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

Added daily report

This commit is contained in:
Navan Chauhan 2023-04-22 12:43:43 +00:00
parent c6d9921ee3
commit e7436966dc
3 changed files with 725 additions and 2 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

184
archive-covid-19/22 April, 2023.html Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,184 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
<title>22 April, 2023</title>
<style>
code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
span.underline{text-decoration: underline;}
div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;}
div.hanging-indent{margin-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em;}
ul.task-list{list-style: none;}
</style>
<title>Covid-19 Sentry</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
<body>
<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>A Proposed Process for Risk Mitigation During the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> -
<div>
Recent executive orders have led some Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) providers to interpret themselves as “essential personnel” during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we argue against a blanket interpretation that being labeled “essential personnel” means that all in person ABA services for all clients should continue during the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe this argument holds even if ABA providers are not in a jurisdiction currently under an active shelter at home or related order. First, we provide a brief description of risks associated with continued in person ABA service delivery as well as risks associated with the temporary suspension or transition to remote ABA service delivery. For many clients, continued in person service delivery carries a significant risk of severe harm to the client, their family and caregivers, the staff, and a currently overburdened healthcare system. In these situations, ABA providers should temporarily suspend services or transition to telehealth or other forms of remote service delivery until information from federal, state, and local healthcare experts deem in person contact safe. In rare cases, temporary suspension or transition to remote service delivery may place the client or others at risk of significant harm. In these situations in person services should likely continue and ongoing assessment and risk mitigation are essential.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/buetn/" target="_blank">A Proposed Process for Risk Mitigation During the COVID-19 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>An in vitro experimental pipeline to characterize the binding specificity of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies</strong> -
<div>
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to over 760 million cases and &gt;6.8 million deaths worldwide. We developed a panel of human neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein using Harbour H2L2 transgenic mice immunized with Spike receptor binding domain (RBD) (1). Representative antibodies from genetically-distinct families were evaluated for inhibition of replication-competent VSV expressing SARS-CoV-2 Spike (rcVSV-S) in place of VSV-G. One mAb (denoted FG-10A3) inhibited infection of all rcVSV-S variants; its therapeutically-modified version, STI-9167, inhibited infection of all tested SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron BA.1 and BA.2, and limited virus proliferation in vivo (1). To characterize the binding specificity and epitope of FG-10A3, we generated mAb-resistant rcVSV-S virions and performed structural analysis of the antibody/antigen complex using cryo-EM. FG-10A3/STI-9167 is a Class 1 antibody that prevents Spike-ACE2 binding by engaging a region within the Spike receptor binding motif (RBM). Sequencing of mAb-resistant rcVSV-S virions identified F486 as a critical residue for mAb neutralization, with structural analysis revealing that both the variable heavy and light chains of STI-9167 bound the disulfide-stabilized 470-490 loop at the Spike RBD tip. Interestingly, substitutions at position 486 were later observed in emerging variants of concern BA.2.75.2 and XBB. This work provides a predictive modeling strategy to define the neutralizing capacity and limitations of mAb therapeutics against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.20.537738v1" target="_blank">An in vitro experimental pipeline to characterize the binding specificity of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Assessing the accuracy of California county level COVID-19 hospitalization forecasts to inform public policy decision making</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the role of infectious disease forecasting in informing public policy. However, significant barriers remain for effectively linking infectious disease forecasts to public health decision making, including a lack of model validation. Forecasting model performance and accuracy should be evaluated retrospectively to understand under which conditions models were reliable and could be improved in the future. Methods: Using archived forecasts from the California Department of Public Health9s California COVID Assessment Tool (https://calcat.covid19.ca.gov/cacovidmodels/), we compared how well different forecasting models predicted COVID-19 hospitalization census across California counties and regions during periods of Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variant predominance. Results: Based on mean absolute error estimates, forecasting models had variable performance across counties and through time. When accounting for model availability across counties and dates, some individual models performed consistently better than the ensemble model, but model rankings still differed across counties. Local transmission trends, variant prevalence, and county population size were informative predictors for determining which model performed best for a given county based on a random forest classification analysis. Overall, the ensemble model performed worse in less populous counties, in part because of fewer model contributors in these locations. Conclusions: Ensemble model predictions could be improved by incorporating geographic heterogeneity in model coverage and performance. Consistency in model reporting and improved model validation can strengthen the role of infectious disease forecasting in real-time public health decision making.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.08.22282086v2" target="_blank">Assessing the accuracy of California county level COVID-19 hospitalization forecasts to inform public policy decision making</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evaluation of coronavirus decay in French coastal water and application to SARS-CoV-2 risk evaluation using Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus as surrogate.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
SARS-CoV-2 in infected patient mainly display pulmonary and oronasal tropism however, the presence of the virus has also been demonstrated in stools of patients and consequently in wastewater treatment plant effluents, questioning the potential risk of environmental contamination (such as seawater contamination) through inadequately treated wastewater spill-over into surface or coastal waters. The environmental detection of RNA alone does not substantiate risk of infection, and evidence of an effective transmission is not clear where empirical observations are lacking. Therefore, here, we decided to experimentally evaluate the persistence and infectious capacity of the Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv), considered as a coronavirus representative model and SARS-CoV-2 surrogate, in the coastal environment of France. Coastal seawater was collected, sterile-filtered, and inoculated with PEDv before incubation for 0–4 weeks at four temperatures representative of those measured along the French coasts throughout the year (4, 8, 15, and 24°C). The decay rate of PEDv was determined using mathematical modeling and was then used to determine the half-life of the virus along the French coast in accordance with temperatures from 2000 to 2021. We experimentally observed an inverse correlation between seawater temperature and the persistence of infectious viruses in seawater and confirm that the risk of transmission of infectious viruses from contaminated stool in wastewater to seawater during recreational practices is very limited. The present work represents a good model to assess the risk of transmission of not only SARS-CoV-2 but may also be used to model the risk of other coronaviruses, specifically enteric coronaviruses.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.18.23288060v1" target="_blank">Evaluation of coronavirus decay in French coastal water and application to SARS-CoV-2 risk evaluation using Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus as surrogate.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Genetically diverse mouse models of SARS-CoV-2 infection reproduce clinical variation in type I interferon and cytokine responses in COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
Inflammation in response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection drives severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and is influenced by host genetics. To understand mechanisms of inflammation, animal models that reflect genetic diversity and clinical outcomes observed in humans are needed. We report a mouse panel comprising the genetically diverse Collaborative Cross (CC) founder strains crossed to human ACE2 transgenic mice (K18-hACE2) that confers susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2. Infection of CC x K18- hACE2 resulted in a spectrum of survival, viral replication kinetics, and immune profiles. Importantly, in contrast to the K18-hACE2 model, early type I interferon (IFN-I) and regulated proinflammatory responses were required for control of SARS-CoV-2 replication in PWK x K18-hACE2 mice that were highly resistant to disease. Thus, virus dynamics and inflammation observed in COVID-19 can be modeled in diverse mouse strains that provide a genetically tractable platform for understanding anti-coronavirus immunity.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.17.460664v3" target="_blank">Genetically diverse mouse models of SARS-CoV-2 infection reproduce clinical variation in type I interferon and cytokine responses in COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Optimality of Maximal-Effort Vaccination</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
It is widely acknowledged that vaccinating at maximal effort in the face of an ongoing epidemic is the best strategy to minimise infections and deaths from the disease. Despite this, no one has proved that this is guaranteed to be true if the disease follows multi-group SIR (Susceptible-Infected-Recovered) dynamics. This paper provides a novel proof of this principle for the existing SIR framework, showing that the total number of deaths or infections from an epidemic is decreasing in vaccination effort. Furthermore, it presents a novel model for vaccination which assumes that vaccines are distributed randomly to the unvaccinated population and suggests, using COVID-19 data, that this more accurately captures vaccination dynamics than the model commonly found in the literature. However, as the novel model provides a strictly larger set of possible vaccination policies, the results presented in this paper hold for both models.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.12.22275015v3" target="_blank">Optimality of Maximal-Effort Vaccination</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Establishment of a screening platform based on human coronavirus OC43 for the identification of microbial natural products with antiviral activity</strong> -
<div>
Human coronaviruses (HCoVs) cause respiratory tract infections and are of great importance due to the recent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Human betacoronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43) is an adequate surrogate for SARS-CoV-2 because it infects the human respiratory system, presents a comparable biology, and is transmitted in a similar way. Its use is advantageous since it only requires biosafety level (BSL)-2 infrastructure which minimizes costs and biosafety associated limitations. In this report, we describe a high-throughput screening (HTS) platform to identify compounds that inhibit the propagation of HCoV-OC43. Optimization of assays based on inhibition of the cytopathic effect and virus immunodetection with a specific antibody, has provided a robust methodology for the screening of a selection of microbial natural product extracts from the Fundacion MEDINA collection. Using this approach, a subset of 1280 extracts has been explored. Of these, upon hit confirmation and early LC-MS dereplication, 10 extracts were identified that contain potential new compounds. In addition, we report on the novel antiviral activity of some previously described natural products whose presence in bioactive extracts was confirmed by LC/MS analysis.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.20.537680v1" target="_blank">Establishment of a screening platform based on human coronavirus OC43 for the identification of microbial natural products with antiviral activity</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Overburdened Bureaucrats: Providing Equal Access to Public Services during COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
Discriminatory treatment of minorities by bureaucrats remains a serious challenge. A dominant explanation argues that bureaucrats discriminate because of high workloads in public organizations, but few empirical studies test this outside of the lab. In this study, I investigate whether workload matters for discrimination in a real-world public service context during the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark in 2020. I document that unemployment services experienced a substantial increase in workload due to a 20% rise in unemployment and exploit the fact that the increase happened suddenly and spread asymmetrically. I use micro-level register data on bureaucrat-client interactions on more than 380,000 unemployed and examine whether bureaucrats provided fewer services to citizens of non-Western descent. The finding reveals that the substantial workload associated with the COVID-19 pandemic did not lead to increased discrimination. I discuss the special circumstances associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the possible role of organizational structure and professional norms.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/zmt5y/" target="_blank">Overburdened Bureaucrats: Providing Equal Access to Public Services during COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Human olfactory neuronal cells through nasal biopsy: molecular characterization and utility in brain science</strong> -
<div>
Biopsy is crucial in clinical medicine to obtain tissues and cells that may directly reflect the pathological changes of each disease. However, the brain is an exception due to ethical and practical challenges. Nasal biopsy, which captures olfactory neurons and their progenitors, has been considered as an alternative method of obtaining neuronal cells from living patients. Multiple groups, including us, have enriched olfactory neuronal cells (ONCs) from nasal biopsied tissue. ONCs can be obtained from repeated biopsies in a longitudinal study, providing mechanistic insight associated with dynamic changes along the disease trajectory and treatment response. Nevertheless, molecular characterization of nasal biopsied cells/tissue has been insufficient. Taking advantage of recent advances in next-generation sequencing technologies at the single-cell resolution and related rich public databases, we aimed to define the neuronal characteristics of ONCs, their homogeneity, and their utility. We conducted single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing, analyzed and compared the data with multiple public datasets. We observed that the molecular signatures of ONCs are similar to those of neurons, distinct from major glial cells. The signatures of ONCs resemble those of developing neurons and share features of excitatory neurons in the prefrontal and cingulate cortex. The high homogeneity of ONCs is advantageous in pharmacological, functional, and protein studies. Together, the present data solidify the utility of ONCs in studying molecular mechanisms and exploring objective biomarkers for brain disorders. The ONCs may also be useful in studying the potential link between the olfactory epithelium impairment and the resultant mental dysfunction elicited by SARS-CoV-2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.23.509290v2" target="_blank">Human olfactory neuronal cells through nasal biopsy: molecular characterization and utility in brain science</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Machine learning detection of SARS-CoV-2 high-risk variants</strong> -
<div>
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has evolved many high-risk variants, resulting in repeated COVID-19 waves of pandemic during the past years. Therefore, accurate early-warning of high-risk variants is vital for epidemic prevention and control. Here we construct a machine learning model to predict high-risk variants of SARS-CoV-2 by LightGBM algorithm based on several important haplotype network features. As demonstrated on a series of different retrospective testing datasets, our model achieves accurate prediction of all variants of concern (VOC) and most variants of interest (AUC=0.96). Prediction based on the latest sequences shows that the newly emerging lineage BA.5 has the highest risk score and spreads rapidly to become a major epidemic lineage in multiple countries, suggesting that BA.5 bears great potential to be a VOC. In sum, our machine learning model is capable to early predict high-risk variants soon after their emergence, thus greatly improving public health preparedness against the evolving virus.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.19.537460v1" target="_blank">Machine learning detection of SARS-CoV-2 high-risk variants</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mobilisation and analyses of publicly available SARS-CoV-2 data for pandemic responses</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen large-scale pathogen genomic sequencing efforts, becoming part of the toolbox for surveillance and epidemic research. This resulted in an unprecedented level of data sharing to open repositories, which has actively supported the identification of SARS-CoV-2 structure, molecular interactions, mutations and variants, and facilitated vaccine development and drug reuse studies and design. The European COVID-19 Data Platform was launched to support this data sharing, and has resulted in the deposition of several million SARS-CoV-2 raw reads. In this paper we describe (1) open data sharing, (2) tools for submission, analysis, visualisation and data claiming (e.g. ORCiD), (3) the systematic analysis of these datasets, at scale via the SARS-CoV-2 Data Hubs as well as (4) lessons learned. As a component of the Platform, the SARS-CoV-2 Data Hubs enabled the extension and set up of infrastructure that we intend to use more widely in the future for pathogen surveillance and pandemic preparedness.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.19.537514v1" target="_blank">Mobilisation and analyses of publicly available SARS-CoV-2 data for pandemic responses</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 utilization of ACE2 from different bat species allows for virus entry and replication in vitro</strong> -
<div>
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) is believed to have a zoonotic origin. Bats are a suspected natural host of SARS-CoV-2 because of sequence homology with other bat coronaviruses. Understanding the origin of the virus and determining species susceptibility is essential for managing the transmission potential during a pandemic. In a previous study, we established an in vitro animal model of SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and replication in a non-permissive avian fibroblast cell line (DF1) based on expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) from different animal species. In this work, we express the ACE2 of seven bat species in DF1 cells and determine their ability to support attachment and replication of the original SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan lineage virus, as well as two variants, Delta and Lambda. We demonstrate that the ACE2 receptor of all seven species: little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), great roundleaf bat (Hipposideros armiger), Pearson’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus pearsonii), greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), Brazilian free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis), Egyptian rousette (Rousettus aegyptiacus), and Chinese rufous horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sinicus), made the DF1 cells permissible to the three isolates of SARS-CoV-2. However, the level of virus replication differed between bat species and variant tested. In addition, the Wuhan lineage SARS-CoV-2 virus replicated to higher titers (104.5 -105.5 TCID50) than either variant virus (103.5-104.5 TCID50) on pass 1. Interestingly, all viruses tested grew to higher titers (approximately 106 TCID50) when cells expressed the human ACE2 gene compared to bat ACE2. This study provides a practical in vitro method for further testing of animal species for potential susceptibility to current and emerging SARS-CoV-2 viruses.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.19.537521v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 utilization of ACE2 from different bat species allows for virus entry and replication in vitro</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A rapid review of the effectiveness, efficiency, and acceptability of surgical hubs in supporting planned care activity</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated disruptions to elective care services in the UK, leading to longer waits for treatment and a growing elective surgery backlog. There have been growing calls for the creation of surgical hubs to help reduce this backlog. Surgical hubs aim to increase surgical capacity by providing quicker access to procedures, as well as facilitate infection control by segregating patients and staff from emergency care. This rapid review aimed to assess the effectiveness, efficiency, and acceptability of surgical hubs in supporting planned care activity, to inform the implementation of these hubs in Wales. The review identified evidence available up until January 2023. Twelve primary studies were included, eight of which used comparative methods. Most of the studies were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic and described surgical hubs designed mainly to mitigate the transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Outcome measures reported included clinical, performance, economic, and patient reported outcomes across a variety of different surgical disciplines. Most of the studies did not describe surgical hubs based on their structure, i.e., standalone, integrated, or ring-fenced hubs. The evidence relating to the impact of surgical hubs on clinical outcomes appeared to be heterogenous and limited. Included studies did not appear to control for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on outcomes. Evidence of the impact of surgical hubs on performance outcomes such as efficiency, utilisation/usage, volume of surgeries/treatments, performance, cancellations, and time from diagnosis to treatment is limited. Evidence relating to the economic impact of surgical hubs is also limited, however there is evidence to suggest that total average costs are lower in surgical hubs when compared to general hospitals. Evidence relating to the impact of surgical hubs on patient reported outcomes is limited but indicates there may be a positive effect on patient satisfaction and compliance. Considerable variation in the types of surgical hubs reviewed, surgical disciplines, along with the small number of comparative studies, as well as methodological limitations across included studies, could limit the applicability of these findings.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.20.23288815v1" target="_blank">A rapid review of the effectiveness, efficiency, and acceptability of surgical hubs in supporting planned care activity</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mortality among persons with HIV in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-level analysis</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Whether COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on mortality among persons with diagnosed HIV (PWDH) in United States is unclear. Through our macro-scale analysis, we seek to better understand how COVID-19 and subsequent behavioral changes affected mortality among PWDH. Methods: We obtained mortality and population size data for the years 2018-2020 from the National HIV Surveillance System (NHSS) for the PWDH population aged ≥13 years in the United States, and from publicly available data for the general population. We computed mortality rates and excess mortality for both the general and PWDH populations. Stratifications by age, race/ethnicity, and sex-at birth were considered. For each group, we determined whether the 2020 mortality rates and mortality risk ratio showed a statistically significant change from 2018-2019. Results: Mortality rates increased in 2020 from 2018-2019 across the general population in all groups. Among PWDH, mortality rates either increased, or showed no statistically significant change. The mortality risk ratio between PWDH and the general population decreased 7.7% in 2020. Approximately 1550 excess deaths occurred among PWDH in 2020, with Black, Hispanic/Latino and PWDH above 55 and older representing the majority of excess deaths. Conclusions: While mortality rates among PWDH increased in 2020 relative to 2018-2019, the increases were smaller than those observed in the general population. This suggests that COVID-19 and resulting behavioral changes among PWDH did not result in disproportionate mortality among PWDH. These findings suggest that COVID-19, and any associated indirect effects, do not represent a proportionally greater risk for PWDH compared to the general population.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.19.23288817v1" target="_blank">Mortality among persons with HIV in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-level analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>COVID-19 testing avoidance among patients with cardiovascular disease</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Rapid coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) testing in symptomatic cases is extremely important for preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection and early therapeutic intervention. In contrast, whether symptomatic patients are tested depends largely on their health literacy, interpretation, and knowledge of COVID-19. We aimed to investigate the rate of COVID-19 testing avoidance despite having common cold symptoms in patients with cardiovascular disease and examine factors related to testing avoidance. Methods: A large-scale epidemiological questionnaire survey, the Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey 2022 (JACSIS), was conducted online from April to May 2022. The rate of COVID-19 testing avoidance was investigated in patients aged 20 to 80 years with cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, dyslipidemia, or diabetes) or a history of cardiovascular disease (angina, myocardial infarction, or stroke), only those exhibiting common cold symptoms during the 2 months in the survey. Results: Of the 1,565 eligible patients, 58% (909 patients) did not undergo COVID-19 testing. Multivariate analysis revealed that older age, obesity, non-walking regularly, long sedentary time, eating alone, frequent snacking, and having received 4 COVID-19 vaccinations were independently associated with testing avoidance. Conclusions: In the chronic phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, prompt COVID-19 testing at the time of symptomatic disease is important, and strategies to reduce testing hesitancy should be considered.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.17.23288710v1" target="_blank">COVID-19 testing avoidance among patients with cardiovascular disease</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>Effectiveness and Safety of Quinine Sulfate as add-on Therapy for COVID-19 in Hospitalized Adults in Indonesia ( DEAL-COVID19 )</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Standard of Care + Quinine Sulfate;   Drug: Standard of Care<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Universitas Padjadjaran;   National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia;   Prodia Diacro Laboratories P.T.<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>Safety and Efficacy of Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cell Exosomes in Treating Chronic Cough After COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Long COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: MSC-derived exosomes<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Huazhong University of Science and Technology;   REGEN-αGEEK (SHENZHEN) MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy and Safety of Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir for Treating Omicron Variant of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Omicron Variant of COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Xiangao Jiang<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 of mRNA-1283.222 Injection Compared With mRNA-1273.222 Injection in Participants ≥12 Years of Age to Prevent COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: mRNA-1283.222;   Biological: mRNA-1273.222<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   ModernaTX, Inc.<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>To Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Meplazumab in Treatment of COVID-19 Sequelae</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Meplazumab for injection;   Other: Normal saline<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Jiangsu Pacific Meinuoke Bio Pharmaceutical Co Ltd<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Evaluation of the RD-X19 Treatment Device in Individuals With Mild COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Device: RD-X19;   Device: Sham<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   EmitBio Inc.<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Clinical Study for the Efficacy and Safety of Ropeginterferon Alfa-2b in Adult COVID-19 Patients With Comorbidities</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ropeginterferon alfa-2b;   Procedure: SOC<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   National Taiwan University Hospital<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Assessment of Immunogenicity, Safety and Reactogenicity of a Booster Dose of Various COVID-19 Vaccine Platforms in Individuals Primed With Several Regimes.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SCB-2019/Clover;   Biological: AstraZeneca/Fiocruz;   Biological: Pfizer/Wyeth<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   D’Or Institute for Research and Education;   Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation<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>Postoperative Sugammadex After COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   General Anesthesia;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Sugammadex Sodium;   Drug: neostigmine 50µg/kg + glycopyrollate 0.01mg/kg<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Korea University Ansan Hospital<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase 2/3 Study to Determine the Safety and Effectiveness of Azeliragon in the Treatment of Patients Hospitalized for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Azeliragon;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Salim S. Hayek<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>Cognitive-behavioral Therapy for Mental Disorder in COVID-19 Survivors</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post Acute COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale di Lecco<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy of Lactobacillus Paracasei PS23 for Patients With Post-COVID-19 Syndrome</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Dietary Supplement: PS23 heat-treated<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Mackay Memorial Hospital;   Bened Biomedical Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Exploring the Effect of Video Interventions on Intentions for Continued COVID-19 Vaccination</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Vaccine Refusal;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Informational Video;   Behavioral: Altruistic Video;   Behavioral: Individualistic Video<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sir Mortimer B. Davis - Jewish General Hospital<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Effect of Telerehabilitation Practice in Long COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Long COVID-19;   Long COVID;   Post COVID-19 Condition;   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome;   Post-COVID Syndrome<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Telerehabilitation;   Behavioral: Standard rehabilitation care<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Indonesia University<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>Rehabilitation Treatment of Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Rehabilitation;   Pneumonia, Viral;   COVID-19;   Quality of Life<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: exercises;   Other: massage<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University;   MEDSI Clinical Hospital 1, ICU<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Antiviral activities of hemp cannabinoids</strong> - Hemp is an understudied source of pharmacologically active compounds and many unique plant secondary metabolites including more than 100 cannabinoids. After years of legal restriction, research on hemp has recently demonstrated antiviral activities in silico, in vitro, and in vivo for cannabidiol (CBD), Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), and several other cannabinoids against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), human…</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>Prospecting native and analogous peptides with anti-SARS-CoV-2 potential derived from the trypsin inhibitor purified from tamarind seeds</strong> - The study aimed to prospect in silico native and analogous peptides with anti-SARS-CoV-2 potential derived from the trypsin inhibitor purified from tamarind seeds (TTIp). From the most stable theoretical model of TTIp (TTIp 56/287), in silico cleavage was performed for the theoretical identification of native peptides and generation of analogous peptides. The anti-SARS-CoV-2 potential was investigated through molecular dynamics (MD) simulation between the peptides and binding sites of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kinetics and ability of binding antibody and surrogate virus neutralization tests to predict neutralizing antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant following BNT162b2 booster administration</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: This study showed a significant drop in humoral immunity 6 months after booster administration. Anti-RBD IgG and Omicron sVNT assays were highly correlated and could predict neutralizing activity with moderate performance.</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>MHC class I links with severe pathogenicity in C57BL/6N mice infected with SARS-CoV-2/BMA8</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our work shows that host MHC molecules play a crucial role in the pathogenicity differences of SARS-CoV-2/BMA8 infection. This provides a more profound insight into the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2, and contributes enlightenment and guidance for controlling the virus spread.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Discovery and structural characterization of monkeypox virus methyltransferase VP39 inhibitors reveal similarities to SARS-CoV-2 nsp14 methyltransferase</strong> - Monkeypox is a disease with pandemic potential. It is caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV), a double-stranded DNA virus from the Poxviridae family, that replicates in the cytoplasm and must encode for its own RNA processing machinery including the capping machinery. Here, we present crystal structures of its 2’-O-RNA methyltransferase (MTase) VP39 in complex with the pan-MTase inhibitor sinefungin and a series of inhibitors that were discovered based on it. A comparison of this 2’-O-RNA MTase…</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 of SARS-CoV-2 M<sup>pro</sup> inhibitors bearing a cinnamic ester warhead with <em>in vitro</em> activity against human coronaviruses</strong> - COVID-19 now ranks among the most devastating global pandemics in history. The causative virus, SARS-CoV-2, is a new human coronavirus (hCoV) that spreads among humans and animals. Great efforts have been made to develop therapeutic agents to treat COVID-19, and among the available viral molecular targets, the cysteine protease SARS-CoV-2 M^(pro) is considered the most appealing one due to its essential role in viral replication. However, the inhibition of M^(pro) activity is an interesting…</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>Diosmetin alleviates acute lung injury caused by lipopolysaccharide by targeting barrier function</strong> - Acute lung injury (ALI) is an acute and devastating disease caused by systemic inflammation e.g. patients infected with bacteria and viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 have an unacceptably high mortality rate. It has been well documented that endothelial cell damage and repair play a central role in the pathogenesis of ALI because of its barrier function. Nevertheless, the leading compounds that effectively accelerate endothelial cell repair and improve barrier dysfunction in ALI are largely unknown. In…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Molecular Networking Accelerated Discovery of Biflavonoid Alkaloids from Cephalotaxus sinensis</strong> - Four undescribed biflavonoid alkaloids, sinenbiflavones A-D, were isolated from Cephalotaxus sinensis using a MS/MS-based molecular networking guided strategy. Their structures were elucidated by series of spectroscopic methods (HRESIMS, UV, IR, 1D, and 2D NMR). Sinenbiflavones A-D are the first examples of amentoflavone-type (C-3’-C-8’’) biflavonoid alkaloids. Meanwhile, sinenbiflavones B and D are the unique C-6-methylated amentoflavone-type biflavonoid alkaloids. Sinenbiflavone D showed weak…</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>Myeloperoxidase Inhibition in Heart Failure With Preserved or Mildly Reduced Ejection Fraction: SATELLITE Trial Results</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: AZD4831 inhibited myeloperoxidase and was well tolerated in patients with HF and LVEF ≥40%. Efficacy findings were exploratory due to early termination but warrant further clinical investigation of AZD4831.</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>Awareness raising and dealing with methanol poisoning based on effective strategies</strong> - Intoxication with methanol most commonly occurs as a consequence of ingesting, inhaling, or coming into contact with formulations that include methanol as a base. Clinical manifestations of methanol poisoning include suppression of the central nervous system, gastrointestinal symptoms, and decompensated metabolic acidosis, which is associated with impaired vision and either early or late blindness within 0.5-4 h after ingestion. After ingestion, methanol concentrations in the blood that are…</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>Ferrocenoyl-substituted quinolinone and coumarin as organometallic inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro main protease</strong> - The 3-chymotrypsin-like protease 3CLpro from SARS-CoV-2 is a potential target for antiviral drug development. In this work, three organometallic ferrocene-modified quinolinones and coumarins were compared to their benzoic acid ester analogues with regard to inhibition of 3CLpro using a HPLC-based assay with a 15mer model peptide as the substrate. In contrast to FRET-based assays, this allows direct identification of interference of buffer constituents with the inhibitors, as demonstrated by 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>Transcription factor <em>Dmrt1</em> triggers the SPRY1-NF-κB pathway to maintain testicular immune homeostasis and male fertility</strong> - Bacterial or viral infections, such as Brucella, mumps virus, herpes simplex virus, and Zika virus, destroy immune homeostasis of the testes, leading to spermatogenesis disorder and infertility. Of note, recent research shows that SARS-CoV-2 can infect male gonads and destroy Sertoli and Leydig cells, leading to male reproductive dysfunction. Due to the many side effects associated with antibiotic therapy, finding alternative treatments for inflammatory injury remains critical. Here, we found…</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>Selective translational control of cellular and viral mRNAs by RPS3 mRNA binding</strong> - RPS3, a universal core component of the 40S ribosomal subunit, interacts with mRNA at the entry channel. Whether RPS3 mRNA-binding contributes to specific mRNA translation and ribosome specialization in mammalian cells is unknown. Here we mutated RPS3 mRNA-contacting residues R116, R146 and K148 and report their impact on cellular and viral translation. R116D weakened cap-proximal initiation and promoted leaky scanning, while R146D had the opposite effect. Additionally, R146D and K148D displayed…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Discovery of Potent Pyrazoline-Based Covalent SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Inhibitors</strong> - Among the various genes and proteins encoded by all coronaviruses, one particularly “druggable” or relatively easy-to-drug target is the coronavirus Main Protease (3CLproor Mpro), an enzyme that is involved in cleaving a long peptide translated by the viral genome into its individual protein components that are then assembled into the virus to enable viral replication in the cell. Inhibiting Mpro with a small-molecule antiviral would effectively stop the ability of the virus to replicate,…</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>Omicsynin B4 potently blocks coronavirus infection by inhibiting host proteases cathepsin L and TMPRSS2</strong> - The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants represents a major threat to public health and requires identification of novel therapeutic agents to address the unmet medical needs. Small molecules impeding viral entry through inhibition of spike protein priming proteases could have potent antiviral effects against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Omicsynin B4, a pseudo-tetrapeptides identified from Streptomyces sp. 1647, has potent antiviral activity against influenza A viruses in our previous study. Here, we found…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>

539
archive-daily-dose/22 April, 2023.html Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,539 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
<title>22 April, 2023</title>
<style>
code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
span.underline{text-decoration: underline;}
div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;}
div.hanging-indent{margin-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em;}
ul.task-list{list-style: none;}
</style>
<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
<body>
<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Has Black Lives Matter Changed the World?</strong> - A new book makes the case for a more pragmatic anti-policing movement—one that seeks to build working-class solidarity across racial lines. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/has-black-lives-matter-changed-the-world">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Fox News Doesn’t Do Apologies</strong> - Rupert Murdoch may have to pay for Donald Trump’s 2020 election lies, but who’s going to reimburse American democracy? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/fox-news-doesnt-do-apologies">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Clarence Thomas’s Friend of the Court</strong> - Thomas claims that Harlan Crow’s extravagant gifts were tokens of friendship. Why do the Justices so often emphasize personal relationships? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/clarence-thomass-friend-of-the-court">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>It’s Earth Day—and the News Isn’t Good</strong> - New reports show that ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are melting faster than anticipated, and other disasters loom. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/its-earth-day-and-the-news-isnt-good">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Gospel of Candace Owens</strong> - The Daily Wire host is waging a far-right fight for the soul of pop culture. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/the-gospel-of-candace-owens">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>What the new Covid-19 vaccine guidance means for you</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A syringe and a vial of vaccine." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gQlA6-IbUv1DWF6YPFQvCuGBSOs=/212x0:3284x2304/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72206166/1244633034.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A syringe containing a bivalent Covid-19 vaccine on November 9, 2022 in Brandenburg, Germany. | Wolfgang Kumm/picture alliance via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
For most Americans, it’s pretty simple — at least, for now.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G3dISG">
The past three years have taught us a hard truth: Covid-19 doesn’t pose the same risk to everyone it infects. Now, American public health agencies are trying to align Covid-19 vaccination recommendations with that fact.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KTzgF4">
This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices rolled out <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-changes-simplify-use-bivalent-mrna-covid-19-vaccines">streamlined vaccine recommendations</a> aimed at helping people figure out what to do right now.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rvx5TF">
Specifically, the guidance elevates the bivalent vaccine — introduced last fall as a tool to train immune systems to protect from <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23341417/booster-bivalent-covid-19-vaccine-shot-new-pfizer-moderna">both older and newer strains</a> of the virus — from “booster” status. Under the new recommendations, the bivalent vaccine can be used as the first and only shot a person gets as their primary vaccine.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="StkBSQ">
The new guidance applies to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23553455/bivalent-boosters-covid-vaccine-offit-topol">updated, bivalent formulations</a> of the mRNA vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. The original vaccine series most Americans received earlier in the pandemic is no longer available: Earlier, monovalent formulations from Moderna and Pfizer are no longer authorized in the US, and others, like Novavax and Johnson and Johnson’s, have been used here only infrequently.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9Z4gZT">
The upshot: For now,<strong> </strong>to be considered up-to-date, everyone should have at least one bivalent vaccine. However, only higher-risk people should be getting repeat bivalent vaccinations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8pxc7v">
Also, while previous vaccination with the older, monovalent version of the vaccine used to be a prerequisite for bivalent vaccination, under the new guidelines, even people who haven’t gotten any<em> </em>Covid-19 vaccines can get a bivalent shot.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qZ4sQX">
Bivalent vaccine uptake has not been great in the US. Only <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-people-booster-percent-pop5">42 percent</a> of people 65 and over — who are at highest risk for severe disease and hospitalization due to Covid-19 — have received the shot. In all, fewer than 17 percent of all Americans have gotten a bivalent vaccine.<strong> </strong>In a statement, FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research director Peter Marks<strong> </strong>said, “The agency believes that this approach will help encourage future vaccination.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IpCKFc">
It’s worth noting that both the FDA and the CDC used “may” and not “should” language in much of<strong> </strong>this guidance (with one important exception). At this point, these agencies are avoiding language that suggests anyone who has already been vaccinated “should” get another. That’s because the data on repeat vaccination isn’t strong enough to support telling anyone they need to get another shot. Instead, the CDC and FDA highlight who is merely “eligible” for more doses.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cr65s9">
Here’s the upshot of the latest recommendations.
</p>
<h3 id="9SaDib">
If you’re a healthy person between the ages of 6 and 64 who’s already gotten a bivalent vaccine
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EHqHi3">
This one is the simplest: The FDA said that for most people 6 and over, one dose of the bivalent vaccine, regardless of when they got it, is enough for now.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8yX6Nc">
It’s not that repeat vaccination wasn’t protective against hospitalization in this age group last fall and winter, said the CDC — <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/slides-2023-04-19/05-COVID-Link-Gelles-508.pdf">it was</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fgZ5dy">
But lately, the risk of hospitalization has been so low among children and adults in these age groups, and the protection repeat vaccination provided was so fleeting — lasting only about two months — that repeat bivalent vaccination would<strong> </strong>end up being minimally beneficial in this group.
</p>
<h3 id="sZB8PQ">
If you’ve never been vaccinated or have only gotten older, monovalent versions of the vaccine
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4ePVey">
The CDC made its strongest and most explicit recommendation for people who haven’t gotten a bivalent vaccine yet — whether because they haven’t gotten any<em> </em>Covid-19 vaccines yet or have only gotten original, monovalent versions of the vaccine that were available before August 2022. Those people <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2023/s0419-covid-vaccines.html#:~:text=CDC%20recommends%20that%20everyone%20ages,their%20(monovalent)%20primary%20series.">should get a bivalent vaccine now</a>, the agency said in a press release. That goes for everyone 6 and over — and with so few Americans having yet received a bivalent vaccine, this is the category most are in.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OSbgYP">
For people still unvaccinated, the reasoning is that even though they may have some immunity against Covid-19 due to prior infection — by this point, <a href="https://covid19serohub.nih.gov/">most people have been exposed to the virus</a> — that’s generally less protective from severe disease than the broader protection that<strong> </strong>seems to<strong> </strong>comes from being both<em> </em>immunized and recovered from infection.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qMLT8E">
For people who’ve only received monovalent versions of the vaccine, the rationale is that <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23341417/booster-bivalent-covid-19-vaccine-shot-new-pfizer-moderna">there’s protection in the bivalent vaccine</a> not only against the original strain of the virus, but against newer omicron variants, BA.4 and BA.5. And while very few of those strains are now circulating in the US, they’re still genetically closer to current strains than is the original virus.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lOFOOo">
Hence, a vaccine that trains the immune system to recognize both earlier and later strains of the virus is thought to provide better protection than one that only targets earlier strains.
</p>
<h3 id="jTzLZy">
If you’re 65 or older
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QGjKHQ">
People 65 or older can also get a bivalent vaccine now, even if they’ve already gotten one. For this group, the rationale for the FDA’s recommendation is that people 65 and older continue to be hospitalized for Covid-19 at higher rates than younger adults. Over the fall and winter, those in this age group who’d received bivalent vaccines died at <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/slides-2023-04-19/06-COVID-Oliver-508.pdf">far lower rates</a> than those who hadn’t. For this group, the FDA recommended waiting at least four months after the most recent bivalent dose to get a repeat dose.
</p>
<h3 id="i5jVvd">
If you’re moderately to severely immunocompromised and 5 or older
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iPQGUR">
According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-who-are-immunocompromised.html">CDC</a>, people who are “moderately to severely immunocompromised” include those who are or are about to be treated for cancer or receive organ transplants, those with advanced or untreated HIV and certain congenital immunocompromising conditions, and those taking a variety of immunosuppressive medications.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iy5W6c">
If you are moderately to severely immunocompromised and aged 5 or over, you can also get a bivalent vaccine now, even if you’ve already gotten one. (Immunocompromised kids under the age of 5 aren’t eligible for a repeat bivalent dose under the FDA’s new recommendations because the agency didn’t have data to justify it. Several pediatricians at the CDC meeting this week expressed concern that this decision left a highly vulnerable group unprotected.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ATZPMy">
There are a few reasons for this recommendation. For starters, this group may not have as robust an antibody response to Covid-19 vaccines. But another problem is that the monoclonal antibody treatments — which used to offer an added layer of protection for immunocompromised people — no longer work against omicron variants and are <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-limits-use-certain-monoclonal-antibodies-treat-covid-19-due-omicron">no longer FDA-authorized</a> except in unusual cases.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FIHyja">
The FDA recommended immunocompromised people wait at least two months after the most recent bivalent dose to get a repeat dose. They also said people with certain kinds of immunocompromise — like those receiving or about to receive a stem cell transplant, medications that lower B-cell levels, or treatment with <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/research/car-t-cells">CAR-T cells</a>, a certain kind of cancer therapy — can continue receiving repeat doses every two months going forward. People in this category should speak with their health care providers about what’s best for them.
</p>
<h3 id="mwUq5W">
Kids 6 months through 5 years old can get bivalent doses if they’re unvaccinated
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6Lwmxh">
Different manufacturers have different dosing regimens and different age thresholds for the pediatric versions of their bivalent vaccines: Moderna’s pediatric vaccine is given in a two-dose series for kids 6 months through 17 years, and Pfizer’s is given in a three-dose series for kids 6 months through 4 years. So when it comes to kids, it’s less complicated to talk about full versus partial series than number of doses.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oISBJJ">
According to the new guidelines, unvaccinated kids can go straight to the full bivalent vaccine series, much like healthy younger adults. Meanwhile, kids who’ve gotten the full or partial series of the older, monovalent vaccines can also get at least one dose of bivalent vaccine. (How many they get will depend on how many monovalent doses they got, and of which manufacturer. Parents should ask their pediatrician what to do for their child.)
</p>
<h3 id="2Gh60E">
Prepare for more changes ahead
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9hOZ1s">
This fall, when manufacturers will likely release <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/01/23/1150032238/fda-considers-major-shift-in-covid-vaccine-strategy">updated versions</a> of the bivalent vaccine tailored to protect from the latest viral variants, recommendations will probably change again.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UCLkni">
But in the meantime, the new guidance outlines a game plan for most people on how to best protect themselves using vaccines.
</p></li>
<li><strong>So what’s the deal with Ukraine’s spring offensive?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A group of soldiers in camouflage, helmets, and boots march down a muddy road, surrounded by trees." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9VybLBGosi1QJuhIIZThAhk02A8=/531x0:4703x3129/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72206113/1252014338.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Servicemen in the National Guard of Ukraine take part in military exercises in Kharkiv in April. | Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Four big questions about the operation the world is waiting for.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6LmRP7">
The long-awaited, long-expected, much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive is looming, forthcoming, set to happen, or happening imminently — go ahead, pick your preferred word combo. But the message is the same: The next stage of the Ukraine war is Kyiv’s spring push.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hqRxlW">
<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/russian-forces-in-crimea-brace-for-possible-ukraine-counteroffensive">The Russians are readying for it</a>. Western governments <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/western-tanks-arrive-in-ukraine-will-it-turn-war-in-kyiv-favor/7028996.html">provided training and new military equipment</a> in advance of it. Ukraine <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/western-tanks-arrive-in-ukraine-will-it-turn-war-in-kyiv-favor/7028996.html">has promised it’s happening</a>. But the timing, the strategy, the specific terrain or territory: the only people who really know that are the Ukrainians themselves.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZcFu1s">
Although Ukraine isn’t<strong> </strong>about to publicly advertise it. These are complex, multilayered operations, and surprise, actually, does tend to be pretty advantageous in war. As Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/20/ukraine-war-live-updates-latest-news-on-russia-and-the-war-in-ukraine.html">said this week</a>, Ukraine is already conducting various counteroffensive “actions.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8C9zI0">
None of that changes the stakes around Ukraine’s counteroffensive. The pressure is on for Ukraine to reclaim and liberate territory from Russian control, and prove it can put advanced Western military assistance to effective and successful use. Kyiv must demonstrate this attritional, exhausting conflict is not turning into a stalemate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eLKfvx">
“It has to be a campaign in which even if Ukraine suffers some losses, or has to abandon some territories — for example, the city of Bakhmut — it still has to demonstrate unprecedented skill and strategic ingenuity that will be inspirational for the Western partners and Ukrainian society to keep supporting Ukraine in this war,” said Polina Beliakova, postdoctoral fellow at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aJ6c5b">
The demand for drama might not quite match reality. Any counteroffensive could involve multiple operations, spanning weeks and months. The dynamics of the war are different than they were even last year, when Ukraine <a href="https://kyivindependent.com/we-pushed-and-they-collapsed-how-ukraine-liberated-russias-last-holdout-in-kharkiv-oblast/">liberated the Kharkiv region</a> in late summer, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/11/9/23449707/kherson-russia-retreat-ukraine-war">forced a Russian retreat in the south</a>, near Kherson, in November.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sQyDEC">
Ukraine has new advanced Western tanks, but also newly trained and untested troops. Russia’s winter offensive, so far, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/russias-winter-offensive-failingu-k-intel-1791989">seems lackluster and ill-conceived</a>, but its military is not defeated. Moscow garnered small gains, but at big costs: <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/3/9/23631178/bakhmut-ukraine-russia-war-wagner">The battle for Bakhmut is still ongoing</a>, months later. Both Russia and Ukraine are exhausting manpower and firepower in the fight for every inch of that city, and it’s not yet clear how that might affect Ukraine’s ability to launch an attack — or Russia’s ability to defend against it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5CviIR">
These, and other big questions, are — you know it — looming over Ukraine’s also-looming offensive. And then perhaps the biggest question is what comes after the counteroffensive, and what it will reveal about the future course of the war.
</p>
<h3 id="4ceKQ4">
But wait, why<em> </em>is<em> </em>everyone so focused on this Ukrainian counteroffensive?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b14c7j">
Ukraine’s objectives have not changed: to end Russian occupation within the country’s internationally recognized borders, including areas Moscow has controlled since 2014, like Crimea. To do that, pretty simply, you have to recapture occupied territory and expel the Russians. And to do that, you have to go on the offensive.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u60bhW">
The expectation is that Ukraine would launch these offensive operations this spring, after receiving new military equipment and support from Western backers, after replenishing and training new troops, probably <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/countdown-to-counteroffensive-when-will-mud-season-end-in-ukraine/a-65204612">after mud season</a>, and after Russia exhausted itself in its own offensive operations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0keXOu">
Russia mounted <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/2/17/23601930/russia-ukraine-offensive-putin-donbas-bakhmut">a winter offensive</a> in the east, pouring troops into the Donbas. Moscow made territorial gains but failed to retake huge swaths of the region, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60506682">instead settling for a few minor towns</a>. After months, full Russian control of <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/3/9/23631178/bakhmut-ukraine-russia-war-wagner">Bakhmut remains contested</a>, even if documents from the recent US leak <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/20/bakhmut-ukraine-war-leaked-documents/">show that US officials for months have questioned Ukraine’s</a> decision to keep fighting for what is essentially a lost, and not super strategic, city.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GKceHg">
Both Ukraine and Russia are burning through resources in Bakhmut. Ukraine used this strategy effectively last year, exhausting Russia and <a href="https://www.fpri.org/article/2022/12/how-the-battle-for-the-donbas-shaped-ukraines-success/">leaving its forces vulnerable and weakened for its successful counteroffensive</a> in Kharkiv. Ukraine appears to be trying to repeat this tactic, though <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/zelenskyy-digs-in-against-calls-to-quit-bakhmut-us-western-allies-eu-russia-frontlines-valeriy-zaluzhnyy-kyiv-soledar-kupol/">Western officials are clearly skeptical</a> that the costs — expending ammunition and troops — for Ukraine might outweigh the advantages.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yeA4kU">
But Ukraine can’t stay on the defensive indefinitely, otherwise the entire conflict starts to look like a stalemate — and that bangs up against political realities, especially in the West. Western partners like the US may be dubious about Ukraine retaking all of its territory (<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/17/ukraine-wont-militarily-retake-crimea-top-democrat-00083492">particularly Crimea</a>), but they want to see some movement.<strong> </strong>Which may be the real reason everyone is talking about the counteroffensive: There is an external urgency and pressure on Ukraine to prove that it can repeat past successes, deploy Western equipment, and keep defeating Russia on the battlefield.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8SBXWv">
The longer that doesn’t happen, the greater the risk that skepticism of robust Ukraine support will grow in Western capitals, whether or not it’s completely warranted. (As the leaks showed, and as Ukraine has been saying for months, <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/leaks-show-us-is-underestimating-us-again-ukrainian-officials-fume/">the West has been late and a step behind in delivering materials</a>.) Congressional Republicans sent a letter to President Joe Biden this week to stop sending “<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3961754-gop-lawmakers-urge-biden-to-stop-sending-unrestrained-aid-weapons-to-ukraine/">unrestrained aid</a>” to Ukraine.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yVCCQI">
But especially when it comes to military equipment — ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles — that physical aid does have some constraints; the West doesn’t have unlimited stockpiles, and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/europe-is-rushing-arms-to-ukraine-but-running-out-of-ammo-11671707775">it will take time to ramp up production</a> to get Ukraine more of what it needs. It will also take policy shifts and resources, and doubts about Ukraine’s capabilities could complicate that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1vrKtK">
The downside of the counteroffensive hype is, even after Ukraine launches it and we all agree it’s happening, it is unlikely to lead to a decisive victory overnight. Russia controls too much territory, and it has shored up its defenses in many places where Ukraine is likely to attack. It could be very slow: Ukraine retaking terrain, consolidating control, then pushing forward; a “take the bite of the apple approach,” said retired<strong> </strong>Lt. Gen. Stephen Twitty, the deputy commander of US European Command from 2018 to 2020 and distinguished fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vUpC2e">
A lot of experts I spoke to think some of the urgency is manufactured (including by us journalists), and that Western governments understand and trust Ukraine to execute these operations when they’re ready. Ukraine, too, doesn’t have any incentive to launch a counteroffensive before it’s fully prepared. Kyiv needs to train troops, including new recruits, and it needs to shore up its logistical and supply capabilities. Moving before it’s ready could prove disastrous.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="duTGto">
But still, the bargain remains: Ukraine has to end up in a better position than it started this spring.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HBfYO9">
“The Ukrainians are going to have to continue showing gains,” said Evelyn Farkas, a senior Pentagon official for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia during the Obama administration and executive director of the McCain Institute. “As long as they’re not showing significant loss of territory, we’re not going to get impatient. If they start looking like they’re losing tactically, then I would imagine that people might get nervous in Washington and other capitals.”
</p>
<h3 id="TGpfQt">
Speaking of Western capitals, Ukraine got the tanks! How might it affect the counteroffensive?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GkvhhD">
Earlier this year, <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/9/17/23355120/ukraine-wants-more-weapons-can-europe-provide">after months of debate</a>, Western governments agreed to send Ukraine advanced main battle tanks. Germany pledged to provide <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/25/1150759498/germany-leopard-2-tanks-ukraine#:~:text=Germany%20will%20initially%20send%20a,to%20export%20them%20to%20Ukraine.">Leopard 2s</a>, and to allow other countries to send their stocks of the German-made tanks. The United Kingdom is sending <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbthqSVQZFE&amp;themeRefresh=1">Challenger 2 tanks. </a>The United States said it <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/23552619/ukraine-war-germany-leopard-tanks-zelenskyy-russia-putin">would send 31 M1 Abrams tanks</a>, though they would take months to get there — but the commitment at least helped convince Berlin to offer up the Leopards, which would get to Ukraine much faster. (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-presses-weapons-us-allies-meet-germany-2023-04-21/">According to Friday’s meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group</a>, Abrams tanks will arrive in Germany in a few weeks, with training beginning after that.) In total, Western partners have delivered <a href="https://kyivindependent.com/austin-allies-deliver-over-230-tanks-to-ukraine-over-past-months/">about 230 tanks to Kyiv</a>.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DFsNV7oNPiPS_ocVj-nTiMyOXjY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24602128/1248138602.jpg"/> <cite>Oscar Del Pozo/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A Ukrainian soldier makes a “V” for victory sign with one hand while training on German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks in Spain on March 13, 2023.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BVm46y">
Ukraine had tanks, but they were mostly old Soviet models, and after a year of war a lot of those are mostly spent, and difficult to find parts to repair. Western equipment will be easier to service —<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-presses-weapons-us-allies-meet-germany-2023-04-21/"> Western officials said Friday they are establishing a Leopard servicing center in Poland</a> — and fix.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FOwqo3">
In addition to these tanks, Western governments delivered infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. All of these are pretty crucial in a counteroffensive. They deliver troops to where they need to be on the front lines, and if you’re facing heavy artillery from, say, Russian forces, walking on foot or with regular trucks is very perilous.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f08FEE">
On paper, that all seems great: equipment has been delivered, and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-soldiers-wrap-up-leopard-2a4-tank-training-spain-2023-03-13/#:~:text=ZARAGOZA%2C%20Spain%2C%20March%2013%20(,units%20to%20Kyiv%20this%20spring.">Ukrainian soldiers have been trained on these tanks</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xlCVTC">
But Kyiv has a lot of different types of tanks and armored vehicles from a lot of different countries, all of which have their own specifications. When you’re talking about, say, Germany’s Leopard 2 versus the UK’s Challenger 2, they each use a different size rifle, and the ammunition isn’t compatible between the two.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hAQiyY">
“Keeping all of this equipment supplied and sustained long term is really going to be a big challenge,” said Sonny Butterworth, a senior analyst for land platforms at Janes, the defense intelligence firm. Ukraine might be able to find enough rounds for each type of gun, with personnel assigned to the right units right now. “But when things get underway, you start losing vehicles, you start needing to be resupplied in the fields, things are getting a bit more muddled up. Logistically it’s a bit more difficult,” he added.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sPE2gZ">
In other words, the question is less about the tanks and more about all the supplies and logistical capabilities to support and deploy these vehicles successfully in combat. That is already a challenge in a war zone, even more so when you have a hodgepodge of different models. For example, bridging equipment helps tanks cross rivers, but it also depends on the weight of the tanks. If you’re in battle, and you’ve got the wrong equipment for your tank, you may need to bring in another, and little things like that can slow maneuvers and make forces vulnerable. Ukraine will also need support for mine-clearing and breaching, real-time combat engineering, and more.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SLZjeT">
“These are essential for offensive operations,” said Michael Kofman, director of the Russia Studies program at CNA. “Much of the discourse tends to focus on things like tanks, right? The reality is that this was probably a much lower priority compared to other capabilities.”
</p>
<h3 id="KNCgZr">
How prepared are Ukrainian troops, and how prepared are Russian forces for them?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s04QDj">
Ukraine has suffered heavy losses in the past year; recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/08/us/politics/leaked-documents-russia-ukraine-war.html">leaked intel documents</a> suggest somewhere between 124,000 and 131,000 casualties, with about 17,500 killed in action. It is still less than estimates for Russia (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/08/us/politics/leaked-documents-russia-ukraine-war.html">as many as 220,000 casualties, with about 43,000 killed in action</a>), but the toll is significant.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U13Alv">
Ukraine’s forces have generally been much more motivated and willing to fight; the battle is existential for them. But after a year of fighting and a substantial expansion of the military, Ukraine had to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-year-into-war-ukraine-faces-challenges-mobilizing-troops-64dcdc49">mobilize more personnel</a>, and new troops are filling out the ranks alongside seasoned, highly trained, and highly motivated forces. That has created an unevenness in the Ukrainian military.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0KOKH2">
“The vulnerability there is unit cohesion,” Beliakova said<strong>. “</strong>We don’t know whether they can fight together; they have not fought together.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XiA8Ru">
That feeds into questions about Ukraine’s force quality. Replenished troops, trained and armed with Western equipment, should have the advantage. “It is difficult to say how much of that force will really be ready,” Kofman said of Ukrainian troops. “Of course, that depends on the actual timing of this offensive.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3jFf3y">
That may influence whether Ukraine can achieve a large-scale breakthrough against Russian lines. That also depends a bit on, well, the state of the Russian lines. Russian defenses have been largely untested against new advanced Western weapons. But Moscow has been ramping up its defenses ahead of the counteroffensive, potentially learning some lessons from last year. Those preparations could make any operation for Ukraine costly and challenging.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3ESEXt">
Russia’s winter counteroffensive showed continued vulnerabilities in training and equipment among Moscow’s forces; it also exhausted some of those numbers. Russia <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/9/25/23370489/russia-military-mobilization-ukraine-war-putin">mobilized thousands of troops last fall</a>, but Western intelligence officials are skeptical of Russia’s ability to man and put personnel along a massive front line. It will still likely be easier for Russia to defend than attack at this moment, but the question is whether, and how effectively, Ukraine can exploit any Russian weaknesses along those defenses.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x7EdAI">
A year has taken a toll on both Ukrainian and Russian troops. Beyond manpower, there are also real questions about equipment — specifically ammunition. Both Russia and Ukraine are facing ammunition constraints, likely a mix of trying to conserve for an operation, but also because they<strong> </strong>may not have enough.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3Lubv6">
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/02/14/world/russia-ukraine-news">Western governments are racing to ramp up supplies</a>, as earlier this year, Ukraine was burning through ammunition faster than the US and NATO allies could replace it. Even if Ukraine is prepared and fully equipped as it launches these offensive operations, the big question is whether the US and its allies can continue to supply Ukraine with what it needs to consolidate any gains and launch subsequent attacks.
</p>
<h3 id="5mhJ00">
What happens after the counteroffensive?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NXZKwO">
This, experts said, is really the biggest question about the counteroffensive. Everyone knows it will happen, and most experts I spoke to were naturally reluctant to make predictions, but the general consensus seems to be that yes, Ukraine will have some degree of success in taking back some territory — just the scope and scale and pace are impossible to say. A lot is going to depend on how success is defined: by Ukraine, by the West, and by Russia, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WMLKkI">
Ukraine, of course, wants to push Russia outside of its borders, but it seems unlikely that Kyiv will achieve that in one counteroffensive push. Russia just controls too much territory — about one-sixth of Ukraine’s land —<strong> </strong>and as much as Russian troops have struggled to achieve sweeping gains, they are still in this thing, not defeated.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oGqOqP">
Any counteroffensive is likely to be costly, too; Ukraine can expect to suffer personnel and equipment losses. If it wants to sustain operations, the West is going to have to continue assisting Kyiv with weapons and supplies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tPu93E">
Western supplies are not infinite. A successful spring counteroffensive could buy the West time to gather more supplies and manufacture more ammunition, but it also just isn’t going to be easy to send over major weapons systems, like those tanks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xc2lvw">
Many Western governments turned over what they had to spare, and they don’t have many extra tanks and infantry fighting vehicles to give, without sacrificing their own force readiness. “If Ukraine comes to need more in the future, where are they going to come from?” asked Butterworth.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RAXTFV">
Ahead of the counteroffensive, Western governments have reiterated their support, both political and practical. But the longer a counteroffensive takes (and it could take a long time), and the more costly it is (and it could be costly), the greater the potential that the West starts to question whether Ukraine can really win this war.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1GEXeF">
The risk right now is not that the Ukraine war becomes a stalemate. The risk is that observers and Western backers start to perceive it as one. “If Ukraine does not succeed, it will amplify the voices abroad that call for negotiations with Russia, basically saying that the conflict cannot be solved militarily,” Beliakova said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fQrdfS">
“It means less aid, less support, less training, less money, and it would be losing the war — but not on the battlefield, but actually politically,” she added.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The Supreme Court’s new abortion pill decision, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xFRDL3y4q67QWg40_IQB9KC3_Aw=/544x0:6849x4729/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72205277/1251855998.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Demonstrators rally in support of abortion rights at the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, April 15, 2023. | Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The justices hand down the first decision in the mifepristone litigation saga that is not completely unhinged.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hBWXfg">
The Supreme Court handed down a brief order on Friday in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/22a901_3d9g.pdf"><em>Danco Laboratories v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine</em></a>, a lawsuit asking the federal judiciary to <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/4/14/23683638/supreme-court-abortion-mifepristone-alliance-hippocratic-medicine-fda">effectively ban mifepristone</a>, a drug used in more than half of all abortions in the United States.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YFQEDS">
The most immediate impact of the Court’s new order is that the justices voted to stay <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/4/13/23681630/supreme-court-abortion-mifepristone-fifth-circuit-alliance-hippocratic-medicine-fda">lower court decisions</a> that would have cut off access to mifepristone, at least for the time being. That means that mifepristone remains available, and that patients who live in states where abortion is legal may still obtain the drug in the same way they would have obtained it if this lawsuit had never been filed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="00YOIz">
The Court did not disclose how each justice voted, but only two justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, publicly noted their dissents.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zRM3nH">
This stay, however, is only temporary. The case will still need to be litigated in the conservative United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and it may need to be heard by the Supreme Court again. Nevertheless, Friday’s order means that mifepristone will remain available until the last court to hear this case issues its final decision.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="42tg8M">
The plaintiffs’ arguments in this case are <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/4/13/23681630/supreme-court-abortion-mifepristone-fifth-circuit-alliance-hippocratic-medicine-fda">laughably weak</a>. They ask the Court to defy longstanding legal principles establishing that judges may not second-guess the FDA’s scientific judgments about which drugs are safe enough to be prescribed in the United States. Moreover, no federal court has jurisdiction to even hear this case in the first place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kYzWdr">
As attorney Adam Unikowsky, a former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, has written, “if the subject matter of this case were anything other than abortion, the plaintiffs would have <a href="https://adamunikowsky.substack.com/p/mifepristone-and-the-rule-of-law">no chance of succeeding in the Supreme Court</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6vjIJZ">
But this Court’s GOP-appointed majority has a history of manipulating longstanding legal principles in order to achieve anti-abortion results. Most notably, in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-463_3ebh.pdf"><em>Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson</em></a> (2021), the Supreme Court announced a new legal rule that, if taken seriously, would <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/12/10/22827899/supreme-court-texas-abortion-law-sb8-decision-whole-womans-health">allow any state to nullify any constitutional right</a> — a result that allowed the Court to shield a Texas anti-abortion law from judicial review.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d30X3B">
That said, the Court’s decision to temporarily keep mifepristone legal is a hopeful sign that the justices will ultimately decide not to ban mifepristone. And there are other reasons to believe that a majority of the Court might reject this entirely meritless attack on abortion rights.
</p>
<h3 id="iE0I8k">
Republican elites appear ambivalent about banning mifepristone
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6blNMP">
Although a supermajority of the justices were appointed by Republican presidents, not all of these justices are reliable votes for literally any outcome preferred by conservative litigants. To the contrary, the Court’s current majority tends to track the views of Republican elites in other positions of power and influence.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9PhGql">
To be sure, the Court’s six Republican appointees frequently call for <a href="https://www.vox.com/23180634/supreme-court-rule-of-law-abortion-voting-rights-guns-epa">massive rightward shifts in the law</a>. And they often do so based on legal theories rejected by most legal experts. But in recent high-profile instances, the Court has done so after a consensus emerged among Republican elites that the law should be changed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LtTPlc">
As Yale law professor Jack Balkin has written, “law, and especially constitutional law, is <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/06/from-off-the-wall-to-on-the-wall-how-the-mandate-challenge-went-mainstream/258040/">grounded in judgments by legal professionals about what is reasonable</a>.” A legal argument can “move from off the wall to on the wall because people and institutions are willing to put their reputations on the line and state that an argument formerly thought beyond the pale is not crazy at all, but is actually a pretty good legal argument.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lAjLR2">
To see this phenomenon in action, consider two high-profile lawsuits asking the Supreme Court to repeal the Affordable Care Act: <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/11-393"><em>NFIB v. Sebelius</em></a> (2012) and <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-840_6jfm.pdf"><em>California v. Texas</em></a> (2021).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gu0Re6">
When the <em>NFIB </em>case was filed shortly after Obamacare became law, it was widely viewed by legal experts as so absurd that few were willing to defend it. At a 2010 panel on the lawsuit hosted by the University of Washington, for example, the moderator announced that “we tried very hard to get a professor who could come and who thinks this is flat-out unconstitutional, <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/uw-panelists-say-lawsuits-challenging-health-bill-lack-merit/">but there are relatively few of them</a>, and they are in great demand.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IBUPNe">
But elected Republican leaders, GOP-aligned media outlets, and powerful legal organizations like the Federalist Society <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/23622299/ron-desantis-first-amendment-press-new-york-times-v-sullivan">spent two years touting the <em>NFIB</em> plaintiffs’ arguments against Obamacare</a> and giving prominent platforms to lawyers who supported these arguments.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="loTqKX">
The result was that four justices, all Republicans, voted in <em>NFIB</em> to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. And a fifth, Chief Justice John Roberts, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/21/politics/john-roberts-obamacare-the-chief/index.html">struck a deal that severely weakened the law</a> by permitting states to opt out of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ggfT4a">
A very different drama played out nine years later, however, in the <em>Texas</em> case. As that case rose through the courts, leading voices in the GOP and its allied media outlets mocked the plaintiffs’ legal theory. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board labeled this lawsuit the “<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-obamacare-blunder-11544996418">Texas Obamacare Blunder</a>.” Yuval Levin, a prominent conservative policy wonk, wrote in the National Review that the <em>Texas</em> lawsuit “<a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-obamacare-ruling/">doesn’t even merit being called silly. It’s ridiculous</a>.” Even <a href="https://www.vox.com/21549641/obamacare-supreme-court-case-amy-coney-barrett-california-texas-biden-departmentalism">Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)</a> claimed that “no one believes the Supreme Court is going to strike down the Affordable Care Act” while the Court was considering the <em>Texas</em> case.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rbYPVq">
The Supreme Court ultimately <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/6/17/22538462/supreme-court-obamacare-california-texas-stephen-breyer-standing-individual-mandate-constitution">voted 7-2 to dismiss the <em>Texas</em> case</a>, ruling that federal courts didn’t even have jurisdiction to hear it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vbRFDr">
So far, Republican reaction to the <em>Hippocratic Medicine</em> case more closely resembles the GOP reaction to <em>Texas </em>than <em>NFIB. </em>The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/matthew-kacsmaryk-decision-mifepristone-abortion-pill-fda-administrative-procedure-act-ce7db52d">conceded that this lawsuit should fail</a>. And at least one Republican member of Congress, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), even argued that the Biden administration should ignore one of the lower court decisions attacking mifepristone, telling CNN that <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/10/texas-nancy-mace-fda-abortion-pill-ruling-00091184">this lawsuit “should just be thrown out quite frankly.”</a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1CZYhj">
This <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/abortion-pill-ruling-draws-muted-response-from-gop-71bbdda9">tepid reaction by many Republican elites</a> suggests that, if the Supreme Court’s GOP-appointed majority does decide to go out on a limb and ban mifepristone, then they will do so without consistent support from their fellow Republicans in other positions of power. Historically, even the Court’s current majority has been reluctant to go this far out of a limb on their own.
</p>
<h3 id="OPuzza">
If the Supreme Court does decide to attack mifepristone, that will have catastrophic consequences throughout the health care system
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2eM9mi">
An amicus brief filed by many key players in the pharmaceutical industry warns that, should the Supreme Court embrace the lower courts’ attacks on mifepristone, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22A902/263624/20230414164838799_2023-04-14%20SCOTUS%20Amicus%20Brief%20FINALa.pdf">the entire health care system is likely to suffer terribly</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xqUc0N">
That’s because the lower courts required the Food and Drug Administration to jump through so many needless hoops before it could approve mifepristone — or any drug, for that matter — that, the brief’s authors wrote, “it is unlikely that a single one” of the thousands of drugs the FDA has approved in the past “would have been approved” if those drugs had “been developed or reviewed by FDA under the lower courts’ approach.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9Q8VvP">
The <em>Hippocratic Medicine </em>case, in other words, doesn’t just threaten access to abortion. It could potentially toss the FDA’s entire drug approval process into turmoil, threatening access to everything from antibiotics to blood pressure medication to cancer-fighting drugs.
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Next target is to breach top 100 in FIFA ranking: AIFF president Chaubey</strong> - India is ranked 101 after winning the international tournament in Imphal, which also involved Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan, and played during the FIFA window last month</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>World Cup archery | Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Ojas Deotale claim gold in compound mixed team</strong> - This was also India’s second ever World Cup gold medal in the mixed compound event.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Indian swimmer equals world record, becomes fastest male swimmer to cross Sea of Galilee in Israel</strong> - Aryan Singh Dadiala, 21, who set a world record in November 2022 in Goa finishing 32 km open water sea swimming in 5 hours 36 minutes, is the first Asian swimmer to swim the Sea of Galilee</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 2023, GT vs LSG | Hardik hits 66 as Gujarat Titans manage 135/6 against Lucknow Super Giants</strong> - GT brought in left-arm spinner Noor Ahmad, while pacer Alzarri Joseph missed out</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>Premier League | Arsenal stage late escape to snatch 3-3 draw, but title hopes hit</strong> - Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka scored in the final minutes of the game to grab a 3-3 draw for Arsenal against Southampton but the result dents the Gunners’ Premier League title run</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>Re-survey of Karimnagar-Hasanparthi new railway line ordered</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>Rahul represents ‘laziest type of politics’, BJP is party for Karnataka’s future: Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar</strong> - He also expressed confidence that the rebellion of some key BJP leaders in Karnataka will not come in the way of the incumbent party winning its first-ever majority in the coming assembly polls.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andhra Pradesh: Vizianagaram Municipal Corporation taking steps to shore up property tax collection</strong> - Officials urge people to take advantage of 5% concession being given to those paying property tax by month-end</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>Bidar police seize huge quantity of ganja , six held</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>CBI takes over PNB fraud case</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>Paris synagogue bomber convicted after 43 years</strong> - Hassan Diab refused to leave Canada to attend the trial into the murder of four people.</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>Vladimir Kara-Murza: Family’s heartbreak at Putin critic’s jail term</strong> - Vladimir Kara-Murza’s wife Evgenia does not know if she or their children will see him again.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine in Nato: Orban casts doubt on long-term membership plan</strong> - “What?!” says Hungary’s prime minister, in response to long-term plans to admit Ukraine.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Russian warplane accidentally bombs own city</strong> - A dramatic blast which shook residents of Belgorod is being blamed on an accidental air strike.</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>Cocaine-smuggling submarine reveals Europe’s drug crisis</strong> - One secret boat took three men and $150m (£121m) of drugs from the Amazon rainforest to Spain.</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>A warmer planet, less nutritious plants and … fewer grasshoppers?</strong> - Higher levels of carbon dioxide are changing micronutrients in grasses, trees, and kelp. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1933765">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In the end, Picard became the fan-service TNG reunion it always should have been</strong> - Final season finally gives the <em>TNG</em> crew a better send-off than 2002’s <em>Nemesis</em>. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1932606">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>When a plan comes together: Inside a massive Eve Online corporate heist</strong> - “It all needed to appear as business as usual.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1933280">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Access to abortion pill is spared; SCOTUS freezes lower court’s order</strong> - The court did not explain its reasoning. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1933736">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apple will launch a journaling app in iOS 17, but that’s bad news for some devs</strong> - It could monitor users’ activities through the day in ways other apps can’t. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1933618">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I broke up with my girlfriend because she was a communist.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To be honest, there were a lot of red flags
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/idonutcare53"> /u/idonutcare53 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12v0btl/i_broke_up_with_my_girlfriend_because_she_was_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12v0btl/i_broke_up_with_my_girlfriend_because_she_was_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My Husband died. (One for the Ladies.)</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
After He died, I couldn’t even look at another Man for almost 20 years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
But now that I’m out of Prison, I can honestly say it was worth it.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12ulfrj/my_husband_died_one_for_the_ladies/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12ulfrj/my_husband_died_one_for_the_ladies/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>During my job interview I was asked: “After a long week how do you normally recharge your batteries?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Through high voltage nipple clamps” wasn’t the answer they were expecting
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/International_Bee653"> /u/International_Bee653 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12u8fav/during_my_job_interview_i_was_asked_after_a_long/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12u8fav/during_my_job_interview_i_was_asked_after_a_long/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>almost forgot it was my cake day! here’s my favorite joke. it’s not about cake</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
On this farm, there’s a cow, a chicken, and a horse, and the three of them are best friends.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
They do just about everything together. And one day, they’re sitting at the window of the house, and the farmer’s kid is watching MTV, and they’re watching it, and they hear the music, and the horse says “you know what? I’m gonna learn how to do that.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So the horse calls up Guitar Center, and he says to the guy on the phone, “Hey, listen. I wanna learn to play guitar.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Guy on the phone says “no problem. Come on down.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“No, there might be one problem. I’m a horse.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Naw, it ain’t a problem. We’ll get some attachments, I can teach you to play. Promise.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So horse turns out to be a natural. He gets GOOD. And he calls over Cow and Chicken and he’s like “LOOK WHAT I CAN DO” and he jams out like Jimi Hendrix. And Cow says “holy shit. That’s awesome. I want to learn to do something like that too. What’s like that?” And horse says “Bass. Learn to play bass.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So Cow calls up Guitar Center, and she says “Hey, listen, I wanna learn to play bass guitar.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Guy on the phone says “No problem, miss, come on down.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Eh, this might be a problem. I’m a cow.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Nah, no problem. I helped a horse recently, I can teach you to play too. Promise.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So Cow learns to play the bass, and Cow is fucking amazing at it. So Cow and Horse are jamming, and Chicken gets a bit jealous. He says “Damn, I wanna learn something too. But not like that.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Horse says “Well, I mean, we need a drummer around here.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So Chicken calls up Guitar Center, and he says “Hey, listen, I wanna learn to play drums.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Guy on the phone says “No problem, man. Come on down.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Eh, maybe a problem. I’m a chicken.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Naw. Ain’t no thing. I taught a horse guitar and a cow bass. I can teach you drums.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So chicken learns the drums, and he’s fucking amazing. So Cow, Horse, and Chicken all start having jam sessions whenever the farmer’s out. And one day they’re playing, and a big record agent is driving down the road. And he hears them, and he’s like “what the fuck? that sounds amazing.” so he stops at the farm, and he finds them all playing in the barn. And he says “Holy shit. You guys sound AWESOME. I wanna represent you, make this a real band, make some music. You’re gonna be HUGE.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So Cow and Chicken and Horse take this guy’s deal, and they move to the city, they cut albums, and they’re big. REAL big. Top 10 hits, platinum albums, the works. They get set for their first tour. But there’s a problem, see. Horse gets a phone call, his mom’s real sick. Cow and Chicken, though, they’re cool as hell. They say “Listen. Go see your mom. We’ll delay the first show a couple of days, so fly back home, spend some time with her, and then jump on a plane and come meet us.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Horse says “Thanks, guys. you’re the best,” and he takes off.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Couple of days later, Horse’s mom is just fine. Turned out to be a real bad cold, she gets over it, and he spends another night there. The following morning, he gets a call. It’s his agent. Cow and Chicken’s plane went down, they died in the crash. The band is done. he’s lost his best friends. And horse, this breaks him, man. He’s been through so much with them, and he feels real down in the dumps. So he takes a walk, and while he’s on that walk, he just can’t shake the blue, so he figures to himself “Alright, alright. One drink, just to get over it.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So Horse walks into the local bar. Bartender looks at him and says “Hey. Why the long face?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Not my joke originally. Just my favorite.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/could_use_a_snack"> /u/could_use_a_snack </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12us19t/almost_forgot_it_was_my_cake_day_heres_my/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12us19t/almost_forgot_it_was_my_cake_day_heres_my/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Sunday school teacher posed a question to her class, “If I were to sell my house, car, donate my possessions to charity, and give all my money to the church, would I get into heaven?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The children unanimously replied, “No.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The teacher then asked, “If I were to keep the church clean, mow the lawn, and keep everything neat and tidy, would I get into heaven?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Once again, the answer was a resounding “No.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Apparently perplexed, the teacher asked, “Well, then how can I get into heaven?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A quick-witted five-year-old boy piped up and replied, “You have to be dead!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/CroakyPyrex"> /u/CroakyPyrex </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12v3144/a_sunday_school_teacher_posed_a_question_to_her/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12v3144/a_sunday_school_teacher_posed_a_question_to_her/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>

4
index.html
View File

File diff suppressed because one or more lines are too long