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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Inhibitory effects of GT0918 on acute lung injury and the molecular mechanisms of anti-inflammatory response</strong> -
<div>
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused the public health crisis in the whole world. Anti-androgens block severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) entry and protect against severe clinical COVID-19 outcomes. GT0918, a second-generation androgen receptor antagonist, accelerated viral clearance and increased recovery rate in outpatients, reduced mortality rate and shortened hospital stay in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. GT0918 also had an effective trend for severe COVID-19 patient treatment. But the mechanism of GT0918 treatment for severe COVID-19 patient is unknown. Here, we found GT0918 decreased the expression and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines through NF-{kappa}B signaling. The acute lung injury induced by LPS or Poly(I:C) was also attenuated in GT0918-treated mice. Moreover, GT0918 increased the NRF2 protein level. GT0918 induced proinflammatory cytokines downregulation was partially dependent on NRF2. In conclusion, our data showed GT0918 reduced cytokine release and suppressed inflammatory responses through inhibiting NF-{kappa}B signaling and activating NRF2. GT0918 is not only effective for treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 patients, but also a potential therapeutic drug for severe COVID-19 patients.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.29.498191v1" target="_blank">Inhibitory effects of GT0918 on acute lung injury and the molecular mechanisms of anti-inflammatory response</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Influenza and pneumococcal vaccination and the risk of COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A number of studies have investigated the potential non-specific effects of some routinely administered vaccines (e.g. influenza, pneumococcal) on COVID-19 related outcomes, with contrasting results. In order to elucidate this discrepancy, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the association between seasonal influenza vaccination and pneumococcal vaccination with SARS-CoV-2 infection and its clinical outcomes. PubMed and medRxiv databases were searched, up until November 2021. Random effects model was used in the meta-analysis to pool odds ratio (OR) and adjusted estimates with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Heterogeneity was quantitatively assessed using the Cohran9s Q and the I2 index. Sub-group analysis, sensitivity analysis and assessment of publication bias were performed for all outcomes. In total 38 observational studies were included in the meta-analysis and there was substantial heterogeneity. Influenza and pneumococcal vaccination were associated with lower risk of SARS-Cov-2 infection (OR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.75-0.86 and OR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.57-0.88, respectively). Regarding influenza vaccination, it seems that the majority of studies did not properly adjust for all potential confounders, so when the analysis was limited to studies that adjusted for age, sex, comorbidities and socioeconomic indices, the association diminished. This is not the case regarding the pneumococcal vaccination, for which even after adjustment for such factors the association persisted. Regarding harder endpoints such as ICU admission and death, current data do not support the association. Possible explanations are discussed, including trained immunity, inadequate matching for socioeconomic indices and possible coinfection.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.30.22277089v1" target="_blank">Influenza and pneumococcal vaccination and the risk of COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>RT-LAMP-CRISPR-Cas13a technology as a promising diagnostic tool for the SARS-CoV-2 virus</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
At the end of 2019, the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, began a pandemic that persists to date and which has caused more than 6.2 million deaths. In the last couple of years, researchers have made great efforts to develop a diagnostic technique that maintains high levels of sensitivity and specificity, since an accurate and early diagnosis is required to minimize the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. In this context, CRISPR-Cas systems are proposed as promising tools for development in diagnostic techniques due to their high specificity, highlighting that Cas13 endonuclease discriminates single nucleotide changes and displays a collateral activity against single stranded RNA molecules. With the aim of improve the sensitivity of the diagnosis, this technology is usually combined with isothermal pre-amplification reactions (SHERLOCK, DETECTR). Basing on this, we have developed an RT-LAMP-CRISPR-Cas13a for SARS-CoV-2 virus detection in nasopharyngeal samples without using RNA extraction kit that exhibited 100 % specificity and 83 % sensitivity, as well as a positive predictive value of 100 % and a negative predictive value of 100%, 81%, 79.1% and 66.7 % in &lt;20 Ct, 20-30 Ct, &gt;30 Ct and total Ct values, respectively.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.29.22277060v1" target="_blank">RT-LAMP-CRISPR-Cas13a technology as a promising diagnostic tool for the SARS-CoV-2 virus</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Severity of Omicron (B.1.1.529) and Delta (B.1.1.617.2) SARS-CoV-2 infection among hospitalised adults: a prospective cohort study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Limited data exist assessing severity of disease in adults hospitalised with Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant infections, and to what extent patient-factors, including vaccination and pre-existing disease, affect variant-dependent disease severity. This prospective cohort study of all adults (≥18 years of age) hospitalised at acute care hospitals in Bristol, UK assessed disease severity using 3 different measures: FiO2 &gt;28%, World Health Organization (WHO) outcome score &gt;5, and hospital length of stay (LOS) &gt;3 days following admission for Omicron or Delta variant infection. Independent of other variables, including vaccination, Omicron variant infection was associated with a statistically lower severity compared to Delta; risk reductions were 58%, 67%, and 16% for FiO2, WHO score, and LOS, respectively. Younger age and vaccination with two or three doses were also independently associated with lower COVID-19 severity. Despite lower severity relative to Delta, Omicron infection still resulted in substantial patient and public health burden following admission.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.29.22277044v1" target="_blank">Severity of Omicron (B.1.1.529) and Delta (B.1.1.617.2) SARS-CoV-2 infection among hospitalised adults: a prospective cohort study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Vitamin D and the ability to produce 1,25(OH)2D are critical for protection from viral infection of the lungs.</strong> -
<div>
Vitamin D supplementation has been linked to improved outcomes from respiratory virus infection, and the COVID19 pandemic has renewed interest in understanding the potential role of vitamin D in protecting the lung from viral infections. Therefore, we evaluated the role of Vitamin D using animal models of pandemic H1N1 influenza and SARS-CoV-2 infection. In mice, dietary induced vitamin D deficiency resulted in lung inflammation that was present prior to infection. Vitamin D sufficient (D+) and deficient (D-) wildtype (WT) and D+ and D- Cyp27B1 (Cyp) knockout (KO, cannot produce 1,25(OH)2D) mice were infected with pandemic H1N1. D- WT, D+ Cyp KO, and D- Cyp KO mice all exhibited significantly reduced survival compared to D+ WT mice. Importantly, survival was not the result of reduced viral replication as influenza M gene expression in the lungs was similar for all animals. Based on these findings, additional experiments were performed using the mouse and hamster models of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. In these studies, high dose vitamin D supplementation reduced lung inflammation in mice but not hamsters. A trend to faster weight recovery was observed in 1,25(OH)2D treated mice that survived SARS-CoV-2 infection. There was no effect of vitamin D on SARS-CoV-2 N gene expression in the lung of either mice or hamsters. Therefore, vitamin D deficiency enhanced disease severity, while vitamin D sufficient/supplementation reduced inflammation following infections with H1N1 influenza and SARS-CoV-2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.29.498158v1" target="_blank">Vitamin D and the ability to produce 1,25(OH)2D are critical for protection from viral infection of the lungs.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Limitations of models for guiding policy in the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
At the outset of the COVID-19 epidemic in the UK, infectious disease modellers advised the government that unless a lockdown was imposed, most of the population would be infected within a few months and critical care capacity would be overwhelmed. This paper investigates the quantitative arguments underlying these predictions, and draws lessons for future policy. The modellers assumed that within age bands all individuals were equally susceptible and equally connected, leading to predictions that more than 80% of the population would be infected in the first wave of an unmitigated epidemic. Models that relax this unrealistic assumption to allow for selective removal of the most susceptible and connected individuals predict much smaller epidemic sizes. In most European countries no more than 10% of the population was infected in the first wave, irrespective of what restrictions were imposed. The modellers assumed that about 2% of those infected would require critical care, far higher than the proportion who entered critical care in the first wave, and failed to identify the key role of nosocomial transmission in overloading health systems. Model-based forecasts that only a lockdown could suppress the epidemic relied on a survey of contact rates in 2006, with no information on the types of contact most relevant to aerosol transmission or on heterogeneity of contact rates. In future epidemics, modellers should communicate the uncertainties associated with their assumptions and data, especially when these models are used to recommend policies that have high societal costs and are hard to reverse. Recognition of the gap between models and reality also implies a need to rebalance in favour of greater reliance on rapid studies of real-world transmission, robust model criticism, and acceptance that when measurements contradict model predictions it is the model that needs to be changed.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.30.22277091v1" target="_blank">Limitations of models for guiding policy in the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>CASP4/11 contributes to pulmonary inflammation and disease exacerbation in COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Infection with SARS-CoV-2 induces COVID-19, an inflammatory disease that is usually self-limited, but depending on patient conditions may culminate with critical illness and patient death. The virus triggers activation of intracellular sensors, such as the NLRP3 inflammasome, which promotes inflammation and aggravates the disease. Thus, identification of host components associated with NLRP3 inflammasome is key for understanding the physiopathology of the disease. Here, we reported that SARS-CoV-2 induces upregulation and activation of human Caspase-4/CASP4 (mouse Caspase-11/CASP11) and this process contributes to inflammasome activation in response to SARS-CoV-2. CASP4 was expressed in lung autopsy of lethal cases of COVID-19 and CASP4 expression correlates with expression of inflammasome components and inflammatory mediators such as CASP1, IL1B, IL18 and IL6. In vivo infections performed in transgenic hACE2 humanized mouse, deficient or sufficient for Casp11, indicate that hACE2 Casp11-/- mice were protected from disease development, with reduced body weight loss, reduced temperature variation, increased pulmonary parenchymal area, reduced clinical score of the disease and reduced mortality. Collectively, our data establishes that CASP4/11 contributes to disease pathology and contributes for future immunomodulatory therapeutic interventions to COVID-19.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.29.22277067v1" target="_blank">CASP4/11 contributes to pulmonary inflammation and disease exacerbation in COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Tradeoff between speed and infectivity in pathogen evolution</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Given the present pandemic and the constantly arising new variants of SARS-CoV-2, there is an urgent need to understand the factors driving disease evolution. Here, we investigate the tradeoff between the speed at which a disease progresses and its reproductive number. Using SEIR and agent-based models, we show that in the exponential growth phase of an epidemic, there will be an optimal duration of new disease variants, balancing the advantage of developing fast with the advantage of infecting many new people. In the endemic state this optimum disappears, and lasting longer is always advantageous for the disease. However, if we take into account the possibility of quarantining the infected, this leads to a new optimum disease duration emerging. This work thereby comments on the observation of ever shorter generation times in the evolution of variants of SARS-CoV-2 from the original strain to the Alpha, Delta, and finally Omicron variants.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.30.22277094v1" target="_blank">Tradeoff between speed and infectivity in pathogen evolution</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Trapping virus-loaded aerosols using granular protein nanofibrils and iron oxyhydroxides nanoparticles</strong> -
<div>
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that developing effective therapeutics against viruses might be outpaced by emerging variants, waning immunity, vaccine skepticism/hesitancy, lack of resources, and the time needed to develop virus-specific therapeutics, emphasizing the importance of non-pharmaceutical interventions as the first line of defense against virus outbreaks and pandemics. However, fighting the spread of airborne viruses has proven extremely challenging, much more if this needs to be achieved on a global scale and in an environmentally-friendly manner. Here, we introduce an aerosol filter made of granular material based on whey protein nanofibrils and iron oxyhydroxides nanoparticles. The material is environmentally-friendly, biodegradable, and composed mainly of a dairy industry byproduct. It features remarkable filtration efficiencies between 95.91% and 99.99% for both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the influenza A virus strain H1N1, enterovirus 71, bacteriophage {Phi}6, and bacteriophage MS2. The developed material is safe to handle and recycle, with a simple baking step sufficient to inactivate trapped viruses. The high filtration efficiency, virtually-zero environmental impact, and low cost of the material illuminate a viable role in fighting current and future pandemics on a global scale.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.29.498082v1" target="_blank">Trapping virus-loaded aerosols using granular protein nanofibrils and iron oxyhydroxides nanoparticles</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Association of Right Ventricular Dilation and Dysfunction on Echocardiogram with In-Hospital Mortality Among Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19 Compared with Other Acute Respiratory Illness</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Although right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is associated with mortality in acute COVID-19, the role of RV dilation is uncertain. The prognostic significance of RV dilation and dysfunction among hospitalized patients with acute COVID-19 compared to other respiratory illnesses. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to examine 225 consecutive adults admitted for acute COVID-19 and 6,150 control adults admitted for influenza, pneumonia or ARDS who had a clinical echocardiogram performed. We used logistic regression models to assess associations between RV parameters and in-hospital mortality adjusted for confounders. Results: Among those with COVID-19, 48/225 (21.3%) died during the index hospitalization compared to 727/6150 (11.8%) with other respiratory illness (p=0.001). Independent of COVID-19, mild and moderate to severe RV dilation were associated with 1.4 and 2.0 times higher risk of inpatient mortality, respectively (95%CI 1.17 to 1.69; p=0.0003; 95%CI 1.62 to 2.47; p&lt;0.0001, respectively). Similarly, mild and moderate RV dysfunction were associated with 1.4 and 1.7 times higher risk of inpatient mortality (95%CI 1.10 to 1.77; p=0.007; 95%CI 1.17 to 2.42; p=0.005, respectively). Relative to normal RV size and non-COVID-19 acute respiratory illness, mild and moderate RV dilation were associated with 1.4 times and 2.0 times higher risk among those without COVID-19 and 1.9 times higher and 3.0 times higher risk among those with COVID-19, with similar findings for RV dysfunction. Having both RV dilation and dysfunction or RV dilation alone were associated with 1.7 times higher risk while RV dysfunction alone was associated with 1.4 times higher risk compared to normal RV size and function. Conclusions: RV dilation and dysfunction are associated with increased risk of inpatient mortality among those with COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses. Abnormal RV findings may identify those at higher risk of short-term mortality from acute respiratory illness including COVID-19 beyond other risk markers.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.29.22277073v1" target="_blank">Association of Right Ventricular Dilation and Dysfunction on Echocardiogram with In-Hospital Mortality Among Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19 Compared with Other Acute Respiratory Illness</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Missing Americans: Early Death in the United States, 1933-2021</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
We assessed how many U.S. deaths would have been averted each year, 1933-2021, if U.S. age-specific mortality rates had equaled those of other wealthy nations. The annual number of excess deaths in the U.S. increased steadily beginning in the late 1970s, reaching 626,353 in 2019. Excess deaths surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, there were 1,092,293 “Missing Americans” and 25 million years of life lost due to excess mortality relative to peer nations. In 2021, half of all deaths under 65 years and 91% of the increase in under-65 mortality since 2019 would have been avoided if the U.S. had the mortality rates of its peers. Black and Native Americans made up a disproportionate share of Missing Americans, although the majority were White. One-Sentence Summary: In 2021, 1.1 million U.S. deaths – including 1 in 2 deaths under age 65 years – would have been averted if the U.S. had the mortality rates of other wealthy nations.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.29.22277065v1" target="_blank">Missing Americans: Early Death in the United States, 1933-2021</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Primary exposure to SARS-CoV-2 variants elicits convergent epitope specificities, immunoglobulin V gene usage and public B cell clones</strong> -
<div>
An important consequence of infection with a SARS-CoV-2 variant is protective humoral immunity against other variants. The basis for such cross-protection at the molecular level is incompletely understood. Here we characterized the repertoire and epitope specificity of antibodies elicited by Beta, Gamma and ancestral variant infection and assessed their cross-reactivity to these and the more recent Delta and Omicron variants. We developed a high-throughput approach to obtain immunoglobulin sequences and produce monoclonal antibodies for functional assessment from single B cells. Infection with any variant elicited similar cross-binding antibody responses exhibiting a remarkably conserved hierarchy of epitope immunodominance. Furthermore, convergent V gene usage and similar public B cell clones were elicited regardless of infecting variant. These convergent responses despite antigenic variation may represent a general immunological principle that accounts for the continued efficacy of vaccines based on a single ancestral variant.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.28.486152v2" target="_blank">Primary exposure to SARS-CoV-2 variants elicits convergent epitope specificities, immunoglobulin V gene usage and public B cell clones</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Increasing SARS-CoV2 cases, hospitalizations and deaths among the vaccinated elderly populations during the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant surge in UK.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
BACKGROUND There were increased SARS-CoV2 hospitalizations and deaths noted during Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant surge in UK despite decreased cases, and the reasons are unclear. METHODS In this observational study, we analyzed reported SARS-CoV2 cases, hospitalizations and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. We also analyzed variables that can affect the outcomes. The vaccine effectiveness among those ≥18 years of age (August 16, 2021 to March 27, 2022) was analyzed. RESULTS Of the total cases (n= 22,072,550), hospitalizations (n=848,911) and deaths (n=175,070) due to COVID-19 in UK; 51.3% of cases (n=11,315,793), 28.8% of hospitalizations (n=244,708) and 16.4% of deaths (n=28,659) occurred during Omicron variant surge. When comparing the period of February 28-May 1, 2022 with the prior 12-weeks, we observed a significant increase in the case fatality rate (0.19% vs 0.41%; RR 2.11[ 2.06-2.16], p&lt;0.001) and odds of hospitalization (1.58% vs 3.72%; RR 2.36[2.34-2.38]; p&lt;0.001). During the same period a significant increase in cases (23.7% vs 40.3%; RR1.70 [1.70-1.71]; p&lt;0.001) among ≥50 years of age and hospitalizations (39.3% vs 50.3%;RR1.28 [1.27-1.30]; p&lt;0.001) and deaths (67.89% vs 80.07%;RR1.18 [1.16-1.20]; p&lt;0.001) among ≥75 years of age was observed. The vaccine effectiveness (VE) for the third dose was in negative since December 20, 2021, with a significantly increased proportion of SARS-CoV2 cases hospitalizations and deaths among the vaccinated; and a decreased proportion of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths among the unvaccinated. The pre-existing conditions were present in 95.6% of all COVID-19 deaths, various ethnic, deprivation score and vaccination rate disparities noted that can adversely affect hospitalization and deaths among compared groups. CONCLUSIONS There is no discernable vaccine effectiveness among ≥18 years of age, vaccinated third dose population since the beginning of the Omicron variant surge. Pre-existing conditions, ethnicity, deprivation score, and vaccination rate disparities data need to be adjusted for evaluating VE for hospitalizations and deaths. The increased cases with significantly increased hospitalizations and deaths among the elderly population during the Omicron variant surge underscores the need to prevent infections in the elderly irrespective of vaccination status with uniform screening protocols and protective measures.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.28.22276926v2" target="_blank">Increasing SARS-CoV2 cases, hospitalizations and deaths among the vaccinated elderly populations during the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant surge in UK.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>How many relevant SARS-CoV-2 variants might we expect in the future?</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<b>Objectives</b>. The emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants is a major challenge in the management of Covid-19 pandemic. A crucial issue is to quantify the number of variants which may represent a potential risk for public health in the future. <b>Methods</b>. We fitted the data on the most relevant SARS-CoV-2 variants recorded by the World Health Organization (WHO). The function exploited for the fit is related to the total number of infected subjects in the world since the start of the epidemic. <b>Results</b>. We found that the number of new relevant variants per ten million cases diminished by 30.4% between March 2020 and March 2022 (from 1.25 to 0.87). However, the decrease is now very slow and a further reduction by 10% would happen only for 5.6 billion infections in the world, i.e. ten times the cases from the beginning of the epidemic up to June 2022. <b>Conclusions</b>. Our simple mathematical model can provide an estimate of the number of relevant SARS-CoV-2 variants as the cumulative number of cases increases worldwide and may represent a useful tool in planning strategies to effectively contrast the pandemic.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.11.17.21266463v5" target="_blank">How many relevant SARS-CoV-2 variants might we expect in the future?</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>IMPACT OF USING SMALL GROUP COMMUNICATION IN THE COMMUNITY OF THE COVID-19 VACCINATION IN THE DISTRICT OF ULUJAMI-PEMALANG</strong> -
<div>
As social beings, humans who live in society from opening their eyes to closing their eyes again, of course, cannot be separated from communication. This is a form of the character that he is a social being who cannot be separated from communicating with each other. Small group communication is communication that takes place face-to-face, meaning that the communicant and communicator are in the same situation, namely facing each other and seeing each other. Vaccines are antigens given to healthy people to produce specific antibodies against microorganisms so that when exposed to them they are immune and do not cause disease. Vaccination is the process of introducing vaccines by injecting them into the body which aims to stimulate the body’s immune system so that it is immune to infectious diseases. People are reluctant to vaccinate for COVID-19 because they are afraid of the side effects of vaccination and doubt the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccine, due to a large number of hoax news about vaccines that are spread in various media. Therefore, the purpose of writing this article is to make people interested in the covid-19 vaccination so that it can reduce the number of deaths caused by the coronavirus. The research method used is qualitative. Meanwhile, the type of research used is structured and semi-structured interviews as well as observation. From the results of interviews with informants, it can be concluded that the public’s unwillingness was triggered by the circulation of hoax news in various communities.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/sgkmv/" target="_blank">IMPACT OF USING SMALL GROUP COMMUNICATION IN THE COMMUNITY OF THE COVID-19 VACCINATION IN THE DISTRICT OF ULUJAMI-PEMALANG</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>Immuno-bridging Study of COVID-19 Protein Subunit Recombinant Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVID-19 Protein Subunit Recombinant Vaccine;   Biological: Active Comparator<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   PT Bio Farma;   Fakultas Kedokteran Universitas Indonesia;   Faculty of Medicine Universitas Diponegoro;   Faculty of Medicine Universitas Andalas;   Faculty of Medicine Universitas Hassanudin<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Learn About the Study Medicines (Called Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir) in People 12 Years Old or Older With COVID-19 Who Are Immunocompromised</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Nirmatrelvir;   Drug: Ritonavir;   Drug: Placebo for nirmatrelvir;   Drug: Placebo for ritonavir<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Pfizer<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 Randomized Controlled Trial of a Digital, Self-testing Strategy for COVID-19 Infection in South Africa.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Device: Abbott Panbio rapid antigen self-tests;   Other: COVIDSmart CARE! app<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre;   University of Cape Town Lung Institute<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>Discussing COVID-19 Vaccines in Private Facebook Groups</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Gist messages on COVID-19 vaccination;   Behavioral: COVID-19 vaccine information<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   George Washington University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Immunogenicity and Safety Study of One Booster Dose of Trivalent COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Trivalent COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated, Prototype Strain, Delta Strain and Omicron Strain;   Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Sinovac Biotech (Colombia) S.A.S.;   Sinovac Life Sciences Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Home-Based Exercise Tele-Rehabilitation After COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19)<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Tele-exercise<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   VA Office of Research and Development;   Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center;   Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IMM-BCP-01 in Mild to Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV2 Infection;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: IMM-BCP-01;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Immunome, Inc.;   United States Department of Defense<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, and Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Variant (COVID-19 Omicron) mRNA Vaccine (Phase 1)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: ABO1009-DP<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate Safety, Tolerability, and Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Variant (COVID-19) mRNA Vaccines</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: ABO1009-DP;   Biological: ABO-CoV.617.2;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for the Treatment of Patients With COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Mesenchymal stem cell;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Paulo Brofman;   Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate Immunogenicity and Safety of MVC-COV1901 Vaccine Compared With AZD1222</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Vaccine<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: MVC-COV1901;   Biological: AZD1222<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Laser Therapy on Tension-type Cephalea and Orofacial Pain in Post-covid-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Tension-Type Headache;   Orofacial Pain;   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Radiation: Photobimodulation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Nove de Julho<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>Study of Self-Amplifying Messenger Ribonucleic Acid (samRNA) Vaccines Against COVID-19 in Healthy Adults and People Living With Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: GRT-R912, samRNA-Spikebeta-TCE11;   Drug: GRT-R914, samRNA-Spikebeta-TCE9;   Drug: GRT-R918, samRNA-SpikeOmicron-N-TCE11<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Gritstone bio, Inc.<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Phase 1b Study of a Q-Griffithsin Intranasal Spray for Broad-spectrum Coronavirus Prophylaxis</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Prevention<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Q-Griffithsin 3.0;   Drug: Q-Griffithsin 6.0<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Kenneth Palmer;   United States Department of Defense<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>Real World Evaluation of the Effectiveness of AZD7442 for Prevention of SARS-CoV-2</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Evusheld (tixagevimab+cilgavimab) IM or IV<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   MediMergent, LLC<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Therapeutic role of traditionally used Indian medicinal plants and spices in combating COVID-19 pandemic situation</strong> - The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 is a big challenge and burning issue to the scientific community and doctors worldwide. Globally, COVID-19 has created a health disaster and adversely affects the economic growth. Although some vaccines have already emerged, no therapeutic medication has yet been approved by FDA for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Traditionally, we have been using different medicinal plants like neem, tulsi, tea, and many spices like garlic, ginger,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Structure basis for inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 by the feline drug GC376</strong> - No abstract</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>Artemisinin inhibits neutrophil and macrophage chemotaxis, cytokine production and NET release</strong> - Immune cell chemotaxis to the sites of pathogen invasion is critical for fighting infection, but in life-threatening conditions such as sepsis and Covid-19, excess activation of the innate immune system is thought to cause a damaging invasion of immune cells into tissues and a consequent excessive release of cytokines, chemokines and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). In these circumstances, tempering excessive activation of the innate immune system may, paradoxically, promote recovery. Here…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Effect of a 2-week interruption in methotrexate treatment versus continued treatment on COVID-19 booster vaccine immunity in adults with inflammatory conditions (VROOM study): a randomised, open label, superiority trial</strong> - BACKGROUND: Immunosuppressive treatments inhibit vaccine-induced immunity against SARS-CoV-2. We evaluated whether a 2-week interruption of methotrexate treatment immediately after the COVID-19 vaccine booster improved antibody responses against the S1 receptor-binding domain (S1-RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein compared with uninterrupted treatment in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The adverse inflammatory response of tobacco smoking in COVID-19 patients: biomarkers from proteomics and metabolomics</strong> - Whether tobacco smoking affects the occurrence and development of COVID-19 is still a controversial issue, and potential biomarkers to predict the adverse outcomes of smoking in the progression of COVID-19 patients have not yet been elucidated. To further uncover their linkage and explore the effective biomarkers, three proteomics and metabolomics databases (i.e. smoking status, COVID-19 status, and basic information of population) from human serum proteomic and metabolomic levels were…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The many facets of CD26/dipeptidyl peptidase 4 and its inhibitors in disorders of the CNS - a critical overview</strong> - Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 is a serine protease that cleaves X-proline or X-alanine in the penultimate position. Natural substrates of the enzyme are glucagon-like peptide-1, glucagon inhibiting peptide, glucagon, neuropeptide Y, secretin, substance P, pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide, endorphins, endomorphins, brain natriuretic peptide, beta-melanocyte stimulating hormone and amyloid peptides as well as some cytokines and chemokines. The enzyme is involved in the maintenance of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Identification of repurposing therapeutics toward SARS-CoV-2 main protease by virtual screening</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 causes the current global pandemic coronavirus disease 2019. Widely-available effective drugs could be a critical factor in halting the pandemic. The main protease (3CLpro) plays a vital role in viral replication; therefore, it is of great interest to find inhibitors for this enzyme. We applied the combination of virtual screening based on molecular docking derived from the crystal structure of the peptidomimetic inhibitors (N3, 13b, and 11a), and experimental verification revealed…</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>Spatially Patterned Neutralizing Icosahedral DNA Nanocage for Efficient SARS-CoV-2 Blocking</strong> - Broad-spectrum anti-SARS-CoV-2 strategies that can inhibit the infection of wild-type and mutant strains would alleviate their threats to global public health. Here, we propose an icosahedral DNA framework for the assembly of up to 30 spatially arranged neutralizing aptamers (IDNA-30) to inhibit viral infection. Each triangular plane of IDNA-30 is composed of three precisely positioned aptamers topologically matching the SARS-CoV-2 spike trimer, thus forming a multivalent spatially patterned…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An Overview on Immunity Booster Foods in Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)</strong> - The present COVID-19 pandemic is highly terrible for the respiratory system and is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It has affected millions of people globally and over 511.9 million cases and 6.2 million deaths have been reported across the world. Various drugs have been repurposed, however, no specific medicine has been approved by the FDA to combat this disease till date. In this condition, researchers have attracted to natural and safe products 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>C910 chemical compound inhibits the traffiking of several bacterial AB toxins with cross-protection against influenza virus</strong> - The development of anti-infectives against a large range of AB-like toxin-producing bacteria includes the identification of compounds disrupting toxin transport through both the endolysosomal and retrograde pathways. Here, we performed a high-throughput screening of compounds blocking Rac1 proteasomal degradation triggered by the Cytotoxic Necrotizing Factor-1 (CNF1) toxin, which was followed by orthogonal screens against two toxins that hijack the endolysosomal (diphtheria toxin) or retrograde…</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>Epidemiological and virological surveillance of influenza viruses in China during 2020-2021</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Influenza activity increased in the mainland of China in 2021, and caused flu season in the winter of 2021-2022. Although the diversity of influenza (sub)type decreases, B/Victoria lineage viruses show increased genetic and antigenic diversity. The world needs to be fully prepared for the co-epidemic of influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus globally.</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 trifunctional peptide broadly inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron variants in hamsters</strong> - The emergence of highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants has led to the waves of the resurgence of COVID-19 cases. Effective antivirals against variants are required. Here we demonstrate that a human-derived peptide 4H30 has broad antiviral activity against the ancestral virus and four Variants of Concern (VOCs) in vitro. Mechanistically, 4H30 can inhibit three distinct steps of the SARS-CoV-2 life cycle. Specifically, 4H30 blocks viral entry by clustering SARS-CoV-2 virions; prevents membrane…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Zinc Proteome of SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Zinc is an essential element for human health. Among its many functions, zinc(II) modulates the immune response to infections and, at high concentrations or in the presence of ionophores, inhibits the replication of various RNA viruses. Structural biology studies on SARS-CoV-2 revealed that zinc(II) is the most common metal ion that binds to viral proteins. However, the number of zinc(II)-binding sites identified by experimental methods is far from exhaustive, as metal ions may be lost during…</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>Sec61 Inhibitor Apratoxin S4 Potently Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 and Exhibits Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Activity</strong> - There is a pressing need for host-directed therapeutics that elicit broad-spectrum antiviral activities to potentially address current and future viral pandemics. Apratoxin S4 (Apra S4) is a potent Sec61 inhibitor that prevents cotranslational translocation of secretory proteins into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), leading to anticancer and antiangiogenic activity both in vitro and in vivo. Since Sec61 has been shown to be an essential host factor for viral proteostasis, we tested Apra S4 in…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Electrospun nanofibrous membrane with antibacterial and antiviral properties decorated with Myoporum bontioides extract and silver-doped carbon nitride nanoparticles for medical masks application</strong> - Public health safety issues have been plaguing the world since the pandemic outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, most personal protective equipments (PPE) do not have antibacterial and anti- toxicity effects. In this work, we designed and prepared a reusable, antibacterial and anti-toxicity Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based nanofibrous membrane cooperated with Ag/g-C(3)N(4) (Ag-CN), Myoporum.bontioides (M.bontioides) plant extracts and Ag nanoparticles (NPs) by an…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Supreme Court Tries Overruling Physics</strong> - A destructive decision in West Virginia v. E.P.A. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-supreme-court-tries-to-overrule-the-climate">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cassidy Hutchinson’s Testimony Should Be the End of Donald Trump</strong> - Regardless of the legal obstacles to convicting the former President, Hutchinson’s testimony reconfirmed that he must never again be allowed anywhere near power. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/cassidy-hutchinsons-testimony-should-be-the-end-of-donald-trump">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How the Supreme Court Could Approach Federal Laws Upholding—or Banning—Abortion</strong> - Without Roe, abortion is now a state-by-state issue. Is nationwide action by Congress the next frontier? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-the-supreme-court-could-approach-federal-laws-upholding-or-banning-abortion">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Akhil Sharma Reads Joyce Carol Oates</strong> - The author joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss the story “Zombie,” which was published in a 1994 issue of the magazine. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/fiction/akhil-sharma-reads-joyce-carol-oates">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is Biden Handling Putin Better Than He’s Handling Trump?</strong> - Facing down the threats that the two men pose to democracy has become the defining challenge of Biden’s Presidency. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/is-biden-handling-putin-better-than-hes-handling-trump">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Under Obamacare, birth control pills are free. Why aren’t vasectomies?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Men at a pro-abortion rights rally hold up signs that read “Overturn Roe? Hell, no!”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/S-PxkGO8jL6YVhcFQk7H2ervvBM=/334x0:5667x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71037438/GettyImages_1405102871.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
The overturning of <em>Roe v. Wade</em> has sparked an interest in vasectomies, but access and cost barriers remain as Obamacare does not cover the procedure. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Expanding access to vasectomy care could help shift some of the burden of birth control.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="InHSdc">
In early May, after the Supreme Court draft opinion to overturn <em>Roe v. Wade </em>leaked, <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=vasectomy&amp;geo=US">Google searches</a> for vasectomies spiked — and then spiked again in late June when the final decision <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/24/23181720/supreme-court-dobbs-jackson-womens-health-samuel-alito-roe-wade-abortion-marriage-contraception">was handed down</a> on June 24.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PIgH51">
Bobby Najari, a urologist and assistant professor at NYU Langone Health, says some of that spike translated into a modest uptick in vasectomy consultations. “It came up in a consultation about vasectomy just today with a patient saying that [the Supreme Court decision] just highlighted the burden that is placed on women when it comes to reproductive health.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WkYw8t">
Despite the sudden interest in the term, chances are it won’t lead to a wave of vasectomies. According to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db388-H.pdf">2019 CDC data</a>, women undergo tubal ligation, the female sterilization method colloquially known as getting one’s tubes tied, at more than three times the rate that men get vasectomies, which involves minor surgery to prevent sperm from moving out of the testes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YboEAl">
The sterilization gap persists in the face of the clear medical facts that vasectomies are slightly safer, less invasive, and <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2015/06/rounding-out-contraceptive-coverage-guarantee-why-male-contraceptive-methods-matter">four times as cost-effective</a> as tubal ligation. (Vasectomies are also the most cost-effective contraceptive over time.)
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Chart: “Most of the burden of birth control falls on women”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ex-60DFFeuzJfDA98mj2v-t6ywg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23664466/QFDDB_most_of_the_burden_of_birth_control_falls_on_women__1_.png"/> <cite>Tim Ryan Williams/Vox</cite>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rs37tq">
Much of the sterilization gap can be explained by the simple fact that the burden to prevent pregnancy in the US — like the burden of managing childbirth and reproduction more generally — disproportionately falls on people who can become pregnant.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r0aioK">
One example: Mara Gandal-Powers of the National Women’s Law Center notes that, prior to birth, many health providers ask in advance whether the child will be the person’s last, and if so, whether they would like to have their tubes tied. “I think that partially contributes to [the gap] … but I also think there’s a reason why providers are asking that and not asking do you or your partner want to have a sterilization after this last child?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hRp006">
There’s no easy way to shift at least some of the contraceptive burden onto men. There will be moments, like the overturning of <em>Roe v. Wade</em>, that prompt introspection and, for some, action. And forthcoming technologies, like male birth control pills and injections, could provide more flexible contraception options for men.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HbWWVv">
But simply making vasectomies more accessible and less expensive could shift some of the burden soon, at the moment when it is most needed: The overturning of <em>Roe v. Wade</em> will severely restrict or practically eliminate abortion access in over <a href="https://www.vox.com/23013308/supreme-court-roe-wade-abortion-legal-oklahoma-dobbs-jackson-womens-health">20 states</a>, which will disproportionately affect low-income people and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/29/23187002/black-women-abortion-access-roe">people of color</a>.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xnPqxJ">
With Republicans gearing up to further restrict <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/6/25/23182779/nationwide-abortion-ban-roe-republicans">access to abortion</a> and potentially <a href="https://www.vox.com/23137822/abortion-birth-control-health-care-roe-wade">contraception</a>, and Democrats’ options to fight back limited, modest measures like increasing access to vasectomy care could be a previously underutilized route for change and serve to level some of the playing field of birth control.
</p>
<h3 id="9nAzOE">
Making the snip accessible
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RmBiYM">
The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage/birth-control-benefits/">requires</a> insurance providers to fully cover 18 forms of contraception for women, including sterilization. That means that if you want to get an IUD copper ring or get on the pill, you shouldn’t have to pay a single cent, though there are notable exceptions. Some health plans have <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/21/1018483557/contraception-is-free-to-women-except-when-its-not#:~:text=The%20ACA%20requires%20most%20commercial,exempt%20from%20the%20coverage%20requirements.">onerous restrictions</a> and employers that object to contraception on religious grounds are exempt from Obamacare’s contraception mandate due to the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf"><em>Burwell v. Hobby Lobby</em></a><em>.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kdJTQ9">
If you want to get a vasectomy, you’ll probably have to pay at least some of it out of pocket. Obamacare doesn’t require insurers to fully cover the procedure and <a href="https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control/vasectomy/how-do-i-get-vasectomy">health insurance plans vary</a> on how much of the procedure they’ll pay for. Plus, <a href="https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/">millions of Americans</a> still lack any kind of health insurance.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qzStd4">
<a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2015/06/rounding-out-contraceptive-coverage-guarantee-why-male-contraceptive-methods-matter">Congress</a> could help to close the sterilization gap. The Affordable Care Act required insurers to cover a few categories of preventive services without cost-sharing, including women’s health care; Congress could pass a law requiring the ACA to cover contraception for all genders, or expand the law’s requirements to include preventive services for men. But Liz McCaman Taylor of the National Health Law Program says a regulatory approach makes more sense, since panels — composed of doctors and health experts and mostly commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services — already actively determine which preventive services Obamacare covers.
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One of those panels is the Women’s Preventive Services Initiative. While some reproductive health advocacy and research <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/contraceptive-coverage-guarantee">groups</a>, including Taylor’s, have requested the panel add vasectomy to its set of recommendations, the procedure didn’t make the cut in its latest update, which was finalized in late 2021.
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The reasoning is that even though women do stand to benefit from their partners getting a vasectomy, vasectomies aren’t performed on or <a href="https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/vasectomies-should-be-covered-obamacare%E2%80%94-they%E2%80%99re-not">used by women</a>, so it isn’t currently considered a preventive service for women. But that doesn’t mean the panel’s experts couldn’t change their minds; coverage for condoms was included in the panel’s late 2021 update.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qiwEWi">
Another panel that recommends preventive services under Obamacare — the US Preventive Services Task Force, which recommends a wide array of preventive services for people of all genders — could also get the job done.
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But an obstacle to expanding coverage is the paucity of research around vasectomies, said Taylor. “I think most if not all of the contraceptive research is dominated by women’s methods, so that doesn’t leave advocates a lot to go to the [panels] with. The fear is if you don’t go to the [panel] with strong research, they’re going to come out with a D [not recommended] or I [inconclusive] rating.”
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Some progress has been made at the state level to expand vasectomy access. Around 20 states cover part of the cost of vasectomy care in their Medicaid expansion plans, and <a href="https://lawatlas.org/datasets/insurance-coverage-of-contraception">seven states</a> have passed laws that require their state-regulated health care plans to fully cover contraceptive care for people of all genders, which includes vasectomy care.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jq8CSj">
But in 2018, the IRS issued <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-18-12.pdf">new guidance</a> that hobbled those states, saying that allowing individuals with high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) — in 2017, that was over <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db317.htm">40 percent</a> of insured Americans — to receive vasectomy care at no cost before meeting their deductible would mean they’re no longer HDHPs. People with those plans would no longer be eligible for tax-free health savings accounts.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9J6WLf">
The seven states had to either put the vasectomy component of their laws on hold or amend them to comply with the IRS guidance. The National Health Law Program wants to see the IRS change its guidance, but it’s not a top priority given the more pressing threats to contraception access and reproductive rights resulting from the overturning of <em>Roe</em>.
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<h3 id="SEhWZg">
Changing roles in family planning
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yRxgVl">
More than the thicket of regulations or the obstinance of insurance companies, however, reproductive rights experts say the biggest barrier to closing the sterilization gap is that US culture puts the onus on women to be responsible for birth control. And one symptom of that is the fact that research and development to expand options for men, like a pill or injection, has been anemic.
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“It’s a real shame, and especially right now when we are starting to see calls for men to step up and generally people who can impregnate other people to take responsibility,” said Gandal-Powers. “I think there aren’t a lot of ways for them to actually prevent pregnancy.”
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“As a man, I’ve only ever been told condoms or vasectomies are your two options, and condoms suck,” Rob Venturo, a 33-year-old supply chain consultant from Connecticut, told me outside the Supreme Court on the day <em>Roe v. Wade </em>was overturned. (Employed properly and regularly, condoms are an <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/contraception/male-condoms/#:~:text=At%20a%20glance%3A%20condoms,clinics%20and%20some%20GP%20surgeries.">effective birth control method</a>, and unlike vasectomies, also provide protection against sexually transmitted diseases, but the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2410083/">perceived reduction in pleasure has been a stubborn obstacle to their use</a>.)
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LFlW5g">
Venturo said he and an ex had discussed his getting a vasectomy, but the semi-permanent nature of the procedure — vasectomies can be reversed, though <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/contraception/vasectomy-reversal-nhs/#:~:text=It's%20estimated%20that%20the%20success,after%209%20to%2014%20years">success isn’t assured</a> — didn’t feel right, as he said there’s a chance, albeit slim, that he may want to have children someday. “We thought about it, but vasectomies are more permanent, right? An IUD is something that’s temporary, so that was why we went with that route.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H0ZuOB">
There have been efforts underway for <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/04/a-brief-timeline-of-scientists-promising-a-male-pill.html">decades</a> to create male birth control pills, and more recently, an injection, but none have come to market. Adam Sonfield, a health policy consultant whose 2015 <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2015/06/rounding-out-contraceptive-coverage-guarantee-why-male-contraceptive-methods-matter">report on vasectomy access</a> inspired this article, said there’s a “running joke that the male birth control pill is always five years down the road, no matter what year [it is].”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6HKN0E">
An effective, commercially available male birth control pill would probably do more to shift the burden of birth control than just about anything else. But until one is available, a vasectomy will usually make more sense than tubal ligation for couples and individuals who know they don’t want more children, or no children<strong>,</strong> because they are safer and less invasive than tubal ligation.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ld0js1">
Ad blitzes could move the needle too. In the 1990s, a <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/journals/ipsrh/1996/12/impact-mass-media-vasectomy-promotion-campaign-brazil">TV and radio commercial campaign</a> promoting vasectomies in three major Brazilian cities temporarily increased vasectomy rates there between 59 and 108 percent.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ITzKKR">
Dr. Najari, the urologist in New York City, said he has seen the potential beginnings of a culture shift in recent years among patients who come in for vasectomy consultations. “I do remember the sentiment years ago being more ‘I’m here because my wife told me to be here’ — essentially she got sick of being on contraception or for medical reasons she’s not able to be on contraception,” Najari said.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mITqKl">
Nowadays, more men tell him they’re getting a vasectomy because they don’t want their partners to have to deal with the side effects of some forms of contraception, or because their partner had to deal with childbirth and it should now be on them to contribute to family planning.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tPaBYp">
“I think part of that is the slow but perceivable shift in terms of expectations around family planning and also just the expectations of what men and women contribute to a family,” Najari said. With American institutions increasingly limiting access to abortion and contraception, those expectations will only — and rightly — grow.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Go ahead, be a little spontaneous</strong> -
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<img alt="A cartoon image of a person escaping from a cage." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VE7XSFUGVaW-vG3iGJLxgm4aW-o=/153x0:2588x1826/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71037304/GettyImages_1334428276.0.jpg"/>
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Denis Novikov/Getty Images
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A looser schedule can allow for serendipity.
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On the spectrum from carefully curated scheduling to go-with-the-flow attitude, most people fall somewhere in the middle: a few can’t-miss occasions here, some loose plans there. The conditions of the past two years, however, have rendered impromptu hangouts difficult, if not impossible.
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Unplanned dinners, playdates, and afternoon jaunts to the museum were complicated by pandemic restrictions, staffing shortages, reservations needing to be secured weeks in advance — not to mention concerns such as whether outdoor locales would have bathrooms or the weather would hold up. Even the easiest of hangs required at least a little planning.
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The pandemic wasn’t the only deterrent to spontaneity. Before Covid shutdowns and restrictions, Americans’ daily schedules had become packed with meetings, classes, extracurricular activities, happy hours, and work dinners; there was no time left for pleasurable diversions.
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“My daughter’s 15, and I look at a lot of her classmates and their lives are just scheduled from morning to evening with school and lessons and tutoring and organized sports,” says <a href="https://www.edwardslingerland.com/">Edward Slingerland</a>, professor of philosophy and distinguished university scholar at the University of British Columbia and author of <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/trying-not-to-try-edward-slingerland/1119702771?ean=9780770437633"><em>Trying Not to Try: The Ancient Art of Effortlessness and the Surprising Power of Spontaneity</em></a>.<em> </em>“From an early age, we overschedule our kids and then we overschedule ourselves. Smartphones and laptops allow us to be constantly on.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ncdk5N">
Constant planning comes at a cost. Planning is mentally taxing, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-22250-015">research shows</a>, and when leisurely activities, like going to the movies or grabbing coffee, are scheduled, free time <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3163869">starts to feel like work</a>.
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A looser schedule can infuse playfulness and adventure on a minor scale into life. Spontaneity is the state of being open to whatever situation is presented to you as it happens, says clinical psychologist <a href="http://www.lindablair.co.uk/">Linda Blair</a>. This can mean anything from trying a new restaurant for lunch at your colleague’s suggestion to waking up and deciding to go to the beach today. Living in the moment opens you up to new experiences, which can boost happiness, Blair says. “When you’re spontaneous, you get to enjoy what’s happening to you, rather than thinking, ‘What’s coming next? Am I going to be able to make that deadline? Am I going to be able to be on time for this?’<em>”</em>
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While the two are often conflated, spontaneity is not the same as impulsivity. Impulsive actions are often made with little thought or consideration for consequences, Blair says. Spontaneity involves a gut check before deciding to, say, put off cleaning the house in favor of an afternoon reading in the park. “There’s no thought process whatsoever in impulsivity,” she says. “But spontaneous people, by staying connected with your gut, you’re responding to your emotions, you’re doing a logical process, which takes longer, but your emotions say ‘This is fun, this looks different, I’ll do it.’”
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As much as the pressures of modern life have constrained people’s days to calendar appointments and to-do lists, spontaneity isn’t a relic of more free-flowing times. Ironic as it may seem, there are ways to prioritize spontaneity by creating conditions where serendipity can occur.
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<h3 id="CnZvLS">
The curse of overscheduling
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When all of life’s moments are planned and you’re rushing from one event to the next, you miss out on small, accidental joys: a quick conversation with a neighbor, a new favorite store you decided to pop into on a whim, a chance to grab ice cream with your kid on the way home from soccer practice. Without moments of serendipitous interaction and activity, “it’s not a fully lived life,” Slingerland says.
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With overscheduling and overplanning, leisurely activities are often given concrete beginning and end times, which is why these pleasurable pursuits can feel like work, says <a href="https://fisher.osu.edu/people/malkoc.5">Selin A. Malkoc</a>, professor of marketing at Ohio State University, who has <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3163869">studied</a> the effects of planning on leisure. Social plans, Malkoc says, “those happen in life more spontaneously, or we’d like to believe that leisure happens more spontaneously. Because we put these leisurely things into what we would normally schedule — chores, responsibilities — it just takes on those qualities to some extent.”
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Constantly monitoring the time so you can make it to a friend’s birthday party after your child’s morning swim lessons distracts from the fact that leisure activities are supposed to be pleasurable, Malkoc says. Spontaneous events, by nature, don’t require much planning or rushing around for the sake of punctuality. As a result, “in many instances, spontaneous things give us more overall enjoyment,” Malkoc says.
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Phones, the mechanism for overscheduling, are distracting and enable users to tune out the world around them. When the road map for the day exists on smartphone apps, you become dependent on them for where to be and where to go instead of reveling in the people and places around you in the moment. “Back in the day, when we were on public transit,” Slingerland says, “people would talk on public transit, and no one does that anymore.”
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<h3 id="3SiKXr">
How to be more spontaneous
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During the first year of the pandemic, when socializing and leisure outside the home came with caveats and restrictions, intricate planning was essential, from making reservations to monitoring time limits at attractions and restaurants.
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The constant checking and verifying and planning — from both a health and social perspective — were inherently stressful, Blair says, and you may still be feeling the effects of all that stress. “Which is why you might go do something new and find it so exhausting,” she says. “My work right now is helping people get calm again, bring down those cortisol levels, stop the watchfulness so that you can react from your amygdala — that’s the emotional center that says, ‘Oh, this is fun. Let’s do it.’”
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To make decisions from a place of spontaneity, you have to feel safe, which may be a hard habit to develop after living in self-preservation mode for so long. Break out of fear-based responses, in which you feel threatened and make a choice to protect yourself, and instead shift to more mindful-based thought processes to embrace spontaneity.
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If a friend suggests a last-minute concert on a Tuesday night, take a few deep breaths to help break you out of a potential mindset of fear, then make your choice, Blair suggests. “That settles you down,” she says, “allows the fear response, which is also in the amygdala, to settle, and then you can make a logical calculation about what’s going on.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DYviHL">
To create conditions that allow for spontaneity, you first have to have the time to be spontaneous. Excited as you may be to reconnect with friends, resume hobbies, or even meticulously plan every second of a vacation, leave a day of the week or even a few hours of your day unscheduled to see where the wind takes you. This goes for planning with kids, too.
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“When I schedule my kids, it feels like I’m improving them and enriching them but … they’re very uncomfortable the one day that they don’t have something to do. They get bored if I don’t give them an activity to do,” Malkoc says. “Let them be comfortable with being and just finding something interesting to do on the spot.” While this may mean turning down some plans, you can let family and friends know you’re free all day on Saturdays for visitors if anyone wants to drop by, Malkoc says.
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Of course, having expendable income makes being spontaneous a little easier: You don’t have to worry about where the money to pay for an impromptu vacation will come from or feel the pinch after taking a surprise day off of work. But many off-the-cuff activities can be cost-free. Wearing an old band T-shirt you found in the back of a drawer, saying hello to other students at school, sending a text to a friend you haven’t seen in a while, and taking a different route to work are all ways to shake it up without spending a cent.
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Slingerland suggests ditching your phone for a few hours (or just putting it in airplane mode) to rid yourself of distractions: “You may find a store you never noticed before. You may have a conversation with a neighbor you wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
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After a prolonged stretch of planning, prioritizing spontaneity may be anxiety-inducing, but each time you leave a weekend unscheduled or agree to tag along to a friend’s kid’s dance recital after running into them on the street, you eventually won’t have to be as intentional. “Spontaneity just doesn’t happen,” Malkoc says. “We have to make the space for spontaneity for it to be able to happen.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZbfqYS">
<a href="http://www.vox.com/even-better"><em>Even Better</em></a><em> is here to offer deeply sourced, actionable advice for helping you live a better life. Do you have a question on money and work; friends, family, and community; or personal growth and health? Send us your question by filling out this </em><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfiStGSlsWDBmglim7Dh1Y9Hy386rkeKGpfwF6BCjmgnZdqfQ/viewform"><em>form</em></a><em>. We might turn it into a story.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>The best movies of 2022 (so far) — and how to watch them</strong> -
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<img alt="A triptych showing the protagonists of The Northman, Happening, and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Q0LJVo3IX91Yxx7Xyqudzdwhwcw=/154x0:1754x1200/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71037204/headshots_1656511601166.0.jpg"/>
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<em>The Northman</em>, <em>Happening</em>, and <em>Marcel the Shell with Shoes On </em>are three of the year’s best movies (so far). | Universal Pictures / IFC Films / A24
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From great blockbusters to a mockumentary about a talking inch-high shell.
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The year is half over, believe it or not. But while studios often hold their most prestigious releases for the second half of the year, 2022 has already served up a feast of cinema worth seeing — if you know where to look. From blockbusters to microbudget indies, documentaries about political issues to a mockumentary about a tiny talking shell, here are the 21 best movies of 2022 … so far.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>Downfall: The Case Against Boeing</em></li>
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Rory Kennedy’s enraging documentary traces the events that led to two crashes of the Boeing 737 Max planes and the deaths of hundreds of people. Boeing’s slide from a well-respected company built on trust and attention to detail to one that hid the truth to satisfy the demands of profit is familiar, but terrifying nonetheless. And <em>Downfall: The Case Against Boeing</em> is an exceptionally strong exposé, one with a clear thesis, a powerful, direct argument to make, and implications that extend far beyond just Boeing.
</p>
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81272421"><em>Downfall: The Case Against Boeing</em> is streaming on Netflix</a>.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>Crimes of the Future</em></li>
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Horror master David Cronenberg’s latest, <em>Crimes of the Future</em>, is certainly one of the weirdest (and maybe queasiest) movies of the year so far. Starring Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, and Scott Speedman, it’s a tale set in a dystopian future, when pervasive microplastics and a world that leans on synthetic materials have prompted new directions in human evolution. With bodies evolving as-yet-unseen organs, surgery becomes a public performance art. Societal factions form around different ideas about where humanity should go. Somehow it’s all wrapped up in an oddly sweet package, with human connection at its heart.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><em>Crimes of the Future</em> is playing in theaters.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>Top Gun: Maverick</em></li>
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In a film set 35 years after <em>Top Gun</em>, Tom Cruise returns as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, no longer a bright young whippersnapper but still the best flyboy around. He’s called back to the elite Top Gun program to train a group of fresh-faced pilots for a daring mission, but while there he has to confront both his past with old flame Penny (Jennifer Connelly) and his own mortality. <em>Top Gun: Maverick </em>is almost unprecedented in its class, a nostalgia sequel that doesn’t feel like a cheap IP cash grab. Instead, it brings Maverick’s story full circle in a satisfying manner that adds depth and dimension to its predecessor, but still tells a story that’s all its own.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><em>Top Gun: Maverick</em> is playing in theaters.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>Good Luck to You, Leo Grande</em></li>
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Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack star in this two-hander, a heartfelt comedy about a 60-something widow who hires a sex worker to — well, she’s not really sure what, but she knows she can’t go on the way she’s living. They meet in a hotel and slowly reveal themselves to one another, developing a friendship that has implications for them both. Directed by Sophie Hyde and written by Katy Brand, <em>Good Luck to You, Leo Grande </em>is a sexually frank and good-natured movie about trying to come to terms with yourself, your history, and your body, and Thompson and McCormack give subtle, generous performances.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="https://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=nOD/rLJHOac&amp;offerid=852731.1198&amp;type=3&amp;u1=VoxBestMoviesSoFar2022"><em>Good Luck to You, Leo Grande</em> is streaming on Hulu</a>.
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17.<em> The Batman</em>
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<em>The Batman</em> might be the moodiest and broodiest of the tales of the caped crusader — no small feat when you’re competing with the Dark Knight series — but it’s also one of the most innovative. This time, Batman returns to his roots as a detective, and director Matt Reeves places him in the middle of an old-fashioned noir, with the rain and shady lighting and twisty mystery that requires. <em>The Batman</em> is also a story about the morality and futility of revenge, and about a character who lives in a state of constant struggle between the two. <em>The Batman</em> is a slow burn, but its climax is a banger.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="http://voxmediapartner.go2cloud.org/aff_c?offer_id=2&amp;aff_id=1&amp;source=VoxMedia&amp;aff_sub=voxmediabestmovies2022&amp;aff_unique1=https://www.hbomax.com/feature/urn:hbo:feature:GYiDbSAmIpMNvYAEAAAAI"><em>The Batman</em> is streaming on HBO Max</a> and available to rent or purchase on digital platforms.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>Navalny</em></li>
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Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, survived an assassination attempt in August 2020. (Putin is so threatened by Navalny that he refuses to speak his name in public.) Daniel Roher’s <em>Navalny</em> follows the opposition leader through the events following that poisoning, and in particular the investigation that Navalny and his team at the Anti-Corruption Foundation launched into the attempt on his life. Much of the documentary is dedicated to observing and exploring that investigation, with Navalny speaking straight to the camera in interviews about his beliefs and work (including his controversial willingness to align with some far-right groups in opposing Putin’s regime). And there’s a scene involving a phone call that is worth the price of admission, making this thriller a must-see in our political moment.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="http://voxmediapartner.go2cloud.org/aff_c?offer_id=2&amp;aff_id=1&amp;aff_sub=voxmediabestmovies2022&amp;source=VoxMedia&amp;aff_unique1=https://www.hbomax.com/feature/urn:hbo:feature:GYmFp9ATv1JSBmwEAAACW"><em>Navalny</em> is streaming on HBO Max</a>.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>The Fallout</em></li>
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Of the crop of more recent films about school shootings, Megan Park’s film <em>The Fallout</em>, which is as much a teen drama as a movie “about” a shooting, may be the best. Soon after the film starts, shots ring out; of course, the teens know exactly what’s happening. They have been participating in active shooter drills since grade school. They know about the Parkland kids, about what happened at Sandy Hook. They are getting shoved into a narrative they know all too well. Vada (Jenna Ortega) is in the bathroom when it happens, and she takes refuge with Mia (Maddie Ziegler) and Quinton (Niles Fitch). The violence occurs off-screen, while the trio huddles in a stall, trying to turn invisible as the unthinkable happens outside. But, they survive. The film’s focus isn’t on why it happened. Instead, the teens spend the movie asking why they survived, and how they can live in their altered reality.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="http://voxmediapartner.go2cloud.org/aff_c?offer_id=2&amp;aff_id=1&amp;source=VoxMedia&amp;aff_sub=voxmediabestmovies2022&amp;aff_unique1=https://www.hbomax.com/feature/urn:hbo:feature:GYc3xuwu2x5rCFgEAAALb"><em>The Fallout</em> is streaming on HBO Max</a>.
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14.<em> Cha Cha Real Smooth</em>
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Andrew (Cooper Raiff, who also wrote and directed the film) is a recent Tulane graduate who has moved back home to New Jersey while figuring out his next step. He meets Domino (Dakota Johnson), a single mother more than 10 years his senior who’s raising a teenager on the autism spectrum named Lola (Vanessa Burghardt). Andrew and Domino start to form a friendship that will teach them both something about themselves. And if that sounds like standard twee fare, rest assured — Raiff and Johnson’s performances turn it into something irresistible and lovely.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="https://tv.apple.com/movie/cha-cha-real-smooth/umc.cmc.6loo9fah7vwj2zpp7ehactlpd?itsct=tv_box_link&amp;itscg=30200&amp;ct=Vox"><em>Cha Cha Real Smooth</em></a> is playing in theaters and streaming on Apple TV+.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>The Pink Cloud</em></li>
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Onscreen text at the beginning of <em>The Pink Cloud</em> tells us the film was written in 2017 and shot in 2019, which feels like an odd announcement to make to your audience. The reasons become almost immediately clear. In the story, a rosy pink cloud suddenly rolls across Earth, and if you breathe it in, you die. So everyone is instantly quarantined with whomever they happened to be with at the moment the cloud arrived. That means Giovana (Renata de Lélis) and Yago (Eduardo Mendonça), who met only the day before and spent the night together, are now stuck together indefinitely. The pink cloud hovers over the world for years, and Giovana and Yago slowly experience the stages we’re familiar with now: certainty that it will be over soon, rage, exhaustion, fear, weariness. <em>The Pink Cloud</em> is haunting and riveting in the best way, acutely diagnosing a mental state that will feel startlingly familiar. And in a strange way, it’s a little encouraging. We’ve been isolated, but we’re not alone.
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<strong>How to watch it:</strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Pink-Cloud-Renata-L%C3%A9lis/dp/B09P48VP65"><strong> </strong><em>The Pink Cloud</em> </a>is available to rent or purchase on digital platforms.
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12.<em> The Northman</em>
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<em>The Northman</em> is a bone-crunching Viking epic from detail-obsessed director <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/10/15/20914097/robert-eggers-lighthouse-interview-witch">Robert Eggers</a>, based on the legend of Amleth, from which Shakespeare adapted Hamlet’s story. It stars an extremely ripped Alexander Skarsgård as Amleth alongside Ethan Hawke, Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy, Claes Bang, Willem Dafoe, and Björk. Eggers, who co-wrote the film with the Icelandic poet Sjón, had historians of Icelandic and Viking history on speed-dial throughout production, and the result is an extraordinarily detailed reproduction not just of the Vikings’ world, but also their way of thinking. If you can extract a modern message from <em>The Northman</em> — that “toxic masculinity” has been destroying men for literal eons, that women have been granted limited agency to push back — it’s really not the point of this retelling of a much-retold tale. Eggers recreated, with obsessive accuracy, the world of the medievals in order to lower us into a myth that feels primordial and strange, as if it’s tapping into something in the back of our minds that we’ve always known but half forgotten.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="https://imp.i305175.net/c/482924/828265/11640?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.peacocktv.com%2Fdr%2Fthe-northman&amp;subid1=voxmediabestmovies2022"><em>The Northman</em> is streaming on Peacock</a> and available to purchase on digital platforms.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>We’re All Going to the World’s Fair</em></li>
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The genre-defying, subtly unnerving <em>We’re All Going to the World’s Fair</em> captures the experience of the internet through the eyes of a lonely, isolated teenager. Casey (Anna Cobb) becomes immersed in an online horror challenge, one in which players complete a series of tasks (chants, rituals, and so on) and then experience some kind of transformation. She makes an unusual online connection that could be benign or could be menacing — how can Casey really tell? Director Jane Schoenbrun keeps us on our toes, too, and in so doing questions how we exist online, and why.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Were-All-Going-Worlds-Fair/dp/B09PVPK6FX"><em>We’re All Going to the World’s Fair</em></a> is available to rent or purchase on digital platforms.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>Everything Everywhere All At Once</em></li>
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<em>Everything Everywhere All At Once</em> functions as a pretty good summary of the film, which is a big-hearted, hilarious, boldly sentimental tale of a mother and a daughter just trying to love one another. Also, it’s about the multiverse. Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) is stuck in her life, running a laundromat with a hapless husband (Ke Huy Quan) and trying to reach out to her acerbic daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu). Plus, they’re being audited by the IRS. But when she stumbles into a mind-boggling discovery — that she must save all the universes from imminent destruction — things get weird. It’s absurd and wild and wonderful, and will probably make you cry.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Everywhere-All-At-Once/dp/B09RDF4BNL"><em>Everything Everywhere All At Once</em></a> is playing in theaters and available to purchase on digital platforms.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>Benediction</em></li>
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Terence Davies’s last film, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/4/13/15243556/quiet-passion-review-emily-dickinson-passover-easter"><em>A Quiet Passion</em></a>, centered on the poet Emily Dickinson; in <em>Benediction</em>, Davies turns to a different poet, <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/siegfried-sassoon">Siegfried Sassoon</a> (a terrific Jack Lowden). <em>Benediction</em> — which means “blessing” — spends most of its time on Sassoon’s passionate but thwarted relationships with several different men, after which he eventually married a woman. The whole story is framed by Sassoon’s late-in-life conversion to Catholicism, amid his soured marriage and his son’s derision. There is no happy-go-lucky ending here, only the sense that an ineffable longing we have, to know and be known, is so precious and rare that most of us never find its fulfillment here on Earth. But the film’s title lays bare its aims: to offer words of blessing over a man who never quite found the love he craved and, yet, kept looking.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><em>Benediction</em> is playing in theaters.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>Jackass Forever</em></li>
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You want me to explain the inclusion of <em>Jackass Forever</em> on this list? Well, have you seen it? <a href="https://www.vox.com/22918197/jackass-forever-review-marathon">I have</a>, and discovered it was as cathartic, unhinged, and weirdly good-hearted as any of its predecessors. Yes, it’s a movie about (mostly) dudes doing really stupid things together, and that’s what makes it great. <em>Jackass Forever</em> is the first of the films to add a new cast, because Johnny Knoxville and his long-suffering pals are hovering around 50 these days. They’re a lot more brittle than they were in the 1990s. And the new members are delighted to be <em>in the movie we used to watch</em>! Who can blame them? They have taken on a high, low calling: to be the fools who prostrate themselves across a pile of mousetraps or take an enormous belly flop for the camera, for us.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="https://paramountplus.qflm.net/c/482924/175360/3065?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.paramountplus.com%2Fshows%2Fjackass%2Fnews%2F1010375%2Fhow-to-watch-jackass-forever-on-paramount-%2F&amp;subid1=voxmediabestmovies2022"><em>Jackass Forever</em> is streaming on Paramount+</a> and available to rent or buy on digital platforms.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>Happening</em></li>
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Set in France in the 1960s, <em>Happening</em> is the story of Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei) and the abortion she can’t legally attain. Anne is a talented student from a middle-class family who hopes her literature studies will be the key to a long and satisfying career. But when she discovers she’s pregnant, she is left without guidance and, seemingly, in a world full of potential minefields. <em>Happening</em>’s narrative power comes from how it evokes the profound loneliness that Anne feels, unable to speak to her friends, family, or doctors about what to do next. It’s brutal in spots, but especially vital to watch right now.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><em>Happening</em> is available to rent or purchase on digital platforms.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>Friends and Strangers</em></li>
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<em>Friends and Strangers</em> feels a little bit like a throwback to <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/5/1/18511468/andrew-bujalski-interview-mumblecore-mutual-appreciation-lady-tramp">the indie mumblecore movement of the aughts</a>, but with a distinctive and slightly absurdist Australian twist. Alice (Emma Diaz) finds herself on a perhaps ill-advised camping trip with Ray (Fergus Wilson), with whom she doesn’t really have any chemistry. Soon, out of nowhere, we’re following Ray through some misadventures of his own. Set in and around Sydney, but spotlighting the ways human relationships languidly unfold on the terrain, it’s a little bit about the inherent silliness of what we call “civilization,” and also about how often we live our lives in a state of perpetual missed connections.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="https://mubi.com/films/friends-and-strangers"><em>Friends and Strangers</em> is streaming on Mubi</a>.
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5.<em> Marcel the Shell With Shoes On</em>
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The summer’s funniest movie might be <em>Marcel the Shell With Shoes On</em>, based on short films that Jenny Slate (who voices Marcel) and Dean Fleischer-Camp (who directs the film) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU">made</a> for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta9K22D0o5Q">YouTube</a> over a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYZLy5uC5uc">decade</a> ago. Slate and Fleischer-Camp were married in 2012; they’ve since split up, and in a somewhat remarkable fashion, explored that experience obliquely in this feature. The protagonist, Marcel, is a 1-inch-high shell (with sneakers) who lives in an Airbnb rented by a newly single filmmaker named Dean, who decides to make a documentary about his tiny new pal. It’s hilarious and extremely sweet, and also somehow skirts the edge of over-sentimentality with aplomb — a feel-good movie that’s not like anything you’ve seen before.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><em>Marcel the Shell With Shoes On</em> is playing in theaters.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>The Worst Person in the World</em></li>
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One of 2021’s breakout festival favorites was <em>The Worst Person in the World</em>, about four years in the life of 20-something Julie (Renate Reinsve), which was finally released in the US early this year. Like many young people, Julie realizes in university that she doesn’t want to be a neuroscientist; she wants to be an artist. So she blows up her life and starts over, winding up in a relationship with Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie). That’s just the beginning. <em>The Worst Person in the World</em> tells Julie’s story in 12 chapters with a prologue and an epilogue — she is the main character in her own story, one that she’s writing as she’s living it. It’s a film about navigating life as a millennial, trying to figure out what love is like, what work is for, and whether you’re following your heart or whether you’re just, well, the worst person in the world.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="https://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=nOD/rLJHOac&amp;offerid=852731.1213&amp;type=3&amp;u1=VoxBestMoviesSoFar062922"><em>The Worst Person in the World</em> is available to stream on Hulu </a>and to rent or purchase on digital platforms.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><em>Petite Maman</em></li>
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<em>Portrait of a Lady on Fire</em> director <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/2/19/21137213/portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire-celine-sciamma-interview">Céline Sciamma</a> returns with<em> </em>a much smaller-scale but no less affecting film. Young Nelly (Joséphine Sanz), whose beloved grandmother has just passed away, is helping her parents (Nina Meurisse and Stéphane Varupenne) clean out the now-empty home where her mother grew up. Nelly is close to both of her parents, but is especially concerned about her mother. She longs to have one more day to spend with her grandmother. One day, in the woods, she meets a girl named Marion (Gabrielle Sanz), and the two forge a friendship that might be the fulfillment of her fears and wishes. <em>Petite Maman</em> is a pithy, gemlike film, clocking in at only 72 minutes and as pristine and poignant a reflection on the bonds that tie us to one another across time and generations as one can imagine.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><em>Petite Maman </em>is playing in theaters and available to rent or purchase on digital platforms.<em> </em>
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<em>Donbass</em> was selected by Ukraine as its entry for the 2019 Oscars, but the Academy didn’t nominate it. Then it seemed to disappear, at least in the US. But in 2022, with the name “Donbass” (sometimes rendered “Donbas”) — the region in eastern Ukraine that has been the seat of pro-Putin, pro-Russian unrest since 2014 — newly recognizable to American audiences, it finally made it to the US. Set in the mid-2010s, <em>Donbass</em> is a festival of absurdism in 13 vignettes of a region gone haywire, falling apart in the mess of conflict and deceit that has sprung up in the fighting between pro-Russian separatists, backed by Putin’s government, and Ukrainian government forces. In the way that <em>The Wire</em> unpacked something vital about the layered mess of American cities, <em>Donbass</em> digs with the grimmest of grins into a conflict that has been going on for a long time. The question isn’t what the fix is; it’s whether we’ll ever stop thinking it’s an easy one.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><em>Donbass</em> is available to rent or purchase on digital platforms.
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In the near future, you can purchase a “techno sapien” — a humanoid robot — as a companion. Jake (Colin Farrell, who is terrific) and Kyra (Jodie Turner-Smith) bought a refurbished model named Yang to befriend their daughter, Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja), in part to help her learn about her country of origin, China. But now Yang is malfunctioning, and Jake is desperate to figure out how to bring him back. Directed by Kogonada (<em>Columbus</em>), <em>After Yang</em> moves slowly and quietly and then comes in like a tidal wave, exploring grief and love and memory with aching poignance.
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<strong>How to watch it: </strong><a href="https://showtime.i7cdw9.net/c/482924/698418/10655?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.showtime.com%2F%3F&amp;subid1=VoxBestMoviesSoFar2022"><em>After Yang</em> is streaming on Showtime</a> and available to rent or purchase on digital platforms.
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
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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>Wimbledon celebrates 100 years of Centre Court</strong> - The event will look back on epic matches and classic moments, with past Wimbledon champions involved.</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>TAI welcomes decision to re-look levying GST on horse racing</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>Lagarde, Moving Ahead and Measure Of Time please</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Not weighed down by the past, not worried about the future: Neeraj</strong> - Olympic champion concerned only about giving his best</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>SL vs Ind ODI: Bowlers do star turn as Indian women prevail over Sri Lanka</strong> - The three-match series is part of the ICC ODI Championship.</p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
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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>Telling Kerala’s story through manuscripts</strong> - Palm Leaf Manuscripts Museum to come up in capital in Sept.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Congress ‘Chintan Shivir’ on Sunday</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>Maha lifts Babli Barrage gates, lets Godavari flow towards SRSP</strong> - Gates to be remain opened till Oct. 28 as per SC order</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>Udaipur tailor murder | Killers used bike with number ‘2611’</strong> - Riyaz Attari had paid ₹1,000 to obtain the number of his choice for the motorcycle which he had bought in March 2013, officials said.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>TRS to give rousing reception to Yashwant Sinha</strong> -</p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
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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>Snake Island: Why Russia couldn’t hold on to strategic Black Sea outcrop</strong> - Russia claims it is a gesture of goodwill, but the withdrawal from a Black Sea rock is a big defeat.</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 Nato summit in Madrid for hawks</strong> - The BBC’s Frank Gardner speaks to Nato leaders during the first summit since Russia invaded Ukraine.</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>Danish mink cull: PM Frederiksen and officials heavily criticised</strong> - Mette Frederiksen is found to have misled the public while officials are accused of misconduct.</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>Life inside the Dutch earthquake zone</strong> - Homes damaged by gas extraction are propped up with wooden beams while residents suffer health issues.</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>Calais migrant crisis: 15 arrested over Channel tragedy</strong> - The deaths of 27 people in November was one of the deadliest incidents in the English Channel.</p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The world can’t wean itself off Chinese lithium</strong> - Rival countries are scrambling for more control over “white oil.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1863691">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Some Macs are getting fewer updates than they used to. Here’s why it’s a problem</strong> - Dropping old Macs can be justified, but some are dying before they should be. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1859979">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: ULA starts military lobbying campaign, SLS to launch in 2 months</strong> - “I don’t think we’re stretching ourselves to get there.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1863411">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>FDA calls for fall boosters against BA.4/5 as subvariants take over US</strong> - The FDA calls for fall booster reformulation ahead of clear data on their benefits. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1863897">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How carbon emissions got caught up in a Supreme Court showdown</strong> - Conservatives want to limit the ability of agencies to set new regulations. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1863877">link</a></p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<li><strong>A dwarf was drinking in a bar, when a sexy blonde walked up to him and said “Ive always wanted to have sex with a little person”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<strong>The dwarf replied “Im sorry, but Ive had women say that before, then I go home with them and the husband or boyfriend finds out and I get beaten up” “Its ok” said the woman, “my husband is working away until next week” So, against his better judgement he goes back with the woman. They start having amazing sex, when suddenly the front door opens. “Fk its my husband!!” she said. “Quick, hang out of the bedroom window and when he goes for a shower, you can climb in and get away” So the dwarf climbs out of the window and hangs on the ledge by his fingertips. The husband comes in the bedroom, says “Its cold in here” slams the window shut and the dwarf plummets to the ground. The woman is distraught and calls an ambulance. A couple of days later she goes to visit the dwarf in hospital. “How are you” she asked. “Well, my fingers are broken, Ive got two broken ankles, a dislocated hip and severe concussion” he said. “Oh dear” she said. “Still, it could have been much worse”, “Much worse!?” said the dwarf. “How do you figure that out?” . “Well” she said, “youre lucky that I live in a bungalow”.</strong>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Fat-Ron"> /u/Fat-Ron </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vovibt/a_dwarf_was_drinking_in_a_bar_when_a_sexy_blonde/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vovibt/a_dwarf_was_drinking_in_a_bar_when_a_sexy_blonde/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A homophobe, a child molester, and a con man walk into a bar</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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The bartender says “What will it be, Father?”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Animeking1108"> /u/Animeking1108 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vomzj2/a_homophobe_a_child_molester_and_a_con_man_walk/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vomzj2/a_homophobe_a_child_molester_and_a_con_man_walk/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>What’s the difference between your salad and your girlfriend?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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You dress your salad before you eat it.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Gear3017"> /u/Gear3017 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vol0et/whats_the_difference_between_your_salad_and_your/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vol0et/whats_the_difference_between_your_salad_and_your/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>so a man hires a hitman to kill his wife who is cheating…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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So a man hires a hitman to kill his cheating wife and the man she’s cheating with. The Hitman charges 10,000 per bullet. The man asks the Hitman to blow off the woman’s head, and the guy’s dick. The Hitman says ok, and they go up on the roof of the building adjacent to the hotel the wife is in. The Hitman is looking down his scope, but not firing. After a minute, the man asks him why he isn’t shooting. The Hitman replies, “hold on I might be able to save you 10,000 dollars…”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/UbiquitousCorn"> /u/UbiquitousCorn </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vo8afl/so_a_man_hires_a_hitman_to_kill_his_wife_who_is/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vo8afl/so_a_man_hires_a_hitman_to_kill_his_wife_who_is/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>An elderly woman’s husband keeps falling asleep in church</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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An elderly lady’s husband habitually falls asleep during the sermon, so she meets with the pastor one Saturday and tells him “Give me a wink every time you notice my husband falling asleep so I can poke him with a hat pin and wake him up.” The pastor agrees.
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The next day, sure enough, during the sermon, the old man dozes off, so as the pastor gives the old lady a wink as he asks “Who created the heavens and the earth?” The old lady jabs her husband in the thigh with the pin and he leaps up, exclaiming “GOD ALMIGHTY!!!!”
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About ten minutes later, he nods off again and the pastor winks again while asking “Who died for our sins?” The old lady jabs her husband again and he leaps up, exclaiming “JESUS CHRIST!!!!”
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A few minutes later he starts nodding off again and the pastor winks while asking “What did Eve say to Adam after the birth of their third son, Seth?” The old lady reaches to jab her husband again and he growls “IF YOU POKE ME WITH THAT DAMN THING ONE MORE FUCKING TIME I’M BREAKING IT OFF AND SHOVING IT UP YOUR ASS!”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/DarthMarasmus"> /u/DarthMarasmus </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vooint/an_elderly_womans_husband_keeps_falling_asleep_in/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vooint/an_elderly_womans_husband_keeps_falling_asleep_in/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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