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<title>07 July, 2023</title>
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<title>Covid-19 Sentry</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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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>Intracardiac Thrombus in COVID-19 Inpatients: A Nationwide Study of Incidence, Predictors and Outcomes</strong> -
<div>
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Background: COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been observed to be associated with a hypercoagulable state. Intracardiac thrombosis is a serious complication but has seldom been evaluated in COVID-19 patients. We assessed the incidence, associated factors, and outcomes of COVID-19 patients with intracardiac thrombosis. Methods: COVID-19 inpatients during 2020 were retrospectively identified from the national inpatient sample (NIS) database, and data retrieved regarding clinical characteristics, intracardiac thrombosis, and adverse outcomes. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify the clinical factors associated with intracardiac thrombosis and in-hospital mortality and morbidities. Results: A total of 1,683,785 COVID-19 inpatients were identified in 2020 from NIS, with a mean age of 63.8 ± 1.6 years, and 32.2% females. Intracardiac thrombosis was present in 0.001% (1,830) patients. Overall, in-hospital outcomes include all-cause mortality 13.2% (222,695/1,683,785), cardiovascular mortality 3.5%, cardiac arrest 2.6%, acute coronary syndrome (ACS) 4.4%, heart failure 16.1%, stroke 1.3% and acute kidney injury (AKI) 28.3%. The main factors associated with intracardiac thrombosis were a history of congestive heart failure and coagulopathy. Intracardiac thrombosis was independently associated with a higher risk of in-hospital all-cause mortality (OR: 3.32, 95% CI: 2.42-4.54, p&lt;0.001), cardiovascular mortality (OR: 2.95, 95% CI: 1.96-4.44, p&lt;0.001), cardiac arrest (OR: 2.04, 95% CI: 1.22-3.43, p=0.006), ACS (OR: 1.62, 95% CI: 1.17-2.22, p=0.003), stroke (OR: 3.10, 95% CI: 2.11-4.56, p&lt;0.001), and AKI (OR: 2.13 95% CI: 1.68-2.69, p&lt;0.001), but not incident heart failure (p=0.27). Conclusion: Although intracardiac thrombosis is rare in COVID-19 inpatients, its presence was independently associated with higher risks of in-hospital mortality and most morbidities. Prompt investigations and treatments for intracardiac thrombosis are warranted when there is a high index of suspicion and a confirmed diagnosis respectively.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.05.23292278v1" target="_blank">Intracardiac Thrombus in COVID-19 Inpatients: A Nationwide Study of Incidence, Predictors and Outcomes</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Immunogenicity and safety of heterologous Omicron BA.1 and bivalent SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike protein booster vaccines: a phase 3, randomized, clinical trial</strong> -
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Background. Mutations present in emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants permit evasion of neutralization with prototype vaccines. A novel Omicron BA.1 subvariant-specific vaccine (NVX-CoV2515) was tested alone, or as a bivalent preparation in combination with the prototype vaccine (NVX CoV2373), to assess antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2. Methods. Participants aged 18 to 64 years immunized with 3 doses of prototype mRNA vaccines were randomized 1:1:1 to receive a single dose of NVX-CoV2515, NVX-CoV2373, or bivalent mixture in a phase 3 study investigating heterologous boosting with SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike protein vaccines. Immunogenicity was measured 14 and 28 days after vaccination for the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 sublineage and ancestral strain. Safety profiles of vaccines were assessed. Results. Of participants who received trial vaccine (N=829), those administered NVX-CoV2515 (n=286) demonstrated superior neutralizing antibody response to BA.1 versus NVX-CoV2373 (n=274) at Day 14 (geometric mean titer ratio [95% CI]: 1.6 [1.33, 2.03]). Seroresponse rates [n/N; 95% CI] were 73.4% [91/124; 64.7, 80.9] for NVX-CoV2515 versus 50.9% [59/116; 41.4, 60.3] for NVX-CoV2373. All formulations were similarly well-tolerated. Conclusions. NVX-CoV2515 elicited a superior neutralizing antibody response against the Omicron BA.1 subvariant compared with NVX-CoV2373 when administered as a fourth dose. Safety data were consistent with the established safety profile of NVX-CoV2373.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.05.23291954v1" target="_blank">Immunogenicity and safety of heterologous Omicron BA.1 and bivalent SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike protein booster vaccines: a phase 3, randomized, clinical trial</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Compartmental mixing models for vaccination-status-based societal separation regarding viral respiratory diseases</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Societal separation of unvaccinated people from public spaces has been a novel and controversial COVID-era public health practice in many countries. Models exploring potential consequences of vaccination-status-based separation have not considered how separation influences the contact frequencies in the separated groups; we systematically investigate implementing effects of separation on person-to-person contact frequencies and show this critically determines the predicted epidemiological outcomes, focusing on the attack rates in the vaccinated and unvaccinated populations and the share of infections among vaccinated people that were due to contacts with infectious unvaccinated people. Methods: We describe a susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) two-population model for vaccinated and unvaccinated groups of individuals that transmit an infectious disease by person-to-person contact. The degree of separation between the two groups, ranging from zero to complete separation, is implemented using the like-to-like mixing approach developed for sexually-transmitted diseases [1-3], adapted for presumed SARS-CoV-2 transmission. We allow the contact frequencies for individuals in the two groups to be different and depend, with variable strength, on the degree of separation. Results: Separation can either increase or decrease the attack rate among the vaccinated, depending on the type of separation (isolating or compounding), and the contagiousness of the disease. For diseases with low contagiousness, separation can cause an attack rate in the vaccinated, which does not occur without separation. Interpretation: There is no blanket epidemiological advantage to separation, either for the vaccinated or the unvaccinated. Negative epidemiological consequences can occur for both groups.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.21.22279035v3" target="_blank">Compartmental mixing models for vaccination-status-based societal separation regarding viral respiratory diseases</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The K+/Na+ innate immune system is involved in the susceptibility to and severity of COVID-19: a systematic review and retrospective cohort study</strong> -
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Abstract Background: From single-cellular to multicellular organisms, a natural nonspecific immune system, called the K+/Na+ innate immune system, has recently been proposed to play an important role in the process of fighting against viral infection, however, there is little direct research evidence. This study aimed to evaluate whether the changes in serum K+/Na+ concentrations are associated with susceptibility and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, the Web of Science Core Collection, MedRxiv and BioRxiv databases for articles published between Jan 1, 2020 and Dec 14, 2022. We extracted the serum K+/Na+ concentration data of patients with COVID-19 from 112 published studies after removing inappropriate articles according to the defined criteria and analyzed the relationship between the serum k+/Na+ concentrations and the illness severity of patients. Then we used a cohort of 244 patients with COVID-19 for a retrospective analysis. Results: The mean serum k+/Na+ concentrations in patients with COVID-19 were 3.99 and 138.0 mmol/L, respectively, which were much lower than the mean levels in the population (4.40 and 142.0, respectively). The mean serum Na+ concentration in severe/critical patients (136.8) was significantly lower than those in mild and moderate patients (139.4 and 138.0, respectively). Such findings were confirmed in a retrospective cohort study, of which the mean serum k+/Na+ concentrations in all patients were 4.0 and 137.5 mmol/L, respectively. The significant differences in serum Na+ concentrations were found between the mild (139.2) and moderate (137.2) patients, and the mild and severe/critical (136.6) patients, which were correlated to the illness severity of patients. Conclusions: These findings may indicate the importance of a natural immune system constructed by intracellular potassium and extracellular sodium ions in the fight against viral infection and provide new ideas for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.03.23292126v1" target="_blank">The K+/Na+ innate immune system is involved in the susceptibility to and severity of COVID-19: a systematic review and retrospective cohort study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>DECLINE OF HANDWASHING AND MASKING AMONG THE GENERAL POPULATION IN POST COVID-19 PANDEMIC: INSIGHTS FROM A MIXED METHODS STUDY IN GHANA</strong> -
<div>
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COVID-19 has now entered the endemic stage where the virus is widespread with less fatality than it was in 2020. Restrictions and mandates such as handwashing and masking are eased although the pandemic is not yet over. Many have concluded that we have reached a point that marks the end of the pandemic spurring changes in public behavior. However, SARS-CoV-2 is still causing deaths every day and cases have not plateaued at low level. Better knowledge on why people have relented in handwashing and masking is needed to guide the development of effective interventions against future waves of the infection. In this study, we explored factors contributing to this pattern of behavior in Ghana. Questionnaires were administered to 350 respondents, via social media (WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, reedit,) and these were used to determine the level of handwashing and masking at the first stage of study. Screening and scoring of the questionnaires were used to estimate the level of these activities at the second stage. Among all respondents, we identified and selected 279 participants at the second stage: 95 as decliners, 120 non-regulars, and 64 maintainers according to their level of these activities and adapted scoring criteria. For each category, a group of 5 participants were randomly selected to take part in an in-depth interview. The theory of planned behavior guided our analysis. Six themes emerged from the analysis with the acronym, IMPASE; inconvenience and contamination, Mass population, pandemic patterns and regulations, Availability, Safety and infection prevention, environment and activity. These themes appeared to have elements relating to another component of the theory of planned behavior. Collectively, the environment (Subjective norms) and pattern of pandemic and regulation (Perceived behavioral control) interact with each other to ultimately influence handwashing and masking. Declining and non-regularity were associated with inconvenience and contamination. Maintenance is associated with the environment and activity. Thus, public educational campaigns must be intensified to highlight and address these themes. The public health authorities, employers and, essential services could play an important role in enforcing and disseminating such information.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.03.23292119v1" target="_blank">DECLINE OF HANDWASHING AND MASKING AMONG THE GENERAL POPULATION IN POST COVID-19 PANDEMIC: INSIGHTS FROM A MIXED METHODS STUDY IN GHANA</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Characterization of a fieldable process for airborne virus detection</strong> -
<div>
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Rapid, on-site, airborne virus detection is a requirement for timely action against the spread of air-transmissible infectious diseases. This applies both to future threats and to common viral diseases, such as influenza and COVID-19, which hit vulnerable populations yearly with severe consequences. The ultra-low concentrations of virus in the air make airborne virus detection difficult, yet readily infect individuals when breathed. Here, we propose a fieldable process that includes an enrichment step to concentrate collected genetic material in a small volume. The enrichment approach uses capillary electrophoresis and an RT-qPCR-compatible buffer, which allow enrichment of the RNA by about 5-fold within only 10 minutes of operation. Our detection process consists of air sampling through electrostatic precipitation, RNA extraction via heating, RNA enrichment, and RT-qPCR for detection. We optimized each step of the process and estimated a detection sensitivity of 3106±2457 genome copies (gc) per m<sup>3</sup> of air. We then performed an integration experiment and confirmed a sensitivity of 5654 gc/m<sup>3</sup> with a detection rate of 100% and a sensitivity of 4221 gc/m<sup>3</sup> with a detection rate of 78.6%. When using fast RT-qPCR, the latency of the whole process is down to 61 minutes. Given that our sensitivity falls in the low range of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 concentrations reported in indoor spaces, our study shows that, with enrichment, airborne pathogen detection can be made sufficiently sensitive for practical use.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.03.23292170v1" target="_blank">Characterization of a fieldable process for airborne virus detection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>When are predictions useful? A new method for evaluating epidemic forecasts</strong> -
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We introduce the Weighted Contextual Interval Score (WCIS), a new method for evaluating the performance of short-term interval-form forecasts. The WCIS provides a pragmatic utility-based characterization of probabilistic predictions, developed in response to the challenge of evaluating forecast performances in the turbulent context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Current widely-used scoring techniques generally fall into two groups: those that generate an individually interpretable metric, and those that generate a comparable and aggregable metric. The WCIS harmonizes these attributes, resulting in a normalized score that is nevertheless intuitively representative of the in-situ quality of individual forecasts. This method is expressly intended to enable practitioners and policy-makers who may not have expertise in forecasting but are nevertheless essential partners in epidemic response to use and provide insightful analysis of predictions. In this paper, we detail the methodology of the WCIS and demonstrate its utility in the context of US state-level COVID-19 predictions.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.29.23292042v1" target="_blank">When are predictions useful? A new method for evaluating epidemic forecasts</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Symptoms of Depression among Outpatients with Acute Respiratory Infection in Metropolitan Local Government Areas of Kaduna State, Nigeria</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background The novel SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has redefined global health and response to Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI). The outbreak of a cluster of influenza-like illnesses in Wuhan, China, has morphed into a pandemic in the last quarter of 2019, stretching from South East Asia to Europe, The Americas, Africa, and the Australian subcontinent. Materials and Methods We shall utilize a cross-sectional, observational design to investigate the prevalence of symptoms of depression among outpatients with ARI and describe the characteristics of outpatients with ARI in Kaduna State. Results The prevalence of symptoms of depression was 19.6% for respondents with symptoms of ARI, and 14.4%, for those without symptoms of ARI. On no risk of depression, we had a higher proportion of the respondents without symptoms of ARI (86%) than those with symptoms of depression (80%) (M=318.4, SD=29.62 case, and M=344.0, SD=14.2 control, r=0.88, CI=13.5 to 6.5, P=0.000952). Likewise, in the category with mild risk of depression, respondents without symptoms of ARI were fewer (10%) than those with symptoms of depression (15%) (M=58.4, SD=26.0 case, and M=42.1, SD=12.7 control, r=0.86, CI=11.8 to 5.8, P=0.0136. There was no significant difference between respondents with symptoms of ARI and without symptoms of ARI in the categories of moderate (M=13.6, SD=5.1 case, and M=11.6, SD=4.6 control, r=0.87, CI=2.3 to 2.1, P=0.178) and high (M=5.6, SD=2.5 case, and M=4.4, SD=3.2 control, r=0.61, CI=1.2 to 1.5, P=0.174)  risk of depression. Conclusion Symptoms of depression were commoner among respondents who presented with symptoms of Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) at the Outpatient Department (OPD). However, further explanatory research is needed to establish causality.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.02.23292139v1" target="_blank">Symptoms of Depression among Outpatients with Acute Respiratory Infection in Metropolitan Local Government Areas of Kaduna State, Nigeria</a>
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<li>**Spike-Induced Disturbances (SPAS*): An Analysis of Common Suspected Adverse Experiences Associated With Covid-19 Vaccines** -
<div>
This review/analysis gives a first impression of numerous adverse events related to Covid-19 vaccination, which have received little attention to date, are often unexplained, but are nevertheless very distressing. Frequently observed organ-related ADRs after Covid-19 vaccination were such of the nervous system, musculoskeletal system, gastrointestinal tract, and skin. The involvement of almost all organs in the side effect spectrum of Covid-19 vaccines demonstrates their systemic efficacy. As shown by the ADRs occurrence even after numerous days to weeks, the duration of spike production obviously lasts longer than claimed. The key role is played by the interaction between the spike subunit S1 and the membrane-bound enzyme ACE2, the receptor for SARS-CoV. Downregulation of ACE2 by spikes and following activation of RAAS can lead to numerous clinically relevant disorders, such as vasoconstriction, tissue ischemia, induction of proliferative processes, increased oxidative stress, inflammation, or coagulation disorders, as previously shown for cardiovascular reactions. It is proposed to use the collective term “SPAS” (in German: Spike ausgelöste Störungen) - spike induced disturbances for side effects based on this mode of action. The common mode of action and only slightly different frequencies of adverse events and fatal outcomes do not indicate any principal differences in adverse event profiles of the individual spike-based Covid-19 vaccines. A class-specific side effect profile can be assumed. Knowledge and awareness of the comprehensive adverse event profile of the novel Covid-19 vaccines and their potential dangerousness may improve vaccine safety.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/q94bn/" target="_blank">Spike-Induced Disturbances (SPAS*): An Analysis of Common Suspected Adverse Experiences Associated With Covid-19 Vaccines</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Suspected Cardiovascular Side Effects of two Covid-19 Vaccines</strong> -
<div>
Fatalities or cardiovascular side effects of vaccines were rather uncommon in the past. So far, numerous reports of side effects and deaths associated with Covid-19 vaccination have been accepted behind the background of the pandemic situation and the priority vaccinated elderly population at the beginning of the vaqccination campaign. Cardiac and heart circulatory disturbances resp. cardiovascular side effects associated with the application of Covid-19 vaccines have not been recognized up to now with the exception of thrombotic/embolic side effects and cases of myo-/pericarditis. But the mechanism of action suggests that downregulation of ACE2 by non-neutralised spike proteins may have cardiovascular effects. The objective of this analysis was to determine the total number of reported adverse events and fatalities and to record suspected important cardiovascular adverse events up to the cut-off date in European countries. Therefore, a current review/analysis of spontaneously reported fatalities as well as of adverse events after application of Covid-19 vaccines has been performed. Data were retrieved from the EudraVigilance web reports of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), partly also from the safety reports of the German PEI. Covid-19 vaccine-associated suspected side effects and related deaths are alarming. Surprisingly, numerous cardiovascular reactions were reported, many of which were life-threatening. Cardiac and heart circulatory caused fatalities alone accounted for about 33% of all ComirnatyR vaccine-related deaths. The second most important side effects were vascular thrombotic/embolic side effects, often also associated with serious consequences. Based on their quality and quantity, these side effects seem to be characteristic for spike-producing vaccines and do not appear to be substance-specific. Further investigations are needed to clarify the approximately 3.5 times more frequent cases of sinus vein thrombosis and the some different frequent cases of thrombotic/embolic events after VaxzevriaR. The hypothesis could be confirmed. Because of their importance and their sometimes life-threatening consequences, cardiovascular side effects need to be better communicated. Limitations of the investigation result from the individual reporting and recording procedure, the lack of detailed individual information and the lack of an appropriate comparison population.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/gh9u2/" target="_blank">Suspected Cardiovascular Side Effects of two Covid-19 Vaccines</a>
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<li><strong>Empty streets, busy Internet. A time series analysis of cybercrime and fraud trends during COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
There have been many warnings about the rising threat of cybercrime and fraud resulting from the COVID-19 lockdown measures and the associated increase in Internet use. However, there is still relatively little data with which to support the alerts and any changes may be nuanced. The present paper applies time series analysis methods to historical data on cybercrime and fraud reported to Action Fraud in the UK to examine whether any potential increases are beyond normal crime variability. Furthermore, the discrepancies between fraud types and individual and organisation victims are also analysed. The results show that while both total cybercrime and total fraud did increase beyond predicted levels, the changes in victimisation were not homogenous across fraud types and victims. The implications of these findings on how changes in routine activities in the UK have influenced cybercrime and fraud opportunities are discussed in relation to policy, practice and academic debate.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/38wfy/" target="_blank">Empty streets, busy Internet. A time series analysis of cybercrime and fraud trends during COVID-19</a>
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<li><strong>An appraisal of the scope of domestic tourism in Dooars foothills tourist circuit in the post-pandemic scenario</strong> -
<div>
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on world economy including tourism and hospitality industry. While international tourism has been on a slump for most of the last three years, people and organisations involved in the sector need to focus on domestic tourism for a slow but steady turn around. India with a huge share of annual domestic tourists is better positioned to cope up with this scenario. Tourism Department, Govt. of West Bengal has been promoting and developing different tourist circuits in the state for the last two decades. Dooars circuit, located in a comparatively backward region in the northern foothills of the state deserves more attention. With various kinds of tourist spots and events, it attracts visitors throughout the year. Impact of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown has been felt here too. The tourism sector has suffered a setback and most of the people associated with it, have lost their earning and livelihood. Thus promoting domestic tourism in Dooars is the only feasible way to protect the industry and its workers. The present paper attempts to make an appraisal of the tourism infrastructure and services available at different tourist attractions spread over the region. It aims to suggest some policies for improvement of the tourism scenario in general and domestic tourism in particular.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/r7vgk/" target="_blank">An appraisal of the scope of domestic tourism in Dooars foothills tourist circuit in the post-pandemic scenario</a>
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<li><strong>A cost-effectiveness analysis of Molnupiravir and Paxlovid in three African countries</strong> -
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Objective: To assess the cost-effectiveness of two COVID-19 oral antivirals (COAVs) Paxlovid and Molnupiravir compared to the standard of care, in Ghana, Rwanda and Zambia. Methods: We modelled costs (2022 US$) and health outcomes in the acute phase of the COVID-19 disease from a public payer9s perspective in three unvaccinated target populations (1) patients aged 65 years and above (elderly); (2) adult patients with at least one other underlying risk factors for disease severity; and (3) all adult patients. In addition, we conducted a series of sensitivity and scenario analyses. Results: In elderly patients, Paxlovid was less costly and more effective (i.e., dominated) than standard of care in all three study countries. Molnupiravir dominated standard of care in Rwanda and Zambia and an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was estimated at US$1023.58 per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) averted in Ghana. In adults with other underlying risk factors, Paxlovid dominated in Rwanda and Zambia while Molnupiravir dominated in Rwanda. Neither Paxlovid nor Molnupiravir were cost-effective in the all-adult group in any country context. Incremental net monetary benefit for Paxlovid was consistently higher than for Molnupiravir. In COVID-19 vaccinated patients, Paxlovid was cost-effective for elderly patients in Zambia and Rwanda but not in Ghana. Key determinants of cost-effectiveness were COAV price, likelihood of early treatment initiation, and hospitalization rates. Conclusion: In African settings similar to Zambia, Ghana or Rwanda, COAVs could be cost-effective in populations who are unvaccinated, and at high risk of progression to severe COVID-19. More evidence is needed to determine cost-effectiveness for patients that are unvaccinated but have previously been infected with COVID-19 and may have developed some immune protection.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.05.23292205v1" target="_blank">A cost-effectiveness analysis of Molnupiravir and Paxlovid in three African countries</a>
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<li><strong>The receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein fused with the type IIb E. coli heat-labile enterotoxin A subunit as an intranasal booster after mRNA vaccination</strong> -
<div>
The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infections had led to the COVID-19 pandemic which has a significant impact on global public health and the economy. The spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 contains the receptor binding domain (RBD) which binds to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor. Numerous RBD-based vaccines have been developed and recently focused on the induction of neutralizing antibodies against the immune evasive Omicron BQ.1.1 and XBB.1.5 subvariants. In this preclinical study, we reported the use of a direct fusion of the type IIb Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin A subunit with SARS CoV-2 RBD protein (RBD-LTA) as an intranasal vaccine candidate. The results showed that intranasal immunization with the RBD-LTA fusion protein in BALB/c mice elicited potent neutralizing antibodies against the Wuhan-Hu-1 and several SARS-CoV-2 variants as well as the production of IgA antibodies in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALFs). Furthermore, the RBD-LTA fusion protein was used as a second-dose booster after bivalent mRNA vaccination. The results showed that the neutralizing antibody titers elicited by the intranasal RBD-LTA booster were similar to the bivalent mRNA booster, but the RBD-specific IgA titers in sera and BALFs significantly increased. Overall, this preclinical study suggests that the RBD-LTA fusion protein could be a promising candidate as a mucosal booster COVID-19 vaccine.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.05.547781v1" target="_blank">The receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein fused with the type IIb E. coli heat-labile enterotoxin A subunit as an intranasal booster after mRNA vaccination</a>
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<li><strong>Discovering host protein interactions specific for SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2, a positive single-stranded RNA virus, interacts with host cell proteins throughout its life cycle. These interactions are necessary for the host to recognize and hinder the replication of SARS-CoV-2. For the virus, to translate, transcribe and replicate its genetic material. However, many details of these interactions are still missing. We focused on the proteins binding to the highly structured 5’ and 3’ end regions of SARS-CoV-2 RNA that were predicted by the catRAPID algorithm to attract numerous proteins, exploiting RNA-Protein Interaction Detection coupled with Mass Spectrometry (RaPID-MS) technology. The validated interactors, which agreed with our predictions, include pseudouridine synthase PUS7 that binds to both ends of the viral RNA. Nanopore direct-RNA sequencing confirmed that the RNA virus is heavily modified, and PUS7 consensus regions were found in both SARS-CoV-2 RNA end regions. Notably, a modified site was detected in the viral Transcription Regulatory Sequence - Leader (TRS-L) and can influence the viral RNA structure and interaction propensity. Overall, our data map host protein interactions within SARS-CoV-2 UTR regions, pinpointing to a potential role of pseudouridine synthases and post-transcriptional modifications in the viral life cycle. These findings contribute to understanding virus-host dynamics and may guide the development of targeted therapies.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.18.499583v2" target="_blank">Discovering host protein interactions specific for SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome</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>Homologous Booster Study of COVID-19 Protein Subunit Recombinant Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: SARS-CoV-2 Subunit Recombinant Protein Vaccine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   PT Bio Farma<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>Role of Ivermectin and Colchicine in Treatment of COVID-19: Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin Tablets;   Drug: Colchicine 0.5 MG;   Drug: Standared managment<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Ain Shams University<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>A Study to Evaluate the Immunogenicity and Safety of A Recombinant Protein COVID-19 Vaccine as Booster Vaccines</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SCTV01E-2;   Biological: SCTV01E<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sinocelltech 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>COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Counseling Intervention for Pharmacists</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Standard implementation webinar and online training;   Behavioral: Virtual facilitation<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill;   University of Arkansas;   University of South Carolina;   National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)<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>LUSZ Treatment Efficacy in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Lopinavir / Ritonavir;   Drug: Remdesivir (RDV);   Drug: Tocilizumab;   Other: Corticosteroid Therapy-enhanced Standard Care (CTSC)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Lebanese University;   Hospital Saydet Zgharta University Medical Center<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>Developing an Effective Intervention to Address Post-Corona-Virus-Disease-2019 Balance Disorders, Weakness and Muscle Fatigue in Individuals Aged 65+</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: Resistance Training<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education<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>Comprehensive Imaging Exam of Convalesced COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   COVID Long-Haul<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Magnetic Resonance Imaging;   Other: Ultra-High Resolution Computed Tomography (CT) Scan<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Johns Hopkins University;   Canon Medical Systems, USA<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</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>Multimodal Long Covid19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Long COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Multimodal intervention in Long Covid19<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Universidad de Magallanes;   Teaching Assistance and Research Center of the University of Magallanes CADI-UMAG;   Clinical Hospital Dr. Lautaro Navarro Avaria<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>UNAIR Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine as Heterologue Booster (Immunobridging Study)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19 Pandemic;   COVID-19 Vaccines<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Vaksin Merah Putih - UA SARS-CoV-2 (Vero Cell Inactivated) 5 µg;   Biological: CoronaVac Biofarma COVID-1 9 Vaccine 3 µg<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Dr. Soetomo General Hospital;   Indonesia-MoH;   Universitas Airlangga;   Biotis Pharmaceuticals, Indonesia<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>Immunogenicity and Safety Study of SCB-2023 Vaccine as a Booster in Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SCB-2023 vaccine (trivalent), a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 trimeric S-protein subunit vaccine for COVID-19; intramuscular injection;   Biological: SCB-2019 (monovalent), a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 trimeric S-protein subunit vaccine for COVID-19; intramuscular injection<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Clover Biopharmaceuticals AUS Pty 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>The Safety and Immunogenicity Following a Heterologous Booster Dose of Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine LYB002</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: LYB002V14;   Biological: LYB002V14A;   Biological: LYB002CA<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Guangzhou Patronus Biotech Co., Ltd.;   Yantai Patronus Biotech Co., Ltd.;   Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase 2/3 Heterologous Boosting Study With Different Dose Levels of Monovalent SARS-CoV-2 rS Vaccines</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: NVX-CoV2373 (5μg);   Biological: NVX-CoV2601 (5μg);   Biological: NVX-CoV2601(5μg);   Biological: NVX-CoV2601 (35μg);   Biological: NVX-CoV2601(35μg);   Biological: NVX-CoV2601(50μg);   Biological: Bivalent BA.4/5<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Novavax<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Immunogenicity and Safety Following a Heterologous Booster Dose of Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine LYB001</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Vaccine Reaction<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: LYB001;   Biological: CoronaVac<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Guangzhou Patronus Biotech Co., Ltd.;   Yantai Patronus Biotech Co., Ltd.;   Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety and Efficacy of Anakinra Treatment for Patients With Post Acute Covid Syndrome</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Placebo;   Drug: Anakinra 149 MG/ML Prefilled Syringe [Kineret]<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hellenic Institute for the Study of Sepsis<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Effect of Smart Sensor Combined With APP for Individualized Precise Exercise Training in Long Covid-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Coronavirus Disease;   COVID-19;   Long Covid-19;   Telerehabilitation<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Device: KNEESUP smart knee assistive device + KNEESUP care APP;   Device: KNEESUP care APP;   Behavioral: Healthy consulation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Shang-Lin Chiang<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Individuals at risk for severe COVID-19 in whom ritonavir-containing therapies are contraindicated or may lead to interactions with concomitant medications: a retrospective analysis of German health insurance claims data</strong> - CONCLUSION: Administering ritonavir-containing COVID-19 therapy can be challenging as thorough medical record review and close monitoring are required. In some cases, ritonavir-containing treatment may not be appropriate due to contraindications, risk of pDDIs, or both. For those individuals, an alternative ritonavir-free treatment should be considered.</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>e-Pharmacophore modeling and in silico study of CD147 receptor against SARS-CoV-2 drugs</strong> - Coronavirus has left severe health impacts on the human population, globally. Still a significant number of cases are reported daily as no specific medications are available for its effective treatment. The presence of the CD147 receptor (human basigin) on the host cell facilitates the severe acute respiratory disease coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Therefore, the drugs that efficiently alter the formation of CD147 and spike protein complex could be the right drug candidate to inhibit 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>Investigating theobromine as a potential anti-human coronaviral agent</strong> - Coronaviruses (CoVs) have long been known to infect humans, mainly alpha-CoV and beta-CoV. The vaccines developed for SARS-CoV-2 are likely not effective against other coronavirus species, whereas the risk of the emergence of new strains that may cause the next epidemic/pandemic is high. The development of antiviral drugs that are effective across different CoVs represents a viable strategy for improving pandemic preparedness. In this study, we aim to identify pan-coronaviral agents by targeting…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Nsp1 mediated mRNA degradation requires mRNA interaction with the ribosome</strong> - Nsp1 is a SARS-CoV-2 host shutoff factor that both represses cellular translation and promotes host RNA decay. However, it is unclear how these two activities are connected and interact with normal translation processes. Here, we performed mutational analyses of Nsp1, and these revealed that both the N and C terminal domains of Nsp1 are important for translational repression. Furthermore, we demonstrate that specific residues in the N terminal domain are required for cellular RNA degradation but…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Repurposing Polyether Ionophores as a New-Class of Anti-SARS-Cov-2 Agents as Adjunct Therapy</strong> - The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants have posed a significant threat to humankind in tackling the viral spread. Furthermore, currently repurposed drugs and frontline antiviral agents have failed to cure severe ongoing infections effectively. This insufficiency has fuelled research for potent and safe therapeutic agents to treat COVID-19. Nonetheless, various vaccine candidates have displayed a differential efficacy and need for repetitive dosing. The FDA-approved polyether ionophore…</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>Prolonged Exposure to Remdesivir Inhibits the Human Ether-A-Go-Go-Related Gene Potassium Current</strong> - Remdesivir, approved for the treatment of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has been associated with QTc interval prolongation and torsade de pointes (TdP) in case reports. However, data are conflicting regarding the ability of remdesivir to inhibit the human ether-a-go-go-related (hERG)-related current. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects remdesivir and its primary metabolite, GS-441524, on hERG-related currents. Human embryonic kidney (HEK 293) cells stably expressing hERG…</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 KDM6A-KMT2D-p300 axis regulates susceptibility to diverse coronaviruses by mediating viral receptor expression</strong> - Identification of host determinants of coronavirus infection informs mechanisms of pathogenesis and may provide novel therapeutic targets. Here, we demonstrate that the histone demethylase KDM6A promotes infection of diverse coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV and mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) in a demethylase activity-independent manner. Mechanistic studies reveal that KDM6A promotes viral entry by regulating expression of multiple coronavirus receptors, including ACE2, DPP4…</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>Development of monoclonal antibody-based blocking ELISA for detecting SARS-CoV-2 exposure in animals</strong> - The global pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) poses a significant threat to public health. Besides humans, SARS-CoV-2 can infect several animal species. Highly sensitive and specific diagnostic reagents and assays are urgently needed for rapid detection and implementation of strategies for prevention and control of the infection in animals. In this study, we initially developed a panel of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein….</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>Conformational response to ligand binding of TMPRSS2, a protease involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection: Insights through computational modeling</strong> - Thanks to the considerable research which has been undertaken in the last few years to improve our understanding of the biology and mechanism of action of SARS-CoV-2, we know how the virus uses its surface spike protein to infect host cells. The transmembrane prosthesis, serine 2 (TMPRSS2) protein, located on the surface of human cells, recognizes the cleavage site in the spike protein, leading to the release of the fusion peptide and entry of the virus into the host cells. Because of its role,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Respiratory infections in children and adolescents in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: While the measures taken were effective in inhibiting the number of respiratory infections for almost 1.5 years, moderately frequent but rather mild COVID-19 cases occurred when measures were lifted. When Omicron emerged in 2022 COVID-19 became moderately frequent but led predominantly to mild illnesses. For RSV and influenza, the measures resulted in changes in their annual timing and intensity.</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>Maternal prenatal attachment during the COVID-19 pandemic: exploring the roles of pregnancy-related anxiety, risk perception, and well-being</strong> - Pregnant women have faced novel physical and mental health risks during the pandemic. This situation is remarkable because a parent’s emotional bond with their unborn baby (also known as prenatal attachment) is related to the parent’s mental state. Prenatal attachment helps parents psychologically prepare for the transition into parenthood. Moreover, it plays a pivotal role in the future parentchild relationship and psychosocial development of the baby. Based on the available literature, 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>Molecular mechanism of ensitrelvir inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 main protease and its variants</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 poses an unprecedented threat to the world as the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among a handful of therapeutics developed for the prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection, ensitrelvir is the first noncovalent and nonpeptide oral inhibitor targeting the main protease (M^(pro)) of SARS-CoV-2, which recently received emergency regulatory approval in Japan. Here we determined a 1.8-Å structure of M^(pro) in complex with ensitrelvir, which revealed that ensitrelvir…</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>Intranasal VLP-RBD vaccine adjuvanted with BECC470 confers immunity against Delta SARS-CoV-2 challenge in K18-hACE2-mice</strong> - As the COVID-19 pandemic transitions into endemicity, seasonal boosters are a plausible reality across the globe. We hypothesize that intranasal vaccines can provide better protection against asymptomatic infections and more transmissible variants of SARS-CoV-2. To formulate a protective intranasal vaccine, we utilized a VLP-based platform. Hepatitis B surface antigen-based virus like particles (VLP) linked with receptor binding domain (RBD) antigen were paired with the TLR4-based agonist…</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>Synthesis and characterization of n-phosphonium chitosan and its virucidal activity evaluation against coronavirus</strong> - Despite the worldwide vaccination effort against COVID-19, the demand for biocidal materials has increased. One promising solution is the chemical modification of polysaccharides, such as chitosan, which can provide antiviral activity through the insertion of cationic terminals. In this study, chitosan was modified with (4-carboxybutyl) triphenylphosphonium bromide to create N-phosphonium chitosan (NPCS), a quaternized derivative. The resulting NPCS samples with three degrees of substitution…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Identification of a receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor CP-724714 inhibits SADS-CoV related swine diarrhea coronaviruses infection in vitro</strong> - The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 has caused unprecedented panic among all mankind, pointing the major importance of effective treatment. Since the emergence of the swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV) at the end of 2017, multiple reports have indicated that the bat-related SADS-CoV possesses a potential threat for cross-species transmission. Vaccines and antiviral drugs development deserve more attention. In this study, we found that the HER2 phosphorylation…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>To Save the Planet, Should We Really Be Moving Slower?</strong> - The degrowth movement makes a comeback. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/to-save-the-planet-should-we-really-be-moving-slower">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Does California’s Homeless Population Actually Look Like?</strong> - Politicians and commentators spend a disproportionate amount of time talking about a small subset of the homeless population. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-does-californias-homeless-population-actually-look-like">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Next Targets in the Fight Against Affirmative Action</strong> - It won’t be admissions offices at selective schools but institutions and programs that use race as a plus factor in making decisions about who gets contracts, jobs, scholarships, and awards. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-next-targets-in-the-fight-against-affirmative-action">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Titan Submersible Implosion Was “an Accident Waiting to Happen”</strong> - Interviews and e-mails with expedition leaders and employees reveal how OceanGate ignored desperate warnings from inside and outside the company. “It’s a lemon,” one wrote. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/a-reporter-at-large/the-titan-submersible-was-an-accident-waiting-to-happen">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Could Putin Lose Power?</strong> - Regime stability is a funny thing. One day it’s there; the next day, poof—it’s gone. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-weekend-essay/could-putin-lose-power">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The FDA just approved a new treatment for Alzheimer’s. It’s a very big deal.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A nurse’s hand holds the hand of an elderly patient, both resting on a blanket." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/A9sGzE9LEwlDCsqG9K61WjgzH8o=/246x0:4043x2848/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72432151/GettyImages_90998188.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
The FDA has granted full approval to lecanemab, also known as Leqembi, which promises to slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. | Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
It’s a glimmer of hope for patients and families — if the US health system can handle it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hNgyqz">
A proven treatment to slow down the progression of <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22577776/alzheimers-disease-dementia-symptoms-aduhelm-drug">Alzheimer’s</a> — a devastating disease that robs individuals of their personality, autonomy, and ultimately life — has long been out of reach.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hDRPEg">
But within the next year, Alzheimer’s patients could conceivably have access to not just one such treatment, but two.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rNefla">
This new era for Alzheimer’s treatment began this week, when the Food and Drug Administration <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-grants-full-approval-new-alzheimers-drug-meant-slow-disease-rcna92377">granted full approval</a> to a new Alzheimer’s drug, lecanemab, which is being sold by its manufacturer Eisai under the brand name Leqembi. Memory clinics are already reporting increasing curiosity among patients about the new treatment, and they expect interest will only grow following the FDA’s final sign-off.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LbU96E">
In the next few weeks, new clinical trial results are also expected for another treatment candidate, donanemab, which has had <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2023/05/03/alzheimers-lilly-donanemab/">impressive preliminary results.</a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dS8eTx">
Just two years ago, the Alzheimer’s community was in turmoil. An earlier drug, called <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22524608/new-alzheimers-drug-cost-fda-approval-biogen">aducanemab and known by the brand name Aduhelm</a>, had reported disappointing clinical trial results, but the FDA,<strong> </strong>over the objections of its scientific advisers, still decided to grant “accelerated approval” to the drug, which has a lower threshold for approval and is reserved for drugs that address an unmet need. The controversy <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22547044/new-alzheimers-disease-drug-aducanumab-research-science">cast a pall over the medication</a>, Medicare severely <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/07/health/aduhelm-medicare-alzheimers.html">limited coverage</a>, and few prescriptions were written for a treatment once hoped to be a breakthrough.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EQu6J1">
People who work in the field describe a community at war with itself, as some advocacy groups pushed for more access to aducanemab even as many clinicians remained unconvinced.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TjDrgl">
Lecanemab could offer a fresh start. The clinical data appears more promising. The FDA’s advisers endorsed it last month. The preliminary results from donanemab appear even more impressive, though they need to be confirmed in forthcoming reports.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pZw6g0">
It is still a fraught moment for providers and patients. The treatments require an extensive patient evaluation before being prescribed, regular infusions in their administration, and careful monitoring over time to catch potentially dangerous side effects — all a challenge for the US health system. Not enough doctors are trained in caring for patients with memory problems. There are not enough infusion centers. Medicare covers some of the scans that could be used to identify patients who may benefit from lecanemab, but not others.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zo6cc4">
The logistical challenges could be daunting, said Sanjeev Vaishnavi, a clinical neurologist at the Penn Memory Center who is helping to lead its planning efforts. The center sometimes has a months-long waiting list from patients who are seeking more specialized care than their primary care doctor is able to provide. If the demand for lecanemab is high, new patients could end up waiting for years — at which point, they may no longer benefit from the drug.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KBIFzz">
“I think the concern is, how can we deliver appropriate care to the right individuals in a timely manner?” Vaishnavi said, articulating his fear that patients could end up “stuck in a morass of bureaucracy.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eKpvkZ">
Nevertheless, he said, “it’s an exciting time.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ulun53">
Alzheimer’s afflicts at least 6 million Americans. While only a subset may benefit from lecanemab, it holds enormous promise for those patients and their families — and for the many Alzheimer’s patients who will follow in the years to come, as the country’s population ages. This disease is distinct not only for its prevalence but also for the way it works. Over time, it wears away a person’s personality and sense of self. Ultimately, it is 100 percent fatal.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PunsFI">
Science has searched for an effective treatment; for decades, potential breakthroughs would show promise and then flame out. The failures led some researchers in recent years <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2019/06/25/alzheimers-cabal-thwarted-progress-toward-cure/">to question the entire premise of most Alzheimer’s research</a>, though lecanemab may prove to be a kind of validation of the amyloid hypothesis that has driven drug development.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Nqu4Lc">
Jason Karlawish, the co-director at the Penn Memory Center, described his colleagues, patients, and their families as “travelers who finally see they arrived at land after traversing a dangerous ocean.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KXZgh4">
“I’d much rather be in this place than where things were two or three years ago,” he told me. “This is what we’ve been waiting for for decades.”
</p>
<h3 id="Ovxa8X">
Lecanemab, the new Alzheimer’s drug approved by the FDA, explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zCtfna">
Lecanemab doesn’t cure Alzheimer’s disease. Patients will still decline — but not as quickly. For certain patients who are still in the early stages of the disease, the drug appears to slow down the loss of cognitive function, buying them months — and maybe more — of quality time with their families and loved ones.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Su229E">
This is a breakthrough that has eluded scientists for years. Still, exactly how long patients get will vary, and the longer-term effects remain unknown. A clinical trial of 1,800 patients, the results of which were <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2022/09/27/alzheimers-treatment-slowed-cognitive-decline-in-closely-watched-clinical-trial/">released</a> last September, found lecanemab slowed cognitive decline by on average of 27 percent over 18 months.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0nQ4Rj">
The goal is to slow down the speed of decline from mild cognitive impairment, usually the first recognized stage of Alzheimer’s disease, to dementia, the more advanced loss of cognitive function. Karlawish said he explains lecanemab’s effects to patients like this: 33 percent of the patients on a placebo transitioned to a more advanced stage of the disease during the 18-month study, but 22 percent of the patients on lecanemab did.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wnSESu">
In the earlier stages of the disease, patients can still often seem and feel like themselves. In a recent conversation with Karlawish, the husband of a patient with Alzheimer’s had told him that, when describing his wife at her current stage, “Susan is still Susan.” (Susan is an alias.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="59awoa">
“For him, the idea of keeping Susan still Susan is pretty valuable,” Karlawish told me. “But some people will say to me, ‘My wife is not my wife anymore.’ I don’t know how they’d think of slowing down progression.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rHO6DB">
That is the first qualifier for lecanemab: It will only help patients who are in that earlier “mild” stage of the disease. For people who have already progressed past that, the pending approval may be bittersweet. Attitudes among families are complex. Alison Lynn, a social worker at Penn who works with caregivers, said she recently spoke to a man who is both a physician and the husband of an Alzheimer’s patient. He said he would not want his wife to be prescribed the drug.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Tatfhb">
In his words, “both of us are suffering right now. Why would I want the suffering to last longer?” Lynn said. “I don’t think that is an easy thing for him to say.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2fMfVQ">
But even for patients for whom lecanemab may be appropriate, there are qualifiers. About one in five patients in the clinical trials experienced brain swelling or bleeding. In a few cases, the symptoms were severe and at least three deaths <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/scientists-tie-third-clinical-trial-death-experimental-alzheimer-s-drug">have been associated with it</a>. Still, the FDA’s scientific advisers, who had previously decided the risks of aducanemab were not worth it, reached the opposite conclusion with lecanemab. Alzheimer’s disease is, after all, a terminal illness. Still, doctors will need to explain the risks to patients and watch for side effects.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2x3NHE">
In part because of that need, lecanemab will not be a simple drug to offer patients — and the demand unlocked by its FDA approval will only further strain health care providers. Full approval, as opposed to the accelerated approval granted to aducanemab, should lead to <a href="https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-announces-plan-ensure-availability-new-alzheimers-drugs">Medicare covering the drug more readily</a>. But for every patient who walks through the door asking about lecanemab, there will be multiple steps to take before they are prescribed the drug — and another complex process to follow after their treatment begins.
</p>
<h3 id="m7bLsn">
What patients should know about getting prescribed lecanemab
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lASVyq">
For patients interested in lecanemab, the first step will be screening.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EDQwj9">
Primary care doctors could be helpful in identifying patients who are too impaired to qualify, Vaishnavi said. But they are generally not in a position to do the kind of intensive testing needed to distinguish normal cognitive aging from the mild cognitive impairment that would make a patient a candidate for lecanemab. Those people will often end up at a clinic like the Penn Memory Center.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QdKzIj">
After cognitive function tests, patients will need physical scans to make sure there is not another cause of their symptoms or a high risk of brain bleeds, and to identify the biological markers that the drug is designed to target, amyloid plaque. Penn will also administer genetic testing to identify patients who may be less likely to benefit and at higher risk of serious side effects.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LlRCMq">
For patients who are prescribed lecanemab, they will be back at the clinic regularly. Infusions are given every two weeks (with some leeway) and last for 30 to 60 minutes. For the first few infusions, patients may need to stay longer to monitor for any adverse effects.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oMciTd">
They will also need to come in periodically for brain scans to make sure there are no signs of swelling or bleeding, as patients with side effects usually have no outward symptoms. On top of that, there will be some unknown number of unscheduled MRIs for patients who do experience some concerning symptoms on their own. For the patients who have side effects, they may need to pause treatment. Some might never be able to go back on the drug, but others could if further exams reveal their issues have stabilized or reversed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iefcRn">
It will be a logistical nightmare. Administrators will be playing a neverending game of scheduling Tetris. Vaishnavi said infusions can be moved up or back by a week, but that is about the extent of their flexibility. They can only guess how much demand they will see and, for the foreseeable future, they will be fielding most patients who want this drug, as specialized clinics are best outfitted to perform the infusions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RBluwx">
Down the road, the hope is that it will be easier for other clinics to administer lecanemab and, maybe someday, patients could be able to do it at home. But when this drug hits the market this summer, there is likely to be a bottleneck at clinics like Penn, because they are among the few who can appropriately provide it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V3oZUK">
Even there, Vaishnavi said they could use more clinicians — doctors, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners — given how much work will go into monitoring for side effects. There will be additional administrative work for them, too, as Medicare will require providers to put their patients in a registry and report on the real-world outcomes they see.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jG7ktO">
“We don’t have the appropriate health care system for these drugs,” Karlawish said, warning there would be “a lot of bumps in the road.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xhwqgc">
This pivotal moment for Alzheimer’s treatment promises both new hope for patients and a reality check for a health care system that <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/5/26/23734216/weight-loss-wegovy-ozempic-prescription-cost">continually struggles to make the most of novel medicines</a> for diseases that affect millions of Americans.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GoGljZ">
“Everyone’s feeling excited by this,” Lynn said. “It’s exciting but fraught.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>4 revelations from the latest unsealed records in the Trump classified documents case</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A Black woman wearing a shirt with anti-Trump writing on it holds a large sign saying “Indicted” above her head." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/y8ZpMVRirsVESspZN8f5Z_MJAU8=/220x0:3780x2670/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72431000/1258663193.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A protester holds a sign outside the Miami federal courthouse where former President Donald Trump was arraigned later in the day on June 13, 2023. | Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Security footage, unwitting lawyers, and more details in the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit reveal how prosecutors built their case against Trump.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="11qfSb">
We now have more information about how prosecutors conducted their search for classified documents that former <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a> kept after leaving office, despite court orders requiring that he turn them over.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y5YZl3">
On Wednesday, a magistrate judge <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23867711-153-1">unsealed additional portions</a> of an affidavit submitted by federal authorities when they sought a court order allowing them to raid Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last August. It has new details on security footage that showed boxes of documents being moved and the interactions Trump’s lawyers had with prosecutors. But it still leaves some questions about the case unanswered, including how prosecutors came to suspect that Trump hadn’t turned over all of the documents in his possession.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AwYZ13">
The new version of the affidavit was released just before Trump’s body man Walt Nauta, who was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/6/9/23755679/indictment-unsealed-trump-charges-explained-classified-documents">indicted last month</a> alongside the former president, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/07/06/walt-nauta-arraignment/">pleaded not guilty</a> to the charges against him Thursday. He has been accused of allegedly acting at Trump’s direction to move boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago in an attempt to hide them from prosecutors. Trump has also pleaded not guilty to all 37 counts in the indictment, including willful retention of national defense information under the Espionage Act and one count of false statements and representations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YBYiJe">
Here are the latest revelations from the affidavit:
</p>
<h3 id="j8mmQV">
<ol type="1">
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Prosecutors relied on security footage to build their case against Trump
</li></ol></h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TdbMMq">
Newly unsealed parts of the affidavit cite security footage of a hallway in the Mar-a-Lago basement, which led to the storage room where many of the documents were kept. The Trump Organization turned over that footage in response to a June 2022 subpoena.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="598f9G">
The affidavit describes footage showing Nauta moving boxes out of the storage room and the anteroom leading to it on four separate occasions between May 24, 2022, and June 2, 2022. During that period, the FBI questioned him about the locations of the boxes. The affidavit said that the footage shows him moving “approximately 64 boxes from the storage room area” and “only return[ing] 25-30 boxes” to that room.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GMMDwo">
The indictment accuses Nauta of making false statements to the FBI about how the documents got to Trump’s residence and whether they were stored in a secure location. At Trump’s instruction, he also allegedly moved more than 60 boxes of documents before one of the former president’s attorneys was supposed to review them as part of their response to a Department of Justice subpoena.
</p>
<h3 id="l8LOdx">
<ol start="2" type="1">
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Trump didn’t initially argue to prosecutors that he declassified the documents
</li></ol></h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oHntl0">
Trump has publicly maintained that he had a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-29/doj-odni-have-no-record-of-trump-standing-order-to-declassify">“standing order” to instantly declassify </a>documents that he retained from his time in the White House. But according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-29/doj-odni-have-no-record-of-trump-standing-order-to-declassify">reporting from Bloomberg</a>, neither the Justice Department nor Office of the Director of National Intelligence has managed to find any such document. And the newly unsealed parts of the affidavit show that his lawyers — including M. Evan Corcoran, whose <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/11/us/politics/trump-indictment-m-evan-corcoran.html">exhaustive notes</a> helped prosecutors build their case — didn’t make that defense when they turned over an incomplete folder of classified documents before authorities raided the estate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QeNbFA">
That throws doubt on the notion that Trump tried to declassify the documents he had maintained and whether his attorneys knew about the papers he failed to turn over.
</p>
<h3 id="IqyBaH">
<ol start="3" type="1">
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Trump’s lawyers probably never looked beyond the storage room for classified documents
</li></ol></h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wbo2Rr">
The newly unsealed parts of the affidavit also show Corcoran was “not advised there were any records in any private office space or other location in Mar-a-Lago.” That suggested to prosecutors that it was “very likely” that his legal team never searched beyond the storage room for classified documents.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kib42k">
Authorities later found documents throughout Mar-a-Lago, including in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, and Trump’s bedroom. The indictment alleges that Trump and Nauta knowingly conspired to prevent the former president’s lawyers from reviewing most of the boxes of documents. Corcoran, who was ordered by a Washington federal judge to provide records and testimony to the grand jury in the case, has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
</p>
<h3 id="VXhlmN">
<ol start="4" type="1">
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">We still don’t know all the reasons why prosecutors believed that Trump still had documents in his possession
</li></ol></h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SehudN">
Big chunks of the affidavit still remain under seal. And while the security footage showed that Nauta moved the boxes, it’s possible that prosecutors had additional reasons to believe that Trump was willfully retaining documents in brazen violation of a subpoena.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ei9usG">
Former US Attorney Barb McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/07/06/ex-prosecutor-redactions-in-unsealed-search-warrant-affidavit-suggest-additional-charges/">told MSNBC</a> Wednesday that there could be “some witnesses that they are trying to protect … or some lines of inquiry they are trying to protect.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="epimRK">
Given that the grand jury’s investigation in the case is still ongoing, we may not find out what it is that prosecutors are trying to keep under wraps until the case goes to trial, which is currently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/us/politics/trump-classified-documents-trial-date.html">scheduled for August 14</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gv3H9W">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="us4ukS">
</p></li>
<li><strong>Affirmative action for white college applicants is still here</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="People in the distance viewed through the ornate iron gate at Harvard" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qf2lzYvjl06_sH1yyBgBk0piI_I=/438x0:7477x5279/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72415844/1268847295.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
People walk through the gate at the Harvard University campus on June 29, 2023, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. | Scott Eisen/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Legacy admits, athletic recruits, and the children of donors, faculty members, and VIPs still have a leg up under the Supreme Court’s new ruling.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CfLCYx">
The <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus">Supreme Court</a>’s decision to effectively ban the consideration of race in college admissions reversed more than 40 years of precedent. It also left other kinds of admission preferences in place — ones that often benefit white students.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AqdjbT">
For decades, the Court held that schools could consider race as one of many factors in the holistic review of an applicant, a consideration that could help foster diversity on campus.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NNRrW4">
The majority opinion laid out how it worked. Harvard’s final stage of deciding to admit or reject students is a step called the “lop,” in which four factors are evaluated: whether an applicant is a legacy, meaning an immediate family member went to Harvard; whether they were recruited as an athlete; whether they are eligible for financial aid; and their race.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KZHbUC">
Race is now unconstitutional to consider, but other preferences remain.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WHFQgn">
One <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w26316/w26316.pdf">study</a> found that these preferences give an edge to white applicants. Among white students admitted to Harvard, 43 percent received a preference for athletics, legacy status, being on the dean’s interest list, or for being the child of a faculty or staff member, and without those advantages, three-quarters would have been rejected.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8zenOT">
Many colleges don’t have selective admissions at all. But at those that do, the Supreme Court, in other words, left plenty of discretion for college officials to fill their student bodies with the children of donors or employees, or with lacrosse, tennis, or football players, or with the children of alumni. Only the effort to create a racially diverse student body is now all but banned.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yKE12f">
While the Supreme Court left these preferences untouched, the Court’s decision is already renewing the debate over them. “Well before the decision came down there have been conversations about what to do about the legacy boost, for example,” said Adam Nguyen, the founder of Ivy Link, an organization that advises families, who pay at least $150,000 beginning when their child is in middle school, on college admissions. “People have long questioned why legacy even exists. In a democratic society, it seems intrinsically unfair that the children of alumni, generation after generation and by virtue of birth, get that privilege. These conversations are still sensitive but they shouldn’t be happening behind closed doors anymore.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6NMBlo">
Protests and lawsuits against “affirmative action for white people” have already ensued.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iYlgQa">
The advocacy group Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a <a href="http://lawyersforcivilrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Federal-Civil-Rights-Complaint-Against-Harvard.pdf">complaint</a> with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights following the Supreme Court’s ruling, urging the department to investigate the legacy and donor admissions policies at Harvard, which they say discriminate against qualified Black, Hispanic, and Asian applicants in favor of less qualified white applicants. The complaint asked more than 1,500 colleges and universities to end legacy and donor preferences.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O1AFR6">
“There’s no birthright to Harvard. As the Supreme Court recently noted, ‘eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.’ There should be no way to identify who your parents are in the college application process,” said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, the executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights. “Why are we rewarding children for privileges and advantages accrued by prior generations? Your family’s last name and the size of your bank account are not a measure of merit, and should have no bearing on the college admissions process.”<strong> </strong>
</p>
<h3 id="usyIxM">
Legacy status gives students a significant leg up
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xh38rF">
Legacy students receive a boost during the admissions process because they are a family member of someone who attended the college — in some cases just parents; in others, grandparents, cousins, and even aunts and uncles count, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="25Ivql">
Some schools draw a distinction between primary legacies, whose parents attended as undergraduates, and secondary legacies, a lesser preference for those whose parents attended as graduate students, Nguyen told Vox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LwrjrR">
Colleges say they use legacy admissions for a few reasons. One is to bolster their yield rates — the percentage of accepted students who choose to enroll, and a crucial number that admissions offices watch closely. Applying as a legacy student suggests that you’re more likely to attend if you get in.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AJjubR">
A bigger reason, though, is alumni engagement and funding. According to schools that consider legacy as a factor during holistic reviews, legacy students are more likely to stay connected to the college over generations and then are hence more likely to donate to the institution later on. (One <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/opinion/sunday/end-legacy-college-admissions.html">study</a> suggests the benefits to colleges might be overstated: Looking at data from 1998 to 2008, of the nation’s top 100 schools, “there is no statistically significant evidence of a causal relationship between legacy preference <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy">policies</a> and total alumni giving among top universities.”)
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Schools that offer legacy preference say it is only one factor in an applicant’s profile. That means that legacy can boost an otherwise strong application, but doesn’t typically have the power to sway admissions officers to move a student from the “no” to “yes” pile<strong> </strong>on its own.
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Still, the difference between admission rates for legacy students and everyone else is striking. The <em>Harvard v. Students for Fair Admissions</em> case brought attention to the fact that between 2010 and 2015, the admission rate for legacy applicants at Harvard was higher than 33 percent, compared to 6 percent for non-legacies. More than 20 percent of white students admitted to Harvard during that period had legacy status.
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Of the nation’s top 100 universities in the U.S. News and World Report, <a href="https://tcf.org/content/commentary/letter-congress-college-legacy-preferences-must-go/#easy-footnote-bottom-7">about three-quarters use legacy preferences</a>; virtually all of the nation’s top 100 liberal arts colleges do. Georgetown University’s 2024 class of 3,309 admitted applications is <a href="https://thehoya.com/gu-sees-rise-in-acceptance-rate-for-class-of-2024/">9 percent legacy</a>; Princeton’s 2025 class <a href="https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2021/11/princeton-legacy-admissions-amherst-college-opinion">has 150 legacy students</a>, 10 percent of the class; at Yale, it’s 14 percent. Stanford<strong> </strong>admitted just 4 percent of applicants to the class of 2023, but <a href="https://stanforddaily.com/2022/01/12/from-the-community-the-bias-of-legacy-and-athlete-admissions/">16 percent </a>of those admitted had a legacy background.
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Legacy admissions developed in the 1920s to discriminate against Jewish and Catholic applicants and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23055549?read-now=1&amp;seq=9#page_scan_tab_contents">favor Anglo-Protestant dominance</a>. A century later, it still reinforces privilege: Underrepresented students of color <a href="https://tcf.org/content/commentary/letter-congress-college-legacy-preferences-must-go/">make up 12.5 percent of applicants at selective colleges</a> but only 6.7 percent of the legacy applicant pool. One <a href="http://public.econ.duke.edu/~psarcidi/legacyathlete.pdf">study</a> found that in Harvard’s class of 2019, 70 percent of legacy students were white and 41 percent of legacy admits had parents who earned more than $500,000 per year. At Princeton, <a href="https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2021/11/princeton-legacy-admissions-amherst-college-opinion">73 percent</a> of legacy students in the class of 2023 are white.
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Criticism of legacy admissions is nothing new. But<strong> </strong>whether the Court, or anyone else, will step in and ban universities from considering legacy status remains to be seen. A number of elite private schools, including Amherst, Johns Hopkins, and Pomona, and public institutions, including the University of Texas and the University of California, have ended legacy admissions preferences in the past few years; some, including <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/u-s-colleges-divided-over-whether-to-end-legacy-admissions">MIT</a>, have never used it.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="anECm4">
But others have recommitted to legacy preferences. A spokesperson for Princeton told the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/legacy-preference-gets-fresh-look-following-college-admissions-scandal-11582387200">Wall Street Journal</a> in 2020, in the wake of the college admissions scandal, that “as our student body diversifies, our alumni body diversifies, and, in turn, the children of alumni diversify.”
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“Some schools are slicing the data to examine which alumni actually donated and how much they donated, and in some cases choosing not to give boosts to alumni who don’t participate or give back to the school,” Nguyen said.
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Legacy admissions have also divided students, including legacies themselves: In 2019, one legacy student at the University of Pennsylvania <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2019/10/admissions-college-ivy-league-prestige-upenn-philadelphia">wrote</a> that she was proud to embrace “her Penn heritage” since “we need legacy admissions” for “potential <a href="https://www.vox.com/philanthropy">philanthropy</a>,” brand building, school spirit, and community. Legacy allows families to “gain wealth and prestige,” the student wrote; in <a href="https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2019/10/princeton-youll-be-ok-without-us-a-response-to-penns-proud-legacy-opinion">response</a>, a legacy student at Princeton — the seventh in her family to attend the institution — argued that “Princeton does not need legacies to maintain its standing” nor should legacy preferences at the institution “increase an applicant’s chances of admission nearly fourfold, from <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/legacy-preferences-complicate-colleges-diversity-push-1531128601">7 to 30 percent</a>.”
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<h3 id="YhD3ZG">
Being an athlete is the strongest admissions preference of all
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NrdVvW">
The recruitment process for athletes at Harvard is well-documented. Student-athletes admitted to Harvard receive “likely letters,” advance notice from team coaches that they likely have a place in the incoming freshman class. Some are<strong> </strong>recruited as early as sophomore year in high school. Prospective athletes are usually invited to campus during junior year, the fall before they apply to Harvard, to meet with current student-athletes and attend classes and practice. Coaches also write special recommendations for recruits, which the admissions office takes into consideration during the holistic review process, and give advice.
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This is typical at selective colleges, and it tends to benefit white students. Excluding football, basketball, and track and field, college athletes are “<a href="https://theconversation.com/top-athletes-have-special-advantages-entering-college-like-children-of-alumni-180191">disproportionately white, wealthy, and suburban</a>.” In 2018, the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/10/college-sports-benefits-white-students/573688/">Atlantic</a> reported that 65 percent of Ivy League athletes and 79 percent of Division III New England Small Collegiate Athletic Conference athletes are white, and that nearly half of Harvard athletes in the class of 2022 come from households with annual incomes above $250,000. Research shows that great access to athletic facilities, recreation centers, and parks increases the likelihood that a student will become a student-athlete.
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Critics say that the admissions process benefits students who are already privileged. Recruited athletes tend to have had opportunities that allowed them to hone their skills, like the chance to attend expensive training summer camps or receive private coaching.
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Plus, there’s some evidence that recruits are allowed to meet lower standards. In 1985, the Council of Ivy League Presidents made the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/sports/before-athletic-recruiting-in-the-ivy-league-some-math.html">Academic Index (AI</a>) to compare the academic qualifications of recruited athletes against that of the general student body, taking into consideration class rank, SAT scores, and SAT subject tests. Historically recruited athletes needed only an AI of 171 to be accepted, on a scale of 170 to 240. (It’s now 176.) Although colleges don’t release their academic index for all students, at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, the most commonly cited number is “around 220,” meaning athletes meet a much lower bar.
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The early 2000s book <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691123141/reclaiming-the-game">Reclaiming the Game: College Sports and Educational Values</a> found that athletes with below-average standardized test scores were twice as likely to be admitted and four times more likely to be admitted as applicants from underrepresented groups. A<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0038-4941.2004.00284.x"> study</a> from researchers at Princeton found that the advantage athletes are given is similar to scoring a 1400 versus a 1200 on the SAT.
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The most famous athletic admissions scandal of recent years was the Operation Varsity Blues scandal, in which<strong> </strong>parents bribed coaches to recruit their children as athletes. In some cases, the children did not have a record of ever playing the sport. At Yale, one student’s parents paid a college advisor $1.2 million to get her into the school. The school’s head women’s soccer coach recruited the student for $400,000.
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Duke University economist Peter Arcidiacono, who conducted research for the plaintiffs in Students for Fair Admissions, concluded that athletic admissions were more troubling than legacy admissions. “If you eliminate athletic preferences at Harvard, white admission rates go down, Black admission rates stay the same, and Hispanic and Asian rates go up,” he <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/6/29/23767756/affirmative-action-college-admissions-race-sffa-ruling">said</a>. “Over 16 percent of white admits are athletes at Harvard, which is significantly higher than for Black students.”
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Critics also argue that colleges merely place such an emphasis on athletic recruiting due to the revenue athletics bring in. In 2019, the Ivy League made $30.1 million <a href="https://theathletic.com/1917838/2020/07/08/ivy-league-fall-sports-decision-impact-sec-power-5-football-2002-season/">in football alone</a>. For small schools, <a href="http://csri-jiia.org/the-role-of-athletics-in-the-future-of-small-colleges-an-agency-theory-and-value-responsibility-budgeting-approach/">research</a> has found that they rely on sports programs to maintain enrollment and avoid being shuttered. At some of these schools, athletes make up more than half the student body.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aS7F25">
Supporters <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/4/3/dolgin-in-support-athlete-admissions/">say</a> athletic recruitment should not be lumped in with legacy admissions since recruited athletes have earned their place. Supporters argue that the talent, work ethic, and skill of athletes diversify campuses. But critics don’t ignore the reality that there are disparities in access to elite training that make certain sports less diverse when it comes to race or socioeconomic status. “Majority-nonwhite and lower-income communities have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2007.09.021">fewer recreational centers and sports offerings</a> than white, affluent neighborhoods that apply their greater <a href="https://nwlc.org/resources/finishing-last-girls-color-and-school-sports-opportunities/">tax dollars and private funding</a> to offer them. So it’s no surprise that children from wealthier communities play sports <a href="https://assets.aspeninstitute.org/content/uploads/2019/10/2019_SOP_National_Final.pdf">more frequently</a>,” researchers wrote. Plus, niche sports, sometimes colloquially called “country club sports” such as fencing, lacrosse, crew, sailing, ice hockey, water polo, and squash cost thousands for any child to play in a given year.
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Going forward, the pushback may force schools to recruit for fewer teams. “I don’t think the major sports are going to get impacted. It’s really the niche sports since they give preference to children whose families have resources,” Nguyen said. “A lot of these niche sports may just become club sports.”
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<h3 id="ETjCTO">
The future of admissions for children of donors, celebrities, public figures, and college faculty
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="djTOTA">
Other admissions boosts have come under scrutiny in recent years: bumps for the children of donors, <a href="https://www.vox.com/celebrities">celebrities</a>, and the institution’s employees.
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Children of faculty, once called “Fac brats,” at public and private institutions have historically gotten boosts during admissions and even free tuition. Harvard’s then-director of admissions told the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/education/edlife/the-other-legacies-fac-brats.html">New York Times</a> in 2005 that “If all else were equal in terms of excellence, we would certainly tip, we would certainly give the advantage to the faculty child. It’s like what we do with alumni. It might even be a bigger tip.”
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A report from the Chronicle of Higher Education that same year found that more than two-thirds of the country’s top colleges and universities surveyed gave “extra admissions consideration” and tuition discounts or waivers for children of employees. Colleges have defended this practice by saying it allows them to recruit high-quality faculty and improve employee retention.
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In a 2003 Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/Polk_Rich_Applicants.htm">article</a> Daniel Golden, now a ProPublica editor,<strong> </strong>noted that in addition to giving preference to the children of alumni, colleges were starting to bend admissions standards “to make space for children from rich or influential families that lack longstanding ties to the institutions.” According to the articles, schools, through referrals or by word of mouth, would identify students from well-to-do families and solicit their families for donations once the student was enrolled.
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At the time, the director of development at Duke told the Wall Street Journal that they don’t trade admissions for a donation. But the Journal found that Duke relaxed its admissions standards in those years to admit about 100 to 125 students each year who had been waitlisted or tentatively rejected but came from wealthy families.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UakahF">
While many of these investigations are now decades old, the practice appears to have continued: In 2022, Duke was <a href="https://www.chronline.com/stories/duke-university-accused-in-federal-lawsuit-of-favoring-wealthy-students-in-admissions,282471">sued</a> along with 15 other elite private institutions for “maintaining admissions systems that favor the children of wealthy past or potential future donors.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mq8baE">
Jared Kushner, the former senior advisor to former President Trump, is <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/the-story-behind-jared-kushners-curious-acceptance-into-harvard">a famous case</a>. The 2006 book <em>The Price of Admission </em>(written by Golden) revealed that he won admission to Harvard in 1999 after his real estate developer father Charles Kushner pledged $2.5 million to the institution in 1998. Kushner’s parents were subsequently named to the school’s Committee on University Resources, its biggest panel of donors.
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In 2018, amid the first iteration of the Harvard<strong> </strong>affirmative-action case, a dean of admissions’ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/us/harvard-admissions-affirmative-action.html">emails</a> with school fundraisers were made public. In the emails,<strong> </strong>the dean suggested that the fundraiser give special consideration to offspring of big donors or those who had “already committed to a building” or have “an art collection which could conceivably come our way.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pLFL48">
Schools have defended development preferences by saying that development cases bring in money that supports all other students. One <a href="https://gceps.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/150rosen.pdf">analysis of donor giving</a> found that some donations were given with the hope that their child would be admitted.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vi0PRE">
The<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/6/14/23761092/supreme-court-affirmative-action-college-admissions-race">affirmative action</a> case also shed light on Harvard’s “dean’s interest list” — students whose parents or relatives have donated to Harvard. Another email that came out of the trial showed the dean of the Kennedy School celebrating the admissions dean for admitting applicants whose families committed funding for buildings and fellowships before their child was even admitted. The trial also revealed a case in which an applicant’s rating on the dean’s list was low because the development office didn’t see a “significant opportunity for further major gifts.”
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Also at play are admissions boosts for the children of VIPs. “VIPs, you’re talking maybe the president of <a href="https://www.vox.com/china">China</a> or prime minister XYZ. Their children actually get preferences, believe it or not. Maybe it’s believable but they do and people don’t talk about it,” said Nguyen. “And often, when they get to campus, they attend under pseudonyms or use aliases so you don’t know who they are.” The college admissions scandal <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/09/03/vip-status-for-children-wealthy-donors-show-usc-was-not-victim-bribery-lawyers-for-one-implicated-parent-say/4sx3popIhQyWbKh9YlnMJM/story.html">revealed</a> that USC officials tagged certain students as “VIP” or “special interest” based on donations and family connections.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G2nXY1">
But in the end, these admissions preferences remain perfectly legal. It’s only considering race in admissions that is all but banned.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BmPX2j">
<em><strong>Update, July 6, 3:45 pm ET: </strong></em><em>This story was originally published on June 30 and has been updated to include information about the Lawyers for Civil Rights complaint.</em>
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<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>The Ashes 2023 | England in trouble in third test and trails catchy Australia</strong> - England started the second day at 68 for 3 after dismissing Australia for 263 on day 1.</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>Jake, Raisina Star, Neziah, Galactical, Northern Lights and Lazarus catch the eye</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>Table Tennis Federation of India names 10-member squad for Asian Championships, Asian Games</strong> - The Asian Championships in Korea is scheduled between September 3 and 10, while the Asian Games is between September 24 and October 2</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ahead Of My Time, Buckley and Ameerah show out</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>IPL version of Impact Player rule in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy; BCCI approves Asian Games participation</strong> - The BCCI apex council also approved the participation of the men’s and women’s teams for the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September-October.</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>18 houses damaged due to monsoon rain in the Nilgiris, says Minister</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>Boy attacked by leopard on Tirumala ghat road recovers; discharged</strong> - The incident occurred at 7th mile point on the first ghat road on June 22 night when a sub-adult leopard on the prowl made a vain bid to lift Kaushik</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>Much-awaited POH workshop at Kazipet finally becoming a reality</strong> - The assurance given at the time of bifurcation of rail coach factory remained elusive</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>Alert bus driver saves the day as TSRTC bus catches fire</strong> - TSRTC driver Balakrishna saw smoke issuing from near the engine, he raised an alarm and quickly got passengers to disembark</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>Providing higher education to children with special needs, a must, says academic</strong> -</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>Ukraine war: Front-line troops discuss counter-offensive</strong> - Will Russia’s defences shatter or hold firm? The BBC gets the view from Ukrainian soldiers on the front line.</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>Neutral Swiss and Austrians join Europe’s Sky Shield defence</strong> - The plan to protect European skies has now attracted 19 countries since Russia invaded 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>Strike action could hit summer holiday flights in Europe</strong> - A union for European air traffic controllers says it could strike in a row over staffing and pay.</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>Italian retirement home fire in Milan leaves six dead and dozens hurt</strong> - The fire was contained to one room but many of the residents suffered smoke inhalation.</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>Final Ford Fiesta rolls off production line in Cologne</strong> - Ford has made the Fiesta since 1976 but is modifying its Cologne plant to produce more electric vehicles.</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>US’s largest grid operator must process and connect backlogged clean energy projects</strong> - PJM could benefit numerous states with thousands of jobs and billions in investment. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1951871">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: Big dreams in Sin City; SpaceX and FAA seek to halt lawsuit</strong> - “It’s not a function of size, rather how much it accelerates our road map.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1951921">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The physics of how gentoo penguins can swim speedily underwater</strong> - A variable called the “angle of thrust” explains why finned wings generate so much thrust. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1948717">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Smelling in stereo—a surprising find on a fossilized shark</strong> - Fossils and modern experiments are telling us what a shark’s nose knows. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1952001">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Musk’s X Corp. threatens to sue Meta over Twitter “copycat” Threads</strong> - X Corp. claims Meta used Twitter trade secrets and ex-employees to build Threads. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1952029">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An Amish woman and her daughter were riding in an old buggy one cold blustery day.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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The daughter said to her mother, “My hands are freezing cold.”
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The mother replied, “Put them between your legs. Your body heat will warm them up.”
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The daughter did, and her hands warmed up.
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The next day the daughter was riding with her boy friend who said, “My hands are freezing cold.”
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The girl replied, “Put them between my legs. The warmth of my body will warm them up.”
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He did, and warmed his hands.
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The following day the boyfriend was again in the buggy with the daughter. He said, “My nose is cold.”
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The girl replied “Put it between my legs. The warmth of my body will warm it up.”
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He did, and warmed his nose.
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The next day the boyfriend was again driving with the daughter, and he said, “My penis is frozen solid.”
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The following day the daughter was driving in the buggy with her mother again, and she says to her mother, “Have you ever heard of a penis?”
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Slightly concerned the mother said, “Why, yes. Why do you ask?”
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The daughter replies, “They make one hell of a mess when they defrost, don’t they!”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MudakMudakov"> /u/MudakMudakov </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14ssocc/an_amish_woman_and_her_daughter_were_riding_in_an/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14ssocc/an_amish_woman_and_her_daughter_were_riding_in_an/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A teacher told her young class to ask their parents for a family story with a moral at the end of it, and to return the next day to tell their stories.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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In the classroom the next day, Joe gave his example first, “My dad is a farmer and we have chickens. One day we were taking lots of eggs to the market in a basket on the front seat of the truck when we hit a big bump in the road. The basket fell off the seat and all the eggs broke.” The moral of the story is not to put all your eggs in one basket. “Very good,” said the teacher.
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Next, Mary said, “We are farmers too. We had twenty eggs waiting to hatch, but when they did we only got ten chicks.” The moral of this story is not to count your chickens before they’re hatched . “Very good,” said the teacher again, very pleased with the response so far.
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Next it was Barney’s turn to tell his story: “My dad told me this story about my Aunt Karen. Aunt Karen was a flight engineer in the war and her plane got hit. She had to bail out over enemy territory and all she had was a bottle of whiskey, a machine gun and a machete.” “Go on,” said the teacher, intrigued.
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“Aunt Karen drank the whiskey on the way down to prepare herself. Then she landed right in the middle of a hundred enemy soldiers. She killed seventy of them with the machine gun until she ran out of bullets. Then she killed twenty more with the machete till the blade broke. And then she killed the last ten with her bare hands.” “Good heavens,” said the horrified teacher, “What did your father say was the moral of that frightening Story?”
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The child said: “Stay away from Aunt Karen when she’s been drinking.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HelpingHandsUs"> /u/HelpingHandsUs </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14sjco5/a_teacher_told_her_young_class_to_ask_their/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14sjco5/a_teacher_told_her_young_class_to_ask_their/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>a scammer called my grandma and said he had all her passwords</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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she got a pen and paper and said ‘thank god for that, what are they’
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/mortcarver"> /u/mortcarver </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14scfrv/a_scammer_called_my_grandma_and_said_he_had_all/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14scfrv/a_scammer_called_my_grandma_and_said_he_had_all/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An Armenian takes his son hunting with him for the first time.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">I don’t understand, Daddy, - the son says. - How are you going to hunt? You have no gun with you, no traps, no net even…
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Ah, son, you don’t know what our Armenian jinx is like. There, look, a rabbit is sitting under that bush. Such a strong, healthy little rabbit, such shiny fur it has, such bright eyes…
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The rabbit drops dead at once.
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Wow, Daddy! That was something! You’re so smart, so strong, such a great hunter, it was amazing how you took down that prey… Daddy? Daddy??? Daddy!!!
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submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Omeganian"> /u/Omeganian </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14sxo58/an_armenian_takes_his_son_hunting_with_him_for/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14sxo58/an_armenian_takes_his_son_hunting_with_him_for/">[comments]</a></span></li>
</ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Yo Mama So Fat…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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She went skydiving and got stuck.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/FoxAches"> /u/FoxAches </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14sqb04/yo_mama_so_fat/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14sqb04/yo_mama_so_fat/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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