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<title>30 July, 2023</title>
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<title>Covid-19 Sentry</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Disease diagnostics using machine learning of immune receptors</strong> -
<div>
Clinical diagnoses rely on a wide variety of laboratory tests and imaging studies, interpreted alongside physical examination findings and the patient’s history and symptoms. Currently, the tools of diagnosis make limited use of the immune system’s internal record of specific disease exposures encoded by the antigen-specific receptors of memory B cells and T cells, and there has been little integration of the combined information from B cell and T cell receptor sequences. Here, we analyze extensive receptor sequence datasets with three different machine learning representations of immune receptor repertoires to develop an interpretive framework, MAchine Learning for Immunological Diagnosis (Mal-ID), that screens for multiple illnesses simultaneously. This approach is effective in identifying a variety of disease states, including acute and chronic infections and autoimmune disorders. It is able to do so even when there are other differences present in the immune repertoires, such as between pediatric or adult patient groups. Importantly, many features of the model of immune receptor sequences are human-interpretable. They independently recapitulate known biology of the responses to infection by SARS-CoV-2 and HIV, provide evidence of receptor antigen specificity, and reveal common features of autoreactive immune receptor repertoires, indicating that machine learning on immune repertoires can yield new immunological knowledge. This framework could be useful in identifying immune responses to new infectious diseases as they emerge.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.26.489314v4" target="_blank">Disease diagnostics using machine learning of immune receptors</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Phenotypic grouping of Catheter-Associated Escherichia coli from COVID-19 isolation wards using Hierarchical clustering in Surabaya</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Introduction Moderate to critical COVID-19 patients may be indicated for urinary catheter use due to risk of immobility and ventilator or oxygen use. In intensive care units, 18-81.7% of all patients use urinary catheter. Almost all patients with urinary catheter suffered from bacteriuria in 30 catheter-days. Hospital associated isolate tracing is mainly performed using complex molecular tests that is not vastly available. This study aims to trace catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) isolates using common hierarchical clustering method that is vastly available Methods This is a descriptive study presenting collection of Escherichia coli culture data performed by dr. Soetomo Public Hospital microbiology laboratory from 26 March 2020- 31 March 2021. Hierarchical clustering were performed using statistical software using Ward s clustering method. Results There are 36 E.coli associated with CAUTI. Isolate biochemistry profile and minimum inhibitory concentrations profiles were clustered into 3 clades for each profile. A total of 9 cluster combinations were found. Cluster ID 1 was melibiose fermenters, Cluster ID 2 was non-Arginine utilizer, and Cluster ID-3 was Arginine utilizer. Cluster MIC A consist of third generation Cephalosporin resistant isolates, Cluster MIC C was multi-susceptible isolates. Chi-square test between cluster ID and MIC showed no significant differences between number of isolates per group (X2, p = .430, CI = 95%). Conclusion CAUTI associated E.coli is divided into 9 clusters. This indicates no cluster dominates the isolates, thus CAUTI is not caused by hospital transmission but normal flora carried by the admitted patient.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.26.23293190v1" target="_blank">Phenotypic grouping of Catheter-Associated Escherichia coli from COVID-19 isolation wards using Hierarchical clustering in Surabaya</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>High connectivity and human movement limits the impact of travel time on infectious disease transmission</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The speed of spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlights the importance of understanding how infections are transmitted in a highly connected world. Prior to vaccination, changes in human mobility patterns were used as non-pharmaceutical interventions to eliminate or suppress viral transmission. The rapid spread of respiratory viruses, various intervention approaches, and the global dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 underscore the necessity for epidemiological models that incorporate mobility to comprehend the spread of the virus. Here, we introduce a metapopulation susceptible exposed infectious recovered (SEIR) model parameterised with human movement data from 340 cities in China. Our model replicates the early case trajectory in the COVID-19 pandemic. We then use machine learning algorithms to determine which network properties best predict spread between cities and find travel time to be most important, followed by the human movement Weighted Personalised PageRank. However, we show that travel time is most influential locally, after which the high connectivity between cities reduces the impact of travel time between individual cities on transmission speed. Additionally, we demonstrate that only significantly reduced movement substantially impacts infection spread times throughout the network.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.26.23293210v1" target="_blank">High connectivity and human movement limits the impact of travel time on infectious disease transmission</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Integrating Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS) into infectious disease outbreak and epidemic response: an umbrella review and operational framework</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Introduction Infectious disease outbreaks have a substantial impact on people9s psychosocial well-being. Yet, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions are not systemically integrated into outbreak and epidemic response. Our review aims to synthesise evidence on the effectiveness of MHPSS interventions in outbreaks and propose a framework for systematically integrating MHPSS into outbreak response. Methods We conducted an umbrella review in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for umbrella reviews. Results We identified 23 systematic literature reviews, 6 of which involved meta-analysis, and only 30% (n=7) were of high quality. Most of the available literature was produced during COVID-19 and focused on clinical case management and medical staff well-being, with scarce evidence on the well-being of other outbreak responders and MHPSS in other outbreak response pillars. Conclusion Despite the low quality of the majority of the existing evidence, MHPSS interventions have the potential to improve the psychological well-being of those affected by and those responding to outbreaks. They also can improve the outcomes of the outbreak response activities such as contact tracing, infection prevention and control, and clinical case management. Our proposed framework would facilitate integrating MHPSS into outbreak response and hence mitigate the mental health impact of outbreaks. Review registration PROSPERO CRD42022297138.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.27.23293219v1" target="_blank">Integrating Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS) into infectious disease outbreak and epidemic response: an umbrella review and operational framework</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The Impact of Post Embryo Transfer SARS-CoV-2 Infection on Pregnancy in In Vitro Fertilization: A Prospective Cohort Study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Abstract Importance: Limited knowledge exists on the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection after embryo transfer, despite an increasing number of studies exploring the impact of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection on IVF outcomes. Objective: This prospective cohort study aimed to assess the influence of SARS-CoV-2 infection at various time stages after embryo transfer on pregnancy outcomes in patients undergoing conventional in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection-embryo transfer (IVF/ICSI) treatment. Design: The study was conducted at a single public IVF center in China. Setting This was a population-based prospective cohort study. Participants: Female patients aged 20 to 39 years, with a body mass index (BMI) between 18 and 30 kg/m2, undergoing IVF/ICSI treatment, were enrolled from September 2022 to December 2022, with follow-up until March 2023. Exposure: The pregnancy outcome of patients was compared between those SARS-CoV-2-infected after embryo transfer and those noninfected during the follow-up period. Main Outcomes and Measures: The pregnancy outcomes included biochemical pregnancy rate, implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, and early miscarriage rate. Results: A total of 857 female patients undergoing IVF/ICSI treatment were included in the analysis. We observed the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection within 10 weeks after embryo transfer. The biochemical pregnancy rate and implantation rate were lower in the infected group than the uninfected group (58.1% vs 65.9%; 36.6% vs 44.0%, respectively), but no statistically significant. Although, the clinical pregnancy rate was significant lower in the infection group when compared with the uninfected group (49.1%vs 58.2%, p &lt; 0.05), after adjustment for confounders, this increased risk was no longer significant between the two groups (adjusted OR, 0.736, 95% CI, 0.518-1.046). With continued follow-up, a slightly higher risk of early miscarriage in the infected group compared to the uninfected group (9.3% vs 8.8%), but it was not significant (adjusted OR, 0.907, 95% CI, 0.414-1.986). Conclusions and Relevance: The study9s findings suggested that SARS-CoV-2 infection within 10 weeks after embryo transfer may have not significantly affect pregnancy outcomes. This evidence allays concerns and provides valuable insights for assisted reproduction practices.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.25.23293116v1" target="_blank">The Impact of Post Embryo Transfer SARS-CoV-2 Infection on Pregnancy in In Vitro Fertilization: A Prospective Cohort Study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mask exposure during COVID-19 changes emotional face processing</strong> -
<div>
Faces are one of the key ways that we obtain social information about others. They allow people to identify individuals, understand conversational cues, and make judgements about other’s mental states. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, widespread mask-wearing practices were implemented, causing a shift in the way Americans typically interact. This introduction of masks into social exchanges posed a potential challenge – how would people make these important inferences about others when a large source of information was no longer available? We conducted two studies that investigated the impact of mask exposure on emotion perception. In particular, we measured how participants used facial landmarks (visual cues) and the expressed valence and arousal (affective cues), to make similarity judgements about pairs of emotion faces. Study 1 found that participants with higher levels of mask exposure used cues from the eyes to a greater extent when judging emotion similarity than participants with less mask exposure. Study 2 measured participants’ emotion perception in both April and September 2020 – before and after widespread mask adoption – in the same group of participants to examine changes in the use of facial cues over time. Results revealed an overall increase in the use of visual cues from April to September. Further, as mask exposure increased, people with the most social interaction showed the largest increase in the use of visual facial cues. These results provide evidence that a shift has occurred in how people process faces such that the more people are interacting with others that are wearing masks, the more they have learned to focus on visual cues from the eye area of the face.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/yjfg3/" target="_blank">Mask exposure during COVID-19 changes emotional face processing</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Scoring epidemiological forecasts on transformed scales</strong> -
<div>
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Forecast evaluation is essential for the development of predictive epidemic models and can inform their use for public health decision-making. Common scores to evaluate epidemiological forecasts are the Continuous Ranked Probability Score (CRPS) and the Weighted Interval Score (WIS), which can be seen as measures of the absolute distance between the forecast distribution and the observation. However, applying these scores directly to predicted and observed incidence counts may not be the most appropriate due to the exponential nature of epidemic processes and the varying magnitudes of observed values across space and time. In this paper, we argue that transforming counts before applying scores such as the CRPS or WIS can effectively mitigate these difficulties and yield epidemiologically meaningful and easily interpretable results. Using the CRPS on log-transformed values as an example, we list three attractive properties: Firstly, it can be interpreted as a probabilistic version of a relative error. Secondly, it reflects how well models predicted the time-varying epidemic growth rate. And lastly, using arguments on variance-stabilizing transformations, it can be shown that under the assumption of a quadratic mean-variance relationship, the logarithmic transformation leads to expected CRPS values which are independent of the order of magnitude of the predicted quantity. Applying a transformation of log(x + 1) to data and forecasts from the European COVID-19 Forecast Hub, we find that it changes model rankings regardless of stratification by forecast date, location or target types. Situations in which models missed the beginning of upward swings are more strongly emphasised while failing to predict a downturn following a peak is less severely penalised when scoring transformed forecasts as opposed to untransformed ones. We conclude that appropriate transformations, of which the natural logarithm is only one particularly attractive option, should be considered when assessing the performance of different models in the context of infectious disease incidence.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.23.23284722v2" target="_blank">Scoring epidemiological forecasts on transformed scales</a>
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<li><strong>Prolonged exposure to lung-derived cytokines is associated with inflammatory activation of microglia in patients with COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
Neurological impairment is the most common finding in patients with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19. Furthermore, survivors of pneumonia from any cause have an elevated risk of dementia. Dysfunction in microglia, the primary immune cell in the brain, has been linked to cognitive impairment in murine models of dementia and in humans. Here, we report a transcriptional response in human microglia collected from patients who died following COVID-19 suggestive of their activation by TNF- and other circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines. Consistent with these findings, the levels of 55 alveolar and plasma cytokines were elevated in a cohort of 341 patients with respiratory failure, including 93 unvaccinated patients with COVID-19 and 203 patients with other causes of pneumonia. While peak levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were similar in patients with pneumonia irrespective of etiology, cumulative cytokine exposure was higher in patients with COVID-19. Corticosteroid treatment, which has been shown to be beneficial in patients with COVID-19, was associated with lower levels of CXCL10, CCL8, and CCL2 - molecules that sustain inflammatory circuits between alveolar macrophages harboring SARS-CoV-2 and activated T cells. These findings suggest that corticosteroids may break this cycle and decrease systemic exposure to lung-derived cytokines and inflammatory activation of microglia in patients with COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.28.550765v1" target="_blank">Prolonged exposure to lung-derived cytokines is associated with inflammatory activation of microglia in patients with COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>New design strategies for ultra-specific CRISPR-Cas13a-based RNA-diagnostic tools with single-nucleotide mismatch sensitivity</strong> -
<div>
The pressing need for clinical diagnostics has required the development of novel nucleic acid-based detection technologies that are sensitive, fast, and inexpensive, and that can be deployed at point-of-care. Recently, the RNA-guided ribonuclease CRISPR-Cas13 has been successfully harnessed for such purposes. However, developing assays for detection of genetic variability, for example single-nucleotide polymorphisms, is still challenging and previously described design strategies are not always generalizable. Here, we expanded our characterization of LbuCas13a RNA-detection specificity by performing a combination of experimental RNA mismatch tolerance profiling, molecular dynamics simulations, protein, and crRNA engineering. We found certain positions in the crRNA-target-RNA duplex that are particularly sensitive to mismatches and establish the effect of RNA concentration in mismatch tolerance. Additionally, we determined that shortening the crRNA spacer or modifying the direct repeat of the crRNA leads to stricter specificities. Furthermore, we harnessed our understanding of LbuCas13a allosteric activation pathways through molecular dynamics and structure-guided engineering to develop novel Cas13a variants that display increased sensitivities to single-nucleotide mismatches. We deployed these Cas13a variants and crRNA design strategies to achieve superior discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 strains compared to wild-type LbuCas13a. Together, our work provides new design criteria and new Cas13a variants for easier-to-implement Cas13-based diagnostics.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.26.550755v1" target="_blank">New design strategies for ultra-specific CRISPR-Cas13a-based RNA-diagnostic tools with single-nucleotide mismatch sensitivity</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Butyrate Protects against SARS-CoV-2-induced Tissue Damage in Golden Hamsters.</strong> -
<div>
Butyrate, produced by gut microbe during dietary fiber fermentation, plays anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects in chronic inflammation diseases, yet it remains to be explored whether butyrate has protective effects against viral infections. Here, we demonstrated that butyrate alleviated tissue injury in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected golden hamsters with supplementation of butyrate before and during the infection. Butyrate-treated hamsters showed augmentation of type I interferon (IFN) response and activation of endothelial cells without exaggerated inflammation. In addition, butyrate regulated redox homeostasis by enhancing the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) to inhibit excessive apoptotic cell death. Therefore, butyrate exhibited an effective prevention against SARS-CoV-2 by upregulating antiviral immune responses and promoting cell survival.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.27.550811v1" target="_blank">Butyrate Protects against SARS-CoV-2-induced Tissue Damage in Golden Hamsters.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Multiscale modelling of chromatin 4D organization in SARS-CoV-2 infected cells</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 is able to re-structure chromatin organization and alters the epigenomic landscape of the host genome, though the mechanisms that produce such changes are still poorly understood. Here, we investigate with polymer physics chromatin reorganization of the host genome, in space and time upon SARS-CoV-2 viral infection. We show that re-structuring of A/B compartments is well explained by a remodulation of intra-compartment homotypic affinities, which leads to the weakening of A-A interactions and enhances A-B mixing. At TAD level, re-arrangements are physically described by a general reduction of the loop extrusion activity coupled with an alteration of chromatin phase-separation properties, resulting in more intermingling between different TADs and spread in space of TADs themselves. In addition, the architecture of loci relevant to the antiviral interferon (IFN) response, such as DDX58 or IFIT, results more variable within the 3D single-molecule population of the infected model, suggesting that viral infection leads to a loss of chromatin structural specificity. Analysis of time trajectories of pairwise gene-enhancer and higher-order contacts reveals that such variability derives from a more fluctuating dynamics in infected case, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 alters gene regulation by impacting the stability of the contact network in time. Overall, our study provides the first polymer-physics based 4D reconstruction of SARS-CoV-2 infected genome with mechanistic insights on the consequent gene misregulation.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.27.550709v1" target="_blank">Multiscale modelling of chromatin 4D organization in SARS-CoV-2 infected cells</a>
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<li><strong>A nine-year investigation of industry payments to emergency physicians in the United States between 2013 and 2021</strong> -
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Objectives To examine the characteristics and trends in the industry payments to emergency physicians since the inception of the Open Payments Database in 2013 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Methods Using the Open Payments Database between August 2013 and December 2021, this population based cohort study examined all research and general payments made by the healthcare industry to emergency physicians registered in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System in the United States. We performed descriptive analyses on payment data and generalized estimating equations for payment trends. Results Among 50,483 active emergency physicians, 28,678 (56.8%) accepted a total of $457,640,796.73 payments from the healthcare industry between 2013 and 2021. 56.6% and 1.3% of all emergency physicians received general and research payments, respectively. 20.8% ($94.98 million) of overall industry payments were general payments. Median general and research payments per-physician (interquartile range) were $133.21 ($44.78-$355.77) and $62,842.97 ($10,320.00-$273,285.28), respectively. The top 1% of emergency physicians received 86.2% of overall general payments, respectively. The number of physicians receiving general payments decreased by 2.9% (95% CI: -3.2 to -2.5, p&lt;0.001) annually between 2014 and 2019 and 47.8% (95% CI: -49.8 to -45.6, p&lt;0.001) in 2020. Although there were no significant changes in research payments before the COVID-19 pandemic, the research payments significantly increased by 69.4% (95% CI: 28.9 to 122.7, p&lt;0.001) in 2021 compared to those in 2020. Conclusions The majority of emergency physicians accepted general payments from the healthcare industry, but the number of emergency physicians accepting general payments significantly decreased since the inception of the Open Payments Database.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.24.23293098v1" target="_blank">A nine-year investigation of industry payments to emergency physicians in the United States between 2013 and 2021</a>
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<li><strong>Industry payments to anesthesiologists in the United States between 2014 and 2022</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Financial relationships between physicians and the healthcare industry could be beneficial to improve patient care, but could lead to conflicts of interest. However, there was no study specifically evaluating the extent of financial relationships between anesthesiologists and the healthcare industry in the United States. Methods Using the Open Payments Database between 2014 and 2022, this longitudinal cross-sectional study examined the size, prevalence and trends of general (non-research) payments made by the healthcare industry to all anesthesiologists in the United States. Results: Over the nine-year period, 67.0% of all anesthesiologists received general payments totaling $272.0 million over nine years, while 21.0% to 35.3% of anesthesiologists received one or more general payments each year. Median annual general payments to anesthesiologists ranged from $57 to $115. The top 1%, 5%, and 10% of anesthesiologists received 73.4%, 90.3%, and 94.8% of all general payments, respectively. There were no constant yearly trends in the total amounts and per-anesthesiologist general payments between 2014 and 2019, but significant declines occurred in 2020, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pain medicine physicians received the highest median general payments of $4,426 in nine-year combined total amounts, followed by addiction medicine ($431), critical care medicine ($277), and general anesthesiology ($256). Conclusion: This study reveals significant financial relationships between the healthcare industry and anesthesiologists, with a disproportionate concentration of payments among a minority of anesthesiologists. While no clear trends in payments were evident before the pandemic, there was a substantial reduction during the COVID-19 outbreak.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.24.23293096v1" target="_blank">Industry payments to anesthesiologists in the United States between 2014 and 2022</a>
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<li><strong>Age- and sex-specific differences in immune responses to BNT162b2 COVID-19 and live-attenuated influenza vaccines in UK adolescents</strong> -
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Key to understanding COVID-19 correlates of protection is assessing vaccine-induced immunity in different demographic groups. Sex- and age-specific immune differences have a wide impact on outcomes from infections and immunisations. Typically, adult females make stronger immune responses and have better disease outcomes but suffer more adverse events following vaccination and are more prone to autoimmune disease. To understand better the mechanisms underlying these differences in vaccine responses, we studied immune responses to two doses of BNT162b2 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in an adolescent cohort (n=34, ages 12-16), an age group previously shown to make significantly greater immune responses to the same vaccine compared to young adults. At the same time, we were able to evaluate immune responses to the co-administered live attenuated influenza vaccine, which has been shown to induce stronger immune responses in adult females. Blood samples from 34 adolescents taken pre- and post-vaccination with COVID-19 and influenza vaccines were assayed for SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG and neutralising antibodies, and cellular immunity specific for SARS-CoV-2 and endemic betacoronaviruses. IgG targeting influenza lineages contained in the influenza vaccine was also assessed. As previously demonstrated, total IgG responses to SARS-CoV-2 Spike antigens were significantly higher among vaccinated adolescents compared to adults (aged 32-52) who received the BNT162b2 vaccine (comparing infection-naive, 49,696 vs 33,339; p=0.03; comparing SARS-CoV-2 previously-infected, 743,691 vs 269,985; p&lt;0.0001) by MSD v-plex assay. However, unexpectedly, antibody responses to BNT162b2 and the live-attenuated influenza vaccine were not higher among female adolescents compared to males; among infection-naive adolescents, antibody responses to BNT162b2 were higher in males than females (62,270 vs 36,951 p=0.008). No sex difference was identified in vaccinated adults. These unexpected findings may result from the introduction of novel mRNA vaccination platforms, generating patterns of immunity divergent from established trends, and providing new insights into what might be protective following COVID-19 vaccination.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.24.23293091v1" target="_blank">Age- and sex-specific differences in immune responses to BNT162b2 COVID-19 and live-attenuated influenza vaccines in UK adolescents</a>
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<li><strong>WEIRD or not: A Cross-Cultural Behavioral Economic Assessment of Demand for HIV and COVID-19 Vaccines</strong> -
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Background: Despite empirical evidence supporting vaccine effectiveness, vaccine hesitancy continues to thrive. Demand as a behavioral economic process provides useful indices for evaluating vaccine acceptance likelihood in individuals and groups. Using this framework, our study investigates the dynamics governing vaccine acceptance in two culturally dissimilar countries. Methods: Hypothetical purchase tasks (HPTs) assessed how Nigerian and US participants varied vaccine acceptance as a function of hospitalization risks due to vaccination (N = 109). Aggregate and individual demand indices (Q0 and Pmax) were computed with nonlinear regressions. Secondary analyses were conducted using repeated measures ANOVAs with vaccine type (COVID-19 and HIV) as the within-subject factor; country, age, and socioeconomic status as between-subjects factors; demand indices served as dependent variables. Results: Demand indices varied significantly as a function of vaccine type (F(1, 57) = 17.609, p &lt; .001, ηp2 = .236). Demand for HIV vaccines was higher relative to COVID-19 vaccines. Interactions between vaccine type and country of origin (F(1, 56) = 4.001, p = .05, ηp2 = .067) were also significant with demand for HIV vaccines among Nigerian respondents higher than that of COVID-19 vaccines. This was reversed for US participants. Interactions between vaccine type, country of origin and age were also significant (F(2, 51) = 3.506, p &lt; .05, ηp2 = .121). Conclusions: These findings provide evidence that vaccine type can influence demand. The relationship between demand and vaccine type also varies as a function of country of origin and age. Significance, limitations, and future directions are also discussed.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.24.23293101v1" target="_blank">WEIRD or not: A Cross-Cultural Behavioral Economic Assessment of Demand for HIV and COVID-19 Vaccines</a>
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<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>Effects of Exercise Training on Patients With Long COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Long COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Exercise training<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital<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>Smell in COVID-19 and Efficacy of Nasal Theophylline (SCENT 3)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: theophylline;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Washington University School of Medicine<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>Lymph Node Aspiration to Decipher the Immune Response of Beta-variant Recombinant Protein Booster Vaccine (VidPrevtyn Beta, Sanofi) Compared to a Bivalent mRNA Vaccine (Comirnaty Original/Omicron BA.4-5, BioNTech-Pfizer) in Adults Previously Vaccinated With at Least 3 Doses of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Procedure: Lymph node aspiration / Blood sampling<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris<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>COVID-19 Trial of the Candidate Vaccine MVA-SARS-2-S in Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: MVA-SARS-2-S;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf;   German Center for Infection Research;   Philipps University Marburg Medical Center;   Ludwig-Maximilians - University of Munich;   University Hospital Tuebingen;   CTC-NORTH<br/><b>Withdrawn</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>Immunoadsorption vs. Sham Treatment in Post COVID-19 Patients With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Fatigue;   Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Procedure: Immunoadsorption vs. sham immunoadsorption<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hannover Medical School<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>Non-ventilated Prone Positioning in the COVID-19 Population</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Proning;   Oxygenation;   Length of Stay<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Proning group;   Other: Control group<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center<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>HD-Tdcs and Pharmacological Intervention For Delirium In Critical Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Delirium;   Critical Illness<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Combination Product: Active HD-tDCS;   Combination Product: Sham HD-tDCS<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Suellen Andrade;   City University of New York<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>Safety, Efficacy, and Dosing of VIX001 in Patients With Neurological Symptoms of Post Acute COVID-19 Syndrome (PACS).</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome;   Cognitive Impairment;   Neurological Complication<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: VIX001<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Neobiosis, LLC<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study on the Safety and Immune Response of a Booster Dose of Investigational COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   SARS-CoV-2<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: CV0701 Bivalent High dose;   Biological: CV0701 Bivalent Medium dose;   Biological: CV0701 Bivalent Low dose;   Biological: CV0601 Monovalent High dose;   Biological: Control vaccine<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   GlaxoSmithKline;   CureVac<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>PROTECT-APT 1: Early Treatment and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   SARS-CoV-2<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Upamostat;   Drug: Placebo (PO)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine;   Joint Program Executive Office Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense Enabling Biotechnologies;   FHI Clinical, Inc.;   RedHill Biopharma Limited<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 Clinical Evaluation of the Safety and Efficacy of Randomized Placebo Versus the 8-aminoquinoline Tafenoquine for Early Symptom Resolution in Patients With Mild to Moderate COVID 19 Disease and Low Risk of Disease Progression</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID 19 Disease;   Mild to Moderate COVID 19 Disease;   SARS-CoV-2;   Infectious Disease;   Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Tafenoquine Oral Tablet;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   60P Australia Pty Ltd<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Impact of COVID-19 on Sinus Augmentation Surgery</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Bone Loss<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Procedure: Sinus lift in patients with positive COVID-19 history;   Procedure: Sinus lift with negative COVID-19 history<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Expressive Interviewing Agents to Support Health-Related Behavior Change</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Mental Stress<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Expressive Interviewing<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Michigan;   University of Texas at Austin<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>Immunogenicity and Safety of an Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Coadministered With Two Attenuated Vaccines</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection;   Varicella;   Measles;   Mumps;   Rubella<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine coadministered with vricella vaccine;   Biological: Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine coadministered with MMR;   Biological: Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine administered alone<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention;   China National Biotec Group Company Limited<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>Impact of Breathing Exercises and Meditation on Improving Quality of Life in Glaucoma Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Glaucoma;   Depression;   Anxiety;   Quality of Life;   Sleep Disorder<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Breathing Exercises followed by Meditation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Lawson Health Research Institute<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Azithromycin exposure during pregnancy disturbs the fetal development and its characteristic of multi-organ toxicity</strong> - AIMS: Azithromycin is widely used in clinical practice for treating maternal infections during pregnancy. Meanwhile, azithromycin, as an “emerging pollutant”, is increasingly polluting the environment due to the rapidly increasing usage (especially after the COVID-19). Previous studies have suggested a possible teratogenic risk of prenatal azithromycin exposure (PAzE), but its effects on fetal multi-organ development are still unclear. This study aimed to explore the potential impacts of PAzE.</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>Nicotinamide Efficiently Suppresses Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus and Porcine Deltacoronavirus Replication</strong> - Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) and porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV), members of the genus Coronavirus, mainly cause acute diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration in piglets, and thus lead to serious economic losses. In this study, we investigated the effects of nicotinamide (NAM) on PEDV and PDCoV replication and found that NAM treatment significantly inhibited PEDV and PDCoV reproduction. Moreover, NAM plays an important role in replication processes. NAM primarily inhibited PEDV and PDCoV…</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>Analogs of the Catechol Derivative Dynasore Inhibit HIV-1 Ribonuclease H, SARS-CoV-2 nsp14 Exoribonuclease, and Virus Replication</strong> - Viral replication often depends on RNA maturation and degradation processes catalyzed by viral ribonucleases, which are therefore candidate targets for antiviral drugs. Here, we synthesized and studied the antiviral properties of a novel nitrocatechol compound (1c) and other analogs that are structurally related to the catechol derivative dynasore. Interestingly, compound 1c strongly inhibited two DEDD box viral ribonucleases, HIV-1 RNase H and SARS-CoV-2 nsp14 3’-to-5’ exoribonuclease (ExoN)….</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Is Capable of Inducing Cell-Cell Fusions Independent from Its Receptor ACE2 and This Activity Can Be Impaired by Furin Inhibitors or a Subset of Monoclonal Antibodies</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which was responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, efficiently spreads cell-to-cell through mechanisms facilitated by its membrane glycoprotein spike. We established a dual split protein (DSP) assay based on the complementation of GFP and luciferase to quantify the fusogenic activity of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. We provide several lines of evidence that the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, but not SARS-CoV-1, induced cell-cell fusion…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Prevalence and Variant Surveillance among Cats in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infects many mammals, and SARS-CoV-2 circulation in nonhuman animals may increase the risk of novel variant emergence. Cats are highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, and there were cases of virus transmission between cats and humans. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 variant infection of cats in an urban setting. We investigated the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 variant infections in domestic and…</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>IGF2BP1-An Oncofetal RNA-Binding Protein Fuels Tumor Virus Propagation</strong> - The oncofetal RNA-binding protein IGF2BP1 has been reported to be a driver of tumor progression in a multitude of cancer entities. Its main function is the stabilization of target transcripts by shielding these from miRNA-mediated degradation. However, there is growing evidence that several virus species recruit IGF2BP1 to promote their propagation. In particular, tumor-promoting viruses, such as hepatitis B/C and human papillomaviruses, benefit from IGF2BP1. Moreover, recent evidence suggests…</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>Acetate-encapsulated Linolenic Acid Liposomes Reduce SARS-CoV-2 and RSV Infection</strong> - Emergent Coronaviridae viruses, such as SARS-CoV-1 in 2003, MERS-CoV in 2012, and SARS-CoV-2 (CoV-2) in 2019, have caused millions of deaths. These viruses have added to the existing respiratory infection burden along with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza. There are limited therapies for respiratory viruses, with broad-spectrum treatment remaining an unmet need. Since gut fermentation of fiber produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) with antiviral potential, developing a fatty…</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>Breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Individuals Primed with Heterologous Vaccines Enhances Inhibition Performance of Neutralizing Antibody to BA.2 Parental Lineage</strong> - This study aims to analyze the neutralization ability against Omicron parental variants in five clusters of individuals with different Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) immunity backgrounds, including individuals receiving a homologous or heterologous vaccine without prior infection, recovered patients with homologous or heterologous vaccination, and recovery patients without vaccination. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) surrogate virus neutralization assay was performed…</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>Ebselen and Diphenyl Diselenide Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Replication at Non-Toxic Concentrations to Human Cell Lines</strong> - The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, a global public health problem. Despite the numerous studies for drug repurposing, there are only two FDA-approved antiviral agents (Remdesivir and Nirmatrelvir) for non-hospitalized patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 symptoms. Consequently, it is pivotal to search for new molecules with anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity and to study their effects in the human immune system….</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>Montelukast and Telmisartan as Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant</strong> - Earlier studies with montelukast (M) and telmisartan (T) have revealed their potential antiviral properties against SARS-CoV-2 wild-type (WT) but have not assessed their efficacy against emerging Variants of Concern (VOCs) such as Omicron. Our research fills this gap by investigating these drugs’ impact on VOCs, a topic that current scientific literature has largely overlooked. We employed computational methodologies, including molecular mechanics and machine learning tools, to identify drugs…</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>New Imadazopyrazines with CDK9 Inhibitory Activity as Anticancer and Antiviral: Synthesis, In Silico, and In Vitro Evaluation Approaches</strong> - This study describes the synthesis and biological activity of new imadazopyrazines as first-in-class CDK9 inhibitors. The inhibition of CDK9 is a well-established therapeutic target in cancer therapy. The new compounds were assessed using an in vitro kinase assay against CDK9. In this assay, compound 1d exhibited the highest CDK9 inhibition with an IC(50) of 0.18 µM. The cytotoxicity effect of the novel compounds was evaluated in three cancer cell lines: HCT116, K652, and MCF7. The results 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>Novel Molecular Consortia of Cannabidiol with Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Inhibit Emerging Coronaviruses’ Entry</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic provoked a global health crisis and highlighted the need for new therapeutic strategies. In this study, we explore the potential of the molecular consortia of cannabidiol (CBD) and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as novel antiviral dual-target agents against SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19. CBD is a natural compound with a wide range of therapeutic activities, including antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, while NSAIDs are commonly used to mitigate the symptoms 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><em>Euscaphis japonica</em> Kanitz Fruit Exerts Antiobesity Effects by Inhibiting the Early Stage of Adipogenic Differentiation</strong> - During the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak, there was an increase in the prevalence of obesity, including childhood obesity, due to which the awareness of obesity and interest in treatment increased. Accordingly, we describe EJF (Euscaphis japonica Kanitz fruit) extract as a candidate for naturally derived antiobesity agents. In this study, we found that EJF is involved in the early stage of adipogenic differentiation in vitro and finally inhibits adipogenesis. We propose two mechanisms for 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>New Phenolic Lipids from the Leaves of <em>Clausena harmandiana</em> Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Entry into Host Cells</strong> - Induced by the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the COVID-19 pandemic underlined the clear need for antivirals against coronaviruses. In an effort to identify new inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2, a screening of 824 extracts prepared from various parts of 400 plant species belonging to the Rutaceae and Annonaceae families was conducted using a cell-based HCoV-229E inhibition assay. Due to its significant activity, the ethyl acetate extract of the leaves of Clausena…</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 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Anti-Spike Immunoglobulin G Assay: A Robust Method for Evaluation of Vaccine Immunogenicity Using an Established Correlate of Protection</strong> - As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continue to emerge. Immunogenicity evaluation of vaccines and identification of correlates of protection for vaccine effectiveness is critical to aid the development of vaccines against emerging variants. Anti-recombinant spike (rS) protein immunoglobulin G (IgG) quantitation in the systemic circulation (serum/plasma) is shown to correlate with vaccine efficacy. Thus, an enzyme-linked…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Boss and His Botched Coverup</strong> - The latest charges against Donald Trump show him and his Mar-a-Lago band to be as lame as the Watergate plumbers. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/trump-indictment-the-boss-and-his-botched-coverup">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Did Economic Forecasters Get Their Recession Call Wrong?</strong> - Not only has the economy outperformed predictions but it’s growing at a faster rate than experts think is sustainable in the long run. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/why-did-economic-forecasters-get-their-recession-call-wrong">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How UPS and the Teamsters Staved Off a Strike—for Now</strong> - With work stoppages under way or looming in a variety of industries, is the U.S. in the midst of a “hot labor summer”? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-ups-and-the-teamsters-staved-off-a-strike-for-now">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Regina Spektor on “Home, Before and After,” and a Trip to the Boundary Waters</strong> - The singer talks to the music critic Amanda Petrusich about her most recent album, and the writer Alex Kotlowitz makes an annual pilgrimage to the northern woods of Minnesota. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/regina-spektor-on-home-before-and-after-and-a-trip-to-the-boundary-waters">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Heat Waves and the Sweep of History</strong> - This burning summer is taking us out of human time. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/heat-waves-and-the-sweep-of-history">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>How to set boundaries with grandparents</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Illustration of grandparents and parents playing with children." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4rSTm_K6FFriVvx0_eF5geg8x_0=/536x0:4763x3170/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72497055/GettyImages_1195226128.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Grandparents are an important part of the lives of children. Here’s how to manage their involvement. | Getty Images/fStop
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Parenting is hard. Managing your own parents can be harder.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L8nJg8">
Having children can be an exciting opportunity to do things differently than your own parents did. Even if you have a great relationship with your parents, you probably won’t see eye-to-eye on everything — just because we love them doesn’t mean it’s always easy to tolerate their approach, especially as it concerns your own kids. Some of the most loving grandparents may have difficulty remembering household rules and inadvertently needle into childhood wounds. “The hardest part of being a parent is that we were kids first, and we have a whole lifetime of baggage,” says <a href="https://www.raialbany.com/meet-the-team">Megan O’Meara</a>, a therapist I spoke to and the director of <a href="https://www.raialbany.com/">Rainbow Access Initiative</a> in Albany, New York.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EBFBcz">
Grandparents might nag your kids to eat, and then tell them they are gaining too much weight. They might gender everything from colors to the play kitchens all kids love. They may have never allowed you ice cream as a child, and now they feed your children straight sugar. Or maybe your parents try hard to follow your guidance, but they just aren’t informed on current best practices.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="co3qGB">
<a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2017/demo/p70br-147.pdf">There are more grandparents than ever</a>, and having them involved in our kids’ lives offers major benefits to everyone involved. They <a href="https://www.aarp.org/home-family/friends-family/info-2017/2017-grandkids-cost-how-much.html">help with child care</a> and <a href="https://www.aarp.org/research/topics/life/info-2019/aarp-grandparenting-study.html">chip in on expenses</a>. A 2019 <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/field/field_document/Grandparents_Contribute_to_Children%E2%80%99s_Well-being.pdf">Oxford University study</a> showed that kids have fewer behavioral and emotional problems when grandparents are involved in their lives. According to a 2013 <a href="https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/bcnews/news-archive-2011-to-2015/chronicle/2013/news/study-boosts-grandparent-grandchild-ties.html">Boston University study</a>, both adult grandchildren and grandparents show fewer signs of depression when their relationship is tight. Babysitting even <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513816300721">helps grandparents live longer</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n9nONa">
“Over the past couple of decades, grandparents have been alive longer, so they’re more able to take an active role in the families of their children and their grandchildren,” says <a href="https://suzannedegges.com/">Suzanne Degges-White</a>, counselor, professor, and co-author of <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442219311/Mothers-and-Daughters-Living-Loving-and-Learning-over-a-Lifetime"><em>Mothers and Daughters: Living, Loving, and Learning Over a Lifetime</em></a>.<em> </em>According to a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/03/24/the-demographics-of-multigenerational-households/">2021 Pew Research study</a>, since 1971, the number of Americans living in intergenerational households has quadrupled. “It’s really wonderful that we get that multigenerational transmission of values and child care resources,” says Degges-White.
</p>
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While it’s definitely beneficial to have grandparents in the picture — and many of us depend on them for child care — smoothly integrating your own parents into the lives of your children can be challenging, even if you have the best relationship with your parents. It can be triggering in different ways for both the parents and the grandparents, and it calls for important conversations and decisions about boundaries and <a href="https://www.vox.com/parenting">parenting</a> approaches. I spoke with four experts about how to sensitively include grandparents in the lives of their grandkids while making sure that everyone’s needs are met.
</p>
<h3 id="60jw7h">
Be proactive
</h3>
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The best way to avoid future conflict with your parents is to “get in front of it” by having the tough discussions before problems even arise, says <a href="https://www.drebony.com/">Ebony Butler</a>, psychologist and creator of <a href="https://www.mytherapycards.com/?r_done=1">My Therapy Cards</a>. It’s important to have these conversations early in your parenting journey, even before babies come, because those first days are when you may need the most caretaking support.
</p>
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Before starting a conversation about expectations of what a visit with grandma or grandpa looks like, decide what is non-negotiable and what rules are flexible. Maybe you prefer your new baby wears cloth diapers, but you let your parents use disposables when they babysit because it’s easier for them. Maybe it’s not acceptable for your older kids to veg out in front of YouTube when Granny watches them, but they can stay up late.
</p>
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Remember: While structure is necessary, being flexible and willing to negotiate are also skills that are essential to model for our kids. Whether your parents live with you or just stop in to babysit, negotiation skills will lead to greater peace in the home. This might mean the difference between not having a regular babysitter and being able to attend your job daily, sneak in a date night, or take a much-needed nap.
</p>
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Butler recommends saying to grandparents, “Here’s the way that we want to raise our children. Here’s the things that we’re teaching them. Do you think you can get on board with this? If not, what is the middle path here?”
</p>
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<aside id="V8jH4O">
<q>Your child needs to see you advocating for them, so don’t hesitate to redirect your parent in the moment</q>
</aside>
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It’s important to come to the conversation with curiosity, says O’Meara. If they insist on enforcing things you disagree with, such as gender norms, give them the chance to explain where they’re coming from and why they feel the need to give that input. “Oftentimes, it’s out of fear,” she said. “Our parents really want all of us to be safe.”
</p>
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As a parent, you can likely empathize with their fears on a certain level. Having a son who dresses more stereotypically feminine might lead to him getting bullied, so let your parents know that you understand where they are coming from but are doing what you can to keep him safe. Explain the importance of teaching kids to take pride in their authentic selves, something you and your parents may not have been afforded. And remember, you had to do your own unlearning of problematic societal beliefs, too.
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“Many of us automatically assume that our parents should know certain things,” Butler says. “But they don’t. We have to teach them. If my kid has ADHD or is on the spectrum, there’s going to be some education that I’m going to have to provide to the grandparents.”
</p>
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One way to help make the learning curve easier is to tap into their friend circle. “If you know that they have a friend who has a grandkid who is <a href="https://www.vox.com/lgbtq">trans</a> or queer in some way, encourage them to reach out to that person,” says O’Meara. “If you have a relationship with that person, reach out to them yourself and say, ‘Hey, I was wondering if we could lean on you a little to help us because we want to involve this person in our life.’”
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<h3 id="BHWVyf">
Set your parents up to win
</h3>
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Making changes is tough, so ask your parents how you can make things easier for them. “You can offer support to the elder [by asking] how you can help them remember to do this stuff,” Butler says.
</p>
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When you involve your parents in a visit or allow them to babysit, make sure everyone’s accommodations are met. If your child has a special diet, leave the correct snacks on the counter. If your mom can’t drive after sunset, don’t schedule family hangs past dusk. This goes for <a href="https://www.vox.com/religion">religion</a>, too. Serve dinners that follow your parents’ religious diets, and don’t schedule events when they’d normally attend their services.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="zONuT5">
<q>If your parents go against a family belief or rule, it’s important to address it soon after so your frustration doesn’t fester</q>
</aside>
</div>
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When it comes to finances, be sure to discuss who pays for what before it becomes a conflict. In some families, when a grandparent takes a grandchild out, the parent pays for the activity. In others, that would be unheard of. When a parent provides regular caretaking, it’s especially important to have these details hashed out. “A lot of stuff is unspoken that we need to be talking about,” says Butler.
</p>
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As your parents learn new ways of doing things and new perspectives, create activities both your parents and kids can take joy in, zeroing in on your parents’ strengths, O’Meara says. If your dad’s an artist and your son loves attending the Pride parade, have them craft posters together to march through town.
</p>
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“It’s human nature to immediately zero in on the negative,” says <a href="https://www.drnavasilton.com/">Nava Silton</a>, psychologist, professor, and author of <a href="https://www.igi-global.com/book/family-dynamics-romantic-relationships-changing/175396"><em>Family Dynamics and Romantic Relationships in a Changing Society</em></a>, so catch your parents being awesome and give them props.
</p>
<h3 id="9lYUtv">
Understand that parents will make mistakes
</h3>
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Every generation does things differently and thinks they are right and that the previous generation is wrong. “Be tolerant of your parents and recognize that you turned out okay,” says Degges-White, “so you know they’re not going to do that much damage to your kid.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VvmIvu">
If your parents go against a family belief or rule, it’s important to address it soon after so your frustration doesn’t fester.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CdXTbM">
At the same time, your child needs to see you advocating for them, so don’t hesitate to redirect your parent in the moment. “There is a way to respect them and also protect your children,” says Butler. “You saying, ‘Oh, we don’t use that word in this house’ is not disrespectful.”
</p>
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Use a sandwich approach when offering criticism. “Start off with a positive,” Silton says. Tell them you are grateful for their help, drop in your critique, and then end on a positive note, recognizing something they did well.
</p>
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For those of us who approach parents for frequent caretaking, even if our parents get on our nerves, remember that they are there because they love our kids and are dedicated to them. Plus, they are probably more reliable and comfortable to leave your kids with than some random teen babysitter.
</p>
<h3 id="XTm1ne">
Own your own mistakes, too
</h3>
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If you find yourself dwelling on everything your parents do wrong, it’s important to analyze why. Your anger and frustration are likely related to unprocessed resentments from your upbringing.
</p>
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“If your parent does something that we would consider relatively small, and you find yourself being extremely mad about it, that is probably a really good indicator that we are holding unfair expectations,” O’Meara says.
</p>
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The first step to working through the resentment is recognizing it’s there, Degges-White says, and accepting that it’s interfering with the relationship your parents have with your children. Ask yourself, if a friend told you that they were in a similar situation, what advice would you give them?
</p>
<h3 id="TU0l3Q">
Work with what you got
</h3>
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If your parents have addiction issues or are abusive, you may legitimately need to cut them out of your kids’ lives, says Degges-White, but it’s not a decision to take lightly. For some parents who depend on grandparents for caretaking, it’s not an option at all, Butler pointed out.
</p>
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“If you’ve got a grandparent who just cannot or will not honor your child’s orientation or your child’s gender, that’s really hard,” O’Meara says, “but maybe this means we do dinner once a week and we just honor this relationship for what it is … We can’t change a person but we can find ways to love them and have relationships with them that doesn’t hurt us or hurt our kids.”
</p>
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When grandparents have views you and your kids don’t agree with, teach your kids about historical context, says Silton. Explain that they grew up during a different era when people viewed things differently. Tell them, “As you get older, you’ll be able to decide how you feel about these conversations.”
</p>
<h3 id="v8oodZ">
Be a model for your parents and kids
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wOIhx2">
Model forgiveness for your parents, because <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23421467/parenting-good-influence-role-model-kids-mistakes">you too will make mistakes</a>. “Your parents messed you up in ways that are their own unique ways,” says Degges-White. “You’re gonna mess your own kids up in ways that are their own unique ways. We’re all going to make mistakes. And we have to recognize that it’s okay to be human.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ck072p">
Your kids will notice the way you treat your parents, and it will serve as a blueprint for how they care for you down the line. Don’t bad mouth your parents behind their backs, and let your parents know you love them.
</p>
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Your parents will also learn caretaking from watching you and seeing the positive results it brings about, especially if they live with you or are frequently at the house. “The more they see our kids being authentically themselves and proud of that, the easier it becomes to not act out of fear,” says O’Meara.
</p>
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Many of the rules that you set for your parents you will butcher yourself. “One of the things our parents didn’t learn or that wasn’t modeled for them is apologizing to your kids and simultaneously owning your mistakes with your grandparents,” says O’Meara. If you told your parents that it’s okay for kids to cry, and 10 minutes later you find yourself hushing your daughter throwing a tantrum, own up to it. Apologize to your kid, apologize to your parents, and let them know caretaking is hard.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4hKIfn">
“Be easy on yourself,” says Degges-White. “Be easy on your parents. We’re all doing the best we can.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0tMS1R">
<em>Jay Deitcher is a stay-at-home dad, writer, and former social worker living in Albany, New York.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="shIuiO">
<a href="http://www.vox.com/even-better"><em><strong>Even Better</strong></em></a><em> is here to offer deeply sourced, actionable advice for helping you live a better life. Do you have a question on money and work; friends, family, and community; or personal growth and health? Send us your question by filling out this </em><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfiStGSlsWDBmglim7Dh1Y9Hy386rkeKGpfwF6BCjmgnZdqfQ/viewform"><em><strong>form</strong></em></a><em>. We might turn it into a story.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>What can caged lab monkeys tell us about free human beings?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A macaque in a laboratory cage, surrounded by other cages with no visible occupants, looks through the bars." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/t95w0xJJ-4-joUHTIcNWFl9-IOU=/0x1526:3375x4057/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72497004/992170816.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A macaque sits in a cage in a University of Muenster laboratory in Muenster, Germany, on November 24, 2017. | Friso Gentsch/picture alliance via Getty Images
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</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Where biomedicine gets it wrong about primate research.
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<em>A friend says they can always tell when you’re hungover. The way you close the cage latch. With so little to do, their attention can focus on those subtle differences in movement: the way it turns, whether it drops all or part of the way. </em>
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<em>After easing the latch back open, the monkey climbs down to the concrete floor, past the rolling service station with its cotton swabs, boxes, bottles, and syringes. </em>
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<em>Out in the hallway, two caretakers see him crouched against the cinderblock wall, hands pressed against the cream-colored paint, shoulders pulled up, head turned sideways and facing down the corridor, eyes toward them. </em>
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Over the past couple of years, experimentation on non-human primates has had a run of bad publicity. In 2020, media attention focused on a federal laboratory that studied the neurobiology of anxiety by scaring monkeys with <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/feb/24/nih-research-involved-frightening-monkeys-cages/">toy snakes</a>. In November, the US Justice Department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/cambodian-officials-and-six-co-conspirators-indicted-taking-part-primate-smuggling-0#:~:text=Primate%20Smuggling%20Scheme-,Cambodian%20Officials%20and%20Six%20Co%2Dconspirators%20Indicted%20for,Part%20in%20Primate%20Smuggling%20Scheme&amp;text=MIAMI%20%E2%80%94%20Members%20of%20an%20international,macaques%20into%20the%20United%20States.">indicted</a> members of an alleged “primate smuggling ring” for trafficking and selling wild <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/fr/species/12551/221666136">long-tailed macaques</a>, an endangered species, to biomedical researchers in the US.
</p>
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Around the same time, attention turned to the Livingstone Lab at Harvard University, where researchers sewed baby macaques’ eyelids shut to <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2018780117">investigate</a> how visual deprivation affects brain<em> </em>development. The controversy landed in <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/harvard-studies-infant-monkeys-draw-fire-split-scientists">Science magazine</a>, where scientists debated the ethics of blinding monkeys. I was asked to weigh in. But my questions were different — less about the blinded macaques, and more about the controls staring at their cage walls.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oK019M">
For 16 years, I worked as a professor for medical schools in Wisconsin and Oregon. Both universities had primate centers. I knew about their operations, though I never experimented on primates. Instead, my laboratories mostly studied mice. Our goal was to identify the genetic and pollutant risk factors for autism, a disability that features challenges with social emotions. We never successfully identified any risk factors, but we did discover that mice enjoy one another’s company and have empathy for their pain.
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After publishing more than 40 scientific papers, I left academia. In part, I left on principle. I believed that if we experimented on animals, we were obligated not to waste them. I also believed that biomedical scientists were obliged to consider the implications of our own discoveries — like how our animals<em> </em>were responding to their cage environments — so we could do better science. Eventually, I lost faith in the process. I also lost the stomach to confine sentient creatures to tiny cages.
</p>
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Scientists know that the tight confinement of standard laboratory cages distorts the psychology and physiology of our animal subjects. Yet despite a half-century of evidence, we continue to cage them as if their biology is baked into their genetics. From decades of rodent studies, scientists know that an animal’s brain anatomy and physiology are highly vulnerable to even modest changes in their living environments. Mice housed in standard cages, rather than slightly larger ones furnished with blocks and tunnels for mental stimulation, are more <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35022024/">susceptible</a> to drug abuse, genetic modifications, and toxic chemicals. Monkeys, nearly our next of kin, can become so mentally deranged by their cage environments that they no longer resemble healthy humans. They might have more in common with <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/can-an-unloved-child-learn-to-love/612253/">children housed in Romanian orphanages</a> in the 1980s and 1990s, who were so deprived of human contact that they still struggle with lifelong physiological and psychological <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053811901909176">disabilities</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="kuspqb">
Can we use mentally damaged animals to model mental health?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JSzrTB">
Primate experiments have undeniably aided the discovery of treatments for human disease, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258205427_History_of_polio_vaccination">particularly</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/817293/">vaccines</a> and surgical techniques. More than a century ago, for example, scientists collected extracts from the spinal cord of a boy who died of polio, injected them into monkeys, studied how the infection spread, and then developed a vaccine that nearly <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC112492/">eradicated</a> polio. Much more recently, primate experiments were useful for developing a brain-spine interface that can restore the ability of people with paralysis to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06094-5">walk</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HDADkg">
But these successes have been rare. Part of the problem lies in the question we now ask. Globally, scientists use <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/1/133">approximately 100,000 non-human primates</a> at any given time, often to explore highly nuanced questions, like finding risk factors and treatments for mental health challenges — autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, addiction, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder. And here, we mostly fail. Most drugs showing extreme promise in animal studies fall short in human trials. We <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.3003142">haven’t</a> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01887-y">developed</a> a new category of drugs for treating psychiatric illness in more than 50 years; new psychiatric drugs introduced over the same period have been modified versions of existing drugs.
</p>
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Scientists also use primates to understand how human-like immune systems respond to infectious diseases — but, like mental health, immunity is also highly sensitive to how the monkeys feel inside their cages.
</p>
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Housing for monkeys is tight. The standard cage for a rhesus macaque, a common laboratory primate, is about 2.5 feet across, narrow enough for its inhabitant to touch both walls at once. By contrast, their wild relatives can navigate home ranges averaging about 1.5 square miles. Macaques are built to navigate 740 American football fields’ worth of savannah grasslands and forest canopies. Yet inside biomedical labs, they typically get confined to the equivalent of a <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/garet_lahvis_the_inescapable_problem_of_lab_animal_restraint">telephone booth</a>.
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Housing situations vary. Some live “singly housed” — a situation that resembles solitary confinement, often for a few months, sometimes for life. Others get “protected contact” — two monkeys separated by a grate that permits fingertips to touch. Others live as “buddies in a cage” — sharing the space of a shower stall until one buddy gets pulled out, often leaving the remaining one stressed and with a depressed immune system for weeks to months depending on his temperament (and, perhaps, how close he felt to his buddy).
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In some respects, singly housed monkeys have it better than human inmates in solitary. For instance, they can more easily hear each other vocalize. Some have handheld mirrors to see their neighbors. Many have opportunities to rattle their squeeze bars, the metal poles fixed to the cage’s back walls, used to pull the monkeys forward for procedures like injections and blood draws. But while the United Nations <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2020/02/united-states-prolonged-solitary-confinement-amounts-psychological-torture">considers</a> more than 15 days of solitary confinement in humans to be torture, research monkeys often get a lifetime — especially if they lose it and assault their buddy in the cage. And although humans in solitary get time each day outside their cell, primates usually don’t get a break.
</p>
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Studies <a href="https://unlocktheboxcampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Haney-ThePsychologicalEffectsofSolitaryConfinement-ASystematicCritique2018.pdf">show</a> that human solitary confinement in prisons can cause depression, anxiety, paranoia, violent fantasies, full-blown panic attacks, hallucinations, psychosis, and schizophrenia. Some <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(20)30190-5/fulltext">incarcerated people</a> <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3953781/">also</a> self-mutilate, cutting their wrists and arms, ingesting foreign objects, self-burning, and reopening stitches from prior injuries. <a href="https://www.unodc.org/lpomex/uploads/documents/Publicaciones/Prevencion-del-delito-y-justicia-penal/2014_WHO_UNODC_Prisons_and_Health_eng.pdf">Physical symptoms</a> include <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6342510/">cardiovascular disease</a>, migraine headaches, back pain, profound fatigue, and deterioration of eyesight.
</p>
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Likewise, lab monkeys express behaviors that suggest psychological trauma. Among 362 singly housed rhesus monkeys, a study found that 89 percent expressed abnormal behavior. Most were what we call <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4240438/">“stereotypies”</a> — repetitive behaviors that serve no purpose, save coping. Some monkeys pace in circles. Others rock or bounce for hours, like idling engines. Some methodically somersault. Others incessantly rattle their squeeze bars. A few spend time in “eye salute,” a euphemism for self-stimulation by sticking fingers into one’s own eye.
</p>
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<em>My friend tells me he’s seen some monkeys cross the line of no return. Unresponsive to the caretakers interacting with them, they can’t stop rocking, twirling, circling, or twitching. They can’t pull away from the back of the cage. Their eyes no longer make contact.</em>
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___
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DPJUak">
Up to 15 percent of laboratory monkeys <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12526035/">self-mutilate</a>. They might pluck single hairs from their backsides until they turn bright pink, or bang their heads repeatedly against their cage walls, or <a href="https://awionline.org/content/self-biting-caged-macaques-cause-effect-and-treatment">bite themselves</a> deep enough to require sutures. Unlike their wild brethren, caged macaques often <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/aalas/jaalas/2014/00000053/00000006/art00004?crawler=true&amp;mimetype=application/pdf">paint the walls with their feces</a> — a substance they can manipulate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n6eNrR">
Nearly one-quarter of caged macaques express <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20568078/">“floating limb”</a> behaviors. Watch one for long enough and you might see his leg writhe or kick. He might grab his leg as it slowly elevates, seemingly out of control. It might hover behind his back. Or his foot might relentlessly smack the back of his head. He might respond by attacking his leg, as if it were foreign.
</p>
<h3 id="fkx7zC">
Scientists have normalized the idea that their caged primates are healthy
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kp0Vj7">
I suspect these behaviors are manifestations of an intolerable <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0893133X99001293?casa_token=IGfwh7btvVsAAAAA:ZeYr3lXhEvjkXPROFafsCAEQUIZMlvOJkXwYFq5PNHx0MHp7YTBKgkxrXlsOcUOQPCu_A6nu">allostatic load</a>: a “wear and tear on the body and brain resulting from chronic overactivity or inactivity of physiological systems that are normally involved in adaptation to environmental challenge.”<em> </em>Cramped living spaces deny primates the ability to act on their innate motivations: to seek pleasures, avoid discomforts, and explore complex and changing environments. Oysters don’t need these motivations because they can flourish cemented to a rock. For moving animals, motivations help us make decisions. An innate taste for sugar and salt prompts us to seek the calories and sodium we need to survive. When scientists remove the pleasure center of a rat brain, called the nucleus accumbens, they <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2519054/">no longer eat</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LBGJ5Y">
Curiosity is also an innate drive. In the wild, animals feel compelled to investigate their environments — where to go, what to eat, with whom to interact — to know their options when their situations change. Scientists leverage an animal’s <a href="https://www.cell.com/neuron/pdf/S0896-6273(15)00767-9.pdf">innate curiosity</a> to study how memory works: Introduce a laboratory mouse to a novel object and a familiar one, and if the rodent remembers the object they encountered before, they’ll spend more time sniffing the unfamiliar one. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24944470">Since the 1950s</a>, scientists have known that monkeys will solve complex puzzles simply for the challenge of solving the task.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ilFAqn">
I suspect that, deprived of varied and ongoing challenges to overcome, environments to explore, or a natural range of body movements, caged monkeys — studied because they resemble us — go insane with boredom. Still, I’ve heard scientists insist that these animals are happier in cages because they get food, water, and safety from predators. They’ll tell you laboratory primates get “environmental enrichment,” like a rubber ball stuffed with a treat, a toy dangling from a cage door, a mirror to play with, or snacks scattered on the cage floor. I suppose they get exercise, too. For glutes and biceps, they can rock back and forth or rattle their cage doors. For a cardio workout, they can pace in circles or slam themselves against the cage walls.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6LbhrC">
Here’s the rub. Scientists must believe that lab animals thrive physically and mentally — not for animal welfare reasons, but to justify our experiments. We need healthy controls, not psychologically broken ones, to benchmark our disease models. And we need the animals used as disease models to be otherwise healthy because we lack the scientific capacity to separate the biology of a nuanced disorder, like autism or ADHD, from confounding factors like the mental damage caused by incarceration.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RxMtiG">
My qualm with the Livingstone Lab’s experiment, the one that entailed sewing baby monkeys’ eyelids shut, is not primarily ethical but scientific. They <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2018780117">claimed</a> that by blinding monkeys, they could gain “insight into evolutionary changes in the functional organization of high-level visual cortex.” But they wrongly presumed that their “healthy” control monkeys, who were denied most visual stimulation save the depleted sensory environment of a steel-gray cage, had normal visual functioning.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AlBlcL">
By describing what they’re studying as “evolutionary changes,” the researchers lured us into believing the ridiculous — that brain development behind steel bars is not only normal but natural enough to be relevant to evolutionary changes occurring outside the lab. Yet their monkeys experienced no full spectrum of color, no natural movement like the rustling of leaves, and no passing landscape. Like most other primate experimenters, the lab normalized the idea that monkeys naturally live inside telephone booths, not in the vast, dynamic, and aesthetically complex expanses of nature.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C44W5e">
What bothers me most is that the scientific community expresses so little concern about whether we’re chasing artifacts of confinement. And for the few of us who ask, the answer is loud with silence.
</p>
<h3 id="wgaeUC">
Can we do better?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tkdYZP">
Admittedly, scientists are in a fix. Our problem might have begun during the late Middle Ages, about 800 years ago, when Italian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas argued that because animals lacked “rational souls,” they were like machines. Centuries later, René Descartes, a father of modern science, called animals <em>automata</em>, robots driven by reflexes, without thoughts or feelings — like the mechanical men of his era, built to hammer the bells of village clock towers. Armed with this philosophy, scientists tacked dogs to walls and opened them up without anesthesia to learn that the heart, not the liver, pumped blood. Their shrieks and howls were thought of as if they were bells ringing on the hour.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IcoOiY">
The cruel irony is that the ethical justification for experimenting on animals — that they lack subjective experiences — allowed us to find cogent evidence that they do. Now we’re forced to ignore what we’ve learned from science — so that we can keep doing it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vIuR0E">
Rather than envision a new paradigm, scientists have devised arguments to keep things the same, claiming, for example, that we need small cages to control for confounding variables in an animal’s environment. But we routinely accept the inescapable variables inside their confines — sound, lighting, food quality, social situations — that are either impossible or too inconvenient to control. In truth, we use small cages because they afford the cheapest and most convenient way to generate scientific publications.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2WyXWB">
What could scientists do differently? We could pivot to more helpful alternatives. We could deploy spatially and temporally complex spaces to study smaller organisms under conditions where they might thrive like the free human beings they are meant to resemble. Mice and rats could live in small research barns with varied food and shelter options and penned-in outdoor access, where they could author their own experiences and meet ongoing and unpredictable <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/garet_lahvis_the_inescapable_problem_of_lab_animal_restraint?utm_campaign=tedspread&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=tedcomshare">challenges</a>. Zebrafish, snails, and fruit flies could also get environments complex enough to operate as they might in the wild. <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/27438">Remote technologies</a> could help deliver various drugs and biomolecules to moving animals and help us monitor their responses.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qwdIxX">
Biomedical research institutions could double down on financially neglected health research programs, like disease prevention. We could expand monitoring of human and wildlife populations for elevated pockets of disease — like cancer, congenital disorders, and mental illness — arising from our exposures to thousands of pesticides and industrial contaminants.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HXWFM0">
Present-day concerns over <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/8/25/23318667/pfas-forever-chemicals-safety-drinking-water">“forever chemicals” in our food and drinking water</a>, and the enormous <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/poor-communities-await-first-epa-limits-on-forever-chemicals">price tag</a> we now face for cleanup, could have been predicted and more easily remediated decades ago, when epidemiologists and chemists found evidence of their presence in humans and wildlife. The elevated prevalence of congenital disorders, endocrine disruption, immune dysfunction, and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thomas-Erdman/publication/223771639_Reproductive_Outcomes_in_Colonial_Fish-Eating_Birds_A_Biomarker_for_Developmental_Toxicants_in_Great_Lakes_Food_Chains/links/61412793dabce51cf4520605/Reproductive-Outcomes-in-Colonial-Fish-Eating-Birds-A-Biomarker-for-Developmental-Toxicants-in-Great-Lakes-Food-Chains.pdf">mental illness</a> found in fish-eating wildlife in pollutant hot spots around the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020320201">Great Lakes</a> and along the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23212976/">US coasts</a> could be used to identify regional exposures to chemical mixtures that also threaten human health. <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/pdf/10.1289/ehp.01109s6853">Why not focus on these issues</a>? With advanced epidemiological computer modeling, and gene sequencing tools, along with <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/epdf/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303771">high-efficiency cell culture systems</a> that can test multiple chemicals at a time without the use of animals, we could identify harmful compounds, then remove them. The potential is far greater than whatever we might learn from using rubber snakes to scare mentally enfeebled monkeys.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NhpRZW">
Many people believe that science differs from blind faith. If that’s true, I wonder how many more rabbit holes we’ll plumb before we see that cage-deteriorated primates don’t resemble free human beings. Perhaps scientists collectively disregard animal subjectivity out of fear of the moral implications of experimenting on other sentient creatures. Or are we blinded by our ambitions for careers and legacies? No matter the cause, we have obligations to the societal trust placed in us. And if we’re 1,000 years overdue for a paradigm shift, let’s hope that today’s young scientists can find the unfettered clarity of sight to make it happen.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="alDqUo">
___
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wGQnya">
<em>The fugitive still cowers in the main hall, cheek and chest pressed against the cinderblock, eyes looking upward, seemingly fixed on the audible ballast of the fluorescent lights. Or the fly circling, then resting, beneath it. He might hear the buzz of both, one against the other, a two-tone that cannot calm the anxiety of being outside that room. Having known only metal walls and the fetid mire of idling bodies, he lacks familiarity with concrete surfaces, unfouled air, and the taking of risks. </em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MmIcY9">
<em>The protocol is straightforward. Face the escapee, chest out, shoulders straight, eyes toward his. Wedge open the colony room door. Use push brooms to coax him back into his cage. </em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pQ3pgc">
<em>The convict returns. They close his cage door. He pivots, then grabs the bars of the door as if he’s now the master, then shakes them violently like he’s trying to get out. He’ll be studied over and over again because he somehow represents us. Maybe he does.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yQAXoD">
<em>___ </em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jqqSbF">
<a href="https://www.garetlahvis.net/"><em>Garet Lahvis</em></a><em> was an associate professor and the graduate program director of behavioral neuroscience at Oregon Health and Science University. He is currently writing a book for the University of Chicago Press on his experiences with the limits of science, and of the scientific community, in addressing some of our most pressing biomedical issues. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at </em><a href="https://twitter.com/GLahvis"><em><span class="citation" data-cites="GLahvis">@GLahvis</span></em></a><em>.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>Niger’s coup and the international community’s opposition, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="TOPSHOT-NIGER-POLITICS-COUP-CONFLICT-ARMY" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/df5VKGeL604JkQPxJmOG86kc83U=/725x0:3700x2231/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72496187/1559603798.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
ORTN - Télé Sahel/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
President Mohamed Bazoum has refused to resign despite Wednesday’s military takeover.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qvz5vI">
Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, the head of Niger’s presidential guard, with other members of Niger’s armed forces,<strong> </strong>on Friday declared himself head of a transitional government he called “<a href="https://www.voaafrica.com/a/state-tv-niger-general-named-new-transitional-president-/7201838.html">the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland</a>,” while international leaders and organizations including the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) strongly condemned the coup.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dnUOsh">
President Mohamed Bazoum was democratically elected in 2021 in Niger’s first peaceful transfer of power, and “remains the only legitimate President of Niger,” as European Union High Representative Josep Borrell <a href="https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/niger-statement-high-representative-josep-borrell-latest-developments_en">said in a statement Saturday</a> calling on the coup leaders to release Bazoum. Members of the military involved in the coup meanwhile warned in a television address Friday that ”consequences that will flow” should any foreign forces intervene. The <a href="https://www.africom.mil/topic/nigerien-air-base-201">US built and helps run an air base in Niger</a>, and France has about 1,500 troops in the country, according to <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230728-niger-s-general-abdourahamane-tchiani-declared-new-leader-following-coup-state-tv">France24</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vsQLEY">
ECOWAS authorities will hold negotiations on Sunday to attempt to convince Tchiani to hand power back to Bazoum; the economic body is reportedly considering sanctions against Niger as a form of leverage, though it’s not yet clear what those measures would look like. The EU has already withdrawn funding and military support “with immediate effect” due to the “unacceptable attack on the integrity of Niger’s republican institutions.” The EU had reserved $554 million of its budget for 2021-2024 to support education, governance, sustainable economic growth, as <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/29/blinken-offers-nigers-ousted-leader-bazoum-unflagging-support">Al Jazeera </a>reported.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EEWI1c">
It’s <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/27/timeline-a-history-of-coups-in-niger">the fifth successful military coup in Niger</a> since its independence from France in 1960. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/5/22919160/coup-guinea-bissau-africa-burkina-faso-sudan-why">A series of coups</a> has toppled the governments of several African countries over the past three years, but Niger is a bit of an outlier among its neighbors, particularly due to the vociferous support Bazoum’s government has enjoyed. Though Niger, like many other western African nations, had suffered from poor economic growth and stunted democratic and public institutions, Bazoum’s tenure produced improvements in education and public health, as well as the security and economic outlooks compared with neighbors like Mali and Burkina Faso.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tCIJ3Z">
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is referring to Tchiani’s takeover as an “attempted coup” because “we don’t consider things final, there is still a way out if those responsible listen to the international community,” she said <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/french-fm-says-niger-coup-not-final-solution-possible-bc8e94ca">Thursday.</a> On Saturday, she <a href="https://twitter.com/MinColonna/status/1685322869058764801">announced via Twitter</a> that France had immediately suspended “all its development aid and budget support actions from Niger” and called for Bazoum’s immediate release and reinstatement.
</p>
<h3 id="3r960n">
Wednesday’s coup was tenuous — and the outcome remains uncertain
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DSSvNX">
Tchiani’s claim to power rests on the idea that Bazoum’s government had failed to deal with the violent Islamist extremism that has festered in the region over the past decade. That claim has driven coups elsewhere in the region, such as Mali. Military leaders can present themselves as a strong security alternative in unstable and violent nations, but in the case of Niger, the security situation was actually improving, especially in relation to its neighbors in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Sahel">the Sahel region</a> — the band of north-central Africa stretching from northern Senegal to Sudan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8dx3tM">
According to <a href="https://africacenter.org/spotlight/fatalities-from-militant-islamist-violence-in-africa-surge-by-nearly-50-percent/#:~:text=While%2090%20percent%20of%20all%20violent%20events%20in%20the%20Sahel%20occurred%20in%20Burkina%20Faso%20and%20Mali%2C%20the%20past%20year%20was%20also%20notable%20for%20the%20significant%20increase%20in%20violent%20episodes%20in%20the%20littoral%20states.%20The%20number%20of%20events%20in%20Benin%20jumped%20from%205%20to%2037%20and%20in%20Togo%20from%201%20to%2017.">a February report from the Africa Center for Strategic Analysis</a>, the vast majority — 90 percent — of last year’s violent events related to Islamist extremism in the Sahel occurred in Mali and Burkina Faso. And while while the number of <a href="https://africacenter.org/spotlight/fatalities-from-militant-islamist-violence-in-africa-surge-by-nearly-50-percent/#:~:text=Niger%2C%20similarly%2C%20saw%20a%2043,more%20than%202.6%20million%20people.">violent events in Niger doubled</a> to 214, the number of deaths due to extremism declined by half.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sW3Vby">
Approximately 40 percent of all violent activity by Islamist groups in Africa occurs in the Sahel — more than any other African region. The terror — summary executions, kidnappings, rapes, and lootings — that groups like the <a href="https://africacenter.org/publication/puzzle-jnim-militant-islamist-groups-sahel/">Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimin</a> (JNIM) coalition, Ansaroul Islam, Ansar Dine, and the <a href="https://africacenter.org/spotlight/islamic-state-in-the-greater-sahara-expanding-its-threat-and-reach-in-the-sahel/">Islamic State in the Greater Sahara</a> (ISGS) is real, and it is devastating. But if the situations in <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/7/2/23781794/wagner-group-africa-russia-uae-putin">Mali </a>and Burkina Faso are any example, military rule only exacerbates the violence.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E35l5f">
Tchiani told Nigeriens on a televised address Friday that he had taken over to stop “the gradual and inevitable demise” of the country because “the security approach today has not brought security to the country despite heavy sacrifices.” <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/28/niger-general-tchiani-named-head-of-transitional-government-after-coup">As Al Jazeera reported,</a> Tchiani told Nigeriens that Bazoum had duped them into thinking the situation was improving, while “the harsh reality [is] a pile of dead, displaced, humiliation and frustration.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6WN5So">
Bazoum had reportedly tried to force Tchiani into retirement, as Daniel Eizenga, a research fellow at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, points out. “The coup justifications have no foundation to stand on in Niger,” Eizenga said, adding that the power grab seems to be due to “the egotistical motivations of this individual.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="32MCJU">
Indeed, Tchiani did not initially have the full support of the armed forces, though he has since commandeered the endorsement of some of Niger’s military leaders. Civilian protests immediately after Tchiani’s takeover insisted that Bazoum be returned to office; however, as Eizenga told Vox, those protests were violently suppressed by the presidential guard, Tchiani’s unit — creating a “chilling effect” against further civilian protest.
</p>
<h3 id="TQGWUa">
A tradition of military rule is proving hard to shake
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9wbrGf">
While coups around the world and in the Sahel region have both broad and specific commonalities, it’s critical to understand the differences between these events, Joseph Sany, the vice president of the US Institute of Peace’s Africa Center <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/5/22919160/coup-guinea-bissau-africa-burkina-faso-sudan-why">told Vox in an interview last year</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vgdLoe">
“I hate the term ‘contagion’ because it’s a blanket term,” Sany said at the time. “You can’t put Guinea in the same group as Mali and Burkina Faso.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GiwOmg">
Successful coups often have some common elements like weak democratic institutions, tension between the military and the civilian government, rampant and unpunished corruption, a history of coups, and governments unable or unwilling to provide necessary services.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u0uYVX">
Niger has a history of a politicized military, as do other nations which have undergone undemocratic changes in government over the past three years. “The recent changes in government, through the coup and counter-coups, is more or less a reflection of the past,” Bonnie Ayodele, a professor of political science at Ekiti State University in Ado Ekiti, Nigeria, told Vox in an interview.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DJpZsM">
“When you try to change that, there are going to be actors within the military that perceive that as their interests being negatively affected,” Eizenga said. The presidential guard, which Tchaini had headed since 2011, also have a degree of influence and autonomy from the regular military, which can create a sense of exceptionalism.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K0TkzN">
Though Russia’s Wagner Group has been linked to military regimes in Mali, the Central African Republic, and potentially to Sudan, there’s no evidence that the proxy force headed by Yevgeniy Prigozhin was part of Wednesday’s coup. Prigozhin did, however, issue a statement that appealed to the anti-colonialist sentiment Wagner has stoked in neighboring Mali. “What happened in Niger is nothing other than the struggle of the people of Niger with their colonizers,” Prigozhin posted on Telegram Thursday, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exiled-russian-mercenary-boss-prigozhin-hails-niger-coup-touts-services-2023-07-28/#:~:text=%22What%20happened%20in%20Niger%20is,message%2C%20posted%20on%20Thursday%20evening.">according to Reuters</a>. “With colonizers who are trying to foist their rules of life on them and their conditions and keep them in the state that Africa was in hundreds of years ago.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SdaKTf">
As Ayodele told Vox, threats from France and the EU are unlikely to sway Tchiani and his fellow coup-plotters. “It has never deterred them — sanctions, banning them, slamming them with a lot of punishments, it doesn’t work. They did that against the Junta in Mali, they did that against the junta in Burkina Faso […] so I’m not sure this will work.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EKYV58">
The emergency ECOWAS summit needs to take forceful action to follow Nigerian president and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/10/nigerias-president-tinubu-chosen-as-new-west-africa-bloc-chief">ECOWAS Chairman Bola Tinubu’</a>s condemnation of the coup attempt, Ayodele said. Tinubu dispatched Benin’s President <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/soldiers-nigers-presidential-guard-blockade-presidents-office-security-sources-2023-07-26/">Patrice Talon</a> to Niger to assess the situation on the ground and said in a statement that, “I believe that all means will be used if necessary to restore constitutional order in Niger, but the ideal would be for everything to happen in peace and harmony.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mh8Nvq">
As for what ECOWAS can actually do, “nothing is off the table,” Abdel Fatau Musah, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs and Security told <a href="https://www.voaafrica.com/a/un-ecowas-seeks-release-of-niger-president/7201196.html">Daybreak Africa</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LNQ9d3">
“<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/28/ecowas-suspends-burkina-faso-after-coup#:~:text=The%20West%20African%20regional%20bloc,takeover%20in%20only%2018%20months.">There is a protocol</a> that many West African countries have signed to with regards to unconstitutional changes in government, that that particular country is no longer part of ECOWAS bloc,” Ayodele told Vox. “But we’ve seen some of these countries relapse into a military regime again, and ECOWAS is incapacitated to respond in a way that can bring about a democratic regime.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dsHDXk">
Ultimately a united international front and stronger action from ECOWAS, particularly Nigerian President Ahmed Bola Tinubu could prove decisive for Niger. President Bazoum has refused to resign and has broad and forceful support not only from Western nations but within ECOWAS and the African Union.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="48VfRA">
And it’s those blocs and African nations, particularly Nigeria, , that have a strong interest in returning civilian rule to Niger. Even deeply flawed civilian regimes are better than military rule, and garner more international support while also being more stable and less violent. If Niger’s can be overturned or reversed, it would send a strong signal of support for civilian government in Africa, and would help<strong> </strong>to reverse recent democratic backsliding.
</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>Rally of Coimbatore: Three wins in a row for Arjun Rao &amp; Satish Rajagopal</strong> - There were four stages for the day in the FMSCI Blueband Sports Indian National Rally Championship for four-wheelers and Arjun came out the quickest in three of them</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>Stuart Broad: England’s master match-winner</strong> - Longstanding England new-ball colleague James Anderson (690) is the only paceman higher than him on the all-time list.</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>Compound mixed team of Pragati and Aman snares the gold medal</strong> - WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES | Indian archers collect a silver and two bronze medals to bag four medals in team events</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>Manchester United agree to sign Denmark’s Hojlund from Atalanta: reports</strong> - Hojlund joined Atalanta at the start of the 2022-23 Serie A season and scored nine league goals in a breakout campaign</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>Stuart Broad is a special cricketer, his partnership with Anderson will be remembered, says Rahul Dravid</strong> - The 37-year-old Broad announced that he will retire from international cricket after the conclusion of the ongoing final Ashes Test against Australia</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>Fadnavis condemns Hindutva leader’s remarks against Mahatma Gandhi</strong> - Maharashtra Home Minister says government will take all necessary action</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>Bill proposes graded age ratings for films, but censorship to stay</strong> - The CBFC will now have five ratings to classify films on the basis of age, but it will retain its censorship powers even for ‘A’ rated films; MPs note that censorship is diluted in an era of streaming</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>‘560 tonnes of tomatoes sold at subsidised rate in Delhi, U.P., Rajasthan in last 15 says’</strong> - NCCF is selling tomatoes through mobile vans, select retail outlets of Kendriya Bhandar and the government-backed ONDC in Delhi and NCR</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>13.13 lakh girls, women went missing between 2019 and 2021: Govt data</strong> - The data was compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).</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>Police book case against businessman for punishing his daughter brutally</strong> -</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Putin says Russia does not reject peace talks</strong> - The Russian leader also sought to justify the arrest of critical voices, claiming they were harming the country from inside.</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>Moscow drone attack briefly shuts Vnukovo airport</strong> - Russian officials say one person has been injured after two drones crashed into offices</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>Europe fires: The Canadair water bombers battling Mediterranean blazes</strong> - The distinctive yellow planes and their pilots play a crucial role in rugged Mediterranean regions.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia storm: High winds kill 10 in central Volga region</strong> - Eight of the victims died when trees fell on their campsite near a lake in Mari El region.</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>Wagner could pose as migrants to enter EU, PM Morawiecki warns</strong> - Some Russian mercenaries are near the city of Grodno, close to Poland and Lithuania, Mr Morawiecki says.</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>Instead of obtaining a warrant, the NSA would like to keep buying your data</strong> - The agency opposes an amendment that prevents it from using data brokers. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1957520">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The 2023 Porsche Cayman GT4 RS is the best sports car on sale today</strong> - Transplanting the 911 GT3’s flat-six engine created a remarkable car. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1957399">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Communal stargazing using your phone: The Unistellar eQuinox 2, reviewed</strong> - Stargaze with up to 10 of your friends no matter how bad the light pollution is. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1957544">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launches world’s most massive communications satellite [Updated]</strong> - SpaceX has again launched a competitor’s satellite, this time a 10-ton behemoth. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1956756">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>European satellite plunges back to Earth in first-of-its-kind assisted re-entry</strong> - “This is quite unique, what we are doing here.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1957604">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’m the toughest.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Three mice are drinking at a bar talking about which one is the toughest. The first mouse takes a shot and says “I’m so tough the people living in my house put rat poison out, and I simply grab it, break it up, and put it in my morning coffee!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The second mouse takes a shot and says “That’s nothing. They try to get me with a mouse trap. I just grab the cheese and when the lever comes flying down I lay on my back catch it and bench press it 20 times.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The third one takes his shot, slams it down, and stands up. “I don’t have time for this. I’ve got to go home and fuck the cat.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/AuditorOfTheNight"> /u/AuditorOfTheNight </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15d5od7/im_the_toughest/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15d5od7/im_the_toughest/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>While watching TV with his wife, a man tosses peanuts into the air and catches them in his mouth. Just as he throws another peanut into the air, the front door opens, causing him to turn his head. The peanut falls into his ear and gets stuck.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
His daughter comes in with her date. The man explains the situation, and the daughter’s date says, “I can get the peanut out.” He tells the father to sit down, shoves two fingers into the father’s nose, and tells him to blow hard. The father blows, and the peanut flies out of his ear. After the daughter takes her date to the kitchen for something to eat, the mother turns to the father and says, “Isn’t he smart? I wonder what he plans to be.” The father says, “From the smell of his fingers, I’d say our son-in-law.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15czzv2/while_watching_tv_with_his_wife_a_man_tosses/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15czzv2/while_watching_tv_with_his_wife_a_man_tosses/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Daddy to the rescue</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
At a religious school, a teacher asks her pre-school class which part of their body they think goes to Heaven first.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I think it’s your hands!” a boy answers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Why is that?” the teacher asks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Because when you pray, you put your hands in front of you,” the boy explains.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Very good answer!” the teacher compliments. “Does anyone else have another answer?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I think it’s your legs!” a girl replies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Why is that?” the teacher asks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Because,” the girl explains, “last night, when I walked into Mommy and Daddy’s room, Mommy had her legs high up in the air and was screaming, ‘Oh God, I’m coming! I’m coming!’ If Daddy wasn’t lying on top of her holding her down, God might’ve taken her.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ZhangtheGreat"> /u/ZhangtheGreat </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15dhcc9/daddy_to_the_rescue/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15dhcc9/daddy_to_the_rescue/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>3 priests are out fishing on a boat..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
One of them says “We should confess our sins to one another.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The first one says "I have a gambling problem, I sneak out at night and gamble away all my money..
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The second one says “I have an addiction to porn and can’t stop looking at it.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The third one says “I am a gossip and can’t wait to get off this boat.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/BlueMANAHat"> /u/BlueMANAHat </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15d0nus/3_priests_are_out_fishing_on_a_boat/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15d0nus/3_priests_are_out_fishing_on_a_boat/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man met this lady at a bar and they decided to go to her place to have sex after the bar closed…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
They’re in the bedroom and he takes off his shoes and socks.“My goodness what happened to you’re feet?”She asks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I had tolio,” He replied. “Dont you mean polio?” She asks.“No. This just affected my feet. It’s called toelio.”She thought nothing of it and continued to undress. He takes off his pants and immediately she screams,“What happened to your knees?”I had kneesles.“he said.”Don’t you mean measles,“she asked.”No.This type only effects the knees.Its called kneesles. When he took off his shorts she said,“Let me guess, Smallcox.”
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/shdchko"> /u/shdchko </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15cq705/a_man_met_this_lady_at_a_bar_and_they_decided_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15cq705/a_man_met_this_lady_at_a_bar_and_they_decided_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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