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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>Impact of COVID-19-related disruptions to measles, meningococcal A, and yellow fever vaccination in 10 countries</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Childhood immunisation services have been disrupted by COVID-19. WHO recommends considering outbreak risk using epidemiological criteria when deciding whether to conduct preventive vaccination campaigns during the pandemic. Methods: We used 2-3 models per infection to estimate the health impact of 50% reduced routine vaccination coverage and delaying campaign vaccination for measles, meningococcal A and yellow fever vaccination in 3-6 high burden countries per infection. Results: Reduced routine coverage in 2020 without catch-up vaccination may increase measles and yellow fever disease burden in the modelled countries. Delaying planned campaigns may lead to measles outbreaks and increases in yellow fever burden in some countries. For meningococcal A vaccination, short term disruptions in 2020 are unlikely to have a significant impact. Conclusion: The impact of COVID-19-related disruption to vaccination programs varies between infections and countries.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.25.21250489v3" target="_blank">Impact of COVID-19-related disruptions to measles, meningococcal A, and yellow fever vaccination in 10 countries</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Virtual care and the impact of COVID-19 on nursing: A single centre evaluation</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Aims: The overall aim of this evaluation was to look at the impact of the changes in working practices during the pandemic on nurses. This secondary analysis provided an evaluation of virtual care and being able/required to work from home. Design: This was secondary analysis of an evaluation using semi-structured interviews. Methods: Conducted at a single National Health Service (NHS) university hospital in the United Kingdom between May-July 2020. Forty-eight operational leads and nurses participated in semi-structured interviews which were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using a framework analysis. Results: Two overarching themes emerged relating to the patient experience and nursing experience. There were both positive and negative elements associated with virtual care and remote working related to these themes. However, the majority of nurses found virtual clinics were useful when proper resources were provided, and managerial strategies were put in place to support them. Participants felt virtual care could benefit many but not all patient groups moving forward, and that flexibility around working from home would be desirable in the future. Conclusion: Virtual care and remote working were implemented to accommodate the restrictions imposed because of the pandemic. The benefits of these changes to nurses and patients support these being business as usual. However, clear policies are needed to ensure nurses feel supported when working remotely and there are robust assessments in place to ensure virtual care is provided to patients who have access to the necessary technology. Impact: This was a study of the move to virtual care and remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Telemedicine and flexible working were not common in the NHS prior to the pandemic but the current evaluation supports the role out of these as standard care with policies in place to ensure nurses and patients are appropriately supported.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.03.21258276v1" target="_blank">Virtual care and the impact of COVID-19 on nursing: A single centre evaluation</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 associated with aircraft travel: a systematic review (Version 1)</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Air travel may be associated with the spread of viruses via infected passengers and potentially through in-flight transmission. Given the novelty of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, transmission associated with air travel is based on what is known about the dynamics of transmission of other respiratory virus infections, especially those due to other coronaviruses and influenza. Our objective was to provide a rapid summary and evaluation of relevant data on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 aboard aircraft, report important policy implications, and highlight research gaps requiring urgent attention. Methods: This review is part of an Open Evidence Review on Transmission Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2. We searched LitCovid, medRxiv, Google Scholar, and the WHO Covid-19 database from 1 February 2020 to 27 January 2021 and included studies on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 aboard aircraft. We assessed study quality based on five criteria and reported important findings. Results: We included 18 studies on in-flight transmission of SARS-CoV-2, representing 130 unique flights and two studies on wastewater from aircraft. The overall quality of reporting was low. Two wastewater studies reported PCR-positive SARS-CoV-2 samples, but with relatively high Cycle threshold values ranging from 36 to 40. The definition of an index case was very heterogeneous across the studies. The proportion of contacts traced ranged from 0.68% to 100%. In total, the authors successfully traced 2800/19729 passengers, 140/180 crew members, and 8/8 medical staff. Altogether, 273 index cases were reported, with 64 secondary cases. No secondary cases were reported in three studies, each investigating one flight. The secondary attack rate among the studies that followed up &gt;80% of the passengers and crew (including data on 10 flights) varied between 0% and 8.2%. The included studies reported on the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic, and symptomatic individuals. Viral cultures were performed in two studies, with 10 positive results reported. Genomic sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were performed in individuals from four flights, with the completeness of genomic similarity ranging from 81-100%. Conclusion: Current evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted during aircraft travel, but the published data do not permit any conclusive assessment of the likelihood and extent. Furthermore, the quality of evidence from most published studies is low. The variation in study design and methodology restricts the comparison of findings across studies. Standardized guidelines for conducting and reporting future studies of transmission on aircrafts should be developed.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.03.21258274v1" target="_blank">Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 associated with aircraft travel: a systematic review (Version 1)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Clinical performance of two EUA-approved anti-COVID-19 IgG/IgM rapid lateral flow immunoassays using whole blood finger-sticks</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Serological, or antibody, tests detect immunoglobulins produced by the hosts plasma B cells following exposure to foreign antigens. Venipuncture blood draws to collect human venous whole blood, plasma from anticoagulated blood (Li+ heparin, K2EDTA and sodium citrate), or serum are commonly utilized and require refrigerated temperatures during transport to the testing facility. Subsequent laboratory testing by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) or chemiluminescence immunoassays (CLIA) can take an additional 2-5 hours. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) to be used in point-of-care (POC) and remote settings have become essential during mandatory quarantine and isolation periods. RDTs allowed for more cost-effective testing using less collection materials with an immediate (5-10 minutes) test result. However, the majority of emerging RDTs receiving Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for qualitative detection and differentiation of IgM and IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 were only approved for use in human venous whole blood, plasma or serum. In this study we summarize performance characteristics of one RDT (COVID-19 IgG/IgM lateral flow immunoassay rapid cassette) to another by simultaneous application of whole blood finger-stick specimens (n = 32). The study was performed over 5 different days, with daily quality controls consisting of serum previously verified to be positive or negative by COVID-19 IgG/IgM ELISA testing.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.04.21258189v1" target="_blank">Clinical performance of two EUA-approved anti-COVID-19 IgG/IgM rapid lateral flow immunoassays using whole blood finger-sticks</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Direct comparison of venipuncture serum draws versus whole blood finger-stick specimens by anti-COVID-19 IgG/IgM rapid lateral flow immunoassay and ELISA.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
During the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturers have developed several diagnostic test kits that include lateral flow immunoassays (LFIA) also known as rapid cassette testing. Rapid cassette testing provides qualitative test results indicating the presence or absence of IgG and IgM antibodies to determine COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among individuals. Venipuncture blood draws have been the traditional and widely proposed sample collection method but is costly and not applicable to point-of-care testing (POC) and in remote settings. Whole blood finger-stick blood collections traditionally used by diabetics for glucose level testing is an ideal scenario, but raises concerns regarding the outcome of test results in regards to specificity and sensitivity. In this study we directly compare simultaneous collections of venipuncture serum (SST) blood draws and whole blood finger-sticks (n = 75) to detect human Anti-COVID-19 IgG and IgM antibodies using an EUA-approved lateral flow immunoassay, showing equal to enhanced performance characteristics for this specimen type.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.04.21258182v1" target="_blank">Direct comparison of venipuncture serum draws versus whole blood finger-stick specimens by anti-COVID-19 IgG/IgM rapid lateral flow immunoassay and ELISA.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Multisystemic cellular tropism of SARS-CoV-2 in autopsies of COVID-19 patients</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Multiorgan tropism of SARS-CoV-2 has previously been shown for several major organs. Methods: We have comprehensively analyzed 25 different formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues/organs from autopsies of fatal COVID-19 cases (n=8), using detailed histopathological assessment, detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA using polymerase chain reaction and RNA in situ hybridization, viral protein using immunohistochemistry, and virus particles using transmission electron microscopy. Finally, we confirmed these findings in an independent external autopsy cohort (n=9). Findings: SARS-CoV-2 RNA was mainly localized in epithelial cells, endothelial and mesenchymal cells across all organs. Next to lung, trachea, kidney, heart, or liver, viral RNA was also found in tonsils, salivary glands, oropharynx, thyroid, adrenal gland, testicles, prostate, ovaries, small bowel, lymph nodes, skin and skeletal muscle. Viral RNA was predominantly found in cells expressing ACE2, TMPRSS2, or both. The SARS-CoV-2 replicating RNA was also detected in these organs. Immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy were not suitable for reliable and specific SARS-CoV-2 detection in autopsies. The findings were validated using in situ hybridization on external COVID-19 autopsy samples. Finally, apart from the lung, correlation of virus detection and histopathological assessment did not reveal any specific alterations that could be attributed to SARS-CoV-2. Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 could be observed in virtually all organs, colocalizing with ACE2 and TMPRSS2 mainly in epithelial but also in mesenchymal and endothelial cells, and viral replication was found across all organ systems. Apart from the respiratory tract, no specific (histo-)morphologic alterations could be assigned to the SARS-CoV-2 infection.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.03.21258241v1" target="_blank">Multisystemic cellular tropism of SARS-CoV-2 in autopsies of COVID-19 patients</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Efficacy of clarithromycin on COVID-19 pneumonia without oxygen administration; protocol for multicenter, open-label, randomized-controlled, 3-armed parallel group comparison, exploratory trial (CAME COVID study)</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has been emerged worldwide. Although several medications have been approved for treating moderate-to-severe COVID-19, no treatment strategy has been established for mild COVID-19 patients who do not require oxygen administration. The spread of SARS-CoV-2 has been mostly through patients with mild COVID-19; therefore, treating patients with mild COVID-19 is critical in society. Clarithromycin is a macrolide antimicrobial agent that has been widely used for bacterial respiratory infectious diseases. Clarithromycin also acts an immunomodulating drug and suppresses cytokine storms in viral respiratory diseases, including influenza infection. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of clarithromycin in patients with mild COVID-19. Methods and analysis: This is a multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled, 3-armed parallel group comparison, exploratory trial. Subjects with mild COVID-19 pneumonia who did not require oxygen administration were enrolled and randomly assigned in a 1:1:1 ratio to Group A (administration of clarithromycin 800 mg/day), Group B (administration of clarithromycin 400 mg/day), or Group C (standard treatment without clarithromycin). The primary endpoint was the number of days required to improve clinical symptoms as measured by the severity score. Secondary endpoints included days to recover the body temperature, proportion of subjects with oxygen administration, inflammatory cytokines, viral load, serum immunoglobulins, peripheral blood lymphocytes, blood biomarkers, and pneumonia infiltrations. Ethics and dissemination: The study protocol was approved by the Clinical Research Review Board of Nagasaki University in accordance with the Clinical Trials Act in Japan. The study will be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, the Clinical Trials Act, and other current legal regulations in Japan. Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants. The results of this study will be reported as journal publications. Registration: This study was registered at the Japan Registry of Clinical Trials (registration number: jRCTs071210011).
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.02.21258257v1" target="_blank">Efficacy of clarithromycin on COVID-19 pneumonia without oxygen administration; protocol for multicenter, open-label, randomized-controlled, 3-armed parallel group comparison, exploratory trial (CAME COVID study)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines among Employees in an American Healthcare System</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<b>Background.</b> The mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have shown great promise in clinical trials. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of these vaccines under real-world conditions in the USA. <b>Methods.</b> Employees of the Cleveland Clinic Health System, previously not infected with SARS-CoV-2, and working in Ohio on Dec 16, 2020, the day COVID-19 vaccination began, were included. The cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, over the next 5 months, was compared among those who received the vaccine and those who did not, by modeling vaccination as a time-dependent covariate in Cox proportional hazards regression analyses adjusted for the slope of the epidemic curve as a continuous time-dependent covariate. <b>Results.</b> Of the 46866 included employees, 28223 (60%) were vaccinated by the end of the study period. The cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection was much higher among those not vaccinated than those vaccinated. Only 15 (0.7%) of the 2154 SARS-CoV-2 infections during the study occurred among those vaccinated. After adjusting for the slope of the epidemic curve, age, and job type, vaccination was associated with a significantly reduced risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (HR 0.03, 95% C.I. 0.02 - 0.06, p &lt; 0.001), corresponding to a vaccine effectiveness rate of 97.1% (95% CI 94.3 - 98.5). Vaccine effectiveness was 89.2% at 7 days and 95.0% at 14 days after the first vaccine dose. <b>Conclusions.</b> The mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are over 97% protective against COVID-19 in the working-age population, with substantial protection possibly apparent within a few days of the first dose.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.02.21258231v1" target="_blank">Effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines among Employees in an American Healthcare System</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A Cluster-based Model of COVID-19 Transmission Dynamics</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Many countries have manifested COVID-19 trajectories where extended periods of constant and low daily case rate suddenly transition to epidemic waves of considerable severity with no correspondingly drastic relaxation in preventive measures. Such solutions are outside the scope of classical epidemiological models. Here we construct a deterministic, discrete-time, discrete-population mathematical model which can explain these non-classical phenomena. Our key hypothesis is that with partial preventive measures in place, viral transmission occurs primarily within small, closed groups of family members and friends, which we call clusters. Inter-cluster transmission is infrequent compared to intra-cluster transmission but it is the key to determining the course of the epidemic. If inter-cluster transmission is low enough, we see stable plateau solutions. Above a cutoff level however, such transmission can destabilize a plateau into a huge wave even though its contribution to the population-averaged spreading rate still remains small. We call this the cryptogenic instability. We also find that stochastic effects when case counts are very low may result in a temporary and artificial suppression of an instability; we call this the critical mass effect. Both these phenomena are absent from conventional infectious disease models and militate against the successful management of the epidemic.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.02.21258243v1" target="_blank">A Cluster-based Model of COVID-19 Transmission Dynamics</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Vaccine nationalism and the dynamics and control of SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Vaccines provide powerful tools to mitigate the enormous public health and economic costs that the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic continues to exert globally, yet vaccine distribution remains unequal between countries. To examine the potential epidemiological and evolutionary impacts of 9vaccine nationalism9, we extend previous models to include simple scenarios of stockpiling. In general, we find that stockpiling vaccines by countries with high availability leads to large increases in infections in countries with low vaccine availability, the magnitude of which depends on the strength and duration of natural and vaccinal immunity. Additionally, a number of subtleties arise when the populations and transmission rates in each country differ depending on evolutionary assumptions and vaccine availability. Furthermore, the movement of infected individuals between countries combined with the possibility of increases in viral transmissibility may greatly magnify local and combined infection numbers, suggesting that countries with high vaccine availability must invest in surveillance strategies to prevent case importation. Dose-sharing is likely a high-return strategy because equitable allocation brings non-linear benefits and also alleviates costs of surveillance (e.g. border testing, genomic surveillance) in settings where doses are sufficient to maintain cases at low numbers. Across a range of immunological scenarios, we find that vaccine sharing is also a powerful tool to decrease the potential for antigenic evolution, especially if infections after the waning of natural immunity contribute most to evolutionary potential. Overall, our results stress the importance of equitable global vaccine distribution.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.02.21258229v1" target="_blank">Vaccine nationalism and the dynamics and control of SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Group Testing Large Populations for SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Group testing, the testing paradigm which combines multiple samples within a single test, was introduced in 1943 by Robert Dorfman. Since its original proposal for syphilis screening, group testing has been applied in domains such as fault identification in electrical and computer networks, machine learning, data mining, and cryptography. TheSARS-CoV-2 pandemic has led to proposals for using group testing in its original context of identifying infected individuals in a population with few tests. Studies suggest that non-adaptive group testing - in which all the tests are determined in advance - for SARS-CoV-2could help save 20% to 90% of tests depending on the prevalence. However, no systematic approach for comparing different non-adaptive group testing strategies currently exists. In this paper we develop a software platform for evaluating non-adaptive group testing strategies in both a noiseless setting and in the presence of realistic noise sources, modelled on published experimental observations, which makes them applicable to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, the dominant type of tests for SARS-CoV-2. This modular platform can be used with a variety of group testing designs and decoding algorithms. We use it to evaluate the performance of near-doubly-regular designs and a decoding algorithm based on an integer linear programming formulation, both of which are known to be optimal in some regimes. We find savings between 40% and 91% of tests for prevalences up to 10% when a small error (below 5%) is allowed. We also find that the performance degrades gracefully with noise. We expect our modular, user-friendly, publicly available platform to facilitate empirical research into non-adaptive group testing for SARS-CoV-2.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.03.21258258v1" target="_blank">Group Testing Large Populations for SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Tracking deaths can provide an indicator of latent COVID19 cases</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: With countries across the world facing repeated epidemic waves, it becomes critical to monitor, mitigate and prevent subsequent waves. Common indicators like active case numbers can flatter to deceive in the presence of systemic inefficiencies like insufficient testing or contact tracing. Test positivity rates are sensitive to testing strategies and cannot estimate the extent of undetected cases. Reproductive numbers estimated from logarithms of new incidences are inaccurate in dynamic scenarios and not sensitive enough to capture changes in efficiencies. Systemic fatigue results in lower testing, inefficient tracing and quarantining thereby precipitating the onset of the epidemic wave. Methods: We propose a novel indicator for detecting the slippage of test-trace efficiency based on the numbers of deaths/hospitalizations resulting from known and hitherto unknown infections. This can also be used to forecast an epidemic wave that is advanced or exacerbated due to drop in efficiency. Results: Using a modified SEIRD epidemic simulator we show that (i) Ratio of deaths/hospitalizations from an undetected infection to total deaths converges to a measure of systemic test-trace inefficiency. (ii) This index forecasts the slippage in efficiency earlier than other known metrics. (iii) Mitigation triggered by this index helps reduce peak active caseload and eventual deaths. Conclusions: Deaths/hospitalizations accurately track the systemic inefficiencies and detect latent cases. Based on these results we make a strong case that administrations use this metric in the ensemble of indicators. Further hospitals may need to be mandated to distinctly register deaths/hospitalizations due to previously undetected infections. Keywords: Covid19 Epidemic Epidemiology Mathematical model Death rates
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.02.21258217v1" target="_blank">Tracking deaths can provide an indicator of latent COVID19 cases</a>
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<li><strong>Racial residential segregation and economic disparity jointly exacerbate the COVID-19 fatality in large American cities</strong> -
<div>
The disproportionately high rates of both infections and deaths of underprivileged racial minorities in the U.S. (including Blacks and Hispanics) during the current COVID-19 pandemic show that structural inequality can be lethal. However, the nature of this structural inequality is poorly understood. Here, we hypothesized that two structural features of urban areas in the U.S. (racial residential segregation and income inequality) contribute to numerous health-compromising conditions, which, in turn, exacerbate COVID-19 fatalities. These two features may be particularly lethal when combined. To test this hypothesis, we examined the growth rate of both confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in an early 30-day period of the outbreak in the counties located in each of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. The growth curve for cases and deaths was steeper in counties located in metropolitan areas that residentially segregate Blacks and Hispanics. Moreover, this effect of racial residential segregation was augmented by income inequality within each county. The current evidence highlights the role of racial and economic disparity in producing the devastating human toll in the current pandemic. It also offers important policy implications for making virus-resilient cities.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/xgbpy/" target="_blank">Racial residential segregation and economic disparity jointly exacerbate the COVID-19 fatality in large American cities</a>
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<li><strong>Relational mobility predicts a faster spread of COVID-19: A 39 country study</strong> -
<div>
It has become increasingly clear that COVID-19 transmits between individuals. It stands to reason that the spread of the virus depends on sociocultural ecologies that facilitate or inhibit social contact. In particular, the community-level tendency to engage with strangers and freely choose friends, called relational mobility (RM), entails increased opportunities to interact with a larger and more variable range of others. It may therefore be associated with a faster spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19. Here, we tested this possibility by analyzing growth curves of confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 in the first 30 days of the outbreaks in 39 countries. We found the growth was significantly accelerated as a function of a country-wise measure of RM. This relationship was robust either with or without a set of control variables, including demographic variables, reporting bias, testing availability, and cultural dimensions of individualism and government efficiency. Policy implications are discussed.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/gwpj3/" target="_blank">Relational mobility predicts a faster spread of COVID-19: A 39 country study</a>
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<li><strong>Vulnerability to misinformation and Covid-19 infodemic in French-speaking Belgium (French version)</strong> -
<div>
The main objective of this report is to test the hypothesis that the adoption of an active information-seeking practice related to the health crisis on social networks can be understood as a risk practice in the Covid-19 infodemic. A second objective is to identify the existence of different vulnerability profiles in the infodemic and to understand the information practices associated with these different profiles at risk of misinformation. The approach adopted is therefore firstly a comparative approach between different types of profile. It is not a question of carrying out a longitudinal study representative of the evolution of the French-speaking Belgian population’s experience of the crisis. The CoviCom survey is a four-wave questionnaire survey that was conducted in French-speaking Belgium between 30 March 2020 (i.e. 12 days after the entry into force of the first containment in Belgium) and 29 March 2021. In total, the survey collected 10,148 responses to the four waves of the survey (April 2020 containment, May 2020 decontainment, November 2020 second wave epidemic and March 2021 third wave epidemic).
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/e98gm/" target="_blank">Vulnerability to misinformation and Covid-19 infodemic in French-speaking Belgium (French version)</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>Study of Intravenous COVI-MSC for Treatment of COVID-19-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVI-MSC;   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>Study of Allogeneic Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Treatment of COVID-19 Acute Respiratory Distress</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVI-MSC;   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>Study to Evaluate a Single Intranasal Dose of STI-2099 (COVI-DROPS™) in Outpatient Adults With COVID-19 (US)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<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>Study to Evaluate a Single Intranasal Dose of STI-2099 (COVI-DROPS™) in Outpatient Adults With COVID-19 (UK)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<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>To Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of TQ Formula in Covid-19 Participants</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Black Seed Oil Cap/Tab<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Novatek Pharmaceuticals<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>CRP-Apheresis for Attenuation of Pulmonary, MYocardial and/or Kidney Injury in COvid-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: CRP-apheresis<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University Hospital, Essen<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>Study of Allogeneic Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Treat Post COVID-19 “Long Haul” Pulmonary Compromise</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: COVI-MSC<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>Intramuscular VIR-7831 (Sotrovimab) for Mild/Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: VIR-7831<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Vir Biotechnology, Inc.;   GlaxoSmithKline<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>CISCO-21 Prevent and Treat Long COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Resistance Exercise<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde;   University of Glasgow;   Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government<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>Collecting Respiratory Sound Samples From Corona Patients to Extend the Diagnostic Capability of VOQX Electronic Stethoscope to Diagnose COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: Electronic stethoscope<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sanolla<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>Leronlimab in Moderatelly Ill Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Leronlimab;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein;   CytoDyn, 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>Leronlimab in Critically Ill Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) With Need for Mechanical Ventilation or Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Leronlimab;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein;   CytoDyn, 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>A Proof of Concept Study for the DNA Repair Driven by the Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Critical COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Mesenchymal Stem Cells Transplantation<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   SBÜ Dr. Sadi Konuk Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi;   Istinye University;   Liv Hospital (Ulus)<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>Antigen Rapid Test Screening to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 Transmission (COVID-19) at Mass Gathering Events.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid test<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Norwegian Institute of Public Health;   University of Oslo<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>A Global Phase III Clinical Trial of Recombinant COVID- 19 Vaccine (Sf9 Cells)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (Sf9 cells);   Other: Placebo control<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   WestVac Biopharma Co., Ltd.;   West China Hospital<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>A computational evaluation of targeted oxidation strategy (TOS) for potential inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 by disulfiram and analogues</strong> - In the new millennium, the outbreak of new coronavirus has happened three times: SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2. Unfortunately, we still have no pharmaceutical weapons against the diseases caused by these viruses. The pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 reminds us the urgency to search new drugs with totally different mechanism that may target the weaknesses specific to coronaviruses. Herein, we disclose a computational evaluation of targeted oxidation strategy (TOS) for potential inhibition of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>INHIBITION OF NONSPECIFIC POLYMERASE ACTIVITY USING POLY(ASPARTIC) ACID AS A MODEL ANIONIC POLYELECTROLYTE</strong> - DNA polymerases with strand-displacement activity allow to amplify nucleic acids under isothermal conditions but often lead to undesirable by-products. Here, we report the increase of specificity of isothermal amplification in the presence of poly(aspartic) acids (pAsp). We hypothesized that side reactions occur due to the binding of the phosphate backbone of synthesized DNA strands with surface amino groups of the polymerase, and weakly acidic polyelectrolytes could shield polymerase molecules…</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 of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine in Patients with Inborn Errors of Immunity</strong> - CONCLUSION: Vaccinating IEI patients is safe, and most patients were able to develop vaccine specific antibody response, S-protein specific cellular response or both.</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>Synthetic proteins for COVID-19 diagnostics</strong> - There is an urgent need for inexpensive, rapid and specific antigen-based assays to test for vaccine efficacy and detect infection with SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. We have identified a small, synthetic protein (JS7), representing a region of maximum variability within the receptor binding domain (RBD), which binds antibodies in sera from nine patients with PCR-verified COVID-19 of varying severity. Antibodies binding to either JS7 or the SARS-CoV-2 recombinant RBD, as well as those that disrupt…</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>Enhanced Sampling Protocol to Elucidate Fusion Peptide Opening of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein</strong> - Large-scale conformational transitions in the spike protein S2 domain are required during host cell infection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Although conventional molecular dynamics simulations have been extensively used to study therapeutic targets of SARS-CoV-2, it is still challenging to gain molecular insight into the key conformational changes due to the size of the spike protein and the long timescale required to capture these transitions. In this work, we have developed an efficient simulation…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Synthesis, Comparative in vitro Antibacterial, Antioxidant &amp; UV fluorescence studies of bis Indole Schiff bases and Molecular docking with ct-DNA &amp; SARS-CoV-2 M(pro)</strong> - In this study, synthesis of fifteen novel bis indole based Schiff bases (SBs) 4a-o was conducted by condensation of 2-(1-aminobenzyl)benzimidazole with symmetrical bis-isatins linked via five alkyl chains (n = 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6). These were subjected to ADME, physiochemical properties, molecular docking, in vitro antibacterial and antioxidant studies. The in silico studies indicated lower toxicity with metabolic stability for nearly all the derivatives proving reliability as drug candidates. The…</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>Potential role of free-radical processes in biomolecules damage during COVID-19 and ways of their regulation</strong> - It has been shown that the development of coronavirus infection (COVID-19), especially in severe cases, is accompanied by hypoxia as a result of several pathological processes: alveolar blood supply disorders, hemolysis, COVID-associated coagulopathy. Under these conditions, the level of reactive oxygen species is increased and it is more likely that free-radical damage to biomolecules is caused by the process of free-radical fragmentation than oxidation. In contrast to the oxidation process,…</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>Single dose of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) induces neutralising antibody and polyfunctional T-cell responses in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia</strong> - Patients receiving targeted cancer treatments such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have been classified in the clinically extremely vulnerable group to develop severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), including patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) taking TKIs. In addition, concerns that immunocompromised individuals with solid and haematological malignancies may not mount an adequate immune response to a single dose of SARS-CoV-2 BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech)…</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>Flecainide toxicity associated with the use of goji berries: a case report</strong> - BACKGROUND: Goji berries (GB), usually marketed as a ‘superfruit’, are a widely used herbal supplement. As with other herbal remedies, the use of GB might be associated with herb-drug interactions, increasing plasma levels of other drugs and causing adverse events. Here, we present the case of a patient that developed flecainide toxicity secondary to an herb-drug interaction, associated with the use of GB to prevent COVID-19.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Membrane Protein Inhibits Type I Interferon Production Through Ubiquitin-Mediated Degradation of TBK1</strong> - The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative pathogen of current COVID-19 pandemic, and insufficient production of type I interferon (IFN-I) is associated with the severe forms of the disease. Membrane (M) protein of SARS-CoV-2 has been reported to suppress host IFN-I production, but the underlying mechanism is not completely understood. In this study, SARS-CoV-2 M protein was confirmed to suppress the expression of IFNβ and interferon-stimulated genes…</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>Drug repurposing screens identify chemical entities for the development of COVID-19 interventions</strong> - The ongoing pandemic caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), necessitates strategies to identify prophylactic and therapeutic drug candidates for rapid clinical deployment. Here, we describe a screening pipeline for the discovery of efficacious SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors. We screen a best-in-class drug repurposing library, ReFRAME, against two high-throughput, high-content imaging infection assays: one using HeLa cells expressing SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2 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>Fe-S cofactors in the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase are potential antiviral targets</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causal agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), uses an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) for the replication of its genome and the transcription of its genes. We found that the catalytic subunit of the RdRp, nsp12, ligates two iron-sulfur metal cofactors in sites that were modeled as zinc centers in the available cryo-electron microscopy structures of the RdRp complex. These metal binding sites are essential for…</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>Essential sufficiency of zinc, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamin D and magnesium for prevention and treatment of COVID-19, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, lung diseases and cancer</strong> - Despite the development of a number of vaccines for COVID-19, there remains a need for prevention and treatment of the virus SARS-CoV-2 and the ensuing disease COVID-19. This report discusses the key elements of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 that can be readily treated: viral entry, the immune system and inflammation, and the cytokine storm. It is shown that the essential nutrients zinc, ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), vitamin D and magnesium provide the ideal combination for prevention 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>SARS-CoV-2 infects human pancreatic beta cells and elicits beta cell impairment</strong> - Emerging evidence points toward an intricate relationship between the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and diabetes. While preexisting diabetes is associated with severe COVID-19, it is unclear whether COVID-19 severity is a cause or consequence of diabetes. To mechanistically link COVID-19 to diabetes, we tested whether insulin-producing pancreatic β cells can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 and cause β cell depletion. We found that the SARS-CoV-2 receptor, ACE2, and related entry…</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 infection and cancer: Evidence for and against a role of SARS-CoV-2 in cancer onset</strong> - Despite huge efforts towards understanding the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pathogenesis, little is known about the long-term consequences of the disease. Here, we critically review existing literature about oncogenesis as a potential long-term effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Like other viral infections, SARS-CoV-2 may promote cancer onset by inhibiting tumor suppressor genes. We conclude that, although unlikely, such hypothesis cannot be excluded a priori and we…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COST EFFECTIVE PORTABLE OXYGEN CONCENTRATOR FOR COVID-19</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU324964715">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>METHOD OF IDENTIFYING SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME CORONA VIRUS 2 (SARS-COV-2) RIBONUCLEIC ACID (RNA)</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU323956811">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IMPROVEMENTS RELATED TO PARTICLE, INCLUDING SARS-CoV-2, DETECTION AND METHODS THEREFOR</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU323295937">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>DEEP LEARNING BASED SYSTEM FOR DETECTION OF COVID-19 DISEASE OF PATIENT AT INFECTION RISK</strong> - The present invention relates to Deep learning based system for detection of covid-19 disease of patient at infection risk. The objective of the present invention is to solve the problems in the prior art related to technologies of detection of covid-19 disease using CT scan image processing. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN324122821">link</a></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Wiederverwendbare Maske</strong> -
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Wiederverwendbare Maske, mit einem Maskenkörper (100), einem Fixierband (300) zum Befestigen des Maskenkörpers (100) an einem menschlichen Gesicht, einer auswechselbaren Schicht (200), die zwischen dem menschlichen Gesicht und dem Maskenkörper (100) angeordnet ist, und einem Fixierteil (400) zum Fixieren der auswechselbaren Schicht auf dem Maskenkörper (100).</p></li>
</ul>
<img alt="embedded image" id="EMI-D00000"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE325736702">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A COMPREHENSIVE DISINFECTION SYSTEM DURING PANDEMIC FOR PERSONAL ITEMS AND PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) TO SAFEGUARD PEOPLE</strong> - The current Covid-19 pandemic has led to an enormous demand for gadgets / objects for personal protection. To prevent the spread of virus, it is important to disinfect commonly touched objects. One of the ways suggested is to use a personal UV-C disinfecting box that is “efficient and effective in deactivating the COVID-19 virus. The present model has implemented the use of a UV transparent material (fused silica quartz glass tubes) as the medium of support for the objects to be disinfected to increase the effectiveness of disinfection without compromising the load bearing capacity. Aluminum foil, a UV reflecting material, was used as the inner lining of the box for effective utilization of the UVC light emitted by the UVC lamps. Care has been taken to prevent leakage of UVC radiation out of the system. COVID-19 virus can be inactivated in 5 minutes by UVC irradiation in this disinfection box - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN322882412">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING SYSTEM FOR MENTAL HEALTH MONITORING OF PERSON DURING THE PANDEMIC OF COVID-19</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU323295498">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种预判重症新冠肺炎（COVID-19）的标志物及其产品和用途</strong> - 本发明提供了一种预判重症疾病的标志物，所述的预判重症疾病的标志物为S100A12，序列为SEQ ID NO.1，所述的重症疾病为重症新冠肺炎、重症感染中的一种。S100A12基因作为标志物，在预判重症疾病时对全血中的S100A12基因的表达水平进行检测即可，无需对白细胞进行分离，简化检测流程。S100A12的表达水平可以指导感染类疾病包括新冠肺炎重症的预判，从而及早施治，降低病死率，具有很好的临床应用前景。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN325296031">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种新型冠状病毒COVID-19-S1蛋白的表达和纯化方法</strong> - 本发明属于生物技术领域，具体涉及一种新型冠状病毒COVID‑19‑S1蛋白的表达和纯化方法。本发明提供的方法，主要包括构建COVID‑19‑S1蛋白表达质粒、将COVID‑19‑S1蛋白表达质粒转化、培养表达COVID‑19‑S1蛋白、纯化COVID‑19‑S1蛋白等过程。本发明将能在293F细胞中高分泌表达蛋白的信号肽与Kozak区和编码人COVID‑19‑S1蛋白的基因进行重组，来提高目的蛋白的表达量和分泌量。采用本发明提供的方法，可以解决新型冠状病毒COVID‑19‑S1蛋白分泌量低、纯度低的问题，为免疫学快速诊断、制备单抗、开展解析蛋白结构研究等提供物质基础。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN325375143">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>INDICATING SYSTEM</strong> - A visual indicating system for use with a hospital bed, the hospital bed comprising a bed frame extending between a head end and a foot end of the bed frame, the visual indicating system comprising: an indicating member adapted to be coupled with the bed frame wherein the indicating member comprises an indicia for indicating one of a plurality of pre-determined health conditions.</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">FIGURE 1 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU322897510">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>The Peril of Not Vaccinating the World</strong> - Absent a concerted global commitment to vaccine equity, the virus will continue to evolve, and humanity may be consigned to a never-ending pandemic. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-peril-of-not-vaccinating-the-world">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Unique Dangers of the Supreme Court’s Decision to Hear a Mississippi Abortion Case</strong> - The most pressing question now may be not whether Roe and Casey can survive but how reproductive rights can be sustained without them. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/07/the-unique-dangers-of-the-supreme-courts-decision-to-hear-a-mississippi-abortion-case">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Purpose of Political Correctness</strong> - A conversation with the columnist Nesrine Malik about who makes the changing rules of public speech. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-purpose-of-political-correctness">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Other Side of the May Jobs Report: Higher Wages</strong> - Many American workers are seeing the biggest pay gains in decades. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-other-side-of-the-may-jobs-report-higher-wages">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is There Any Time Left for Maya Wiley?</strong> - The former City Hall lawyer, who has received the endorsement of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, considers herself the last progressive standing in New York’s mayoral race. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/is-there-any-time-left-for-maya-wiley">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>China extends reach in Hong Kong over Tiananmen Square vigil</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A man holds a burning candle as part of the small protests by Hong Kong people during the anniversary." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ArIBqCFOcwY3vrCkrYU32ocW6Nk=/471x0:4915x3333/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69411510/1233274940.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Small protests still occurred around Hong Kong after police blocked access to Victoria Park. | Tang Yan/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Turnout for the vigil was down, though some protesters defied orders.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FPHslF">
In the face of a new national security law and the arrests of political activists, people in Hong Kong still took to the streets on June 4 to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u85CFe">
Victoria Park, in northern Hong Kong, usually draws thousands of people waving candles to memorialize the still-unknown number of people who died during the Chinese government’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989. But this year, Hongkongers who dared to show up in person were met with signs from police warning of their possible prosecution, and Victoria Park was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57356140">barricaded shut</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w5vNfK">
Officially, 2021’s Tiananmen Square remembrance was canceled by the local government because of the coronavirus pandemic, as it was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/4/21280440/tiananmen-square-massacre-hong-kong-vigil-china-anthem">last year</a>. But activists <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPC8cj4gXec&amp;ab_channel=BBCNews">told the BBC</a> that they see this year’s intervention as a step to silence dissent on the island, one of the few places in China where the 1989<strong> </strong>Tiananmen Square activists have been allowed to<strong> </strong>be commemorated.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="delGTs">
Last year, when police closed Victoria Park to the Tiananmen Square commemoration, demonstrators knocked down the barricades and continued their candlelight vigil. It was the first time the Hong Kong government had tried to stop the demonstration in 30 years. But since then, the Chinese government passed a new security law, which makes it easier to punish protesters and gives the mainland more control over Hong Kong.
</p>
<h3 id="HLvuXs">
A new law, to which Hong Kong officials weren’t privy
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a8eVuf">
The morning of June 4, the vice chair for the pro-democracy group Hong Kong Alliance, Chow Hang Tung, was arrested for posting about the remembrance online. Among other posts promoting the memory of Tiananmen Square, Chow called for people to “turn on lights everywhere, mobile phone lights, candles, electronic candles…” on her Facebook page the day before <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57353803">her arrest</a>. Chow, who is also a lawyer, predicted that she would be arrested in an interview before June 4. She was arrested for promoting an unauthorized assembly and was released from custody on Saturday.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2SmWL92Ssz9qcbeO8ryWnibiCe8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22639830/1233281322.jpg"/> <cite>Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Political activist Chow Hang Tung speaks to the media after being arrested in Hong Kong on June 5.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="98U2z7">
When the Chinese government passed the national security law for Hong Kong in June of 2020, the <a href="https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202007/01/WS5efbd6f5a310834817256495.html">full text</a> of the legislation was kept secret — even from Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the top public official in Hong Kong. The law’s 66 articles criminalize acts that fall into four categories:<strong> </strong>secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion. Critics of the bill, including <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/29/china-new-hong-kong-law-roadmap-repression">Human Rights Watch</a> and <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/07/hong-kong-national-security-law-10-things-you-need-to-know/">Amnesty International</a>, have called the text a threat to free speech and overly broad.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UWtHkz">
As Vox’s Jen Kirby <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/2/21309902/china-national-security-law-hong-kong-protests-us-sanctions">wrote in 2020 after the passage of the law</a>:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lzOmiA">
Under each of these activities are some specific offenses. For example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/world/asia/hong-kong-security-law-china.html">damaging government buildings could qualify as “subversion,” a serious offense</a> that could result in life imprisonment. On July 1, 2019, Hongkongers stormed and defaced <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2019/7/1/20677066/hong-kong-protests-legislative-council">the Hong Kong Legislative Council</a> to protest the extradition bill, making this provision look very much like a response to previous protest tactics.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="78dM6W">
Another example: Under the “colluding with foreign forces” provision, the law says Hongkongers could be arrested and prosecuted if they lobby or work with foreign entities against the Chinese government, including “enacting laws and policies that cause serious obstruction or serious consequences to Hong Kong or China,” <a href="https://hongkongfp.com/2020/07/01/explainer-10-things-to-know-about-hong-kongs-national-security-law-new-crimes-procedures-and-agencies/">according to the Hong Kong Free Press</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tgcpUh">
This could implicate human rights groups, or even individuals who have called for sanctions or increased pressure on China to stop its intervention in Hong Kong. The Chinese government has blamed outsiders, specifically those in the West, for fomenting opposition against its rule in Hong Kong, and this looks to be a way to silence its critics.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aJLCFE">
Of course, these expansive definitions are kind of the point.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MzogFv">
Activists in Hong Kong have asked foreign governments to intervene in disputes with China, including during the recent extradition bill protests, where it was not uncommon to see American and British flags among protesters. This direct lobbying done by activists like <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55154919">Joshua Wong</a>, a recently imprisoned former secretary-general of the pro-democracy party Demosisto, could now be considered illegal collusion.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3KO3pV">
The law also <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52765838">extends Chinese authorities’ presence</a> in Hong Kong. Beijing now has its own security office on the island, the mainland capital will have the authority to interpret the law, and people suspected of breaking the law can be wiretapped or surveilled by these security forces (including non-permanent residents).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WrmhI9">
“Effectively, they are imposing the People’s Republic of China’s criminal system onto the Hong Kong common law system, leaving them with complete discretion to decide who should fall into which system,” Johannes Chan, a legal scholar at the University of Hong Kong, told the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52765838">BBC</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="anTFpK">
More than 100 organizers have been arrested in the last year
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="senpVF">
Even before June 4, activists in Hong Kong were suffering the effects of the national security law. Chow became the face of the Hong Kong Alliance, in part, because so many of her fellow organizers have been arrested. More than 100 arrests have been made under the national security law since last June. Naturally, an increase in the number of people arrested for protesting, political dissent, or other anti-government efforts could be seen as a deterrent to others who may want to demonstrate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PfibBe">
Of those arrested, as of March of this year, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-03/hong-kong-makes-100th-arrest-using-china-drafted-security-law">56 have been charged</a>. This includes those arrested in a 1,000-officer raid in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55555299">January</a> that apprehended more than 50 pro-democracy activists for their involvement in an unofficial primary election, which government officials <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55555299">said</a> was an attempt to “overthrow the government.” Forty-seven people were eventually <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/28/world/asia/hong-kong-security-law-arrests.html">charged</a> with “conspiracy to commit subversion.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kONAXo">
Under the national security law, legal scholar and former Hong Kong university professor Benny Tai, as well as former lawmakers James To, Helena Wong, Lam Chuek-ting and Claudia Mo, were all arrested in January.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WJmQVl">
They join pro-democracy activist Wong, who was previously sentenced to 13 months in prison, along with dozens of other pro-democracy protesters and organizers on the list of those victimized by Beijing’s law.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qzUvja">
The national security law also allows the government to retroactively charge people. Media mogul Jimmy Lai was arrested and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56770567">sentenced</a> in April under the new security law for his participation in pro-democracy protests in 2019. Lai, 72, was one of the few charged and sentenced for his role in the protests who was not also an elected legislator.
</p>
<h3 id="AFhOGr">
Remembering Tiananmen Square
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VfrEx7">
In contrast to mainland China, where censorship and freedom of expression controls are strictly maintained, Hong Kong’s freedom of speech, press, and publication were written into its governing constitution and bill of rights when the “one country, two systems” policy was established. Hong Kong’s multi-party political system also inherently adds to the possibilities for political expression in comparison to the mainland’s one-party rule.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kLaz5R">
Hong Kong’s capacity and tolerance for dissent and freedom of speech were also cited as reasons why NSA whistleblower <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-hong-kong-gamble">Edward Snowden chose</a> the territory to share his trove of documents with journalists in 2013. “[The people of Hong Kong] have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent,” Snowden<strong> </strong>told journalists.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f45ZSY">
However, the erosion of Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous governance has sparked questions about the future of free speech there, and how people will keep alive the memory of the movement at Tiananmen Square.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u6MQU7">
In mainland China, Tiananmen Square and other words and phrases related to the pro-democracy movement, as well as articles and Wikipedia pages associated with the events of 1989, have been censored.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/D_kbalKKJuSaJhoPgWykMMRab1A=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/14736288/1374461.0.1413133463.jpg"/> <cite>CNN/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
The famous image of a lone protester standing in front of tanks, in Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SNuk32">
This year, Microsoft came under fire when its Bing search engine failed to<strong> </strong>return results for the popular image search “Tank Man,” which is the nickname of the iconic photo by Stuart Franklin of one protester blocking the path of three tanks in the middle of Tiananmen Square. Tank Man has long been<strong> </strong>a symbol of resilience for the pro-democracy movement. In the US, UK, and Singapore, the image vanished from Bing; Microsoft <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57367100">blamed</a> “human error.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rhbMmb">
Part of the significance of the Tiananmen Square commemoration in Victoria Park each year is its defiance against censorship and control by the mainland. “Hongkongers are still on our side and want to fight for democracy,” Chow said to the BBC. “Hong Kong allows political expression,” she added. “Are we letting them [the Chinese government] use their ‘red lines’ to change our basic principle?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aXjMVp">
In neighboring Taiwan, the Tiananmen Square anniversary is also used as an opportunity to show defiance against China. Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/taiwan-president-says-people-will-never-forget-tiananmen-crackdown-2021-06-04/">posted</a> on Facebook, “We will also not forget about the young people who sacrificed themselves on Tiananmen Square on this day 32 years ago, and that year after year, friends in Hong Kong who always mourn June 4 with candlelight.” In previous years, people have also commemorated the anniversary with demonstrations in Taiwan in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="glVSAH">
Critics of China’s national security law in Hong Kong and of the arrests in the last year fear that censorship norms from mainland China will transform the culture and freedoms on the island. However, activists have shown themselves to be unrelenting and undaunted by the new authorities, and pro-democracy organizers, in Hong Kong and in exile, continue to post online and share their dissenting views.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VYxY8Y">
“Many ask if the vigil will disappear. But I think we have been persisting for more than 30 years,” Chow said. “It is more or less in Hong Kong people’s DNA now.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>Progressive groups are “fed up” with Biden’s infrastructure playbook</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/o--qgQx2nil5Wsv49l8wkBmEAfQ=/167x0:2834x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69410488/GettyImages_1321734902_copy.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A group of 60 Sunrise youth activists gathered outside the White House calling for President Biden to pass infrastructure plan that addresses the climate crisis on June 4. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Progressives want Biden to stop negotiating with Republicans and embrace budget reconciliation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VIAkIM">
The honeymoon period between President Joe Biden and progressives is ending.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FcJVck">
Progressive groups, who cheered Biden passing his $1.9 trillion Covid-19 stimulus bill through Congress with only Democratic support early on, are growing increasingly frustrated over Biden’s prolonged infrastructure negotiations with Senate Republicans.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9RPoUZ">
A tentative deadline to strike a bipartisan deal by Memorial Day has come and gone. And on Friday, Biden once again spoke to lead Republican negotiator Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, with their conversation yielding no deal, according to Capito’s spokesperson. Progressives are frustrated by the pace, and by the White House’s choice to lower the price tag of their $2.25 trillion infrastructure package to try to get GOP support.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9KTKLA">
“We’re fed up and we want our voices to be heard,” said Evan Weber, the political director for the progressive climate group Sunrise Movement, which staged a protest blocking an entrance outside the White House on Friday afternoon — with dozens of 20-something protesters risking arrest. “Since the election, we’re starting to feel he’s ignoring the very people who put him in office and spending more time talking to the party of insurrectionists who don’t feel he’s president.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BPDqVR">
Biden <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/business/economy/biden-infrastructure-senate-republicans.html">has now proposed</a> shaving over $1 trillion off of his initial price tag on a physical infrastructure package, and proposing a 15 percent minimum tax on corporations in an attempt to placate GOP concerns about raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent. Both are signs that the White House is serious about negotiating with Republicans to find common ground — a vow Biden made repeatedly throughout this campaign.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cqPZYCmtwRHGgk2eVqFW0uEiHj8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22638132/GettyImages_1233137645_copy.jpg"/> <cite>Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
President Biden speaks to reporters on May 27. Many progressives are frustrated by Biden’s willingness to lower the overall cost of his infrastructure plan as he seeks a bipartisan deal with Republicans.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hY4XVi">
“The President is engaged in good faith with both parties in Congress to deliver historic infrastructure investments that will drive economic growth, produce the clean technologies of the future and create good-paying jobs,” a White House official told Vox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vtDbP4">
But to progressives, the events of the past few weeks are a sign that Republicans are trying to stall while Democrats have a unified majority in Congress, to hurt Democrats electorally in the 2022 midterms. And many are worried that Biden is prioritizing working with Republicans over another campaign promise to get bold things done for the country, including tackling the climate crisis and improving racial equity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0ZrRO7">
With Republicans signaling they’re unhappy with any new taxation proposals, progressives are still holding out a shred of hope that Democrats will ultimately pass an infrastructure bill via budget reconciliation — a process where they can use only Democratic votes in the Senate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2WBJN7">
Progressives have an ear in Biden’s inner circle, especially with White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, and they have had some early successes on policy and personnel. But getting Biden to promise something and getting him to actually deliver it are two different things — and it presents their greatest challenge in Biden’s tenure so far.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mr4mzp">
“Republicans are never going to agree to a deal,” Jamal Raad, co-founder of the progressive climate group Evergreen Action and a former top staffer to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, told Vox. “This is bad-faith negotiating only done to run out the clock on the Biden agenda.”
</p>
<h3 id="f3bzS7">
Climate groups forged an unlikely alliance with Biden. That could be fracturing.
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yJ3RQv">
On a sweltering June day, a group of about 60 Sunrise youth activists spread out in front of a White House entrance, blocking cars from going in and out.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nLxZgc">
Sitting on the hot blacktop pavement, the protesters sang, chanted, and shared stories about how they have been personally impacted by the climate crisis. They yelled into a megaphone, asking Biden to listen to them. There was one problem, though: The president actually happened to be out of town when the Sunrise blockade began.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NvsNAC">
And Biden, specifically, is whose ear progressives need the most. Unlike his swift legislating with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the president seems more comfortable taking his time on an infrastructure package — even if that makes lawmakers and left-wing groups uncomfortable.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vPJcnm">
“We’re using this action today to make our demands really clear,” Sunrise advocacy director Lauren Maunus told Vox. “If [Biden] does not respond to those demands, then we’ll be back at the end of June with a lot more people.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mTJxjJ">
Specifically, Sunrise was demanding a sit-down between Biden and their co-founder Varshini Prakash, who was a member of a climate task force created by the Biden and Bernie Sanders campaigns after Biden won the Democratic primary. The task forces were meant to unite the left and more center wings of the party and create Biden’s agenda in the process.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="If2Gcs">
Prakash and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) were Sanders’s picks for Biden’s climate task force, which also included the president’s top climate officials: US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and White House National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy. Together, the group came up with an extremely ambitious climate plan, proposing to spend $2 trillion over four years to intertwine climate action with clean energy jobs, and drastically cut America’s greenhouse gas emissions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RtLBCh">
“On climate, I think we actually made far more progress than I think I even anticipated,” Prakash told me in an interview last summer, after the task forces had wrapped up. “In large part, that was because many of the advisers on climate on Biden’s side were also equally amenable to ambitious action as people on the Bernie side.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XeMRN4">
Biden married his infrastructure and jobs agenda to his climate agenda before he was inaugurated, noting the potential for job growth in the clean energy sector during the presidential campaign. “When I think about climate change, the word I think of is ‘jobs,’” Biden said in a July campaign speech announcing his $2 trillion plan.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NnrRVMzlqSpoBBbWCHL3j1kh5Ro=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22638087/GettyImages_1233269641_copy.jpg"/> <cite>Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A group of Sunrise climate activists block a vehicle entrance at the White House on June 4.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2pBmy5zviNrAmv23O5rapGl8Jco=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22638012/GettyImages_1321734943_copy.jpg"/> <cite>Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Climate groups once allied with then-presidential candidate Biden are growing frustrated with his prolonged infrastructure negotiations with Republicans.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oX9Tv4">
Indeed, the reason progressive groups are getting anxious about infrastructure negotiations is that Biden’s infrastructure plan is also his climate plan; it would invest billions in new tax credits for clean energy, contains a clean electricity standard, and has $174 billion in funding to collectively speed up production of electric vehicles (EV), user rebates to help purchase them, and money to install 500,000 EV charging stations around the nation’s roadways. Democrats and climate groups are keenly aware that time is running out to take action; the climate prognosis for the planet is looking increasingly dire if countries keep emitting carbon at their current pace.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l4q8jn">
“When Miami is going underwater or California catches fire again, no one is going to be thinking, ‘Well, at least we got some Republican votes on that infrastructure package,’” said Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media and a co-founder of the climate group <a href="http://350.org">350.org</a>. “Biden’s legacy depends on his ability to go big on climate, not dither around the edges.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="84m42V">
The flip-side dynamic that progressive groups are frustrated by now is that infrastructure was always going to be the area the Biden administration saw as having the most potential for bipartisan compromise with Republicans. Infrastructure has for years been the subject on which Republicans and Democrats believed they could come to an agreement, because it traditionally encompasses boring but essential needs like roads and bridges.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uSXcS2">
The White House is obviously aware, as well, of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/29/politics/cnn-poll-bipartisanship/index.html">numerous</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/5/12/22421064/mcconnell-poll-bipartisanship">polls</a> showing that voters favor bipartisanship in Congress, and want both parties to have input into a bill. A <a href="https://assets.morningconsult.com/wp-uploads/2021/06/01103557/210582_crosstabs_MC_WASHINGTON_RVs_v1_SH.pdf">recent Morning Consult poll</a> found 85 percent of voters saying it was very or somewhat important for legislation to have bipartisan support, and 62 percent saying they disagreed with the idea that politicians seeking bipartisan support was a waste of time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lZDoh8">
The very fact that Biden added so much of his climate agenda into his infrastructure plan, plus a proposed $400 billion to bring down long-term care costs and raise wages for home health aides, who are largely women, including women of color, greatly expanded the definition of infrastructure. Progressive groups are now warning Biden that he can’t abandon the coalitions of youth voters and people of color who helped get him elected — and also deliver visible, noticeable results through a big bill.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f1oUQR">
“Going small on climate is a political trap because it means you sacrifice some of the most visible, popular parts of the clean energy transition: more charging stations, solar panels on rooftops, a Civilian Climate Corps that puts tens of thousands of people to work,” Henn said. “We know the GOP and fossil fuel companies are going to blame Democrats for the inevitable collapse of the fossil fuel economy. The best way to combat that narrative is to have a big, visible clean energy program.”
</p>
<h3 id="HU5z5Y">
Negotiations between Biden and Republicans are reaching a critical point
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0g8RL9">
Biden and a group of Senate Republicans led by Capito have been trading infrastructure counteroffers for weeks. Yet another talk between Biden and Capito on Friday afternoon saw no final deal; instead, they agreed to essentially check back in on Monday. But if talks flounder or yield a smaller bill, some Democrats on Capitol Hill are itching to go it alone.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0JfIv6">
“We move as quickly as we can on going big, we move as quickly as we can on negotiations,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) told Vox recently. “At some point, if they won’t go where we believe the country needs to go and where the country seems to want to go, then we take off.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I83IBp">
The White House has already cut its initial $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal by more than $1 trillion, and proposed significant changes to the taxation plan to pay for the infrastructure plan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EBBfzU">
The GOP group, meanwhile, has added less than $100 billion in new spending to its initial proposal. The latest Republican plan <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/05/27/1000717244/senate-republicans-release-928-billion-infrastructure-counteroffer">totals $928 billion</a> but<strong> </strong>is proposing just $257 billion in new spending, and repurposing the rest of the infrastructure money from unused American Rescue Plan funds. On Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden wants to see Republicans propose more money specifically for electric vehicles and rebuilding veterans hospitals.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iWteCim5w4mvA5TETfD6VAHpVbM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22638131/GettyImages_1233136323_copy.jpg"/> <cite>Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) is the lead GOP negotiator on Biden’s infrastructure bill.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D6Og3L">
“There are areas where the president has priorities where he’d like to see more,” Psaki said. She said that even though Biden is continuing to talk to both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, “there are some realities of timelines” being driven by certain congressional committees. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to mark up a five-year surface transportation infrastructure bill this coming week, which contains elements of Biden’s American Jobs Plan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1PuYBB">
Still, progressive groups are telegraphing their disappointment, especially after the Senate GOP filibustered a bill for a commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill — a violent event led by supporters of President Donald Trump targeting lawmakers of both parties.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0XOPfa">
“It’s hard to argue Republicans are good faith negotiations when they couldn’t pass that.” Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, told Vox of the commission bill. “Democrats are attempting to govern, and Republicans have their eyes on 2022 and 2024 and are seeking to get back into power.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>Where’s the “Impossible Burger” of cheese?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ow30VPPp9oZhULux9IZauqR5yFs=/0x0:4937x3703/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69410314/Motif_FoodWorks_Cheese_Pull_No_Logo.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Motif FoodWorks, a food technology startup in Boston, says it’s developing plant-based cheese that stretches and melts like the real thing. | Courtesy of Motif FoodWorks
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Plant-based food has come a long way, but we still don’t have a stretchy, melty cow-free cheese.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xsC2b2">
Two years ago, Beyond Meat became the first plant-based food startup to go public.<strong> </strong>Its shares surged <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/02/beyond-meat-ipo.html">163 percent on its first day</a> and today it’s valued at $9 billion, with shares now worth about five times their original value.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4hLmYQ">
Since then, analysts have wondered which major plant-based food company would go public next.<strong> </strong>Late last month, they found out: Oatly, the Swedish maker of oat-based milk, yogurt, and ice cream.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9wy85K">
Oatly’s stock<strong> </strong>didn’t quite skyrocket like Beyond’s, but by the end of the company’s first day of trading, it was valued at about <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-19/oatly-is-said-to-price-ipo-at-top-of-range-with-markets-slumping">$12 billion</a>. Now, Oatly is valued at $14 billion, over 50 percent more than Beyond’s valuation of $9 billion. Though Beyond and other high-tech vegan meat producers get much more attention than companies that make plant-based milks, Oatly’s valuation says a lot about the state of the plant-based food industry — namely, that plant-based milk has reached a point of maturation in the market that’s even more advanced than plant-based meat.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<div id="5nMO5w">
<div>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sG3yqO">
According to a <a href="https://www.plantbasedfoods.org/retail-sales-data/">report</a> recently published by the Plant-Based Foods Association and the Good Food Institute, two organizations that advocate for plant-based foods, plant-based milk alone accounts for <a href="https://www.plantbasedfoods.org/retail-sales-data/">35 percent of the total plant-based foods market, worth $2.5 billion to plant-based meat’s $1.4 billion</a>. Plant-based milks don’t just dominate the plant-based food sector, they also take up a sizable portion of retail milk sales — 15 percent overall, and 45 percent<em> </em>in natural food stores.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/V_aU-J5NI3DHC0e62jJEyGwZlHQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22446103/Total_U.S._plant_based_food_dollar_sales_and_growth_GFI.jpg"/> <cite>SPINS, The Plant Based Foods Association, The Good Food Institute</cite>
<figcaption>
Plant-based milk is the largest segment of the overall plant-based food industry.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FmrYEY">
Oatly’s sudden rise since it came on the US market in 2016 has helped drive this growth. Almond milk sits at the top of the plant-based milk category, but <a href="https://www.fooddive.com/news/oat-milk-surges-to-second-most-popular-in-plant-based-dairy/586010/">oat milk recently pushed soy milk out of second place</a>, thanks to Oatly and big brands like Silk (owned by Danone) and Chobani <a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-lifestyle-health-business-f5bf285bf70e1bf73d050656d110aa7e">following Oatly’s lead</a> with a range of oat-based dairy products.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IxCSWj">
In fact, Starbucks, which started using Oatly products last year in select US stores and rolled it out nationwide earlier this year, says its share of orders that use plant-based milk jumped from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-18/oatly-s-about-to-go-public-in-an-increasingly-crowded-milk-aisle">17 to 25 percent after it introduced Oatly</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6cnCKi">
These shifts from traditional to plant-based dairy are important in the fight against climate change, as traditional dairy is an especially resource-intensive sector. According to a 2018 University of Oxford study, any way you slice it, <a href="https://theconversation.com/which-milk-is-best-for-the-environment-we-compared-dairy-nut-soy-hemp-and-grain-milks-147660">cow’s milk uses much more land and water and emits far more greenhouse gases than any plant-based milk</a>. For example, almond milk gets a bad rap for being water-intensive, but cow’s milk requires about 70 percent more water to produce, emits more than twice as much Co2, and requires more than 15 times as much land. Compared to almond milk, oat milk uses much less water but a little more land.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uw8ovK">
On top of the environmental impact of traditional dairy, most dairy cows, at least in the US, are <a href="https://www.sentienceinstitute.org/us-factory-farming-estimates">raised in factory farms</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J2Az3R">
Yet despite the popularity of plant-based milks, they haven’t quite made a dent in taking the cow out of dairy, their raison d’être. Some farmers do say <a href="https://civileats.com/2018/11/05/whats-behind-the-crippling-dairy-crisis-family-farmers-speak-out/">plant-based milk is affecting their bottom line</a>, and a <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2020/december/plant-based-products-replacing-cow-s-milk-but-the-impact-is-small/">late 2020 report</a> that was funded by the United States Department of Agriculture found that “increased sales of plant-based alternatives are negatively affecting households’ purchases of cow’s milk” but that it’s “not a primary driver.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3PtcNK">
There are a lot of factors that affect dairy production and consumption, and adoption of alternatives is just one of them. But in order for plant-based startups to become a primary driver in displacing conventional dairy, stealing market share from<strong> </strong>the milk shelves of the supermarket isn’t enough. Oatly and its competitors need to figure out how to make a great alternative for another dairy product: cheese.
</p>
<h3 id="XeYsps">
Milk sales are plummeting, but there are more cows than ever
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x2aAos">
Some vegan advocates say that “<a href="https://vegannews.press/2020/06/11/dairy-is-dying-sales-fell-1-1-billion-dollars-according-to-dairy-farmers-of-america/">dairy is dying</a>” (or <a href="https://www.livekindly.co/the-dairy-industry-is-dead/">already dead</a>), in part because of the United States’ <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/2387/american-milk-consumption-has-plummeted/">decades-long decline in milk consumption</a> coinciding with the rise of plant-based milk.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sVVGmp">
Many dairy farmers are indeed hurting, but plant-based milks aren’t the biggest culprit — it’s Big Dairy, which has been <a href="https://thecounterorg.wpengine.com/how-rural-america-got-milked/">consolidating and squeezing out small farmers</a>, one of several factors that caused <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/18/21295834/why-american-farmers-are-throwing-out-milk-coronavirus">11,000 dairy farms</a> to shutter between 2014 and 2019. The pandemic only hastened this trend, as major dairy customers — schools and restaurants — closed down, resulting in farmers across the country dumping millions of gallons of milk. <a href="https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming/dairy/7-of-u-s-dairies-shuttered-in-2020/article_b5f755dc-5639-5b61-aef9-1c0763849f95.html"><strong>Seven percent of US dairies closed in 2020.</strong></a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="El377w">
But dairy is far from dead: The number of dairy cows in production has <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Charts_and_Maps/Milk_Production_and_Milk_Cows/milkcows.php">increased slightly in the past decade</a>, and they’re producing <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Charts_and_Maps/Milk_Production_and_Milk_Cows/milkprod.php">more milk</a> — <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Charts_and_Maps/Milk_Production_and_Milk_Cows/cowrates.php">more efficiently</a> — than ever.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/a3GycQ9K5eTLZNL87Fpiiv0gUtg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22636832/0DAIp_american_consumption_of_milk_br_and_other_dairy_products.png"/> <cite>Tim Ryan Williams/Vox</cite>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UHNfKa">
This can be explained, in part, by Americans’ love for cheese; per capita cheese consumption has risen <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/183785/per-capita-consumption-of-cheese-in-the-us-since-2000/">25 percent</a> since the early 2000s, which is one factor that has kept milk production high, since it takes nearly <a href="https://www.progressivedairy.com/topics/management/how-much-cheese-is-there-in-a-hundred-pounds-of-milk">10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese</a>. (Butter consumption is rising even faster, and it takes more than <a href="https://dairy-cattle.extension.org/how-many-pounds-of-whole-milk-does-it-take-to-make-a-pound-of-butter/"><em>21 pounds </em>of milk</a> to make one pound of butter.)
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yeA1ibZlHs89sDvDGIgURawdD9U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22544283/wbKbK_how_many_pounds_of_milk_are_in_a_pound_of_.png"/> <cite>Tim Ryan Williams/Vox</cite>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="StVHBP">
There are plant-based cheese alternatives on the market, and they generally fall into two categories. The first are the pricey, fermented wheels or tubs of spreadable cheese, often made of nuts, seasonings, and cultures (and sometimes oils, gums, and starches),<strong> </strong>which have managed to impress the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/dining/vegan-cheese.html">taste buds of omnivorous food critics</a>. Bigger brands like Miyoko’s Creamery, Kite Hill, and Treeline Cheese dominate this first category, but there are <a href="https://www.eater.com/22315684/vegan-cheese-history-ingredients-process-grocery-brands">dozens of smaller, artisanal outfits</a> like the Herbivorous Butcher in Minneapolis and Rebel Cheese in Austin.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g3oZ5E">
The second category consists of the bags of shredded or sliced mozzarella or cheddar, often made with oil and potato starch or cornstarch, which don’t melt and stretch (or taste) the way cheese from cow’s milk does. The problem is best summed up by the joke about how a vegan’s house burned down and the only thing that didn’t melt was their cheese.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yghjEr">
But Americans eat a lot of shredded and sliced cheese, and the vegan versions haven’t improved much since I last heard that joke some years ago (though if you’re curious, I suggest giving Violife, Field Roast, and Follow Your Heart products a try). And even though the plant-based food industry has grown rapidly in the past few years, its startups loaded with billions in investment, no company has come close to making a “breakthrough” shredded or sliced cheese product akin to the Beyond or Impossible burger — or a carton of Oatly — that can bring in curious omnivores.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dOUmy4">
Not yet, anyway.
</p>
<h3 id="Sbbblp">
The future of animal-free cheese
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5SUoUW">
The absence of great shredded and sliced plant-based cheese could be a problem of demand or innovation, or both.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eDr0Cp">
Meat gets much more attention for its ecological and animal welfare harms than cheese, to the point where nearly a <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/282779/nearly-one-four-cut-back-eating-meat.aspx">quarter of Americans</a> say they are trying to cut back. But you don’t hear much about people trying to reduce their cheese intake, even though globally, the dairy sector <a href="http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/197623">emits more greenhouse gases than all meat sectors</a> (except beef), and most dairy cows, at least in the US, are factory-farmed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lP33LE">
On the innovation side, it’s simply much harder to replicate stretchy, melty cheese made from cow’s milk than the soft, spreadable varieties.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x5NMYc">
“Achieving the stretchy quality and texture consumers expect from harder cheeses upon melting has proven challenging to date, which is why soft plant-based cheese may be more prominent,” Dr. Priera Panescu, a senior scientist at the Good Food Institute, told me over email.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XtqfYz">
Ryan Pandya, the CEO and co-founder of Perfect Day — a food technology startup based in Berkeley, California — shared a similar sentiment with <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/dairy-free-cheese">Wired</a>, explaining, “The melty, stretchy thing is absolutely the most challenging holy grail thing to do. Because there’s only one protein known to man that does this, and it’s casein.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fMk0KK">
Through precision fermentation, which is used to make specific proteins, enzymes, or vitamins, Perfect Day has developed a microflora (fungi) that converts sugar into whey, another protein in milk, for its ice cream products. The company says it’s also<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90607741/this-animal-free-dairy-isnt-plant-based-its-grown-from-real-cow-protein-with-no-cows-involved"> working on cheese</a> but doesn’t have plans for the shredded or sliced varieties in the near future.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E2uEwx">
<a href="https://www.realvegancheese.org/">Real Vegan Cheese</a>, a nonprofit, open-science research project — quite rare in a field of venture capital-backed startups — <em>is</em> going for the “holy grail” of cheese by adding the genes for casein to yeast and other microflora, and then adding plant-based fats and sugars. New Culture, based in San Francisco, is also working to replicate casein, using microbial fermentation, similar to Perfect Day’s approach, to make shredded cheese. The company plans to launch its first product in late 2023.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9l8Ha4">
When asked about the lack of stretchy plant-based cheese, Panescu said that “academic researchers are working to address these challenges by using biological interventions, optimizing more flexible, well-assembled plant-based proteins, and applying mechanical texturization processes.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p4Ibxm">
One of those researchers is Alejandro Marangoni at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. According to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665927120300113?via%3Dihub">Marangoni’s research</a>, zein — a protein found in corn — is an overlooked tool in the search to make plant-based alternatives to animal products. Most companies making shredded and sliced plant-based cheese use starches and gums for the melt and stretch effects, but zein could be a better route. When hydrated and heated above a certain temperature, it forms a “flexible, bendable mass which may be pulled, stretched, and sculpted,” sharing “melting characteristics with cheddar cheese.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="20E78k">
Motif FoodWorks, a food tech startup based in Boston that has received investment from the major dairy company Fonterra, recently <a href="https://www.dairyreporter.com/Article/2021/05/17/Motif-FoodWorks-accesses-transformative-plant-based-technologies">signed an exclusive licensing deal</a> to use a unique food processing technology Marangoni developed using zein.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l76dQq">
Motif’s CEO, Jonathan McIntyre, told me their newly acquired tech will enable them to make a stretchy, gooey vegan cheese that’s better than what’s currently on the market. “This technology doesn’t solve all problems in plant-based cheese,” he said, and that “there are other aspects, like mouthfeel and creaminess” that they’re using other tools to address.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p4lc0J">
McIntyre isn’t yet sure whether Motif will develop its own products, work with a dairy company to make a plant-based product, or partner with an existing plant-based cheese company to upgrade its own, but he does envision it being used on nachos and, of course, pizza. You can see it in action below or <a href="https://madewithmotif.com/2021/05/13/bringing-meltiness-and-marbleization-to-plant-based-cheese-and-meat/">here</a>.
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9VsUKG">
Given all the hype around plant-based food, it may come as no surprise that there are <a href="https://newprotein.org/evolution">dozens more startups</a> racing to make convincing cheese alternatives — but Impossible Foods isn’t one of them. While it is developing Impossible Milk, a spokesperson told me the company won’t be selling Impossible Cheese anytime soon.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E0EzlZ">
Then there’s Oatly, which recently <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-20/newly-public-oatly-eyes-plant-based-cheese-as-the-next-frontier?sref=taxRtTxi">told Bloomberg</a> it’s making “good progress” on developing oat-based cheese products, though its CEO didn’t specify what kinds. Given the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/19/oatly-1point4-billion-ipo-priced-84point4-million-shares-at-17-each.html">$1.4 billion</a> the company raised from last month’s IPO, it seems like it should have the resources to raise the bar on plant-based cheese, and a devoted customer base who will likely be curious enough to give it a try.
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Eng vs NZ first Test | New Zealand sets England a target of 273</strong> - England were bowled out for 275 on day four as New Zealand were able to secure a first-innings advantage of 103.</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>Desperate India eye win against Bangladesh to keep Asian Cup hope alive</strong> - India are already out of contention for a World Cup berth but still in the reckoning for a place in the 2023 Asian Cup.</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>Roger Federer set for French Open pullout and end four-decade Paris stretch</strong> - The 39-year-old Federer is due back on court on Monday to tackle Matteo Berrettini for a place in the quarterfinals.</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>Lack of match-practice may hurt even world-class players like Virat and Rohit, says Vengsarkar</strong> - Vengsarkar reckoned that New Zealand could have slight advantage given that they are already in the zone competitively.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New Zealand vs England | Burns battles it out; Southee takes six</strong> - Rory Burns hit a gutsy century to help England recover from a collapse on the fourth day of the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s on Saturday.E</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SCCL drops a song for COVID awareness</strong> - A song titled ‘Karona Pai Yuddaniki Singareni Siddham’ was released at the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL)’s head office in Kothagudem on</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>Six years on, no clue about 17 ‘mentally unsound’ Indians languishing in Pak. jails</strong> - The group includes four women.</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>Horticulture export: plea to include State in scheme</strong> - Union Agriculture Minister had launched CDP scheme for export of farm produce</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>Tension returns to Assam-Mizoram border</strong> - Incursion reported a week after an alleged attack on Assam MLA along Nagaland 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>Parra was an asset of Pak-based terror groups: Police chargesheet</strong> - His lawyer has denied all these charges during various court proceedings.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Budapest protest against China’s Fudan University campus</strong> - Opponents say a Chinese university in the Hungarian capital could increase Beijing’s influence.</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>Roman Protasevich arrest: EU bans Belarus jets from its airspace</strong> - The move follows Belarus’s grounding of a Ryanair flight to arrest a dissident journalist.</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>Putin sees ‘double standard’ in US Capitol riot prosecutions</strong> - Ahead of a summit with President Joe Biden, Mr Putin also says he expects “no breakthroughs”.</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>Denmark parliament approves giant artificial island off Copenhagen</strong> - Lynetteholm aims to house 35,000 people and protect the port, but environmentalists have concerns.</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>Top German cleric asks to quit over Church sex abuse failures</strong> - Top Catholic cleric Reinhard Marx calls sexual abuse by Church officials “a catastrophe”.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>When the bison come back, will the ecosystem follow?</strong> - Bring wild bison to the Great Plains, restore one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1770130">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hacker lexicon: What is a supply chain attack?</strong> - From NotPetya to SolarWinds, it’s a problem that’s not going away any time soon. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1770126">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The best early Prime Day deal gives $10 Amazon credit with a $40 gift card</strong> - Dealmaster also has deals on Audible, <em>Resident Evil</em>, and PlayStation Plus. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1769854">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Reducing poverty can actually lower energy demand, finds research</strong> - Turns out human development is a matter of economic justice <em>and</em> climate justice. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1770116">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“Kind of crazy”—how the booming US used car market is driving inflation</strong> - Supply constraints and soaring demand have made vehicle prices a key number for the Fed. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1770108">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<li><strong>An 18 year old girl tells her mom that she has missed her last 2 periods…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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Very worried, the mother goes to the drugstore and buys a pregnancy test. The test result shows that the girl is pregnant. Crying, cursing and Shouting the mother says, “Who was the bastard that did this to you? I want to know!”
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The girl picks up the phone and makes a call. Half an hour later, a Rolls-Royce stops in front of their house. A mature and distinguished man with gray hair and impeccably dressed in an Armani suit steps out of the of the Royce and enters the house. He sits in the living room with the father, mother, and the girl and tells them: “Good morning, your daughter has informed me of the problem. I can’t marry her because of my personal family situation but I’ll take care of it.”
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“I will pay all costs and provide for your daughter for the rest of her life.” “Additionally, if a girl is born, I will bequeath a Royce, a mansion, two retail stores, a townhouse, a beachfront villa, and a $2,000,000 bank account. If a boy is born, my legacy will be a couple of factories and a $4,000,000 bank account. If twins, they will receive a factory and $2,000,000 each. However, if there is a miscarriage, what do you suggest I do?”
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At this point, the father, who had remained silent, places a hand menacingly on the man’s shoulder and tells him, “You fuck her again.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Charming-Charlie-111"> /u/Charming-Charlie-111 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ntdh8e/an_18_year_old_girl_tells_her_mom_that_she_has/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ntdh8e/an_18_year_old_girl_tells_her_mom_that_she_has/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A woman and a baby were in the doctor’s examining room</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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The Doctor arrived, examined the baby, checked his weight, and seeming a little concerned, asked if the baby was breast-fed or bottle-fed.
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“Breast-fed,” she replied.
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“Strip down to your waist,” the Doctor said.
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She did.
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He pinched her nipples, then pressed, kneaded, and rubbed both breasts for awhile in a detailed examination. Motioning her to get dressed, he said, “No wonder this baby is underweight, you don’t have any milk.”
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“I know,” she said, “I’m his Grandma, but I’m glad I came.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Akhi1"> /u/Akhi1 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nszkkh/a_woman_and_a_baby_were_in_the_doctors_examining/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nszkkh/a_woman_and_a_baby_were_in_the_doctors_examining/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Mohammad, a child of Arab parents was enrolled in a school in New York. On the first day, his teacher asked, ‘What is your name?’ The boy replied, ‘Mohammad’.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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‘From now on your name is Harry as you are in America,’ she said.
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In the evening, when he came back, his mother asked, ‘How was your day Mohammad?’ He said, ‘My name is not Mohammad. I’m in America and my name is Harry.’ His mother slapped him and said angrily: ‘Aren’t you ashamed of trying to dishonour your parents, your heritage, your religion?’ Then she called his father and he also slapped him.
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The next day when the teacher saw him with his face red and asked what happened, Mohammad said, ‘Madam, four hours after I became American, I was attacked by two Arabs’.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MartinianMonk"> /u/MartinianMonk </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nt08ko/mohammad_a_child_of_arab_parents_was_enrolled_in/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nt08ko/mohammad_a_child_of_arab_parents_was_enrolled_in/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A congressman was seated in first class next to a little girl on an airplane.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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He turned to her and said, “Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.” The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, “What would you want to talk about?”
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“Oh, I don’t know,” said the congressman. “How about global warming, universal health care, or stimulus packages?” as he smiled smugly. “OK,” she said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?”
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The legislator, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.” To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss global warming, universal health care, or the economy when you don’t know crap?” Then she went back to reading her book.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/EatCrud"> /u/EatCrud </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ntc0n2/a_congressman_was_seated_in_first_class_next_to_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ntc0n2/a_congressman_was_seated_in_first_class_next_to_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>NSFW - A mother was walking down the hall when she heard a humming sound coming from her daughter’s bedroom. When she opened the door she found her daughter naked on the bed with a vibrator.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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What are you doing?" she exclaimed.
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The daughter replied, “I’m 35 and still living at home with my parents and this is the closest I’ll ever get to a husband.”
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Later that week the father was in the kitchen and heard a humming sound coming from the basement. When he went downstairs, he found his daughter naked on the sofa with her vibrator.
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“What are you doing?” he exclaimed.
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The daughter replied, “I’m 35 and still living at home with my parents and this is the closest I’ll ever get to a husband.”
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A couple of days later the mother heard the humming sound again, this time in the living room. In there, she found her husband watching the Super Bowl on television with the vibrator buzzing away beside him.
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“What are you doing?” she exclaimed.
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He replied…………“Watching the game with my son-in-law.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Genius_Mate"> /u/Genius_Mate </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nsuur0/nsfw_a_mother_was_walking_down_the_hall_when_she/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nsuur0/nsfw_a_mother_was_walking_down_the_hall_when_she/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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