Added daily report
This commit is contained in:
parent
d0cd9cdf42
commit
acc878673e
|
@ -0,0 +1,215 @@
|
||||||
|
<!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>07 April, 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>Italia Ti Ascolto [Italy, I am listening]: an app-based group psychological intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
The onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic impacted individuals’ psychological wellbeing resulting in heightened perceived stress, anxiety, and depression. However, a significant issue in accessing psychological care during a lockdown is the lack of access to in-person interventions. In this regard, research has shown the efficacy and utility of psychological app-based interventions. ‘Italia Ti Ascolto’ (ITA) has been developed as a population tailored internet-based intervention to offer an online professional solution for psychological support needs. The ITA app is available on iOS and Android systems. Users completed a baseline assessment on emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression), psychological stress, anxiety, depression, and perceived social support. Participants could select among several one-hour long clinical groups held by expert psychotherapists. After every session, people were asked to complete a quick users’ satisfaction survey. Our contribution presents ITA’s intervention protocol and discusses preliminary data on psychological variables collected at baseline. Data showed significant associations between emotion regulation strategies, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and level of stress. Moreover, the role of perceived social support is considered. Future developments and implications for clinical practice and treatment are discussed.
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/ytu5m/" target="_blank">Italia Ti Ascolto [Italy, I am listening]: an app-based group psychological intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Rethinking Remdesivir for COVID-19: A Bayesian Reanalysis of Trial Findings</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
Background: Following testing in clinical trials, the use of remdesivir for treatment of COVID-19 has been authorized for use in parts of the world, including the USA and Europe. Early authorizations were largely based on results from two clinical trials. A third study published by Wang et al. was underpowered and deemed inconclusive. Although regulators have shown an interest in interpreting the Wang et al. study, under a frequentist framework it is difficult to determine if the non-significant finding was caused by a lack of power or by the absence of an effect. Bayesian hypothesis testing does allow for quantification of evidence in favor of the absence of an effect. Findings: Results of our Bayesian reanalysis of the three trials show ambiguous evidence for the primary outcome of clinical improvement and moderate evidence against the secondary outcome of decreased mortality rate. Additional analyses of three studies published after initial marketing approval support these findings. Conclusions: We recommend that regulatory bodies take all available evidence into account for endorsement decisions. A Bayesian approach can be beneficial, in particular in case of statistically non-significant results. This is especially pressing when limited clinical efficacy data is available.
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/metaarxiv/2kam7/" target="_blank">Rethinking Remdesivir for COVID-19: A Bayesian Reanalysis of Trial Findings</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Effect of Tocilizumab on ventilator free days composite outcome in SARS-CoV-2 patients. A retrospective competing risk analysis.</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Background: SARS CoV 2 infection demonstrates a wide range of severity, the more severe cases demonstrate a cytokine storm with elevated serum interleukin 6, hence IL 6 receptor antibody Tocilizumab was tried for the management of severe cases. Objectives: The effect of Tocilizumab treatment on the composite outcome of ventilator free days, among critically ill SARS CoV 2 patients. Method: Retrospective observational propensity score matching study, comparing mechanically ventilated patients upon ICU admission who received Tocilizumab to a control group. Utilizing competing risk analysis method, and reporting subdistributional hazard ratio of a composite outcome of ventilator free days at day 28. Results: 29 patients in the intervention group were compared to 29 patients in the control group. Matched groups were similar at base line. The primary outcome of ventilator free days was higher in the intervention group (SHR 2.7, 95% CI: 1.2 to 6.3; p = 0.02), crude ICU mortality rate was not different between Tocilizumab and control groups (37.9% versus 62% respectively, p = 0.1), actual ventilator free days were significantly longer in Tocilizumab group (mean difference 4.7 days, 95% CI 1.1 to 8.3; p = 0.02). Sensitivity analysis by Cox regression showed a significantly lower hazard ratio of death in Tocilizumab group (HR 0.49, 95% CI: 0.25 to 0.97; p = 0.04). While there was no difference in grown positive cultures among groups (55.2% in Tocilizumab group versus 34.5% in the control, 95% CI of difference: -7.11% to 54.4%; p = 0.1). Conclusion: Tocilizumab may improve the composite outcome of ventilator free days at day 28 among mechanically ventilated SARS-CoV-2 patients, it is associated with significantly longer actual ventilator free days, and insignificantly lower mortality and superinfection.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.01.21254794v1" target="_blank">Effect of Tocilizumab on ventilator free days composite outcome in SARS-CoV-2 patients. A retrospective competing risk analysis.</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Rapid screening for variants of concern in routine SARS-CoV-2 PCR diagnostics</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
The emerging spread of variants of concern (VOC) of SARS-CoV-2 has been noted in several countries worldwide during last months. VOCs associated with increased transmissibility and morality. Sequencing is the gold standard for investigation of variants, however it is expensive and time-consuming. S-dropout routine monitoring in combination with VOC screening by RT-PCR is a useful tool for VOC surveillance.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.01.21254755v1" target="_blank">Rapid screening for variants of concern in routine SARS-CoV-2 PCR diagnostics</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Neutrophil-mediated Oxidative Stress and Albumin Structural Damage Predict COVID-19-associated Mortality</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Human serum albumin (HSA) is the frontline antioxidant protein in blood with established anti-inflammatory and anticoagulation functions. Here we report that COVID-19-induced oxidative stress inflicts structural damages to HSA and is linked with mortality outcome in critically ill patients. We recruited 25 patients who were followed up for a median of 12.5 days (1-35 days), among them 14 had died. Analyzing blood samples from patients and healthy individuals (n=10), we provide evidence that neutrophils are major sources of oxidative stress in blood and that hydrogen peroxide is highly accumulated in plasmas of non-survivors. We then analyzed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of spin labelled fatty acids (SLFA) bound with HSA in whole blood of control, survivor, and non-survivor subjects (n=10-11). Non-survivors HSA showed dramatically reduced protein packing order parameter, faster SLFA correlational rotational time, and greater S/W ratio (strong-binding/weak-binding sites within HSA), all reflecting remarkably fluid protein microenvironments. Stratified at the means, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that lower values of S/W ratio and accumulated H2O2 in plasma significantly predicted in-hospital mortality (S/W<0.16, 80% (9/12) vs. S/W>0.16, 20% (2/10), p=0.008; plasma [H2O2]>7.1 μM, 83.3% (5/6) vs. 16.7% (1/6), p=0.049). When we combined these two parameters as the ratio ((S/W)/[H2O2]) to derive a risk score, the resultant risk score lower than the mean (< 0.0253) predicted mortality with 100% accuracy (100% (6/6) vs. 0% (0/6), logrank χ2 = 12.01, p = 5x10-4). The derived parameters may provide a surrogate marker to assess new candidates for COVID-19 treatments targeting HSA replacements.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.01.21254767v1" target="_blank">Neutrophil-mediated Oxidative Stress and Albumin Structural Damage Predict COVID-19-associated Mortality</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Prospective analytical performance evaluation of the QuickNavi™-COVID19 Ag for asymptomatic individuals</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Introduction Antigen testing may help screen for and detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in asymptomatic individuals. However, limited data regarding the diagnostic performance of antigen tests for this group are available. Methods We used clinical samples to prospectively evaluate the analytical and clinical performance of the antigen test QuickNavi™-COVID19 Ag. This study was conducted at a PCR center between October 7, 2020 and January 9, 2021. Two nasopharyngeal samples per patient were obtained with flocked swabs; one was used for the antigen test, and the other for real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR). The diagnostic performance of the antigen test was compared between asymptomatic and symptomatic patients, and the RT-PCR results were used as a reference. Results Among the 1,934 collected samples, SARS-CoV-2 was detected by real-time RT-PCR in 188 (9.7%); 76 (40.4%) of these samples were from asymptomatic individuals. Over half of the total samples (1,073; 55.5%) were obtained from asymptomatic volunteers. The sensitivity of the antigen test was significantly lower for asymptomatic group than for symptomatic patients (67.1% vs 89.3%, p < 0.001). The specificity was 100% for both groups, and no false positives were observed among all 1,934 samples. The median Ct value for the asymptomatic group was significantly higher than that of the symptomatic group (24 vs 20, p < 0.001). Conclusions The QuickNavi™-COVID19 Ag showed a lower sensitivity for asymptomatic group than for symptomatic patients. However, its specificity was consistently high, and no false positives were found in this study.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.01.21254813v1" target="_blank">Prospective analytical performance evaluation of the QuickNavi™-COVID19 Ag for asymptomatic individuals</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Mental health inequalities in healthcare, economic, and housing disruption during COVID -19: an investigation in 12 longitudinal studies</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated virus suppression measures have disrupted lives and livelihoods, potentially exacerbating inequalities. People already experiencing mental ill-health may have been especially vulnerable to disruptions. Aim: Investigate associations between pre-pandemic psychological distress and disruptions during the pandemic to (1) healthcare, economic activity, and housing, (2) cumulative disruptions and 3) whether these differ by age, sex, ethnicity or education. Methods: Data were from 59,482 participants in 12 UK longitudinal adult population surveys with data collected both prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants self-reported disruptions since the start of the pandemic to: healthcare (medication access, procedures, or appointments); economic activity (negative changes in employment, income or working hours); and housing (change of address or household composition). Logistic regression models were used within each study to estimate associations between pre-pandemic psychological distress scores and disruption outcomes. Findings were synthesised using a random effects meta-analysis with restricted maximum likelihood. Results: Between one to two-thirds of study participants experienced at least one disruption during the pandemic, with 2.3-33.2% experiencing disruptions in 2 or more of the 3 domains examined. One standard deviation higher pre-pandemic psychological distress was associated with: (i) increased odds of any healthcare disruptions (OR=1.30; 95% CI: 1.20 to 1.40) with fully adjusted ORs ranging from 1.33 [1.20 to 1.49] for disruptions to prescriptions or medication access and 1.24 [1.09 to 1.41] for disruption to procedures; (ii) loss of employment (OR=1.13 [1.06 to 1.21]) and income (OR=1.12 [1.06 to 1.19]) and reductions in working hours/furlough (OR=1.05 [1.00 to 1.09]); (iii) no associations with housing disruptions (OR=1.00 [0.97 to 1.03]); and (iv) increased likelihood of experiencing a disruption in at least two domains (OR=1.25 [1.18 to 1.32]) or in one domain (OR=1.11 [1.07 to 1.16]) relative to experiencing no disruption. We did not find evidence of these associations differing by sex, ethnicity, education level, or age. Conclusion: Those suffering from psychological distress before the pandemic were more likely to experience healthcare disruptions, economic disruptions related to unemployment and loss of income, and to clusters of disruptions across multiple domains during the pandemic. Considering mental ill-health was already unequally distributed in the UK population, the pandemic may exacerbate existing mental health inequalities. Individuals with poor mental health may need additional support to manage these pandemic-associated disruptions.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.01.21254765v1" target="_blank">Mental health inequalities in healthcare, economic, and housing disruption during COVID -19: an investigation in 12 longitudinal studies</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Study of the effectiveness of partial quarantines applied to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
In Chile and in many countries of the world, partial quarantines have been used as part of the strategy to contain and control the Covid-19 virus. However, there is no certainty of its effectiveness and efficiency due to the lack of comparison with similar scenarios. In this work, we formulated a theoretical model of individual mobility, which also incorporates the infection dynamics of Covid-19. The model is based on a cellular automaton, which includes individuals moving through the represented spatial region and interacting according to the dynamics of Covid-19. In addition, we include mobile and partial health barriers, and different mobility regimes. Our results show that, partial quarantines would not be effective in general, to reduce the peak of active individuals infected with the virus, except for some proportions of territorial area involved in the division of the global region. Another interesting result of our research is that the passage restrictions in a sanitary barrier would not be relevant to the impact of the pandemic indicators in a sanitary quarantine regime. A possible explanation for the ineffectiveness of partial quarantines lies in the fact that the sanitary barriers are permeable to infected individuals and therefore when one of these individuals passes, an outbreak occurs in the virus-free zone that is independent of the original one.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.03.21254727v1" target="_blank">Study of the effectiveness of partial quarantines applied to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Energy Insecurity Influences Urban Outdoor Air Pollution Levels during COVID-19 Lockdown in South-Central Chile</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Introduction: In south-central Chile, outdoor air pollution primarily originates as household air pollution from wood burning for heating. The effect of COVID-19 lockdowns on ambient air pollution levels in urban south-central Chile may therefore be different from trends observed in cities where transportation and industrial emission sources dominate. Methods: This quasi-experimental study compares hourly fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM10) particulate matter measurements from six air monitoring stations (three reference grade beta attenuation monitors and three low-cost SPS30 sensors) in commercial and low or middle-income residential areas of Temuco and Padre Las Casas, Chile between March-September 2019 and 2020 (spanning COVID-19 lockdown). Results: In Padre Las Casas, average outdoor PM2.5 concentrations peaked above 100 ug/m3 from 8-10 pm during winter (May-August) 2019 and 2020, when wood burning is common. During COVID-19 lockdown, average monthly ambient PM2.5 concentrations in a commercial and middle-income residential area of Temuco were up to 50% higher (12 ug/m3 to 18 ug/m3) and 59% higher (22 ug/m3 to 35 ug/m3) than 2019 levels, respectively. Conversely, PM2.5 levels decreased by up to 52% (43 ug/m3 to 21 ug/m3) in low-income neighborhoods. The night-time (8 pm-9 am) mass percent of PM10 that was PM2.5 during strict quarantine (April 2020) increased by 48% above April 2017-2019 proportions (50% to 74%) in a commercial area of Temuco. Conclusions: Wood burning for home heating was responsible for a significantly higher proportion of ambient PM2.5 pollution in commercial areas and middle-income neighborhoods of Temuco during COVID-19 lockdown, compared to winter months in 2019. Constrastingly, energy insecure households likely refrained from wood heating during lockdown, leading to PM2.5 concentration declines. To reduce the double burden of ambient air pollution and energy insecurity in south-central Chile, affordability of clean heating fuels (e.g. electricity, liquefied petroleum gas) should be a policy priority.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.03.21254639v1" target="_blank">Energy Insecurity Influences Urban Outdoor Air Pollution Levels during COVID-19 Lockdown in South-Central Chile</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 is detectable using sensitive RNA saliva testing days before viral load reaches detection range of low-sensitivity nasal swab tests</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Early detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection is critical to reduce asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic spread of COVID-19, curb the spread of viral variants by travelers, and maximize efficacy of therapeutic treatments. We designed a study to evaluate the preferred test sensitivity and sample type (saliva and nasal swab) for detecting early infections of COVID-19. We performed a case-ascertained study to monitor household contacts of individuals recently diagnosed with a SARS-CoV-2 infection. From those individuals, we obtained twice-daily self-collected anterior-nares nasal swabs and saliva samples and quantified SARS-CoV-2 RNA viral loads in those samples using high-sensitivity RT-qPCR and RT-ddPCR assays. We found that SARS-CoV-2 RNA first appears in saliva and then in nasal-swab samples. A high-sensitivity (limit of detection of ~103 copies/mL) RNA test detected SARS-CoV-2 virus in saliva 1.5 to 4.5 days before the viral load in the paired nasal-swab samples exceeded the limit of detection of low-sensitivity tests. It was possible to observe a high (>107-108 copies/mL) viral load in saliva samples while the paired nasal swab was either negative or had low (~103 copies/mL) viral load. Our results indicate that both sampling site and test sensitivity must be considered to ensure early detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection: high-sensitivity tests that use saliva can detect SARS-CoV-2 infection days earlier than low-sensitivity tests that use nasal swabs. Furthermore, early in the infection, low-sensitivity tests that use nasal swabs may miss SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals with very high and potentially infectious viral loads in saliva.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.02.21254771v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 is detectable using sensitive RNA saliva testing days before viral load reaches detection range of low-sensitivity nasal swab tests</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Novel prognostic determinants of COVID-19-related mortality: a pilot study on severely-ill patients in Russia</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
COVID-19 pandemic has posed a severe healthcare challenge calling for an integrated approach in determining the clues for early non-invasive diagnostics of the potentially severe cases and efficient patient stratification. Here we analyze the clinical, laboratory and CT scan characteristics associated with high risk of COVID-19-related death outcome in the cohort of severely-ill patients in Russia. The data obtained reveal that elevated dead lymphocyte counts, decreased early apoptotic lymphocytes, decreased CD14+/HLA-Dr+ monocytes, increased expression of JNK in PBMCs, elevated IL-17 and decreased PAI-1 serum levels are associated with a high risk of COVID-19-related mortality thus suggesting them to be new prognostic factors. This set of determinants could be used as early predictors of potentially severe course of COVID-19 for trials of prevention or timely treatment.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.01.21254688v1" target="_blank">Novel prognostic determinants of COVID-19-related mortality: a pilot study on severely-ill patients in Russia</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Female-male differences in COVID vaccine adverse events have precedence in seasonal flu shots: a potential link to sex-associated baseline gene expression patterns</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Nearly 150 million doses of FDA-authorized COVID vaccines have been administered in the United States. Sex-based differences of adverse events remain poorly understood, mandating the need for real-world investigation from Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and broader epidemiological data sets. Based on an augmented curation of EHR clinical notes of 31,064 COVID-vaccinated individuals (19,321 females and 11,743 males) in the Mayo Clinic, we find that nausea and vomiting were documented significantly more frequently in females than males after both vaccine doses (nausea: RRDose 1 = 1.67, pDose 1 <0.001, RRDose 2 = 2.2, pDose 1 < 0.001; vomiting: RRDose 1 = 1.58, pDose 1 < 0.001, RRDose 2 = 1.88, pDose 1 = 3.4x10-2). Conversely, fever, fatigue, and lymphadenopathy were more common in males after the first dose vaccination (fever RR = 0.62; p = 8.65x10-3; fatigue RR = 0.86, p = 2.89x10-2; lymphadenopathy RR = 0.61, p = 3.45x10-3). Analysis of the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) database further confirms that nausea comprises a larger fraction of total reports among females than males (RR: 1.58; p<0.001), while fever comprises a larger fraction of total reports among males than females (RR: 0.84; p<0.001). Importantly, increased reporting of nausea and fever among females and males, respectively, is also observed for prior influenza vaccines in the VAERS database, establishing that these differences are not unique to the recently developed COVID-19 vaccines. Investigating the mechanistic basis underlying these clinical findings, an analysis of bulk RNA-sequencing data from 12,158 human blood samples (8626 female, 3532 male) reveals 85 genes that are not only significantly different in their gene expression between females and males at baseline, but also have established literature-based associations to COVID-19 as well as the vaccine-related adverse events of clinical consequence. The NLRP3 inflammasome and the NR3C1 glucocorticoid receptor emerge as particularly promising baseline links to sex-associated vaccine adverse events, warranting targeted investigation of these signaling pathways and associated cell types. From a public health standpoint, our clinical findings shall aid in educating patients on the sex-associated risks they should expect for COVID-19 vaccines and also promote better clinical management of vaccine-associated adverse events.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.01.21254798v1" target="_blank">Female-male differences in COVID vaccine adverse events have precedence in seasonal flu shots: a potential link to sex-associated baseline gene expression patterns</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Mean time to infection by small diffusing droplets containing SARS-CoV-2 during close social contacts</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Airborne viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 are partly spreading through aerosols containing viral particles. Inhalation of infectious airborne particles can lead to infection, a route that can even be more predominant compared with droplet or contact transmission. To study the transmission between a susceptible and an infected person, we estimate the distribution of arrival times of small diffusing aerosol particles to the inhaled region located below the nose until the number of particles reaches a critical threshold. Our results suggest that although contamination by continuous respiration can take around 90 minutes at a distance of one meter, it is reduced to a few minutes when coughing or sneezing. Interestingly, there is not much differences between outdoors and indoors when the air is still. When a window is open inside an office, the infection time is reduced. Finally, wearing a mask leads to a delay in the time to infection. To conclude, diffusion analysis provides several key time scale of viral airborne transmission.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.01.21254802v1" target="_blank">Mean time to infection by small diffusing droplets containing SARS-CoV-2 during close social contacts</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Modelling, Simulations and Analysis of the First and Second COVID-19 Epidemics in Beijing</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
To date, over 130 million people on infected with COVID-19. It causes more 2.8 millions deaths. This paper introduces a symptomatic-asymptomatic-recoverer-dead differential equation model (SARDDE). It gives the conditions of the asymptotical stability on the disease-free equilibrium of SARDDE. It proposes the necessary conditions of disease spreading for the SARDDE. Based on the reported data of the first and the second COVID-19 epidemics in Beijing and simulations, it determines the parameters of SARDDE, respectively. Numerical simulations of SARDDE describe well the outcomes of current symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, recovered symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, and died individuals, respectively. The numerical simulations suggest that both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals cause lesser asymptomatic spread than symptomatic spread; blocking rate of about 90% cannot prevent the spread of the COVID19 epidemic in Beijing; the strict prevention and control strategies implemented by Beijing government is not only very effective but also completely necessary. The numerical simulations suggest also that using the data from the beginning to the day after about two weeks at the turning point can estimate well or approximately the following outcomes of the two COVID-19 academics, respectively. It is expected that the research can provide better understanding, explaining, and dominating forepidemic spreads, prevention and control measures.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.02.21254821v1" target="_blank">Modelling, Simulations and Analysis of the First and Second COVID-19 Epidemics in Beijing</a>
|
||||||
|
</div></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>The statistical analysis of daily data associated with different parameters of the New Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia and their short-term interval prediction from September 2020 to February 2021</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
In the autumn - winter period of 2020, very difficult situation arose in Georgia with the course of the pandemic of the New Coronavirus COVID-19. In particular, in November-December period of 2020, Georgia eight days was rank a first in the world in terms of COVID-19 infection rate per 1 million populations. In this work results of a statistical analysis of the daily data associated with New Coronavirus COVID-19 infection of confirmed (C), recovered (R), deaths (D) and infection rate (I) cases of the population of Georgia in the period from September 01, 2020 to February 28, 2021 (for I - from December 05, 2020 to February 28, 2021) are presented. It also presents the results of the analysis of ten-day (decade) and two-week forecasting of the values of C, D and I, the information was regularly sent to the National Center for Disease Control & Public Health of Georgia and posted on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Avtandil1948/. The analysis of data is carried out with the use of the standard statistical analysis methods of random events and methods of mathematical statistics for the non-accidental time-series of observations. In particular, the following results were obtained. Georgia9s ranking in the world for Covid-19 infection and deaths from September 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021 (per 1 million population) was determined. Georgia was in the first place: Infection - November 21, 22, 27, 28 and December 04, 05, 06, 09, 2020; Death - November 22, 2020. A comparison between the daily mortality from Covid-19 in Georgia from September 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021 with the average daily mortality rate in 2015-2019 was made. The largest share value of D from mean death in 2015-2019 was 36.9% (19.12.2020), the smallest - 0.9% (21.09.2020, 24.09.2020 - 26.09.2020). The statistical analysis of the daily and decade data associated with coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic of confirmed, recovered, deaths cases and infection rate of the population of Georgia are carried out. Maximum daily values of investigation parameters are following: C = 5450 (05.12.2020), R = 4599 (21.12.2020), D = 53 (19.12.2020), I = 30.1 % (05.12.2020). Maximum mean decade values of investigation parameters are following: C = 4337 (1 Decade of December 2020), R = 3605 (3 Decade of November 2020), D = 44 (2 Decade of December 2020), I = 26.8 % (1 Decade of December 2020). It was found that the regression equations for the time variability of the daily values of C, R and D have the form of a tenth order polynomial. Mean values of speed of change of confirmed -V(C), recovered - V(R) and deaths - V(D) coronavirus-related cases in different decades of months from September 2020 to February 2021 were determined. Maximum mean decade values of investigation parameters are following: V(C) = +104 cases/day (1 Decade of November 2020), V(R) = +94 cases/day (3 Decade of October and 1 Decade of November 2020), V(D) = +0.9 cases/day (1 Decade of November 2020). Cross-correlations analysis between confirmed COVID-19 cases with recovered and deaths cases from 05.12.2020 to 28.02.2021 is carried out. So, the maximum effect of recovery is observed 13-14 days after infection, and deaths - after 13-14 and 17-18 days. The scale of comparing real data with the predicted ones and assessing the stability of the time series of observations in the forecast period in relation to the pre-predicted one was offered. Comparison of real and calculated predictions data of C (23.09.2020-28.02.2021), D (01.01.2021-28.02.2021) and I (01.02.2021-28.02.2021) in Georgia are carried out. It was found that daily, mean decade and two-week real values of C, D and I practically falls into the 67% - 99.99% confidence interval of these predicted values for the specified time periods (except the forecast of C for 13.10.2020-22.10.2020, when a nonlinear process of growth of C values was observed and its real values have exceeded 99.99% of the upper level of the confidence interval of forecast). Alarming deterioration with the spread of coronavirus parameters may arise when their daily values are higher 99.99% of upper level of the forecast confidence interval. Excellent improvement - when these daily values are below 99.99% of the lower level of the forecast confidence interval. The lockdown introduced in Georgia on November 28, 2020 brought positive results. There are clearly positive tendencies in the spread of COVID-19 to February 2021. Key words: New Coronavirus COVID-19, statistical analysis, short-term prediction.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
|
||||||
|
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.01.21254448v1" target="_blank">The statistical analysis of daily data associated with different parameters of the New Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia and their short-term interval prediction from September 2020 to February 2021</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>SERUR: COVID-19 Serological Survey of Staff From the University Reims-Champagne Ardennes</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Diagnostic Test: Anti-SARS-CoV2 Serology<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne<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>Study of DS-5670a (COVID-19 Vaccine) in Japanese Healthy Adults and Elderly Subjects</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: DS-5670a; Biological: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.<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 Nurse-Community Health Worker-Family Partnership Model: Addressing Uptake of COVID-19 Testing and Control Measures</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Behavioral: Nurse-Community-Family Partnership Intervention<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: New York University<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 MVC-COV1901 Vaccine Against COVID-19 in Elderly Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19 Vaccine<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: MVC-COV1901 (High-Dose); Biological: MVC-COV1901(Mid-Dose)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Immunogenicity and Safety of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO Cells)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: a middle-dose recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (CHO Cell) (18-59 years) at the schedule of day 0, 28, 56; Biological: a high-dose recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (CHO Cell) (18-59 years) at the schedule of day 0, 28, 56; Biological: a middle-dose recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (CHO Cell) (60-85 years) at the schedule of day 0, 28, 56; Biological: a high-dose recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (CHO Cell) (60-85 years) at the schedule of day 0, 28, 56; Biological: a middle-dose placebo (18-59 years) at the schedule of day 0, 28, 56; Biological: a high-dose placebo (18-59 years) at the schedule of day 0, 28, 56; Biological: a middle-dose placebo (60-85 years) at the schedule of day 0, 28, 56; Biological: a high-dose placebo (60-85 years) at the schedule of day 0, 28, 56<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Jiangsu Province Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Academy of Military Medical Sciences,Academy of Military Sciences,PLA ZHONGYIANKE Biotech Co, Ltd. LIAONINGMAOKANGYUAN Biotech Co, Ltd<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>Efficacy, Immunogenicity and Safety of Inactivated ERUCOV-VAC Compared With Placebo in COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: ERUCOV-VAC 3 µg/0.5 ml Vaccine; Biological: ERUCOV-VAC 6 µg/0.5 ml Vaccine; Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Health Institutes of Turkey; Erciyes University Scientific Research Projects Coordination<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>Post COVID-19 Syndrome and the Gut-lung Axis</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Dietary Supplement: Omni-Biotic Pro Vi 5; Dietary Supplement: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Medical University of Graz; CBmed Ges.m.b.H.<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 Dose Finding, Efficacy and Safety Study of Ensovibep (MP0420) in Ambulatory Adult Patients With Symptomatic COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: ensovibep; Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Molecular Partners AG; Novartis Pharmaceuticals; Iqvia Pty Ltd; Datamap; SYNLAB Analytics & Services Switzerland AG; Q2 Solutions<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>Vitamin D, Omega-3, and Combination Vitamins B, C and Zinc Supplementation for the Treatment and Prevention of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Dietary Supplement: Vitamin D; Dietary Supplement: Omega DHA / EPA; Dietary Supplement: Vitamin C, Vitamin B complex and Zinc Acetate<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Hospital de la Soledad; Microclinic International<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Impact of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation as an Immunomodulation on the Risk Reduction of COVID-19 Disease Progression With Escalating Cytokine Storm and Inflammatory Parameters</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Human fecal microbiota, MBiotix HBI; Drug: Placebo; Drug: SOC<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Medical University of Warsaw; Human Biome Institute, Poland<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study on Sequential Immunization of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Adenovirus Vector) and Inactivated Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: recombinant Ad5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine; Biological: inactive COVID-19 vaccine; Biological: trivalent split influenza vaccine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Jiangsu Province Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<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>STOP-COVID19: Superiority Trial Of Protease Inhibition in COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Brensocatib; Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Dundee; NHS Tayside; Insmed Incorporated<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>Monitoring of COVID-19 Seroprevalence Among GHdC Staff Members</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Diagnostic Test: Serology to determine SARS-CoV-2 infection<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Grand Hôpital de Charleroi<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>Favipiravir in High-risk COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: Favipiravir<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Penang Hospital, Malaysia; Enche’ Besar Hajjah Khalsom Hospital; Jasin Hospital; Kepala Batas Hospital; Melaka Hospital; Permai Hospital; Queen Elizabeth Hospital; Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital; Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital; Sultanah Aminah Hospital; Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital; Sungai Buloh Hospital; Tampin Hospital; Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital; Tuanku Fauziah Hospital; Tuanku Jaafar Hospital; Tumpat Hospital; Institute for Clinical Research<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>Respiratory Tele Monitoring COVID 19 (TMR COVID-19)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: Radius PPG Tetherless Pulse Oximetry (Masimo); Device: usual monitoring<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Assistance Publique Hopitaux De Marseille<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||||
|
</ul>
|
||||||
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
|
||||||
|
<ul>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vitamin D is a potential inhibitor of COVID-19: In silico molecular docking to the binding site of SARS-CoV-2 endoribonuclease Nsp15</strong> - Novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a pandemic threat to public health. Vaccines and targeted therapeutics to prevent infections and stop virus proliferation are currently lacking. Endoribonuclease Nsp15 plays a vital role in the life cycle, including replication and transcription as well as virulence of the virus. Here, we investigated Vitamin D for its in silico potential inhibition of the binding sites of SARS-CoV-2 endoribonuclease Nsp15. In this study, we selected Remdesivir,…</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>Virtual high throughput screening: Potential Inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 PL(PRO) and 3CL(PRO) Proteases</strong> - The pandemic, COVID-19, has spread worldwide and affected millions of people. There is an urgent need, therefore, to find a proper treatment for the novel coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent. This paper focuses on identifying inhibitors that target SARS-CoV-2 proteases, PL^(PRO) and 3CL^(PRO), which control the duplication and manages the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2. We have carried out detailed in silico Virtual high-throughput screening…</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>Evidence that Maackia amurensis seed lectin (MASL) exerts pleiotropic actions on oral squamous cells with potential to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease progression</strong> - COVID-19 was declared an international public health emergency in January, and a pandemic in March of 2020. There are over 23 million confirmed COVID-19 cases that have cause over 800 thousand deaths worldwide as of August 19th, 2020. COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. SARS-CoV-2 presents a surface “spike” protein that binds to the ACE2 receptor to infect host cells. In addition to the respiratory tract, SARS-Cov-2 can also infect cells of the oral mucosa, which also express the ACE2…</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 novel anti-human IL-1R7 antibody reduces IL-18-mediated inflammatory signaling</strong> - Unchecked inflammation can result in severe diseases with high mortality, such as macrophage activation syndrome (MAS). MAS and associated cytokine storms have been observed in COVID-19 patients exhibiting systemic hyper-inflammation. Interleukin-18 (IL-18), a proinflammatory cytokine belonging to the IL-1 family, is elevated in both MAS and COVID-19 patients, and its level is known to correlate with the severity of COVID-19 symptoms. IL-18 binds its specific receptor IL-1 Receptor 5 (IL-1R5,…</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>Silibinin as potential tool against SARS-Cov-2: In silico spike receptor-binding domain and main protease molecular docking analysis, and in vitro endothelial protective effects</strong> - The spread of SARS-CoV-2, along with the lack of targeted medicaments, encouraged research of existing drugs for repurposing. The rapid response to SARS-CoV-2 infection comprises a complex interaction of cytokine storm, endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, and pathologic coagulation. Thus, active molecules targeting multiple steps in SARS-CoV-2 lifecycle are highly wanted. Herein we explored the in silico capability of silibinin from Silybum marianum to interact with the SARS-CoV-2 main target…</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>Reply letter to: Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 replication using calcineurin inhibitors: Are concentrations required clinically achievable?</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>Analysis of glycosylation and disulfide bonding of wild-type SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the etiologic agent of COVID-19, uses its spike (S) glycoprotein anchored in the viral membrane to enter host cells. The S glycoprotein is the major target for neutralizing antibodies elicited by natural infection and by vaccines. Approximately 35% of the SARS-CoV-2 S glycoprotein consists of carbohydrate, which can influence virus infectivity and susceptibility to antibody inhibition. We found that virus-like particles produced by coexpression of SARS-CoV-2 S, M, E…</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>Coagulation factors directly cleave SARS-CoV-2 spike and enhance viral entry</strong> - Coagulopathy is recognized as a significant aspect of morbidity in COVID-19 patients. The clotting cascade is propagated by a series of proteases, including factor Xa and thrombin. Other host proteases, including TMPRSS2, are recognized to be important for cleavage activation of SARS-CoV-2 spike to promote viral entry. Using biochemical and cell-based assays, we demonstrate that factor Xa and thrombin can also directly cleave SARS-CoV-2 spike, enhancing viral entry. A drug-repurposing screen…</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>Ultrapotent bispecific antibodies neutralize emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants</strong> - The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants that threaten the efficacy of existing vaccines and therapeutic antibodies underscores the urgent need for new antibody-based tools that potently neutralize variants by targeting multiple sites of the spike protein. We isolated 216 monoclonal antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 from plasmablasts and memory B cells of COVID-19 patients. The three most potent antibodies targeted distinct regions of the RBD, and all three neutralized the SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.1.7…</p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An MHV macrodomain mutant predicted to lack ADP-ribose binding activity is severely attenuated, indicating multiple roles for the macrodomain in coronavirus replication</strong> - All coronaviruses (CoVs) contain a macrodomain, also termed Mac1, in non-structural protein 3 (nsp3) which binds and hydrolyzes ADP-ribose covalently attached to proteins. Despite several reports demonstrating that Mac1 is a prominent virulence factor, there is still a limited understanding of its cellular roles during infection. Currently, most of the information regarding the role of CoV Mac1 during infection is based on a single point mutant of a highly conserved asparagine-to-alanine…</p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 and cardiovascular problems in elderly patients: Food for thought</strong> - The global number of COVID-19 infections, as of December 23, 2020, stood at approximately 79 million, with over 1.7 million deaths. The development of vascular inflammation may also contribute to a hypercoagulable state and endothelial dysfunction in such patients. It is known that multi-organ damage is more likely in patients with sepsis if they develop coagulopathy and that inhibition of thrombin synthesis can have a positive impact in reducing mortality. In this review, we will focus on 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>The neutralizing antibody, LY-CoV555, protects against SARS-CoV-2 infection in non-human primates</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) poses a public health threat for which preventive and therapeutic agents are urgently needed. Neutralizing antibodies are a key class of therapeutics which may bridge widespread vaccination campaigns and offer a treatment solution in populations less responsive to vaccination. Herein, we report that high-throughput microfluidic screening of antigen-specific B-cells led to the identification of LY-CoV555 (also known as bamlanivimab), a…</p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Circadian clock modulating small molecules repurposing as inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 M(pro) for pharmacological interventions in COVID-19 pandemic</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is a global health emergency warranting the development of targeted treatment. The main protease M^(pro) is considered as a key drug target in coronavirus infections because of its vital role in the proteolytic processing of two essential polyproteins required for the replication and transcription of viral RNA. Targeting and inhibiting the M^(pro) activity represents a valid approach to prevent the SARS-CoV-2 replication and spread. Based on 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>Safety of hydroxychloroquine in healthcare workers for COVID-19 prophylaxis</strong> - BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), reported to inhibit severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication in in vitro studies, has been recommended for prophylaxis of COVID-19 in healthcare workers (HCWs). The objective of this study was to assess short-term adverse events (AEs) of HCQ in HCWs.</p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A review on the clinical trials of repurposing therapeutic drugs, mechanisms and preventive measures against SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly transmittable pathogenic viral infection that causes a disease known as COVID-19. It is a pandemic and public health challenge ravaging the world today. Unfortunately, with the daily increase of infected individuals, there is no known drug approved for the treatment of COVID-19. However, there are therapeutic drugs with the potentials to inhibit endocytic pathways, suppress ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerase activities, and…</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>5-(4-TERT-BUTOXY PHENYL)-3-(4N-OCTYLOXYPHENYL)-4,5-DIHYDROISOXAZOLE MOLECULE (C-I): A PROMISING DRUG FOR SARS-COV-2 (TARGET I) AND BLOOD CANCER (TARGET II)</strong> - The present invention relates to a method ofmolecular docking of crystalline compound (C-I) with SARS-COV 2 proteins and its repurposing with proteins of blood cancer, comprising the steps of ; employing an algorithmto carry molecular docking calculations of the crystalized compound (C-I); studying the compound computationally to understand the effect of binding groups with the atoms of the amino acids on at least four target proteins of SARS-COV 2; downloading the structure of the proteins; removing water molecules, co enzymes and inhibitors attached to the enzymes; drawing the structure using Chem Sketch software; converting the mol file into a PDB file; using crystalized compound (C-I) for comparative and drug repurposing with two other mutated proteins; docking compound into the groove of the proteins; saving format of docked molecules retrieved; and filtering and docking the best docked results. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN320884617">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>USING CLINICAL ONTOLOGIES TO BUILD KNOWLEDGE BASED CLINICAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) WITH THE ADOPTION OF TELECONFERENCING FOR THE PRIMARY HEALTH CENTRES/SATELLITE CLINICS OF ROYAL OMAN POLICE IN SULTANATE OF OMAN</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU320796026">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Peptides and their use in diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU319943278">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A PROCESS FOR SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT OF COVID 19 POSITIVE PATIENTS</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU319942709">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IN SILICO SCREENING OF ANTIMYCOBACTERIAL NATURAL COMPOUNDS WITH THE POTENTIAL TO DIRECTLY INHIBIT SARS COV 2</strong> - IN SILICO SCREENING OF ANTIMYCOBACTERIAL NATURAL COMPOUNDS WITH THE POTENTIAL TO DIRECTLY INHIBIT SARS COV 2Insilico screening of antimycobacterial natural compounds with the potential to directly inhibit SARS COV2 relates to the composition for treating SARS-COV-2 comprising the composition is about 0.1 – 99% and other pharmaceutically acceptable excipients. The composition also treats treating SARS, Ebola, Hepatitis-B and Hepatitis–C comprising the composition is about 0.1 – 99% and other pharmaceutically acceptable excipients. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN320777840">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种用于检测新型冠状病毒COVID-19的引物组及试剂盒</strong> - 本发明涉及生物技术领域,特别是涉及一种用于检测冠状病毒的引物组及试剂盒,所述引物组包括以下中的一对或多对:外侧引物对:所述外侧引物对包括如SEQ ID NO:1所示的上游引物F3和如SEQ ID NO:2所示的下游引物B3;内侧引物对:所述内侧引物对包括如SEQ ID NO:3所示的上游引物FIP和如SEQ ID NO:4所示的下游引物BIP;环引物对:所述环引物对包括如SEQ ID NO:5所示的上游引物LF和如SEQ ID NO:6所示的下游引物LB。试剂盒包括所述引物组。本发明在一个管中整合了RT‑LAMP和CRISPR,能依据两次颜色变化检测病毒和各种靶标核酸。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN321132047">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>新冠病毒中和性抗体检测试剂盒</strong> - 本发明提供一种新冠病毒中和性抗体检测试剂盒。所述试剂盒基于BAS‑HTRF技术,主要包含:生物素标记的hACE2、新冠病毒棘突蛋白RBD‑Tag1、能量供体Streptavidin‑Eu cryptate、能量受体MAb Anti‑Tag1‑d2和新冠病毒中和性抗体。本发明将BAS和HTRF两种技术相结合,用于筛选新型冠状病毒中和性抗体,3小时内即可实现筛选,且操作简单,无需经过多次洗板过程。BAS和HTRF联用大大提升了反应灵敏度,且两种体系都能最大限度地减少非特异的干扰,适用于血清样品的检测。该方法可实现高通量检测,对解决大批量样品的新冠病毒中和性抗体的检测具有重要意义。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN321131958">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Infektionsschutzmaske</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Infektionsschutzmaske (1) zum Schutz vor Übertragung von Infektionskrankheiten mit einer Außen - und einer Innenseite (2,3) sowie Haltemitteln (5) zum Befestigen der Infektionsschutzmaske (1) am Kopf eines Maskenträgers, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass an der Infektionsschutzmaske (1) mindestens eine Testoberfläche (6) zum Nachweis von Auslösern einer Infektionskrankheit derart angeordnet ist, dass diese bei korrekt angelegter Infektionsschutzmaske (1) mit der Ausatemluft des Maskenträgers unmittelbar in Kontakt gelangt.</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=DE321222652">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sars-CoV-2 vaccine antigens</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU318283136">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-COV-2 BINDING PROTEINS</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU318004130">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
</ul>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,401 @@
|
||||||
|
<!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>07 April, 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>Biden’s Jobs Plan Is Also a Climate Plan. Will It Make a Difference?</strong> - The Administration has an ambitious vision for combatting global warming, but it’s only a start. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/04/12/bidens-jobs-plan-is-also-a-climate-plan-will-it-make-a-difference">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Powerful New Financial Argument for Fossil-Fuel Divestment</strong> - A report by BlackRock, the world’s largest investment house, shows that those who divested have profited not only morally but also financially. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-powerful-new-financial-argument-for-fossil-fuel-divestment">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is Biden Really the Second Coming of F.D.R. and L.B.J.?</strong> - Proposing historic legislation is not transformative; passing it is. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/is-biden-really-the-second-coming-of-fdr-and-lbj">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Former Obama Official on the “Interlocking Set of Failures” at the Border</strong> - Cecilia Muñoz discusses the Biden Administration’s response to the recent surge of arrivals and how conversations about the border have changed during the past thirty years. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/a-former-obama-official-on-the-interlocking-set-of-failures-at-the-border">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Meaning of the Democrats’ Spending Spree</strong> - Do President Biden’s stimulus and infrastructure bills represent a moment of political expedience, or a more permanent change? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/have-the-democrats-begun-a-new-era-of-big-government">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
</ul>
|
||||||
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
|
||||||
|
<ul>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>The power of televising Derek Chauvin’s trial</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<figure>
|
||||||
|
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WGtf5agTB1G7UM3VChNm0GTvI_g=/0x0:2299x1724/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69088228/AP_21090694570729.0.jpg"/>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
During witness testimony on March 31, bystander Charles McMillian, 61, sobbed on the stand as he listened to himself tell Floyd, “You can’t win!” | Court TV/AP
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
We saw George Floyd die on screen. We need to see this too.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TzqqdB">
|
||||||
|
The <a href="https://www.vox.com/22361875/derek-chauvin-trial-witness-testimony-prosecution">trial of Derek Chauvin</a> wasn’t going to be broadcast. Minnesota trials never are. It took a pandemic and a decision by Judge Peter Cahill to change that over the objections of the prosecution. Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office argued that televising the hearings live might intimidate the witnesses, making them hesitant to testify. A coalition of news outlets, the defense, and, ultimately, Cahill <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/trial-over-killing-of-george-floyd/2021/03/29/982234571/televised-chauvin-trial-due-to-pandemic-yields-wide-access-and-concern">disagreed</a>.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qEuWWz">
|
||||||
|
Members of the public usually have the right to observe courtroom proceedings. It’s typically also safe for a crowd to gather peacefully in a courtroom, or in an overflow room with closed-circuit TVs. But we’re not living in normal times, and this is not a normal trial.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LqJ24X">
|
||||||
|
In requesting the change to the Minnesota court system’s standard procedures, <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/12/15/news-outlets-push-for-livestream-of-trial-in-floyd-case">news outlets argued</a> that “given the enormous public interest in this trial, the limitations imposed by the pandemic, and the options created by modern technology, meaningful access equates to remote access.” Essentially, they said Chauvin’s trial is not just about what happened in Minnesota. It’s about what is happening across America.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="btLYit">
|
||||||
|
Chauvin, a former officer in the Minnesota Police Department, is charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TYAfHQ">
|
||||||
|
Floyd’s death <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/5/29/21274844/protests-minneapolis-george-floyd-policing-racial-disparity">ignited months of protests and unrest</a> across the country and around the world, and for some, it marked <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/2020/7/2/21306987/black-lives-matter-protests-george-floyd-protesters-first-time">the first time they were moved to take to the streets</a>. The footage that emerged was damning. It was devastating. And it evoked an emotional response in a way that news reports, no matter how hard-hitting or well-edited, sometimes can’t: Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/us/derek-chauvin-george-floyd-kneel-9-minutes-29-seconds.html">nine minutes, 29 seconds</a>. We know because we saw it happen. We saw the video.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DRyFNo">
|
||||||
|
Or did we? The footage we saw showed Chauvin pinning down Floyd for eight minutes, 46 seconds. That precise span of time, established by a widely circulated video a bystander shot with their phone, has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/us/george-floyd-timing.html">become such a symbol</a> — of the horrors of police brutality in general and of Floyd’s death in particular — that it has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_minutes_46_seconds">its own Wikipedia page</a> filled with examples of politicians, corporations, activists, and entire cities using the number to commemorate Floyd and raise the alarm.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6tVmGZ">
|
||||||
|
The <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-york-stock-exchange-observes-moment-of-silence-in-honor-of-george-floyds-funeral-2020-06-09">New York Stock Exchange</a> paused trading for eight minutes, 46 seconds. Google held an <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/03/google-holding-moment-of-silence-for-george-floyd-on-wednesday.html">eight-minute-and-46-second-long “moment” of silence</a> for its employees. Music<strong> </strong>streaming services paused <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/1/21277501/spotify-blackout-tuesday-george-floyd-racism-police-brutality-violence-protest">special programming</a>. Legislators took a knee. Long stretches of silence are uncomfortable; they spur people into a contemplative state. And while eight minutes, 46 seconds can be a short time, it’s an eternity if you’re staring mortality and brutality in the face.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<aside id="AaXDHx">
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
</aside>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RXsGtf">
|
||||||
|
But it turns out Chauvin forcibly restrained Floyd even longer than most people thought. Prosecutors revealed the full extent of their encounter during the first week of the trial — nine minutes, 29 seconds of Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck — and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/us/derek-chauvin-george-floyd-kneel-9-minutes-29-seconds.html">revelation was shocking</a>. Reality was worse than the footage.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SQ5gnT">
|
||||||
|
It is a succinct embodiment of this moment in history that a number drawn from a video — shot on a phone, uploaded to the internet, and seen all over the world by viewers frozen in place by a virus — became such a profound symbol.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CYgI8O">
|
||||||
|
Before Cahill’s decision allowed TV cameras into the courtroom for Chauvin’s trial, the situation was already mediated to us through phone cameras and Twitter, through videos of protests and unrest, each one putting a frame around Floyd’s death and the events that followed, each one with a narrative in mind. Every video told a particular part of a story — some spotlighting the size and passion of peaceful crowds, others zooming in on property damage — and as the protests raged on, sometimes those stories conflicted.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DMen9j">
|
||||||
|
But sometimes the stories harmonized. As other video emerged (from nearby security cameras, for instance), journalists worked to widen the frame, to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html">fill in the picture</a> of what happened to Floyd. New angles and voices entered the story; the meaning of the events on May 25 became clearer. We can now witness bystanders screaming, hear what they said, understand their helplessness, and see more clearly how Floyd was treated at the hands of police.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BtQ1cR">
|
||||||
|
The result is that, while almost none of us were there, it may feel as though we were. That’s not new. We have seen videos of police brutality before, as far back as the beating of Rodney King in 1991. With time and technological advances, such videos have picked up force and clarity. Reading about beatings and brutality is one thing — seeing them happen is something entirely different.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<aside id="cIPI2i">
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
</aside>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5izoMz">
|
||||||
|
Smartphones have turned citizens into reluctant documentarians. Major catastrophic or violent events are increasingly caught on camera. There’s almost always one snapping nearby, on someone’s phone or within a surveillance system, and from there it’s just one click to virality. Floyd’s death was recorded, but <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/6/9/21285536/maurice-gordon-police-shooting-explained">so</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/9/21285378/body-cams-police-killing-javier-ambler-filming-a-e-television-show-black-lives-matter">are</a> those of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/6/21282483/manuel-ellis-black-man-killed-police-cant-breathe-george-floyd">many</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/5/6/21249202/ahmaud-arbery-jogger-killed-in-georgia-video-shooting-grand-jury">others</a>, and they have been for a long time. We’re all everywhere now, seeing everything. And what we’re seeing adds to an increased awareness of systemic racism and injustice.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5SrHM7">
|
||||||
|
So it’s a little jarring what we don’t see while watching news footage of Chauvin’s trial. In his ruling that the trial should be televised, Cahill gave strict instructions: Floyd’s family and any witnesses who are minors could not be filmed without their consent. The cameras are not permitted to zoom in on the tables where counsel is seated, meaning no one can shoot close-ups of Chauvin or either set of attorneys. No cameraperson can create meaning by capturing reaction shots during testimony, the way you would in a cinematic courtroom drama.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||||
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fCVPhnyli-o3Esxr1aCuOcRD2bo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22425044/AP_21096518583093.jpg"/> <cite>Court TV/AP</cite>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill discusses motions before the court on April 6, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||||
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lrOwOXs5tsHdDq3feLM6oDbJup0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22425045/AP_21095708661812.jpg"/> <cite>Court TV/AP</cite>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testifies.
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||||
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dbxBSwFifvGksiw7aCvD87hiGeY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22425047/AP_21095530830516.jpg"/> <cite>Court TV/AP</cite>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
Defense attorney Eric Nelson (left) and former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xJ2Snc">
|
||||||
|
Cahill’s rules seem designed to not only protect people in the room but also to buck the genre conventions of courtroom shows and movies. This is not fiction. This is not an action movie or a drama about characters based vaguely on real-life figures. It is not a political battle, and it is not a triumphant story of a scrappy lawyer taking on the establishment. It’s actually happening. Real lives remain at stake; actual justice is in process. Few people are in the room, but we should act like we are.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GIs3bA">
|
||||||
|
There’s one more rule: Jurors must be kept off camera completely. This is so important that Cahill <a href="https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/george_floyd_derek_chauvin_trial_cameras.php">ordered a plexiglass partition removed</a> during jury selection because a potential juror’s face was partially reflected in it.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gLDZ7L">
|
||||||
|
In doing so, Cahill was nodding to the same sentiment the prosecutors expressed in their case against a televised trial: that broadcasting the proceedings to the whole world would not just give access to the public, it would also encourage the kind of harassment that virtually anyone whose face appears on the internet can experience. In a highly politicized and volatile case such as this one — even with the rise in support for Black Lives Matter and a distrust of police that happened in the wake of Floyd’s death — that’s a real, frightening possibility.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cyQbyp">
|
||||||
|
Having to balance those objectives — transparency in courtroom proceedings and privacy for those who participate — reflects with crystal clarity the quandary both journalists and the justice system face today. When we’ve all seen the footage and feel like we were there, how do you <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/03/25/npr-half-of-the-jury-in-the-chauvin-trial-is-non-white-thats-only-part-of-the-story">select an impartial jury</a>? And when the audience isn’t limited to those in the room but expands to include everyone watching the live broadcast — when the whole world can tune in — does that affect the outcome?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="REPMI2">
|
||||||
|
High-profile trials have been televised for decades, and many have drawn considerable public interest. Chauvin’s is hardly the first to become a broadcast event. And yet it feels different. Some of that feeling is thanks to the inextricable link between the public interest in this case and smartphones and the internet.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OUIvdf">
|
||||||
|
And some may be thanks to <a href="https://www.vox.com/22361875/derek-chauvin-trial-witness-testimony-prosecution">audio of the eyewitnesses’ testimony</a> and the footage emerging from the courtroom. There’s power to those images that isn’t captured in text. We have a new framework for listening to these eyewitnesses tell the story, one that has moved away from seeing victims as criminals receiving their just deserts and toward focusing on the injustice of the system around them. This trial proves something simple: No matter how viral a video of police brutality becomes, its power and pain are not diminished.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<aside id="NJsOFz">
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
</aside>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hMiwTg">
|
||||||
|
The most striking images in the first days of the trial came from witnesses who testified and sobbed in court, testifying to feeling guilty that they couldn’t do more to stop the police who held Floyd down. Watching video footage of the arrest and listening as Floyd cried out for his mother in his last moments of life, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/31/charles-mcmillian-chauvin-trial/">bystander Charles McMillian broke down in tears</a> on the witness stand.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Aa99bB">
|
||||||
|
“I feel helpless,” McMillian told the court, explaining why he was crying. “I don’t have a mama either. I understand him.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M0l63L">
|
||||||
|
The jury watched the footage, and several were similarly moved. On March 31, the proceedings were halted when one member of the jury, a white woman in her 50s, stood up and left. She felt ill — or had a “stress-related reaction,” as Cahill put it — and later returned.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="629oPZ">
|
||||||
|
While it all happened (or hours or days later, on YouTube), we watched. We, the public, could watch the jury watch the videos and break down. Just as we did last summer, we have the opportunity to form opinions about what we’re seeing, based on images and framed by our TVs, phones, and laptops. The televised trial gives us another chance to participate, to fill in our mental pictures of what happened. To decide that we’re part of this story too.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FeI3fK">
|
||||||
|
Chauvin’s trial is airing on TV, but it isn’t acting like television. It has no intentional entertainment value. This isn’t the trial of O.J. Simpson or Casey Anthony. At every turn so far, Chauvin’s time in court has reminded us as viewers of our involvement, or at least our feelings of involvement, in Floyd’s death.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fhV18s">
|
||||||
|
More broadly, every day of the trial reinforces what some always knew and what some only started to learn last summer: There is something deeply wrong when a man dies like this, and it’s impossible to divorce emotion from logic when evaluating someone’s life. That the only reason a lot of people know about George Floyd at all — the only reason anyone’s watching Derek Chauvin’s trial in the first place — is that we’ve turned into a nation of documentarians, stitching together a narrative that’s much bigger than ourselves.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZhOZhN">
|
||||||
|
Floyd’s death represented one breaking point, evidence for some who had turned away before that something was deeply wrong. But for the American public, the weeping witnesses and gut-churning testimony should be further evidence — in a way that no newspaper article or evening news segment could capture — that the story won’t end when the trial is over.
|
||||||
|
</p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>All adults will be eligible for Covid-19 vaccine on April 19, Biden announces</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<figure>
|
||||||
|
<img alt="President Biden Delivers Remarks On COVID-19 Response And State Of Vaccinations" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dKt0hVMD6dfMSlWF2LFIk7BznCc=/0x0:4905x3679/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69086293/1232006926.0.jpg"/>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that all American adults will be eligible for Covid-19 vaccination by April 19. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
The change comes two weeks earlier than previously scheduled.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Neljhc">
|
||||||
|
President Joe Biden has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-move-vaccine-eligibility-date-april-19-021157c7bdf964181e3b63f51b89601e">announced</a> that all adults will become eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine by April 19. The news came as confirmed coronavirus infections continue to rise throughout the US, intensifying pressure to quickly increase the number of vaccinated people to help counter the rise of more infectious coronavirus variants.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mjBHa1">
|
||||||
|
“Let me be deadly earnest with you,” Biden said Tuesday at the White House. “We aren’t at the finish line. We still have a lot of work to do. We’re still in a life-and-death race against this virus.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bpm2jQ">
|
||||||
|
The new pledge marks a change in Biden’s previous goal to ensure that vaccinations would be available for 90 percent of US adults by April 19, and it’s possible to achieve given the recent increase in vaccinations across the country.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hB7PFA">
|
||||||
|
According to <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations">CDC figures</a>, more than 108 million Americans — including about 40 percent of all adults and 75 percent of seniors (65 and up) — had received at least one dose as of Tuesday morning. Nearly 63 million people are fully vaccinated. Overall, the country’s vaccination rate is almost <a href="https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-04-05-21/h_1baa33ff53fef851892d5335932e470f">five times greater than the world average</a>, according to a CNN analysis, with over 3 million Americans receiving Covid-19 shots every day.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KrXKxD">
|
||||||
|
This rate positions the country to meet the administration’s goal of getting 200 million shots in arms by April 30, Biden’s 100th day in office. When the president announced that goal on March 25, <a href="https://www.livescience.com/100-million-covid19-vaccinations-reached.html">100 million shots had been given in less than two months</a>. If doctors and nurses continue to administer at least 2.5 million shots per day — the seven-day average in late March — the administration would <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/3/25/22350718/biden-200-million-covid-19-vaccines-100-days-coronavirus">reach its 200-million-shot goal with days to spare</a>.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rfWnXt">
|
||||||
|
The president’s pledge to open vaccinations to all adults is largely <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-move-vaccine-eligibility-date-april-19-021157c7bdf964181e3b63f51b89601e">a symbolic one</a>. All but one state, Hawaii, had already pledged to make vaccines available for all residents 18 and up either on or in advance of the new April 19 deadline. Most recently, <a href="https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2021/04/06/oregon-covid-19-vaccine-timeline-eligibility-governor-kate-brown/7104577002/">Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday morning</a> that her state’s timeline would be moved up in accordance with the president’s.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qcM4UC">
|
||||||
|
But the announcement ensures that every state is held to the same vaccination rules as access opens up. And getting everyone vaccinated as quickly as possible is of growing importance: Covid-19 rates are rising in some parts of the country, particularly in the upper Midwest, and experts continue to warn of a new surge of Covid-19 infections fueled by the spread of variants and loosened restrictions in some states.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="x7iJaN">
|
||||||
|
The US is facing an uptick in confirmed Covid-19 cases
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t9dQm3">
|
||||||
|
While increased vaccination rates and eligibility is undisputedly good news, both developments coincide with an uptick in Covid-19 cases that experts worry <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22358095/covid-19-fourth-surge-wave-rochelle-walensky-cdc-impending-doom">may soon turn into a fourth wave</a>. On March 14, the country reported a weekly average of less than 53,000 cases per day. That number reached 76,594 cases on April 5, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html">20 percent increase from 14 days prior</a>. Deaths are down and hospitalizations remain stagnant, though those numbers typically lag case counts for several weeks before they reflect those increases.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dodG9K">
|
||||||
|
The uptick is believed to be fueled in part by the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/06/health/us-coronavirus-tuesday/index.html">continued spread of variants</a> that are often more infectious, and sometimes more deadly, than the initial strain of the coronavirus. And part of what drives the national vaccine effort is a race to inoculate the country before additional new variants emerge. Experts are particularly worried about the rise of potential variants with an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-japan-idUSKBN2BR03W">Eek mutation</a>, which allows a virus to better evade immune responses from vaccines.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yMRb98">
|
||||||
|
According to Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, variants <a href="https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-04-06-21/h_dbf68588e0a1be21a2573e18e7edea5f">have been found in every US state</a>, although none have had the Eek mutation. Osterholm said on Sunday’s <em>Meet the Press</em> that the B.1.1.7 variant, one <a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/03/death-rate-64-higher-b117-covid-variant-study-finds">believed to be more infectious and deadly</a> and thought to have originated in the United Kingdom, “is almost like having a whole new pandemic descend upon us.” The good news: <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-april-04-2021-n1262993">Vaccines seem to stop its spread</a>.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WeOIJf">
|
||||||
|
At the moment, scientists <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant.html">don’t know how widely the new variants are circulating</a>. But as the weeks pass, they’ll likely constitute a higher share of US Covid-19 cases — and a key concern with the B.1.1.7 variant, according to Osterholm, is its impact on children.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sqWyZO">
|
||||||
|
“Unlike the previous strains of the virus, we didn’t see children under eighth grade get infected often, or they were not frequently very ill,” Osterholm said on <em>Meet the Press</em>. “They didn’t transmit to the rest of the community. That’s why I was one of those people very strongly supporting reopening in-class learning. B.1.1.7 turns that on its head.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4LVV7f">
|
||||||
|
However, Anthony Fauci — the Biden administration’s chief medical adviser — has said the threat these variants pose, and the threat of a new wave of cases, can be minimized so long as vaccination rates continue to grow unabated.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZjdunN">
|
||||||
|
“As long as we keep vaccinating people efficiently and effectively, I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/dr-fauci-we-don-t-want-to-declare-victory-against-the-virus-prematurely-109717061662">Fauci said on MSNBC on Tuesday</a>. “That doesn’t mean that we’re not going to still see increases in cases. Whether it explodes into a real surge or not remains to be seen. I think that the vaccine is going to prevent that from happening.”
|
||||||
|
</p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>The number of billionaires spiked by 30% during the pandemic</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<figure>
|
||||||
|
<img alt="Demonstrators protest outside Amazon headquarters, holding a sign reading “Tax Bezos”." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dHljWhTFabpC4J0-8YuHi91SRIU=/234x0:3967x2800/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69085902/1229825564.0.jpg"/>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
The rise in billionaires’ net worths during the Covid-19 pandemic has reinvigorated the debate about their role in society. | David Ryder/Bloomberg/Getty Images
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
It’s easy to lose track of the numbers. But you shouldn’t.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AlnwET">
|
||||||
|
The total number of billionaires exploded over the course of the coronavirus pandemic — and they individually became extraordinarily wealthier during the last 12 months.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="55awxd">
|
||||||
|
That’s according to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/">a new report from Forbes</a>, which does one of the most complete analyses each spring about the state of the billionaire class across the globe. Tracking the net worths of the wealthy is painstaking work that requires sifting through arcane filings — and the end results are not perfect — but the estimates offered by Forbes represent one of the best stabs at covering the scale of income inequality in the world. And while it’s easy to lose track of the numbers or to see the figures as old news — “Billionaires continue to be billionaires” — the scale matters for anyone who wants to get a grasp on how much of a problem wealth inequality truly is.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8utqew">
|
||||||
|
The world is now home to 2,755 billionaires, a world record and a startling 30 percent increase from Forbes’ accounting last year of the world’s uber-rich. And 86 percent of those billionaires are richer than they were a year ago. The list does paint an exaggerated picture of some of the pandemic gains, because it compares today’s net worths to Forbes’ <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbespr/2020/04/07/forbes-publishes-34th-annual-list-of-global-billionaires/?sh=4c906a043edf">last analysis in mid-March 2020</a>, when the market had yet to recover from the early pandemic-inspired sell-off.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ANhOZX">
|
||||||
|
The pandemic has <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22356742/billionaires-amazon-jeff-bezos-rich-philanthropy-coronavirus-election">reinvigorated the debate over inequality</a>, with nations like Argentina adopting a wealth tax and other <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/business/elizabeth-warren-wealth-tax.html">similar proposals gaining a foothold</a> in the United States. In the US, many Americans <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/upshot/why-markets-boomed-2020.html">have more personal income and savings than they had before</a> the pandemic, thanks in part to unprecedented government stimulus measures. But at the same time, demand for food pantries smashed records and the economy shed about 10 million jobs. <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/4/7/21203179/coronavirus-billionaires-philanthropy-bill-gates-larry-ellison-mark-zuckerberg-jack-dorsey">Billionaire philanthropists have played center stage</a> in America’s recovery.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HVJ1lJ">
|
||||||
|
<a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22356742/billionaires-amazon-jeff-bezos-rich-philanthropy-coronavirus-election">Perhaps no statistic better encapsulates</a> the scale of the yawning inequality than that MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Jeff Bezos and one of the wealthiest people in the world, probably gave more money away directly to nonprofits in 2020 than any person has in a single year ever before. Yet because of Amazon’s surging stock price, she actually <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/denizcam/2021/04/06/how-mackenzie-scott-gave-away-nearly-6-billion-last-year-and-ended-up-richer/?sh=6fa67cac68cc">ended the year richer</a>, Forbes reports.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="paTmpY">
|
||||||
|
Forbes finds that the tech set, like Scott, fared particularly well. Six of the world’s 10 richest people made their money in tech, and the total assets controlled by all tech billionaires globally measures $2.5 trillion, far more than any other industry. Neither of those figures include Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who is classified by Forbes as in the automotive industry but has ridden Tesla’s extraordinary bull run to become <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22218999/elon-musk-richest-person-world-jeff-bezos">the second richest person in the world</a>.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6RE0xE">
|
||||||
|
That’s all to say that the debate over wealth inequality isn’t going anywhere, even when the pandemic fades away. Check out Recode’s recent coverage of <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22356742/billionaires-amazon-jeff-bezos-rich-philanthropy-coronavirus-election">how the coronavirus has made America more reliant on billionaires</a> and our <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/3/30/22357510/poll-billioniares-data-for-progress-vox-wealth-philanthropy-inequality">exclusive polling on how ordinary Americans feel</a> about these central characters in American society.
|
||||||
|
</p></li>
|
||||||
|
</ul>
|
||||||
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||||||
|
<ul>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Indian judo team withdraws from Olympic qualifiers after one member tests COVID-19 positive</strong> - ‘The entire contingent is in isolation for 14 days in Bishkek now’</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>You get stuck into this never-ending nightmare: Maxwell talks about bio-bubble challenges</strong> - Despite poor outings in the last two IPLs, Maxwell managed to earn big bucks again in this year’s auction when RCB signed him for a whopping ₹14.25 crore</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>My hero, my ‘Thala’: Meet three MS Dhoni superfans</strong> - Ahead of the IPL 2021, we chat with three fans of Chennai Super Kings’ MS Dhoni, who have gone the extra mile for their cricketing icon</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>Bengaluru FC confirms 3 COVID-19 cases ahead of AFC Qualifiers</strong> - Indian football club Bengaluru FC on Wednesday said three COVID-19 cases have been detected among its players and staff after the side assembled for</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>Olympic-bound Indian archers first to get fully vaccinated</strong> - The archers will compete in three World Cups.</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>BSF, Punjab Police kill ‘Pakistani smuggler’</strong> - He crossed over to India with around 22 kg of heroin</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>West Bengal Assembly elections | Amit Shah holds road show in Singur, assures industrialisation</strong> - Amit Shah said Singur, which has been shunned by industry since the 2006 agitation, will be developed by the next BJP government in West Bengal</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>Bus strike to continue on Thursday too</strong> - The striking RTC employees have announced that the bus strike will continue on Thursday and indefinitely till the State government fulfils their deman</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>BJP-led alliance will return to power in Assam, claims Sarbananda Sonowal</strong> - He said the three-phase polling was by and large peaceful and it reflected that his government was successful in restoring peace in Assam after decades of insurgency and violence.</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>Maharashtra has only three days’ COVID-19 vaccine stock left, says State Health Minister</strong> - Urges Centre to expedite delivery, BJP’s Fadnavis refutes Tope’s statements</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>Greenland election: Opposition win casts doubt on mine</strong> - The victorious left-wing party opposes a planned mine which has powerful international backers.</p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Covid vaccines: Can Australia blame its woes on Europe?</strong> - Australia says the EU’s move to block an AstraZeneca order is to blame for its vaccine delays.</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>French winemakers fight frost with fire</strong> - Winemakers in France are trying to save their crops amid a sudden drop in temperatures.</p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dutch arrest over Van Gogh and Frans Hals museum thefts</strong> - The two paintings were stolen in separate raids on museums last year but have not yet been recovered.</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>Bronze Age slab found in France is oldest 3D map in Europe</strong> - The Bronze Age engravings are a map of part of Brittany, north-west France, researchers believe.</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>99 Pac-Men enter, one Pac-Man leaves in new Switch freebie Pac-Man 99</strong> - Follows <em>Tetris 99</em> as an included part of paid Nintendo Switch Online memberships. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1755026">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cruise industry salty over CDC plan to keep travelers safe from COVID at sea</strong> - CDC didn’t mandate vaccinations on board but added extra layers of protection. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1754994">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia’s Twitter throttling may give censors never-before-seen capabilities</strong> - Censorship based on deep packet inspection may work against Tor and VPNs. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1754972">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The best game deals we could find in the PlayStation and Xbox spring sales</strong> - Dealmaster also has plenty of deals on PC games across various sales. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1754570">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Intel’s Ice Lake Xeon comes out swinging at AMD’s Epyc Milan</strong> - Chipzilla’s new server processors bring more cores, more RAM, more features. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1754867">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
</ul>
|
||||||
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||||||
|
<ul>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>#whoremembers</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||||
|
<div class="md">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
If you first read that as “whore members” we’re probably already friends.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/LopsidedTeaching8583"> /u/LopsidedTeaching8583 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mlqm4z/whoremembers/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mlqm4z/whoremembers/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>An infinite amount of Mathematicians walk into a bar.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||||
|
<div class="md">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
The first orders a pint, the second a half, the third a quarter, and so on. The bartender pours them 2 pints and says, “sort it out yourselves.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/bruv_lucas"> /u/bruv_lucas </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mlphbp/an_infinite_amount_of_mathematicians_walk_into_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mlphbp/an_infinite_amount_of_mathematicians_walk_into_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>A cabbie picks up a Nun.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||||
|
<div class="md">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
A cabbie picks up a Nun.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
She gets into the cab, and notices that the VERY handsome cab driver won’t stop staring at her.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
She asks him why he is staring.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
He replies: ‘I have a question to ask you but I don’t want to offend you.’
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
She answers, ‘My son, you cannot offend me. When you’re as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I’m sure that there’s nothing’
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
‘Well, I’ve always had a fantasy to have sex with a nun.’
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
She responds,
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
‘Well, let’s see what we can do about that:
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<ol>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
You have to be single
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
You must be Catholic.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
I have to save my virginity, you will have to enter me from behind.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</li>
|
||||||
|
</ol>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
The cab driver is very excited and says,
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
‘Yes, I’m single, Catholic, and I’m happy to enter from behind!’
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
‘OK’ the nun says. ‘Pull into the next alley.’
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
The nun fulfills his fantasy, in a way that would make a hooker blush.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
‘My dear child,’ says the nun, ‘why are you crying?’
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
‘Forgive me but I’ve sinned. I lied and I must confess, I’m married and I’m Jewish.’
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
The nun says, ‘That’s OK. My name is Kevin and I’m going to fancy dress party.’
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/zebra8910"> /u/zebra8910 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mlb3i9/a_cabbie_picks_up_a_nun/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mlb3i9/a_cabbie_picks_up_a_nun/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>An elderly couple named Bill and Helen went to the county fair each year.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||||
|
<div class="md">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
One year, a man at the fair was giving helicopter rides for 50 dollars. Having never been in a helicopter in all his years, Bill begged Helen to let them ride. She refused, quipping “50 bucks is 50 bucks.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
The following year, the man was there again, and again Bill begged for a ride. Again Helen turned it down, saying “50 bucks is 50 bucks.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
The third year the same exact conversation happened, except this time the pilot overheard. He offered the couple a free ride, but with one condition. They must not make a sound while in the air, or they would have to pay the 50 dollars. Bill and Helen agreed and climbed aboard.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
As soon as they left the ground, the pilot began performing hair raising maneuvers in the air, but try as he might, he could not get the couple to utter a sound. When they finally touched down, the pilot turned to Bill and exclaimed, “that was an amazing show of self control, you have earned your free ride”.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Bill replied, “well, I nearly said something when Helen fell out, but 50 bucks is 50 bucks.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Edit: spelling
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/titusdecker"> /u/titusdecker </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mlqpen/an_elderly_couple_named_bill_and_helen_went_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mlqpen/an_elderly_couple_named_bill_and_helen_went_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>I’ve started buying store brand Spanish rice instead of the expensive stuff</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||||
|
<div class="md">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
As they say, “Arroz by any other name…”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Doomburrito"> /u/Doomburrito </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mlq937/ive_started_buying_store_brand_spanish_rice/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mlq937/ive_started_buying_store_brand_spanish_rice/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||||
|
</ul>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>
|
File diff suppressed because one or more lines are too long
Loading…
Reference in New Issue