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<title>14 July, 2023</title>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The Effect of COVID-19 on Home Advantage in High- and Low-Stake Situations: Evidence from the European National Football Competitions</strong> -
<div>
The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly altered the way sporting events are observed. With the absence or limited presence of spectators in stadiums, the traditional advantage enjoyed by home teams has diminished considerably. This underscores the notion that the support of home fans can often be considered a key factor of the home advantage (HA) phenomenon, wherein teams perform better in front of their own supporters. However, the impact of reduced attendance on games with higher stakes, as opposed to low-stakes friendly matches, remains uncertain. In this study, we investigate the recently concluded European football championship (EURO 20), wherein several teams had the advantage of playing at home in high-stakes games with only one-third of the stadium capacity filled. Firstly, we demonstrate that the Covid-19 restrictions, leading to reduced fan attendance, resulted in a nearly 50% decrease in HA compared to the HA exhibited by the same teams during the qualification stage preceding EURO 20, even after accounting for team strength. Secondly, we show that while low-stakes friendly matches generally exhibit a smaller overall HA compared to high-stakes games, the absence of fans led to a similar reduction in HA during the low-stakes matches. Utilizing the recently developed Home Advantage Mediated (HAM) model (Bilalić et al., 2021, Scientific Reports, 21558), we were able to attribute the reduction in both high- and low-stakes games to poorer team performance, with no significant contribution from referee bias.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/d3xat/" target="_blank">The Effect of COVID-19 on Home Advantage in High- and Low-Stake Situations: Evidence from the European National Football Competitions</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Death Seasonality, Google Community Mobility Trends, Seropositivity Rates, Comparisons of SINADEF Data with WHO Summary Data, and other Data Items as Useful in Analysis of Excess Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Peru, 2020-2021</strong> -
<div>
The government of Peru carried out extensive tracking of data for deaths and other public health parameters that allow analysis of potential efficacy of interventions used during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from those sources for death seasonality, mobility trends, household composition and seropositivity rates, as well as Google community mobility trends, are provided here as can facilitate such analysis. Also, excess deaths as calculated from Peru’s National Death Information System (SINADEF) are compared with monthy summary data for excess deaths for the period 2020-2021 as reported by the World Health Organization.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/a9ex5/" target="_blank">Death Seasonality, Google Community Mobility Trends, Seropositivity Rates, Comparisons of SINADEF Data with WHO Summary Data, and other Data Items as Useful in Analysis of Excess Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Peru, 2020-2021</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Utility of nasal swabs for assessing mucosal immune responses towards SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 has caused millions of infections worldwide since its emergence in 2019. Understanding how infection and vaccination induce mucosal immune responses and how they fluctuate over time is important, especially since they are key in preventing infection and reducing disease severity. We established a novel methodology for assessing SARS-CoV-2 cytokine and antibody responses at the nasal epithelium by using nasopharyngeal swabs collected longitudinally before and after either SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination. We then compared responses between mucosal and systemic compartments. We demonstrate that cytokine and antibody profiles differ markedly between compartments. Nasal cytokines show a wound healing phenotype while plasma cytokines are consistent with pro-inflammatory pathways. We found that nasal IgA and IgG have different kinetics after infection, with IgA peaking first. Although vaccination results in low nasal IgA, IgG induction persists for up to 180 days post-vaccination. This research highlights the importance of studying mucosal responses in addition to systemic responses to respiratory infections to understand the correlates of disease severity and immune memory. The methods described herein can be used to further mucosal vaccine development by giving us a better understanding of immunity at the nasal epithelium providing a simpler, alternative clinical practice to studying mucosal responses to infection.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.12.548630v1" target="_blank">Utility of nasal swabs for assessing mucosal immune responses towards SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Booster dose of self-amplifying SARS-CoV-2 RNA vaccine vs. mRNA vaccine: a phase 3 comparison of ARCT-154 with Comirnaty</strong> -
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Background Licensed mRNA vaccines demonstrated initial effectiveness against COVID-19 but require booster doses to broaden the anti-SARS-CoV-2 response. There is an unmet need for novel highly immunogenic and broadly protective vaccines. We compared immunogenicity and tolerability of ARCT-154, a novel self-amplifying mRNA vaccine with the mRNA vaccine, Comirnaty. Methods We compared immune responses to ARCT-154 and Comirnaty booster doses in healthy 18-77-year-old Japanese adults initially immunised with two doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty or Spikevax) then a third dose of Comirnaty at least 3 months previously. Neutralising antibodies were measured before and 28 days after booster vaccination. The primary objective was to demonstrate non-inferiority of the immune response against Wuhan-Hu-1 SARS-CoV-2 virus as geometric mean titre (GMT) ratios and seroresponse rates (SRR) of neutralising antibodies; key secondary endpoints included the immune response against the Omicron BA.4/5 variant and vaccine tolerability assessed using participant-completed electronic diaries. Findings Between December 13, 2022 and February 25, 2023 we enrolled 828 participants randomised 1:1 to receive ARCT-154 (n = 420) or Comirnaty (n = 408) booster doses. Four weeks after boosting, ARCT-154 induced higher Wuhan-Hu-1 neutralising antibodies GMTs than Comirnaty (5641 [95% CI: 4321-7363] and 3934 [2993-5169], respectively), a GMT ratio of 1.43 (95% CI: 1.26-1.63), with SRR of 65.2% (60.2-69.9) and 51.6% (46.4-56.8) meeting the non-inferiority criteria. Respective anti-Omicron BA.4/5 GMTs were 2551 (1687-3859) and 1958 (1281-2993), a GMT ratio of 1.30 (95% CI: 1.07-1.58), with SRR of 69.9% (65.0-74.4) and 58.0% (52.8-63.1), meeting the superiority criteria for ARCT-154 over Comirnaty. Booster doses of either ARCT-154 or Comirnaty were equally well-tolerated with no causally-associated severe or serious adverse events; 94.8% and 96.8% of ARCT-154 and Comirnaty vaccinees reported local reactions and 65.7% and 62.5% had solicited systemic adverse events. Events were mainly mild in severity, occurring and resolving within 3-4 days of vaccination. Interpretation Immune responses four weeks after an ARCT-154 booster dose in mRNA-immunised adults were higher than after a Comirnaty booster, meeting non-inferiority criteria against the prototype Wuhan-Hu-1 virus, and superiority criteria against the Omicron BA.4/5 variant.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.13.23292597v1" target="_blank">Booster dose of self-amplifying SARS-CoV-2 RNA vaccine vs. mRNA vaccine: a phase 3 comparison of ARCT-154 with Comirnaty</a>
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<li><strong>Risk Factors for Admission into COVID-19 General Wards, Sub-Intensive and Intensive Care Units among SARS-CoV-2 Positive Subjects in the Municipality of Bologna, Italy</strong> -
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This is a retrospective cohort study aimed at identifying the risk factors for the hospitalization of patients with COVID-19 in the municipality of Bologna. A total of 32500 patients that tested positive for COVID-19 from February 28/2020 to October 13/2021 in the municipality of Bologna were included. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate changes during time of ICU hospitalization for all patients as well as stratifying subjects by sex. A multi-state Cox9s proportional hazard model was fitted to investigate predictors of ICU and non-ICU hospitalization. Age, sex, calendar period of diagnosis, comorbidities and vaccination status of patients at the time of diagnosis were considered as candidate predictors. In general, male sex and advanced age resulted to be poor prognostic factors of COVID-19 outcomes. An exception was found for the over 80 age group which showed a decrease in the risk of ICU hospitalization compared to 70-79 (HR 0.57 95% CI 0.36 - 0.90 for DIAG-&gt;ICU; HR 0.40 95% CI 0.28 - 0.58 for HOSP-&gt;ICU). Having contracted the disease during the first wave was associated with a significant greater risk of hospitalization than during the second wave, while no difference in the risk of ICU admission was found between the second and third waves. Fully immunized patients showed a significant decrease in the risk of ICU and non-ICU hospitalization compared to the unvaccinated patients (HR 0.23 95% CI 0.16 - 0.31 for DIAG-&gt;HOSP; HR 0.10 95% CI 0.01 - 0.73 for DIAG-&gt;ICU). Chronic kidney failure and asthma were risk factors for non-ICU hospitalization. Diabetes and embolism were risk factors for both direct ICU and non-ICU hospitalization. The study of factors associated with a negative course of the COVID-19 disease allows to prevent fatal outcomes, establish priorities in the treatment of the disease and improve the management of hospital resources and the pandemic itself.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.12.23292559v2" target="_blank">Risk Factors for Admission into COVID-19 General Wards, Sub-Intensive and Intensive Care Units among SARS-CoV-2 Positive Subjects in the Municipality of Bologna, Italy</a>
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<li><strong>Trends in serotype distribution and disease severity in adults hospitalised with Streptococcus pneumoniae infection in Bristol and Bath: a retrospective cohort study, 2006-2022</strong> -
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<b>Background</b> Paediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccination (PCV) has reduced adult PCV-serotype disease: PCV7 has greater indirect effects than PCV13. Ongoing surveillance is required to evaluate current vaccine usage and inform future vaccine deployment, particularly with respiratory infection epidemiology changing following SARS-CoV-2 emergence. <b>Methods and Findings</b> A retrospective cohort study, all adults &gt;16 years admitted to three UK hospitals, 2006-2022, with pneumococcal disease. Medical records were reviewed for each clinical episode and serotype data were obtained from the UK Health Security Agency national reference laboratory. We identified 1,501 (40.3%) cases of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) with known serotype, 134 (3.6%) IPD cases without serotype data, and 2,084 (56.0%) non-IPD cases, which are typically missed in national surveillance. Disease incidence increased progressively from 2006-2020, followed by a sudden decline after COVID-19 emergence and then a gradual increase to pre-pandemic levels. Paediatric PCV7 introduction reduced adult PCV7 serotype IPD from 29.4% [24.1-35.4] of IPD in 2006-09 to 7.0% [3.7-12.7] in 2021-22. PCV13 introduction also decreased adult vaccine serotype IPD, but considerable residual adult disease remains, causing 34.3% [28.6-40.4] of IPD in 2006-09 and 21.7% [15.5-29.6] 9 in 2021-22, respectively. Serotype replacement diminished the benefits of PCV introduction: PCV20-13 and non-PCV serotypes represented 27.0% [21.9-32.9] and 9.3% [6.3-13.5] of disease in 2006-2009, and 39.5% [31.5-48.2] and 31.8% [24.4-40.2] in 2021-2022, respectively. Serotype shifts have resulted in increasing disease caused by serotype 3 and 8, and the re-emergence of serotype 19F and 19A. These serotype shifts occurred as clinical disease severity changed, and whilst the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted disease severity trends, these have now largely reverted to previous trajectories. Patient age trended upwards and although CURB65 severity decreased there were increased ICU admission rates. Overall, inpatient mortality decreased and hospitalisation duration remained stable. <b>Conclusions</b> After 17 years of PCV use, residual pneumococcal disease due to the vaccine serotypes among hospitalised adults remains. The sharp decline in pneumococcal disease during the COVID-19 pandemic has now reversed, with increasing cases due to vaccine serotypes, especially serotype 3. Around 68.2% of cases in 2022 were potentially covered by the recently licensed 20-valent PCV.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.30.23287917v2" target="_blank">Trends in serotype distribution and disease severity in adults hospitalised with Streptococcus pneumoniae infection in Bristol and Bath: a retrospective cohort study, 2006-2022</a>
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<li><strong>Efficacy and Safety of 5-Day Oral Ensitrelvir for Patients With Mild-to-Moderate COVID-19: The SCORPIO-SR Randomized Clinical Trial</strong> -
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IMPORTANCE Treatment options for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that can be used irrespective of risk factors for severe disease are warranted. OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy and safety of ensitrelvir in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19. DESIGN The phase 3 part of a phase 2/3, double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled study conducted from February 10 to July 10, 2022. SETTING A multicenter study conducted at 92 institutions in Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea. PARTICIPANTS Patients (aged 12 to &lt;70 years) with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 within 120 hours of positive viral testing. INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized (1:1:1) to receive once-daily ensitrelvir 125 mg (375 mg on day 1), 250 mg (750 mg on day 1), or placebo for 5 days. Among 1821 randomized patients, 1030 (347, 340, and 343 in the ensitrelvir 125-mg, ensitrelvir 250-mg, and placebo groups, respectively) were randomized in less than 72 hours of disease onset and assessed as the primary analysis population. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary end point was the time to resolution of five COVID-19 symptoms (stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, cough, feeling hot or feverish, and low energy or tiredness). Other end points included virologic efficacy and safety. RESULTS The mean age was 35.7, 35.3, and 34.7 years, and 193 (55.6%), 185 (54.4%), and 174 (50.7%) patients were men in the ensitrelvir 125-mg, ensitrelvir 250-mg, and placebo groups, respectively (intention-to-treat, primary analysis population). A significant difference (P=.04 with a Peto-Prentice generalized Wilcoxon test stratified by vaccination history) was observed in the primary end point between ensitrelvir 125 mg and placebo in the primary analysis population (difference in median, −24.3 hours; 95% confidence interval, −78.7 to 11.7). Viral RNA levels on day 4 and time to negative viral titer demonstrated significant reduction vs placebo. The incidence of adverse events was 44.2%, 53.6%, and 24.8% in the ensitrelvir 125-mg, ensitrelvir 250-mg, and placebo groups, respectively. No treatment-related serious adverse events were reported. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Treatment with ensitrelvir 125 mg demonstrated clinical and antiviral efficacy without new safety concerns. Generalizability to non-Asian populations should be confirmed. TRIAL REGISTRATION Japan Registry of Clinical Trials identifier: jRCT2031210350.
</p>
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.11.23292264v1" target="_blank">Efficacy and Safety of 5-Day Oral Ensitrelvir for Patients With Mild-to-Moderate COVID-19: The SCORPIO-SR Randomized Clinical Trial</a>
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<li><strong>Genetic Risk Factors for Severe and Fatigue Dominant Long COVID and Commonalities with ME/CFS Identified by Combinatorial Analysis</strong> -
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Background Long COVID is a debilitating chronic condition that has affected over 100 million people globally. It is characterized by a diverse array of symptoms, including fatigue, cognitive dysfunction and respiratory problems. Studies have so far largely failed to identify genetic associations, the mechanisms behind the disease, or any common pathophysiology with other conditions such as ME/CFS that present with similar symptoms. Methods We used a combinatorial analysis approach to identify combinations of genetic variants significantly associated with the development of long COVID and to examine the biological mechanisms underpinning its various symptoms. We compared two subpopulations of long COVID patients from Sano Genetics9 Long COVID GOLD study cohort, focusing on patients with severe or fatigue dominant phenotypes. We evaluated the genetic signatures previously identified in an ME/CFS population against this long COVID population to understand similarities with other fatigue disorders that may be triggered by a prior viral infection. Finally, we also compared the output of this long COVID analysis against known genetic associations in other chronic diseases, including a range of metabolic and neurological disorders, to understand the overlap of pathophysiological mechanisms. Results Combinatorial analysis identified 73 genes that were highly associated with at least one of the long COVID populations included in this analysis. Of these, 9 genes have prior associations with acute COVID-19, and 14 were differentially expressed in a transcriptomic analysis of long COVID patients. A pathway enrichment analysis revealed that the biological pathways most significantly associated with the 73 long COVID genes were mainly aligned with neurological and cardiometabolic diseases. Expanded genotype analysis suggests that specific SNX9 genotypes are a significant contributor to the risk of or protection against severe long COVID infection, but that the gene-disease relationship is context dependent and mediated by interactions with KLF15 and RYR3. Comparison of the genes uniquely associated with the Severe and Fatigue Dominant long COVID patients revealed significant differences between the pathways enriched in each subgroup. The genes unique to Severe long COVID patients were associated with immune pathways such as myeloid differentiation and macrophage foam cells. Genes unique to the Fatigue Dominant subgroup were enriched in metabolic pathways such as MAPK/JNK signaling. We also identified overlap in the genes associated with Fatigue Dominant long COVID and ME/CFS, including several involved in circadian rhythm regulation and insulin regulation. Overall, 39 SNPs associated in this study with long COVID can be linked to 9 genes identified in a recent combinatorial analysis of ME/CFS patient from UK Biobank. Among the 73 genes associated with long COVID, 42 are potentially tractable for novel drug discovery approaches, with 13 of these already targeted by drugs in clinical development pipelines. From this analysis for example, we identified TLR4 antagonists as repurposing candidates with potential to protect against long term cognitive impairment pathology caused by SARS-CoV-2. We are currently evaluating the repurposing potential of these drug targets for use in treating long COVID and/or ME/CFS. Conclusion This study demonstrates the power of combinatorial analytics for stratifying heterogeneous populations in complex diseases that do not have simple monogenic etiologies. These results build upon the genetic findings from combinatorial analyses of severe acute COVID-19 patients and an ME/CFS population and we expect that access to additional independent, larger patient datasets will further improve the disease insights and validate potential treatment options in long COVID.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.13.23292611v1" target="_blank">Genetic Risk Factors for Severe and Fatigue Dominant Long COVID and Commonalities with ME/CFS Identified by Combinatorial Analysis</a>
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<li><strong>Exploring the use of preprints in dentistry</strong> -
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Objective: This study aims to assess the use, impact, and dissemination of preprints in dentistry. Methods: This is a meta-research study with a cross-sectional design. We included preprints published in dentistry, regardless of the year of publication. Searches were performed in the medRxiv.org and Preprints.org platforms and restricted to English. One researcher extracted the data, and another researcher verified data consistency. The following data were extracted: year of publication, country of the corresponding author, number of abstract and full-text views and downloads, Altmetric attention score, whether the preprint was mentioned in other servers such as Twitter and Publons, number of mentions in other servers, number of citations in the Dimensions database, and whether the preprint had already been published in a peer-reviewed journal. If already published, we extracted the journal9s impact factor (JCR 2021) and the number of citations in the Dimensions database. We conducted a descriptive analysis of the extracted characteristics and explored relationships between metrics using the Spearman correlation. Results: We identified 276 preprints. Most of the studies were published between 2020 and 2022 (n = 229), especially those from ten countries. The most-cited preprint and published article are the same study. Only the correlation between the number of preprint citations and peer-reviewed article citations in the Dimensions database showed a large positive association (Spearman9s rho = 0.5809). Conclusion: Preprints gained popularity over the last several years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and reached a larger audience, especially on platforms such as Twitter. Clinical Significance: Preprint publishing allows faster dissemination of science for the benefit of society.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.11.23292516v1" target="_blank">Exploring the use of preprints in dentistry</a>
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<li><strong>The role and influence of perceived experts in an anti-vaccine misinformation community</strong> -
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The role of perceived experts (i.e., medical professionals and biomedical scientists) as potential anti-vaccine influencers has not been characterized systematically. We describe the prevalence and importance of anti-vaccine perceived experts by constructing a coengagement network based on a Twitter data set containing over 4.2 million posts from April 2021. The coengagement network primarily broke into two large communities that differed in their stance toward COVID-19 vaccines, and misinformation was predominantly shared by the anti-vaccine community. Perceived experts had a sizable presence within the anti-vaccine community and shared academic sources at higher rates compared to others in that community. Perceived experts occupied important network positions as central anti-vaccine nodes and bridges between the anti- and pro-vaccine communities. Perceived experts received significantly more engagements than other individuals within the anti- and pro-vaccine communities and there was no significant difference in the influence boost for perceived experts between the two communities. Interventions designed to reduce the impact of perceived experts in spreading anti-vaccine misinformation may be warranted.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.12.23292568v1" target="_blank">The role and influence of perceived experts in an anti-vaccine misinformation community</a>
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<li><strong>Epidemiological and health economic implications of symptom propagation in respiratory pathogens: A mathematical modelling investigation</strong> -
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<b> Background </b> Respiratory pathogens inflict a substantial burden on public health and the economy. Although the severity of symptoms caused by these pathogens can vary from asymptomatic to fatal, the factors that determine symptom severity are not fully understood. Correlations in symptoms between infector-infectee pairs, for which evidence is accumulating, can generate large-scale clusters of severe infections that could be devastating to those most at risk, whilst also conceivably leading to chains of mild or asymptomatic infections that generate widespread immunity with minimal cost to public health. Although this effect could be harnessed to amplify the impact of interventions that reduce symptom severity, the mechanistic representation of symptom propagation within mathematical and health economic modelling of respiratory diseases is understudied. <b> Methods and Findings </b> We propose a novel framework for incorporating different levels of symptom propagation into models of infectious disease transmission via a single parameter, α. Varying α tunes the model from having no symptom propagation (α=0, as typically assumed) to one where symptoms always propagate (α=1). For parameters corresponding to three respiratory pathogens — seasonal influenza, pandemic influenza and SARS-CoV-2 — we explored how symptom propagation impacted the relative epidemiological and health-economic performance of three interventions, conceptualised as vaccines with different actions: symptom-attenuating (labelled SA), infection-blocking (IB) and infection-blocking admitting only mild breakthrough infections (IB_MB). In the absence of interventions, with fixed underlying epidemiological parameters, stronger symptom propagation increased the proportion of cases that were severe. For SA and IB_MB, interventions were more effective at reducing prevalence (all infections and severe cases) for higher strengths of symptom propagation. For IB, symptom propagation had no impact on effectiveness, and for seasonal influenza this intervention type was more effective than SA at reducing severe infections for all levels of symptom propagation. For pandemic influenza and SARS-CoV-2, at low intervention uptake, SA was more effective than IB for all levels of symptom propagation; for high uptake, SA only became more effective under strong symptom propagation. Health economic assessments found that for SA-type interventions, the amount one could spend on control whilst maintaining a cost-effective intervention (termed threshold unit intervention cost) was very sensitive to the strength of symptom propagation. <b> Conclusions </b> Overall, the preferred intervention type depended on the combination of the strength of symptom propagation and uptake. Given the importance of determining robust public health responses, we highlight the need to gather further data on symptom propagation, with our modelling framework acting as a template for future analysis.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.12.23292544v1" target="_blank">Epidemiological and health economic implications of symptom propagation in respiratory pathogens: A mathematical modelling investigation</a>
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<li><strong>Quantifying the impact of hospital catchment area definitions on hospital admissions forecasts: COVID-19 in England, September 2020 - April 2021</strong> -
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Background. Defining healthcare facility catchment areas is a key step in predicting future healthcare demand in epidemic settings. Forecasts of hospitalisations can be informed by leading indicators measured at the community level. However, this relies on the definition of so-called catchment areas, or the geographies whose populations make up the patients admitted to a given hospital, and which are often not well-defined. Little work has been done to quantify the impact of hospital catchment area definitions on healthcare demand forecasting. Methods. We made forecasts of Trust-level hospital admissions using a scaled convolution of local cases (as defined by the hospital catchment area) and a delay distribution. Hospital catchment area definitions were derived from either simple heuristics (in which people are admitted to their nearest hospital or any nearby hospital) or historical admissions data (all emergency or elective admissions in 2019, or COVID-19 admissions), plus a marginal baseline definition based on the distribution of all hospital admissions. We evaluated predictive performance using each hospital catchment area definition using the Weighted Interval Score (WIS) and considered how this changed by the length of the predictive horizon, the date on which the forecast was made, and by location. We also considered the change, if any, on the relative performance of each definition in retrospective vs. real-time settings, or at different spatial scales. Results. The choice of hospital catchment area definition affected the accuracy of hospital admission forecasts. The definition based on COVID-19 admissions data resulted in the most accurate forecasts at both a 7- and 14-day horizon, and was one of the top two best-performing definitions across forecast dates and locations. The nearby heuristic also performed well, but less consistently than the COVID-19 data definition. The marginal distribution baseline, which did not include any spatial information, was the lowest-ranked definition. The relative performance of the definitions was larger when using case forecasts compared to future observed cases. All results were consistent across spatial scales of the catchment area definitions. Conclusions. Using catchment area definitions derived from context-specific data can improve local-level hospital admissions forecasts. Where context-specific data is not available, using catchment areas defined by carefully-chosen heuristics are a sufficiently-good substitute. There is clear value in understanding what drives local admissions patterns, and further research is needed to understand the impact of different catchment area definitions on forecast performance where case trends are more heterogeneous.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.12.23292451v1" target="_blank">Quantifying the impact of hospital catchment area definitions on hospital admissions forecasts: COVID-19 in England, September 2020 - April 2021</a>
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<li><strong>Using Short Messages to Encourage COVID-19 Prevention Behaviors</strong> -
<div>
Controlling the spread of COVID-19 requires persuading the mass public to change their behavior in significant ways. Many efforts to encourage behavior change, such as public service announcements, social media posts, and billboards, involve short, persuasive appeals, yet the effectiveness of these messages is unknown. Here, we test whether short messages increase intentions to comply with public health guidelines. Research was conducted in the United States from March-July 2020. To identify promising messages, we conducted two pretests (total N = 1,596) where participants rated the persuasiveness of 56 unique messages: 31 based on the persuasion and social influence literature and 25 from a pool of 600 crowdsourced messages by online respondents. The four top-rated messages emphasized 1) civic responsibility to reciprocate the sacrifices of health care workers, 2) caring for the elderly and vulnerable, 3) a specific, sympathetic victim, and 4) limited health care system capacity. We then conducted three well-powered, pre-registered experiments (total N = 3,719) testing whether these four top-rated messages and a standard public health message based on language from the CDC increased intentions to comply with public health guidelines. In Study 1, we find the four messages and the standard public health message significantly outperformed a null control. In Studies 2 and 3, we compared the effects of persuasive messages to the standard public health message, finding that none consistently out-performed the standard public health message. Short messages can increase intentions to comply with public health guidelines, but short messages featuring persuasive techniques from the social science literature did not substantially outperform standard public health messages.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/g93zw/" target="_blank">Using Short Messages to Encourage COVID-19 Prevention Behaviors</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evaluating Twitter’s COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation Removal Policy</strong> -
<div>
Objectives. To assess the efficacy of Twitter’s March 1, 2021 COVID-19 vaccine misinformation removal policy. Methods. We collected over 400 million English-language tweets related to COVID-19 using more than 100 pertinent keywords from February 6, 2020, to December 15, 2022, comparing vaccine-related tweets and corresponding accounts before vs. after the implementation of Twitter’s interventions. We used a comparative interrupted time series analytic approach to compared the content of misinformative (&gt;10% of tweets contain links to misinformative websites) to non-misinformative accounts. Results. We identified 7,084 misinformative accounts and 6,706,999 non-misinformative accounts. Misinformative accounts were 1.43 times more likely to persist (RR=1.43; 95% CI:1.41-1.45; P&lt;0.001) and 30.16 times more likely to become more misinformative (RR=30.16; 95% CI: 28.48 - 31.95; P&lt;0.001) compared to non-misinformative accounts. We did not detect a significant decrease in content from misinformative accounts (RR=0.03; 95% CI: 0.00 - 3.93; P=0.16) compared to pre-policy data; however, we did detect a significant decrease in content from non-misinformative accounts (RR=0.02; 95% CI: 0.00 - 0.32; P=0.005). We did not detect a significant difference between these two groups (RR=1.48; 95% CI: 0.01 - 398.61; P=0.89). Conclusion. Twitter’s vaccine misinformation removal policies do not appear to have been associated with a detectable reduction in content from misinformative, compared to non- misinformative, users or in more misinformative compared to less misinformative tweets. Public Health Implications. Our study highlights the necessity for external evaluations to ascertain the sufficiency of platforms’ self-regulatory measures to safeguard public health.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/cxg6y/" target="_blank">Evaluating Twitter’s COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation Removal Policy</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Endocytosis Inhibitors Block SARS-CoV-2 Pseudoparticle Infection of Mink Lung Epithelium</strong> -
<div>
Both spill over and spill back of SARS-CoV-2 virus have been reported on mink farms in Europe and the United States. Zoonosis is a public health concern as dangerous mutated forms of the virus could be introduced into the human population through spillback. The purpose of our study was to determine the SARS-CoV-2 entry mechanism using mink lung epithelial cell line (Mv1Lu) and to block entry with drug inhibitors. Mv1Lu cells were susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 viral pseudoparticle infection, validating them as a suitable disease model for COVID-19. Inhibitors of TMPRSS2 and of endocytosis, two pathways of viral entry, were tested to identify those that blocked infection. Dyngo4a, a small molecule endocytosis inhibitor, significantly reduced infection, while TMPRSS2 inhibitors had minimal impact, supporting the conclusion that the entry of the SARS-CoV-2 virus into Mv1Lu cells occurs primarily through endocytosis. The small molecule inhibitors that were effective in this study could potentially be used therapeutically to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection in mink populations. This study will facilitate the development of therapeutics to prevent zoonotic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variants to other animals, including humans.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.12.548725v1" target="_blank">Endocytosis Inhibitors Block SARS-CoV-2 Pseudoparticle Infection of Mink Lung Epithelium</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>Homologous Booster Study of COVID-19 Protein Subunit Recombinant Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: SARS-CoV-2 Subunit Recombinant Protein Vaccine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   PT Bio Farma<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>Role of Ivermectin and Colchicine in Treatment of COVID-19: Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin Tablets;   Drug: Colchicine 0.5 MG;   Drug: Standared managment<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Ain Shams 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>A Study to Evaluate the Immunogenicity and Safety of A Recombinant Protein COVID-19 Vaccine as Booster Vaccines</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SCTV01E-2;   Biological: SCTV01E<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sinocelltech Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Counseling Intervention for Pharmacists</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Standard implementation webinar and online training;   Behavioral: Virtual facilitation<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill;   University of Arkansas;   University of South Carolina;   National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Developing an Effective Intervention to Address Post-Corona-Virus-Disease-2019 Balance Disorders, Weakness and Muscle Fatigue in Individuals Aged 65+</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: Resistance Training<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education<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>Multimodal Long Covid19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Long COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Multimodal intervention in Long Covid19<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Universidad de Magallanes;   Teaching Assistance and Research Center of the University of Magallanes CADI-UMAG;   Clinical Hospital Dr. Lautaro Navarro Avaria<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Phase 1/2 Trial of COVID-19 Vaccine (COVIVAC)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: COVIVAC vaccine<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals, Vietnam;   National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE), Vietnam;   Center for Disease Control of Thai Binh Province, Vietnam<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>Immunogenicity and Safety Study of SCB-2023 Vaccine as a Booster in Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SCB-2023 vaccine (trivalent), a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 trimeric S-protein subunit vaccine for COVID-19; intramuscular injection;   Biological: SCB-2019 (monovalent), a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 trimeric S-protein subunit vaccine for COVID-19; intramuscular injection<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Clover Biopharmaceuticals AUS Pty Ltd<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Safety and Immunogenicity Following a Heterologous Booster Dose of Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine LYB002</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: LYB002V14;   Biological: LYB002V14A;   Biological: LYB002CA<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Guangzhou Patronus Biotech Co., Ltd.;   Yantai Patronus Biotech Co., Ltd.;   Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College<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>Efficiency and Safety of Paxlovid for COVID-19 Patients With Severe Chronic Kidney Disease</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Renal Insufficiency, Chronic<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Chinese PLA General 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>The Immunogenicity and Safety Following a Heterologous Booster Dose of Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine LYB001</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Vaccine Reaction<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: LYB001;   Biological: CoronaVac<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Guangzhou Patronus Biotech Co., Ltd.;   Yantai Patronus Biotech Co., Ltd.;   Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College<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>Safety and Efficacy of Anakinra Treatment for Patients With Post Acute Covid Syndrome</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Placebo;   Drug: Anakinra 149 MG/ML Prefilled Syringe [Kineret]<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hellenic Institute for the Study of Sepsis<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>Effects of Music Combined With Sports Games on Alleviating Psychological Stress, Anxiety and Mental Energy Among Adolescents During COVID-19 Pandemic in Lanzhou Gansu Province China</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Stress;   Anxiety and Fear<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Music intervention only;   Behavioral: Sports games intervention only;   Behavioral: Music and sports games intervention<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Wu Jiarun<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 Study to Evaluate the Efficacy, Safety, Tolerability and PK of SNS812 in Mild to Moderate COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Disease Caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (Disorder)<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: MBS-COV;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Oneness Biotech Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy of the Therapy With BRAINMAX® Using fMRI for the Treatment of Patients With Asthenia After COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Asthenia;   COVID-19;   Functional MRI;   Cognitive Impairment<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Structural and functional MRI;   Drug: Ethyl methyl hydroxypyridine succinate + Meldonium;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Promomed, LLC<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Circulating Reelin promotes inflammation and modulates disease activity in acute and long COVID-19 cases</strong> - Thromboembolic complications and excessive inflammation are frequent in severe COVID-19, potentially leading to long COVID. In non-COVID studies, we and others demonstrated that circulating Reelin promotes leukocyte infiltration and thrombosis. Thus, we hypothesized that Reelin participates in endothelial dysfunction and hyperinflammation during COVID-19. We showed that Reelin was increased in COVID-19 patients and correlated with the disease activity. In the severe COVID-19 group, we observed 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>SARS-CoV-2 main protease cleaves MAGED2 to antagonize host antiviral defense</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the agent causing the global pandemic of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 genome encodes a main protease (nsp5, also called Mpro) and a papain-like protease (nsp3, also called PLpro), which are responsible for processing viral polyproteins to assemble a functional replicase complex. In this study, we found that Mpro of SARS-CoV-2 can cleave human MAGED2 and other mammalian orthologs at Gln-263. Moreover, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV Mpro can also…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Effect of DMARDs on the immunogenicity of vaccines</strong> - Vaccines are important for protecting individuals at increased risk of severe infections, including patients undergoing DMARD therapy. However, DMARD therapy can also compromise the immune system, leading to impaired responses to vaccination. This Review focuses on the impact of DMARDs on influenza and SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations, as such vaccines have been investigated most thoroughly. Various data suggest that B cell depletion therapy, mycophenolate mofetil, cyclophosphamide, azathioprine and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Characteristics of VOCs and Assessment of Emission Reduction Effect During the Epidemic Lockdown Period in Shenzhen Urban Area</strong> - To prevent disease spreading during the COVID-19 epidemic, Shenzhen adopted lockdown measures in March of 2022. This provided an opportunity to study the response of changes in anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (AVOCs) in Shenzhen to emission reduction and to evaluate the effectiveness of current emission reduction measures. This study analyzed the variety of AVOCs before, during, and after the epidemic lockdown based on the online observation data of pollutants at Lianhua Station in…</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>Evaluating Z-FA-FMK, a host cathepsin L protease inhibitor, as a potent and broad-spectrum antiviral therapy against SARS-CoV-2 and related coronaviruses</strong> - Even though the World Health Organization announced the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global public health emergency on May 5, 2023, SARS-CoV-2 continues to pose a significant health threat worldwide, resulting in substantial numbers of infections and fatalities. This study investigated the antiviral potential of Z-FA-FMK (FMK), a novel host cathepsin L protease inhibitor, against SARS-CoV-2 infection using both in vitro and in vivo models. In vitro assessments of FMK against a diverse set…</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>Isolation and characterization of Rhodococcus sp. GG1 for metabolic degradation of chloroxylenol</strong> - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly increased the demand of disinfectant use. Chloroxylenol (para-chloro-meta-xylenol, PCMX) as the major antimicrobial ingredient of disinfectant has been widely detected in water environments, with identified toxicity and potential risk. The assessment of PCMX in domestic wastewater of Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) showed a positive correlation between PCMX concentration and population density. An indigenous PCMX…</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>Neutralizing activity of Usnic acid and β-cyclodextrins complex against SARS-CoV-2 spike pseudovirus</strong> - The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 and its infection severity require an urgent development of antiviral agents. In this respect, Usnic acid (UA), a natural dibenzofuran derivative, exerts antiviral activity against several viruses, though presenting very low solubility and high cytotoxicity. Here, UA was complexed with β-cyclodextrins (β-CDs), a pharmaceutical excipient used to improve drug solubility. The cytotoxic activity, tested on Vero E6 cells, revealed no effect for β-CDs alone whereas…</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>Structure-based discovery of thiosemicarbazones as SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitors</strong> - Aim: Discovery of novel SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^(pro)) inhibitors using a structure-based drug discovery strategy. Materials &amp; methods: Virtual screening employing covalent and noncovalent docking was performed to discover M^(pro) inhibitors, which were subsequently evaluated in biochemical and cellular assays. Results: 91 virtual hits were selected for biochemical assays, and four were confirmed as reversible inhibitors of SARS CoV-2 M^(pro) with IC(50) values of 0.4-3 μM. They were also…</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 sulphonamide-tethered <em>N</em>-((triazol-4-yl)methyl)isatin derivatives as inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the end of 2019 led to profound consequences on global health and economy. Till producing successful vaccination strategies, the healthcare sectors suffered from the lack of effective therapeutic agents that could control the spread of infection. Thus, academia and the pharmaceutical sector prioritise SARS-CoV-2 antiviral drug discovery. Here, we exploited previous reports highlighting the anti-SARS-CoV-2 activities of isatin-based molecules to develop novel…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Inhibition of phosphodiesterase 12 results in antiviral activity against several RNA viruses including SARS-CoV-2</strong> - The 2’,5’- oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS) - ribonuclease L (RNAseL) - phosphodiesterase 12 (PDE12) pathway is an essential interferon-induced effector mechanism against RNA virus infection. Inhibition of PDE12 leads to selective amplification of RNAseL activity in infected cells. We aimed to investigate PDE12 as a potential pan-RNA virus antiviral drug target and develop PDE12 inhibitors that elicit antiviral activity against a range of viruses. A library of 18 000 small molecules was screened…</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>Mitochondria of lung venular capillaries mediate lung-liver crosstalk in pneumonia</strong> - Failure of the lung’s endothelial barrier underlies lung injury, which causes the high mortality Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Multiple organ failure predisposes to the mortality, but mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we show that mitochondrial Uncoupling Protein 2 (UCP2), a component of the mitochondrial inner membrane, plays a role in the barrier failure. Subsequent lung-liver crosstalk mediated by neutrophil activation causes liver congestion. We intranasally instilled…</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>Cereals as a Source of Bioactive Compounds with Anti-Hypertensive Activity and Their Intake in Times of COVID-19</strong> - Cereals have phytochemical compounds that can diminish the incidence of chronic diseases such as hypertension. The angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) participates in the modulation of blood pressure and is the principal receptor of the virus SARS-CoV-2. The inhibitors of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and the block receptors of angiotensin II regulate the expression of ACE2; thus, they could be useful in the treatment of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. The inferior peptides from…</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>Recent advances in cholinergic mechanisms as reactions to toxicity, stress, and neuroimmune insults</strong> - This review presents recent studies of the chemical and molecular regulators of acetylcholine (ACh) signaling and the complexity of the small molecule and RNA regulators of those mechanisms that control cholinergic functioning in health and disease. The underlying structural, neurochemical, and transcriptomic concepts, including basic and translational research and clinical studies, shed new light on how these processes inter-change under acute states, age, sex, and COVID-19 infection; all of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Identification of alpha-linolenic acid as a broad-spectrum antiviral against zika, dengue, herpes simplex, influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - Zika virus (ZIKV) has garnered global attention due to its association with severe congenital defects including microcephaly. However, there are no licensed vaccines or drugs against ZIKV infection. Pregnant women have the greatest need for treatment, making drug safety crucial. Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a polyunsaturated ω-3 fatty acid, has been used as a health-care product and dietary supplement due to its potential medicinal properties. Here, we demonstrated that ALA inhibits ZIKV…</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>Mechanism of the Covalent Inhibition of Human Transmembrane Protease Serine 2 as an Original Antiviral Strategy</strong> - The Transmembrane Protease Serine 2 (TMPRSS2) is a human enzyme which is involved in the maturation and post-translation of different proteins. In addition to being overexpressed in cancer cells, TMPRSS2 plays a further fundamental role in favoring viral infections by allowing the fusion of the virus envelope with the cellular membrane, notably in SARS-CoV-2. In this contribution, we resort to multiscale molecular modeling to unravel the structural and dynamical features of TMPRSS2 and its…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vermont’s Catastrophic Floods and the Spread of Unnatural Disasters</strong> - In parts of the Northeast, two months of rain fell in two days. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/vermonts-catastrophic-floods-and-the-spread-of-unnatural-disasters">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Instant Pot and the Miracle Kitchen Devices of Yesteryear</strong> - Preparing meals is a Sisyphean task, and anything that promises to make it faster, or easier, or better, or healthier, or more fun, is irresistible. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/afterword/the-instant-pot-and-the-miracle-kitchen-devices-of-yesteryear">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is It Hot Enough Yet for Politicians to Take Real Action?</strong> - The latest record temperatures are driving, again precisely as scientists have predicted, a cascading series of disasters around the world. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/is-it-hot-enough-yet-for-politicians-to-take-real-action">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sotol and the Making of the Next Big Drink</strong> - The Mexican spirit has been called the next mezcal. But its newfound popularity has brought problems, too. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/sotol-and-the-making-of-the-next-big-drink">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What to Do with Climate Emotions</strong> - If the goal is to insure that the planet remains habitable, what is the right degree of panic, and how do you bear it? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/what-to-do-with-climate-emotions">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The scary question at the heart of the Mission: Impossible movies</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Tom Cruise, in a vest and nice pants, rides a motorcycle through the stone paths of a European city." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/U7e4XHwGv4zk5dV9EOUlfnKEgwY=/559x103:2493x1554/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72451730/micover.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Tom Cruise defies death once again in the latest <em>Mission: Impossible</em> film. | Paramount Pictures
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
In Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, Tom Cruise once again leads a franchise that’s all about trickery, subterfuge, and the nature of reality itself.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XndFEd">
In the very first scene of the very first <em>Mission: Impossible</em> film, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is interrogating a Russian guy. We don’t know it’s Hunt, though, because — in perhaps the most iconic running bit in the <em>M:I</em> universe — he’s wearing an extremely lifelike rubber mask. Two minutes into the scene, he walks over to the Russian, kills him, and then pulls off the mask, dramatically revealing the face of a slightly flushed and rumpled Cruise. (It’s hot under all that latex.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0APPxR">
Shortly after that first reveal, the walls of the room fall outward into a warehouse, which makes for a bigger reveal: The whole scene was faked. Not only was the now-dead Russian hoodwinked, but the audience was tricked into believing their senses. For us, the moment is delightful; for the dead man, not so much.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZM9pgH">
That opening parry for <em>Mission: Impossible,</em> created and produced by Cruise as a spy-action franchise for himself, showed up in movie theaters in May 1996, with Brian De Palma (of <em>Carrie</em> and <em>Scarface</em>) in the director’s chair. Compared to the latest installment in the franchise, frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie’s <em>Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One</em>, the 1996 version is much sweatier, darker, and kind of erotic. (A Brian De Palma movie indeed.)
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Cruise and Atwell appear to be hanging sideways in a train car." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-7-7JkoFnl8W8kCl5bhaMRUw1P4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24786675/mi3.jpg"/> <cite>Paramount Pictures</cite>
<figcaption>
Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell in <em>Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.</em>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mGvPJf">
The <a href="https://variety.com/lists/mission-impossible-mask-reveals-ranked/living-manifestation-of-destiny-mission-impossible-rogue-nation/">omnipresent unmaskings</a>, of which there have been at least 15 or 20 by now, are still a mainstay of the films. What’s so great about those reveals, in particular, is that you’re rarely actually expecting them. <em>Dead Reckoning Part One</em> plays with this a little, but for the most part, through all the films, any guy at any time could rip his face off and you’d still be like, “Wow, I did not see that coming.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wp88yN">
The new version is like its predecessors, employing a trope borrowed from the TV show that spawned the film: trickery around every corner, a sense that you can’t quite believe what you see. Dead people turn out to be not-dead people. Walls of rooms keep falling apart to reveal they’re constructed in some warehouse somewhere. Everyone could be a rogue agent or maybe not, and the movie sure isn’t going to wink at you about it till it’s good and ready.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eWeR4j">
That those twists and turns keep surprising us seven <a href="https://www.vox.com/movies">movies</a> in points to what’s truly delightful about the <em>Mission: Impossible</em> franchise, and what makes it, in my opinion, both the most inventive and the most satisfying long-running franchise in Hollywood. On one level, <em>M:I</em> is wonderful because the convoluted plots are pretty much beside the point; if they can be said to have a consistent theme, it is “Tom Cruise likes <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/movies/mission-impossible-fallout-stunts-tom-cruise.html">almost dying</a> on camera.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hINrux">
And yet once you’ve watched them all, you can detect a kind of meta-theme to the <em>M:I</em> movies. It stems from a simple moviegoing fact: Most of us believe that what we are seeing in a movie is how things actually happened in the world of the movie. It’s why a movie like <em>A Beautiful Mind</em> or <em>Big Fish</em> or <em>The Irishman</em> is so memorably affecting; we are trained to believe our narrators, and when it turns out that what we’ve been watching is not quite what actually happened, it’s thrilling. New meaning emerges from the mismatch.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CPY7HT">
<em>Mission: Impossible</em> plays on this expectation, though there’s no specific perspectival narrator. The thrill comes from occasionally discovering that what we’ve been watching is an elaborate fake-out. Sleight of hand is everywhere. Don’t trust your senses, <em>Mission: Impossible</em> exhorts us — they’re easily manipulated.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Tom Cruise on a motorcycle suspended midair with mountains in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/V84OtVtC3KhUSk2RWvkW2fa3TEo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24786679/mi4.jpg"/> <cite>Paramount Pictures</cite>
<figcaption>
Oh, you better believe he’s actually riding that bike (though with a few more safety precautions).
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cx6EEM">
This is underlined, in another meta-heavy way, by what makes the films so distinctive: Cruise’s incredible, literally death-defying stunts, every film seeming to take them to a new level. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s5KFbyBmrQ">climbs up sheer rock walls</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjn3ELLcy2U">leaps across rooftops</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sCa7HA7Sgc">fights cliffside</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwzHLNn5kZc">hangs off the side of a flying Airbus A400M</a>. Each time a new <em>Mission: Impossible</em> movie is released, it’s accompanied with marketing material that mainly leans on explaining that yes, Tom Cruise did actually <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj5LqGdQwQ4">climb the Burj Khalifa</a>. Personally I, and I suspect Cruise, will not be satisfied until Ethan Hunt is in outer space. (Oh, <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/tom-cruise-space-movie-first-civilian-spacewalk-outside-of-space-station-1235399127/">he’s doing it</a>.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lBweIX">
Why emphasize that he’s actually doing these stunts (albeit with cables and nets — you could never afford to insure the production otherwise) as the lynchpin of the <em>M:I</em> marketing? First, of course, because it is pretty badass. But the second reason is obvious: While action is a mainstay of American cinema, particularly in superhero movies, we all know they’re flying around on soundstages and are CGI’d within an inch of their lives. It’s all spectacle, but with no reality.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AZ8AG1">
With <em>Mission: Impossible</em>, however, our deceiving eyes don’t quite extend to the stunts. Yes, there are tricks of the camera and computer going on. But Tom Cruise is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lsFs2615gw">actually driving a motorcycle off a cliff and then plummeting down</a>. That’s <em>real</em> — real enough to gasp and hold your breath and get a little shaky. It’s as much a mainstay of the movie as the mask trickery, and that subtle play with what we’re seeing, with the real and the unreal, suggests the movies might be doing this very much on purpose.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Image reads “spoilers below,” with a triangular sign bearing an exclamation point." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uPQF4l3Wvpgo7pB7TTD6_3CasSQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8565937/spoilers_below.png"/>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pKon1p">
I’d already formed that thought and pitched it to my editor before going into <em>Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One</em>, and about 10 minutes in, I started silently fist-pumping. This movie’s Big Bad is something everyone calls “the Entity,” which is not a person, or even a shadowy cabal of persons, but an <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/4/28/23702644/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-technology">AI</a> that’s become sentient and is out to take down humanity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K59efk">
There’s arguably a tad too much explanation about the Entity throughout the movie that bogs it down a little, but the irony is so bold you sort of have to respect it. At the same time that Hollywood’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23700519/writers-strike-ai-2023-wga">workers are battling</a> to make sure their bosses don’t replace them with AI to cut costs and please shareholders, one of the summer’s biggest movies is about how AI wants to wipe us all out. It’s of a piece with recent blockbusters that are straightforwardly about how <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/1/29/21058521/hollywood-ai-deepfake-black-mirror-gemini-irishman-cinelytic">our digital doppelgangers</a> want to kill us, algorithms are <a href="https://www.vox.com/22576116/space-jam-2-review-new-legacy-lebron-algorithm">out to destroy originality</a>, and continually <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2023/5/25/23732860/indiana-jones-dial-destiny-review-cannes-harrison-ford">repurposing nostalgia IP is how a culture dies</a>. The call is coming from inside the house, et cetera.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UrsQ2h">
But the reason I loved the Entity plotline — which, like most of the characters, will clearly be developed and wrapped up in Part Two (due out next June) — so much is that it shows what <em>Mission: Impossible</em> has been about all along.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u4LCoo">
Thus the Entity’s greatest threat is its ability to change reality — well, in a manner of speaking. It’s not that the digital threat can change the physical bones of reality. The Entity’s danger to humanity lies chiefly in the fact that the world is fully networked, everyone passing currency and information and even warfare along digital pathways that a sentient AI would have no trouble hacking and manipulating. In a highly mediated world, where we encounter everything and everyone through screens, the way reality is represented to us suddenly becomes, effectively, reality. If a story or a myth is floated around the internet and people come to believe it, does it even really matter, in a practical matter, if it’s true? If, as in the 1964 film <em>Fail Safe</em>, a country’s government thinks it’s under attack and launches a missile back at the supposed aggressor who then counterattacks, how much does it matter to the civilians on the ground that there was never an attack in the first place?
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="STnNt7">
<q>If a story or a myth is floated around the internet and people come to believe it, does it even really matter if it’s true?</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GKxQnv">
This is exactly what the humans of <em>Dead Reckoning</em> fear: that the entity will create reality by manipulating it, and we’ll just wipe ourselves out as a result. It’s a problem that humanity caused, of course, by getting itself so digitally intertwined and creating an AI in the first place. But now it’s out of our hands, and whoever controls it — if it can be controlled at all — is, in effect, God.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xj1wy6">
All of which weaves seamlessly into the broader <em>Mission: Impossible</em> narrative. What’s impossible about these missions? They’re famously difficult to pull off, with death-defying stunts that require Hunt and his buddies to precisely understand their surroundings, down to the millimeter and the temperature and pull of gravity. It’s thrilling to watch, and thrilling to experience, for sure — but it’s a reality that waits for us. In the future, the way we trust our senses will be radically altered. You know, because you’ve felt it, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ILeJln">
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One <em>opens in theaters on July 13.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>Why aren’t we treating poverty like a major public health crisis?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Protesters with signs gather on the Washington, DC, mall with the Washington Memorial obelisk in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/s_yQFd-bMl4mWeGBSv6B1iJqc7A=/283x0:2950x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72451667/150253614.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A gathering from the 1968 Poor People’s March organized by Martin Luther King Jr. to demand economic aid to low-income communities across the US. | Arnold Sachs/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Poverty contributes to hundreds of thousands of American deaths a year, a recent study finds.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7aOW1M">
“We need a whole new scientific agenda on poverty and mortality,” said David Brady, a professor of public policy at the University of California Riverside, whose recent <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2804032">co-authored study aims to jump-start that agenda</a> by asking just how many Americans die from poverty each year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h3hv4t">
It’s well established that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1524839918755143">poverty is bad for your health</a>. But as a <a href="https://www.vox.com/public-health">public health</a> issue, the US knows less about the direct <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3134519/">link between poverty and death</a> than we know about, say, the link between smoking and death. Current estimates <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/diseases-and-death.html#:~:text=Smoking%20is%20the%20leading%20cause%20of%20preventable%20death.&amp;text=Cigarette%20smoking%20is%20responsible%20for,resulting%20from%20secondhand%20smoke%20exposure.">suggest smoking kills 480,000</a> Americans per year. Obesity <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/192032#:~:text=Conclusions%20The%20estimated%20number%20of,only%20nonsmokers%20and%20never%2Dsmokers.">kills 280,000</a>, and drug overdoses <a href="https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates">claimed 106,000 American lives</a> in 2021. Together, risk factors and their mortality estimates help motivate public health campaigns and government-funded <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/3/30/23663064/narcan-overdose-fentanyl-drug-where-to-get">efforts to save lives</a>. But how many Americans does poverty actually kill? The question has received little attention compared to other mortality risks, and meanwhile, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/09/magazine/poverty-by-america-matthew-desmond.html">poverty remains prevalent across the country</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yt3NGX">
Brady — alongside sociologist <a href="https://sociology.osu.edu/people/zheng.64">Hui Zheng</a> at Ohio State University and Ulrich Kohler, a professor of empirical social research at the University of Potsdam — <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2804032">published their study</a> in April in the <em>Journal of the American Medical Association</em>. Their results find poverty is <a href="https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2023/04/17/poverty-4th-greatest-cause-us-deaths">America’s fourth-leading risk factor for death</a>, behind only heart disease, cancer, and smoking. A single year of poverty, <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/3/10/23632910/poverty-official-supplemental-relative-absolute-measure-desmond">defined relatively</a> in the study as having less than 50 percent of the US median household income, is associated with 183,000 American deaths per year. Being in “cumulative poverty,” or 10 years or more of uninterrupted poverty, is associated with 295,000 annual deaths.
</p>
<div id="ny3JYc">
<div id="datawrapper-qpJrF">
</div></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UrpIu3">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EsouSo">
Amelia Karraker, a health scientist administrator at the National Institute on Aging, explains that research has shown a variety of pathways that connect poverty and mortality. These range from neighborhood amenities and nutrition down to the impacts of stress on the body: “Being poor is really stressful, which we know from NIH-supported research has implications for what’s actually happening in the body at the cellular level, which ultimately impacts health and mortality,” she said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="efU1Ah">
Crucially, that doesn’t mean you’ll find “poverty” written as the cause on anyone’s death certificate. Risk factors are only correlations that imply an association but not necessarily causation (although <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/31/health/cash-transfer-deaths-women.html?smid=tw-nytimesscience&amp;smtyp=cur">new research found</a> that cash transfers to women in low- and middle-income countries cut mortality rates by 20 percent). But proving an association is a necessary step toward deciphering whether poverty might be more than an association. For example, <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/articles/spurious-correlations">there is an association</a> between the number of Nicolas Cage movies released and the number of people who drown in swimming pools that year. No one is arguing that we should dissuade Cage from releasing films in order to combat drowning. But there is also an association between <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/basic_info/risk_factors.htm#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20cigarette,Many%20are%20poisons.">cigarette smoking and lung cancer</a>. Here, we do believe one causes the other, so we do try and dissuade people from smoking to combat lung cancer deaths.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xod4pY">
Arguing that poverty is more like the latter elevates the debate from a statistics squabble to one of literal life and death. “We just let all these people die from poverty each year,” Brady said. “What motivated me to think about it in comparison to homicide or other causes of death in America is that people would have to agree that poverty is important if it’s actually associated with anywhere near this quantity of death.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a2j1BJ">
Without a number attached to the relationship, presenting poverty as a serious public health risk falls a little flat. “Poverty and mortality are tightly correlated” isn’t exactly as galvanizing a message as “poverty kills nearly 200,000 Americans a year.” But the key question is what it means to “die from poverty.” As a <a href="https://health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-determinants-health">social determinant of health</a>, the government already recognizes a direct line between economic conditions and health outcomes. Physicians are now going a step further, establishing a movement known as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876285921001558">anti-poverty medicine</a> that aims not only to identify poverty as a health risk but develop treatments. Attaching a death toll contributes a new data point — perhaps even a rallying point — to illuminate the ties between poverty and death, and just maybe, it will motivate a more urgent anti-poverty agenda on the grounds that it could save lives.
</p>
<h3 id="4Rbw0j">
Poverty is more than just another mortality risk
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HMyA2Q">
Measured in relative terms, poverty in the US is <a href="https://confrontingpoverty.org/poverty-facts-and-myths/americas-poor-are-worse-off-than-elsewhere/#:~:text=Source%3A%20OECD%20Data%2C%202019.,country%20average%20of%2010.7%20percent.">significantly worse than in similarly wealthy countries</a>. Meanwhile, US citizens <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/09/america-mortality-life-expectancy-pandemic/671350/">face a higher mortality rate</a> at almost every age than residents of peer countries, and that disparity <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.05.22273393v4">is growing</a>. Even <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/demo/p60-277.html">according to the US Census Bureau’s supplemental poverty measure</a> (an approach that tries to blend relative methods with absolute ones, while accounting for government programs like SNAP benefits and tax credits), nearly 26 million Americans remained in poverty in 2021.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IIpYAm">
Brady, Zheng, and Kohler analyzed data from 1997–2019, drawing from the <a href="https://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/">Panel Study of Income Dynamics</a> and the <a href="https://www.cnefdata.org/">Cross-National Equivalent File</a>. Since the data ends before the Covid-19 pandemic began, and poverty likely compounded the pandemic’s death toll, they believe their findings are conservative. In 2019, being in poverty was 10 times more of a mortality risk than murder, 4.7 times more than firearms, and 2.6 times as deadly as drug overdoses. And poor people die younger than others. Their mortality rates begin diverging from the rest around age 40, reaching a peak disparity near 70, and converging back with the rest around 90.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zll5Aj">
The study used <a href="http://www.bandolier.org.uk/painres/download/whatis/COX_MODEL.pdf">a Cox model</a>, a type of statistical analysis commonly used in medical research to isolate the effects of a given variable (often particular drugs, but in this case, poverty) on how long patients survive. But no matter how you analyze it, singling out annual deaths across an entire country from a fuzzy cause like poverty is a statistical nightmare. It’s difficult to imagine how one could untangle all the confounding factors — like the reverse effect of how poor health also affects income — to deliver a plausible number.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LvRAZq">
One of the few previous efforts came from a group of epidemiologists in 2011, who <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2010.300086">estimated</a> poverty’s death toll at 133,000 per year. And while few prior studies aimed to directly estimate deaths attributable to social factors, there is a decades-long history of wrangling statistical complexities to frame poverty as an actual cause of death. Brady cited <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7560851/">a famous 1995 paper</a> by sociologists Bruce Link and Jo Phelan, making the case that over and above mere risk factors, social conditions like poverty should be seen as “fundamental causes of disease” that put you at risk of more proximate risks, like heart disease.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oFPSVS">
Link and Phelan’s paper argued that if you break down a fundamental cause of disease into its more tractable causes of death, like breaking the mortality risks of poverty down into a cocktail of heart disease, lung cancer, and drug overdoses, fundamental causes like poverty get ousted from the picture. Treating individual risk factors alone leaves the underlying social condition intact, and it will continue putting people at risk of other risk factors.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KlbuK3">
Rather than tracing all the different pathways that lead from poverty to mortality and focusing public health-inspired anti-poverty efforts on each one separately, Link and Phelan urged an approach that stays with poverty. “If we wish to alter the effects of these potent determinants of disease, we must do so by directly intervening in ways that change the social conditions themselves,” they write. Nearly three decades later, clinicians are putting these ideas into practice.
</p>
<h3 id="46szFN">
Physicians are now prescribing anti-poverty as medicine
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SROjqE">
While the use of social determinants of health as a framework is <a href="https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/social-determinants-health-gain-traction-unitedhealthcare-and-intermountain-build-new-programs">gaining significant traction</a> among physicians, companies, and <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/social-determinants-of-health#tab=tab_1">even the WHO</a>, Lucy Marcil, a pediatrician and associate director for economic mobility in the <a href="https://www.bmc.org/center-urban-child-and-healthy-family">Center for the Urban Child and Healthy Family</a> at Boston Medical Center, feels they don’t go far enough. She helped <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876285921001558">coin the idea of anti-poverty medicine</a> in 2021. She explained that “anti-poverty medicine is one step further upstream to the root cause. Social determinants of health are important, but getting someone access to a food pantry doesn’t really address why they’re hungry in the first place.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QXiMyM">
“I started this work about a decade ago,” Marcil told Vox. “At the time, there was a lot of confusion when I would say that I try to get more people tax credits because it helps their health. Now it’s pretty well established at most major academic medical centers that trying to alleviate economic inequities is an important part of trying to promote health.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hSUN8W">
Putting a number on poverty’s death count could help build the case for anti-poverty programs embedded within systems of clinical care (like free tax preparation offered in health care systems that already have the community’s trust, an <a href="https://www.bmc.org/news/embedding-financial-services-trusted-settings-addresses-poverty-and-improves-health-equity">initiative Marcil pioneered</a>). “If I’m able to say to a funder or to a health system, ‘Look, it’s been published in a reputable journal that there are X number of deaths in our country every year due to poverty,’ I have a much stronger case for why they should pay for [anti-poverty] programs,” she said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lYPWLX">
But physicians can only go so far upstream of poverty. Even before the study positioned long-term poverty as a greater mortality risk than obesity or dementia, public health scholars had been arguing that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9053836/">anti-poverty efforts</a> should play a central role in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5507421/">a national agenda for public health</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="jfkUId">
A national anti-poverty agenda for public health
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lpHB9E">
Public health campaigns against poverty face a strange and difficult landscape. One thing Americans seem to dislike more than poverty is welfare. Although <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/329363/satisfaction-five-key-societal-issues-plummets.aspx">82 percent of Americans</a> reported dissatisfaction with efforts to reduce poverty and homelessness in a 2021 Gallup poll, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/12/17/views-of-the-economic-system-and-social-safety-net/">only 40</a> percent in a 2019 Pew Research Center survey felt the government should provide more aid to those in need.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xPgGPS">
Even after President Joe Biden’s temporary expansion to the child tax credit (CTC) <a href="https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/democrats/issue-briefs?id=CD9DF1DD-39AF-4F31-9401-B2687B593E59">nearly cut child poverty in half</a> and showed <a href="https://www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/publication/2021/expanded-child-tax-credit-impact-on-employment">no signs of fostering welfare dependence</a> among recipients, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/20/opinion/child-tax-credit-basic-income.html">critics were unmoved</a>. The policy expired at the end of 2021, <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/610831a16c95260dbd68934a/t/63732dd8efcf0e5c76aea26e/1668492763484/Child-Tax-Credit-Research-Roundup-One-Year-On-CPSP-2022.pdf">3.7 million American children</a> fell back into poverty, and we’ve yet to see the program return. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/04/america-mortality-rate-guns-health/673799/">as the Atlantic’s Derek Thompson</a> writes, “a typical American baby is about 1.8 times more likely to die in her first year than the average infant from a group of similarly rich countries,” and child poverty is a major risk factor <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/137/4/e20160339/81482/Poverty-and-Child-Health-in-the-United-States">in all manners of infant mortality</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XpT0MT">
At the federal level, another reason to quantify poverty’s death toll could be to add mortality estimates to the cost-benefit analyses that groups like the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/cost-estimates">use to score policies and their impacts</a>. Telling Americans that the expanded CTC almost single-handedly reduced child poverty by half <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/12/child-tax-credit-democrats-inflation-postmaterialism/672543/">hasn’t yet proved compelling enough</a> to make the changes permanent. If the CBO were to include in their cost estimates that the expanded CTC would save a certain number of American lives per year, or conversely, that letting it expire would cost a certain number of American deaths, maybe the policy discourse would move more urgently.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f0k838">
Finding strategies to help support policy implementation is crucial because, ultimately, treating poverty as a public health issue will require a stronger welfare state that benefits low-income Americans. “No country in the history of capitalist democracies has ever accomplished sustainably low poverty without an above-average welfare state,” Brady said. “And so until you get serious about expanding the welfare state in all its forms, you’re not serious about reducing poverty.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ONVAQQ">
Relative to similarly rich countries, the US has high <a href="https://confrontingpoverty.org/poverty-facts-and-myths/americas-poor-are-worse-off-than-elsewhere/#:~:text=What%20we%20find%20is%20that,country%20average%20of%2010.7%20percent.">poverty rates</a>, high <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/653bbb26-8a22-4db3-b43d-c34a0b774303">mortality rates</a>, and a confusing welfare state. It has the <a href="https://www.aei.org/pethokoukis/us-second-biggest-welfare-state-world-whos/#:~:text=France%20remains%20at%20the%20top,partly%20outsourced%20to%20private%20markets.">second largest welfare state</a> in the world if you include things like subsidies for employer-based health insurance, tax-favored retirement accounts, and homeowner subsidies. These mostly <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/358922-mortgage-interest-deduction-mostly-benefits-the-rich-end-it/">benefit those who are already well-off</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3W2mp9">
Instead, if you judge the American safety net based on the share of GDP spent on programs that benefit low-income citizens, it <a href="https://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp138710.pdf">falls well below the average</a> among other rich nations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QtHhyl">
In other words, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22600143/poverty-us-covid-19-pandemic-stimulus-checks">poverty is a policy choice</a>, and the US has yet to choose otherwise. As the sociologist Matthew Desmond put it in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/16/opinion/poverty-abolition-united-states.html">his recent call for poverty abolitionism</a>, “Ending poverty in America will require both short- and long-term solutions: strategies that stem the bleeding now, alongside more enduring interventions that target the disease and don’t just treat the symptoms.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EarmWx">
For starters, the US could revive the expanded CTC and make it permanent, or even combine it with the earned income tax credit into a universal child allowance that would <a href="https://d12t4t5x3vyizu.cloudfront.net/tlaib.house.gov/uploads/2023/04/End-Child-Poverty-One-Pager.pdf">cut child poverty by 64 percent</a>, and reduce deep child poverty by 70 percent (child poverty is one of the <a href="https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2017/09/12/who-was-in-poverty-in-2016/">largest contributing factors</a> to overall poverty in America). “The biggest movers in the welfare state are pensions and health care, so invest in those as anti-poverty policy,” Brady recommends. <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/281213-universal-pensions-a-progressive-alternative-to-retirement/">Universal pensions</a> and extending “<a href="https://www.niskanencenter.org/wp-content/uploads/old_uploads/2019/06/Final_Universal-Catastrophic-Coverage.pdf">catastrophic coverage” health care to all</a> are a few options. The US could also directly <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/5/30/5764096/homeless-shelter-housing-help-solutions">provide homes</a> for the more than <a href="https://www.usich.gov/fsp/state-of-homelessness">1 million Americans</a> who experience homelessness in the course of a year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gdw1gr">
If it wanted to go big, it could implement a guaranteed income pegged to the poverty line that would eliminate poverty outright, <a href="https://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/sites/default/files/Guaranteed%20Income%20for%20the%2021st%20Century.pdf">like the 2021 proposal</a> from scholars at the New School’s Institute on Race and Political Economy. They estimate such a plan would cost $876 billion per year (that’s on par with the annual cost of Medicare, which sat <a href="https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/statistics-trends-and-reports/nationalhealthexpenddata/nhe-fact-sheet#:~:text=Historical%20NHE%2C%202021%3A&amp;text=Medicare%20spending%20grew%208.4%25%20to,28%20percent%20of%20total%20NHE.">around $900 billion</a> in 2021). Meanwhile, one 2018 estimate places the annual cost of childhood poverty alone at <a href="https://academic.oup.com/swr/article-abstract/42/2/73/4956930?redirectedFrom=fulltext&amp;login=false">$1.03 trillion per year</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NpyBBv">
“A federal policy with a universal cash transfer could be relatively adequate on its own if there weren’t barriers to receiving it,” Marcil said. But she’s seen firsthand how the implementation of <a href="https://www.vox.com/social-policy">social policy</a> often means jumping through administrative hoops and abominably complex paperwork, with the result that the aid often fails to reach the most vulnerable populations. In her clinic, they help patients who have just given birth apply for Massachusetts’ paid parental leave program.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="To7nfo">
Otherwise, Marcil estimates only one-third of those eligible successfully navigate the bureaucratic gauntlet to claim the benefits. Most of those who get left out are low-income Americans on Medicaid who identify as Black or Hispanic. “In my experience,” Marcil said, “most social policies are written in ways that make it challenging for those who have been historically marginalized to access them.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3JEpJa">
While big-picture death toll estimates may help bolster the overall motivation for anti-poverty medicine, Marcil argues that data on specific interventions is also crucial to justify the expenditure against the array of alternatives. “Because then you can go to a policymaker and say, ‘Look, someone got paid leave, and they were less likely to show up in the emergency room than this other family who didn’t get paid leave,’” she said. “So it would save Medicaid money to help poor people get access to paid parental leave.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NSVXEU">
Objections to a new agenda on poverty and mortality will range from moral (unconditional aid <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/opinion/child-allowance-credit-romney.html">undermines the American work ethic</a>) to budgetary (how do you choose between giving nurses a raise or funding an on-site food pantry for food-insecure patients?). But as Brady’s new paper helps establish, the scope of the problem is vast, as is the cost — in terms of American lives — of continuing to treat symptoms of poverty while skimping on treatment for the fundamental cause.
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>TV and movie sets used to be messy. What happened?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TG-s4z_9XLr_-krVh9z1OuEsohc=/106x0:995x667/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72451604/Torn_Between_Two_Lovers.0.jpeg"/>
<figcaption>
The living room of <em>Modern Family</em>, where nary a mess appears. | ABC
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
From Jerry’s apartment to Lucifer’s penthouse, TV sets keep getting neater and neater.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S2rUMW">
Once upon a time, TV houses were cluttered. They weren’t necessarily messy, but there was stuff in the homes of our TV friends. Jerry left cereal boxes out on the counter on <em>Seinfeld</em>. Monica let dishes dry on the rack next to her sink on <em>Friends</em>. Newspapers festooned the living room floor of the Connor house on <em>Roseanne</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UVW8Fb">
Lately, though, all those messes seem to have vanished from my TV screen. Ted Lasso always seems to have his throw pillows arranged just so. The Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker clan of <em>Modern Family</em> never seem to wash their dishes, but they don’t seem to ever have dirty dishes, either: they’re always simply in a state of gleaming readiness. I truly can’t remember the last time I saw a stray power cord onscreen.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8jR4Fz">
“Nowadays movie and <a href="https://www.vox.com/tv">tv</a> home interiors look like they double as the set for a lysol commercial,” <a href="https://filmnoirsbian.tumblr.com/post/647255664904798208/set-designers-stop-forgetting-the-clutter">complained a tumblr post in 2021</a>. “like who lives here?? Mr. Clean??”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BP23nc">
The complaint felt, to me, intuitively true as soon as I saw it. I had a gut sense that I had emerged from an era of warmly messy TV sets and into a time when all TV sets at all times look as though a real estate agent has just breezed through to get the home staged to sell at an open house.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zl2CM47U6g7L5v6oO7lJ7zCD-JM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24780000/Screenshot_2023_07_05_at_4.56.44_PM.png"/> <cite>CBS</cite>
<figcaption>
Ted’s kitchen on <em>How I Met Your Mother</em> sees frequent messes. (That’s Marshall’s foot there on the bottom left by the fridge — he just proposed to Lilly and she knocked him over with joy.)
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xWPqPV">
But I could also so easily think of exceptions to the idea of the trend. The <em>Euphoria</em> kids, after all, live in the midst of mess! Surely <em>Girls</em> was recent enough to count, and it was pretty grungy. And when I called up production designers to see if they thought there was something to this idea, they were disappointingly uncertain.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HNcVsG">
“I had not heard of this till you set all this up!” said Nelson Coates, president of the Art Directors Guild. “I think it just kind of depends on the type of show.” He allowed that certainly <em>The Morning Show</em>, on which he works as a production designer, has a remarkably uncluttered set, but that was a character choice: “These people have meticulously controlled lives.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mTeFuJ">
At the same time, every production designer I spoke to also had highly robust theories for why they thought set mess might have vanished, even if they weren’t entirely sure it had. It had something to do with budgets, or with social media, or with organizing shows, they told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eNhuwM">
I was left with two questions to investigate: Has the mess level on sets actually changed over time? If it has, why has it?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DmIq0S">
I was going to have to delve into the data to figure it out.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8RyZh9JGaXtSZ9hWZkxwPrcU4Cw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24779996/Screenshot_2023_07_05_at_4.18.11_PM.png"/> <cite>NBC</cite>
<figcaption>
Monica’s kitchen on <em>Friends</em> is rigorously organized, but there are plenty of cleaning implements and power cords stored in clear sight. Even the lid on the blender is slightly askew.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="k2uSN6">
Set mess by the numbers
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vugPw7">
Sadly, I could not get Vox to fund a full PhD on this issue, so I limited myself to looking at 30 TV shows, 10 each from the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. To avoid cherry-picking examples, I pulled them all from <a href="https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?sort=num_votes,desc&amp;title_type=tv_series">IMDb’s list of the most popular TV shows of all time</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jvqUPr">
I picked the most popular shows from each decade that abided by certain rules. They had to be American (so no <em>Sherlock</em>), live-action (no <em>Avatar</em>), set in the present day (no <em>Young Sheldon</em>), and include at least one domestic space among the principal sets (bye-bye, <em>ER</em>). Shows that span multiple decades are included in the decade where they were most part of the zeitgeist (<em>Seinfeld</em> premiered in 1989 and <em>Friends</em> ended in 2004, but I put them both in the 1990s). This judgment call admittedly gets a little fuzzy when it comes to shows like <em>It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia</em> (premiered in 2005 and still going), but at the end of the day, this whole project depends on judgment calls.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4r5whK">
I evaluated each set according to its standard levels of messiness. Lots of shows have episodes in which a space gets briefly messy for story reasons and is then cleaned again, but those don’t count for the purposes of this project. Instead, we are looking at each set in its baseline state. To evaluate the messiness of that baseline state, I designed a seven-point rubric:
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wThCSTmzK28AkAQeER3TTCVqEKY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24779951/SetMess_1.jpg"/> <cite>Constance Grady/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
A seven-point rubric for ranking sets from least to most messy.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="axJdIs">
As I moved through the decades, I found that overall, sets tend to hover around the 3-4 range: fairly tidy, but a little bit of clutter here and there.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kDhydN7jfbmt4VcDa6KDtvEbz2k=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24779966/SetMess_2.jpg"/> <cite>Constance Grady/Vox</cite>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xSzqTY">
Each decade has its outliers in either direction. In the 1990s, Geoffrey keeps the Banks mansion of <em>The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air</em> staged to sell at all times. In the 2000s, the <em>Always Sunny </em>guys have apartments littered with crumbs and mildewed towels.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QI5Z_UJVUxhr-TutRBa7PVigkIg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24779967/SetMess_3.jpg"/> <cite>Constance Grady/Vox</cite>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZfefBg">
Over the past decade, though, something changes. Where previous decades favored 3 and 4 levels of mess, in the 2010s, we start to see an overabundance of 2s.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EdDeuV">
Those <em>Modern Family</em> houses have done away with household maintenance. The Underwoods of <em>House of Cards</em> have no time for power cords. The <em>Suits</em> lawyers live in pristine palaces.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6eqkpggmJuMLz5hczHEcYGZI0Rs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24779973/SetMess_4.jpg"/> <cite>Constance Grady/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
Set mess of the 2010s.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="biIX6s">
In most cases, there’s a character reason for the lack of mess. It makes just as much sense for the Underwoods’ house to be spotless on <em>House of Cards</em> as it does for the Banks mansion to be spotless on <em>Fresh Prince of Bel-Air</em>: They’re wealthy; they have people to handle mess for them. Matt Murdock on <em>Daredevil</em> is blind and surely doesn’t want to have clutter lying around where he’ll trip over it. Lucifer on <em>Lucifer</em> is the devil and has an aesthetic to maintain.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7TGSZO">
All the same, it does seem as though a lot more characters of the 2010s have decided to keep their homes spotless than did the characters of the 1990s. It looks like the set mess did go away.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rnljLE">
So what happened?
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/53a54g8vP4szp6rXoHMXtuH46GI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24780007/Screenshot_2023_07_05_at_4.15.45_PM.png"/> <cite>ABC</cite>
<figcaption>
Aside from an akimbo Phil on the floor, the Dunphy kitchen of <em>Modern Family</em> does not seem to have a crumb out of place.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="ssvZKK">
Where did the mess go?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R4vnpZ">
Few of the production designers I talked to for this story were positive that sets were less messy than they used to be. All of them, though, had a lot of ideas why they might be less messy if they were.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LimRDL">
Sara K. White, a production designer working on <em>Swarm</em>, theorizes that the digitization of everything has cut down on the amount of media that production designers can use on their sets.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tGZve6">
“The volume of physical items that we have in our home is slightly reduced, given the fact that most media is encountered in a digital space,” White says. “So we don’t have big stereos with stacks and stacks of records or CDs or tapes, or stacks of magazines or newspapers around in a home. That’s not a day-to-day part of most people’s lives at this point.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ua3o8B">
White says that one of her favorite parts of the job is finding little details in the space that can say a lot about someone’s character: “Maybe they’re the kind of character that leaves out either a half-read book or half-eaten sandwich, or maybe there’s a tissue that someone sneezed into that’s on the bedside table,” she says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XJA5Bu">
Finding those details has gotten more difficult as life moves into the cloud. “I think it’s challenging, and it’s something that I talk with other production designers about,” she says: “creating a space that really has the stuff of life and a tangibility of life, given the fact that we would be really anachronistic if we just put stacks of media around a home, typically.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="buouqj">
Jeff Mann, a production designer who worked on <em>Mr. and Mrs. Smith</em> and <em>Tropic Thunder</em>, thinks that our cultural defaults on domestic messiness have switched. “Having something be more austere was a choice in the ’90s that you made to tell a story about a certain person,” Mann says. “I feel like it’s maybe shifted, that having a space feel cluttered or lived-in is a way that you are able to say something about a character these days.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eN2mcB">
In the 1990s, the exceptionally pristine Banks mansion spoke to the family’s extreme wealth all the more compared to Jerry Seinfeld’s workaday apartment. Today, the crumb-strewn apartments of <em>Always Sunny</em> speak to the characters’ dirtbaggery all the more next to the showroom-like <em>Modern Family</em> homes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f0zyDI">
Mann also thinks the aspirational display of social media might be a force behind the disappearance of mess. “People are in acceptance [of the new normal] because of being bombarded with imagery that something can look like a showroom or adjacent to a showroom and still be lived in, because they’re being told that that’s where somebody lives, and that it’s aspirational, right?” he says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZaSBDR">
Audiences aren’t the only ones whose ideas about what homes should look like are shaped by social media. Directors are looking at interior design on social media, too. White says she’s found that, post-<a href="https://www.vox.com/pinterest">Pinterest</a>, directors are a lot more interested in figuring out what the interior of a set should look like than they used to be.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HDryEC">
“It’s really attainable now to go on a site like Pinterest and do a Google Image search and get a bunch of responses back and potentially feel well-rounded — and potentially <em>be</em> well-rounded — in what a visual environment is,” she says. “And that can push what the ultimate look and feel of a space and a film or TV project is.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VjKpvO">
In addition to living in the age of Pinterest and <a href="https://www.vox.com/instagram-news">Instagram</a>, we’re also living in the golden age of home improvement and <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/21516647/home-edit-netflix-cant-even-anne-helen-petersen-audre-lorde-cancer-diaries-self-care-pandemic">organizing TV shows</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JF0XwX">
“There’s the <a href="https://www.vox.com/reality-tv">reality TV</a> world where people are buying something and then they’re staging it, and folks are seeing that represented,” says Coates. “That then cross-pollinates into the culture via designers trying to reflect what people are actually doing.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HHmJ2Q">
There’s also the fact that dressing a set with extra mess costs time and money.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XcdU0T">
“With the volume of shows that are being produced, there’s less prep time,” Coates adds. “As such, there may not be the ability to do that last layer of life on top of things.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z9U7x9">
“These shows are scheduled within an inch of their lives,” says Mann. “A lot of them are location-driven, and a lot of them don’t have the time or resources to add the layers that an art decorator or designer would want to add. Nobody thinks that that scene is important enough to justify paying for a prep day.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fH7Iu2">
The aesthetic impact of the disappearing set mess is exacerbated by a corresponding shift in interior design trends. Shows made in the 1990s had more visual clutter in addition to actual clutter. Their sets were frequently decorated in mismatched shades of dark wood, with lots of loud, clashing patterns in the wallpapers and upholstery. They looked, in fact, less like the height of 1990s fashion and more like the 1970s.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CNm9rn">
White says production designers clung to the 1970s as long as they possibly could.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j9aVK4">
“When I started, even 12 or 13 years ago,” says White, “there was this leaning toward pulling things from the ’70s and ’80s that still had a lot of that texture, especially in the independent film space. If you go back and you watch early 2000s films, you’re like, ‘What is this, the ’70s?’ It’s because that lived-in texture was so appealing. And it was realistic. There were certain pockets of the world that still really had that. There still are, but as that became less and less realistic, there was an overall mourning.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PquN2j">
Coates notes that just as designs in the real world influence what set decorating looks like, set designs influence what real-world decorating looks like. “People look at you. They look at <em>Modern Family</em> and look at the shows that have happened as a result of that. Those looks start influencing how people also are living their lives, which then influences how people are representing contemporary life.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gQIsUc">
Eventually, it will all trickle on down to the next generation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Tp7zK1">
“I was watching <em>Mean Streets</em> [from 1973] when I was starting to come up,” says White. “Like, I’m not sure that’s the film that everyone is necessarily watching, if they’re just starting out in production design these days. Touchstones shift as the eras shift. In 10 or 20 years, what we’re creating now will become a touchstone. It’ll be interesting to see.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fWKLq8">
Production designers of the future, I beg of you: As you begin to recreate the homes of the 2010s for your dark satirical looks back at the <a href="https://www.vox.com/trump-administration">Trump administration</a> and the end of pre-pandemic America and so on, think of me and remember. We did still have bottles of dish soap next to our sinks.
</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>Golden Neil and Fidato please</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>Win My Luv, Kalamitsi and Marzgovel 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>Asian Athletics Championships | Tajinderpal Singh Toor defends shot put title, but limps out of competition</strong> - The Asian record holder Toor threw the iron ball to a distance of 20.23m in his second throw; Saberi Mehdi (19.98m) of Iran and Ivan Ivanov (19.87m) of Kazakhstan took the silver and bronze respectively.</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>BCCI advocates for ICC strategic fund boost, gets 72% increase in revenue share</strong> - India’s revamped revenue share, as expected, got a stamp of approval at the ICC Board in Durban, which means they stand to gain about 72%.</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>This is just the start, will try to take it far from here: Jaiswal</strong> - 21-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal lived up to the expectations with a record-breaking century on debut</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>P.C. Jabin Science College gets A++ grade</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>Man lays mud road with his own money in Yadahalli village of Hunsagi taluk</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Here are the big stories from Karnataka today</strong> - Welcome to the Karnataka Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated and written by Nalme Nachiyar.</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>Agri &amp; allied sector contribution to GDP can further rise by strengthening marketing; FPOs are key: Amit Shah</strong> - Addressing a conclave here, the Minister said agriculture can become a profitable venture if modern technology and marketing methods are 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>Minister inaugurates milk producers society for women in Udhagamandalam</strong> -</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>Europe heatwave: Extreme heat leads to Greece Acropolis closure</strong> - The country’s most popular tourist attraction will stay closed between noon and 5pm in the 40C-plus heat.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In pictures: Cerberus heatwave hits parts of Europe</strong> - People in countries including Italy and Spain are struggling to cope with soaring temperatures.</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>Wagner head Prigozhin rejected offer to join Russia’s army - Putin</strong> - The leader of June’s aborted mutiny did not want his mercenaries to become a regular unit, President Putin says.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Arman Soldin: Journalist killed in Ukraine given top French honour</strong> - Video journalist Arman Soldin was killed in a rocket attack close to Bakhmut in May.</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>Illegal Migration Bill: Jenrick sees no more compromises on migration bill</strong> - The government hopes to pass the Illegal Migration Bill before the summer recess.</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>Why AI detectors think the US Constitution was written by AI</strong> - Can AI writing detectors be trusted? We dig into the theory behind them. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1932658">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: Rocket Lab’s next step in reuse, Blue Origin engine explodes</strong> - ULA’s CEO says engine explosions are “relatively routine” early in production. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1953624">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Senate just lobbed a tactical nuke at NASA’s Mars Sample Return program</strong> - “The Committee has significant concerns about the technical challenges.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1953815">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apple introduces offline Maps—but how does it compare with Google Maps?</strong> - Comparing offline modes between Apple Maps and Google Maps is a tight contest. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1953389">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How a cloud flaw gave Chinese spies a key to Microsoft’s kingdom</strong> - Hackers stole a cryptographic key that let them forge user identities and slip past defenses. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1953648">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>A burglar breaks into a home and holds the husband and wife hostage..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
At gunpoint, he forces the two to sit on chairs and ties them to the chairs. The burglar slowly and methodically begins stealing from the house.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The burglar has taken everything of value, and is ready to leave while the homeowners are still bound to their chairs. Suddenly, the man yells at the burglar,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Please untie her, please, let her go!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The burglar responds,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“No, I’m not untying either of you so that the authorities get notified as late as possible. Don’t worry, your neighbours will soon wonder why your lights are still on throughout the night and check in on you long before you succumb to dehydration”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man yet again pleads,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Please, just untie her, I’ll do anything!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The burglar once again explains his reasoning,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I need to get away with this crime, I’m sorry, I can’t leave anything up to chance.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man shuffles his chair towards the burglar, in a state of mania, exclaims,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I’m begging you man, just let her go, she won’t call the cops, I promise!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The burglar, still unwilling to budge, did find it quite touching how much his hostage cared about his wife.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Wow,” he said “You must really love your wife to beg me to untie her so desperately”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“No,” The man replied, in a state of frenzy “My wife will be home in 15 minutes”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HelpingHandsUs"> /u/HelpingHandsUs </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14ywusf/a_burglar_breaks_into_a_home_and_holds_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14ywusf/a_burglar_breaks_into_a_home_and_holds_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>One day, God asked Adam how things were going with Eve.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
One day, God asked Adam how things were going with Eve.<br/> Adam: Pretty good, I guess.<br/> God: You seem to be holding back. Do you have any questions?<br/> Adam: Well, why did you make her so much more beautiful than me?<br/> God: So you would enjoy looking at her.<br/> Adam: And why did you make her skin so much softer than mine?<br/> God: So you would enjoy touching her.<br/> Adam: And why did you make her smell so much better than me?<br/> God: So you would want to be around her all the time. You see, Adam, I made Eve just for you, to make you happy.<br/> Adam: Then why did you make her so stupid?<br/> God: Well Adam, if I had made her any smarter, she never would have slept with a guy like you.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Gerry1of1"> /u/Gerry1of1 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14yxoug/one_day_god_asked_adam_how_things_were_going_with/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14yxoug/one_day_god_asked_adam_how_things_were_going_with/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Where do pirates get their hooks?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The second hand store.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/shaggie42069"> /u/shaggie42069 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14z9sjl/where_do_pirates_get_their_hooks/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14z9sjl/where_do_pirates_get_their_hooks/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My Chinese wife never understands what I want when I say “69”. It’s getting really frustrating.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
On the other hand, I do like beef with broccoli in sweet and sour sauce.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HBNTrader"> /u/HBNTrader </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14z1myv/my_chinese_wife_never_understands_what_i_want/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14z1myv/my_chinese_wife_never_understands_what_i_want/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>It hurts me to say this…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I have a sore throat.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Longlang"> /u/Longlang </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14z34vx/it_hurts_me_to_say_this/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14z34vx/it_hurts_me_to_say_this/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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