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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>A mechanism that transduces lysosomal damage signals to stress granule formation for cell survival</strong> -
<div>
Lysosomal damage poses a significant threat to cell survival. Our previous work has reported that lysosomal damage induces stress granule (SG) formation. However, the importance of SG formation in determining cell fate and the precise mechanisms through which lysosomal damage triggers SG formation remains unclear. Here, we show that SG formation is initiated via a novel calcium-dependent pathway and plays a protective role in promoting cell survival in response to lysosomal damage. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that during lysosomal damage, ALIX, a calcium-activated protein, transduces lysosomal damage signals by sensing calcium leakage to induce SG formation by controlling the phosphorylation of eIF2. ALIX modulates eIF2 phosphorylation by regulating the association between PKR and its activator PACT, with galectin-3 exerting a negative effect on this process. We also found this regulatory event of SG formation occur on damaged lysosomes. Collectively, these investigations reveal novel insights into the precise regulation of SG formation triggered by lysosomal damage, and shed light on the interaction between damaged lysosomes and SGs. Importantly, SG formation is significant for promoting cell survival in the physiological context of lysosomal damage inflicted by SARS-CoV-2 ORF3a, adenovirus infection, Malaria hemozoin, proteopathic tau as well as environmental hazard silica.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.29.587368v1" target="_blank">A mechanism that transduces lysosomal damage signals to stress granule formation for cell survival</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Aversive personality and COVID-19: A first review and meta-analysis</strong> -
<div>
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has strongly affected individuals and societies worldwide. In this review and meta-analysis, we investigated how aversive personality traits—i.e., relatively stable antisocial personality characteristics—related to how individuals perceived, evaluated, and responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 34 studies with overall 26,780 participants, we found that people with higher scores in aversive personality traits were less likely to perceive guidelines and restrictions to curb the spread of the virus as protective (p̂ = -.11), to engage in health behaviors related to COVID-19 (p̂ = -.16), and to engage in non-health related prosocial behavior related to COVID-19 (p̂ = -.14). We found no consistent relation between aversive personality and negative affect regarding the pandemic. The results thus indicate the importance of aversive personality traits in understanding individual differences with regard to COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/vg465/" target="_blank">Aversive personality and COVID-19: A first review and meta-analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Information about herd immunity through vaccination and empathy promote COVID-19 vaccination intentions</strong> -
<div>
Objective: An effective vaccine against COVID-19 is a desired solution to curb the spread of the disease. However, vaccine hesitancy might hinder high uptake rates and thus undermine efforts to eliminate COVID-19 once an effective vaccine became available. The present contribution addresses this issue by examining two ways of increasing the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Methods: Two pre-registered online studies were conducted (N = 2,315 participants from the UK) in which knowledge about and beliefs in herd immunity through vaccination, as well as empathy for those most vulnerable to the virus, were either measured (Study 1) or manipulated (Study 2). As a dependent variable, individuals self-reported vaccination intention once a vaccine against COVID-19 became available was assessed. Results: In Study 1 (N = 310), the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19 was correlated with knowledge about and belief in herd immunity (r = .58, p &lt; .001), as well as with empathy for those most vulnerable to the virus (r = .26, p &lt; .001). In Study 2 (N = 2,005), information about herd immunity (Cohens d = 0.13, p = .003) and empathy (Cohens d = 0.22, p &lt; .001) independently promoted vaccination intention. Conclusions: The motivation to get vaccinated against COVID-19 was related to and could be causally promoted by both mere information about herd immunity and by empathy. As such, the present research provides a better understanding of the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/wzu6k/" target="_blank">Information about herd immunity through vaccination and empathy promote COVID-19 vaccination intentions</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The emotional path to action: Empathy promotes physical distancing and wearing of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic presents a major challenge to societies all over the globe. To curb the spread of the disease, two measures implemented in many countries are minimizing close contact between people (“physical distancing”) and wearing face masks. In the present research, we tested the idea that physical distancing and wearing face masks can be the result of a genuine prosocial emotion—empathy for those most vulnerable to the virus. In four pre-registered studies (total N = 3,718, Western population), we show that (i) empathy is indeed a basic motivation for physical distancing and wearing face masks, and (ii) inducing empathy for those most vulnerable to the virus promotes the motivation to adhere to these measures (whereas providing mere information about its importance is not). In sum, the present research provides a better understanding of the promoting factors underlying the willingness to follow two important measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/y2cg5/" target="_blank">The emotional path to action: Empathy promotes physical distancing and wearing of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Abolished frameshifting for predicted structure-stabilizing SARS-CoV-2 mutants: Implications to alternative conformations and their statistical structural analyses</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 frameshifting element (FSE) has been intensely studied and explored as a therapeutic target for coronavirus diseases including COVID-19. Besides the intriguing virology, this small RNA is known to adopt many length-dependent conformations, as verified by multiple experimental and computational approaches. However, the role these alternative conformations play in the frameshifting mechanism and how to quantify this structural abundance has been an ongoing challenge. Here, we show by DMS and dual-luciferase functional assays that previously predicted FSE mutants (using the RAG graph theory approach) suppress structural transitions and abolish frameshifting. Furthermore, correlated mutation analysis of DMS data by three programs (DREEM, DRACO, and DANCE-MaP) reveals important differences in their estimation of specific RNA conformations, suggesting caution in the interpretation of such complex conformational landscapes. Overall, the abolished frameshifting in three different mutants confirms that all alternative conformations play a role in the pathways of ribosomal transition.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.28.586935v1" target="_blank">Abolished frameshifting for predicted structure-stabilizing SARS-CoV-2 mutants: Implications to alternative conformations and their statistical structural analyses</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Broad-Spectrum Coronavirus Inhibitors Discovered by Modeling Viral Fusion Dynamics</strong> -
<div>
Broad-spectrum therapeutics capable of inhibiting SARS-CoV-2, its variants, and related coronaviruses hold promise in curbing the spread of COVID-19 and averting future pandemics. Here, we employed a multidisciplinary approach that included molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) and artificial intelligence (AI)-based docking predictions to identify potent inhibitors that target a conserved region within the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that mediates membrane fusion by undergoing large-scale mechanical rearrangements. In silico binding screens honed in on this region, leading to the discovery of FDA-approved drugs and novel molecules predicted to disrupt spike protein conformational changes. These compounds significantly inhibited SARS-CoV-2 infection and blocked the entry of spike protein-bearing pseudotyped , {beta}, {gamma}, {delta} variants as well as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV in cultured human ACE2-expressing cells. The optimized lead compound significantly inhibited SARS-CoV2 infection in mice when administered orally.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.28.587229v1" target="_blank">Broad-Spectrum Coronavirus Inhibitors Discovered by Modeling Viral Fusion Dynamics</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Enhanced mucosal B- and T-cell responses against SARS-CoV-2 after heterologous intramuscular mRNA prime/intranasal protein boost vaccination with a combination adjuvant.</strong> -
<div>
Current COVID-19 mRNA vaccines delivered intramuscularly (IM) induce effective systemic immunity, but with suboptimal immunity at mucosal sites, limiting their ability to impart sterilizing immunity. There is strong interest in rerouting immune responses induced in the periphery by parenteral vaccination to the portal entry site of respiratory viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, by mucosal vaccination. We previously demonstrated the combination adjuvant, NE/IVT, consisting of a nanoemulsion (NE) and an RNA-based RIG-I agonist (IVT) induces potent systemic and mucosal immune responses in protein-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines administered intranasally (IN). Herein, we demonstrate priming IM with mRNA followed by heterologous IN boosting with NE/IVT adjuvanted recombinant antigen induces strong mucosal and systemic antibody responses and enhances antigen-specific T cell responses in mucosa-draining lymph nodes compared to IM/IM and IN/IN prime/boost regimens. While all regimens induced cross-neutralizing antibodies against divergent variants and sterilizing immunity in the lungs of challenged mice, mucosal vaccination, either as homologous prime/boost or heterologous IN boost after IM mRNA prime was required to impart sterilizing immunity in the upper respiratory tract. Our data demonstrate the benefit of hybrid regimens whereby strong immune responses primed via IM vaccination are rerouted by IN vaccination to mucosal sites to provide optimal protection to SARS-CoV-2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.28.587260v1" target="_blank">Enhanced mucosal B- and T-cell responses against SARS-CoV-2 after heterologous intramuscular mRNA prime/intranasal protein boost vaccination with a combination adjuvant.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Development and Application of Decontamination Methods for the Re-Use of Laboratory Grade Plastic Pipette Tips</strong> -
<div>
During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a need for methods to decontaminate and reuse personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical plastics became a priority. In this investigation we aimed to develop a contamination evaluation protocol for laboratory pipette tips, after decontamination. Decontamination methods tested in this study included cleaning with a common laboratory detergent (2.5% Alconox(R) solution followed with steam decontamination), exposure of ozone vapor at 250 and 14400 PPM * minute, and exposure to cold atmospheric plasma (CAP). All tips (control and experimental groups) were introduced to the methods described, while tips exposed to DNA extracts of Aeromonas hydrophila (ATCC-23211) were assessed for experimental groups. Decontamination was determined by turnover ratio and log reduction in detectable genomic material on the contaminated products using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay. Our results showed, cleaning tips with lab detergents along with steam decontamination removed genetic material, resulting in the highest log reduction, compared with ozone or CAP treatments. Detergent/washing methods showed the highest turnover ratio (95.9 %) and log reduction (5.943). However, the excessive residue (post- cleaning) on the plastic, within inner filters, and tip boxes suggested that washing with lab detergents was not favorable for reuse. Ozone vapor at 14400 PPM * minutes showed the second highest turnover ratio (98.4 %) and log reduction (4.511). CAP exposure with tips inverted (the tip end exposed closer to the plasma flame) for 1 minute showed a turnover ratio of (68.3 %) and log reduction (4.002). Relatively, lower turnover ratio and log reduction of CAP could be attributed to development/optimization of treatment conditions, including increases in exposure time and relative to tip positioning.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.27.587071v1" target="_blank">Development and Application of Decontamination Methods for the Re-Use of Laboratory Grade Plastic Pipette Tips</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Human long noncoding RNA, VILMIR, is induced by major respiratory viral infections and modulates the host interferon response</strong> -
<div>
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a newer class of noncoding transcripts identified as key regulators of biological processes. Here we aimed to identify novel lncRNA targets that play critical roles in major human respiratory viral infections by systematically mining large-scale transcriptomic datasets. Using bulk RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis, we identified a previously uncharacterized lncRNA, named virus inducible lncRNA modulator of interferon response (VILMIR), that was consistently upregulated after in vitro influenza infection across multiple human epithelial cell lines and influenza A virus subtypes. VILMIR was also upregulated after SARS-CoV-2 and RSV infections in vitro. We experimentally confirmed the response of VILMIR to influenza infection and interferon-beta (IFN-{beta}) treatment in the A549 human epithelial cell line and found the expression of VILMIR was robustly induced by IFN-{beta} treatment in a dose and time-specific manner. Single cell RNA-seq analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples from COVID-19 patients uncovered that VILMIR was upregulated across various cell types including at least five immune cells. The upregulation of VILMIR in immune cells was further confirmed in the human T cell and monocyte cell lines, SUP-T1 and THP-1, after IFN-{beta} treatment. Finally, we found that knockdown of VILMIR expression reduced the magnitude of host transcriptional responses to IFN-{beta} treatment in A549 cells. Together, our results show that VILMIR is a novel interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) that regulates the host interferon response and may be a potential therapeutic target for human respiratory viral infections upon further mechanistic investigation.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.25.586578v1" target="_blank">Human long noncoding RNA, VILMIR, is induced by major respiratory viral infections and modulates the host interferon response</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Inference of epidemic dynamics in the COVID-19 era and beyond</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the key role that epidemiology and modelling play in analysing infectious threats and supporting decision making in real-time. Motivated by the unprecedented volume and breadth of data generated during the pandemic, we review new analytic opportunities and methodological developments available to address questions that emerge during a major modern epidemic. Following the broad chronology of insights required - from understanding initial dynamics to retrospective evaluation of interventions, we describe the theoretical foundations of each approach and the underlying intuition. Through a series of case studies, we illustrate real life applications, and discuss implications for future work.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/mg497/" target="_blank">Inference of epidemic dynamics in the COVID-19 era and beyond</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A qualitative exploration of triggers for alcohol use and access to alcohol services during the COVID-19 pandemic among people identifying as problem drinkers.</strong> -
<div>
Introduction A polarisation of drinking behaviour was observed during the COVID-19 pandemic with some people reported to be drinking more alcohol and others less. We aimed to understand how and why the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions impacted alcohol use and access to support and services during this time. Methods We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 27 participants, including 20 people identifying as problem drinkers and seven alcohol service providers. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results We identified two main triggers for alcohol use during the pandemic: i) loss of daily routine and activity resulted in drinking to cope with social isolation and boredom and ii) drinking alleviated feelings of fear, anxiety and anger over the imposition of pandemic restrictions. Regarding access to services, two main themes were generated: i) remote service provision was perceived as inferior to in-person services and ii) the need to offer choice and flexibility in how services were provided, with service providers reporting more positive experiences of online and telephone service delivery than service users. Discussion and Conclusions This study provides new insights into potential triggers for alcohol use among people identifying as problem drinkers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The acceptability of remote forms of service provision were dependent on service user access to and comfort with using technology. Hybrid delivery models may therefore be suitable in some but not all circumstances, and efforts should be made to promote equitable access to services.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/k67zs/" target="_blank">A qualitative exploration of triggers for alcohol use and access to alcohol services during the COVID-19 pandemic among people identifying as problem drinkers.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Does behavior mediate the effect of weather on SARS-CoV-2 transmission? Evidence from cell-phone data</strong> -
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Background: There is growing evidence that weather alters SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but it remains unclear what drives the phenomenon. One prevailing hypothesis is that people spend more time indoors in cooler weather, leading to increased spread of SARS-CoV-2 related to time spent in confined spaces and close contact with others. However, the evidence in support of that hypothesis is limited and, at times, conflicting. Objectives: We aim to evaluate the extent to which weather impacts COVID-19 via time spent away-from-home in indoor spaces, as compared to a direct effect of weather on COVID-19 hospitalization, independent of mobility. Methods: We use a mediation framework, and combine daily weather, COVID-19 hospital surveillance, cellphone-based mobility data and building footprints to estimate the relationship between daily indoor and outdoor weather conditions, mobility, and COVID-19 hospitalizations. We quantify the direct health impacts of weather on COVID-19 hospitalizations and the indirect effects of weather via time spent indoors away-from-home on COVID-19 hospitalizations within five Colorado counties between March 4th 2020 and January 31st 2021. Results: We found evidence that changes in 12-day lagged hospital admissions were primarily via the direct effects of weather conditions, rather than via indirect effects by which weather changes time spent indoors away-from-home. Sensitivity analyses evaluating time at home as a mediator were consistent with these conclusions. Discussion: Our findings do not support the hypothesis that weather impacted SARS-CoV-2 transmission via changes in mobility patterns during the first year of the pandemic. Rather, weather appears to have impacted SARS-CoV-2 transmission primarily via mechanisms other than human movement. We recommend further analysis of this phenomenon to determine whether these findings generalize to current SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics and other seasonal respiratory pathogens.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.26.24304854v1" target="_blank">Does behavior mediate the effect of weather on SARS-CoV-2 transmission? Evidence from cell-phone data</a>
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<li><strong>Strengthening access to and confidence in COVID-19 vaccines among equity-deserving populations across Canada: An exploratory qualitative study</strong> -
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Introduction: There is a need to reflect on the COVID-19 vaccine distribution across Canada and the extent to which they considered equity-deserving populations. This paper examined and compared strategies implemented by six Canadian provinces to increase access and promote the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among selected priority populations. We also explored the factors that impacted the implementation of these strategies. Methods: In six provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec), we conducted an environmental scan of provincial rollout documents and media sources reporting vaccine distribution among selected priority populations:First Nations, Inuit, and Metis; Black communities; essential workers; people experiencing homelessness; and people with disabilities. We subsequently interviewed 39 key informants to validate the environmental scan results, identify additional strategies to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and uncover perceptions of the facilitators and challenges that influenced the strategies implementation. Results: Through the environmental scans and key informant interviews, we identified that provincial health authorities employed a panoply of strategies to overcome geographic, financial, and attitudinal barriers to COVID-19 vaccines experienced by the priority populations. Most provinces implemented walk-in, mobile, and pop-up vaccination clinics, mobilized public and private health workforce, and designed multilingual communication materials. Facilitators in implementing COVID-19 vaccination strategies included fostering inter-governmental cooperation, harmonizing communication efforts, leveraging existing relationships and networks, and ensuring representation and leadership of community partners. Challenges to implementing COVID-19 vaccination strategies included uncoordinated communication efforts, inadequate distribution of vaccines to areas with the greatest need, mistrust in the government and healthcare system, vaccine hesitancy, and lack of cultural competence by vaccine providers.   Conclusions: This study highlights the divide between well-intentioned strategies and interventions and the reality of on-the-ground implementation. The findings offer valuable insights and can inform the implementation of strategies to distribute vaccines equitably in future large-scale vaccination efforts in Canada and globally.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.27.24304984v1" target="_blank">Strengthening access to and confidence in COVID-19 vaccines among equity-deserving populations across Canada: An exploratory qualitative study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>COHORT PROFILE: IMMUNE RESPONSES TO SARS-COV-2 VACCINATION AND INFECTION IN A LONGITUDINAL SAMPLING AMIDST THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC (LONGTONG-SARS2) IN MALAYSIA</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Purpose: This prospective, longitudinal study aims to evaluate the durability and functionality of SARS-CoV-2 Ancestral strain (Wuhan-Hu-1)-specific immune responses induced by COVID-19 vaccination and natural infection over a 12-month period. This article reviews the study protocol, design, methodology, ongoing data collection, analysis procedures, and demographic characteristics of the cohort enrolled. Participants: Between March 2021 and May 2022, 400 participants were enrolled with a 12-month follow-up, concluding in May 2023. Two main groups of participants: (1) serologically SARS-CoV-2-naive individuals receiving the BNT162b2 primary series vaccination (referred to as VAC) and (2) those who recently recovered from COVID-19 infection within 30 days, regardless of vaccination history (referred to as COV). Additionally, a subset of 45 participants with selected COVID-19 exposure histories provided peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) for cross-sectional analysis six months after enrollment. Findings to date: Out of 400 participants, 66.8% (n=267) completed the follow-up. Among them, 52.8% (n=141) were in VAC, and 47.2% (n=126) were in COV. As the study progressed, we acknowledged cross-over between initial groups, leading to restructuring into five revised groups based on sequential exposure events. Sociodemographic factors revealed statistically significant age distribution differences (p=0.001) in both initial and revised groups, with no significant differences observed for sex. Future plans: LONGTONG-SARS2 assesses the host-pathogen interactions central to the development of COVID-19 immunity. With enrollment spanning two years of the pandemic, most participants exhibited mixed SARS-CoV-2 exposures-via vaccination and infection-resulting in diverse subgroups of interest. Notably, the inclusion of SARS-CoV-2-naive, pre-exposure serum samples allowed for robust comparator and reduced potential biases. Ongoing analyses will include serology kinetics, memory cells ELISpots, B cells repertoire analysis, cytokine/chemokine profiling, and proteomic pathway to comprehensively examine the immune response against the SARS-CoV-2, thus informing and potentially predicting dynamic longitudinal responses against new more transmissible, immune-evasive SARS-CoV-2 variants.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.26.24304850v1" target="_blank">COHORT PROFILE: IMMUNE RESPONSES TO SARS-COV-2 VACCINATION AND INFECTION IN A LONGITUDINAL SAMPLING AMIDST THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC (LONGTONG-SARS2) IN MALAYSIA</a>
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<li><strong>The 10-year health impact, economic impact, and return on investment of the South African molecular diagnostics programme for HIV, Tuberculosis and SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
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To ensure there is adequate investment into diagnostics, an understanding of the magnitude of impact and return on investment is necessary. We therefore sought to understand the health and economic impacts of the molecular diagnostic programme in South Africa, to deepen the under-standing on the broad value of diagnostics and guide future healthcare investments. We calcu-lated the 10-year (where data were available) total cost and DALYs averted associated with molecular diagnosis of molecular TB testing (2013-2022), HIV viral load monitoring (2013-2022), early infant diagnosis of HIV infection (2013-2022), and SARS-CoV-2 testing (2020-2022). We then calculated the economic value associated with those health gains and subsequent return on investment. Since the inception of the molecular diagnostics programme in South Africa, 3,035,782 DALYs have been averted as a direct consequence of this pro-gramme. This has generated an estimated $20.5 billion in economic value due to these health gains. The return on investment varied by specific diagnostic test (19.0 for tuberculosis, 1.4 for HIV viral load testing, 64.8 for early infant diagnosis of HIV, and 2.5 for SARS-CoV-2), for an average of 9.9 for the entire molecular diagnostics programme between 2013 and 2022- or $9.9 of value for each $1 invested. The molecular diagnostics programme in South Africa gen-erated a significant amount of health gains and economic value associated with these health gains, and the return-on-investment rivals other high-impact public health interventions such as childhood vaccination. Consequently, the molecular diagnostics programme in South Africa is highly impactful, and will continue to be an excellent investment of South African public health expenditure.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.27.24304888v1" target="_blank">The 10-year health impact, economic impact, and return on investment of the South African molecular diagnostics programme for HIV, Tuberculosis and SARS-CoV-2</a>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercises for Post-COVID-19 Diaphragmatic Dysfunction (DD)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Usual care of traditional treatment; Other: Specific DB program/Diaphragmatic manipulation program <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Minnesota <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Valacyclovir Plus Celecoxib for Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long COVID; PASC Post Acute Sequelae of COVID 19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Valacyclovir celecoxib dose 1; Drug: Valacyclovir celecoxib dose 2; Drug: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Bateman Horne Center <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Supervised Computerized Active Program for People With Post-COVID Syndrome (SuperCAP Study)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-COVID Condition <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: SuperCAP Program <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Fundación FLS de Lucha Contra el Sida, las Enfermedades Infecciosas y la Promoción de la Salud y la Ciencia; Institut de Recerca de la SIDA IrsiCaixa; Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Comparative evaluation of tocilizumab and itolizumab for treatment of severe COVID-19 in India: a retrospective cohort study</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: The CI with itolizumab is similar to tocilizumab. Better oxygenation can be achieved with itolizumab and it can be a substitute for tocilizumab in managing severe COVID-19.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Synthesis and pharmacodynamic evaluation of Dihydropteridone derivatives against PDCoV in vivo and in vitro</strong> - Porcine Delta Coronavirus (PDCoV) infection can induce serious dehydration, diarrhea and even death of piglets, which has caused huge losses to the breeding industry. PDCoV has been reported to have the potential for cross species transmission, and even reports of infecting humans have emerged. At present, there are still no effective prevention and control measures for PDCoV. In this study, we have designed and synthesized a series of unreported Dihydropteridone derivatives. All of these…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New conjugates based on N4-hydroxycytidine with more potent antiviral efficacy in vitro than EIDD-2801 against SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses</strong> - The spread of COVID-19 continues due to genetic variation in SARS-CoV-2. Highly mutated variants of SARS-CoV-2 have an increased transmissibility and immune evasion. Due to the emergence of various new variants of the virus, there is an urgent need to develop broadly effective specific drugs for therapeutic strategies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Molnupiravir (EIDD-2801, MK-4482), is an orally bioavailable ribonucleoside analogue of β-D-N4-hydroxycytidine (NHC), has demonstrated…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biological responses in Danio rerio by the disinfectant SDBS in SARS-CoV-2 pandemic</strong> - The use of disinfectants, such as Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonic acid salt (SDBS), has grown since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, with environmentally unknown consequences. The present study analyzed SDBS effects in the fish species Danio rerio, using a combination of biomarkers. Our data reported that larvae had their total locomotor activity increased when exposed to 1mg/L of SDBS, but this parameter was decreased in fish exposed to 5mg/L. A significant increment of erratic movements was reported in…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Preclinical evaluation of the SARS-CoV-2 M(pro) inhibitor RAY1216 shows improved pharmacokinetics compared with nirmatrelvir</strong> - Although vaccines are available for SARS-CoV-2, antiviral drugs such as nirmatrelvir are still needed, particularly for individuals in whom vaccines are less effective, such as the immunocompromised, to prevent severe COVID-19. Here we report an α-ketoamide-based peptidomimetic inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^(pro)), designated RAY1216. Enzyme inhibition kinetic analysis shows that RAY1216 has an inhibition constant of 8.4 nM and suggests that it dissociates about 12 times slower…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A new DNA aptamer which binds to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and reduces pro-inflammatory response</strong> - COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 spread rapidly around the world, endangering the health of people globally. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein initiates entry into target cells by binding to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). In this study, we developed DNA aptamers that specifically bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, thereby inhibiting its binding to ACE2. DNA aptamers are small nucleic acid fragments with random structures that selectively bind to various target molecules. We identified…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Protective mucosal SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the majority of the general population in the Netherlands</strong> - Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 at mucosal surfaces of the respiratory tract are understood to contribute to protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection. We aimed to describe the prevalence, levels and functionality of mucosal antibodies in the general Dutch population. Nasal samples were collected from 778 randomly selected participants, 1-90 years of age, nested within the nationwide prospective SARS-CoV-2 PIENTER corona serosurvey in the Netherlands. Spike-specific IgG was detected in nasal samples of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Intranasal boosting with RBD-HR protein vaccine elicits robust mucosal and systemic immune responses</strong> - The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants has decreased the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in containing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) over time, and booster vaccination strategies are urgently necessitated to achieve sufficient protection. Intranasal immunization can improve mucosal immunity, offering protection against the infection and sustaining the spread of SARS-CoV-2. In this study, an intranasal booster of the RBD-HR vaccine after two…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Investigation of phytochemicals isolated from selected Saudi medicinal plants as natural inhibitors of SARS CoV-2 main protease: In vitro, molecular docking and simulation analysis</strong> - The escalation of many coronavirus variants accompanied by the lack of an effective cure has motivated the hunt for effective antiviral medicines. In this regard, 18 Saudi Arabian medicinal plants were evaluated for SARS CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) inhibition activity. Among them, Terminalia brownii and Acacia asak alcoholic extracts exhibited significant Mpro inhibition, with inhibition rates of 95.3 % and 95.2 %, respectively, at a concentration of 100 µg/mL. Bioassay-guided phytochemical study…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety and immunogenicity of CoronaVac and ChAdOx1 heterologous prime-boost vaccines in an overweight population in Chiang Mai, Thailand</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: The heterologous CoronaVac-ChAdOx1vaccination was safe, well-tolerated and able to induce humoral immunity against wild-type and Delta variants but not against the Omicron variant in overweight population.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Design of a SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease inhibitor with antiviral efficacy in a mouse model</strong> - The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and drug-resistant mutants calls for additional oral antivirals. The SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease (PL^(pro)) is a promising but challenging drug target. We designed and synthesized 85 noncovalent PL^(pro) inhibitors that bind to a recently discovered ubiquitin binding site and the known BL2 groove pocket near the S4 subsite. Leads inhibited PL^(pro) with the inhibitory constant K(i) values from 13.2 to 88.2 nanomolar. The co-crystal structures of PL^(pro)…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>On parrots, delay of gratification, executive function, and how sometimes we do the best we can</strong> - Engaging executive functions provides an individual with the means to engage in cognitive control by adjusting to the environment and processing information in a way that leads to optimal outcomes. There are some claims that explicit training on certain executive functioning abilities provides benefits beyond the training tasks, but other studies indicate that this may not be true or may be limited based on age and other factors. This same mixed pattern has been reported with nonhuman species,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Role for CCN1 in lysophosphatidic acid response in PC-3 human prostate cancer cells</strong> - Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) are bioactive phospholipids that act as mitogens in various cancers. Both LPA and S1P activate G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). We examined the role of CCN1/CYR61, an inducible matricellular protein, in LPA-induced signal transduction in PC-3 human prostate cancer cells. We found that both LPA and S1P induced expression of CCN1 and CCN2 within 2-4 h. CCN1 was induced by 18:1-LPA, but not by 18:0-, 18:2-, or 18:3-LPAs. A free fatty…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Fungal metabolite 6-pentyl-alpha-pyrone reduces canine coronavirus infection</strong> - Canine coronavirus (CCoV) can produce a self-limited enteric disease in dogs but, because of notable biological plasticity of coronaviruses (CoVs), numerous mutations as well as recombination events happen leading to the emergence of variants often more dangerous for both animals and humans. Indeed, the emergence of new canine-feline recombinant alphacoronaviruses, recently isolated from humans, highlight the cross-species transmission potential of CoVs. Consequently, new effective antiviral…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pilot Study on Evaluating the Impact of Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis (Tdap), Influenza, and COVID-19 Vaccinations on Antibody Responses in Pregnant Women</strong> - This study assessed IgG levels to influenza/pertussis and neutralizing antibody (Nab) responses of COVID-19 vaccines in blood of pregnant women following immunization with pertussis (Tdap), influenza, and COVID-19 vaccines. We prospectively collected 71 participants categorized by the following vaccine combinations: 3TI, 4TI, 3T, and 4T groups (three and four doses of COVID-19 vaccines plus Tdap/influenza or Tdap vaccines alone). Our findings have indicated that the 3TI group exhibited elevated…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Chinese Students Experience America</strong> - COVID, guns, anti-Asian violence, and diplomatic relations have complicated the ambitions of the some three hundred thousand college students who come to the U.S. each year. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/08/how-chinese-students-experience-america">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Hottest Restaurant in France Is an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet</strong> - Les Grands Buffets features a seven-tiered lobster tower, a chocolate fountain, and only what it considers traditional French food. Gourmands are willing to wait months for a table. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/08/les-grands-buffets-and-the-art-of-all-you-can-eat">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>So You Think Youve Been Gaslit</strong> - What happens when a niche clinical concept becomes a ubiquitous cultural diagnosis. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/08/so-you-think-youve-been-gaslit">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Brazilian Special-Forces Unit Fighting to Save the Amazon</strong> - As miners ravage Yanomami lands, combat-trained environmentalists work to root them out. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/08/the-brazilian-special-forces-unit-fighting-to-save-the-amazon">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Have Fourteen Years of Conservative Rule Done to Britain?</strong> - Living standards have fallen. The country is exhausted by constant drama. But the U.K. cant move on from the Tories without facing up to the damage that has occurred. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/01/what-have-fourteen-years-of-conservative-rule-done-to-britain">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Lead pollution anywhere is a public health threat everywhere</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A metal container with a label reading “For use as a motor fuel only. Contains lead (tetraethyl)”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JtuwoMFdnarGyzjoKL62F1cpnsw=/304x0:5147x3632/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73246386/GettyImages_1177917147.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Despite progress, including bans on lead in gasoline, lead remains a public health threat all over the world. | Robert Alexander/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
What contaminated applesauce reveals about how lead exposure happens.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VmeMMF">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22834666/lead-exposure-poisoning-developing-countries">Lead</a> keeps showing up where its not supposed to be.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l4e3ES">
In 2024, one of the most potent neurotoxins known to humanity persists all over the world as a <a href="https://www.vox.com/public-health">public health</a> threat. For the second time in six months, lead contamination in food products has put public health authorities on high alert in the wealthiest nation in the world. Last fall, contaminated cinnamon-applesauce pouches caused dozens of lead poisoning cases across the US, eventually <a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/investigation-elevated-lead-chromium-levels-cinnamon-applesauce-pouches-november-2023">prompting recalls</a> in November. And in March, the federal government <a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-alert-concerning-certain-cinnamon-products-due-presence-elevated-levels-lead">announced</a> that some ground cinnamon products also contained slightly elevated levels of lead and advised customers not to buy them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uyhfx6">
Lead might seem like something we left behind in a past era. By the 1990s, nearly every country had <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/leaded-gasoline-phase-out">eliminated</a> leaded gasoline, once easily the <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/627231468764982874/pdf/multi-page.pdf">most ubiquitous source</a> of lead pollution when we spewed it into the open air. The US and Europe also instituted <a href="https://www.epa.gov/lead/lead-laws-and-regulations">more stringent rules</a> for another common source of exposure, lead paint, by greatly restricting or outright banning its use. You can see the improvements in the numbers: From 1978 to 1991, the average level of lead in the blood for Americans younger than 75 <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/94news/nr940726.htm">dropped</a> by 78 percent.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XJ0WpI">
But lead usage has actually been <a href="https://undark.org/2023/01/12/the-lead-industrys-continuing-influence-and-its-consequences/">on the rise</a> worldwide, even in the US. The proliferation of lead-acid <a href="https://www.vox.com/batteries">batteries</a> globally and less stringent rules in the developing world for everything from cookware to spices has allowed lead consumption to grow despite its known health risks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IwK6x8">
Lead is linked to a wide range of neurological and development problems, and exposure is especially dangerous for children. Research has <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/features/leadpoisoning/index.html#:~:text=windowsills%2C%20and%20wells.-,Exposure%20to%20lead%20can%20seriously%20harm%20a%20child's%20health%2C%20including,and%20hearing%20and%20speech%20problems.">found</a> kids with elevated levels of lead in their blood experience a range of effects, from speech and hearing problems to learning and behavioral issues. They develop more slowly, physically and mentally.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RGjXXv">
And it remains an especially serious plight for poorer countries: <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30278-3/fulltext#seccestitle130">A 2021 review</a> of studies involving children in 34 low- and middle-income countries found that 48.5 percent had elevated levels of lead in their blood. But in a globalized <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a>, some of the same lead pollution endangering kids in those countries can find its way into consumer products that travel around the world and contaminate the food that children in the US eat.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cof72V">
In the case of the applesauce, the cinnamon was originally harvested in Sri Lanka and then shipped to Ecuador, where it was ground into powder to be mixed into the products. Both countries are dealing with lead exposure crises: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9272670/">One 2021 study</a> found that almost all mothers and children living in Quito, Ecuador, had levels of lead and other metals in their blood that exceeded public health guidelines. The pollution stemming from Sri Lankas active lead-acid battery manufacturing and recycling sector, too, has <a href="https://www.sundaytimes.lk/231029/news/much-needs-to-be-done-to-address-lead-poisoning-in-sri-lanka-cej-537180.html">created health problems</a> for the workers and people who live near the plants.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="891dy1">
When the applesauce ingredients passed through Ecuador, they were contaminated there with lead before they moved for sale to the US, where there have been <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/news/lead-poisoning-outbreak-linked-to-cinnamon-applesauce-pouches.html">more than 500 confirmed or suspected cases</a> of acute lead poisoning related to the recalled products. The FDA believes the lead <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/14/applesauce-pouches-may-have-been-contaminated-on-purpose-fda-foods-chief-says-00131797">may have been added intentionally</a> for economic reasons. The Ecuadorian government has <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tainted-lead-applesauce-wanabana-recall-cinnamon-carlos-aguilera-accused/">named</a> one individual as a suspect in its own investigation.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Pouches of WanaBana apple cinnamon fruit puree." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Q41SzC9wBF6wft0FWGor38zRWD0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25362205/GettyImages_1836064627.jpg"/> <cite>Matt Ramey/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Contaminated applesauce pouches have been linked to more than 500 confirmed or suspected cases of lead poisoning in the US.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oqM1UR">
The entire episode encapsulates the difficult truth about lead: Even though the US has cracked down within its borders, pollution elsewhere persists — and, in some cases, American efforts to reduce its own pollution <a href="https://lithub.com/how-recycled-american-batteries-pollute-communities-around-the-world/">merely moved the contamination</a> to other parts of the world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XhoaOV">
“So much of the food that we eat is coming from all over the world,” said Stephen Luby, who studies lead pollution at Stanford University. “So we are deluding ourselves if we think we can push pollution problems to low-­income countries and not worry about it.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="svDeOv">
It will take a multifaceted, multilateral, multinational strategy to eradicate lead contamination. And it starts with recognizing the whole world is in it together.
</p>
<h3 id="lHZk9Q">
We keep finding lead everywhere we look
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BehHV5">
Lead exposure can be either high-grade (which can lead to acute poisoning and, in rare cases, even death) or low-grade (which can still result in developmental and cardiovascular problems).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jQ0zk1">
The amount of lead in the cinnamon that was used in the applesauce pouches was enormous, with a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/recalled-applesauce-pouches-cinnamon-lead-poisoning-cases-states-cdc/">concentration</a> of more than 5,000 parts per million. That is thousands of times higher than the amount public health experts consider to be acceptable and high enough to cause acute lead poisoning.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G9CFKp">
The ground cinnamon the FDA warned about in March, by contrast, contained <a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-alert-concerning-certain-cinnamon-products-due-presence-elevated-levels-lead">2.03 to 3.4 parts per million</a>. Although that amount is unlikely to result in an immediate ER visit, experts emphasize that no level of lead exposure is considered safe. Even these trace amounts could contribute to health problems over the long term when added to other exposures.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X9jrFX">
“We want to eliminate all exposures, dont get me wrong, but I think thats a very different situation with those much, much lower levels,” said Perry Gottesfeld, executive director of <a href="http://www.okinternational.org/">Occupational Knowledge International,</a> an advocacy group focused on public health and industrial pollution.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iMsXTw">
One of the fundamental challenges in eradicating lead is that pollution can be low-grade and long-running. The lead that crept into our environment during the era of leaded gasoline and lead paint is still in the soil. Even pots and pans made from recycled aluminum that was mixed with leaded products or ceramics covered with a lead-based glaze (<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/some-mexican-ceramics-linked-to-lead-poisoning/">the kind used and traded around the world</a>) can contribute over time to higher levels of lead in a persons blood through degradation or exposure to heat.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u5TAgZ">
“Its always been there, to be honest. From a basic level, since industrialization, lead has been there,” said <a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/jenna-forsyth">Jenna Forsyth</a>, a research scientist at Stanford who works with Luby on lead research. “Lately, theres been a closer inspection. And the more we look, the more lead we will find.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WsNfTd">
<a href="https://www.pureearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Pure-Earth-RMS-Final-Report.pdf">A recent analysis</a> from the environmental group Pure Earth examined more than 5,000 samples of consumer products in 25 low- and middle-income countries, ranging from foods and spices to cosmetics and toys to cookware and paints. It found that 18 percent of all samples had dangerous amounts of lead, based on reference levels drawn from public health agency guidelines. About half of all of the ceramic and metallic foodware and 41 percent of the residential and commercial paints tested had excess amounts of lead.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R0KQUC">
The US food supply relies on imports from countries with high levels of lead exposure, according to a <a href="https://www.pureearth.org/learn-more/pollution-knows-no-borders/">2019 report</a> from the same group. The United States imports nearly all of its spices, coffee, and <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/">cocoa</a>, for example. Independent tests conducted from 2014 to 2018 found most of the chocolate products tested — 96 out of 127 — had amounts of lead and cadmium (another dangerous neurotoxin) higher than the levels allowed in California, according to the Pure Earth report.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yF8qCr">
The US also imports about half of all fruits and vegetables consumed here. Farmers in lower-income countries must sometimes rely on <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5981934/">untreated industrial wastewater</a> to irrigate their crops, which can then contaminate the produce that is shipped around the world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tc9GK8">
Once lead finds its way inside a persons body, it quickly enters the bones because of its molecular similarities to calcium. It then subsists for decades, moving around and finding easy access to important organs, including the brain. And as lead takes up residence in places where calcium is supposed to be, it disrupts important biological and neurological functions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VDK0QK">
“Lead is a toxin like no other,” Luby said. People think about Oh, yeah. Leads bad. Mercurys bad. Cadmiums bad. Air pollution is bad. All these things. No — lead is really disproportionately bad.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A child in front of a wall with peeling paint leans their head back as a hand touches their face." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZY2y7hVB0IuaCkUTyrYIESUqlEI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25362208/GettyImages_1249899924.jpg"/> <cite>Jaime Razuri/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A Peruvian child with lead poisoning exercises his facial muscles with the help of his mother.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Eziojj">
<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(23)00166-3/fulltext">One global estimate</a> of leads impact concluded that exposure had contributed to 5.5 million adult cardiovascular deaths and $6 trillion in lost economic potential in 2019. “But we dont see lead. We dont think about it,” Luby said. “When Dad dies of a heart attack, we dont blame it on lead.”
</p>
<h3 id="iTEAwD">
Three reasons for continued lead contamination
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="27ofLc">
Were all at risk from lead — but not at equal risk. Children in low- and middle-income countries have average blood lead levels roughly <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30278-3/fulltext#seccestitle130">three times higher</a> than those in high-income countries, based on the available national data. While <a href="https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/1-3-children-worldwide-have-lead-poisoning#:~:text=The%20report's%20researchers%20concluded%20that,levels%20live%20in%20South%20Asia.">one in three children worldwide</a> have dangerously high amounts of lead in their blood, the share is closer to one in every two children in the developing world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i6gzyV">
Lead-battery manufacturing and recycling in lower-income countries where plants are subject to less regulation can lead to local pollution. There are fewer restrictions on lead in paint and other everyday products (food included) in the developing world. And, as mentioned, exposure also comes through agricultural practices. In the US, besides food imports, deterioration of aging civil infrastructure contributes to exposure, as was the case with <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/flint-water-crisis-everything-you-need-know">lead-leaching water pipes</a> in Flint, Michigan. Lead ammunition, commonplace in the US, has also been <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/study-adds-to-evidence-of-dangerous-link-between-lead-ammunition-and-child-blood-lead-levels/">linked</a> to elevated lead levels in childrens blood.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nm5MN7">
Leads persistence, unfortunately, is multifaceted. Drew McCartor, executive director of Pure Earth, put the sources into three buckets.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="auLL89">
First, some polluters actively disregard the rules around lead use and its known health effects and intentionally continue to use lead in their products. Spices are a good example of how this can happen: Lead chromate pigment is often used to produce a more vibrant color in spices such as cinnamon and turmeric.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eVPX3J">
Forsyth, in her work with Luby to address lead exposure <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/9/20/23881981/bangladesh-tumeric-lead-poisoning-contamination-public-health">linked to turmeric</a> among rural mothers in Bangladesh, noted that the use of lead chromate is “economically motivated.” It adds the yellow color desirable in traditional turmeric. It is also denser than the spice itself and reduces the amount of time it takes to process the turmerics roots, which increases the producers yield. The FDA has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/16/applesauce-lead-ecuador-cinnamon-additives">said</a> it is investigating whether the presence of lead found in the cinnamon-flavored applesauce pouches was the result of such practices.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="INxnQ2">
Companies have proven adept at migrating their operations to less restrictive jurisdictions. Thats a particular problem for lead acid batteries, which are most commonly used for automobiles and represent <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/getting-the-lead-out-why-battery-recycling-is-a-global-health-hazard">about 85 percent</a> of leads use in the modern global economy. Most lead batteries are recycled to make new ones, but lead recycling has been linked again and <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241512855">again</a> to the contamination of nearby soil and water.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lIYVoE">
The US sends most of its used car batteries to Mexico to be recycled, and the towns there that are home to recycling plants have been found to have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/20/world/americas/car-batteries-lead-mexico.html#:~:text=Soil%20samples%20taken%20outside%20some,United%20States%20Environmental%20Protection%20Agency.">extremely high lead levels</a>. “You look at the history of battery recycling in the US, which is basically closed down and overwhelmingly moved to places where theres weaker environmental regulation,” Forsyth said. “We in the wealthy world are like, Oh, yeah, I want cheap batteries. And the fact that its killing people nearby in another country is a connection we dont make.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TpsRgy">
The second source of contamination is negligence, when companies fail to address lead levels that do not exceed regulations but still present a risk. A toy manufacturer that doesnt test its raw materials for lead or a food maker who doesnt perform due diligence on their suppliers may not be intentionally contributing to lead pollution, but their lackadaisical attitude allows lead to continue moving through the economy, where it ends up exposing consumers, including children.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YtcBBX">
Last, there are the legacy sources of lead, the result of our overdependence on the material in the decades before we realized how dangerous it was.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d2OOd8">
Lead was added to gasoline as an anti-knocking agent to improve the performance of automobiles combustion engines. By burning leaded gas, humans pumped lead into the atmosphere for decades; the US did not completely phase it out until <a href="https://www.epa.gov/archive/epa/aboutepa/epa-takes-final-step-phaseout-leaded-gasoline.html#:~:text=Effective%20January%201%2C%201996%2C%20the,farm%20equipment%2C%20and%20marine%20engines.">1996</a>. That lead eventually settled into the soil, where it is difficult and expensive to remove.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fqtrdh">
Its the same story with leaded paint: The paint chips and slowly erodes, creating lead-laden dust that finds its way into the soil or the water supply. Commonly used pesticides have likewise left <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/lead-arsenate">lead</a> behind in the ground where they were sprayed. And lead used in other products is likely to be around for years in one form or another, creating more and more of those small-scale exposures that add up over time.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Peeling lead paint on the brick wall of a home." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bLCZyl-fshGoMHjU_nS5iyUdEtY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25362217/GettyImages_513411736.jpg"/> <cite>Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
The longtime use of lead in paint and gas has created pollution that is still with us decades later.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FvA9BH">
“Lead is introduced into the material stream and then stays in that material stream as its reused for different purposes,” McCartor said. “These are usually small­-scale producers. So I wouldnt describe them as irresponsible. They dont have the means to test for lead. They are certainly not introducing it, I dont think, intentionally. But its a product of our longstanding use of lead in the world.”
</p>
<h3 id="Mzo4UB">
How do we get rid of all this lead?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G6HDp7">
The solution starts with the right <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy">policies</a> — including prohibitions on the most potent sources of lead exposure — but it doesnt end there.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="82eoRU">
The experts I spoke to said national governments could be more aggressive about cracking down on common sources of lead exposure. Lead paint, for example, is still widely used around the world. Even in the US, where its use is restricted for residential use, industrial use is fair game. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4434842/#:~:text=In%202009%2C%20more%20than%20120,all%20lead%20paints%20(1).">More than 120 countries</a> voted symbolically in 2009 to phase out lead paint, but there has been <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/despite-bans-most-countries-still-have-lead-paint">little action</a> since.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qeJ5RZ">
Following through on that commitment would be one place to start. Environmental activists also <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2015.00144/full">advocate</a> for prohibiting the lead chromates that are added to spices for appearance and weight, the suspected source of the recent lead scares in the US.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q3lgkp">
Given the outsize role of lead batteries in lead pollution, they are also necessary targets for change. But this presents an enormous economic challenge: These batteries are ubiquitous — used “in every <a href="https://www.power.com/community/green-room/blog/why-do-evs-still-need-12-v-lead-acid-batteries">electric vehicle</a>, in every solar household, in every cellphone tower,” as Gottesfeld put it — and their alternatives have struggled to gain a market share. Lithium-ion batteries are the most common option, but theyre more expensive for manufacturers (and therefore, ultimately, the consumers) and present their own recycling challenges.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kKbW86">
Still, experts say the world must keep working to reduce lead use and thereby exposure. Action by wealthy nations can create incubators for new alternative technologies as well as set an example for the rest of the world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k1GMR6">
“When you look at the amount of human harm from all of this, it makes more sense for us to just move to substitutes and literally get this toxin out of the economy,” Forsyth told me. “I think that high­-income countries would be a great place to start. Because if they did this, they would both reduce their own risks and they would also clarify technologies and ways forward.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mmZ2CR">
But the right policies are insufficient. We also need more government attention and resources dedicated to the problem.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UML7eu">
Removing lead from the soil has been chronically underfunded, even in the US, and the FDAs negligence on the food side of its “food and drug” portfolio has been <a href="https://www.politico.com/interactives/2022/fda-fails-regulate-food-health-safety-hazards/">well documented</a>. Monitoring of lead levels in food being imported to the US is minimal. That leaves America vulnerable to the weaknesses in other countries regulatory infrastructures, which are poorly funded and less robust.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x0sOal">
In Mexico, although the pollution from lead battery recycling plants has raised the local lead levels above the countrys threshold for intervention, there has been little effort by the government to crack down on the industry. The tainted cinnamon that passed through Ecuador before ending up in applesauce pouches sold in US stores should have been subject to the countrys existing lead pollution laws, but oversight has stayed lax because of a lack of resources.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wcwGuv">
“Having the policy in place wasnt enough. It wasnt being enforced,” Forsyth said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PClKAG">
There are pockets of progress, as with Bangladesh and turmeric. McCartor said hes been encouraged by a lead eradication campaign in Ghana, where his group collaborated with the national government to survey children for lead levels in their blood and to identify the likely sources of pollution.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fp79lf">
The survey found that lead recycling plants were major contributors, much as they are in Mexico. So Ghana decided to shut down two of three lead recycling plants within its borders.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iNEJ0R">
“We cannot inspect our way out of this problem. You could spend a fortune in perpetuity and only catch a tiny fraction of contaminated goods coming into the United States,” McCartor said. “If we really want to solve this, it requires a whole-­of-­government commitment to work outside of our borders.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>Multigenerational housing is coming back in a big way</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="An aerial view of a suburban housing tract." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Tv75TCEsAc1-a_J2ZTwQBlD21bA=/0x0:4444x3333/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73246327/GettyImages_2079439103.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Americans used to live in multigenerational homes. Were starting to, again.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cNpwj2">
Layla Ahmed<strong> </strong>is, by any measure, a responsible adult. She works at a nonprofit in Nashville helping refugees. Makes 50k a year. Saves money. Pays her bills on time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HShMco">
But theres another measure of adulthood that has so far eluded her. Ahmed, 23, moved back in with her parents after graduating college in 2022.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6tbJL5">
“There is a perception that those who live with their parents into their 20s are either bums or people who are not hard-working,” she told the <a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast"><em>Today, Explained</em></a> podcast.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PxmfaE">
Being neither of those things, Ahmed and her situation actually point to a growing trend in America right now: More adults, especially younger adults, are either moving back in with family or never leaving at all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XaS2qo">
According to the Pew Research Center,<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/07/20/young-adults-in-u-s-are-much-more-likely-than-50-years-ago-to-be-living-in-a-multigenerational-household/"> a quarter of all adults ages 25 to 34 now live in a multigenerational living situation</a> (which it defines as a household with two or more adult generations).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T9dhc4">
Its a number thats been creeping upward since the early 70s but has swung up precipitously in the last 15 years. The decennial US Census measures multigenerational living slightly differently (three or more generations living together), but the trend still checks out. From 2010 to 2020, there was a nearly 18 percent <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/06/several-generations-under-one-roof.html">increase in the number of multigenerational households</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iyDIQY">
The research arm of the apartment listing and resident services company RentCafe went granular on Gen Z and <a href="https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/market-snapshots/multigenerational-households/">found that 68 percent over the age of 18 still live with a parent or parents</a>. As for millennials, 20 percent are back with mom and/or dad (or just never left).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DrZNw6">
Given the bum stigma (to paraphrase Layla Ahmed), whats going on here?
</p>
<h3 id="8MbscD">
Whats driving this?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1XjDl1">
When <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/03/24/financial-issues-top-the-list-of-reasons-u-s-adults-live-in-multigenerational-homes/">Pew recently surveyed</a> people living in multigenerational homes, more of them said financial issues drove the decision to move in with family than any other reason.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ybawlp">
Which: Yes. Total <a href="https://www.vox.com/student-loan-debt">student loan debt</a> has <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/HIST/cc_hist_memo_levels.html">ticked slightly down</a> in the past few years but not by much. Meanwhile, inflation. <a href="https://www.vox.com/videos/2023/2/24/23613892/inflation-prices-rising-explained">You may have heard of her</a>. And, oh yeah, <a href="https://www.jpmorgan.com/insights/real-estate/housing-market/the-american-homeowners-dream-vs-recent-reality">home affordability last fall was the lowest it had been since the 80s</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oOKq0o">
“I think its a contemporary trend, whether its to be able to save the money to buy a home, to be able to go back for a masters degree or to be able to do something to further their ability as independent adults,” said Donna Butts, executive director of <a href="https://www.gu.org/">Generations United</a>, a nonprofit that researches and advocates for multigenerational households.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XyLXHm">
Major macro disruptions — financial or otherwise — often lead to spikes in multigenerational living: “Weve seen the largest increases when our country has had a recession or a housing bust and then Covid,” Butts said. “But what people are surprised by is they always think that the numbers are going to decrease again.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ebOBkr">
Masks off, goodbye Mom and Dad? Not exactly.
</p>
<aside id="VZOpUC">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="40AEef">
<a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/time-series/demo/families-and-households/ad-1.pdf">The census</a> found that there <em>was</em> a dip in younger adults living with parents after a spike at the height of the pandemic. But the dip was pretty shallow. Which means many people moved in and just never left.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SYtK2t">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/4/17/23667770/child-care-crisis-prek-family-immigration">Amid skyrocketing costs</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/27/23356278/the-pandemic-child-care-inflation-crisis">labor shortages in care work</a> at <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22639674/elder-care-family-costs-nursing-home-health-care">either end of life</a> have also pulled people into multigenerational housing. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/03/24/financial-issues-top-the-list-of-reasons-u-s-adults-live-in-multigenerational-homes/">Nearly a third of people surveyed by Pew</a> said caregiving — child, elder, or otherwise — was the primary reason they lived in a multigenerational situation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7aPNfV">
One more reason multigenerational housing is on the rise: <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/new-2020-census-data-shows-an-aging-america-and-wide-racial-gaps-between-generations/">America is getting less white</a>. Hispanic and Asian people, especially if they are immigrants, are more likely to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/03/24/financial-issues-top-the-list-of-reasons-u-s-adults-live-in-multigenerational-homes/">live with extended family</a>. Black families are also traditionally more open to these arrangements.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pEcMCu">
<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/05/03/in-the-u-s-and-abroad-more-young-adults-are-living-with-their-parents/">In many</a> cultures <a href="https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/popfacts/PopFacts_2019-2.pdf">around the world</a>, multigenerational living — at least until marriage, and often even after — is the norm, not the exception.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Lx_lSMCJwQB-cwF1K8lT0HdeEls=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25362427/GettyImages_1380926333.jpg"/> <cite>Getty Images</cite>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TUldB4">
Given some of these factors driving the increase, I suppose its not surprising to see the way polling shakes out when it comes to these living situations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MnhTL6">
Overall, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/08/24/americans-more-likely-to-say-its-a-bad-thing-than-a-good-thing-that-more-young-adults-live-with-their-parents/">a little more than a third of Americans </a>say this trend is “bad for society” (ouch), per Pews research. But white people are more likely to say its bad news (41 percent) than Black people (26 percent), Hispanic people (28 percent), or Asian people (23 percent). Men find it more objectionable than women, older people are less on board, and Republicans are the least into this of any group measured.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4dgOsp">
Dave Ramsey fits a few of the above categories. White dude; baby boomer. Definitely conservative, though hes not much for party politics. He is also perhaps the most <a href="https://www.ramseysolutions.com/shows/the-ramsey-show">popular personal finance personality in America</a>, preaching a gospel of aggressive saving, home ownership, and freedom from debt (besides a modest mortgage).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O3nuoX">
Ramsey told <em>Today, Explained </em>on a recent visit to his studio, “Its not a kid thats a college graduate with a degree in logistics that has the ability to make 120k. Hes not living in his daddys basement, okay? Its career choice and direction.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7LuMIR">
But Ramsey loosened up a bit when asked about the potential for an adult living with parents to pay down debt. He said that if giving up autonomy temporarily means getting very real about paying off debt, “Sure. Have at it. Im in.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="80NB3t">
Butts points out, though, that <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2016/05/24/for-first-time-in-modern-era-living-with-parents-edges-out-other-living-arrangements-for-18-to-34-year-olds/">multigenerational living used to be pretty common before World War II </a>— and for decades before that. It was after the war when people got in cars, got jobs in suburbs, and bought homes with more space for fewer people. Nuclear families.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xOH2QX">
By 1960, a new norm had entered the chat. The vast majority of adults were peacing out from mom and dads and not looking back.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AFN71R">
“And we then said that was the way that people <em>should</em> live, that they should be independent, that we dont need each other — when in fact we do need each other,” she said. That includes for things like caregiving, staving off loneliness, and helping out (collectively) with the bills. Pooling resources is also better for the climate, she said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bw9lBA">
“We need to realize that its not a matter of us going back. Its a matter of us going forward to something that is better and healthier for many families.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OpNxcH">
<em>Additional reporting by Noel King and Amanda Lewellyn.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1UvlGA">
<em>This story appeared originally in </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast"><em><strong>Today, Explained</strong></em></a><em>, Voxs flagship daily newsletter. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/today-explained-newsletter-signup"><em><strong>Sign up here for future editions</strong></em></a><em>.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sU0VUH">
</p></li>
<li><strong>Biden wants to campaign on housing. He also sort of has to.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Biden speaks at a podium. Behind him, a large red banner reads: President Joe Biden: Lowering Housing Costs." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DnP0gxRZCzAJ4TNTPutfrVwwLx0=/304x0:5168x3648/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73246298/2097565992.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on affordable housing in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 19, 2024. | Ian Maule/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The president has a housing affordability problem.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4x8ZVg">
Biden is in campaign mode, and the president wants voters to know he understands housing is out of control.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VZw2g9">
Over the last month, Biden has ramped up his bully pulpit focus on the housing crisis. In his <a href="https://apnews.com/article/state-of-union-transcript-biden-2024-e84f5134e5201987eb441629aef5240c">State of the Union</a> address, the president pledged new tax credits for first-time homeowners and to “crack down on big landlords” who price-fix rents. His new budget includes <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/11/fact-sheet-the-presidents-budget-cuts-housing-costs-boosts-supply-and-expands-access-to-affordable-housing/#:~:text=The%20Budget%20includes%20that%20proposal,aging%20out%20of%20foster%20care%2C">proposals</a> to expand vouchers and housing supply,<strong> </strong>and he <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/03/11/remarks-by-president-biden-at-the-national-league-of-cities-congressional-city-conference-2/">gave a second speech</a> promising to “build, build, build” to “bring housing costs down for good.” When the president <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/03/20/remarks-by-president-biden-on-lowering-housing-costs-for-american-families-las-vegas-nv-march-19-2024/">hit the campaign trail</a> in late March,<strong> </strong>he dedicated a Las Vegas stop to stumping his affordable housing initiatives, and on Friday his administration even announced it would embrace <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/29/biden-rent-housing/">some new rent control</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8iRM2f">
You dont have to squint to see how the housing crisis is complicating the otherwise positive economic message the president hopes to sell.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GyzBrg">
Mortgage rates <a href="https://money.com/current-mortgage-rates/">are so high</a> that most homeowners feel they cant afford to move, and most renters feel priced out of the idea of homeownership altogether. Wages have gone up, but not faster than <a href="https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/must-more-biden-administration-wants-121500853.html">home-buying costs</a>, and over<a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_Americas_Rental_Housing_2024.pdf"> 22 million households</a> now spend more than a third of their income on rent as of 2022.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XYx01V">
Inflation and the <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a> remain the top issues for voters, and economists <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/22/why-that-last-mile-of-the-inflation-fight-may-be-more-challenging.html">cite</a> high housing costs as a<strong> </strong>main culprit for inflation still exceeding the Federal Reserves target goal of 2 percent.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v9bLFD">
This is all creating bad vibes, at a time when the president wants to build enthusiasm for a second term. A Redfin-commissioned survey from February <a href="https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/affordable-housing/2024/03/12/housing-affordabiilty-could-affect-who-voters-pick-for-president--study-says">found almost two-thirds</a> of homeowners and renters say housing affordability makes them feel negatively about the economy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VqGMe4">
Politically, the president also has a lot to worry about when it comes to mobilizing the young people and voters of color who helped him eke out a victory in 2020. Polling <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/05/upshot/polls-biden-trump-2024.html">indicates that its these voters</a> — who are more likely to be renters — that Biden is now struggling with: those who cast ballots for him four years ago but are now leaning toward Donald Trump or considering staying home on Election Day.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EOm0EW">
The White Houses “opportunism is finally catching up to them and I say that in a good way,” said Tara Raghuveer, the director of KC Tenants, a tenant union in Kansas City, Missouri. “They know now that what they do needs to feel material to people.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TYL98C">
Housing doesnt typically play a big role in presidential elections given that its a difficult issue for the White House to deliver short-term change on, and federal lawmakers more broadly have steered clear of issues like zoning, which largely fall under the purview of state and local governments.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="stz91d">
Thats starting to change in Washington, though, with both the House and Senate <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/01/therell-be-blowback-congress-feels-pressure-from-voters-on-housing-affordability-00138779#:~:text=The%20calls%20for%20action%20are,high%20interest%20rates%20squeezing%20supply.&amp;text=Lawmakers%20are%20feeling%20pressure%20from,priced%20out%20of%20the%20market.">holding more hearings recently</a> on housing affordability than each chamber has in years. Housing costs are generally the biggest bills voters are responsible for, and<strong> </strong>politicians are realizing they simply cant ignore it.
</p>
<h3 id="KvTIkk">
The president wants housing to be part of “Bidenomics”
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RsOgRS">
The <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">Biden administration</a> has talked previously about housing, but it wasnt an issue that stayed particularly high on the crowded legislative agenda. It fell out of the presidents $2 trillion Build Back Better package, and Biden rarely gave any speeches on the topic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RQxARJ">
In 2022, his team did put out the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/16/president-biden-announces-new-actions-to-ease-the-burden-of-housing-costs/">Housing Supply Action Plan</a>,<strong> </strong>a grab bag of proposals that the White House called “the most comprehensive all of government effort to close the housing supply shortfall in history.” But housing advocates <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/23595421/biden-affordable-housing-shortage-supply">critiqued the administration</a> for failing to really lead bipartisan housing negotiations in Congress, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-room/2022/11/15/letter-regarding-additional-funding-to-address-assistance-to-ukraine-and-to-support-the-united-states-response-to-covid-19/">for not fighting hard for housing</a> money in competitive spending bills, and for not working closely enough with the private sector <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/23595421/biden-affordable-housing-shortage-supply">to bring down construction costs</a>. (Daniel Hornung, deputy director of the White Houses National Economic Council, told Vox they discuss housing often and its “part of almost every economic conversation we have with members of Congress.”)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EOGf3S">
In <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/06/28/bidenomics-is-working-the-presidents-plan-grows-the-economy-from-the-middle-out-and-bottom-up-not-the-top-down/">promoting his<strong> </strong>economic agenda</a> in the summer of 2023, in what would become known as “<a href="https://www.vox.com/23815490/joe-biden-economy-bidenomics-jobs-inflation-2024-election">Bidenomics</a>,”<strong> </strong>the president emphasized three main planks: empowering workers, reviving domestic manufacturing, and reining in corporate power through competition.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RIxgyF">
Housing wasnt much part of that<strong> </strong>conversation, but the White House is trying to change that now. In a<strong> </strong>newly released <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2024/03/21/the-2024-economic-report-of-the-president/">report</a>, the presidents staff economists dedicated <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ERP-2024-CHAPTER-4.pdf">an entire chapter</a> to increasing the supply of affordable housing and called for more aggressive federal action to lower costs, like pressuring cities to loosen zoning laws.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L91Z2A">
For now, the presidents <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/11/fact-sheet-the-presidents-budget-cuts-housing-costs-boosts-supply-and-expands-access-to-affordable-housing/#:~:text=The%20Budget%20includes%20that%20proposal,aging%20out%20of%20foster%20care%2C">$258 billion housing proposals</a> seem geared toward the election, elevating more popular issues like junk fees and rent gouging. Biden also proposed new tax credits for first-time homebuyers and for middle-class families selling their starter homes, and a new $20 billion grant program to increase housing production. And rather than running on a universal expansion of housing vouchers to all eligible renters, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/9/21316912/joe-biden-housing-plan-section-8">as he did in 2020</a>, the president is now proposing an expansion of housing vouchers to more politically popular groups — low-income veterans and youth aging out of the foster care system.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ah51G8">
Some conservatives criticized Bidens<strong> </strong>plan on the basis that the proposals would <a href="https://www.aei.org/articles/state-of-the-union-bidens-housing-proposals-would-be-harmful-not-helpful/">actually make things worse</a> if supply didnt also significantly increase. “Bidens backwards solution is to subsidize demand by handing out more government money to buyers, renters, and developers,” <a href="https://manhattan.institute/article/bidens-housing-plan-will-backfire">argued</a> Judge Glock, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a right-leaning think tank.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Tja0QF">
It will be hard to make a real federal dent on housing without Congress, and its unlikely that any major congressional action will happen before the next election, with Republicans loathe to give Biden any more bipartisan victories to campaign on. While the House of Representatives did authorize a meaningful increase to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program <a href="https://www.novoco.com/news/house-passes-legislation-containing-lihtc-provisions-bill-goes-to-senate">in January</a>, that package looks increasingly dead in the Senate. Experts say the expiring Trump tax cuts in December 2025 look like the next big likely opportunity for new housing spending.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VcIMDe">
Until then, the president needs to walk a tight line between elevating the housing crisis and not polarizing it. The pro-housing “Yes in My Backyard” movement has been successful so far largely by <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/03/yimby-housing-bipartisan-zoning/677704/">building bipartisan coalitions</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U6FHIs">
Perhaps the biggest shift is really in the White Houses willingness to focus on the plight of renters, something tenant advocates say took years to finally see.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="44xliB">
“In the summer 2022, when inflation was really bad and the biggest driving factors were shelter and gas, the Biden administration never uttered the word rent,’” Raghuveer said. “Two years later, they are talking about rent gouging and about exactly the policy solutions weve been proposing since 2020, including conditions for federal subsidies, tax credits, and financing. The bar is really low but were breaking new ground.”
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>BCCI invites IPL owners for informal meet in Ahmedabad on April 16</strong> - The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the game between Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bashir, Cellini and Star Prosperity excel</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL-17: RCB vs LSG | Royal Challengers Bengaluru eye collective improvement against Lucknow Super Giants</strong> - Lucknow Super Giants have their own set of worries as the fitness of regular captain Rahul, who came in as an Impact Sub against Punjab Kings, will be closely monitored.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sri Lanka holds 476-run lead over Bangladesh at stumps on Day 2 of 2nd Test</strong> - Kamindu Mendis was stranded on 92 as the 10th wicket fell to a run-out dismissal; Kusal Mendis made 93 while Dimuth Karunaratne scored 86, captain Dhananjaya de Silva added 70</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Martínez scores first career goal, rallies NYCFC to 1-1 draw with Inter Miami</strong> - Suárez staked Inter Miami to a 1-0 lead just 15 minutes into the match, scoring on a header with an assist from Julian Gressel off a set piece</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Katchatheevu island | Opposition cites 2015 RTI reply by MEA, jabs Govt over change in stance</strong> - The oppositions response came after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar claimed that Prime Ministers from the Congress displayed indifference about Katchatheevu island</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Watch | What is the vote-from-home facility and who can apply? | Lok Sabha polls 2024</strong> - The initiative would allow more than 85 lakh senior citizens and 88.4 lakh persons with disabilities to cast their votes</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Couple found dead at their residence in Kondapur</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Two workers killed in empty oil tanker blast in Kakinada district</strong> - They were doing welding work on the tanker when it exploded near Kathipudi village, says police</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Katchatheevu | What is the controversy all about?</strong> - Prime Minister Narendra Modis X post has rekindled the issue of ceding Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka in 1974, also an issue in which INDIA bloc allies Congress, DMK and MDMK are not on the same page</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Investigation links Havana Syndrome to Russia</strong> - Media reports further fuel the view that US diplomats may have been targeted with sonic weapons.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Barrage of Russian attacks aims to cut Ukraines lights</strong> - Russia has launched a wave of additional strikes across the country targeting the energy supply.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>French toddler Emile Soleils remains found</strong> - Emile Soleil disappeared in a tiny Alpine village nine months ago. How he died remains unclear.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Turkish opposition stuns Erdogan with local elections win</strong> - President Erdogan fails to regain Turkeys big cities that he lost five years ago.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia ends efforts to rescue trapped gold miners</strong> - The miners are presumed dead after a landslide two weeks ago at the far eastern facility.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Daily Telescope: A flying telescope gets photobombed by some planets</strong> - Its a bird… Its a plane… Its a telescope. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013723">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What we know about the xz Utils backdoor that almost infected the world</strong> - Malicious updates made to a ubiquitous tool were a few weeks away from going mainstream. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013894">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The entire state of Illinois is going to be crawling with cicadas</strong> - And the land shall feast on their dead. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013710">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Proteins let cells remember how well their last division went</strong> - Scientists find a “mitotic stopwatch” that lets individual cells remember something. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013795">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Playboy image from 1972 gets ban from IEEE computer journals</strong> - Use of “Lenna” image in computer image processing research stretches back to the 1970s. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2013640">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Aprils Fools is canceled this year.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
No one has managed to come up with a prank that can match the unbelievable shit going on in the world right now…
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Make_the_music_stop"> /u/Make_the_music_stop </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bszp52/aprils_fools_is_canceled_this_year/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bszp52/aprils_fools_is_canceled_this_year/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“Head, shoulders, knees and toes,” used to be a fun little kids song.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Now its a list of things that hurt.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TheQuietKid22"> /u/TheQuietKid22 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsws8v/head_shoulders_knees_and_toes_used_to_be_a_fun/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsws8v/head_shoulders_knees_and_toes_used_to_be_a_fun/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pizza guy: your total is $38.24</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Me: I cant afford that<br/> Pizza guy: well youre gonna have to pay some other way, then<br/> Me: [takes out wallet] wait I forgot I had 40 bucks<br/> Porn director: Cut, WTF?
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/karatekid430"> /u/karatekid430 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsu8z0/pizza_guy_your_total_is_3824/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsu8z0/pizza_guy_your_total_is_3824/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A woman is caught in the very act of adultery…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
and Jesus is asked “The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
And he sits down on the ground, and starts writing the names of sins in the dust before them. The tension fizzles slowly out of the crowd. The Pharisees continue to demand an answer from him, though, Jesus ignores them. Finally Jesus looks up at them and says “Go ahead, but let the one who has never committed a sin cast the first stone.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
And he fixes his gaze on the Pharisees, who look away. Everyone is silent, and the tension fizzles out of the crowd. The older men drop their stones.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
And suddenly a half-brick comes flying through the air, hits the woman smack in the face; she goes down, and everyone joins in.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
But Jesus isnt looking; he marches to the back of the crowd, grabs an elderly lady by the shoulders, shakes her, and screams: “Mum! You really can be a pain in the arse at times!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Saint__Thomas"> /u/Saint__Thomas </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsgnun/a_woman_is_caught_in_the_very_act_of_adultery/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsgnun/a_woman_is_caught_in_the_very_act_of_adultery/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Just got my Wifes Test Results…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Doctor: “I have some concerning news. Its either AIDS or Alzheimers.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Me: “Seriously? What on earth do I do with that info?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Doctor: “Go take her for a drive, drop her off somewhere and if she comes back home: DONT FUCK HER.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/cosmic_kitten_club"> /u/cosmic_kitten_club </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsed3s/just_got_my_wifes_test_results/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1bsed3s/just_got_my_wifes_test_results/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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