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

Added daily report

This commit is contained in:
Navan Chauhan 2021-04-10 12:34:39 +00:00
parent 7509087db5
commit aed1b22d74
3 changed files with 692 additions and 2 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

217
archive-covid-19/10 April, 2021.html Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,217 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
<title>10 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>The homology analysis of ACE2 gene and its distinct expression in laboratory and wild animals</strong> -
<div>
Angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) has been recognized as an entry receptor of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) into the host cells while bats has been suspected as natural host of SARS-CoV-2. However, the detail of intermediate host or the route of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is still unclear. In this study, we analyze the conservation of ACE2 gene in 11 laboratory and wild animals that live in close proximity either with Bats or human and further investigated its RNA and protein expression pattern in wild bats, mice and tree shrew. We verified that the wild-bats and mice were belonged to Hipposideros pomona and Rattus norvegicus, respectively. ACE2 gene is highly conserved among all 11 animals species at the DNA level. Phylogenetic analysis based on the ACE2 nucleotide sequences revealed that wild bat and Tree shrew were forming a cluster close to human. We further report that ACE2 RNA expression pattern is highly species-specific in different tissues of different animals. Most notably, we found that the expression pattern of ACE2 RNA and protein are very different in each animal species. In summary, our results suggested that ACE2 gene is highly conserved among all 11 animals species. However, different relative expression pattern of ACE2 RNA and protein in each animal species is interesting. Further research is needed to clarify the possible connection between different relative expression pattern of ACE2 RNA and protein in different laboratory and wild animal species and the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.08.439088v1" target="_blank">The homology analysis of ACE2 gene and its distinct expression in laboratory and wild animals</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Exploring zebrafish larvae as a COVID-19 model: probable SARS-COV-2 replication in the swim bladder</strong> -
<div>
Animal models are essential to understand COVID-19 pathophysiology and for pre-clinical assessment of drugs and other therapeutic or prophylactic interventions. We explored the small, cheap and transparent zebrafish larva as a potential host for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Bath exposure, as well as microinjection in the coelom, pericardium, brain ventricle, bloodstream, or yolk, did not result in detectable SARS-CoV-2 replication in wild-type larvae. However, when the virus was inoculated in the swim bladder, a modest increase in viral RNA was observed after 24 hours, suggesting a successful infection in some animals. The low infectivity of SARS- CoV-2 in zebrafish was not due to the host type I interferon response, as similar results were observed in type I interferon-deficient animals. We could not detect the induction of transcriptional type I interferon or inflammatory cytokine responses following infection. Overexpression of human ACE2 in a mosaic fashion by plasmid injection in eggs was not sufficient to increase SARS-CoV-2 infectivity. In conclusion, wild-type zebrafish larvae appear mostly non-permissive to SARS-CoV-2, except in the swim bladder, an aerial organ sharing similarities with lungs.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.08.439059v1" target="_blank">Exploring zebrafish larvae as a COVID-19 model: probable SARS-COV-2 replication in the swim bladder</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Reflections of COVID-19 cases on the wastewater loading of SARS-CoV-2 RNA: A case of three major cities of Gujarat, India</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The scientific community has widely supported wastewater monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 due to the early and prolonged excretion of coronavirus in the faecal matter. In the present study, eighteen influent wastewater samples from different wastewater treatment plants and pumping stations (5 samples from Vadodara city, 4 from Gandhinagar, and nine from Ahmedabad city) were collected and analyzed for the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Gujarat province, India. The results showed the highest SARS-CoV-2 genome concentration in Vadodara (3078 copies/ L), followed by Ahmedabad (2968 copies/ L) and Gandhinagar (354 copies/ L). The comparison of genome concentration corresponded to the number of confirmed and active cases in all three cities. The study confirms the potential of the Surveillance of Wastewater for Early Epidemic Prediction (SWEEP) that can be used at a large scale around the globe for better dealing with the pandemic situation.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.08.21254861v1" target="_blank">Reflections of COVID-19 cases on the wastewater loading of SARS-CoV-2 RNA: A case of three major cities of Gujarat, India</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Antibody Responses in Elderly Residential Care Persons following COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective COVID-19 disproportionately impacts older adults residing at long-term care facilities. Data regarding antibody response to COVID-19 vaccines in this population is limited. Our objective was to quantify the presence and magnitude of antibody response in older, vaccinated residents at assisted living, personal care, and independent living facilities. Design A cross-sectional quality improvement study was conducted March 15-April 1, 2021 in the Pittsburgh region. Setting and Population Participants were volunteers at assisted living, personal care, and independent living facilities, who received mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. Conditions that obviate immune responses were exclusionary criteria. Methods Sera were collected to measure IgG anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody level with reflex to total anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin levels. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression analysis were performed to evaluate relationships between factors potentially associated with antibody levels. Results All participants (N=70) had received two rounds of vaccination for COVID-19 and were found to have antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. There was wide variation in relative levels of antibodies as determined by extinction coefficients. Antibody levels trended lower in male sex, advanced age, steroid medications, and longer length of time from vaccination. Conclusions and Implications Higher functioning long-term care residents mounted detectable antibody responses when vaccinated with COVID-19 mRNA-based vaccines. This study provides preliminary information on level of population risk of assisted living, personal care, and independent living residents which can inform reopening strategies. Data suggests some degree of immunity is present during the immediate period following vaccination. However, protective effects of such vaccination programs remain to be determined in larger studies. Clinical protection is afforded not just by pre-formed antibody levels, but by ongoing adaptive immunity, which is known to be decreased in older individuals. Thus, the implications of these levels of antibodies in preventing COVID-19 disease must be determined by clinical follow-up.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.07.21254925v1" target="_blank">Antibody Responses in Elderly Residential Care Persons following COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Cardiac Surgery during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the first wave</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has affected human behaviour and burdened health systems and has thus had an impact on other health outcomes. Objective: This paper studies whether there was a decrease in cardiac surgery operations in Greece during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Data and Methods: We used data from 7 major hospitals that geographically cover about half the country and more than half the population, including a mix of public, private, military and childrens hospitals. We used a difference-in-differences econometric approach to compare trends in cardiac surgery before and after the pandemic in 2020, to the same months in 2019, controlling for seasonality and unemployment, and using hospital fixed effects. Results: We found that during the first wave of the pandemic and the associated lockdown, there were 35-56% fewer cardiac surgery operations compared to what we would have expected in the absence of the pandemic. Conclusions: There was a steep decline in Cardiac surgery operations in Greece during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Possible reasons may include people not seeking medical attention to avoid the risk of catching Covid-19; fewer referrals; and working from home, thus not being exposed to a stressful work environment or commute.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.07.21254206v1" target="_blank">Cardiac Surgery during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the first wave</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Covid-19 and Excess Mortality in Medicare Beneficiaries</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
We estimated excess mortality in Medicare recipients with probable and confirmed Covid-19 infections in the general community and amongst residents of long-term care (LTC) facilities. We considered 28,389,098 Medicare and dual-eligible recipients from one year before February 29, 2020 through September 30, 2020, with mortality followed through November 30th, 2020. Probable and confirmed Covid-19 diagnoses, presumably mostly symptomatic, were determined from ICD-10 codes. We developed a Risk Stratification Index (RSI) mortality model which was applied prospectively to establish baseline mortality risk. Excess deaths attributable to Covid-19 were estimated by comparing actual-to-expected deaths based on historical comparisons and in closely matched cohorts with and without Covid-19. 677,100 (2.4%) beneficiaries had confirmed Covid-19 and 2,917,604 (10.3%) had probable Covid-19. 472,329 confirmed cases were community living and 204,771 were in LTC. Mortality following a probable or confirmed diagnosis in the community increased from an expected incidence of about 4% to actual incidence of 7.5%. In long-term care facilities, the corresponding increase was from 20.3% to 24.6%. The absolute increase was therefore similar at 3-4% in the community and in LTC residents. The percentage increase was far greater in the community (89%) than among patients in chronic care facilities (21%) who had higher baseline risk. The LTC population without probable or confirmed Covid-19 diagnoses experienced 38,932 excess deaths (35%) compared to historical estimates. Limitations in access to Covid-19 testing and disease under-reporting in LTC patients probably were important factors, although social isolation and disruption in usual care presumably also contributed. Remarkably, there were 31,360 fewer deaths than expected in community dwellers without probable or confirmed Covid-19 diagnoses, representing a 6% reduction. Disruptions to the healthcare system and avoided medical care were thus apparently offset by other factors, representing overall benefit. The Covid-19 pandemic had marked effects on mortality, but the effects were highly context-dependent.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.07.21254793v1" target="_blank">Covid-19 and Excess Mortality in Medicare Beneficiaries</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Companionship for women using English maternity services during COVID-19: National and organisational perspectives</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objectives: To explore the impact of COVID-19 on companionship for women using maternity services in England, as part of the Achieving Safe and Personalised maternity care In Response to Epidemics (ASPIRE COVID-19 UK) study. Setting: Maternity care provision in England. Participants: Interviews were held with 26 national governmental, professional, and service-user organisation leads including representatives from the Royal College of Midwives, NHS England, Birthrights and AIMS (July-Dec). Other data included public-facing outputs logged from 25 maternity Trusts (Sept/Oct) and data extracted from 78 documents from 8 key governmental, professional and service-user organisations that informed national maternity care guidance and policy (Feb-Dec). Results: Six themes emerged: Postcode lottery of care highlights variations in companionship practices, Confusion and stress around rules relates to a lack of and variable information concerning companionship, Unintended consequences concerns the negative impacts of restricted companionship on service-users and staff, Need for flexibility highlights concerns about applying companionship policies irrespective of need, Acceptable time for support highlights variations in when and if companionship was allowed antenatally and intrapartum; and Loss of human rights for gain in infection control emphasizes how a predominant focus on infection control was at a cost to psychological safety and womens human rights. Conclusions: Policies concerning companionship have been inconsistently applied within English maternity services during the COVID-19 pandemic. In some cases, policies were not justified by the level of risk, and were applied indiscriminately regardless of need. This was associated with psychological harms for some women and staff. There is an urgent need to determine how to balance risks and benefits sensitively and flexibly and to optimise outcomes during the current and future crisis situations.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.08.21254762v1" target="_blank">Companionship for women using English maternity services during COVID-19: National and organisational perspectives</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Increased Resistance of SARS-CoV-2 Variant P.1 to Antibody Neutralization</strong> -
<div>
The relative resistance of SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 to antibody neutralization has been described recently. We now report that another emergent variant from Brazil, P.1, is not only refractory to multiple neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, but also more resistant to neutralization by convalescent plasma (3.4 fold) and vaccinee sera (3.8-4.8 fold). The cryo-electron microscopy structure of a soluble prefusion-stabilized spike reveals the P.1 trimer to adopt exclusively a conformation in which one of the receptor-binding domains is in the “up” position, with the functional impact of mutations appearing to arise from local changes instead of global conformational alterations. The P.1 variant threatens current antibody therapies but less so the protective efficacy of our vaccines.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.01.433466v2" target="_blank">Increased Resistance of SARS-CoV-2 Variant P.1 to Antibody Neutralization</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Getting Closer by Moving Apart? Strategic Interdependence and Preferences for Debt Mutualization in the Eurozone</strong> -
<div>
Existing research suggests that a “democratic constraint” blocks progress towards debt mutualization in the eurozone: voters in creditor countries fiercely oppose debt sharing, while voters in debtor countries strongly support remaining in the euro, which limits their governments’ bargaining power. However, this literature neglects that preferences depend on expectations about what other countries will do. We document this strategic interdependence with a novel survey experiment in Germany and Italy, conducted at a crucial moment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Italian voters vastly discount the costs of a disorderly exit, while they strongly reduce their support for the euro if austerity is a condition for continued euro membership. Faced with the possibility of Italexit, German voters weigh the costs of a possible breakup of the euro more heavily than the costs of debt mutualization. A majority thus accepts debt mutualization. These results suggest that voters take strategic interdependence into account when formulating their preferences and that public opinion is not (or no longer) a binding constrain for increasing fiscal risk-sharing in the eurozone. Moreover, we reconstruct the debate about the pandemic recovery fund in Germany and Italy and show that the German change of position was aimed at defusing a threat to the integrity of the eurozone.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/atg8p/" target="_blank">Getting Closer by Moving Apart? Strategic Interdependence and Preferences for Debt Mutualization in the Eurozone</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evaluating and optimizing COVID-19 vaccination policies: a case study of Sweden</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
We evaluate the efficiency of vaccination scenarios for COVID-19 by analysing a data-driven mathematical model. Healthcare demand and incidence are investigated for different scenarios of transmission and vaccination schemes. Our results suggest that reducing the transmission rate affected by invading virus strains, seasonality and the level of prevention, is most important. Second to this is timely vaccine deliveries and expeditious vaccination management. Postponing vaccination of antibody-positive individuals reduces also the disease burden, and once risk groups have been vaccinated, it is best to continue vaccinating in a descending age order.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.07.21255026v1" target="_blank">Evaluating and optimizing COVID-19 vaccination policies: a case study of Sweden</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Network assessment and modeling the management of an epidemic on a college campus with testing, contact tracing, and masking</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
There remains a great challenge to minimize the spread of epidemics. This may be particularly true on densely populated, residential college campuses. To construct class and residential networks I used data from a four-year, residential liberal arts college with 5539 students. Equal-sized random networks also were created for each day. Different levels of compliance with mask use (none to 100%), mask efficacy (50% to 100%), and testing frequency (daily, or every 2, 3, 7, 14, 28, or 105 days) were assessed. Tests were assumed to be only 90% accurate and positive results were used to isolate individuals. I also tested the effectiveness of contact tracing and subsequent quarantining of neighbors of infectious individuals. I used class enrollment and residence data from a college with 5539 students to analyze network structure and test the epidemic potential of the infectious disease agent SARS-CoV-2. Average path lengths were longer in the college networks compared to random networks. Students in larger majors generally had shorter average path lengths. Average transitivity (clustering) was lower on days when students most frequently were in class (MWF). Degree distributions were generally large and right skewed, ranging from 0 to 719. Simulations began by inoculating twenty students (10 exposed and 10 infectious) with SARS-CoV-2 on the first day of the fall semester and ended once the disease was cleared. Transmission probability was calculated based on an R0 = 2:4. Without interventions epidemics resulted in most students becoming infected and lasted into the second semester. On average students in the college networks experienced fewer infections, shorter duration, and lower epidemic peaks that occurred compared to dynamics on equal-sized random networks. The most important factors in reducing case numbers were the proportion masking and the frequency of testing, followed by contact tracing and mask efficacy. The paper discusses further high-order interactions and other implications of non-pharmaceutical interventions for disease transmission on a residential college campus.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.06.21255015v1" target="_blank">Network assessment and modeling the management of an epidemic on a college campus with testing, contact tracing, and masking</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Continuous monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in urban wastewater from Porto, Portugal: sampling and analysis protocols</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Research on the emerging COVID-19 pandemic is demonstrating that wastewater infrastructures can be used as public health observatories of virus circulation in human communities. Important efforts are being organized worldwide to implement sewage-based surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 that can be used for preventive or early warning purposes, informing preparedness and response measures. However, its successful implementation requires important and iterative methodological improvements, as well as the establishment of standardized methods. The aim of this study was to develop a continuous monitoring protocol for SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, that could be used to model virus circulation within the communities, complementing the current clinical surveillance. Specific objectives included (1) optimization and validation of a sensitive method for virus quantification; (2) monitoring the time-evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater from two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the city of Porto, Portugal. Untreated wastewater samples were collected weekly from the two WWTPs between May 2020 and March 2021, encompassing two COVID-19 incidence peaks in the region (mid-November 2020 and mid-January 2021). In the first stage of this study, we compared, optimized and selected a sampling and analysis protocol that included RNA virus concentration through centrifugation, RNA extraction from both liquid and solid fractions and quantification by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). In the second stage, we used the selected methodology to track SARS-CoV-2 in the collected wastewater over time. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in 39 and 37 out of 48 liquid and solid fraction samples of untreated wastewater, respectively. The copy numbers varied throughout the study between 0 and 0.15 copies/ng RNA and a good fit was observed between the SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentration in the untreated wastewater and the COVID-19 temporal trends in the study region. In agreement with the recent literature, the results from this study support the use of wastewater-based surveillance to complement clinical testing and evaluate temporal and spatial trends of the current pandemic.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.06.21254994v1" target="_blank">Continuous monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in urban wastewater from Porto, Portugal: sampling and analysis protocols</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The Value of a Regional Living COVID-19 Registry and the Challenges of Keeping It Alive</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The need for rapid access to regularly updated patient data for hypothesis testing, surge planning, and epidemiologic investigations underscore the value of updated registries that clinicians, researchers, and policy makers can easily access for local and regional planning. We sought to create an adaptive, living registry containing detailed clinical and epidemiologic and outcome data from SARS-CoV-2-PCR-positive patients in our healthcare system. Methods: From 03/13/202 onward, demographics, comorbidities, outpatient medications, along with 75 laboratory, 2 imaging, 19 therapeutic, and 4 outcome-related parameters were manually extracted from the electronic medical record of SARS-CoV-2 positive patients. These parameters were entered on a registry featuring calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language. Initially, two internal medicine residents populated the database, then professional data abstractors populated the registry. When the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases released their COVID-19 case report form for public access, we adapted it and used it on a browser-based, metadata-driven electronic data capture software platform. Statistics were performed in R and Minitab. Results: At the time of this submission, 200,807 SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests were performed on 107,604 distinct patients. 3699 (3.4%) of those have had positive results. Of those, 399 (11%) have had the more than 75 parameters full entered in the registry. The average follow-up period was 25 days (range 21-34 days). Age, male gender, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and cancer were associated with hospital admission (all p values &lt; 0.01), but not ICU admission. Statin, ACEI-ARB, and acid suppressant use were associated with admission (all p values &lt; 0.03). Obesity and history of autoimmune disease were not associated with need for admission. Supplemental oxygen, vasopressor requirement, and outpatient statin use were associated with increased mortality (all p values &lt; 0.03). Conclusion: A living COVID-19 registry represents a mechanism to facilitate optimal sharing of data between providers, consumers, health information networks, and health plans through technology-enabled, secure-access electronic health information. Our approach also involves a diversity of new roles in the field, such as using residents, staff, and the quality department, in addition to professional data extractors and the health informatics team. However, due to the overwhelming number of infections that continues to accelerate, and the labor/time intense nature of the project, only 11% of all patients with COVID-19 had all parameters entered in the registry. Therefore, this report also offers lessons learned and discusses sustainability issues, should others wish to establish a registry. It also highlights the local and broader public health significance of the registry.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.06.21255019v1" target="_blank">The Value of a Regional Living COVID-19 Registry and the Challenges of Keeping It Alive</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Identifiability and Predictability of Integer- and Fractional-Order Epidemiological Models Using Physics-Informed Neural Networks</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
We analyze a plurality of epidemiological models through the lens of physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) that enable us to identify multiple time-dependent parameters and to discover new data-driven fractional differential operators. In particular, we consider several variations of the classical susceptible-infectious-removed (SIR) model by introducing more compartments and delay in the dynamics described by integer-order, fractional-order, and time-delay models. We report the results for the spread of COVID-19 in New York City, Rhode Island and Michigan states, and Italy, by simultaneously inferring the unknown parameters and the unobserved dynamics. For integer-order and time-delay models, we fit the available data by identifying time-dependent parameters, which are represented by neural networks (NNs). In contrast, for fractional differential models, we fit the data by determining different time-dependent derivative orders for each compartment, which we represent by NNs. We investigate the identifiability of these unknown functions for different datasets, and quantify the uncertainty associated with NNs and with control measures in forecasting the pandemic.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.05.21254919v1" target="_blank">Identifiability and Predictability of Integer- and Fractional-Order Epidemiological Models Using Physics-Informed Neural Networks</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Behavioural responses to Covid-19 health certification: A rapid review</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background Covid-status certification (certificates for those who test negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, test positive for antibodies, or who have been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2) has been proposed to enable safer access to a range of activities. Realising these benefits will depend in part upon the behavioural and social impacts of certification. The aim of this rapid review was to describe public attitudes towards certification, and its possible impact on uptake of testing and vaccination, protective behaviours, and crime. Method A search was undertaken in peer-reviewed databases, pre-print databases, and the grey literature, from 2000 to December 2020. Studies were included if they measured attitudes towards or behavioural consequences of health certificates based on one of three indices of Covid-19 status: test-negative result for current infectiousness, test-positive for antibodies conferring natural immunity, or vaccination(s) conferring immunity. Results Thirty-three papers met the inclusion criteria, only three of which were rated as low risk of bias. Public attitudes were generally favourable towards the use of immunity certificates for international travel, but unfavourable towards their use for access to work and other activities. A significant minority was strongly opposed to the use of certificates of immunity for any purpose. The limited evidence suggested that intention to get vaccinated varied with the activity enabled by certification or vaccination (e.g., international travel). Where vaccination is seen as compulsory this could lead to unwillingness to accept a subsequent vaccination. There was some evidence that restricting access to settings and activities to those with antibody test certificates may lead to deliberate exposure to infection in a minority. Behaviours that reduce transmission may decrease upon health certificates based on any of the three indices of Covid-19 status, including physical distancing and handwashing. Conclusions The limited evidence suggests that health certification in relation to COVID-19 (outside of the context of international travel) has the potential for harm as well as benefit. Realising the benefits while minimising the harms will require real-time evaluations allowing modifications to maximise the potential contribution of certification to enable safer access to a range of activities.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.07.21255072v1" target="_blank">Behavioural responses to Covid-19 health certification: A rapid review</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>Rehabilitation for Patients With Persistent Symptoms Post COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Concentrated rehabilitation for patients with persistent symptoms post COVID-19<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Western Norway University of Applied Sciences;   Helse-Bergen HF<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study of 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>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>Efficacy and Safety of Three Different Doses of an Anti SARS-CoV-2 Hyperimmune Equine Serum in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Anti SARS-CoV-2 equine hyperimmune serum;   Biological: placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social;   Universidad de Costa Rica;   Ministry of Health Costa Rica<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>Viral Clearance, PK and Tolerability of Ensovibep in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: ensovibep<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Molecular Partners AG<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>Safety and Immunogenicity of the Inactivated Koçak-19 Inaktif Adjuvanlı COVID-19 Vaccine Compared to Placebo</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Vaccine<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Koçak-19 Inaktif Adjuvanlı COVID-19 Vaccine 4 µg/0.5 ml Vaccine;   Biological: Koçak-19 Inaktif Adjuvanlı COVID-19 Vaccine 6 µg/0.5 ml Vaccine;   Biological: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Kocak Farma<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 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 &amp; 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>Study on Sequential Immunization of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Ad5 Vector) and RBD-based Protein Subunit Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: recombinant Ad5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine;   Biological: RBD-based protein subunit vaccine (ZF2001) against COVID-19;   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>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>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Omega-3 Oil Use in COVID-19 Patients in Qatar</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Omega 3 fatty acid<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hamad Medical Corporation<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>Cetirizine and Famotidine for COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Cetirizine and Famotidine;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Emory 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>TCB008 in Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: TCB008<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   TC Biopharm<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>Dual MRI for Cardiopulmonary COVID-19 Long Haulers</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Hyperpolarized 129Xenon gas<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Bastiaan Driehuys<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia after ChAdOx1 nCov-19 Vaccination</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Vaccination with ChAdOx1 nCov-19 can result in the rare development of immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia mediated by platelet-activating antibodies against PF4, which clinically mimics autoimmune heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. (Funded by the German Research Foundation.).</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>Involvement of the complement cascade in severe forms of COVID-19</strong> - The complement system is an essential component of the innate immune system. Its excessive activation during COVID-19 contributes to cytokine storm, disease-specific endothelial inflammation (endotheliitis) and thrombosis that comes with the disease. Targeted therapies of complement inhibition in COVID-19, in particular blocking the C5a-C5aR1 axis have to be taken into account in the establishment of potential biomarkers and development of therapeutic strategies in the most severe forms of 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>Ultraviolet A Radiation and COVID-19 Deaths in the USA with replication studies in England and Italy</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis suggests that higher ambient UVA exposure is associated with lower COVID-19 specific mortality. Further research on the mechanism may indicate novel treatments. Optimised UVA exposure may have population health benefits.</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>Interferon-lambda3 Exacerbates the Inflammatory Response to Microbial Ligands: Implications for SARS-CoV-2 Pathogenesis</strong> - INTRODUCTION: Interferon lambdas (IFN-λs) are antiviral cytokines that restrict pathogen infection and dissemination at barrier surfaces. Controlled expression of IFN-λs efficiently eliminates acute infections by activating a suite of interferon stimulated genes that inhibit viral propagation and activate local immune cells. Excessive or prolonged production of IFN-λs can however mediate tissue inflammation and disrupt epithelial barriers in both viral and non-viral disease. The mechanism by…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>MUC1-C influences cell survival in lung adenocarcinoma Calu-3 cells after SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) induces coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and may increase the risk of adverse outcomes in lung cancer patients. In this study, we investigated the expression and function of mucin 1 (MUC1) after SARS-CoV-2 infection in the lung epithelial cancer cell line Calu-3. MUC1 is a major constituent of the mucus layer in the respiratory tract and contributes to pathogen defense. SARS-CoV-2 infection induced MUC1 C-terminal subunit (MUC1-C)…</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 green tea catechin epigallocatechin gallate inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has caused a pandemic with tens of millions of cases and more than a million deaths. The infection causes COVID-19, a disease of the respiratory system of divergent severity. No treatment exists. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the major component of green tea, has several beneficial properties, including antiviral activities. Therefore, we examined whether EGCG has antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. EGCG blocked…</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>C-Phycocyanin-derived Phycocyanobilin as a Potential Nutraceutical Approach for Major Neurodegenerative Disorders and COVID-19-induced Damage to the Nervous System</strong> - The edible cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis and its chief biliprotein C-Phycocyanin have shown protective activity in animal models of diverse human health diseases, often reflecting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. The beneficial effects of C-Phycocyanin seem likely to be primarily attributable to its covalently attached chromophore Phycocyanobilin (PCB). Within cells, biliverdin is generated from free heme and it is subsequently reduced to bilirubin. Although bilirubin can function…</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>ATP energy-independently controls protein homeostasis with unique structure and diverse mechanisms</strong> - Proteins function in the crowded cellular environments with high salt concentrations, thus facing tremendous challenges of misfolding/aggregation which represents a pathological hallmark of aging and an increasing spectrum of human diseases. Recently, intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) were recognized to drive liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), a common principle for organizing cellular membraneless organelles (MLOs). ATP, the universal energy currency for all living cells, mysteriously…</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>ORF10-Cullin-2-ZYG11B complex is not required for SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - In order to understand the transmission and virulence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), it is necessary to understand the functions of each of the gene products encoded in the viral genome. One feature of the SARS-CoV-2 genome that is not present in related, common coronaviruses is ORF10, a putative 38-amino acid protein-coding gene. Proteomic studies found that ORF10 binds to an E3 ubiquitin ligase containing Cullin-2, Rbx1, Elongin B, Elongin C, and ZYG11B…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 drives JAK1/2-dependent local complement hyperactivation</strong> - Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) present a wide range of acute clinical manifestations affecting the lungs, liver, kidneys and gut. Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) 2, the best-characterized entry receptor for the disease-causing virus SARS-CoV-2, is highly expressed in the aforementioned tissues. However, the pathways that underlie the disease are still poorly understood. Here, we unexpectedly found that the complement system was one of the intracellular pathways most highly…</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>Drugs that inhibit TMEM16 proteins block SARS-CoV-2 Spike-induced syncytia</strong> - COVID-19 is a disease with unique characteristics including lung thrombosis¹, frequent diarrhoea², abnormal activation of the inflammatory response³ and rapid deterioration of lung function consistent with alveolar oedema⁴. The pathological substrate for these findings remains elusive. Here we show that the lungs of patients with COVID-19 contain infected pneumocytes with abnormal morphology and frequent multinucleation. Generation of these syncytia results from activation of the SARS-CoV-2…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Identification of doxorubicin as a potential therapeutic against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) protease: a molecular docking and dynamics simulation studies</strong> - After one year, the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is still the largest concern for the scientific community. Of the many recognized drug targets of SARS-CoV-2, the main protease is one of the most important target due to its function in viral replication. We conducted an in silico study with repurposing drugs of antibiotics class against virus protease and peptidase using AutoDock tool. The following significant binding energy interaction was observed with protease (PDB: 6LU7) like…</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>Biomarkers of coagulation, endothelial function and fibrinolysis in critically-ill patients with COVID-19: A single-centre prospective longitudinal study</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Longitudinal trajectories of clot lysis time, sTM, PAI-1, and plasminogen may have predictive ability for mortality in COVID-19.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Evaluation of Ravulizumab in Adults with Severe Coronavirus Disease 2019</strong> - CONCLUSION: High levels of baseline C5 observed in patients with severe COVID-19 contribute to the growing body of evidence that suggests this disease is marked by amplification of terminal complement activation. Data from this preliminary pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic evaluation of 22 patients with severe COVID-19 show that the modified ravulizumab dosing regimen achieved immediate and complete terminal complement inhibition, which can be sustained for up to 22 days. These data support 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>Drug synergy of combinatory treatment with remdesivir and the repurposed drugs fluoxetine and itraconazole effectively impairs SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro</strong> - CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Itraconazole-remdesivir and fluoxetine-remdesivir combinations are promising starting points for therapeutic options to control SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe progression of COVID-19.</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><strong>Aronia-Mundspray</strong> -
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Anordnung zum Versprühen einer Substanz in die menschliche Mundhöhle und/oder in den Rachen oder zum Trinken, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Anordnung eine Flasche mit einer Substanz aufweist, die wenigstens Aroniasaft und eine Alkoholkomponente aufweist und einen Sprühkopf besitzt.
</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE321222630">link</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>INTERFASE ANTIBACTERIANA Y VIRICIDA PARA VENTILACION MECANICA NO INVASIVA</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=ES319943963">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><a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE321222652">link</a></li>
</ul>
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>

473
archive-daily-dose/10 April, 2021.html Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,473 @@
<!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>10 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>Why It’s So Hard for America to End Its Wars</strong> - Is there any way for Biden to achieve peace with honor in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/why-its-so-hard-for-america-to-end-its-wars">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vladimir Putin Has a Message: “Hey, Joe, Are You Listening?”</strong> - The Biden Administration can’t escape the Russia problem. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/vladimir-putin-has-a-message-hey-joe-are-you-listening">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Can We Continue to Keep Schools Relatively Safe from the Coronavirus?</strong> - Experts warn that any vaccine mandate for educators could backfire. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-can-we-continue-to-keep-schools-relatively-safe-from-the-coronavirus">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Simple Facts of Derek Chauvin’s Trial</strong> - In the case of the police officer who killed George Floyd, the defense’s best hope is to instill doubt about what jurors can plainly see. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-simple-facts-of-derek-chauvins-trial">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Passing of Prince Philip</strong> - What must he have thought when he reflected upon the accomplishments and the travails of the family and institution of which he was long the patriarch, if not ever the head? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-passing-of-prince-philip">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Biden’s Supreme Court reform commission won’t fix anything</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Q5YUTKPclL_zY2MmsVWKa_niYdE=/201x0:3404x2402/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69105772/1230698067.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Chief Justice John Roberts administers the oath of office to President Joe Biden. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The president’s new commission has a lot of fans — in the Federalist Society.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GFVK4F">
In 2014, Judge Thomas Griffith authored an opinion in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15333446924860763904&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholarr"><em>Halbig v. Burwell</em></a> that could have <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/7/22/5821600/obamacare-halbig-subsidies-illegal-most-states">wrecked Obamacare’s insurance markets in over 30 states</a> and potentially stripped health coverage from millions of Americans. Griffith’s court eventually <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/9/4/6105523/this-is-good-for-obamacare-dc-circuit-court-will-review-halbig">vacated his ruling against Obamacare</a>, and the Supreme Court rejected Griffith’s reasoning in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-114_qol1.pdf"><em>King v. Burwell</em></a> (2015) — but not before the <em>Halbig</em> decision plunged the Obama administration, health care advocates, and patients into a year of terror that Obamacare would be gutted.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1CPMjI">
On Friday, President Joe Biden announced that he would sign an executive order creating a “<a href="https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1380540399517896705/photo/1">Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States</a>.” Griffith — who retired from the federal bench in 2020, allowing former President Trump to choose his successor — is <a href="https://reason.com/volokh/2021/04/09/biden-releases-names-of-members-of-his-judicial-reform-commission/">one of several prominent conservatives on this commission</a>, which the White House says Biden appointed to “provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FbHIWG">
Yet, while the author of one of the most significant attacks on Obamacare in the last decade is on Biden’s commission, none of the leading academic proponents of Supreme Court reform were appointed (the overwhelming majority of the commission’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/09/president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-creating-the-presidential-commission-on-the-supreme-court-of-the-united-states/">three dozen members</a> are law professors or political scientists).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SLS6oK">
Biden initially said in October he would convene a commission of leading academics to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/22/926607920/asked-about-court-packing-biden-says-he-will-convene-commission-to-study-reforms">study possible reforms to the Supreme Court</a>. At the time, Biden was torn between liberal activists who were enraged by Senate Republicans’ efforts to ensure that the GOP could control the Supreme Court, and Republican critics who accused Democrats of wanting to add seats to the Supreme Court in order to undo those efforts by the GOP.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0LALe8">
Rather than take a position on whether to add seats to the Supreme Court, Biden ultimately punted the question until after the election with his promise to appoint a commission.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zABDgI">
Now he has appointed such a commission and, measured solely by its intellectual firepower, the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/09/president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-creating-the-presidential-commission-on-the-supreme-court-of-the-united-states/">names</a> on the commission are impressive. They include some of the nations’ most prominent legal academics, such as Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken and Harvard’s Laurence Tribe.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8z9xdr">
But the commission does not include law professors Daniel Epps and Ganesh Sitaraman, authors of a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/10/30/20930662/pete-buttigieg-court-packing-anthony-kennedy-citizens-united">highly influential proposal</a> to expand the Supreme Court to 15 justices and have the key members of the Court be chosen in a bipartisan process that is intended to make the Court less ideological. And it does not include Aaron Belkin, a political science professor and <a href="https://www.takebackthecourt.today/press-release-statement-from-aaron-belkin-on-tuesdays-democratic-debate">leader of Take Back the Court</a>, a pro-reform organization. In choosing the members of this commission, the White House appears to have prioritized bipartisanship and star power within the legal academy over choosing people who have actually spent a meaningful amount of time advocating for Supreme Court reforms.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xKLL3X">
(I reached out to the White House for comment about several of the concerns raised in this piece, but have not heard back from them as of this writing. We will update this piece to include the White House’s comment if they respond.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rVN7H8">
When the White House released the list of commission members on Friday, it swiftly won praise — from members of the conservative Federalist Society. Evan Bernick, a <a href="http://www.georgemasonlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/23_3_Millhiser.pdf">right-libertarian</a> law professor at Georgetown, praised the commission as a “powerhouse lineup of scholars.” Stephen Sachs, a Duke Law professor who won the Federalist Society’s Joseph Story Award in 2020, called the commission “<a href="https://twitter.com/StephenESachs/status/1380561439052726272">an astonishingly well-balanced list</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YbwA2C">
Ilya Somin, a libertarian law professor at George Mason University, wrote shortly after the commission’s membership was announced that “the composition of the Commission is also <a href="https://reason.com/volokh/2021/04/09/biden-releases-names-of-members-of-his-judicial-reform-commission/">bad news for advocates of court-packing</a>, who may have hoped that it will produce a report endorsing the idea.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6wCEMm">
So, if the White House’s goal was to allay concerns among conservatives that President Biden might try to diminish the Republican Party’s influence over the judiciary, this commission appears to have accomplished that goal.
</p>
<h3 id="ILcpI3">
How we got to this point
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="szoHXf">
Not that long ago, the idea of adding additional seats to the Supreme Court in order to change its partisan makeup was <a href="https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/51/lets-think-about-court-packing-2/">considered very radical</a>. President Franklin Roosevelt proposed doing so in 1937 in order to neutralize a Court that frequently struck down New Deal programs on spurious legal grounds, but his proposal was unpopular and ultimately went nowhere.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lmitAh">
Yet several crucial events happened in recent years that convinced many Democrats that the federal judiciary is unfairly stacked against them. In 2016, after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February of that year, Senate Republicans <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/5/29/18644061/mitch-mcconnell-supreme-court-hearings-2020-merrick-garland">refused to even give a confirmation hearing</a> to President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, now-Attorney General Merrick Garland.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EZ7Pym">
At the time, Republicans claimed that it was inappropriate to confirm a Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2jl7vj">
But then Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/9/18/20917757/justice-ginsburg-ruth-bader-ginsburg-dies">died in September of 2020</a>, and Republicans immediately abandoned the position that they invented in order to justify scuttling Garland’s nomination. Trump’s nominee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/10/26/21529619/amy-coney-barrett-confirmed-supreme-court">confirmed just eight days before the 2020 election</a>, which threw Trump out of office.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OoiwEg">
In the interim between Garland’s unsuccessful nomination and Barrett’s successful one, Democrats endured two other significant traumas. The first was that Trump became president, despite <a href="https://www.vox.com/21336225/voting-rights-senate-electoral-college-gerrymandering-supreme-court">receiving nearly 3 million fewer votes</a> than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Republicans also controlled the Senate for the entirety of Trump’s presidency — but they only controlled the Senate thanks to malapportionment. The Democratic “minority” in the Senate <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/11/26/20981758/brett-kavanaughs-terrify-democrats-supreme-court-gundy-paul">represented millions more Americans</a> than the Republican “majority” during Trump’s presidency.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4t1Cgl">
Indeed, all three of Trump’s Supreme Court appointees were nominated by a president who lost the popular vote and confirmed by a bloc of senators who <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/10/26/21534358/supreme-court-amy-coney-barrett-constitution-anti-democratic-electoral-college-senate">represent less than half of the country</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K0Ras6">
The second trauma was the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/9/22/17886814/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-deborah-ramirez">credibly accused of attempting to rape Dr. Christine Blasey Ford</a> while Kavanaugh and Ford were both in high school. Kavanaugh responded to these allegations with an angry rant before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which he <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/9/27/17911256/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-senate-hearing">seemed to threaten retaliation against Democrats</a> for repeating the allegations against him — “what goes around comes around,” Kavanaugh told the committee.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IgvDyA">
All of this contributed to a sense among Democrats that the Court has become too partisan, and led many prominent Democrats to conclude that radical action was necessary to prevent a GOP-led Supreme Court from <a href="https://www.vox.com/22286213/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-arizona-brnovich-democratic-national-committee-republican-party">dismantling voting rights</a> and otherwise entrenching Republican power.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y2EJvq">
Yet, when candidate Biden was asked about whether he’d support radical reforms such as adding seats to the Supreme Court, he <a href="https://www.vox.com/22286213/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-arizona-brnovich-democratic-national-committee-republican-party">initially said he opposed these reforms</a>. After Ginsburg’s death, he took a more agnostic stance, saying that, while he’s “not been a fan of court-packing,” his approach to the issue would depend on how the Barrett confirmation fight played out.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NGcUXA">
Now that Barrett’s been confirmed, however, Biden appears to be signaling with his new commission that significant reforms to the Supreme Court will not be on the table.
</p>
<h3 id="0YygNS">
Why a milquetoast Supreme Court commission matters
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OsnHBH">
Court-packing is not something that anyone should do lightly. If Democrats did add seats to the Supreme Court in order to change its partisan balance, the result most likely would not be widespread acceptance of the newly liberal Court’s decisions. It would be <a href="https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/51/lets-think-about-court-packing-2/">massive resistance from Republicans</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gEcjLe">
As Justice Stephen Breyer recently <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/04/07/supreme-court-justice-stephen-breyer-warns-against-packing-bench/7116124002/">warned during a lecture at Harvard Law School</a>, “structural alteration [of the Court] motivated by the perception of political influence” will erode trust in the Court’s decisions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gLnQ7k">
Yet, while Breyer is correct to warn that significant reforms to the Supreme Court are likely to undermine the Court’s legitimacy, the <a href="https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/51/lets-think-about-court-packing-2/">mere threat of court-packing can serve an important function</a>. If the justices believe that President Biden may send them six new colleagues if the Court dismantles what remains of the Voting Rights Act, then those justices may be less likely to dismantle the Voting Rights Act.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="au4yNG">
A healthy fear of a Democratic majority could lead the Supreme Court to become less partisan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ybxLwf">
But Biden’s new commission sends the opposite message. With so many prominent members of the Federalist Society praising the commission right out the gate, it’s clear that conservatives do not feel threatened by this commission. And the justices themselves are just as capable of looking at the list of names that Biden picked and seeing that this commission is unlikely to support significant reforms.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The Amazon union vote is over. Here’s what happens now.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A protester holds a sign near Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse that reads, “United we bargain, divided we beg.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yceELCnDh9BsbvV2vct2RiTjVrI=/222x0:3778x2667/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69105580/GettyImages_1231457370.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A demonstrator holds a sign during a February protest near Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse. | Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Whether or not the union’s challenge in Bessemer fails, Amazon will face labor battles elsewhere.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PHDwsf">
Amazon <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/4/8/22362911/amazon-union-legal-challenge-alabama-vote-results-bessemer">has come out on top in the largest US union election</a> in the company’s history. But the labor battle appears far from over.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gh8Hah">
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced on Friday that it planned to file unfair labor practice charges against Amazon over allegations of employee intimidation and manipulation. The union also<strong> </strong>requested a hearing before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to go over its objections.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZUMDkX">
Meanwhile, activists who’ve worked for Amazon said the election outcome will not stop more organizing efforts at other Amazon facilities in the US. And reports in recent months point to the Teamsters Union trying to organize other Amazon warehouses and delivery drivers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NguzrS">
In short, the Amazon union conversation is entering a new phase. Here’s what to expect next.
</p>
<h3 id="WCBOHu">
What’s next at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V6KKyV">
Out of 2,536 workers who voted in the union election at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama facility<strong> </strong>(known as BHM1), 1,798 voted against unionization compared to 738 who voted to unionize. Ballots from another 505 workers were challenged by either Amazon or the union, but those votes won’t change the outcome, so the election is over.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SkOxbi">
In a virtual press event organized by Amazon after the vote count ended, four Bessemer warehouse workers who voted against unionizing said they believe the union lost because most colleagues appreciate the benefits they already have at Amazon and didn’t think they need a union to make changes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Co6E9F">
“The union said that we would never have a seat at the table on our own, but we actually have a seat at the table,” said an Amazon worker named William Stokes. “Now we’re talking with senior management. … Over the next 100 days, we are going to talk about things that we want to change. So change will come out of this.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bmgEG5">
Stokes did not provide details of the changes sought.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x1Ak1A">
Around the same time, pro-union Amazon workers appeared with union officials at a separate virtual press event. The message they tried to get across was that they are not done speaking up or fighting for what they feel they deserve.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RjKH70">
“Bezos, you are wrong, you are wrong all the way around,” one Amazon worker, Linda Burns, said, referencing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. “You misled a lot of our people.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1v38Az">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22311708/amazon-union-alabama-vote-explained">Amazon pushed<strong> </strong>hard to convince workers to vote against unionization</a>. The company set up an anti-union website that harped on the fact that union dues would cost full-time workers close to $500 a year. What the company didn’t say on the website is that, in Alabama, unions can’t require workers to pay union dues. So a union at Amazon’s BHM1 wouldn’t be able to force workers to become members and pay dues or fees. Even in such a situation, these employees would still be covered by a union contract and would be represented by the union in a case in which the company violated the agreement in a way that harmed the worker.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hzh3M7">
Amazon also convened mandatory in-person meetings during worker shifts to stress the downsides of unions, sending frequent texts to workers with anti-union messages and encouraging them to vote no. The company went so far as to post anti-union flyers on employee bathroom stall doors.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3zOmN2">
The retail giant also did something else that appears to be even more<strong> </strong>controversial. Amazon pressed the United States Postal Service to install a mailbox on the grounds of the Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse right before voting started — and after the NLRB denied the company’s request to place a ballot drop box on the property. Some <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/3anw9k/amazon-sends-vote-no-instructions-to-unionizing-employees-tells-them-to-use-new-mailbox">workers have said they were intimidated by the installation of the mailbox</a>, as well as the messages from Amazon to use it, and believe that the company wanted to monitor who voted.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SeqxP6">
Amazon spokesperson Heather Knox previously told the Washington Post that “the RWDSU … pushed for a mail-only election, which the NLRB’s own data showed would reduce turnout. This mailbox — which only the USPS had access to — was a simple, secure, and completely optional way to make it easy for employees to vote, no more and no less.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tqSDRz">
The mailbox and the anti-union messaging around dues will both likely come up in the union’s complaints. The NLRB said that the parties “have five business days to file objections contesting the conduct or results of the election,” and RWDSU has already said it will file unfair labor practice charges against Amazon for certain behavior during the campaign and election. The NLRB could choose to hold a hearing to find out more about the union’s claims if an investigation deems them credible. The labor board could then choose to throw out the results and call for a new election if it sided with the union.
</p>
<h3 id="nJggQM">
Amazon union battles outside of Bessemer
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zZi957">
The Bessemer union election, whether or not the results are upheld, will likely not be the last union drive at an Amazon facility in the US.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uJPsqW">
Christian Smalls, a former Amazon assistant warehouse manager who the <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/2/17/22287439/new-york-amazon-lawsuit-letitia-james-christian-smalls">New York Attorney General says was unlawfully fired for his labor activism</a>, told Recode he is in the process of organizing workers at the Staten Island warehouse where he worked before Amazon dismissed him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sbhXrw">
“Although we may not have gotten the results we wanted this time around, this doesn’t discourage the workers of Amazon,” he wrote in a text message to Recode. “If anything, it motivates. We believe it’s possible even more so than before, so I still consider this a victory for Bessemer to spark the fuse which ignited us all to be talking about unions again in this country.”
</p>
<aside id="jFWOi3">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MWgjE9">
Smalls and others have created their own union, the Amazon Labor Union, that they hope will eventually represent workers not just in Staten Island but, if successful, at other Amazon facilities too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fkYL4J">
There have been signs of labor organizing activity at other Amazon facilities in recent months of well. In Iowa, for example, a local chapter of the Teamsters Union has been working on organizing Amazon warehouse workers and delivery drivers. But a representative for the union said the group is trying to take a different tack than the RWDSU.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BuDDxt">
“We’re focused on building a new type of labor movement where we don’t rely on the election process to raise standards,” Jesse Case, secretary-treasurer of a Teamsters local in Iowa, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/business/economy/amazon-labor-unions.html">told the New York Times</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vK7VRq">
In the US, union organizers typically need to win an election at each individual facility of a company like Amazon’s. Organizers first have to get 30 percent of workers to sign a card saying they are interested in a union. After that, the NLRB will hold an election, in which a majority of voters have to vote to unionize in order for the union to take hold. What Case, of the Teamsters, is describing is a more informal approach, using protests and other forms of public pressure to get a company like Amazon to make changes in line with what workers want. An Amazon worker group called Amazonians United Chicagoland has also held protests and walkouts throughout the pandemic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nglmCN">
As for the RWDSU, the union’s president said on Friday that the organization has heard from more than 1,000 Amazon workers at other facilities who are interested in unionizing. But the union would not say for sure whether, or where, they might push for an election at other Amazon sites should the Bessemer appeal fail.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XKvfNW">
“I think it will be a moment to reflect and think about the best strategy moving forward,” Rebecca Givan, a labor professor at Rutgers University, told Recode of whether the RWDSU might consider giving up on Amazon should their Bessemer challenge fail. “We might see other kinds of organizing in other Amazon warehouses, rather than formal union drives under the NLRB process.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p2bi48">
<em>Shirin Ghaffary contributed reporting to this story.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>The controversial autopsy at the heart of the Chauvin trial, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A sheriff holding notes in her hands." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GNesfcrg-g2_lAUSE98d5Gl30ko=/227x0:3822x2696/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69101059/GettyImages_1232132203.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The defense hopes to raise doubts about how George Floyd died.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HJBoCQ">
On May 25, 2020, the world witnessed the final moments leading up to George Floyd’s death: Police officer Derek Chauvin pinned a handcuffed Floyd to the ground with his knee for more than nine minutes until he became unresponsive. The bystander video of<strong> </strong>the incident, with Floyd muttering his last words, “I can’t breathe,” sparked racial justice protests around the globe. Now, nearly a year later, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/3/27/22350040/derek-chauvin-murder-trial-george-floyd">Chauvin is on trial</a> facing charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VNswcq">
But despite what people saw, both virtually and in person last May, at the center of the trial is the question: What ultimately killed Floyd? The prosecution has argued that it was Chauvin’s knee, constricting Floyd’s neck and airway, that ultimately led to his death. Meanwhile, the defense has argued that it was Floyd’s history of drug use and underlying conditions that caused his death.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r0FJKL">
Two autopsy reports — one by a private medical examiner commissioned by Floyd’s family and another by the <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MNHENNE/2020/06/01/file_attachments/1464238/2020-3700%20Floyd,%20George%20Perry%20Update%206.1.2020.pdf?referringSource=articleShare">Hennepin County Medical Examiner</a> — reached the same conclusion: that Floyd died of homicide, meaning death at the hands of someone else. But the <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/05/read-george-floyd-autopsy-report-with-cause-of-death-and-other-factors/">medical examiner report also highlighted</a> that Floyd suffered from other<strong> </strong>“significant conditions,” such as fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use. These latter conditions are what the defense is using to argue that Chauvin is not responsible for Floyd’s death.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e3xEFl">
On Friday, Hennepin County chief medical examiner Andrew Baker, who performed the county autopsy, took the stand. In documents last year, Baker described the “<a href="https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/george-floyd/new-court-docs-say-george-floyd-had-fatal-level-of-fentanyl-in-his-system/89-ed69d09d-a9ec-481c-90fe-7acd4ead3d04">fatal level of fentanyl</a>” in Floyd’s system and told federal investigators that if the victim was “found dead at home alone and no other apparent causes, this could be an acceptable overdose.” Baker also cautioned, “I am not saying this killed him.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K61ifJ">
During cross examination, Baker clarified further. When the defense asked Baker whether fentanyl could have caused the abrasions on Floyd’s lung that were revealed during the autopsy, Baker said that underlying health conditions were “contributing” and not “direct causes” of Floyd’s death.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UMxmwb">
“In my opinion, the law enforcement, subdual restraint, and the neck compression was just more than Mr. Floyd could take by virtue of those heart conditions,” Baker said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z0z5bn">
Floyd’s history of drug use is expected to be the most contentious part of the trial. So far, the prosecution had Floyd’s girlfriend take the stand to preemptively humanize his addiction. “Our story is a classic story of how many people get addicted to opioids,” Courtney Ross said during her testimony. “We both had prescriptions but … we got addicted and tried really hard to break that addiction many times.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K38UaQ">
The prosecution also brought in witnesses, such as the paramedics and the doctor who treated Floyd as well as a police surgeon and national breathing expert, who have said Floyd died due to a lack of oxygen. Even Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, the city’s first Black chief, testified that Chauvin pinned Floyd for too long and that restraints should have stopped “once Mr. Floyd stopped resisting.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X6RpiV">
To get a conviction, prosecutors don’t have to prove that Chauvin’s actions were the sole cause of Floyd’s death, according to the <a href="https://www.startribune.com/cause-of-death-at-issue-in-chauvin-trial-as-prosecution-questions-medical-examiner-s-findings/600041966/?refresh=true">state’s jury instruction guidelines</a>. “The fact that other causes contribute to the death does not relieve the defendant of criminal liability,” the guidelines note. By emphasizing Floyd’s drug use, the defense is just trying to muddy the waters, john powell, a law professor at the University of California Berkeley and civil rights scholar, told Vox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Sxar88">
“The prosecutors shouldn’t have to make the case that Floyd didn’t have drugs in his body or that drugs were a contributing factor,” powell said. “All they have to do is make the case that Chauvin’s knee on the neck for nine minutes and 20 seconds substantially contributed to Floyd’s death.”
</p>
<h3 id="Vi68pV">
How the defense has used the medical examiner’s findings to shield Chauvin
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FZiwlz">
Despite similar conclusions ruling Floyd’s death a homicide, there is a key difference in accounts of what caused it. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office states that the cause of death was a “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression” — which means physical restraint (handcuffs and Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck) was a significant factor in Floyd’s cardiac arrest. But the private autopsy report found the cause was actually “mechanical asphyxia” that made Floyd’s heart stop, implying that there were no underlying conditions that may have played a role.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hx5Xtg">
In their opening statement, prosecutors said they would make the case that Floyd died of asphyxia, or insufficient oxygen, which was not mentioned in the county report. On Monday, the prosecution brought to the stand Bradford Wankhede Langenfeld, a senior resident at the Hennepin County Medical Center who worked to recover Floyd but eventually pronounced him dead. Langenfeld said that based on the information he had, asphyxia was “more likely than other possibilities” to have caused Floyd’s cardiac arrest. But under cross-examination by the defense, Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson stuck with questioning Floyd’s use of drugs and asked if high levels of fentanyl and methamphetamine could also cause insufficient oxygen. The doctor agreed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hkAib7">
Martin J. Tobin, a pulmonologist and breathing expert, offered perhaps the most striking medical testimony in the prosecution’s case. On Thursday, Tobin took the stand and provided a detailed account of how Floyd died — including that Chauvin had placed more than 90 pounds on Floyd’s neck and that 85 percent of Floyd’s airways were restricted. Ultimately, Tobin said, Floyd died from “a low level of oxygen” caused by police restraint. “A healthy person subjected to what Mr. Floyd was subjected to would have died,” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ssWxUI">
Tobin pushed back against Nelson’s questioning about Floyd’s drug use, saying he saw no evidence of an overdose in the footage, as Floyd seemed to be breathing fine before police restrained him. Seven medical experts who spoke to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/george-floyd-fentanyl/2021/03/10/c3d4f328-76ec-11eb-9537-496158cc5fd9_story.html">Washington Post</a> last month also warned against calling the situation an overdose, arguing that Floyd wouldn’t have had the same energy or behavior interacting with the police as he did if he were on his way to an overdose.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mkyQzp">
In his testimony Friday, Baker clarified why he ruled Floyd’s death a homicide. According to Baker, Floyd had severe underlying heart disease and hypertensive heart disease, meaning his heart weighed more than it should. But these conditions didn’t cause Floyd’s death. What caused Floyd’s death were conditions created by Chauvin and other officers that caused Floyd’s heart to work harder to provide oxygen during the encounter. He also explained the language he used on Floyd’s death certificate — “complicating” means “in the setting of.” In other words, Floyd’s heart stopped because of Chauvin’s neck restraint.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EDcFjx">
So far, the defense’s argument has relied largely on Floyd’s history of drug use and the result of the Hennepin County toxicology report. But Baker’s testimony — that drugs were “not a direct cause” — has hindered this argument.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4Vg7HS">
The defense’s strategy of focusing on Floyd’s drug use has drawn parallels to <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/22373806/george-floyd-trial-derek-chauvin-minneapolis-black-lives-matter">a long history of painting Black men killed by police as criminals and drug addicts</a>.<strong> </strong>“Part of the [defense’s] argument is really just saying Floyd is not worthy of our concern and respect, and you saw this on Fox News like ‘why are people so upset this guy has a criminal record, he was on drugs, he was trying to pass off a fake dollar bill, he’s not a hero,’” powell said. “It’s like immediately Floyd became on trial. It’s not the police on trial; it’s the person who has been killed who is on trial. It’s Michael Brown. It’s Eric Garner. … It’s Rodney King.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jLYF0O">
While the prosecution has called a handful of medical experts to the stand so far, the defense has 15 medical experts queued up as potential witnesses when it presents its case next week — though it is unknown how many will testify. Multiple medical testimonies, notes powell, may confuse and overwhelm the jury.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fYZSzM">
“The defense has to prove that there’s reasonable or some doubt,” powell said. “Sometimes, what lawyers do is that if you have good facts, you try to confuse people, so any contradiction or anything to make the jury question like, ‘When you look at all these things are you sure this is what caused his death?’”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8ut1Od">
The trial’s outcome may hinge on whether the prosecution has built a strong enough case with medical and police testimony to erase doubt that Chauvin played “a substantial causal factor in causing” Floyd’s death. The proceedings are expected to last another two weeks.
</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 Premier League 2021: SRH vs KKR | Morgan-led Kolkata opens campaign against Hyderabad</strong> - KKR have a slight edge head-to-head as the Purple Brigade lead 12-7 against the Orange Army</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>Rahul Dravid bats for data-driven strategy</strong> - He stresses efficacy of statistics in improving performances.</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>Indian women raring to take on Latvia</strong> - Team well prepared and ready to give its best, says captain Vishaal</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>Rakhi among five provisionally suspended</strong> - Five sports persons, including well-known weightlifter Rakhi Halder and kabaddi player Ajay Thakur, have been provisionally suspended last month for 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>Batra backs Bhanot to the hilt</strong> - If somebody doesn’t like his face, thank you very much, says IOA president</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>Sports develop leadership qualities in the youth, says law varsity V-C</strong> - ‘Need to bring a comprehensive sports law’</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>ECI pegs voter turnout at 74.06%</strong> - Figures on postal ballots still awaited</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>Four cows culled at Vithura farm</strong> - Five samples from the farm had tested positive for bacterial infection, brucellosis</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>Gujarat government not in favour of lockdown: CM Vijay Rupani</strong> - However, the Chief Minister of Gujarat welcomed the voluntary imposition of lockdowns at a local level by villages or market associations in cities.</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>India has finalised air bubble pact with Sri Lanka: Aviation Ministry</strong> - India now has such pacts with 28 countries</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>Prince Philip: World leaders and royals send heartfelt sympathy</strong> - Spain’s royal family telegrams “Dear Aunt Lilibet”, as condolence messages pour in.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Prince Philip has died aged 99, Buckingham Palace announces</strong> - Tributes are paid from around the world to the Queen’s “beloved” husband of 73 years, the longest-serving consort in British history.</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>Save our wine! Big freeze spells disaster for French vineyards</strong> - Vineyards in some areas are reporting extensive damage and the government is declaring a disaster.</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>Nikolai Glushkov: Putin critic ‘strangled in London home by third party’</strong> - Former Aeroflot director and Russian exile Nikolai Glushkov was unlawfully killed, a coroner rules.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine conflict: Moscow could ‘defend’ Russia-backed rebels</strong> - A senior Kremlin official issues a warning as tensions rise in eastern Ukraine.</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>Diablo II Resurrected impressions: Unholy cow, man</strong> - Blizzard Classic follows <em>WarCraft III</em>’s utter failure with an udder success. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1755982">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Variant hunters race to find new strains where variant testing lags</strong> - Scientists across Africa are collaborating to track them down. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1755992">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apple M1 hardware support merged into Linux 5.13</strong> - The merge is exciting, but don’t rush out to buy an Apple M1 for Linux just yet. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1756008">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia cries “sabotage” after Slovakia questions quality of Sputnik vaccine</strong> - Russia now says it wants its vaccine back from Slovakia. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1756009">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Google says the Pixel 5a will launch, but only in two countries</strong> - The Pixel 5a is getting Google’s smallest distribution ever, due to a lack of chips? - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1755854">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Why women make better assassins….</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The CIA had an opening for an assassin.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
After all the background checks, interviews and testing were done, there were three finalists: two men and a woman.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
For the final test, the CIA agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“We must know that you will follow your instructions no matter what the circumstances . Inside the room you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Kill her.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“You can’t be serious. I could never shoot my wife”.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The agent said, “Then you are not the right man for this job. Take your wife and go home”.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about five minutes. The man came out with tears in his eyes,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I tried, but I can’t kill my wife.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The agent said, “You don’t have what it takes, so take your wife and go home”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Finally, it was the woman’s turn. She was given the same instructions to kill her husband. She took the gun and went into the room. Shots were heard one after another.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
They heard screaming, crashing, and banging on the walls. After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman, wiping sweat from her brow.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“The gun was loaded with blanks” she said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I had to kill him with the chair”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/meaksy"> /u/meaksy </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mntvq2/why_women_make_better_assassins/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mntvq2/why_women_make_better_assassins/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>An engineer who was unemployed for a long time decided to open a medical clinic. He puts a sign outside the clinic: “A cure for your ailment guaranteed at $500; we’ll pay you $1,000 if we fail.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A Doctor thinks this is a good opportunity to earn $1,000 and goes to his clinic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Doctor: “I have lost my sense of taste.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Engineer: “Nurse, please bring the medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in the patient’s mouth.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Doctor: “This is Gasoline!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Engineer: “Congratulations! You’ve got your taste back. That will be $500.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Doctor gets annoyed and goes back after a couple of days later to recover his money.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Doctor: “I have lost my memory, I cannot remember anything.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Engineer: “Nurse, please bring the medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in the patient’s mouth.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Doctor: “But that is Gasoline!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Engineer: “Congratulations! You’ve got your memory back. That will be $500.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Doctor leaves angrily and comes back after several days, more determined than ever to make his money back.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Doctor: “My eyesight has become weak.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Engineer: “Nurse, please bring the medicine from box 11 and put 3 drops in the patient’s eyes.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The nurse walks in carrying box #22.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Doctor: “Wait, that’s the box with the gasoline in it!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Engineer: “Congratulations! You’ve got your vision back! That will be $500.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TitaniumDragon"> /u/TitaniumDragon </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mnxp0l/an_engineer_who_was_unemployed_for_a_long_time/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mnxp0l/an_engineer_who_was_unemployed_for_a_long_time/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>I was reading a great book about an immortal dog the other day</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
It was impossible to put down
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/SeadawgCT"> /u/SeadawgCT </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mnh0am/i_was_reading_a_great_book_about_an_immortal_dog/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mnh0am/i_was_reading_a_great_book_about_an_immortal_dog/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A husband comes home to his wife after being fired from the pickle factory…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
His wife asks him “So what happened?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The husband explains “I often get bored at work and today my mind was wandering and I thought to myself ‘what would happen if I stuck my penis inside the pickle slicer?’”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The wife is clearly blind-sided by this confession and doesn’t know what to say next. Eventually she says to him “That was an incredibly stupid and unsafe thing to do but at least you’re all in one piece.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The husband appreciates his wife’s response and says “I suppose you’re right.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To lighten the mood the wife asks cheerfully “So what happened to the pickle slicer?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The husband takes a moment and says “Oh, she was fired too.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MelvinDoode"> /u/MelvinDoode </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mo1zf0/a_husband_comes_home_to_his_wife_after_being/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mo1zf0/a_husband_comes_home_to_his_wife_after_being/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>They say that during sex you burn off as many calories as running eight miles.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Who the hell runs eight miles in 30 seconds?
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Kang1981"> /u/Kang1981 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mnw9kd/they_say_that_during_sex_you_burn_off_as_many/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mnw9kd/they_say_that_during_sex_you_burn_off_as_many/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>

4
index.html
View File

File diff suppressed because one or more lines are too long