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

Added daily report

This commit is contained in:
Navan Chauhan 2021-05-23 12:59:57 +00:00
parent fd2e7de6bb
commit ac6a476329
3 changed files with 756 additions and 2 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

217
archive-covid-19/23 May, 2021.html Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,217 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
<title>23 May, 2021</title>
<style type="text/css">
code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
span.underline{text-decoration: underline;}
div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;}
</style>
<title>Covid-19 Sentry</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
<body>
<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Anti-Sars-Cov-2 IgA And IgG In Human Milk After Vaccination Is Dependent On Vaccine Type And Previous Sars-Cov-2 Exposure: A Longitudinal Study.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Importance: Limited data are available on COVID-19 vaccine impact in lactating women. Objective: To evaluate the impact of different COVID-19 vaccines on specific anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgA and IgG levels in human milk. Design, Settings and Participants: In this prospective observational study in Spain, 75 lactating women from priority groups receiving vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 were included (January to April 2021). Human milk samples were collected at seven-time points. A group with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (n=19) and a group of women from prepandemic time (n=13) were included. Exposure: mRNA vaccines (BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273) and adenovirus-vectored vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19). Main Outcome(s) and Measure(s): Presence of IgA and IgG against RBD SARS-CoV-2 in breast milk. Results: Seventy-five vaccinated lactating women [mean age, 34.9±3.7 years] of whom 96% were Caucasic and 92% were health care workers. A total of 417 milk samples were included and vaccine distribution was BioNTech/Pfizer (BNT162b2, n=30), Moderna (mRNA-1273, n=21), and AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, n=24). For each vaccine, 7 time points were collected from baseline up to 25 days after the 1st dose and same points were collected for mRNA vaccines 30 days after 2nd dose. A strong reactivity was observed for IgG and IgA after vaccination mainly after the 2nd dose. Presence and the persistence of specific SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in breast milk were dependent on the vaccine-type and, on previous virus exposure. High inter-variability was observed, being relevant for IgA antibodies. IgG levels were significantly higher than those observed in milk from COVID-19 women while IgA levels were lower. Women with previous COVID-19 increased the IgG levels after the 1st dose to a similar level observed in vaccinated women after the 2nd dose. Conclusions and Relevance: Breast milk from vaccinated women contains anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgA and IgG, with highest after the 2nd dose. Levels were dependent on vaccine type and previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Previous COVID-19 influenced the vaccine effect after a single dose, which could be especially relevant in the design of vaccination protocols . Further studies are warranted to demonstrate the potential protective role of these antibodies against COVID-19 in infants from vaccinated and infected mothers through breastfeeding.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.20.21257512v1" target="_blank">Anti-Sars-Cov-2 IgA And IgG In Human Milk After Vaccination Is Dependent On Vaccine Type And Previous Sars-Cov-2 Exposure: A Longitudinal Study.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>DEFINE: A Phase IIa Randomised Controlled Trial to Evaluate Repurposed Treatments for COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Abstract: Introduction; COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) is a new viral-induced pneumonia caused by infection with a novel coronavirus, SARS CoV2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2). At present there are few proven effective treatments. This early phase experimental medicine protocol describes an overarching and adaptive trial designed to provide safety, pharmacokinetic (PK)/ pharmacodynamic (PD) information and exploratory biological surrogates of efficacy, which may support further development and deployment of candidate therapies in larger scale trials of COVID-19 positive patients. Methods and analysis; DEFINE is an ongoing exploratory multicentre platform, open label, randomised study. COVID-19 positive patients will be recruited from the following cohorts; a) community cases b) hospitalised patients with new changes on a chest x-ray (CXR) or a computed tomography (CT) scan or requiring supplemental oxygen and c) hospitalised patients requiring assisted ventilation. Participants may be recruited from all three of these cohorts, depending on the experimental therapy, its route of administration and mechanism of action. The primary statistical analyses are concerned with the safety of candidate agents as add-on therapy to standard of care in patients with COVID-19. Safety will be assessed using: - Haematological and biochemical safety laboratory investigations. - Physical examination - Vital signs (blood pressure/heart rate/temperature and respiratory rate) - Daily electrocardiogram (ECG) readings - Adverse events The analysis population will consist of (i) all patients randomised to a treatment arm who receive any dose of the study drug and (ii) all patients randomised to the control arm who would also have been eligible to receive a study drug. Secondary analysis will assess the following variables during treatment period 1) the response of key exploratory biomarkers 2) change in WHO ordinal scale and NEWS2 score 3) oxygen requirements 4) viral load 5) duration of hospital stay 6) PK/PD and 7) changes in key coagulation pathways. Ethics and dissemination; The DEFINE trial platform and its initial two treatment and standard of care arms have received full ethical approval from Scotland A REC (20/SS/0066), the MHRA (EudraCT 2020-002230-32) and NHS Lothian and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The results of each study arm will be published as soon as the treatment arm has finished recruitment, data input is complete and any outstanding patient safety follow-ups have been completed. Depending on the results of these or future arms, data will be shared with larger clinical trial networks, including RECOVERY, and to other partners for rapid roll out in larger patient cohorts.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.20.21257513v1" target="_blank">DEFINE: A Phase IIa Randomised Controlled Trial to Evaluate Repurposed Treatments for COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Modeling third waves of Covid-19 spread with piecewise differential and integral operators: Turkey, Spain and Czechia</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Several collected data representing the spread of some infectious disease have demonstrated that the spread does not really exhibit homogeneous spread. Clear examples can include the spread of Spanish ‡u and Covid-19. Collected data depicting numbers of daily new infections in the case of Covid-19 from countries like Turkey, Spain show three waves with different spread patterns. A clear indication of crossover behaviors. While modelers have suggested many mathematical models to depicting these behaviors, it becomes clear that their mathematical models cannot really capture the crossover behaviors, especially passage from deterministic resetting to stochastics. Very recently Atangana and Seda have suggested a concept of piecewise modeling consisting in defining a differential operator piece-wisely, the idea was first in chaos and outstanding patterns were captured. In this paper, we extend this concept to the field of epidemiology with the aim to depict waves with different patterns. Due to the novelty of this concept, a different approach to insure the existence and uniqueness of system solutions are presented. A piecewise numerical approach is presented to derive numerical solutions of such models. An illustrative example is presented and compared with collected data from 3 different countries including Turkey, Spain and Czechia. The obtained results let no doubt for us to conclude that this concept is a new window that will help mankind to better understand nature. Keywords: Piecewise modeling, piecewise existence and uniqueness, piecewise numerical scheme, Covid-19 model, fractional operators and stochastic approach.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.20.21257515v1" target="_blank">Modeling third waves of Covid-19 spread with piecewise differential and integral operators: Turkey, Spain and Czechia</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Predictors of SARS CoV-2 Infection Among Healthcare Workers: The Impact of Community-Hospital Gradient</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Aim: We aimed to detect the risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers (HCWs) in 2020, before vaccination era. Methods: We surveyed the SARS-CoV-2 infection among the HCWs in a hospital by screening of antibody levels and detection of viral RNA by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) between May 2020 to December 2020. Occupational and non-occupational potential predictors of disease were surveyed for the HCWs included in this study. Results: Among 1925 personnel in the hospital, 1732 were included to the study with the response rate of 90%. Overall seroprevalence was 15% at the end of 2020, before vaccinations started. In multivariate analysis, being janitorial staff (OR:2.24, CI:1.21-4.14, p=0.011), being medical secretary (OR: 4.17, CI: 2.12-8.18, p&lt;0.001), having at least one household member with COVID-19 diagnosis (OR:8.98, CI: 6.64-12.15, p&lt;0.001) and number of household members &gt;3 (OR:1.67, CI:1.26-2.22, p&lt;0.001) were found to be significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conclusion: By the end of 2020, just before the era of vaccination and variants, seroprevalence was 15% among HCWs. Medical secretary and janitorial staff were under increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Community-hospital gradient can explain the mode of transmission for infection among HCWs. In the setting of this study, community measures were less strict, whereas hospital infection control was adequate and provided necessary personal protective equipment. Increasing risk in larger households and households with diagnosed COVID-19 patient indicates community acquired transmission of the infection.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.20.21257518v1" target="_blank">Predictors of SARS CoV-2 Infection Among Healthcare Workers: The Impact of Community-Hospital Gradient</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>COVID symptoms, testing, shielding impact on patient reported outcomes and early vaccine responses in individuals with multiple myeloma</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective: Multiple myeloma (MM)-related morbidity has a profound effect on quality of life (QoL), and immune function, but few studies have prospectively examined the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and attendant vaccination on both immunity and QoL of patients with MM. We aimed to characterise these effects in a prospective cohort study. Design: We initiated a prospective national cohort study of patients with MM from start of the second wave of SARS CoV-2 infections in December 2020 and resultant COVID lockdown in the United Kingdom. We assessed current myeloma status, history of COVID19 symptoms, testing and vaccination including response using the rudystudy.org platform. In addition, healthcare resource use, mental and social well being and loneliness (Lubben scale) from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic were assessed. Participants: We report data from the first one hundred and nine adults with MM who completed the questionnaires and the first round of blood testing in the cohort. Results: Five patients (4.5%) had COVID-19 infection confirmed by history and/or testing (Nucleocapsid antibody). Up to 98% of patients shielded completely or partially during both waves of the pandemic, with 18% of patients consequently changing antimyeloma therapy in the shielding period. Using the Lubben scale, 21/99 (21.2 %) reported social isolation. Using HADS scale 23.1% of patients reported symptoms of mild to moderate anxiety or mild to moderate depression during this period. Humoral immune response (spike ab) tested 3 weeks after first vaccination was detected in 17/28 (60%) patients. Conclusion: Myeloma patients shielded during waves of the pandemic with significant change to therapy, low level natural COVID-19 infection (4%) and social isolation. Humoral response following the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine is lower than that reported in non-myeloma cohorts.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.20.21257379v1" target="_blank">COVID symptoms, testing, shielding impact on patient reported outcomes and early vaccine responses in individuals with multiple myeloma</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Clinical utility of home versus hospital spirometry in fibrotic ILD: evaluation following INJUSTIS interim analysis</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The COVID-19 pandemic identified an urgent need to re-evaluate the provision of spirometry for clinical monitoring. Home spirometry offers the opportunity for real-time disease evaluation without risk of nosocomial infection. To determine the utility of home spirometry in interstitial lung disease (ILD), interim data from the ongoing INJUSTIS study was evaluated. High correlation was observed between home and hospital spirometry at baseline(r=0.89) and three-months(r=0.82). Over 90% of home spirometry values were within Bland-Altman agreement limits at both time points, although frequently underestimated hospital values. Home spirometry is feasible in people with fibrotic ILD.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.20.21257328v1" target="_blank">Clinical utility of home versus hospital spirometry in fibrotic ILD: evaluation following INJUSTIS interim analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Implementation of a qPCR assay coupled with genomic surveillance for real-time monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
We developed a genomic surveillance program for real-time monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in Uruguay. Here, we present the first results, including the proposed qPCR-VOC method, the general workflow and the report of the introduction and community transmission of the VOC P.1 in Uruguay in multiple independent events.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.20.21256969v1" target="_blank">Implementation of a qPCR assay coupled with genomic surveillance for real-time monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Release of infectious virus and cytokines in nasopharyngeal swabs from individuals infected with non-B.1.1.7 or B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variants.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The mechanisms that allowed for the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant to rapidly outcompete pre-existing variants in many countries remain poorly characterized. Here, we analyzed viral release, anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and cytokine production in a retrospective series of 427 RTqPCR+ nasopharyngeal swabs collected in COVID-19 patients harbouring either non-B.1.1.7 or B.1.17 variants. We utilized a novel rapid assay, based on S-Fuse-T reporter cells, to quantify infectious SARS-CoV-2. With both non-B.1.1.7 and B.1.1.7 variants, viral titers were highly variable, ranging from 0 to &gt;10<sup>6</sup> infectious units, and correlated with viral RNA levels. Lateral flow antigenic rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) were positive in 96% of the samples harbouring infectious virus. About 67 % of individuals carried detectable infectious virus within the first two days after onset of symptoms. This proportion decreased overtime, and viable virus was detected up to 14 days. Samples containing anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG or IgA did not generally harbour infectious virus. The proportion of individuals displaying viable virus or being RDT-positive was not higher with B.1.1.7 than with non- B.1.1.7 variants. Ct values were slightly but not significantly lower with B.1.1.7. The variant was characterized by a fast decrease of infectivity overtime and a marked release of 17 cytokines (including IFN-b, IP-10, IL-10 and TRAIL). Our results highlight differences between non-B.1.1.7 and B.1.1.7 variants. B.1.1.7 is associated with modified viral decays and cytokine profiles at the nasopharyngeal mucosae during symptomatic infection.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.20.21257393v1" target="_blank">Release of infectious virus and cytokines in nasopharyngeal swabs from individuals infected with non-B.1.1.7 or B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variants.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evaluation of a Rapid Implementation of Telemedicine for Delivery of Obstetric Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective: The aim of this evaluation was to assess the rapid implementation of obstetric telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic using the Consolidated Framework in Implementation Research (CFIR) evaluation framework. Study Design: Following one month of telemedicine implementation, obstetric providers at the University of South Florida clinic completed qualitative surveys and in-depth interviews about the implementation of obstetric telemedicine in the clinic guided by the CFIR evaluation framework. Results: Overall, providers considered obstetric telemedicine comparable to traditional in-person clinic visits and acknowledged that they were adequately prepared for the telemedicine implementation. Advantages included the simplicity of implementation, reduced exposure to COVID-19 infection, and convenience factors. Although obstetric telemedicine mostly met patient needs, a lack of access to at-home monitoring devices, physical examinations, reliable internet service, and privacy concerns posed as barriers. Conclusion: The implementation of the obstetric telemedicine care model was deemed a favorable, safe alternative option for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.19.21257311v1" target="_blank">Evaluation of a Rapid Implementation of Telemedicine for Delivery of Obstetric Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Global research on syndemics: A meta-knowledge analysis (2001-2020)</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Syndemics or synergies of cooccurring epidemics are widely studies across health and social sciences in recent years. We conducted a meta-knowledge analysis of articles published between 2001 to 2020 in this growing field of academic scholarship. We found a total of 830 articles authored by 3025 authors, mostly from high-income countries. Publications on syndemics are gradually increasing since 2003, with rapid development in 2013. Each article was cited more than 15 times on average, whereas most (n = 604) articles were original studies. Syndemics research focused on several areas, including HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, mental health, gender minority stressors, racism, violence, chronic physical and mental disorders, food insecurity, social determinants of health, and COVID-19. Moreover, biopsychosocial interactions between multiple health problems were studied across medical, anthropological, public health, and other disciplines of science. The limited yet rapidly evolving literature on syndemics informs transdisciplinary interests to understand complex coexisting health challenges in the context of systematic exclusion and structural violence in vulnerable populations. The findings also suggest applications of syndemic theory to evaluate clinical and public health problems, examine the socioecological dynamics of factors influencing health and wellbeing, and use the insights to alleviate health inequities in the intersections of synergistic epidemics and persistent contextual challenges for population health.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.19.21257413v1" target="_blank">Global research on syndemics: A meta-knowledge analysis (2001-2020)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Reactogenicity of homologous and heterologous prime-boost immunization with BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1-nCoV19: a prospective cohort study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Heterologous prime-boost vaccination is of increasing interest for COVID-19 vaccines. Evidence of rare thrombotic events associated with ChAdOx1-nCoV19 (Vaxzevria, ChAdOx) has lead several European countries to recommend a heterologous booster with mRNA vaccines for certain age groups (e.g. persons &lt;60years in Germany), who have already received one dose of ChAdOx, although data on reactogenicity and safety of this vaccination regimen are still missing. Here we report reactogenicity data of homologous BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, BNT) or heterologous ChAdOx/BNT prime-boost immunisations in a prospective observational cohort study of 326 healthcare workers. Reactogenicity of heterologous ChAdOx/BNT booster vaccination was largely comparable to homologous BNT/BNT vaccination and overall well-tolerated. No major differences were observed in the frequency or severity of local reactions after either of the vaccinations. In contrast, notable differences between the regimens were observed for systemic reactions, which were most frequent after prime immunisation with ChAdOx (86%, 95CI: 79-91), and less frequent after homologous BNT/BNT (65%, 95CI: 56-72), or heterologous ChAdOx/BNT boosters (48%, 95CI: 36-59). This interim analysis supports the safety of currently recommended heterologous ChAdOx/BNT prime-boost immunisations with 12-week intervals.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.19.21257334v1" target="_blank">Reactogenicity of homologous and heterologous prime-boost immunization with BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1-nCoV19: a prospective cohort study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Assessing the Impact of Human Mobility to Predict Regional Excess Death in Ecuador</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
COVID-19 outbreaks have had high mortality in low- and medium-income countries such as Ecuador. Human mobility is an important factor influencing the spread of diseases possibly leading to a high burden of disease at the country level. Drastic control measures, such as complete lockdown are effective epidemic controls, yet in practice, one hopes that a partial shutdown would suffice. It is an open problem to determine how much mobility can be allowed while controlling an outbreak. In this paper, we use statistical models to relate human mobility to the excess death in Ecuador while controlling for demographic factors. The mobility index provided by GRANDATA, based on mobile phone users, represents the change of number of out-of-home events with respect to a benchmark date (March 2nd, the first date the data is available). The study confirms the global trend that more men are dying than expected compared to women, and that people under 30 show less deaths than expected. Specifically, individuals in the age groups younger than 20, we found have their death rate reduced during the pandemic between 22% and 27% of the expected deaths in the absence of COVID-19. The weekly median mobility time series shows a sharp decrease in human mobility immediately after a national lockdown was declared on March 17, 2020 and a progressive increase towards the pre-lockdown level within two months. Relating median mobility to excess death shows a lag in its effect: first, a decrease in mobility in the previous two to three weeks decreases the excess death and more novel, we found that an increase of mobility variability four weeks prior, increases the number of excess deaths.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.19.21257056v1" target="_blank">Assessing the Impact of Human Mobility to Predict Regional Excess Death in Ecuador</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Rapid And high throughput RT-qPCR assay for identification and differentiation between SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.1.7 and B.1.351</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Emerging SARS-CoV-2 (SC-2) variants with increased infectivity and vaccine resistance are of major concern. Rapid identification of such variants is important for the public health activities and provide valuable data for epidemiological and policy decision making. We developed a multiplex quantitative RT-qPCR (qPCR) assay that can specifically identify and differentiate between the emerging B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 SC-2 variants. In a single assay, we combined four reactions: one that detects SC-2 RNA independently of the strain, one that detects the D3L mutation, which is specific to variant B.1.1.7, and one that detects the 242-244 deletion, which is specific to variant B.1.351. The fourth reaction identifies human RNAseP gene, serving as an endogenous control for RNA extraction integrity. We show that the strain-specific reactions target mutations that are strongly associated with the target variants, and not with other major known variants. The assay specificity was tested against a panel of respiratory pathogens (n=16), showing high specificity towards SC-2 RNA. The assay sensitivity was assessed using both In-vitro transcribed RNA and clinical samples, and was determined to be between 20 and 40 viral RNA copies per reaction. The assay performance was corroborated with Sanger and whole genome sequencing, showing complete agreement with the sequencing results. The new assay is currently implemented in the routine diagnostic work at the Central Virology Laboratory, and may be used in other laboratories to facilitate the diagnosis of these major worldwide circulating SC-2 variants.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.19.21257439v1" target="_blank">Rapid And high throughput RT-qPCR assay for identification and differentiation between SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.1.7 and B.1.351</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Ageing in the time of COVID-19: the coronavirus pandemic exacerbates the experience of loneliness in older people by undermining identity processes</strong> -
<div>
Loneliness can develop as a result of the identity transitions accompanying older adulthood, including the onset of health conditions and loss of social connections. The current study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic affected these identity change processes among older adults thereby impacting their experience of loneliness. In this longitudinal qualitative study, we use a theoretically-guided thematic analysis, applying insights from the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC). Interviews were conducted before the pandemic, after the first UK national lockdown, and during the third national lockdown (N=9, Mage=78.7). The themes identified were: threatened social contact; being categorised as a vulnerable older adult; restricted ability to gain and maintain identities; undermined reciprocal social support; and wellbeing hindered by loneliness related fears. Implications discussed include how the pandemic recovery effort will require facilitating positive ageing identities to counteract the vulnerabilities introduced by the pandemic.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/rhf32/" target="_blank">Ageing in the time of COVID-19: the coronavirus pandemic exacerbates the experience of loneliness in older people by undermining identity processes</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Clinical and experimental factors that affect the reported performance characteristics of rapid testing for SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
ABSTRACT Tests that detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antigen in clinical specimens from the upper respiratory tract can provide a rapid means of COVID-19 disease diagnosis and help identify individuals that may be infectious and should isolate to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission. This systematic review assesses the diagnostic accuracy of SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection in COVID-19 symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals compared to RT-qPCR, and summarizes antigen test sensitivity using meta-regression. In total, 83 studies were included that compared SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen lateral flow testing (RALFT) to RT-qPCR for SARS-CoV-2. Generally, the quality of the evaluated studies was inconsistent, nevertheless, the overall sensitivity for RALFT was determined to be 75.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 71.0-78.0). Additionally, RALFT sensitivity was found to be higher for symptomatic versus asymptomatic individuals and was higher for a symptomatic population within 7 days from symptom onset (DSO) compared to a population with extended days of symptoms. Viral load was found to be the most important factor for determining SARS-CoV-2 antigen test sensitivity. Other design factors, such as specimen storage and anatomical collection type, also affect the performance of RAFLT. RALFT and RT-qPCR testing both achieve high sensitivity when compared to SARS-CoV-2 viral culture.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.20.21257181v1" target="_blank">Clinical and experimental factors that affect the reported performance characteristics of rapid testing for SARS-CoV-2</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>Recombinant Hyperimmune Polyclonal Antibody (GIGA-2050) in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: GIGA-2050<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   GigaGen, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study to Evaluate the Effects of RO7496998 (AT-527) in Non-Hospitalized Adult and Adolescent Participants With Mild or Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: RO7496998;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc.;   Hoffmann-La Roche<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Phase 2 Study of APX-115 in Hospitalized Patients With Confirmed Mild to Moderate COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: APX-115;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Aptabio Therapeutics, Inc.;   Covance<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>Mix and Match of the Second COVID-19 Vaccine Dose for Safety and Immunogenicity</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine;   Biological: BNT162b2;   Biological: ChAdOx1-S [recombinant];   Other: 0, 28 day schedule;   Other: 0, 112 day schedule<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Canadian Immunization Research Network;   Canadian Center for Vaccinology;   BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute;   Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba;   CHU de Quebec-Universite Laval;   Ottawa Hospital Research Institute;   Northern Alberta Clinical Trials + Research Centre;   Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion;   University of Toronto;   Massachusetts 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>A Study to Evaluate the Safety and Effect of STC3141 Continuous Infusion in Subjects With Severe Corona Virus Disease 2019（COVID-19）Pneumonia</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: STC3141<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Grand Medical Pty Ltd.;   Trium Clinical Consulting<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 Global Phase III Clinical Trial of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Sf9 Cells)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (Sf9 cells);   Other: Placebo control<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Jiangsu Province Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;   WestVac Biopharma Co., Ltd.;   West China 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>The Role of High Dose Co-trimoxazole in Severe Covid-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Co-trimoxazole;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh<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 of Bemcentinib for the Treatment of COVID-19 in Hospitalised Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Bemcentinib;   Other: SoC<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   BerGenBio ASA<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>The Proof of Concept Phase 2 Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Clevudine in Patients With Mild and Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Clevudine;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Bukwang Pharmaceutical<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>Breathing Effort in Covid-19 Pneumonia: Effects of Positive Pressure, Inspired Oxygen Fraction and Decubitus</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: Esophageal catheter<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   San Luigi Gonzaga Hospital<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lot-to-lot Consistency of an Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine for Prevention of COVID-19 in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (Vero cell）<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sinovac Research and Development Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Test Whether BI 767551 Can Prevent COVID-19 in People Who Have Been Exposed to SARS-CoV-2</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: BI 767551 intravenous;   Drug: BI 767551 inhalation;   Drug: Placebo intravenous;   Drug: Placebo inhalation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Boehringer Ingelheim<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>Using Text Messages to Improve COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake, an RCT.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Text message content<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust;   Central London CCG;   Imperial College Health Partners;   Institute for Global Health Innovations;   The Behavioural Insights Team<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 Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on COVID-19 Recovery</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Vit-D 0.2 MG/ML Oral Solution [Calcidol];   Drug: Physiological Irrigating Solution<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Monastir;   Loussaief Chawki;   Nissaf Ben Alaya;   Cyrine Ben Nasrallah;   Manel Ben Belgacem;   Hela Abroug;   Imen Zemni;   Manel Ben fredj;   Wafa Dhouib<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>Efficacy Study of Phase 1/2 Randomized Interventional Study of SARS-COV-2-Vaccine Candidates Utilizing EUA Dosing</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: mRNA-1273<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Discovery of anti-infective adipostatins through bioactivity-guided isolation and heterologous expression of a type III polyketide synthase</strong> - Antibiotic resistance and emerging viral pandemics have posed an urgent need for new anti-infective drugs. By screening our microbial extract library against the main protease of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the notorious ESKAPE pathogens, an active fraction was identified and purified, leading to an initial isolation of adipostatins A (1) and B (2). In order to diversify the chemical structures of adipostatins toward enhanced biological activities, a type III…</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>Lipopeptide-based pan-CoV fusion inhibitors potently inhibit HIV-1 infection</strong> - No abstract</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Detection of SARS-CoV-2 genome and whole transcriptome sequencing in Frontal Cortex of COVID-19 patients</strong> - SARS-Cov-2 infection is frequently associated with Nervous System manifestations. However, it is not clear how SARS-CoV-2 can cause neurological dysfunctions and which molecular processes are affected in the brain. In this work, we examined the frontal cortex tissue of patients who died of COVID-19 for the presence of SARS-CoV-2, comparing qRT-PCR with ddPCR. We also investigated the transcriptomic profile of frontal cortex from COVID-19 patients and matched controls by RNA-seq analysis to…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Single-dose BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine significantly boosts neutralizing antibody response in health care workers recovering from asymptomatic or mild natural SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: A single vaccination in people with mild or asymptomatic previous infection further boosts SARS-CoV-2 humoral immunity to levels higher than those obtained by complete two-vaccination in uninfected subjects.</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 ORF8 protein of SARS-CoV-2 mediates immune evasion through down-regulating MHC-iota</strong> - COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a global pandemic and has claimed over 2 million lives worldwide. Although the genetic sequences of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 have high homology, the clinical and pathological characteristics of COVID-19 differ significantly from those of SARS. How and whether SARS-CoV-2 evades (cellular) immune surveillance requires further elucidation. In this study, we show that SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to major…</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>Chemotherapy vs. Immunotherapy in combating nCOVID19: An update</strong> - The nCOVID-19 pandemic initiated its course of contagion from the city of Wuhan and now it has spread all over the globe. SARS-CoV-2 is the causative virus and the infection as well as its symptoms are distributed across the multi-organ perimeters. Interactions between the host and virus governs the induction of ‘cytokine storm’ resulting various immunopathological consequences leading to death. Till now it has caused tens of millions of casualties and yet no credible cure has emerged to vision….</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>Intragastric and atomized administration of canagliflozin inhibit inflammatory cytokine storm in lipopolysaccharide-treated sepsis in mice: A potential COVID-19 treatment</strong> - To date, drugs to attenuate cytokine storm in severe cases of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) are not available. In this study, we investigated the effects of intragastric and atomized administration of canagliflozin (CAN) on cytokine storm in lung tissues of lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-induced mice. Results showed that intragastric administration of CAN significantly and widely inhibited the production of inflammatory cytokines in lung tissues of LPS-induced sepsis mice. Simultaneously,…</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 interaction of the bioflavonoids with five SARS-CoV-2 proteins targets: An in silico study</strong> - Flavonoids have been shown to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, antibacterial and antiviral efficacy. Therefore, in this study, we choose 85 flavonoid compounds and screened them to determine their in-silico interaction with protein targets crucial for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The five important targets chosen were the main protease (Mpro), Spike receptor binding domain (Spike-RBD), RNA - dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp or Nsp12), non-structural protein 15 (Nsp15) of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The SARS-CoV-2 SSHHPS Recognized by the Papain-like Protease</strong> - Viral proteases are highly specific and recognize conserved cleavage site sequences of ∼6-8 amino acids. Short stretches of homologous host-pathogen sequences (SSHHPS) can be found spanning the viral protease cleavage sites. We hypothesized that these sequences corresponded to specific host protein targets since &gt;40 host proteins have been shown to be cleaved by Group IV viral proteases and one Group VI viral protease. Using PHI-BLAST and the viral protease cleavage site sequences, we searched…</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>Tocilizumab in COVID-19: a meta-analysis, trial sequential analysis, and meta-regression of randomized-controlled trials</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: For hospitalized COVID-19 patients, there is some evidence that tocilizumab use may be associated with a short-term mortality benefit, but further high-quality data are required. Its benefits may also lie in reducing the need for mechanical ventilation.</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 silico Studies on the Interaction Between Mpro and PLpro From SARS-CoV-2 and Ebselen, its Metabolites and Derivatives</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 has mobilized scientific attention in search of a treatment. The cysteine-proteases, main protease (Mpro) and papain-like protease (PLpro) are important targets for antiviral drugs. In this work, we simulate the interactions between the Mpro and PLpro with Ebselen, its metabolites and derivatives with the aim of finding molecules that can potentially inhibit these enzymes. The docking data demonstrate that there are two main interactions between the…</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>Anti-IgE monoclonal antibodies as potential treatment in COVID-19</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with irreversible effects on vital organs, especially the respiratory and cardiac systems. While the immune system plays a key role in the survival of patients to viral infections, in COVID-19, there is a hyperinflammatory immune response evoked by all the immune cells, such as neutrophils, monocytes, and includes release of various cytokines, resulting in an exaggerated immune response, named cytokine storm. This severe, dysregulated immune…</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 silico Exploration of Interactions Between Potential COVID-19 Antiviral Treatments and the Pore of the hERG Potassium Channel-A Drug Antitarget</strong> - Background: In the absence of SARS-CoV-2 specific antiviral treatments, various repurposed pharmaceutical approaches are under investigation for the treatment of COVID-19. Antiviral drugs considered for this condition include atazanavir, remdesivir, lopinavir-ritonavir, and favipiravir. Whilst the combination of lopinavir and ritonavir has been previously linked to prolongation of the QT(c) interval on the ECG and risk of torsades de pointes arrhythmia, less is known in this regard about…</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>ACE2 and SARS-CoV-2 Infection Risk: Insights From Patients With Two Rare Genetic Tubulopathies, Gitelman’s and Bartter’s Syndromes</strong> - COVID-19 is spreading globally with the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-2 serving as the entry point of SARS-CoV-2 virus. This raised concerns how ACE2 and the Renin-Angiotensin (Ang)-System (RAS) are to be dealt with given their roles in hypertension and their involvement in COVID-19’s morbidity and mortality. Specifically, increased ACE2 expression in response to treatment with ACE inhibitors (ACEi) and Ang II receptor blockers (ARBs) might theoretically increase COVID-19 risk by…</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>Tranilast: a potential anti-Inflammatory and NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor drug for COVID-19</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 is a type of beta-CoV that develops acute pneumonia, which is an inflammatory condition. A cytokine storm has been recognized as one of the leading causes of death in patients with COVID-19. ALI and ARDS along with multiple organ failure have also been presented as the consequences of acute inflammation and cytokine storm. It has been previously confirmed that SARS-CoV, as another member of the beta-CoV family, activates NLRP3 inflammasome and consequently develops acute inflammation…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>METHOD OF IDENTIFYING SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME CORONA VIRUS 2 (SARS-COV-2) RIBONUCLEIC ACID (RNA)</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU323956811">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IMPROVEMENTS RELATED TO PARTICLE, INCLUDING SARS-CoV-2, DETECTION AND METHODS THEREFOR</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU323295937">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>DEEP LEARNING BASED SYSTEM FOR DETECTION OF COVID-19 DISEASE OF PATIENT AT INFECTION RISK</strong> - The present invention relates to Deep learning based system for detection of covid-19 disease of patient at infection risk. The objective of the present invention is to solve the problems in the prior art related to technologies of detection of covid-19 disease using CT scan image processing. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN324122821">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A COMPREHENSIVE DISINFECTION SYSTEM DURING PANDEMIC FOR PERSONAL ITEMS AND PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) TO SAFEGUARD PEOPLE</strong> - The current Covid-19 pandemic has led to an enormous demand for gadgets / objects for personal protection. To prevent the spread of virus, it is important to disinfect commonly touched objects. One of the ways suggested is to use a personal UV-C disinfecting box that is “efficient and effective in deactivating the COVID-19 virus. The present model has implemented the use of a UV transparent material (fused silica quartz glass tubes) as the medium of support for the objects to be disinfected to increase the effectiveness of disinfection without compromising the load bearing capacity. Aluminum foil, a UV reflecting material, was used as the inner lining of the box for effective utilization of the UVC light emitted by the UVC lamps. Care has been taken to prevent leakage of UVC radiation out of the system. COVID-19 virus can be inactivated in 5 minutes by UVC irradiation in this disinfection box - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN322882412">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING SYSTEM FOR MENTAL HEALTH MONITORING OF PERSON DURING THE PANDEMIC OF COVID-19</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU323295498">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>USE OF IMINOSUGAR COMPOUND IN PREPARATION OF ANTI-SARS-COV-2 VIRUS DRUG</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU322897928">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种高灵敏SARS-CoV-2中和抗体的检测方法、检测试剂盒</strong> - 本发明公开了一种高灵敏SARS‑CoV‑2中和抗体的检测方法、检测试剂盒，属于生物医学检测技术领域，本发明试剂盒包括层析试纸、卡壳和样本稀释液，所述层析试纸包括底板、样品垫、结合垫、NC膜和吸水垫，所述NC膜上依次设置有捕获线、检测线和质控线，所述捕获线包被有ACE2蛋白，所述检测线包被有RBD蛋白，所述结合垫设置有RBD蛋白标记物；本发明采用阻断法加夹心法原理提高检测中和抗体的灵敏度，通过添加捕获线的方式，将靶向RBD的非中和抗体提前捕获，保证后续通过夹心法检测中和抗体的特异性。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN323798634">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>逆转录酶突变体及其应用</strong> - 本发明提供一种MMLV逆转录酶突变体，在野生型MMLV逆转录酶氨基酸序列（如SEQ ID No.1序列所示）中进行七个氨基酸位点的突变，氨基酸突变位点为：R205H；V288T；L304K；G525D；S526D；E531G；E574G。该突变体可以降低MMLV逆转录酶对Taq DNA聚合酶的抑制作用，大大提高了一步法RT‑qPCR的灵敏度。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN323494119">link</a></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Konstruktion einer elektrochemischen Atemmaske zum aktiven Schutz vor Coronavirus</strong> -
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Konstruktion einer elektrochemischen medizinischen Atemmaske (1) für den aktiven Schutz gegen Infektion mit Coronaviren dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass ein elektrochemischer Effekt durch eine allgemein positives Magnetfeld der Maske erzeugbar ist, das die positiv geladenen Coronavirus-Mikroorganismen von der Person vertreibt, indem eine aktive elektrochemische Atemmaske (1) aus einem zweischichtigen Material verwendet wird, umfassend eine äußeren Schicht (2) aus einer hochmolekularen Verbindung aus Bambus in Mischung mit Kupfer-, Silber- oder Goldmetallfasern und einer inneren Schicht (3) aus einem Vliesstoff auf Basis von Polypropylenfasern SMS oder SNS, wobei der Maskenkörper aus zwei in der Mitte der Gesichtssymmetrie genähten Elementen gebildet ist, um die Kontur der Gesichtskurven so weit wie möglich zu wiederholen, ausgestattet mit einem Atemfilter (9) mit einem Einsatz aus zwei Schichten ferromagnetischen Metallgewebes, wobei das Filter (9) hat eine herausnehmbare SMS- oder SNS-Vlieskartusche in einem Kunststoffrand (14) und eine Öse zur Fixierung im Filtergehäuse umfasst, wobei die Maske (1) jeweils einen Nasen- und Kinnbügel aus einem flexiblen Einschubstreifen zwischen den beiden Lagen des Maskengewebes aufweist, die eine Fixierung auf Basis von doppelseitig klebendem Silikonklebeband in den Maskenseitenkanten sowie Nacken- und Kopfbefestigungsschlaufen ermöglichen.</p></li>
</ul>
<img alt="embedded image" id="EMI-D00000"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE324122059">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Compositions and methods for the treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) infection</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU321590214">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>

537
archive-daily-dose/23 May, 2021.html Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,537 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
<title>23 May, 2021</title>
<style type="text/css">
code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
span.underline{text-decoration: underline;}
div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;}
</style>
<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
<body>
<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Violent Cops Stay in Law Enforcement</strong> - Derek Colling was fired from one police department after two fatal shootings and allegations of brutality. Less than a year later, he had a new badge. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/how-violent-cops-stay-in-law-enforcement">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Tensions Inside a Mixed Jewish-Arab City in Israel</strong> - Cities such as Lod are experiencing the worst bouts of internecine violence since the country’s founding. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-tensions-inside-a-mixed-jewish-arab-city-in-israel">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The G.O.P. Looks for New Ways to Ignore the Capitol Riot</strong> - As a House vote on a bipartisan commission to study the insurrection made clear, it’s Trumpists vs. the truth. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-gop-looks-for-new-ways-to-ignore-january-6th">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Liberal Zionist’s Move to the Left on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict</strong> - Peter Beinart, once a staunch defender of Israel, is arguing for the Palestinians’ right to return. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-populism/a-liberal-zionists-move-to-the-left-on-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Struggle to Improve Vaccination Rates Among Latinos in New York</strong> - Vast disparities in immunization levels persist between the city’s communities. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/the-struggle-to-improve-vaccination-rates-among-latinos-in-new-york">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Democrats barely passed a bill to increase security at the US Capitol</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="CAPITOL POLICE" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XmrJlN2useut110367J75yiJRnw=/494x0:4449x2966/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69329029/1232848991.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Capitol Police officers ride past the US Capitol on May 12, 2001. | Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Republicans and some progressive Democrats opposed the January 6-inspired measure
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="655T8x">
A $1.9 billion emergency funding bill to boost security at the US Capitol in the wake of the January 6 insurrection barely passed the House on Thursday. The measure, which would also provide additional personal security for lawmakers facing an <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/21/lawmakers-security-jan-6-threats-490165">intensifying wave</a> of threats and harassment in Washington and their home districts, received no Republican support, and exposed fissures within the Democratic Party over the issue of increasing funding for any police force.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rl0oW2">
The bill ultimately passed on Thursday, following last-minute negotiations led by House Speaker Nancy<strong> </strong>Pelosi, with 213 votes for the bill and 212 against.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pj67Ft">
Every voting Republican voted no on the bill, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/capitol-security-vote-democrats-spending-bill/2021/05/20/299b7af2-b972-11eb-96b9-e949d5397de9_story.html">claiming</a> that it was too much money and that there was no guarantee it would be properly spent enhancing security. Those votes followed recent statements <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/554834-gop-efforts-to-downplay-danger-of-capitol-riot-increase?rl=1">downplaying or outright fabricating</a> facts about the violence that transpired at the Capitol on January 6.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5O38be">
More strikingly, Democrats were not unified among themselves. Left-wing members of the House, including the members of the so-called <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/7/17/20696474/squad-congresswomen-trump-pressley-aoc-omar-tlaib">Squad</a>, broke from the party out of what could be loosely described as a defund-the-police rationale.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="asOcCa">
Democratic Reps. Cori Bush (MO), Ilhan Omar (MN), and Ayanna Pressley (MA) voted against the legislation; Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Jamaal Bowman (NY), and Rashida Tlaib (MI), voted present, which means they officially took no position.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QdsKY9">
The defection is a sign of fissures within the party over how to think about police reform and the use of force, a policy domain that has been a source of intense national debate since the protests that swept the nation last year following George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i09dk9">
It also appears to be a carefully aimed warning shot by the Squad, illustrating that, when they’re unified, they have the ability to torpedo Democratic legislation. The Democratic party relies on a narrow majority in the House to pass every one of its bills.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GJgOlX">
Bush, Omar, and Pressley released a joint statement saying the package “pours $1.9 billion into increased police surveillance and force without addressing the underlying threats of organized and violent white supremacy, radicalization, and disinformation that led to this attack will not prevent it from happening again.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PLDSKu">
Bowman <a href="https://www.cbs58.com/news/house-to-vote-on-19-billion-capitol-security-bill-after-january-6-insurrection">told reporters</a> he voted present because “there are some things about the bill that I support, like making sure our custodial staff and our cleaners have the resources they need to respond and deal with this trauma, but there are other parts of it that I don’t support, like adding more funding to police budgets.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vv7VDV">
While Democrats have been unified on most major legislation during the opening months of the Biden administration, that unity may not hold as more complicated and polarizing policy issues come up for debate, and throw some Democratic bills into jeopardy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5CbzIk">
Meanwhile, Republicans’ unified opposition to a nominally pro-law enforcement bill may signal — once again — a challenge to President Joe Biden’s vision of being able to unify Congress around shared values.
</p>
<h2 id="ABKtCW">
January 6 and its aftermath raised serious security questions
</h2>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q7ayrM">
The violence and security breaches by pro-Trump rioters seeking to shut down the certification of the 2020 election results on January 6 have raised big questions about what security should look like at the US Capitol going forward.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PSkJOe">
Capitol Police were <a href="https://www.vox.com/22218446/capitol-police-mob-trump-storming-washington-dc">unprepared for and slow to react to</a> thousands of demonstrators — some of whom were armed — who stormed the Capitol, destroyed property, chanted death threats, searched the halls for lawmakers, and successfully shut down the certification of the election results. Some <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/us/politics/capitol-riot-police-officer-injuries.html">140 officers were injured</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/us/who-died-in-capitol-building-attack.html">several people died</a>. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/capitol-insurrection-could-have-been-deadlier-experts-say-2021-1">Experts say</a> things could’ve gone far worse, had lawmakers not narrowly avoided the mob in a few close encounters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IYAyx9">
The crisis in turn has precipitated massive scrutiny of the Capitol Police and created a morale problem in its ranks, which appears to have <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/21/politics/capitol-police-officers-left-force-january-insurrection/index.html">caused an uptick in resignations and retirements</a> among rank-and-file officers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="INNjSU">
In spite of this, Republican leaders in both the House and the Senate have <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/5/16/22438835/gop-whitewash-capitol-attack-january-6-commission-mccarthy">downplayed</a> the threat that Capitol Police faced on January 6. This has served to both exonerate supporters of former President Donald Trump for their role in the violence on that day, and also underpinned arguments for maintaining the security status quo at the Capitol.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ploqpH">
At a hearing on Wednesday, one Republican from Georgia <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/18/clyde-tourist-capitol-riot-photos/">said</a> last week that some of the people who broke into the Capitol on January 6 were behaving as if on “a normal tourist visit” to Washington. Another likened the rioters to a “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-government-and-politics-f4a96296f56e1896220050618d59ea74">mob of misfits</a>.” And appearing on a Fox News program on Wednesday, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson called the incursion a “<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/554548-ron-johnson-jan-6-capitol-riot-was-largely-peaceful-not-an-insurrection">peaceful protest</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pgscBo">
A majority of Republicans also opposed the formation of an independent commission tasked with investigating the events of the day. While <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/21/republican-leaders-claim-that-jan-6-commission-bill-would-not-allow-gop-staff-hires/">35 House Republicans</a> broke ranks with their party on Wednesday to support the investigation, top Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/18/politics/kevin-mccarthy-opposes-1-6-commission/index.html">opposed such an inquiry</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vFNnag">
This disregard for the perils that Congress members faced on January 6 comes as threats and harassment against lawmakers have been increasing. Members of Congress <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/21/lawmakers-security-jan-6-threats-490165">report</a> that they’re increasingly being confronted in stores and while traveling, receiving threats to their families, and having private details of their lives posted online. Compared to last year, threats against federal lawmakers have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/07/threats-against-members-of-congress-have-more-than-doubled-this-year.html">more than doubled</a> so far this year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fxW1nn">
The nearly $2 billion bill passed Thursday is meant to address a wide variety of issues, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/20/house-congress-capitol-security-489792">including</a>: back pay for overtime hours, hazard pay and retention bonuses; better equipment and training; a “new quick-reaction team that would essentially create a standing force of the D.C. National Guard,” <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/20/house-congress-capitol-security-489792">according to Politico</a>; fortifying the Capitol complex with movable fencing, surveillance equipment, and reinforced windows and doors; and extra security for lawmakers who have been threatened and typically are not eligible for publicly funded security.
</p>
<h2 id="0IhHEF">
The Squad is averse to increased police funding without reform
</h2>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lBAGJ8">
Without any Republican support, Democrats were able to pass the spending package, but just barely. Pelosi and other top Dems had to scramble to try to assuage the Squad’s concerns about the bill, which included, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/20/house-congress-capitol-security-489792">according to Politico</a>, considerations about allocating more money to a Capitol Police force in which some officers indirectly contributed to the day’s violence through lax enforcement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SY3Wzl">
“I am tired of the fact that any time where there is a failure in our system of policing, the first response is for us to give them more money, rather than investigate the failings and hold those responsible accountable,” Omar, who voted against the bill, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/05/20/squad-capitol-police-funding-pressley-aoc-omar/">told The Intercept</a>. “I’ll continue to fight for structural change that actually centers people’s safety and humanity. That applies to us here in the Capitol, as well as my constituents in Minneapolis.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OvLYHb">
The <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/05/20/squad-capitol-police-funding-pressley-aoc-omar/">joint statement</a> from Omar, Bush, and Pressley expressed a broader set of concerns with the bill. Here’s a key passage:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HPlKFb">
Increasing law enforcement funds does not inherently protect or safeguard the Capitol Hill or surrounding D.C. community. In fact, this bill is being passed before we have any real investigation into the events of January 6th and the failures involved because Republicans have steadfastly obstructed the creation of a January 6th commission.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2huDBr">
The bill also does far too little to address the unspeakable trauma of the countless officers, staff, and support workers who were on site that day – dedicating fifty times more money to the creation of a ‘quick reaction force’ than it does to counseling. We cannot support this increased funding while many of our communities continue to face police brutality while marching in the streets, and while questions about the disparate response between insurrectionists and those protesting in defense of Black lives go unanswered.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8XIST3">
Ultimately, Pelosi’s Democratic caucus emerged with the bill they wanted because three members of the Squad decided to vote “present” rather than oppose it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6x0PpE">
But the entire episode showed the progressive wing of House Democrats flexing its muscle as a voting bloc, and likely foreshadows future legislative battles to come, whether on issues tied to criminal justice or other major points of policy disagreement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8ImIOD">
Pelosi’s 11th-hour negotiations to save the bill also suggest that, with a narrow majority in the House, Democratic Party leadership cannot afford to alienate its most progressive members on any must-pass legislation — potentially offering those farther-left members more leverage on their own priorities.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wm0L12">
And while Biden and Democratic House leadership seem to have been able to satisfy the Squad on Biden’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/3/10/22320350/biden-sign-stimulus-bill-covid-19">coronavirus relief bill</a> and the administration’s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aoc-praised-vision-joe-bide-infrastructure-plan-should-be-bigger-2021-4">opening gambit on a massive infrastructure bill</a>, some rifts between the establishment and the Squad may have further-reaching consequences. For example, in light of Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza,<strong> </strong>some members of the Squad <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5gqzq/aoc-and-the-squad-are-trying-to-block-the-us-from-selling-bombs-to-israel">introduced an unprecedented resolution</a> to block Biden’s $735 million arms sale to Israel this week; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a similar proposal <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/20/sen-bernie-sanders-introduce-resolution-disapproval-735-million-us-arms-sale-israel/">in the Senate</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K2KBpn">
While these resolutions are unlikely to get traction, they can embolden others in the party to break from Biden — <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/israel-arms-sale-biden-democrats/2021/05/19/edc11814-b8d8-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html">as some briefly seemed to do</a> on the weapons sale — and serve as symbols of how the small left-wing bloc in Congress could become a thorn in the side of party leadership in the coming months and years.
</p></li>
<li><strong>A no-beef diet is great — but only if you don’t replace it with chicken</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A photo illustration of many chickens and one cow." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ofkyaj-HV4DYVMO6kVebdPb6C88=/317x0:2450x1600/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69327799/fp_chicken_draft.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Amanda Northrop/Vox
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Let’s not swap one moral disaster for another.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R0vuDX">
Most people have heard it by now: <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22287498/meat-wildlife-biodiversity-species-plantbased">Our meat habit is bad for the world</a>. Polling <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/282779/nearly-one-four-cut-back-eating-meat.aspx">suggests that tens of millions of people are taking this message seriously</a>: One in four Americans said they tried to cut back on meat in the last year, and half of those cited environmental concerns as a major reason. The popular food site Epicurious <a href="http://epicurious.com/expert-advice/why-epicurious-left-beef-behind-article">recently announced</a> they’ve stopped publishing recipes with beef in them, because of beef’s climate impacts, setting off the latest round of discussion on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/20/style/what-is-climatarian.html">meat’s effects on the environment</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4yDIZD">
Cutting meat consumption is as smart an idea as advertised. Industrial farming — the source of 99 percent of the meat Americans eat —<strong> </strong>provides the world with cheap meat, but it does so at a terrible environmental and moral<strong> </strong>cost.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oT0hO5">
Where it gets complicated is when people decide which meat, exactly, they’ll be cutting back on. Often, it’s beef that loses out in that calculus. And often, the messaging is that we can save the world by <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/eating-chicken-instead-beef-will-drastically-reduce-your-carbon-footprint-180972392/">switching out our beef consumption for chicken</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SOFWoC">
The problem with this message is that switching beef for chicken basically amounts to trading one moral catastrophe for another.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XBGfTt">
The environmental reasons for cutting beef from one’s diet are clear. Most of the climate<strong> </strong>impact of animal agriculture comes from raising cows for beef. Cows produce methane, a greenhouse gas that is a major contributor to global warming; it’s much more potent than carbon dioxide. Transitioning away from eating beef to eating other factory-farmed animal products undoubtedly reduces the carbon impact of a person’s diet.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sFwQxA">
But the transition away from beef can end up being a Pyrrhic victory if it drives up the <a href="https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/poultry-to-account-for-half-of-world-increase-in-meat-consumption">world’s rapidly rising chicken consumption</a>. That ends up swapping one disaster — the climate crisis and beef farming’s role in it — for another: the moral disaster of industrial chicken production.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gH0i3c">
To put it simply, it takes many, many more chicken lives than cow lives to feed people. Cows are big, so raising one produces about <a href="https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/PB1822.pdf">500 pounds of beef</a> — and at the <a href="https://www.nationalchickencouncil.org/about-the-industry/statistics/per-capita-consumption-of-poultry-and-livestock-1965-to-estimated-2012-in-pounds/">rate at which the average American eats beef</a>, it takes about 8.5<strong> </strong>years for one person to eat one cow. But chickens are much smaller, producing only a <a href="https://www.thekitchn.com/the-best-budget-cut-of-chicken-243355">few pounds</a> of meat <a href="https://www.nationalchickencouncil.org/about-the-industry/statistics/u-s-broiler-performance/">per bird</a>, with the average American eating about <a href="https://www.nationalchickencouncil.org/about-the-industry/statistics/per-capita-consumption-of-poultry-and-livestock-1965-to-estimated-2012-in-pounds/">one whole chicken every two weeks</a>. To put it another way, each year we eat about <a href="https://countinganimals.com/how-many-animals-does-a-vegetarian-save/">23 chickens and just over one-tenth of one cow (and about a third of one pig)</a>.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KHFSOSu1pEFd2UW5Ec8eI1EzlLM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22528977/chickencow.jpeg"/>
<figcaption>
Because chickens are so much smaller than pigs and cows, more chickens suffer for the food we eat.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZyKFF4">
The choice to swap beef for chicken is further compounded by the differences in their quality of life. Cows are raised for slaughter on pastures and feedlots — enclosed spaces where they’re fed grain in preparation for slaughter. Most animal well-being experts say that the life of a cow raised for beef<strong> </strong>is punctuated by traumatic events and cut needlessly short, but it’s not ceaseless torture.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UBOiVu">
On the other hand, factory-farmed chickens — and that’s <a href="https://www.sentienceinstitute.org/us-factory-farming-estimates">99 percent of all chickens we eat </a>— have an <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21437054/chickens-factory-farming-animal-cruelty-welfare">awful life</a> from the moment they’re born to the moment they’re slaughtered. The most efficient way to raise chickens is in massive, ammonia-choked, noisy warehouses, where the birds grow so rapidly (due to genetic selection for excessive size) that their legs can’t support their weight. They live about six weeks and then are killed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pifl4P">
So switching from cows to chickens is a way to somewhat reduce carbon emissions — but it comes with a massive increase in animal suffering.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v5ch3N">
Choosing between the two is a knotty dilemma that tends not to be discussed often. But<strong> </strong>this tension isn’t inevitable. After all, climate advocates and animal advocates are on the same side: supporting a transition away from industrial agriculture. And most people care about both animals and the environment, so addressing factory farming is a simple win-win.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AD9QnP">
The solution to factory farming’s many harms can’t be shuffling consumers between chicken and beef depending which of their devastating impacts is on the top of our minds. And consumers shouldn’t accept as inevitable the choice between torturing animals and dramatically worsening global warming. There is a path to a food system that doesn’t force us to choose, but we’re going to need to take much bigger steps, in terms of policy and consumer choice, to get there.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<div id="sgtANC">
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<h3 id="aQFaSF">
The climate impacts of animal agriculture
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z137RY">
There’s no way around it: Raising beef really is bad for the world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u6GQRf">
About <a href="http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/197623/icode/">15 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock</a>. Beef is the biggest culprit, accounting for about 65 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. Cattle produce methane, and they also require lots of carbon-intensive land conversion and carbon-intensive feed. They’re <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/04/6-pressing-questions-about-beef-and-climate-change-answered">about 20 times more resource-costly</a> per calorie than veggies, and about three times more resource-costly per calorie than fish or chicken.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Nl7f2A">
Beef’s defenders have argued that it doesn’t have to be that way. Proposals from <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/feeding-cattle-seaweed-reduces-their-greenhouse-gas-emissions-82-percent#:~:text=A%20bit%20of%20seaweed%20in,the%20University%20of%20California%2C%20Davis.&amp;text=%E2%80%9CThis%20could%20help%20farmers%20sustainably,the%20world%2C%E2%80%9D%20Roque%20added.">feeding cattle seaweed</a> in order to reduce their methane emissions to “<a href="https://regenerationinternational.org/why-regenerative-agriculture/">regenerative farming</a>” that can<strong> </strong>improve soil and<strong> </strong>land have been aired, and some have been implemented on a<strong> </strong>small scale.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0MIXeI">
But American consumers shouldn’t kid themselves: If you purchase beef from a grocery store shelf or in a restaurant in America, unless you go very far out of your way to trace, source, and verify the sustainable history of that meat, you’re getting the product of a carbon-intensive industrial process.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GfOjpv">
Epicurious nodded to this reality in its <a href="https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/why-epicurious-left-beef-behind-article">announcement</a> that it would stop publishing beef recipes: “We know that some people might assume that this decision signals some sort of vendetta against cows — or the people who eat them. But this decision was not made because we hate hamburgers (we don’t!). Instead, our shift is solely about sustainability, about not giving airtime to one of the world’s worst climate offenders. We think of this decision as not anti-beef but rather pro-planet.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GjqwEm">
A May 20 article in the New York Times about the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/20/style/what-is-climatarian.html">rise of “climatarians”</a> underscored the emerging primacy of climate in people’s dietary choices, noting that climate-conscious eaters have moved in a meatless direction, but that many still believe that “chicken or lamb are much better choices than beef.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tO9k6i">
It’s entirely understandable that some consumers have decided it’s time to move away from beef. And yes, individual consumer decisions do matter: Researchers <a href="https://reducing-suffering.org/comments-on-compassion-by-the-pound/#Elasticities">have studied what’s called the elasticity of supply for meat</a> — that is, how much consumer demand affects production — and determined that when consumers demand fewer hamburgers, fewer cows are raised.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bw1N29">
But whether that’s, on the whole, a good thing depends a lot on what you choose instead.
</p>
<h3 id="imxher">
The animal-cruelty angle
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4gE3kb">
It’s no fun to be a cow on a factory farm. But animal welfare experts agree: Being a chicken is much worse.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Oatx70">
That’s because of the commercial incentives behind both cow and chicken production. Ranchers have found it most efficient to raise cows outdoors on pasture and then fatten them for slaughter on feedlots. There’s a lot wrong with how we raise them — cows are painfully dehorned, mass distribution of antibiotics keeps them healthy at the expense of breeding antibiotic resistance, and while there’s a federal law that requires pigs and cattle to be rendered unconscious prior to slaughter, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/9/3/9257181/usda-humane-slaughter-meat">it’s not always followed and only minimally enforced</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rkjl9N">
But chickens have it much worse. The cheapest way to raise chickens is in massive<strong>, </strong>crowded indoor warehouses where they never see the sun. Over time, companies have <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21437054/chickens-factory-farming-animal-cruelty-welfare">bred chickens to grow so fast</a> their joints fail as they reach full size. <a href="https://globalanimalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Better_Chicken_Project_Summary_Report_Global_Animal_Partnership.pdf">Observational studies</a> suggest they spend much of their time sitting still, in too much pain to move.
</p>
<aside id="Vd2IUp">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IooxNB">
“In most cases, they suffer far more than beef cattle, who have more legal protections, suffer fewer health problems, and are generally less intensively confined,” Leah Garces, the president of Mercy for Animals, <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/12/4/20993654/chicken-beef-climate-environment-factory-farms">has argued</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CjMdgu">
And while a cow suffers and is slaughtered to produce around <a href="https://beef.unl.edu/beefwatch/2020/how-many-pounds-meat-can-we-expect-beef-animal">500 pounds of meat</a>, a chicken produces about four to five pounds of meat. So a switch from beef to chicken is actually a switch from a tough life for one cow to an awful life for around 100 chickens.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mnwNCW">
That’s why many advocates calling for an end to industrial farming have mixed feelings about the movement against beef. Is it right to try to save some carbon emissions by causing even more animal suffering?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qj6lWE">
And chicken is no panacea for the climate either. “Its impact on the climate only looks benign when compared with beef’s,” Garces <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/12/4/20993654/chicken-beef-climate-environment-factory-farms">points out</a>. “Greenhouse gas emissions per serving of poultry are <a href="http://css.umich.edu/sites/default/files/Carbon_Footprint_Factsheet_CSS09-05_e2018_0.pdf">11 times</a><em> </em>higher than those for one serving of beans, so swapping beef with chicken is akin to swapping a Hummer with a Ford F-150, not a Prius.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yCKkjA">
Another frequently proposed option is switching to fish. But <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22301931/fish-animal-welfare-plant-based">aquaculture, too, causes intense animal suffering</a> and<em> </em>massive ecological consequences. There simply aren’t humane, sustainable, widely available, and cheap meats.
</p>
<h3 id="PBQUzj">
Giving consumers better choices
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tjIYpw">
Consumers who are reconsidering their meat consumption — for the sake of animals, the planet, or both — are doing a courageous thing, and the point of observing the added complications of this choice isn’t to discourage them. Fixing our broken food system is going to require substantial policy and corporate changes, as well as consumers making better choices. The beef versus chicken conversation is part of how we get there.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lQV5rd">
But what the dilemma lays bare is that there’s no meat consumption that will save the world. Meat is one of the most popular foods, and yet building a better world is going to require inducing consumers to switch away from it — and not just switch between different categories of meat as they weigh the different environmental and moral catastrophes it causes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m8EYna">
That’s why some animal advocates in the last few years have switched from convincing consumers to go vegan — which can be too big of a leap for many — to <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22385612/plant-based-meat-milk-alternative-protein">advocating for plant-based meat products</a>. These plant-based products are already difficult to distinguish from the originals, while having a lighter carbon footprint and no impact on animals. If you avoid beef by switching to plant-based meat products, you really are improving the world and improving conditions for the humans and animals that live on it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V3zJ4I">
But despite all these complications, when prominent food sites take beef out of their lineup or when Americans tell pollsters they’re trying to cut back on beef, it’s cause for optimism — even though in the short term, depending what they replace it with, it could make things worse. Our food system delivers meat cheaply at an awful price. Starting more conversations about that price and how we can mitigate it is a good thing, even if it’s a conversation a long way from a satisfying resolution.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Master of None season 3 is an artfully filmed disappointment</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Denise and Alicia do laundry and have a dance party." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/L20RwLHzaFIFwhKoK74pj2eBzkM=/0x0:4441x3331/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69325938/MON_SG_301_00032C.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Denise and Alicia dance while doing laundry in the third season premiere of <em>Master of None</em>. | Courtesy of Netflix
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>Moments in Love</em> is a radically progressive departure for the series — held back by its too-rigid filmmaking.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xLgHFE">
<a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80049714"><em>Master of None</em></a><em> </em>has always been about co-creator and lead actor Aziz Ansari’s enthusiasms. From his love of great food to his love of New York, the show lets him articulate his passions beautifully, through his writing, direction, and performance.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="31Yc9d">
The show also wound up being a way for Ansari to demonstrate his enjoyment of classic arthouse cinema. He directed more and more episodes across its first two seasons, incorporating more classicist techniques from famed European films of the mid-20th century, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/5/13/15628546/master-of-none-review-season-2-netflix">season two</a> actually featured a shot of the Criterion editions of classic films early in its run. (Among those films was Vittorio de Sica’s famed Italian masterpiece <em>Bicycle Thieves</em> — and, fittingly, <em>Master of None</em>’s season two premiere was about Ansari’s character, Dev, having his phone stolen.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YT6coh">
At first blush, the show’s third season, its first new season in just over four years, would seem to go against this tendency of its (now former) star. Ansari barely appears in season three, and he’s one of just two men with roles of any prominence. The story focuses, instead, on the marriage between Denise (Lena Waithe), a supporting character in the first two seasons, and new character Alicia (Naomi Ackie). Over the course of the season’s five episodes (which range from 20 minutes to 55 minutes long), the two navigate relationship strife, much of which stems from attempts to have a baby, first via artificial insemination and later via IVF.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wPgiti">
I want to say here that this season is <em>very intentionally</em> not a comedy. I think I laughed once. <em>Master of None</em> was never a laugh-a-second show, but it did have jokes throughout its first two seasons. These five episodes peer into some very difficult moments in two women’s lives; as such, even when the tone is lighter, there are almost no intentional jokes. For me, that was fine. Your mileage may vary.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VAajGm">
In theory, as a queer woman who’s exploring options to have a baby with her wife, when both of us are well past our years of peak fertility, I should be an easy mark for this narrative. But I felt constantly distanced from <em>Master of None</em>’s third season — which is technically called <em>Master of None Presents Moments in Love</em>, but good luck getting people to call it anything other than “season three” — and the reasons for that distancing largely boil down to Ansari’s direction.
</p>
<h3 id="eKBpp0">
<em>Master of None</em>’s visual aesthetic is too often at odds with the story it’s telling
</h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Alicia lays on a tree and looks up at the sky." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ufg82pt1_iXtVbCAs_MKS_GYstY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22531512/MON_SG_301_00042C.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Netflix</cite>
<figcaption>
Alicia takes a moment to herself.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="anG0Qd">
Ansari directed all five episodes, all of which he also co-wrote with Waithe. His direction of the season consists of static wide shots, only cutting in for an extreme, intimate close-up at a key emotional moment. The frames are perfectly composed, each and every element within them placed with exactitude. Ansari holds these shots for long periods of time, letting his camera stay fixed while his actors move into and out of the frame, rather than, say, following Denise when she goes into the kitchen from the dining room. We’ll hear her voice from off-camera instead.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LKwtbw">
(Here is where I will note that <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/1/17/16897440/aziz-ansari-allegations-babe-me-too">Ansari was accused in early 2018</a> of being too sexually forward on a date. Ansari said he thought what happened on the date was consensual; the woman accusing him did not. As Me Too-spurred allegations against famous men went, the one against Ansari was comparatively mild, but it’s easy to wonder if the allegations spurred him to work more behind the scenes on <em>Master of None</em>’s third season. Yet back when season two launched in spring 2017, Ansari was already saying that he <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2017/04/aziz-ansari-master-of-none-season-2.html">thought season three would take years to arrive</a>, so a long gap between seasons was always planned. Season three’s stripped-down story was further affected from being produced during the Covid-19 pandemic.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gWDBmN">
Because Ansari shoots <em>Moments in Love</em> in a narrower, slightly boxier aspect ratio than we’re used to seeing on modern television — a 4:3 aspect ratio, which was dominant for most of the medium’s history, up until widescreen TVs became more prevalent in the 2000s — scenes often look a little crowded, especially when there are more than two people in them (and, honestly, sometimes when there are only two people in them).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dGZv82">
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach, and at times, <em>Moments in Love</em> benefits from it. But the overall effect holds viewers at arm’s length throughout the season’s 4.5-hour running time, and that works to <em>Master of None</em>’s detriment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OPu0HW">
It took me a bit to figure out what Ansari’s direction was nodding toward most often, but after rewatching several key sequences, I realized the director is paying homage to <em>Scenes From a Marriage</em>, a 1973 TV miniseries from the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. (<em>Scenes From a Marriage </em>was re-edited into a shorter feature film version for its initial release in the US in 1974; both versions are now available via Criterion.) <em>Moments in Love</em> has a similar aspect ratio as <em>Scenes From a Marriage</em>, and both projects rely on static shots held for long lengths of time, as the actors move within those shots.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CUQDdd">
Bergman is not the only great director to have used a “fly on the wall” approach to telling a realistic story, but Ansari seems to have <em>Scenes From a Marriage</em> in mind when filming, say, Denise and Alicia in bed together. Bergman’s detachment from his central married couple in that film reflected both their distance from each other (because the camera was so far away) and how trapped they felt (because of the slightly more confining shape of the frame). But as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYTWuIMoT18">you’ll see in this scene</a>, Bergman would cut in for close-ups on his actors when they were feeling particularly passionate. Ansari doesn’t do this.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hDYReM">
On the one hand, <em>Moments in Love</em>’s overall approach, beyond its visuals, is a radical one, and it shows the hand of Waithe both at the writing and at the performance stage. Taking the work of Bergman — one of the greatest directors of the Western canon, but whose work was only ever subtextually queer and was always about people of European descent — and transforming his ideas so that they now center a Black queer couple is transgressive on at least some level. What does a story about the ups and downs of a marriage mean when you make it about two Black women? What stays the same, and what changes, if anything?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S8Dfqn">
Automatically, the process of having a baby becomes more fraught, and some of the best sequences of <em>Moments in Love</em> are about the difficulties of pursuing fertility treatments as a lesbian couple. In a perhaps too-didactic scene, a doctor informs Alicia that there just <em>isn’t</em> an insurance code for a lesbian couple (or a single woman) to have a child via IVF in the same way there is for a straight couple. It’s the kind of quietly devastating moment that Ansari’s direction was designed to capture perfectly, and it feels clearly informed by Waithe, a lesbian, telling this particular story.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8vsrI2">
The season’s fourth episode — which is all about the ups and downs of fertility care — is its best single installment, and it honestly might stand on its own for the curious. When the camera enters the operating room for embryo transplants or egg harvesting, the cool, clinically detached approach that Ansari favors feels as if it dissociates from the characters entirely, to the scene’s benefit. In order to become pregnant this way, a certain distance from the body must occur.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AICbop">
But the season struck me as too artistically conservative in many places. In particular, <em>Moments in Love</em> requires you to be all in on Denise and Alicia’s marriage early on for the later strife they face throughout the fertility treatment process to land. But pulling the camera back from them as a default and placing them within a narrow, boxy frame creates the subconscious sense that they’re already trapped in their relationship. We’re longing for them to escape it long before we should be.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zh7uwJ">
Again, this “fly on the wall” style <em>can</em> be effective. The way the series uses the house Denise and Alicia share as a symbol of the state of their relationship at any given time is wonderfully effective (pay attention to scenes where the two do laundry), and the series’ only significant close-up is <em>tremendous</em> when it finally arrives. It packs a wallop.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WUVY58">
Maybe we are supposed to think Denise and Alicia are trapped from frame one. Yet if that’s the case, I’m not sure this series knows what they’re trapped by.
</p>
<h3 id="ubWFR6">
<em>Master of None</em> tries to escape the aesthetics of affluence in season three, but it doesn’t go far enough
</h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Alicia and Denise look out at a green, green field, leaning on the fence." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/AEZhAPDSiU8eRexEcDnZy-dGf1M=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22531514/MON_SG_305_00026C.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Netflix</cite>
<figcaption>
If nothing else, the house in this season has really cool grounds to wander around on.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L347mw">
Broadly speaking, <em>Master of None </em>belongs to a TV comedy subgenre we might call the “short film sitcom.” The core idea of this type of series means that every episode is its own short film, often centered on the perspective of a singular auteur, who often directs, writes, and stars in the series. Examples would include FX’s <em>Louie</em> and <em>Atlanta</em> and HBO’s <em>Girls</em> and <em>Insecure</em>, but there are many more than just those few. (Remember TV Land’s <em>The Jim Gaffigan Show</em>?)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HHZ4Qp">
Central to many of these series is an idea that the characters don’t particularly have to worry about money. <em>Girls</em> may have opened with a scene where Hannah’s parents told her she could no longer rely on them to fund her adventures, but she <em>had</em> parents who funded her adventures. Sam Fox on FX’s <em>Better Things</em> stresses about money sometimes, but she also owns a house in Los Angeles and works intermittently as an actor. Money is a fleeting concern in these shows, not a constant one.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Db09j2">
Not every show in this format can be so blasé about economic matters. <em>Atlanta</em> is one of the best TV series ever made about the ways that people in poverty organize their lives to stretch every last dollar they have (and about the horrible structures that keep impoverished people impoverished). But typically, this style of storytelling carries within it an assumption of wealth and power and privilege.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lDDATz">
Yet the fact remains: Not having to constantly worry about money is a privilege, and the short-film sitcom, whose stylistic roots lie in highbrow film comedies that center on characters who spend most of their time pursuing pure aesthetic pleasures and pondering the deeper mysteries of the universe, is too often rooted in that privilege. There is nothing wrong with telling a story focused on these issues. Many great films and TV shows tackle characters who are economically comfortable.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i9J1Hx">
Yet <em>Moments in Love</em> seems, fitfully, to want to look at this question of economic privilege. An assumption of economic comfort certainly animated the first two seasons of <em>Master of None</em>. The characters’ affluence, particularly in season two, was mostly presented matter of factly. Though the show was able to step outside the affluent bubble of its central character, its portrayal of New York could never quite leave the perspective of the people paying service-industry employees; it failed to explore the perspective of the service-industry employees themselves, even when it explicitly tried. (To its credit, <em>Master of None </em>tries much harder to shift its economic perspective than other comparable shows, as <a href="https://filmschoolrejects.com/class-politics-master-of-none/">Andrew Karpan at Film School Rejects points out</a>.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fa77qW">
In its early going,<em> Moments in Love</em> has the same vague “lifestyles section of the New York Times” visual aesthetic of <em>Master of None</em>’s other two seasons. The house Denise and Alicia share is almost aggressively cozy, and it feels isolated from the rest of the world, like the couple lives inside of <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/291537775883464626/">Taylor Swift’s photoshoot</a> for her cottagecore album <em>folklore</em>. In later episodes, the series complicates its own affluent coziness, and we do learn that some characters from the first two seasons are having economic troubles. <em>Master of None</em> is interested in the ways that its characters’ blinkered perspectives shift with their economic rise and fall, and its examinations of how expensive it is to pursue IVF treatments help to ground this consideration.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HH5TeF">
But no matter how much <em>Master of None </em>explores questions about the way its characters’ access to wealth (or their lack of access) paints their view of the world, it is unwilling to push too far. The season finale still features a lengthy vacation that suggests the characters remain fairly well off when all is said and done.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qx09r1">
If we’re meant, on some level, to see Denise and Alicia as imprisoned by their circumstances in those early episodes but also to see them as being deeply in love (at least for a little while), then the obvious question is what is holding them in place. The series feints toward the idea that it’s financial and social success — that Denise and Alicia are so unable to imagine a life outside of the one we see early in the season that they make choices out of a fear of losing it, but that doesn’t track with much of what actually happens in the season.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2HABF2">
Instead, what imprisons Denise and Alicia is a question that <em>Master of None</em> doesn’t really bother to consider: Why?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LJ3lkw">
Many of us who are queer in America in 2021 are actively considering all of the ways in which the cisheteronormative ideals that most pop culture indulges in blind us to the ways in which those systems are not necessarily the way things have to be.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eFdkD1">
<em>Master of None</em> builds <em>Moments in Love</em> atop the assumption that the happiest life for Denise and Alicia is one of monogamous bliss in a beautiful cabin in the woods, and that having a baby might very well add to that bliss (though on that question, at least, Denise and Alicia don’t immediately agree). But what if it isn’t? What if there are other ways to organize a life, to raise a child, to consider oneself successful? <em>Moments in Love</em> flirts with those questions, but it never really engages with them, because it ultimately can’t think of another way to see the world. The tight frames of this season don’t imprison the characters. They imprison the show itself.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Dr6jP5">
Master of None Presents Moments in Love <em>(phew) debuts Sunday, May 23 </em><a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80049714"><em>on Netflix</em></a><em>. It’s five episodes long and around 4.5 hours in running time.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SMEp1w">
<strong>Correction: </strong>In the season two premiere of <em>Master of None</em>, Dev has his phone stolen, not his bicycle. The article has been updated.
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="iEVHQZ"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="858Wtp">
For more on <em>Master of None</em> season three, listen to <a href="https://megaphone.link/VMP9239894425">Peter Kafka’s conversation with co-creator Alan Yang</a> on the <em>Recode Media</em> podcast.
</p>
<div id="Fjr7S6">
</div></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>Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar arrested</strong> - He is wanted in a kidnapping and murder of a 23-year-old wrestler inside Chhatrasal Stadium in North West Delhi.</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>Emotional Suarez thanks Atletico for rescuing him from Barca</strong> - He offered veiled criticism of his former club, who finished the season in third place.</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>Zidane tight-lipped over Real Madrid future</strong> - Local media reports have speculated that the Frenchman would walk away at the end of the season.</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>Atletico Madrid clinches La Liga title thanks to Suarez winner against Valladolid</strong> - Several hundred supporters cheered both sides from outside the stadium.</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>Palak-Parul duo qualifies for Paralympics</strong> - Women’s pair of Palak Kohli and Parul Parmar on Friday became the first Indian para shuttlers to qualify for Tokyo Paralympics.The 18-year-old Palak</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>Coronavirus | Vaccine manufacturer Moderna refuses to provide direct vaccination to Punjab</strong> - Moderna says they only deal with Government of India and not with any State government or private parties</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>Minor face-off with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley</strong> - No clash during incident in no-patrolling zone in early May, say officials</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>Cyclone Yaas | Prepare for worst-case scenario, evacuate on overdrive: NDRF Chief’s advice to States</strong> - He said 12 teams have so far been stationed in West Bengal and more are on standby</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>As volcano erupts, Indian Army in Congo assists in evacuation</strong> - The Army has also established an observation point giving real time updates of the lava flow to the Brigade headquarters.</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>Kerala’s Panchayat member turns ambulance driver to help women patients</strong> - The ambulance she drives was donated to the Indian Union Muslim League local committee for COVID related requirements, by Bafaqui Thangal Charitable Trust</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>Italy cable car fall: Eight dead after accident near Lake Maggiore</strong> - At least eight killed after cable car falls near Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, rescuers say</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>Damiano David: Eurovision winner denies taking drugs during event</strong> - The lead singer of the winning Italian band Måneskin dismisses online speculation about cocaine use.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Italy wins Eurovision: ‘Rock and roll never dies’</strong> - Italy’s Måneskin have won the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with their entry, Zitti e Buoni.</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>Coronavirus: Spain to lift restrictions for UK and Japanese travellers</strong> - UK tourists will be free to enter the country without a negative Covid-19 PCR test from Monday.</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>Inside Russia’s Trefoil military base in the Arctic</strong> - BBC Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford gets rare access to the Russian military base, known as Arctic Trefoil.</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>All those electric vehicles pose a problem for building roads</strong> - Gas taxes are the largest source of funding for highway construction, maintenance. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1766759">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hear ye, DarkSide! This honorable ransomware court is now in session</strong> - Colonial Pipeline hackers have cashed in spectacularly. Now, they’re feeling the heat. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1766911">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IMF says $50 billion is needed to end Covid pandemic in 2022</strong> - Nations with sufficient supply could donate doses to vaccinate 60% of world population. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1766852">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Atlantic hurricane season’s first storm forms early—again</strong> - Ana’s formation is part of a trend toward earlier storms in the Atlantic. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1766961">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>This AI makes Robert De Niro perform lines in flawless German</strong> - Technology related to deepfakes helps match facial movements to dialogue. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1766814">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>A priest, a doctor, and an engineer play golf.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A priest, a doctor, and an engineer are out playing a round of golf. Partway through their game, they realize that the group in front is taking forever to move through the course. Frustrated, they ask the groundskeeper what’s going on. The groundskeeper, visibly emotional, says:
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Well, I’m afraid the reason that group is a bit slow is that they are, in fact, a trio of blind firefighters. You see, last month they saved the clubhouse from a blaze and lost their vision in the accident. To show our thanks, we let them play for free whenever they’d like.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The priest replies: “My that’s terrible! I’ll be sure to say a prayer for them.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“What a tragedy!” says the Doctor, “I’ll see if I can help them with their treatment.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
After a moment of quiet, the Engineer finally speaks:
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Well for goodness sake, why can’t they just play at night?”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Hoverboredom"> /u/Hoverboredom </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/niw62m/a_priest_a_doctor_and_an_engineer_play_golf/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/niw62m/a_priest_a_doctor_and_an_engineer_play_golf/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A guy is driving around the back woods of Montana and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: ‘Talking Dog For Sale.’</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘You talk?’ he asks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘Yep,’ the Lab replies
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says ‘So, what’s your story?’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Lab looks up and says, ’Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so… I told the CIA.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
’I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running…
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn’t getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I’m just retired.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘Ten dollars,’ the guy says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
’Because he’s a Bullshitter. He’s never been out of the yard.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/antonholden"> /u/antonholden </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nitwsz/a_guy_is_driving_around_the_back_woods_of_montana/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nitwsz/a_guy_is_driving_around_the_back_woods_of_montana/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>When I woke up this morning, my girlfriend was cooking breakfast in nothing than a T-shirt… …when I came downstairs, she told me she needed me to have sex with her right away…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Needless to say I was thrilled, so we did it right there in the kitchen…
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
…she immediately went back to cooking… we didn’t usually do stuff like that, so I hesitantly asked, “so…what was that all about?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She said, “I had 5 minutes left on the casserole, but the timer broke.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nj1w69/when_i_woke_up_this_morning_my_girlfriend_was/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nj1w69/when_i_woke_up_this_morning_my_girlfriend_was/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>So these three clowns were eating a cannibal.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
One of them said “I think we started this joke wrong.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/DrCucamonga"> /u/DrCucamonga </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/niv66t/so_these_three_clowns_were_eating_a_cannibal/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/niv66t/so_these_three_clowns_were_eating_a_cannibal/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My wife got stung by a bee on the forehead. She’s at the ER now, her face all swollen and bruised, she almost died.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Luckily I was close enough to hit the bee with my shovel.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/notriple"> /u/notriple </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nifvzh/my_wife_got_stung_by_a_bee_on_the_forehead_shes/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nifvzh/my_wife_got_stung_by_a_bee_on_the_forehead_shes/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>

4
index.html
View File

File diff suppressed because one or more lines are too long