment of menopause symptoms outweigh the risks. That’s the conclusion of a new study published in the medical journal JAMA.

“Among women below the age of 60, we found hormone therapy has low risk of adverse events and [is] safe for treating bothersome hot flashes, night sweats and other menopausal symptoms, ” says study author Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. This is a departure from the advice many women have been given in the past.

The new analysis is based on two decades of follow-up data from the Women’s Health Initiative study, which followed thousands of women taking hormone replacement therapy. The study was halted after it was found that women taking Prempro, which is a combination of estrogen and progestin, had higher risks of breast cancer and stroke.

“The findings were surprising,” Manson says, pointing out that the reason the randomized trial was conducted was because scientists were trying to determine if hormone therapy decreased the risk of heart disease and other conditions.

After the initial findings came out, many women abruptly stopped the therapy. Prescriptions plummeted, and many healthcare providers still hesitate to recommend hormone therapy. But menopause experts say it’s time to reconsider hormone therapy, because there’s a lot known now that wasn’t known two decades ago.

Most significantly, there are now different types of hormones — delivered at lower doses — that are shown to be safer.

“Women should know that hormone therapy is safe and beneficial,” says Dr. Lauren Streicher, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Looking back, Dr. Streicher says, it’s clear the Women’s Health Initiative study was flawed and that some of the risks that were identified were linked to the type of hormones that women were given.

“We learned what not to do,” Streicher says. The type of progestin used, known as medroxyprogesterone acetate, was “highly problematic,” she says. This was likely responsible for the increase in breast cancer seen among women in the study. “So we don’t prescribe that anymore,” Streicher says.

Increasingly, other types of hormones are used, such as micronized progesterone which does not increase the risk of breast cancer, ” Streicher says. Micronized progesterone is a bioidentical hormone that has a molecular structure identical to the progesterone produced by womens’ ovaries, and tends to have fewer side effects.

Another problem with the study was the age of the women enrolled. Most of the women were over the age of 60, Streicher says .” And we know that there is a window of opportunity when it is the safest to start hormone therapy and that you get the most benefit.” That window is typically between ages 50 and 60, she says.

Another risk identified in the Women’s Health Initiative study, was an increased incidence of pulmonary embolism among women taking hormones. A pulmonary embolism is a blood clot that blocks blood flow to the lungs.

Since women in the study were taking estrogen orally, by pill, this may have increased their risk, Streicher says. A better option for people at risk of clots is to take estrogen through the skin, via a patch, a cream or gel.

“The advantage of a transdermal estrogen is that it is not metabolized by the liver,” Streicher says. “And because it’s not metabolized by the liver, we don’t see that increase in blood clots.”

With a range of hormone therapies available now, Dr Streicher says there’s not a one-size fits all approach. “Hormone therapy is beneficial way beyond the benefits to just helping with hot flashes,” she says. Ongoing research points to protection against bone loss and heart disease, too.

Streicher says women should talk to their healthcare providers about what options may best suit their needs.

This story was edited by Jane Greenhalgh

Fed decision: The US Federal Reserve is expected to keep the federal funds rate on hold at the conclusion of its two-day meeting. After a series of hotter than expected employment and inflation figures, investors will be listening for clues on when the central bank expects to cut interest rates.

US employment: US government data is expected to show that job openings in March edged down to 8.69mn from 8.75mn in February. Separately, ADP will release its US employment report for April, which will give some insight into the labour market before the official government figures on Friday. Private payrolls are expected to have added 175,000 jobs in April, compared with the 184,000 jobs added in March.

Pfizer: The pharmaceutical company is expected to report that quarterly revenue declined 23.4 per cent from the same period last year to $14bn, according to LSEG, as the company faces weak demand for its Covid-19 vaccine and antiviral medicine.

Other companies: CVS Health, KKR, Marriott International, Estée Lauder, Kraft Heinz, Yum Brands, and Norwegian Cruise Line will report earnings before the bell. DoorDash, eBay and Etsy will report after the markets close.

Manufacturing: Activity in the US manufacturing sector is expected to have remained in expansion territory, but April’s reading is forecast to have ticked down 0.3 percentage points to a reading of 50.