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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>Being cut off from social identity resources has shaped loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal interview study with medically vulnerable older adults from the United Kingdom</strong> -
<div>
Older adulthood is often a time of identity change arising from physical decline and social isolation which can increase loneliness. These effects are thought to be exacerbated by public health threats such as COVID-19 which disproportionately restrict older adults, though research has yet to fully explore how this occurs. We used a Qualitative Longitudinal Research (QLR) interview approach to follow nine vulnerable older adults (Mage=79.4) for fourteen months through 2019 and 2020 in order to understand their unfolding experiences of pandemic-related isolation. A theoretically guided thematic analysis found that participants initially experienced “Threatened Social Contact” due to age-related vulnerabilities which reduced their ability to manage “Being Categorised as a Vulnerable Older Person”. Consequently, participants experienced a “Restriction in Ability to Gain or Maintain Identities” leading to “Undermining of Reciprocal Support” and “Wellbeing hindered by Loneliness-Related Fears”. Findings highlighted that COVID-19 exacerbates existing negative age-related categorisations, contributing to a loss of reciprocal support in older adulthood. More generally, interventions to ameliorate loneliness among older adults would benefit from explicitly addressing ageism as well as enhancing group-based connectedness.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/rhf32/" target="_blank">Being cut off from social identity resources has shaped loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal interview study with medically vulnerable older adults from the United Kingdom</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Lack of antiviral activity of probenecid in Vero E6 cells and Syrian golden hamsters: a need for better understanding of inter-lab differences in preclinical assays.</strong> -
<div>
Antiviral interventions are urgently required to support vaccination programmes and reduce the global burden of COVID-19. Prior to initiation of large-scale clinical trials, robust preclinical data in support of candidate plausibility are required. The speed at which preclinical models have been developed during the pandemic are unprecedented but there is a vital need for standardisation and assessment of the Critical Quality Attributes. This work provides cross-validation for the recent report demonstrating potent antiviral activity of probenecid against SARS- CoV-2 in preclinical models (1). Vero E6 cells were pre-incubated with probenecid, across a 7-point concentration range, or control media for 2 hours before infection with SARS-CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2/Human/Liverpool/REMRQ0001/2020, Pango B; MOI 0.05). Probenecid or control media was then reapplied and plates incubated for 48 hours. Cells were fixed with 4% v/v paraformaldehyde, stained with crystal violet and cytopathic activity quantified by spectrophotometry at 590 nm. Syrian golden hamsters (n=5 per group) were intranasally inoculated with virus (SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant B.1.617.2; 103 PFU/hamster) for 24 hours prior to treatment. Hamsters were treated with probenecid or vehicle for 4 doses. Hamsters were ethically euthanised before quantification of total and sub-genomic pulmonary viral RNAs. No inhibition of cytopathic activity was observed for probenecid at any concentration in Vero E6 cells. Furthermore, no reduction in either total or sub-genomic RNA was observed in terminal lung samples from hamsters on day 3 (P &gt; 0.05). Body weight of uninfected hamsters remained stable throughout the course of the experiment whereas both probenecid- (6 - 9% over 3 days) and vehicle-treated (5 - 10% over 3 days) infected hamsters lost body weight which was comparable in magnitude (P &gt; 0.5). The presented data do not support probenecid as a SARS-CoV-2 antiviral. These data do not support use of probenecid in COVID-19 and further analysis is required prior to initiation of clinical trials to investigate the potential utility of this drug.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.03.482788v1" target="_blank">Lack of antiviral activity of probenecid in Vero E6 cells and Syrian golden hamsters: a need for better understanding of inter-lab differences in preclinical assays.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Soluble signal inhibitory receptor on leukocytes-1 is released from activated neutrophils by proteinase 3 cleavage</strong> -
<div>
Signal inhibitory receptor on leukocytes-1 (SIRL-1) is an immune inhibitory receptor expressed on human granulocytes and monocytes which dampens antimicrobial functions. We previously showed that sputum neutrophils from infants with severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis have decreased SIRL-1 surface expression compared to blood neutrophils, and that SIRL-1 surface expression is rapidly lost from in vitro activated neutrophils. This led us to hypothesize that activated neutrophils lose SIRL-1 by ectodomain shedding. Here, we developed an ELISA and measured the concentration of soluble SIRL-1 (sSIRL-1) in RSV bronchiolitis and hospitalized COVID-19 patients, which are both characterized by neutrophilic inflammation. In line with our hypothesis, sSIRL-1 concentration was increased in sputum compared to plasma of RSV bronchiolitis patients, and in serum of hospitalized COVID-19 patients compared to control serum. In addition, we show that in vitro activated neutrophils release sSIRL-1 by proteolytic cleavage, which can be prevented by proteinase 3 inhibition. Finally, we found that SIRL-1 shedding is prevented by extracellular adherence protein (Eap) from S. aureus. Notably, we recently showed that SIRL-1 is activated by PSM3 from S. aureus, suggesting that S. aureus may counteract SIRL-1 shedding to benefit from preserved inhibitory function of SIRL-1. In conclusion, we are the first to report that SIRL-1 is released from activated neutrophils by proteinase 3 cleavage and that endogenous sSIRL-1 protein is present in vivo.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.03.482795v1" target="_blank">Soluble signal inhibitory receptor on leukocytes-1 is released from activated neutrophils by proteinase 3 cleavage</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A predictive model for hospitalization and survival to COVID-19 in a retrospective population-based study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is highly transmissible and has been responsible for a pandemic associated with a high number of deaths. The clinical management of patients and the optimal use of resources are two important factors in reducing this mortality, especially in scenarios of high incidence. To this end, it is necessary to develop tools that allow early triage of patients with the minimal use of diagnostic tests and based on readily accessible data, such as electronic medical records. This work proposes the use of a machine learning model that allows the prediction of mortality and risk of hospitalization using simple demographic characteristics and comorbidities, using a COVID-19 dataset of 86867 patients. In addition, we developed a new method designed to deal with data imbalance problems. The model was able to predict with high accuracy (89-93%, ROC-AUC = 0.94) the patient9s final status (expired/discharged) and with medium accuracy the risk of hospitalization (71-73%, ROC-AUC = 0.75). These models were obtained by assembling and using easily obtainable clinical characteristics (2 demographic characteristics and 19 predictors of comorbidities). The most relevant features of these models were the following patient characteristics: age, sex, number of comorbidities, osteoarthritis, obesity, depression, and renal failure.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.02.22271552v1" target="_blank">A predictive model for hospitalization and survival to COVID-19 in a retrospective population-based study</a>
</div></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 IgG seroprevalence in the Okinawa Main Island and remote islands in Okinawa, Japan, 2020-2021.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
We estimated the seroprevalence of anti-SARS-COV-2 IgG in different island groups in Okinawa and described its changes over time. A cross-sectional sero-survey was repeated in three distinct periods between July 2020 and February</p></div></li>
</ul>
<ol start="2021" type="1">
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">A total of 2683 serum samples were collected from six referral medical centers, each covering a separate region in Okinawa. Patients who visited the emergency department for any reason and underwent blood collection were eligible for the study. Samples were analyzed using an FDA-authorized two-step enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) protocol. The case detection ratio was computed by dividing the seroprevalence by the attack rate obtained from publicly available surveillance data. In the main island, the seroprevalence was 0.0% (0/392, 95% CI: 0.0-0.9), 0.6% (8/1448, 0.2-1.1), and 1.4% (8/582, 0.6-2.7) at the 1 st , 2 nd , and 3 rd sero-survey, respectively. In the remote islands, the seroprevalence was 0.0% (0/144, 95% CI: 0.0-2.5) and 1.6% (2/123, 0.2-5.8) at the 2 nd and 3 rd survey, respectively. The overall case detection ratios at the 3 rd survey were 2.7 (95% CI: 1.3-5.3) in the main island and 2.8 (0.7-11.1) in the remote islands. The highest age-specific case detection ratio was observed in people aged 20-29 years (8.3, 95% CI: 3.3-21.4) in the main island and in those aged 50-59 years (14.1, 2.1-92.7) in the remote islands. The low seroprevalence at the latest survey suggested that a large-scale epidemic had not yet occurred in Okinawa by February</li>
<li>The case detection ratios imply that the cumulative number of incident cases in Okinawa should be 2-3 times higher than that reported by routine surveillance. The ratio was particularly high in young people probably due to a frequent asymptomatic/mild COVID-19 disease in this age group. To accurately measure the scale of the COVID-19 epidemic, it is crucially important to conduct a sero-survey targeting the young.
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.02.22271759v1" target="_blank">SARS- CoV-2 IgG seroprevalence in the Okinawa Main Island and remote islands in Okinawa, Japan, 2020-2021.</a>
</div></li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li><strong>Optimal vaccination with time-varying based on immunity barrier in Hunan Province, China</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The current outbreak of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is already causing a serious disease burden worldwide, this paper analyzed data of a delta variant Covid-19 outbreak in Hunan, China, and proposed an optimal dose- wise dynamical vaccinating process based on local contact pattern and vaccine coverage that minimize the accumulative cases in a certain future time interval. The optimized result requires an immediate vaccination to that none vaccinated at age group 30 to 39, which is coherent to the prevailing strategies. The dose-wise optimal vaccinating process can be directive for countries or regions where vaccines are not abundant. We recommend that vaccination should be further intensified to increase the coverage of booster shots, thus effectively reducing the spread of COVID-19.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.02.22271610v1" target="_blank">Optimal vaccination with time- varying based on immunity barrier in Hunan Province, China</a>
</div></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vaccine Breakthrough Infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta or Omicron (BA.1) Variant Leads to Distinct Profiles of Neutralizing Antibody Responses</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
There is increasing evidence that the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection among vaccinated individuals is variant- specific, suggesting that protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 may differ by variant. We enrolled vaccinated (n =</p></div></li>
</ul>
<ol start="39" type="1">
<li>and unvaccinated (n = 11) individuals with acute, symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Delta or Omicron infection and performed SARS-CoV-2 viral load quantification, whole-genome sequencing, and variant-specific antibody characterization at the time of acute illness and convalescence. Viral load at the time of infection was inversely correlated with antibody binding and neutralizing antibody responses. Increases in antibody titers and neutralizing activity occurred at convalescence in a variant-specific manner. Across all variants tested, convalescent neutralization titers in unvaccinated individuals were markedly lower than in vaccinated individuals. For individuals infected with the Delta variant, neutralizing antibody responses were weakest against BA.2, whereas infection with Omicron BA.1 variant generated a broader response against all circulating variants, including BA.2.
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.02.22271731v1" target="_blank">Vaccine Breakthrough Infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta or Omicron (BA.1) Variant Leads to Distinct Profiles of Neutralizing Antibody Responses</a>
</div></li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li><strong>Evidence of co-infection during Delta and Omicron variants of concern co-circulation, weeks 49-2021 to 02-2022, France</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
We report evidence of Delta/Omicron SARS-CoV-2 co-infections during the fifth wave of COVID-19 pandemics in France for 7 immunocompetent and epidemiologically unrelated patients. These co-infections were detected by PCR assays targeting SARS-CoV-2 S-gene mutations K417N and L452R and confirmed by whole genome sequencing which allowed the proportion estimation of each subpopulation. For 2 patients, the analyses of longitudinal samples collected 7 to 11 days apart showed that Delta or Omicron can outcompete the other variant during dual infection.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.02.22271694v1" target="_blank">Evidence of co-infection during Delta and Omicron variants of concern co-circulation, weeks 49-2021 to 02-2022, France</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Sexual Desire in the Time of COVID-19: How COVID-Related Stressors are Associated with Sexual Desire in Romantic Relationships</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting social distancing measures have caused widespread social and economic disruptions, resulting in spikes in unemployment and financial instability, along with drastic changes to people’s ability to feel socially connected. Many of the changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic are risk factors for depressive symptoms, which are associated with lower levels of sexual desire. The current research (N = 4,993) examined whether responses to external stressors brought on by COVID-19 (i.e., financial concern, worry, loneliness, stress) were associated with sexual desire among a multi-national sample of people in relationships (Studies 1-2), and whether this association was, in part, due to reports of depressive symptoms (Study 2). In the period immediately following the onset of the pandemic, more financial concern (Study 1) and worry (Study 2) were associated with higher sexual desire, while other factors, like stress (Studies 1-2), were associated with lower desire. We also followed a subset of participants every two weeks during the initial stages of the pandemic and at times when people reported greater stress, loneliness, financial strain, or worry than their average, they reported greater depressive symptoms, which, was in turn, associated with lower sexual desire. Results suggest that the social isolation and stress resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has mixed associations with sexual desire at the onset of the pandemic. But over time, when people report heightened COVID-related stressors, they tend to report lower sexual desire for their partner, in part because these stressors are associated with more depressive symptoms.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/nxkgp/" target="_blank">Sexual Desire in the Time of COVID-19: How COVID-Related Stressors are Associated with Sexual Desire in Romantic Relationships</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Amplification of Olfactory Signals by Anoctamin 9 is Essential for Mammalian Olfaction: a Risk Factor for the Covid-19-associated Anosmia</strong> -
<div>
Sensing smells of foods, prey, or predators determines animal survival. Olfactory sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelium (OE) detect odorants, where cAMP and Ca2+ play a significant role in transducing odorant inputs to electrical activity. Here we show Anoctamin 9, a cation channel activated by cAMP/PKA pathway, is expressed in the OE and amplifies olfactory signals. Ano9-deficient mice had reduced olfactory behavioral sensitivity, electro-olfactogram signals, and neural activity in the olfactory bulb. In line with the difference in olfaction between birds and other vertebrates, chick ANO9 failed to respond to odorants, whereas chick CNGA2, a major transduction channel, showed greater responses to cAMP. Importantly, single-cell transcriptome data from Covid-19 patients revealed that Ano9 transcripts were markedly suppressed among genes in the olfactory signal pathway. The signal amplification by ANO9 is essential for mammalian olfactory transduction, whose downregulation may be a risk factor for the olfactory dysfunction in Covid-19 patients.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.02.482745v1" target="_blank">Amplification of Olfactory Signals by Anoctamin 9 is Essential for Mammalian Olfaction: a Risk Factor for the Covid-19-associated Anosmia</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Pegylated-interferon-λ treatment-induced peripheral interferon stimulated genes are associated with SARS-CoV-2 viral load decline despite delayed T cell response in older individuals</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Interferons (IFNs) are antiviral cytokines induced very early after SARS-CoV-2 infection and are crucial for viral clearance, shaping immunity, and preventing the development of severe COVID-19. We previously demonstrated that a single injection of peginterferon-lambda1 (PEG-IFN-λ1) accelerated viral clearance in COVID-19 patients. To determine if the rapid viral decline was mediated by enhanced immunity, we assessed in vivo responses to PEG-IFN-λ1 by single cell RNA sequencing and measured SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell and antibody responses between placebo and PEG-IFN-λ1-treated patients. PEG-IFN-λ1 treatment induced interferon stimulated genes in peripheral immune cells expressing IFNLR1, with plasmacytoid dendritic cells having the greatest response, followed by B cells. PEG-IFN-λ1 did not significantly affect SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody levels in plasma or the magnitude or functionality of virus-specific T cells. However, we identified a delayed T cell response in older adults, suggesting that PEG-IFN-λ1 can overcome the delay in adaptive immunity to accelerate viral clearance in patients most at risk for severe disease. Taken together, PEG-IFN-λ1 offers an early COVID-19 treatment option for outpatients to boost innate antiviral defenses without dampening peripheral SARS- CoV-2 adaptive immunity.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.24.22271438v1" target="_blank">Pegylated-interferon-λ treatment-induced peripheral interferon stimulated genes are associated with SARS-CoV-2 viral load decline despite delayed T cell response in older individuals</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Vaccine effectiveness and duration of protection against symptomatic and severe Covid-19 during the first year of vaccination in France</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background SARS–CoV–2 continues to spread despite fast vaccine rollout, which could be attributed to waning immunity or to a reduced protection against some variants. A thorough characterization of vaccine protection and its duration in time is needed to inform vaccination policies and enhance public trust. Methods We matched three national databases with exhaustive information on screening, vaccination and hospitalizations in France over the year 2021. We performed a two-step analysis to estimate vaccine effectiveness against severe forms of Covid-19 in people aged 50 years or over, combining: (i) a test-negative case–control design to assess vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic infections; and (ii) a survival analysis to assess the additional protection against severe outcomes (hospitalizations and inpatient deaths) in infected individuals. Results We found a high vaccine effectiveness in people aged 50 years or more, reaching 82% against symptomatic infections and 94% against severe outcomes, after a full vaccination scheme. Vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic infections strongly decreased over time, dropping to 53% after six months, but remained high against severe forms (90% after six months). The booster dose allowed restoring high protection levels. Vaccine protection and its evolution in time, showed little difference against the variants that circulated prior to December 2021 in France, including the Delta variant. Conclusion Though vaccine immunity decreases over time, vaccination remains crucial to provide individual protection against severe diseases. This decline can be reversed by the injection of a booster dose.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.17.22270791v1" target="_blank">Vaccine effectiveness and duration of protection against symptomatic and severe Covid-19 during the first year of vaccination in France</a>
</div></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Using next generation matrices to estimate the proportion of cases that are not detected in an outbreak</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Contact tracing, where exposed individuals are followed up to break ongoing transmission chains, is a key pillar of outbreak response for infectious disease outbreaks. Unfortunately, these systems are not fully effective, and infections can still go undetected as people may not remember all their contacts or contacts may not be traced successfully. A large proportion of undetected infections suggests poor contact tracing and surveillance systems, which could be a potential area of improvement for a disease response. In this paper, we present a method for estimating the proportion of infections that are not detected during an outbreak. Our method uses next generation matrices that are parameterized by linked contact tracing data and case line-lists. We validate the method using simulated data from an individual-based model and then investigate two case studies: the proportion of undetected infections in the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in New Zealand during 2020 and the Ebola epidemic in Guinea during 2014. We estimate that only 5.26% of SARS- CoV-2 infections were not detected in New Zealand during 2020 (95% credible interval: 0.243 - 16.0%) but depending on assumptions 39.0% or 37.7% of Ebola infections were not detected in Guinea (95% credible intervals: 1.69 - 87.0% or 1.7</p></div></li>
<li>80.9%).
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.24.21252339v2" target="_blank">Using next generation matrices to estimate the proportion of cases that are not detected in an outbreak</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mycophenolic Acid: Repurposing approach with CoV-DrugX Pipeline</strong> -
<div>
Background: Millions of people have been infected and thousands of people have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. B.1.1.529 (Omicron) is a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, and on November 26th, WHO designated B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern. The search for an effective and appropriate drug to treat COVID-19 continues to be a major challenge. In this study, we look into whether a mycophenolic acid drug can be repurposed for COVID-19. Mycophenolic acid (MPA), the active immunosuppressive form of the prodrug mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), is a common component of immunosuppressive regimens for organ transplant recipients. Mycophenolic acid inhibits the coronaviral papain-like protease, and a deeper understanding of how it works could aid in the development of new anti-SARS-CoV-2 medicines. Methods: The CoV-DrugX pipeline contains 13 distinct sorts of modules that specify 13 different properties to explain whether this medicine can be repurposed for COVID-19 or not; these modules were built using several methodologies such as biological and chemical information, target-based, docking-based, symptom-based, target-based, and circuit-based. Based on an analysis of modules in the DrugX pipeline, we describe the effectiveness of mycophenolic acid for repurposing in COVID-19. Results and conclusions: We found that the mycophenolic acid had the highest binding affinity (-8.2 Kcal/Mol) with Nucleocapsid protein (Npro). Based on deep learning modules that utilize chemo-informatics properties, we reported that the mycophenolic acid drug had similar features to COVID-19. Mycophenolic acid interacted with COVID-19 targets as well, and it caused symptoms similar to COVID-19. The mycophenolic acid drug received a SI score of 7 (sum of all categorical values of all modules) and a Pi score of 0.56 (total executed tools run/SI score) from the DrugX pipeline. Mycophenolic acid received a score of 0 in four modules, a score of 1 in seven modules (100 percent), and a score between 0 and 1 in two modules out of a total of thirteen modules. Mycophenolic acid predicts a high score, indicating its potential repurposing for COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/r7j96/" target="_blank">Mycophenolic Acid: Repurposing approach with CoV-DrugX Pipeline</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Identification of captopril drug as a repurposable therapeutic candidate for COVID-19 treatment</strong> -
<div>
Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic more than 265 million people are infected with more than 5 million deaths across the world. On November 26 WHO designated B.1.1.529 (omicron) as a variant of concern. The search for an effective and appropriate drug to manage COVID-19 remains a big challenge. Here we investigate whether a captopril drug can be repurposed for COVID-19. The first angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor is captopril. To cure heart failure and high blood pressure, captopril is used alone or in combination with other drugs. The COVID-19 S protein binds strongly to the angiotensin-converting-enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, an enzyme that physiologically counteracts renin-angiotensin- aldosterone system activity while also acting as a receptor for the COVID-19 virus. Methods: Using machine learning approaches, We have implemented a multi-modal pipeline (DrugX), containing 14 modules that were constructed using different approaches like chemical information, target-based, docking-based, symptom-based, target-based, and circuit- based to check whether a drug is repurposed for COVID-19. Here, we describe the effectiveness of the captopril drug for repurposing in COVID-19 based on the analysis of modules of the DrugX pipeline. Results and conclusion: We reported that the captopril drug had similar features to COVID-19 medication based on deep learning modules that utilize chemoinformatics properties. The drug captopril also showed the interaction with COVID-19 targets, and it reported similar symptoms as COVID-19. The study concludes that captopril regulates UP/DOWN gene expression of the ACE2 gene. The DrugX pipeline gave a SI score of 8 (sum of all categorical values of all modules) and a Pi score of 0.57 (total executed tools run/SI score) to the captopril drug. Out of 14 modules, captopril obtained a score of 0 in 6 modules and 1 in 8 modules (100%). The captopril drug predicts a high score indicating its repurposing properties for COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/s8w43/" target="_blank">Identification of captopril drug as a repurposable therapeutic candidate for COVID-19 treatment</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>EPIC-Peds: Study of Oral PF-07321332 (Nirmatrelvir)/Ritonavir in Nonhospitalized COVID-19 Pediatric Patients at Risk for Severe Disease</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: nirmatrelvir;   Drug: ritonavir<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Pfizer<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>Anti-inflammatory Drug Algorithm for COVID-19 Home Treatment</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Recommended treatment schedule;   Drug: Usual care<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research;   Family physicians<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>Transcranial Direct Stimulation for Persistent Fatigue Treatment Post-COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Device: Active tDCS;   Device: Sham tDCS<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hospital San Carlos, Madrid<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>Evaluation of Full Versus Fractional Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine Given as a Booster for the Prevention of COVID 19 in Adults in Mongolia- Mongolia, Indonesia, Australia Coronavirus (MIACoV).</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Tozinameran - Standard Dose;   Biological: Tozinameran - Fractional Dose<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Murdoch Childrens Research Institute;   Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations;   PATH;   The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity<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>Effect of Combined Use of Ivermectin and Colchicine in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin + colchicine;   Drug: Colchicine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Ain Shams University<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vale+ Tu Salud: Corner-Based Randomized Trial to Test a Latino Day Laborer Program Adapted to Prevent COVID 19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: COVID-19 Group Problem Solving;   Behavioral: Control Group-standard of care<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston;   National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)<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 Phase III, Randomised, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of TD0069 Capsule as a Combination Regimen With Standard Treatment for Patients With Mild to Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: TD0069 hard capsule;   Drug: TD0069 Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Sao Thai Duong Joint Stock Company;   Clinical Training Company<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy of the Infusion of Donor Plasma in SARS CoV 2 Infection</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: convalescent plasma infusion covid 19<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hospital Galdakao-Usansolo<br/><b>Terminated</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>Nebulised Heparin in Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Unfractionated heparin<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Lady Reading Hospital, Pakistan<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>Nutrition and LOComotoric Rehabilitation in Long COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Intervention group<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel;   Vrije Universiteit Brussel<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>Immuno-bridging and Broadening Study of a Whole, Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine BBV152 in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: BBV152<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Ocugen<br/><b>Active, not 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>Reparixin as add-on Therapy to Standard of Care to Limit Disease Progression in Adult Patients With COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia;   Sars-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Reparixin;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Dompé Farmaceutici S.p.A<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>COVID-19 Prevention Trial: Effect of Prophylactic Use of TAFFIX™ on Infection Rate by SARS-COV-2 VIRUS (COVID-19).</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Upper Respiratory Tract Infections<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: TaffiX™<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Nasus Pharma<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>A Phase III Trial to Assess the Safety and Immunogenicity of a HIPRA’s Candidate Booster Vaccination Against COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Acute Respiratory Disease<br/><b>Intervention</b>:  <br/>
Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine 40 ug/dose<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hipra Scientific, S.L.U<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>An Open-label, Randomized, Parallel-arm Study Investigating the Efficacy and Safety of Intravenous Administration of Pamrevlumab Versus Standard of Care in Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection;   COVID-19 Pneumonia;   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:  <br/>
Drug: Pamrevlumab<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS<br/><b>Completed</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>Antiviral Effect of Selenomethionine on Porcine Deltacoronavirus in Pig Kidney Epithelial Cells</strong> - Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is an emerging porcine intestinal coronavirus in recent years, which mainly causes different degrees of vomiting and diarrhea in piglets and has caused great harm to the swine husbandry worldwide since its report. Selenium is an essential trace element for organisms and has been demonstrated to have antiviral effects. In this study, pig kidney epithelial (LLC-PK) cells were used to study the antiviral activity of selenomethionine (Se-Met) (2, 4, 8, and 16 μM)…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Role of Dexamethasone and Methylprednisolone Corticosteroids in Coronavirus Disease 2019 Hospitalized Patients: A Review</strong> - The WHO announced coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic disease globally on March 11, 2020, after it emerged in China. The emergence of COVID-19 has lasted over a year, and despite promising vaccine reports that have been produced, we still have a long way to go until such remedies are accessible to everyone. The immunomodulatory strategy has been kept at the top priority for the research agenda for COVID-19. Corticosteroids have been used to modulate the immune response in a wide…</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>Evaluation of a commercial ELISA as alternative to plaque reduction neutralization test to detect neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2</strong> - High-throughput detection of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 presents a valuable tool for vaccine trials or investigations of population immunity. We evaluate the performance of the first commercial surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT, GenScript Biotech) against SARS-CoV-2 plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) in convalescent and vaccinated individuals. We compare it to five other ELISAs, two of which are designed to detect neutralizing antibodies. In 491 pre-vaccination…</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>Association between FIASMA psychotropic medications and reduced risk of intubation or death in individuals with psychiatric disorders hospitalized for severe COVID-19: an observational multicenter study</strong> - The acid sphingomyelinase (ASM)/ceramide system may provide a useful framework for better understanding SARS-CoV-2 infection and the repurposing of psychotropic medications functionally inhibiting the acid sphingomyelinase/ceramide system (named FIASMA psychotropic medications) against COVID-19. We examined the potential usefulness of FIASMA psychotropic medications in patients with psychiatric disorders hospitalized for severe COVID-19, in an observational multicenter study conducted at Greater…</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>Network pharmacology-based predictions of active components and pharmacological mechanisms of Artemisia annua L. for the treatment of the novel Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19)</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that A. annua may prevent and inhibit the inflammatory processes related to 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>HDAC inhibition as neuroprotection in COVID-19 infection</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 virus is responsible of COVID-19 affecting millions of humans around the world. COVID-19 shows diverse clinical symptoms (fever, cough, fatigue, diarrhea, body aches, headaches, anosmia and hyposmia). Approximately 30% of the patients with COVID-19 showed neurological symptoms, these going from mild to severe manifestations including headache, dizziness, impaired consciousness, encephalopathy, anosmia, hypogeusia, hyposmia, psychology and psychiatry among others. The neurotropism…</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>Trace element homeostasis in the neurological system after SARS-CoV-2 infection: Insight into potential biochemical mechanisms</strong> - CONCLUSION: Trace elements play important roles in viral infections, such as helping to activate immune cells, produce antibodies, and inhibit virus replication. However, the relationship between trace elements and virus infections is complex since the specific functions of several elements remain largely undefined. Therefore, there is still a lot to be explored to understand the biochemical mechanisms involved between trace elements and viral infections, especially in the brain.</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>In silico analysis highlighting the prevalence of BCL2L1 gene and its correlation to miRNA in human coronavirus (HCoV) genetic makeup</strong> - The ongoing pandemic that resulted from coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), had been spiraling out of control with no known antiviral drugs or vaccines. Due to the extremely serious nature of the disease, it has claimed many lives, with a mortality rate of 3.4% declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 3, 2020. The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of the regulatory nature of the proteins…</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>Anti-inflammatory and anti-viral actions of anionic pulmonary surfactant phospholipids</strong> - Pulmonary surfactant is a mixture of lipids and proteins, consisting of 90% phospholipid, and 10% protein by weight, found predominantly in pulmonary alveoli of vertebrate lungs. Two minor components of pulmonary surfactant phospholipids, phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and phosphatidylinositol (PI), are present within the alveoli at very high concentrations, and exert anti-inflammatory effects by regulating multiple Toll like receptors (TLR2/1, TLR4, and TLR2/6) by antagonizing cognate…</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>ACE2-Fc fusion protein overcomes viral escape by potently neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern</strong> - COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, emerged globally in early 2020 and has remained a serious public health issue. To date, although several preventative vaccines have been approved by FDA and EMA, vaccinated individuals increasingly suffer from breakthrough infections. Therapeutic antibodies may provide an alternative strategy to neutralize viral infection and treat serious cases; however, the clinical data and our experiments show that some FDA-approved monoclonal…</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>Rapid and Quantitative In Vitro Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibodies and Nanobodies</strong> - Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies and nanobodies have shown promising results as potential therapeutic agents for COVID-19. Identifying such antibodies and nanobodies requires evaluating the neutralization activity of a large number of lead molecules via biological assays, such as the virus neutralization test (VNT). These assays are typically time- consuming and demanding on-lab facilities. Here, we present a rapid and quantitative assay that evaluates the neutralizing efficacy of an antibody…</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>Complement Activation via the Lectin and Alternative Pathway in Patients With Severe COVID-19</strong> - Complement plays an important role in the direct defense to pathogens, but can also activate immune cells and the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. However, in critically ill patients with COVID-19 the immune system is inadequately activated leading to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and acute kidney injury, which is associated with higher mortality. Therefore, we characterized local complement deposition as a sign of activation in both lungs and kidneys from patients with severe…</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>Modulation of Innate Antiviral Immune Response by Porcine Enteric Coronavirus</strong> - Host’s innate immunity is the front-line defense against viral infections, but some viruses have evolved multiple strategies for evasion of antiviral innate immunity. The porcine enteric coronaviruses (PECs) consist of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV), transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus (TGEV), and swine acute diarrhea syndrome-coronavirus (SADS-CoV), which cause lethal diarrhea in neonatal pigs and threaten the swine industry worldwide. PECs…</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>Correlated sequence signatures are present within the genomic 5’UTR RNA and NSP1 protein in coronaviruses</strong> - The 5’UTR part of coronavirus genomes plays key roles in the viral replication cycle and the translation of the viral mRNAs. The first 75-80 nucleotides, also called the leader sequence, are identical for the genomic mRNA and for the subgenomic mRNAs. Recently, it was shown that cooperative actions of a 5’UTR segment and the non-structural protein NSP1 are essential for both the inhibition of host mRNAs and for specific translation of viral mRNAs. Here, sequence analyses of both the 5’UTR RNA…</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 Nsp13 encodes for an HLA-E-stabilizing peptide that abrogates inhibition of NKG2A-expressing NK cells</strong> - Natural killer (NK) cells are innate immune cells that contribute to host defense against virus infections. NK cells respond to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in vitro and are activated in patients with acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, by which mechanisms NK cells detect SARS-CoV-2-infected cells remains largely unknown. Here, we show that the Non-structural protein 13 of SARS-CoV-2 encodes for a peptide that is presented by human leukocyte…</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>METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTING IMPROVED GENERALIZED FUZZY PEER GROUP WITH MODIFIED TRILATERAL FILTER TO REMOVE MIXED IMPULSE AND ADAPTIVE WHITE GAUSSIAN NOISE FROM COLOR IMAGES</strong> - ABSTRACTMETHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTING IMPROVED GENERALIZED FUZZY PEER GROUP WITH MODIFIED TRILATERAL FILTER TO REMOVE MIXED IMPULSE AND ADAPTIVE WHITE GAUSSIAN NOISE FROM COLOR IMAGESThe present invention provides a new approach is proposed that includes fuzzy-based approach and similarity function for filtering the mixed noise. In a peer group, the similarity function was adaptive to edge information and local noise level, which was utilized for detecting the similarity among pixels. In addition, a new filtering method Modified Trilateral Filter (MTF) with Improved Generalized Fuzzy Peer Group (IGFPG) is proposed to remove mixed impulse and Adaptive White Gaussian Noise from Color Images. The modified trilateral filter includes Kikuchi algorithm and loopy belief propagation to solve the inference issues on the basis of passing local message. In this research work, the images were collected from KODAK dataset and a few real time multimedia images like Lena were also used for testing the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN351884428">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A STUDY ON MENTAL HEALTH, STRESS AND ANXIETY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING COVID-19</strong> - SARS-Cov-2 virus causes an infectious disease coronavirus(COVID-19).The Students life is made harder by COVID-19.The human reaction that happens normally to everyone through physical or emotional tension is stress. Feeling of angry, nervous and frustration caused through any thought or events leads to stress. As college closures and cancelled events, students are missing out on some of the biggest moments of their young lives as well as everyday moments like chatting with friend, participating in class and cultural programme. For students facing life changes due to the outbreak are feeling anxious, isolated and disappointed which lead them to feel all alone. We like to take the help of expert adolescent psychologist to find out the techniques to practice self-care and look after their mental health. We would like to find out whether techniques used reduce the anxiety and stress among Engineering Students. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN351884923">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A METHOD FOR THE TREATMENT OF COVID-19 INFECTIONS WITH PALMITOYLETHANOLAMIDE</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU351870997">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A CENTRAL TRANSACTION AUTHENTIC SYSTEM FOR OTP VERIFICATION</strong> - The present invention relates to a central transaction authentic system (100) for OTP verification. The system (100) comprises one or more user display units (102), one or more financial units (104), an account deposit unit (106), an OTP authentication unit (108) and a service server unit (110). The central transaction authentic system (100) for OTP verification work as Anti-money laundering measure. The system (100) also helpful for minimizing rate of cybercrime. The central transaction authentic system (100) for OTP verification that can neutralize digital financial fraud. The present invention provides a central transaction authentic system (100) for OTP verification that can monitor and analyze every transaction and customer interaction across its customer base for suspicious and potentially criminal activity. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN350377210">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>FORMULATIONS AND METHOD FOR PREPARATION OF HERBAL MEDICATED TRANSPARENT SOAP</strong> - ABSTRACTFORMULATIONS AND METHOD FOR PREPARATION OF HERBAL MEDICATED TRANSPARENT SOAPThe present invention provides formulations for herbal medicated transparent soaps and method of preparation of the same. Transparent soaps are prepared by saponification of mixture of non-edible oils to get the desired consistency and cleaning action. Nonvolatile alcohols and other transparency promoters are used to get good transparency and binding properties. Herbal extracts of different herbs are added to get medicated properties. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN350377796">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SOCIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR MOBILE ROBOTS IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT TECHNOLOGY</strong> - The emergency department (ED) is a safety-critical environment in which healthcare workers (HCWs) are overburdened, overworked, and have limited resources, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. One way to address this problem is to explore the use of robots that can support clinical teams, e.g., to deliver materials or restock supplies. However, due to EDs being overcrowded, and the cognitive overload HCWs experience, robots need to understand various levels of patient acuity so they avoid disrupting care delivery. In this invention, we introduce the Safety-Critical Deep Q-Network (SafeDQN) system, a new acuity-aware navigation system for mobile robots. SafeDQN is based on two insights about care in EDs: high-acuity patients tend to have more HCWs in attendance and those HCWs tend to move more quickly. We compared SafeDQN to three classic navigation methods, and show that it generates the safest, quickest path for mobile robots when navigating in a simulated ED environment. We hope this work encourages future exploration of social robots that work in safety-critical, human-centered environments, and ultimately help to improve patient outcomes and save lives. Figure 1. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN349443355">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A MACHINE LEARNING BASED SYSTEM FOR DETECTING OMICRON VARIANT FROM A GENOME SEQUENCE AND METHOD THEREOF</strong> - The present invention discloses a machine learning based system for detecting omicron variant from a genome sequence and method thereof. The system includes, but not limited to, a processing unit having a memory unit and a machine learning interface embedded on it for validating a variant-induced changes in the one or more condition-specific cell variables are combined to output a single numerical variant score for each of the one or more variants, the variant score computed by one of outputting the score for a fixed condition; summing the variant-induced changes across conditions; computing the maximum of the absolute variant-induced changes across conditions. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN350376736">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A SYSTEM BASED ON DEEP LEARNING FOR ANALYZING DELAYED ENHANCEMENT MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING TO IDENTIFY COVID 19 AND METHOD THEREOF</strong> - The present invention discloses a system based on deep learning for analyzing delayed enhancement magnetic resonance imaging to identify COVID 19 and method thereof. The method and system include, but not limited to, a processing unit adapted to process the data based on deep learning data modelling in the magnetic resonance imaging associated with the digital image scanning system for diagnosis COVID 19 with the spatial resolution that each frame is deposited is 256 * 256, and being creating that level and vertical resolution respectively are 256 pixels (pixel), the read/write address that the read/write address of each image element, which is controlled by processing unit and forms circuit and finishes; And the data that will be stored in memory are input to a real-time microcontroller, it is characterized in that: analyze and compare by the Multi-source Information Fusion analytical system by using the real-time microcontroller to deliver the D/A changer then, digital signal is become analogue signal output. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN348041194">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>用于体外诊断的新型冠状病毒核衣壳蛋白抗体</strong> - 本发明提供了一种用于体外诊断的新型冠状病毒核衣壳蛋白抗体或抗原结合片段。所提供的抗体包括重链可变区和轻链可变区，重链可变区包括SEQ ID NO:11、12和13所示的CDR序列，轻链可变区包括SEQ ID NO:14、15和16所示的CDR序列。所提供的抗体用于新型冠状病毒的体外检测，具有极高的灵敏度和特异性。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN350478513">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>用于体外诊断的新型冠状病毒核衣壳蛋白抗体</strong> - 本发明提供了一种用于体外诊断的新型冠状病毒核衣壳蛋白抗体或抗原结合片段。所提供的抗体包括重链可变区和轻链可变区，重链可变区包括SEQ ID NO:1、2和3所示的CDR序列，轻链可变区包括SEQ ID NO:4、5和6所示的CDR序列。所提供的抗体用于新型冠状病毒的体外检测，具有极高的灵敏度和特异性。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN350478557">link</a></p></li>
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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 Ukrainian Exodus at the Polish Border</strong> - The Russian invasion has forced hundreds of thousands to flee—while others are returning from across Europe to fight. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-ukrainian-exodus-at-the-polish-border">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“We Are Going to Be O.K.”: The World According to Biden</strong> - One State of the Union to address many crises. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/we-are-going-to-be-ok-the-world-according-to-%20biden">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Europe’s Aggressive New Stance Toward Putin’s Regime</strong> - The defiance of Ukrainian citizens in the face of the Russian onslaught has inspired the European Union to action. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/europes-aggressive-new-stance-toward-putins-regime">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Devastating Effects of Losing the Child Tax Credit</strong> - The director of Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy discusses a staggering new report on child poverty in the United States. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-devastating-effects-of-losing-the-child-tax-credit">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Valery Gergiev and the Nightmare of Music Under Putin</strong> - The conductor’s close ties to the Russian regime were brushed aside for too long, but imposing a moral test on musicians is a hazardous path. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/valery-gergiev-and-the-nightmare-of-music-under-putin">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The long, strange history of anti-vaccination movements</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/L94JtPswrIlD-
YD2XrJ0VuNnarQ=/35x0:4160x3094/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70578085/GettyImages_463905005a.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A James Gillray cartoon from 1802 on vaccination against smallpox using cowpox serum. The illustration features people with cows sprouting from parts of their bodies, and is captioned “The COW-POCK – or – the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation! – Vide. the Publications of ye Anti-Vaccine Society.” | Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Here’s what the past can tell us about the future of the pandemic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jeKoD9">
As soon as the vaccine mandate went into effect, people began to rebel. Some saw it as government overreach — what right did faraway lawmakers have to tell people what to do with their bodies?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KnAPcI">
Others worried that the vaccine was dangerous, or that they were being used as guinea pigs — what proof was there that this concoction even worked? Protests were staged, opinion pieces written, and parents resorted to subterfuge to avoid vaccinating their kids — they changed addresses to confuse officials, got fake vaccine certificates, and even tried to reverse the process once their kids had already been vaccinated.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fy1jlQ">
This sounds like a tale of the Covid-19 era, with a vocal minority of vaccine opponents <a href="https://time.com/6141699/anti-vaccine-mandate-movement-rally/">staging rallies</a> and <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/anti-vaccine-workers-nyc-file-221700521.html">filing lawsuits</a> across the United States. But all of the above also happened in 19th-century England, when the government mandated the smallpox vaccine for children. “​​As soon as that mandate is introduced, that’s when we get an organized anti-vaccination movement,” said Nadja Durbach, a history professor at the University of Utah. “That’s when people are like, ‘Oh my God, you cannot tell me to do this to my child.’”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g7nvJa">
The history of smallpox is a reminder that, while they may seem new, anti-vaccination movements are as old as vaccination itself. People’s reasons for opposing vaccines — concerns about side effects, a preference for natural remedies, fear of government overreach — haven’t changed that much either. Our current moment is actually just one more chapter in a story about vaccines and infectious diseases that’s been going on for hundreds of years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9aMyJ8">
If policymakers and people in power can recognize that, maybe they can find better ways of convincing the hesitant, fighting conspiracy theories, and regaining the trust of communities that have faced discrimination or abuse from the very authorities charged with protecting their health. That work is already happening, with doctors, faith leaders, and others on the ground building relationships with patients to find out their own particular histories and needs before they even bring up the vaccine.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ijcAYg">
“If you really want to get people on board with public health and public health measures, you have to address the sources of mistrust,” said Maya Goldenberg, a philosophy professor at the University of Guelph and the author of <em>Vaccine Hesitancy: Public Trust, Expertise, and the War on Science.</em><strong> </strong>
</p>
<h3 id="eJxNpt">
Vaccines are old. So is vaccine hesitancy.
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9qr9bD">
The whole concept of vaccination derives from a centuries-old practice called inoculation or variolation, Durbach said. The idea was essentially to give yourself smallpox so you could control the severity and timing of the disease. Inoculation was practiced in the Middle East, China, and elsewhere for hundreds of years before it made its way to Europe, and it was eventually introduced to England by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the wife of the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, in the 18th century.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tdx5cI">
Methods of inoculation varied — often, doctors would insert a small amount of preserved smallpox scab under the skin of a healthy patient in order to give that person a controlled dose of the disease. The method was actually fairly effective, Durbach said, especially among the rich who could afford to check into a special facility where they would “be tended to and cared for and laze around” while they waited for the infection to clear. However, people would sometimes contract severe smallpox and die from the inoculation. Also, smallpox contracted through inoculation was still contagious, so the practice could cause unintended outbreaks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zN4f8j">
Indeed, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200696/">2 to 3 percent of people</a> inoculated against smallpox died, started an outbreak, or caught another disease like tuberculosis from the inoculation.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OVdt-
ri2kuryrlEiE9VyqYduJ0Q=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23285624/GettyImages_1056342166.jpg"/> <cite>De Agostini via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Edward Jenner performing his first vaccination against smallpox on 8-year-old James Phipps, on May 14, 1796. Oil on canvas by Ernest Board, 1920-1930, United Kingdom.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oYCerH">
The solution was the smallpox vaccine, developed by Edward Jenner in the 1790s. Jenner found that people who contracted cowpox, a virus spread by cattle, were immune to smallpox. He developed a vaccine using the pus from infected cattle — the word “vaccine” comes from the Latin word for cow.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w7p7iC">
Cowpox is extremely mild in humans, making the new vaccine (at least in theory) far less dangerous than intentionally infecting oneself with smallpox. Cowpox also did not spread from person to person, removing the problem of contagion.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jwht4j">
For decades, however, the new vaccine and the older, more familiar technique coexisted in Britain, Durbach said. Then, in 1840, the government decided to push vaccination over inoculation. First, government officials tried offering the vaccine for free at public workhouses. They encountered resistance, since workhouses were seen as places of destitution and desperation. “It would be like saying, the only place you could get a free vaccination is if you went to a welfare office,” Durbach said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8lZScC">
So in 1853, the government made the vaccine mandatory. That, according to Durbach, was when the organized anti-vaccination movement began. Some opposed the vaccine on grounds that might now be called libertarian, believing that the government had no business telling people how to take care of their health.
</p></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8EmA91">
Others had religious or ideological concerns. Adherents of naturopathic or alternative medicine, for example, opposed all traditional medical treatments (many of which were actually toxic), used alternative treatments based on plants or water, and believed in the need to keep the body pure. For this group, vaccination was “just another form of toxic medicine coming into your body,” Durbach said.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/W1IBKo3MuXXyJ6gcxNB9K0ORO9s=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23285692/GettyImages_1187429405.jpg"/> <cite>Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
An anti-vaccination caricature from the UK in 1907 shows a doctor vaccinating a patient against smallpox, using a lancet to poke multiple holes in the patient’s face. Quack treatments including a bottle of brandy on the table beside the doctor suggest that vaccination is another quack treatment by physicians of the time.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C39ArU">
Still others, meanwhile, were worried that the government was essentially experimenting on them by requiring vaccines. Working-class people, who at the time lacked the right to vote in England, were especially skeptical that the government really had their best interests at heart. “There’s a lot of pushback against the idea that people should have to do something that the government is telling them to do, when they are not actually equal and free citizens,” Durbach said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ir9rzJ">
Anti-vaccination protests swept the country, with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/11/14/smallpox-anti-vaccine-england-jenner/">activists waving signs</a> with messages like, “Better a felon’s cell than a poisoned babe.” Vaccine opponents <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-50713991">distributed pamphlets</a> with titles like, “Vaccination, a Curse.” Ordinary people engaged in forms of “grassroots subterfuge” to avoid vaccinating their children, Durbach said. Some moved shortly after giving birth so that public health officials couldn’t track them down; others paid doctors to issue false vaccine certificates. Some even tried to suck the vaccine out of their children’s arms after it was administered.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IiFvhM">
It didn’t help public confidence that the new vaccines, while in theory safer than inoculation, could be dangerous in practice. The vaccine was highly effective, with the smallpox death rate among children <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/11/14/smallpox-anti-vaccine-england-jenner/">dropping by 50 percent</a> in the years after the mandate was passed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s4wUwq">
However, the way it was administered could cause its own problems. Public health officials used lancets or scarification devices equipped with blades that “shoot out and make these multiple incisions all at once,” Durbach said. Doctors didn’t yet understand the importance of sterilizing instruments and would often use the same instrument to vaccinate multiple children in a row, leading to infections. “You have kids whose arms are dropping off,” Durbach said. “Kids are dying.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UQuiEl">
All of this led to intense anti-vaccine sentiment, both in Britain and in the US. British anti-vaccine activists actually sent representatives to the States, where cities were introducing their own vaccine mandates, to help launch a similar movement there. They found fertile ground, with opposition to organized medicine and a focus on purity and avoidance of “toxins” <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22925434/covid-vaccine-mandate-school-kids">gaining popularity in the US</a> as well. Similar attitudes spread in France, Canada, and elsewhere; an “international anti-vaccination movement” took shape in the 19th century, Durbach said.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/fqBvPxN_14XW68fzZZl3fnJ8kHo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23286009/GettyImages_1187429395.jpg"/> <cite>Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
An anti-vaccination caricature from France in 1907 shows a demonic, disheveled doctor using a lancet to vaccinate a young child against smallpox. The illustration bears the sarcastic title “Le Triomphe D’Inoculation” (The Triumph of Inoculation).
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="X2ZQ74">
Things got better. Then they got worse again.
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qlHD5o">
This movement didn’t last forever. To begin with, government officials in the US and the UK began to introduce exemptions to the mandates. In 1907, for example, the British government began granting exemptions to the smallpox mandate to pretty much anyone who applied for one. “That ends the movement almost overnight,” Durbach said, “because there’s really nothing, at that point, to be able to argue against.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w5ME0y">
As the 20th century wore on, meanwhile, many Americans began to have an increased respect for doctors and organized medicine, said James Colgrove, a professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia and the author of ​​<em>State of Immunity: The Politics of Vaccination in Twentieth-Century America.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jVQ6dk">
The middle of that century was “a high- water mark for trust and respect in medical science,” Colgrove said, thanks to “a whole slew of dramatic medical advances” — not least the polio vaccine, which inspired far less pushback than smallpox vaccines had a century before. These advances did not benefit all Americans equally, and Black, Indigenous, and other Americans of color were often ignored or victimized in health care settings. However, media coverage often extolled the virtues of new drugs and treatments, sending a message of general progress even if that progress wasn’t available to all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1nVr4Y">
Meanwhile, something else was happening in Britain: the creation of the National Health Service. The UK went from “a society in which working-class people feel targeted by the government and by medicine” to one in which “people are getting medical care for the first time for free,” Durbach said. The creation of the NHS helped usher in a “profound cultural shift” in which “people are much less suspicious of things provided by the government,” including vaccines.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TRKXlY">
The middle of the 20th century wasn’t a time of unalloyed public health progress, however. In 1932, the United States Public Health Service began the now-infamous <a href="https://www.history.com/news/the-
infamous-40-year-tuskegee-study">Tuskegee experiment</a>, in which researchers monitored hundreds of Black men with syphilis without actually treating their disease. Even after an effective treatment — penicillin — became available in the 1940s, researchers continued the study, only stopping in 1972 after more than 100 men had died from syphilis or complications of the disease.
</p>
<div>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/THSWmKkkQIqm1-8ztCxWtEC3O6Y=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23285744/AP20093762731816.jpg"/> <cite>National Archives via AP</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Men involved in the Tuskegee experiment pose for a photograph in Tuskegee, Alabama, in the 1950s.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M9o0hJ">
The experiment, rooted in the racist idea that Black men’s bodies were fundamentally different from white men’s, is often cited today as an explanation for vaccine hesitancy in Black communities, but it’s more complicated than that, says Karen Lincoln, a professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work who has studied health disparities.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aN3Nmt">
In reality, Tuskegee was far from the first instance of medical racism targeting Black Americans, nor would it be the last. The history of American medicine is full of examples like Tuskegee, dating back to slavery — for example, <a href="https://www.vox.com/health-
care/2017/12/7/16746790/health-care-black-history-inequality">J. Marion Sims</a>, known by some as the “father of modern gynecology,” <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/4/18/17254234/j-marion-sims-experiments-slaves-women-
gynecology-statue-removal">conducted painful and invasive research</a> without anesthesia on enslaved women. Racism in medical settings continues to this day, with discrimination a major driver of the high rates of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/10/21336312/covid-19-pregnancy-birth-black-maternal-mortality">maternal mortality among Black Americans</a>, along with other health disparities.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ldurME">
Alongside the longstanding racist abuses in the medical system, a number of other events led to a slow erosion of trust in vaccines during the late 20th century, Colgrove said. In the 1970s and ’80s, several highly contested studies suggested that the pertussis vaccine (then called DPT) could cause brain damage. The research received significant media attention, with one TV documentary colorfully titled “DPT: Vaccine Roulette.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kzgEqy">
Then, in 1998, British physician Andrew Wakefield published <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/2/27/17057990/andrew-wakefield-vaccines-autism-study">a study of 12 children</a> that purported to suggest a link between the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine and autism. The study has been thoroughly discredited — Wakefield was found to have manipulated his data and lost his medical license, and subsequent research has found no link between vaccines and autism. But as <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/2/27/17057990/andrew-wakefield-vaccines-autism-study">Julia Belluz reported at Vox</a>, media outlets covered the study with excessive enthusiasm and credulity, helping fan the flames of anti-vaccine sentiment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5n7NxU">
The Wakefield paper also came out just as the internet was coming into wider use, Colgrove said. It was an unfortunate historical coincidence — a new piece of misinformation being released “at precisely the moment when this new medium for the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories was really taking off.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L9ug72">
Wakefield’s discredited research and the media coverage and online conversation around it helped kick off the contemporary anti-vaccine movement. That movement grew throughout the 2000s thanks to a combination of factors, including a rise in anti-government sentiment and the emergence of a social media environment that tends to amplify conflict and controversy, Colgrove said.
</p>
<div>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/35dU3jHnTwu8xLiHxYmZVfthwF0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23285857/GettyImages_75429856.jpg"/> <cite>Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Flanked by supporters, British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield and his wife Carmel arrive outside the General Medical Council in London, England, on July 16, 2007. Wakefield was accused of gross misconduct and was believed to have caused a measles epidemic in the UK by claiming that the MMR vaccine made millions of children autistic.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FAvRC3">
Anti-vaccine sentiment has come to a head again during the Covid-19 pandemic, with protests and rhetoric not dissimilar from the opposition to the smallpox vaccine in the 19th century. Anti-vaccine demonstrators march in cities around the country, carrying <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/23/dc-anti-vaccine-rally-mandates-protest/">signs protesting government overreach</a> or bearing false warnings about the dangers of vaccines. Just like in the 1800s, people who are skeptical of traditional medicine or who <a href="https://www.vox.com/22639366/covid-19-vaccine-fertility-pregnancy-
myths">embrace natural “wellness”</a> worry that vaccines are unnatural or contain toxins.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sFp3g2">
Some people even try to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/covid-vaccine-mandates-push-holdouts-get-shot-detox-
rcna4859">“undo” their vaccines</a> after complying with vaccine mandates, much like the parents who tried to suck out their children’s smallpox vaccine 100 years ago. As of January 2022, <a href="https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-
covid-19/dashboard/kff-covid-19-vaccine-monitor-dashboard/">16 percent of Americans</a> said they would “definitely not” get vaccinated against Covid-19 or would only get vaccinated if required to, a number that’s remained relatively stable for more than a year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="98q7xM">
Public health, though, has come a long way since the 19th century. Gone are the days of vaccinating multiple children with the same dirty knife — vaccination today is <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/safety-of-
vaccines.html#:~:text=COVID%2D19%20vaccines%20are%20safe,vaccine%20as%20soon%20as%20possible.">very safe</a>, the Covid-19 vaccines have been rigorously tested, and serious side effects are rare. However, just telling people those things is not enough — public information campaigns, though they have had some effect, have not eliminated vaccine hesitancy, according to Goldenberg, the University of Guelph professor.
</p>
<h3 id="kpMsUZ">
To combat vaccine hesitancy, we have to understand where it comes from
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6OODbz">
To reach people who remain unconvinced or uncertain, we may have to turn to the lessons of the past. One key is to look at the root causes of vaccine hesitancy. “The attitudes people have about vaccines generally reflect what they think about the governing structures around them,” Goldenberg said. Anti-vaccine sentiment is often “grounded in some kind of belief that your own interests or your community’s interests are not being well-addressed” by the government.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xvscze">
Think of the working-class Britons who were being told to get vaccinated without being given the right to vote. Those who are distrustful of or outright opposed to vaccines today span demographics and races, and their experiences of government vary widely. However, there may be a similar sense among vaccine holdouts of authorities demanding something without giving much in return. After all, the US doesn’t have a National Health Service like the one Britain established after World War II — many Americans don’t have the experience of the government actually providing for their health care needs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8geD2j">
That’s especially true for Black Americans and other people of color, who have faced discrimination both from government agencies and health care providers. Medical racism in America goes way beyond Tuskegee, and it continues today.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2nwXLf">
To understand vaccine hesitancy and distrust of the medical establishment in Black communities, you need to recognize that “people today are experiencing being dismissed, being underdiagnosed, being overdiagnosed, being undertreated, having a lack of access, living in pharmacy deserts and neighborhoods where there are no health care providers, where there are no mental health care providers, where the quality is poor, where access in general is low because either the services aren’t there, or the services that are provided have lower quality or have practitioners who lack the competency to really understand and relate and serve African Americans,” Lincoln, the USC professor, said.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/GULhJnea_QV8_3mo06FaU_Y2968=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23285913/AP21005710171656.jpg"/> <cite>Ron Harris/AP</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron prepares to receive his Covid-19 vaccination on January 5, 2021, at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. Aaron and others received their vaccinations in an effort to highlight the importance of getting vaccinated for Black Americans who might be hesitant to do so.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qga4PV">
Changing that requires not just improving health care access but also changing the way health care workers are recruited, supported, and trained, Lincoln said. Establishing a health care workforce that’s actually representative of America will require creating pathways for people to become doctors without incurring enormous debt. What’s more, providers need to be trained to think about health at the level of the community, not just the individual, taking into account and addressing the access issues that may prevent people from following health guidelines.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3qYqeb">
“Without a broader lens, without focusing on the overwhelming majority of factors that really help us understand variation in health, we’re really going to miss the mark,” Lincoln said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mCogkI">
In addition to addressing the causes of hesitancy and resistance, there are vaccine policy issues to consider. Vaccine mandates, for example, have worked in the past — with smallpox, for example, they did increase vaccination and <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00267-1/fulltext">reduce deaths</a>. However, those mandates may need to be coupled with exemptions in order to stem backlash, Durbach, the University of Utah professor, said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8GODGg">
Exemptions need to be carefully calibrated so that they’re not too easy to get — someone should need to have a firm conviction and be willing to expend some effort to get one. When done right, though, exemptions can be effective because “you’re removing the thing that the conspiracy theories theorists rally around,” Durbach said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UkJV0B">
An understanding of the past can also inform the one-on-one conversations that physicians, outreach workers, and others are having every day with people who are unsure about or outright resistant to vaccines.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="faRtUF">
Patients bring a wide variety of histories to these conversations, from reactions to previous vaccines to “​​their own experiences with health care or with institutions more generally and their background in terms of what their family or community has experienced,” said Aaron Richterman, an infectious disease doctor in Philadelphia. That background can include facing racism in medical settings or being stigmatized for a particular disease or condition. For all too many Americans, “their experience historically with health systems is that health systems are not there to help them.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UdX5Q3">
It’s important to combat that experience by actually offering help, on the patient’s terms. “It often takes building a real relationship with someone and showing yourself to care about someone and to care about what they care about,” Richterman said. “I have my objectives, but it’s about their objectives.” Helping people meet their own health goals can help a physician build trust with patients, which is crucial when talking about something like vaccines. In order to become a “trusted messenger” on such a potentially difficult topic, “you have to try to understand where people are coming from and meet them where they are,” Richterman said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7Gedwx">
Unfortunately, in today’s health care system, many people lack a relationship with such a messenger — the percentage of Americans who even have a primary care doctor has been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-
health-pcp-trends/declining-numbers-of-americans-have-a-primary-care-provider-idUSKBN1YK1Z4">falling in recent years</a>. Making sure people can actually build a relationship with a provider is crucial to encouraging vaccination. “One of the things that really gets missed in the vaccine conversation in the US is how much it really requires that sort of one-on-one,” Richterman said. “People need to be talked to about it.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6qsxYVIwiBJB9oNFVejynHpwb70=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23285931/AP21041010183673.jpg"/> <cite>Charles Rex Arbogast/AP</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Dr. Rita McGuire, an obstetrician and infection control specialist at Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, speaks with staff members about taking the Covid-19 vaccine on January 29, 2021. McGuire says countering misinformation and mistrust about vaccinations is a daily battle. Many workers ‘’have not forgotten about those studies where they used us as experiments,’’ she said, including the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JWFe9N">
It’s not only doctors who can forge these relationships, however. Community groups and businesses, from <a href="https://nrcrim.org/vaccine-campaign-partnerships-faith-based-
organizations">churches</a> to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/05/30/barbershop-coronavirus-
vaccines/">barbershops</a>, that already have a rapport with people in their area, have conducted successful campaigns of vaccine outreach in recent months. “Looking to community partners who have longstanding relationships in communities is really important,” said Rachel Villanueva, president of the National Medical Association, which represents African American doctors and their patients.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b8cSDt">
Whether in the 19th century or today, it should be no surprise that vaccines, more than other medical advances, require trust and conversation, and sometimes inspire intense resistance.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vpx7Vv">
“People are healthy when you give it to them, and it’s asking them to accept this to protect them from a danger that may or may not happen to them,” Colgrove said. In some ways, communication around vaccines encapsulates the problem of public health as a field: “The benefits that it promises are invisible,” Colgrove said. “When it succeeds, you’re not aware of it.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BQrsG4">
The challenge, then, is to convince people to trust the public health system enough that they will accept a treatment whose benefits they may not see right away — or ever. History shows such trust is possible, but it has to be earned. And when that trust is broken, it may take generations to repair.
</p>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Big ocean cleanups sound like a great idea. Marine biologists aren’t convinced.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Two boats on a calm ocean connected by a curve of netting designed to capture plastic trash." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kaQjqrQoEC7tnbZsHkTFMS1KhdU=/0x0:1920x1440/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70577973/Tender_Inspection_Flight_24.08.2021_pre_meetings_3_scaled.0.jpg"/></figure></li>
</ul>
<figcaption>
Some marine biologists say that big projects to clear the oceans of plastic are a waste of resources. A plastic removal system operated by The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit, is shown here. | The Ocean Cleanup
</figcaption>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Many scientists worry that flashy efforts to clean plastic from the ocean do more harm than good.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1IRhsx">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1rgMDi">
</p>
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</p>
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</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SbQkH4">
Last month, a group of marine biologists noticed something fishy in a <a href="https://twitter.com/TheOceanCleanup/status/1493253815260360714">video</a> posted on Twitter by a nonprofit called The Ocean Cleanup. “This is likely a staged video,” Clark Richards, a scientist at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, <a href="https://twitter.com/ClarkGRichards/status/1493421041976320001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1493580676800647172%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Focean-
cleanup-accused-staging-removal-after-plastic-too-clean-1679763">wrote</a>. “I call bullshit.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Solrgi">
In the 25-second clip, a large net appears to dump 8,400 pounds of plastic waste, including crates, buckets, and fishing gear, onto the deck of a ship. The Ocean Cleanup, which has raised more than $100 million on the promise to rid plastic from the seas, said the trash in the video was just pulled from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — an infamous region in international waters, between California and Hawaii, that’s polluted with plastic waste.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1R7vqP">
Richards and several other marine biologists quickly challenged the group’s claim. On <a href="https://twitter.com/MiriamGoldste/status/1494682706621440000">Twitter</a> and in <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/ocean-cleanup-accused-staging-removal-after-plastic-too-clean-1679763">media reports</a>, they said that the plastic looked too clean to have been floating for a while in the ocean. There should have been a more visible build-up of marine organisms like algae and barnacles. In response to those allegations, The Ocean Cleanup explained that water in the garbage patch lacks nutrients that marine life needs to grow and shared other <a href="https://twitter.com/BoyanSlat/status/1493580676800647172">reasons</a> why the plastic looked so clean (which some biologists <a href="https://twitter.com/MiriamGoldste/status/1494682724422070272">again rebuffed</a>).
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/RZq8MsTPKWJY5212MZOpIzCZ8qA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23282875/211008_Oceans_System_002_Trip_2_Offload_S1H_DvdK_85_1920x1280.jpeg"/></p>
<cite>The Ocean Cleanup</cite>
<figcaption>
The Ocean Cleanup empties a net full of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch on the deck of a ship.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EBTbYU">
On its face, The Ocean Cleanup’s approach to solving one of the hardest environmental problems appears to be a worthy one. But the whole squabble raises a bigger question about cleaning up plastic in the open ocean: Is it even a good idea to begin with?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C6aWb9">
Everyone can agree that plastic waste is a scourge. Between 2000 and 2019, plastic production worldwide doubled, reaching <a href="https://www.oecd.org/environment/plastic-pollution-is-growing-relentlessly-as-waste-management-and-recycling-fall-
short.htm">460 million metric tons</a> — and only a <a href="https://www.oecd.org/environment/plastic-pollution-is-
growing-relentlessly-as-waste-management-and-recycling-fall-short.htm">small fraction</a> of that gets recycled. The rest is burned, buried, or ends up in the environment, including the sea. <a href="https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_New_Plastics_Economy.pdf">Some estimates</a> suggest that by 2050, there could be more plastic in the oceans, by weight, than fish.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ldsHjr">
But some scientists think that cleaning up the open ocean is a futile, and perhaps even harmful, endeavor. Several marine biologists told Vox that existing methods, including The Ocean Cleanup’s strategy, are inefficient and often produce pollution themselves. Plus, this approach can kill sea creatures — the very animals these efforts are ultimately trying to protect.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jgGVde">
Ocean cleanups also do little to address the core of the issue: our dependence on plastic and the steady stream of waste it produces. “It’s like mopping up the spill when the spigot is still on,” Katie Matthews, chief scientist at the nonprofit advocacy group Oceana, told Vox. “We can’t clean up our way out of plastic pollution.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZY9MAA">
With a challenge so large, and at a time when climate change and commercial fishing are also threatening marine life, it might seem unwise to shoot down any ideas that could help. But marine scientists told Vox that there are plenty of other solutions that are far more effective — or at least, less controversial — than open ocean cleanups.
</p>
<h3 id="t7nHU8">
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch isn’t actually a patch
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Up2VjF">
The problem with cleaning up the open ocean starts with a pervasive misconception — that there are enormous blobs of trash floating out at sea just waiting to be scooped up. News stories in the 2000s popularized this idea by referring to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch as an “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/garbage-island-in-pacific-worries-
researchers-1.848264">island</a>” of trash. Even today, a Google search of the “patch” reveals images of large expanses of floating waste.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/GxClqJOLNM11WnCy0e0XsKClI8o=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23282879/TOC_GPGP_Modelled_Mass_Concentrations.jpeg"/> <cite>The Ocean Cleanup</cite>
<figcaption>
The Ocean Cleanup mapped the Great Pacific Garbage Patch several years ago. It’s a region of concentrated plastic waste between California and Hawaii.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lMX3Wd">
The so- called patch isn’t so much an island as it is a soup, however, in which broken-down bits of plastic <a href="https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/movement/great-pacific-garbage-patch">are like pepper flakes</a>. Much of the waste is pea-sized or smaller and floats below the surface. That explains why, when you’re there, “it just looks like ocean,” said Melanie Bergmann, a marine biologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, who last visited the region in 2019. The same is true for a handful of other marine garbage patches, which form around gyres — systems of rotating currents.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Be5QWZ">
This is one reason why ambitious ocean cleanup efforts are often inefficient, said Richards, the marine scientist at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography; the large pieces of plastic are spread out and much of the rest is impossible to retrieve. Plus, only about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsjvwQclGLo">1 percent</a> of the plastic we dump into our oceans ends up in these kinds of patches (it’s still <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsjvwQclGLo">somewhat of a mystery</a> where the rest goes). So even if ocean cleanups were more efficient, they wouldn’t make a significant dent in the overall waste problem.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VvyZJt">
Some scientists are also concerned that ocean cleanups could even make certain environmental problems worse.
</p>
<h3 id="h91FYL">
Ocean cleanup operations can harm marine life
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J8DdPi">
The Dutch inventor Boyan Slat founded The Ocean Cleanup in 2013, when he was 18. Since then, the organization — which counts Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and tech billionaire Peter Thiel as funders — has tested a few different devices to retrieve waste from the garbage patch. Most of them <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/ocean-cleanup-
struggles-fulfill-promise-scoop-up-plastic-sea-2021-09-16/">didn’t live up to the hype</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nFnooK">
Today, the organization collects plastic by dragging a shallow net between two large ships. According to Matthews and Richards, the method is not unlike <a href="https://www.vox.com/22335364/climate-change-ocean-fishing-trawling-shrimp-carbon-
footprint">trawl fishing</a>, and so it faces the same problem of bycatch — marine life caught by accident.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="47ecUW">
It’s hard to collect free-floating plastics without ensnaring fish, turtles, and other animals, said Bergmann, who did her PhD dissertation on bycatch. These creatures often die, even if they’re thrown back into the water, she added. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/ocean-cleanup-project-could-destroy-
neuston/580693/?utm_source=pocket_mylist">Some scientists</a> also worry that open ocean cleanups harm the organisms that make up an ecosystem right below the ocean’s surface.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/f-Jek1lZEPSsECi7KDaeTcygbFY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23282891/GettyImages_1301265167.jpg"/> <cite>Getty Images</cite></p>
<figcaption>
A sea turtle swims near a discarded plastic water bottle.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F0pY2o">
Matthias Egger, a scientist at The Ocean Cleanup who has a PhD in marine biogeochemistry, told Vox that the group’s approach is “the complete opposite of fishing.” The net is shallow and moves slowly, so that fish can pass underneath it, and there are escape hatches if they get caught, he said. “The main reason why we do what we do is to help marine life,” he added.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9usrah">
The Ocean Cleanup has consulted fishers to make a system that doesn’t catch sea life, he said, noting that it’s still in the research and development phase. However, the group said it has caught a small amount of marine life in its nets before, <a href="https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/system-002-mid-term-evaluation/">including sea turtles</a> (which may have been dead before entering the net).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E2Q5I7">
Some marine scientists also point out that using large ships that run on fossil fuels to drag nets through the water pollutes the air and the climate. Two vessels operated by The Ocean Cleanup, for example, release 600 metric tons of carbon dioxide for a month of cleanup, <a href="https://assets.theoceancleanup.com/app/uploads/2021/07/TOC_FL_21_3648_EIA_FINREV01_12July2021.pdf">according to the nonprofit</a> — equivalent to about 130 cars on the road for a year. Egger said The Ocean Cleanup aims to develop a system that doesn’t need to be towed by large vessels. Until then, the group says it will offset its carbon emissions and work with its shipping partner, Maersk, to develop more sustainable fuels.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V7ke8N">
Ridding the sea of plastic with an approach that burns fossil fuels — which are, themselves, used to make plastic — raises additional questions about efficiency, Matthews said. Why not put that investment into something like beach cleanups? “People walking up and down a beach has no carbon footprint,” she said. “The return on investment is much higher.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BSeuZI">
Egger agrees that beach cleanups are valuable, but says that conservation isn’t a zero-sum game. Funding The Ocean Cleanup doesn’t necessarily siphon away money away from other projects, he said. Plus, he added, there’s more value in removing plastic in the ocean, where it’s already harming sea life, than picking it up on the beach.
</p>
<h3 id="Z3W9Ih">
The real way to clear the ocean of plastic pollution
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BvGGal">
Ultimately, solving the problem of plastic waste requires that companies produce and use less plastic, experts said. Single-use plastics like bags and takeout containers — which <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/47/e2111530118#:~:text=The%20recent%20COVID%2D19%20pandemic,tons%20entering%20the%20global%20ocean.">have boomed</a> during the pandemic — should be the first to go, Matthews said. “We have decided to use something that lasts forever for something we only need for five minutes,” she said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kso9Kc">
Governments around the world have been making progress. Many US cities, including New York and Chicago, ban or tax plastic bags. The European Union <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/bold-single-use-plastic-ban-kicks-europes-plastic-purge-into-high-gear">went as far as</a> banning single-use plastics outright last summer. And just this week, delegates of the United Nations began working on a global treaty to eliminate plastic waste. “We have seen tremendous progress on negotiations toward an internationally legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution,” the executive director of the UN environment program, Inger Andersen, said in a February 28 <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-
environment-assembly-opens-all-eyes-global-agreement-plastic">statement</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IDTLJc">
Even if successful, the most ambitious efforts to limit plastic production won’t happen overnight, so there’s still a place for cleanups. “I don’t think that anyone would tell you that you should never pick up trash,” Richards said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zf520r">
Most researchers agree that coastal cleanups are effective. In 2020, volunteers removed <a href="https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/international-coastal-cleanup/annual-data-release/">5.2 million pounds</a> of plastic from beaches around the world in a single day. Perhaps the most beloved solution, however, is Mr.  Trash Wheel. Floating in the mouth of the Jones Falls river in Maryland, it’s a simple<strong> </strong>machine that intercepts waste heading for Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. (Mr. Trash Wheel is something of a celebrity in the DC-Baltimore area and part of a “<a href="https://www.mrtrashwheel.com/meet-the-trash-wheels/">family</a>” of similar trash wheels in the region.)
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7vYzl9uX991WA-
MEOT3D8TfjnLY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23282896/39695956870_2276bd8c0c_k_e1553200021693.jpeg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore</cite>
<figcaption>
A trash-collecting machine in Baltimore, affectionately known as Mr. Trash Wheel.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q545iW">
“There are lots of low-tech tools that get plastic before it reaches the ocean,” said Miriam Goldstein, director of ocean policy at the Center for American Progress, who studied the garbage patch as a graduate student (and has <a href="https://gizmodo.com/the-dream-of-scooping-plastic-
from-the-ocean-is-still-a-1847890573">previously criticized</a> The Ocean Cleanup). “Those are highly effective and efficient and cheap.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TekzpD">
Nicholas Mallos, senior director of the Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas program, agreed. While there’s “absolutely a role for technology,” he said, the science is increasingly showing that removing plastic from rivers and coastal areas is the best and most efficient approach to reducing plastic waste.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pjKJRa">
The Ocean Cleanup deploys similar river trash collection systems, but the group still sees a place for cleaning up the open ocean. Even if we rid beaches and rivers of plastic, Egger said, there will still be waste floating out at sea and harming marine life. “We should work together on solving this rather than having these arguments,” he said.
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Putin’s war on Ukraine, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/9OWMDHHYHj5n4nkL8Gi6f5lNXtc=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70575862/THUMB_CLEAN.0.jpg"/>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Understand the current conflict’s history in less than 10 minutes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CPmhvq">
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a “special military operation.” But the scale of the attack shows this is a war — after a week of fighting, it has already caused hundreds of civilian casualties and forced more than half a million Ukrainians to flee their homes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PFXLxP">
Ukraine and Russia’s conflict goes back at least to 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea and Russian-backed separatist forces took over parts of southeastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. But to understand the full context behind the invasion, it’s important to go even further back, to the time when Europe’s current divisions began, and see how that shaped Europe’s power balance today.
</p>
<aside id="fmTwJ1">
<div>
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</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RD0yHz">
Further reading:
</p>
<ul>
<li id="CMvkPu">
More information on the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/europe/central-asia/ukraine">human impact this war is having on the ground</a> by the Human Rights Watch
</li>
<li id="ow6iQn">
Latest information on <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/02/1112872">the displacement of Ukrainians</a>
</li>
<li id="Ui8tBn">
On the ground <a href="https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/ukraine-conflict-update-9">daily updates</a> from the Institute for the Study of War
</li>
<li id="pN73xO">
<a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/eastern-
europe/ukraine">Daily updates</a> from the International Crisis Group
</li>
<li id="4P60sa">
A detailed look at Ukraine’s <a href="https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2013-11-27/ukraine-withdraws-signing-association-agreement-
vilnius-motives-and">decision</a> to pull out from the 2013 EU agreement
</li>
<li id="lV3Wvz">
Understand the <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2014/03/13/use-of-russia-s-military-in-crimean-crisis-pub-54949">annexation of Crimea and what that meant for Ukraine</a>
</li>
<li id="7fzEuF">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Putin-v-People-
Perilous-Politics/dp/0300238398"><em>Putin v. the People: The Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia</em></a> by Samuel A. Green and Graeme B. Robertson
</li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aATcQo">
You can find this video and the entire library of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXo7UDZvByw2ixzpQCufnA"><strong>Vox’s videos on YouTube</strong></a>.
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rodney Marsh, Australian cricket great, dies aged 74</strong> - One of cricket’s greatest wicket-keepers, Marsh died a week after suffering a heart attack during a fundraising event in Queensland</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>Women’s World Cup | West Indies shock New Zealand in thrilling tournament opener</strong> - Part-time bowler Deandra Dottin delivered a fearless final over in which three wickets fell</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>Ind vs SL first Test: Pant makes statement in Kohli’s landmark 100th Test</strong> - The crowd roared in unison as ‘King Kohli’ emerged from the dressing room after opener Mayank Agarwal’s dismissal.</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>Padikkal’s maiden unbeaten ton drives Karnataka</strong> - Siddharth plays perfect foil as the team reached 293 for three on day one against Pondicherry</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>Abhimanyu’s ton leads Bengal’s charge</strong> - His 193-run stand with Majumdar (95) helps the team take the first day’s honours against Chandigarh</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apply before March 15 for mutual transfer, staff told</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Women’s commission adalat</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Higher stakes for Congress in second phase of Manipur polls</strong> - Of the 22 seats in the final phase, there are 11 each in the valleys and the mostly Naga-dominated hills</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>MVA leaders urge Maharashtra Governor to approve schedule for Assembly Speaker's election on March 9</strong> - The Budget Session of the State legislature commenced from March 3 and will continue till March 25</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>Mysuru airport runway extension assured in State Budget</strong> - But stakeholders disappointed as no allocation made for the works</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine: On board a Nato surveillance plane monitoring Russian activity</strong> - The BBC has been given rare access to a surveillance flight on the Polish border with Ukraine and Belarus.</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>Ukraine nuclear plant: Russia in control after shelling</strong> - Authorities say the facility - the largest plant in Europe - is safe and radiation levels are normal.</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>Ukraine conflict: Your guide to understanding day eight</strong> - Cities under relentless bombardment. Here’s what you need to know after day eight of the war.</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>‘It is terrible’: For Ukraine’s Jews and Roma, war revives old traumas</strong> - As thousands flee the Russian invasion, the conflict stirs dark memories of Europe’s past.</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>Ukraine: Russia agrees need to create humanitarian corridors</strong> - But the talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators yield only limited concrete progress.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The things Apple might announce next week, ranked by how likely they are</strong> - A new iPhone SE? Sure. But what about the M2 chip? - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1838039">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: Russia responds to Western sanctions, UK spaceport moves ahead</strong> - “We are taking a close look at how the situation unfolds.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1837900">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cybercriminals who breached Nvidia issue one of the most unusual demands ever</strong> - Chipmaker has until Friday to comply or see its crown-jewel source code released. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1838180">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mysterious X-rays could be kilonova “afterglow” from 2017 neutron star merger</strong> - This would mean the two stars “spun down” for a second before collapsing into black hole - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1837818">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A 40,000-year-old Chinese stone tool culture unlike any other</strong> - Not every culture left a mark on those around it. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1838047">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>My buddy got arrested on drug charges and because it was his first offense, he thought he would get off lightly, but it turned out his lawyer was one of the worst in the state and ended up botching his case, so instead of getting a short term, he ended up getting 40 years without parole!!</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Man, that sentence was way too long!
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/808gecko808"> /u/808gecko808 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t6g4h3/my_buddy_got_arrested_on_drug_charges_and_because/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t6g4h3/my_buddy_got_arrested_on_drug_charges_and_because/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>What has 80 feet, 137 teeth and $72 in cash?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The front row of a Trump rally
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/OverBeingSober"> /u/OverBeingSober </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t6682g/what_has_80_feet_137_teeth_and_72_in_cash/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t6682g/what_has_80_feet_137_teeth_and_72_in_cash/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My dad said ’Son, stay out of strip clubs or you might see something you shouldn’t.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So i went in and he was right.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
​
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
​
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I saw my dad.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/FewExtreme3201"> /u/FewExtreme3201 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t69w0p/my_dad_said_son_stay_out_of_strip_clubs_or_you/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t69w0p/my_dad_said_son_stay_out_of_strip_clubs_or_you/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Several centuries ago, the Pope decreed that all the Jews had to convert to Catholicism or leave Italy. There was a huge outcry from the Jewish community, so the Pope offered a deal. He’d have a religious debate with the leader of the Jewish community…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
If the Jews won, they could stay in Italy; if the Pope won, they’d have to convert or leave.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Jewish people met and picked an aged and wise Rabbi to represent them in the debate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
However, as the Rabbi spoke no Italian, and the Pope spoke no Hebrew, they agreed that it would be a ‘silent’ debate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
On the chosen day, the Pope and the Rabbi sat opposite each other.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Rabbi looked back and raised one finger.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Next, the Pope waved his finger around his head.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Rabbi pointed to the ground where he sat.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Pope brought out a communion wafer and a chalice of wine.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Rabbi pulled out an apple.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
With that, the Pope stood up and declared himself beaten and said that the Rabbi was too clever.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Jews could stay in Italy!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Later the cardinals met with the Pope and asked him what had happened.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Pope said, “First I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up a single finger to remind me there is still only one God common to both our beliefs. Then, I waved my finger around my head to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground to show that God was also right here with us. Finally, I pulled out the wine and wafer to show that God absolves us of all our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of the original sin. He bested me at every move and I could not continue!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Meanwhile, the Jewish community gathered to ask the Rabbi how he had won.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I don’t have a clue!!!” the Rabbi said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“First, he told me that we had three days to get out of Italy, so I gave him the finger. Then he tells me that the whole country would be cleared of Jews, so I told him that we were staying right here.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“And then what?” asked a woman.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Who knows!!” said the Rabbi. “He took out his lunch, so I took out mine!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/808gecko808"> /u/808gecko808 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t6g9ox/several_centuries_ago_the_pope_decreed_that_all/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t6g9ox/several_centuries_ago_the_pope_decreed_that_all/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My wife told me to take the spider out instead of killing it.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Went out, had a few drinks. Nice Guy. He’s a Web Designer.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/It_Wasnt_Luck"> /u/It_Wasnt_Luck </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t69axh/my_wife_told_me_to_take_the_spider_out_instead_of/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t69axh/my_wife_told_me_to_take_the_spider_out_instead_of/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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