navan
/
Daily-Dose
mirror of https://github.com/navanchauhan/Daily-Dose.git
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Projects Releases Wiki Activity

Added daily report

This commit is contained in:
Navan Chauhan 2023-01-28 12:46:11 +00:00
parent df4db4cdff
commit 7eaeb1a915
3 changed files with 693 additions and 2 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

186
archive-covid-19/28 January, 2023.html Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
<title>28 January, 2023</title>
<style>
code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
span.underline{text-decoration: underline;}
div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;}
div.hanging-indent{margin-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em;}
ul.task-list{list-style: none;}
</style>
<title>Covid-19 Sentry</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
<body>
<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>Identification of a molnupiravir-associated mutational signature in SARS-CoV-2 sequencing databases</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Molnupiravir, an antiviral medication that has been widely used against SARS-CoV-2, acts by inducing mutations in the virus genome during replication. Most random mutations are likely to be deleterious to the virus, and many will be lethal. Molnupiravir-induced elevated mutation rates have been shown to decrease viral load in animal models. However, it is possible that some patients treated with molnupiravir might not fully clear SARS-CoV-2 infections, with the potential for onward transmission of molnupiravir-mutated viruses. We set out to systematically investigate global sequencing databases for a signature of molnupiravir mutagenesis. We find that a specific class of long phylogenetic branches appear almost exclusively in sequences from 2022, after the introduction of molnupiravir treatment, and in countries and age-groups with widespread usage of the drug. We calculate a mutational spectrum from the AGILE placebo-controlled clinical trial of molnupiravir and show that its signature, with elevated G-to-A and C-to-T rates, largely corresponds to the mutational spectrum seen in these long branches. Our data suggest a signature of molnupiravir mutagenesis can be seen in global sequencing databases, in some cases with onwards transmission.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.26.23284998v2" target="_blank">Identification of a molnupiravir-associated mutational signature in SARS-CoV-2 sequencing databases</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Early risk-assessment of pathogen genomic variants emergence</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Accurate, reliable, and timely estimates of pathogen variant risk are essential for informing effective public health responses to infectious diseases. Despite decades of use for influenza vaccine strain selection and PCR-based molecular diagnostics, data on pathogen variant prevalence and growth advantage has only risen to its current prominence during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. However, such data are still often sparse: novel variants are initially rare or a region has limited sequencing. To ensure real-time estimates of risk are available in these types of data-sparse conditions, we develop a hierarchical modeling approach that estimates variant fitness advantage and prevalence by pooling data across geographic regions. We apply this method to estimate SARS-CoV-2 variant dynamics at the country-level and assess its stability with retrospective validation. Our results show that more stable and robust estimates can be obtained even when sequencing data are sparse, as compared to established, single-country estimation approaches. We discuss how this method can inform risk assessment of novel emerging variants and provide situational awareness on currently circulating variants, for a range of pathogens and use-cases.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.02.23284123v3" target="_blank">Early risk-assessment of pathogen genomic variants emergence</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Bayesian Prediction of Severe Outcomes in the LabMarCS: Laboratory Markers of COVID-19 Severity - Bristol Cohort</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<b>Objectives:</b> To develop cross-validated prediction models for severe outcomes in COVID-19 using blood biomarker and demographic data; Demonstrate best practices for clinical data curation and statistical modelling decisions, with an emphasis on Bayesian methods. <b>Design:</b> Retrospective observational cohort study. <b>Setting:</b> Multicentre across National Health Service (NHS) trusts in Southwest region, England, UK. <b>Participants:</b> Hospitalised adult patients with a positive SARS-CoV 2 by PCR during the first wave (March - October 2020). 843 COVID-19 patients (mean age 71, 45% female, 32% died or needed ICU stay) split into training (n=590) and validation groups (n=253) along with observations on demographics, coinfections, and 30 laboratory blood biomarkers. <b>Primary outcome measures:</b> ICU admission or death within 28-days of admission to hospital for COVID-19 or a positive PCR result if already admitted. <b>Results:</b> Predictive regression models were fit to predict primary outcomes using demographic data and initial results from biomarker tests collected within 3 days of admission or testing positive if already admitted. Using all variables, a standard logistic regression yielded an internal validation median AUC of 0.7 (95% Interval [0.64,0.81]), and an external validation AUC of 0.67 [0.61, 0.71], a Bayesian logistic regression using a horseshoe prior yielded an internal validation median AUC of 0.78 [0.71, 0.85], and an external validation median AUC of 0.70 [0.68, 0.71]. Variable selection performed using Bayesian predictive projection determined a four variable model using Age, Urea, Prothrombin time and Neutrophil-Lymphocyte ratio, with a median AUC of 0.74 [0.67, 0.82], and external validation AUC of 0.70 [0.69, 0.71]. <b>Conclusions:</b> Our study reiterates the predictive value of previously identified biomarkers for COVID-19 severity assessment. Given the small data set, the full and reduced models have decent performance, but would require improved external validation for clinical application. The study highlights a variety of challenges present in complex medical data sets while maintaining best statistical practices with an emphasis on showcasing recent Bayesian methods.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.16.22279985v3" target="_blank">Bayesian Prediction of Severe Outcomes in the LabMarCS: Laboratory Markers of COVID-19 Severity - Bristol Cohort</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Infection of equine bronchial epithelial cells with a SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus</strong> -
<div>
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causal agent of COVID-19, can infect animals by binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Equine infection appears possible due to high homology ({approx}97%) between human and equine ACE2, evidence of in vitro infection in cell lines expressing equine ACE2, and evidence of seroconversion in horses after exposure to persons infected with SARS-CoV-2. Our objective was to examine susceptibility of cultured primary equine bronchial epithelial cells (EBECs) to a SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus relative to human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs; positive control). ACE2 expression in EBECs detected by immunofluorescence, western immunoblotting, and flow cytometry was lower in EBECs than in HBECs. EBECs were transduced with a lentivirus pseudotyped with the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that binds to ACE2 and expresses the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) as a reporter. Cells were co-cultivated with the pseudovirus at a multiplicity of infection of 0.1 for 6 hours, washed, and maintained in media. After 96 hours, eGFP expression in EBECs was demonstrated by fluorescence microscopy, and mean {Delta} Ct values from quantitative PCR were significantly (P &lt; 0.0001) higher in HBECs (8.78) than HBECs (3.24) indicating lower infectivity in EBECs. Equine respiratory tract cells were susceptible to infection with a SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus. Lower replication efficiency in EBECs suggests that horses are unlikely to be an important zoonotic host of SARS-CoV-2, but viral mutations could render some strains more infectious to horses. Serological and virological monitoring of horses in contact with persons shedding SARS-CoV-2 is warranted.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.26.525770v1" target="_blank">Infection of equine bronchial epithelial cells with a SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The lung employs an intrinsic surfactant-mediated inflammatory response for viral defense</strong> -
<div>
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) that resembles surfactant deficient RDS. Using a novel multi-cell type, human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived lung organoid (LO) system, validated against primary lung cells, we found that inflammatory cytokine/chemokine production and interferon (IFN) responses are dynamically regulated autonomously within the lung following SARS-CoV-2 infection, an intrinsic defense mechanism mediated by surfactant proteins (SP). Single cell RNA sequencing revealed broad infectability of most lung cell types through canonical (ACE2) and non-canonical (endocytotic) viral entry routes. SARS-CoV-2 triggers rapid apoptosis, impairing viral dissemination. In the absence of surfactant protein B (SP-B), resistance to infection was impaired and cytokine/chemokine production and IFN responses were modulated. Exogenous surfactant, recombinant SP-B, or genomic correction of the SP-B deletion restored resistance to SARS-CoV-2 and improved viability.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.26.525578v1" target="_blank">The lung employs an intrinsic surfactant-mediated inflammatory response for viral defense</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The Omicron variant BQ.1* with mutations at positions 28,311 and 28,312 in the SARS-CoV-2 N gene have minimal impact on CDC N1 target detection</strong> -
<div>
Ensuring COVID-19 testing remains accurate and reliable is of critical importance as the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to evolve. Currently, a number of Omicron variants are dominating infection across the globe in including BQ.1 and XBB. Both variants and their sublineages (BQ.1* and XBB<em>) contain a 28,311 C/U mutation inherited from the original Omicron variant (BA.1). This mutation overlaps with a commonly used fluorescent probe for N gene detection in many Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) assays, as this target was originally established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in their EUA test for COVID-19 (2019-nCoV_N1). This C to U mutation was previously shown to have no impact on CDC N1 target detection. The rise of Omicron sublineages has increased the likelihood of additional point mutations occurring within the same assay target. A subpopulation of BQ.1</em> has an additional 28,312 C/U mutation within the CDC 2019_nCoV_N1 fluorescent probe in addition to the 28,311 C/U mutation. The double mutation could adversely affect the ability of diagnostic assays to detect the virus in patient samples and therefore it is important to verify the impacts of this additional mutation. Using in vitro transcribed (IVT) N gene RNA representing the wildtype (GenBank/GISAID ID MN908947.3) and Omicron BQ.1.1 variant (BQ.1, GISAID ID EPI_ISL_ 15155651), we evaluated the performance of two different amplification protocols, both of which include the CDC 2019-nCoV_N1 primer-probe set. Both assays successfully detected the mutant N gene sequence efficiently even at 10 copies of input, although the double mutation caused a 0.5~1 Cq delay on average when compared to the wild-type sequence. These data suggest that circulating BQ.1* lineage viruses with this double mutation likely have minimal impact on diagnostic assays that use the 2019-nCoV-N1 primer-probe.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.26.525759v1" target="_blank">The Omicron variant BQ.1* with mutations at positions 28,311 and 28,312 in the SARS-CoV-2 N gene have minimal impact on CDC N1 target detection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase avoidance of health information and access to care</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic, like other crises, has had direct and indirect impacts on people’s lives, many of which have been negative. However, there is little evidence about how COVID-19 affects decision-making. Emotional responses to COVID-19- related stressors, such as local cases and income loss, provide a pathway for these stressors to affect decision-making. In this study, we examine linkages between exposure to COVID-19-related stressors—focusing on temporally specific local case counts and loss of income due to the pandemic—and behaviors for important health decisions with both individual (accessing health care) and societal (accessing information about antimicrobial resistance (AMR)) relevance. In the analysis of two health behaviors that use data from 1) a custom AMR survey and 2) the U.S. Census’s Household Pulse Survey, which asked about accessing healthcare, we find that exposure to COVID-19 stressors significantly increases feelings of hopelessness. Higher levels of hopelessness are associated with an increased probability of avoiding health information about AMR and foregoing or delaying needed medical care. Mediation analysis confirms that hopelessness is an important pathway through which COVID-19-related stressors affect avoidance behaviors. Our results suggest that large- scale crises may diminish action on other important personal and societal health issues facing humanity through emotion-mediated changes in decision-making.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/3u54z/" target="_blank">Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase avoidance of health information and access to care</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Identification of a molnupiravir-associated mutational signature in SARS-CoV-2 sequencing databases</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Molnupiravir, an antiviral medication that has been widely used against SARS-CoV-2, acts by inducing mutations in the virus genome during replication. Most random mutations are likely to be deleterious to the virus, and many will be lethal. Molnupiravir-induced elevated mutation rates have been shown to decrease viral load in animal models. However, it is possible that some patients treated with molnupiravir might not fully clear SARS-CoV-2 infections, with the potential for onward transmission of molnupiravir-mutated viruses. We set out to systematically investigate global sequencing databases for a signature of molnupiravir mutagenesis. We find that a specific class of long phylogenetic branches appear almost exclusively in sequences from 2022, after the introduction of molnupiravir treatment, and in countries and age-groups with widespread usage of the drug. We calculate a mutational spectrum from the AGILE placebo-controlled clinical trial of molnupiravir and show that its signature, with elevated G-to-A and C-to-T rates, largely corresponds to the mutational spectrum seen in these long branches. Our data suggest a signature of molnupiravir mutagenesis can be seen in global sequencing databases, in some cases with onwards transmission.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.26.23284998v1" target="_blank">Identification of a molnupiravir-associated mutational signature in SARS-CoV-2 sequencing databases</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Laboratory-Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Cases Infected with Omicron subvariants and XBB recombinant variant</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The SARS-CoV-2 has evolved to produce new variants causing successive waves of infection. Currently, six variants are being monitored by the World Health Organization that are replacing BA.5. These include BQ.1<em>, BA.5 with one or several of five mutations (R346X, K444X, V445X, N450D, N460X), BA.2.75</em>, XBB<em>, BA.4.6</em>, and BA.2.30.2<em>. BQ.1 and XBB variants are more immune evasive and have spread quickly throughout the world. With the concern of the potential severity of infections caused by these variants, the present study describes the clinical characteristics and outcomes of these major variants in Maharashtra. Material and Methods: A total of 1039 Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) positive SARS-CoV-2 samples, with a cycle threshold value (Ct) less than 25, were processed for SARS-CoV-2 whole genome sequencing between 10th July 2022 and 10th December 2022. All corresponding demographic and clinical data were recorded and analyzed using MicrosoftTM ExcelTM and Epi InfoTM. Results: Out of 1039 samples sequenced, 829 (79.79%) were assigned Pango lineages, of which BA.2.75 (67.31%) was the predominant Omicron variant, followed by the XBB</em> (17.13%), BA.2.38* (5.43%), BA.2.10* (3.62%) and BA.5* (3.50%). A total of 494 cases were contacted telephonically, of which 455 (92.11%) were symptomatic with mild symptoms. Fever (78.46%) was the most common symptom, followed by rhinorrhoea (46.37%), cough (42.20%), myalgia (19.56%) and fatigue (18.24%). Of the 494 cases, 379 (76.72%) cases recovered at home, and 115 (23.28%) were institutionally quarantined/ hospitalized. Among the home-isolated and hospitalized cases, 378 (99.74%) and 101 (87.83%) recovered with symptomatic treatment, whereas 01 (0.26%) and 14 (12.17%) succumbed to the disease, respectively. Of the 494 cases, 449 (90.89%) were vaccinated with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 40 (8.10%) were unvaccinated, and for 05 (1.01%) cases, vaccine data was not available. Conclusion: The current study indicates that the XBB* variant is causing mild disease in India. However, as XBB* possess both immune-escape and infectivity-enhancing mutations, it has the potential to spread to other parts of the world rapidly.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.05.23284211v2" target="_blank">Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Laboratory-Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Cases Infected with Omicron subvariants and XBB recombinant variant</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SPEAR: a Sparse Supervised Bayesian Factor Model for Multi-omic Integration</strong> -
<div>
Motivation: Unsupervised factor modeling, which preserves the primary sources of data variation through low-dimensional factors, is commonly applied to integrate high-dimensional multi-omics data. However, the resulting factors are suboptimal for prediction tasks due to the separation between factor construction and prediction model learning. A supervised factor model that effectively utilizes the responses while accounting for structural heterogeneity across omics is needed. Results: We present SPEAR, a supervised variational Bayesian framework that decomposes multi-omics data into latent factors with predictive power. The method adaptively determines factor rank, emphasis on factor structure, data relevance and feature sparsity. SPEAR improves reconstruction of underlying factors in synthetic examples and prediction accuracy of COVID-19 severity and breast cancer tumor subtypes. Availability: SPEAR is a publicly available R-package hosted at https://bitbucket.org/kleinstein/SPEAR.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.25.525545v1" target="_blank">SPEAR: a Sparse Supervised Bayesian Factor Model for Multi-omic Integration</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>First virological and pathological study of Göttingen Minipigs with Dippity Pig Syndrome (DPS)</strong> -
<div>
Dippity Pig Syndrome (DPS) is a well-known but rare complex of clinical signs affecting minipigs, which has not been thoroughly investigated yet. Clinically affected animals show acute appearance of red, exudating lesions across the spine. The lesions are painful, evidenced by arching of the back (dipping), and the onset of clinical symptoms is generally sudden. In order to understand the pathogenesis, histological and virological investigations were performed in affected and unaffected Gottingen Minipigs (GoMPs). The following DNA viruses were screened for using PCR-based methods: Porcine cytomegalovirus (PCMV), which is a porcine roseolovirus (PCMV/PRV), porcine lymphotropic herpesviruses (PLHV-1, PLHV-2, PLHV-3), porcine circoviruses (PCV1, PCV2, PCV3, PCV4), porcine parvovirus 1 (PPV1), and Torque Teno sus virus (TTSuV1, TTSuV2). Screening was also performed for integrated porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV-A, PERV-B, PERV-C) and recombinant PERV-A/C and their expression as well as for the RNA viruses hepatitis E virus (HEV) and SARS-CoV-2. Eight clinically affected and one unaffected GoMPs were analyzed. Additional unaffected minipigs had been analyzed in the past. The analyzed GoMPs contained PERV-A and PERV-B integrated in the genome, which are present in all pigs and PERV-C, which is present in most, but not all pigs. In one affected GoMPs recombinant PERV-A/C was detected in blood. In this animal a very high expression of PERV mRNA was observed. PCMV/PRV was found in three affected animals, PCV1 was found in three animals with DPS and in the healthy minipig, and PCV3 was detected in two animals with DPS and in the unaffected minipig. Most importantly, in one animal only PLHV-3 was detected. It was found in the affected and unaffected skin, and in other organs. Unfortunately, PLHV-3 could not be studied in all other affected minipigs. None of the other viruses were detected and using electron microscopy, no virus particles were found in the affected skin. This data identified some virus infections in GoMPs with DPS and assign a special role to PLHV-3. Since PCMV/PRV, PCV1, PCV3 and PLHV-3 were also found in unaffected animals, a multifactorial cause of DPS is suggested. However, elimination of the viruses from GoMPs may prevent DPS.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.26.525667v1" target="_blank">First virological and pathological study of Göttingen Minipigs with Dippity Pig Syndrome (DPS)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Antibody escape, the risk of serotype formation, and rapid immune waning: modeling the implications of SARS-CoV-2 immune evasion</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, widespread community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has ushered in a volatile era of viral immune evasion rather than the much-heralded stability of “endemicity” or “herd immunity.” At this point, an array of viral variants has rendered essentially all monoclonal antibody therapeutics obsolete and strongly undermined the impact of vaccinal immunity on SARS-CoV-2 transmission. In this work, we demonstrate that antigenic drift resulting in evasion of pre-existing immunity is highly evolutionarily favored and likely to cause waves of short-term transmission. In the long-term, invading variants that induce weak cross-immunity against pre-existing strains may co-circulate with those pre-existing strains. This would result in the formation of serotypes that increase disease burden, complicate SARS-CoV-2 control and raise the potential for increases in viral virulence. Less durable immunity does not drive positive selection as a trait, but such strains may transmit at high levels if they establish. Overall, our results draw attention to the importance of inter-strain cross-immunity as a driver of transmission trends and the importance of early immune evasion data to predict the trajectory of the pandemic.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.25.23285031v1" target="_blank">Antibody escape, the risk of serotype formation, and rapid immune waning: modeling the implications of SARS-CoV-2 immune evasion</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>LY6E protects mice from pathogenic effects of murine coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
LY6E is an antiviral protein that inhibits coronavirus entry. Its expression in immune cells allows mice to control murine coronavirus infection. However, it is not known which immune cell subsets mediate this control or whether LY6E protects mice from SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we used tissue-specific Cre recombinase expression to ablate Ly6e in distinct immune compartments or in all epiblast-derived cells, and bone marrow chimeras to target Ly6e in a subset of radioresistant cells. Mice lacking Ly6e in Lyz2-expressing cells and radioresistant Vav1 expressing cells were more susceptible to lethal murine coronavirus infection. Mice lacking Ly6e globally developed clinical disease when challenged with the Gamma (P.1) variant of SARS-CoV-2. By contrast, wildtype mice and mice lacking type I and type III interferon signaling had no clinical symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Transcriptomic profiling of lungs from SARS-CoV-2-infected wildtype and Ly6e knockout mice revealed a striking reduction of secretory cell-associated genes in infected knockout mice, including Muc5b, an airway mucin-encoding gene that may protect against SARS-CoV-2-inflicted respiratory disease. Collectively, our study reveals distinct cellular compartments in which Ly6e confers cell intrinsic antiviral effects, thereby conferring resistance to disease caused by murine coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.25.525551v1" target="_blank">LY6E protects mice from pathogenic effects of murine coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Rapid engineering of SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic antibodies to increase breadth of neutralization including XBB.1.5 and BQ.1.1</strong> -
<div>
An antibody panel that broadly neutralizes currently circulating Omicron variants was obtained by in vitro affinity maturation using phage display. Starting from a single parent clone, antibody engineering was performed in iterative stages in real time as variants emerged using a proprietary technology called STage-Enhanced Maturation (STEM). Humanized from a rabbit antibody, the parent clone showed undetectable neutralization of later Omicron variants, while an early stage IgG possessing only an engineered light chain potently neutralizes some BA.2 but not BA.4/BA.5 lineage variants. However, the final heavy and light chain engineered mAbs show potent neutralization of XBB.1.5 and BQ.1.1 by surrogate virus neutralization test, and biolayer interferometry shows pM KD affinity for both variants. Our work not only details novel therapeutic candidates but also validates a unique general strategy to create broadly neutralizing mAbs to current and future SARS-CoV-2 variants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.25.525589v1" target="_blank">Rapid engineering of SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic antibodies to increase breadth of neutralization including XBB.1.5 and BQ.1.1</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Incident autoimmune diseases in association with a SARS-CoV-2 infection: A matched cohort study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objectives: To investigate whether the risk of developing an incident autoimmune disease is increased in patients with previous COVID-19 disease compared to people without COVID-19. Method: A cohort was selected from German routine health care data covering 38.9 million individuals. Based on documented diagnoses, we identified individuals with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 through December 31, 2020. Patients were matched 1:3 to control patients without COVID-19. Both groups were followed up until June 30, 2021. We used the four quarters preceding the index date until the end of follow-up to analyze the onset of autoimmune diseases during the post-acute period. Incidence rates (IR) per 1000 person-years were calculated for each outcome and patient group. Poisson models were deployed to estimate the incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of developing an autoimmune disease conditional on a preceding diagnosis of COVID-19. Results: In total, 641,704 patients with COVID-19 were included. Comparing the incidence rates in the COVID-19 (IR=15.05, 95% CI: 14.69-15.42) and matched control groups (IR=10.55, 95% CI: 10.25-10.86), we found a 42.63% higher likelihood of acquiring autoimmunity for patients who had suffered from COVID-19. This estimate was similar for common autoimmune diseases, such as Hashimoto thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, or Sjoegren syndrome. The highest IRR was observed for autoimmune disease of the vasculitis group. Patients with a more severe course of COVID-19 were at a greater risk for incident autoimmune diseases. Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with an increased risk of developing new-onset autoimmune diseases after the acute phase of infection.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.25.23285014v1" target="_blank">Incident autoimmune diseases in association with a SARS-CoV-2 infection: A matched cohort study</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>Evaluation of Corfluvec Vaccine for the Prevention of COVID-19 in Healthy Volunteers</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Corfluvec component 1 low dose;   Biological: Corfluvec component 2 low dose;   Biological: Corfluvec component 1 high dose;   Biological: Corfluvec component 2 high dose;   Biological: Corfluvec low dose;   Biological: Corfluvec high dose;   Biological: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Tatyana Zubkova;   MDP-CRO, LLC;   St. Petersburg State Pavlov Medical University<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>COVID-19 Self-testing Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: SMARTest mobile app for COVID-19 self-testing<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Columbia University<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study of Efficacy and Safety of Azvudine vs. Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir in the Treatment of COVID-19 Infection</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Azvudine;   Drug: Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Shandong Provincial Hospital;   Central hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University;   The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University;   The Affiliated Hospital Of Southwest Medical University;   Gansu Provincial Hospital<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Chatbot to Enhance COVID-19 Knowledge</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Device: chatbot;   Other: Printed educational booklet<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sun Yat-sen 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>Low-Dose Radiation Therapy for Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Radiation: Low-Dose Radiation Therapy<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Jiangsu Cancer Institute &amp; Hospital;   Nanjing Chest Hospital;   The Affiliated BenQ Hospital of Nanjing Medical University;   Central South University;   Zhongda Hospital<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>Tetrandrine Tablets Used in Hospitalized Adults With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Tetrandrine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Peking University Third Hospital<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Phase 2 Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of QLS1128 Orally in Symptomatic Participants With Mild to Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: QLS1128;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Qilu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy of Megadose Vitamin C in Severe and Critical Ill COVID-19 Patients.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Vitamin C;   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Vitamin C;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Zhujiang Hospital<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>Oropharyngeal Immunoprophylaxis With High Polyphenolic Olive Oil as Clinical Spectrum Mitigating Factor in COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Dietary Supplement: High polyphenolic olive oil. (Early harvest olive oil).<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hospital General Nuestra Señora del Prado<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Randomized, Phase I Study of DNA Vaccine OC-007 as a Booster Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection;   COVID-19 Vaccine Adverse Reaction<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: DNA vaccine OC-007;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Matti Sällberg<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>Multicenter Randomized Double-blind Placebo-controlled Study to Investigate Azvudine in Symptomatic Adults With COVID-19 at Increased Risk of Progressing to Severe Illness</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Azvudine;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Peking Union Medical College Hospital<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>UC-MSCs in the Treatment of Severe and Critical COVID-19 Patients With Refractory Hypoxia</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Mesenchymal Stem Cell;   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: UC-MSCs treatment<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Shanghai East Hospital;   Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety and Efficacy of the Therapy With BREINMAX® for the Treatment of Patients With Asthenia After COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Asthenia;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ethyl methyl hydroxypyridine succinate + Meldonium;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Promomed, LLC<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>Aerosolized Versus Intravenous Colistin-based Antimicrobial Regimens in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients With Bacterial Coinfection: A Randomized Controlled Trial</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Secondary Bacterial Infection in COVID-19 Patients<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Colistin<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Beni-Suef University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Acupuncture as an Adjunctive Therapy for Covid-19 Omicron Randomised Controlled Trial in Patients With Moderate/Severe Pneumonia</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Acupuncture;   Covid-19 Omicron;   Pulmonary Function<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Acupuncture<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine<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>Reducing Vaccinia virus transmission indoors within 60 seconds: Applying SAFEAIR-X aerosol with Iodine-V as a disinfectant</strong> - Iodine-V ((C26H39N4O15)x * (I2)y) demonstrates an in vitro virucidal activity by deactivating SARS-CoV-2 viral titers. It combines elemental iodine (I2) and fulvic acid (C14H12O8), forming a clathrate compound. The antiviral properties of Iodine-V reduce viral load in the air to inhibit viral transmission indoors. This antiviral property was applied to form a disinfectant solution called SAFEAIR-X Aerosol. The current study evaluates the antiviral efficacy of Iodine-V in aerosol form in 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>Waning humoral and cellular immunity after COVID-19 vaccination in patients with psoriasis treated with methotrexate and biologics: a cohort study</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with anti-TNF has an impact on the immunity elicited by mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination in patients with psoriasis, resulting in a faster waning of humoral and cellular markers of immunity, however, the clinical implications are unknown.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Identification of niclosamide as a novel antiviral agent against porcine epidemic diarrhea virus infection by targeting viral internalization</strong> - Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), an enteropathogenic coronavirus, has catastrophic impacts on the global pig industry. However, there remain no effective drugs against PEDV infection. In this study, we utilized a recombinant PEDV expressing renilla luciferase (PEDV-Rluc) to screen potential anti-PEDV agents from an FDA-approved drug library in Vero cells. Four compounds were identified that significantly decreased luciferase activity of PEDV-Rluc. Among them, Niclosamide was further…</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>Hepatitis D virus interferes with hepatitis B virus RNA production via interferon-dependent and -independent mechanisms</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that HDV interferes with HBV through both IFN-dependent and IFN-independent mechanisms. Specifically, we uncover a new viral interference mechanism in which proteins of a satellite virus affect RNA production of its helper virus. Exploiting these finding could pave the way to the development of new therapeutic strategies against HBV.</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>Two pan-SARS-CoV-2 nanobodies and their multivalent derivatives effectively prevent Omicron infections in mice</strong> - With the widespread vaccinations against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we are witnessing gradually waning neutralizing antibodies and increasing cases of breakthrough infections, necessitating the development of drugs aside from vaccines, particularly ones that can be administered outside of hospitals. Here, we present two cross-reactive nanobodies (R14 and S43) and their multivalent derivatives, including decameric ones (fused to the immunoglobulin M [IgM] Fc) that maintain potent…</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>Thiopurine therapy in inflammatory bowel disease in the pandemic era: Safe or unsafe?</strong> - CONCLUSION: Emerging evidence suggests that TP therapy is safe during the current pandemic and does not carry an elevated risk when used as monotherapy on in combination with other IBD drugs. In-vitro studies demonstrate that TP is a potential therapeutic for present and future betacoronavirus pandemics.</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, synthesis and mechanism study of 2,3,5-substituted [1,2,4]-thiadiazoles as covalent inhibitors targeting 3C-Like protease of SARS-CoV-2</strong> - The 3C-like protease (3CL^(pro)) is essential for the replication and transcription of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), making it a promising target for the treatment of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, a series of 2,3,5-substituted [1,2,4]-thiadiazole analogs were discovered to be able to inhibit 3CL^(pro) as non-peptidomimetic covalent binders at submicromolar levels, with IC(50) values ranging from 0.118 to 0.582 μM. Interestingly, these…</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>Exploration of Fuzheng Yugan Mixture on COVID-19 based on network pharmacology and molecular docking</strong> - After the World Health Organization declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as a global pandemic, global health workers have been facing an unprecedented and severe challenge. Currently, a mixturetion to inhibit the exacerbation of pulmonary inflammation caused by COVID-19, Fuzheng Yugan Mixture (FZYGM), has been approved for medical institution mixturetion notification. However, the mechanism of FZYGM remains poorly defined. This study aimed to elucidate the molecular and related…</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>N-Phenylpyridine-3-Carboxamide and 6-Acetyl-1H-Indazole Inhibit the RNA Replication Step of the Dengue Virus Life Cycle</strong> - Dengue virus (DENV) is a Flavivirus that causes the most prevalent arthropod-borne viral disease. Clinical manifestation of DENV infection ranges from asymptomatic to severe symptoms that can lead to death. Unfortunately, no antiviral treatments against DENV are currently available. In order to identify novel DENV inhibitors, we screened a library of 1,604 chemically diversified fragment-based compounds using DENV reporter viruses that allowed quantification of viral replication in infected…</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>Soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibition alleviates chemotherapy induced neuropathic pain</strong> - Chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a particularly pernicious form of neuropathy and the associated pain is the primary dose-limiting factor of life-prolonging chemotherapy treatment. The prevalence of CIPN is high and can last long after treatment has been stopped. Currently, late in the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still increased psychological pressures on cancer patients as well as additional challenges in providing analgesia for them. These include the risks of nonsteroidal…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Growth of Executive Functions in Preschool-Age Children During the COVID-19 Lockdown: Empirical Evidence</strong> - CONCLUSION: Our findings illuminate the negative effects the pandemic-related social restrictions had on the growth of children’s cognitive flexibility and working memory. For working memory, the effect of social isolation varied depending on the child’s gender.</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>Exploring novel targets of sitagliptin for type 2 diabetes mellitus: Network pharmacology, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, and SPR approaches</strong> - CONCLUSION: This study used different methods to prove that ACE2 may be another novel target of sitagliptin for T2DM, which extended the application of ACE2 in improving diabetes mellitus.</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>Luteolin-rich fraction from <em>Perilla frutescens</em> seed meal inhibits spike glycoprotein S1 of SARS-CoV-2-induced NLRP3 inflammasome lung cell inflammation <em>via</em> regulation of JAK1/STAT3 pathway: A potential anti-inflammatory compound against inflammation-induced long-COVID</strong> - CONCLUSION: The findings suggested that luteolin and PFEA can modulate the signaling cascades that regulate Spike S1-induced lung inflammation during the incidence of Long-COVID. Consequently, luteolin and P. frutescens may be introduced as potential candidates in the preventive therapeutic strategy for inflammation-related post-acute sequelae of COVID-19.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacodynamics of Anti-C5a Antibody BDB-001 for Severe COVID-19: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase 1 Clinical Trial in Healthy Chinese Adults</strong> - CONCLUSION: The results of this phase I study supported that BDB-001 is a potent anti-C5a inhibitor with safety, tolerability, and no immunogenicity. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: CTR20200429.</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 genetically encoded BRET-based SARS-CoV-2 M<sup>pro</sup> protease activity sensor</strong> - The main protease, M^(pro), is critical for SARS-CoV-2 replication and an appealing target for designing anti-SARS-CoV-2 agents. Therefore, there is a demand for the development of improved sensors to monitor its activity. Here, we report a pair of genetically encoded, bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET)-based sensors for detecting M^(pro) proteolytic activity in live cells as well as in vitro. The sensors were generated by sandwiching peptides containing the M^(pro) N-terminal…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>

505
archive-daily-dose/28 January, 2023.html Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,505 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
<title>28 January, 2023</title>
<style>
code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
span.underline{text-decoration: underline;}
div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;}
div.hanging-indent{margin-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em;}
ul.task-list{list-style: none;}
</style>
<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
<body>
<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>What Happened to the Washington Post?</strong> - After a decade of growth, the paper is laying off staff and was reportedly on track to lose money last year. Its publisher and C.E.O. says it’s all part of a bold strategy. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/what-happened-to-the-washington-post">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Democratic Party’s Political Gift to Ron DeSantis</strong> - Republicans’ sustained and successful courting of Latino voters in South Florida could be a road map for the G.O.P. in 2024. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-democratic-partys-political-gift-to-ron-desantis">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Two Supreme Court Cases That Could Break the Internet</strong> - A cornerstone of life online has been that platforms are not responsible for content posted by users. What happens if that immunity goes away? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/two-supreme-court-cases-that-could-break-the-internet">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pope Francis Speaks Out on Homosexuality—and Further Angers Traditionalists</strong> - Since the death of Benedict XVI, it’s been open season at the Vatican. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/pope-francis-speaks-out-on-homosexuality-and-further-angers-traditionalists">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Strikes and Protests in France Look to the Future and the Past</strong> - Emmanuel Macron challenges the welfare state, and Charles de Gaulle makes a surprise return. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-strikes-and-protests-in-france-look-to-the-future-and-the-past">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Are we headed toward a “polycrisis”? The buzzword of the moment, explained.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Protesters stand holding signs about climate change in front of a building. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-nLEvYmm0g5PN9B7y6ImQAp4x1E=/312x0:3587x2456/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71915087/1246384381.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A group of activists protest the World Economic Forum (WEF) at its closing in Davos, Switzerland, on January 20, 2023. | Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The concept of “polycrisis” was everywhere in Davos. But is it saying anything meaningful?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bd4g5q">
There is nothing that Davos loves more than a good buzzword, and in 2023 that buzzword was “polycrisis.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nLuJFl">
The folks at this year’s World Economic Forum adopted the term after historian Adam Tooze popularized it in <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/498398e7-11b1-494b-9cd3-6d669dc3de33">his inaugural Financial Times column</a> last year. At its annual meeting last week, the WEF released its “<a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-risks-report-2023/digest">Global Risks Report 2023</a>,” warning that “eroding geopolitical cooperation will have ripple effects across the global risks landscape over the medium term, including contributing to a potential polycrisis of interrelated environmental, geopolitical and socioeconomic risks relating to the supply of and demand for natural resources.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xH7YDi">
This warning generated a lot of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/17/business/dealbook/davos-world-economic-forum-polycrisis.html">hand-wringing</a> on the narrow streets of Davos. Little wonder — a “polycrisis” sounds pretty bad! But it also sounds to some like a confusing and redundant neologism. In the opening Davos panel, historian Niall Ferguson rejected the term, explaining it as “<a href="https://twitter.com/ishaantharoor/status/1615255648597319681?s=20&amp;t=rWJm1wT6IulPZkGYhimpbQ">just history happening</a>.” In a bit of hot FT-on-FT action, columnist Gideon Rachman characterized polycrisis as one of his least favorite terms, asking, “<a href="https://twitter.com/gideonrachman/status/1614893315002077184?s=20&amp;t=zwGpl-e5AQtrY2A7bkedZg">Does it actually mean anything</a>?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BGJgl2">
As someone who has written <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Theories-International-Politics-Zombies-Apocalypse/dp/0691223513/ref=asc_df_0691223513/">a book</a> about zombie apocalypses and taught <a href="https://medium.com/@dandrezner/my-apocalypse-syllabus-2c32581f406e">a course</a> about the end of the world, I have a smidgen more sympathy for the polycrisis concept. I think its proponents are trying to get at something more than just history happening. They are putting a name to the belief that a more interconnected, complex world is vulnerable to an interconnected, complex global catastrophe.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yQRpFB">
That is a legitimate concern. Just because the concept of a polycrisis is real, however, does not mean that the logic behind a polycrisis is ironclad. Some of it echoes 1970s concerns about resource depletion combined with an increasing population — in other words, neo-Malthusianism gussied up to sound fancy. A lot more of it can be reduced to concerns about climate change, which are real but not poly-anything. Those warnings about a polycrisis might be well-intentioned, but they also assume the existence of powerful negative feedback effects that may not actually exist.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k2WuQv">
The future will not be crisis-free by any stretch of the imagination — but the notion of a polycrisis might do more harm than good in attempting to get a grip on the systemic risks that threaten humanity.
</p>
<h3 id="hlTspU">
The history of the idea of the polycrisis
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QlMZKQ">
As with many buzzwords foretelling despair, the origins of polycrisis can be blamed on the French.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MgBief">
In their 1999 book <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Homeland_Earth.html?id=66B-AAAAMAAJ"><em>Homeland Earth: A Manifesto for the New Millennium</em></a><em>,</em> French complexity theorist Edgar Morin and his co-author Anne Brigitte Kern warned of the “complex intersolidarity of problems, antagonisms, crises, uncontrollable processes, and the general crisis of the planet.” Other academics began using the term in a similar way. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/SPEECH_16_2293">adopted the term</a> to characterize the cluster of negative shocks triggered by the 2008 financial crisis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="upgkN8">
So far, so redundant — none of these initial references really seem to mean much beyond “A Big, Bad Catastrophe.” Tooze’s initial column and <a href="https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-130-defining-polycrisis">Substack post</a>, however, referenced the work of political scientists Michael Lawrence, Scott Janzwood, and Thomas Homer-Dixon. They work at the Cascade Institute, a Canadian research center focusing on emergent and systemic risks. In <a href="https://cascadeinstitute.org/technical-paper/what-is-a-global-polycrisis/">a 2022 working paper</a>, they provide the fullest etymology of “polycrisis” and what they mean by it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WRGgYH">
So what the hell is a polycrisis? The quick-and-dirty answer is that it’s the concatenation of shocks that generate crises that trigger crises in other systems that, in turn, worsen the initial crises, making the combined effect far, far worse than the sum of its parts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xJkdAV">
The longer answer requires some familiarity with how complex systems work. Complex systems can range from a nuclear power plant to Earth’s ecosystem. In tightly wound and complex systems, not even experts can be entirely sure how the inner workings of the system will respond to stresses and shocks. Those who study systemic and catastrophic risks have <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents">long been aware</a> that crises in these systems are often endogenous — i.e., they often bubble up from within the system’s inscrutable internal workings.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7FeMl5">
For example, when Lehman Brothers declared Chapter 11 in September 2008, few observers understood that Lehman’s bankruptcy would cause panic in money market funds. That was a relatively risk-free asset class seemingly far removed from the subprime mortgage debt that felled Lehman.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xYHKDQ">
Except the Reserve Primary Fund, the oldest money market fund in the country, had invested some of its assets at Lehman, which had enabled it to offer a slightly higher rate of return. With those investments frozen by Lehman’s bankruptcy, the Reserve Primary Fund had to <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/dealbook.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/money-market-fund-says-customers-could-lose-money/">“break the buck”</a> and price its fund below a dollar — hitherto unthinkable for a fund that was seen as pretty secure. That caused credit markets everywhere to seize up, and the Great Recession unfolded. The crisis cascaded so quickly that it was impossible for regulators and central banks to get out in front of the disaster wave.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cu8jJ6">
The folks who warn about a polycrisis argue that it is not just components within a single system that are tightly interconnected. It is the systems themselves — health, geopolitics, the environment — that are increasingly interacting and tightly coupled. Therefore, if one system malfunctions, the crisis might trigger other systems to fail, leading to catastrophic negative feedback effects across multiple systems and affecting the entire world. Or, as Lawrence, Janzwood, and Homer-Dixon put it in their paper:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N3D1bc">
The core concern of the concept is that a crisis in one global system has knock-on effects that cascade (or spill over) into other global systems, creating or worsening crises there. Global crises happen less and less in isolation; they interact with one another so that one crisis makes a second more likely and deepens their overall harms. The polycrisis concept thus highlights <em>the causal interaction of crises across global systems</em>.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xiRNkP">
Think of rising commodity prices <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/world-july-dec11-food_09-07">triggering</a> the Arab Spring in 2010. Or think of the vicissitudes of the Covid-19 pandemic helping to trigger both the <a href="https://www.ey.com/en_us/supply-chain/how-covid-19-impacted-supply-chains-and-what-comes-next">stresses in global supply chains</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/12/24/collective-trauma-public-outbursts/">social dysfunction</a>. These are examples of one systemic crisis generating another systemic crisis. Imagine all the myriad crises that climate change can trigger — from food scarcity to new pandemics to a surge in migration. The Cascade Institute paper defines a polycrisis as when three or more systems wind up being in crisis at the same time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bYmFUk">
Given all the interconnections in the current moment, a polycrisis is not hard to conceive. To contemplate it is to be overwhelmed by catastrophic possibilities. Here, look at <a href="https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-130-defining-polycrisis">Tooze’s chart</a>:
</p>
<div id="ojhu8e">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
schizoposting in the time of crisis<a href="https://t.co/dxxnSLlVvt">https://t.co/dxxnSLlVvt</a> <a href="https://t.co/9D1tiPVq3k">pic.twitter.com/9D1tiPVq3k</a>
</p>
— devcroix ⚔️ (<span class="citation" data-cites="devarbol">@devarbol</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/devarbol/status/1540339900188397570?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2022</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YzGzl2">
Or look at the World Economic Forum’s <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-risks-report-2023/digest">similar chart</a>:
</p>
<div id="RvAYyF">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Global risks landscape: an interconnections map<a href="https://twitter.com/wef?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="wef">@wef</span></a> <a href="https://t.co/PMwjMCDmbN">pic.twitter.com/PMwjMCDmbN</a>
</p>
— Chris Konrad (<span class="citation" data-cites="cjkonrad">@cjkonrad</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/cjkonrad/status/1615145164623806464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2023</a>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sLF1rz">
Or, if you prefer sci-fi narratives as a means to better comprehension, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwZLh30DW7M">watch this clip</a> from Amazon Prime’s <em>The Peripheral,</em> which talks about a cluster of events called “The Jackpot” in a way that sounds awfully similar to a polycrisis.
</p>
<div id="V0xd0d">
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;">
</div>
</div>
<h3 id="mppYbW">
How real is the polycrisis?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Nsaclp">
Take a second now and consider all the shocks that have buffeted you, dear reader, in the past few years alone.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PgX1zt">
There is the largest land war in Europe in recent memory, a devastating pandemic, the surge in refugee flows, high inflation, fragile global governance, and the leading democracies turning inward as they face populist challenges at home. It seems easy — and enervating — to believe that the polycrisis is upon us.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qytcba">
The thing about the previous paragraph is that it does not just describe the current moment; it also captures the global situation almost exactly a century ago. The First World War devastated Europe. The war also helped to facilitate the spread of the influenza pandemic through troop movements and information censorship. The costs of both the war and the pandemic badly weakened the postwar order, leading to spikes in hyperinflation, illiberal ideologies, and democracies that turned inward. All of that transpired during the start of the Roaring ’20s; the world turned much darker a decade later.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iR9XlT">
So maybe Niall Ferguson has a point; what some are calling a polycrisis could just be history rhyming with itself.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dwSEe2">
Those warning about a polycrisis vigorously dispute this. They argue that the growing synchronization and interconnectivity of systemic risks increases the chance of a polycrisis. As one <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/13/opinion/coronavirus-ukraine-climate-inflation.html">recent New York Times op-ed</a> co-authored by Homer-Dixon explained, “complex and largely unrecognized causal links among the world’s economic, social and ecological systems may be causing many risks to go critical at nearly the same time.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zFUPyN">
These concerns are borderline Malthusian. Thomas Malthus famously warned that the human population would exponentially outstrip mankind’s capacity to grow food. This proved to be spectacularly wrong, but the power of Malthusian logic remains. Neo-Malthusians are less concerned about food specifically and more about human civilization outstripping other necessary resources.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FSLldR">
In the same op-ed, Homer-Dixon and co-author Johan Rockström worry that “the magnitude of humanity’s resource consumption and pollution output is weakening the resilience of natural systems.” The WEF report ranked a “cost-of-living crisis” as the most severe global risk over the next two years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NAp7TM">
Concerns about climate change should not be minimized. At the same time, there are ways in which the notion of a polycrisis obfuscates more than it reveals.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uMpjVr">
Looking at the charts above makes it seem as though little can be done to prevent a polycrisis. Indeed, the Cascade Institute paper is written as though the polycrisis has already happened.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eR1VoF">
This sort of framing is bound to generate a sense of helplessness in the face of overwhelming complexity and crisis. In <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674768680"><em>The Rhetoric of Reaction</em></a>, Albert Hirschman warned about the “futility thesis” — the rejection of preventive action due to a fatalistic belief that it is simply too late.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wL1xgD">
It is far from obvious that there will be a polycrisis (let alone that we’re already in one). As the economist Noah Smith <a href="https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/against-polycrisis">pointed out</a> in his rejoinder to Tooze, its proponents underestimate how much “the global economy and political system are full of mechanisms that push back against shocks.” Indeed, for all the concerns that have been voiced over the past two years about global supply chain stresses and rampant inflation, both of those trends appear to have <a href="https://www.capitaleconomics.com/newsroom/global-supply-chain-pressures-are-easing-for-now">reversed</a> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/inflation-sudden-drop-12-5-month-cpi-pce-energy-food-new-year-price-federal-reserve-11672914903?page=1">themselves</a> quite nicely. Complaints about scarce container ships and computer chips that dominated 2021 have turned into stories about gluts in both markets.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Cargo ships seen from overhead." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pBGHQyYa5ddKsk7QO7D9mYZAkf0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24387530/1246519720.jpg"/> <cite>CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Cargo ships are loaded with containers as they prepare to dock at the container terminal in Lianyungang, East China’s Jiangsu province, on January 25, 2023.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a5xcCb">
On the sociopolitical side of the ledger, it is noteworthy that as societies emerge from the pandemic, indicators of social dysfunction might <a href="https://danieldrezner.substack.com/p/is-the-country-getting-better">start to subside</a>. Political populism has actually been trending downward for the past year or so. Even <a href="https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/the-year-of-fukuyama">skeptics of democracy have noticed</a> that autocracies have been facing greater challenges as of late than democracies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1FgS7f">
Malthusian arguments rest on producers being unable to keep pace with growing demand, and modern history suggests that the Malthusian logic has been proven wrong time and again. Homer-Dixon in particular has been a strong proponent of neo-Malthusian arguments, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2539061">positing</a> for decades that resource scarcity would lead to greater international violence. So far, the scholarly research testing his claim has found <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022343305054089">little</a> <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022343313493455">empirical</a> <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050317-070830">support</a> for the hypothesis.
</p>
<h3 id="WtEfPt">
Predicting the unpredictable
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sdRZjA">
The deeper flaw in the polycrisis logic is the presumption that one systemic crisis will inexorably lead to negative feedback effects that cause other systems to tip into crisis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3FiZql">
If this assumption does not hold, then the whole logic of a single polycrisis falls apart. To their credit, the Cascade Institute authors acknowledge that this might not happen, but they posit: “it seems more likely that causal interactions between systemic crises will worsen, rather than diminish, the overall emergent impacts.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8hEYCm">
At first glance, this seems like a plausible assumption to make. Remember, however, that the proponents of a polycrisis also assert that the systems under stress are highly complex, leading to unpredictable cause-and-effect relationships. If that is true, then presuming that one systemic crisis would automatically exacerbate stresses in other systems seems premature at best and skewed at worst.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4oE12t">
Indeed, over the last year there have been at least two examples of one systemic crisis actually lessening stress on another system.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="faR3E6">
China’s increasingly centralized autocracy generated a socioeconomic disaster in the form of <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/11/30/23485943/china-protests-covid-zero-shanghai-beijing-xi-jinping">“zero Covid” lockdowns</a>. Xi Jinping kept that policy in place long after it made any sense, accidentally throttling China’s economy. The timing of China’s lockdown was fortuitous, however, as stagnant Chinese demand helped prevent an inflationary spiral from getting any worse. China’s exit from zero-Covid will likely also be countercyclical, jump-starting economic growth at a time when other regions tip into recession.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U17rLO">
Another weird, fortuitous interaction has been the one between climate change and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As Europe aided Ukraine and resisted Russia’s blatant, illegal actions, Russia retaliated by cutting off energy exports. Many were concerned that Russia’s counter-sanctions would make this winter extremely hard and expensive for Europe.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j7MsyC">
Climate change may have provided a weird geopolitical assist to Europe, however. The warming climate is likely connected to Europe’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64158283">extremely temperate</a> fall and winter. That, in turn, has required less electricity for heating, leaving the continent with <a href="https://twitter.com/jnordvig/status/1610609628940800001?s=20&amp;t=P9FK47_IcZwOIcdOlE-76g">plenty of energy reserves</a> to last the winter. Russia’s ability to wreak havoc on the European economy has been circumscribed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4wYerY">
None of this is to say that systemic crises cannot exacerbate each other. Just because a polycrisis has not happened yet does not mean one is not on the horizon. Just as one buys insurance to guard against low-probability, high-impact outcomes, policymakers and elements of civil society need to guard against worst-case scenarios.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lQM87P">
As a term of art, however, “polycrisis” distracts more than it adds. It mostly seems like a device to make people care about the Really Bad Things that climate change can do, without turning people off by warning them yet again about the hazards of climate change.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B1f4nd">
<em>Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School and is the author of Drezner’s World</em>.
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Did George Santos lie about everything?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Q1-aClNl4aOXViLz06YZR9kLMAU=/163x0:2775x1959/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71778710/1245739587.0.jpeg"/>
<figcaption>
New York Representative-elect George Santos speaks during the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 19. | David Becker/Washington Post via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Republican representative who allegedly made up his life story, explained.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p7v4ia">
The biography of newly elected Congress member George Santos seemed quite impressive. The 34-year-old son of immigrants had graduated from Baruch College, a public college in New York, before going on to work at firms like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Santos eventually became a successful financier who started an animal rescue charity. The problem is that biography was apparently a lie, and now he might be facing not only political consequences but <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/nyregion/george-santos-long-island-investigation.html">legal consequences</a> for his wholesale inventions.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="07Zbsg">
As revealed in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/nyregion/george-santos-ny-republicans.html">the New York Times</a> on December 19, it wasn’t just that Santos exaggerated his résumé — he had allegedly invented it out of whole cloth.
</p>
<aside id="MvOVty">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1DbH55">
The Times found that he apparently did not graduate from Baruch College, he did not work for Goldman Sachs or Citigroup, there were no records of him being a successful financier, nor were there of him registering his animal rescue charity. The Times also found that he had been charged with check fraud in Brazil.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TfMwmd">
Further, a number of outlets have <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2022/12/george-santos-republican-congress-jewish-long-island-brazil-family/">found no evidence</a> of Santos’s repeated claims to be Jewish, to have Jewish heritage, or to be descended from refugees fleeing the Holocaust. Santos <a href="https://forward.com/fast-forward/529798/george-santos-jewish-american-republican-congress/">even described himself</a> at one point as a “proud American Jew” in a campaign position paper.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2A7c2z">
In a media tour with friendly outlets on December 26, Santos <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E20WpTB4ZgA">admitted</a> to putting “a little bit of fluff” on his résumé. In other words, he conceded that he never graduated from college, never worked for Goldman Sachs or Citigroup, and wasn’t Jewish (though he <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/12/26/rep-elect-george-santos-admits-fabricating-key-details-of-his-bio/">claimed</a> to be “Jew-ish”). Santos brushed off lying about basic biographical information as embellishment, and he pushed back on the Times’s reporting about his criminal charge in Brazil. “I am not a criminal,” he told the New York Post.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WHJ6nB">
The story has sparked one of the more bizarre political scandals in American history. Members of Congress have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/03/02/temporarily-insane-a-congressman-a-sensational-killing-and-a-new-legal-defense/">committed murder</a> in office. In fact, a member of Congress <a href="https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1800-1850/A-fatal-duel-between-Members-in-1838/">has even killed</a> another member of Congress. Even in the present day, we’ve seen every scandal under the sun, from Anthony Weiner tweeting a lewd picture of himself, to <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/03/no-one-likes-marjorie-taylor-greene-but-can-they-stop-her.html">Marjorie Taylor Greene’s</a> infamous Facebook post about Jewish space lasers. But it’s hard to think of a precedent for a scandal like this as Santos faces calls for his resignation from fellow Republicans and investigations into potential criminal misconduct.
</p>
<h3 id="1YHt0F">
Who is George Santos?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B6320B">
There are some things we know about Santos. The openly gay son of Brazilian immigrants, he was elected in November to an open congressional seat that includes a thin slice of Queens and much of the North Shore of Long Island in Nassau County. Santos <a href="https://www.politico.com/2022-election/results/new-york/house/">defeated</a> Democrat Robert Zimmerman by a margin of 54 percent to 46 percent. This represented a major swing from 2020 when Biden had won the district by the same margin. That year, Santos <a href="https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/new-york/house/">ran against</a> incumbent Tom Suozzi in a similar district and lost handily by a margin of 56 percent to 43.5 percent.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cdb7t4">
Santos is also an ardent Trump supporter — so much so that he was at Trump’s Ellipse rally on January 6, 2021, and has repeatedly falsely claimed that the former president won the 2020 election.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h2oht4">
Also, for all his alleged lying about his résumé, it is clear that <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/george-devolder-santos-maga-house-candidate-in-new-york-haunted-by-gig-at-alleged-ponzi-scheme">one company Santos worked at, Harbor City Capital</a>, has been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of being a Ponzi scheme. As for Santos’s other employment, he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/nyregion/george-santos-republican-resume.html">did spend a stint </a>as a Portuguese language customer service agent for DISH Network a decade ago.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eDnRRn">
Santos has also been <a href="https://patch.com/new-york/oysterbay/disabled-veteran-george-santos-took-3k-dying-dogs-gofundme">accused of setting up a GoFundMe </a>that raised $3,000 to pay for lifesaving surgery for the dying service dog of a disabled homeless veteran and then pocketing the money.<strong> </strong>He <a href="https://twitter.com/Santos4Congress/status/1616096068353105922">responded on Twitter</a> by claiming “the reports that I would let a dog die is shocking &amp; insane.” Santos added, “Over the past 24hr I have received pictures of dogs I helped reduce throughout the years along with supportive messages.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fN5ULi">
Santos has also pushed back against <a href="https://thehandbasket.substack.com/p/the-daily-santos-vol-7">the claim that he dressed in drag</a> while living in Brazil. A drag performer who goes by the name Eula Rochard <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/embattled-us-rep-santos-was-drag-queen-brazil-pageants-say-associates-2023-01-19/">told multiple outlets</a> that Santos used to perform in drag under the name “Kitara Ravache.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7OQem1">
Santos mounted an aggressive denial Thursday morning <a href="https://twitter.com/Santos4Congress/status/1616062983578189824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1616062983578189824%7Ctwgr%5E8036e215f8a947bd4ab5df5806d6d44325763854%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fgeorge-santos-denies-performing-drag-queen-brazil-categorically-false">on Twitter</a>. “The most recent obsession from the media claiming that I am a drag Queen or ‘performed’ as a drag Queen is categorically false,” said the embattled New York Republican. “The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BWFbkl">
On Saturday, he <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/21/politics/george-santos-denies-drag-queen-brazil-festival/index.html">conceded to reporters</a> at LaGuardia Airport that he did dress in drag but that he was simply having “fun at a festival.”
</p>
<h3 id="WHMFIX">
What don’t we know?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kgkzl7">
We don’t know a lot. This ranges from basic facts about Santos’s biography to details about his dealings with the Brazilian criminal justice system, and everything in between, including where he actually lives.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QtGsUA">
But most importantly, we don’t know where Santos’s money comes from. The representative loaned his own campaign $700,000 during the 2022 cycle and <a href="https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2022/10050385.pdf">claimed an income</a> of $750,000. He also listed millions of dollars in assets including an apartment in Rio De Janeiro worth up to $1 million and a seven-figure savings account. It’s a major shift in fortune for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/nyregion/george-santos-ny-republicans.html">someone who was evicted twice,</a> in 2015 and 2017, for failing to pay rent and had been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/nyregion/george-santos-republican-resume.html">taken to court for not paying debts</a>. Even in 2020, he <a href="https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2020/10035760.pdf">reported</a> income in only one category — compensation in excess of $5,000 paid by one source — with <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/george-santos-was-just-elected-to-congress-he-faces-scrutiny-over-his-resume-11671627601?st=45insz04d459bh4">no other assets</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2VOnmZ">
Santos initially provided no information on his finances on his media tour, except to concede that he owned no property. He had previously <a href="https://twitter.com/Santos4Congress/status/1358981815495704581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">claimed on Twitter</a> to be a landlord who owned 13 properties. The representative eventually <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/12/28/2022/george-santos-tries-to-explain-his-wealth">claimed in an interview with Semafo</a>r that his newfound wealth came from “capital introduction” where he helped broker deals for the wealthy. Santos used a yacht sale as an example of how he earned a living, “If you’re looking at a $20 million yacht, my referral fee there can be anywhere between $200,000 and $400,000.”
</p>
<h3 id="SQPnxr">
What happens now?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l4kN5I">
Santos <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/nyregion/george-santos-long-island-investigation.html">is already being investigated</a> by federal and local prosecutors while the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James has been “looking into some of the issues that have come out.” <strong> </strong>Further, a <a href="https://campaignlegal.org/document/clc-files-complaint-alleging-rep-george-santos-violated-federal-campaign-finance-laws">complaint</a> has been filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC)<strong> </strong>by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center alleging Santos illegally hid the source of the money he loaned his campaign through a straw donor scheme and other alleged violations, including whether he used campaign funds to pay for personal expenses. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/01/27/santos-doj-investigation-fec/">reported Friday</a> that the Justice Department has asked the FEC to hold off any enforcement actions so that it can pursue a criminal investigation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WEJDtd">
Dan Goldman, a fellow representative from New York and a former prosecutor, has suggested that Santos face criminal investigation for conspiracy to defraud the United States as well as filing false statements to the FEC.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gbsnGa">
In a December interview with Vox, Goldman shied away from weighing in on whether Santos should be denied his seat in Congress. “I think the bigger question is not whether I think George Santos should be a member of Congress. The bigger question is whether Kevin McCarthy and the Republican leadership think that George Santos should be a member of Congress.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="revASB">
A number of Santos’s fellow Republicans have called on him to resign as well. <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2011/02/the-fall-of-the-nassau-republican-machine-and-the-rise-of-homeland-security-chair-peter-king-067223">The Nassau County Republican Party</a>, long considered the most powerful county party in New York, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/11/local-n-y-gop-leaders-to-call-on-george-santos-to-resign-00077450">called on Santos to step down </a>as have other fellow New York Republicans, including Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Nick Langworthy, and Brandon Williams.<strong> </strong>Joe Cairo, the chair of the Nassau County GOP, <a href="https://twitter.com/GarrettHaake/status/1613213759505371141">told reporters</a>, “George Santos’ campaign last year was a campaign of deceit, lies and fabrication” while demanding his resignation.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tAp8bR">
Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), one of only two Jewish Republicans in the House and a longtime Trump White House aide, <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMaxMiller/status/1613681580186259457">called on Santos to resign in mid January,</a> and cited the New York Republican’s lies about his family ties to the Holocaust in doing so. Republican leadership has equivocated, with <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/1/7/23543163/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-of-the-house-vote-elected">Speaker Kevin McCarthy</a> <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/12/politics/george-santos-calls-to-resign/index.html">acknowledging</a> that while Santos has “a long way to go to earn trust” and still has to face investigation by the House Ethics Committee, Santos is still “a part of the Republican conference.” But McCarthy <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mccarthy-says-santos-will-removed-congress-ethics-committee-finds-brok-rcna67366">acknowledged to reporters</a> on Wednesday that if the Ethics Committee found that Santos broke the law, the New York Republican should be ousted from Congress.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8C9vih">
However, as of now, McCarthy needs Santos almost as much as Santos needs McCarthy. McCarthy <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/1/7/23543163/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-of-the-house-vote-elected">only became speaker</a> by the skin of his teeth on <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/01/kevin-mccarthys-tarnished-triumph.html">the 15th ballot</a>. With a narrow majority — and the likelihood of frequent member absences now that the House has gotten rid of proxy voting — <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/10/2022-midterms-kevin-mccarthy-is-the-man-in-the-maga-middle.html">McCarthy</a> needs every vote he can get.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QZr2ml">
Further, because Santos represents one of the most Democratic seats in Congress held by a Republican, forcing him to resign under any circumstance is risky. It would be a difficult seat for a Republican to hold in a special election and a loss would further imperil an already slim GOP majority.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n1L4UZ">
In the meantime, it’s a matter of waiting for the next shoe to drop. As unsustainable as the current status quo might seem, the only impetus right now for Santos to resign would be a sense of shame, and it seems unlikely that he carries that burden.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IUr7Zj">
<em><strong>Update, January 27, 9:41 pm ET: </strong></em><em>This story was originally published on December 21 and has been updated multiple times, as more details have been reported about Santos’s background and calls for him to resign.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>Why traffic stops can be so dangerous for Black Americans like Tyre Nichols</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A huddled group of mostly Black faces, some partially hidden by hats and scarves, are lit by candlelight. The Black woman at the center of the photo holds a candle near her face, which seems drawn with grief. The expressions on the faces surrounding her, seen dimly though the gloom, match hers." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/P9CJ6hysQpl6OWA0d3dtGy-OOXo=/306x0:5197x3668/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71913296/1459866497.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
People attend a candlelight vigil in memory of Tyre Nichols at the Tobey Skate Park on January 26, 2023, in Memphis, Tennessee. | Scott Olson/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Nichols died from a brutal beating that followed a traffic stop.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FejWAd">
Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, died earlier this month after he was pulled over by Memphis police, who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/us/tyre-nichols-timeline.html">violently beat him for three minutes</a>, an incident shown in <a href="https://twitter.com/CityofMem_Media/status/1619123186502889472?s=20&amp;t=d9wkMkLueiRFmttLn7Cyhg">footage that was released Friday</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3PPYt7">
Lawyers for the Nichols family said in a press conference Monday that Nichols had been treated like a “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-JExNfIDlQ">human piñata</a>.” Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said in a video statement Thursday that the attack was “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpD2FDjBBr8&amp;t=5s">heinous, reckless, and inhumane</a>.” The Memphis Police Department and other law enforcement agencies across the country are consequently <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/3831775-memphis-braces-for-release-of-video-footage-in-tyre-nichols-beating/">anticipating civil unrest</a> following the release of the footage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gdxb5h">
Five Black officers for the Memphis Police Department — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith — were fired after an internal departmental investigation found them to be “<a href="https://nypost.com/2023/01/26/police-chief-warns-memphis-not-to-react-violently-after-release-of-tyre-nichols-video/">directly responsible</a>” for the beating. They also were found to have violated departmental policies regarding excessive force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yHpa5k">
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/us/tyre-nichols-memphis-thursday/index.html">announced</a> Thursday that each would face charges of “second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnapping, two charges of official misconduct and one charge of official oppression.” They could face <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/us/tyre-nichols-memphis-thursday/index.html">up to 60 years in prison </a>for the murder charges alone.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YUb8gN">
Additionally, two Memphis Fire Department workers who were involved in Nichols’s initial care have been “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/24/1151150396/tyre-nichols-memphis-fire-department-employees">relieved of duty</a>,” according to the department. It’s not clear whether they could also face charges.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J0CkLI">
Police stopped Nichols for reckless driving on January 7. Memphis’s police chief later told <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNThisMorning/status/1618952068793868289">CNN</a> that investigators have “been unable to substantiate” the claim that Nichols was driving recklessly, however. Nichols expressed confusion for the stop, saying in the footage that he was “just trying to go home.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3KIPJ5">
The officers who initially stopped him responded by threatening to “knock your ass the fuck out,” and to break his bones. Nichols fled from the stop; once he was caught, those threats were carried out. Officers encircled Nichols, and repeatedly punched, kicked, and hit him with a baton — sometimes while he was restrained on the ground.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EXLdwn">
He was taken to a hospital after his arrest when he complained of shortness of breath. Three days later, he <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/us/what-we-know-tyre-nichols-death/index.html">died due to his injuries</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bp5wAg">
It’s not the first time that police have turned a traffic stop into a deadly altercation. Deaths like Nichols’s are all too common, especially for Black Americans, who nearly every available study shows are <a href="https://openpolicing.stanford.edu/findings/">stopped more often than white Americans</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="7lMWwD">
Why traffics stops can be dangerous for Black Americans
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="clvOob">
Black Americans are often taught — at home, through personal experience, and by the news — to see encounters with police, particularly traffic stops, as dangerous, if not potentially fatal.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rGkjVz">
The deaths of Americans like Nichols, or <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/12/22379984/daunte-wright-minnesota-police-killing-traffic-stop-brooklyn-center">Daunte Wright</a>, Sandra Bland, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/13/21290334/atlanta-police-shooting-wendys-video">Rayshard Brooks</a>, validate that teaching. But it’s not just Black civilians who learn to fear traffic stops. As University of Arizona law professor Jordan Blair Woods wrote for the <a href="https://michiganlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/117MichLRev635_Woods.pdf"><strong>Michigan Law Review</strong></a>, police are taught to view stops as dangerous as well — not for those they’re stopping, but for themselves and their colleagues.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="arCfQm">
“Police academies regularly show officer trainees videos of the most extreme cases of violence against officers during routine traffic stops in order to stress that mundane police work can quickly turn into a deadly situation if they become complacent on the scene or hesitate to use force,” Woods wrote.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x7H7QQ">
That training belies the fact that police officers are rarely injured in traffic stops. In Woods’s analysis of Florida traffic stop data from 2005 to 2014, the professor finds police had a 1 in 6.5 million chance of being killed during a traffic stop, and a 1 in 361,111 chance of being seriously injured. Overall, more than 98 percent of stops saw zero or minor injury to officers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5va8Tt">
Data in other states mirrors Woods’s findings. In their <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;id=jPpTDwAAQBAJ&amp;oi=fnd&amp;pg=PA24&amp;dq=police+traffic+stop+injury&amp;ots=TU0nqv7B72&amp;sig=cu1ChcCCLQraJYBCb-Fwfre2Zrs#v=onepage&amp;q=police%20traffic%20stop%20injury&amp;f=false">book <em>Suspect Citizens</em></a>, UNC political science professor Frank Baumgartner, University of Texas government professor Derek A. Epp, and University of South Carolina political science professor Kelsey Shoub found that North Carolina “officers encountered violence about 24,000 times, or just over once per 1,000 stops.” When someone was injured at a stop, it was usually the person being stopped, the authors found.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gliJ2Q">
And when wounded, like Nichols was, citizens’ chances of surviving a routine stop with police are less than stellar. A <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/703541"><strong>2019 study by Shea Streeter</strong></a>, currently an American politics professor at the University of Michigan, found that in 2015, about 11 percent of police killings happened at traffic and pedestrian stops nationwide.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Yrg4gT">
Complicating matters for Black individuals is that the data suggests they’re <a href="https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&amp;httpsredir=1&amp;article=1065&amp;context=dflsc"><strong>stopped more often</strong></a> than white people — in some localities, by a large margin. The <a href="https://openpolicing.stanford.edu/findings/"><strong>Stanford Open Policing Project</strong></a>, a database of more than 200 million traffic stops, found that in St. Paul, Black drivers are a little over three times more likely than white drivers to be pulled over; in San Jose, California, Black drivers are six times more likely to be stopped.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V6v5Wd">
Arguably, drivers of all races ought to be stopped at about the same rate — anyone of any race or gender could engage in the reckless driving Nichols was allegedly stopped for. This has led to a number of researchers trying to understand the disparity in who is stopped. In general, their results suggest that the issue has to do with officer bias, conscious or unconscious, that casts Black people as inherently more dangerous than their white counterparts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uI1SGI">
Tied to this idea is the question of what stops are for. As a group of University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and Dartmouth College researchers led by Baumgartner wrote in a <a href="https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&amp;httpsredir=1&amp;article=1065&amp;context=dflsc"><strong>2017 paper</strong></a>, in many departments, traffic stops are meant to serve a dual purpose:<strong> </strong>to deter illegal behavior and as a chance for officers to investigative past or potential crimes. In many ways, this system is akin to stop-and-frisk, a practice <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/2020/2/14/21136892/stop-and-frisk-bloomberg-activist"><strong>most prominently used in New York City</strong></a> that was meant to uncover criminal behavior through street searches. The program was ruled unconstitutional.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7RBg37">
As Baumgartner wrote, “officers are trained to use traffic stops as a general enforcement strategy aimed at reducing violent crime or drug trafficking. When officers are serving these broader goals, they are making an investigatory stop, and these stops have little (if anything) to do with traffic safety and everything to do with who looks suspicious.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XFrNIY">
It’s impossible to know — at least with the information currently available — whether the officers who stopped Nichols did so because they found him suspicious. It is known, however, that they were part of Memphis’s SCORPION Unit, with the name being an acronym meaning “Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods.” That restoration of peace heavily involved traffic stops, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/memphis-police-scorpion-unit-tyre-nichols-rcna67711">NBC News</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8zZBQv">
If Black drivers are seen as more suspicious and police are trained to view traffic stops as dangerous in general, this creates a serious problem. When a Black driver is stopped, the interaction is more likely to begin with the officer even more on guard for trouble than they might otherwise be.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SqLAQg">
This can lead to the kind of rapid escalation seen in Nichols’s case, in which officers ended the stop through violence. Some officers favor beginning with violence, perhaps out of fear, like during the encounter that ended George Floyd’s life. Body camera footage released during Derek Chauvin’s trial, for example, shows an officer drawing his weapon shortly after approaching Floyd’s vehicle and yelling at him to “Put your fucking hands up right now.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0jZgYj">
These tactics, as well as the fear and bias that fuel them, put Black drivers in mortal danger. Law enforcement representatives have argued the stops are necessary — “we find drugs, evidence of other crimes … it’s a very valuable tool,” Kevin Lawrence, the Texas Municipal Police Association’s executive director, told the <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/09/03/police-pretext-traffic-stops-need-to-end-some-lawmakers-say"><strong>Pew Charitable Trusts</strong></a> in 2020 — but those discoveries are rare. Nationally, about 4 percent of stops resulted in searches or<strong> </strong>arrests in 2015, according to the <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpp15.pdf"><strong>Bureau of Justice Statistics</strong></a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LrTsJz">
This has a number of activists and elected officials questioning whether the risks traffic stops pose to drivers — particularly Black drivers — are worth such a small number of arrests.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8apPfi">
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/us/berkeley-police.html"><strong>Berkeley</strong></a>, California, for instance, approved a plan in 2021 to prohibit officers from conducting traffic stops for violations that have nothing to do with safety; <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/To-curb-racial-bias-Oakland-police-are-pulling-14839567.php"><strong>Oakland</strong></a> has a similar policy in place. <a href="https://theappeal.org/traffic-enforcement-without-police/">Other places</a>, including <a href="https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/01/montgomery-co-police-commission-to-hold-hearing-on-traffic-enforcement/"><strong>Montgomery County, Maryland</strong></a>, and <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/09/03/police-pretext-traffic-stops-need-to-end-some-lawmakers-say"><strong>Cambridge, Massachusetts</strong></a>, have contemplated such measures as well. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2019/10/01/bowser-does-an-end-run-around-dc-council-transfers-speed-red-light-camera-program-ddot/"><strong>Washington, DC</strong></a>, stripped its police department of some of its authority to regulate traffic laws in 2019, empowering its transportation department to do enforcement instead. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/bronx-arrests-traffic-archive-new-york-c93fa5fc03f25c2b625d36e4c75d1691"><strong>New York’s attorney general</strong></a> has recommended New York City make a similar change, and in 2022, <a href="https://www.police1.com/traffic-patrol/articles/nypd-no-longer-permitted-to-prolong-traffic-stops-to-check-for-warrants-3hauyE9SLWyQP77n/">New York City police</a> announced they’d no longer use stops to randomly check for open warrants<strong>.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r2ilaZ">
The long-term effectiveness of such measures remains to be seen. But they represent a small step away from the kind of policing that left Nichols, and so many before him, dead.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gXeAWq">
<em><strong>Update, January 27, 7:40 pm:</strong></em> This story has been updated to reflect the release of footage capturing Nichols’s beating and arrest.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2VEw2z">
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Leopard Rock obliges in the South India Sprinters Trial Stakes</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>Ahead Of My Time, King’s Ransom, Supernatural and Lazarus excel</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>Ravishing Form, Philosophy, Cyrenius, Silverius and Fortunatus impress</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>Hockey World Cup 2023 | Belgium, Germany face-off in all European battle</strong> - Australia and Netherlands to play for bronze medal and expect to finish on a high.</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>I can now spend more time with my son: Sania Mirza</strong> - Sania Mirza’s father Imran remembers some of the wonderful moments in his daughter’s career</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>India holds key to world peace and prosperity: Japanese ambassador</strong> - Hiroshi Suzuki also recalled his visit to Ahmedabad in 2017 with then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.</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>K-Smart to transform service delivery in urban local bodies</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>Officer suspended for forging signatures of IAS, IPS and IFS officers</strong> - The accused forged the signatures of officers to extending licenses issued for commercial establishments at Shivajinagar bus stands and TTMCs in BTM Layout and Vijayanagar, and for other purposes</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>Man accused of rape convicted, sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in Shivamogga</strong> - The 37-year-old resident of Thirthahalli taluk sexually harassed a 26-year-old lady in 2019.</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>Sons endorse Bhavani Revanna for Hassan seat, claim H.D. Deve Gowda and H.D. Revanna to finalise candidates for constituency</strong> - They were reacting to former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy’s statement that he would field an ordinary worker from Hassan constituency</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Auschwitz anniversary marked without Russia</strong> - Moscow accuses Poland of attempting to “rewrite history” after it is not invited to the 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>How tanks from Germany, US and UK could change the Ukraine war</strong> - German Leopard 2 tanks and US M1 Abrams tanks will spearhead attacks on Russia - but is it enough?</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: UN accuses Russia of breaking child protection rules over refugees</strong> - Moscow is accused of giving refugees Russian passports and allowing them to be adopted.</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>Andrew Tate: Judge explains extended detention of ‘dangerous’ influencer</strong> - The statement is the clearest indication yet of the evidence against the British-American influencer.</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>Czechs vote in second round of presidential election</strong> - Former PM Andrej Babis and retired Nato general Petr Pavel are vying for the ceremonial but influential post.</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>Annual? Bivalent? For all? Future of COVID shots murky after FDA deliberations</strong> - FDA seems sold on annual shots, but advisors call for a lot more data. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1913210">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>D&amp;D maker retreats from attempts to update longstanding “open” license</strong> - Negative response to latest draft was “in such high volume” as to force WotC’s hand. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1913223">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How to fix GoldenEye 007’s control issues on the Nintendo Switch [Updated]</strong> - Hard-to-find system-level customizations enable “dual stick” controls. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1913186">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bird study links spatial thinking with not getting eaten</strong> - Shows that birds tend to get killed at the edge of territory they know well. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1913182">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>#GermanyRIP. Kremlin-loyal hacktivists wage DDoSes to retaliate for tank aid</strong> - Killnet hacktivist group appears to have indirect ties to the Russian government. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1913161">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>My nerdy friend just got a PhD on the history of palindromes.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Now we call him Dr. Awkward.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Fuzzie8"> /u/Fuzzie8 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10n542v/my_nerdy_friend_just_got_a_phd_on_the_history_of/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10n542v/my_nerdy_friend_just_got_a_phd_on_the_history_of/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Italian man says, “Last week, my wife and I had great sex. I rubbed her body all over with olive oil, we made passionate love, and she screamed for five full minutes at the end.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Frenchman boasts, “Last week when my wife and I had sex, I rubbed her body all over with butter. We then made passionate love and she screamed for fifteen minutes.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The old Jewish man says, “Well, last week my wife and I had sex too. I rubbed her body all over with schmaltz, we made love, and she screamed for over six hours.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Italian and Frenchman were stunned. They asked, “What could you have possibly done to make your wife scream for six hours?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The old Jewish man replies: “I wiped my hands on the bedsheet.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/javadintaiwan"> /u/javadintaiwan </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10n77i8/the_italian_man_says_last_week_my_wife_and_i_had/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10n77i8/the_italian_man_says_last_week_my_wife_and_i_had/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Just read that by law you have to turn your headlights on when it’s raining in Sweden</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
How the fuck am I meant to know when it’s raining in Sweden?
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Fowlie99"> /u/Fowlie99 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10mjwj8/just_read_that_by_law_you_have_to_turn_your/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10mjwj8/just_read_that_by_law_you_have_to_turn_your/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s the difference between a yogurt and The USA ?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
If you leave the yogurt alone for 200 years, it develops a culture
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
​
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Edit : didn’t think i’d have to do this but here we go.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
This is a Joke subreddit, this is a joke.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ruthlessgrimm"> /u/ruthlessgrimm </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10mitpd/whats_the_difference_between_a_yogurt_and_the_usa/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10mitpd/whats_the_difference_between_a_yogurt_and_the_usa/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My girlfriend asked me which one of her friends I’d want to have a threesome with…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Apparently the right answer wasn’t “Wait, you have friends?”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/SteakShake69"> /u/SteakShake69 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10n706p/my_girlfriend_asked_me_which_one_of_her_friends/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10n706p/my_girlfriend_asked_me_which_one_of_her_friends/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>

4
index.html
View File

File diff suppressed because one or more lines are too long