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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>SARS-CoV-2 accessory proteins involvement in inflammatory and profibrotic processes through IL11 signaling</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2, the cause of the COVID19 pandemic, possesses eleven accessory proteins encoded in its genome. Their roles during infection are still not completely understood. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that both WNT5A and IL11 were significantly up-regulated in A549 cells expressing individual accessory proteins ORF6, ORF8, ORF9b or ORF9c from SARS-CoV-2 (Wuhan-Hu-1 isolate). IL11 signaling-related genes were also differentially expressed. Bioinformatics analysis disclosed that both WNT5A and IL11 were involved in pulmonary fibrosis idiopathic disease. Functional assays confirmed their association with profibrotic cell responses. Subsequently, data comparison with lung cell lines infected with SARS-CoV-2 or lung biopsies from patients with COVID19 evidenced altered gene expression that matched those obtained in this study. Our results show ORF6, ORF8, ORF9b and ORF9c involvement in inflammatory and profibrotic responses. Thus, these accessory proteins could be targeted by new therapies against COVID19 disease.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.27.534381v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 accessory proteins involvement in inflammatory and profibrotic processes through IL11 signaling</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Shedding light on human olfaction: electrophysiological recordings from sensory neurons in acute slices of olfactory epithelium</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic brought attention to our limited understanding of human olfactory physiology. While the cellular composition of the human olfactory epithelium is similar to that of other vertebrates, its functional properties are largely unknown. We prepared acute slices of human olfactory epithelium from nasal biopsies and used the whole-cell patch-clamp technique to record electrical properties of cells. We measured voltage-gated currents in human olfactory sensory neurons and supporting cells, and action potentials in neurons. Additionally, inward currents and action potentials responses of neurons to a phosphodiesterase inhibitor indicated that the transduction cascade involves cAMP as a second messenger. Furthermore, responses to odorant mixtures demonstrated that the transduction cascade was intact in this preparation. This study provides the first electrophysiological characterization of olfactory sensory neurons in acute slices of the human olfactory epithelium, paving the way for future research to expand our knowledge of human olfactory physiology.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.27.534398v1" target="_blank">Shedding light on human olfaction: electrophysiological recordings from sensory neurons in acute slices of olfactory epithelium</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A Complement Atlas identifies interleukin 6 dependent alternative pathway dysregulation as a key druggable feature of COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To improve COVID-19 therapy, it is essential to understand the mechanisms driving critical illness. The complement system is an essential part of innate host defense that can also contribute to injury. All complement pathways have been implicated in COVID-19 pathogenesis, however the upstream drivers and downstream consequences on tissue injury remain ill-defined. Here, we demonstrate that complement activation is mediated by the alternative pathway and we provide a comprehensive atlas of the alterations in complement around the time of respiratory deterioration. Proteome and single-cell sequencing mapping across cell types and tissues reveals a division of labor between lung epithelial, stromal and myeloid cells in the production of complement, in addition to liver-derived factors. Upstream, IL-6 drives complement responses, linking complement dysregulation to approved COVID-19 therapies. In an exploratory proteomic study, C5 inhibition improves epithelial damage and markers of disease severity. Collectively, these results identify complement dysregulation as a key druggable feature of COVID-19.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.25.23287712v1" target="_blank">A Complement Atlas identifies interleukin 6 dependent alternative pathway dysregulation as a key druggable feature of COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Sequential viral introductions and spread of BA.1 drove the Omicron wave across Pakistani provinces</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: COVID-19 waves caused by specific SARS-CoV-2 variants have occurred globally at different times. We focused on Omicron variants to understand the genomic diversity and phylogenetic relatedness of SARS-CoV-2 strains in various regions of Pakistan. Methods: We studied 276,525 COVID-19 cases and 1,041 genomes sequenced from December 2021 to August 2022. Sequences were analyzed and visualized using phylogenetic trees. Results: The highest case numbers and deaths were recorded in Sindh and Punjab, the most populous provinces in Pakistan. Omicron variants comprised 95% of all genomes, with BA.2 (34.2%) and BA.5 (44.6%) predominating. The first Omicron wave was associated with the sequential identification of BA.1 in Sindh, then Islamabad Capital Territory, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Balochistan. Phylogenetic analysis revealed Sindh to be the source of BA.1 and BA.2 introductions into Punjab and Balochistan during early 2022. BA.4 was first introduced in AJK and BA.5 in Punjab. Most recent common ancestor (MRCA) analysis revealed relatedness between the earliest BA.1 genome from Sindh with Balochistan, AJK, Punjab and ICT, and that of first BA.1 from Punjab with strains from KPK and GB. Conclusions: Phylogenetic analysis provides insights into the introduction and transmission dynamics of the Omicron variant in Pakistan, identifying Sindh as a hotspot for viral dissemination. Such data linked with public health efforts can help limit surges of new infections.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.25.23287718v1" target="_blank">Sequential viral introductions and spread of BA.1 drove the Omicron wave across Pakistani provinces</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Facility-based and virtual cardiac rehabilitation in young patients with heart disease during the COVID-19 era</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is an important tool for improving fitness and quality of life in those with heart disease (HD). Few pediatric centers use CR to care for these patients, and virtual CR is rarely used. Additionally, it is unclear how the COVID-19 era has changed CR outcomes. Objectives: This study assessed fitness improvements in young HD patients participating in both facility-based and virtual CR during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This retrospective single-center cohort study included new patients who completed CR from March 2020 through July 2022. CR outcomes included physical, performance, and psychosocial measures. Comparison between serial testing was performed with a paired t-test with P&lt;0.05 was considered significant. Data are reported as mean±standard deviation. Results: There were 47 patients (19±7.3 years-old; 49% male) who completed CR. Improvements were seen in peak oxygen consumption (VO2, 62.3±16.1 v 71±18.2% of predicted, p=0.0007), 6-minute walk (6MW) distance (401±163.8 v 480.7±119.2 meters, p=&lt;0.0001), sit to stand (16.2±4.9 v 22.1±6.6 repetitions; p=&lt;0.0001), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) (5.9±4.3 v 4.4± 4.2; p=0.002), and Physical Component Score (39.9±10.1 v 44.9± 8.8; p=0.002). Facility-based CR enrollees were less likely to complete CR than virtual patients (60%, 33/55 v 80%, 12/15; p=0.005). Increases in peak VO2 (60±15.3 v 70.2±17.8 % of predicted; p=0.002) were seen among those that completed facility-based CR; this was not observed in the virtual group. Both groups demonstrated improvement in 6MW distance, sit-to-stand repetitions, and sit-and-reach distance. Conclusions: Completion of a CR program resulted in fitness improvements during the COVID-19 era regardless of location.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.24.23287722v1" target="_blank">Facility-based and virtual cardiac rehabilitation in young patients with heart disease during the COVID-19 era</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The impact of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine on adaptive and innate immune responses</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The mRNA-based BNT162b2 protects against severe disease and mortality caused by SARS-CoV-2 through induction of specific antibody and T-cell responses. Much less is known about its broad effects on immune responses against other pathogens. In the present study, we investigated the specific adaptive immune responses induced by BNT162b2 vaccination against various SARS-CoV-2 variants, as well as its effects on the responsiveness of human immune cells upon stimulation with heterologous viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens. BNT162b2 vaccination induced effective humoral and cellular immunity against SARS-CoV-2 that started to wane after six months. We also observed long-term transcriptional changes in immune cells after vaccination, as assessed by RNA sequencing. Additionally, vaccination with BNT162b2 modulated innate immune responses as measured by the production of inflammatory cytokines when stimulated with various microbial stimuli other than SARS-CoV-2, including higher IL-1/IL-6 release and decreased production of IFN-α. Altogether, these data expand our knowledge regarding the overall immunological effects of this new class of vaccines and underline the need of additional studies to elucidate their effects on both innate and adaptive immune responses.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.03.21256520v2" target="_blank">The impact of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine on adaptive and innate immune responses</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>AI-Designed, Mutation-Resistant Broad Neutralizing Antibodies Against Multiple SARS-CoV-2 Strains</strong> -
<div>
In this study, we generated a Digital Twin for SARS-CoV-2 by integrating data and meta-data with multiple data types and processing strategies, including machine learning, natural language processing, protein structural modeling, and protein sequence language modeling. This approach enabled the computational design of broadly neutralizing antibodies against over 1300 different historical strains of SARS-COV-2 containing 64 mutations in the receptor binding domain (RBD) region. The AI-designed antibodies were experimentally validated in real-virus neutralization assays against multiple strains including the newer Omicron strains that were not included in the initial design base. Many of these antibodies demonstrate strong binding capability in ELISA assays against the RBD of multiple strains. These results could help shape future therapeutic design for existing strains, as well as predicting hidden patterns in viral evolution that can be learned by AI for developing future antiviral treatments.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.25.534209v1" target="_blank">AI-Designed, Mutation-Resistant Broad Neutralizing Antibodies Against Multiple SARS-CoV-2 Strains</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Trends in STI testing, diagnoses, and use of online chlamydia self-sampling services among young people during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in England</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Purpose: Measures to control COVID-19 reduced face-to-face appointments and walk-ins at sexual health services (SHSs). Remote access to SHSs through online self-sampling for STIs was increased. This analysis assesses how these changes affected service use and STI testing among young people in England. Methods: Data on all chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis tests from 2019-2020 amongst English-resident 15-24 year olds (hereafter referred to as young people) were obtained from national STI surveillance datasets. We calculated proportional differences in tests and diagnoses for each STI, by demographic characteristics including age and socioeconomic deprivation, between 2019 and 2020. Among those tested for chlamydia, we used binary logistic regression to determine crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) between demographic characteristics and being tested for chlamydia by an online service. Results: Compared to 2019, there were declines in testing (30% for chlamydia, 26% for gonorrhoea, 36% for syphilis) and diagnoses (31% for chlamydia, 25% for gonorrhoea and 23% for syphilis) among young people in 2020. These reductions were greater amongst 15-19 year-olds (vs. 20-24 year-olds). Among young people tested for chlamydia, those living in the least deprived areas were more likely to be tested using an online self-sampling kit compared to those living in the most deprived areas (males; OR=1.24[1.22-1.26], females; OR=1.28[1.27-1.30]). Conclusion: The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in England saw declines in STI testing and diagnoses in young people and disparities in the use of online chlamydia self-sampling which risk widening existing health inequalities.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.22.23287571v1" target="_blank">Trends in STI testing, diagnoses, and use of online chlamydia self-sampling services among young people during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in England</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A gene network implicated in the joint-muscle pain, brain fog, chronic fatigue, and bowel irregularity of Ehlers-Danlos and “long” COVID19 syndromes.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objectives Characterization of tissue laxity and dysautonomia symptoms in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) uncovered similarities with those of post-infectious SARS-CoV-2 or long COVID19, prompting detailed comparison of their findings and influencing genes. Methods Holistic assessment of 1261 EDS outpatients for 120 history-physical findings populated a deidentified database that includes 568 patients with 317 variant genes obtained by commercial NextGen sequencing. Findings were compared to 15 of long COVID19 compiled in an extensive review, genes to 104 associated with COVID19 severity in multiple molecular studies. Results Fifteen symptoms common to Ehlers-Danlos versus long COVID19 ranged from brain fog (27-80 versus 30-70%), chronic fatigue (38-91; 30-60%), dyspnea (32-52; 29-52%) to irritable bowel (67-89; 14-78%), muscle weakness (22-49; 15-25%), and arthritis (32-94; 15-27%). Genes relevant to EDS included 6 identical to those influencing COVID19 severity (F2, LIFR, NLRP3, STAT1, T1CAM1, TNFRSF13B) and 18 similar including POLG-POLD4, SLC6A2-SLC6A20, and NFKB1-NFKB2. Both gene sets had broad genomic distribution, many mitochondrial genes influencing EDS and many involved with immunity-inflammation modifying COVID19 severity. Recurring DNA variants in EDS that merit evaluation in COVID19 resistance include those impacting connective tissue elements–51 in COL5 (joint), 29 in COL1/2/9/11 (bone), 13 in COL3 (vessel), and 18 in FBN1 (vessel-heart)–or neural function–93 in mitochondrial DNA, 28 in COL6/12, 16 in SCN9A/10A/11A, 14 in POLG, and 11 in genes associated with porphyria. Conclusions Holistic ascertainment of finding pattern and exome variation in EDS defined tissue laxity, neuromuscular, and autonomic correlations that transcend single abnormalities or types. Implied networks of nuclear and mitochondrial genes are linked to findings like brain fog, fatigue, and frailty in EDS, their similarity to long COVID19 supporting shared therapies for disorders affecting a minimum 0.1% of the global population.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.24.23287706v1" target="_blank">A gene network implicated in the joint-muscle pain, brain fog, chronic fatigue, and bowel irregularity of Ehlers-Danlos and “long” COVID19 syndromes.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>COVID-19 Genome Surveillance: A Geographical Landscape and Mutational Mapping of SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Central India over Two Years</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Reading the viral genome through whole genome sequencing enables the detection of changes in the viral genome. The rapid changes in the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome may cause immune escape leading to an increase in the pathogenicity or infectivity. Monitoring mutations through genomic surveillance helps understand the amino acid changes resulting from the mutation. These amino acid changes, especially in the spike glycoprotein, may have implications on the pathogenicity of the virus by rendering it immune-escape. The region of Vidarbha in Maharashtra represents 31.6% of the total area and 21.3% of the total population of the state. In total, 7457 SARS-CoV-2 positive samples belonging to 16 Indian States were included in the study, out of which 3002 samples passed the sequencing quality control criteria. The metadata of 7457 SARS-CoV-2 positive samples included in the study was sourced from the Integrated Health Information Platform. The metadata of 3002 sequenced samples, including the FASTA sequence, was submitted to the Global initiative on sharing Avian Influenza Data and the Indian biological data centre. This study identified 104 different SARS-CoV-2 pango-lineages classified into 19 clades. We have also analysed the mutation profiles of the variants found in the study, which showed eight mutations of interest, including L18F, K417N, K417T, L452R, S477N, N501Y, P681H, P681R, and mutation of concern E484K in the spike glycoprotein region. The study was from November 2020 to December 2022, making this study the most comprehensive genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 conducted for the region.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.22.23287566v2" target="_blank">COVID-19 Genome Surveillance: A Geographical Landscape and Mutational Mapping of SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Central India over Two Years</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evaluation of antiviral drugs against newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants</strong> -
<div>
The ongoing emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants and their rapid worldwide spread pose a threat to public health. From November 2022 to February 2023, newly emerged Omicron subvariants, including BQ.1.1, BF.7, BA.5.2, XBB.1, XBB.1.5, and BN.1.9, became prevalent global strains (&gt;5% global prevalence). These Omicron subvariants are resistant to several therapeutic antibodies. Thus, the antiviral activities of current drugs such as remdesivir, molnupiravir, and nirmatrelvir, which target highly conserved regions of SARS-CoV-2, against newly emerged Omicron subvariants need to be evaluated. We assessed the antiviral efficacy of the drugs using half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) against human isolated 23 Omicron subvariants and four former SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) and compared them with the antiviral efficacy of these drugs against the SARS-CoV-2 reference strain (hCoV/Korea/KCDC03/2020). Maximal IC50 fold changes of remdesivir, molnupiravir, and nirmatrelvir were 1.9- (BA.2.75.2), 1.2- (B.1.627.2), and 1.4-fold (BA.2.3), respectively, compared to median IC50 values of the reference strain. Moreover, median IC50-fold changes of remdesivir, molnupiravir, and nirmatrelvir against the Omicron variants were 0.96, 0.4, and 0.62, similar to 1.02, 0.88, and 0.67, respectively, of median IC50-fold changes for previous VOC. Although K90R and P132H in Nsp 5, and P323L, A529V, G671S, V405F, and ins823D in Nsp 12 mutations were identified, these amino acid substitutions did not affect drug antiviral activity. Altogether, these results indicated that the current antivirals retain antiviral efficacy against newly emerged Omicron subvariants, and provide comprehensive information on the antiviral efficacy of these drugs. Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, Omicron subvariant, remdesivir, molnupiravir, nirmatrelvir, antiviral activity
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.26.533897v1" target="_blank">Evaluation of antiviral drugs against newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Non-invasive SARS-CoV-2 genome surveillance and its utility in resource-poor settings during the Delta wave of the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Voluntary participation of the public in disease surveillance can be encouraged by deploying user-friendly sample collection processes that can minimise the discomfort to the participants. This study evaluated the suitability of saline gargle-based sample collection for genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, which included 589 SARS-CoV-2 positive samples collected from Nagpur city in central India from March to December 2021. The SARS-CoV-2 positive samples were subjected to whole genome sequencing (WGS) using the oxford nanopore technologies next-generation sequencing platform. Out of 589 samples, 500 samples qualified for the WGS, and the results revealed eight different clades of SARS-CoV-2 encompassing 37 different Pango-lineage types. The mutation mapping analysis of the variants identified in this study showed six mutations of interest and one mutation of concern E484K in the spike glycoprotein region. Our findings indicate that non-invasive gargle-based genomic surveillance is scalable and does not need significant changes to the existing workflow post-sample collection.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.16.23286031v3" target="_blank">Non-invasive SARS-CoV-2 genome surveillance and its utility in resource-poor settings during the Delta wave of the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Immune responses and disease biomarker long-term changes following COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in a cohort of rheumatic disease patients</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective. To evaluate seroreactivity and disease biomarkers after 2 or 3 doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in a cohort of patients with rheumatic diseases. Methods. We collected biological samples longitudinally before and after 2-3 doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines from a cohort of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), psoriatic arthritis, Sjogrens syndrome, ankylosing spondylitis, and inflammatory myositis. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike IgG and IgA and anti-dsDNA concentration were measured by ELISA. A surrogate neutralization assay was utilized to measure antibody neutralization ability. Lupus disease activity was measured by Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI). Expression of type I interferon signature was measured by real-time PCR. The frequency of extrafollicular double negative 2 (DN2) B cells was measured by flow cytometry. Results. Most of the patients generated high SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific neutralizing antibodies comparable to those in healthy controls after 2 doses of mRNA vaccines. The antibody level declined over time but recovered after the third dose of the vaccine. Rituximab treatment substantially reduced antibody level and neutralization ability. Among SLE patients, no consistent increase in SLEDAI scores was observed post-vaccination. The changes in anti-dsDNA antibody concentration and expression of type I IFN signature genes were highly variable but did not show consistent or significant increases. Frequency of DN2 B cells remained largely stable. Conclusion. Rheumatic disease patients without rituximab treatment have robust antibody responses toward COVID-19 mRNA vaccination. Disease activity and disease-associated biomarkers remain largely stable over 3 doses of vaccines, suggesting that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines may not exacerbate rheumatic diseases.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.22.23287597v2" target="_blank">Immune responses and disease biomarker long-term changes following COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in a cohort of rheumatic disease patients</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Cell-type annotation with accurate unseen cell-type identification using multiple references</strong> -
<div>
The recent advances in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) techniques have stimulated efforts to identify and characterize the cellular composition of complex tissues. With the advent of various sequencing techniques, automated cell-type annotation using a well-annotated scRNA-seq reference becomes popular but relies on the diversity of cell types in the reference. There are generally unseen cell l types in the query data of interest because most data atlases are obtained for different purposes and techniques. When annotating new query data, identifying unseen cell types is fundamental not only for improving annotation accuracy but also for novel biological discoveries. Here, we propose mtANN (multiple-reference-based scRNA-seq data annotation), a new method to automatically annotate query data while accurately identifying unseen cell types with the aid of multiple references. Key innovations of mtANN include the integration of deep learning and ensemble learning to improve prediction accuracy, and the introduction of a new metric defined from three complementary aspects to distinguish between unseen cell types and shared cell types. In addition, a data-driven method is provided to adaptively select threshold for unseen cell-type identification. We demonstrate the advantages of mtANN over state-of-the-art methods for unseen cell-type identification and cell-type annotation on two benchmark dataset collections, as well as its predictive power on a collection of COVID-19 datasets. The source code and tutorial are available at https://github.com/Zhangxf-ccnu/mtANN.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.17.516980v2" target="_blank">Cell-type annotation with accurate unseen cell-type identification using multiple references</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Domestic Water Usage of Local Communities in Hanoi, Vietnam</strong> -
<div>
This study aims to better understand the changes in the water usage behaviors of Hanoi communities in the current circumstance of preventing the spread of COVID-19 pandemic and developing the economy. The results of 206 survey responses conducted during April 2022 show that the main changes in the domestic water usage behavior of Hanoi communities come from hand washing, bathing/personal hygiene, house cleaning, and clothes washing. During the pandemic, 77% of the respondents had a habit of washing their hands for 30 seconds as recommended by the Ministry of Health and the frequency of daily hand washing increased 5-7 times compared to before the pandemic. The frequency of housing deep cleaning increased by 33% compared to before the pandemic, besides the frequency of floor mopping also increased about 3.5 times per week. The average frequency of clothes washing also changed from 2.43 times/week to 4.61 times/week. The total estimated moderate water use per person increased by 1.41% compared to its before the pandemic. Therefore, based on the total population of Hanoi city, the amount of domestic water increased by 471.457 m3/day. Statistical results show that there are differences in most of the water usage behaviors between the two groups of people living in apartments and houses.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/jhfcs/" target="_blank">Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Domestic Water Usage of Local Communities in Hanoi, Vietnam</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>Clinical Performance Evaluation of the CareSuperb™ COVID-19 Antigen Home Test</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: CareSuperb COVID-19 Antigen Home Test Kit<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   AccessBio, Inc.<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>Evaluation of Safety &amp; Efficacy of MIR 19 ® Inhalation Solution in Patients With Mild COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: MIR 19 ®;   Combination Product: Standard therapy<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   National Research Center - Institute of Immunology Federal Medical-Biological Agency of Russia<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>LACTYFERRIN™ Forte and ZINC Defense™ and Standard of Care (SOC) vs SOC in the Treatment of Non-hospitalized Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Sesderma LACTYFERRIN™ Forte and Sesderma ZINC Defense™;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Jose David Suarez, MD;   Sesderma S.L.;   Westchester General Hospital Inc. DBA Keralty Hospital Miami;   MGM Technology Corp<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>MP0420 for Inpatients With COVID-19 (An ACTIV-3/TICO Treatment Trial)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: MP0420;   Drug: Placebo;   Biological: Remdesivir<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID);   International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT);   University of Copenhagen;   Medical Research Council;   Kirby Institute;   Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center;   AIDS Clinical Trials Group;   National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI);   US Department of Veterans Affairs;   Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury (PETAL);   Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN);   Molecular Partners AG;   University of Minnesota<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>AZD7442 for Inpatients With COVID-19 (An ACTIV-3/TICO Treatment Trial)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: AZD7442;   Biological: Placebo;   Biological: Remdesivir<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID);   International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT);   University of Copenhagen;   Medical Research Council;   Kirby Institute;   Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center;   AIDS Clinical Trials Group;   National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI);   US Department of Veterans Affairs;   Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury (PETAL);   Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN);   AstraZeneca;   University of Minnesota<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>PF-07304814 for Inpatients With COVID-19 (An ACTIV-3/TICO Treatment Trial)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: PF-07304814;   Drug: Placebo;   Biological: Remdesivir<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID);   International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT);   University of Copenhagen;   Medical Research Council;   Kirby Institute;   Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center;   AIDS Clinical Trials Group;   National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI);   US Department of Veterans Affairs;   Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury (PETAL);   Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN);   Pfizer;   University of Minnesota<br/><b>Suspended</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>VIR-7831 for Inpatients With COVID-19 (An ACTIV-3/TICO Treatment Trial)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: VIR-7831;   Biological: Placebo;   Biological: Remdesivir<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID);   International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT);   University of Copenhagen;   Medical Research Council;   Kirby Institute;   Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center;   AIDS Clinical Trials Group;   National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI);   US Department of Veterans Affairs;   Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury (PETAL);   Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN);   Vir Biotechnology, Inc.;   GlaxoSmithKline;   University of Minnesota<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>BRII-196/BRII-198 for Inpatients With COVID-19 (An ACTIV-3/TICO Treatment Trial)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: BRII-196;   Biological: BRII-198;   Biological: Placebo;   Biological: Remdesivir<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID);   International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT);   University of Copenhagen;   Medical Research Council;   Kirby Institute;   Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center;   AIDS Clinical Trials Group;   National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI);   US Department of Veterans Affairs;   Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury (PETAL);   Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN);   Brii Biosciences Limited;   University of Minnesota<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>LY3819253 (LY-CoV555) for Inpatients With COVID-19 (An ACTIV-3/TICO Treatment Trial)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: LY3819253;   Biological: Placebo;   Biological: Remdesivir<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID);   International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT);   University of Copenhagen;   Medical Research Council;   Kirby Institute;   Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center;   AIDS Clinical Trials Group;   National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI);   US Department of Veterans Affairs;   Prevention and Early Treatment of Acute Lung Injury (PETAL);   Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN);   Eli Lilly and Company;   University of Minnesota<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>Use of E-health Based Exercise Intervention After COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Exercise training using an e-health tool<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Norwegian University of Science and Technology;   University of Oslo<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>Clinical Study for the Efficacy and Safety of Ropeginterferon Alfa-2b in Moderate COVID19.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: P1101 (Ropeginterferon alfa-2b);   Procedure: SOC<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   National Taiwan University Hospital<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>A Phase II Clinical Trial of Recombinant Variant COVID-19 Vaccine (Sf9 Cell) (WSK-V102)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Recombinant variant COVID-19 vaccine (Sf9 cell);   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (CHO cell);   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (Sf9 cell)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   WestVac Biopharma 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>Short-term Effects of Transdermal Estradiol on Female COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Hormone Replacement Therapy<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Climara 0.1Mg/24Hr Transdermal System;   Other: Hydrogel patch<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Istanbul University - Cerrahpasa (IUC);   Turkish Menopause and Osteoporosis Society;   Karakoy Rotary Club;   Rebul Pharmacy<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>Effect of Kinesio Tape Versus Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise In Post COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post COVID-19 Condition<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Pursed lip breathing;   Other: Cognitive Behavior Therapy;   Other: Diaphragmatic breathing exercise;   Other: Kinesio tape<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo University<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 the Safety, Tolerability and Efficacy of NP-101 in Treating High Risk Participants Who Are Covid-19 Positive.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: NP-101;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Novatek Pharmaceuticals<br/><b>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 theoretical survey to find potential natural compound for inhibition of binding the RBD domain to ACE2 receptor based on plant antivirals</strong> - The spike protein of coronavirus is crucial in binding and arrival of the virus to the human cell via binding to the human ACE2 receptor. In this study, at first 25 antiviral phytochemicals were docked into the RBD domain of spike protein, and then all complexes and free RBD domains were separately subjected to molecular dynamics simulation for 100 ns and MM/PBSA binding free energy calculation. In this phase, four ligands were chosen as hit compounds and a natural compound database (NPASS) was…</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>Computational studies of potential antiviral compounds from some selected Nigerian medicinal plants against SARS-CoV-2 proteins</strong> - The challenges posed by COVID-19’s emergence have led to a search for its therapies. There is no cure for COVID-19 infection yet, but there is significant progress in vaccine formulation for prophylaxis and drug development (such as Paxlovid) for high-risk patients. As a contribution to the ongoing quest for solutions, this study shows potent phytocompounds identification as inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 targets using in silico methods. We used virtual screening, molecular docking, and molecular…</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>IBV QX affects the antigen presentation function of BMDCs through nonstructural protein16</strong> - The gamma-coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) has a high mutation rate and mainly invades the respiratory mucosa, making it difficult to prevent and causing great economic losses. Nonstructural protein 16 (NSP16) of IBV QX also not only plays an indispensable role in virus invading but also might hugely influence the antigen’s recognition and presentation ability of host BMDCs. Hence, our study tries to illustrate the underline mechanism of how NSP16 influences the immune function of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>TNF/iNOS/NO pathway mediates host susceptibility to endothelial-dependent circulatory failure and death induced by betacoronavirus infection</strong> - Poor disease outcomes and lethality are directly related to endothelial dysfunction in betacoronavirus infections. Here, we investigated the mechanisms underlying the vascular dysfunction caused by the betacoronaviruses MHV-3 and SARS-CoV-2. Wild-type C57BL/6 (WT) and knockout mice for inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS-/-) or TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1-/-) were infected with MHV-3, and K18-hACE2 transgenic mice expressing human ACE2 were infected with SARS-CoV-2. Isometric tension was used to…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An overview of the recent progress in Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) drug discovery</strong> - INTRODUCTION: The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has remained a public health concern since it first emerged in 2012. Although many potential treatments for MERS-CoV have been developed and tested, none have had complete success in stopping the spread of this deadly disease. MERS-CoV replication comprises attachment, entry, fusion and replication steps. Targeting these events may lead to the creation of medications that effectively treat MERS-CoV infection.</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>Abiotic Synthetic Antibody Inhibitor with Broad-Spectrum Neutralization and Antiviral Efficacy against Escaping SARS-CoV-2 Variants</strong> - The rapid emergence and spread of vaccine/antibody-escaping variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has posed serious challenges to our efforts in combating corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A potent and broad-spectrum neutralizing reagent against these escaping mutants is extremely important for the development of strategies for the prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection. We herein report an abiotic synthetic antibody inhibitor as a…</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>Qingfei Jiedu Granules fight influenza by regulating inflammation, immunity, metabolism, and gut microbiota</strong> - BACKGROUND AND AIM: Qingfei Jiedu Granules (QFJD) are a new Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which has been clinically used against coronavirus pneumonia in China. In this study, the therapeutic effect and the underlying mechanisms of QFJD against influenza were investigated.</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 pan-variant mRNA-LNP T cell vaccine protects HLA transgenic mice from mortality after infection with SARS-CoV-2 Beta</strong> - Licensed COVID-19 vaccines ameliorate viral infection by inducing production of neutralizing antibodies that bind the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and inhibit viral cellular entry. However, the clinical effectiveness of these vaccines is transitory as viral variants escape antibody neutralization. Effective vaccines that solely rely upon a T cell response to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection could be transformational because they can utilize highly conserved short pan-variant peptide epitopes, but a…</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>Discovery of therapeutic targets of quercetin for endometrial carcinoma patients infected with COVID-19 through network pharmacology</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, this study provides new treatment option for UCEC patients infected with COVID-19. Quercetin may work by reducing the expression of ISG15 and participating in ubiquitination-related pathways.</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>Effects of diarylbutane lignans from <em>Schisandra chinensis</em> fruit on SARS-CoV-2 3CL<sup>pro</sup> and PL<sup>pro</sup> and their <em>in vitro</em> anti-inflammatory properties</strong> - CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that compounds 63, 64, and 65 may be promising SARS-CoV-2 3CL^(pro) and PL^(pro) inhibitors and anti-inflammatory.</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>Adamantanes for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases in the presence of SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Advent of the acute respiratory coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in the search for novel antiviral agents and in the repurposing of existing agents with demonstrated efficacy against other known coronaviruses in the search for an agent with antiviral activity for use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adamantanes including amantadine, rimantadine, and memantine have well-established benefit in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD)…</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 IFITMs boost SARS-coronavirus 1 and 2 replication whereas overexpression inhibits infection by relocalizing ACE2</strong> - Opposing effects of interferon-induced transmembrane proteins (IFITMs 1, 2 and 3) on SARS-CoV-2 infection have been reported. The reasons for this are unclear and the role of IFITMs in infection of other human coronaviruses (hCoVs) remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that endogenous expression of IFITM2 and/or IFITM3 is critical for efficient replication of SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2 and hCoV-OC43 but has little effect on MERS-, NL63-and 229E-hCoVs. In contrast, overexpression of IFITMs…</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>Repurposing 1,2,4-oxadiazoles as SARS-CoV-2 PLpro inhibitors and investigation of their possible viral entry blockade potential</strong> - Although vaccines are obviously mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic diffusion, efficient complementary antiviral agents are urgently needed to combat SARS-CoV-2. The viral papain-like protease (PLpro) is a promising therapeutic target being one of only two essential proteases crucial for viral replication. Nevertheless, it dysregulates the host immune sensing response. Here we report repositioning of the privileged 1,2,4-oxadiazole scaffold as promising SARS-CoV-2 PLpro inhibitor with potential…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Thalidomide interaction with inflammation in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis</strong> - The “Thalidomide tragedy” is a landmark in the history of the pharmaceutical industry. Despite limited clinical trials, there is a continuous effort to investigate thalidomide as a drug for cancer and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lepromatous leprosy, and COVID-19. This review focuses on the possibilities of targeting inflammation by repurposing thalidomide for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Articles were searched from the Scopus database, sorted, 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>Antiviral drugs block replication of highly immune-evasive Omicron subvariants ex vivo, but fail to reduce tissue inflammation</strong> - The identification of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants BA.4/BA.5, BF.7 and BQ.1.1 immediately raised concerns regarding the efficacy of currently used monoclonal antibody therapies. Here we examined the activity of monoclonal antibody therapies and antiviral drugs against clinical specimens for SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.4/BA.5, BF.7 and BQ.1.1 employing an immunofluorescence neutralization assay. Further we explored treatment of BA.4/BA.5 infections with efficient antiviral drugs and monoclonal…</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>Should Latinos Be Considered a Race?</strong> - A proposed change to the census faces opposition from Afro-Latino groups, and exposes conflicts among Latino communities. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/should-latinos-be-considered-a-race">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Trolled by Trump, Again</strong> - Thoughts after a week of waiting and waiting for the indictment that the former President promised. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/trolled-by-trump-again">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Advice for Alvin Bragg from Former Trump Prosecutors</strong> - The Manhattan District Attorney faces huge legal and political challenges, but the former President’s antics could help the prosecution’s case. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/advice-for-alvin-bragg-from-former-trump-prosecutors">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Horrifying Epidemic of Teen-Age Fentanyl Deaths in a Texas County</strong> - Students have overdosed during class, in bathrooms, and in an elementary-school parking lot. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/the-horrifying-epidemic-of-teen-age-fentanyl-deaths-in-a-texas-county">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Has Benjamin Netanyahu’s Assault on Israeli Democracy Been Stopped?</strong> - In the face of mass protests, the Prime Minister has backed down from his plan to overhaul the judiciary—for now. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/has-benjamin-netanyahus-assault-on-israeli-democracy-been-stopped">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Heartbreaking: The worst Supreme Court justice you know just made a great point</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Justice Gorsuch is walking outside on a sunny, cold day, wearing a suit, a heavy overcoat, and a gold-and-red patterned scarf." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dbJR3bW25Fi6JDWClobvPZa0r5w=/89x0:1504x1061/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72122151/1230699348.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Justice Neil Gorsuch arrives at the Capitol ahead of the inauguration of President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, in Washington, DC. | Melina Mara/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
In an uncharacteristic move, Justice Neil Gorsuch offers a trenchant warning about giving too much power to judges.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yOcOkp">
Can the judiciary appoint a special prosecutor to try someone that the Department of Justice refuses to prosecute? That’s the central question in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/032723zor_nmjp.pdf"><em>Donziger v. United States</em></a>, a case that the Supreme Court announced it will not hear on Monday.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xWjLck">
That announcement leaves in place an appeals court decision, which effectively lets the courts decide to prosecute someone of their own accord, at least under certain circumstances. The Supreme Court made this announcement, however, over the objections of two justices — one of whom, Justice Neil Gorsuch, argues in a dissenting opinion that “the prosecution in this case <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/032723zor_nmjp.pdf">broke a basic constitutional promise essential to our liberty</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9JRGQU">
He’s got a point. Especially in an era where litigants with an axe to grind can <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/17/23512766/supreme-court-matthew-kacsmaryk-judge-trump-abortion-immigration-birth-control">choose which judge will hear their case</a>, permitting the judiciary to decide who to prosecute — and then to hear the very same cases brought by its own court-appointed prosecutors — vests far too much power in unelected judges. If courts have this authority, it is likely to be abused by some of the most partisan judges in the country.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1m1yyG">
The <em>Donziger</em> case itself involves Steven Donziger, a New York attorney who, according to a federal court, defied several court orders. Eventually, the court referred Donziger to the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan for prosecution, which <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1642725553437726808&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholarr">“respectfully decline[d]” to bring charges</a> against Donziger “on the ground that the matter would require resources that we do not readily have available.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bShhPY">
The court then invoked a federal criminal procedural rule, known as Rule 42, which empowers the court to “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/rule_42">appoint another attorney to prosecute</a>” an individual for criminal contempt of court when the Justice Department refuses to bring such a prosecution. Donziger was eventually convicted and sentenced to six months in prison.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w0IZF7">
But, as Gorsuch argues in his <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/032723zor_nmjp.pdf"><em>Donziger</em> opinion</a>, this prosecution raises grave constitutional questions. Typically, to convict someone of a federal crime, two branches of government must agree that the defendant deserves punishment. Prosecutors, part of the executive branch, must initiate a prosecution. And then a judge, a member of the judicial branch, must preside over the defendant’s trial. As Gorsuch writes, “the Constitution gives courts the power to ‘serve as a neutral adjudicator in a criminal case,’ not ‘the power to prosecute crimes.’”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HhkBBj">
In fairness, Gorsuch’s position is slightly overstated. The Constitution does provide that, under certain circumstances, <a href="https://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm#a2">“Congress may by law” vest the power to appoint prosecutors “in the Courts of Law.”</a> But, while Gorsuch has a history of reading Congress’s authority to delegate authority to government officials <a href="https://www.vox.com/22431044/neil-gorsuch-nihilism-supreme-court-voting-rights-lgbt-housing-obamacare-constitution">far too narrowly</a>, he makes a strong case in his <em>Donziger</em> dissent that Congress has not passed any law permitting court-appointed prosecutors to bring criminal contempt proceedings.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mVpB2k">
If the courts do have that power, moreover, that could remove an important check on the government’s power to send people to prison. A judge could potentially <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/1/22/23539363/abortion-medication-mifepristone-supreme-court-pills-comstock-matthew-kacsmaryk">issue a completely lawless order</a> stripping individuals of their legal rights, and then appoint special prosecutors to bring criminal charges against anyone the judge deems to be in defiance of the order.
</p>
<h3 id="yppKFK">
The separation of powers issue in <em>Donziger</em>, briefly explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="alGljY">
One issue in <em>Donziger</em> is a dispute about the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary. Historically, the Supreme Court has understood the power to bring prosecutions as a quintessentially executive branch function. As the Court said in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5132513257326080850&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6,47&amp;as_vis=1"><em>United States v. Nixon</em></a><em> </em>(1974)<em>, “</em>the Executive Branch has exclusive authority and absolute discretion to decide whether to prosecute a case.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oCmXxR">
Similarly, in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=14557349188638541514&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6,47&amp;as_vis=1"><em>Seila Law v. CFPB</em></a> (2020) the Court held that “the ‘executive Power’ — all of it — is ‘vested in a President’” — a theory known as the “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/27/21120492/supreme-court-cfpb-seila-law-unitary-executive-kavanaugh">unitary executive</a>,” which claims that any government official who wields executive authority must be responsible to the president of the United States. In practice, that means that if someone has the power to bring federal prosecutions, that individual must answer to either the president or to a presidential appointee — and the president or that appointee must have the power to fire that individual.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AEs7XE">
Yet the Court also ruled three decades earlier in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11953327548412824007&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6,47&amp;as_vis=1"><em>Young v. United States ex rel. Vuitton et Fils SA</em></a> (1987) that the judiciary has “<a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11953327548412824007&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6,47&amp;as_vis=1">inherent authority</a>” to appoint prosecutors to try contempt of court cases. Without it, <em>Young</em> reasoned, the courts would have no authority “to punish disobedience to judicial orders … without complete dependence on other Branches.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="54niV5">
Although <em>Seila Law</em> did not explicitly overrule <em>Young</em>, it is difficult to reconcile the two cases. And the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which heard the <em>Donziger</em> case, did a pretty poor job of it. The Second Circuit held that the court-appointed prosecution of Donziger did not intrude upon the executive branch’s exclusive authority because a federal statute <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1642725553437726808&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholarr">gives the attorney general the power to supervise and remove all federal prosecutors</a> — who remain part of the executive branch, even if they are appointed by a judge. So even if the courts can appoint a special prosecutor, the attorney general can always remove that prosecutor if the executive branch opposes the prosecution.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v4N4e8">
But, as Second Circuit Judge Steven Menashi <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1642725553437726808&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholarr">argued in dissent</a>, this attempt to reconcile <em>Seila Law</em> and <em>Young</em> completely undercuts <em>Young</em>’s reasoning. Again, <em>Young</em> held that courts must have the power to appoint prosecutors so that they are not dependent on the executive branch to enforce contempt orders. But, if the attorney general has the power to cut off these prosecutions, then courts are still dependent on the executive branch to enforce these orders.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BIgtVW">
In any event, the Supreme Court will likely have to decide, in a future case, whether <em>Young</em> must be scrapped entirely in the wake of decisions like <em>Seila Law</em>. For the moment, federal judges retain the power to appoint prosecutors at least some of the time. And that gives them an extraordinary amount of power over who will be fined or incarcerated.
</p>
<h3 id="vriJKc">
Congress can empower judges to appoint prosecutors, but it is unclear if it did so here
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2Ny9Ui">
Setting aside the complicated questions about which branch has authority over contempt of court prosecutions in the absence of a federal statute assigning this authority to one branch or the other, the Constitution does sometimes permit courts to appoint federal prosecutors — but <a href="https://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm#a2">only if Congress passes a law enabling them to do so</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TwNkvs">
The court that appointed a special prosecutor to go after Donziger relied on a court-created rule — <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/rule_42">Rule 42 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure</a> — and not an act of Congress, to justify appointing a prosecutor in this case.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="URqNjq">
That said, while Rule 42 is not an act of Congress, there is a federal statute, known as the Rules Enabling Act, which permits the Supreme Court “to prescribe general rules of practice and procedure and rules of evidence for cases in the United States district courts.” And the Supreme Court exercised this statutory authority when it created Rule 42.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QbvDhd">
But even if the Constitution permits Congress to delegate its power to determine when courts may appoint prosecutors to the Supreme Court, the Rules Enabling Act has an important limitation. It provides that judicial rules enacted by the Court “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/2072">shall not abridge, enlarge or modify any substantive right</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nzsEAF">
And, as Gorsuch argues in his <em>Donziger</em> dissent, there are serious arguments that, by allowing the judicial branch to determine both whether someone should be prosecuted and then to try that case, Rule 42 abridges such a right. As Gorsuch writes, Rule 42 potentially allows a judge to “assume the ‘dual position as accuser and decisionmaker’ — a combination that ‘violat[es the] due process’ rights of the accused.”
</p>
<h3 id="RrSiBb">
So what’s at stake here?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aIhiW5">
It should be emphasized that the rule announced by the Second Circuit does impose an important check on the judiciary. Though it gives the courts the power to initiate a prosecution for criminal contempt, the attorney general may still shut that prosecution down after it is underway.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WYgugL">
But even with this limit on judicial power in effect, the Second Circuit’s decision in <em>Donziger</em> changes the balance of power between people accused of crimes and their government. As Menashi writes in his dissenting opinion, the Second Circuit’s rule “<a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1642725553437726808&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholarr">allows the judicial appointment of additional executive branch prosecutors</a> — paid out of the judiciary’s budget — when the U.S. Attorney’s office does not want to devote its own resources to a case.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fLJGdH">
It also potentially allows rogue judges to initiate prosecutions that the executive would not choose to initiate on its own, but that it may also be reluctant to terminate due to political pressure from the president’s voters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2x1khF">
Gorsuch’s <em>Donziger</em> opinion was joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, meaning that there are at least two votes on the Supreme Court to roll back the federal judiciary’s authority to appoint prosecutors. If a federal trial judge seriously abused this power, the Court’s three liberals could potentially join with Gorsuch and Kavanaugh to shut that abuse down.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uYzf30">
But the Court’s decision not to hear <em>Donziger</em> means that, at least for the time being, lower federal court judges retain significant power to decide who should be prosecuted.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nJ7vyx">
One name that looms over this dispute about whether judges can initiate prosecutions is Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump-appointed judge in Texas who is widely expected to issue a decision any day now seeking to <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/1/22/23539363/abortion-medication-mifepristone-supreme-court-pills-comstock-matthew-kacsmaryk">remove a common abortion drug from the US market</a>. Kacsmaryk has, to put it mildly, a record of <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/17/23512766/supreme-court-matthew-kacsmaryk-judge-trump-abortion-immigration-birth-control">reading the law creatively</a> to advance conservative causes. He also has a record of asserting jurisdiction over cases and parties that he <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/13/23505459/supreme-court-birth-control-contraception-constitution-matthew-kacsmaryk-deanda-becerra">does not have any lawful authority over</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7eukep">
Armed with the additional power to initiate prosecutions, even if this power is limited to contempt of court cases, a partisan judge like Kacsmaryk could potentially issue a nationwide injunction prohibiting anyone from performing an abortion, even in states where it is legal. Then, because anyone who violates a court order can potentially be held in contempt, Kacsmaryk could appoint his own hand-picked prosecutors to target anyone who violates his self-imposed abortion ban.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hiB707">
If Kacsmaryk, or a similarly partisan judge, attempted this move today, Attorney General Merrick Garland would almost certainly fire any prosecutor that Kacsmaryk appointed. But, in a Republican administration, the attorney general would likely be much more reluctant to exercise such authority. Indeed, a Republican-led Justice Department might welcome the appointment of an array of new prosecutors focused solely on prosecuting abortion providers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n20r0b">
As Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers, the judiciary is not supposed to have this much power. It is supposed to be, in Hamilton’s words, “the weakest of the three departments of power,” in part because it “<a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed78.asp">must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CvXsLM">
Gorsuch is right to warn us against a regime that upends this balance of power.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The House GOP’s investigations are flopping</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) leading a committee meeting with Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) in the foreground and a poster of a New York Post front page story about Hunter Biden’s emails and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/O2vCuH3wLvzmqnJ08ec9cTgAHxA=/0x0:5081x3811/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72122077/1464187318.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) and Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) at a committee hearing on Capitol Hill on February 8. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
House Republicans are still looking for their next Benghazi. But their investigations are unpopular.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZkHDmp">
Even before they had taken control of the House, House Republicans were<a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/17/1137197668/republicans-have-won-the-house-now-theyre-promising-to-investigate-the-bidens"> promising</a><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/04/politics/gop-investigations-republican-plans-hunter-biden/index.html"> payback</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RXohFW">
Using the powers of the various congressional committees that they would soon take over, ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus members, led by Reps. James Comer of Kentucky and Jim Jordan of Ohio, were<a href="https://time.com/6218879/hunter-biden-investigations-james-comer-house-republicans/"> pledging investigations</a> of everything: the Biden family’s business practices, Hunter Biden’s laptop, the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, alleged government bias against conservatives, and the Biden administration’s border policies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WdQ9ac">
But so far, these investigations seem to be flopping. They don’t seem to be sticking in the public consciousness. They haven’t uncovered page one news about Hunter Biden’s laptop, or about the origins of Covid-19, or about a supposed government conspiracy to silence conservatives on Twitter. A bit more than two months into Republican control of the House, plenty of these investigations are well underway. Hearings have been held, letters sent, witnesses summoned, and hours spent<a href="https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/gops-james-comer-spends-inordinate-amount-time-fox-rcna75763"> appearing on Fox News</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yVN3Yc">
The House GOP investigations also aren’t making the president’s reelection campaign untenable — many Democratic operatives suspected that was their goal — and they don’t seem to be damaging the president as many Republicans had hoped.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7oOvPv">
Of course, it’s still early, and in the more than year and a half before the 2024 presidential election, Republicans could still weaponize their committee investigations into better political cudgels. A handful of additional hearings are on the calendar, but more remain unscheduled. If Republicans had hoped to establish the same kind of cloud of confusion and innuendo that they did during the Obama years to tarnish the president’s reputation and hurt Hillary Clinton’s presidential hopes, they have yet to achieve that with Biden.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c0aXV8">
New <a href="https://navigatorresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Navigator-Toplines-03.14.2023.pdf">polling</a> provided to Vox by the progressive research group Navigator further demonstrates this trend: Half of American adults believe Republicans are overreaching in their oversight of the Biden administration,<a href="https://navigatorresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Navigator-Update-02.22.2023.pdf"> up from</a> the 46 percent who said so in a February poll and the 30 percent who said so in January. The number who view the GOP’s investigations as a form of overreach is also rising among political independents, while Republican support for the investigations is remaining steady.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JNKTm7">
The president’s approval rating remains<a href="https://civiqs.com/results/approve_president_biden?annotations=true&amp;uncertainty=true&amp;zoomIn=true"> virtually</a> unchanged (though it’s<a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/"> trended up</a> since the midterms). House Republicans continue to be tremendously unpopular. And more Americans today see the House GOP’s oversight investigations negatively when compared to when they took control.
</p>
<h3 id="nbwGSL">
Americans’ feelings toward GOP oversight aren’t very positive
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KOMR1R">
The big reason these investigations don’t seem to be breaking through is pretty simple: They just aren’t that popular, and never really were. And it’s not just Navigator’s polling that shows Americans aren’t very receptive to whatever comes out of these hearings. Since January, a series of Pew, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23589424-230032-nbc-january-2023-poll-v2-129-release">NBC</a>, and<a href="https://congressionalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/CIP-PPP-Toplines-Final.pdf"> Public Policy Polling</a> surveys have shown that most Americans don’t see these investigations as priorities for Congress, or would rather Republicans spend less time pursuing these lines of inquiry in favor of addressing more tangible, everyday issues (first among them being inflation and the cost of household goods).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0jdQH3">
For example, when Pew Research asked Americans in mid-January how they felt about the GOP’s new focus on investigating the Biden administration, the answers were pretty definitive — 65 percent worried Republicans would focus “too much,” while 32 percent thought they wouldn’t pay enough attention. Even Republicans were split closely;<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/01/31/republicans-leery-of-compromise-with-biden-majority-want-gop-to-focus-on-investigations/"> 42 percent of Republican adults said they thought Republicans would focus on oversight too much</a>, compared to the 56 percent who feared lawmakers wouldn’t go far enough.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6TYs6K">
Navigator also found that<a href="https://navigatorresearch.org/congressional-republicans-and-their-agenda-both-deeply-underwater-as-they-take-the-house/"> a plurality of Americans</a> don’t see these inquiries as serious, good-faith efforts at oversight — including 38 percent of independents who think they are “political stunts.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BWOG3a">
Navigator’s chief of polling, Bryan Bennett, told me that in the runup to and aftermath of the midterms, Republicans may have misjudged just how much to play up their proposed investigations, and made a strategic error hyping up the investigations that are of least interest to Americans.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X08V5a">
In Navigator voter<a href="https://navigatorresearch.org/focus-group-report-independents-from-virginia-wisconsin-and-texas-view-house-republican-investigations-and-legislative-priorities-as-out-of-touch/"> focus groups</a> in Wisconsin, Virginia, and Texas, voters seemed most open to investigations into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, China-US trade practices, and the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3ZSGNn">
But those aren’t the investigations that House Republicans have prioritized. The panel investigating the origins of the coronavirus, for example, has only met once, earlier in March, and a second hearing is scheduled for Tuesday (scrutinizing school closures). The Foreign Affairs Committee, which is investigating the Afghanistan withdrawal, meanwhile, has sent letters to the State Department requesting more information<a href="https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/during-and-after-the-fall-of-kabul-examining-the-administrations-emergency-evacuation-from-afghanistan/"> and held one hearing on the fall of Kabul</a>, but it did not have any witnesses from the executive branch testifying. Meanwhile, James Comer, the chair of the oversight committee, has spent hours on Fox News pushing the committee’s investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop and the Biden family’s business practices. They’ve held one hearing already and have more planned.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UW1xiD">
These hearing topics, Bennett said, are the ones that independent voters are most likely to view with disdain and distrust. “The reasons that were cited for that included that there was kind of this broad perception that it was seen as being like a revenge list or a tit-for-tat, or a ‘get even’ list, and that it wasn’t really particularly focused on … the priorities that people want Congress to focus on.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vuid1n">
Comer has also managed to become Republicans’ standard-bearer for investigations, assuming the role of chief White House congressional antagonist on Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News. But the decision to take on that role also poses a problem — not many people know him outside of conservative circles, and<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/21/us/politics/james-comer-republican-oversight-biden.html"> scrutiny into his past</a> has dredged up old <a href="https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/kentucky/2015/05/04/james-comer-domestic-violence/26901137/">allegations of abuse of a girlfriend</a> and a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/21/us/politics/james-comer-republican-oversight-biden.html">shady track record of political maneuvering</a>. (Comer’s office did not respond to a request for comment.)
</p>
<h3 id="qOetwo">
Why the GOP’s investigations aren’t sticking
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a5l5au">
Beyond the general unpopularity of these investigations, Republicans have some other structural and political obstacles. Democrats are not letting these probes go on unanswered, a lesson from the Benghazi investigations during the Obama years.<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/1/6/23542325/mccarthy-democrats-republicans-congress-attacks-benghazi-hunter-biden"> A collection of Democratic and progressive groups</a>, like the Congressional Integrity Project, are working hard outside of government to paint these Republican investigations as illegitimate and the investigators as<strong> </strong>abusers of congressional power.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ruUNaJ">
The White House itself is also proactively responding to various Republican lines of attack with frequent conversations with reporters, led by Ian Sams, the White House’s chief spokesperson on these investigations. Sams and the White House Counsel’s office have also gotten ahead of other potential vulnerabilities, like the discovery of classified documents at Biden’s home and private offices, by preemptively briefing reporters and blasting out clips and quotes of Comer, Jordan, and other Republicans talking about the political nature of these investigations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kI2fOx">
There’s also a problem of novelty and nicheness. Many of the subjects that Republicans have pledged to investigate don’t feel fresh or new. Hunter Biden’s laptop and his business dealings were a 2020 matter; the Afghanistan withdrawal and coronavirus pandemic feel like years-old issues; and the questioning of social media companies and alleged government bias against conservatives are issues that may only truly resonate with the most partisan, internet-pilled Republican voters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GolHsI">
The oversight committee, especially, may simply be picking too many targets to pursue — it’s also investigating the conditions of January 6 defendants in the DC jail, the capital city’s legislative work, the impact of “progressivism” on the military, pandemic relief fraud, and coronavirus school closures,<a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/"> among many other things</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x9UCTw">
“The American public is already tired of these,” Brad Woodhouse, a senior adviser to the Congressional Integrity Project, a group of Democratic operatives, told me. “I understand there’s some support within the Republican base, but the American public writ large are already tired of these extreme tactics.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UXT156">
There are also real questions about productivity: The committees simply haven’t held that many meetings, and none have featured people who have enough of a high profile to garner attention beyond niche conservative spaces. “I haven’t seen a single guy sweating under the bright lights,” Fox News host Jesse Watters<a href="https://www.mediaite.com/politics/biden-has-worked-more-days-than-congress-fox-newss-jesse-watters-mocks-house-gop-schedule-nothingburger-probes/"> complained in early March</a>. “Are we gonna drill down on anything? Are we going to see anybody squirm and cough up the truth or at least plead the Fifth or something, so that we can start showering these goons with subpoenas? Where are the bombshells? Have the investigations even started?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OsCN6h">
Donald Trump himself is also sucking up the energy and attention of the political press and the American public. As his presidential campaign blunders on, and a number of federal, state, and local investigations into his dealings with campaign money, classified documents, liability for January 6, and potential obstruction of justice continue, he has reinforced himself as one of Democrats’ best tools for diverting attention from the House investigations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EhCiiD">
Finally, Republicans will also face a longer-term problem of political inertia. Given how unfavorably the public has been viewing these probes so far, they have limited time to change opinions, Bennett said. “The longer that you have these kind of [negative] ratings, the more entrenched that view is going to become, and the harder it’s going to be to recover.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>What we know about the Nashville school shooting</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Blue uniformed officers mill about a green lawn with bare trees. Gothic inspired buildings can be seen in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/k53B7M_oO00F5ElAI9qxT_dmLzw=/0x0:3960x2970/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72119640/AP23086591034906.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Nashville police respond to a shooting at Covenant School and Covenant Presbyterian Church on March 27, 2023. | Metro Nashville Police Department/AP
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A shooting on Monday has left at least three students and three adults dead.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zqr03Q">
Three children and three adults were killed in a shooting at the Covenant School, a private Christian school, in Nashville on Monday, <a href="https://www.wsmv.com/2023/03/27/mnpd-3-students-shooter-dead-after-shooting-covenant-school/">according to WSMV4 News</a>. The suspect is also dead, per Nashville police.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DMiXxZ">
The child victims were two 9-year-olds and one 8-year-old — Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, who were students at the school. The three adult victims were staff members: Cynthia Peak, 61, a substitute teacher; Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of the school; and Mike Hill, 61, a custodian.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QtyECZ">
Police have also identified the shooter as 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who officers believe is a former student and who they said was transgender. Police said that Hale had drawn a detailed map of the school, including entry points, and written a manifesto. Hale — who was shot and killed by police — was armed with two “assault-type” rifles and a handgun when entering the school.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xwqlNq">
Officers noted that Hale didn’t have a criminal history and that two of the guns appeared to be obtained legally.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aIjFhN">
“Including the shooter, a total of seven persons were killed as a result of this morning’s incident at the school,” Metro Nashville Police Department spokesperson Don Aaron told reporters during a press conference.
</p>
<div id="WIEMX6">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
An active shooter event has taken place at Covenant School, Covenant Presbyterian Church, on Burton Hills Dr. The shooter was engaged by MNPD and is dead. Student reunification with parents is at Woodmont Baptist Church, 2100 Woodmont Blvd. <a href="https://t.co/vO8p9cj3vx">pic.twitter.com/vO8p9cj3vx</a>
</p>
— Metro Nashville PD (<span class="citation" data-cites="MNPDNashville">@MNPDNashville</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/MNPDNashville/status/1640383339893800964?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2023</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fYDAXD">
The shooting occurred on Monday morning, with police first receiving calls about it at 10:13am local time. It took place at Covenant School, a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church, which serves roughly 200 students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. It’s not yet clear how many people were potentially injured at this time or what the shooter’s motive was.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YSuvRE">
The Covenant School shooting adds to a long and horrific list of school shootings that have taken place in the last 20 years in the US. It also follows several other shootings that have occurred more recently, including at <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/23/1165575298/denver-east-high-school-shooting-suspect">East High School in Denver, Colorado</a>, last week, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23140441/uvalde-shooting-robb-elementary-school-texas">Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas</a>, in 2022, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
</p>
<h3 id="gYpIKh">
School shootings are getting more common
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="deqqRv">
According to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/06/28/school-shootings-crime-report/">2022 report from the National Center for Education Statistics,</a> there has been a major uptick in school shootings in the last two decades: In 2000 and 2001, there were 23 incidents with casualties at public and private schools; in 2020-2021, there were 93. School shootings hit a record high in 2021, according to that report.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qE6NVq">
The frequency of school shootings in the US is an anomaly. “School shootings happen in the U.S. at an alarming rate, but they rarely happen elsewhere in the world. Eighty or 90 percent of all the school shootings in the world happen in the U.S. They are concentrated here,” William Pelfrey, a homeland security expert at Virginia Commonwealth University, <a href="https://news.vcu.edu/article/2022/06/why-do-school-shootings-keep-happening-in-the-united-states">has previously said</a>. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9388351/">Research on school shootings</a> has found that the US has 57 times as many school shootings as every other industrialized country combined.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kx02BO">
Pelfrey notes that the number of guns in the US is a major factor in the number of school shootings that take place. The country has the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-25/how-many-guns-in-the-us-buying-spree-bolsters-lead-as-most-armed-country?leadSource=uverify%20wall">highest gun ownership among civilians</a> in the world, with some estimates <a href="https://www.vox.com/23142734/covenant-school-nashville-mass-shootings">putting it at 120.5 guns per 100 people</a>. Experts have cautioned against using any one profile to describe a school shooter, though <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2022/01/26/school-shootings-what-we-know-about-them-and-what-we-can-do-to-prevent-them/">researchers have found some commonalities</a> in past instances including perpetrators who felt marginalized by their broader community and some dealing with psychological conditions including depression.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<aside id="MM3C2U">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<h3 id="jKqCvk">
What we know about the Covenant School shooting suspect
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D6SUeV">
Police are still working to find more information about the motives of the shooter, who they initially identified as a 28-year-old woman.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pqQ4lN">
<a href="https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/covenant-school-mass-shooting/fbi-data-shows-why-female-suspect-makes-covenant-school-shooting-unusual/"></a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i1fPiA">
<a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/27/981803154/why-nearly-all-mass-shooters-are-men">According to the Violence Project</a>, which tracks data on mass shootings in the US, 98 percent of active shooter attacks are carried out by men, with young white men being the most likely group to do so. A <a href="https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/public-mass-shootings-database-amasses-details-half-century-us-mass-shootings">February 2022 study from the National Institute of Justice</a> found that the average age of mass shooters was 34, that 52 percent were white, and that they were overwhelmingly men. Men have been more likely to commit mass shootings due to what researchers have described as a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/27/981803154/why-nearly-all-mass-shooters-are-men">broader inclination to engage in violence</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2VZmRe">
<em>This is a developing story, which we’ll update as more information becomes available. </em>
</p>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Australians love to hate Cheteshwar Pujara: Josh Hazlewood</strong> - “It’s a bigger thrill for the the bowlers (to dismiss Pujara). I think when you do end up getting his wicket, it means you have earned it,” Hazlewood said</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>ISL | Hyderabad FC head coach Marquez to quit after 2022-23 season</strong> - Hyderabad FC is already in process of finalising the replacement and will make an announcement at an appropriate time</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>When and where to watch IPL 2023 online in India</strong> - All you need to know on how and when to watch or stream IPL 2023 from India</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>Morning Digest | 3 children among 6 dead in Nashville school shooting; Centre asks States to be on alert as Covid numbers keep rising, and more</strong> - Here’s a select list of stories to read before you start your day</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>Vision, organisational skills mandatory to run sport: Sumariwalla</strong> - The AFI president said a lot of effort and time goes into making a hero in athletics</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>APSRTC drivers, conductors get training in first-aid techniques</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Here are the big stories from Tamil Nadu today</strong> - Welcome to the Tamil Nadu Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated and written by Lalitha Ranjani.</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>ABVP activists try to obstruct KTR’s convoy in Sircilla</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Countries historically responsible for climate change cannot stall India’s development, says Environment Minister</strong> - “We believe in both climate change and climate justice,” Mr. Yadav said, while addressing an event</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>Supreme Court to hear PIL seeking to ban convicts from forming, running political parties in May</strong> - The petition, filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, sought a ban on convicted persons from forming a political party and becoming office bearers for the period they are disqualified under the election laws</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>Two people stabbed to death at the Ismaili Centre in Lisbon</strong> - The attacker was arrested after the incident at the city’s Ismaili Centre, Portuguese police say.</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: Germany sends much-awaited Leopard tanks</strong> - The first 18 of the cutting-edge tanks are sent, amid reports UK Challenger 2s have also arrived.</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>Actor Orlando Bloom meets children affected by Ukraine war and visits Zelensky</strong> - The Lord of the Rings star, who is a goodwill ambassador for Unicef, also met President Zelensky.</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>Angélique Kidjo says the Grammys ‘need diversity’</strong> - “We are working on it,” says the star, who sits on the awards’ board of trustees.</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>Nato condemns ‘dangerous’ Russian nuclear rhetoric</strong> - President Putin says Russia will station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.</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>NY officials detect polio again, warn of possible summer wave</strong> - With new detection, officials warn of spring and summer transmission risks. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1927240">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Immaculate AI images of Pope Francis trick the masses</strong> - Faux “puffy pontiff” AI image fools many in viral social media post. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1927164">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden’s executive order limits government’s use of commercial spyware</strong> - Move comes as “clickless exploits” targets journalists and others accused of no crimes. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1927199">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dealmaster: 1-day-only Nintendo Switch, Microsoft 365 deals; plus PS5 and AirTags</strong> - Nintendo’s Switch OLED is on a rare one-day-only discount. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1927050">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apple rolls out iOS 16.4 and macOS Ventura 13.3 with new emoji and features</strong> - They offer small quality-of-life tweaks and important accessibility features. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1927095">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>This guy walks into the bar and sees a gorgeous blonde sitting on a bar stool all alone.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So the guy sits down next to her and pulls a small box from his pocket. He opens it and there’s a frog inside. The blonde says,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“He’s cute, but does he do tricks?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The guy says,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Yes, he licks pussy.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So after talking with her for several minutes, he convinces her to come with him to his apartment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
They get there and she takes all of her clothes off, gets into the bed, and spreads her legs. The guy sets the frog right between her legs and it just sits there not moving at all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The blonde says,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Well? What’s up?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The frog still does not move. So the guy leans over to the frog and says,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“All right, I’m only going to show you how to do this one more time!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/joke_channel"> /u/joke_channel </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/124im9f/this_guy_walks_into_the_bar_and_sees_a_gorgeous/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/124im9f/this_guy_walks_into_the_bar_and_sees_a_gorgeous/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Little Johnny’s parents wanted to have some “alone time” together…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
… so they sent Johnny out onto the porch with an ice-cream sandwich. Not wanting the boy to finish too quickly, his mother came up with an idea to keep him distracted.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“While you’re eating that,” she said, “watch the neighborhood and tell us everything interesting that you see.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A few minutes in to their lovemaking, Johnny’s parents heard him yell his first report: “The Hendersons got a new car!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“That’s great!” answered his mother. “Keep looking!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
More time passed, and Johnny shouted again: “The Smiths are planting flowers!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Good job!” responded his father. “Keep looking!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Another minute went by, and Johnny called out for a third time: “Mister and Missus Johnson are having sex!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Johnny’s parents abruptly stopped in their own activity. After a moment of silence, his mother replied with “How do you know that they’re having sex, Johnny?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Because Billy Johnson is eating an ice-cream sandwich on their porch!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/SexySwedishSpy"> /u/SexySwedishSpy </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/124ge31/little_johnnys_parents_wanted_to_have_some_alone/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/124ge31/little_johnnys_parents_wanted_to_have_some_alone/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What weighs more, a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The ton of feathers because you have to live with the weight of what you did to those poor birds.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ehzstreet"> /u/ehzstreet </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/123zc86/what_weighs_more_a_ton_of_bricks_or_a_ton_of/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/123zc86/what_weighs_more_a_ton_of_bricks_or_a_ton_of/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>This Scottish bloke goes on a skiing holiday to Canada. After a hard day on the slopes, he retires to a bar at the bottom of the mountain. After about five or six whiskeys, he looks up and notices a stuffed animal with antlers on the wall…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He asks the bartender, “What the fuck is that?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The bartender replies, “It’s a moose.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Scottish chap shouts back, “Fuck me! How big are the cats?”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/madazzahatter"> /u/madazzahatter </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/124k8f2/this_scottish_bloke_goes_on_a_skiing_holiday_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/124k8f2/this_scottish_bloke_goes_on_a_skiing_holiday_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What does a robot do after sex?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He nuts and bolts.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/GldnD"> /u/GldnD </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1248ga4/what_does_a_robot_do_after_sex/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1248ga4/what_does_a_robot_do_after_sex/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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