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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>Prediction of residue-specific contributions to binding and thermal stability using yeast surface display</strong> -
<div>
Accurate prediction of residue burial as well as quantitative prediction of residue-specific contributions to protein stability and activity is challenging, especially in the absence of experimental structural information. This is important for prediction and understanding of disease causing mutations, and for protein stabilization and design. Using yeast surface display of a saturation mutagenesis library of the bacterial toxin CcdB, we probe the relationship between ligand binding and expression level of displayed protein, with in vivo solubility in E.coli and in vitro thermal stability. We find that both the stability and solubility correlate well with the total amount of active protein on the yeast cell surface but not with total amount of expressed protein. We coupled FACS and deep sequencing to reconstruct the binding and expression mean fluorescent intensity of each mutant. The reconstructed mean fluorescence intensity (MFIseq) was used to differentiate between buried site, exposed non active-site and exposed active-site positions with high accuracy. The MFIseq was also used as a criterion to identify destabilized as well as stabilized mutants in the library, and to predict the melting temperatures of destabilized mutants. These predictions were experimentally validated and were more accurate than those of various computational predictors. The approach was extended to successfully identify buried and active-site residues in the receptor binding domain of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, suggesting it has general applicability.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.31.446445v2" target="_blank">Prediction of residue-specific contributions to binding and thermal stability using yeast surface display</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>COVID-19 and Seasonal Flu Vaccination Hesitancy: Links to Personality and General Intelligence in a Large, UK Cohort</strong> -
<div>
Vaccines are a powerful and relatively safe tool to protect against a range of serious diseases. Nonetheless, a sizeable minority of people express ‘vaccination hesitancy’. Accordingly, understanding the bases of this hesitancy represents a significant public health challenge. In the present study we sought to examine the role of Big Five personality traits and general intelligence as predictors of vaccination hesitancy, across two vaccination types, in a large (N= 9667) sample of UK adults drawn from the Understanding Society longitudinal household study. We found that lower general intelligence was associated with COVID-19 and seasonal flu vaccination hesitancy, and lower neuroticism was associated with COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy. Although the self-reported reasons for being vaccine hesitant indicated a range of factors were important to people, lower general intelligence was associated with virtually all of these reasons. In contrast, Big 5 personality traits showed more nuanced patterns of association. These findings provide important insights into vaccination hesitancy and help to reconcile some of the inconsistencies found in previous literature.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/tq6k2/" target="_blank">COVID-19 and Seasonal Flu Vaccination Hesitancy: Links to Personality and General Intelligence in a Large, UK Cohort</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVENESS OF AROGYA KASHAYAM-20 IN COVID-19 CASES - A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED STUDY</strong> -
<div>
Introduction: The characteristic clinical features of Covid-19 disease range between asymptomatic to mild-moderate symptoms. Studies suggest that a large population (80%) presents its asymptomatic or milder form. Remaining 20 percent, owing to severity of the diseases, need hospital-based care. Many treatment protocols and strategies have been promoted and recommended by authorities including WHO, but nothing has actually been finalized till date. The present study was planned to evaluate the effectiveness of an Ayurvedic formulation viz. Arogya Kashayam-20 in the hospitalized cases of Covid-19. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of Arogya Kashayam-20 in the cases of COVID-19 particularly the negative conversion of RTPCR in 10 days duration. Material and Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial conducted at COVID-19 Care Center, Pt. Khushilal Sharma Government Ayurveda College &amp; Institute, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh with a sample size of 112 participants, aged between 16 to 60 years of either sex. Participants were divided in two groups viz. group A and B. Both the groups received Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), vitamin C and Zinc as per the prevailing ICMR guidelines and group ‘A’ received additionally Arogya Kashayam-20 for 10 days. Outcome measure of the study was to see the negative conversion RT-PCR test after intervention period of 10 days. CTRI Registration: CTRI/2020/06/026221. Results: Among the 60 cases registered in study group (group A), 51 cases (85.00%) were reported with negative RTPCR on 10th day. Out of 52 cases registered in control group (group B); 39 cases (75.00%) were tested negative RTPCR on 10th day. In both the groups all the cases were discharged asymptomatically on 10th day as per the prevailing ICMR guidelines. No ADR/AE observed during the intervention period. Conclusion: The study observes that the add on intervention group has a better outcome in terms of RT-PCR negative reports after 10 days comparing to the control group.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/au3ct/" target="_blank">EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVENESS OF AROGYA KASHAYAM-20 IN COVID-19 CASES - A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED STUDY</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Social cohesion at the outset of COVID-19 predicts later vaccination intentions</strong> -
<div>
Vaccination intentions are widely regarded as individual decision, resting upon individuals’ attitudes and beliefs about the disease and their own health. In this research, we provide evidence that group factors, and more precisely, social cohesion — a multidimensional concept that encompasses one’s sense of connectedness to, and interrelations within, a group — can help us understand COVID-19 vaccination intentions. Using a representative sample of 3026 Australians, we first found evidence for the multidimensional structure of social cohesion, as a concept that includes positive social relations, social identification, and trust in government. Second, social cohesion assessed early in the COVID-19 pandemic predicted greater vaccination intention and lower perceived risk of vaccination four months later, after controlling for a series of demographic (i.e., sex, age, income) and health-related factors (i.e., subjective health; perceived risk; having been diagnosed with COVID-19). These results suggest that investments in social cohesion could have substantial and unexpected downstream benefits.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/dzws3/" target="_blank">Social cohesion at the outset of COVID-19 predicts later vaccination intentions</a>
</div></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Territorial strategy of medical units for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in the metropolitan area of Mexico City: analysis of mobility, accessibility and marginalization</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an exponential increase in the demand for medical care worldwide. In Mexico, the COVID Medical Units (CMU) conversion strategy was implemented. Objective. To evaluate the CMU coverage strategy in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) by territory. Materials. The CMU directory was used, as were COVID-19 infection and movement statistics and 2020 Mexican census information at the urban geographic area scale. The degree of urban marginalization by geographic area was also considered. Method. Using descriptive statistics and the calculation of a CMU accessibility index, population aggregates were counted based on coverage radii. In addition, two regression models are proposed to explain 1) the territorial and temporal trend of COVID-19 infections in the MCMA and 2) the movement of the COVID-infected population to medical units. Results. The findings of the evaluation of the CMU strategy were 1) in the MCMA, COVID-19 followed a pattern of contagion from the urban center to the periphery; 2) given the growth in the number of cases and the overload of medical units, the population traveled greater distances to seek medical care; 3) after the CMU strategy was evaluated at the territory level, it was found that 9 out of 10 inhabitants had a CMU located approximately 7 kilometers away; and 4) at the metropolitan level, the lowest level of accessibility to the CMU was recorded for the population with the highest levels of marginalization: those residing in the urban periphery.
</div></li>
</ul>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/s8th7/" target="_blank">Territorial strategy of medical units for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in the metropolitan area of Mexico City: analysis of mobility, accessibility and marginalization</a>
</div>
<ul>
<li><strong>A novel Pan-viral prophylaxis strategy using vaccine adjuvant CAF09b protects against influenza virus infection</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic caused a massive health and societal crisis, although the fast development of effective vaccines reduced some of the impact. To prepare for future pandemics, a pan-viral prophylaxis could be used to control the initial virus outbreak in the period prior to vaccine approval. The liposomal vaccine adjuvant CAF09b contains the TLR3 agonist polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid, which induces a type I interferon (IFN-I) response and an antiviral state in the affected tissues. When testing CAF09b as a potential pan-viral prophylaxis, we observed that intranasal administration of CAF09b to mice resulted in an influx of innate immune cells into the nose and lungs and upregulation of IFN-I related gene expression. When CAF09b was administered prior to challenge with mouse-adapted influenza A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 virus, it protected from severe disease, although virus was still detectable in the lungs. However, when CAF09b was administered after influenza challenge, the mice had a similar disease course to controls. In conclusion, CAF09b may be a suitable candidate as a pan-viral prophylactic treatment for epidemic viruses, but must be administered prior to virus exposure to be effective.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.21.465243v1" target="_blank">A novel Pan-viral prophylaxis strategy using vaccine adjuvant CAF09b protects against influenza virus infection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>S100A8 and S100A9, biomarkers of SARS-Cov-2-infected patients, suppress HIV replication in primary macrophages</strong> -
<div>
S100A8 and S100A9 are members of the Alarmin family; these proteins are abundantly expressed in neutrophils and form a heterodimer complex. Recently, both proteins were identified as novel biomarkers of SARS-CoV-2 infection and were shown to play key roles in inducing an aggressive inflammatory response by mediating the release of large amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines, called the cytokine storm. Although co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 in people living with HIV-1 may result in an immunocompromised status, the role of the S100A8/A9 complex in HIV-1 replication in primary T cells and macrophages is still unclear. Here, we evaluated the roles of the proteins in HIV replication to elucidate their functions. We found that the complex had no impact on virus replication in both cell types; however, the subunits of S100A8 and S100A9 inhibits HIV in macrophages. These findings provide important insights into the regulation of HIV viral loads during SARS-CoV-2 co-infection.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.20.464686v1" target="_blank">S100A8 and S100A9, biomarkers of SARS-Cov-2-infected patients, suppress HIV replication in primary macrophages</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Professional practice for COVID-19 risk reduction among health care workers : a Cross-Sectional Study with Matched Case-Control Comparison</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Abstract Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are particularly exposed to COVID-19 and therefore it is paramount to study preventive measures in this population. Aim: To investigate socio-demographic factors and professional practice associated with the risk of COVID-19 among HCWs in health establishments in Normandy, France Methods: A cross-sectional and 3 case-control studies were conducted in order to explore the possible risk factors that lead to SARS-CoV2 transmission within HCWs, based on an online questionnaire. The case-control studies focused on risk factors associated with care of COVID-19 patients, care of non COVID-19 patients and contacts between colleagues. Findings: Among 2,058 respondents, respectively 1,363 (66.2%) and 695 (33.8%) in medical and medico-social establishments, 301 (14.6%) reported having been infected by SARS-CoV2. When caring for COVID-19 patients, HCWs who declared wearing respirators, either for all patient care (ORa 0.39; 95% CI: 0.29-0.51) or only when exposed to aerosol- generating procedures (ORa 0.56; 95% CI: 0.43-0.70), had a lower risk of infection compared with HCWs who declared wearing mainly surgical masks. During care of non COVID-19 patients, wearing mainly a respirator was associated with a higher risk of infection (ORa 1.84; 95% CI: 1.06-3.37). An increased risk was also found for HCWs who changed uniform in workplace changing rooms (ORa 1.93; 95% CI: 1.63-2.29). Conclusion: Correct use of PPE adapted to the situation and risk level is essential in protecting HCWs against infection.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.09.21263315v2" target="_blank">Professional practice for COVID-19 risk reduction among health care workers : a Cross-Sectional Study with Matched Case-Control Comparison</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The challenges of developing biosensors for clinical assessment: a review</strong> -
<div>
Emerging research in biosensors has attracted much attention worldwide, particularly in re-sponse to the recent pandemic outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Neverthe-less, initiating research in biosensing applied to the diagnostic of diseases is still challenging for researchers, either from the preferences of biosensor platforms, selection of biomarkers, detection strategies, and other aspects (e.g., cutoff values) to fulfill the clinical purpose. There are two sides to the development of a diagnostic tool: the biosensor development side and the clinical side. From the development side, the research engineers seek the typical characteristics of a biosensor: sensitivity, selectivity, linearity, stability, and reproducibility. On the other side are the physicians that expect a diagnostic tool that provides fast acquisition of patient in-formation to obtain an early diagnostic or an efficient patient stratification, which conse-quently allows making assertive and efficient clinical decisions. The development of diagnostic devices always involves assay developer researchers, working as pivots to bridge both sides, which role is to find detection strategies suitable to the clinical needs. First, by understanding the intended use of the technology and its basic principle; second, the preferable type of test: qualitative or quantitative, sample matrix challenges, biomarker(s) threshold (cutoff value), and if the system requires a mono or multiplex assay format. This review highlights the challenges for the development of biosensors for clinical assessment and its broad application in multidisciplinary fields. This review paper highlights the following biosensor technologies: magnetoresistive (MR)-based, transistor- based, quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), and op-tical-based biosensors. Its working mechanisms are discussed with their pros and cons. The article also gives an overview of the most critical parameters that are optimized by developing a diagnostic tool.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://engrxiv.org/7g4vh/" target="_blank">The challenges of developing biosensors for clinical assessment: a review</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Food Security Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Following a Cohort of Vermonters During the First Year</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective: This study assessed changes in household food insecurity throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in a cohort of Vermonters and examined the socio-demographic characteristics associated with increased odds of experiencing food insecurity during the pandemic. Design: We conducted three online surveys with a cohort of Vermonters between March 2020 and March 2021 to collect longitudinal data on food security, food access, and job disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Food security was measured using the USDA six-item module. We used t-tests and chi-square tests to determine statistically significant differences between groups and multivariate logistic regression models to determine the factors correlated with food insecurity. Participants: 441 adults (18 years and older) Setting: Vermont, United States Results: Food insecurity rates increased significantly during the pandemic and remained above pre-pandemic levels a year after the start of the pandemic. Nearly a third (31.6%) of respondents experienced food insecurity at some point during the first year of the pandemic. Certain demographic groups were at significantly higher odds of experiencing food insecurity during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic including households with children (OR 5.1, p &lt; 0.01), women (OR 7.3, p &lt; 0.05), BIPOC/Hispanic respondents (OR 10.4, p &lt; 0.05), and households experiencing a job disruption (OR 4.6, p &lt; 0.01). Conclusion: The prevalence of food insecurity increased during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and remained higher than pre-pandemic levels a year after the pandemic began. Odds of experiencing food insecurity during the pandemic vary based on socio-demographic factors.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.20.21265283v1" target="_blank">Food Security Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Following a Cohort of Vermonters During the First Year</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Multireader Evaluation of Radiologist Performance for COVID-19 Detection on Emergency Department Chest Radiographs</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background Chest radiographs (CXR) are frequently used as a screening tool for patients with suspected COVID-19 infection pending reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results, despite recommendations against this. We evaluated radiologist performance for COVID 19 diagnosis on CXR at the time of patient presentation in the Emergency Department (ED). Materials and Methods We extracted RT PCR results, clinical history, and CXRs of all patients from a single institution between March and June 2020. 984 RT PCR positive and 1043 RT-PCR negative radiographs were reviewed by 10 emergency radiologists from 4 academic centers. 100 cases were read by all radiologists and 1927 cases by 2 radiologists. Each radiologist chose the single best label per case: Normal, COVID 19, Other Infectious, Other Noninfectious, Non diagnostic, and Endotracheal Tube. Cases labeled with endotracheal tube or non-diagnostic were excluded. Remaining cases were analyzed for label distribution, clinical history, and inter-reader agreement. Results 1727 radiographs (732 RT PCR positive, 995 RT PCR negative) were included from 1,594 patients (51.2% male, 48.8% female, age 59 +/- 19 years). For 89 cases read by all readers, there was poor agreement for RT PCR positive (Fleiss Score 0.36) and negative (Fleiss Score 0.46) exams. Agreement between two readers on 1,638 cases was 54.2% (373/688) for RT- PCR positive cases and 71.4% (679/950) for negative cases. Agreement was highest for RT PCR negative cases labeled as Normal (50.4%, n= 479). Reader performance did not improve with clinical history or time between CXR and RT-PCR result. Conclusion At the time of presentation to the emergency department, emergency radiologist performance is non- specific for diagnosing COVID 19.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.20.21265278v1" target="_blank">Multireader Evaluation of Radiologist Performance for COVID-19 Detection on Emergency Department Chest Radiographs</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Effect of the third dose of BNT162b2 vaccine in quantitative SARS-CoV-2 spike 1-2 IgG antibody titers in healthcare workers</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Vaccination is our main strategy to control SARS-CoV-2 infection. Given a decrease in the quantitative SARS-CoV-2 spike 1-2 IgG antibody titers three months following the second BNT162b2 dose, healthcare workers got a third booster dose after six months of completing the original scheme. This study aimed to analyze quantitative SARS-CoV-2 spike 1-2 IgG antibody titers and safety of the third dose. Material and methods: A prospective longitudinal cohort study included healthcare workers who received a third booster dose after six months of the complete BNT162b2 regimen. We assessed the quantitative SARS-CoV-2 spike 1-2 IgG antibody titers 21-28 days after the first and second dose, three months after the complete scheme, 1-7 days following the third dose, and 21-28 days after the boost. Results: The cohort comprised 168 non-immunocompromised participants of 41(10) years old, 67% being women. The third dose was associated with increasing the quantitative antibody titers, regardless of previous SARS-CoV-2 history. In negative SARS-CoV-2 history, the median (IQR) antibody titers increased from 379 (645.4) to 2960 (2010), while in positive SARS-CoV-2 history, from 590 (1262) to 3090 (2080). The third dose had less number of total side effects compared to the other two shots. The most common side effect after the third BNT162b2 shot was pain at the injection site (n=82, 84.5%), followed by tiredness (n=45, 46.4%), with a mild severity (n=36, 37.1%). Tiredness, myalgias, arthralgias, fever, and adenopathy were proportionally higher following the third dose than the two-dose regimen (p&lt;0.05). Conclusion: The third dose applied after six months of the original BNT162b2 regimen provided a good humoral immune response by elevating the quantitative SARS-CoV-2 spike 1-2 IgG antibody titers. The booster dose was well tolerated with no severe side effects after the additional BNT162b2 dose.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.20.21265269v1" target="_blank">Effect of the third dose of BNT162b2 vaccine in quantitative SARS-CoV-2 spike 1-2 IgG antibody titers in healthcare workers</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Impaired Neutralizing Antibody Response to COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines in Cancer Patients</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
There is currently a critical need to determine the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination for immunocompromised patients. In this study, we determined the neutralizing antibody response in 160 cancer patients diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), lung cancer, breast cancer, and various non-Hodgkin9s lymphomas (NHL), after they received two doses of mRNA vaccines. Serum from 46 mRNA vaccinated health care workers (HCWs) served as healthy controls. We discovered that (1) cancer patients exhibited reduced neutralizing antibody titer (NT50) compared to HCWs; (2) CLL and NHL patients exhibited the lowest NT50 levels, with 50-60% of them below the detection limit; (3) mean NT50 levels in patients with CLL and NHL was ~2.6 fold lower than those with solid tumors; and (4) cancer patients who received anti-B cell therapy exhibited significantly reduced NT50 levels. Our results demonstrate an urgent need for novel immunization strategies for cancer patients against SARS-CoV-2, particularly those with hematological cancers and those on anti-B cell therapies.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.20.21265273v1" target="_blank">Impaired Neutralizing Antibody Response to COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines in Cancer Patients</a>
</div></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Long-range regulatory effects of Neandertal DNA in modern humans</strong> -
<div>
The admixture between modern humans and Neandertals has resulted in ~2% of the genomes of present-day non-Africans still being composed of Neandertal DNA. Association studies have shown that introgressed DNA still significantly influences skin and hair traits, immunity and behavioral phenotypes in people today. Several of the phenotype-associated archaic variants had links to regulatory effects as well. In general, analyses of allele-specific expression, regulatory sequence composition and cis-eQTL have demonstrated a significant contribution of this introgressed DNA to the transcriptomic landscape in people today. However, little is known about the impact of Neandertal DNA on trans-eQTLs</div></li>
<li>long-range regulatory effects that have been shown to explain ~20% of expression variation. Here, we used blood eQTL results from &gt;30,000 individuals from eQTLGen Consortium. The cohort size allowed for a robust identification of trans-eQTLs and in addition enabled quantifying the role of transcription factors (TF) in mediating long-range regulatory effects. In our study we used this information to (i) annotate trans-eQTLs that are linked to Neandertal variants and (ii) predict long-range regulatory effects that are induced by Neandertal DNA by screening for the predicted target genes of TFs that are cis-eQTLs linked to Neandertal variants. We show that both trans-eQTL-associated Neandertal variants and those predicted to have long-range regulatory effects affect genes in genomic regions devoid of Neandertal DNA. In addition, both types of variants included candidates for local adaptation and show associations with autoimmune disorders, a severe Covid-19 phenotype, blood cell type composition and anthropometric measures. Our results suggest that the regulatory reach of Neandertal DNA goes beyond the 40% of genomic sequence that it still covers in present-day non-Africans and that via this mechanism Neandertal DNA additionally influences the phenotypic variation in people today.
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.20.464628v1" target="_blank">Long-range regulatory effects of Neandertal DNA in modern humans</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Central Banking and Inequalities: Old Tropes and New Practices</strong> -
<div>
This paper presents a critical analysis of the stance taken on inequality by two central banks since 2015: the Bank of Canada (BoC) and the Federal Reserve (Fed). The analysis is informed by a computer-assisted discourse analysis of how central bankers from the two institutions position themselves when it comes to issues of inequality. We observe that the position on inequality of the two central banks has changed in recent years and continues to do so. We argue that the stance on inequality taken by the BoC and the Fed suffers from a number of both inconsistencies and shortcomings. On the one hand, the BoC and the Fed claim that monetary policy instruments are too blunt to target specific sectors of the economy. On the other hand, with their response to COVID-19, they have demonstrated that such targeting is possible after all.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/wvtjx/" target="_blank">Central Banking and Inequalities: Old Tropes and New Practices</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<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>Randomized Study to Evaluate Intranasal Dose of STI-2099 (COVI-DROPS™) in Outpatient Adults With Mild COVID-19 Infection</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVI-DROPS;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet 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>Efficacy and Safety of Apixaban in COVID-19 Coagulopathy Patients With Respiratory Severity Under Critical Care</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Apixaban<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
Scotmann Pharmaceuticals;   Rawalpindi Medical College<br/><b>Not yet 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>Immunogenicity and Safety of Heterologous and Homologous Boosting With ChAdOx1-S and CoronaVac or a Formulation of SCB-2019 (COVID-19)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: ChAdOx1-S COVID-19 Vaccine(Fiocruz/Oxford- AstraZeneca);   Biological: CoronaVac (Sinovac Biotech);   Biological: Adjuvanted Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 TrimericS- protein Subunit Vaccine (SCB-2019 - Clover)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   D’Or Institute for Research and Education;   Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation;   Instituto Fernandes Figueira<br/><b>Not yet 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>Tocilizumab Versus Baricitinib in Patients With Severe COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Tocilizumab;   Drug: Baricitinib<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University Hospital of Patras<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>The Efficacy and Safety of Pyramax in Mild to Moderate COVID-19 Patients (Phase3)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Pyramax;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Shin Poong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.<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>Efficacy of Home Inspiratory Muscle Training in Post-covid-19 Patients: a Randomized Clinical Trial</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: Inspiratory muscle training<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte<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>Effectiveness of Using Interactive Consulting System to Enhance Decision Aids of COVID-19 Vaccination</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: Chatbot<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sun Yat- sen University<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>Impact of Nudges on Downloads of COVID-19 Exposure Notification Smartphone Apps: A Randomized Trial</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Self-Benefit/Social Norm;   Behavioral: Self- Benefit/No Social Norm;   Behavioral: Other Benefit/Social Norm;   Behavioral: Other Benefit/No Social Norm<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Pennsylvania;   Pennsylvania Department of Health<br/><b>Completed</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>Efficacy, Safety, and Immunogenicity Study of the Recombinant Two-component COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO Cell)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Recombinant two-component COVID-19 vaccine (CHO cell);   Biological: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Jiangsu Rec-Biotechnology Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet 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>Cardiovascular Assessment in Patient Recovered From COVID-19 and Recovery of Autonomic Nervous System in Association With the Severity of the Disease</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Non invasive cardiovascular monitoring with CNAP device of arterial pressure, ECG and respiratory activity<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   IRCCS Policlinico S. Donato<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>Safety and Efficacy of KOVIR (TD0068) in the Combination Regimen With Background Treatment in COVID-19 Patients (KOVIR)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Dietary Supplement: KOVIR (TD0068) oral capsule;   Dietary Supplement: Placebo oral capsule<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Sunstar Joint Stock Company;   Vietstar Biomedical Research<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>A Safety and Tolerability Study of BDB-001 in Mild, Moderate COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: BDB-001 injection<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
Staidson (Beijing) Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd;   Beijing Defengrui Biotechnology Co. Ltd<br/><b>Completed</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>Acetylsalicylic Acid in COVID-19 (ASA-SARS)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV2 Infection;   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Low-dose acetylsalicylic acid;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Barcelona Institute for Global Health;   Hospital Universitario de Torrejón,Madrid;   Hospital Universitario Infanta Leonor;   Fundació Institut de Recerca de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau;   Hospital del Mar;   Hopsital Central de Maputo, Mozambique<br/><b>Not yet 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>Pulmonary Function in Patients Recovering From COVID19 Infection : a Pilot Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: diaphragm ultrasonography<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University Hospital, Limoges<br/><b>Not yet 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>Safety and Immunogenicity Study of Booster Vaccination With Medium-dosage or High-dosage SARS-CoV-2 Inactivated Vaccine for Prevention of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: High-dosage SARS-CoV-2 vaccine;   Biological: Medium-dosage SARS-CoV-2 vaccine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sinovac Biotech Co., Ltd<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</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>SARS-CoV-2 spike protein induces abnormal inflammatory blood clots neutralized by fibrin immunotherapy</strong> - Blood clots are a central feature of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) and can culminate in pulmonary embolism, stroke, and sudden death. However, it is not known how abnormal blood clots form in COVID-19 or why they occur even in asymptomatic and convalescent patients. Here we report that the Spike protein from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) binds to the blood coagulation factor fibrinogen and induces structurally abnormal blood clots with heightened…</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>Antibody-mediated broad sarbecovirus neutralization through ACE2 molecular mimicry</strong> - Understanding broadly neutralizing sarbecovirus antibody responses is key to developing countermeasures effective against SARS-CoV-2 variants and future spillovers of other sarbecoviruses. Here we describe the isolation and characterization of a human monoclonal antibody, designated S2K146, broadly neutralizing viruses belonging to all three sarbecovirus clades known to utilize ACE2 as entry receptor and protecting therapeutically against SARS-CoV-2 beta challenge in hamsters. Structural and…</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>Adverse Effects of Metformin From Diabetes to COVID-19, Cancer, Neurodegenerative Diseases, and Aging: Is VDAC1 a Common Target?</strong> - Metformin has been used for treating diabetes mellitus since the late 1950s. In addition to its antihyperglycemic activity, it was shown to be a potential drug candidate for treating a range of other diseases that include various cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetic kidney disease, neurodegenerative diseases, renal diseases, obesity, inflammation, COVID-19 in diabetic patients, and aging. In this review, we focus on the important aspects of mitochondrial dysfunction in energy metabolism…</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>COVID-19 disease and malignant cancers: The impact for the furin gene expression in susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Furin is a proprotein convertase that activates different kinds of regulatory proteins, including SARS-CoV-2 spike protein which contains an additional furin-specific cleavage site. It is essential in predicting cancer patients’ susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 and the disease outcomes due to varying furin expressions in tumor tissues. In this study, we analyzed furin’s expression, methylation, mutation rate, functional enrichment, survival rate and COVID-19 outcomes in normal and cancer tissues…</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>Receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein efficiently inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection and attachment to mouse lung</strong> - COVID-19, caused by a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, poses a serious global threat. It was first reported in 2019 in China and has now dramatically spread across the world. It is crucial to develop therapeutics to mitigate severe disease and viral spread. The receptor-binding domains (RBDs) in the spike protein of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV have shown anti- viral activity in previous reports suggesting that this domain has high potential for development as therapeutics. To evaluate the potential…</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>Identification of novel TMPRSS2 inhibitors for COVID-19 using e-pharmacophore modelling, molecular docking, molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics studies</strong> - SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread rapidly around the world and continues to have a massive global health effect, contributing to an infectious respiratory illness called coronavirus infection-19 (COVID-19). TMPRSS2 is an emerging molecular target that plays a role in the early stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection; hence, inhibiting its activity might be a target for COVID-19. This study aims to use many computational approaches to provide compounds that could be optimized into clinical…</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>Transparent Air Filters with Active Thermal Sterilization</strong> - The worldwide proliferation of COVID-19 poses the urgent need for sterilizable and transparent air filters to inhibit virus transmission while retaining ease of communication. Here, we introduce copper nanowires to fabricate transparent and self-sterilizable air filters. Copper nanowire air filter (CNAF) allowed visible light penetration, thereby can exhibit facial expressions, helpful for better communication. CNAF effectively captured particulate matter (PM) by mechanical and electrostatic…</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>Engineering Extracellular Vesicles Enriched with Palmitoylated ACE2 as COVID-19 Therapy</strong> - Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a key receptor present on cell surfaces that directly interacts with the viral spike (S) protein of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is proposed that inhibiting this interaction can be promising in treating COVID-19. Here, the presence of ACE2 in extracellular vesicles (EVs) is reported and the EV-ACE2 levels are determined by protein palmitoylation. The Cys141 and Cys498 residues on ACE2 are S-palmitoylated by zinc…</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>Current treatment strategies for COVID-19 (Review)</strong> - The spread of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) emerged suddenly at the end of 2019 and the disease came to be known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19). To date, there is no specific therapy established to treat COVID‑19. Identifying effective treatments is urgently required to treat patients and stop the transmission of SARS‑CoV‑2 in humans. For the present review, &gt;100 publications on therapeutic agents for COVID‑19, including in vitro and in vivo…</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>Niclosamide for Covid-19: bridging the gap</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: NCL has anti-inflammatory and immune regulatory effects by modulating the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, inhibition of NF-κB /NLRP3 inflammasome and mTOR signaling pathway. NCL has an anti-SARS-CoV-2 effect via interruption of viral life-cycle and/or induction of cytopathic effect. Prospective clinical studies and clinical trials are mandatory to confirm the potential role of NCL in patients with Covid-19 concerning the severity and clinical outcomes.</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 review on protective roles and potential mechanisms of metformin in diabetic patients diagnosed with COVID-19</strong> - The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is currently the leading threat to public health and a huge challenge to the healthcare systems across the globe and caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Obesity, a state of chronic inflammation, and diabetes mellitus are risk factors for severe SARS-CoV-2. Metformin is one of the most commonly used antidiabetic medications that displayed immunomodulatory activity through AMP-activated protein kinase. Metformin has…</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>SARS-CoV-2 promotes RIPK1 activation to facilitate viral propagation</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is the ongoing global pandemic that poses substantial challenges to public health worldwide. A subset of COVID-19 patients experience systemic inflammatory response, known as cytokine storm, which may lead to death. Receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) is an important mediator of inflammation and cell death. Here, we examined the interaction of RIPK1-mediated…</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>Visible blue light inhibits infection and replication of SARS-CoV-2 at doses that are well-tolerated by human respiratory tissue</strong> - The delivery of safe, visible wavelengths of light can be an effective, pathogen-agnostic, countermeasure that would expand the current portfolio of SARS-CoV-2 intervention strategies beyond the conventional approaches of vaccine, antibody, and antiviral therapeutics. Employing custom biological light units, that incorporate optically engineered light-emitting diode (LED) arrays, we harnessed monochromatic wavelengths of light for uniform delivery across biological surfaces. We demonstrated that…</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 characterization of an intravenous coronavirus 3CL protease inhibitor for the potential treatment of COVID19</strong> - COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has become a global pandemic. 3CL protease is a virally encoded protein that is essential across a broad spectrum of coronaviruses with no close human analogs. PF-00835231, a 3CL protease inhibitor, has exhibited potent in vitro antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 as a single agent. Here we report, the design and characterization of a phosphate prodrug PF-07304814 to enable the delivery and projected sustained systemic exposure in human of PF-00835231 to…</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>Proton-pump inhibitor use is not associated with severe COVID-19-related outcomes: a propensity score-weighted analysis of a national veteran cohort</strong> - No abstract</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>휴대용 자화 육각수물 발생기</strong> - 본인의 발명은, 사람의 신체에서 육각수물 생성에는 한계가 있으며, 동맥혈관, 정맥혈관 내부 혈액은 수분이 약 90% 이며, 건강한 성인이면, 육각수 물은 약 62% 이며, COVID-19 환자, 사고의 부상, 17만개의 질병, 질환으로 조직세포가 손상되면 자기 신체수복을 위해서 육각수 물을 평소보다 많이 흡수 하면서 동반 산소부족 상태가 되며, 육각수물 보충 없이 산소 호흡기를 사용하면 심각한 후유증이 발병 할 수 있다.</li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">육각수물 부족 상태를 해결하기 위해서, 객관적인 과학적으로 네오디뮴(원자번호 = 60) 3.000 가우스의 자기장을 이용하여서 육각수 물을 62% ~ 80% 이상, 상시 유지 시켜주는 제조 방법이며, 휴대용으로 항시 착용 가능하다. 결론은 COVID-19, 질병, 질환의 근본적인 원인은, 육각수물 부족 상태가 되면 동반 산소 부족 상태가 되면서, 염증 -&gt; 통증 -&gt; 극심한 통증 -&gt; 석회화, 섬유화, 암 까지 발병 한다. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=KR338655754">link</a></p>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>휴대용 자화 육각수물 발생기</strong> - 본인의 발명은, 사람의 신체에서 육각수 생성에는 한계가 있으며, 동맥혈관, 정맥혈관 내부 혈액은 수분이 90% 이며, 육각수물은 약 62% 이며, COVID-19, 사고 부상, 질병, 질환으로 조직세포가 손상되면 자기 신체수복을 위해서 육각수물을 평소보다 많이 흡수하면서 산소부족 상태가 되며, 육각수 보충 없이 산소호흡기를 사용하면 심각한 후유증이 발병 할 수 있다 육각수물 부족 상태를 해결하기 위해서, 객관적인 과학적으로 네오디뮴(원자번호 = 60) 3.000 가우스의 자기장을 이용하여서 육각수물을 62% ~ 80% 상시 유지 시켜주는 제조 방법이며, 휴대용으로 항시 착용 가능하다. 결론은 COVID-19, 질병, 질환의 근본적인 원인은, 육각수물 부족 상태가 되면 동반 산소 부족 상태가 되면서, 염증 -&gt; 통증 -&gt; 극심한 통증 -&gt; 석회화, 섬유화, 암 까지 발병 한다. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=KR338650904">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>用于检测新冠病毒的配对抗体及其应用</strong> - 本发明涉及一种用于检测新冠病毒的配对抗体及其应用，其包括第一检测抗体和第二检测抗体；第一检测抗体具有如SEQ ID NO:1~3所示的轻链互补决定区，以及如SEQ ID NO:4~6所示的重链互补决定区，第二检测抗体具有如SEQ ID NO:7~9所示的轻链互补决定区，以及如SEQ ID NO:10~12所示的重链互补决定区。本发明筛选得到具有上述互补决定区序列的配对抗体，其识别N蛋白的不同表位，且由于两种抗体识别的是N蛋白非核酸结合区域，不会受核酸负电荷干扰，对核酸抗原表现出了兼容性，具有较好的稳定性，同时上述配对抗体具有较高的亲和力，病毒N蛋白检测灵敏度高。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN339127990">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>抗KL-6双特异性抗体及基因、重组载体、药物、试剂盒</strong> - 本发明公开了抗KL‑6双特异性抗体或其变体、或其功能性片段，所述抗KL‑6双特异性抗体或其变体、或其功能性片段包括抗PTS域和抗SEA域，所述抗PTS域的重链可变区的CDR1、CDR2和CDR3分别具有SEQ ID NO.1~3所示的氨基酸序列。本发明还提供了基因、重组载体、药物、试剂盒。本发明的抗KL‑6双特异性抗体或其变体、或其功能性片段用于与KL‑6蛋白特异性结合，基因、重组载体用于抗KL‑6双特异性抗体的制备，药物用于治疗KL‑6蛋白引起的相关疾病，试剂盒用于KL‑6蛋白的定量检测。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN338723529">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>基于决策树模型与逻辑回归模型组合的感染筛查方法</strong> - 本发明公开了一种基于决策树模型与逻辑回归模型组合的感染筛查方法，其检测操作方便，可提高感染筛查准确性，该方法基于生命体征监护仪实现，生命体征监护仪与远程数据服务平台通信连接，远程数据服务平台依据临床数据进行感染筛查，该方法包括：通过生命体征监护仪检测获取用户临床数据，将临床数据随机划分为训练集、测试集，将训练集均分为两份：训练集A、训练集B，基于训练集A构建决策树模型，同时，对训练集A进行特征选择，将关键特征向量作为已构建的决策树模型的输入，获取新构造特征向量，基于组合特征向量，构造逻辑回归模型，基于决策树模型和逻辑回归模型组合，对测试集进行预测分类，获取分类结果。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN339127711">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>病毒中和抗体与非中和抗体联合检测方法、检测卡及应用</strong> - 一种病毒中和抗体与非中和抗体联合检测方法、检测卡及其应用，通过病毒受体结合蛋白夹心法原理检测中和抗体，其为通过提前设置病毒受体结合蛋白和能阻断中和抗体与其结合的作为配体的蛋白所形成的复合物，将靶向受体蛋白的非中和抗体提前捕获，保证后续通过夹心法检测中和抗体的特异性。解决了现有技术中中和抗体检测灵敏度低、特异性差以及不能区分中和抗体与非中和抗体的问题，提供了一种简便、快速、灵敏度高、特异性高的病毒中和抗体与非中和抗体联合检测方法、检测卡及其应用。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN338613501">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>广谱抗冠状病毒和流感病毒及口腔致病菌复合IgY及其制剂</strong> - 本发明提供一种广谱抗冠状病毒IgY和广谱抗流感病毒IgY以及抗口腔致病菌IgY及其组合抗体和制剂。本发明提供制备广谱抗冠状病毒IgY和广谱抗流感病毒IgY以及抗口腔致病菌IgY及其组合抗体和制剂的方法。广谱抗冠状病毒IgY和广谱抗流感病毒IgY可结合保守的抗原表位，达到广谱中和效果，解决新冠病毒和流感病毒变异的问题。本发明将广谱抗新冠病毒IgY和广谱抗流感病毒IgY以及抗口腔致病菌IgY及其组合抗体制成系列制剂，包括牙膏和口含片以及潄口水和其它日用品、口鼻喷雾剂、消毒剂、洗手液、粉剂、片剂、糖果、滴鼻剂、滴眼剂、口服剂、胶囊剂，应用于防治新冠和流感以及口腔疾病的药物、消毒产品、保健品和医疗器械中。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN338613293">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>스몰 RNA 검출 방법</strong> - 본 발명은 스몰(small) RNA의 분석 및 검출 방법에 관한 것이다. 특히, 본 발명은 짧은 염기서열의 RNA까지 분석이 가능하면서도 높은 민감도 및 정확도로 정량적 검출까지 가능하여 감염증, 암 등 여러 질환의 진단 용도로도 널리 활용될 수 있다. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=KR336674313">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV2潜在突变位点的筛选方法及其应用</strong> - 本发明涉及生物信息学和生物医药技术领域，尤其是SARS‑CoV2潜在突变位点的筛选方法，包括：1）下载得到SARS‑CoV2的基因序列，对下载的序列进行快速注释文件和序列比对，从全基因组序列中提取出所有编码基因的序列；2）计算出每个位点的突变频率，筛选出高频率的突变热点，再结合毒株的采样时间和地理分布信息，筛选出在种群中具有显著选择优势的突变位点；3）下载已有的编码基因对应蛋白质的三级结构信息；4）根据预测的B细胞和T细胞表位，筛选位于免疫表位上或其附近的突变位点，评估其对宿主免疫反应的可能影响，鉴定出SARS‑CoV‑2在流行传播中基因组上潜在的可能和病毒感染及宿主适应相关的关键变异位点。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN339127593">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>健康智能检测方法、装置、电子设备及可读存储介质</strong> - 本申请公开了一种健康智能检测方法、装置、电子设备及可读存储介质，其方法包括获取音频信号，并对所述音频信号进行预处理，得到检测信号；将所述检测信号转化为矩阵数字矩阵；将得到的矩阵数字矩阵作为检测样本，输入健康智能检测模型中，以获取检测结果；其中，所述健康智能检测模型是采用迁移学习和卷积神经网络对训练样本进行训练得到的。本申请由于卷积神经网络各组件或部分组件基于迁移学习进行了重新训练，显著提升了对人们健康检测的准确度；且本申请中的健康智能检测模型为分类模型，计算量小，可将其部署于人们的移动终端中，使用方便，极大程度上提升了用户的使用感受。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN337672106">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
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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>Colin Powell’s Fateful Moment</strong> - Though Powell created a doctrine of avoiding war unless absolutely necessary, he will be remembered for making the faulty case for invading Iraq. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/colin-powells-fateful-moment">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>America’s Workers Are Fighting Back: Can They Win?</strong> - For decades, the leverage has been on the side of management, but the pandemic has changed that. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/americas-workers-are-fighting-back-can-they-win">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Chicago High School Reopens, with Fears of Gun Violence</strong> - Students at Michele Clark High were relieved to return to classes, but shootings on the West Side mean that their problems are far from over. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/a-chicago-high-school-reopens">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Stanford Sailing Coach’s Defense</strong> - In a new book, John Vandemoer, who pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in the Varsity Blues scandal, claims that he was among its victims. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/the-stanford-sailing-coachs-defense">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andrew Yang’s Third-Party Aspirations</strong> - The entrepreneur turned politician makes the case for his new project, the Forward Party. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/andrew-yangs-third-party-aspirations">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>MLMs might not be able to get away with their shady promises much longer</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A melting pyramid." src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/VVlstHwAHjTOR_96ECQrU6gPySM=/119x0:2004x1414/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70030478/GettyImages_1218981051.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Regulators are weighing a rule change that could be “disastrous” for MLMs. | oxygen/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Multilevel marketing schemes promise the world. Soon, the FTC might make them prove it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lv3UNo">
Say I’ve got a business selling bananas, and I want you to sell bananas, too. Presumably, you’d want to know some details about this banana business opportunity, such as whether I’ve ever been sued for lying about my business, whether the amount of money I say you would earn is accurate, and what happens if, after selling for a while, you want to quit. Perhaps you’d want to take a week to think about it before signing on.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z2gh0K">
For most business opportunities in the United States, that’s the legal standard I would have to follow to get you on board. It doesn’t apply to multilevel marketing companies (MLMs), though. They’re exempt — at least for now.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H0OPh1">
A decade ago, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2011/11/ftc-adds-new-protections-consumers-
seeking-work-home">put in place</a> the “<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/rulemaking-regulatory-reform-
proceedings/business-opportunity-rule">business opportunity rule</a>,” which basically describes a set of requirements for people trying to get others involved in a business opportunity, such as a work-from-home job (<a href="https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/pass-it-on/work-at-home-scams">some of which are scams</a>). The rule says that people offering such opportunities have to provide support for any income claims — if I tell you that you can make $1 million a year in my banana business, I have to prove it. They must also disclose whether they’ve been involved in certain legal actions (such as any involving fraud), and list them out if they have; detail their refund and cancellation policy (if they have one); and provide a list of at least 10 other people who have bought in, all seven days before the person they’re recruiting pays any money or signs anything.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VSuCEZ">
There were <a href="http://www.mlmwatch.org/06FTC/business_opportunity/taylor.html">plenty</a> of <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/public_comments/business-opportunity-
rule-535221-00108/535221-00108.pdf">people</a> who believed that MLMs should be included in the FTC rule when it was enacted a decade ago, but they were granted an exception following massive pushback from the industry. “That’s the power of lobbying for you,” said Douglas Brooks, an attorney who specializes in MLMs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OHBsmY">
That could be about to change. The FTC <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/06/ftc-schedules-review-business-
opportunity-rule">announced</a> in June that it would review the business opportunity rule as part of a revised 10-year review schedule — and there is hope that, this time around, MLMs might be roped in.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7oJvUw">
Earlier this year, then-FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra (who was recently confirmed as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), put out a <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/public-statements/2021/06/statement-commissioner-rohit-chopra-regarding-
business-opportunity-rule">statement</a> urging that MLMs and gig-economy platforms be included in the rule. Now that Chopra’s at the CFPB, the other commissioners — including FTC Chair Lina Khan, a protégé of Chopra’s, and Noah Phillips, a Republican-appointed commissioner <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/ftcphillips/status/1388251341655523328">who has criticized MLMs in the past</a> — are expected to take a look at the issue.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8EgDjJ">
Outside the FTC, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/01/anti-mlm-reddit-youtube/617816/">anti-MLM sentiment has been on the rise</a> of late as people involved have felt more emboldened to speak out about the pitfalls of the business model and <a href="https://www.vox.com/22648447/lularich-lularoe-amazon-streaming">high-profile</a><a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/11/30/18114919/the-dream-jane-marie-mlms"> media projects</a> have called attention to the issue.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bBJvL6">
MLMs are certain to push back against their inclusion. One lawyer I spoke to, who asked to withhold their name because they have clients in the industry, told me that the rule would be “disastrous” for MLMs and likely “decimate” the industry. Whether the FTC actually makes any changes to the rule is uncertain, and the process could take months or even years. But it’s a start.
</p>
<h3 id="ZFkEYE">
MLMs lobbied their way out of regulation a decade ago. It’s not clear whether they’ll be so lucky now.
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OZ3d69">
To back up a bit, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/5/12/11577466/multilevel-marketing">multilevel marketing</a> is a business model where sellers derive profits in two ways — by selling a product or service, and by recruiting other people to sell that product or service. Generally, the latter is more lucrative than the former.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="faZ19q">
It’s a big industry. The Direct Selling Association (DSA), a trade group representing MLMs, <a href="https://www.dsa.org/events/news/individual-
press-release/direct-selling-association-releases-data-showing-record-high-sales-sellers-and-customers-in-
the-u.s.-in-2020">says</a> it was worth $40 billion in 2020 and encompasses millions of sellers. It’s also a controversial one: The vast, vast majority of sellers <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-
goods/2018/10/15/17971410/lularoe-lipsense-amway-itworks-mary-kay-mlm-multilevel-marketing">make little, if any, money in MLMs</a> (they often lose money), and consultants and companies have been caught on <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2020/04/ftc-sends-warning-letters-multi-level-marketers-regarding-
health">multiple occasions</a> making misleading claims about earnings potential and product effectiveness. Critics say MLMs are in essence <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/insights/what-is-a-pyramid-scheme/">pyramid schemes</a>, where only people at the top make money, and do so by constantly recruiting new members. MLMs reject this characterization, but at the very least, some MLMs have gotten into trouble with regulators for bad behavior, including <a href="https://pyramidschemealert.org/analysis-amway-accused-of-fraud-pays-150-million-wheres-the-ftc-and-
doj/">Amway</a>, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2019/10/ftc-settlement-ends-advocares-
alleged-pyramid-scheme-bans">AdvoCare</a>, and <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-
releases/2016/07/herbalife-will-restructure-its-multi-level-marketing-operations">Herbalife</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fRdePh">
MLMs aren’t completely unregulated — the FTC and <a href="https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-bulletins/investor-
alerts-ia_pyramidhtm.html">Securities Exchange Commission</a>, for example, have some purview over them. But it’s hard not to wonder whether there could be more guardrails, including with something like the business opportunity rule, which MLMs have vociferously opposed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LSIUhr">
<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2006/04/ftc-
proposes-new-business-opportunity-rule">First proposed in 2006</a> and finalized in 2011, the business opportunity rule is meant to protect consumers from “bogus business opportunities” by laying out some basic requirements about what potential recruits need to be told and when. When the rule was first proposed, the MLM industry went into overdrive to try to make sure it wouldn’t apply to them. As <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/4/8/5590550/alleged-pyramid-
schemes-lobbying-ftc">The Verge outlined</a> in 2014, the DSA got over 17,000 people to send comment letters to the FTC opposing the then-forming rule being applied to MLMs. (By comparison, MLM critics sent under 200 letters.) MLMs also boosted lobbying expenditures and got dozens of members of Congress to write to the FTC urging it to let MLMs be.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fCDmEd">
“They just swamped the FTC with things basically saying, ‘If you do this to us, it’ll destroy the industry,’” Brooks said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CEzPzD">
MLMs were successful: The FTC decided that they should be exempted from the rule, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/federal_register_notices/16-c.f.r.part-437-disclosure-
requirements-and-prohibitions-concerning-business-opportunities-final-rule/111122bizoppfrn.pdf">determining</a> that it “would have imposed greater burdens on the MLM industry than other types of business opportunity sellers without sufficient countervailing benefits to consumers.” An FTC <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/federal_register_notices/16-c.f.r.part-437-disclosure-
requirements-and-prohibitions-concerning-business-opportunities-final-rule/111122bizoppfrn.pdf">staff report</a> said that some MLMs do engage in bad practices and are pyramid schemes, but that would better be determined on a case-by-case basis and the “record developed was insufficient as a basis for crafting MLM disclosures that would effectively help consumers make an informed decision about the risks of joining a particular MLM.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wcwbtu">
Looking at how MLMs operate, critics have questioned whether the FTC’s decision was the right one — and hope they’ll decide differently now. There’s been increased scrutiny by the public on MLMs in recent years, and regulators have continued to take notice of their practices. The FTC has sent out warning letters to MLMs during the pandemic over their earnings and product claims (<a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22688317/mlm-covid-19-pandemic-recruiting-sales-paparazzi">companies and sellers have taken advantage of the crisis</a>). The regulator <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-
blog/2019/11/ftc-alleges-neora-formerly-known-nerium-operates-illegal">is currently enmeshed in a lawsuit</a> against Neora, which sells skin care and wellness products, over allegations that it is a pyramid scheme.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3TA4o3">
The public has taken more notice of MLMs and the business model as well. For a long time, many people who were involved in MLMs and failed (which most do) didn’t talk about it — they were embarrassed, or they felt guilty over roping their friends and family into it, too. Former sellers and experts say that MLM culture is one where leaders place blame for failure fully on the shoulders of the individual. Sellers are told that if it doesn’t work out, it’s their fault and their fault alone. But there has been an explosion of growth in anti-MLM communities on the internet, and there seems to be a greater awareness of the drawbacks the business model brings with it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OUgQsJ">
In other words, the FTC won’t just be flooded with comments from the pro-MLM community this time around, it’s also likely to hear more from the anti-MLM community as well.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q4FSiU">
“I would expect that there are going to be many comments, and I would expect that the MLM industry will gather its troops,” said Bonnie Patten, executive director of Truth in Advertising, a consumer advocacy nonprofit.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lUu4qU">
The FTC’s exact timing here is unclear. Patten said she expects action to begin in December, though she acknowledges it’s a bit of an “informed guess.” Even then, <a href="https://www.winston.com/en/direct-sellers-update-regulation-law-and-policy/the-future-of-the-mlm-excemption-from-
the-business-opportunity-rule-is-at-risk.html">there’s a long road ahead</a>, as the FTC will have to solicit public comments, send notices to lawmakers, and could hold arguments regarding changes. “This is a slow and laborious process,” Patten said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jhq5wm">
Now that Chopra is at the CFPB, there have been some doubts among MLM critics as to how efforts to include MLMs in the business opportunity rule will proceed at the FTC. Chopra was the commissioner who had explicitly mentioned including MLMs under the rule, and now, the FTC has four commissioners instead of the usual five, so votes could come down to a two-two split. Still, Patten said she’s relatively optimistic. “If we’re focused on MLM, I think of all the deceptive marketing issues in a deck of cards, MLM is the one that it appears all commissioners agree is an issue,” she said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="voNJVe">
The FTC declined to comment on the matter, noting that they generally don’t speak publicly about rule-making processes as they are underway.
</p>
<h3 id="AjKNAK">
People should know what they’re getting into with MLMs
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bjPJt0">
When you watch something like <a href="https://www.vox.com/22648447/lularich-
lularoe-amazon-streaming">the LuLaRoe documentary</a> or listen to a podcast like <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-dream"><em>The Dream</em></a>, it’s sometimes hard not to land in the same spot: How in the world can this be legal? Or at the very least, why isn’t more being done to look out for people before they get sucked in?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7VTVen">
Most people don’t make money; plenty lose money. Some companies make earnings disclosures available, but they’re generally really difficult to read and understand. Even if it’s relatively clear that eight in 10 consultants make less than $10 a month, recruits are sold on the hope that they’ll be one of the lucky few to make $100,000.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PHe2s4">
Many MLMs don’t really know where their products go once they arrive at the sellers, who are often encouraged to buy in order to stay active in the company and show their commitment. (Their uplines, the people above them, make money when they buy.) Whether sellers are actually offloading those lotions or essential oils or earrings to other people, or just piling them up in their garage, the corporate office often is unaware.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X2Ykjz">
Including MLMs in the business opportunity rule wouldn’t be a panacea, but at the very least, experts say it could be a good start. “All this rule would have required were some pretty basic disclosures and a seven-day cooling-off period, and you’re saying this is going to destroy the industry?” Brooks, the MLM attorney, said. “What’s going on here? Why would that be so destructive?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lP2e6y">
A sample <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/attachments/disclosure-important-information-about-business-
opportunity/111122bizoppappendixa.pdf">disclosure form</a> on the FTC’s website doesn’t look that complex. Yet, Brooks said he expects it to be a “knock-down, drag-out” fight if it looks to the industry like MLMs will get included in the business opportunity rule. “I don’t doubt that they will go to Congress and try to get a law passed that will sort of preempt that effort,” he said. Indeed, there is a <a href="https://www.dsa.org/advocacy/caucus">direct selling caucus</a> in Washington, DC, with more than three dozen members, Republican and Democrat alike.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7pp9la">
In a statement to Vox, Joseph Mariano, president and CEO of the DSA, said the organization “looks forward to a constructive engagement with the FTC on any prospective rule-making that might apply to direct sellers.” He said the DSA “has a long history of encouraging self-regulation and consumer protection as a complement to appropriate and reasonable government regulation” and pointed to the DSA’s <a href="https://www.dsa.org/consumerprotection/code-of-ethics">code of ethics</a>, which member companies and sellers must abide by, and the DSA’s <a href="https://www.dsa.org/dssrc/direct-selling-self-
regulatory-council">self-regulatory council</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4DU2Qm">
Brooks thinks efforts to curb MLM activity should go further than the business opportunity rule and other tools currently in the FTC’s toolbox. (Earlier this year, the Supreme Court curbed some of the FTC’s <a href="https://www.crowell.com/NewsEvents/AlertsNewsletters/all/The-Supreme-
Court-Limits-FTCs-13b-Powers">ability to seek monetary relief</a>, which has prompted some of the conversation around the business opportunity rule.) In his view, regulators need to have harder lines around what MLMs can and can’t do in the first place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w4r3A1">
“The FTC should prohibit certain types or aspects of MLM compensation plans, because the real problem with these companies is in the compensation plans, it’s the whole structure of the thing,” Brooks said. “People end up spending thousands and tens of thousands of dollars having thought that this was originally a $50 investment.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1ywjfV">
So back to my banana business. At the very least, many experts say, I should have to tell you if the banana sellers under me are making $1 or $1 million a month. If I promise you that you’ll be a banana billionaire, I should have proof, and also tell you if there was a banana-related fraud lawsuit in my past, and give you a few days to decide if you want to get in on the bananas — whether I’m an MLM or not.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uo1aKa">
The harder question — and one the FTC isn’t looking at now, but perhaps should — is whether I should be able to get you in on the banana business at all if I know you’re almost sure to fail. If 99 of 100 sellers are in banana bankruptcy, just how hard can I sell you on the 1 in 100 dream of being a banana billionaire? That’s a question for another day.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The fate of the planet will be negotiated in Glasgow</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/2au5sMW_dh2kKxFiAQKarP0H64s=/0x0:5057x3793/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70030343/GettyImages_1346381286.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A bicyclist crosses the Clyde Arc road bridge by the Scottish Events Centre, which will host the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland. COP26 will officially begin on October 31 with the procedural opening of negotiations, and end November 12. | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Here’s what you need to know about COP26, the high-stakes climate conference that starts on October 31.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j8yz2S">
Almost every country in the world signed the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">2015 Paris climate agreement</a>, a monumental accord that aimed to limit global warming. But it was forged on a contradiction: Every signatory agreed that everyone must do something to address the urgent threat of climate change, but no one at the time pledged to do enough.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="03zt9d">
In the years since the agreement, the emissions that trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere have continued to rise.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1FT4Fg">
The Paris Agreement aimed to limit global warming this century to less than 2 degrees Celsius, compared to temperatures before the industrial revolution, with a more optimistic goal of staying below 1.5°C. Both of these goals would require rapid and radical shifts away from fossil fuels — and eventually, zeroing out emissions of greenhouse gases entirely.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NZ6fKm">
Signatories did agree that they would set more ambitious targets for themselves over time and eventually get on track to meet global climate goals. Whether they will actually do so is about to be tested at <a href="https://ukcop26.org/">COP26</a>, the most important international climate conference in years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0pl38k">
“This is definitely the biggest [climate meeting] since Paris, and it has to be a turning point if we’re going to be successful,” said <a href="https://www.wri.org/profile/helen-mountford">Helen Mountford</a>, vice president for climate and economics at the World Resources Institute.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uHg718">
The meeting will take place in Glasgow, Scotland, between October 31 and November 12. More than 100 <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/which-leaders-will-attend-cop26-full-list-of-country-heads-visiting-
glasgow-for-climate-change-summit-3392176">world leaders</a>, including US President Joe Biden, are expected to attend a portion of the conference.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zCFeFf">
The world has already failed to meet many earlier targets, drawing the ire of climate activists. “Build back better. Blah, blah, blah. Green economy. Blah, blah, blah. Net zero by 2050. Blah, blah, blah,” Swedish climate activist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/28/blah-greta-thunberg-
leaders-climate-crisis-co2-emissions">Greta Thunberg said in September</a>. “Words that sound great but so far have not led to action.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SzYs5L">
Some thorny issues that derailed past meetings, such as payments for developing countries that are living through climate disasters, remain unresolved. Meanwhile, the Covid-19 pandemic, which delayed COP26 from its original dates in November 2020, is still claiming thousands of lives per day, leading to national lockdowns and disrupting trade. Even after a year of devastating hurricanes, heat waves, and wildfires, climate change may not be every country’s top priority.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4tf1gr">
But there’s no time to lose: The window for meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement is closing. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported in 2018 that <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/10/9/17951924/climate-change-global-warming-un-ipcc-report-takeaways">staying below 1.5°C of warming</a> required the world to roughly halve emissions from current levels by 2030. This year, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22613027/un-ipcc-climate-change-report-ar6-disaster">IPCC reported</a> that the world is poised to miss this target even in the most optimistic scenarios they studied.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1um0cG">
“Scientists tell us that this is the decisive decade,” Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-
remarks/2021/04/22/remarks-by-president-biden-at-the-virtual-leaders-summit-on-climate-opening-session/">said in April</a>. “This is the decade we must make decisions that will avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis.”
</p></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kpJByd">
Some countries, seeing the brightening spotlight of COP26, have begun to announce more aggressive climate goals in the runup to the meeting. This week, the UK put out its <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-
environment-58973826">road map for achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions</a> by the middle of the century. But the most scrutiny will fall on the world’s largest emitters — China, the US, and India — and whether they will take tangible steps to curb their pollution. Biden and the US delegation are now counting on Congress to pass a suite of climate policies to strengthen their hand at the negotiating table.
</p>
<h3 id="a8EHSK">
What’s on the agenda for COP26?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fj9B5R">
The Paris climate agreement aims to solve a global crisis, but its bureaucratic constraints have frustrated the process.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ri2ENl">
Joining the accord is voluntary, which means any signatory can leave if they want to, as the <a href="https://www.vox.com/21545960/paris-agreement-accord-exit-leaves-trump-biden-
election-2020-climate-change">US did briefly last year</a>. And even the countries that stay in have the freedom to set their own goals for cutting greenhouse gases. If they miss their targets, there is no penalty.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LsErwA">
It may seem odd that an agreement to save the world from itself would have so few firm rules. However, the Paris Agreement was the culmination of two decades of stalled diplomacy, and many countries shot down stronger language around binding greenhouse emissions targets, oversight, and punishments.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j2P4gm">
The Paris Agreement is thus a delicate balancing act, accomplishing its goals mainly with nudges and incentives. It aims to steer everyone — developing countries, oil economies, regional rivals, island states threatened by sea level rise — toward a common objective, and that’s a very tall order.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1dWasY">
Here are some of the key items on the agenda for COP26 (officially known as the 26th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zVxGBH">
<strong>Getting countries to do more:</strong> Under the Paris Agreement, every country is required to publish a climate change target and a route for getting there, or what’s called a <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-
and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/nationally-determined-contributions-ndcs/nationally-determined-contributions-
ndcs">Nationally Determined Contribution</a> (NDC). The first round of NDCs put forward in 2015 were clearly inadequate, putting the world on course for roughly 2.7°C of warming by the end of the century.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PFRFsi">
Climate leaders hoped that in the runup to COP26, countries would roll out new commitments for the coming decade, as well as long-term strategies for eliminating emissions by the middle of the century. As of October 21, 114 countries and the European Union have <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/climate-target-update-tracker/">submitted new NDCs</a>. Some major emitters like the US, United Kingdom, and China have proposed or submitted stronger targets. But others, like Russia, Brazil, and Australia, <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/climate-target-update-tracker/list-non-updating-
countries/">did not meaningfully ramp up their goals</a>. Still others like India have yet to submit a new NDC.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tA8Y8V">
The leaders at COP26 will try to create carrots and sticks to motivate the laggards and holdouts to take more aggressive action. Many countries are now adamant that the limit for warming this century should be 1.5°C, now that many countries have already suffered the tolls of disasters worsened by climate change — a sign that 2°C of warming would be far worse.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="58njJY">
According to the IPCC, the difference between 1.5°C and 2°C includes 2 extra inches of sea level rise, putting an extra 10 million people at risk of coastal flooding and related problems. Two degrees of warming would double the number of people exposed to extreme heat at least once every five years. This extra warming would also lead to greater declines in fisheries, crop production, and habitats for vital species like insect pollinators.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="85Ix98">
“Because of that new science, I think certainly in the climate community, 1.5°C de facto is now what everyone is talking about,” Mountford said.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Two painters,
one on a ladder, create a mural on the side of a brick building titled “Our Climate Is Changing.” Half of the mural
depicts flowers and blue sky, the other half shows fire and black clouds." src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/6-2zdg_Anwyxr36I9Ic1S6n_6Qk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22945956/GettyImages_1346389439.jpg"/> <cite>Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Artists paint a mural on a wall next to the Clydeside Expressway near the Scottish Events Centre, where COP26 will take place.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wISj05">
Technology for cutting carbon out of the economy, like renewable energy, has also improved since the Paris Agreement was signed. Some countries and many activists argue that a tougher target is essential to taking advantage of these improvements and that mitigation needs to begin right away.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VdWNuW">
This conference has to signal a “shift from making commitments to actually taking action,” said <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/leaders/marcene-mitchell">Marcene Mitchell</a>, senior vice president of climate change at the World Wildlife Fund. Countries not only need to make bigger promises, Mitchell added, they need to match them with actual policies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lG1LRD">
<strong>International carbon markets:</strong> One of the ways countries are aiming to meet their climate change goals is by pricing carbon dioxide emissions and creating accounting mechanisms for reducing them. That can take the form of credits or offsets that are traded with other countries. Under <a href="http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2019/12/02/what-you-need-to-know-about-article-6-of-the-paris-
agreement/">Article 6</a> of the Paris Agreement, wealthier countries can compensate for their higher emissions by financing clean energy in developing countries or helping restore carbon-absorbing ecosystems like rainforests.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UXMypM">
The trouble is that if these markets are not designed well, they may simply end up as a way for wealthier countries to buy their way out of reducing their own emissions. Without proper verification, the credits may not deliver the carbon reductions they promised. In past climate meetings, countries like the US, Australia, and Brazil pushed for language in these rules that would grant them more flexibility. However, most other countries found these provisions unacceptable because they would weaken the program. This issue forced several previous meetings to go over their allotted times. It remains unresolved and may not be settled at COP26.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xL0LlN">
<strong>Loss and damage:</strong> The core injustice of climate change is that the people who contributed least to the problem stand to suffer the most. Though not strictly part of the Paris Agreement, a key part of the discussion at COP26 will be around how to <a href="https://unfccc.int/topics/adaptation-and-resilience/the-big-picture/introduction-to-loss-and-
damage'">compensate countries facing the impacts of climate change today</a>, from rising sea levels eroding shores to more devastating extreme weather.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QYlMK9">
Securing this funding is a huge priority for many countries, particularly island countries and those with small economies. However, wealthier countries that have historically emitted the most greenhouse gases have resisted language that would force them to chip in and instead advocated softer language that would make these wealth transfers voluntary. And so far, countries have not made much progress in closing the gap. “It’s a contentious issue, it’s a big issue, it’s a complicated issue,” said Mitchell. “This is my own personal view: I don’t think that will get resolved here at this COP.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7c3nyX">
<strong>Climate finance:</strong> It’s expensive to build resilience to climate change and shift from fossil fuels toward clean energy, particularly for developing countries. The UNFCCC created the <a href="https://www.greenclimate.fund/news/gcf-board-accelerates-climate-
finance-ahead-cop26-meeting-approving-usd-12-billion-new">Green Climate Fund</a> in 2010 to finance these projects around the world with grants and loans. It includes programs like developing sustainable agriculture in Thailand and building cooling facilities for residents in countries like Bangladesh facing extreme heat.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9B3qLI">
Governments meeting at COP26 set a target of deploying <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/climate-finance-roadmap-to-us100-billion.pdf">$100 billion a year</a> in international climate financing through programs like the Green Climate Fund by 2020. But so far, countries haven’t contributed enough to meet the target, falling short by <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/growing-
ambition-role-green-climate-fund-scaling-finance-climate-action">$20 billion in 2018</a>, the most recent estimate available.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YlRq5C">
More international climate financing would help drive down greenhouse gas emissions from developing countries and motivate them to set more ambitious goals. However, some countries now say that even $100 billion isn’t enough. A negotiator representing African countries, for example, told <a href="https://news.trust.org/item/20211006150426-vxjzu/">Reuters</a> that international climate financing should be scaled up to $1.3 trillion by 2030.
</p>
<h3 id="Ecm57E">
All eyes are on the United States
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OfCkZJ">
The US has the dubious distinction of being the only country to complete a 360-degree turn on the Paris Agreement. It helped convene the accord in 2015, yet former President Trump withdrew the US in 2020. President Biden signed an executive order in January to rejoin and the US was <a href="https://www.state.gov/the-united-states-officially-rejoins-the-paris-
agreement/">formally back in the Paris accord in February</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QyxlCN">
Since the US is the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/business/united-states-is-the-richest-country-in-the-world-and-it-has-the-
biggest-wealth-gap.html">wealthiest country in the world</a> and the <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-
environment/2019/4/24/18512804/climate-change-united-states-china-emissions">largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases</a>, it plays a prominent role in climate negotiations and has an even greater obligation to act on the crisis. At COP26, the US not only has to make up for lost time, it also has to <a href="https://www.vox.com/22401917/biden-
climate-plan-summit-republicans-congress-midterm-elections">rebuild trust</a> with other countries and show that it’s willing to be more ambitious.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SjXsSP">
“There is this sense of exhaustion about how long is it going to take for one of the biggest emitters in the world to do its fair share,” Rachel Cleetus, the clean energy policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Vox’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/22685920/democrats-infrastructure-build-back-
better-climate-change">Rebecca Leber</a> earlier this month.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mCSirOShA4CH47jOdYFZ2Plu7wQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22945975/GettyImages_1314031112.jpg"/> <cite>Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
President Joe Biden delivers remarks at a virtual summit on climate at the White House in April. The president pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yeIeJz">
In April, Biden announced that the US was adopting a new climate goal: cutting emissions within the decade by <a href="https://www.vox.com/22397364/earth-day-us-climate-change-summit-biden-john-kerry-commitment-2030-zero-
emissions">50 to 52 percent</a>, compared to the US emissions peak in 2005. That’s a big step up from the previous target, which aimed for 26 to 28 percent reductions by 2025. US emissions have been declining since 2005, with a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/1b1dfaf0-4dfb-4788-9270-f880242b2a56">precipitous drop in 2020</a> due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/20/carbon-emissions-to-soar-in-2021-by-
second-highest-rate-in-history">greenhouse gases are already starting to rebound</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VCLtwa">
President Biden has already used some of his <a href="https://www.vox.com/21549521/climate-change-senate-election-joe-biden">executive power to drive actions on climate change</a>, like setting targets for electric vehicle production, limiting new oil and gas production on public lands, and pushing financial institutions to incorporate climate risk into their assessments.
</p>
<aside id="ZPJKPh">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NQy0jl">
But the fate of the largest parts of Biden’s climate agenda is in the hands of Congress, not the White House.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ok0ufL">
Democrats in Congress have been hurrying to put these plans into action with the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22685920/democrats-infrastructure-build-back-better-
climate-change">bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better Act</a>. These bills, as originally written, could reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent over the next decade. With midterm elections looming next year, Democrats may not get another chance for years to advance major climate change legislation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LHPzFY">
“If that’s done before COP, I think that would actually give a number of countries quite a bit of reassurance that what the administration is committed to will be delivered,” said Mountford. “If it’s not quite done before COP, I think people will still be viewing them with some skepticism.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dY8R4o">
But the US delegation may arrive in Glasgow with a weaker hand than they had hoped for because the legislation is already being whittled down as Democrats are <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/10/16/22729648/manchin-climate-change-reconciliation-clean-electricity-program">forced to compromise</a> in the Senate. “For [the US] to have credibility and leadership, we need to not just come with a statement and commitment, but actually the money to pay for it,” Mitchell said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fUKfKw">
What happens now, first in Congress and then in Glasgow, will help shape the ambitions of countries around the world as they meet the challenge of climate change. It’s not a stretch to say that the future of our planet as we know it is at stake.
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Poaching is altering the genetics of wild animals</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/bKdi9YKZDfFnQtaAx4XUiaOJDwI=/0x0:960x720/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70027926/PhotoCredit_JoycePoole2.0.jpeg"/>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Elephants and other species are quickly adapting to human threats. Will that help them survive?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AFw4xb">
Sometime in the distant past, well before humans walked the Earth, the ancestors of modern-day elephants evolved their iconic tusks. Elephants use their bleach-white incisors — they’re technically giant teeth, like ours but longer<strong> </strong>— to dig, collect food, and protect themselves.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q0myy7">
Then Homo sapiens arrived, and elephant tusks became a liability. Poachers kill the massive animals for their tusks, which are worth about <a href="http://www.savetheelephants.org/about-ste/press-media/?detail=dramatic-changes-in-china-s-ivory-trade">$330 a pound</a> wholesale as of 2017. Hunters slaughter roughly 20,000 elephants a year to supply the global ivory trade, <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/what-is-ivory-and-why-does-it-belong-on-elephants">according to the World Wildlife Fund</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="72wOTd">
But just as tusks evolved because they provide a number of benefits, a striking <a href="http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abe7389">new study</a> shows that some<strong> </strong>populations of African elephants have rapidly evolved to become tusk–<em>less. </em>Published in the journal <em>Science, </em>the paper’s authors found that many elephants in a park in Mozambique, which were heavily hunted for their ivory during a civil war a few decades ago, have lost their tusks — presumably because tuskless elephants are more likely to survive and pass the trait on to their offspring.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/SSVl3bnXiQSSueRKj1Ou2K6LMQM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22944439/elephant2.jpeg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Joyce Poole</cite></figure></li>
</ul>
<figcaption>
A tuskless female elephant in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park.
</figcaption>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wJ0Bge">
While scientists have <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/wildlife-watch-news-
tuskless-elephants-behavior-change">known about this trend</a> for a while — it’s not uncommon to see tuskless elephants in places with lots of poaching — the study provides strong evidence that the trait is rooted in genetics, something previous research failed to do, said Andrew Hendry, an evolutionary biologist at McGill University who was not involved in the research. In other words, the study shows evolution in action.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5FGYDC">
The results also offer a vivid example of how animals can quickly adapt under human pressures such as poaching and climate change. Past research has shown that creatures can evolve new colors, shapes, and even behaviors to better tolerate the increasingly inhospitable world we’ve created for them. The problem is that even rapid evolution has<strong> </strong>its limits — and many species are already on the brink.
</p>
<h3 id="4p3sz4">
How a civil war caused elephants to lose their tusks
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XM81Ea">
Social conflict and the decline of wildlife are often closely linked, the authors of the <em>Science</em> study write. Few locations reveal a clearer picture of this than Gorongosa National Park, a protected area in central Mozambique where Shane Campbell-Staton, an evolutionary biologist at Princeton University, led the research.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fYp13o">
During a 16-year civil war that began in 1977, poachers on both sides of the conflict slaughtered a huge number of elephants in the park for their ivory, which they sold to finance their efforts, according to the study. Over that period, the number of large herbivores (like elephants) at Gorongosa fell by more than 90 percent.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/11qJpaMPIc5kQQa6vHYqUMOycu0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22944440/elephant3.jpeg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Shane Campbell-Staton</cite></p>
<figcaption>
The researchers have to tranquilize elephants in order to collect their DNA.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8jFmHn">
That’s not all that changed in the park. Between 1970 and 2000 — a period that encompassed much of the impact of the long-running war — the portion of female elephants without tusks nearly<em> </em>tripled. The researchers’ best guess was that it had something to do with genetics: A trait visible only in females suggests it might be associated with changes to genes on the X chromosome. (Female elephants have two X chromosomes, whereas males have an X and a Y chromosome.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xmrgcH">
This study all but proved it. The first bit of evidence was that female calves born from tuskless mothers were often themselves tuskless, indicating that the trait is passed on from one generation to the next. “A heritable trait is pretty strong evidence of a genetic basis,” said Robert Pringle, a biology professor at Princeton and a co-author of the study.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vYCCfQ">
The authors also identified a couple of regions in the animals’ DNA that appear to be associated with a lack of tusks. Sure enough, “There is strong evidence for mutations on a particular region of the X chromosome,” Pringle said. Mutations, or variations in an organism’s DNA, are an important engine of evolution. If they result in traits that are beneficial — such as tusklessness, for certain populations of female elephants — they’re more likely to get passed to the next generation and drive evolution.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qQ8AJA">
Remarkably, one of the genes associated with tusklessness is also present in humans, where it’s linked to a condition that limits the growth of our lateral incisors. These are essentially the same teeth that, in elephants, evolved into tusks millions of years ago.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sOxivk">
What makes this study so fascinating is that it offers evidence of rapid evolution in an animal that has a pretty long lifespan<strong> </strong>— 50 or 60 years — in the wild, said<strong> </strong>Hendry and Fred Allendorf, a professor emeritus at the University of Montana who was not involved in the research.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K2pUe2">
Studies of elephants “rarely can say anything about the genetic basis” of tusklessness, Hendry said. For years, researchers assumed that rapid evolution was common only in small species with short life cycles. Given these results, “Nobody can argue that evolution isn’t occurring, even in the biggest and longest-lived species,” he added.
</p>
<h3 id="M2tD0y">
Should all elephants ditch their tusks?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kSStgI">
In theory, it’s advantageous<strong> </strong>to be born without tusks in areas where poachers are active, Hendry said. But tusklessness also has its downsides. Elephants need their tusks to dig, lift objects, and defend themselves. The hulking incisors are not useless appendages.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M9EY1k">
The genes that seem to make female elephants tuskless also appear to prevent mothers from giving birth to male calves — that’s why all the tuskless elephants in the park are female, Pringle said. (Some mothers did give birth to males <em>with</em> tusks, who likely didn’t inherit the gene.) Over time, a shift in the sex of elephants could have consequences for population growth.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<pre><code> &lt;img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-</code></pre>
cdn.com/thumbor/0YUD1I_p4WWHQZOfzUPrsF7hMJE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox- cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22944447/GettyImages_453370812.jpg" /&gt; <cite>Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Two male elephants spar in the Masai Mara grassland in Narok, Kenya.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jnoP1N">
There are also potential costs to African grasslands, which are among the <a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/22662490/grasslands-better-than-lawns-yard">rarest and most biodiverse ecosystems</a> on Earth, the study authors write. By turning over soil in search of food and minerals and gouging trees with their tusks, African savanna elephants prevent forests from growing too dense<strong> </strong>and help maintain grasslands. That’s why they’re considered “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X1100314X">engineers</a>” of the ecosystem. If they lose their tusks, a whole web of plants and animals may feel the impact.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I8dZut">
“This evolutionary change could have massive cascading ecological influences,” Hendry said.
</p>
<h3 id="NpEIWz">
How humans are changing animals
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oPrPI4">
Humans have shaped the environment around them for centuries, down to the very genetics of wild plants and animals. The tuskless elephants in this study are just one example in a long list of species that have adapted in response to the pressures we’ve placed on them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iZtP03">
“Human-induced changes are creating conditions for fast biological evolution — so rapid that its effects can be seen in only a few years or even more quickly,” a team of scientists wrote in a landmark intergovernmental biodiversity <a href="https://ipbes.net/global-assessment">report</a> in 2019.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/HI_iskyZI0Tx4uKn5PPlfJuIrI8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22944449/GettyImages_821828926.jpg"/> <cite>iStockphoto via Getty Images</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Light and dark forms of the peppered moth.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TrFUHd">
One of the earliest and most famous examples is the peppered moth in the UK. Before the Industrial Revolution, most of the moths flitting about England were white with speckles of black, which helped them blend in with lichen and tree bark. Then, in the mid- to late-1800s, coal-fired power plants and mills started belching dark soot that blackened trees in parts of the country. White moths stood out against the newly dark background and were more likely to be eaten by birds, whereas the once-rare black ones were camouflaged and survived. In a matter of years, some populations of peppered moths inverted from white to mostly black. The phenomenon was deemed “industrial melanism.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yV1Yol">
Scientists have measured similar changes in recent decades. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02177">One study</a> from 2003, for example, found that bighorn sheep in Alberta, Canada, evolved smaller horns in roughly 30 years. The reason? Trophy hunters tend to target rams with larger horns. Another study, <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-
biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)31655-9">published in November 2020</a>, suggests that a type of lily found in the mountains of China is evolving less-colorful leaves so it doesn’t stand out in regions where it’s harvested as a traditional herb.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/7-SvlQ9g0RVAEaxWixw-q0dQBNo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22944453/1_s2.0_S0960982220316559_gr1_lrg.jpg"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)31655-9" target="_blank">Niu et al./Current Biology</a></cite>
<figcaption>
In regions where a kind of lily called Fritillaria delavayi is heavily harvested, the plant has adapted better camouflage (see images C and D).
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HUGKWs">
Rising temperatures from climate change also appear to be making some animals, including birds and mammals, smaller, as I <a href="https://www.vox.com/22558979/animals-birds-shrinking-size-heat-climate-change">previously reported</a>. Smaller bodies cool off more easily than larger ones, so shrinking could be an adaptive response in warming environments (though it’s not yet clear whether these particular changes are genetic).
</p>
<aside id="ECRW8I">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hsLu9j">
Then there are species changing in less conspicuous ways. In Japan, populations of mamushi snakes that are heavily hunted for their perceived medicinal and nutritional benefits <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18798855/">seem to be better at evading predators</a>, compared to snake<strong> </strong>populations that hunters have ignored. Many species, including plants and insects, have evolved resistance to pesticides, which is why farmers often use <a href="https://www.vox.com/22612979/pesticide-mixtures-kill-bees-insects-
pollinators">several at once</a> and chemical companies must constantly develop new solutions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UdIy2M">
There’s something like hope behind the idea of rapid evolution. Humans are deforesting, polluting, and exploiting the Earth at an alarming pace, yet in some cases, animals are adapting to live another day. There’s even a term for this resilience, Hendry said: “evolutionary rescue.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fYSzVc">
Still, this evolution, as fast-tracked as it may be, still often isn’t quick enough to overcome the many threats species face. And because adaptations can also come with drawbacks, there are untold and unpredictable consequences for the ecosystem at large.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QgnVny">
Plus, not all species can adapt their way out of crisis. Consider rhinoceroses, which <a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/22723289/3d-printed-rhino-horn-wildlife-conservation-poaching">poachers kill for their horns</a>. Three of the five rhino species have been hunted almost to extinction, yet none appear to have evolved hornlessness.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oJC7wX">
In Gorongosa National Park, the ecosystem has <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0212864">largely recovered</a> from the war, Pringle said. Poaching has subsided, but tusks haven’t bounced back. After the war, the park successfully rebuilt its infrastructure, ramped up law enforcement, and put social development programs into place. The presence of tuskless elephants is now akin to a scar from an injury that’s healed, Pringle said. So while evolution may have helped these creatures survive, the real remedy is putting an end to the underlying forces that triggered it in the first place.
</p>
<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>Fifth Test between England and India to be played in July</strong> - The July 1-5 match will be played at Edgbaston in Birmingham instead of Old Trafford in Manchester</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>Godsword impresses</strong> - Godsword impressed when the horses were exercised here on Friday (Oct. 22) morning.Sand track:600m: 2/y/os Nord (rb), Red Riot (rb) 41. Pair level. Ta</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>ICC Twenty20 World Cup | Mentors can’t do much, it’s players who have to perform: Gavaskar on MSD impact</strong> - Gavaskar pointed out that India’s failure to win knock-out games in global tournaments has been primarily due to faulty team selections</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>ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2021 | Pandya will be an impact player for India, Rishabh a game-changer: Rahane</strong> - India’s World Cup campaign opens with a clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday</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>ICC Twenty20 World Cup | Suryakumar Yadav’s batting in post-Powerplay overs can be game-changer, says Wasim Akram</strong> - Wasim Akram feels that Suryakumar is a product of the robust domestic structure that BCCI has built in the past decade.</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>Britain’s CDC Group invests $70 million in first dedicated climate finance fund</strong> - The CDC Group has invested in the Green Growth Equity Fund, the country’s first dedicated climate change fund.</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>Above-normal rain forecast for in Kerala two weeks</strong> - For 7 days from Oct. 14, State receives 124% excess rain</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>OTT platforms to participate at IFFI</strong> - Martin Scorsese and Istvan Szabo to be conferred lifetime achievement awards</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>CISF apologises to dancer Sudhaa Chandran after she is asked to remove prosthetic limb at Mumbai airport</strong> - Ms. Chandran has made an “humble appeal” to PM Narendra Modi to make provision for a certificate or a card that can be displayed by specially-abled people for easy security checks.</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>India remains steadfast partner in global efforts to combat Covid: PM Modi</strong> - Wishes continued to pour in for India from various heads of state and government a day after the cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 100-crore milestone.</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>How Belarus is helping ‘tourists’ break into the EU</strong> - Belarus is accused of taking revenge for EU sanctions by offering migrants tourist visas, and helping them across its border.</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>France to pay 38m citizens €100 each to ease costs</strong> - The one-off payment to lower-income groups is prompted by the spike in fuel and energy prices.</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>Bernard Haitink: Celebrated classical conductor dies at 92</strong> - Bernard Haitink led the world’s top orchestras in London, Amsterdam, Chicago and Dresden.</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’s Covid nightmare driven by vaccine rejection</strong> - More than 1,000 people are dying in Russia every day, and in Vologda only one in four is vaccinated.</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>Halyna Hutchins: Rising star of film industry was ‘an incredible artist’</strong> - Halyna Hutchins, who has died on a film set, had been named an American Cinematographer rising star.</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>MSI Summit E13 Flip Evo review: A flip in the right direction</strong> - Decked-out performance, solid port selection make a strong competitor. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1803973">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: South Korea just misses orbit, Ariane 5 to set payload records</strong> - “We do not see any meaningful positive catalysts for the stock.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1806399">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tom Holland is a dashing young fortune hunter in Uncharted trailer</strong> - Director Ruben Fleischer’s film is a prequel and origin story to the video games. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1806591">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Google halves its revenue share of in-app subscriptions on the Play store</strong> - It’s the latest in a series of rev-share changes meant to preempt regulation. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1806505">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CDC advisory panel unanimously approves expanded COVID vaccine boosters</strong> - CDC hearing came the day after the FDA expanded its authorization for booster shots. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1806546">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>So a koala bear walks into a brothel.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He picks out the best looking girl, and heads upstairs with her. While up there, he eats her out like a madman, doing things she’s never even heard of. After about an hour he gets up heads out the door.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The girl stops him and demands payment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The bear doesn’t understand. She has him look up prostitute in the dictionary.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>“a person who trades sex for money.”</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Still a little confused, he asks what it says about him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>“koala bear, an Australian native animal that eats bushes and leaves.”</em>
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/WhiteComet99"> /u/WhiteComet99 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qd0l8p/so_a_koala_bear_walks_into_a_brothel/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qd0l8p/so_a_koala_bear_walks_into_a_brothel/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Daughter: mom I’m going to a sleepover at jack’s</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Mom: use protection
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Daughter: mom I’m 15
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Mom: and I’m 30
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/theconfusedone999"> /u/theconfusedone999 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qd8zl6/daughter_mom_im_going_to_a_sleepover_at_jacks/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qd8zl6/daughter_mom_im_going_to_a_sleepover_at_jacks/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A man walks into a bar and asks the bartender, “If I show you a really good trick, will you give me a free drink?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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The bartender considers it, then agrees.
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The man reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tiny rat.
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He reaches into his other pocket and pulls out a tiny piano.
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The rat stretches, cracks his knuckles, and proceeds to play the blues.
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After the man finished his drink, he asked the bartender, "If I show you an even better trick, will you give me free drinks for the rest of the night,the bartender thinks that nothing could possibly top the first trick so he agrees.
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The man reaches into another pocket and pulls out a small bullfrog, who begins to sing along with the rat’s music.
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While the man is enjoying his beverages, a stranger confronts him and offers him $100,000.00 for the bullfrog.
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“Sorry,” the man replies, “he’s not for sale.”
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The stranger increases the offer to $250,000.00 cash up front.
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“No,” he insists, “he’s not for sale.”
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The stranger again increases the offer, this time to $500,000.00 cash.
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The man finally agrees, and turns the frog over to the stranger in exchange for the money.
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“Are you insane?” the bartender demanded.
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“That frog could have been worth millions to you, and you let him go for a mere $500,000!”
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“Don’t worry about it.” the man answered.
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"The frog was really nothing special.
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You see, the rat’s a ventriloquist."
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/3Vishal"> /u/3Vishal </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qd26m1/a_man_walks_into_a_bar_and_asks_the_bartender_if/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qd26m1/a_man_walks_into_a_bar_and_asks_the_bartender_if/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Why does the Mexican take Xanax?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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For Hispanic attacks.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Ok-Air-4623"> /u/Ok-Air-4623 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qczlsd/why_does_the_mexican_take_xanax/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qczlsd/why_does_the_mexican_take_xanax/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My wife was dying…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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I was by her bedside.
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She said in a tired voice, “There’s something I must confess..”
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“Shhh.” I said, “There’s nothing to confess, everything’s alright.”
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“No, I must die in peace… I had sex with your brother, your best friend, his best friend, and your father.”
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“I know.” I whispered, “That’s why I poisoned your tea.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/weeklyslap"> /u/weeklyslap </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qcnu7h/my_wife_was_dying/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qcnu7h/my_wife_was_dying/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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