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<title>18 August, 2023</title>
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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>Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 XBB.1.5 variant</strong> -
<div>
Circulation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XBB has resulted in the emergence of XBB.1.5, a new Variant of Interest. Our phylogenetic analysis suggests that XBB.1.5 evolved from XBB.1 by acquiring the F486P spike (S) mutation, subsequent to the acquisition of a nonsense mutation in ORF8. Neutralization assays showed similar abilities of immune escape between XBB.1.5 and XBB.1. We determined the structural basis for the interaction between human ACE2 and the S protein of XBB.1.5, showing similar overall structures between the S proteins of XBB.1 and XBB.1.5. The intrinsic pathogenicity of XBB.1.5 in hamsters is lower than that of XBB.1. Importantly, we found that the ORF8 nonsense mutation of XBB.1.5 resulted in impairment of MHC expression. In vivo experiments using recombinant viruses revealed that the XBB.1.5 mutations are involved with reduced virulence of XBB.1.5. Together, these data suggest that the mutations in ORF8 and S could enhance spreading of XBB.1.5 in humans.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.16.553332v1" target="_blank">Virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 XBB.1.5 variant</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Assembly of SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleosomes by truncated N* variant of the nucleocapsid protein</strong> -
<div>
The Nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV-2 compacts the RNA genome into viral ribonucleoprotein (vRNP) complexes within virions. Assembly of vRNPs is inhibited by phosphorylation of the N protein SR region. Several SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern carry N protein mutations that reduce phosphorylation and enhance the efficiency of viral packaging. Variants of the dominant B.1.1 viral lineage also encode a truncated N protein, termed N* or {Delta}(1-209), that mediates genome packaging despite lacking the N-terminal RNA-binding domain and SR region. Here, we show that {Delta}(1-209) and viral RNA assemble into vRNPs that are remarkably similar in size and shape to those formed with full-length N protein. We show that assembly of {Delta}(1-209) vRNPs requires the leucine-rich helix (LH) of the central disordered region, and that the LH promotes N protein oligomerization. We also find that fusion of a phosphomimetic SR region to {Delta}(1-209) inhibits RNA binding and vRNP assembly. Our results provide new insights into the mechanisms by which RNA binding promotes N protein self-association and vRNP assembly, and how this process is modulated by SR phosphorylation.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.16.553581v1" target="_blank">Assembly of SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleosomes by truncated N* variant of the nucleocapsid protein</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Molecular evolution and adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 omicron XBB sub-lineage Spike protein under African selection pressure.</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant of concern (VOC) has multiple mutations in the spike (S) protein, which mediates viral infection and immunity. We analysed a sub lineage of Omicron, designated omicron XBB (XBB), that showed structural and functional changes in the S protein in response to the African selection pressures. We used molecular modelling to compare the S protein structures of the original Omicron and XBB found that XBB had a reduced receptor-binding domain (RBD) due to the loss of some {beta}-sheets, which may increase its affinity to the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) receptor. We also used Fast Unconstrained Bayesian AppRoximation (FUBAR) and Recombination Detection Program 4 (RDP 4) to perform selection and recombination analysis respectively of the S protein sequences of Omicron and XBB and detected signals of positive selection and recombination in the N terminal domain (NTD) of the S1 subunit, which contains antibody-binding epitopes, and the RBD, which is involved in viral entry. Our results reveal the structural and functional adaptation of the Omicron XBB variant in Africa and its potential implications for viral pathogenesis and immunity.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.16.553557v1" target="_blank">Molecular evolution and adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 omicron XBB sub-lineage Spike protein under African selection pressure.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Early estimation of life expectancy using weekly deaths data</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
This paper proposes a simple method to obtain early estimates of life expectancy at any age using data on weekly deaths. Although tailored on weekly deaths data from the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat), the logic of the method is applicable to any timely data on infra-annual deaths counts, would they be quarterly, monthly, or other. When the method is applied to a time period still to complete, it is in substance a nowcasting technique whose reliability increases as new data become available, provided a correct specification of the model. It is also presented an application to 30 European countries for the years 2022 and 2023, returning a provisional estimate of life expectancy at birth much earlier than from official statistics. These early estimates show that in Europe the process of recovery in life expectancy at birth from the COVID-19 pandemic will be practically completed in 2023, unless unexpected mortality crises will occur in the second half of the year.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.11.23293993v2" target="_blank">Early estimation of life expectancy using weekly deaths data</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mapping COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake amongst Chinese residents: A systematic review and meta-analysis</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective: Controlling the COVID-19 pandemic depends on the widespread acceptance of vaccination. Vaccine hesitancy is a growing area of concern in China. The aim of the study is to map the overall acceptance and uptake rates of COVID-19 vaccines across different groups.  Methods: Five peer-reviewed databases bases were searched (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, EBSCO, and Scopus). Studies that conducted cross-sectional surveys in China to understand the acceptance/willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccines were included.  Results: Among 2420 identified studies, 47 studies with 327,046 participants were eligible for data extraction. Males had a higher uptake of COVID-19 vaccines (OR=1.17; 95% CI:1.08 - 1.27) along with Chinese residents with &gt;= 5000 RMB monthly income (OR=1.08; 95% CI:1.02 - 1.14). Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccination uptake rates in China need to be improved. To inform public health decisions, continuous vaccination uptake monitoring is required.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.09.23293915v1" target="_blank">Mapping COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake amongst Chinese residents: A systematic review and meta-analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry: Comparisons between immigrants and US-born workers</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic reduced employment in the U.S., across many industries. The restaurant industry was particularly hard hit, losing 2.5 million jobs in 2020 alone. Now in the recovery from the pandemic, the restaurant industry is experiencing an unprecedented shortage of workers, forcing many restaurants to raise their offered wages, reduce their hours of service, or close altogether. How have workers been affected by these demand shocks? Understanding the demand for restaurant workers during the pandemic and the recovery has important policy implications because restaurant workers make up the third largest occupation group and have the lowest wages of any occupation group. Foreign-born workers in particular are overrepresented in restaurants and in the back-of-house jobs that are lower paying and more dangerous. Using results from our nationally-representative survey of restaurant owners and hiring managers and our analysis of Community Population Survey data, we found that foreign-born workers fared worse than native-born workers as the restaurant industry shed jobs during the height of the pandemic. Our findings are consistent with previous studies suggesting that foreign-born workers are more vulnerable to negative business cycles than their native-born counterparts. But during the various stages of the recovery, when the restaurant industry experienced worker shortages, we also found that there was very little shifting toward foreign-born workers. These results are at odds with previous studies suggesting that foreign-born workers would be more attractive in these circumstances because they are more adaptable to changing labor demands (including dangerous working conditions like a pandemic) and do not have access to social safety net benefits like unemployment compensation. Part of the explanation for this surprising result may be found in recent, more restrictive immigration policies that have decreased the pool of available foreign-born workers.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/d5bc6/" target="_blank">Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry: Comparisons between immigrants and US-born workers</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Post-recovery health domain scores among outpatients by SARS-CoV-2 testing status during the pre-Delta period</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Symptoms of COVID-19 including fatigue and dyspnea, may persist for weeks to months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study compared self-reported disability among SARS-CoV-2-positive and negative persons with mild to moderate COVID-19-like illness who presented for outpatient care before widespread COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: Unvaccinated adults with COVID-19-like illness enrolled within 10 days of illness onset at three US Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Network sites were tested for SARS-CoV-2 by molecular assay. Enrollees completed an enrollment questionnaire and two follow-up surveys (7-24 days and 2-7 months after illness onset) online or by phone to assess illness characteristics and health status. The second follow-up survey included questions measuring global health, physical function, fatigue, and dyspnea. Scores in the four domains were compared by participants SARS-CoV-2 test results in univariate analysis and multivariable Gamma regression. Results: During September 22, 2020 - February 13, 2021, 2,712 eligible adults were enrolled, 1,541 completed the first follow-up survey, and 650 completed the second follow-up survey. SARS-CoV-2-positive participants were more likely to report fever at acute illness but were otherwise comparable to SARS-CoV-2-negative participants. At first follow-up, SARS-CoV-2-positive participants were less likely to have reported fully or mostly recovered from their illness compared to SARS-CoV-2-negative participants. At second follow-up, no differences by SARS-CoV-2 test results were detected in the four domains in the multivariable model. Conclusion: Self-reported disability was similar among outpatient SARS-CoV-2-positive and -negative adults 2-7 months after illness onset.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.14.23294086v1" target="_blank">Post-recovery health domain scores among outpatients by SARS-CoV-2 testing status during the pre-Delta period</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The predictive and prognostic value of peripheral blood antigen-specific memory B cells in phospholipase A2 receptor-associated membranous nephropathy</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background Phospholipase A2 receptor-associated membranous nephropathy (PLA2R-MN) is an anti-PLA2R antibody (PLA2R-Ab) mediated autoimmune kidney disease. Although antibody titer correlates closely with disease activity, whether it can provide longer-term predictions on disease course and progression is unclear. Rituximab, a B-cell depletion therapy, has become the first-line treatment option for PLA2R-MN; however, the response to Rituximab varies among patients. Methods We developed a flow cytometry-based test that detects and quantifies PLA2R antigen-specific memory B cells (PLA2R-MBCs) in peripheral blood, the primary source for PLA2R-Ab production upon disease relapse. We applied the test to 159 blood samples collected from 28 patients with PLA2R-MN (at diagnosis, during and after immunosuppressive treatment, immunological remission, and relapse) to evaluate the relationship between circulating PLA2R-MBC levels and disease activity. Results The level of PLA2R-MBCs in healthy controls (n=56) is less than or equal to 1.5% of the total MBC compartment. High circulating PLA2R-MBC levels were detected in two patients post-Rituximab despite achieving immunologic and proteinuric remission, as well as in two patients with negative serum autoantibody but increasing proteinuria. Elimination of these cells with Rituximab improved clinical outcomes. Moreover, five patients exhibited elevated PLA2R-MBC levels before disease relapse, followed by a rapid decline to baseline when relapse became clinically evident. COVID-19 vaccination or SARS-CoV-2 infection significantly affected the dynamics of circulating PLA2R-MBCs. Conclusions This study suggests that monitoring PLA2R-MBC levels in patients with PLA2R-MN may help refine and individualize immunosuppressive therapy and predict disease course and progression. The technology and findings may also have broader applications in the clinical management of other autoimmune diseases.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.14.23292885v1" target="_blank">The predictive and prognostic value of peripheral blood antigen-specific memory B cells in phospholipase A2 receptor-associated membranous nephropathy</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Coronaviruses Spike glycoprotein endodomains: the sequence and structure-based comprehensive study</strong> -
<div>
The flexibility of proteins makes them available to interact with many biomolecules in the cell. Specifically, such interactions in viruses help them to perform more functions despite having a smaller genome. Therefore, these flexible regions can be exciting and essential targets to be explored for their role in pathogenicity and therapeutic developments as they achieve essential interactions. In the continuation with our previous study on disordered analysis of SARS-CoV-2 spike cytoplasmic tail (CTR), or endodomain, here we have explored the disordered potential endodomains of six other coronaviruses using multiple bioinformatics approaches and molecular dynamics simulations. Based on the comprehensive analysis of its sequence and structural composition, we report the varying disorder propensity in endodomains of spike proteins of coronaviruses. The observations of this study may help to understand the importance of spike glycoprotein endodomain and creating therapeutic interventions against them.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.16.553512v1" target="_blank">Coronaviruses Spike glycoprotein endodomains: the sequence and structure-based comprehensive study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Predicting host-based, synthetic lethal antiviral targets from omics data</strong> -
<div>
Traditional antiviral therapies often have limited effectiveness due to toxicity and development of drug resistance. Host-based antivirals, while an alternative, may lead to non-specific effects. Recent evidence shows that virus-infected cells can be selectively eliminated by targeting synthetic lethal (SL) partners of proteins disrupted by viral infection. Thus, we hypothesized that genes depleted in CRISPR KO screens of virus-infected cells may be enriched in SL partners of proteins altered by infection. To investigate this, we established a computational pipeline predicting SL drug targets of viral infections. First, we identified SARS-CoV-2-induced changes in gene products via a large compendium of omics data. Second, we identified SL partners for each altered gene product. Last, we screened CRISPR KO data for SL partners required for cell viability in infected cells. Despite differences in virus-induced alterations detected by various omics data, they share many predicted SL targets, with significant enrichment in CRISPR KO-depleted datasets. Comparing data from SARS-CoV-2 and influenza infections, we found possible broad-spectrum, host-based antiviral SL targets. This suggests that CRISPR KO data are replete with common antiviral targets due to their SL relationship with virus-altered states and that such targets can be revealed from analysis of omics datasets and SL predictions.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.15.553430v1" target="_blank">Predicting host-based, synthetic lethal antiviral targets from omics data</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evidence of Leaky Protection Following COVID-19 Vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 Infection in an Incarcerated Population</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Whether SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccines confer exposure-dependent (“leaky”) protection against infection remains unknown. We examined the effect of prior infection, vaccination, and hybrid immunity on infection risk among residents of Connecticut correctional facilities during periods of predominant Omicron and Delta transmission. Residents with cell, cellblock, and no documented exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infected residents were matched by facility and date. During the Omicron period, prior infection, vaccination, and hybrid immunity reduced the infection risk of residents without a documented exposure (HR: 0.36 [0.25-0.54]; 0.57 [0.42-0.78]; 0.24 [0.15-0.39]; respectively) and with cellblock exposures (0.61 [0.49-0.75]; 0.69 [0.58-0.83]; 0.41 [0.31-0.55]; respectively) but not with cell exposures (0.89 [0.58-1.35]; 0.96 [0.64-1.46]; 0.80 [0.46-1.39]; respectively). Associations were similar during the Delta period and when analyses were restricted to tested residents. Although associations may not have been thoroughly adjusted due to dataset limitations, the findings suggest that prior infection and vaccination may be leaky, highlighting the potential benefits of pairing vaccination with non-pharmaceutical interventions in crowded settings.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.17.23286049v2" target="_blank">Evidence of Leaky Protection Following COVID-19 Vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 Infection in an Incarcerated Population</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Predicting subnational incidence of COVID-19 cases and deaths in EU countries</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Recurring COVID-19 waves highlight the need for tools able to quantify transmission risk, and identify geographical areas at risk of outbreaks. Local outbreak risk depends on complex immunity patterns resulting from previous infections, vaccination, waning and immune escape, alongside other factors (population density, social contact patterns). Immunity patterns are spatially and demographically heterogeneous, and are challenging to capture in country-level forecast models. Methods: We used a spatiotemporal regression model to forecast subnational case and death counts and applied it to three EU countries as test cases: France, Czechia, and Italy. Cases in local regions arise from importations or local transmission. Our model produces age-stratified forecasts given age-stratified data, and links reported case counts to routinely collected covariates (test number, vaccine coverage..). We assessed the predictive performance of our model up to four weeks ahead using proper scoring rules and compared it to the European COVID-19 Forecast Hub ensemble model. Using simulations, we evaluated the impact of variations in transmission on the forecasts. We developed an open-source RShiny App to visualise the forecasts and scenarios. Results: At a national level, the median relative difference between our median weekly case forecasts and the data up to four weeks ahead was 25% (IQR: 12-50%) over the prediction period. The accuracy decreased as the forecast horizon increased (on average 24% increase in the median ranked probability score per added week), while the accuracy of death forecasts remained stable. Beyond two weeks, the model generated a narrow range of likely transmission dynamics. The median national case forecasts showed similar accuracy to forecasts from the European COVID-19 Forecast Hub ensemble model, but the prediction interval was narrower in our model. Generating forecasts under alternative transmission scenarios was therefore key to capturing the range of possible short-term transmission dynamics. Discussion: Our model captures changes in local COVID-19 outbreak dynamics, and enables quantification of short-term transmission risk at a subnational level. The outputs of the model improve our ability to identify areas where outbreaks are most likely, and are available to a wide range of public health professionals through the Shiny App we developed.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.11.23293400v1" target="_blank">Predicting subnational incidence of COVID-19 cases and deaths in EU countries</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Improving estimates of epidemiological quantities by combining reported cases with wastewater data: a statistical framework with applications to COVID-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Timely and informed public health responses to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 necessitate reliable information about infection dynamics. The case ascertainment rate (CAR), the proportion of infections that are reported as cases, is typically much less than one and varies with testing practices and behaviours, making reported cases unreliable as the sole source of data. The concentration of viral RNA in wastewater samples provides an alternate measure of infection prevalence that is not affected by human behaviours. Here, we investigated how these two data sources can be combined to inform estimates of the instantaneous reproduction number, R, and track changes in the CAR over time. Methods: We constructed a state-space model that we solved using sequential Monte Carlo methods. The observed data are the levels of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater and reported case incidence. The hidden states that we estimate are R and CAR. Model parameters are estimated using the particle marginal Metropolis Hastings algorithm. Findings: We analysed data from 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2023 from Aotearoa New Zealand. Our model estimates that R peaked at 2.76 (95% CrI 2.20, 3.83) around 18 February 2022 and the CAR peaked around 12 March 2022. Accounting for reduced CAR, we estimate that New Zealand9s second Omicron wave in July 2022 was similar in size to the first, despite fewer reported cases. We estimate that the CAR in the BA.5 Omicron wave in July 2022 was approximately 50% lower than in the BA.1/BA.2 Omicron wave in March 2022. The CAR in subsequent waves around November 2022 and April 2023 was estimated to be comparable to that in the second Omicron wave. Interpretation: This work on wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) can be used to give insight into key epidemiological quantities. Estimating R, CAR, and cumulative number of infections provides useful information for planning public health responses and understanding the state of immunity in the population. This model is a useful disease surveillance tool, improving situational awareness of infectious disease dynamics in real-time, which may be increasingly useful as intensive pandemic surveillance programmes are wound down.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.14.23294060v1" target="_blank">Improving estimates of epidemiological quantities by combining reported cases with wastewater data: a statistical framework with applications to COVID-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Reproduction Number EXCEL Model of COVID-19 for predictive calculation of nearby trend up to the end of infection</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Reproduction Number (RN-)EXCEL Model has been developed on an EXCEL sheet to provide important characteristics of COVID-19 infectious disease for practical use. The model is developed based only on observed data to predict future infection toward herd immunity threshold and until the end stage of the infection. Basic equations are simple and constructed in analogy with neutron multiplication reactions in nuclear reactor. To know the next day infection, we calculate an exponential increase in one day step with a rate obtained from nearby PCR positive infectious numbers, which are daily input in the EXCEL sheet. In a closed community, main players are non-immune holders and immune holders, where total number of immune holders derived from infection and vaccination plays an essential role. In traditional SIR model, infection behavior is characterized by the reproduction rate in differential equation where social actions such as governmental regulations or vaccinations are included as constant breaking term for infection spread. However, in actual situation these terms are time dependent and is difficult to solve by a set of differential equations. In contrast, RN-EXCEL model deals with infection by defining successive reproduction number for each time interval as inchworm that represents a clear physical picture of the virus infectivity. Using this model, a lot of predictions were made for semi-closed communities domestically and world-wide, timely for practical use.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.11.23293983v1" target="_blank">Reproduction Number EXCEL Model of COVID-19 for predictive calculation of nearby trend up to the end of infection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Association of polypharmacy and burden of comorbidities on COVID-19 adverse outcomes in people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Aim: To investigate whether polypharmacy and comorbidities conveyed more risk of adverse health outcomes following COVID-19 infection in people with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) or type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Materials and methods: The Greater Manchester Care Record (GMCR) is an integrated database of electronic health records containing data collected from 433 general practices in Greater Manchester. Baseline demographic information (age, BMI, gender, ethnicity, smoking status, deprivation index), hospital admission or death within 28 days of infection were extracted for adults (18+) diagnosed with either T1DM or T2DM. Results: For T2DM, 16 to 20 medications (p=0.01; OR [95% CI]=2.37 [1.31 to 4.32]) and &gt; 20 medications (p=0; OR [95% CI]=3.14 [1.75 to 5.62]) were associated with increased risk of death following COVID-19 infection. Increased risk of hospital admissions in T2DM individuals was determined for 11 to 15 medications (p=0.01; OR [95% CI]=1.34 [1.06 to 1.69]) and above. This was independent of comorbidities, metabolic and demographic factors. For T1DM there was no association of polypharmacy with hospital admission. Respiratory, cardiovascular/cerebrovascular and gastrointestinal conditions were associated with increased risk of hospital admissions and deaths in T2DM (p&gt;0.001). Conclusion: We have shown in T2DM an independent association of number of medications taken from 11 upwards with adverse health consequences following COVID-19 infection. We also found that individuals with diabetes develop comorbidities that were common across both T1DM and T2DM. This study has laid the foundation for future investigations into the way that complex pharmacological interactions may influence clinical outcomes in people with T2DM.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.12.23294016v1" target="_blank">Association of polypharmacy and burden of comorbidities on COVID-19 adverse outcomes in people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes</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>EFFECT OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY ON DEPRESSION AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH POST COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: rehacom<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo University<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</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>Intradermal Administration of a COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine in Elderly</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Vaccination; Infection;   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Comirnaty<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Radboud University Medical Center<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Immunogenicity and Safety of AdCLD-CoV19-1 OMI as a Booster: A SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Preventive Vaccine in Healthy Volunteers</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Vaccines<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: AdCLD-CoV19-1 OMI;   Biological: Comirnaty Bivalent 0.1mg/mL (tozinameran and riltozinameran)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cellid Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Using Text Messages to Boost COVID-19 Vaccine Booking Rate</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Vaccination Hesitancy;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Behavioural science-informed text messages;   Behavioral: Control<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   The Behavioural Insights Team;   Public Health England;   Department of Health and Social Care;   NHS England and NHS Improvement<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>Ivermectin to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Hospitalisation in Subjects Over 50</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Insud Pharma<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>Methylprednisolone in Patients With Cognitive Deficits in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome (PCS)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Methylprednisolone<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Charite University, Berlin, Germany<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>Hyperbaric on Pulmonary Functions in Post Covid -19 Patients.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post COVID-19 Patients<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Device: hyperbaric oxygen therapy;   Device: breathing exercise;   Drug: medical treatment<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo University<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>Dietary Intervention to Mitigate Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome;   Fatigue<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Dietary intervention to mitigate Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome;   Other: Attention Control<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Maryland, Baltimore<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 II Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of BIMERVAX® When Coadministered With Seasonal Influenza Vaccine (SIIV) in Adults Older Than 65 Years of Age Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS CoV 2 Infection;   Influenza, Human<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: BIMERVAX;   Biological: SIIV<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hipra Scientific, S.L.U<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pulmonary Artery Pressure in COVID-19 Survivors</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Pulmonary Hypertension Secondary<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: right heart catheterization (RHC).<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Mansoura University Hospital<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</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>Preliminary Efficacy of a Technology-based Physical Activity Intervention for Older Korean Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Cardiovascular Health;   Physical Function<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Golden Circle<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign<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>Supported Employment COVID-19 Rapid Testing for PWID</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Health Behavior<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Supported Employment<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Oregon<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study of Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab and Regdanvimab Efficacy for Treatment of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Coronavirus Infections<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: tixagevimab/cilgavimab 150+150 mg;   Drug: tixagevimab/cilgavimab 300+300 mg;   Drug: regdanvimab<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   City Clinical Hospital No.52 of Moscow Healthcare Department;   Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Health Ministry of the Russian Federation<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>Playing Games to Learn About Children’s Vaccines Project</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   HPV;   COVID-19;   Vaccine-Preventable Diseases<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: vaccination games<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Michigan State 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>Mobile Health-based Motivational Interviewing to Promote COVID-19 Vaccination</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Vaccination Hesitancy<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Standard MI;   Behavioral: Intensive MI;   Behavioral: MOTIVACC;   Behavioral: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) messages<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Oklahoma State University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Suitable Membrane Distance Regulated by the RBD_ACE2 Interaction is Critical for SARS-CoV-2 Spike-Mediated Viral Invasion</strong> - The receptor-binding domain (RBD) of spike recognizing the receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) initiates membrane fusion between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and cell membrane. Although the structure of the RBD_ACE2 complex has been well studied, its functional mechanism in membrane fusion is still not fully understood. Here, using an in vitro cell-vesicle content-mixing assay, it is found that the cleavage at the S2’ site by thrombin (Thr) protease…</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>Endotheliopathy of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells in liver disease</strong> - Liver is the largest solid organ in the abdominal cavity, with sinusoid occupying about half of its volume. Under liver disease, hemodynamics in the liver tissue dynamically change, resulting in injury to liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs). We discuss the injury of LSECs in liver diseases in this article. Generally, in noninflamed tissues, vascular endothelial cells maintain quiescence of circulating leukocytes, and unnecessary blood clotting is inhibited by multiple antithrombotic…</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>Convalescent plasma from Norwegian blood donors to treat COVID-19</strong> - BACKGROUND: At the start of the pandemic, the Norwegian Directorate of Health and Norwegian blood banks initiated the production of COVID-19 convalescent plasma within the framework of clinical studies. In this article we describe the blood donors who participated.</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>De novo design of bioactive phenol and chromone derivatives for inhibitors of Spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 in silico</strong> - This work presents the synthesis of 12 phenol and chromone derivatives, prepared by the analogs, and the possibility of conducting an in silico study of its derivatives as a therapeutic alternative to combat the SARS-CoV-2, pathogen responsible for COVID-19 pandemic, using its S-glycoprotein as a macromolecular target. After the initial screening for the ranking of the products, it was chosen which structure presented the best energy bond with the target. As a result, derivative 4 was submitted…</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>Endothelial FoxM1 reactivates aging-impaired endothelial regeneration for vascular repair and resolution of inflammatory lung injury</strong> - Aging is a major risk factor of high incidence and increased mortality of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Here, we demonstrated that persistent lung injury and high mortality in aged mice after sepsis challenge were attributable to impaired endothelial regeneration and vascular repair. Genetic lineage tracing study showed that endothelial regeneration after sepsis-induced vascular injury was mediated by lung resident endothelial proliferation in young adult mice, whereas this…</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>Forodesine and Riboprine Exhibit Strong Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Repurposing Potential: <em>In Silico</em> and <em>In Vitro</em> Studies</strong> - Lately, nucleos(t)ide antivirals topped the scene as top options for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Targeting the two broadly conserved SARS-CoV-2 enzymes, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and 3’-to-5’ exoribonuclease (ExoN), together using only one shot is a very successful new tactic to stop SARS-CoV-2 multiplication irrespective of the SARS-CoV-2 variant type. Herein, the current…</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>Anticancer pan-ErbB inhibitors reduce inflammation and tissue injury and exert broad-spectrum antiviral effects</strong> - Targeting host factors exploited by multiple viruses could offer broad-spectrum solutions for pandemic preparedness. Seventeen candidates targeting diverse functions emerged in a screen of 4,413 compounds for SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors. We demonstrated that lapatinib and other approved inhibitors of the ErbB family receptor tyrosine kinases suppress replication of SARS-CoV-2, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV), and other emerging viruses with a high barrier to resistance. Lapatinib…</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>Pyronaridine tetraphosphate is an efficacious antiviral and anti-inflammatory active against multiple highly pathogenic coronaviruses</strong> - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), continues to be one of the largest dangers to human health around the world. The need for effective antiviral and anti-inflammatory treatments is still extremely high as newly emerging variants threaten the efficacy of currently used treatment options. Many compounds are effective at inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro but fail to recapitulate that efficacy in vivo….</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Identification of Promising Sulfonamide Chalcones as Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 3CL<sup>pro</sup> through Structure-Based Virtual Screening and Experimental Approaches</strong> - 3CL^(pro) is a viable target for developing antiviral therapies against the coronavirus. With the urgent need to find new possible inhibitors, a structure-based virtual screening approach was developed. This study recognized 75 pharmacologically bioactive compounds from our in-house library of 1052 natural product-based compounds that satisfied drug-likeness criteria and exhibited good bioavailability and membrane permeability. Among these compounds, three promising sulfonamide chalcones were…</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>TGF-β1 inhibition of ACE2 mediated by miRNA uncovers novel mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 utilizes receptor binding domain (RBD) of spike glycoprotein to interact with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Decreased cell surface density of ACE2 contributes to mortality during COVID-19. Studies published early during the pandemic reported that people with cystic fibrosis (PwCF) treated with the high efficiency CFTR modulators ETI (elexacaftor-tezacaftor-ivacaftor) had higher ACE2 levels and milder COVID-19 symptoms, compared to people without CF. Subsequent studies did…</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>WASF3 disrupts mitochondrial respiration and may mediate exercise intolerance in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome</strong> - Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is characterized by various disabling symptoms including exercise intolerance and is diagnosed in the absence of a specific cause, making its clinical management challenging. A better understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying this apparent bioenergetic deficiency state may reveal insights for developing targeted treatment strategies. We report that overexpression of Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein Family Member 3 (WASF3),…</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>Endogenous and Therapeutic 25-hydroxycholesterols May Worsen Early SARS-CoV-2 Pathogenesis in Mice</strong> - Oxysterols (i.e., oxidized cholesterol species) have complex roles in biology. 25-hydroxycholesterol (25HC), a product of activity of cholesterol-25-hydroxylase (CH25H) upon cholesterol, has recently been shown to be broadly antiviral, suggesting therapeutic potential against SARS-CoV-2. However, 25HC can also amplify inflammation and be converted by CYP7B1 to 7α,25HC, a lipid with chemoattractant activity via the G protein-coupled receptor, EBI2/GPR183. Here, using in vitro studies and two…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Design of a bifunctional pan-sarbecovirus entry inhibitor targeting the cell receptor and viral fusion protein</strong> - Development of highly effective antivirals that are robust to viral evolution is a practical strategy for combating the continuously evolved severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Inspired by viral multistep entry process, we here focus on developing a bispecific SARS-CoV-2 entry inhibitor, which acts on the cell receptor angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and viral S2 fusion protein. First, we identified a panel of diverse spike (S) receptor-binding domains (RBDs) and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A novel robust inhibitor of papain-like protease (PLpro) as a COVID-19 drug</strong> - Regarding the significance of SARS-CoV-2, scientists have shown considerable interest in developing effective drugs. Inhibitors for PLpro are the primary strategies for locating suitable COVID-19 drugs. Natural compounds comprise the majority of COVID-19 drugs. Due to limitations on the safety of clinical trials in cases of COVID, computational methods are typically utilized for inhibition studies. Whereas papain is highly similar to PLpro and is entirely safe, the current study aimed to examine…</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>Growth media affects susceptibility of air-lifted human nasal epithelial cell cultures to SARS-CoV2, but not Influenza A, virus infection</strong> - Primary differentiated human epithelial cell cultures have been widely used by researchers to study viral fitness and virus-host interactions, especially during the COVID19 pandemic. These cultures recapitulate important characteristics of the respiratory epithelium such as diverse cell type composition, polarization, and innate immune responses. However, standardization and validation of these cultures remains an open issue. In this study, two different expansion medias were evaluated and the…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Ukrainians Forced to Flee to Russia</strong> - Some are brought against their will. Others are encouraged in subtler ways. But the over-all efforts seem aimed at the erasure of the Ukrainian people. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/21/the-ukrainians-forced-to-flee-to-russia">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Benefits and Drawbacks to Charging Trump Like a Mobster</strong> - Racketeering statutes allow prosecutors to arrange many characters and a broad set of allegations into a single narrative. Making the story cohere can be a challenge. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-benefits-and-drawbacks-to-charging-trump-like-a-mobster">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Ron DeSantis Slump</strong> - The Florida governor once looked likely to defeat Donald Trump. Where did his campaign go wrong? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/the-ron-desantis-slump">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republicans Have Something New</strong> - The thirty-eight-year-old “anti-woke” polemicist and political novice has become one of Trump’s main rivals. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/in-vivek-ramaswamy-the-republicans-have-something-new">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>There Is Nothing Élitist About the Indictments Against Trump</strong> - The judicial system is doing its work, and the former President has never been a man of the people. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/there-is-nothing-elitist-about-the-indictments-against-trump">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>King the Land is a Netflix hit about love and labor rights</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Yoona and Junho lean their heads toward each other in the promotional art for the Netflix show King the Land." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/51N88aSiOVrhluBO5ZO7EfgSETg=/0x56:2160x1676/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72555669/ktl.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Im Yoon-ah (Yoona) and Lee Jun-ho star in <em>King the Land</em>, currently streaming on Netflix. | Netflix
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Can romance’s fantasy of wealth survive the labor rights movement? Let’s ask, uh, this frothy K-drama.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vfa85A">
As the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/7/13/23794036/sag-strike-2023-wga-updates">WGA/SAG-AFTRA double strike</a> wears on, the constant flow of brand-new, original Hollywood content seems headed toward a dripping, dribbling end. With many <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/sag-strike-writers-movies-shows-delayed/">shows and movies delayed</a>, viewers are already feeling the lack, which in turn means finding other stuff to watch. On <a href="https://www.vox.com/netflix">Netflix</a>, international content, especially popular Spanish telenovelas and Korean dramas, have long been part of the platform’s core offerings.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6vAFhV">
Currently, Korean rom-dramedy <em>King the Land</em> has spent <a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/top10/tv-non-english?week=2023-08-06">eight straight weeks</a> in Netflix’s global Top 10. The show began airing on Korean TV in June, after which Netflix picked it up and released its 16 episodes weekly over the past two months. In that time, it’s racked up a gargantuan 66 million views on the streamer. That puts it in a tier with major US hits like <em>Lincoln Lawyer</em> and <em>The Witcher</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XzHwED">
On the surface, the show, about a cute hotel concierge (Im Yoon-ah, a.k.a. veteran K-pop star Yoona of Girls’ Generation) who becomes entangled with the hotel magnate’s rebellious son (Lee Jun-ho, a.k.a. veteran K-pop star Junho of 2PM), seems somewhat standard within the pantheon of similar rags-to-riches, hate-to-love Korean rom-coms in its class. But <em>King the Land</em>’s low-stakes vibes are impeccable, replete with soft lighting, a lush K-pop score, likable characters, and infectious chemistry between Yoona and Junho as they navigate their prickly relationship toward a happy ending.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oynl9S">
While its tropes may be pedestrian, however, <em>King the Land </em>also features a streak of acknowledgment about their dark underside — in this case, the way rom-com’s longstanding fantasy of wealth, power, and privilege rests on a romanticization of labor exploitation and class struggle. It’s the kind of Korean drama we’re seeing more of in a post-<a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/2/10/21131004/parasite-best-picture-oscars-2020"><em>Parasite</em></a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22704474/squid-game-games-korean-references-symbols">post-<em>Squid Game</em></a> landscape. It’s also the kind of show that occupies an interesting place in a world where <a href="https://www.vox.com/unions">unions</a>, workers’ rights, and labor exploitation are getting more and more attention. For viewers who find themselves watching this particular delightful K-drama as a result of the writer’s strike, the irony will be what’s really rich.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EPTUlD">
<em>Note: This story contains a major spoiler for </em>King the Land<em> season one.</em>
</p>
<h3 id="EKK42U">
Romance has always been built around a fantasy of benevolent wealth — but in the typical K-drama, that’s complicated
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FE9SQW">
In so many ways, romance is a genre built on fantasies of attainment. The characters in romance novels and rom-coms pursue true love, and once they attain true love, they often find a cornucopia of rewards in addition: more money, a found and/or new nuclear family, their dream career, more adventure or stability (depending on which one they need more), and above all a more full and meaningful life.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jQB1K5">
Romantic love in this genre becomes a form of power — and actual power and privilege become romanticized. Power in a romance leads to protection, security, and abundance, not just for the person who has it, but for their community.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UFc6ob">
The ur-version of this trope is the classic <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/3/15/8214405/cinderella-fairy-tale-history">Cinderella story</a>: A poor character, often one with a <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/29/18524129/cinderella-grimms-perrault-basile-daulnoy-rebecca-solnit-jack-zipes-ruth-bottigheimer-fairy-tales">dysfunctional family dynamic</a>, meets a very rich character, and they fall in love. The course of this love elevates the Cinderella figure, ultimately giving them a way out of their former unhappy life and a new identity as a wealthy, enfranchised member of society.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LbDU5t">
In this basic scenario and in countless variants, wealth, power, and privilege are all inherently benevolent: Marriage further stabilizes the rich character’s wealth and power, which benefits the community at large. The typical romance sees the rich character learning, through the evolution of falling in love, to become more worthy of their wealth so they can use it even more wisely.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tlp2T8">
One rom-com subgenre sets this trope within the workplace. The rich character is usually the owner of, or heir to, a huge corporation, so their character growth directly impacts all their employees. In a string of films released just before the end of the aughts — <em>Two Weeks Notice</em>, <em>Maid in Manhattan</em>, and <em>The Proposal</em> — the primary conflict that has to be resolved is a question of power: Will the cocky rich boss remain cocky, or will they learn to humble themselves and become a better person and a better manager and caretaker of their corporate environment?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MLwG4S">
Movies like these took the worldview that the boss’s maturity and the health of the corporation were inherently linked. But these themes wouldn’t outlast the era of Occupy Wall Street. As anti-capitalist sentiment increased in the US, many Hollywood rom-coms (if not all; Hallmark still loves a good Cinderella story) quickly moved away from this power dynamic toward ones in which either both parties were roughly economic equals, à la <a href="https://www.vox.com/summer-movies/2018/6/29/17513562/set-it-up-review-netflix-romantic-comedy-romcom"><em>Set It Up</em></a>, or else the richer character ultimately proved willing to walk away from their wealth, à la <a href="https://www.vox.com/summer-movies/2018/8/14/17688338/crazy-rich-asians-review-constance-wu-henry-golding-gemma-chan-romantic-comedy"><em>Crazy Rich Asians</em></a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yqcSwp">
Korean dramas, however, have fully embraced the office romance trope. Since the typical K-drama is serialized, their plots tend to be more dizzyingly indulgent than American rom-com films, replete with classic romance tropes and cliches. That also means there are countless K-dramas of workplace romance involving a very rich character and a very average working-class character, with the latter usually educating and humbling the former. <em>King the Land</em> is no exception: Its very light plot hinges around the spoiled rich kid Gu Won (Lee) learning to pay more attention to his employees and care about their well-being.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HJ6gCO">
But <em>King the Land</em> is also reflective of a South Korean entertainment landscape that <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/11/06/1053163060/class-conflict-and-economic-hardship-in-squid-game-is-real-for-many-south-korean">frequently nods</a> to South Korea’s own economic issues. Shows like <em>Squid Game</em> present characters whose personal financial struggles mirror the nation’s own collapse and slow recovery during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. So, while Korea still clings to capitalism and generally remains <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2019/05/why-korean-boomers-are-obsessively-anti-communist/">staunchly anti-communist</a>, Korean drama is typically self-aware enough about capitalism’s dark underbelly that it won’t straightforwardly present a romantic fantasy of a benevolent corporate overlord without some effort at acknowledging that things aren’t that simple.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a2Jsqd">
Getting Gu Won to care more about his employees and their struggles isn’t a huge stretch; it quickly becomes clear that his brusque exterior masks a soft heart, and that while he may have been groomed for corporate life, he distrusts the empire his father has built. That empire, the King corporation, is a vast machine that’s built to depersonalize the entire experience of work. So Gu Won finds himself trying to inject some humanity back into the flagship King Hotel; he seeks out older employees to learn their stories, goes on a road trip with his new girlfriend and her working-class friends (who all work for various King subsidiaries), and improves working conditions where he can.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AsJ8nM">
Ironically, he falls for the bright-eyed Cheon Sa-rang (Im) even though she’s everything he is wary of: a perfectly professional concierge whose winning smile and ambitious work ethic make her a favorite with guests. To Gu Won, these are the fake and insincere trappings of a false corporate facade. Sa-rang, however, has wanted to work at King hotels since she was a child; she sees the luxury and service it provides as a true form of escape from daily life, and initially sees the work she does as a kind of calling. For her dedication, she’s rewarded with getting to work at the highest concierge level — the King the Land VVIP lounge, literally on the top floor.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sdJgR9">
The idea that a customer service job could be a calling is in itself a fantasy of capitalism, but <em>King the Land </em>makes clear that the reality is much drearier. Sa-rang and her two best friends are consistently exploited, bullied, or harassed by their customers, managers, and co-workers, with nary an HR department in sight. When Sa-rang nearly dies because she’s sent on a physically harrowing work trip, the company higher-ups don’t want to waste the money it would take to save her life. The corporate drudgery and pressure to increase their work performance is relentless. When Sa-rang finally reaches the pinnacle of her profession, she finds the work she’s tasked with to be utterly dehumanizing: She’s ordered to don a maid’s uniform and perform the role of silent servant to the Gu family.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SJPQL2">
At this point, you might be thinking: 1) None of this sounds very romantic, and 2) this hotel could sure use a union!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c6kxiL">
<em>King the Land</em> addresses the first problem with copious amounts of swoony scenes of the couple being cute and endless flashback montages to the swoony romantic scenes you just watched. There are drone fireworks and carnival rides, lots of banter, and a hot make-out session under an alarm sprinkler system. It’s charming.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gkdJzF">
The second problem, though, is much trickier.
</p>
<h3 id="ESpSyI">
Why we can’t have nice things in K-dramas — and by “nice things,” we mean “unions”
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LGSznL">
In South Korea, unions are largely socially stigmatized and scrutinized heavily by the government. <a href="https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20211230005700315">Just 14 percent of the workforce</a> is unionized, and the only legally authorized unions are split into <a href="https://www.iclcit.org/south-korea-unions-and-labour-relations/">two large trade union networks</a>, the more liberal of which, KTCU, is frequently <a href="https://jacobin.com/2023/01/south-korea-conservative-government-labor-unions-cracking-down-national-security">targeted by the government</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="on8KCL">
The last major strike by a workforce was the 2009 strike of workers at auto manufacturer Ssangyong, which was referenced in <em>Squid Game</em>. This strike led to <a href="https://jacobin.com/2021/11/squid-game-ssangyong-dragon-motor-strike-south-korea">violent crackdowns</a> on the strikers, the arrests of hundreds, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/world/asia/07seoul.html">thousands of workers</a> losing or leaving their <a href="https://www.vox.com/labor-jobs">jobs</a>, with many later dying from suicide or other related health conditions brought on by the strike. Ssangyong’s union, as well as the <a href="https://labornotes.org/blogs/2016/07/south-korea-independent-union-leader-sentenced-five-years-prison">original organizers</a>, are still <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/08/113_353048.html">dealing with the fallout</a> nearly 15 years later. Today, unions are relegated to little more than salary and wage negotiations; broader forms of political organizing via labor unions are illegal, and the government’s <a href="https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230314000517">increasing crackdown</a> on what many union members see as legal union activity led one chapter leader to <a href="https://labornotes.org/blogs/2023/05/south-korea-labor-union-leader-sets-himself-afire-protest-racketeering-charges">carry out a protest suicide</a> in May.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PzTe6L">
It’s within this agitated sociopolitical context that <em>King the Land</em> lobs one of its only real twists. Throughout the series, Gu Won has been searching for information about what happened to his mother, who used to work for King Hotel, married his father while on staff, but was then abruptly banished and sent away for unknown reasons, after which nearly all records of her history with the hotel were erased. In its penultimate episode, she shows up abruptly for a confrontation and tentative reconciliation with father and son. During their first meeting, Gu Won’s father casually drops this bombshell: His mother was kicked out of the family, not for any of the usual K-drama scandals, but for trying to start a union.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aqysPZ">
To the Gu family, this was an act of sheer betrayal, one that had to be punished by separating Gu Won’s mother from her son and then all but erasing her identity. The series’ emphasis on scrubbing her history from the hotel records was never about personal drama, but rather about making it harder for her to serve as an inspirational figure to any labor organizers that might come after her.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mebBYx">
Gu Won’s mother refuses to apologize for her union activity back then. Instead, she castigates Gu Won’s father for abandoning the principles and beliefs they once both believed in. From the context of Gu Won’s journey toward responsible stewardship, we understand that these values are probably about workers’ rights and freedoms, about valuing people above profits.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lfqiPV">
But while she may be steadfast and not at all apologetic, the show is not nearly so bold. This revelation, coming so late in the season, has little effect on the overall plot, and once it gets brought up, it’s simply never dealt with again. We don’t learn what new socialist rabble-rousing Gu Won’s mom has done in the intervening decades; we don’t even learn what she’s done with her life since, whether she’s remarried, or even what her career is. Learning about the union doesn’t inspire Gu Won and Sa-rang, nor anyone else, to start a trade union or begin a new era of labor reformation at the King Hotel. Instead, the show strongly implies that the problems of the workforce can be fixed with things like better coffee and massage chairs in the break rooms.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IQ98TM">
The relationship of this show, with its 66 million Netflix views, to the conversation around labor, especially arriving during the time of the Hollywood strike, is something of a paradox. Korean dramas, now well-known for <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/9/24/6832951/heres-why-millions-of-americans-are-binge-watching-korean-dramas">attracting global audiences</a>, don’t exist in a vacuum; in the age of massive international Netflix audiences, they have to appeal to a huge variety of cultures outside of their own. (A case in point: The show received considerable backlash for one troubling stereotype of an Arab prince, for which it has <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2023/08/398_354955.html">since apologized</a>.) Yet, to be successful, most K-dramas also have to reflect the socially conservative cultural norms of their home country. As a K-drama, <em>King the Land</em> doesn’t bother to suggest that the answer to the many problems its workforce faces might be to unionize; instead, as a thematic compromise, it does the bare minimum: It acknowledges that unions could potentially exist, then completely sidesteps<strong> </strong>the possibility of them existing here. So, while international shows like <em>King the Land</em> are gaining more attention and importance during the strike, <em>King the Land</em> itself inadvertently becomes a subtle commentary on the strike.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1U2IoU">
It’s also worth noting that as the strike carries on in the US, Netflix is currently <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-08-07/south-korea-actors-netflix-pay-dispute-union">refusing to meet with</a> the Korea Broadcasting Actor’s Union, South Korea’s version of SAG, to discuss the platform’s refusal to pay its Korean actors residuals.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1ttIG0">
<em>King the Land</em> essentially plays out in a world where a union is virtually unthinkable. That means the onus of the romance plot — because this is still about romance — is that true love has to make the corporate overlord better because his benevolence is the only thing the workers can really depend on if they want better livelihoods.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rJerMn">
At one point in the series, Gu Won surprises the workforce by handing out cash bonuses. When his astonished assistant asks him why he didn’t just go with the usual minor perks, he replies that when he conducted a survey of the workers, most of them said they wanted money. So he gave them what they wanted.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bmxz00">
Listening to workers, it seems, can be surprisingly effective. If only there were some structured way to make their voices heard.
</p></li>
<li><strong>A brief timeline of Britney Spears’s marriage to Sam Asghari</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vc2q-k-9F7RfUk5ptWhwlmygRM0=/473x0:4200x2795/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72554851/1163710142.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Britney Spears and Sam Asghari attend Sony Pictures’ “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” Los Angeles Premiere on July 22, 2019, in Hollywood, California. | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Where does Britney’s marriage and divorce fit in with the pop star’s conservatorship?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eXWCLT">
Britney Spears and husband Sam Asghari are separating after one year of marriage, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/britney-spears-sam-asghari-separate-year-marriage-rcna100287">reports NBC News</a>. Asghari has moved out of Spears’s home and has filed for divorce.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zcVzLC">
The pair’s marriage was public and scandalous, and their divorce is too. Their June 2022 wedding featured a guest list full of celebrities and one notorious gate-crasher; their divorce is marked by <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/08/16/britney-spears-sam-asghari-separate-split-cheating-infidelity-divorce/">rumors that Spears cheated</a> and <a href="https://pagesix.com/2023/08/16/sam-asghari-threatening-to-release-embarrassing-britney-spears-info-if-prenup-is-not-renegotiated/?utm_source=instagram&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=pagesix&amp;utm_content=curalate_like2buy_oY9UkwSj__36044cde-1b02-4b83-956e-a8eff6860101&amp;utm_term=curalate_like2buy&amp;crl8_id=36044cde-1b02-4b83-956e-a8eff6860101">reports that Asghari is threatening to blackmail her</a>. Their romance spanned across the final years of <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22565683/britney-spears-conservatorship-testimony">Spears’s infamous conservatorship</a> and its explosive end. Here’s a timeline of how it all went down.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ej8zT8">
Spears and Asghari met for the first time in 2016. Asghari was 22 and Spears 34, and Asghari was cast as the love interest in the video for Spears’s song “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RRY3OVqtwc">Slumber Party</a>.” <a href="https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/britney-spears-sam-asghari-intimate-at-home-wedding">Spears says</a> she thought Asghari was cute, and when she found his number in her bag a few months after the video shoot wrapped, she decided to call him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F3NnbY">
By New Year’s Day 2017, the pair were <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BOu7GUFgJGI/">Instagram official</a>. Asghari, who worked as a fitness instructor in addition to being an actor-model, began making frequent appearances in the fitness videos on Spears’s Instagram. Other posts saw them dancing or frolicking together on the beach.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VNA5Gf">
At the time, Spears was living under a restrictive <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22565683/britney-spears-conservatorship-testimony">conservatorship</a> that granted her father control over her finances and much of her personal life. She wanted to get married again and have more kids, but under the terms of the conservatorship, she couldn’t. (Spears has two children with her second husband, dancer Kevin Federline, whom she divorced in 2006.) She had an IUD that she wasn’t allowed to remove.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UwUeQs">
In February 2021, Hulu and the New York Times released the documentary <em>Framing Britney Spears</em>, an overview of Spears’s early stardom, her downward spiral in 2007, and the few public details that existed at the time of her conservatorship. It had an explosive reception, and the nascent fan-led #FreeBritney movement picked up steam.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PyQMBv">
In June 2021, <a href="https://variety.com/2021/music/news/britney-spears-full-statement-conservatorship-1235003940/">Spears publicly testified that she wanted the conservatorship to end</a>. Asghari, <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/1283298/how-sam-asghari-helped-empower-britney-spears-to-share-her-truth-about-the-conservatorship">the media reported</a>, was “her rock” in the middle of the chaos, someone who “empowers her in every way.” <a href="https://people.com/music/britney-spears-and-sam-asghari-are-engaged/">He proposed to her in September 2021</a>, with the conservatorship still going. As the court wended its way toward dissolving the conservatorship, he posted pictures of himself to Instagram <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/leylamohammed/britney-spears-sam-asghari-free-britney-shirts">in #FreeBritney T-shirts.</a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4CJG39">
In November 2021, the courts issued an order to dissolve the conservatorship. Seven months later, Spears and Asghari were married, with their wedding guests including <a href="https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/britney-spears-sam-asghari-intimate-at-home-wedding">Madonna, Paris Hilton, and Selena Gomez</a>. They draped their house in pink and white roses and brought in a carriage pulled by horses with golden hooves for the occasion.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MoMoKm">
The wedding also featured an uninvited guest. In 2004, <a href="https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/5534696/inside-britney-spears-wild-vegas-wedding-jason-alexander/">Spears infamously got married to her childhood friend Jason Alexander</a> (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004517/">no relation</a>) in Las Vegas on a drunken whim. The marriage was annulled within three days, but Alexander showed up at Spears’s 2022 wedding, declaring on a livestream that she was his first and only wife and claiming she had invited him. He was subdued by the cops before he made it to Britney and booked for trespassing and battery. The rest of the wedding apparently went off without a hitch.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r9tiN4">
Spears’s behavior, however, has been growing increasingly erratic since the end of the conservatorship. She’s been behaving more or less in the ways you would expect from someone who experienced a series of traumas, some of which included severe restrictions on her personal freedoms. She started feuding with her sister on social media. She had <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/01/15/britney-spears-meltdown-sam-asghari-dinner-restaurant-response/">what appeared to be PTSD flashbacks</a> when surrounded by fans with phone cameras. She was <a href="https://pagesix.com/2023/05/16/britney-spears-the-price-of-freedom-doc-most-shocking-moments/">reportedly terrified</a> that someone would break into her house in the night and commit her against her will. <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/05/15/britney-spears-the-price-of-freedom-marriage-sam-asghari/">Rumors spread</a> that Spears and Asghari were getting into frequent screaming matches and that Spears would sometimes get physical with Asghari.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZSDNXO">
<a href="https://pagesix.com/2023/05/16/britney-spears-the-price-of-freedom-doc-most-shocking-moments/">A TMZ documentary</a> released in May alleged that Spears was abusing substances again. In a since-deleted Instagram post, <a href="https://pagesix.com/2023/05/15/sam-asghari-slams-tmzs-disgusting-britney-spears-documentary/">Asghari denounced the documentary as “disgusting.”</a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1pn5Sf">
“All of a sudden — after 15 years when she’s free after all those gaslighting, all those things that went down — now you’re going to put her under a microscope and tell her story?” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IJEjVT">
On August 16, TMZ broke the news that Spears and Asghari were divorcing. The big issue, per TMZ, was that Asghari thought Spears was cheating on him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gtpm09">
“About a week ago, Sam confronted Britney over rumors she stepped out on him,” <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/08/16/britney-spears-sam-asghari-separate-split-cheating-infidelity-divorce/">TMZ reported</a>. “We do not know if the rumor has any basis in fact, but we’re told Sam believed it and the two had a huge fight.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4GLtdg">
Later the same day, <a href="https://pagesix.com/2023/08/16/sam-asghari-threatening-to-release-embarrassing-britney-spears-info-if-prenup-is-not-renegotiated/?utm_source=instagram&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=pagesix&amp;utm_content=curalate_like2buy_oY9UkwSj__36044cde-1b02-4b83-956e-a8eff6860101&amp;utm_term=curalate_like2buy&amp;crl8_id=36044cde-1b02-4b83-956e-a8eff6860101">Page Six reported another twist</a>. According to Page Six, Asghari wants to renegotiate their prenup so that he’ll get more alimony — and he’s threatening “to go public with extraordinarily embarrassing information about Britney unless he gets paid.” It’s not clear how much money Asghari is requesting, but Page Six’s source doesn’t think those secrets will ever come out.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0UeRiR">
“It’s blackmail and it’ll never happen,” the unnamed source said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tz2dfP">
As with so much of Spears’s career, it’s a sad and upsetting story that keeps getting sadder, and it keeps spiraling in on the question of how much the public should get to know about the Princess of Pop. After all, everyone wants a piece of her.
</p></li>
<li><strong>North Carolina is the latest in a wave of states passing anti-trans laws</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="People hold signs and flags in pink, white, and blue. The signs read “Protect trans students.” " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yxmH6k_cAB3iECHl-klzASXCc9w=/534x0:4799x3199/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72554121/1052957448.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
LGBTQ activists rally in support of transgender people on the steps of New York City Hall, October 24, 2018, in New York City. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Republicans in the NC legislature recently overrode the Democratic governor’s veto.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2lyeMU">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/23631262/trans-bills-republican-state-legislatures">The North Carolina legislature</a> has overridden the veto of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and passed multiple laws specifically targeting trans youth on issues including gender-affirming care, sports, and education. It’s the latest of several states with GOP-led legislatures to approve such bills, and it highlights how Republicans are continuing to make these policies central to their platform ahead of 2024.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="969Sf6">
“The disrespect and disregard shown for the people of North Carolina by this body is contemptible, and it all serves the purpose of bullying trans kids and their families in service of an extreme agenda,” Equality NC, an organization dedicated to protecting LGBTQ rights in the state, <a href="https://equalitync.org/news/the_nc_legislature_just_passed_the_slate_of_hate/">said in a statement</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6QhwaV">
As North Carolina — a battleground state that has leaned more conservative in recent years — becomes the most recent state to institute bans focused on minors and trans rights, it’s clear Republicans intend to continue using this issue in order to rally their base, particularly Evangelical voters, prior to next year’s presidential election. That these laws went into effect in a state with a Democratic governor also signals the power the GOP has been able to attain in state legislatures when they get a supermajority.
</p>
<h3 id="r8pfPX">
What’s in North Carolina’s three anti-trans rights bills
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EB1qri">
In North Carolina, the Republican-majority House and Senate originally passed three bills that curbed trans rights earlier this summer, only to see Cooper veto them. Because the GOP has a supermajority in both chambers, however, they were able to get <a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-veto-overrides-legislature-governor-06fd34ddf5b36a759ac9805447e48c10#:~:text=The%20state%20constitution%20deems%20an,anyway%20despite%20the%20governor's%20objections.">the three-fifths support</a> needed in both to overrule Cooper’s veto.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kToapi">
Here’s what’s in the three bills:<strong> </strong>
</p>
<ul>
<li id="5hu03x">
<a href="https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookup/2023/H808"><strong>A ban on doctors providing gender-affirming care for minors</strong></a><strong>: </strong>North Carolina becomes the 22nd <a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/attacks-on-gender-affirming-care-by-state-map">state</a> to approve this type of bill, which bars providers from offering gender-affirming care including hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries.
</li>
<li id="vwUBMk">
<a href="https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookup/2023/H574"><strong>A ban on trans girls and women in women’s sports</strong></a><strong>: </strong>The legislation bars trans girls and women from competing on teams that do not match the gender they were assigned at birth, effectively barring them from girls’ and women’s teams in middle school, high school, and college.
</li>
<li id="aJV0mH">
<a href="https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookup/2023/S49"><strong>A ban on K-4 teachers discussing gender identity and sexual orientation</strong></a><strong>: </strong>As part of a Parents’ Bill of Rights, one provision curbs teachers’ abilities to tackle these subjects in certain grades and also requires them to obtain parental approval in order to address a child by different pronouns.
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="PISboe">
North Carolina joins a growing list of states passing anti-trans laws
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YOJpxf">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/23631262/trans-bills-republican-state-legislatures">As Vox’s Nicole Narea and Fabiola Cineas have explained</a>, the North Carolina legislature’s actions echo a trend that has taken place in many states with Republican legislatures. According to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/17/anti-trans-bills-map/">Washington Post analysis</a>, there have been at least 400 anti-trans bills introduced at the state level since the start of this year, a figure that surpasses that of the last four years combined. This effort has been led by conservative states like Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, but almost every state across the country has seen GOP lawmakers propose at least one bill.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EotOGM">
Several of these laws center on restricting gender-affirming care for minors, even though major medical organizations including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have deemed such treatments “medically necessary care.” A number of other laws have also focused on limiting trans people’s ability to compete in sports and to use bathrooms consistent with their gender. And <a href="https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/politics/arkansas-other-states-copying-floridas-dont-say-gay-law/527-0dc3a67d-b669-4bd0-8102-49a3dc76f87f">Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas</a> are among the states that have passed bills that bar teachers from talking about sexual orientation in schools, and of using a child’s preferred pronouns without consulting parents.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dIzPB7">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/6/30/23780060/anti-trans-bills-court-gender-affirming-care-bans">A number of these laws</a> are being challenged in court for being discriminatory and unconstitutional, and several have temporarily been blocked, though it’s not yet clear what the final ruling could be as they make their way to the Supreme Court.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6E7Qu9">
Collectively, these bills serve to deprive trans youth of vital health care while simultaneously boosting hate toward trans people, who already face a disproportionate amount of violence. As Narea and Cineas previously explained, such legislation reinforces ugly stereotypes and seeks to perpetuate the false idea that trans people are dangerous to children and women. By elevating these messages, such laws contribute to harassment directed at trans people, who are four times more likely to be the subject of violent crime compared to cisgender people, <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/ncvs-trans-press-release/">according to a UCLA study</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vGMqrN">
“Thanks to emerging research, we know that even just an awareness of these types of bans and other anti-trans legislation can severely damage transgender people’s mental health,” Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, executive director for the National Center for Transgender Equality, told Vox in a statement.
</p>
<h3 id="omx5no">
Republicans across the country have made anti-trans laws a key part of their platform going into 2024
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jP9SIx">
In addition to prioritizing them in state legislatures, Republican candidates are also making anti-trans laws a key part of the case they’re making in the 2024 elections. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, has made his hardline anti-LGBTQ stances a key aspect of his campaign that, he has argued, makes him even more conservative than former President Donald Trump. And the GOP has continued to push on this issue even in the face of high public support for trans rights: A 2022 Pew study found that most <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/06/28/americans-complex-views-on-gender-identity-and-transgender-issues/">Americans support protecting trans people</a> from discrimination, though there are more divides on specific policies such as allowing people to compete on different sports teams.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2IPZ7n">
By pushing bills that target trans people, Republicans run the risk of promoting a swath of unpopular legislation that could garner pushback from moderate swing voters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DCljOU">
“Since the 1970s, the two issues dominating the Religious Right have been opposing abortion and same-sex rights,” Vanderbilt University anthropologist Sophie Bjork-James told Vox. “We should see the increased focus on opposing trans rights as stemming also from the success of this movement in overturning <em>Roe v. Wade</em>, which has allowed this movement to focus more on sexuality.”
</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>Sreenidi Deccan FC signs up defender Eli Sabia and goalkeeper Albino Gomes</strong> - football</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>Indian clinches mixed team air pistol gold at World Championship</strong> - The Indian duo defeated the Turkish pair of Ilayda Tarhan and Yusuf Dikec 16-10 in the gold-medal match to take the country’s medals tally to two.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>World Athletics Championships: Neeraj Chopra eyes top podium finish</strong> - Neeraj Chopra has won gold medals in Olympics (Tokyo in 2021), Asian Games (2018) and Commonwealth Games (2018), besides becoming the Diamond League champion last year.</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>Tennis | Zverev takes down Medvedev to reach Cincinnati quarter-finals</strong> - Zverev, who came into the match with a 6-9 record versus Medvedev and having lost all three of their meetings this year, broke the Russian three times and saved six of eight break points to seal victory in two hours 32 minutes</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>FIDE WC Chess: Praggnanandhaa ousts Erigaisi in sudden death tie-break, enters semi-final</strong> - The teenaged chess star from Chennai, by virtually securing a place in the Candidates tournament, would be the only Indian other than five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand to feature in the Candidates.</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>Beypore port to get EDI service soon for international cargo movement</strong> - Construction of the office space in full swing subsequent to the securing of ISPS</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>Security withdrawn to me in spite of court directions: Revanth Reddy</strong> - He warns officials kowtowing bigwigs in government of action after coming to power</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>To prevent student suicides, spring-loaded fans being installed in Kota hostels</strong> - As many as 20 students have ended their lives in Kota in the last eight months</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>‘Jailer’ Malayalam movie review: Dhyan Sreenivasan’s bleak film hardly gets anything right</strong> - ‘Jailer’ seems to have been made with the intention of never giving the audience anything to cheer for… it does succeed in that endeavour</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>Congress releases ‘Ghotala sheet’ targeting BJP government in M.P. over corruption</strong> - Soon, a google search for ‘scam’ will throw up CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s image, said State Congress chief Kamal Nath; BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma called the Congress leader “Corruption Nath”</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>Drone attack hits building in central Moscow</strong> - Russian officials say air defences shot down the drone and its debris landed on the city’s Expo Center.</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>How Ukraine’s stealthy sea drones strike Russian targets</strong> - Over long distances and with powerful explosive payloads, Ukraine’s water drones are proving highly effective.</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>Cologne Catholic diocese clergy and staff used work computers for porn, German media reports</strong> - Around 1,000 attempts to view blocked sites were made but no crime was committed, Cologne’s Archdiocese says.</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 war: University students grapple with rules under conflict</strong> - War time rules are making it tougher for Ukrainians to pick where or if to go to university.</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>Spain’s Queen Letizia to attend World Cup final against England</strong> - FA President Prince William and other British royals will not be going to Sydney for the event.</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>NASA has repaired its mobile launcher, so let’s map out the path to Artemis II</strong> - “We’re getting back into testing, which is what we love.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961382">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: Russian rocket lands like an airplane; SpaceX steamroller rolls</strong> - I must confess that I thought I was reading The Onion. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961496">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NASA’s buildings are even older than its graying workforce</strong> - The space agency says its facilities are in an “increasing state of decline.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961706">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>End of the road: The Xbox 360 game marketplace will shut down</strong> - Players will still be able to download previously purchased games. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961603">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Western Digital, SanDisk Extreme SSDs don’t store data safely, lawsuit says</strong> - The suit is seeking class-action certification. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1961557">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>the stranded woman and the kind indian</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A woman from New York was driving through a remote part of Arizona when her car broke down. An American Indian on horseback came along and offered her a ride to a nearby town.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She climbed up behind him on the horse and they rode off. The ride was uneventful, except that every few minutes the Indian would let out a Ye-e-e-e-h-a-a-a-a!’ so loud that it echoed from the surrounding hills and canyon walls.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
When they arrived in town, he let her off at the local service station, yelled one final ‘Ye-e-e-e-h-a-a-a-a!’ and rode off.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“What did you do to get that Indian so excited?” asked the service-station attendant. “Nothing,” the woman answered “I merely sat behind him on the horse, put my arms around his waist, and held onto the saddle horn so I wouldn’t fall off.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Lady,” the attendant said, “Indians don’t use saddles.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Bitter-Weekend772"> /u/Bitter-Weekend772 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15u80b8/the_stranded_woman_and_the_kind_indian/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15u80b8/the_stranded_woman_and_the_kind_indian/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My wife has been cheating on me and in hindsight I should have seen it coming</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
For the past couple months we’d barely talked at all. Our jobs had been super stressful and it made things tense. When she’d ask how my day was, I’d tersely reply “it sucked” or “you don’t want to know.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
When I asked her how her day had been she’d say “They fucked me at work again”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/notimeforfunandnames"> /u/notimeforfunandnames </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15ubin4/my_wife_has_been_cheating_on_me_and_in_hindsight/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15ubin4/my_wife_has_been_cheating_on_me_and_in_hindsight/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The KGB, the FBI and the CIA are all trying to prove that they are the best at catching criminals.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Secretary General of the UN decides to give them a test. He releases a rabbit into a forest and each of them has to catch it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The CIA goes in. They place animal informants throughout the forest. They question all plant and mineral witnesses. After three months of extensive investigations they conclude that the rabbit does not exist.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The FBI goes in. After two weeks with no leads they burn the forest, killing everything in it, including the rabbit, and make no apologies: the rabbit had it coming.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The KGB goes in. They come out two hours later with a badly beaten bear. The bear is yelling: “Okay! Okay! I’m a rabbit! I’m a rabbit!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/romanticrohypnol"> /u/romanticrohypnol </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15twbnv/the_kgb_the_fbi_and_the_cia_are_all_trying_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15twbnv/the_kgb_the_fbi_and_the_cia_are_all_trying_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Three men were stranded on a deserted island</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
when they discovered a magical golden fish swimming near the shore. The fish promised to grant each of them one wish.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The first man said, “I wish I were back home with my family.” In an instant, he disappeared from the island and found himself surrounded by his loved ones.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The second man, excited by the first man’s wish, said, “I wish I were in a luxurious mansion with all the riches in the world.” Just like that, he vanished from the island and appeared in a grand mansion, surrounded by opulence.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The third man, looking around at his now-empty surroundings, sighed and said, “I’m lonely. I wish my friends were here with me.” And just like that, the first two men reappeared on the island.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/blissfulduo"> /u/blissfulduo </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15u1cl2/three_men_were_stranded_on_a_deserted_island/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15u1cl2/three_men_were_stranded_on_a_deserted_island/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dr. Dave had sex with one of his patients and felt guilty all day long. No matter how much he tried to forget about it he just couldn’t. The guilt was overwhelming.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
But every once in a while he would hear in internal, reassuring voice in his head that said: “Dave don’t worry about it. You aren’t the first medical practitioner to have sex with one of his patients and you won’t be the last. Just let It go Dave.” But invariably another voice in his head would bring him back to reality whispering: “Dave… Daaaave… you’re a veterinarian you sick bastard!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15tlitd/dr_dave_had_sex_with_one_of_his_patients_and_felt/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15tlitd/dr_dave_had_sex_with_one_of_his_patients_and_felt/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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