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<title>07 September, 2022</title>
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<title>Covid-19 Sentry</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
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<li><strong>Antiporphyrics, antithrombotics and erythropoiesis stimulating agents to treat Covid-19: A living systematic review and meta-analysis</strong> -
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Abstract Aims: Covid-19 hematology is hallmarked by porphyrin dysmetabolism, altered hemostasis and erythropoietic distress. We hypothesize that antiporphyrics, antithrombotics and erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs) may prove beneficial in the treatment of severe Covid-19. The objective of the current study was to systematically review and meta-analyse the mortality risk profile of hospitalized Covid-19 patients, when treated with each of the three interventions of interest - versus placebo, standard of care or non-intervention. Methods: Eligible studies were identified from: biorxiv and medrxiv, clinical trials govR4, covid19 trials tracker netR5, DISCOVERR2 (Ebsco), ICTRPR7, PubMedR1 and Google ScholarR3 during search period 27 May-07 June 2022. Risk of bias was assessed with SIGN, NIH and JBI checklists and results quantitatively synthesised for antiporphyrics plus antithrombotics studies. Quantitative synthesis was performed in RevMan 5.4R9 with random effects model meta-analysis. Publication bias was assessed in R by funnel plot, Egger’s regression and trimfill analysis (metafor). Results: Number and type of studies included was 6 RCTs for antiporphyrics, 16 cohort for antithrombotics, and 3 case report/series for ESAs. Both unadjusted and adjusted analyses suggested that hydroxychloroquine treatment was not significantly associated with mortality risk in hospitalised Covid-19 patients (RR 0.95 [0.71, 1.29], P=0.76; aHR 0.78 [0.51, 1.22], P=0.28). Interestingly, the direction of effect shifted further towards favoring intervention when only high quality studies were included in the analysis (unadjusted RR 0.80 [0.42, 1.55]) compared with low quality studies (unadjusted RR 1.59 [0.71, 3.53]) although neither were statistically significant (P=0.51 and P=0.26, respectively). Exposure to antithrombotics was associated with reduced in-hospital mortality risk in adjusted analysis (aOR 0.54 [0.33, 0.86], P=0.01; aHR 0.65 [0.52, 0.82], P=0.0003). Subgroup analysis of adjusted estimates showed that exposure to aspirin (aHR 0.62 [0.50, 0.77], P<0.00001) and heparin (aOR 0.35 [0.14, 0.90], P=0.03) individually were associated with reduced mortality risk. The finding was robust to type of regimen, with pre-admission exposure to antithrombotics (aHR 0.79 [0.67, 0.93], P=0.005) and aspirin (aHR 0.66 [0.52, 0.84], P=0.0009] both showing reduced mortality risk. Additionally, prophylactic dose antithrombotics were associated with reduced mortality (aHR 0.44 [0.32, 0.60], P<0.00001). Publication bias was negative by Egger’s regression test (P=0.95). The direction of effect remained significantly in favor of intervention after trim-and-fill analysis (P=0.0034). Discussion: We make an interim recommendation in favor of antithrombotics, with very low certainty of evidence. We make an interim recommendation in favor of either intervention or non-intervention for both antiporphyrics and ESAs, with low and very low certainty of evidence.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/nq9xf/" target="_blank">Antiporphyrics, antithrombotics and erythropoiesis stimulating agents to treat Covid-19: A living systematic review and meta-analysis</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Resistance of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Subvariant BA.4.6 to Antibody Neutralization</strong> -
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SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants BA.4.6, BA.4.7, and BA.5.9 have recently emerged, and BA.4.6 appears to be expanding even in the presence of BA.5 that is globally dominant. Compared to BA.5, these new subvariants harbor a mutation at R346 residue in the spike glycoprotein, raising concerns for further antibody evasion. We compared the viral receptor binding affinity of the new Omicron subvariants with BA.5 by surface plasmon resonance. We also performed VSV-based pseudovirus neutralization assays to evaluate their antigenic properties using sera from individuals who received three doses of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (boosted) and patients with BA.1 or BA.2 breakthrough infection, as well as using a panel of 23 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Compared to the BA.5 subvariant, BA.4.6, BA.4.7, and BA.5.9 showed similar binding affinities to hACE2 and exhibited similar resistance profiles to boosted and BA.1 breakthrough sera, but BA.4.6 was slightly but significantly more resistant than BA.5 to BA.2 breakthrough sera. Moreover, BA.4.6, BA.4.7, and BA.5.9 showed heightened resistance over to a class of mAbs due to R346T/S/I mutation. Notably, the authorized combination of tixagevimab and cilgavimab completely lost neutralizing activity against these three subvariants. The loss of activity of tixagevimab and cilgavimab against BA.4.6 leaves us with bebtelovimab as the only therapeutic mAb that has retained potent activity against all circulating forms of SARS-CoV-2. As the virus continues to evolve, our arsenal of authorized mAbs may soon be depleted, thereby jeopardizing the wellbeing of millions of immunocompromised persons who cannot robustly respond to COVID-19 vaccines.
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.05.506628v1" target="_blank">Resistance of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Subvariant BA.4.6 to Antibody Neutralization</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Omicron-induced interferon signalling prevents influenza A virus infection</strong> -
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Recent findings in permanent cell lines suggested that SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 induces a stronger interferon response than Delta. Here, we show that BA.1 and BA.5 but not Delta induce an antiviral state in air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures of primary human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells and primary human monocytes. Both Omicron subvariants caused the production of biologically active type I (alpha/beta) and III (lambda) interferons and protected cells from super-infection with influenza A viruses. Notably, abortive Omicron infection of monocytes was sufficient to protect monocytes from influenza A virus infection. Interestingly, while influenza-like illnesses surged during the Delta wave in England, their spread rapidly declined upon the emergence of Omicron. Mechanistically, Omicron-induced interferon signalling was mediated via double-stranded RNA recognition by MDA5, as MDA5 knock-out prevented it. The JAK/ STAT inhibitor baricitinib inhibited the Omicron-mediated antiviral response, suggesting it is caused by MDA5-mediated interferon production, which activates interferon receptors that then trigger JAK/ STAT signalling. In conclusion, our study 1) demonstrates that only Omicron but not Delta induces a substantial interferon response in physiologically relevant models, 2) shows that Omicron infection protects cells from influenza A virus super-infection, and 3) indicates that BA.1 and BA.5 induce comparable antiviral states.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.06.506799v1" target="_blank">Omicron-induced interferon signalling prevents influenza A virus infection</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Controllable self-replicating RNA vaccine delivered intradermally elicits predominantly cellular immunity</strong> -
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Intradermal delivery of self-replicating RNA (srRNA) is a promising vaccine platform. Considering that human skin temperature is around 33{degrees}C, lower than core body temperature of 37{degrees}C, we have developed an srRNA that functions optimally at skin temperature and is inactivated at or above 37{degrees}C as a safety switch. This temperature-controllable srRNA (c-srRNA), when tested as an intradermal vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, functions when injected naked without lipid nanoparticles. Unlike most currently available vaccines, c-srRNA vaccines predominantly elicit cellular immunity with little or no antibody production. Interestingly, c-srRNA-vaccinated mice produced antigen-specific antibodies upon subsequent stimulation with antigen protein. Antigen-specific antibodies were also produced when B-cell stimulation using antigen protein was followed by c-srRNA booster vaccination. Using c-srRNA, we have designed a pan-coronavirus booster vaccine that incorporates both spike receptor binding domains as viral surface proteins and evolutionarily conserved nucleoproteins as viral non-surface proteins, from both SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. It can thereby potentially immunize against SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and their variants. c-srRNA may provide a route to activate cellular immunity against a wide variety of pathogens.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.05.506686v1" target="_blank">Controllable self-replicating RNA vaccine delivered intradermally elicits predominantly cellular immunity</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>A multi-population-based genomic analysis uncovers unique haplotype variants and crucial mutant genes in SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
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Background: COVID-19 is a disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2. Rigorous detection and treatment strategies against SARS-CoV-2 have become very challenging due to continuous evolutions to the viral genome. Therefore, careful genomic analysis is sorely needed to understand transmission, the cellular mechanism of pathogenicity, and the development of vaccines or drugs. Objective: In this study, we intended to identify SARS-CoV-2 genome variants that may help understand the cellular and molecular foundation of coronavirus infections required to develop effective intervention strategies. Methods: SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences were downloaded from an open-source public database, processed, and analyzed for variants in target detection sites and genes. Results: We have identified six unique variants, G….AAC, T….AAC….T; AAC….T; C……C; C……..C; and C……..T at the nucleocapsid region and eleven major hotspot mutant genes: nsp3, surface glycoprotein, nucleocapsid phosphoprotein, ORF8, nsp6, nsp2, nsp4, helicase, membrane glycoprotein, 39-59 exonuclease, and 2-O-ribose methyltransferases. In addition, we have identified eleven major mutant genes that may have a crucial role in SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. Conclusion: Studying haplotype variants and 11 major mutant genes to understand the mechanism of action of fatal pathogenicity and inter-individual variations in immune responses is inevitable for managing target patient groups with identified variants and developing effective anti-viral drugs and vaccines.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.05.22279597v1" target="_blank">A multi-population-based genomic analysis uncovers unique haplotype variants and crucial mutant genes in SARS-CoV-2</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Scaling rules for pandemics: Estimating infected fraction from identified cases for the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic</strong> -
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Using a modified form of the SIR model, we show that, under general conditions, all pandemics exhibit certain scaling rules. Using only daily data for symptomatic, confirmed cases, these scaling rules can be used to estimate: (i) r_eff, the effective pandemic R-parameter; (ii) f_tot, the fraction of exposed individuals that were infected (symptomatic and asymptomatic); (iii) L_eff, the effective latency, the average number of days an infected individual is able to infect others in the pool of susceptible individuals; and (iv) alpha, the probability of infection per contact between infected and susceptible individuals. We validate the scaling rules using an example and then apply our method to estimate r_eff, f_tot, L_eff and alpha for the first phase of the SARS-Cov-2, Covid-19 pandemic for thirty-four countries where there was a well separated first peak in identified infected daily cases after the outbreak of this pandemic in early 2020. Our results are general and can be applied to any pandemic.
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</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.05.22279599v1" target="_blank">Scaling rules for pandemics: Estimating infected fraction from identified cases for the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic</a>
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<li><strong>Persistent somatic symptoms are key to individual illness perception at one year after COVID-19</strong> -
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Background: Sequelae of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were investigated by both patient-initiated and academic initiatives. Patient9s subjective illness perceptions might differ from physician9s clinical assessment results. Herein, we explored factors influencing patient9s perception during COVID-19 recovery. Methods: Participants of the prospective observation CovILD study with persistent somatic symptoms or cardiopulmonary findings at the clinical follow-up one year after COVID-19 were analyzed (n = 74). Explanatory variables included baseline demographic and comorbidity data, COVID-19 course and one-year follow-up data of persistent somatic symptoms, physical performance, lung function testing (LFT), chest computed tomography (CT) and trans-thoracic echocardiography (TTE). Factors affecting illness perception (Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, BIPQ) were identified by penalized multi-parameter regression and unsupervised clustering. Results: In modeling, 47% of overall illness perception variance at one year after COVID-19 was attributed to fatigue intensity, reduced physical performance, hair loss and baseline respiratory comorbidity. Overall illness perception was independent of LFT results, pulmonary lesions in CT or heart abnormality in TTE. As identified by clustering, persistent somatic symptom count, fatigue, diminished physical performance, dyspnea, hair loss and sleep problems at the one-year follow-up and severe acute COVID-19 were associated with the BIPQ domains of concern, emotional representation, complaints, disease timeline and consequences. Conclusion: Persistent somatic symptoms rather than clinical assessment results, revealing lung and heart abnormalities, impact on severity and quality of illness perception at one year after COVID-19 and may foster unhelpful coping mechanisms. Besides COVID-19 severity, individual illness perception should be taken into account when allocating rehabilitation and psychological therapy resources. Study registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04416100.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.05.22279602v1" target="_blank">Persistent somatic symptoms are key to individual illness perception at one year after COVID-19</a>
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<li><strong>The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and long COVID in US adults during the BA.5 surge, June-July 2022</strong> -
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Due to changes in SARS-CoV-2 testing practices, passive case-based surveillance may be an increasingly unreliable indicator for monitoring the burden of SARS-CoV-2, especially during surges. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of a population-representative sample of 3,042 U.S. adults between June 30 and July 2, 2022, during the Omicron BA.5 surge. Respondents were asked about SARS-CoV-2 testing and outcomes, COVID-like symptoms, contact with cases, and experience with prolonged COVID-19 symptoms following prior infection. We estimated the weighted age and sex-standardized SARS-CoV-2 prevalence, during the 14-day period preceding the interview. We estimated age and gender adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) for current SARS-CoV-2 infection using a log-binomial regression model. An estimated 17.3% (95% CI 14.9, 19.8) of respondents had SARS-CoV-2 infection during the two-week study period, equating to 44 million cases as compared to 1.8 million per the CDC during the same time period. SARS-CoV-2 prevalence was higher among those 18-24 years old (aPR 2.2, 95% CI 1.8, 2.7) and among non-Hispanic Black (aPR 1.7, 95% CI 1.4 ,2.2) and Hispanic (aPR 2.4, 95% CI 2.0 , 2.9). SARS-CoV-2 prevalence was also higher among those with lower income (aPR 1.9, 95% CI 1.5, 2.3), lower education (aPR 3.7 95% CI 3.0,4.7), and those with comorbidities (aPR 1.6, 95% CI 1.4, 2.0). An estimated 21.5% (95% CI 18.2, 24.7) of respondents with a SARS-CoV-2 infection more than 4 weeks prior reported long COVID symptoms. The inequitable distribution of SARS-CoV-2 prevalence during the BA.5 surge will likely drive inequities in the future burden of long COVID.
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</p>
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.04.22279588v1" target="_blank">The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and long COVID in US adults during the BA.5 surge, June-July 2022</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>The COVID-19 Pandemic as an Opportunity for Unravelling the Causative Association between Respiratory Viruses and Pneumococcus-Associated Disease in Young Children: A Prospective Cohort Study</strong> -
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BACKGROUND: In young children, rates of community-acquired alveolar pneumonia (CAAP) or invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) have been associated with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), influenza (flu), and parainfluenza (PIV) (collectively termed here as pneumococcal disease-associated viruses [PDA-viruses]). However, their contribution to the pathogenesis of pneumococcal-associated disease has not yet been elucidated. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to examine the question. METHODS: This prospective study comprised all children <5 years, living in southern Israel, during 2016 through 2021. The data were derived from multiple ongoing prospective cohort surveillance programs and include: hospital visits for CAAP, non-CAAP lower respiratory infections (LRI); nasopharyngeal pneumococcal carriage (<3 years of age); respiratory virus activity; all-ages COVID-19 episodes; and IPD in children <5 years (nationwide) A hierarchical negative binominal regression model was developed to estimate the proportion of the disease outcomes attributable to each of the viruses from monthly time series data, stratified by age and ethnicity. A separate model was fit for each outcome, with covariates that included a linear time trend, 12-month harmonic variables to capture unexplained seasonal variations, and the proportion of tests positive for each virus in that month. FINDINGS: During 2016 through 2021, 3,204, 26,695, 257, and 619 episodes of CAAP, non-CAAP LRI, pneumococcal bacteremic pneumonia and non-pneumonia IPD, respectively, were reported. Compared to 2016-2019, broad declines in the disease outcomes were observed shortly after the pandemic surge, coincident with a complete disappearance of all PDA-viruses and continued circulation of rhinovirus (RhV) and adenovirus (AdV). From April 2021, off-season and abrupt surges of all disease outcomes occurred, associated with similar dynamics among the PDA-viruses, which re-emerged sequentially. Using our model fit to the entire 2016-2021 period, 82% (95% CI, 75-88%) of CAAP episodes in 2021 were attributable to the common respiratory viruses, as were 22%-31% of the other disease outcomes. Virus-specific contributions to CAAP were: RSV, 49% (95% CI, 43-55%); hMPV, 13% (10-17%); PIV, 11% (7-15%); flu, 7% (1-13%). RhV and AdV did not contribute. RSV was the main contributor in all outcomes, especially in infants. Pneumococcal carriage prevalence remained largely stable throughout the study. INTERPRETATION: RSV and hMPV play a critical role in the burden of CAAP and pneumococcal disease in children. Interventions targeting these viruses could have a secondary effect on the disease burden typically attributed to bacteria.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.06.22279606v1" target="_blank">The COVID-19 Pandemic as an Opportunity for Unravelling the Causative Association between Respiratory Viruses and Pneumococcus-Associated Disease in Young Children: A Prospective Cohort Study</a>
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<li><strong>Community engagement to increase vaccine uptake: Quasi-experimental evidence from Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan</strong> -
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Developing countries have been facing difficulties in reaching out to low-income and underserved communities for COVID-19 vaccination coverage. The rapidity of vaccine development caused a mistrust among certain subgroups of the population, and hence innovative approaches were taken to reach out to such populations. Using a sample of 1760 respondents in five low-income, informal localities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan, we evaluated a set of interventions involving community engagement by addressing demand and access barriers. We used multi-level mixed effects models to estimate average treatment effects across treatment areas. We found that our interventions increased COVID-19 vaccine willingness in two treatment areas that are furthest from city centers by 7.6% and 6.6% respectively, while vaccine uptake increased in one of the treatment areas by 17.1%, compared to the control area. Our results suggest that personalized information campaigns such as community mobilization help to increase COVID-19 vaccine willingness. Increasing uptake however, requires improving access to the vaccination services. Both information and access may be different for various communities and therefore a “one-size-fits-all” approach may need to be better localized. Such underserved and marginalized communities are better served if vaccination efforts are contextualized.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.04.22279583v1" target="_blank">Community engagement to increase vaccine uptake: Quasi-experimental evidence from Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Impact of COVID-19 and Effects of Vaccination with BNT162b2 on Patient-Reported Health-Related Quality of Life, Symptoms, and Work Productivity Among US Adult Outpatients with SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
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Background: Although there is extensive literature on the clinical benefits of COVID-19 vaccination, data on humanistic effects are limited. This study evaluated the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on symptoms, Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and Work Productivity and Impairment (WPAI) prior to and one month following infection, and compared results between individuals vaccinated with BNT162b2 and those unvaccinated. Methods: Subjects with ≥1 self-reported symptom and positive RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 at CVS Health US test sites were recruited between 01/31/2022-04/30/2022. Socio-demographics, clinical characteristics and vaccination status were evaluated. Self-reported symptoms, HRQoL, and WPAI outcomes were assessed using questionnaires and validated instruments (EQ-5D-5L, WPAI-GH) across acute COVID time points from pre-COVID to Week 4, and between vaccination groups. Mixed models for repeated measures were conducted for multivariable analyses, adjusting for several covariates. Effect size (ES) of Cohen9s d was calculated to quantify the magnitude of outcome changes within and between vaccination groups. Results: The study population included 430 subjects: 197 unvaccinated and 233 vaccinated with BNT162b2. Mean (SD) age was 42.4 years (14.3), 76.0% were female, 38.8% reported prior infection and 24.2% at least one comorbidity. Statistically significant differences in outcomes were observed compared with baseline and between groups. The EQ-Visual analogue scale scores and Utility Index dropped in both cohorts at Day 3 and increased by Week 4, but did not return to pre-COVID levels. The mean changes were statistically lower in the BNT162b2 cohort at Day 3 and Week 4. The BNT162b2 cohort reported lower prevalence and fewer symptoms at index date and Week 4. At Week 1, COVID-19 had a large impact on all WPAI-GH domains: the work productivity time loss among unvaccinated and vaccinated was 65.0% and 53.8%, and the mean activity impairment was 50.2% and 43.9%, respectively. With the exception of absenteeism at Week 4, the BNT162b2 cohort was associated with statistically significant less worsening in all WPAI-GH scores at both Week 1 and 4. Conclusions: COVID-19 negatively impacted HRQoL and work productivity among mildly symptomatic outpatients. Compared with unvaccinated, those vaccinated with BNT162b2 were less impacted by COVID-19 infection and recovered faster.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.31.22279264v2" target="_blank">Impact of COVID-19 and Effects of Vaccination with BNT162b2 on Patient-Reported Health-Related Quality of Life, Symptoms, and Work Productivity Among US Adult Outpatients with SARS-CoV-2</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Exploration of million-sequence phylogenies with Taxonium</strong> -
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The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a step change in the scale of sequencing data, with more genomes of SARS-CoV-2 having been sequenced than any other organism on earth. These sequences reveal key insights when represented as a phylogenetic tree, which captures the evolutionary history of the virus, and allows the identification of transmission events and the emergence of new variants. However, existing web-based tools for analysing and exploring phylogenies do not scale to the size of datasets now available for SARS-CoV-2. We have developed Taxonium, a new tool that uses WebGL to allow the exploration of trees with tens of millions of nodes in the browser for the first time. Taxonium links each node to associated metadata and supports mutation-annotated trees, which are able to capture all known genetic variation in a dataset. We describe insights that analysing a tree of five million sequences can provide into SARS-CoV-2 evolution, and provide an application at http://cov2tree.org for exploring a public tree of more than five million SARS-CoV-2 sequences. Taxonium can be applied to any tree, and is available at http://taxonium.org, with source code at https://github.com/theosanderson/taxonium.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.03.494608v3" target="_blank">Exploration of million-sequence phylogenies with Taxonium</a>
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<li><strong>Naturally occurring mutations of SARS-CoV-2 main protease confer drug resistance to nirmatrelvir</strong> -
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
The SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) is the drug target of Pfizer oral drug Paxlovid. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants with mutations in Mpro raised the alarm of potential drug resistance. In this study, we identified 100 naturally occurring Mpro mutations located at the nirmatrelvir binding site, among which 20 mutants, including S144M/F/A/G/Y, M165T, E166G, H172Q/F, and Q192T/S/L/A/I/P/H/V/W/C/F, showed comparable enzymatic activity to the wild-type (kcat/Km < 10-fold change) and resistance to nirmatrelvir (Ki > 10-fold increase). X-ray crystal structures were determined for seven representative mutants with and/or without GC-376/nirmatrelvir. Viral growth assay showed that Mpro mutants with reduced enzymatic activity led to attenuated viral replication. Overall, our study identified several drug resistant hot spots that warrant close monitoring for possible clinical evidence of Paxlovid resistance.
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.28.497978v2" target="_blank">Naturally occurring mutations of SARS-CoV-2 main protease confer drug resistance to nirmatrelvir</a>
|
||||
</div></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 invades cognitive centers of the brain and induces Alzheimer’s-like neuropathology</strong> -
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
The neurotropism of SARS-CoV-2 and the phenotypes of infected neurons are still in debate. Long COVID manifests with “brain diseases” and the cause of these brain dysfunction is mysterious. Here, we analyze 34 age- and underlying disease-matched COVID-19 or non-COVID-19 human brains. SARS-CoV-2 RNA, nucleocapsid, and spike proteins are present in neurons of the cognitive centers of all COVID-19 patients, with its non-structural protein NSF2 detected in adult cases but not in the infant case, indicating viral replications in mature neurons. In adult COVID-19 patients without underlying neurodegeneration, SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers A{beta} and p-tau deposition, degenerating neurons, microglia activation, and increased cytokine, in some cases with A{beta} plaques and p-tau pretangles. The number of SARS-CoV-2+ cells is higher in patients with neurodegenerative diseases than in those without such conditions. SARS-CoV-2 further activates microglia and induces A{beta} and p-tau deposits in non-Alzheimer’s neurodegenerative disease patients. SARS-CoV-2 infects mature neurons derived from inducible pluripotent stem cells from healthy and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) individuals through its receptor ACE2 and facilitator neuropilin-1. SARS-CoV-2 triggers AD-like gene programs in healthy neurons and exacerbates AD neuropathology. An AD infectious etiology gene signature is identified through SARS-CoV-2 infection and silencing the top three downregulated genes in human primary neurons recapitulates the neurodegenerative phenotypes of SARS-CoV-2. Thus, our data suggest that SARS-CoV-2 invades the brain and activates an AD-like program.
|
||||
</div>
|
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.31.478476v3" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 invades cognitive centers of the brain and induces Alzheimer’s-like neuropathology</a>
|
||||
</div></li>
|
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<li><strong>How Have Global Scientists Responded to Tackling COVID-19?</strong> -
|
||||
<div>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the global scientific communities across almost all countries have made urgent, intensive, and continuous effort on understanding, fighting and modeling the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 research turns out to be the first overwhelming global scientific reaction to significant global crises and threats. This literature analysis report collects and summarizes the profiles, trends, quality and impact of this global scientific response. It collects and analyzes 346,267 scientific references in English, involving researchers from 189 countries and regions in 27 subject areas. The report generates a picture of how global scientists have responded to COVID-19 between Jan 2020 and Mar 2022 in terms of their publication quantity, impact, focused major problems, and research areas and methods over country/region, discipline and time and collaboratively. The report also captures broad-reaching distributions and trends of modeling COVID-19 by AI, data science, analytics, shallow and deep machine learning, epidemic modeling, applied mathematics, and social science methods, etc. We further show the correlations between publication quality and quantity and economic status and COVID-19 infections globally and in major countries and regions. The literature analysis results of this global scientific response to COVID-19 present a comprehensive global, regional and subject-specific picture of the significant cross-disciplinary, cross-country, cross-problem, and cross-technique profiles and differences of the COVID-19 publication quantity and quality. The report also discloses significant imbalances in the COVID-19 research across countries/regions, subject areas, problems, topics, methods, research collaborations, and economic statuses. We share the source and analytical data of this global literature analysis for further research on this unprecedented and future crises.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.16.22278871v2" target="_blank">How Have Global Scientists Responded to Tackling COVID-19?</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>Booster Study of COVID-19 Protein Subunit Recombinant Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: SARS-CoV-2 subunit protein recombinant vaccine; Biological: Active Comparator<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: PT Bio Farma; Faculty of Medicine Universitas Padjadjaran; Faculty of Medicine Universitas Udayana<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
|
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<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 SCTV01E-1 in Population Aged Above 18 Years</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: SCTV01E-1 on D0; Biological: SCTV01E-1 on D28; Biological: SCTV01E-1 on D150; Biological: SCTV01E on D0; Biological: SCTV01E on D28; Biological: SCTV01E on D150; Biological: SCTV01E-1 on D120; Biological: SCTV01E on D120<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Sinocelltech Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Novel Parameter LIT/N That Predicts Survival in COVID-19 ICU Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Diagnostic Test: the LIT test<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Gazi University; Oxford MediStress<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy and Safety of ES16001 in Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: ES16001 40 mg; Drug: ES16001 80 mg; Drug: ES16001 160 mg; Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Genencell Co. Ltd.<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase 2a Trial to Evaluate Safety and Immunogenicity of COVID-19 Vaccine Strategies in HIV-infected/Uninfected Adults.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: Ad26.COV2.S (VAC31518, JNJ-78436735) Vaccine, SARS-CoV-2 rS (CovovaxTM), BNT162b2 (Pfizer)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: The Aurum Institute NPC; Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations<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>COVID Protection After Transplant - Sanofi GSK (CPAT-SG) Study</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Kidney Transplant<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Biological: Sanofi-GSK monovalent (B.1.351) CoV2 preS dTM-AS03 COVID-19 vaccine<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); PPD; Johns Hopkins University; Sanofi Pasteur, a Sanofi Company<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>Safety and Immunogenicity of COVID-19 Vaccine, AdCLD-CoV19-1</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Vaccines<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Biological: AdCLD-CoV19-1<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: International Vaccine Institute; Cellid Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Smartphone Intervention for Overdose and COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Substance Use Disorders; Overdose; COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Device: iThrive WI Intervention<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Wisconsin, Madison; National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of COVID-19 and Influenza Combination Vaccine</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Influenza<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: CIC Vaccine; Drug: qNIV Vaccine; Drug: SARS-CoV-2 rS Vaccine; Drug: Influenza Vaccine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Novavax<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study to Assess Efficacy and Safety of Treamid for Patients With Reduced Exercise Tolerance After COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: SARS-CoV-2 Infection; Lung Fibrosis<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Treamid; Drug: Treamid twice a day; Drug: Treamid once a day; Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: PHARMENTERPRISES LLC<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>Self-proning and Repositioning in COVID-19 Outpatients at Risk of Complicated Illness</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; COVID-19 Pneumonia; Proning; Hospitalization; Death; Outpatient; Complication<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Other: Self-proning<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Unity Health Toronto; Applied Health Research Centre<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>Effects of Immulina TM Supplements With PASC Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Post Acute COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Dietary Supplement: Immulina TM; Dietary Supplement: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Mississippi Medical Center; National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Evaluation of Clinical Performance and Usability of iStatis COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test at POC</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 Virus Infection; COVID-19; Coronavirus Disease-19; COVID-19 Pandemic; SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Diagnostic Test: iStatis COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test; Diagnostic Test: “COVID-19 RT-PCR Test EUA Number: EUA200011, Company: Laboratory Corporation of America (”Labcorp")<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: bioLytical Laboratories<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>Resilience Intervention for Health Professionals COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Mental Health Wellness 1<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Other: Mindfulness-based Intervention<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Universidad de Monterrey<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>Addressing Post-COVID-19 Musculoskeletal Symptoms</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Telemedicine; Musculoskeletal Disease; SARS-CoV-2; Pain; COVID-19; Exercise<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Multicomponent exercise program; Other: Tele-health primary care rehabilitation program<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Universidad Europea de Madrid<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Restoration of vascular endothelial integrity by mesenchymal stromal/stem cells in debilitating virus diseases</strong> - Endothelial dysfunction is one of the key cornerstone complications of emerging and re-emerging viruses which lead to vascular leakage and a high mortality rate. The mechanism that regulates the origin of endothelial dysregulation is not completely elucidated. Currently, there are no potential pharmacological treatments and curable management for such diseases. In this sense, mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) has been emerging to be a promising therapeutic strategy in restoring endothelial…</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>RNA G-quadruplex formed in SARS-CoV-2 used for COVID-19 treatment in animal models</strong> - The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect millions of lives worldwide, leading to the urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies. G-quadruplexes (G4s) have been demonstrated to regulate life cycle of multiple viruses. Here, we identify several highly conservative and stable G4s in SARS-CoV-2 and clarify their dual-function of inhibition of the viral replication and translation processes. Furthermore, the cationic porphyrin compound 5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(N-methyl-4-pyridyl)porphine…</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>Hypoxia inducible factors regulate infectious SARS-CoV-2, epithelial damage and respiratory symptoms in a hamster COVID-19 model</strong> - Understanding the host pathways that define susceptibility to Severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and disease are essential for the design of new therapies. Oxygen levels in the microenvironment define the transcriptional landscape, however the influence of hypoxia on virus replication and disease in animal models is not well understood. In this study, we identify a role for the hypoxic inducible factor (HIF) signalling axis to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection,…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Diminished cell proliferation promotes natural killer cell adaptive-like phenotype by limiting FcεRIγ expression</strong> - Human adaptive-like natural killer (NK) cells express low levels of FcεRIγ (FcRγ-/low) and are reported to accumulate during COVID-19 infection; however, the mechanism underlying and regulating FcRγ expression in NK cells has yet to be fully defined. We observed lower FcRγ protein expression in NK cell subsets from lung transplant patients during rapamycin treatment, suggesting a link with reduced mTOR activity. Further, FcRγ-/low NK cell subsets from healthy donors displayed reduced mTOR…</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 molecular biology of metabolic syndrome pathophysiology: endothelial dysfunction as a potential therapeutic target</strong> - Current advances in molecular pathobiology of endotheliocytes dysfunctions are promising in finding the pathogenetic links to the emergence of insulin resistance syndrome. Physiologically, human organism homeostasis is strictly controlled to maintain metabolic processes at the acquainted level. Many factors are involved in maintaining these physiological processes in the organism and any deviation is undoubtedly accompanied by specific pathologies related to the affected process. Fortunately,…</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>NETosis and thrombosis in vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia</strong> - Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) is a rare yet serious adverse effect of the adenoviral vector vaccines ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AstraZeneca) and Ad26.COV2.S (Janssen) against COVID-19. The mechanisms involved in clot formation and thrombocytopenia in VITT are yet to be fully determined. Here we show neutrophils undergoing NETosis and confirm expression markers of NETs in VITT patients. VITT antibodies directly stimulate neutrophils to release NETs and induce thrombus formation…</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>Beyond the vaccines: a glance at the small molecule and peptide-based anti-COVID19 arsenal</strong> - Unprecedented efforts of the researchers have been witnessed in the recent past towards the development of vaccine platforms for the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. Albeit, vaccination stands as a practical strategy to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection, supplementing the anti-COVID19 arsenal with therapeutic options such as small molecules/peptides and antibodies is being conceived as a prudent strategy to tackle the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. Noteworthy to mention that collective efforts 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>Targeting spike protein-induced TLR/NET axis by COVID-19 therapeutic NRICM102 ameliorates pulmonary embolism and fibrosis</strong> - The global COVID-19 pandemic remains a critical public health threat, as existing vaccines and drugs appear insufficient to halt the rapid transmission. During an outbreak from May to August 2021 in Taiwan, patients with severe COVID-19 were administered NRICM102, which was a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula developed based on its predecessor NRICM101 approved for treating mild cases. This study aimed to explore the mechanism of NRICM102 in ameliorating severe COVID-19-related embolic…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Computational investigation of potent inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 2’-O-methyltransferase (nsp16): Structure-based pharmacophore modeling, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations and binding free energy calculations</strong> - The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, has created unprecedented public health and economic crises around the world. SARS-CoV-2 2’-O-methyltransferase (nsp16) adds a “cap” to viral RNA to maintain the stability of viral RNA, and inhibition of nsp16 activity may reduce viral proliferation, making this protein an attractive drug target. Here, we report the identification of several small molecule inhibitors 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>A Review of Safety Outcomes from Clinical Trials of Baricitinib in Rheumatology, Dermatology and COVID-19</strong> - Baricitinib is an oral, selective inhibitor of Janus kinase (JAK)1/JAK2 that transiently and reversibly inhibits many proinflammatory cytokines. This mechanism is a key mediator in a number of chronic inflammatory diseases; accordingly, baricitinib has been studied and approved for the treatment of several rheumatological and dermatological disorders, as well as COVID-19. This narrative review summarises and discusses the safety profile of baricitinib across these diseases, with special focus on…</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>Screening, molecular simulation and <em>in silico</em> kinetics of virtually designed Covid main protease inhibitors</strong> - Coronavirus (covid-19) infection is considered to deadliest ever pandemic experienced by the human being. It has very badly affected the socio-economic health of human and stuck the scientific community to think and rethink about its complete eradication. But due to no effective treatment or unavailability of vaccine the health professional could not show any significant improvement to control the pandemic. The situation needs newer molecule, vaccine or effective treatment to control covid-19…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ZnO-chlorogenic acid nanostructured complex inhibits Covid-19 pathogenesis and increases hydroxychloroquine efficacy</strong> - The study purpose was to compare the anti- the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) property of chlorogenic acid (CGA) and Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NP) with the new valid synthesized complex of ZnO /CGA-NPs. Methods The facile mixing method was utilized to prepare ZnO/CGA-NPs. The in vitro effect of different ZnO/CGA-NPs concentrations on papain-like protease (PL^(pro)) and spike protein- receptor-binding domain (RBD) was measured by ELISA technique. The compounds effects on SARS-CoV2…</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>Emodin from Aloe inhibits Swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus in cell culture</strong> - Swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV) is an emerging swine enteropathogenic coronavirus that causes severe diarrhea in neonatal piglets, leading to serious economic losses to the pig industries. At present, there are no effective control measures for SADS, making an urgent need to exploit effective antiviral therapies. Here, we confirmed that Aloe extract (Ae) can strongly inhibit SADS-CoV in Vero and IPI-FX cells in vitro. Furthermore, we detected that Emodin from Ae had…</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>Folic acid restricts SARS-CoV-2 invasion by methylating ACE2</strong> - The current COVID-19 pandemic is motivating us to elucidate the molecular mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 invasion and find methods for decreasing its transmissibility. We found that SARS-CoV-2 could increase the protein level of ACE2 in mice. Folic acid and 5-10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) could promote the methylation of the ACE2 promoter and inhibit ACE2 expression. Folic acid treatment decreased the binding ability of Spike protein, pseudovirus and inactivated authentic SARS-CoV-2 to…</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Infection-Associated Aortic Thrombosis Treated with Oral Factor Xa Inhibition</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute complex systemic disorder caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).While SARS-CoV-2 is known to cause significant pulmonary disease, various extrapulmonary manifestations of COVID-19 have also been reported. Growing evidence suggests that COVID-19 is associated with coagulopathy leading to micro and macrovascular complications. Although in patients with COVID-19, venous thromboembolic events are more frequent,…</p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<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>
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||||
<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>
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||||
</ul>
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||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Rise and Fall of Vibes-Based Literacy</strong> - Is a controversial curriculum, entrenched in New York City’s public schools for two decades, finally coming undone? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-education/the-rise-and-fall-of-vibes-based-literacy">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mikhail Gorbachev, the Fundamentally Soviet Man</strong> - The last leader of the U.S.S.R. attempted to modernize and reform his country, even as he failed to imagine it as anything but an empire. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/postscript/mikhail-gorbachev-the-fundamentally-soviet-man">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden’s Student-Debt Plan Could Chip Away at the Racial Wealth Gap</strong> - Loan forgiveness and other measures don’t solve the problem of rising tuition costs, but they could help some Black families start to catch up. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/bidens-student-debt-plan-could-chip-away-at-the-racial-wealth-gap">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Where the Trump Investigation Goes After a “Poor” Judicial Decision</strong> - A judge appointed by Trump ordered the D.O.J. to stop using the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago, pending review by a “special master.” - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/where-the-trump-investigation-goes-after-a-poor-judicial-decision">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Election Official Who Tried to Prove “Stop the Steal”</strong> - How a group of conspiracy theorists enlisted a county clerk in Colorado to find evidence that the 2020 vote was rigged. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/american-chronicles/the-election-official-who-tried-to-prove-stop-the-steal">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li><strong>The sex worker teaching TikTok about legal brothels</strong> -
|
||||
<figure>
|
||||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ek18kXH3sa_EEmjIlR2D7-8HOSw=/34x0:1637x1202/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71333141/Screen_Shot_2022_09_06_at_5.28.24_PM.0.png"/>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
An interview with Dacé, a sex worker at Nevada’s famed Mustang Ranch-turned-up and coming TikTok star.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q2PUzf">
|
||||
TikTokers have always found clever ways around the platform’s notoriously strict content moderation policies. Some of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/08/algospeak-tiktok-le-dollar-bean/">more delightful examples</a>: referring to sex as “seggs” and lesbians as “le dollar beans.” Porn performers have taken to referring to their work by using the corn emoji, while OnlyFans stars have used <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/what-tiktok-accountant-meme-meaning-sex-work-1571598">“accounting”</a> to describe their job on TikTok. Dacé uses another descriptor: The Modern Working Girl.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||||
<div id="KIark0">
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KcLKNR">
|
||||
Since 2016, Dacé — her stage name — has worked at the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mustang-ranch-brothel-ritz-carlton-of-whorehouses-nevada_n_1211793">Mustang Ranch</a>, Nevada’s first legal brothel. Now she’s demystifying what it means to be a legal sex worker in the US on <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@themodernworkinggirl">her TikTok account</a>, which she started in earnest a few months ago and where she’s since racked up more than 75,000 followers. Most of her videos are answers to specific questions from commenters: whether she lives at the ranch when she works there (<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@themodernworkinggirl/video/7117024659790433582?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1">yes</a>), whether she is allowed to leave (yes, but she has to be <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@themodernworkinggirl/video/7117806612307496238?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1">checked for STDs before returning</a> to work), how much money she makes (probably <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@themodernworkinggirl/video/7118497277437644075?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1">more than you do</a>).
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="81YEnL">
|
||||
“I just started making informational videos because people asked questions over and over again,” she says. “And I was like, ‘Man, they really want to know this stuff.’” The comments on Dacé’s videos are perhaps a reflection of the intense curiosity about the function of sex work in society, but also likely a result of Americans’ lack of knowledge on the subject. In our conversation, Dacé cleared up the many misconceptions her viewers have, while also stressing the importance of decriminalizing sex work. “Every single person is deserving of love and a physical touch,” she says <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@themodernworkinggirl/video/7136650304862588206?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1">in a recent video</a>. “And if they can afford it, they get it. Period.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jVif30">
|
||||
<strong>How did you end up working at the Mustang Ranch?</strong>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LRAEY7">
|
||||
I had always had regular jobs: waitressing, working for someone else. It was just really hard. I was always struggling and dating the wrong kind of guy, and I found myself basically unable to support myself with the job that I had. Honestly, I thought I was too young and pretty to be struggling like I was, and I knew that you could make a bunch of money pretty quickly in the sex industry. I did not want to dance [at a strip club] for that long, because it is a really hard job. I also did not want to be subjected to having to do sex work illegally.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FUdpMn">
|
||||
At the time I was living outside of Denver, and I knew that sex work was legal in brothels in Nevada. I was like, “Well, I’m not that far away from Nevada. Let me just look up brothels.” The Mustang Ranch popped up, and I just filled out the application and went for it.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="nY861g">
|
||||
<blockquote cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@themodernworkinggirl/video/7135601841823452462" class="tiktok-embed">
|
||||
<section>
|
||||
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@themodernworkinggirl?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="@themodernworkinggirl"><span class="citation" data-cites="themodernworkinggirl">@themodernworkinggirl</span></a>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Replying to <span class="citation" data-cites="Georgeofthejungle">@Georgeofthejungle</span> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/reply?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="reply">#reply</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/response?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="response">#response</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/qa?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="qa">#QA</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/firsttime?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="firsttime">#firsttime</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/trending?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="trending">#trending</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/viral?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="viral">#viral</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="fyp">#fyp</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/explorepage?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="explorepage">#explorepage</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/reno?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="reno">#reno</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nevada?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="nevada">#nevada</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/AEJeansSoundOn?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="AEJeansSoundOn">#AEJeansSoundOn</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/WorldPrincessWeek?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="WorldPrincessWeek">#WorldPrincessWeek</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/love?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="love">#love</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/weirdtok?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="weirdtok">#weirdtok</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/storytime?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="storytime">#storytime</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/storyteller?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="storyteller">#storyteller</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/storytok?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="storytok">#storytok</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/Rich-Minion-7109284473828591617?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="♬ Rich Minion - Yeat">♬ Rich Minion - Yeat</a>
|
||||
</section>
|
||||
</blockquote>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JUaJOl">
|
||||
<strong>What was it like walking in for the first time?</strong>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8SrLhd">
|
||||
It was scary. Honestly, I didn’t know if it was going to be a house full of nice women or if they were going to be catty and competitive. I had never worked with women in that capacity before, but everyone was very nice and welcoming. There were the two madams, three girls that worked in the office, security, bartenders, chefs, and like 10 or 15 women.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QdB7m7">
|
||||
They don’t really try to make friends too heavily with new girls, because there’s a lot of turnover. Maybe one out of every five new hires sticks it out and works any real amount of time, as in, at least six months. They just may work a nine-month stretch where they’re coming regularly and then we may not see them again. Maybe they’re trying to get out of student loan debt, trying to buy a house. Teachers, especially, come to work just during the summer months to supplement their income.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xvZYlW">
|
||||
<strong>What’s your schedule like?</strong>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lHSmhc">
|
||||
I’m at the Mustang Ranch usually two weeks on, and two weeks off when I’m back at home. Typically, I will wake up at seven o’clock, get my coffee, check my social media, respond to any emails, take a shower, and get ready for the day. Usually I have at least one or two appointments set and the rest of the time I’m available for walk-ins, when I’ll be hanging out in the bar and grill area that’s attached to our brothel. We don’t actually solicit in the bar, even though we’re sitting there in our lingerie most of the time. We ask them if they want to go chat in our offices in the back, and that’s where all the business talk happens.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BGHS83">
|
||||
About half the time I’m in parties [i.e. with clients], and half the time I’m chatting with the gentlemen at the bar. The vibe varies from the day shift to the night shift. I’m on the day shift, and we mostly get business people who are in town for conventions and older gentlemen during the day, but that’s fine with me because they’re serious clients. They didn’t end up here drunk with a bachelor party, which happens pretty much every weekend at the night shift.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DRsy0v">
|
||||
Sometimes I’ll have a couple appointments and a couple of walk-ins and I’m seeing four or five people a day. Sometimes one person will book me for a whole weekend, which is really nice, because it’s more of a low-pressure situation. You’re not worried about the clock running out on you, you’re just relaxing and having fun, and getting to know a person and they’re generally interested in you. We can stay at the Mustang Ranch for the whole weekend or we can go into town on an out-date, and security would accompany me and watch me the entire time.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="hK3Hw1">
|
||||
<blockquote cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@themodernworkinggirl/video/7134118256146763050" class="tiktok-embed">
|
||||
<section>
|
||||
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@themodernworkinggirl?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="@themodernworkinggirl"><span class="citation" data-cites="themodernworkinggirl">@themodernworkinggirl</span></a>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Replying to <span class="citation" data-cites="Deanna">@Deanna</span> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/reply?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="reply">#reply</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/response?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="response">#response</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/qa?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="qa">#QA</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/storytime?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="storytime">#storytime</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/storyteller?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="storyteller">#storyteller</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/trending?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="trending">#trending</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/viral?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="viral">#viral</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="fyp">#fyp</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/explorepage?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="explorepage">#explorepage</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/reno?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="reno">#reno</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tahoe?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="tahoe">#tahoe</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nevada?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="nevada">#nevada</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/career?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="career">#career</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/careertiktok?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="careertiktok">#careertiktok</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/careeradvice?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="careeradvice">#careeradvice</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/OLAFLEX?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="OLAFLEX">#OLAFLEX</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/DoritosDareToBeBurned?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="DoritosDareToBeBurned">#DoritosDareToBeBurned</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/Running-Up-That-Hill-A-Deal-With-God-6755577309127772162?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="♬ Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) [2018 Remaster] - Kate Bush">♬ Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) [2018 Remaster] - Kate Bush</a>
|
||||
</section>
|
||||
</blockquote>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nqtdpH">
|
||||
<strong>What’s it like negotiating with the clients in the offices?</strong>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J4Ery3">
|
||||
I’ll ask them what type of experience they would like to have, and they get all nervous. They’re looking around the room and are like, “Oh, I don’t know.” At that point I grab the inside of their knee and I’m like, “I don’t believe that. I think you know exactly what you want.” And then they’ll tell me.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4kLyxO">
|
||||
Sometimes you have to do a little bit of digging and take cues. There are men that come in and they want to know that you’ve been with so many men that day. They’ll ask, “How many people have you seen? Has it been a busy day?” If I notice it, I’ll feed into that, but everyone’s different. There’s the people that like feet, they’re looking to see what kind of shoes you’re wearing, they’re going to comment if you have open-toed shoes or tell you they like your pedicure. After you’ve been doing this, you know what to feed into.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eJ7pHZ">
|
||||
Most men obviously don’t like it to feel transactional, . Sso I try to navigate that very carefully and keep the focus on what type of experience they would like to have. And tThen I’ll just hit him with the price: “Do you want to pay cash or card?” We get it over with real quick.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gBPnWf">
|
||||
<strong>What are your favorite and least favorite kinds of clients?</strong>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u4rgeM">
|
||||
My least favorite type of man to work with is the misogynistic guy who almost hates himself for even being there and doesn’t talk to you like you’re a human being. Luckily, they only come in like five percent of the time. But I don’t have to work with anyone. I can just say, “Thanks for coming in. Have a great day.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bcOH12">
|
||||
My favorite type of people to work with are couples that have been with people before or maybe are swingers. In the last year and a half, a lot more couples have been coming in because I think it’s popular now to have a third in your relationship now, or at least have a threesome.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mTgb8J">
|
||||
<strong>What’s the money like?</strong>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nJARNx">
|
||||
I make more than $250,000 per year including tips, before taxes but after Mustang Ranch takes its 50 percent cut. Per Nevada state law, we cannot talk about pricing because it would fall under illegal solicitation, unless we’re on brothel premises.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZGoBGZ">
|
||||
<strong>What are some of your future goals?</strong>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZmcfaY">
|
||||
I want to advocate for sex workers’ rights, to be able to talk about our careers and not be discriminated against when we’re trying to use our money to better ourselves and contribute to the community. It’s so taboo, and there’s this misconception that sex workers are dirty people. We are honestly some of the cleanest people you’ll ever meet, especially in the regulated legal industry. We’re getting tested once every seven days for absolutely everything, so we actually have some of the best health care for women out there. We get checked any time we physically leave the property and once every seven days while we’re working.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AkWFZn">
|
||||
Sex work in so many forms is legal across the country; everyone and their sister <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22749123/onlyfans-influencers-sex-work-instagram-pornography">has an OnlyFans right now</a>. Only good things can come of decriminalizing sex work and regulating it in the legal system. So many things could be funded if sex work was taxed. I know people have a difference of opinion on whether the brothel system is the right setup or not. Obviously, I’m all for the brothel system.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="F54Ykc">
|
||||
<blockquote cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@themodernworkinggirl/video/7136650304862588206" class="tiktok-embed">
|
||||
<section>
|
||||
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@themodernworkinggirl?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="@themodernworkinggirl"><span class="citation" data-cites="themodernworkinggirl">@themodernworkinggirl</span></a>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Replying to <span class="citation" data-cites="Celena">@Celena</span> Maliszewski <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/reply?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="reply">#reply</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/response?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="response">#response</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/answer?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="answer">#answer</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/qa?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="qa">#QA</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/love?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="love">#love</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/loveislove?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="loveislove">#loveislove</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/trending?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="trending">#trending</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/viral?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="viral">#viral</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="fyp">#fyp</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/explorepage?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="explorepage">#explorepage</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/reno?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="reno">#reno</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tahoe?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="tahoe">#tahoe</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nevada?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="nevada">#nevada</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/truthtok?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="truthtok">#truthtok</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/Ring-of-Fire-6696417943695149058?refer=embed" target="_blank" title="♬ Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash">♬ Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash</a>
|
||||
</section>
|
||||
</blockquote>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="603PsK">
|
||||
<strong>Why do you prefer the brothel system?</strong>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RHBiB5">
|
||||
I like that we’re safe and protected. They put so much work into having nice facilities for us to be able to use, and they do all the marketing for us. Emails come to my inbox from people Mustang Ranch has found out there for me to see. That’s a pretty great value, especially for the percentage breakdown.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ho3JCN">
|
||||
Other sex workers don’t want to give brothels that 50 percent; they want to work out of their own houses or a hotel. In my experience, though, if you’re not in a brothel with management, you’re at a pretty high risk of having a pimp or some sort of manager that’s getting a large portion of your money.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MBCFjO">
|
||||
<strong>Have you learned anything surprising while working there?</strong>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4g52Z0">
|
||||
The most surprising thing I’ve learned is how starved our society is of human touch and compassion. People come in and just humbly beg for your affection and a little intimacy, more so than any kind of vulgar sexual act. I get asked a lot on TikTok if people come in for nonsexual parties, and I haven’t addressed this in a video yet, but so often it’s grown men just wanting to be held. People just want to caress you, because they haven’t touched another human being. There are husbands that come in saying, “I haven’t had sex in 12 years because my wife doesn’t want to anymore or her health doesn’t allow it.” They want to be respectful to their marriage and honor the love that they have for their wives, but at the end of the day, humans need that touch.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VFfpOX">
|
||||
<em>This column was first published in The Goods newsletter. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/newsletters"><em>Sign up here</em></a><em> so you don’t miss the next one, plus get newsletter exclusives.</em>
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>Humanity was stagnant for millennia — then something big changed 150 years ago</strong> -
|
||||
<figure>
|
||||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SBs5DvxCXEMar4kOaL_qEHqxDwI=/214x0:2881x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71332905/draft01.0.jpg"/>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
Amanda Northrop/Vox; Getty Images
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Why the years from 1870 to 2010 were humanity’s most important.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="la0nwR">
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ch3hqo">
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xfPkH3">
|
||||
“The 140 years from 1870 to 2010 of the long twentieth century were, I strongly believe, the most consequential years of all humanity’s centuries.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oqE7D8">
|
||||
So argues<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/j-bradford-delong/slouching-towards-utopia/9780465019595/"><em>Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century</em></a>, the new<strong> </strong>magnum opus from UC Berkeley professor Brad DeLong. It’s a bold claim. Homo sapiens has been around for at <a href="https://www.mpg.de/11322481/oldest-homo-sapiens-fossils-at-jebel-irhoud-morocco">least 300,000 years</a>; the “long twentieth century” represents 0.05 percent of that history.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i8Kd7l">
|
||||
But to DeLong, who beyond his academic work is known for <a href="https://braddelong.substack.com/">his widely read blog on economics</a>, something incredible happened in that sliver of time that eluded our species for the other 99.95 percent of our history. Whereas before 1870, technological progress proceeded slowly, if at all, after 1870 it accelerated dramatically. And especially for residents of rich countries, this technological progress brought a world of unprecedented plenty.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gztvS7">
|
||||
DeLong reports that in 1870, an average unskilled male worker living in London could afford 5,000 calories for himself and his family on his daily wages. That was more than 3,000 calories he could’ve afforded in 1600, a 66 percent increase — progress, to be sure. But by 2010, the same worker could afford 2.4 million calories a day, a nearly <em>five hundred fold</em> increase.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2Irhi8">
|
||||
DeLong’s book is called <em>Slouching Towards Utopia</em>, though, not <em>Achieving Utopia</em>. The unprecedentedly fast change in the lives of residents of rich nations brought with it profound political instability and conflict. Perhaps the worst-off were residents of the Global South, and oppressed communities like women and racial minorities in the Global North, who were denied much of the benefit of the world’s economic revolutions while suffering the bulk of the harm from the ensuing political and social revolutions.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2ze6Nc">
|
||||
DeLong and I talked last week about the book, the economic significance of the long 20th century, what caused technological progress to speed up so dramatically, and whether this kind of explosive growth can continue.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TBHjse">
|
||||
A transcript of our conversation, edited for length and clarity, follows.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="ype4sQ">
|
||||
Dylan Matthews
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ARyByS">
|
||||
You argue that 1870 through 2010 were “the most consequential years of all humanity’s centuries.” What’s your case?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="Nfisj0">
|
||||
Brad DeLong
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EkEr6M">
|
||||
It<strong> </strong>really looks that we had as much technological change and progress between 1870 and today as we had between 6000 BC and 1870 AD. We packed what had previously been nearly eight millennia of changes in the underlying technological hardware of society, which required changes in the running sociological code on top of that hardware. To try to pack what had been eight millennia worth of changes before in 150 years is going to produce an awful lot of history.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q9ufLa">
|
||||
Before 1870, most of history is how elites run their force-and-fraud, domination-and-extraction mechanism against a poor peasantry so that they, at least, can have enough, and so that their children are only two inches shorter than we are, rather than five or six as the peasants are. It’s about how the elites elbow each other out of the way as they eat from the trough. And it’s about the use they make of their wealth for purposes good and ill, of civilization and destruction.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jYBOtg">
|
||||
But if you’re enough of a Marxist like me to say that the real motor of history is the forces of production, their changes, and how society reacts for good or ill to changing forces of production, then yes, [1870 to 2010] has to be as consequential because there’s as much technological change-driven history as there is in entire millennia before.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="KNoIq9">
|
||||
Dylan Matthews
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jg2jw9">
|
||||
You seem on solid ground in arguing that something radical changed that enabled humans to become dramatically richer over the last 300 years; almost every economic historian would agree with that. But many people start the story in the 18th century, with the development of the steam engine and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Britain. You start it in 1870, well after that process was underway.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gBIePm">
|
||||
Why does the story start later for you?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="vEbxGD">
|
||||
Brad DeLong
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ODWcy3">
|
||||
When do we start? Let’s start 300 million years ago in the Permian period, when plants die and they get pushed underground and turn into coal. And then we flash forward to 25,000 years ago, when the last glacier episode scrapes all the rock on top of the coal deposits off of the British Isles and then retreats, leaving Britain with an ungodly amount of surface coal at sea level. Since it’s a wet island, it’s thereupon very easy to move by water.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cKJQY1">
|
||||
You need a steam engine if you want to dig even 10 feet down in order to get out the coal, and then around 1770, the steam engine and textile machinery attained critical mass and the Industrial Revolution begins, which is usually taken as the hinge of economic history, although some people push it back further.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3GoIyx">
|
||||
However, you look worldwide and you take my index of technological progress, and it [grows by] less than half a percent per year from 1770 to 1870. That’s based on exploitation of really cheap coal and also on the productivity benefits of falling transport costs that gather all of the manufacturing in the world into the place [the United Kingdom] where it’s most productive and most efficient, because it’s the place where coal is cheapest.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8zt43n">
|
||||
I was struck by a line I came across from the 1871 version of John Stuart Mill’s <em>Principles of Political Economy: “</em>Hitherto it is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toll of any human being.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NKn1r9">
|
||||
Say you have some slowdown in global technological progress after 1870 because the cheapest coal has already been mined and the deeper coal is hard to find, and say that you have some other slowdown because you don’t get the boost from gathering manufacturing in places where it’s productive. We might well have wound up right with a steampunk world after 1870: a world with about the population of today but the living standards of 1870 on average.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="voHe8J">
|
||||
That’s what the pace of progress was, except that we got the industrial research lab, the modern corporation, and then full globalization around 1870. The industrial research lab rationalized and routinized the discovery and development of technologies; the corporation rationalized and routinized the development and deployment of technologies; and globalization diffused them everywhere.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="km44hP">
|
||||
Dylan Matthews
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eebcIB">
|
||||
For most of human history since the advent of agriculture, we were ruled by Malthusian dynamics: If we gained the ability to grow more food, we would simply have more children, meaning no one’s quality of life could improve too much. And this, of course, put tremendous pressure on women, who were expected to have many children and do almost all the biological and practical work of gestating and raising them.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rqsoa0">
|
||||
You cite a very striking statistic in the book: the average number of years of a woman’s life spent either pregnant or breastfeeding. That has gone down dramatically, from 20 years of a typical woman’s life in 1870 to four years today. Explain that number to me, and what it means.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="YadXVr">
|
||||
Brad DeLong
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wwkRgo">
|
||||
It’s from a book called <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393313482"><em>Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years</em></a> by Elizabeth Wayland Barber. We really do not know much about what human life was really like in the hunter-gatherer age. Once we have agriculture, productivity goes way up. Life becomes somewhat boring because our brains are probably built to be hunter-gatherers. Population grows, and living standards fall.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fZh5T3">
|
||||
You have this biological situation in which one in seven women appears to die in childbirth; in which in order to have an expected value of one son surviving, you need to have two kids survive, which means three reach early adulthood, which means four reach the age of 5, which means seven or so babies born, which means nine advanced pregnancies.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bPuztU">
|
||||
Once you become an undernourished, agrarian Malthusian being, all of a sudden you are biometrically close to being effed completely.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IwC87z">
|
||||
Your children’s immune systems are too compromised to fight off the common cold. Maybe you’re too skinny to ovulate. If you aren’t, maybe you lose two teeth and break an arm as the baby leeches calcium out of your body into itself. Then you add on to that the fact that patriarchy means that if you are female, your only durable source of social power is to have surviving sons. And so any temptation to do much of anything other than have surviving sons, and then have more as insurance, is very hard to resist. Those are the biological, ecological, economic forces tending toward patriarchy, of which men as a group then took absolutely horrible advantage.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j8g18g">
|
||||
And yet once technological progress starts to hit 2 percent per year, then some people begin to have incomes above subsistence and infant mortality falls. But those changes came remarkably quickly.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="zwB6hC">
|
||||
Dylan Matthews
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j6RFB0">
|
||||
The highlight of the 140 years you study are the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trente_Glorieuses">Thirty Glorious Years</a>: roughly from 1945 to 1975, as the US and Europe recovered from World War II. They managed to build economies and welfare states that directed substantial benefits to working-class people while sustaining really fast productivity growth. After the 1970s, that regime broke down.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4SUflX">
|
||||
I finished the book thinking, “How can we get back to those 30 years? How do we get fast growth and equitable growth like that again?” But at the same time, many people you might think sympathetic to that vision are instead <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/07/18/magazine/herman-daly-interview.html">questioning the value of economic growth</a> or <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22408556/save-planet-shrink-economy-degrowth">calling for “degrowth”</a> as a way to manage global warming.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LzyZu9">
|
||||
Is it possible to go back to the Thirty Glorious Years? Or do we need degrowth instead?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h4 id="2xegEL">
|
||||
Brad DeLong
|
||||
</h4>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gORF4J">
|
||||
We definitely need to decarbonize. But go back to the steampunk world — suppose that we hadn’t had the last acceleration and we’re at the 1900 level of technology. We’d be pumping out only about a third or a quarter as much carbon dioxide as we are now, but we’d be pumping out many, many ton loads of other pollutants.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DY7150">
|
||||
Think of the amount of farmers and farmland that we would have needed in order to support 8 billion people on 1900 technology. Those were days when we’d <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/7/31/5951731/bird-shit-imperialism">send people with pickaxes to islands off of the South Atlantic</a> to knock tons of bird shit off to try to boost agricultural yields by a little bit.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vbMq2r">
|
||||
Degrowth is a mistake because we still have our bottom 500 million [people in global poverty], who certainly deserve much better. We certainly need much better technologies to deal with global warming. But do we indeed have to worry more about how to utilize our wealth, and less about how to produce much more wealth? I would say probably so. The best minds of a generation moving to South of Market in San Francisco to figure out how to scare the shit out of people and glue their eyeballs to screens — that’s not a terribly good use of human brainpower.
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>Some Amazon Prime customers say they don’t have two-day shipping anymore</strong> -
|
||||
<figure>
|
||||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/puiFbYjEwoORqZpa2mOQ-WtVmdc=/110x0:3487x2533/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71332848/1405845694.0.jpg"/>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
An Amazon Prime delivery van parked in Miami Beach, Florida, in April. | Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
A former Amazon employee found that, in large areas of Washington state, Prime deliveries can take four to five business days.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BUYBSA">
|
||||
The complaints from Amazon customers are similar and popping up across the US. From western New York to central Missouri to rural Washington state, some Amazon Prime members are asking a version of the same question: What happened to Amazon Prime’s two-day shipping?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XfR15C">
|
||||
As Amazon brings next-day and same-day<em> </em>Prime delivery to more parts of the US, complaints from some Amazon customers <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=amazon%20two%20day%20shipping&src=typed_query&f=live">about long Prime delivery times</a> are still common in other regions. And one of those customers, a longtime former Amazon employee, recently conducted informal research that indicates Prime customers have to wait four or five business days for delivery across various parts of Amazon’s home state of Washington.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CA3XXI">
|
||||
Amazon boosted Prime’s annual price to $139 earlier this year, and its signup page boasts, “Look for the Prime check mark as you shop. It means fast, free delivery!” But Prime members in some parts of the country have been surprised by slower delivery speeds than they were once used to. And it raises key questions: Are cracks appearing in the membership program at the core of Amazon’s e-commerce domination? Or is Amazon intentionally slowing delivery speeds for some Prime customers?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||||
<div id="537x0X">
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XsAMUQ">
|
||||
The inconsistency has been especially puzzling to a former Amazon employee named Peter Freese. Freese worked in Amazon corporate roles for more than a decade, including three years leading data analysis work in the company’s transportation and fulfillment divisions. He knows better than most how things work behind the scenes after a customer places an order.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nKuiSb">
|
||||
But in July, he was surprised to find that Prime’s free two-day shipping, the hallmark of Amazon’s membership program, appeared to no longer be available on any merchandise whatsoever in his hometown of Omak, Washington, about 200 miles northeast of Seattle. Instead, Prime two-day shipping had been replaced by a delivery speed reminiscent of the 1990s: five business days.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7ErwkS">
|
||||
He surmised that he was either witnessing the results of a technical bug that was potentially costing the company sales, or a cost-cutting move that essentially meant Amazon was, in Freese’s words, “redefining the word Prime” for some customers — but with zero disclosure.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r3yo9Q">
|
||||
After reading similar complaints on social media and suspecting<strong> </strong>a potential broader issue, Freese ran an experiment in August to test Prime delivery promises in all 39 counties in Washington state. He found that in a third of the counties, 13 in total, Prime orders would take either four or five business days to arrive. (He chose a random residential address in the biggest city or town in each county.) These orders still carried a Prime badge on the checkout page, but had the simple branding of “FREE delivery” rather than any mention of “two-day” or “next-day” shipping. Freese’s experiment included five separate bestselling products, all sold and shipped by Amazon, including an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a pack of Amazon’s own brand of diapers, and a 64-ounce container of Tide detergent. While not exhaustive, Freese’s experiment appears to back up complaints from some customers about bizarrely slow delivery speeds.<strong> </strong>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q3sd9M">
|
||||
Amazon spokesperson Lauren Samaha said the company has not identified any widespread issues with Prime delivery speeds and that Amazon is not slowing down deliveries to some members in an effort to cut costs. Instead, she said Prime delivery promises fluctuate based on many factors including transportation capacity in a given region and a customer’s location. She also denied the possibility that Amazon had stopped offering two-day Prime shipping to some parts of the US where it was previously available, despite some customers having that very complaint. Amazon’s website says that “nearly all addresses in the contiguous US” qualify for two-day Prime shipping.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i4nqFs">
|
||||
In his Prime shipping experiment focused on Washington, Freese was especially surprised that one of the counties with slow delivery speeds was Spokane, because Amazon has opened two new fulfillment centers there since 2020. So to dig a little further into potential issues there, Freese tested an extra three addresses in different parts of Spokane County, and five extra Prime-eligible products for a total of 10. He found that only one of the four delivery addresses in Spokane had faster delivery speeds than five business days. And for that faster address, four of the 10 products still didn’t qualify for two-day Prime shipping.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eDADgn">
|
||||
“If this is all a bug, then it’s extra gnarly and will be confusing to unravel,” Freese told Recode, referencing the disparities between Spokane addresses. “If it isn’t a bug, are they actually targeting certain neighborhoods for exclusion?”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt="A screenshot of an Amazon checkout page for a Ring video doorbell." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/C54gT3Y8osKDfFUEXzDvN43lHvY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24000753/ring_screenshot.jpeg"/>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
A Prime order placed on Sunday, August 28, and headed to Spokane, Washington, shows a delivery date of Saturday, September 3.
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="llpE0e">
|
||||
On social media, Amazon customer service reps often counter these complaints or questions by pointing out that Prime’s two-day shipping promise begins at the point that an item is shipped from a warehouse — not at the moment a customer places the order. They also often make clear that the two-day phrasing really means two business days, not two calendar days. That is and has long been the fine print of Prime membership. But any longtime Prime member knows that, for many years, Prime packages usually showed up two days after a customer placed an order. That’s what Prime members have come to expect from Amazon. And that expectation has fueled the explosive growth of Amazon Prime, which today has more than 200 million paying members across the globe.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bLofO5">
|
||||
Freese’s analysis goes beyond those semantics, though: What he’s found is that some customers who once had Prime two-day shipping no longer do, even on commonly purchased items. Yet they’re still paying the full Prime membership fees like everyone else.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="OGN22L">
|
||||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||||
So offer an explanation, Ruby. <br/>What changed in mid-July?<br/>Before that, Prime items were being delivered to my house in 1-2 days. <br/><br/>Why is every Prime item now taking 5-7 days?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
— Casey Craig (<span class="citation" data-cites="Iamcaseycraig">@Iamcaseycraig</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/Iamcaseycraig/status/1564299836287078400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2022</a>
|
||||
</blockquote></div></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NhmHuz">
|
||||
Of course, Prime delivery speeds cannot be discussed in full without acknowledging the million-person Amazon workforce in the US that works under fine-tuned surveillance and exacting quotas to pick, pack, and deliver customer orders at a pace that has made Prime’s typically fast delivery speeds possible in the first place. These conditions have at times led to <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22977660/amazon-warehouses-work-injuries-retail-labor">above-average injury rates</a> and sky-high employee turnover, which have threatened to exhaust the pool of people willing to work at Amazon warehouses in some geographies, <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23170900/leaked-amazon-memo-warehouses-hiring-shortage">according to Amazon’s own research</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XGimtd">
|
||||
There’s a reason why Amazon warehouse workers for the first time in the US voted to unionize earlier this year, albeit at a single Amazon facility. Efforts to vote to unionize are <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/16/amazon-workers-at-warehouse-near-albany-file-for-union-election.html">already underway</a> at <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article264044741.html">other Amazon facilities</a> across the US.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GdXfJQ">
|
||||
Amazon has also said this year that it <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/amazons-net-loss-prompts-query-has-it-built-too-many-warehouses-2022-04-29/">needed to pull back on expansion plans</a> as consumer demand weakened two years into the pandemic, and as the company recognized it had overestimated how much warehouse space and staffing it would need. The logistics consulting firm MWPVL International Inc., which tracks Amazon’s warehouse network, “estimates the company has either shuttered or killed plans to open 42 facilities totaling almost 25 million square feet of usable space [and] delayed opening an additional 21 locations, totaling nearly 28 million square feet,” <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-02/amazon-closes-abandons-plans-for-dozens-of-us-warehouses">according to Bloomberg</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AxvsZ6">
|
||||
Now, the inconsistency of Prime delivery expectations in some locales is another reminder that cracks may be showing in the well-oiled Amazon retail machine that for so many years seemed to run with little obstruction.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ICC T20I Rankings: Rohit climbs three places to 14th; Suryakumar Yadav drops to fourth spot</strong> - Star batter Virat Kohli gained four places and is ranked 29th after scoring 60 against Pakistan.</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>Historian, Azeria, Sabatini and Angel Light shine</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>Iron Age, Theon and Singer Sargent catch the eye</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>Mandela pleases</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>England recalls Hales for T20 World Cup after 3-year absence</strong> - Hales, a big-hitting opening batter, was dropped ahead of the 2019 Cricket World Cup for an “off-field incident” that led to a suspension.</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>Palaniswami claims 10 DMK MLAs are in touch with AIADMK</strong> - He was responding to an observation on AIADMK legislators joining DMK</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>Assistance extended to all families during Onam: Kerala Finance Minister</strong> - Food kits to 90 lakh families, allowance to workers among initiatives</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>Central nod for Kochi metro Phase-II</strong> - From Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to Infopark via Kakkanad</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>Alt News' Mohammad Zubair granted liberty to move Delhi High Court for quashing of Sitapur FIR</strong> - Mohammad Zubair was given bail on July 20</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>MGM Healthcare to open new cancer institute this year</strong> - Hospital planning to invest ₹500 crore to set up cancer care facilities in other places</p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Putin says West’s sanctions fever wrecks European lives</strong> - Russia’s president says his country is coping with the embargo while European jobs are going.</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>PSG football coach faces backlash over ‘sand yacht’ response to private jet question</strong> - Christophe Galtier laughs off a question about flying rather than taking the train.</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>Dutch city of Haarlem may be world’s first to ban most meat ads</strong> - Haarlem is to ban most adverts for meat from public spaces because of the food’s impact on climate.</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>Italy elections: Who’s who and how the vote works</strong> - Italy’s next leader could come from the far right, so here is what you need to know about the election.</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Russians to pay €45 more to enter EU under new rules</strong> - Russians will also face a lengthier application process under new EU proposals.</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>With BA.5 boosters, Biden officials herald the start of annual COVID shots</strong> - Officials hope booster uptake will at least match seasonal flu shot coverage. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1878688">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What we learned driving VW’s new electric ID Buzz</strong> - We’ve tested a European-spec Buzz, but the US models have to wait until 2024. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1878310">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>We’ve finally seen Return To Monkey Island in action: looks great, full of laughs</strong> - Grossman, Gilbert talk to us while playing final build, tease a 32-year-old secret. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1878461">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mini-review: Dell’s XPS 15 9520 is a low-key improvement to an established design</strong> - If previous XPS 15 models have turned you off, this one won’t change your mind. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1875958">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New 8K video footage showcases Titanic shipwreck in stunning detail</strong> - OceanGate Expeditions shot the footage earlier this year with a manned submersible. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1878462">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li><strong>A pilot accidentally left on the intercom and was heard saying, “I could really use a coffee and a blowjob”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
A stewardess quickly ran towards the cockpit, and a passenger yelled out, “you forgot the coffee!”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/neuro_string3298"> /u/neuro_string3298 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/x7qjov/a_pilot_accidentally_left_on_the_intercom_and_was/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/x7qjov/a_pilot_accidentally_left_on_the_intercom_and_was/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>A nun gets out of bed</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
she meets another nun who smiles and says “Someone got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning!”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
The nun shrugs, thinking she wasn’t really that grumpy looking and continues to the bathroom, to be met by another nun who looks her up and down, smiles and says “Someone got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning!”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
This happens another 12 times, by now the nun is pissed off, she bumps in to Mother Superior who smiles at her.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
The nun screams “DON’T ASK ME IF I GOT OUT OF THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED THIS MORNING!”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
“I wasn’t going to.” Mother Superior replies, “I was just going to ask why you were wearing the Bishop’s slippers?”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/soveranol"> /u/soveranol </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/x7tlg5/a_nun_gets_out_of_bed/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/x7tlg5/a_nun_gets_out_of_bed/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>What’s the difference between 9/11 and a cow?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Can’t milk a cow for 21 years.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/420plus69equals"> /u/420plus69equals </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/x7uu2v/whats_the_difference_between_911_and_a_cow/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/x7uu2v/whats_the_difference_between_911_and_a_cow/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>A nun was chatting with Mother Superior.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
“I used some horrible language this week and feel absolutely terrible about it.” “When did you use this awful language?” asks the elder nun. “Well, I was golfing and hit an incredible drive that looked like it was going to go over 280 yards, but it struck a phone line that was hanging over the fairway and fell straight down to the ground after going only about 100 yards.” “Is that when you swore?” “No, Mother,” says the nun. “After that, a squirrel ran out of the bushes and grabbed my ball in its mouth and began to run away.” “Is THAT when you swore?” asks the Mother Superior again. “Well, no.” says the nun. “You see, as the squirrel was running, an eagle came down out of the sky, grabbed the squirrel in his talons and began to fly away!” “And Is THAT when you swore?” asks the amazed elder nun. “No, not yet. As the eagle carried the squirrel away in its claws, it flew near the green and the squirrel dropped my ball.” “Did you swear THEN?” asked Mother Superior, becoming impatient. “No, because the ball fell on a big rock, bounced over the sand trap, rolled onto the green, and stopped about six inches from the hole.” The two nuns were silent for a moment. Then Mother Superior sighed and said, "You missed the fucking putt, didn’t 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/truthdude"> /u/truthdude </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/x7dwt0/a_nun_was_chatting_with_mother_superior/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/x7dwt0/a_nun_was_chatting_with_mother_superior/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>why didn’t 4 ask out 5?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Because 4 was 2²
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/yomommafool"> /u/yomommafool </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/x7fwix/why_didnt_4_ask_out_5/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/x7fwix/why_didnt_4_ask_out_5/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
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|
||||
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Reference in New Issue