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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The role of conspiracy beliefs for COVID-19 health responses: A meta-analysis</strong> -
<div>
While conspiracy theories about COVID-19 are proliferating, their impact on health-related responses during the present pandemic is not yet fully understood. We meta-analyzed correlational and longitudinal evidence from 53 studies (N = 78,625) conducted in 2020 and 2021. Conspiracy beliefs were weakly associated with more reluctance toward prevention measures both cross-sectionally and over time. They explained lower vaccination and social distancing responses but were unrelated to mask wearing and hygiene responses. Conspiracy beliefs showed an increasing association with prevention responses as the pandemic progressed and explained support for alternative treatments lacking scientific bases (e.g., chloroquine treatment, complementary medicine). Despite small and heterogenous effects, at a large scale, conspiracy beliefs are a non-negligeable threat to public health.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/rfyah/" target="_blank">The role of conspiracy beliefs for COVID-19 health responses: A meta-analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A Wide-bandwidth Nanocomposite-Sensor Integrated Smart Mask for Tracking Multi-phase Respiratory Activities for COVID-19 Endemic</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A global sentiment in early 2022 is that the COVID-19 virus could become endemic just like common cold flu viruses soon. The most optimistic view is that, with minimal precautions, such as vaccination, boosters and optional masking, life for most people will proceed as normal soon. However, as warned by A. Katzourakis of Oxford University recently, we must set aside lazy optimism, and must be realistic about the likely levels of death, disability and sickness that will be brought on by a 9COVID-199 endemic. Moreover, the world must also consider that continual circulation of the virus could give rise to new variants such as the new BA.2 variant (a subvariant of Omicron) continues to spread across the US and parts of Europe. Data from the CDC is already showing that BA.2 has been tripling in prevalence every two weeks. Hence, globally, we must use available and proven weapons to continue to fight the COVID-19 viruses, i.e., effective vaccines, antiviral medications, diagnostic tests and stop an airborne virus transmission through social distancing, and mask wearing. For this work, we have demonstrated a smart mask with an optimally-coupled ultra-thin flexible soundwave sensors for tracking, classifying, and recognizing different respiratory activities, including breathing, speaking, and two-/tri-phase coughing; the mask9s functionality can also be augmented in the future to monitor other human physiological signals. Although researchers have integrated sensors into masks to detect respiratory activities in the past, they only based on measuring temperature and air flow during coughing, i.e., counting only the number of coughs. However, coughing is a process consisting of several phases, including an explosion of the air with glottal opening producing some noise-like waveform, a decrease of airflow to decrease sound amplitude, and a voiced stage which is the interruption of the air flow due to the closure of glottal and periodical vibration of partly glottis, which is not always present. Therefore, sensors used for cough detection should not be only sensitive to subtle air pressure but also the high-frequency vibrations, i.e., a pressure sensor that needs to be responsive to a wide input amplitude and bandwidth range, in order to detect air flows between hundreds of hertz from breath, and acoustic signals from voice that could reach ~ 8000 Hz. Respiratory activities data from thirty-one (31) human subjects were collected. Machine learning methods such as Support Vector Machines and Convolutional Neural Networks were used to classify the collected sensor data from the smart mask, which show an overall macro-recall of about 93.88% for the three respiratory sounds among all 31 subjects. For individual subjects, the 31 human subjects have the average macro-recall of 95.23% (ranging from 90% to 100%) for these 3 respiratory activities. Our work bridges the technological gap between ultra-lightweight but high-frequency response sensor material fabrication, signal transduction and conditioning, and applying machining learning algorithms to demonstrate a reliable wearable device for potential applications in continual healthy monitoring of subjects with cough symptoms during the eventual COVID-19 endemic. The monitoring and analysis of cough sound should be highly beneficial for human health management. These health monitoring data could then be shared with doctors via cloud storage and transmission technique to help disease diagnosis more effectively. Also, communication barriers caused by wearing masks can be alleviated by combining with the speech recognition techniques. In general, this research helps to advance the wearable device technology for tracking respiratory activities, similar to an Apple Watch or a Fitbit smartwatch in tracking physical and physiological activities.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article- link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.28.22273021v1" target="_blank">A Wide-bandwidth Nanocomposite-Sensor Integrated Smart Mask for Tracking Multi-phase Respiratory Activities for COVID-19 Endemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Immunogenicity and reactogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in people living with HIV: a nationwide prospective cohort study in the Netherlands</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background Vaccines can be less immunogenic in people living with HIV (PLWH), but for SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations this is unknown. Methods and Findings A prospective cohort study to examine the immunogenicity of BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, ChAdOx1-S and Ad26.COV2.S vaccines in adult PLWH, without prior COVID-19, compared to HIV-negative controls. The primary endpoint was the anti-spike SARS-CoV-2 IgG response after mRNA vaccination. Secondary endpoints included the serological response after vector vaccination, anti-SARS-CoV-2 T-cell response and reactogenicity. Between February- September 2021, 1154 PLWH (median age 53 [IQR 44-60], 86% male) and 440 controls (median age 43 [IQR 33-53], 29% male) were included. 884 PLWH received BNT162b2, 100 mRNA-1273, 150 ChAdOx1-S, and 20 Ad26.COV2.S. 99% were on antiretroviral therapy, 98% virally suppressed, and the median CD4+T-cell count was 710 cells/µL [IQR 520-913]. 247 controls received mRNA-1273, 94 BNT162b2, 26 ChAdOx1-S and 73 Ad26.COV2.S. After mRNA vaccination, geometric mean concentration was 1418 BAU/mL in PLWH (95%CI 1322-1523), and after adjustment for age, sex, and vaccine type, HIV-status remained associated with a decreased response (0.607, 95%CI 0.508-0.725). In PLWH vaccinated with mRNA-based vaccines, higher antibody responses were predicted by CD4+T-cell counts 250-500 cells/µL (2.845, 95%CI 1.876-4.314) or &gt;500 cells/µL (2.936, 95%CI 1.961-4.394), whilst a viral load &gt;50 copies/mL was associated with a reduced response (0.454, 95%CI 0.286-0.720). Increased IFN-γ, CD4+, and CD8+T-cell responses were observed after stimulation with SARS- CoV-2 spike peptides in ELISpot and activation induced marker assays, comparable to controls. Reactogenicity was generally mild without vaccine-related SAE. Conclusion After vaccination with BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273, anti-spike SARS- CoV-2 antibody levels were reduced in PLWH. To reach and maintain the same serological responses and vaccine efficacy as HIV-negative controls, additional vaccinations are probably required.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.31.22273221v1" target="_blank">Immunogenicity and reactogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in people living with HIV: a nationwide prospective cohort study in the Netherlands</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Changing characteristics over time of individuals receiving COVID-19 vaccines in Denmark: A population-based descriptive study of vaccine uptake</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Aims The Danish authorities implemented a differential rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines where individuals at high risk of COVID-19 were prioritized. We describe the temporal uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and changing characteristics of vaccine recipients in Denmark. Methods Using the Danish national health care registries, we identified all Danish residents ≥5 years of age who received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine from December 27th, 2020, to January 29th, 2022. We charted the daily number of newly vaccinated individuals and the cumulative vaccine coverage over time, stratified by vaccine type, age groups, and vaccination priority groups. In addition, we described characteristics of vaccine recipients during 2-months-intervals and in vaccination priority groups. Results By January 29th, 2022, 86%, 84% and 63% of Danish residents ≥5 years had received a first, second, and third dose, respectively, of a COVID-19 vaccine, most commonly the BNT162b2 vaccine (84% of vaccinated individuals). Vaccine uptake ranged from 48% in 5-11-year-olds up to 98% in 65-74-year-olds. Individuals vaccinated before June 2021 were older (median age 61-70 years vs. 10-35 years in later periods) and had more comorbidities such as hypertension (22-28% vs. 0.77-2.8% in later periods), chronic lung disease (9.4-15% vs. 3.7-4.6% in later periods), and diabetes (9.3-12% vs. 0.91-2.4% in later periods). Conclusions The uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines is high in Denmark. We document substantial changes over time in characteristics of vaccine recipients which should be considered when designing and interpreting studies on the effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.25.22272927v1" target="_blank">Changing characteristics over time of individuals receiving COVID-19 vaccines in Denmark: A population-based descriptive study of vaccine uptake</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Predicting the time course of replacements of SARS-CoV-2 variants using relative reproduction numbers</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has continuously evolved since its introduction to the human population in 2019. Natural selection selects variants with higher effective reproduction numbers, increasing the overall transmissibility of the circulating viruses. In order to establish effective control measures for a new variant, it is crucial to know its transmissibility and replacement time course in early phases of the variant replacement. In this paper, we conduct retrospective prediction tests of the variant replacement from Alpha to Delta in England. Our method firstly estimated the relative reproduction number, the ratio of the reproduction number of a variant to that of another, from partial observations up to a given time point. Secondly, the replacement time course after the time point was predicted based on the estimates of relative reproduction number. Thirdly, the estimated relative reproduction number and the predicted time course were evaluated by being compared to those estimated using the entire observations. We found that it is possible to estimate the relative reproduction number of Delta with respect to Alpha when the frequency of Delta was more than or equal to 0.25. Using these relative reproduction numbers, predictions targeting on 1st June 2021, the date when the frequency of Delta reached 0.90, had maximum absolute prediction errors of 0.015 for frequencies of Delta and 0.067 for the average relative reproduction number of circulating viruses with respect to Alpha. These results suggest that our method allows us to predict the time course of variant replacement in future from partial datasets observed in early phases of variant replacement.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.30.22273218v1" target="_blank">Predicting the time course of replacements of SARS-CoV-2 variants using relative reproduction numbers</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Reducing societal impacts of SARS-CoV-2 interventions through subnational implementation</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To curb the initial spread of SARS-CoV-2, many countries relied on nation-wide implementation of non- pharmaceutical interventions, at a high socio-economic cost. Using the first COVID-19 wave in the Netherlands as a case in point, we address how subnational implementations might have achieved similar levels of epidemiological control with fewer societal consequences; e.g., parts of the country could have stayed open for longer. To this end, we develop a high-resolution analysis framework reflecting a demographically stratified population with a spatially explicit, dynamic, individual contact pattern-based epidemiology, exploiting mobility trends extracted from mobile phone signals and Google mobility. The framework is exportable to other countries and settings, and may be used to develop policies on subnational approach as a better strategic choice for controlling future epidemics.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.31.22273222v1" target="_blank">Reducing societal impacts of SARS-CoV-2 interventions through subnational implementation</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Transcriptomic profiling of cardiac tissues from SARS-CoV-2 patients identifies DNA damage</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is known to present with pulmonary and extra- pulmonary organ complications. In comparison with the 2009 pandemic (pH1N1), SARS-CoV-2 infection is likely to lead to more severe disease, with multi-organ effects, including cardiovascular disease. SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with acute and long-term cardiovascular disease, but the molecular changes govern this remain unknown. In this study, we investigated the landscape of cardiac tissues collected at rapid autopsy from SARS-CoV-2, pH1N1, and control patients using targeted spatial transcriptomics approaches. Although SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in cardiac tissue, host transcriptomics showed upregulation of genes associated with DNA damage and repair, heat shock, and M1-like macrophage infiltration in the cardiac tissues of COVID-19 patients. The DNA damage present in the SARS-CoV-2 patient samples, were further confirmed by gamma-H2Ax immunohistochemistry. In comparison, pH1N1 showed upregulation of Interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), in particular interferon and complement pathways, when compared with COVID-19 patients. These data demonstrate the emergence of distinct transcriptomic profiles in cardiac tissues of SARS-CoV-2 and pH1N1 influenza infection supporting the need for a greater understanding of the effects on extra-pulmonary organs, including the cardiovascular system of COVID-19 patients, to delineate the immunopathobiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and long term impact on health.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.24.22272732v1" target="_blank">Transcriptomic profiling of cardiac tissues from SARS-CoV-2 patients identifies DNA damage</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Impact of spatiotemporal heterogeneity in COVID-19 disease surveillance on epidemiological parameters and case growth rates</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
SARS-CoV-2 case data are primary sources for estimating epidemiological parameters and for modelling the dynamics of outbreaks. Understanding biases within case based data sources used in epidemiological analyses are important as they can detract from the value of these rich datasets. This raises questions of how variations in surveillance can affect the estimation of epidemiological parameters such as the case growth rates. We use standardised line list data of COVID-19 from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia to estimate delay distributions of symptom-onset- to-confirmation, -hospitalisation and -death as well as hospitalisation-to-death at high spatial resolutions and throughout time. Using these estimates, we model the biases introduced by the delay from symptom-onset-to-confirmation on national and state level case growth rates (rt) using an adaptation of the Richardson-Lucy deconvolution algorithm. We find significant heterogeneities in the estimation of delay distributions through time and space with delay difference of up to 19 days between epochs at the state level. Further, we find that by changing the spatial scale, estimates of case growth rate can vary by up to 0.13 d-1. Lastly, we find that states with a high variance and/or mean delay in symptom-onset-to-diagnosis also have the largest difference between the rt estimated from raw and deconvolved case counts at the state level. We highlight the importance of high-resolution case based data in understanding biases in disease reporting and how these biases can be avoided by adjusting case numbers based on empirical delay distributions. Code and openly accessible data to reproduce analyses presented here are available.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.31.22273230v1" target="_blank">Impact of spatiotemporal heterogeneity in COVID-19 disease surveillance on epidemiological parameters and case growth rates</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Global Reports of Myocarditis Following COVID-19 Vaccination: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
In December 2020, the FDA granted emergency approval to Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) and Moderna (mRNA-1273) COVID-19 vaccines. There have been recent media reports of myocarditis after receiving COVID-19 vaccines, particularly the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, causing public concern. This review summarizes information from published case series and case reports, with a strong emphasis on reporting patient and disease characteristics, investigation, and clinical outcome, to provide a comprehensive picture of the condition. Forty studies, including 147 cases, participated in this systematic review. The median age was 28.9 years; 93.9% were male and 6.1% were female. 72.1% of patients received the Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) vaccine, 24.5% of patients received the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine (mRNA-1273), and the rest of the 3.3% received other types of vaccines. Furthermore, most myocarditis cases (87.1%) occurred after the second vaccine dose, after a median time interval of 3.3 days. The most frequently reported symptoms were chest pain, myalgia/body aches and fever. Troponin levels were consistently elevated in 98.6%. The admission ECG was abnormal in 88.5% of cases, and the left LVEF was lower than 50% in 26.5% of cases. The vast majority of patients (93.2%) resolved symptoms and recovered, and only 3 patients died. These findings may help public health policy to consider myocarditis in the context of the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination as well as to assess the cardiac condition before the choice of vaccine, which is offered to male adults. In addition, it must be carefully weighed against the very substantial benefit of vaccination.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.27.22273007v1" target="_blank">Global Reports of Myocarditis Following COVID-19 Vaccination: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Safety and immunogenicity of a reduced dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (REDU-VAC): a single blind, randomized, non-inferiority trial</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background The use of fractional dose regimens of COVID-19 vaccines has the potential to accelerate vaccination rates in low-income countries. Dose-finding studies of the mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) have suggested that a fractional dose induces comparable antibody responses to the full, licensed dose in people below 55 years old. Here, we report the safety and immunogenicity of a fractional dose regimen of the BNT162b2 vaccine. Methods REDU-VAC is a participant-blinded, randomised, phase 4, multicentre, non-inferiority study investigating safety, reactogenicity and immunogenicity of BNT162b2. Adults aged between 18 and 55 years, without uncontrolled co-morbidities, either previously infected or infection naive, were eligible and recruited at five sites across Belgium. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 20ug/20ug (fractional dose) or 30ug/30ug (full dose) of BNT162b2, administered intra-muscularly at a three-week interval. The primary endpoint was the geometric mean ratio (GMR) of serum SARS-CoV-2 anti-RBD IgG titres at 28 days post second dose between the reduced and the full dose regimens. The reduced dose was considered non-inferior to the full dose if the lower limit of the two-sided 95% CI of the GMR was greater than 0.67. The primary analysis was done on the per-protocol population, including infection naive participants only. Findings Between April 19 and April 23, 2021, 145 participants were enrolled in the study and randomized, of whom 141 were vaccinated and reached the primary endpoint. Participants were mostly female (69.5%), of European origin (95%), with a mean age of 40.4 years (SD 7.9). At 28 days post second dose, the geometric mean titre (GMT) of SARS-CoV-2 anti-RBD IgG of the reduced dose regimen (1,705 BAU/mL) was not non-inferior to the full dose regimen (2,387 BAU/mL), with a GMR of 0.714 (two-sided 95% CI 0.540-0.944). No serious adverse events occurred. Conclusions While non-inferiority of the reduced dose regimen was not demonstrated, the SARS-CoV-2 anti-RBD IgG titre was only moderately lower than that of the full dose regimen and, importantly, still markedly higher than the reported antibody response to the licensed adenoviral vector vaccines. These data suggest that reduced doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine may offer additional benefit as compared to the vaccines currently in use in most low and middle-income countries, warranting larger immunogenicity and effectiveness trials. The trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04852861).
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.25.22272599v1" target="_blank">Safety and immunogenicity of a reduced dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (REDU-VAC): a single blind, randomized, non- inferiority trial</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Omicron is specifically restricted in its replication in human lung tissue, compared to other variants of concern</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has been characterized by decreased clinical severity, raising the question of whether early variant-specific interactions within the mucosal surfaces of the respiratory tract could mediate its attenuated pathogenicity. Here, we employed ex vivo infection of native human nasal and lung tissues to investigate the local- mucosal susceptibility and innate immune response to Omicron, compared to Delta and earlier SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC). We show that the replication of Omicron in lung tissues is highly restricted compared to other VOC, whereas it remains relatively unchanged in nasal tissues. Mechanistically, Omicron induced a much stronger antiviral interferon response in infected tissues compared to Delta and earlier VOC - a difference which was most striking in the lung tissues, where the innate immune response to all other SARS-CoV-2 VOC was blunted. Our data provide new insights to the reduced lung involvement and clinical severity of Omicron.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.31.486531v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 Omicron is specifically restricted in its replication in human lung tissue, compared to other variants of concern</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Prediction of infectivity of SARS-CoV2: Mathematical Model with Docking Simulation analysis between Spike Protein and ACE2</strong> -
<div>
Variants of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) have been spreading in a global pandemic. It is important to understand quick the infectivity of future new variants for effective countermeasure against them. In this research, we aimed to investigate the prediction of infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 by using mathematical model with molecular simulation analysis and the evolutionary distance of spike protein gene (S gene) of SARS -CoV-2 in the phylogenetic analysis. We subjected the six variants and wild type (WT) of spike protein and Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) of human to molecular docking simulation analyses in order to understand the binding affinity. Then the regression analysis of the coefficient from our mathematical model and the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 were investigated for the prediction of infectivity. The evolutionary distance by S gene (spike protein) correlated to the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 variants. And the coefficient of mathematical model by using the results of molecular docking simulation correlated to the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 variants, too. These results suggests that the provided data from the docking simulation for RBD of variant spike protein and ACE2 of human were valuable to the prediction of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity. Finally, we established the mathematical model for the prediction of infectivity in the SARS-CoV-2 variant by using the binding affinity under the molecular docking experiment and evolutionary distance by S gene.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.30.486373v1" target="_blank">Prediction of infectivity of SARS-CoV2: Mathematical Model with Docking Simulation analysis between Spike Protein and ACE2</a>
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<li><strong>Context-aware deconvolution of cell-cell communication with Tensor-cell2cell</strong> -
<div>
Cell interactions determine phenotypes, and intercellular communication is shaped by cellular contexts such as disease state, organismal life stage, and tissue microenvironment. Single-cell technologies measure the molecules mediating cell-cell communication, and emerging computational tools can exploit these data to decipher intercellular communication. However, current methods either disregard cellular context or rely on simple pairwise comparisons between samples, thus limiting the ability to decipher complex cell-cell communication across multiple time points, levels of disease severity, or spatial contexts. Here we present Tensor-cell2cell, an unsupervised method using tensor decomposition, which is the first strategy to decipher context-driven intercellular communication by simultaneously accounting for multiple stages, states, or locations of the cells. To do so, Tensor-cell2cell uncovers context-driven patterns of communication associated with different phenotypic states and determined by unique combinations of cell types and ligand-receptor pairs. As such, Tensor-cell2cell robustly improves upon and extends the analytical capabilities of existing tools. We show Tensor-cell2cell can identify multiple modules associated with distinct communication processes (e.g., participating cell-cell and ligand receptor pairs) linked to COVID-19 severities and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Thus, we introduce an effective and easy-to-use strategy for understanding complex communication patterns across diverse conditions.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.20.461129v2" target="_blank">Context-aware deconvolution of cell- cell communication with Tensor-cell2cell</a>
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<li><strong>Identification of C270 as a novel site for allosteric modulators of SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease</strong> -
<div>
The papain-like protease (PLpro) in coronavirus is one of key cysteine proteases responsible for the proteolytic processing of viral polyproteins, and plays an important role in dysregulation of host immune response. PLpro is a promising therapeutic target with a major challenge in inhibitor design due to the restricted S1/S2 sites for two consecutive glycine of substrates. Here we reported the discovery of two activators of the SARS-CoV-2 PLpro from a biochemical screening, and the identification of the unique residue, C270, as an allosteric and covalent regulation site for the activators. This site was also specifically modified by glutathione oxidized, resulting in the S-glutathionylation and activation of the protease. Furthermore, one compound was found to allosterically inhibit the protease by covalent binding to this crucial site. Together, these results elucidated an unrevealed molecular mechanism for allosteric modulation of the protease’s activity, and provided a new strategy for discovery of allosteric inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 PLpro.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.30.486313v1" target="_blank">Identification of C270 as a novel site for allosteric modulators of SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease</a>
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<li><strong>Cross neutralization of Omicron BA.1 against BA.2 and BA.3 SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
The Omicron SARS-CoV-2 has three distinct sublineages, among which sublineage BA.1 is responsible for the initial Omicron surge and is now being replaced by BA.2 worldwide, whereas BA.3 is currently at a low frequency. The ongoing BA.1-to-BA.2 replacement underscores the importance to understand the cross-neutralization among the three Omicron sublineages. Here we tested the neutralization of BA.1-infected human sera against BA.2, BA.3, and USA/WA1-2020 (a strain isolated in late January 2020). The BA.1-infected sera neutralized BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, and USA/WA1-2020 SARS-CoV-2s with geometric mean titers (GMTs) of 445, 107, 102, and 16, respectively. Thus, the neutralizing GMTs against heterologous BA.2, BA.3, and USA/WA1-2020 were 4.2-, 4.4-, and 28.4-fold lower than the GMT against homologous BA.1, respectively. These findings have implications for vaccine strategy.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.30.486409v1" target="_blank">Cross neutralization of Omicron BA.1 against BA.2 and BA.3 SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Clinical Trial on Sequential Immunization of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO Cell, NVSI-06-09) and Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO cell，NVSI-06-09);   Biological: Inactivated COVID-19 vaccine (Vero cells)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
National Vaccine and Serum Institute, China;   China National Biotec Group Company Limited;   Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd;   Beijing Insitute of Biological Products Co., Ltd<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Aerobic Exercise in People With Post-COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Conventional rehabilitation;   Other: Aerobic exercise<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri SpA<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>Acupressure and Qigong in Chronic Fatigue Post COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: self- applied acupressure plus Qigong course plus advice literature;   Behavioral: advice literature with naturopathy<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
Charite University, Berlin, Germany;   Karl and Veronica Carstens Foundation<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>COVID-19 Treatment Cascade Optimization Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Navigation Services;   Behavioral: Brief Counseling;   Behavioral: Critical Dialogue;   Behavioral: Referral and Digital Brochure<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID);   Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center;   North Jersey Community Research Initiative;   University of Michigan<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>Phase 1/2 Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Inhaled IBIO123 in Participants With Mild to Moderate COVID-19 Illness</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: IBIO123;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Immune Biosolutions Inc<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Compass Course: COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Compass Course<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Allina Health System<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>Improving COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Among Black and Latino Youth</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Culturally-Tailored COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Intervention;   Behavioral: Standard Care<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Nemours Children’s Health System;   National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS);   University of Delaware;   ChristianaCare<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>Phase 1&amp;2 Study to Evaluate the Safety &amp; Efficacy of Inhaled IBIO123 in Severe COVID-19 Illness</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: IBIO123;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Immune Biosolutions Inc<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Clinical Evaluation of Rapid Antibody Test for Covid-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: Livzon Rapid Antibody Test for COVID-19<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Southampton;   West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ApTOLL for the Treatment of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: ApTOLL;   Other: Saline<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
Macarena Hernández Jiménez;   Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial<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>Platform Trial to Compare Homologous Boost of Authorized COVID-19 Vaccines and Heterologous Boost With UB-612 Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Vaccines<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: UB-612;   Biological: BNT162b2 vaccine;   Biological: ChAdOx1-S vaccine;   Biological: Sinopharm BIBP<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Vaxxinity, Inc.;   Syneos Health<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Ivermectin in COVID-19 Prevention</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin Tablets;   Drug: Matching placebo tablets<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   MedinCell S.A<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>Nitrate-based Nutritional Formula for Oxygen Saturation and Patient-reported Outcomes in Covid-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Dietary Supplement: NITRATE;   Dietary Supplement: PLACEBO<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 Variant Immunologic Landscape Trial (COVAIL Trial)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: mRNA-1273;   Biological: mRNA-1273.351;   Other: Sodium Chloride, 0.9%<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)<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>Tele-Rehabilitation in Individuals With Covid-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Individuals With Covid-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Exercise<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Hacettepe University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A COVID-19 vaccine candidate composed of the SARS-CoV-2 RBD dimer and Neisseria meningitidis outer membrane vesicles</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 infection is mediated by the interaction of the spike glycoprotein trimer via its receptor-binding domain (RBD) with the host’s cellular receptor. Vaccines seek to block this interaction by eliciting neutralizing antibodies, most of which are directed toward the RBD. Many protein subunit vaccines require powerful adjuvants to generate a potent antibody response. Here, we report on the use of a SARS-CoV-2 dimeric recombinant RBD combined with Neisseria meningitidis outer membrane…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Targeting the Interaction Between Spike Protein and Nucleocapsid Protein for Suppression and Detection of Human Coronavirus OC43</strong> - Human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43) is the coronavirus most associated with “common colds”, infections of the upper respiratory tract. Previously, we reported that direct interactions of nucleocapsid (N) protein and C-terminal domain of Spike protein (Spike CD) are essential for replication of SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. Thus, we developed a novel ELISA- based strategy targeting these specific interactions to detect SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. Here, we investigated whether the same principles apply to…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Computational Repurposing of Drugs and Natural Products Against SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease (M(pro)) as Potential COVID-19 Therapies</strong> - We urgently need to identify drugs to treat patients suffering from COVID-19 infection. Drugs rarely act at single molecular targets. Off-target effects are responsible for undesirable side effects and beneficial synergy between targets for specific illnesses. They have provided blockbuster drugs, e.g., Viagra for erectile dysfunction and Minoxidil for male pattern baldness. Existing drugs, those in clinical trials, and approved natural products constitute a rich resource of therapeutic agents…</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>Can pulmonary RNA delivery improve our pandemic preparedness?</strong> - The coronavirus pandemic has changed our perception of RNA medicines, and RNA vaccines have revolutionized our pandemic preparedness. But are we indeed prepared for the next variant or the next emerging virus? How can we prepare? And what does the role of inhaled antiviral RNA play in this regard? When the pandemic started, I rerouted much of the ongoing inhaled RNA delivery research in my group towards the inhibition and treatment of respiratory viral infections. Two years later, I have taken…</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>Molnupiravir; molecular and functional descriptors of mitochondrial safety</strong> - Molnupiravir is an orally active nucleoside analog antiviral drug that recently was approved by the U.S. FDA for emergency treatment of adult patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus and at risk for severe progression. The active form of the drug, N-hydroxycytidine (NHC) triphosphate competes for incorporation by RNA-dependent RNA- polymerase (RdRp) into the replicating viral genome resulting in mutations and arrest of the replicating virus. Historically, some nucleoside analog…</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>Vaccine based on folded RBD-PreS fusion protein with potential to induce sterilizing immunity to SARS-CoV-2 variants</strong> - CONCLUSION: The PreS-RBD vaccine has the potential to serve as a combination vaccine for inducing sterilizing immunity against SARS-CoV-2 and HBV by stopping viral replication through the inhibition of cellular virus entry.</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>Target Specific Inhibition of Protein Tyrosine Kinase in Conjunction With Cancer and SARS-COV-2 by Olive Nutraceuticals</strong> - The fact that viruses cause human cancer dates back to the early 1980s. By reprogramming cellular signaling pathways, viruses encoded protein that can regulate altered control of cell cycle events. Viruses can interact with a superfamily of membrane bound protein, receptor tyrosine kinase to modulate their activity in order to increase virus entrance into cells and promotion of viral replication within the host. Therefore, our study aimed at screening of inhibitors of tyrosine kinase using…</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 scalable serology solution for profiling humoral immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Measuring antibodies to three viral antigens and identify neutralising antibodies capable of disrupting spike-ACE2 interactions in high-throughput enables large-scale analyses of humoral immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. The reagents are available to enable scaling up of standardised serological assays, permitting inter-laboratory data comparison and aggregation.</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>Rational design of thioamide peptides as selective inhibitors of cysteine protease cathepsin L</strong> - Aberrant levels of cathepsin L (Cts L), a ubiquitously expressed endosomal cysteine protease, have been implicated in many diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Significantly, Cts L has been identified as a potential target for the treatment of COVID-19 due to its recently unveiled critical role in SARS-CoV-2 entry into the host cells. However, there are currently no clinically approved specific inhibitors of Cts L, as it is often challenging to obtain specificity against the many 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>Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation: As a Supportive Therapy in the Treatment of COVID-19</strong> - During the infection and treatment of the SARS-CoV-2 viral infection, age and comorbidities play a major role in the successful management of COVID-19. The nutritional status changes which occur in the body vary with the age and underlying conditions and has a vital role in the functioning of the immune system and cellular membrane integrity, thus minimizing the vulnerability to the infection. Considering the data already published by eminent researchers, a few micronutrients have shown…</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 naturally-derived alkaloids as a potential treatment for COVID-19: A scoping review</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which has a high mortality rate and transmissibility. In this context, medicinal plants have attracted attention due to the wide availability and variety of therapeutic compounds, such as alkaloids, a vast class with several proven pharmacological effects, like the antiviral and anti-inflammatory activities. Therefore, this scoping review aimed to summarize the current knowledge 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>NETosis and SARS-COV-2 infection related thrombosis: a narrative review</strong> - CONCLUSION: Because of NETosis can induce intrinsic and extrinsic coagulation cascade activation through the production of TF, activation of FXII, and inhibition of TFPI and fibrinolysis and induce immunothrombosis, targeting NETosis may diminish thrombus formation related to NETs in COVID-19 patients.</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>RNA editing increases the nucleotide diversity of SARS-CoV-2 in human host cells</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. It remains unclear whether and to what extent the virus in human host cells undergoes RNA editing, a major RNA modification mechanism. Here we perform a robust bioinformatic analysis of metatranscriptomic data from multiple bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples of COVID-19 patients, revealing an appreciable number of A-to-I RNA editing candidate sites in SARS-CoV-2. We confirm the enrichment of A-to-I…</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>Discovery of S-217622, a Noncovalent Oral SARS-CoV-2 3CL Protease Inhibitor Clinical Candidate for Treating COVID-19</strong> - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS- CoV-2), has resulted in millions of deaths and threatens public health and safety. Despite the rapid global spread of COVID-19 vaccines, effective oral antiviral drugs are urgently needed. Here, we describe the discovery of S-217622, the first oral noncovalent, nonpeptidic SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease inhibitor clinical candidate. S-217622 was discovered via virtual screening followed 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>Curcumin and Its Analogs as a Therapeutic Strategy in Infections Caused by RNA Genome Viruses</strong> - The use of natural resources for the prevention and treatment of diseases considered fatal to humanity has evolved. Several medicinal plants have nutritional and pharmacological potential in the prevention and treatment of viral infections, among them, turmeric, which is recognized for its biological properties associated with curcuminoids, mainly represented by curcumin, and found mostly in rhizomes. The purpose of this review was to compile the pharmacological activities of curcumin and its…</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>MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUE TO ANALYZE THE WORK PRESSURE OF PARAMEDICAL STAFF DURING COVID 19</strong> - Machine learning technique to analyse the work pressure of paramedical staff during covid 19 is the proposed invention that focuses on identifying the stress levels of paramedical staff. The invention focuses on analysing the level of stress that is induced on the paramedical staff especially during pandemic. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN353347401">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CBD Covid 19 Protection</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU353359094">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTING IMPROVED GENERALIZED FUZZY PEER GROUP WITH MODIFIED TRILATERAL FILTER TO REMOVE MIXED IMPULSE AND ADAPTIVE WHITE GAUSSIAN NOISE FROM COLOR IMAGES</strong> - ABSTRACTMETHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTING IMPROVED GENERALIZED FUZZY PEER GROUP WITH MODIFIED TRILATERAL FILTER TO REMOVE MIXED IMPULSE AND ADAPTIVE WHITE GAUSSIAN NOISE FROM COLOR IMAGESThe present invention provides a new approach is proposed that includes fuzzy-based approach and similarity function for filtering the mixed noise. In a peer group, the similarity function was adaptive to edge information and local noise level, which was utilized for detecting the similarity among pixels. In addition, a new filtering method Modified Trilateral Filter (MTF) with Improved Generalized Fuzzy Peer Group (IGFPG) is proposed to remove mixed impulse and Adaptive White Gaussian Noise from Color Images. The modified trilateral filter includes Kikuchi algorithm and loopy belief propagation to solve the inference issues on the basis of passing local message. In this research work, the images were collected from KODAK dataset and a few real time multimedia images like Lena were also used for testing the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN351884428">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种病毒核酸提取无醇裂解液、试剂盒及提取方法</strong> - 本发明公开了一种病毒核酸提取无醇裂解液、试剂盒及提取方法。本发明病毒核酸提取无醇裂解液由胍盐、无机盐、表面活性剂和缓冲液组成；所述胍盐为异硫氰酸胍和盐酸胍中的任一种或两种；所述无机盐为氯化钠和氯化钾中的任一种或两种；所述表面活性剂为聚乙二醇和吐温20；所述缓冲液的pH值为7.5~8.5。本发明可有效避免传统核酸提取裂解液中醇类挥发或刺激性气味对人体造成伤害；配制方法简单，无有毒化学试剂，安全无污染，既可手工操作提取，也可用于自动化平台；与有醇裂解液相比，病毒核酸检测的灵敏度相当，准确度一致，线性范围相当。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN355413628">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>用于预防SARS-CoV-2奥密克戎株的腺病毒载体疫苗</strong> - 本发明涉及用于预防SARS‑CoV‑2奥密克戎株的腺病毒载体疫苗。本发明采用密码子偏好性进行优化得到新的S基因序列，其能高效在人源细胞内高效表达，免疫机体后可高效表达S抗原，产生针对奥密克戎株SARS‑CoV‑2的中和抗体，可以有效保护机体免受奥密克戎株的侵染。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN355022285">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>表达SARS-CoV-2奥密克戎突变株病毒抗原肽的核酸序列及其应用</strong> - 本发明提供表达SARS‑CoV‑2奥密克戎突变株病毒抗原肽的核酸序列及其应用。奥密克戎株原始的S基因序列蛋白不能有效在细胞内高效表达；本发明采用密码子偏好性进行优化得到新的S基因序，使其能高效在人源细胞内高效表达，产生相应的多肽，诱导产生相应的免疫保护反应，为SARS‑CoV‑2奥密克戎株的疫苗的研发提供基础。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN355022274">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A STUDY ON MENTAL HEALTH, STRESS AND ANXIETY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING COVID-19</strong> - SARS-Cov-2 virus causes an infectious disease coronavirus(COVID-19).The Students life is made harder by COVID-19.The human reaction that happens normally to everyone through physical or emotional tension is stress. Feeling of angry, nervous and frustration caused through any thought or events leads to stress. As college closures and cancelled events, students are missing out on some of the biggest moments of their young lives as well as everyday moments like chatting with friend, participating in class and cultural programme. For students facing life changes due to the outbreak are feeling anxious, isolated and disappointed which lead them to feel all alone. We like to take the help of expert adolescent psychologist to find out the techniques to practice self-care and look after their mental health. We would like to find out whether techniques used reduce the anxiety and stress among Engineering Students. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN351884923">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A METHOD FOR THE TREATMENT OF COVID-19 INFECTIONS WITH PALMITOYLETHANOLAMIDE</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU351870997">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CONNECTING A TUTOR WITH A STUDENT</strong> - A system and a method for connecting a tutor with a student in real time. Initially, the system receives a student profile. Further, the system receives a question from the student. Furthermore, the system synthesizes the question based on a set of predefined machine learning model. Subsequently, the system determines a cohort of the students from the set of the cohort of the students. The cohort of the students is determined based on the one or more parameters related to the question. Further, the system identifies a tutor assigned to the cohort of the students. Subsequently, the system notifies the tutor in real time. Further, the system receives an acknowledgement from the tutor within a predefined time. Finally, the system connects the tutor with the student in real time when the acknowledgement is the positive acknowledgement. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN352550208">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ADVANCED SELF-ASSESSMENT OF GLOBAL PANDEMICS LIKE SARS-COV-2 FOR HEALTHY RACE USING MACHINE LEARNING</strong> - An Enormous quantum of fallacious gratified regarding this dangerous contagion is participated online. In this patent we exercise machine literacy to measure SARS-COV-2 content, which is deceptively evident, online, which leads to establishment of health guidance, particularly about vaccinations. We plant that the anti-vax community is developing a less focused debate around SARS-COV-2 than its counterpart, the pro-vaccination community. Yet, the opposing-vax collaborative displays a wider range of motifs related to SARS-COV-2, and hence the information can appeal to a broader sampling of individualities seeking SARS-COV-2 guidance online, for illustration individualities cautious of a obligatory fast-tracked SARS-COV-2 vaccine or those seeking volition remedies. Hence, the opposing-vax community aspects more deposited to attract fresh support going forward when compared to pro-vax community. The fashion ability of opposing-vax community leads wide lack of relinquishment of a SARS-COV-2 vaccine, which means the world falls short of furnishing herd impunity, leaving countries open to unborn SARS-COV-2 reanimations. We give a mechanistic model that infers these results and could help in assessing the likely efficacity of intervention strategies. Our system is scalable and hence encounters the critical problem facing social media platforms of having to assay huge volumes of online health misinformationFigure related to the abstract is Figure. 1.1 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN355391235">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Legal Scholars Are Shocked By Ginni Thomas’s “Stop the Steal” Texts</strong> - Several experts say that Thomas’s husband, the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, must recuse himself from any case related to the 2020 election. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/legal-scholars-are-shocked-by-ginni-thomass-stop-the-steal-texts">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Day Foreign Journalists Felt Forced to Leave Moscow</strong> - After a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry, dozens of outlets moved their reporters out of the country. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/the-day-foreign-journalists-felt-forced-to-leave-%20moscow">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Biden Official Who Pierced Putin’s “Sanction-Proof” Economy</strong> - In the run-up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Daleep Singh, a national-security adviser, searched for areas where “our strengths intersect with Russian vulnerability.” - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/the-biden-official-who-pierced-putins-sanction-proof-economy">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Rewriting of Emily St. John Mandel</strong> - She became famous for a pandemic novel. But the crisis she’s interested in is change itself. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/the-rewriting-of-emily-st-john-mandel">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Cartoonist Makes Space for Grief</strong> - Anders Nilsen illustrates his attempts through the years to live with the death of his fiancée. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-cartoonist-makes-space-for-grief">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Spend April with Carmen Maria Machado’s haunting Her Body and Other Parties</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/0UzKqfP3qCbsSaISeV8SP5RiYi8=/400x0:3600x2400/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70697707/headshots_1648672576317.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado | Left, Graywolf. Right, Art Streiber.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Vox Book Club’s April pick is a ferociously smart set of short stories that read like fairy tales for the 21st century.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FbAMd3">
<em>The Vox Book Club is linking to </em><a href="https://go.skimresources.com/?xcust=___vx__p_22714859__t_w__r_vox.com/vox-book-
club__d&amp;id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https://bookshop.org/shop/voxbookclub?"><em>Bookshop.org</em></a><em> to support local and independent booksellers.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="awil7r">
Carmen Maria Machado’s <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fbooks%2Fher-body-and-
other-parties-stories%2F9781555977887&amp;xcust=Vox033022"><em>Her Body and Other Parties</em></a> is one of those books you just never stop thinking about. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since I first picked it up five years ago — which is why it’s the Vox Book Club’s pick for April 2022.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u4old1">
Eerie and unsettling, this short story collection has the dark beauty of an Angela Carter fairy tale and an animating force that’s all Machado’s own. In stories that riff on urban legends, dystopian fiction, and <em>Law &amp; Order: SVU</em>, Machado returns again and again to the fleshy, porous, unbounded bodies of her heroines — and to all the other parties who feel entitled to them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vwsufq">
Join the <a href="https://www.vox.com/vox-book-club">Vox Book Club</a> as we spend April exploring <em>Her Body and Other Parties</em>. At the end of the month, we’ll meet Machado live on Zoom, and <a href="http://voxmediaevents.com/voxbookclubpresentsherbodyando">you can RSVP here</a>. In the meantime, <a href="https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/533DCA62F59CA120">subscribe to the Vox Book Club newsletter</a> to make sure you don’t miss anything.
</p>
<h3 id="5jw6Ks">
The full <a href="https://www.vox.com/vox-book-club">Vox Book Club schedule</a> for April 2022
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PsGIpk">
<strong>Friday, April 15:</strong> Discussion post on <em>Her Body and Other Parties</em> published to Vox.com
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xyV53R">
<strong>Thursday, April 28, 5 pm ET:</strong> <a href="http://voxmediaevents.com/voxbookclubpresentsherbodyando">Virtual live event with author Carmen Maria Machado</a>. Reader questions are encouraged!
</p></li>
<li><strong>How Black North Carolinians pay the price for the world’s cheap bacon</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Protesters holds signs that read, “Everyone has an equal right to clean air and water,” and,
“We are the pigsty state, it’s time to raise a stink.”" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/UAiz7tbb24OyP94tdqcHAWDV7Fg=/188x0:3188x2250/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70697636/1_CREDIT__Waterkeeper_Alliance.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Protesters gather at a rally for environmental justice at the North Carolina statehouse in 2015. | Courtesy of Waterkeeper Alliance
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The meat industry’s environmental racism problem, explained.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U6G5XK">
“The smell of money” — that’s what pork producers have <a href="https://www.nationalhogfarmer.com/mag/farming_smell_money">long called</a> the revolting odor of pig waste that permeates the air in eastern North Carolina, where hogs outnumber people by as much as <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/North_Carolina/Publications/County_Estimates/Hogs.pdf">35</a> to <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sampsoncountynorthcarolina,duplincountynorthcarolina/POP010220">1</a>. But to many Black, Latinx, and Indigenous residents who live near the state’s giant pig farms, the smell is more associated with nausea, anxiety, breathing problems, and racial discrimination.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jYvTD3">
Industrial pork production exploded in eastern North Carolina in the late 1980s and early ’90s, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1637958/pdf/envhper00304-0081.pdf">as mega facilities</a> that each house thousands of animals displaced small farms. Ever since, residents have been fighting for their rights to clean air, clean water, and a life free from the stench of the <a href="https://blogs.nicholas.duke.edu/env212/the-north-
carolina-hog-industry-how-an-environmental-problem-can-become-a-solution-by-finn-doherty/">10 billion gallons of waste</a> the state’s <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/Ag_Overview/stateOverview.php?state=NORTH%20CAROLINA">8.8 million pigs</a> produce each year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gfRyu0">
In January, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) <a href="https://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2022/01/14/epa-launches-civil-rights-inquiry-into-deqs-permitting-of-biogas-
systems-on-hog-farms/#sthash.J9soPei8.dpbs">launched an investigation</a> into a discrimination claim brought by an NGO representing several community groups. The inquiry seeks to answer whether or not the state’s environmental department racially discriminated against residents when permitting several hog factory farms to convert their waste into fuel.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cG0U03">
The EPA’s probe is the latest development in a decades-long battle in North Carolina against what residents affected by factory farm pollution say is a form of “<a href="https://www.vox.com/22299782/black-americans-
environmental-justice-pollution">environmental racism</a>,” a term used to describe the disproportionate impacts of pollution — whether from <a href="https://foodispower.org/environmental-and-global/environmental-
racism/">agriculture</a> or <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22654323/sustainability-bronx-environmental-racism-
zero-waste">urban power plants</a> — on communities of color.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FoUePf">
That fight faces an uphill climb. Big Meat is king in the state’s culture, politics, and economy. In 2020, North Carolina ranked <a href="https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/rj430453j/7p88db205/mw22w1890/hgpg0321.pdf">second</a> among states in pork production, <a href="https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-
esmis/files/m039k491c/pn89f234j/4742b442c/plva0421.pdf">third</a> in turkey production, and <a href="https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/m039k491c/pn89f234j/4742b442c/plva0421.pdf">fourth</a> in chicken production. It supplies not just the US but the rest of the world — 25 percent of the state’s pork is exported to <a href="https://www.ncpork.org/exports/#:~:text=Much%20of%20our%20pork%20goes,rest%20of%20the%20world%20combined.">China, Mexico, Japan, Korea, and other countries</a>. But that pork and <a href="https://ustr.gov/map/state-
benefits/nc">poultry production</a> — and the environmental impacts that result from it — are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3454438?read-now=1&amp;seq=1">highly concentrated</a> in poverty-stricken counties with high Black, Latinx, and Indigenous populations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e4fo3P">
“This is home and I love it,” Carl Lewis, a Black barber in Bladen County, North Carolina, told me in an interview for <a href="https://www.smellofmoneydoc.com/"><em>The Smell of Money</em></a><em>, </em>a documentary I’m producing on the issue. Lewis’s barbershop is near a hog farm and “sprayfield,” where hog manure is discharged into the air over cropland via a machine that looks like a giant sprinkler. “But the hog farm over there,” he added, pointing toward the 12 metal buildings and three waste lagoons behind a patch of pine trees, “there’s flies, smell, trucks, noise. It’s really bothersome. I don’t think people have moved because most of us are poor and can’t afford to do that.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/fwBKzD5qKc1ldeHAM800AJ0LIR8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23355859/TSOM__still_05.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of <em>The Smell of Money</em>/Shawn Bannon</cite>
<figcaption>
A sprayer discharges untreated animal waste onto a field in North Carolina near an industrial hog farm.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YbR0mx">
Impacts on communities like Lewis’s have been <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/095624789600800214#:~:text=South%2DEast%20Halifax%20Environmental%20Reawakening%20was%20funded%20in%20September%2C%201996,intimate%20connections%20with%20the%20land.">well documented since the 1990s</a> and include everything from <a href="https://progressivereform.org/our-work/energy-
environment/tainted-tap-nitrate/">poisoned wells</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter-
Goldsmith-2/publication/225168574_Economic_impact_and_public_costs_of_confined_animal_feeding_operations_at_the_parcel_level_of_Craven_County_North_Carolina/links/00b7d521cbae34bdb0000000/Economic-
impact-and-public-costs-of-confined-animal-feeding-operations-at-the-parcel-level-of-Craven-County-North-
Carolina.pdf">diminished property values</a> to shortened lifespans, as well as higher rates of <a href="https://www.ncmedicaljournal.com/content/79/5/278.full">physical</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1440786/">mental health</a> problems for residents.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zseM3i">
“One of the most disturbing stories that I’ve heard people talk about is the sensation of actually feeling the spray, the fecal waste, raining down on them,” says Courtney Woods, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, who has studied these effects. “They see it on their cars, on their homes … and outside of that, just feel outraged. There are associations with stress and anxiety that we have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1440786/">studies</a> to demonstrate.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mYO6pb">
In the spring of 2020, massive <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/5/1/21239396/covid-19-meatpacking-prison-jail-
moral">Covid-19 outbreaks in meatpacking plants</a> shined a spotlight on the daily hazards associated with killing and chopping hundreds to thousands of animals per day: cuts and amputations, dangerous chemical exposure, and repetitive stress injuries. Those hazards are borne by a predominately <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22298043/meat-
antitrust-biden-vilsack">Black, Latinx, and immigrant workforce</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BHgdwt">
But as North Carolina’s example shows, the meat industry’s harm to vulnerable communities starts long before the slaughter plant. Look further back in the supply chain, and it’s evident poor communities of color disproportionately pay the price for the world’s cheap bacon and chicken.
</p>
<h3 id="wNu4wW">
How factory farms pollute the air and water (and how they get away with it)
</h3></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zkm5kQ">
Though <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02409-7">meat’s contribution to the climate crisis</a> is under increasing scrutiny, on-the-ground pollution caused by factory farms receives comparatively scant attention, even though about 12,700 premature deaths are caused in the US each year from animal agriculture air pollution alone — more deaths than those caused by coal-fired power plants, according to one <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/05/10/farm-pollution-deaths/">recent study</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="49Lvyj">
Waste from factory farms, or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), is typically stored in massive, open-air pits or mounds, and then sprayed or spread over cropland as fertilizer. In theory, these systems are meant to recycle nutrients contained in the waste, like nitrogen and phosphorus, back into crops. But in practice, animal feces and urine regularly <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10661-020-08433-9">make their way off the farm</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969714017641">into the surrounding environment</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FafxSO">
Poultry waste, a dry “litter” that looks like wood shavings mixed with excrement, blood, feathers, and feed, and is usually stored in <a href="https://ncpolicywatch.com/2020/05/18/nearly-a-billion-
birds-producing-five-million-tons-of-waste-per-year/">big piles outdoors</a>, can wash away in the rain or blow away in the wind. Pig waste pits often <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817674/">leak</a> or <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/09/22/650698240/hurricane-s-aftermath-floods-hog-lagoons-in-north-carolina">overflow</a>, especially during strong storms and North Carolina’s intense hurricane season.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/isbwdsEEsKJGXVBbK3RcbuyH-FU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23355865/hog_lagoons_under.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Rick Dove/Waterkeeper Alliance</cite>
<figcaption>
Pits that store hog waste became submerged during Hurricane Floyd in 1999, causing the waste to flush into a nearby river.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="feC0Cy">
Pollution can lead to algal blooms — an overgrowth of algae that can produce toxins and deplete oxygen levels in waterways — as well as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3672924/">massive fish kills</a>. Groundwater contamination is an especially concerning problem in rural areas where some <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11940456/">residents drink well water</a> and where accessing county lines that could provide untainted water costs money people often don’t have.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JsEIaP">
“We had wells, but the wells [were] contaminated from the hog farm,” says Delores Miller, a resident who lives just a few hundred feet from a hog CAFO lagoon and sprayfield in Duplin County, North Carolina. “The smell, you can’t hang your clothes out, you can’t do nothing in the yard, and we won’t even talk about the yellow flies.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/xzxp5WnF2Pcr8qU2fq5p-BL3N0Y=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23355868/TSOM_delores_Miller__1_.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of <em>The Smell of Money</em>/Shawn Bannon</cite>
<figcaption>
Delores Miller lives a few hundred feet from a hog CAFO lagoon and sprayfield in Duplin County, North Carolina, and says animal waste runoff has contaminated her wells.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="scomLh">
Children who attend schools near CAFOs in North Carolina experience <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4517575/">higher levels of asthma and wheezing</a> compared to those who attend schools farther from CAFOs, and residents within one and a half miles of CAFOs report <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp.1205109">elevated blood pressure</a>; <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21228696/">eye, nose, and throat irritation; difficulty breathing; nausea; and chest tightness</a>, problems that worsen as the odor worsens. One <a href="https://www.ncmedicaljournal.com/content/79/5/278.full">study</a> found that eastern North Carolina residents who live near factory farms experience higher rates of asthma, anemia, kidney disease, infant mortality, and infections compared to rural residents who don’t live near CAFOs, even controlling for other factors like poverty.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S7Eqdi">
Though the social and environmental harms wrought by CAFOs are decades old at this point, existing anti- pollution laws provide little relief. The federal Clean Water Act requires the EPA to hold factory farms accountable, but the agency primarily <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-06/documents/compliance-
cafos.pdf">regulates</a> only the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-08/documents/sector_table.pdf">largest CAFOs</a> (for hog farms, that’s CAFOs with more than 2,500 pigs over 55 pounds, or more than 10,000 pigs under 55 pounds). The EPA <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/cesspools.pdf">allows factory farms to use</a> the problem-prone waste storage and disposal practices described above, and <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2021/06/07/were-suing-
epa-again-for-being-too-soft-on-factory-farm-polluters/">doesn’t require</a> CAFOs to monitor the pollutants they release into waterways.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iqpcFK">
The EPA also leaves much of the enforcement for the regulations that are on the books to state governments, but state agencies often lack the resources or political will to monitor water pollution, and they <a href="https://environmentalintegrity.org/pdf/publications/EPA_State_Failures_Regulate_CAFO.pdf">seldom crack down</a> on violators with any real force.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0dzwBy">
Air pollution from CAFOs is also largely unregulated; in 2005, the EPA entered into what environmental advocates call a <a href="https://food.publicjustice.net/legal-petition-challenges-
epa-inaction-on-factory-farm-air-pollution/">sweetheart deal</a> with thousands of CAFOs, agreeing not to enforce air pollution regulations as long as the meat industry paid for a study of the problem. The EPA planned to use the resulting data to complete an analysis of the industry’s role in air pollution and <em>then </em>begin enforcement. But nearly two decades later, it still hasn’t.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mga8f4">
Environmental justice advocates say tight ties between the industry and legislators make progress difficult. “We have legislators that is so deep into the pockets of these dirty industries; they can’t get out, even if they wanted to,” says Naeema Muhammad, senior adviser for the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jh6kOK">
Since 2000, meat companies, meat trade groups, and individuals linked to the meat industry have contributed more than <a href="https://www.followthemoney.org/show-
me?dt=1&amp;s=NC&amp;f-fc=2&amp;d-ccb=25,156,14,11#%5B%7B1%7Cgro=d-eid">$5.6 million</a> to North Carolina candidates. The <a href="https://www.followthemoney.org/show-
me?dt=1&amp;s=NC&amp;f-fc=2&amp;d-ccb=25,156,14,11#%5B%7B1%7Cgro=d-eid">largest</a> donors are the North Carolina Farm Bureau, the North Carolina Pork Council, and Smithfield Foods, which is owned by Chinese conglomerate WH Group. Several <a href="https://www.nchouserepublicans.com/members/william-brisson/">legislators</a> <a href="https://www.larrystrickland.org/biography">are</a> <a href="https://brentjacksonforsenate.com/">current</a> or former <a href="https://blackworkersforjustice.com/nc-legislators-attack-farm-worker-union/">farmers</a> and have helped to pass pro-industry legislation and defended the industry in the press.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="usA6mW">
Former poultry farmer and North Carolina state Rep. Jimmy Dixon (R), who represents a region with the most densely concentrated CAFOs in the country, <a href="https://civileats.com/2017/05/09/north-carolina-factory-farms-lose-effort-to-limit-pollution-
lawsuits/">championed a bill</a> aimed at preventing citizens from suing major meat companies over pollution, has <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article214655895.html">led pro-industry rallies</a>, and has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/20/north-carolina-hog-industry-pig-farms">dismissed</a> residents’ concerns about the stench and nuisance of living near a hog CAFO as “exaggerations,” accusing them of being “recruited” by greedy lawyers.
</p>
<h3 id="SSAAzX">
The fight for environmental justice in North Carolina hog country
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9j8ObE">
North Carolina’s pro-industry, hands-off regulatory environment is inseparable from the state’s history. Legacies of slavery, genocide, land theft, and racial discrimination have made it impossible for many North Carolinians to access the kind of political and economic power necessary to stop factory farms from moving into their neighborhoods — and from finding relief from the farms’ pollution.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MjvKcK">
One historical anecdote highlights how race was a defining factor in the pork industry’s trajectory in North Carolina. Although residents — including many Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people — had been calling for stricter regulation for years, a moratorium on new hog CAFOs passed in 1997 only after a state representative <a href="https://qz.com/433750/the-world-eats-cheap-
bacon-at-the-expense-of-north-carolinas-rural-poor/">heard</a> that one was slated to be built near a golf resort and wealthy white community in his district.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/7b79cCbHMXG7Q0ksVUm8fhmCIlM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23356060/GettyImages_1286183.jpeg"/> <cite>Craig Jones/Allsport via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Since the early 1990s, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities had been calling for stricter regulation of pig factory farms in eastern North Carolina. In 1997, state lawmakers passed a moratorium on new factory farm hog construction after one was slated to be built near the Pinehurst Resort, a golf course and spa located in a predominantly white and wealthy area.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7UDzBk">
Existing CAFOs were grandfathered in, and to this day, factory farms are more common near low-income communities and communities of color. In some parts of North Carolina, there are <a href="https://www.ncmedicaljournal.com/content/79/5/324">10 times</a> more CAFOs in poor and nonwhite neighborhoods than in wealthier, whiter areas, even controlling for population density.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HH5BG9">
Public health researchers and community groups first <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/095624789600800214">applied the term “environmental racism”</a> to this situation in 1996, when they found an astounding correlation between where formerly enslaved people had settled, known as “the Black Belt,”<strong> </strong>and the modern-day distribution of hog CAFOs in North Carolina. The name stuck, and it continues to resonate with residents who have always known that the distribution of these polluting facilities was not accidental.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/bnGdpO-0GSckfdKdC46RmEOtaqo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23355891/TSOM_slave_map_CREDIT__THE_SMELL_OF_MONEY___JESS_WESTBERG__1_.jpg"/></p>
<cite>Courtesy of <em>The Smell of Money</em>/Jess Westberg</cite>
<figcaption>
A map adapted from work by University of North Carolina public health researcher Steve Wing and by the Environmental Working Group. It shows a historical map of North Carolina enslaved populations (in red) overlaid with current industrial hog operations in the state (black dots).
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hUAyvo">
Elsie Herring, whose willingness to speak out against the pork industry made her <a href="https://thefern.org/ag_insider/north-carolina-advocate-who-successfully-fought-hog-
industry-dies/">the symbol</a> for this fight after a hog farm moved onto her family’s land in the 1980s, often described her battle as one for basic human and civil rights. (She died last year from a form of cancer that may be <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34214566/">linked</a> to air pollution.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LcYHPp">
“I definitely think that environmental racism is a big part of this picture of what’s going on with the pork industry,” she told me. “Otherwise, why not put them next door to where they live? Of course poverty has something to do with it also, but there’s plenty of poor white people, and these facilities are not in their neighborhood.”
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/uZ0dZ2FaMvGaVFdjJ6J5xjSiJ4Y=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23355894/TSOM_Elsie_cu_portrait__1_.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of <em>The Smell of Money</em>/Shawn Bannon</cite>
<figcaption>
Elsie Herring outside her home in Duplin County. Herring’s property had been passed down since her grandfather purchased it after he was freed from slavery. Industrial hog operations moved to Herring’s area in the 1980s, bringing a nauseating stench, flies, and various mental and physical health issues.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VYIlaM">
“Eastern North Carolina is the dumping grounds for North Carolina,” says Muhammad. “We always say whatever white people don’t want in their backyards, come to eastern North Carolina, and we’ll show it to you, ‘cause it’s here.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QTa7Gk">
For the past three decades, residents like Herring have been engaged in a multi-front war, supported by a broad coalition of environmental and legal advocacy groups, public health researchers, and civil rights advocates. They’ve executed creative stunts like bringing gallons of hog feces to the governor’s mansion and setting up a mock hog farm — complete with functioning manure sprayers — on the state capitol grounds. They have pleaded with the industry directly, filed petitions, attended council meetings, lobbied legislators, <a href="https://energycommerce.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/hearing-on-
building-a-100-percent-clean-economy-the-challenges-facing">testified before Congress</a>, and even <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Da%27Quan_Love">run for office</a> against pro-industry politicians.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XdXWwa">
They’ve also filed federal Civil Rights Act complaints to the EPA, alleging that North Carolina’s environmental regulatory agency discriminates against communities of color by permitting CAFOs to pollute their air and drinking water (under the Civil Rights Act, no entity that receives federal funds may discriminate on the basis of race).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OIBKQt">
The most recent <a href="https://thefern.org/ag_insider/epa-to-investigate-north-carolina-
biogas-for-discrimination/">complaint</a>, filed in January, argues that regulators are discriminating against communities of color by allowing some CAFOs to convert animal waste into fuel, a practice environmental justice advocates say <a href="https://ncejn.org/biogas/">worsens pollution</a> by entrenching existing systems and subjecting communities to new gas pipelines and plants.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="64nUqr">
For years, North Carolina residents also hoped to find relief by suing the industry, but taking Big Meat to court is neither cheap nor easy. Financial barriers and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/27/it-smells-like-a-decomposing-body-north-carolinas-polluting-
pig-farms">intimidation</a> from the industry directed at both law firms and would-be plaintiffs made this tactic inaccessible until residents finally found Mona Lisa Wallace, a gutsy lawyer from a small North Carolina town who was brave enough to take on a meat industry goliath.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z8kYbz">
In 2014, Wallace’s firm filed 26 nuisance lawsuits on behalf of a group of about 500 North Carolina residents — almost all people of color — against pork producer Murphy- Brown, which later became a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork company. The suits detailed how the odor, noise, and health problems from air and water pollution made plaintiffs’ homes and land less livable and less valuable. The farmers themselves were not named in the lawsuits, as plaintiffs and their attorneys believed that farmers, too, are often <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/7/8/21311327/farmers-factory-farms-cafos-
animal-rights-booker-warren-khanna">victims of corporate agriculture’s exploitation</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ngTy5u">
Five of the lawsuits went to trial, and in each one, jurors unanimously sided with the residents. In total, the juries awarded residents $549,902,400, reduced to $97,880,000 due to a state cap on punitive damages — a cap that was put in place by <a href="https://indyweek.com/news/archives/n.c.-senate-overrides-cooper-s-hb-467-veto-hog-farm-protection-bill-
law/">industry-friendly lawmakers</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZVd4Cn">
Smithfield appealed, but again, the federal appeals court sided with the plaintiffs, forcing the company to settle all remaining cases. The settlement amounts and other terms of the settlement are confidential, and in its press releases regarding its changes to animal waste disposal practices over the last several years, Smithfield has not stated that those changes are related to the settlement or required by it.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/qZgqY6wlkwJU_HcFb2MA4Wbgdas=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23356386/AP17206567753932__1_.jpg"/> <cite>Gerry Broome/AP</cite></p>
<figcaption>
A hog waste pond is seen adjacent to hog houses at a hog farm owned by Smithfield Foods in Farmville, North Carolina, in July 2017.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WsYx6v">
After the settlement announcement, plaintiff René Miller says conditions haven’t changed for her and her family. “That makes me feel good that we won,” she said. “But because we won, that don’t stop them from spraying [hog manure] on my house. So it’s still going on. I don’t go out my front door, and I stay in the house, keep the window closed. I still smell it.” Miller says she will use what she receives from the settlement to pay her medical bills.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fmOYKM">
In a <a href="https://www.agri-
pulse.com/ext/resources/pdfs/courts/Smithfield-Foods-Statement-Regarding-Appellate-Court-
Decision_111920_FINAL.pdf">statement</a> regarding the company’s decision to settle, Smithfield spokesperson Keira Lombardo wrote, “These civil actions brought in North Carolina are part of a coordinated effort by plaintiffs’ attorneys and their allies aimed at dismantling our safe, reliable and modern system of food production. From the outset of these cases, we committed to vigorously defend agriculture and protect North Carolina’s farm families from this assault. Our support for America’s farmers does not end with this decision.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8KQYhH">
Despite the win in the courts, while the lawsuits were ongoing, North Carolina’s legislature passed two <a href="https://ncejn.org/2019/06/constitutional-
challenge-to-711-467/">retaliatory bills</a> that tamp down on advocacy against CAFO pollution moving forward by making it extremely difficult to sue a major meat company for nuisance. “I think it’s horrific. I think it’s unconstitutional,” says Wallace. “And I think it’s sad that anyone would vote for a bill that treats people differently, that makes some people’s homes more precious than others’, just to protect the industry.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uUJJWT">
Before the North Carolina cases, every state already had a “<a href="http://nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/RTF-Provision-
overview.pdf">right to farm</a>” law which protects agribusiness, to a degree, from similar lawsuits. But Big Meat was so spooked by its losses in North Carolina that it has <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/04/12/712227537/big-ag-is-pushing-laws-to-restrict-neighbors-ability-to-
sue-farms">lobbied</a> legislatures in several ag-heavy states to strengthen those laws.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LAfxYh">
Today, pollution continues unabated in poor communities of color in the state and elsewhere. What’s needed, advocates say, is policy reform.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/OtgcS8X1kFNpffhyHGNsyS_37kY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23356944/3a.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Rick Dove/Waterkeeper Alliance</cite></p>
<figcaption>
High levels of factory farm waste runoff can cause fish kills.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J5XwwB">
The EPA could do a lot more to hold CAFOs accountable for air and water pollution, according to Tarah Heinzen, legal director for the environmental nonprofit Food and Water Watch. “Its authorities under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and transparency laws remain largely untapped when it comes to CAFOs,” Heinzen says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F6mfYu">
An EPA spokesperson told me via email that the agency “has been working toward a comprehensive strategy to address CAFO air emissions” by developing “improved emission-estimating methodologies [and] gathering additional information about the magnitude of CAFO emissions and their control options.” It expects to release draft reports this summer.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wr8tVU">
The spokesperson also noted the EPA is evaluating various Clean Air Act regulatory tools that might be used to address air pollution and is working to correct for the injustices wrought by past policies “through active engagement with underserved communities,” with regional <a href="https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/growing-grassroots-building-capacity-environmental-justice-work">virtual workshops</a> and national monthly calls, and by funding air monitoring.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XClcQZ">
The EPA is also hamstrung by Congress. For years, Congress’ annual spending bill that funds the government has included provisions that <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-10/spending-bill-to-limit-environmental-regulation-of-
livestock?sref=qYiz2hd0">block the EPA</a> from monitoring and regulating CAFO greenhouse gas emissions and manure management systems. This year’s spending bill, which was signed by President Joe Biden in March, included those provisions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pl0rrX">
In February, the White House announced a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-
science-environment-pollution-fe337100f1bb1f5fa86f081af8a3b69f">new screening tool</a> to identify communities harmed by pollution, though it’ll exclude race, a move that disappointed environmental justice advocates. The White House said that decision was made to prevent legal challenges, fearing it would be struck down by the Supreme Court.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J2BvaN">
“I won’t be happy until this industry makes some significant changes where no one has to live under these kinds of conditions, where we can’t just simply enjoy our God-given rights, our right to clean air and clean water, the right to eat safe food,” Herring told me about a year before she died. “All of these things are worth fighting for. We need young people to take up the fight to fight environmental racism and injustices because this is their future. This world will be theirs when we leave.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GpDlWL">
<em>Jamie Berger is a writer and the producer of the feature- length documentary, </em><a href="https://www.smellofmoneydoc.com/"><em>The Smell of Money</em></a><em>. She was born and raised in North Carolina and is the chief of staff at Mercy For Animals.</em>
</p>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Morbius sucks the fun out of the vampire story</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Jared Leto as the character Morbius in a chemistry lab." src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/NWBDYWHT1KF8blLHfSLf2j9YVbs=/111x0:1000x667/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70697525/DF_02694_1000x667_thumbnail.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Jared Leto is a vampire in STEM, in <em>Morbius</em>. | Courtesy of Sony
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Jared Leto’s latest asks, “What if vampires just wanted to study all the time?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NXLVmg">
Over the last two very long years, nothing has been made more clear than the fact that the world we live in is devoid of constants. We know that the reality we say good night to when we go to bed could look drastically different — war, disease, climate change, death — by morning.
</p></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PmoZFN">
Yet somehow, against all odds, the <em>Morbius</em> trailer has endured.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V0oKpB">
Lurking before movies we actually pay to see in theaters, in between our favorite television shows, on our computers and in our phones pressed up against the YouTube videos we procrastinate with, the <em>Morbius</em> trailer has become an inevitability in many of our lives. This state of eternally “coming soon” was due to the numerous delays the movie has faced.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qs4bki">
Originally, <em>Morbius</em> was supposed to <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/spider-man-spinoff-morbius-moves-release-date-2022-1235146263/">premiere</a> in July of 2020, but was moved to March 2021, and then to October 2021, and finally April 2022. If <em>Morbius</em> was a person you were supposed to have a date with who kept postponing, at this point you’d both agree to just forget the other existed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pLYA4v">
But <em>Morbius</em> is not a person, it is <a href="https://www.vox.com/e/22769172">a superhero movie</a> about a “living vampire” from the Marvel comic books, currently owned and heavily invested in by Sony Pictures — the studio behind the current<em> Spider-Man </em>and <em>Venom</em> movies. And because of film rights and intellectual property, it’s much more difficult and expensive to disappear <em>Morbius</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kJLyYe">
Directed by Daniel Espinosa and starring Jared Leto and his ageless face, <em>Morbius</em> asks the question: What if vampires weren’t fun? After 144 minutes of <em>Morbius </em>dimming the spark of my life force, I found<em> </em>the soulless answer.
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="lR0nIo"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3BSX0n">
From its very first moment, <em>Morbius seems</em> a lot more fun than it will ever turn out to be. Michael Morbius is a genius doctor who has assembled a team of unnamed characters to travel, by helicopter, to Costa Rica’s Cerro de la Muerte, which translates into English as “The Mountain of Death.” We do not get much more information on how much killing the mountain has done. However, we do learn that Morbius is trying to capture a bunch of vampire bats to take home with him to New York City. He slices his palm open, blood drips down, and thousands of bats come shooting out of the cave trying to lick his pale little hand.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oy2u2O">
It’s all egregiously silly when you start to realize that this is a never-ending stream of bats and that there’s no logical way that the swarm will all fit into Morbius’s tiny suitcase. Also, do vampire bats really swarm and frenzy like <a href="https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/nature/article/bat-myths-busted">piranha</a>? How is Morbius going to get through customs with literally tens of thousands of winged piranha? Does he have a plan to feed them? And if Morbius is apparently wealthy enough to go to Murder Mountain, Costa Rica, via private helicopter, why isn’t he outsourcing his bat problems? Doing things yourself is not a very smart or rich person thing to do.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/18uqe_Dw5A3EZCPHh-PCfKdZA6U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23358776/MORBIUS_Trailer_02_cp_1000x523_thumbnail.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Sony</cite>
<figcaption>
Jared Leto gets a little batty in <em>Morbius</em>.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YNVC8K">
The actual explanation of his intentions with all these bats is a lot less entertaining — a letdown when you consider how campy this adventure is and how fun its cinematic cousins are.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E7IiMA">
After his bat procurement trip, Morbius’s fellow doctor and potential love interest Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona) wants to know why he’s shunned the King of Sweden and the Nobel Prize, and why and how he managed to install a large glass pillar full of bats in the middle of their office.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cto9B6">
With exposition, flashbacks, and monologue masquerading as a conversation, Morbius explains to her that he has a terminal blood disease (something she presumably knows since she has been working with him for a very long time) and that he’s turned down the highest medical prize in the world and snubbed Sweden’s king because he needs to do secret, presumably illegal bat research. He’s hoping to find a cure for his own blood disease, not only for himself but his childhood best friend Milo (Matt Smith).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X3YyiY">
Morbius thinks he can cure his condition by sequencing vampire bat DNA. He explains this by spending an extremely inappropriate length of time repeating the word “coagulants.” This monologue was presumably written to prove the character is Very Smart, but the overall effect is not unlike listening to someone try to get you to invest in cryptocurrency.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OtERiS">
Bancroft, mind you, just wanted to scold her coworker for rejecting the Nobel Prize, but after the scintillating dissertation on coagulants, she seems really convinced that rejecting the once-in-a-lifetime prize was the right thing to do. She doesn’t follow up with any questions about who installed the giant bat-quarium in their office.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V86ofX">
With the insinuation that human-bat DNA splicing is illegal in the US, Morbius explains to Milo and Bancroft, separately, that the experiment must be done in secrecy and in international waters. The international waters in question end up being a Panamanian cargo ship 12 miles off the coast of Long Island.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TjSLUE">
One would think that a man who has just brought tens of thousands of blood-sucking bats into the US and installed a bat sanctuary without his coworker noticing would be competent enough at keeping secrets, but maybe Morbius just wants to be extra careful. Obviously, one doesn’t win a Nobel Prize by being careless. Compared to the great lengths that Morbius went to to reach Costa Rica’s Cerro de la Muerte, a jaunty sprint to the waters just beyond Fire Island seems a little silly, comical even.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X8QZcY">
But the movie finds no humor in it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E2itsZ">
In the bowels of the Panamanian cargo vessel, the experiment goes too well! The bat juice cures Morbius’s illness and somehow also gives him muscles and a tan. For a fleeting moment, Morbius looks like a sexy Jesus. Unfortunately, the bat potion also turns Morbius into a bloodthirsty bat-man, gnarling his fingers into huge claws, sharpening his face and nose into a snout, and twisting his mouth into a howling maw of fangs. In this form, he murders and exsanguinates his hired mercenaries on the rented Panamanian cargo ship.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iRwTLt">
No doubt, turning oneself into an horrendous- looking bat person who must consume fresh human blood is arguably the biggest oopsie that a Nobel Prize-winning doctor genius has ever committed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d2v5fv">
<em>Morbius</em>’s gimmick is that Morbius is now essentially a vampire, but without any tether to existing mythology. He’s not bothered by daylight or garlic, nor does he have aversions to Catholic iconography. But he is biologically bound to blood-drinking.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7Iwbwj">
If Morbius consumes blood, he can maintain his hot and sexy human form and possess superhuman strength and speed. Morbius also says the bat-juice has given him echolocation, which is depicted as being able to hear conversations from miles away. If he doesn’t consume blood, he turns into the uncontrollable, screeching creature, and becomes a danger to everyone around him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rKFasX">
I’m not sure I would attribute super strength or speed to bats, nor am I fully convinced that echolocation means being a really good eavesdropper (traditionally, it’s being able to use sound to identify the location of objects). That said, I’m not a chiropterologist, i.e., a scientist who studies bats, a term I had to Google. If the movie takes some generous liberties when it comes to bat physiology, sure, fine.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Bnbtm2xAvGjt2AeIb8S7v76vWe8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23358778/DF_14601_1000x666_thumbnail.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Sony</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Jared Leto’s Michael Morbius isn’t a real vampire because he can do things like get coffee in the daytime.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NbPrLu">
Morbius’s greater fault is that it cleaves away the vampire mythology without replacing that mythology with anything fun, new, or particularly interesting.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fq6FXO">
Vampire stories are compelling in part because they try to examine the wrinkles of human life — power, rage, horniness, sadness, nostalgia, love — to anchor the relatively abstract idea of eternity. The appeal of being sexy, rich, or powerful fades when you’re doing it all forever. A lot of vampire tales complicate the problem of taking on a fairly reprehensible form of being by ensuring their bloodsuckers are intoxicatingly charismatic. Without all his charm, Dracula would just be kind of gross and boring, a bigger, more annoying mosquito — not unlike Morbius.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZHgBsN">
Instead of using his new muscles to take thirst traps, bench press cars, or even fight crime, Morbius piously uses these gifts to study aggressively. Imagine being so scorchingly beautiful and strong, and just wanting to research for all eternity. Couldn’t be me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d7XZO5">
He dictates all his symptoms into a recording device. He writes all of his findings into a notebook. He uses a stopwatch to time how long he can last before needing to consume blood — the artificial blood Morbius invented keeps him sustained, but organic, free-range human blood makes him stronger. Without any explanation, Morbius’s preferred method of blood consumption is shotgunning bags of blood like someone intent on obliterating their brain cells with cheap beer, another moment that would be funny in any movie other than <em>Morbius</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kbOpJ6">
At the same time, Milo sees his bestie’s glow-up and bat-fueled fitness journey and wants in.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LyWym4">
Milo doesn’t want to die. Milo also wants to be hot. Milo, furthermore, wants to drink tequila and live deliciously. Milo is honestly a lot more fun, if rooted in impulsiveness, which results in the murders of finance bros and cops (if the movie were the slightest bit aware of who it was skewering, I would call this satire). Milo’s rising body count puts the city on alert for a “vampire murderer” which seems hilariously redundant, but nonetheless puts Morbius in the uncomfortable position of asserting his innocence and dispatching his fanged friend.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w01Kxt">
With a lack of humor and deadly exposition, <em>Morbius</em> propels itself into an absolutely wild third act, perhaps the unintentionally silliest finish I’ve seen this year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iz3nua">
Because the movie squanders so much time setting up coagulants, international waters, and bat DNA, Morbius must defeat his childhood best friend and share an erotically violent kiss with his doctor lover in rapid succession to wrap this entire thing up. The five minutes or so in which this all happens borders on psychotic; I found myself hollering an obscene and inhuman hoot — a gurgling death rattle from the last vestiges of my sanity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lb2ivg">
Primed by the culmination of two years of <em>Morbius</em> trailers or spending the better part of an hour and a half watching Jared Leto slurp down blood bags like a college freshman, I could not believe <em>Morbius</em> was really all wrapping up like this. But deep down I knew this couldn’t actually be the end of <em>Morbius</em> because superhero franchises, like vampires, never really die. It dawned on me that there’s probably going to be a sequel, or some tie-in; that this horrendous thing was maybe just really the beginning. Soon enough, we may find ourselves haunted by another trailer.
</p>
<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>IPL 2022: MI vs RR | Return of Suryakumar Yadav boosts Mumbai’s prospects against Rajasthan</strong> - The two teams head into the game at the DY Patil Stadium on the back of contrasting starts to the 15th edition of the tournament.</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>IPL 2022: GT vs DC | Delhi Capitals test awaits Gujarat Titans</strong> - Both Gujarat and Delhi started their campaign in the 15th edition of the lucrative league with wins</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>Russia World Cup chief serious about UEFA Euro in 2028 or 2032 hosting bids</strong> - Russian clubs and national teams have been suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions for invading Ukraine</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>China says Asian Games venues have been completed</strong> - All 56 competition venues for the Asian Games and Asian Para Games, including for e-sports which makes its debut in Asian games, have been completed</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>Serie A: Inter Milan receive 100% stadium capacity boast for ‘Derby D’italia’ against Juventus</strong> - Derby d’Italia or Derby of Italy between Inter Milan vs Juventus will be one of the first matches to be played in front of a full house in Italy since March 2020</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>IAF’s Suryakiran aerobatic team to paint the skies today</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andhra Pradesh: Jagan’s lack of administrative ability exposed, says Manohar</strong> - Untimely taxes, power tariff hike prove this, says JSP leader</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>TSRTC Ugadi offer</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andhra Pradesh: Leopard dies in a territory fight with tiger in Nallamala</strong> - Forest officials find carcass during routine patrolling</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>CPI(M), CPI on the same page on liquor policy: Kodiyeri</strong> - ‘CPI has not issued any statement against the policy’</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>War in Ukraine: Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking oil depot</strong> - Russia claims a Ukrainian helicopter raid set fuel tanks ablaze in Belgorod, a Russian city.</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>Gerard Depardieu: Kremlin responds to actor’s Putin criticism</strong> - The French-born actor had accused the Russian president of “crazy, unacceptable excesses” in Ukraine.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Russian troops leave Chernobyl, Ukraine says</strong> - Ukraine’s state nuclear company says Russian soldiers have left the former nuclear power plant.</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 war: Russia blocks buses heading to Mariupol, says Ukraine</strong> - Russia has blocked 45 buses heading to the city to rescue civilians, says Ukraine’s deputy prime minister.</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>Meeting with Pope a ‘stepping stone’ towards reconciliation</strong> - A Canadian indigenous delegation is seeking an apology over the church’s role in residential schools.</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>Intel Core i3-12100 and i5-12400 review: Fast, affordable, and hard to criticize</strong> - Cheaper CPUs are getting competitive again after a couple of dry years. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1844740">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: SpaceX to do “right” by OneWeb, ESA looks at backup launch plans</strong> - “Investors deserve the protections they receive from traditional IPOs.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1844086">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Increased smoke pollution on the horizon for Pacific Northwest</strong> - If we do nothing, parts of the US will see a tripling in wildfire smoke pollution. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1844706">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apple rushes out patches for two 0-days threatening iOS and macOS users</strong> - With 5 0-days this year, Apple is on track to meet or break its 2021 tally of 12. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1845058">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Confirmed: Avalanche is likeliest explanation for tragic Dyatlov Pass incident</strong> - Findings from latest field expeditions support hypothesis proposed last year. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1843898">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>A wife asks her programmer husband to go to the store</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘Can you go down to the store, and get a gallon of milk, and if they have eggs, get 6.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Later on he returns home and she looks at his purchases and says ‘Why the fuck do you have 6 gallons of milk?’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He responded ‘They had eggs.’
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Candy_Pixel"> /u/Candy_Pixel </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ttnj6n/a_wife_asks_her_programmer_husband_to_go_to_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ttnj6n/a_wife_asks_her_programmer_husband_to_go_to_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>an old man walks into a jewelry store with a young blonde lady</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The clerk immediately thinks he is being taken advantage of due to the age difference. She says to the clerk “Show me an expensive ring.” The clerk looks over at the old man and he gives a head nod. The clerk pulls out a ring and tells her “this one is $50,000 dollars.” She says its nice but I want something nicer. Once again he looks at the old man and gets another head nod. “This is one of our finest rings it costs over $300,000.” She says “I love it ill take it!” The old man writes a check for the ring. The clerk says due to the dollar value it will take 3 days for the check to clear, please come back Monday morning to pick up the ring."
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
On Monday morning the man returns to the store by himself. The clerk says “sir unfortunately the check did not go thru due to insignificant funds.” The man says “oh I know it was never gonna clear. I just wanted to come in and tell you about my weekend!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/PurpleKey4885"> /u/PurpleKey4885 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ttd7h2/an_old_man_walks_into_a_jewelry_store_with_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ttd7h2/an_old_man_walks_into_a_jewelry_store_with_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>An elderly man living alone in Manchester wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, since the ground was hard.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
His only son, Paul, who used to help him, was in prison (strange ways) . The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Dear Paul,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over.. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Love, Dad
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A few days later he received a letter from his son.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Dear Dad,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Don’t dig up that garden. That’s where the bodies are buried.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Love,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Paul.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
At 4 a.m. the next morning, CID officers and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Dear Dad,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That’s the best I could do under the circumstances.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Informal-Talk9487"> /u/Informal-Talk9487 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ttez4h/an_elderly_man_living_alone_in_manchester_wanted/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ttez4h/an_elderly_man_living_alone_in_manchester_wanted/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>The holy month of Ramadan starts today. For all my Muslim friends who are observing Ramadan…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
..Lunch is on me.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/porichoygupto"> /u/porichoygupto </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ttm1rw/the_holy_month_of_ramadan_starts_today_for_all_my/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ttm1rw/the_holy_month_of_ramadan_starts_today_for_all_my/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Joe Biden had a meeting with the Cabinet today</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He also spoke to the bookcase and argued with the desk.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Maxwe4"> /u/Maxwe4 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tt9oyo/joe_biden_had_a_meeting_with_the_cabinet_today/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tt9oyo/joe_biden_had_a_meeting_with_the_cabinet_today/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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