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<title>07 February, 2024</title>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Analysis of The Development of Religious Educational Tourism Potentials Through Wayang Kaca Painting in Nagasepaha Village, Buleleng</strong> -
<div>
Existence of Wayang Kaca painting in Nagasepaha Village was a long history. There are a lot of potential can be found especially before the Covid-19 pandemic era although it is has decreased product purchase significantly. It turns out that the potential for a typical Wayang Kaca painting does not directly make Nagasepaha Village immediately called a Tourism Village. coupled with the reality of understanding deep philosophical meaning that has not been maximized. When examined in more depth, the existence of wayang Kaca painting is an appropriate medium in providing education and preservation for tourists who will own it. This research was conducted using descriptive qualitative method. The researcher made in-depth observations of the paintings to obtain strategies that could be applied. One strategy that can be developed is using the concept of educative tourism and the involvement of local communities in maintaining the existence of their identity.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/seycp/" target="_blank">Analysis of The Development of Religious Educational Tourism Potentials Through Wayang Kaca Painting in Nagasepaha Village, Buleleng</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Building Blocks of Understanding: Constructing a Reverse Genetics Platform for studying determinants of SARS-CoV-2 replication.</strong> -
<div>
To better understand viral pathogenesis, host-virus interactions, and potential therapeutic interventions, the development of robust reverse genetics systems for SARS-CoV-2 is crucial. Here, we present a reverse genetics platform that enables the efficient manipulation, assembly, and rescue of recombinant SARS-CoV-2. The versatility of our reverse genetics system was demonstrated by generating recombinant SARS-CoV-2 viruses. We used this system to generate N501Y and Y453F spike protein mutants. Characterization studies revealed distinct phenotypic effects, impact on viral fitness, cell binding, and replication kinetics. We also investigated a recently discovered priming site for NSP9, which is postulated to produce a short RNA antisense leader sequence. By introducing the U76G mutation into the 5-UTR, we show that this priming site is necessary for the correct production of genomic and subgenomic RNAs, and also for efficient viral replication. In conclusion, our developed reverse genetics system provides a robust and adaptable platform for the efficient generation of recombinant SARS-CoV-2 viruses for their comprehensive characterization.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.05.578560v1" target="_blank">Building Blocks of Understanding: Constructing a Reverse Genetics Platform for studying determinants of SARS-CoV-2 replication.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Second Boost of Omicron SARS-CoV-2 S1 Subunit Vaccine Induced Broad Humoral Immune Responses in Elderly Mice</strong> -
<div>
Currently approved COVID-19 vaccines prevent symptomatic infection, hospitalization, and death from the disease. However, repeated homologous boosters, while considered a solution for severe forms of the disease caused by new SARS-CoV-2 variants in elderly individuals and immunocompromised patients, cannot provide complete protection against breakthrough infections. This highlights the need for alternative platforms for booster vaccines. In our previous study, we assessed the boost effect of the SARS-CoV-2 Beta S1 recombinant protein subunit vaccine (rS1Beta) in aged mice primed with an adenovirus-based vaccine expressing SARS-CoV-2-S1 (Ad5.S1) via subcutaneous injection or intranasal delivery, which induced robust humoral immune responses (1). In this follow-up study, we demonstrated that a second booster dose of a non-adjuvanted recombinant Omicron (BA.1) S1 subunit vaccine with Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) agonist RS09 (rS1RS09OM) was effective in stimulating strong S1-specific immune responses and inducing significantly high neutralizing antibodies against the Wuhan, Delta, and Omicron variants in 100-week-old mice. Importantly, the second booster dose elicits cross-reactive antibody responses, resulting in ACE2 binding inhibition against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron (BA.1) and its subvariants. Interestingly, the levels of IgG and neutralizing antibodies correlated with the level of ACE2 inhibition in the booster serum samples, although Omicron S1-specific IgG level showed a weaker correlation compared to Wuhan S1-specific IgG level. Furthermore, we compared the immunogenic properties of the rS1 subunit vaccine in young, middle-aged, and elderly mice, resulting in reduced immunogenicity with age, especially an impaired Th1-biased immune response in aged mice. Our findings demonstrate that the new variant of concern (VOC) rS1 subunit vaccine as a second booster has the potential to offer cross-neutralization against a broad range of variants and to improve vaccine effectiveness against newly emerging breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 variants in elderly individuals who were previously primed with the authorized vaccines.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.05.578925v1" target="_blank">Second Boost of Omicron SARS-CoV-2 S1 Subunit Vaccine Induced Broad Humoral Immune Responses in Elderly Mice</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>GOING OUT NORMALLY DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: INSIGHTS ABOUT THE LACK OF ADHESION TO SOCIAL DISTANCING</strong> -
<div>
The population’s adhesion to measures to ensure social distancing represents a great management challenge. Evidence has shown that social distancing is effective. However, it is challenging to separate government measures from social distancing driven by personal initiatives. Theory: It is possible that the output of protective behaviors, such as adherence to protective measures and staying in social isolation, is influenced by individual characteristics, such as personality traits or symptoms of mental distress of anxiogenic nature. We hypothesized that individuals with more expressive symptoms of fear or anxiety would have a more protective behavioral tendency in terms of risk exposure, leaving less home during the pandemic. In contrast, individuals with greater emotional stability, as they feel more secure and with a lower perception of risk, could go out more often. Material and Methods: A total of 2709 individuals from all regions of Brazil participated in the study (mean age = 42 years; 2134 women). Correlation analysis was performed to investigate the relationships between personality traits according to the big five model and Psychopathological Symptoms (BSI). Then investigate how people that go out usually differ from people that stay at home, in both symptoms and personality traits. Finally, to investigate the predictors for going out usually, we use multiple regression analysis, using gender, marital status, level of education, and personality traits. Results: During the second wave of COVID-19 in Brazil, individuals with higher emotional stability tended to leave home more than those with more expressive levels of anxiogenic dysregulation. These results reinforce the role of both personality traits and psychopathological symptoms in prophylactic behavior during COVID-19 pandemics.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/v2gd9/" target="_blank">GOING OUT NORMALLY DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: INSIGHTS ABOUT THE LACK OF ADHESION TO SOCIAL DISTANCING</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Predictors of psychological distress and prevalence of self-reported mental disorders across healthcare professionals and the general population during the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil</strong> -
<div>
Background: Knowing the rate of psychological distress and mental disorders, its severity, and factors associated with psychological distress is strategical during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: We analyzed online cross-sectional data from 164,881 health professionals and from 5,635 participants from the general population in Brazil. The Global Severity Index (GSI) from the Brief Symptom Inventory, self-reported diagnosis of mental disorders, sociodemographic characteristics, and factors related to COVID-19 (physical health status, diagnosis and contact history, perceptions and concerns, and precautionary measures) were compared between samples. Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate factors related to GSI scores. Results: Psychological distress was high or very high in 13.4% of health professionals and in 31.4% of the general population. Health professionals reported a lower rate of mental disorders (36%) compared with the general population (44.7%). Age (younger) and gender (female) predicted higher psychological distress for health professionals and economic class (lower) and household size (more members) for the general population. People with higher GSI scores reported to have experienced more physical symptoms associated with COVID-19, feeling less productive at work, being afraid of transmitting the coronavirus to the family, fear of financial difficulties, and feeling that home relations were worse during the pandemic outbreak. Limitations: Internet access in Brazil depends on sociodemographic factors, biasing the recruitment towards people with greater education level and income. The male vs. female unbalance (1:4) is a factor to account for when interpreting data. Prevalence of psychiatric disorders was self-declared. Conclusions: Psychological distress at the first wave of COVID-19 was associated with sociodemographic features and an anxious perception of experiences and thoughts associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/szhnx/" target="_blank">Predictors of psychological distress and prevalence of self-reported mental disorders across healthcare professionals and the general population during the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Longitudinal Profile of Post traumatic symptoms in HealthCare Workers during COVID-19 pandemic: A latent transition model</strong> -
<div>
Introduction: Pandemics have the potential to be considered traumatic event, increasing the risk of developing post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in some populations, such as Health Care Workers. However, few longitudinal studies have evaluated the impact of prolonged exposure to the risk imposed by COVID-19. Methods: We evaluated the levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms and psychological distress in a Brazilian HealthCare Workers’ sample (n = 1398) in three waves of assessment: from May to June 2020 (Wave 1), December 2020 to February 2021 (Wave 2) and May to August 2021 (Wave 3). Results: Using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), it was identified two profiles: high-PTSS profile (Wave 1 - 23%; Wave 2 - 64% and Wave 3 - 73%) and low-PTSS (Wave 1 - 77%; Wave 2 - 36% and Wave 3 - 27%). Then, we used Latent Transition Analysis (LTA) to examine changes in symptom profiles over time, including gender, psychiatric diagnosis history, and pandemic-related fears as covariates. Results show that being female, working with fear of contamination, and fearing financial problems were strong predictors of changes in the profile from low-PTSS to high-PTSS. In addition, regardless of the initial profile, the participants had a high probability of being in the high-PTSS in the long run. Conclusion: There is a clear risk for HealthCare Workers to feel traumatized during a stressful critical healthcare condition.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/gysq2/" target="_blank">Longitudinal Profile of Post traumatic symptoms in HealthCare Workers during COVID-19 pandemic: A latent transition model</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EMOTIONAL STABILITY AND SUICIDALITY IN A BRAZILIAN SAMPLE OF THE GENERAL POPULATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE MODERATION ROLE OF FINANCIAL HARDSHIP</strong> -
<div>
Introduction: Emotional stability is considered to be a protective factor for suicidal behavior. Nonetheless, suicidality is the result of a complex interaction of protective and risk factors, a key one being financial difficulties. Objective: We aimed to investigate the association between emotional stability and suicidality in Brazilian individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic and the moderation role of financial hardship. Method: A total of 2140 participants, 79.4% women, answered an online survey from November 2020 to January 2021, containing questions about suicidality as well as concerning economic hardship. The personality data was assessed with the TIPI. We used Pearson chi-square to compare categorical variables and Student t-test to compare continuous variables. Finally, we conducted multiple regression and moderation analysis using SPSS PROCESS v3.5 Macro model 1. Results: The participants who reported not having presented a wish to die, suicide intent, or suicide attempt in the previous month showed a significantly higher level of emotional stability. There was a significant interaction with financial hardship (p=0,006) for suicide attempt as the outcome, with significant association between emotional stability and suicide attempts only in the absence of financial hardship. Conclusion: The presence of financial hardship may suppress the protective role of emotional stability in suicidal behavior.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/c5ayf/" target="_blank">ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EMOTIONAL STABILITY AND SUICIDALITY IN A BRAZILIAN SAMPLE OF THE GENERAL POPULATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE MODERATION ROLE OF FINANCIAL HARDSHIP</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Quality of life of Health care professionals in pandemic times</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemics were an event where there was a rupture of the life pattern and people felt helpless and suffering, creating a need for basic things such as medical care and shelter against the environmental conditions. The healthcare professionals faced an unknown potential threat to life that made them work in an intense and fearful routine facing fatigue and the fear to carry the disease to their families. In order to evaluate their Quality of life, we undertook a survey in the first months of the pandemics with logistical support of the Health ministry in Brazil reaching more than 200,000 varied health professionals, with quality of life data available to 97,379 . We segregated the professionals by their reported area in Medical doctor, psychologists, social worker, nurses, pharmaceutic/biochemistry, nutritionists, physiotherapist, and speech therapists. Here we describe the findings of the reported quality of life and the features more related to the worsening of the quality of life. The different professions report a diverse quality of life, suggesting a more heterogeneous pattern of impairment. The social relations domain of quality of life was the most affected in or sample Knowing the target population and the features related to worsening of quality of life might help to prepare the professionals for what they must face and to improve mental health in this population.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/4536v/" target="_blank">Quality of life of Health care professionals in pandemic times</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>XBB.1.5 monovalent booster improves antibody binding and neutralization against emerging SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants</strong> -
<div>
The rapid emergence of divergent SARS-CoV-2 variants has led to an update of the COVID-19 booster vaccine to a monovalent version containing the XBB.1.5 spike. To determine the neutralization breadth following booster immunization, we collected blood samples from 24 individuals pre- and post-XBB.1.5 mRNA booster vaccination (~1 month). The XBB.1.5 booster improved both neutralizing activity against the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain (WA1) and the circulating Omicron variants, including EG.5.1, HK.3, HV.1, XBB.1.5 and JN.1. Relative to the pre-boost titers, the XBB.1.5 monovalent booster induced greater total IgG and IgG subclass binding, particular IgG4, to the XBB.1.5 spike as compared to the WA1 spike. We evaluated antigen-specific memory B cells (MBCs) using either spike or receptor binding domain (RBD) probes and found that the monovalent booster largely increases non-RBD cross-reactive MBCs. These data suggest that the XBB.1.5 monovalent booster induces cross-reactive antibodies that neutralize XBB.1.5 and related Omicron variants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.03.578771v1" target="_blank">XBB.1.5 monovalent booster improves antibody binding and neutralization against emerging SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>DNA Prime-Protein Boost Targeting Conformational Non-RBD Region for Broad Cross-Neutralization</strong> -
<div>
The preservation of antigen spatial conformation is crucial for inducing the high-quality neutralizing responses. Although the receptor-binding domain (RBD) antigen in SARS-CoV-2 vaccines shows satisfactory conformation preservation, it remains susceptible to the immune escape. Therefore, exploring conformational epitopes beyond the RBD region to achieve cross-neutralization becomes an attractive topic. In this study, we used a DNA prime-protein boost regimen to obtain potent humoral responses. Further analysis revealed that boosting antibody responses targeting conformational non-RBD region is crucial for enhancing cross-neutralization against the Wuhan-01, Delta and Omicron subvariants. Via analyzing the distribution of conformational epitopes, and quantifying epitope-specific binding antibodies, we verified a positive correlation between the proportion of binding antibodies against the N-terminal domain (NTD) supersite (a conformational non-RBD epitope) and SARS-CoV-2 neutralization potency. The current work highlights the importance of conformational non-RBD-specific binding antibodies in mediating viral cross-neutralization and provides a new insight in overcoming the immune escape of SARS-CoV-2 variants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.04.578544v1" target="_blank">DNA Prime-Protein Boost Targeting Conformational Non-RBD Region for Broad Cross-Neutralization</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The accomplices: Heparan sulfates and N-glycans foster SARS-CoV-2 spike:ACE2 receptor binding and virus priming</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein mediates virus attachment to human host cells by binding angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans. To elucidate the structure, dynamics, and functional consequences of these interactions, we carried out microsecond-long all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, followed by random acceleration molecular dynamics simulations, of the fully glycosylated spike:ACE2 complex with and without heparin chains bound. We find that heparin, a model for HS, promotes structural and energetic stabilization of the active conformation of the spike receptor binding domain (RBD) and reorientation of ACE2 toward the N-terminal domain in the same spike subunit as the RBD. Spike and ACE2 N-glycans exert synergistic effects, promoting better packing, strengthening the protein:protein interaction, and prolonging the residence time of the complex. ACE2 and heparin binding trigger rearrangement of the S2' functional site through allosteric interdomain communication. HS thus has a multifaceted role in facilitating SARS- CoV-2 infection.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.05.578888v1" target="_blank">The accomplices: Heparan sulfates and N-glycans foster SARS-CoV-2 spike:ACE2 receptor binding and virus priming</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Who Can I Count On: Honor, Self-Reliance, and Family in the United States and Iran</strong> -
<div>
People in honor cultures take measures to uphold their reputations. However, it is unclear how aspects of honor vary between societies. Here, we explore the tension between competing views about honor – honor as self-defense narrowly defined in terms of self-reliant tendencies vs. honor broadly defined by demonstrations of strength and virtue. The former suggests that self-reliance, in demonstrating the ability of the individual to defend themself, is a crucial component of honor, while the latter allows the importance of self-reliance in honor to vary depending on moral and cultural factors. To examine these implications, we conducted studies in the U.S., where self-reliance is virtuous, and in Iran, where individual agency must be balanced against the interests of kin. Americans (Studies 1, 2; n = 978) who endorsed honor values tended to ignore governmental COVID-19 measures because they preferred relying on themselves. In contrast, honor-minded Iranians (Study 3; n = 201) adhered to public-health guidelines and did not prefer self-reliance. Moreover, honor-minded Iranians endorsed family-reliance, but did not moralize self-reliance (Study 4; n = 107), while honor-minded Americans endorsed family-reliance and moralized self-reliance (Study 4; n = 120). Results suggest that local norms may shape how honor is expressed across cultures.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/h26pt/" target="_blank">Who Can I Count On: Honor, Self-Reliance, and Family in the United States and Iran</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Examining enduring effects of COVID-19 on college students’ internalizing and externalizing problems: A four-year longitudinal analysis</strong> -
<div>
The current study sets out to examine the extent to which college students’ trajectories of mental health symptoms (depression, social anxiety, impulsivity, and aggression) and problematic alcohol use changed as the COVID-19 pandemic progressed; we hypothesize increases in all levels and slopes of all outcomes over time following the pandemic’s onset. We also hypothesize greater mental health symptoms and problematic alcohol use (i.e., higher levels of and increases in outcomes over time) following COVID-19 among individuals who experienced higher levels of loneliness, financial strain, and health anxiety at the time of the pandemic’s onset.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/6c8y2/" target="_blank">Examining enduring effects of COVID-19 on college students’ internalizing and externalizing problems: A four-year longitudinal analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Rapid worldwide return to nature after lockdown as a motivator for conservation and sustainable action</strong> -
<div>
Exposure to nature is increasingly regarded as a key part of human health, and the recognition that urban environments must provide access to green spaces for the wellbeing of citizens. The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to many governments issuing stay-at-home orders and closing parks, limiting the options of accessible green spaces for people seeking to safely socialise and cope with stress. Here, we gain a global perspective on how quickly people returned to nature (visiting parks and beaches) in comparison to necessities (accessing groceries and pharmaceuticals) and luxury activities (retail purchases and recreation) following COVID-19 lockdowns using Google Mobility data. We found that people from around the world returned to nature 76 days after peak lockdown, 28 days after people returned to necessities and 77 days before the return to luxuries. Central Asia, Europe, and Northern America returned to nature before necessities. These patterns held even after seasonally-detrending the data. We further found a strong negative correlation between the speed people pulsed back to nature and the strength of government response measures. ¬Combined, our data support the value of nature to people and the need to consider access to green and natural space for human well-being. At the same time, the large-scale return to nature also highlighted the need to promote messages on how to minimise the impacts of human activities in these spaces. We advocate for building and protecting green spaces, combined with strong eco-education, to foster pro-environmental behaviour.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/2ghu3/" target="_blank">Rapid worldwide return to nature after lockdown as a motivator for conservation and sustainable action</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Emotions in misinformation studies: Distinguishing affective state from emotional response and misinformation recognition from acceptance</strong> -
<div>
Emotions play a crucial role in information processing. Prior studies indicate that high-arousal emotions may elicit rapid, intuitive thinking, tricking people into judging misinformation as truthful. Yet, few studies have distinguished prior affective state from emotional reactions to false news, both of which may influence belief in falsehoods in different ways. Replicating and extending Martel et al. (2020), we conducted a pre-registered online survey in Austria (N = 422), investigating associations of emotions and discernment of false and real news related to COVID-19. We found no associations of affective state with discernment, but different emotional responses to false and real news — namely, more anger and less joy for false news. A curvilinear relationship of anger with discernment showed that both participants who were good and bad at discerning real from false news responded with anger. The automated analysis of 5,613 open-ended textual responses suggested that anger may have arisen for different reasons in these different groups. It seemed to also arise when people recognized the false news as such, not only when people accepted it. We conclude that studies need to distinguish between prior affective state and emotional response to misinformation and consider individuals’ prior beliefs as determinants of emotions.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/udqms/" target="_blank">Emotions in misinformation studies: Distinguishing affective state from emotional response and misinformation recognition from acceptance</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>SMILE: Clinical Trial to Evaluate Mindfulness as Intervention for Racial and Ethnic Populations During COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Anxiety; COVID-19 Pandemic <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Mindfulness <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD); RTI International <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 Learn About a Combined COVID-19 and Influenza Shot in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Influenza, Human, SARS-CoV-2 Infection, COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: BNT162b2 (Omi XBB.1.5)/RIV; Biological: BNT162b2 (Omi XBB.1.5); Biological: RIV; Other: Normal saline placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</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>The Effects of Nutritional Intervention on Health Parameters in Participants With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Diabetes Mellitus Type 2; Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 in Obese; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus Non-insulin-dependent; Hypertension; Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Nutritional Intervention <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Sao Jose do Rio Preto Medical School; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo <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>The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Orthopedic Trauma Management</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Trauma; COVID-19 Pandemic <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: epidemyolojical <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Bakirkoy Dr. Sadi Konuk Research and Training Hospital <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>Open-label, Multi-centre, Non-Inferiority Study of Safety and Immunogenicity of BIMERVAX for the Prevention of COVID-19 in Adolescents From 12 Years to Less Than 18 Years of Age.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: SARS CoV 2 Infection <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: BIMERVAX <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Hipra Scientific, S.L.U; Veristat, Inc.; VHIR; Asphalion <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study of Amantadine for Cognitive Dysfunction in Patients With Long-Covid</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long COVID; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Amantadine; Other: Physical, Occupational, Speech Therapy; Other: Provider Counseling; Other: Medications for symptoms management <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Texas Southwestern 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>Balance Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Long COVID</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-COVID-19 Syndrome; Long COVID <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Balance Acceptance and Commitment Therapy <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: King’s College London <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study on the Effect of Incentive Spirometer-based Respiratory Training on the Long COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 Pandemic; Diabetes; Hypertension; Cardiac Disease; Long COVID <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Incentive Spirometer respiratory training <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences; Tri-Service General Hospital <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Predict + Protect Study: Exploring the Effectiveness of a Predictive Health Education Intervention on the Adoption of Protective Behaviors Related to ILI</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Influenza; Influenza A; Influenza B; COVID-19; Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: ILI Predictive Alerts, Reactive Content, and Proactive Content; Behavioral: ILI Predictive Alerts, Reactive Content; Behavioral: Proactive Content; Behavioral: No Intervention <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Evidation Health; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority <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>Long COVID-19 [11C]CPPC Study</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID Long-Haul <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: [11C]CPPC Injection; Drug: [11C]CPPC Injection <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Johns Hopkins University; Radiological Society of North America <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>Thrombohemorrhagic Complications of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Diagnostic Test: Prevention algorithm <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Volgograd State Medical University <br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Combined Use of Immunoglobulin and Pulse Steroid Therapies in Severe Covid-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Pulse Steroid and Immunoglobulins Drugs in Covid 19 Patients <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: pulse steroid and nanogam <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Konya City Hospital <br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Influenza vaccine compatibility among hospitalized patients during and after the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> - INTRODUCTION: Following the significant decrease in SARS-CoV-2 cases worldwide, Israel, as well as other countries, have again been faced with a rise in seasonal influenza. This study compared circulating influenza A and B in hospitalized patients in Israel with the influenza strains in the vaccine following the 2021-2022 winter season which was dominated by the omicron variant.</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>Establishing communities of practice to improve health policy, systems and reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health in West Africa</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the processes, achievements, and challenges of establishing country-level and transnational CoPs in West Africa. CoPs require sustained human and financial resource investments, communication and medium-to-long-term implementation support for sustainability and impact.</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>Molecular docking as a tool for the discovery of novel insight about the role of acid sphingomyelinase inhibitors in SARS- CoV-2 infectivity</strong> - Recently, COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants, caused &gt; 6 million deaths. Symptoms included respiratory strain and complications, leading to severe pneumonia. SARS-CoV-2 attaches to the ACE-2 receptor of the host cell membrane to enter. Targeting the SARS-CoV-2 entry may effectively inhibit infection. Acid sphingomyelinase (ASMase) is a lysosomal protein that catalyzes the conversion of sphingolipid (sphingomyelin) to ceramide….</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Evaluation of the inhibitory potential of bioactive compounds against SARS-CoV-2 by in silico approach</strong> - CONTEXT: The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 19) pandemic brought on by the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) has stimulated the exploration of various available chemical compounds that could be used to treat the infection. This has driven numerous researchers to investigate the antiviral potential of several bioactive compounds from medicinal plants due to their reduced adverse effects compared to chemicals. Some of the bioactive compounds used in folklore…</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>Host Receptor Targeting to Treat Covid-19</strong> - Not long after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was identified as the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), in vitro experiments revealed that SARS-CoV-2 infection of human cells depended on the binding of the viral spike protein to the human cell-surface receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2).¹ Additional experiments demonstrated that infection could be blocked by inhibiting transmembrane protease, serine 2 (TMPRSS2), which is a host enzyme that…</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 Trial of Nafamostat for Covid-19</strong> - A Randomized Trial of Nafamostat for Covid-19Nafamostat mesylate is a potent in vitro antiviral that inhibits the host transmembrane protease serine 2 enzyme used by SARS-CoV-2 for cell entry. Morpeth et al report the results of an open-label randomized clinical trial of nafamostat for noncritically ill patients with Covid-19.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A photocontrolled one-pot isothermal amplification and CRISPR-Cas12a assay for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants</strong> - CRISPR-Cas technology has widely been applied to detect single-nucleotide mutation and is considered as the next generation of molecular diagnostics. We previously reported the combination of nucleic acid amplification (NAA) and CRISPR-Cas12a system to distinguish major severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants. However, the mixture of NAA and CRISPR-Cas12a reagents in one tube could interfere with the efficiency of NAA and CRISPR-Cas12a cleavage, which in turn…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Repurposing screen identifies novel candidates for broad-spectrum coronavirus antivirals and druggable host targets</strong> - Libraries composed of licensed drugs represent a vast repertoire of molecules modulating physiological processes in humans, providing unique opportunities for the discovery of host-targeting antivirals. We screened the Repurposing, Focused Rescue, and Accelerated Medchem (ReFRAME) repurposing library with approximately 12,000 molecules for broad-spectrum coronavirus antivirals and discovered 134 compounds inhibiting an alphacoronavirus and mapping to 58 molecular target categories. Dominant…</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>Terpenes and cannabidiol against human corona and influenza viruses-Anti-inflammatory and antiviral in vitro evaluation</strong> - The activity of the terpenes and Cannabidiol (CBD) against human coronavirus (HCoV) strain OC43 and influenza A (H1N1) was evaluated in human lung fibroblasts (MRC-5 cells). Also, we examined whether these ingredients inhibit pro-inflammatory cytokines in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). The tested preparations exhibited both anti-inflammatory and antiviral effects. The combination of terpenes was effective against both HCoV-OC43 and influenza A (H1N1) virus. The addition of CBD…</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>Plasma and urine proteomics and gut microbiota analysis reveal potential factors affecting COVID-19 vaccination response</strong> - The efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination relies on the induction of neutralizing antibodies, which can vary among vaccine recipients. In this study, we investigated the potential factors affecting the neutralizing antibody response by combining plasma and urine proteomics and gut microbiota analysis. We found that activation of the LXR/FXR pathway in plasma was associated with the production of ACE2-RBD-inhibiting antibodies, while urine proteins related to complement system, acute phase response…</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>Red recombination enables a wide variety of markerless manipulation of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus genome to generate recombinant virus</strong> - Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is a member of the genera Alphacoronavirus that has been associated with acute watery diarrhea and vomiting in swine. Unfortunately, no effective vaccines and antiviral drugs for PEDV are currently available. Reverse genetics systems are crucial tools for these researches. Here, a PEDV full-length cDNA clone was constructed. Furtherly, three PEDV reporter virus plasmids containing red fluorescent protein (RFP), Nano luciferase (Nluc), or green fluorescence…</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>Relative deficiency in interferon-γ-secreting CD4+ T cells is strongly associated with poorer COVID-19 vaccination responses in older adults</strong> - Although the two-dose mRNA vaccination regime provides protection against SARS-CoV-2, older adults have been shown to exhibit poorer vaccination responses. In addition, the role of vaccine-induced T-cell responses is not well characterised. We aim to assess the impact of age on immune responses after two doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine, focussing on antigen-specific T-cells. A prospective 3-month study was conducted on 15 young (median age 31 years, interquartile range (IQR) 25-35 years) and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Structural Basis for coronaviral main proteases Inhibition by a 3CL Protease Inhibitor- GC376</strong> - The main protease (M^(pro)) of coronaviruses participates in viral replication, serving as a hot target for drug design. GC376 is able to effectively inhibit the activity of M^(pro), which is due to nucleophilic addition of GC376 by binding covalently with Cys145 in M^(pro) active site. Here, we used fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to analyze the IC(50) values of GC376 against M^(pro)s from six different coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-2, HCoV-229E, HCoV-HUK1, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV,…</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>PCSK9 inhibition with orally administered NNC0385-0434 in hypercholesterolaemia: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled and active-controlled phase 2 trial</strong> - BACKGROUND: Currently available injectable drugs that target proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) reduce serum LDL cholesterol and improve cardiovascular outcomes. This phase 2 study assessed NNC0385-0434, an oral PCSK9 inhibitor, in individuals receiving oral lipid-lowering therapy.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In vitro broad-spectrum antiviral activity of MIT-001, a mitochondria-targeted reactive oxygen species scavenger, against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and multiple zoonotic viruses</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 becomes a serious threat to global health and requires the development of effective antiviral therapies. Current therapies that target viral proteins have limited efficacy with side effects. In this study, we investigated the antiviral activity of MIT-001, a small molecule reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger targeting mitochondria, against SARS-CoV-2 and other zoonotic viruses in vitro. The antiviral activity of MIT-001 was quantified by RT-qPCR and…</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 Friendship Challenge</strong> - How envy destroyed the perfect connection between two teen-age girls. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/the-friendship-challenge">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Art World Before and After Thelma Golden, by Calvin Tomkins</strong> - When Golden was a young curator in the nineties, her shows, centering Black artists, were unprecedented. Today, those artists are the stars of the art market. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/the-art-world-before-and-after-thelma-golden">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Teen’s Fatal Plunge Into the London Underworld</strong> - After Zac Brettler mysteriously plummeted into the Thames, his grieving parents were shocked to learn that he’d been posing as an oligarch’s son. Would the police help them solve the puzzle of his death? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/a-teens-fatal-plunge-into-the-london-underworld">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Photos from a Late-Stage Abortion Clinic</strong> - At a clinic in Maryland, desperate patients arrive from all over the country to terminate their pregnancies. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/a-safe-haven-for-late-abortions">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The U.S. Confronts Middle Eastern Militias but Not Iran’s Long Game</strong> - Strikes against weapons depots and operations centers in Iraq and Syria will not diminish Iran’s determination to expel the U.S. from the Middle East. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-us-confronts-middle-east-militias-but-not-irans-long-game">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>What’s really going on at the border, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="People holding hands while wading across a wide river below a bridge, at dusk." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d8_E3VSvvo7PvNae7BHi6BkA0bw=/0x0:5333x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73118374/1710070674.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
An immigrant family wades through the Rio Grande while crossing from Mexico into the United States on September 30, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. | John Moore/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
What we mean when we say there’s a border crisis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w0SlZT">
Republicans tried and failed to <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2024/2/6/24059709/alejandro-mayorkas-impeachment-house-republicans">impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas</a> on Tuesday as part of their plan to use the southern border as a cudgel against <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a> in 2024.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OyItdI">
A lot of this is just political posturing. Republicans have every interest in making it seem as though Biden’s immigration <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy">policies</a> (despite <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/12/15/24003401/biden-immigration-ukraine-israel-aid-border-security">not being particularly permissive</a> to migrants arriving at the border) have led to unmitigated chaos and that returning to the restrictionist agenda of former <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a> is the answer.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jkueNK">
Trump made this clear when he reportedly urged Republicans in <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a> to turn against the <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2024/1/25/24050278/senate-immigration-border-ukraine-trump-mcconnell-romney">bipartisan Senate border security bill</a> scheduled for a vote Wednesday so that he could keep the issue alive through the presidential election. His supporters have largely fallen in line.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4YVivD">
But that Republican maneuvering aside, there’s a deeper question: Is there actually a border crisis?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hCS80k">
I would say yes, but not in the way that Republicans would describe it.
</p>
<h3 id="sEbsJ5">
What Republican rhetoric on the border gets wrong
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CEWKsq">
If there’s a single word that dominates Republican rhetoric on the border, it’s “invasion.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s8w7Y2">
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/03/us/texas-convoy-border-eagle-pass.html">invoked it</a> in court when defending the concertina wire he has illegally strung along the border in Eagle Pass. So has Trump at his campaign rallies: “This is like a military invasion. Drugs, criminals, gang members, and terrorists are pouring into our country at record levels. … They’re taking over our cities,” he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/12/18/trump-immigrants-invasion-dehumanizing/">said</a> at an event in Nevada in December.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lm2wgM">
The word conjures vivid imagery of the US under threat from a foreign adversary, and that’s a deliberate misrepresentation of what’s happening at the border. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/23/22948534/russia-ukraine-war-putin-explosions-invasion-explained">Russia invaded Ukraine</a>. Migrants are not invading the US under any similar understanding of the word. But Republicans have long demanded further militarization of the US border, and an “invasion” would seem to demand such a military solution.
</p>
<aside id="lfXcy4">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SLa59I">
“Invasion” rhetoric also serves to otherize migrants, many of whom are fleeing difficult and dangerous circumstances in their home countries in search of safety or economic opportunity. It echoes the way that Trump’s immigration policies often not so subtly played into white fear about the increasing diversification of the US population. Their chief architect, Stephen Miller, has <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/12/20961458/stephen-miller-white-supremacist-anti-immigrant-emails-breitbart-southern-poverty-law-center">promoted white nationalist writings</a>, and Trump himself has a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23484314/trump-fuentes-ye-dinner-white-nationalism-supremacy">long history of enabling white supremacy. </a>
</p>
<h3 id="jAmEMd">
Something they do get right
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TzoCw9">
Republicans may be incendiary in the way that they describe what’s happening on the border. But there’s no question that the situation is dire: The number of times US immigration agents intercepted migrants attempting to cross the border <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters">exceeded 300,000 in December</a>, up from about 250,000 in the same month last year. That’s more than has been recorded in a given month in over <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/29/us/us-mexico-border-migration/index.html">two decades</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rQCRVR">
Those numbers are largely driven by migrants coming from <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/29/us/us-mexico-border-migration/index.html">Central and South America, the Caribbean, Cuba, and Haiti</a>, though Chinese migrants are the<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chinese-migrants-fastest-growing-group-us-mexico-border-60-minutes-transcript/"> fastest-growing group</a> of arrivals.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ou6RsS">
There are signs that migrant arrivals slowed in January, though US immigration officials have yet to release the official count for the month. Daily totals had <a href="https://adamisacson.com/weekly-u-s-mexico-border-update-january-26-2024/#note3">just about halved by the end of January</a> from their peak in December. But such a decline is typical over the winter months.
</p>
<h3 id="FMFa2m">
Cities are struggling to absorb migrants
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cCyAij">
Texas alone has <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/texas-transports-over-100000-migrants-to-sanctuary-cities">sent over 100,000 migrants</a> to blue cities including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, since 2022. Though these cities have always welcomed immigrants with “sanctuary” policies, they’re now struggling to absorb them in the numbers currently arriving.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zEkL6R">
A big concern is sheltering people, especially in the colder winter months. Chicago, for example, has<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/us/chicago-migrants-shelter-weather.html"> resorted to warming them in idling buses</a>, and watchdogs have raised concerns about the conditions in the shelters after a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/migrant-shelter-child-death-chicago-9a8c8e44d5970f478f59d7bc59892a3b">5-year-old resident recently died</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mRQiID">
It has left Democratic mayors calling for Congress to take action that likely won’t come given the polarized political environment.
</p>
<h3 id="QLJKnC">
The legal system is deeply broken
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VKokKh">
Migrants have a legal right, enshrined in US and international law, to seek asylum and are entitled to a fair hearing, the same as any citizen. But the legal system for evaluating whether migrants arriving at the border qualify for asylum or other humanitarian protections is deeply broken.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z8gjgB">
The immigration courts, which evaluate asylum and humanitarian claims, are chronically underfunded and have a backlog of more than 2 million cases. In 2023, resolving those cases <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/court_backlog/">took more than two years on average</a>, during which time migrants may be detained or released into the US.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eIkTcZ">
This reality doesn’t just arguably incentivize more migrants to seek to cross the border. It also shirks the US’s legal and moral obligations to asylum seekers. Many migrants are forced to navigate the process themselves: Unlike in the criminal court system, there is no guarantee of legal representation, even though immigration law is notorious for being second in complexity only to the US tax code, and some migrants may not even speak English.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B3IAKz">
This is untenable. But as I recently argued, the bill under consideration in the Senate <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2024/2/5/24062710/senate-immigration-bill-border-security-ukraine-2024">doesn’t meaningfully address those problems</a>, instead relying on a broad authority to turn away migrants at times of high demand. Any reforms would have to balance the US’s commitment to ensuring that migrants are not sent away to danger, as is required by law, with streamlining the process.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e4KsDo">
To start, the government could surge resources to the various steps of this process in the interest of speeding it up. That could include hiring and sending to the border more non-law enforcement personnel who are trained to evaluate asylum claims, as well as more immigration judges and court staff. And offering legal representation to migrants can make the proceedings smoother for all involved.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sxvLbe">
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as though Congress is willing to entertain any such solutions right now.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VCmOJL">
<em>This story appeared originally in Today, Explained, Vox’s flagship daily newsletter. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/today-explained-newsletter-signup"><em>Sign up here for future editions</em></a><em>.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>Biden invested big in more tax audits. A new IRS analysis claims it’s working.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A person wearing an IRS police jacket walks through a house." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PjcIo-B8WWITtO5PEEIl-iys1yw=/219x0:3714x2621/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73118352/486192134.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A brave tax cop doing tax cop things in Palm Springs, California, during a corruption probe in 2015. | Gregg Felsen/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A fully funded IRS would bring in twice as much money as they previously thought, a Treasury report finds.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cTmPRB">
In 2021, Americans <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5869.pdf">owed about $625 billion in taxes</a> that they never paid. This number, called the “tax gap,” represented some 13.7 percent of all taxes due, and, had it been collected, it would have reduced <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58268">the deficit</a> by nearly one-quarter.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oZuhL8">
Getting more of that number collected is naturally an obsession of many tax and budget experts. It represents a way to fund government programs without raising taxes, adding to the deficit, or making other cuts. Deals like that can feel as rare as unicorns in the tax world. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/8/16/23302798/irs-audit-inflation-reduction-act">Funding the IRS</a> in an effort to reduce the tax gap was one of the key ways Democrats funded their climate subsidies in the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/7/28/23282217/climate-bill-health-care-drugs-inflation-reduction-act">Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Yirrye">
The question is what share of that $625 billion could be realistically recovered. Even a perfectly resourced Internal Revenue Service would, after all, miss some tax evasion and misreporting. The <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2022-08/hr5376_IR_Act_8-3-22.pdf#page=3">Congressional Budget Office estimated</a> that the IRS funding in the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/8/8/23296951/inflation-reduction-act-biden-democrats-climate-change">IRA</a> would raise an average of $20.3 billion a year over 10 years, a small fraction of the $625 billion gap. For years, though, some economists have been vocally arguing that <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w26475">better enforcement could raise much, much</a> more than that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OIYsHX">
A new <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2079">report released by the Treasury Department</a> on Tuesday argues that those economists had a point, that we have been understating the revenue this new IRS funding will bring in. They argue that it will bring in over $170 billion more than they previously thought over an 11-year window and that, if <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a> extends this funding for the IRS, the ultimate revenue gain could be more than double initial estimates.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="etQqBa">
The takeaway is that investing in the IRS could, if this study is accurate, be a better deal than we thought.
</p>
<h3 id="y2GlY5">
Why Treasury thinks it underestimated revenue from IRS funding
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OuS7ot">
The increased revenue projected comes from a few different sources. One of the biggest is that Treasury is finding that marginal audits in recent years have been bringing in more money than anticipated. They had assumed that additional audits would bring in less and less revenue, on the grounds that the most profitable audits are already taking place — the low-hanging fruit has been plucked, in other words.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VHuxXa">
But the new report argues this isn’t as true as they had assumed. Recent IRS examinations, it writes, have shown “much greater revenue potential than is reflected in previous estimates of the impact of marginal work.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NohyK2">
The report also incorporates money the IRS anticipates getting due to “specific deterrence.” That’s a fancy term for a simple idea: If you audit a taxpayer in one year, they are less likely to hide income from the IRS in the next few years because now they are more worried about getting caught. This finding is based on a <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/hendren/publications/welfare-analysis-tax-audits-across-income-distribution">study released last year</a> by economists Will Boning, Nathaniel Hendren, Ben Sprung-Keyser, and Ellen Stuart. While Boning is at the Treasury Department, the rest are independent academic researchers. The academic paper estimated the “returns” on spending on IRS audits: How much money does $1 spent on audits yield in new revenue?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MMjIx0">
The finding was that this spending pays for itself many times over and that the return is higher the wealthier the audited person is. Audits of low-income taxpayers bring in $5 for each $1 spent, while audits of high-income taxpayers bring in $12 per $1 spent. Much of that return, they find, comes from deterrence causing audited individuals to report more money in ensuing years. The Treasury paper takes the Boning et al paper’s estimates of increased revenue from deterrence and uses them to adjust upward Treasury’s previous estimates of how much revenue the audits funded by the IRA money will raise directly.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q3Jkbh">
Finally, Treasury assumes that investment in better taxpayer services (like shorter wait times for calls, simpler reporting methods, and nudges/reminders to pay estimated taxes) and in better IT systems will result in still further revenue increases.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aGDmCA">
Prior to this paper, Treasury estimated that over the 11 years from 2024-2034, and if extended past 2029 when the IRA funding is due to run out, a fully funded IRS would bring in $390.3 billion in revenue directly from audits.
</p>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GbzVO2">
$497 billion in revenue once you add in the specific deterrence and greater efficiency effects
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hnl7Hj">
$851 billion once you include better IT and taxpayer services.
</li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zOTJKW">
That final number is more than double the initial $390.3 billion estimate.
</p>
<h3 id="F1c8uE">
Should we believe this?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x7JJBK">
The methodology of the Treasury report is straightforward, and the Boning et al. research is from very respected, careful researchers who I find credible. But it’s always worth being a little skeptical of releases like this. For one thing, the Treasury oversees the IRS, and so is effectively putting out research arguing that it and its subsidiary institutions should get more money. They may very well be right, but they’re hardly a disinterested party.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NyHHgM">
Secondly, the difference between even the initial $390.3 billion estimate of revenue from Treasury and the <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2022-08/hr5376_IR_Act_8-3-22.pdf#page=3">CBO’s $203.7 billion estimate</a> gives me a little pause. The difference between the CBO estimate and the massive $851 billion number gives me still more (though, in fairness, the CBO is not modeling the IT and other effects in the Treasury paper). Some of the discrepancy is explained by the former being an 11-year estimate and the latter being a 10-year one; another difference is the CBO estimate starts in 2022, not 2024, so the Treasury number will naturally be a little bigger because of inflation in those two years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I7DAZG">
But there’s still a big gap after adjusting for those factors. In latter years, Treasury is projecting much more revenue, even before these new deterrent effects, than CBO did. In 2031, for instance, CBO estimates $35.3 billion in new revenue from the IRS funding, while Treasury’s prior estimate was $57.1 billion, before all the increases it’s implementing now. The baseline Treasury estimate that year being over 60 percent higher than that of Congress’s impartial budget arbiter raises some red flags for me. A Treasury official explained that the CBO assumes lower returns on audits than Treasury has, and that this <a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/cbo-estimates-120-billion-irs-funding-boost">disagreement predates the new report</a>. But that still doesn’t mean Treasury has the correct side of that argument.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="twK2ss">
All that said, the core idea of the report — that deterrence effects mean that increased numbers of audits could greatly increase revenue from funding the IRS — seems sound. It’s particularly relevant because the cost of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy">clean energy</a> subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act appears to be much higher than estimated when the bill was based: <a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/ira-energy-provisions-could-cost-two-thirds-more-originally-estimated">about 65 percent higher</a>, per the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT, the CBO’s partner that estimates tax provisions).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jadGsi">
That’s largely due to more people and businesses wanting to invest in clean energy than initially estimated. For instance, the JCT has increased its estimate of what the US will spend subsidizing electric cars by more than fivefold because of surging demand for the cars. If you like these subsidies, this is a good thing: They’re doing their job and driving demand up.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TBra8G">
But it raises the question of whether these provisions will actually be paid for by the revenue provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act. The new Treasury report is, in effect, an argument that the IRS funding could be up to the challenge of paying for all this unexpected clean energy spending.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The Earth is getting greener. Hurray?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="An illustration of a giant paintbrush painting Earth green." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5mih0m-BLWZGu8Zah1xXXJ7M9pQ=/480x0:1920x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73118253/Vox_PaigeVickers_Benji.0.jpeg"/>
<figcaption>
Paige Vickers/Vox
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Humans are literally changing the color of the planet. Scientists are worried.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vgbLBf">
Maybe you’ve heard: Earth, our planet, is not doing great. Tropical forests are <a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2022/10/12/23399105/biodiversity-loss-wwf-living-planet-index">getting cut down</a>. Parking lots are replacing <a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/22662490/grasslands-better-than-lawns-yard#:~:text=Covering%20about%2040%20percent%20of,in%20smoke%20during%20a%20wildfire.">bird-filled grasslands</a>. Climate change is fueling <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/2023/6/8/23753980/canada-fires-smoke-climate-change-air-quality">forest-razing wildfires</a>. On the whole, natural, plant-filled habitats, seem to be <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23868423/florida-coral-reef-bleaching-heat-wave-climate-change">disappearing</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jKiTmF">
Despite this destruction, scientists keep coming to an odd conclusion: The Earth is growing greener. Not green in the metaphorical “sustainable” sense, but in the literal color green.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3zqXES">
In the last four decades, the extent of green vegetation — i.e., the amount of leaves in a given area — has substantially increased across the planet, according to a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423004262?dgcid=raven_sd_aip_email">number of recent scientific studies</a> based on satellite data. There’s actually more green space today, not less. And this “global greening” phenomenon is not just occurring on land. Large parts of the oceans are getting greener, too, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06321-z">research shows</a>. Our blue planet, it seems, is increasingly a green planet.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mwKoo9">
Understanding Earth’s color is key to understanding Earth and our future on it. “Greenness” often corresponds to the planet’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas that drives <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">climate change</a>. The more leaves, the more photosynthesis, a chemical reaction that gobbles up CO2. That’s the good news in global greening: It’s helping offset some of the impacts of climate change.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lIAa3x">
But there’s more to greening than meets the eye. The changing color isn’t so much a sign that forests and other ecosystems are regrowing but that humans are altering the environment on a truly planetary scale — often, with dire consequences.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MlIR4eVpz0JaJ3D5c7Zq6lGZUdU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25269947/modis_wonderglobe_lrg.jpeg"/> <cite>NASA</cite>
<figcaption>
A true-color image of Earth taken by NASA satellites more than two decades ago.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="CY2YWK">
Why Earth is getting greener
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yMlyEd">
Much of what we know about our planet on a global scale comes from satellites. Some of them are equipped with high-tech sensors that measure different wavelengths of light. With help from computer models, these sensors can roughly approximate the amount of leaves in a given area on the ground. More “greening” means the ground has more leaves, typically because it has more plants, or those plants have more (or larger) leaves on them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="INrYRK">
The global greening effect, which <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate3004">dates back to the 1980s or earlier</a>, is measurable. In one <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0220-7">2019 study</a> published in the journal <em>Nature</em>, scientists found that the Earth had increased its green leaf area (i.e., the amount of leaves) by 5 percent in the last two decades. A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423004262?dgcid=raven_sd_aip_email">more recent paper</a>, meanwhile, found that the world is not only leafier, but the rate of greening is actually accelerating across more than half of its land.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/v6T4JEN1D2jc6lInaK0zTiHAfG8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25269958/41893_2019_220_Fig1_HTML__2_.jpg"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0220-7" target="_blank">Chen et al./Nature Sustainability</a></cite>
<figcaption>
Recent trends in global greening. Darker green indicates where the planet is becoming leafier.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N4bnLA">
These results are somewhat counterintuitive. In an age of deforestation, you might expect Earth to get browner or more gray, as satellites see stumps in place of trees and runways in place of wetlands. Where is all this green color coming from?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AKTG7D">
One explanation is <a href="https://www.vox.com/air-quality">air pollution</a>. Carbon dioxide is not only a pollutant but a fertilizer — a key ingredient in photosynthesis that helps plants grow. Some farmers inject CO2 into their greenhouses to accelerate plant growth. But now we’re fertilizing plants on a global scale: In the last two centuries, <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/">NASA reports</a>, humans have increased the CO2 content in the air by roughly 50 percent. All that extra CO2 is accelerating leaf growth, and satellites can see it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rdWN28">
Humans are also just growing more plants. The 2019 <em>Nature</em> study found that the dominant driver of recent global greening is a combination of more farming and, to a lesser extent, more tree planting. People are growing more crops on the same amount of land and turning barren patches of soil into verdant farms.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VSH3om">
These trends are especially prominent in <a href="https://www.vox.com/china">China</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/india">India</a>. Together, these two countries account for roughly one-third of all greening, the study found.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LBtzES">
“The intensification of agriculture that’s been happening in India over the past four decades is stunning,” said Joshua Gray, a geospatial scientist at North Carolina State University, who was not affiliated with the 2019 paper.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fhq8Pb">
China, meanwhile, has planted tens of billions of trees, often in plots with just one species, over the last four decades, <a href="http://english.scio.gov.cn/chinavoices/2023-04/06/content_85213960.htm#:~:text=From%201982%20to%202021%2C%20Chinese,trees%20across%20the%20vast%20country.">according to</a> the country’s government. The idea behind this massive tree-planting campaign is, among other goals, to stop land from drying out, reduce erosion, and provide people with a source of income from timber.
</p>
<h3 id="x7Vcd8">
Green can be good
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TE88By">
Broadly speaking, a leafier planet can help the climate. Our oceans and lands, including forests, absorb <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/55/how-might-earths-atmosphere-land-and-ocean-systems-respond-to-changes-in-carbon-dioxide-over-time/">more than half</a> of the CO2 that countries spew into the air. These “carbon sinks” keep global warming from getting worse than it already is, and at least on land, they have been growing for <a href="https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/how-much-human-produced-carbon-dioxide-taken-faster-plant-growth-around-world">several decades.</a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="edNJoV">
Global greening, Gray said, is one reason why the land sink has ballooned.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/b12ocncE6h3DCWlacRHUcjP9vsI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25269973/ImageWall6_1600x1200_359.jpg"/> <cite>NASA</cite>
<figcaption>
A phytoplankton bloom near Iceland in the summer of 2010.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c1I84l">
In the ocean, however, greening is far more mysterious; it’s not clear why the sea is getting greener or what that means for the climate. The observed shift in color is likely caused by phytoplankton, a tiny plant-like organism that, like plants, absorbs CO2. Greener seas might mean there’s simply more phytoplankton in some areas. Alternatively, there could be a shift in the phytoplankton community toward species that produce more green pigment, according to B.B. Cael, a scientist at the National Oceanography Centre who has <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06321-z">studied ocean greening</a>. The difference matters because it determines how much carbon the oceans can absorb.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UpjOnM">
Better satellite data will help figure some of this out. That’s one reason why <a href="https://www.vox.com/space">NASA</a> <a href="https://pace.gsfc.nasa.gov/">is expected to launch</a> a satellite called PACE, which will measure ocean color to better understand how plankton communities influence Earth’s climate.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3oQCo_KwdcjePmxeO5ShhnVmA9Y=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25269942/GSFC_20230617_PACE_019382_2000w.jpeg"/> <cite>NASA</cite>
<figcaption>
NASA engineers test the PACE observatory satellite in a space environment simulator.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="RMHflq">
The big problems behind the green sheen
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DVQggM">
There’s a lot that color alone leaves out, such as what that “green” is made of.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CmCDvF">
To sensors on a satellite, a rainforest in Indonesia and a nearby monoculture of coffee or rubber trees look similar. They both appear green. Yet these two landscapes are dramatically different: The rainforest is home to orangutans and rare plants and helps regulate the local climate, whereas the plantation is relatively devoid of life. Measurements of color alone fail to capture these important differences.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jor17n">
More than that, they can mask ecosystem destruction, said Robin Chazdon, a tropical ecologist and part-time scientist at the World Resources Institute, an environmental group. Companies commonly tear up native forests to plant commercial crops. Satellite data alone struggles to capture these changes in land use.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CI0gCD">
“It’s glossing over the reality of what’s actually happened,” Chazdon said of global greening measurements.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uhWlYi">
Greening caused by tree planting — common in China and India — can also be problematic, she said. Planted forests often comprise just one or two tree species and don’t offer much in the way of biodiversity or other benefits, like erosion control, she said. In some cases, the trees eventually die.
</p>
<aside id="FsHh8N">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pmwXKu">
The growth in green farmland, similarly, has some pretty serious consequences. Industrial farms not only replace native ecosystems but require huge amounts of water and chemicals, such as fertilizers and pesticides (which are <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-environ-120920-111015">known to harm humans and ecosystems</a>). Consider the Imperial Valley of Southern California. Once a desert, it’s now <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23648116/colorado-river-lake-mead-agriculture-leafy-greens">covered in vast stretches of farmland</a>. Those farms have turned the region green — and it’s visible from space — yet they’ve done so, in part, by draining the Colorado River and fueling a water war in the West.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qyWcB0">
What’s more is that while plants absorb carbon, industrial cropland typically <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acd5e8">produces more carbon emissions than it absorbs</a> over the long term. Making nitrogen fertilizer and other agrochemicals requires a huge amount of energy, which typically comes from <a href="https://www.vox.com/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a>. Plus, much of the carbon absorbed by plants on a farm gets reemitted into the environment after they’re harvested.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QG5UWcru1hjxUxf8fVaj1B-2Vg8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25269988/NASA_Crop_Circles_Kansas.jpeg"/> <cite>NASA</cite>
<figcaption>
Farms of corn, wheat, and sorghum in southwestern Kansas, seen by a satellite in 2001.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="POAXOi">
The other problem: While CO2 fertilization can make some crops grow faster, research has also found that it can decrease their nutritional value — such as the concentration of <a href="https://lamont.columbia.edu/news/how-climate-change-will-affect-plants">protein, and minerals like calcium and magnesium</a> — for a <a href="https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/as-carbon-dioxide-goes-up-plants-nutrient-content-declines-70720">number of complicated reasons</a>. So pumping CO2 into the air means more but often less-nutritious vegetation (and globally, more than <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/WHO-WFP-UNICEF-statement-micronutrients-deficiencies-emergency">2 billion people</a> are nutrient-deficient).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cgFZsn">
So, yes, greening is complicated. It’s not inherently good. Sometimes it’s very bad. Context, it turns out, matters a lot.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="drHrcv">
If there’s anything we can glean from color alone it’s the scale of human impact. It’s not that nature is healing — that forests are growing back because we left them alone — but that we have drastically changed the atmosphere, the ground, and the ocean. We have changed the very look of our planet, and it’s visible from space.
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lockheed, She Rules, African Gold and Prophecy excel</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Big Red impresses</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>Elfin Knight, Isnt She Beautiful, Monterio, Redefined, Vyasa and Seventh Samurai shine</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Jasprit Bumrah becomes first Indian pacer to reach No. 1 in ICC Test rankings, replaces Ashwin</strong> - Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Bishan Singh Bedi are the other Indians who have been at the top of the charts</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>Ricky Ponting takes over as Washington Freedom head coach in U.S.</strong> - Ponting, who also coaches IPL side Delhi Capitals, has signed a two-year deal</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Telangana State Aviation Academy enters into MoU with ISRO’s NSRC to train drone pilots</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>With China’s help, Maldives plans to lower dependence on India in tourism, trade and healthcare: Data</strong> - The Chinese make up for the minor reduction in Indian tourists in the Maldives following the diplomatic row between New Delhi and Malé</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>All talk, no action, government playing game of ‘smoke and mirrors’: Shashi Tharoor slams interim Budget</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>Stop creating narrative to divide country into north, south: PM Modi to Congress</strong> - The PM lamented that the Karnataka government was building such a narrative through advertisements.</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>NHAI approves AI-based Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras at 6 locations on Bengaluru–Mysuru expressway</strong> - Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simmha revealed that the NHAI has earmarked ₹3.6 crore for installing the ANPR cameras</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sweden shuts down Nord Stream blasts inquiry</strong> - Russia’s two gas pipelines were sabotaged in September 2022 and it is still unknown who is responsible.</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>Russian air strikes claim five lives in Ukraine</strong> - Officials say four people died in an attack on Kyiv and another man was killed in Mykolaiv.</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>EU scraps plans to halve pesticide use</strong> - The announcement appears to be a concession to farmers who have been protesting tighter regulations.</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>Tucker Carlson to interview Russia’s Putin</strong> - The ex-Fox News host’s trip to Moscow has been given near-constant coverage in Russia’s state media.</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>Spain’s Prime Minister defends Eurovision entry</strong> - The country’s chosen song, Zorra by Nebulossa, has been called “anti-feminist” by some campaigners.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Critical vulnerability affecting most Linux distros allows for bootkits</strong> - Buffer overflow in bootloader shim allows attackers to run code each time devices boot up. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2001542">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Anti-abortion group’s studies retracted before Supreme Court mifepristone case</strong> - A large number of other, non-retracted studies find mifepristone to be very safe. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2001534">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Four bolts were missing from Boeing 737 before door plug blew off, NTSB says</strong> - Signs indicate that key bolts were missing when 737 Max 9 left Boeing factory. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2001528">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Robo-dinosaur scares grasshoppers to shed light on why dinos evolved feathers</strong> - The feathers may have helped dinosaurs frighten and flush out prey. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2000959">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bluesky finally gets rid of invite codes, lets everyone join</strong> - One day, developers can charge for custom feeds usurping black box algorithms. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2001506">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I met a lovely lady in the bar last night.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Although she was 57 she was very sexy and funny, she asked me if I fancied a Mother-Daughter threesome? I jumped at the chance, So we went back to her place, she took out her door keys and opened the door, turned on the light.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
And shouts out, “Mum are you still awake?”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1aknms1/i_met_a_lovely_lady_in_the_bar_last_night/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1aknms1/i_met_a_lovely_lady_in_the_bar_last_night/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Roy was really fast at sex</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Roy was so fast at sex, that when the Olympics added a sex category, his country entered him in the contest. The contenders had to have sex with as many people as they could in 30 minutes. Roy won first place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
At the awards ceremony, Roy took his place at the top of the podium along with the 2nd and 3rd place winners. Then it was announced that all the people the contenders had sex with were married. The crowd gasped, the judges gasped, the contenders gasped. All of them gasped, except Roy, who didn’t seem to care at all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
As the judge gave him his award, he said into Roy’s ear, “You’re medaling in affairs that don’t concern you.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Moose_Hole"> /u/Moose_Hole </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1aku0c1/roy_was_really_fast_at_sex/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1aku0c1/roy_was_really_fast_at_sex/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man was sick of his wife wanting to roleplay as police in the bedroom, he says he wants to split up.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She says, “Good idea! you go in from the back!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/pyahyakr"> /u/pyahyakr </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1al0yly/a_man_was_sick_of_his_wife_wanting_to_roleplay_as/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1al0yly/a_man_was_sick_of_his_wife_wanting_to_roleplay_as/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An American, a Japanese man, and a Cuban are all at Home Depot</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
— shopping in the millwork and doors section.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The American finds an employee and asks, “Which of these doors is the toughest?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The employee responds, “Why do you need a tough door?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The American became passionate about his reasoning, “I’m going on a vacation and I don’t want a burglar kicking my door down!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The employee finds him a steel core door and sends him on his way.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Japanese man asks the employee, “Which of these doors is the quietest?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The employee asks, “Why do you need a quiet door?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Japanese man responds, “I would not like to disturb my wife when I come home late.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The employee sells him a sliding door and sends him on his way.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Cuban hurried to the employee and blurts out, “I’m in the same situation as the American!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The employee tilts his head, “So you need a strong door?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Cuban responded, “No, a bouyant one, I’m going on vacation!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HattieTheGuardian"> /u/HattieTheGuardian </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1akriy6/an_american_a_japanese_man_and_a_cuban_are_all_at/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1akriy6/an_american_a_japanese_man_and_a_cuban_are_all_at/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why don’t lesbians shave for their weddings?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Cause it’s groomless
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/mfwcl2003"> /u/mfwcl2003 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1akpxgj/why_dont_lesbians_shave_for_their_weddings/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1akpxgj/why_dont_lesbians_shave_for_their_weddings/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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