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Navan Chauhan
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<title>10 July, 2021</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>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
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<li><strong>Background rates of all-cause mortality, hospitalizations, and emergency department visits among nursing home residents in Ontario, Canada to inform COVID-19 vaccine safety assessments</strong> -
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Background. Nursing home (NH) residents are prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination. We report monthly mortality, hospitalizations, and emergency department (ED) visit incidence rates (IRs) during 2010-2020 to provide context for COVID-19 vaccine safety assessments. Methods. We observed outcomes among NH residents using administrative databases. IRs were calculated by month, sex, and age group. Comparisons between months were assessed using one-sample t-tests; comparisons by age and sex were assessed using chi-squared tests. Results. From 2010-2019, there were 83,453 (SD: 652.4) NH residents per month, with an average of 2.3 (SD: 0.28) deaths, 3.1 (SD: 0.16) hospitalizations, and 3.6 (SD: 0.17) ED visits per 100 residents per month. From March to December 2020, mortality IRs were increased, but hospitalization and ED visit IRs were reduced (p<0.05). Conclusion. We identified consistent monthly mortality, hospitalization, and ED visit IRs during 2010-2019. Marked differences in these rates were observed during 2020, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic. Keywords: long-term care, mortality, hospitalization, baseline rates, COVID-19 vaccine safety
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.17.21253290v2" target="_blank">Background rates of all-cause mortality, hospitalizations, and emergency department visits among nursing home residents in Ontario, Canada to inform COVID-19 vaccine safety assessments</a>
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<li><strong>A Novel Smart City Based Framework on Perspectives for application of Machine Learning in combatting COVID-19</strong> -
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The spread of COVID-19 across the world continues as efforts are being made from multi-dimension to curtail its spread and provide treatment. The COVID-19 triggered partial and full lockdown across the globe in an effort to prevent its spread. COVID-19 causes serious fatalities with United States of America recording over 3,000 deaths within 24 hours, the highest in the world for a single day and as of October 2020 has recorded a total of 270,642 death tolls. In this paper, we present a novel framework that intelligently combines machine learning models and internet of things (IoT) technology-specific in combatting COVID-19 in smart cities. The purpose of the study is to promote the interoperability of machine learning algorithms with IoT technology in interacting with a population and its environment with the aim of curtailing COVID-19. Furthermore, the study also investigates and discusses some solution frameworks, which can generate, capture, store and analyze data using machine learning algorithms. These algorithms are able to detect, prevent, and trace the spread of COVID-19, and provide better understanding of the virus in smart cities. Similarly, the study outlined case studies on the application of machine learning to help in the fight against COVID-19 in hospitals across the world. The framework proposed in the study is a comprehensive presentation on the major components needed for the integration of machine learning approaches with other AI-based solutions. Finally, the machine learning framework presented in this study has the potential to help national healthcare systems in curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic in smart cities. In addition, the proposed framework is poised as a point for generating research interests that will yield outcomes capable of been integrated to form an improved framework.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.18.20105577v4" target="_blank">A Novel Smart City Based Framework on Perspectives for application of Machine Learning in combatting COVID-19</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 variants alterations in Nice neighborhoods by wastewater nanopore sequencing</strong> -
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Background: Wastewater surveillance has been proposed as an epidemiological tool to define the prevalence and evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemics. However, most implemented SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance projects were relying on qPCR measurement of virus titers and did not address the mutational spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the population. Methods: We have implemented a nanopore RNA sequencing monitoring system in the city of Nice (France, 550,000 inhabitants). Between October 2020 and March 2021, we monthly analyzed the SARS-CoV-2 variants in 113 wastewater samples collected in the main wastewater treatment plant and 20 neighborhoods. Findings: We initially detected the lineages predominant in Europe at the end of 2020 (B.1.160, B.1.177, B.1.367, B.1.474, and B.1.221). In January, a localized emergence of a variant (Spike:A522S) of the B.1.1.7 lineage occurred in one neighborhood. It rapidly spread and became dominant all over the city. Other variants of concern (B.1.351, P.1) were also detected in some neighborhoods, but at low frequency. Comparison with individual clinical samples collected during the same week showed that wastewater sequencing correctly identified the same lineages as those found in COVID-19 patients. Interpretation: Wastewater sequencing allowed to document the diversity of SARS-CoV-2 sequences within the different neighborhoods of the city of Nice. Our results illustrate how sequencing of sewage samples can be used to track pathogen sequence diversity in the current pandemics and in future infectious disease outbreaks.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.09.21257475v1" target="_blank">Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 variants alterations in Nice neighborhoods by wastewater nanopore sequencing</a>
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<li><strong>Three-step rhythmic breathing exercise and COVID-19: A cross-sectional study</strong> -
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Introduction: The present study assessed the prevalence of COVID-19 among people practicing three-step rhythmic breathing (3SRB) exercise and those who were not practicing any breathing exercises, including 3SRB exercise. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional observational study was conducted. Data was collected using a self-constructed online google survey tool from July 2020 to August 2020. Results: Out of a total 1083 sample, a higher proportion of the participants (41.3%) belonged to the 34-49 years age group, followed by the age group of 50-65 (32.5%). The sample was almost equally distributed; about 51.9% of the population was male, and 48.4% were female. The COVID-19 positivity was recorded almost double (3.1%) in groups not practicing 3SRB exercises compared to a group (1.3%) practicing 3SRB exercises. Furthermore, the practice of 3SRB was significantly associated with a lower percentage of COVID-19 infection (p=0.046). Conclusions: Practice of 3SRB is significantly associated with a lower percentage of COVID-19 infection. A future study with a robust methodology is warranted to validate the findings of this study and determine the effects of 3SRB on physiological and biological markers.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.07.21259527v1" target="_blank">Three-step rhythmic breathing exercise and COVID-19: A cross-sectional study</a>
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<li><strong>Myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the blood of Iranian COVID-19 patients</strong> -
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Abstract Background: A cytokine storm and lymphopenia are reported in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Myeloid-derived suppressive cells (MDSCs) exist in two different forms, granulocyte (G-MDSCs) and monocytic (M-MDSCs) that both suppress T-cell function. Serum IL-6 and IL-8 levels seem to correlate with the number of blood MDSCs. Objective: To determine the frequency of MDSCs in severe COVID-19 patients from Iran and their correlations with serum IL-8 levels. Methods: 37 severe (8 on ventilation, 29 without ventilation) and 13 moderate COVID-19 patients together with 8 healthy subjects were enrolled at the Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Tehran-Iran between 10th April 2020- 9th March 2021. Clinical and biochemical features, serum and whole blood were obtained. CD14, CD15, CD11b and HLA-DR expression on MDSCs was measured by flow cytometry. Results: M-MDSCs (P≤0.0001) and G-MDSCs (P≤0.0001) frequency were higher in Iranian COVID-19 patients compared to healthy subjects. M-MDSC frequency was higher in non-ventilated compared to moderate COVID-19 subjects (P=0.004). Serum IL-8 levels were higher in patients with COVID-19 than in normal healthy subjects (P=0.03). IL8 level was significant difference in ventilated, non-ventilated and moderate patients (P=0.005). The frequency of G-MDSCs correlated negatively with INR (r=-0.39, P=0.02). Conclusion: Serum IL-8 levels did not correlate with the number of systemic MDSCs in COVID-19 patients. The highest levels of M-MDSCs were seen in the blood of severe non-ventilated patients. MDSC frequency in blood in the current study did not predict the survival and severity of COVID-19 patients. Keywords: MDSC, IL-8, COVID-19, peripheral blood
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.07.21260141v1" target="_blank">Myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the blood of Iranian COVID-19 patients</a>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 Serology Control Panel Using the Dried Tube Specimen Method</strong> -
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We used the dried tube specimen (DTS) procedure to develop the COVID-19 Serology Control Panel ( CSCP). The CSCP contains five well-characterized SARS-CoV-2 pooled plasma samples made available for labs around the world to compare test kits, use for external quality assurance, harmonize laboratory testing, and train laboratory workers.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.07.21260101v1" target="_blank">COVID-19 Serology Control Panel Using the Dried Tube Specimen Method</a>
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<li><strong>Decoding Clinical Biomarker Space of COVID-19: Exploring Matrix Factorization-based Feature Selection Methods</strong> -
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One of the most critical challenges in managing complex diseases like COVID-19 is to establish an intelligent triage system that can optimize the clinical decision-making at the time of a global pandemic. The clinical presentation and patients9 characteristics are usually utilized to identify those patients who need more critical care. However, the clinical evidence shows an unmet need to determine more accurate and optimal clinical biomarkers to triage patients under a condition like the COVID-19 crisis. Here we have presented a machine learning approach to find a group of clinical indicators from the blood tests of a set of COVID-19 patients that are predictive of poor prognosis and morbidity. Our approach consists of two interconnected schemes: Feature Selection and Prognosis Classification. The former is based on different Ma- trix Factorization (MF)-based methods, and the latter is performed using Random Forest algorithm. Our model reveals that Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) O2 Saturation and C-Reactive Protein (CRP) are the most important clinical biomarkers determining the poor prognosis in these patients. Our approach paves the path of building quantitative and optimized clinical management systems for COVID-19 and similar diseases.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.07.21259699v1" target="_blank">Decoding Clinical Biomarker Space of COVID-19: Exploring Matrix Factorization-based Feature Selection Methods</a>
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<li><strong>Therapeutic efficacy of CT-P59 against P.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
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P.1. or gamma variant also known as the Brazil variant, is one of the variants of concern (VOC) which appears to have high transmissibility and mortality. To explore the potency of the CT-P59 monoclonal antibody against P.1 variant, we tried to conduct binding affinity, in vitro neutralization, and in vivo animal tests. In in vitro assays revealed that CT-P59 is able to neutralize P.1 variant in spite of reduction in its binding affinity against a RBD (receptor binding domain) mutant protein including K417T/E484K/N501Y and neutralizing activity against P.1 pseudoviruses and live viruses. In contrast, in vivo hACE2 (human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2)-expressing TG (transgenic) mouse challenge experiment demonstrated that a clinically relevant or lower dosages of CT-P59 is capable of lowering viral loads in the respiratory tract and alleviates symptoms such as body weight losses and survival rates. Therefore, a clinical dosage of CT-P59 could compensate for reduced in vitro antiviral activity in P.1-infected mice, implying that CT-P59 has therapeutic potency for COVID-19 patients infected with P.1 variant.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.08.451696v1" target="_blank">Therapeutic efficacy of CT-P59 against P.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2</a>
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<li><strong>Reduced neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 variant by inactivated and RBD-subunit vaccine</strong> -
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The Spike protein that mediates coronavirus entry into host cells is a major target for COVID-19 vaccines and antibody therapeutics. However, multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 have emerged, which may potentially compromise vaccine effectiveness. Using a pseudovirus-based assay, we evaluated SARS-CoV-2 cell entry mediated by the viral Spike B.1.617 and B.1.1.7 variants. We also compared the neutralization ability of monoclonal antibodies from convalescent sera and neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) elicited by CoronaVac (inactivated vaccine) and ZF2001 (RBD-subunit vaccine) against B.1.617 and B.1.1.7 variants. Our results showed that, compared to D614G and B.1.1.7 variants, B.1.617 shows enhanced viral entry and membrane fusion, as well as more resistant to antibody neutralization. These findings have important implications for understanding viral infectivity and for immunization policy against SARS-CoV-2 variants.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.09.451732v1" target="_blank">Reduced neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 variant by inactivated and RBD-subunit vaccine</a>
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<li><strong>A photoactivable natural product with broad antiviral activity against enveloped viruses including highly pathogenic coronaviruses</strong> -
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The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has highlighted the need for broad-spectrum antivirals against coronaviruses (CoVs). Here, pheophorbide a (Pba) was identified as a highly active antiviral molecule against HCoV-229E after bioguided fractionation of plant extracts. The antiviral activity of Pba was subsequently shown for SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV, and its mechanism of action was further assessed, showing that Pba is an inhibitor of coronavirus entry by directly targeting the viral particle. Interestingly, the antiviral activity of Pba depends on light exposure, and Pba was shown to inhibit virus-cell fusion by stiffening the viral membrane as demonstrated by cryo-electron microscopy. Moreover, Pba was shown to be broadly active against several other enveloped viruses, and reduced SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV replication in primary human bronchial epithelial cells. Pba is the first described natural antiviral against SARS-CoV-2 with direct photosensitive virucidal activity that holds potential for COVID-19 therapy or disinfection of SARS-CoV-2 contaminated surfaces.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.09.451770v1" target="_blank">A photoactivable natural product with broad antiviral activity against enveloped viruses including highly pathogenic coronaviruses</a>
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<li><strong>Impact of temperature on the affinity of SARS-CoV-2 Spike for ACE2</strong> -
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The seasonal nature in the outbreaks of respiratory viral infections with increased transmission during low temperatures has been well established. The current COVID-19 pandemic makes no exception, and temperature has been suggested to play a role on the viability and transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2. The receptor binding domain (RBD) of the Spike glycoprotein binds to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) to initiate viral fusion. Studying the effect of temperature on the receptor-Spike interaction, we observed a significant and stepwise increase in RBD-ACE2 affinity at low temperatures, resulting in slower dissociation kinetics. This translated into enhanced interaction of the full Spike to ACE2 receptor and higher viral attachment at low temperatures. Interestingly, the RBD N501Y mutation, present in emerging variants of concern (VOCs) that are fueling the pandemic worldwide, bypassed this requirement. This data suggests that the acquisition of N501Y reflects an adaptation to warmer climates, a hypothesis that remains to be tested.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.09.451812v1" target="_blank">Impact of temperature on the affinity of SARS-CoV-2 Spike for ACE2</a>
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<li><strong>Host cell membrane capture by the SARS CoV-2 spike protein fusion intermediate</strong> -
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Cell entry by SARS-CoV-2 is accomplished by the S2 subunit of the spike S protein on the virion surface by capture of the host cell membrane and fusion with the viral envelope. Capture and fusion require the prefusion S2 to transit to its potent, fusogenic form, the fusion intermediate (FI). However, the FI structure is unknown, detailed computational models of the FI are unavailable, and the mechanisms and timing of membrane capture and fusion are not established. Here, we constructed a full-length model of the CoV-2 FI by extrapolating from known CoV-2 pre- and postfusion structures. In atomistic and coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations the FI was remarkably flexible and executed large bending and extensional fluctuations due to three hinges in the C-terminal base. Simulations suggested a host cell membrane capture time of ~ 2 ms. Isolated fusion peptide simulations identified an N-terminal helix that directed and maintained binding to the membrane but grossly underestimated the binding time, showing that the fusion peptide environment is radically altered when attached to its host fusion protein. The large configurational fluctuations of the FI generated a substantial exploration volume that aided capture of the target membrane, and may set the waiting time for fluctuation-triggered refolding of the FI that draws the viral envelope and host cell membrane together for fusion. These results describe the FI as a machinery designed for efficient membrane capture and suggest novel potential drug targets.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.09.439051v3" target="_blank">Host cell membrane capture by the SARS CoV-2 spike protein fusion intermediate</a>
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<li><strong>Endothelial cell-activating antibodies in COVID-19</strong> -
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Objectives: Patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) are at high risk for fibrin-based occlusion of vascular beds of all sizes. Considering endothelial cell activation has regularly been described as part of the COVID-19 thrombo-inflammatory storm, we aimed to find upstream mediators of this activation. Methods: Cultured endothelial cells were exposed to sera or plasma from 244 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or plasma from 100 patients in the intensive care unit with sepsis. Cell adhesion molecules E-selectin, VCAM-1, and ICAM-1 were detected by in-cell ELISA. Soluble E-selectin was measured in serum. Results: As compared with healthy controls, sera and plasma from patients with COVID-19, and to a lesser extent plasma from patients with sepsis, increased expression of E-selectin, VCAM-1, and ICAM-1 on cultured endothelial cells. We found modest correlations between serum neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) remnants and upregulation of cell adhesion molecules on endothelial cells. A stronger marker of the ability of COVID-19 serum to activate endothelial cells was the presence of circulating antiphospholipid antibodies, specifically anticardiolipin IgG and IgM and anti-phosphatidlyserine/prothrombin (anti-PS/PT) IgG and IgM. Depletion of total IgG from anticardiolipin-positive and anti-PS/PT-positive samples markedly restrained upregulation of E-selectin, VCAM-1, and ICAM-1. At the same time, supplementation of control serum with patient IgG was sufficient to trigger endothelial cell activation. Conclusions: These data are the first to suggest that some patients with COVID-19 have potentially diverse antibodies that drive endothelial cell activation in COVID-19. The data also add important context regarding thrombo-inflammatory effects of autoantibodies in severe COVID-19.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.18.21250041v4" target="_blank">Endothelial cell-activating antibodies in COVID-19</a>
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<li><strong>Rationally designed immunogens enable immune focusing to the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding motif</strong> -
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Eliciting antibodies to surface-exposed viral glycoproteins can lead to protective responses that ultimately control and prevent future infections. Targeting functionally conserved epitopes may help reduce the likelihood of viral escape and aid in preventing the spread of related viruses with pandemic potential. One such functionally conserved viral epitope is the site to which a receptor must bind to facilitate viral entry. Here, we leveraged rational immunogen design strategies to focus humoral responses to the receptor binding motif (RBM) on the SARS-CoV-2 spike. Using glycan engineering and epitope scaffolding, we find an improved targeting of the serum response to the RBM in context of SARS- CoV-2 spike imprinting. Furthermore, we observed a robust SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing serum response with increased potency against related sarbecoviruses, SARS-CoV, WIV1-CoV, RaTG13-CoV, and SHC014-CoV. Thus, RBM focusing is a promising strategy to elicit breadth across emerging sarbecoviruses and represents an adaptable design approach for targeting conserved epitopes on other viral glycoproteins.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.15.435440v2" target="_blank">Rationally designed immunogens enable immune focusing to the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding motif</a>
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<li><strong>Naive human B cells engage the receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2, variants of concern, and related sarbecoviruses</strong> -
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Exposure to a pathogen elicits an adaptive immune response aimed to control and eradicate. Interrogating the abundance and specificity of the naive B cell repertoire contributes to understanding how to potentially elicit protective responses. Here, we isolated naive B cells from 8 seronegative human donors targeting the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD). Single B cell analysis showed diverse gene usage with no restricted complementarity determining region lengths. We show that recombinant antibodies engage SARS-CoV-2 RBD, circulating variants, and pre- emergent coronaviruses. Representative antibodies signal in a B cell activation assay and can be affinity matured through directed evolution. Structural analysis of a naive antibody in complex with spike shows a conserved mode of recognition shared with infection-induced antibodies. Lastly, both naive and affinity-matured antibodies can neutralize SARS-CoV-2. Understanding the naive repertoire may inform potential responses recognizing variants or emerging coronaviruses enabling the development of pan-coronavirus vaccines aimed at engaging germline responses.
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.02.429458v2" target="_blank">Naive human B cells engage the receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2, variants of concern, and related sarbecoviruses</a>
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</div></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase 1 Study to Assess Safety, Tolerability, PD, PK, Immunogenicity of IV NTR-441 Solution in Healthy Volunteers and COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: NTR-441; Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: <br/>
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Neutrolis<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
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<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 Vaccinations With a Sweepstakes</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Behavioral: Philly Vax Sweepstakes<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: <br/>
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University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia Department of Public Health<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
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<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 Virtual Recovery Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Strength RMT; Behavioral: Strength RMT and nasal breathing; Behavioral: Endurance RMT; Behavioral: Endurance RMT and nasal breathing; Behavioral: Low dose RMT<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Mayo Clinic<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate MVC-COV1901 Vaccine Against COVID-19 in Adolescents</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19 Vaccine<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: MVC-COV1901(S protein with adjuvant); Biological: MVC-COV1901(Saline)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study on Sequential Immunization of Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine and Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Ad5 Vector)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Ad5 vectored vaccine; Biological: Inactive SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (Vero cell)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Jiangsu Province Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; CanSino Biologics Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy of Amantadine Treatment in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Patients With Moderate or Severe COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: Amantadine<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Noblewell; Medical Research Agency (ABM); Leszek Giec Upper-Silesian Medical Centre of the Silesian Medical University in Katowice<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
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<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 Patients Management During Home Isolation</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Procedure: Oxygen therapy and physical therapy; Device: Oxygen therapy<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Cairo University<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Different Use of The Aerosol Box in COVID-19 Patients; Internal Jugular Vein Cannulation</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Procedure: Internal jugular vein cannulation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Bakirkoy Dr. Sadi Konuk Research and Training Hospital<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Remdesivir- Ivermectin Combination Therapy in Severe Covid-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: Ivermectin<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Assiut University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Short Term, High Dose Vitamin D Supplementation in Moderate to Severe COVID-19 Disease</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: cholecalciferol 6 lakh IU<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: <br/>
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Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
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|
<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 COVID-19 Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine; Biological: 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine; Biological: Inactivated Hepatitis A Vaccine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: <br/>
|
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|
Sinovac Research and Development Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Role of Chlorhexidine in Minimizing the Viral Load Among COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: Chlorhexidine digluconate, povidone iodine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: King Abdulaziz University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase 1 Intranasal Parainfluenza Virus Type 5-SARS CoV-2 S Vaccine in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: CVXGA1 low dose; Biological: CVXGA1 high dose<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: CyanVac LLC<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
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|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“CHANGE COVID-19 Severity”</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: Magnesium Citrate plus probiotic<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Vanderbilt University Medical Center<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy, Immunogenicity, and Safety of the Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine (TURKOVAC) Versus the CoronaVac Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: TURCOVAC; Biological: CoronaVac<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Health Institutes of Turkey<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
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|
</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>MPI8 is Potent Against SARS-CoV-2 by Inhibiting Dually and Selectively the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease and the Host Cathepsin L</strong> - A number of inhibitors have been developed for the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (MPro) as potential COVID-19 medications but little is known about their selectivity. Using enzymatic assays, we characterized inhibition of TMPRSS2, furin, and cathepsins B/K/L by more than a dozen of previously developed MPro inhibitors including MPI1-9, GC376, 11a, 10-1, 10-2, and 10-3. MPI1-9, GC376 and 11a all contain an aldehyde for the formation of a reversible covalent hemiacetal adduct with the MPro active site…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Peptidomimetic alpha-Acyloxymethylketone Warheads with Six-Membered Lactam P1 Glutamine Mimic: SARS-CoV-2 3CL Protease Inhibition, Coronavirus Antiviral Activity, and in Vitro Biological Stability</strong> - Recurring coronavirus outbreaks, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, establish a necessity to develop direct-acting antivirals that can be readily administered and are active against a broad spectrum of coronaviruses. Described in this Article are novel α-acyloxymethylketone warhead peptidomimetic compounds with a six-membered lactam glutamine mimic in P1. Compounds with potent SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease and in vitro viral replication inhibition were identified with low cytotoxicity and good…</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Poor humoral and T-cell response to two-dose SARS-CoV-2 messenger RNA vaccine BNT162b2 in cardiothoracic transplant recipients</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: The findings of poor immune responses to a two-dose BNT162b2 vaccination in cardiothoracic transplant patients have a significant impact for organ transplant recipients specifically and possibly for immunocompromised patients in general. It urges for a review of future vaccine strategies in these patients.</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Targeting autophagy in disease: established and new strategies</strong> - Macroautophagy/autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved pathway responsible for clearing cytosolic aggregated proteins, damaged organelles or invading microorganisms. Dysfunctional autophagy leads to pathological accumulation of the cargo, which has been linked to a range of human diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, infectious and autoimmune diseases and various forms of cancer. Cumulative work in animal models, application of genetic tools and pharmacologically active compounds, has…</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In Vitro Models for Studying Entry, Tissue Tropism, and Therapeutic Approaches of Highly Pathogenic Coronaviruses</strong> - Coronaviruses (CoVs) are enveloped nonsegmented positive-sense RNA viruses belonging to the family Coronaviridae that contain the largest genome among RNA viruses. Their genome encodes 4 major structural proteins, and among them, the Spike (S) protein plays a crucial role in determining the viral tropism. It mediates viral attachment to the host cell, fusion to the membranes, and cell entry using cellular proteases as activators. Several in vitro models have been developed to study the CoVs…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Targeting liquid-liquid phase separation of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein promotes innate antiviral immunity by elevating MAVS activity</strong> - Patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 exhibit low expression of interferon-stimulated genes, contributing to a limited antiviral response. Uncovering the underlying mechanism of innate immune suppression and rescuing the innate antiviral response remain urgent issues in the current pandemic. Here we identified that the dimerization domain of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (SARS2-NP) is required for SARS2-NP to undergo liquid-liquid phase separation with RNA, which inhibits Lys63-linked…</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 bivalent protein targeting glycans and HR1 domain in spike protein potently inhibited infection of SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Since GL25E showed highly potent and broad-spectrum inhibitory activity against infection of SARS-CoV-2 and its mutants, as well as other HCoVs, it is a promising candidate for further development as a broad-spectrum anti-HCoV therapeutic and prophylactic to treat and prevent COVID-19 and other emerging HCoV diseases.</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>Reduced sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 variant Delta to antibody neutralization</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 lineage was identified in October 2020 in India^(1-5). It has since then become dominant in some indian regions and UK and further spread to many countries⁶. The lineage includes three main subtypes (B1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3), harbouring diverse Spike mutations in the N-terminal domain (NTD) and the receptor binding domain (RBD) which may increase their immune evasion potential. B.1.617.2, also termed variant Delta, is believed to spread faster than other…</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>Multifunctional inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 by MM/PBSA, essential dynamics, and molecular dynamic investigations</strong> - The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic demands a novel approach to combat and identify potential therapeutic targets. The SARS- CoV-2 infection causes a hyperimmune response followed by a spectrum of diseases. Limonoids are a class of triterpenoids known to prevent the release of IL-6, IL-15, IL-1α, IL-1β via TNF and are also known to modulate PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β, JNK1/2, MAPKp38, ERK1/2, and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathways and could help to avoid viral infection, persistence, and pathogenesis. The present…</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>AIEgen-loaded nanofibrous membrane as photodynamic/photothermal antimicrobial surface for sunlight-triggered bioprotection</strong> - The outbreak of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 causes an urgent need for abundant personal protective equipment (PPE) which leads to a huge shortage of raw materials. Additionally, the inappropriate disposal and sterilization of PPE may result in a high risk of cross-contamination. Therefore, the exploration of antimicrobial materials possessing both microbe interception and self-decontamination effects to develop reusable and easy-to-sterilize PPE is of great importance. Herein, an…</p></li>
|
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|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PROTECTIVE ROLE OF CORTISTATIN IN PULMONARY INFLAMMATION AND FIBROSIS</strong> - CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: We identify to cortistatin as an endogenous break of pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. Deficiency in cortistatin could be a marker of poor-prognosis in inflammatory/fibrotic pulmonary disorders. Cortistatin- based therapies emerge as attractive candidates to treat severe ALI/ARDS, including SARS-Cov-2-associated ARDS.</p></li>
|
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|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Luteolin: a blocker of SARS-CoV-2 cell entry based on relaxed complex scheme, molecular dynamics simulation, and metadynamics</strong> - Natural products have served human life as medications for centuries. During the outbreak of COVID-19, a number of naturally derived compounds and extracts have been tested or used as potential remedies against COVID-19. Tetradenia riparia extract is one of the plant extracts that have been deployed and claimed to manage and control COVID-19 by some communities in Tanzania and other African countries. The active compounds isolated from T. riparia are known to possess various biological…</p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy of tocilizumab in COVID-19: A review of the current evidence</strong> - As cases of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) keep rising, reported deaths are increasing. Public health measures have been implemented with mixed efficacy. As vaccines are becoming more widely available and accessible globally, treating critically ill COVID-19 patients remains an issue with only dexamethasone found to be therapeutically effective to date. However, trials studying the efficacy of IL-6 inhibitors, namely tocilizumab have been underway with promising results. This paper is a narrative…</p></li>
|
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|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Therapeutic potential of phytoconstituents of edible fruits in combating emerging viral infections</strong> - Plant-derived bioactive molecules display potential antiviral activity against various viral targets including mode of viral entry and its replication in host cells. Considering the challenges and search for antiviral agents, this review provides substantiated data on chemical constituents of edible fruits with promising antiviral activity. The bioactive constituents like naringenin, mangiferin, α-mangostin, geraniin, punicalagin, and lectins of edible fruits exhibit antiviral effect by…</p></li>
|
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|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Inhibition of the 3CL Protease and SARS-CoV-2 Replication by Dalcetrapib</strong> - The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) 3CL protease is a promising target for inhibition of viral replication by interaction with a cysteine residue (Cys145) at its catalytic site. Dalcetrapib exerts its lipid- modulating effect by binding covalently to cysteine 13 of a cholesteryl ester transfer protein. Because 12 free cysteine residues are present in the 3CL protease, we investigated the potential of dalcetrapib to inhibit 3CL protease activity and SARS-CoV-2…</p></li>
|
||||||
|
</ul>
|
||||||
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
|
||||||
|
<ul>
|
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|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Differential detection kit for common SARS-CoV-2 variants in COVID-19 patients</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU328840861">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 anti-viral therapeutic</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU327160071">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A POLYHERBAL ALCOHOL FREE FORMULATION FOR ORAL CAVITY</strong> - The present invention generally relates to a herbal composition. Specifically, the present invention relates to a polyherbal alcohol free composition comprising of Glycyrrhiza glabra root extract, Ocimum sanctum leaf extract, Elettaria cardamomum fruit extract, Mentha spicata (Spearmint) oil and Tween 80 and method of preparation thereof. The polyherbal alcohol free composition of the present invention possesses excellent antimicrobial properties and useful for oral cavity. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN325690740">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因及其应用</strong> - 本发明属于生物技术领域，具体涉及新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因及其应用。本发明的新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因，其核苷酸序列如SEQIDNO.1或SEQIDNO.6所示。本发明通过优化野生型新型冠状病毒南非B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因序列，并结合筛选确定了相对最佳序列，优化后序列产生的克隆表达效率比野生型新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD序列表达效率大幅提高，从而，本发明的新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因可以用于制备新型冠状病毒疫苗。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN328990628">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>检测新型冠状病毒中和抗体的试剂盒及其应用</strong> - 本发明涉及生物技术领域，具体而言，提供了一种检测新型冠状病毒中和抗体的试剂盒及其应用。本发明提供的检测新型冠状病毒中和抗体试剂盒，具体包括（a）或（b）两种方案：（a）示踪物标记的RBD三聚体抗原，包被在固体支持物上的ACE2，以及，含有0.2‑10mg/mL十二烷基二甲基甜菜碱的工作液；（b）示踪物标记的ACE2，包被在固体支持物上的RBD三聚体抗原，以及，含有0.2‑10mg/mL十二烷基二甲基甜菜碱的工作液；其中，RBD三聚体抗原利用二硫键将刺突蛋白的RBD与S2亚基完全交联得到。十二烷基二甲基甜菜碱会显著提高RBD三聚体抗原与新冠中和性抗体结合速度，提升阳性样本平均发光强度，缩短检测时间。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN328990376">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种检测SARS-CoV-2的引物组合物及其应用</strong> - 本发明涉及一种检测SARS‑CoV‑2的引物组合物及其应用。所述引物组合物包括SEQ ID NO:1~SEQ ID NO:12所示的核酸序列。本发明利用所述引物组合物进行逆转录巢式PCR，并结合Sanger测序，能够快速、准确地获取SARS‑CoV‑2基因信息，从而能够实现快速检测SARS‑CoV‑2以及判断SARS‑CoV‑2突变株，且具备良好的准确性、灵敏度、特异性以及重复性。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN328990422">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种新冠病毒肺炎重症化预测系统及方法</strong> - 本发明涉及疾病预测技术领域，公开了一种新冠病毒肺炎重症化预测系统及方法，包括以下步骤：步骤一，采集患者血常规信息和用户信息；步骤二，将患者血常规信息按照用户信息进行等级分类；步骤三，将已经等级分类的患者血常规信息与对应等级的标准信息进行比较；步骤四，当患者血常规信息在标准信息范围内则判定患者为轻症患者，当患者血常规信息在标准信息范围外则判定患者为重症患者。本发明能够准确快速地区分轻症和重症。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN328308318">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>MEDIDOR DE SATURACION</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=ES325874099">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>폐마스크 밀봉 회수기</strong> - 본 발명은 마스크 착용 후 버려지는 일회용 폐마스크를 비닐봉지에 넣은 후 밀봉하여 배출함으로써, 2차 감염을 예방하고 일반 생활폐기물과 선별 분리 배출하여 환경오염을 방지하는 데 그 목적이 있다. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=KR325788342">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>백신 냉각 및 해동 기능을 갖는 백신 보관장치</strong> - 본 발명은 백신 냉각 및 해동 기능을 갖는 백신 보관장치에 관한 것으로, 상, 하부하우징의 제1상, 하부누출방지공간에 냉각물질이 충입된 냉각파이프를 설치하되, 제2상, 하부누출방지공간에 가열물질이 충입된 가열파이프를 설치하여, 구획판부에 의해 구획된 백신냉각공간 및 백신해동공간 각각을 냉각 및 가열하고, 보조도어를 통해 백신냉각공간 내에 수용된 백신을 구획판부의 백신출구도어를 통해 백신해동공간으로 이동시켜, 백신해동공간 내에서 백신을 해동함으로써, 즉시 사용이 가능한 백신을 인출도어를 통해 인출할 수 있다. 본 발명에 따르면, 냉각파이프에 저장된 냉매에 의해 백신냉각공간 내의 온도가 극저온 상태로 변화되고, 극저온 상태를 유지하는 백신냉각공간 내에 백신을 저장하여, 안전하게 보관 할 수 있으며, 백신냉각공간 내의 백신을 백신해동공간 내로 이동시켜, 백신해동공간 내에서 백신을 해동할 수 있고, 이 해동된 백신을 인출도어를 통해 인출한 후 즉시 사용할 수 있어 백신을 해동하는 시간이 단축되며, 보조도어를 통해 백신냉각공간 내의 백신을 백신해동공간으로 이동시켜, 백신이 외기에 노출될 우려가 없으며, 백신냉각공간 내의 백신을 백신해동공간으로 이동시키거나 또는 인출도어를 통해 백신 인출시 정렬장치가 백신을 보조도어 및 인출도어 직하방에 자동 위치시킨다. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=KR327274025">link</a></p></li>
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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>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
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<li><strong>Markers of immune activation and inflammation in individuals with post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> -
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BACKGROUND: The biological processes associated with post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) are unknown. METHODS: We measured soluble markers of inflammation in a SARS-CoV-2 recovery cohort at early (<90 days) and late (>90 days) timepoints. We defined PASC as the presence of one or more COVID-19-attributed symptoms beyond 90 days. We compared fold-changes in marker values between those with and without PASC using mixed effects models with terms for PASC and early and late recovery time periods. RESULTS: During early recovery, those who went on to develop PASC generally had higher levels of cytokine biomarkers including TNF-alpha (1.14-fold higher mean ratio, 95%CI 1.01-1.28, p=0.028) and IP-10 (1.28-fold higher mean ratio, 95%CI 1.01-1.62, p=0.038). Among those with PASC, there was a trend toward higher IL-6 levels during early recovery (1.28-fold higher mean ratio, 95%CI 0.98-1.70, p=0.07) which became more pronounced in late recovery (1.44-fold higher mean ratio, 95%CI: 1.11-1.86, p<0.001). These differences were more pronounced among those with a greater number of PASC symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Persistent immune activation may be associated with ongoing symptoms following COVID-19. Further characterization of these processes might identify therapeutic targets for those experiencing PASC.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.09.21260287v1" target="_blank">Markers of immune activation and inflammation in individuals with post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection</a>
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<li><strong>Protective Immunity against COVID-19</strong> -
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Tuberculosis and Covid-19 infection measure two quite different diseases- TB is caused by a sort of bacterium whereas Covid-19 is caused by a virus. However, the BCG immunizing agent would possibly facilitate individuals build immune responses to things aside from TB, inflicting “off-target effects,” In different words, in run format, individuals started learning positive in obtaining the immunizing agent that had nothing to try and do with TB, several studies showed however the BCG immunizing agent affects individuals with kind one although the precise mechanism for these off-target effects of the BCG immunizing agent is not clear, it’s believed that the immunizing agent will cause a nonspecific boost of the reaction. There is presently no immunizing agent or treatments approved by the United States of America Food and Drug Administration for the novel coronavirus. BCG is usually innocuous with the most facet impact the event of inflammation at the positioning of injection. Supported by these observations BCG so emerges as a possible candidate for the development of innate and adjustive reactions which can be non-specifically taking care of mycobacterium and different infectious agents against that vaccine remains not on the market.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/bdkg8/" target="_blank">Protective Immunity against COVID-19</a>
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<li><strong>Using big data analytics to explore the relationship between government stringency and preventative social behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom</strong> -
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We evaluated the association between preventative social behaviour and government stringency. Additionally, we sought to evaluate the influence of additional factors including time, need to protect others (using the reported number of COVID-19 deaths as a surrogate measure) and reported confidence in government handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. We used repeated national cross-sectional surveys the UK over the course of 41 weeks from 1st April 2020 to January 28th, 2021, including a total of 38,092 participants. Preventative social behaviour and government stringency index scores were significantly associated on linear regression analyses (R2 =0.6468, p<0.001, and remained significant after controlling for the effect of reported COVID-19 deaths, confidence in government handling of the pandemic, and time (R2=0.898, p<0.001). Longitudinal data suggest that government stringency is an effective tool in promoting preventative social behaviour in the fight against COVID-19.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.09.21260246v1" target="_blank">Using big data analytics to explore the relationship between government stringency and preventative social behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom</a>
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<li><strong>WHY SOME HESITATE MORE: CROSS-CULTURAL VARIATION IN CONSPIRACY BELIEFS, BELIEF IN SCIENCE, AND VACCINE ATTITUDES</strong> -
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Background: Countries differ in their levels of vaccine hesitancy (a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines), trust in vaccines, and acceptance of new vaccines. In this paper, we examine the factors contributing to the cross-cultural variation in vaccine attitudes, measured by levels of 1) general vaccine hesitancy, 2) trust in vaccines, and 3) COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Methods: We examined the relative effect of conspiracy mentality, belief in COVID-19 conspiracies, and belief in science on the above-mentioned vaccine attitudes in the UK (n= 1533), US (n= 1550), and Turkey (n= 1567) through a quota-sampled online survey to match the population for age, gender, ethnicity, and education level. Results: We found that belief in COVID-19 conspiracies and conspiracy mentality were the strongest predictors of general vaccine hesitancy across all three countries. Belief in science had the largest positive effect on general vaccine trust and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Although participants in Turkey demonstrated the lowest level of vaccine trust, their belief in science score was significantly higher than participants in the US, suggesting that belief in science cannot explain the cross-cultural variation in vaccine trust. The mean levels of conspiracy mentality and agreement with COVID-19 conspiracies were consistent with the country-level differences in general and COVID-19 vaccine attitudes. Demographic variables did not predict vaccine attitudes as much as belief in conspiracies and science. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that cross-cultural variation in vaccine hesitancy, vaccine trust, and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rates are mainly driven by differences in the prevalence of conspiratorial thinking across countries.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.09.21260228v1" target="_blank">WHY SOME HESITATE MORE: CROSS- CULTURAL VARIATION IN CONSPIRACY BELIEFS, BELIEF IN SCIENCE, AND VACCINE ATTITUDES</a>
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<li><strong>Pandemic trends in health care use: From the hospital bed to the general practitioner with COVID-19</strong> -
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Aim: To explore whether the acute 30-day burden of COVID-19 on health care use has changed from the beginning to the end of the pandemic. Methods: In all Norwegians (N=122 699) who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in three pandemic waves (March 1st-July 31st 2020 (1st wave), August 1st-December 31st 2020 (2nd wave), and January 1st-May 31st 2021 (3rd wave)), we studied the age- and sex-specific share of patients (by age groups 1-19, 20-67, and 68 or more) who had: 1) Relied on self-care, 2) used primary care, and 3) used specialist care. Results: We find that a remarkably high and stable share (70-80%) of patients with COVID-19 exclusively had contact with primary care in the acute phase, both in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd wave. The mean number of primary care visits ranged between 2 and 4. We also show that the use of specialist care in the acute 30-day phase of COVID-19 has decreased, from 14% being hospitalized at least once during spring 2020, to 4% during spring 2021. The mean number of hospital bed-days decreased significantly for men from the 1st to the 2nd wave (from 13 days, 95% CI=11.5-14.5 to 10 days (9-11) for men aged ≥68 years, and from 11 days (10-12) to 9 days (8-10) for men aged 20-67 years), but not for women. Conclusion: COVID-19 places a continued high demand on the primary care services, and a decreasing demand on the specialist care services.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.09.21260249v1" target="_blank">Pandemic trends in health care use: From the hospital bed to the general practitioner with COVID-19</a>
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<li><strong>The Lived Experience of Implementing Infection Control Measures in Care Homes during two waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic. A mixed-methods study</strong> -
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CONTEXT During COVID-19 care-homes had to implement strict Infection Control Measures (ICMs), impacting on care and staff morale. OBJECTIVES To explore the lived experiences of care-home staff in implementing ICMs. METHODS Mixed- methods study comprising 238 online survey responses and 15 in-depth interviews with care-home staff, November 2020-January 2021 in England. RESULTS Three themes were identified: Integrating COVID-19 ICMs with caring, Conveying knowledge and information, Professional and personal impacts of care-work during the pandemic. Reported adherence to ICMs was high but fatalistic attitudes towards COVID-19 infection were present. Challenges of providing care using personal protective equipment (PPE), especially for residents with dementia, were highlighted. Interviewees reported dilemmas between strictly implementing ICMs and conflicts with providing best care to residents and preserving personal space. Nine months into COVID-19, official guidance was reported as confusing, constantly changing and poorly suited to care-homes. Care-home staff appreciated opportunities to work with other care-homes and experts to interpret and implement guidance. ICM training was undertaken using multiple techniques but with little evaluation of these or how to sustain behaviour change. Limitations Results may not be generalizable to other countries. Implications COVID-19 has had a profound effect on well-being of care-home staff. Despite challenges, participants reported broadly good morale, potentially a consequence of supportive colleagues and management. Nevertheless, clear, concise and care-home focussed ICM guidance is still needed. This should include evidence-based assessments on implementing and sustaining adherence. Groups of care-home staff and ICM experts working together to co-create, interpret and implement guidance were viewed positively.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.08.21260181v1" target="_blank">The Lived Experience of Implementing Infection Control Measures in Care Homes during two waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic. A mixed-methods study</a>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Direct detection of humoral marker corelates of COVID-19, glycated HSA and hyperglycosylated IgG3, by MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry.</strong> -
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The prefusion Spike protein of SARS-CoV2 binds advanced glycation end product (AGE) glycated human serum albumin (HSA) and a higher mass, hyperglycosylated/glycated, IgG3, as determined by matrix assisted laser desorption mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF MS). We set out to investigate if the total blood plasma of patients who had recovered from acute respiratory distress as a result of COVID-19, contained more glycated HSA and higher mass (glycosylated/glycated) IgG3 than those with only clinically mild or asymptomatic infections. A direct dilution and disulphide bond reduction method was development and applied to plasma samples from SARS-CoV2 seronegative (N = 30) and seropositive (N =</p></div></li>
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<li>healthcare workers and 38 convalescent plasma samples from patients who had been admitted with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) associated with COVID-19. Patients recovering from COVID-19 ARDS had significantly higher mass, AGE-glycated HSA and higher mass IgG3 levels. This would indicate that increased levels and/or ratios of hyper- glycosylation (probably terminal sialic acid) IgG3 and AGE glycated HSA may be predisposition markers for development of ARDS as a result of COVID-19 infection. Furthermore, rapid direct analysis of plasma samples by MALDI-ToF MS for such humoral immune correlates of COVID-19 presents a feasible screening technology for the most at risk; regardless of age or known health conditions.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.08.21260186v1" target="_blank">Direct detection of humoral marker corelates of COVID-19, glycated HSA and hyperglycosylated IgG3, by MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry.</a>
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<li><strong>Immunogenicity of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in Vietnamese healthcare workers</strong> -
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We studied the immunogenicity of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in 554 Vietnamese healthcare workers who were naive to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Neutralizing antibodies increased after each dose. The sero-conversion rate reached 98.1% after dose 2. Btu at month 3, neutralizing antibodies decreased. The requirement for a third dose warrants further research.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.08.21260162v1" target="_blank">Immunogenicity of Oxford- AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in Vietnamese healthcare workers</a>
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<li><strong>A mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 strain replicating in standard laboratory mice.</strong> -
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SARS-CoV-2 has infected almost 200 million humans and caused over 4 million deaths worldwide. Evaluating countermeasures and improving our understanding of COVID-19 pathophysiology require access to animal models that replicate the hallmarks of human disease. Mouse infection with SARS-CoV-2 is limited by poor affinity between the virus spike protein and its cellular receptor ACE2. We have developed by serial passages the MACo3 virus strain which efficiently replicates in the lungs of standard mouse strains and induces age-dependent lung lesions. Compared to other mouse-adapted strains and severe mouse models, infection with MACo3 results in mild to moderate disease and will be useful to investigate the role of host genetics and other factors modulating COVID-19 severity.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.10.451880v1" target="_blank">A mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 strain replicating in standard laboratory mice.</a>
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<li><strong>NSUN2-mediated m5C methylation of IRF3 mRNA negatively regulates type I interferon responses</strong> -
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5-Methylcytosine (m5C) is a widespread post-transcriptional RNA modification and is reported to be involved in manifold cellular responses and biological processes through regulating RNA metabolism. However, its regulatory role in antiviral innate immunity has not yet been elucidated. Here, we report that NSUN2, a typical m5C methyltransferase, can negatively regulate type I interferon responses during viral infection. NSUN2 specifically mediates m5C methylation of IRF3 mRNA and accelerates its degradation, resulting in low levels of IRF3 and downstream IFN-{beta} production. Knockout or knockdown of NSUN2 could enhance type I interferon responses and downstream ISG expression after viral infection in vitro. And in vivo, the antiviral innate responses is more dramatically enhanced in Nsun2+/- mice than in Nsun2+/+ mice. Four highly m5C methylated cytosines in IRF3 mRNA were identified, and their mutation could enhance the cellular IRF3 mRNA levels. Moreover, infection with Sendai virus (SeV), vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), Zika virus (ZIKV), or especially SARS-CoV-2 resulted in a reduction in endogenous levels of NSUN2. Together, our findings reveal that NSUN2 serves as a negative regulator of interferon response by accelerating the fast turnover of IRF3 mRNA, while endogenous NSUN2 levels decrease after viral infection to boost antiviral responses for the effective elimination of viruses. Our results suggest a paradigm of innate antiviral immune responses ingeniously involving NSUN2-mediated m5C modification.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.09.451748v1" target="_blank">NSUN2-mediated m5C methylation of IRF3 mRNA negatively regulates type I interferon responses</a>
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<li><strong>Endothelial dysfunction determines severe COVID-19 in combination with dysregulated lymphocyte responses and cytokine networks</strong> -
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The systemic processes involved in the manifestation of life-threatening COVID-19 and in disease recovery are still incompletely understood, despite investigations focusing on the dysregulation of immune responses after SARS-CoV-2 infection. To define hallmarks of severe COVID-19 and disease recovery in convalescent patients, we combined analyses of immune cells and cytokine/chemokine networks with endothelial activation and injury. ICU patients displayed an altered immune signature with prolonged lymphopenia but expansion of granulocytes and plasmablasts along with activated and terminally differentiated T and NK cells and high levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies. Core signature of seven plasma proteins revealed a highly inflammatory microenvironment in addition to endothelial injury in severe COVID-19. Changes within this signature were associated with either disease progression or recovery. In summary, our data suggest that besides a strong inflammatory response, severe COVID-19 is driven by endothelial activation and barrier disruption, whereby recovery depends on the regeneration of the endothelial integrity.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.08.21260169v1" target="_blank">Endothelial dysfunction determines severe COVID-19 in combination with dysregulated lymphocyte responses and cytokine networks</a>
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<li><strong>Confidence in government and rumors amongst international migrant workers involved in dormitory outbreaks of COVID-19: A cross-sectional survey</strong> -
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<b>Background:</b> In the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, confidence in the government and access to accurate information have been critical to the control of outbreaks. Although outbreaks have emerged amongst communities of international migrant workers worldwide, little is known about how they perceive the government9s response or their exposure to rumors. <b>Methods:</b> Between 22 June to 11 October 2020, we surveyed 1011 low-waged migrant workers involved in dormitory outbreaks within Singapore. Participants reported their confidence in the government; whether they had heard, shared, or believed widely-disseminated COVID-19 rumors; and their socio-demographics. Logistic regression models were fitted to identify factors associated with confidence and rumor exposure. <b>Results:</b> 1 in 2 participants (54.2%, 95% CI: 51.1-57.3%) reported that they believed at least one COVID-19 rumor. This incidence was higher than that observed in the general population for the host country (Singapore). Nonetheless, most participants (90.0%, 95% CI: 87.6-91.5%) reported being confident that the government could control the spread of COVID-19. Age was significantly associated with belief in rumors, while educational level was associated with confidence in government. <b>Conclusions:</b> Our findings suggest that language and cultural differences may limit the access that migrant workers have to official COVID-19 updates. Correspondingly, public health agencies should use targeted messaging strategies to promote health knowledge within migrant worker communities.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.08.21260237v1" target="_blank">Confidence in government and rumors amongst international migrant workers involved in dormitory outbreaks of COVID-19: A cross-sectional survey</a>
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<li><strong>Aspirin Use is Associated with Decreased Mortality in Patients with COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta- analysis</strong> -
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Background: Novel Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in more than three and half million deaths worldwide as of June 6, 2021. The role of aspirin in prevention of COVID-19 mortality has not been much studied. We aimed to study the relationship between aspirin use and covid-19 mortality. Methods: We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane database for studies from January 2019 till June 6, 2021 with inclusion criteria of RCT, Cohort study, studies reporting mortality, and comparison studies on aspirin versus non-aspirin. Statistical analysis was done with Review Manager 5.4 statistical software using the inverse variance method. We assessed the pooled hazard ratio (HR), and 95% confidence interval using the random effect model and I-squared test was used to determine statistical heterogeneity. Results: We included five retrospective cohort studies which met our inclusion criteria with total of 14065 participants in both groups. There were 6797 participants in the aspirin group and 7268 participants in the non- aspirin group. Our results show that the use of aspirin was associated with 53% decrease in mortality compared to non- aspirin in patients with COVID-19 (adjusted HR 0.47, 95% CI 0.35-0.63, P< 0.001, I2= 47%). In the analysis restricted to patients hospitalized for COVID-19, the use of aspirin was associated with a 49% reduction in the risk for in-hospital mortality (adjusted HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.33-0.80, P = 0.004, I2= 39%). Conclusions: Our results show that aspirin is associated with decrease in both overall mortality and in-hospital mortality in patients with COVID-19.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.08.21260236v1" target="_blank">Aspirin Use is Associated with Decreased Mortality in Patients with COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis</a>
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<li><strong>COVID-19 and Black Fungus: Analysis of the Public Perception through Machine Learning</strong> -
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While COVID-19 is ravaging the lives of millions of people across the globe, a second pandemic 9black fungus9 has surfaced robbing people of their lives especially people who are recovering from coronavirus. Again, the public perceptions regarding such pandemics can be investigated through sentiment analysis of social media data. Thus the objective of this study is to analyze public perceptions through sentiment analysis regarding black fungus during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. To attain the objective, first, a Support Vector Machine model, with an average AUC of 82.75%, was developed to classify user sentiments in terms of anger, fear, joy, and sad. Next, this Support Vector Machine is used to supervise the class labels of the public tweets (n = 6477) related to COVID-19 and black fungus. As outcome, this study found that public perceptions belong to sad (n = 2370, 36.59 %), followed by joy ( n = 2095, 32.34%), fear ( n = 1914, 29.55 %) and anger ( n = 98, 1.51%) towards black fungus during COVID-19 pandemic. This study also investigated public perceptions of some critical concerns (e.g., education, lockdown, hospital, oxygen, quarantine, and vaccine) and it was found that public perceptions of these issues varied. For example, for the most part, people exhibited fear in social media about education, hospital, vaccine while some people expressed joy about education, hospital, vaccine, and oxygen.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.08.21260188v1" target="_blank">COVID-19 and Black Fungus: Analysis of the Public Perception through Machine Learning</a>
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<li><strong>Analysis of Feature Influence on Covid-19 Death Rate Per Country Using a Novel Orthogonalization Technique</strong> -
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We have developed a new technique of Feature Importance, a topic of machine learning, to analyze the possible causes of the Covid-19 pandemic based on country data. This new approach works well even when there are many more features than countries and is not affected by high correlation of features. It is inspired by the Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization procedure from linear algebra. We study the number of deaths, which is more reliable than the number of cases at the onset of the pandemic, during Apr/May 2020. This is while countries started taking measures, so more light will be shed on the root causes of the pandemic rather than on its handling. The analysis is done against a comprehensive list of roughly 3,200 features. We find that globalization is the main contributing cause, followed by calcium intake, economic factors, environmental factors, preventative measures, and others. This analysis was done for 20 different dates and shows that some factors, like calcium, phase in or out over time. We also compute row explainability, i.e. for every country, how much each feature explains the death rate. Finally we also study a series of conditions, e.g. comorbidities, immunization, etc. which have been proposed to explain the pandemic and place them in their proper context. While there are many caveats to this analysis, we believe it sheds light on the possible causes of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.02.21259929v3" target="_blank">Analysis of Feature Influence on Covid-19 Death Rate Per Country Using a Novel Orthogonalization Technique</a>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase 1 Study to Assess Safety, Tolerability, PD, PK, Immunogenicity of IV NTR-441 Solution in Healthy Volunteers and COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: NTR-441; Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: <br/>
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Neutrolis<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
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<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 Vaccinations With a Sweepstakes</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Behavioral: Philly Vax Sweepstakes<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: <br/>
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University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia Department of Public Health<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
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<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 Virtual Recovery Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Strength RMT; Behavioral: Strength RMT and nasal breathing; Behavioral: Endurance RMT; Behavioral: Endurance RMT and nasal breathing; Behavioral: Low dose RMT<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Mayo Clinic<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate MVC-COV1901 Vaccine Against COVID-19 in Adolescents</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19 Vaccine<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: MVC-COV1901(S protein with adjuvant); Biological: MVC-COV1901(Saline)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study on Sequential Immunization of Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine and Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Ad5 Vector)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Ad5 vectored vaccine; Biological: Inactive SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (Vero cell)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Jiangsu Province Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; CanSino Biologics Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy of Amantadine Treatment in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Patients With Moderate or Severe COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: Amantadine<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Noblewell; Medical Research Agency (ABM); Leszek Giec Upper-Silesian Medical Centre of the Silesian Medical University in Katowice<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
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<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 Patients Management During Home Isolation</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Procedure: Oxygen therapy and physical therapy; Device: Oxygen therapy<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Cairo University<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Different Use of The Aerosol Box in COVID-19 Patients; Internal Jugular Vein Cannulation</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Procedure: Internal jugular vein cannulation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Bakirkoy Dr. Sadi Konuk Research and Training Hospital<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Remdesivir- Ivermectin Combination Therapy in Severe Covid-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: Ivermectin<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Assiut University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Short Term, High Dose Vitamin D Supplementation in Moderate to Severe COVID-19 Disease</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: cholecalciferol 6 lakh IU<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: <br/>
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Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
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<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 COVID-19 Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine; Biological: 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine; Biological: Inactivated Hepatitis A Vaccine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: <br/>
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Sinovac Research and Development Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Role of Chlorhexidine in Minimizing the Viral Load Among COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: Chlorhexidine digluconate, povidone iodine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: King Abdulaziz University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase 1 Intranasal Parainfluenza Virus Type 5-SARS CoV-2 S Vaccine in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: CVXGA1 low dose; Biological: CVXGA1 high dose<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: CyanVac LLC<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“CHANGE COVID-19 Severity”</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: Magnesium Citrate plus probiotic<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Vanderbilt University Medical Center<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy, Immunogenicity, and Safety of the Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine (TURKOVAC) Versus the CoronaVac Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: TURCOVAC; Biological: CoronaVac<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Health Institutes of Turkey<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>High-throughput analysis of the interactions between viral proteins and host cell RNAs</strong> - RNA-protein interactions of a virus play a major role in the replication of RNA viruses. The replication and transcription of these viruses take place in the cytoplasm of the host cell; hence, there is a probability for the host RNA-viral protein and viral RNA-host protein interactions. The current study applies a high-throughput computational approach, including feature extraction and machine learning methods, to predict the affinity of protein sequences of ten viruses to three categories of…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Molnupiravir inhibits the replication of the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VoCs) in a hamster infection model</strong> - The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VoCs) has exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently available monoclonal antibodies and vaccines appear to have reduced efficacy against some of these VoCs. Antivirals targeting conserved proteins of SARS-CoV-2 are unlikely to be affected by mutations arising in VoCs, and should therefore be effective against emerging variants. We here investigate the efficacy of Molnupiravir, currently in phase II clinical trials, in hamsters infected with…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In silico investigation on the inhibitory effect of fungal secondary metabolites on RNA dependent RNA polymerase of SARS-CoV-II: A docking and molecular dynamic simulation study</strong> - The newly emerged Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) rapidly outspread worldwide and now is one of the biggest infectious pandemics in human society. In this study, the inhibitory potential of 99 secondary metabolites obtained from endophytic fungi was investigated against the new coronavirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) using computational methods. A sequence of blind and targeted molecular dockings was performed to predict the more potent compounds on the viral enzyme. In the next…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Plitidepsin for the management of a cancer patient infected with SARS-CoV-2 while receiving chemotherapy</strong> - Plitidepsin is a cyclic peptide that inhibits the host protein elongation factor alpha 1, thus blocking viral replication. A hospitalized patient with stage IIIB gastric signet ring cell carcinoma and multiple comorbidities developed Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) shortly after receiving his first chemotherapy course. He was treated with plitidepsin on a compassionate use basis. The patient showed a substantial acute reduction in viral load 4 days after initiating plitidepsin treatment and was…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>MPI8 is Potent Against SARS-CoV-2 by Inhibiting Dually and Selectively the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease and the Host Cathepsin L</strong> - A number of inhibitors have been developed for the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (MPro) as potential COVID-19 medications but little is known about their selectivity. Using enzymatic assays, we characterized inhibition of TMPRSS2, furin, and cathepsins B/K/L by more than a dozen of previously developed MPro inhibitors including MPI1-9, GC376, 11a, 10-1, 10-2, and 10-3. MPI1-9, GC376 and 11a all contain an aldehyde for the formation of a reversible covalent hemiacetal adduct with the MPro active site…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Peptidomimetic alpha-Acyloxymethylketone Warheads with Six-Membered Lactam P1 Glutamine Mimic: SARS-CoV-2 3CL Protease Inhibition, Coronavirus Antiviral Activity, and in Vitro Biological Stability</strong> - Recurring coronavirus outbreaks, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, establish a necessity to develop direct-acting antivirals that can be readily administered and are active against a broad spectrum of coronaviruses. Described in this Article are novel α-acyloxymethylketone warhead peptidomimetic compounds with a six-membered lactam glutamine mimic in P1. Compounds with potent SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease and in vitro viral replication inhibition were identified with low cytotoxicity and good…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Poor humoral and T-cell response to two-dose SARS-CoV-2 messenger RNA vaccine BNT162b2 in cardiothoracic transplant recipients</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: The findings of poor immune responses to a two-dose BNT162b2 vaccination in cardiothoracic transplant patients have a significant impact for organ transplant recipients specifically and possibly for immunocompromised patients in general. It urges for a review of future vaccine strategies in these patients.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Targeting autophagy in disease: established and new strategies</strong> - Macroautophagy/autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved pathway responsible for clearing cytosolic aggregated proteins, damaged organelles or invading microorganisms. Dysfunctional autophagy leads to pathological accumulation of the cargo, which has been linked to a range of human diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, infectious and autoimmune diseases and various forms of cancer. Cumulative work in animal models, application of genetic tools and pharmacologically active compounds, has…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In Vitro Models for Studying Entry, Tissue Tropism, and Therapeutic Approaches of Highly Pathogenic Coronaviruses</strong> - Coronaviruses (CoVs) are enveloped nonsegmented positive-sense RNA viruses belonging to the family Coronaviridae that contain the largest genome among RNA viruses. Their genome encodes 4 major structural proteins, and among them, the Spike (S) protein plays a crucial role in determining the viral tropism. It mediates viral attachment to the host cell, fusion to the membranes, and cell entry using cellular proteases as activators. Several in vitro models have been developed to study the CoVs…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Targeting liquid-liquid phase separation of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein promotes innate antiviral immunity by elevating MAVS activity</strong> - Patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 exhibit low expression of interferon-stimulated genes, contributing to a limited antiviral response. Uncovering the underlying mechanism of innate immune suppression and rescuing the innate antiviral response remain urgent issues in the current pandemic. Here we identified that the dimerization domain of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (SARS2-NP) is required for SARS2-NP to undergo liquid-liquid phase separation with RNA, which inhibits Lys63-linked…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A bivalent protein targeting glycans and HR1 domain in spike protein potently inhibited infection of SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Since GL25E showed highly potent and broad-spectrum inhibitory activity against infection of SARS-CoV-2 and its mutants, as well as other HCoVs, it is a promising candidate for further development as a broad-spectrum anti-HCoV therapeutic and prophylactic to treat and prevent COVID-19 and other emerging HCoV diseases.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Reduced sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 variant Delta to antibody neutralization</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 lineage was identified in October 2020 in India^(1-5). It has since then become dominant in some indian regions and UK and further spread to many countries⁶. The lineage includes three main subtypes (B1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3), harbouring diverse Spike mutations in the N-terminal domain (NTD) and the receptor binding domain (RBD) which may increase their immune evasion potential. B.1.617.2, also termed variant Delta, is believed to spread faster than other…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Multifunctional inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 by MM/PBSA, essential dynamics, and molecular dynamic investigations</strong> - The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic demands a novel approach to combat and identify potential therapeutic targets. The SARS- CoV-2 infection causes a hyperimmune response followed by a spectrum of diseases. Limonoids are a class of triterpenoids known to prevent the release of IL-6, IL-15, IL-1α, IL-1β via TNF and are also known to modulate PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β, JNK1/2, MAPKp38, ERK1/2, and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathways and could help to avoid viral infection, persistence, and pathogenesis. The present…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>AIEgen-loaded nanofibrous membrane as photodynamic/photothermal antimicrobial surface for sunlight-triggered bioprotection</strong> - The outbreak of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 causes an urgent need for abundant personal protective equipment (PPE) which leads to a huge shortage of raw materials. Additionally, the inappropriate disposal and sterilization of PPE may result in a high risk of cross-contamination. Therefore, the exploration of antimicrobial materials possessing both microbe interception and self-decontamination effects to develop reusable and easy-to-sterilize PPE is of great importance. Herein, an…</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PROTECTIVE ROLE OF CORTISTATIN IN PULMONARY INFLAMMATION AND FIBROSIS</strong> - CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: We identify to cortistatin as an endogenous break of pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. Deficiency in cortistatin could be a marker of poor-prognosis in inflammatory/fibrotic pulmonary disorders. Cortistatin- based therapies emerge as attractive candidates to treat severe ALI/ARDS, including SARS-Cov-2-associated ARDS.</p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Advanced Machine Learning System combating COVID-19 virus Detection, Spread, Prevention and Medical Assistance.</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU329799475">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Differential detection kit for common SARS-CoV-2 variants in COVID-19 patients</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU328840861">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 anti-viral therapeutic</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU327160071">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A POLYHERBAL ALCOHOL FREE FORMULATION FOR ORAL CAVITY</strong> - The present invention generally relates to a herbal composition. Specifically, the present invention relates to a polyherbal alcohol free composition comprising of Glycyrrhiza glabra root extract, Ocimum sanctum leaf extract, Elettaria cardamomum fruit extract, Mentha spicata (Spearmint) oil and Tween 80 and method of preparation thereof. The polyherbal alcohol free composition of the present invention possesses excellent antimicrobial properties and useful for oral cavity. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN325690740">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因及其应用</strong> - 本发明属于生物技术领域，具体涉及新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因及其应用。本发明的新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因，其核苷酸序列如SEQIDNO.1或SEQIDNO.6所示。本发明通过优化野生型新型冠状病毒南非B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因序列，并结合筛选确定了相对最佳序列，优化后序列产生的克隆表达效率比野生型新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD序列表达效率大幅提高，从而，本发明的新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因可以用于制备新型冠状病毒疫苗。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN328990628">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>检测新型冠状病毒中和抗体的试剂盒及其应用</strong> - 本发明涉及生物技术领域，具体而言，提供了一种检测新型冠状病毒中和抗体的试剂盒及其应用。本发明提供的检测新型冠状病毒中和抗体试剂盒，具体包括（a）或（b）两种方案：（a）示踪物标记的RBD三聚体抗原，包被在固体支持物上的ACE2，以及，含有0.2‑10mg/mL十二烷基二甲基甜菜碱的工作液；（b）示踪物标记的ACE2，包被在固体支持物上的RBD三聚体抗原，以及，含有0.2‑10mg/mL十二烷基二甲基甜菜碱的工作液；其中，RBD三聚体抗原利用二硫键将刺突蛋白的RBD与S2亚基完全交联得到。十二烷基二甲基甜菜碱会显著提高RBD三聚体抗原与新冠中和性抗体结合速度，提升阳性样本平均发光强度，缩短检测时间。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN328990376">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种检测SARS-CoV-2的引物组合物及其应用</strong> - 本发明涉及一种检测SARS‑CoV‑2的引物组合物及其应用。所述引物组合物包括SEQ ID NO:1~SEQ ID NO:12所示的核酸序列。本发明利用所述引物组合物进行逆转录巢式PCR，并结合Sanger测序，能够快速、准确地获取SARS‑CoV‑2基因信息，从而能够实现快速检测SARS‑CoV‑2以及判断SARS‑CoV‑2突变株，且具备良好的准确性、灵敏度、特异性以及重复性。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN328990422">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种新冠病毒肺炎重症化预测系统及方法</strong> - 本发明涉及疾病预测技术领域，公开了一种新冠病毒肺炎重症化预测系统及方法，包括以下步骤：步骤一，采集患者血常规信息和用户信息；步骤二，将患者血常规信息按照用户信息进行等级分类；步骤三，将已经等级分类的患者血常规信息与对应等级的标准信息进行比较；步骤四，当患者血常规信息在标准信息范围内则判定患者为轻症患者，当患者血常规信息在标准信息范围外则判定患者为重症患者。本发明能够准确快速地区分轻症和重症。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN328308318">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>MEDIDOR DE SATURACION</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=ES325874099">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>폐마스크 밀봉 회수기</strong> - 본 발명은 마스크 착용 후 버려지는 일회용 폐마스크를 비닐봉지에 넣은 후 밀봉하여 배출함으로써, 2차 감염을 예방하고 일반 생활폐기물과 선별 분리 배출하여 환경오염을 방지하는 데 그 목적이 있다. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=KR325788342">link</a></p></li>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Did the Police Shoot Matthew Zadok Williams?</strong> - Outside Atlanta, a mother and five sisters look for answers. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/why-did-the-police-shoot-matthew-zadok-williams">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s Next for the Campaign to Break Up Big Tech?</strong> - A judge recently dismissed two antitrust cases against Facebook. But what appeared to be a setback for the effort may actually provide a road map for how it can succeed. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/whats-next-for-the-campaign-to-break-up-big-tech">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What We Need to Learn from the Tragedy in Surfside</strong> - It is possible that South Florida, where climate change is a particularly acute problem, is nearing a point at which even the best-constructed buildings are under threat. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/07/12/what-we-need-to-learn-from-the-tragedy-in-surfside">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden’s Invisible Ideology</strong> - The President has deployed an exasperating but effective strategy to counter Trumpism. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/bidens-invisible-ideology">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Richard Branson’s Plan to Beat Jeff Bezos to Outer Space</strong> - The two billionaires have been duelling for years to make commercial space flights a reality. Now, on Sunday, Branson is going himself. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/richard-bransons-plan-to-beat-jeff-bezos-to-outer-space">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<li><strong>Seashells changed the world. Now they’re teaching us about the future of the oceans.</strong> -
|
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<figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vN2JWQR6CGBFmrdn-
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kHhOyEtaNA=/352x0:3601x2437/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69564818/GettyImages_559747449.0.jpg"/></p>
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<figcaption>
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Nautiluses swimming. | Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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In The Sound of the Sea, environmental journalist Cynthia Barnett explores the history and science of shells.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FIWMF1">
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<em>This story is part of </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth"><strong>Down to Earth</strong></a><em>, a Vox reporting initiative on the science, politics, and economics of the biodiversity crisis.</em>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4krzby">
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Many years ago, the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum in Florida surveyed its visitors to find out how much they knew about seashells. Ninety percent of them, as the survey revealed, didn’t know that shells were made by live animals.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7PnnPO">
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“I was just absolutely floored when I heard the statistic,” said Cynthia Barnett, an author and environmental reporter who teaches journalism at the University of Florida. “Most people thought they were some sort of rock or stone, and I was really disturbed by that. It just got me thinking how separated we are from the natural world.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CTFp5L">
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Barnett didn’t let that thought go. It became an obsession — and eventually, a book.<em> </em>Published earlier this month, her new book, <em>The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans, </em>is a story about seashells and the creatures that make them.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tBhC0f">
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Seashells aren’t just interesting because of the fascinating and bizarre animals that create them, Barnett writes. They’ve also shaped human societies and laid the groundwork for one of the world’s most recognizable oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell. And whether you know it or not, seashells are all around us — in construction materials, in the ground below our feet, even in our toothpaste.
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</p></li>
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</ul>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="The cover of the Cynthia Barnett book “The
|
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Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the fate of the oceans.”" src="https://cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/thumbor/G36tyXX0QBAkX4X8U9bLUya95IY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22702234/4_03_Sound_of_the_Sea_FINAL.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of W. W. Norton</cite>
|
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</figure>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WC23rR">
|
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|
Shells also reveal a frightening future that climate change is swiftly ushering in. “The sea and its life are taking a far greater blow than those of us on land,” she writes. Oceans are absorbing <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-ocean-heat-
|
||||||
|
content#:~:text=More%20than%2090%20percent%20of,has%20occurred%20in%20the%20ocean.">far more</a> heat than land and they’re becoming more acidic, as they suck up much of the carbon dioxide we emit into the air. That’s taking a toll on many mollusks, she writes, as is<strong> </strong>over-harvesting.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xoXuW1">
|
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|
I recently spoke with Barnett about these threats, and her own place in the sweeping story of seashells. She used to spend summers harvesting wild scallops in Florida,<strong> </strong>and ate seafood on the road while reporting the book, she said.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="40MvxC">
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||||||
|
But as she’s learned about the true price of harvesting, she’s changed her habits, and she’s optimistic that others are doing the same. “I think our ethics of gathering seafood, of cooking seafood, has changed, and that could give us a lot of hope,” she told me. “We do change over time.”
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MuP0sw">
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Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
|
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</p>
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<h3 id="MBaSVh">
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The animals inside seashells
|
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</h3>
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<h4 id="bAHYP4">
|
||||||
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<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
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</h4>
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||||||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9upEjJ">
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Where do seashells actually come from?
|
||||||
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</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="DYgYSN">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HjkcuK">
|
||||||
|
Seashells are made by the wondrous creatures that live inside of them — the marine mollusks. There are about 50,000 of them known. Mollusks are the second-largest group of animals behind the arthropods — which include the insects — and they are scooting and flipping and scooching all over the world from the deepest parts of the ocean to the highest mountain peaks.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="mIVVzI">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S8CQp3">
|
||||||
|
When I think about seashells, I think of oysters in a restaurant or perhaps the beautiful conch shell. How varied are seashells?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="h0A6bt">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xddHLZ">
|
||||||
|
There are the gastropods, which are animals that make a single coiled shell. Then there are the bivalves, which are those double-shelled animals like clams and scallops. And then, of course, there are the cephalopods like the unshelled octopus or the squid, which had a shell long ago but evolved out of it. They traded in their shells for speed.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7cVxub">
|
||||||
|
Marine mollusks evolved shells to protect themselves. As fishes and crabs evolved stronger teeth and stronger claws for pinching, seashells became stronger and stronger and more varied and more elaborate over tens of millions and even hundreds of millions of years. It’s an evolutionary arms race.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fNCzm1">
|
||||||
|
The really cool thing is that so many other things we love about seashells also evolved as protection. Sometimes when you pick them up, they’ll slam shut their little trap doors. The terebrids, or auger shells, have these really narrow apertures — the part of the shell you hold up to your ear — so predators can’t pry into them. The cowries evolved these really smooth, glossy humps, which scientists think makes it hard for a crab to hold on to them.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||||
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/thumbor/r2rYTOnkDi1nF9g6Tpg_ZF1Fq0M=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22703428/GettyImages_157900296.jpg"/> <cite>BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</cite>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
A scallop.
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="sPBDlC">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cqCM99">
|
||||||
|
How do they make these shells in the first place?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="y20yGY">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nZAThJ">
|
||||||
|
That is the process of biomineralization. The primary element in seashells is calcium carbonate. And the animals take that from the sea around them and build their shells slowly as they grow. So they’re basically secreting the shell at the edges, and they do that over most of their lives. Although kind of like humans, they grow faster at different times of their lives.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="ADjisz">
|
||||||
|
“We walk on a world of shells”
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="8CcMVj">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jn5Emc">
|
||||||
|
Until reading this book, I didn’t realize that seashells are essentially all around us — in our building materials and in the design of buildings.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="BU1ryo">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qBmDAP">
|
||||||
|
When I set out to write this book, I started thinking about all the places that seashells are found. They’re underfoot, making up limestone aquifers where we’re getting our drinking water. We walk on the bodies of all the marine life that has ever lived. A lot of the built environment is also made of seashells including the Empire State Building and the Washington Cathedral — these are great buildings cut from limestone.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="fKAE36">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1cfRCw">
|
||||||
|
Limestone is the result of ancient shells basically being compressed over millennia.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="2AIRvv">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MmLCbi">
|
||||||
|
Yes, that’s exactly right, and it’s a really hardy building material. Beyond that, of course, seashells are models for a lot of classic architectural design. Gaudi’s vaulted rooftops in Catalonia, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum in New York, Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House in Australia. Utzon credited the fierce-looking cockscomb oyster for that waterfront beauty.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/thumbor/41YSAaWPuF3zziJ6pqpeQc3Oko4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22703431/GettyImages_81975245.jpg"/> <cite>Gaye Gerard/Getty Images</cite></p>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
The Sydney Opera House in Australia.
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="PwwA5m">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RUrsIf">
|
||||||
|
I just love this idea that the shells are the homes for mollusks, but also, in some cases, they house us. Is it also true that shells are in toothpaste, or am I making that up?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="oeCFFw">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="80cnUw">
|
||||||
|
You are not making that up. Shells are in toothpaste for the calcium carbonate. The same thing that helps make them tough is a good material for keeping our teeth clean. The ancient Greeks ground oysters and used it on their teeth to keep their teeth white and clean.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="4rkwIP">
|
||||||
|
The world’s first currency
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="QQXEz0">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0LjaLJ">
|
||||||
|
As you write, a small seashell called the cowrie was used as a form of currency for a long time. When and where<strong> </strong>was that?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="nxk6Or">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oRfMyL">
|
||||||
|
These little shells were harvested en masse in the Maldives for a thousand years, and they were used as money around the world. The money cowrie is a reef-dwelling algae-eater in the genus Cypraea, which actually shares its Greek root word with cryptocurrency — crypto, meaning hidden or secret. I was really fascinated by the money cowrie when I found out that it had been used as a major currency of the slave trade. In West Africa, they actually purchased an estimated third of the enslaved Africans forced to the Americas.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/thumbor/P_Ugm4DSRry5AyivjmEtqL1rD4g=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22703434/GettyImages_492778715.jpg"/> <cite>DeAgostini/Getty Images</cite></p>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
Shells of the money cowrie.
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="oZ5GkK">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tBiKPk">
|
||||||
|
And why the cowrie? Is there something particular that makes the shell so special?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="Q2Bxqo">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hfPzbW">
|
||||||
|
For one, they’re very uniform in size, so they were easy to count. They also packed up really well into ship ballast. And they were something you could put into a pocket or a purse and easily use like coins. They are really small and could fit on the tip of your pointer finger.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="K4prYV">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S25YEd">
|
||||||
|
Do we have a sense of when they became money? Was there a formal process that made that happen?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="P3fhDJ">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lghrdZ">
|
||||||
|
It was informal at first. There’s a wonderful global historian named Bin Yang who has written an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cowrie-Shells-Money-Routledge-Approaches-ebook/dp/B07KY1R21S">entire history of the money cowrie</a> as currency, and he found that Maldivian cowries were spending like coins in India as early as the fourth century. Then they moved west to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, they spread to mainland Southeast Asia, and then they took off.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="UxJN9F">
|
||||||
|
The oil company Shell has its origins in actual shells
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="APYvrq">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kjjkbV">
|
||||||
|
You tell another story<strong> </strong>about the value of shells — more specifically, the ones that laid the groundwork for Royal Dutch Shell, the oil company.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="ssD34c">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="773xsN">
|
||||||
|
Shell’s history dates to a Jewish curio shop owner in the East End of London. His name was Marcus Samuel, and in the 1830s, he was importing tropical seashells. The big thing that made him wealthy were these little gift boxes bejeweled with seashells. He thought of the idea of selling them as tourist items at beaches all around the United Kingdom. They were really, really popular.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OQ6jdq">
|
||||||
|
One of his sons, Marcus Samuel Jr., is the one who ended up founding Shell Oil. At that time, oil was transported in cases and it sort of sloshed around. It could catch fire. It could burn ships. What Marcus Samuel Jr. did was help design the first safe oil tanker to be able to take a large amount of oil through the Suez Canal.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uTtAMqkeQK98X92Ju0SHok7im7U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22703438/GettyImages_1320382234.jpg"/> <cite>Nathan Stirk/Getty Images</cite></p>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
The logo of Royal Dutch Shell is a scallop.
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="W8MUJo">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZjefpY">
|
||||||
|
Is the company’s logo a scallop?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="nLVESI">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OuRUBL">
|
||||||
|
Yeah. The first logo they had was like a homely little mussel — just really boring. The scallop is perhaps the most brilliant-ever marketing symbol. It’s been a beloved shape for most of humanity. That bright yellow scallop shell has become so iconic for Shell Oil that the company doesn’t need to use its name when it uses that logo.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R9Auch">
|
||||||
|
What’s poignant about this, and another reason for doing this book, is the revelation that seashells are beginning to be impacted by acidifying and warming seas. A company that started out with a founder who loved seashells so much is now trading in a fossil fuel, whose emissions are harming the oceans and creating acidifying seas that are, in turn, harming seashells and the animals that make them.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="lcZn1R">
|
||||||
|
Fossil fuels are harming shell-building mollusks
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="blmFEQ">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3kBGOD">
|
||||||
|
The increase in CO2 emissions is not only warming the oceans but increasing the level of acidity inside of them. How does that work?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="7lsWSC">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="thtz9O">
|
||||||
|
The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and in the oceans is a limiting factor for the mollusks in taking in calcium carbonate to build their shells. The carbon dioxide we’ve sent into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels has turned seawater about 30 percent more acidic than it was at the start of the industrial era. That chemical change in the ocean has begun to limit the carbonate that mollusks use to make their shells. Acidic waters can also bore into some shells, pitting them or eroding them.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BhopSX">
|
||||||
|
Mollusks are also threatened by warming. Some parts of the ocean have already become too warm for the shell-making animals. But the other beautiful thing about marine mollusks is that these are incredible survivors, and they did make it through five mass extinctions.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="8cZ4CI">
|
||||||
|
“Shell madness”
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="DWmx9y">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vjHjdZ">
|
||||||
|
Shells, we now know, can represent wealth. But for many people, they are collector’s items. As you write in the book, there were these periods when shell collecting was a wildly popular hobby — there was “shell madness.” What does that look like?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="OW9VWK">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jxan1C">
|
||||||
|
There are two really fascinating periods of crazed shell collection. One begins in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Netherlands, when these exploratory ships began to take off for the Indo-Pacific and bring back these amazing, beautiful seashells — all kinds of chambered Nautiluses, Conchs, and things that you just don’t see on the beaches of the North Sea.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qs1n74">
|
||||||
|
These seashells became extremely valuable to the Dutch. Rembrandt himself got caught up in the shell madness. You had dilettantes in Holland paying more for a single seashell than they would pay for a famous Dutch master painting. That lasted for a couple of hundred years, and it sort of collapsed in the wake of the French Revolution.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||||
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/38zT-O1lc9wPiiKUlSJb5e8SsHo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22703446/GettyImages_549356781.jpg"/> <cite>Braunger/ullstein bild via Getty Images</cite>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
Shell collectors at Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel Island in Florida.
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iiyWFP">
|
||||||
|
Another shell madness happens in the United States, post-World War II. Part of that was spurred by the number of American soldiers who served in the Pacific, in places like Palau, Guam, and Hawaii that have incredible seashells. They brought home tropical shells as souvenirs or keepsakes, and that helped spark a great excitement for seashells that lasted for a couple of decades in the United States.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uBvEnV">
|
||||||
|
Florida was a hotspot for that madness. People would make a pilgrimage to Sanibel Island and collect as many shells as they could. It was really a mecca because, at that time, people collected live shells and they would just fill their car trunks with seashells to bring home.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="1CXsVc">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="edDPuZ">
|
||||||
|
I’m sure that smelled good.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="jZgFIn">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kTqmze">
|
||||||
|
There was a joke here in Florida that the best seashells to be found were just south of the Georgia line because that’s when the station wagons would begin to stink and they would have to stop and unload all the shells on the side of the road.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q3b7iU">
|
||||||
|
If you stayed in a beachfront motel on Sanibel Island there would be a boiling station where everybody brought the live animals to just boil them and retrieve the shells. It was a big part of shell collecting culture. That has really changed. People who would have thought nothing of taking a whole trunk full of life, say, in the 1950s or 60s, would never do that today. It’s one of those stories that gives you some hope that people can change.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="gtJl09">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pvsmYF">
|
||||||
|
I’m curious, and this is more of a philosophical question, but why did — or still do — seashells have such a grip on us?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="Hav0Jx">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xv4sXB">
|
||||||
|
I think we are fundamentally drawn to beauty. This is something that really makes us human and binds us. There’s something really mesmerizing about looking at the top of, say, a lightning whelk or certain kinds of conchs, that just have this wonderful, mesmerizing spiral. It’s something that was true 100,000 years ago, and it’s true today.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/thumbor/iPg4a9TcyF2F7cArHaE0IrwhsBs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22703459/GettyImages_589095428.jpg"/> <cite>Getty Images/iStockphoto</cite></p>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
Lightning whelks.
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="8tCObv">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6G4gTw">
|
||||||
|
Are you a collector?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="JiZcjt">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="onAm6I">
|
||||||
|
I am not a collector, and I know that because I followed real shell collectors around for about six years while I was working on this book. The hardcore shell collectors are known as conchologists. They’re really knowledgeable about shells and the animals that make them. Another way I know I’m not a collector is that I have a favorite shell. When I would interview conchologists, I soon found out that none of them have a favorite shell. That’s like asking them, “Who’s your favorite kid?” They just won’t answer the question.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="Kp0P8h">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Benji Jones</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qcHJAg">
|
||||||
|
I’ve got to know, what’s your favorite shell?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h4 id="UxEHYb">
|
||||||
|
<strong>Cynthia Barnett</strong>
|
||||||
|
</h4>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iTd0sl">
|
||||||
|
My favorite shell is the lightning whelk. It’s this gorgeous spiraled gastropod that was also really loved by the indigenous Floridians called the Calusa. They actually built these great cities of shell in southwest Florida — all of these incredible shell structures and mounds that were later flattened for road fill and to spread on agricultural fields.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pfuRZW">
|
||||||
|
The lightning whelk has an unusual feature. It opens to the left, and usually, shells open to the right. If you hold a typical shell in front of you, the aperture — or the part that you hold to your ear — will be on your right, if the shell is pointing up. But in a lightning whelk, it’s on the left. It’s just a beautiful shell.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<ul>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden’s plan to make stuff cheaper</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<figure>
|
||||||
|
<img alt="President Biden is seated as he signs the Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the
|
||||||
|
American Economy. He is surrounded by a group of men and women looking on as he signs. " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/thumbor/wxZFIeo0LY4yWGrAFxghx7EQAQk=/0x0:7285x5464/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69562298/GettyImages_1327856737.7.jpg"/>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
President Biden signs the Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
|
||||||
|
</figcaption></figure></li>
|
||||||
|
</ul>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
The president’s big antitrust push could impact how much you pay for plane tickets and prescription drugs.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NKKL8O">
|
||||||
|
President Biden issued a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-
|
||||||
|
actions/2021/07/09/executive-order-on-promoting-competition-in-the-american-economy/">sweeping executive order</a> on Friday, making the case to Americans that companies from multiple industries have become too big and too powerful, and federal intervention is needed to bring competition back to the marketplace in order to drive prices down.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ORZvYa">
|
||||||
|
The Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy represents a slight shift for the Biden administration, which has lately focused its antitrust attention on Big Tech. Last month, Biden <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/6/15/22398320/federal-trade-commission-lina-khan-chair-big-tech-antitrust-
|
||||||
|
competition-law-amazon">appointed</a> tech antitrust expert Lina Khan to be the chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which, along with the Department of Justice, is responsible for enforcing antitrust laws. The order addresses several issues with major tech companies and alleged anti-competitive behavior, calling for more scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions that certain tech companies might pursue in order to remove competitors from the marketplace. The new executive order also asks the FTC to establish rules over the collection of user data, which many Big Tech companies rely on for revenue and which Congress has <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22189727/2020-pandemic-ruined-digital-
|
||||||
|
privacy">consistently failed</a> to pass laws to regulate.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="knaHqS">
|
||||||
|
But it can be hard to make the case that antitrust enforcement for Facebook and Google will do anything for consumers’ wallets because those services are largely free — you essentially pay for them with your data, which the companies use to do things like sell ads. And Amazon’s dominance over just about everything has come, partially, through its ability to make its prices lower than smaller businesses. People like to pay less for things, and lower prices have historically been interpreted as beneficial to the consumer. That’s basically what antitrust laws are for: to protect consumers.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<aside id="yaOguW">
|
||||||
|
<div>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
</aside>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4qIg4e">
|
||||||
|
So now Biden is rolling out a comprehensive executive order that, among other things, makes the case for how antitrust measures will save Americans money by promoting competition and driving down prices for everything from airline fees to hearing aids.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MNsDWH">
|
||||||
|
“The heart of American capitalism is a simple idea: open and fair competition,” Biden said shortly before he signed the order. “That means that if your companies want to win your business, they have to go out and they have to up their game; better prices and services; new ideas and products.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YRv0D6">
|
||||||
|
He added: “But what we’ve seen over the past few decades is less competition and more concentration that holds our economy back. We see it in big agriculture, in big tech, in big pharma. The list goes on. Rather than competing for consumers, they are consuming their competitors.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6QlkQx">
|
||||||
|
Here’s how the order, if fully implemented, can make things cheaper for you.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="rqk3eq">
|
||||||
|
Airline fees
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ux8dek">
|
||||||
|
Biden’s executive order directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue rules requiring airlines to refund fees when services aren’t provided or aren’t provided adequately. For example, if you pay a baggage fee and your bags are delayed, that fee would be refunded. Or if a plane’s wifi or in-flight entertainment system doesn’t work, the airline would issue some sort of refund on the ticket price.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AORaU6">
|
||||||
|
The order also directs the DOT to issue rules that airlines must clearly disclose all baggage, change, and cancellation fees to their customers.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="FGcee4">
|
||||||
|
Internet bills
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oQxaXo">
|
||||||
|
Americans have <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-
|
||||||
|
goods/2020/2/18/21126347/antitrust-monopolies-internet-telecommunications-cheerleading">long been forced to pay</a> whatever the few internet service providers charge for those services, typically because they <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/12/15/16780298/what-are-your-options-internet-providers-net-neutrality">don’t have much of a choice</a>: Most people have one or two high-speed internet options available to them, which gives their carriers little motivation to charge them less. And the prices those providers charge can vary and are often padded with hidden fees.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LPzjnl">
|
||||||
|
The order will ask the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to stop internet service providers from <a href="https://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/your-landlord-might-be-making-deals-with-broadband-
|
||||||
|
providers-we-want-them-to-stop/">making deals</a> with landlords that restrict tenants to only one option for an internet carrier. This will, in theory, promote competition and lower prices.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wRIR7J">
|
||||||
|
The Biden administration will also push the FCC to revive its “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/4/4/11585844/fcc-unveils-
|
||||||
|
nutrition-label-inspired-disclosures-for-broadband-service">Broadband Nutrition Label</a>” plan. This would compel providers to explain all the different plans available to customers, all the fees associated with them, all the services customers are getting, and all the details of their final bill. These Broadband Nutrition Labels were proposed back in 2016, only to be dropped by the Trump administration’s FCC.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="llhZ8N">
|
||||||
|
Finally, Biden is imploring the FCC to restore net neutrality. Net neutrality, which was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/2/26/18073512/network-
|
||||||
|
neutrality">established</a> by the Obama-era FCC and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/12/14/16776732/net-neutrality-
|
||||||
|
vote-isp-open-internet-government-repeal-ajit-pai-fcc-att-comcast-fast-lane-traffic">repealed</a> by the Trump FCC, would prohibit carriers from charging more to access certain sites or services. It does this by classifying internet service as a “Title II” common carrier, which would subject it to regulations along the lines of a public utility.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wfVRRl">
|
||||||
|
The order is ultimately trying to promote competition and transparency, and end fees designed to lock customers in.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="faHARk">
|
||||||
|
Prescription drugs
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XFhx8W">
|
||||||
|
Biden’s new order directs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to work with states and tribal authorities to import drugs from <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/30/20729479/bernie-sanders-canada-medicare-for-all-drug-price-
|
||||||
|
insulin">Canada</a>, where the same drugs are typically <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-
|
||||||
|
health/2016/11/30/12945756/prescription-drug-prices-explained">much cheaper</a> than in the United States. This would, ideally, force drug manufacturers to bring down the prices they charge in the US, or at least give Americans the option to pay less for imported drugs.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0LcCGV">
|
||||||
|
The order also directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support generic drugs that will give Americans cheaper options to brand-name equivalents, and come up with a plan to combat price gouging within 45 days.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3iFtJv">
|
||||||
|
Finally, it asks the FTC to ban “<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/mergers-competition/pay-delay">pay for delay</a>,” which is when drug companies pay off competitors to delay offering cheaper generic versions of their drugs once their exclusive patent ends.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="lzPjD6">
|
||||||
|
Hearing aids
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xphlzx">
|
||||||
|
Biden is ordering HHS to issue rules that allow hearing aids to be sold over the counter, rather than forcing consumers to have an expensive (and probably unnecessary) consultation with a medical professional first — one that few health insurers <a href="https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/52484-Why-aren-t-hearing-aids-covered-by-insurance">will even cover</a>.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="K5Qtyy">
|
||||||
|
Repairs, from tractors to mobile phones
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pfvtTJ">
|
||||||
|
The order asks the FTC to expand “right to repair” rules. <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/john-deere-farmers-right-to-repair/">Farmers</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/7/3/18761691/right-to-repair-computers-phones-car-mechanics-apple">iPhone owners</a> alike have complained that their device and equipment manufacturers have made it impossible or excessively difficult for anyone but those manufacturers to do repairs — which allows the manufacturers to set their own repair prices with no competition to drive those prices down.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="m8HGsN">
|
||||||
|
Products from basically any store that isn’t Amazon
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9XYmMA">
|
||||||
|
In what could be one of the more sweeping parts of the order, the Biden administration asks the FTC to make rules that prevent “internet marketplaces” from using their dominant position to gain an advantage over the small businesses that have to sell their wares through them. For example, Amazon can see which of another company’s products are selling well, make its own versions of those products, and then <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/10/6/21505027/congress-big-tech-antitrust-report-facebook-google-amazon-apple-
|
||||||
|
mark-zuckerberg-jeff-bezos-tim-cook">display them more prominently</a>. This could apply to Apple as well, as its many developers have complained that its App Store <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22412725/apple-fortnite-epic-
|
||||||
|
antitrust-court-case">is a monopoly</a> and that Apple will see what its users want (music streaming services, for example), make its own version, and push it onto Apple device owners.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<ul>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>Critical race theory hysteria overshadows the importance of teaching kids about racism</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<figure>
|
||||||
|
<img alt="Colorful empty school desks and chairs in a classroom." src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/thumbor/hN-e_oZhIuFSc8LpGbrm9RRkOls=/145x0:2770x1969/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69561076/GettyImages_524661304.0.jpeg"/>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
The current frenzy around critical race theory shouldn’t distract educators from the value of teaching kids about racism, argues high school teacher Jania Hoover. | Jeffry W. Myers/Corbis via Getty Images
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
I teach high school. My students are mature and smart enough to handle these kinds of topics.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4pVqTz">
|
||||||
|
It was a normal day in one of my 11th grade US history courses. During class, a kid, I’ll call him Billy, asked, “Why is it such a big deal that the police killed someone? Why is there so much fuss about this one? He should have just listened to the police.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yPR1zz">
|
||||||
|
While this conversation could have happened this year, it occurred in the spring of 2015, amid the media uproar surrounding <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/7/27/12296670/freddie-gray-baltimore-police-trial">Freddie Gray</a>, a young black man who died while in Baltimore police custody. But Billy didn’t understand why this was happening, and now I — a high school teacher — was tasked with explaining this national moment to my young student. So I took a deep breath and launched into a brief historical context about the history of police brutality, Black resistance to it, and how all of this goes back to America’s Reconstruction era.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jp8kzS">
|
||||||
|
These conversations take place often in my class. Young people want to understand the world around them, and it’s my job to do my absolute best to help them make sense of things, even if it’s just by providing them with knowledge of past events that created the inequalities they witness on a regular basis. Whether it’s police killing unarmed Black people, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22274325/asians-racism-coronavirus-oakland-san-francisco">anti-Asian violence</a> during the Covid-19 pandemic, or viral videos of people making racist <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-
|
||||||
|
person/2018/5/30/17406092/racial-profiling-911-bbq-becky-living-while-black-babysitting-while-black">911 calls</a>, students want to know. I pride myself on helping kids to make connections between these kinds of events and our nation’s history.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hrRFmy">
|
||||||
|
This is one reason why I get so frustrated at all the bad takes circulating among politicians, social media, and the news related to critical race theory and the teaching of America’s racial history in K-12 classrooms. The reality is that kids are talking about race, systems of oppression, and our country’s ugly past anyway — from media coverage to last summer’s protests to even this very controversy itself, my students are absorbing these conversations and want to know more. I’m just one teacher, and there’s no way to generalize what’s happening everywhere. But I believe that my students are smart and mature enough to handle the truth.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MCFKXe">
|
||||||
|
Most of the people discussing<a href="https://www.vox.com/22443822/critical-race-theory-controversy"> critical race theory</a> aren’t really discussing the theory itself, which is something taught in some law schools, but not — as far as I know — in most or any <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/06/24/1009839021/uncovering-who-is-driving-the-fight-against-critical-
|
||||||
|
race-theory-in-schools">K-12 schools</a>. Instead, what these critics seem to be talking about is a brain dump of unrelated buzzwords related to hot button topics in society, such as racism, privilege, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Never mind that most haven’t been in a K-12 history classroom since they were enrolled.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0uP99O">
|
||||||
|
I’ve taught in both majority-Black and majority-white classrooms. One trait that’s the same in both is that parents send their kids to school with the hope that their kids will be prepared for a better life in the future. Certain state legislators and pundits are exploiting that desire and have manufactured a crisis surrounding CRT precisely because most people do not know what it is. The goal is to scare parents, who will then scare teachers away from discussing an accurate representation of past events in the US. But the truth is, we should be having these conversations about racism and the unvarnished truth about our nation’s past with our students. A well-meaning parent should want their children to understand CRT, American exceptionalism, as well as other frameworks they can use to understand American society.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZHIlFU">
|
||||||
|
Teaching the kids the unsavory realities of US history will not teach them to hate this country. As a Black woman, and a great-great-great-great granddaughter of at least one enslaved person, I grew up with a clear understanding that our country’s past wasn’t all good, for all people, all the time. It’s actually because of this that I’ve made it my life’s work to help young people understand history so that they can create a better future. I might have given up on most people my age and older, but the brilliance I see in my classrooms still gives me hope.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IyExR6">
|
||||||
|
I also believe that we do not help kids by lying to them. Telling them the truth about how our country was built makes kids appreciate me more. It’s one thing to discuss the New Deal as a solution for the Great Depression. It’s another to show them the New Deal housing maps, tell them how the housing assistance <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-
|
||||||
|
america">excluded many Black people</a>, and how those issues connect to current economic and racial maps in many US cities.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="agXL5P">
|
||||||
|
There’s also value in teaching kids to evaluate information from multiple perspectives — it makes them better at every aspect of life. We absolutely should talk about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, but we should also talk about Ona Judge, Sally Hemings, and others they enslaved. We should read the Indian Removal Act, but we should also examine documents written from the perspective about indigenous people who were removed. It’s in learning all of these details that students get a much richer picture of this country when we share the flaws, as well as the successes.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vNgzOX">
|
||||||
|
Some may be uncomfortable because discussing issues related to race will lead to questions for which the answers may not be so apparent. Students have asked me if white resistance to <em>Brown v. Board</em> led to the founding of their school. They’ve also asked if <a href="https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2017/08/redlining-dallas-maps/">redlining</a> is why there are so many more Black people in south Dallas than north, where we live and attend school. They also ask questions about issues like patriarchy, capitalism, and oppression that I’m definitely not qualified to answer in a 30-second soundbite. When I first started teaching, I was terrified to tell kids I didn’t know the answer. I thought I would look like a failure. Now, I welcome questions, and help kids learn strategies to find answers.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MbAWyv">
|
||||||
|
Some say that talking about racism will teach kids to feel bad for being white. Yes, it is hard to learn that one’s success is tied very often to socioeconomic status and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/americas-zip-code-inequality/">zip code</a> instead of only hard work and intellect, and some students will no doubt feel bad that they live in a society that awards and withholds privilege based on a status over which most have no control. But that’s a good thing. My grandma said that when you learn better, you do better. I want kids to learn about these systems and work to change them.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y7w6l1">
|
||||||
|
Earlier this year, on January 6, I was teaching a virtual class when the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/1/8/22221078/us-capitol-trump-riot-insurrection">insurrection</a> at the Capitol began. Thankfully, it was an elective course on racial issues in society. The students, and myself, were grateful for the safe space to process our questions and reactions to this event unfolding in real time. This is not unusual for us. My students have asked why pandemic conditions varied so greatly from state to state — to which I tell them that that’s the 10th Amendment in action. They are shocked to learn that the elections of 1800 or 1824 had more drama than 2016 or</p></li>
|
||||||
|
</ul>
|
||||||
|
<ol start="2000" type="1">
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4n2aQt">
|
||||||
|
Ironically, while few K-12 teachers could define critical race theory before 2021, many will probably teach about it next school year. For me, that will likely look like me planning a class discussion of the controversy during my introductory unit for US history, and deeper analysis in my racial issues and African American history classes. As a teacher, it’s such a gift when news headlines make it so much easier to make history relevant for my 11th graders.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S74vSE">
|
||||||
|
<em>Jania Hoover, EdD, is a high school social studies teacher and department chair in Texas with 16 years of teaching experience in both public and private schools. She has designed curriculum for and currently teaches courses on US history, African American history, Native American history, and racial issues in American society.</em>
|
||||||
|
</p></li>
|
||||||
|
</ol>
|
||||||
|
<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>India-Sri Lanka series to now start from July 18, says BCCI secretary Jay Shah</strong> - The series, which was originally scheduled to start with the three ODIs on July 13, had to be rescheduled due to COVID outbreak.</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>Mahmudullah takes sudden decision to retire from Test cricket</strong> - Bangladesh all-rounder Mahmudullah has made a sudden decision to stop playing Test cricket, a day after recording a career-best 150 in the ongoing one</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>Long wait in immigration, not enough volunteers: IOA chief highlights concerns on arrival in Tokyo</strong> - Batra was informed of the inconveniences the athletes from other countries are facing.</p></li>
|
||||||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Copa America final | Rio opens 10% of Maracana Stadium</strong> - Guests will be required to wear masks in the stadium and keep a distance of two meters among each other. No food and drinks will be allowed</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Olympics 2020 | A good draw but it’s not going to be easy: Sindhu</strong> - Have to give 100%: Sai Praneeth</p></li>
|
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|
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|
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
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|
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|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Doctors in Punjab to go on three-day strike from Monday</strong> - We will run parallel OPDs in the lawns of the hospitals to serve patients, they say</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>Deficit rainfall leaves farmers worried in Malnad</strong> - Against a normal of 539 mm, the region, consisting of four districts, received only 327 mm between June 1 and July 9</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>‘HDK and Sumalatha should avoid tussle for sake of district’s development’</strong> - Refusing to comment on the ongoing war of words between JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Sumalatha Ambareesh, MP, over ille</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>Former Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh cremated with full state honours</strong> - Thousands of his well-wishers gathered at the crematorium to bid adieu to the leader.</p></li>
|
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|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Centre earned ₹4.91 crore revenue as fuel prices hiked 69 times this year: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury</strong> - The Congress leader also urged the Trinamool government in West Bengal to follow the footsteps of the Chhattisgarh administration and do away with VAT to reduce fuel prices</p></li>
|
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|
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
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|
||||||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden vows US action over Russian cyber-attacks</strong> - Asked if Moscow would face consequences for the series of hacks, Mr Biden replied: “Yes.”</p></li>
|
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|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Skydivers killed in Swedish plane crash</strong> - Eight skydivers and a pilot die in a plane crash close to the runway at Orebro airport.</p></li>
|
||||||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>EU votes for action over Hungary’s anti-LGBT law</strong> - The new legislation bans the depiction or promotion of homosexuality and gender change among under-18s.</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Spanish ministers clash over campaign to eat less meat</strong> - A minister faces pushback from fellow coalition members after urging carnivores to cut down.</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>German carmakers fined over emissions ‘cartel’</strong> - VW and BMW fined €875m by the European Commission for colluding to restrict emissions cleaning tech.</p></li>
|
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
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|
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|
||||||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Quest for “green” cement draws big name investors to $300B industry</strong> - Start-ups and venture capitalists are joining concrete makers against a hard problem. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779027">link</a></p></li>
|
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|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Feds indict “The Bull” for allegedly selling insider stock info on the dark web</strong> - Data allegedly sold individually or through weekly or monthly subscriptions. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779281">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cheat-maker brags of computer-vision auto-aim that works on “any game”</strong> - Capture cards, input hardware, and machine learning get around system-level lockdowns. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779166">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rupert Murdoch’s answer to Google News is dead after only 18 months</strong> - The shuttered news aggregator offered stories mainly from right-leaning sources. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779162">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NYC ePrix: It’s time for Formula E’s annual visit to America</strong> - We check in with one of our favorite series ahead of this weekend’s races. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779192">link</a></p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<li><strong>It’s a shame nothing is built in the USA anymore…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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I just bought a TV & it said “Built in Antenna”. I don’t even know where that is.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Dullahen"> /u/Dullahen </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ohdci5/its_a_shame_nothing_is_built_in_the_usa_anymore/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ohdci5/its_a_shame_nothing_is_built_in_the_usa_anymore/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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<li><strong>A woman places an ad in the local newspaper. “Looking for a man with three qualifications: won’t beat me up, won’t run away from me, and would be IMMENSELY good in bed”.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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Two days later her doorbell rings. “Hi, I’m Tim. I have no arms so I won’t beat you, and no legs so I won’t run away.” “What makes you think you are great in bed?” the woman retorts.
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Tim replies, “I rang the doorbell, didn’t I?”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/littleboy_xxxx"> /u/littleboy_xxxx </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oh53vc/a_woman_places_an_ad_in_the_local_newspaper/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oh53vc/a_woman_places_an_ad_in_the_local_newspaper/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>What is the difference between BTS and Logan Paul?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
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BTS is a boy band from Asia; Logan Paul is a boy banned from Asia.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/CamilaCazzy"> /u/CamilaCazzy </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ogufcq/what_is_the_difference_between_bts_and_logan_paul/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ogufcq/what_is_the_difference_between_bts_and_logan_paul/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>Vaginas are like the weather</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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When it’s wet, it’s time to go inside
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/somethingcoming_197"> /u/somethingcoming_197 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oh7hzm/vaginas_are_like_the_weather/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oh7hzm/vaginas_are_like_the_weather/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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<li><strong>An 88-Year Old Woman was interviewed by the local News after getting married for the fourth time…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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The interviewer asked her questions about her life, about what it felt like to be marrying again at 80, and then about her new husband’s occupation.
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“He’s a funeral director,” she answered.
|
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|
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“Interesting,” the newsman thought. He then asked her if she wouldn’t mind telling him a little about her first three husbands and what they did for a living.
|
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|
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She told him she’d first married a banker when she was in her early 20s, then a circus ringmaster in her 40s, later on a preacher in her 60s, and now in her 80s, a funeral director.
|
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|
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The interviewer looked at her, quite astonished, and asked why she had married four men with such diverse careers.
|
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|
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She smiled and explained, “I married one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go.”
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/themanimal"> /u/themanimal </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oh59nt/an_88year_old_woman_was_interviewed_by_the_local/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oh59nt/an_88year_old_woman_was_interviewed_by_the_local/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
|
||||||
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
|
||||||
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
|
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
|
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
|
||||||
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
|
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
|
||||||
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</ul>
|
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
|
||||||
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Did the Police Shoot Matthew Zadok Williams?</strong> - Outside Atlanta, a mother and five sisters look for answers. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/why-did-the-police-shoot-matthew-zadok-williams">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s Next for the Campaign to Break Up Big Tech?</strong> - A judge recently dismissed two antitrust cases against Facebook. But what appeared to be a setback for the effort may actually provide a road map for how it can succeed. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/whats-next-for-the-campaign-to-break-up-big-tech">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What We Need to Learn from the Tragedy in Surfside</strong> - It is possible that South Florida, where climate change is a particularly acute problem, is nearing a point at which even the best-constructed buildings are under threat. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/07/12/what-we-need-to-learn-from-the-tragedy-in-surfside">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden’s Invisible Ideology</strong> - The President has deployed an exasperating but effective strategy to counter Trumpism. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/bidens-invisible-ideology">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Richard Branson’s Plan to Beat Jeff Bezos to Outer Space</strong> - The two billionaires have been duelling for years to make commercial space flights a reality. Now, on Sunday, Branson is going himself. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/richard-bransons-plan-to-beat-jeff-bezos-to-outer-space">link</a></p></li>
|
||||||
|
</ul>
|
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|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
|
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|
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<li><strong>How American parents became obsessed with gender</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<figure>
|
||||||
|
<img alt="Two people hold a balloon that reads, “Boy or girl?”" src="https://cdn.vox-
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oksana_nazarchuk/Getty Images/iStockphoto
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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I’m not the type to throw a gender-reveal party. But like many parents, I still got sucked into the spectacle of the ultrasound.
|
||||||
|
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BjHRVN">
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When I was pregnant with my first child, I agonized over my decision to find out the sex. I knew that anatomy does not indicate gender identity, but I was also impatient, ready for some forecast, however unreliable, of what the future might hold for me as a mother. Having grown up as a girl in America, I knew what gendered wars I might be up against if I were to have a daughter. I wanted to prepare myself for the fight. At my second-trimester ultrasound, I decided to find out.
|
||||||
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o3Qrpn">
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||||||
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But then things got weird. Nancy, the bubbly<strong> </strong>sonogram technician, projected the inside of me on a screen that covered an entire wall, dimming the lights, like we were in a movie theater. She kept saying, “That’s a cute baby!” I had no idea what she was looking at as she furiously clicked and numbered and measured different parts of the fuzzy gray blob on the screen. With much excitement, she proclaimed the fetus was a girl. She then printed a three-foot ream of black-and-white pictures, each with an unidentifiable area circled, which she folded and tucked into a white envelope with gold writing that reminded me, again, <em>It’s a Girl!</em>
|
||||||
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x0dAeQ">
|
||||||
|
It felt like I was supposed to do something<strong> </strong>with this information. I had never entertained the idea of throwing a gender reveal party, but I still surfed ideas on Pinterest. In one image I found, a<strong> </strong>couple stood, hands interlocked. Their white clothing, faces, and arms were splattered with pink from a staged paint fight, just one shade away from looking like they committed a murder together. But as I shared the news, there was a lot of excitement that did not line up with how I felt: After receiving one too many frilly infant dresses with animal prints, I quickly prohibited family and friends from giving me gendered clothing. I wondered how I had been sucked into such a clear affirmation of the gender binary.
|
||||||
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</p>
|
||||||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KFZe4x">
|
||||||
|
American parents love fetal genitalia. This has become more evident with the number of gender reveal parties <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-gender-reveals-became-such-a-
|
||||||
|
thing_n_5b4fa97be4b0b15aba8b3e46">increasing steadily</a> over the past decade.<strong> </strong>Usually, it’s more extreme ones that<strong> </strong>make<strong> </strong>the news: Such parties have already caused <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/gender-reveal-parties-four-dead-1580477">at least four deaths</a> this year, and one burned over 7,000 acres of my home state of California in 2020. Many more go off with less of a bang, like the <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/176133035413911098/">couple I found</a> on Pinterest<em> </em>getting silly-stringed by friends as the parents kissed, tangled in their boy kid bliss.<strong> </strong>There are more than 500,000 videos on YouTube like these. It’s safe to say these parents are a little less conflicted about their sonograms than I was.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GBDwvr">
|
||||||
|
Some parents revel in knowing their child’s gender because many still believe prenatal sex is an early indicator of a child’s character. Pregnancy is such a strange state of suspension, any scrutable glimpse of the future is attractive. As Christy Olezeski, director of the <a href="https://www.yalemedicine.org/departments/pediatric-
|
||||||
|
gender-program">Yale Gender Program</a> told me, finding out a child’s prenatal sex can feel like “solving a mystery, a piece of comfort and a way to have an answer about a being [parents] have yet to know and learn about.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WX6TQV">
|
||||||
|
Ultrasounds satiate that parental curiosity, but they also stoke it.<strong> </strong>Maybe this is why even parents like myself, who don’t identify as the type to photograph themselves on a deserted road consumed by a bubblegum-pink smoke grenade, cannot help but hem and haw over the decision of whether to find out the fetus’s sex before birth. For pregnant people, the politics of navigating the ultrasound, and the insight it promises, has become its own rite of passage, and it comes with some coercion.
|
||||||
|
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|
||||||
|
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|
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|
“There is so much pressure from society,” Olezeski said, “to know the sex of the fetus.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="iYSdE0"/>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XguyWA">
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|
I spoke with nearly 30 parents about their choice to learn their baby’s sex in pregnancy or wait. Some simply wanted to know the sex of their child before birth for practical reasons, like Jenny who identifies as an Ashkenazi Jew. She needed time to prepare for circumcision. She also felt waiting would make the final reveal a bigger deal in the minds of family members, something she wanted to avoid.
|
||||||
|
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|
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VcHlnf">
|
||||||
|
Those who had previously experienced reproductive losses or complications, meanwhile, thought finding out the sex of their baby could provide something beyond medical data, that knowing might lend some certainty to their budding story.<strong> </strong>Bronwen, a writer then living in the Bay Area, told me she created a whole “pro-con matrix,” analyzing the benefits and downsides of waiting or not. Ultimately, she found out at her ultrasound, hoping it would relieve some of the anxiety she felt after multiple miscarriages. Learning the sex represented “a kind of investment” rather than the “self-protective ‘this is a science experiment’” approach she had taken previously.
|
||||||
|
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|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H0RFUQ">
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|
Co-founder of <a href="https://mothernation.com/?utm_source=googleads&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=rtx&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2tCGBhCLARIsABJGmZ7kAV3FOLYs4ddFh7HaA027h0fOC1pI1L8LHpf1TbbFN6cw7bXYCkoaAjZLEALw_wcB">MotherNation</a> Cait Zogby said she and her wife planned <em>not</em> to find out the sex before birth, but when Zogby learned she was pregnant with twins, she and her partner “very comically regressed to the reptilian part of the brain that needed to be reassured of survival. Knowing everything we could about who was in there gave us a sense of control,” however false, she said. She and her wife knew that sex did not correlate to gender, but Zogby was struggling with perinatal depression and felt naming — using family names that happened to be very gendered — was “an added avenue for connection.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="woJeNe">
|
||||||
|
This idea that the revelation of a baby’s sex can feel like a surprise — welcome or not — is something I heard from many mothers, including those who waited for the big reveal until their baby was born. A Christian mother of four whose husband works in the church told me, “I think it just feels more special waiting longer,” that feeling of “holding your child with the news” is better “than simply being told.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iRQM9m">
|
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|
When I was pregnant, other women who opted to “wait” to find out the “gender” often repeated to me a similar line as a way to encourage me to do the same:<em> “</em>It is one of the last great surprises in life!” I was troubled by this rationale, which implies there are only two choices: early gratification or delayed. And what exactly is the revelation here? This logic seems to assume that to know the biological sex is to crown the baby as a person<em>. </em>But what does it say about our understanding of personhood that we feel the urge to assign a baby a gender before we can imagine them as human? And why are we so desperate for connection this early in the long game of parenting?
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="yf7nvn"/></li>
|
||||||
|
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|
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|
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||||||
|
Our cultural obsession with attempting to identify sex and gender in pregnancy all goes back to the ultrasound, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/01/ultrasound-woman-pregnancy/514109/">itself born</a> of the sonar technology used to surveil U-boats in World War I and developed further in the next World War. By the 1980s, the surveillance of pregnant people’s bodies had become routine medical practice, as the technology allowed doctors to check for congenital and placental issues. But it also nurtured another embryonic idea: the new vision of the fetus as child.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2lKZN0">
|
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|
The ultrasound eventually commingled with capitalism and mainstream psychology to create the color-coded gendered consumerism that has likewise become routine in America. For centuries, white dresses and long hair <a href="https://jezebel.com/the-history-of-pink-for-girls-blue-for-boys-5790638">were the norm</a> for kids under 6 in most Western countries; white clothes were easy to bleach. In the early 20th century, American clothing companies pushed pastels — debating blue for blue-eyed babies, pink for brown-eyed ones, among other arrangements — and by the 1940s, manufacturers and retailers had<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-
|
||||||
|
culture/when-did-girls-start-wearing-pink-1370097/"><strong>arbitrarily</strong></a><strong> </strong>settled on pink for girls and blue for boys. In the 1980s, clothing corporations saw the information parents gleaned from the sonogram as a chance to expand into<strong> </strong>a catalog of not just apparel but matching baby gear. Late capitalism took it from there.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lQC75J">
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|
The ultrasound also forever transformed the way we think about maternal bonding. In her book <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fbooks%2Fthe-public-
|
||||||
|
life-of-the-fetal-sonogram-technology-consumption-and-the-politics-of-
|
||||||
|
reproduction%2F9780813543642&referrer=vox.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Ffirst-
|
||||||
|
person%2F22569143%2Fparents-gender-ultrasound-sonogram" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>The Public Life of the Fetal Sonogram</em></a><em>, </em>Janelle Taylor says the idea that the sonogram could help pregnant women learn to love their babies was initially based on a 1982 study led by ultrasound advocate Stuart Campbell, even though the word “bonding” never appears in his study. The study instead examined how the sonogram “influences compliance with health-care recommendations” and how it might change women’s “ambivalent attitudes” about pregnancy.<strong> </strong>(Interestingly, the study excluded women who were considered high risk, which Taylor suggests shows that the medical community had other interests besides improving maternal health.)
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KKwEUp">
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|
The Campbell study came on the heels of a decade of heated abortion debate. A year later, an unsupported opinion letter written to the editor of the <em>New England Journal of Medicine </em>— which suggested that ultrasounds might help women bond with their babies and therefore decide not to abort — further shifted the frame of maternal health, inadvertently spoon-feeding anti- abortionists a new tactic. The wider medical community also began referencing the <em>NEJM</em> letter as a “study” that provided proof of the ultrasound’s magic, investigating how women bond with their babies<em> </em>in pregnancy rather than during childbirth or in the postpartum period.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cOmkz7">
|
||||||
|
While 1970s theories of maternal-infant bonding were embraced by the natural birthing movement, maternal-fetal bonding theories rested on the assumption that women — in the era of legalized abortion — couldn’t be trusted to love their babies without the assistance of technology and medical professionals. As Taylor writes, the more radical suggestion was “that emotional and social ties between a mother and child might form in an altogether new manner — not through physical and social interaction, but through spectatorship.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5eFa9m">
|
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|
Anti-abortion legislation, like that in effect in <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/requirements-ultrasound">Tennessee and Kentucky</a>, which mandate abortion providers both “display” and “describe” fetal imaging, still use the hyperreality<strong> </strong>of the ultrasound to strong-arm women into reconsidering their medical decisions. As the late cultural theorist Lauren Berlant <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/303603">argued</a>, the ultrasound elevated the<strong> </strong>fetus to the level of “supercitizen” — a celebrity whose rights conservatives often argue override the rights of pregnant people.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aXS60i">
|
||||||
|
Today, the 18- to 20-week anatomy scan is recommended for most pregnant people, but all the gender talk is optional. For those with cash to burn (advanced ultrasounds are generally not covered by insurance and can cost up to several hundred dollars), <a href="https://www.fairwarning.org/2020/05/ultrasound-businesses-peddle-fetal-photos/">3D and 4D ultrasound</a> packages promise keepsake images of your fetus in what is obviously pretty dismal lighting. These advanced ultrasounds are considered <a href="https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/avoid-fetal-keepsake-images-
|
||||||
|
heartbeat-monitors">unsafe by the Food and Drug Administration</a> but are still paired with in-office or out-of-office purchases like <a href="https://www.anewconception.com/pages/3d-4d-ultrasound-packages-starting-at">DVDs set to music</a>, plush toys that <a href="https://www.amazon.com/My-Babys-Heartbeat-Bear-Ultrasound/dp/B077XNTPG5">play the fetal heartbeat</a>, custom <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0730-7659.2004.00319.x?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false">photo albums</a>, and “<a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsneakpeektest.com%2Fearly-at-home-
|
||||||
|
baby-gender-blood-test%2F&referrer=vox.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Ffirst-person%2F22569143%2Fparents-
|
||||||
|
gender-ultrasound-sonogram" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">sneak peek</a>” blood tests that determine sex as early as nine weeks.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="24Qe89">
|
||||||
|
Conversely, there has been some resistance to ultrasounds within the <a href="https://www.mamanatural.com/baby-ultrasound/">natural birthing movement</a>, primarily framed as a response to unnecessary medical intervention in pregnancy and childbirth. Others just cannot be bothered with the gender spectacle: A woman who asked to be called Anne, a researcher on military and security issues, said she waited to know the sex, hoping to avoid being inundated with pink or blue stuff. She had complications in pregnancy and “had to work hard to remain ignorant.” When her daughter was born, the pink stuff came rolling in anyway.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lPKKQB">
|
||||||
|
For Dani McClain — who in her book <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fbooks%2Fwe-live-for-
|
||||||
|
the-we-the-political-power-of-black-
|
||||||
|
motherhood%2F9781568588544&referrer=vox.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Ffirst-person%2F22569143%2Fparents-
|
||||||
|
gender-ultrasound-sonogram" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>We Live for the We</em></a> writes about her experience navigating <a href="https://doi.org/10.17226/10260">racial disparities in health care</a> — decisions like whether to trust the white doctor who told her she needed a Caesarean were complex. But the choice to find out her baby’s sex before birth was straightforward, she told me: “I asked the doctors and nurses to not tell me what they were seeing on the ultrasound. I didn’t want to know and didn’t want to deal with other people’s projections about what a baby’s sex means.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JZ1XK5">
|
||||||
|
Lillian Rivera, director of family programming at <a href="https://genderspectrum.org/">Gender Spectrum</a>, told me many of us engage with cultural norms, like finding out the prenatal sex of our baby, unconsciously. It is often easier to just fall in line — buying into the idea of what is “male” or “female” is comfortable for many, even if we understand the world is not black and white and gender is not assigned at birth or during a sonogram. Even when we know we’re playing out roles that don’t fit us, and that may never fit our children, the ultrasound is now so intricately woven into other cultural practices — like baby showers, decorating the nursery, and gender reveals — we feel compelled by these rites of passage.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fIL3Yb">
|
||||||
|
In his memoir of nonbinary parenthood, <a href="https://www.counterpointpress.com/dd-product/the-natural-mother-of-the-
|
||||||
|
child/"><em>The Natural Mother of the Child</em></a>, Krys Malcolm Belc writes about his “shame of wanting to know the baby’s sex.” Belc documents his experience finding out his child’s sex in a 4D/HD ultrasound facility that carried “pink and blue frames and souvenirs” — a place that did not reflect his and his partner’s beliefs. As he writes, “The machine told us we could know something this way.” In the end, however, Belc found, “The ultrasound pictures didn’t matter, those words — I’M A BOY — didn’t matter. My mother had a single ultrasound when pregnant with me, and she did not find out whether I was a boy or a girl. What difference would it have made if she did? The image would have been as wrong as the doctor who delivered me.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="cOd8Hx"/>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HebhGt">
|
||||||
|
We are far from living in a “gender neutral” world, and maybe that is why the “to wait or not to wait” decision to find out the baby’s sex is fraught for so many parents: We sense the ongoing struggle on the horizon. Ultimately, though, as parents, it matters less what we do in the ultrasound appointment or with the “surprise” at birth than what we do with the information we are offered there. Technology cannot teach us to love any more than the first meeting with our baby can. Only moving through the world with our child can do that.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1UBi0F">
|
||||||
|
When I was pregnant with my second child, I asked for the morphological details, yet again. I had acquiesced to a lot of mainstream aspects of parenting by then, including those gendered gifts, each of which filled my daughter’s world with suppositions about who she could or could not be. Friends and family had also stopped worrying about my approval: They simply mailed pink clothes, pink dolls, pink clothes for the doll, pink strollers for the well-dressed dolls. I was not untroubled by that, but I had thrown up my hands in some ways, especially as my daughter started to express an interest in feminized things, including dolls. She relished the pretend-play work of care, tending to a filthy, never-clothed baby doll. She covered the baby’s little mythical cuts (which were apparently all over her body) with Band-Aids, wearing a Doc McStuffins coat as doctor. But she soothed her baby’s silent cries dressed plainly, lugging bags filled with indiscriminate collections of stuff, as Mom.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EwwjXa">
|
||||||
|
As she began the hard work of identifying with the world of gender, my daughter also discounted some gendered norms all on her own. For years, she was totally uninterested in pink. And when, at the grocery store, strangers said, “Hi, princess,”<em> </em>she gripped me. “Mommy,” she would say. “I’m <em>not </em>a princess. Why do they always call me that?”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DfXJ6f">
|
||||||
|
“I don’t know,” I would say. But I did.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pm2XJs">
|
||||||
|
My daughter came with me to my second ultrasound appointment, her body tumbling on my face as the technician studied what she saw. The aesthetics of this ultrasound were more subdued; the room was cold, small, and dimly lit so we could see the television-size screen next to the table. My daughter had brought a dirty, yellow stuffed duck, which she now waved around for her sibling to see. “Look my ducky,” she said, imagining her sibling as baby, as friend. Neither of us knew that child yet, but my daughter was sure that we would.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hK0mvI">
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bqHl7L">
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<ul>
|
||||||
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Richard Branson’s trip to space is about convincing others to come along</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<figure>
|
||||||
|
<img alt="The wing of an orbiting spaceship with Earth and black space behind it." src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/thumbor/dYkZfmYpfQJ4NCeLVisVXzqs_Fo=/200x0:1400x900/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69566860/Unity21___VSS_Unity_in_space_over_New_Mexico.0.jpeg"/></figure></li>
|
||||||
|
</ul>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
Virgin Galactic’s flight will get to the border of space, with help from a mothership. | Virgin Galactic
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
<pre><code></figure></code></pre>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
The Virgin Group founder is taking another step toward making space tourism a reality.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QCQAJ0">
|
||||||
|
British businessman and billionaire Richard Branson has tried a lot of things in his life, from crossing the Atlantic by powerboat in <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/25/business/richard-branson-virgin-
|
||||||
|
atlantic-challenger-ii/index.html">record time</a> to attempting to travel the world via hot air balloon (before <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-23-sp-638-story.html">crash landing)</a>. But his upcoming feat might be his most notable yet: traveling to space — and possibly beating fellow billionaire<strong> </strong>and space startup founder Jeff Bezos in the process.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yEFoMm">
|
||||||
|
This Sunday morning, Branson will join <a href="https://www.virgingalactic.com/articles/virgin-galactic-announces-first-fully-crewed-spaceflight/">five other people</a> on Virgin Galactic’s first full-crewed flight to space. If all goes according to plan, they’ll travel <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/richard-bransons-virgin-galactic-flight-kick-starts-space-tourism-11625832000">more than 50 miles above</a> the Earth’s surface<strong> </strong>on the VSS Unity spaceplane, an airplane-like vehicle that will be carried by a mothership before reaching what NASA <a href="https://twitter.com/blueorigin/status/1413521627116032001">considers</a> to be the border between outer space and Earth. The goal is to demonstrate that <a href="https://www.virgingalactic.com/articles/virgin-galactic-announces-first-
|
||||||
|
fully-crewed-spaceflight/">space tourism</a> really is possible, and during<strong> </strong>the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-09/branson-revives-daredevil-persona-at-70-with-historic-space-
|
||||||
|
shot">estimated 90-minute trip</a>, riders will experience weightlessness and see stunning views of Earth.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yHO1QK">
|
||||||
|
The company is planning to livestream the flight on its <a href="http://virgingalactic.com/">website</a>, as well as on <a href="https://twitter.com/virgingalactic?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClcvOr7LV8tlJwJvkNMmnKg">YouTube</a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/VirginGalactic/">Facebook</a>, beginning at 9 am ET.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vOUFcR">
|
||||||
|
Space tourism has long been an aspiration of Branson’s. The British businessman, whose terrestrial ventures through the Virgin Group include everything from a record company to air travel, founded Virgin Galactic back in 2004, just as the private space industry was starting to become competitive. In 2000, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22522644/jeff-bezos-astronaut-blue-origin-spacex">founded</a> Blue Origin, and two years later, Elon Musk founded SpaceX. For more than a decade, these private companies have been racing each other, launching test flights and preparing to send humans — including civilians — to space. At the same time, NASA has increasingly turned to these private space firms for its own work, including help with <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/nasa_supported_payloads_to_get_lift_from_blue_origin">delivering payloads</a>, <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/06/22/1004291/virgin-galactic-nasa-launched-new-program-
|
||||||
|
train-private-astronauts-iss/">training astronauts</a>, and even <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/as-artemis-
|
||||||
|
moves-forward-nasa-picks-spacex-to-land-next-americans-on-moon/">returning to the moon</a>.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="btpz1b">
|
||||||
|
“If you’re going to get people to pay to do this, most people aren’t going to pay to do that if there’s a relatively good chance that they’re going to die,” Janet Bednarek, an aviation historian at the University of Dayton, told Recode. “I think that’s in part why Branson is going on this flight. It’s signaling that this is now safe.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mvml9k">
|
||||||
|
If Branson successfully launches on Sunday, it will be a new milestone for Virgin Galactic, and one that will move humanity even closer to the age of commercial space tourism.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l7Z125">
|
||||||
|
While SpaceX and Blue Origin have a range of other goals, including <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/26/21267533/elon-musk-spacex-demo-2-falcon-9-iss-
|
||||||
|
manned-launch">delivering payloads</a> to the International Space Station, Virgin Galactic has stood out for its long- time focus on space tourism: the idea that people will be willing to dole out a lot of money for the opportunity to travel to space. “We hope to create thousands of astronauts over the next few years and bring alive their dream of seeing the majestic beauty of our planet from above, the stars in all their glory, and the amazing sensation of weightlessness,” Branson <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/09/27/branson.space/">proclaimed back</a> in 2004.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="loG7CQ">
|
||||||
|
At the time, Branson <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/09/27/branson.space/">predicted</a> the company could send five-person trips to space for just $200,000, and that thousands of astronauts could be sent to space in the coming years. In 2019, Virgin Galactic became the first space tourism <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2019/10/28/taking-flight-virgin-
|
||||||
|
galactic-goes-public-in-space-tourism-first">firm to go public</a>, and in June, the company received the first-ever operator license from the Federal Aviation Administration, meaning that it now has permission to <a href="https://www.space.com/virgin-galactic-faa-operator-license-passengers">fly paying customers</a>. Branson has also launched Virgin Orbit, a parallel company that launches <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/9/26/21457530/elon-
|
||||||
|
musk-spacex-starlink-satellite-broadband-amazon-project-kuiper-viasat">satellites, where SpaceX</a> is also competing.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sBHLIL">
|
||||||
|
Sunday’s launch will mean Branson and Virgin Galactic have come out ahead of Bezos and Musk in the private space race. While Branson has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/richard-branson-virgin-galactic-with-
|
||||||
|
blue-origins-jeff-bezos-2021-7">insisted</a> he’s not trying to beat Bezos and Blue Origin to get to space first,<strong> </strong>he did announce his July 11 flight just hours after the Amazon CEO <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/richard-bransons-plan-to-beat-jeff-bezos-to-outer-space">said he would take off</a> on July 20. Bezos seems at least slightly piqued by Branson changing his launch date: On Friday, Blue Origin <a href="https://twitter.com/blueorigin/status/1413521627116032001">questioned</a> whether Sunday’s Virgin Galactic flight will <em>really</em> make it to space, since the flight isn’t technically crossing the internationally recognized border, the Kármán line, about <a href="https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/where-space">12 miles higher</a> than the NASA-recognized border.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WCMxEI">
|
||||||
|
Virgin Galactic’s journey to commercial space tourism has had its share of serious setbacks. In 2014, a test flight of the company’s SpaceShipTwo <a href="https://www.space.com/27629-virgin-galactic-spaceshiptwo-crash-full-coverage.html">crashed</a>, killing one co- pilot and leaving the other seriously injured. (The National Transportation Safety Board later attributed the crash to a co-pilot error and “failure to consider and protect against the possibility that a single human error could result in a catastrophic hazard.”) The Virgin Group, the broader conglomerate that includes the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/richard-branson-races-jeff-bezos-to-space-as-covid-19-hits-business-back-on-
|
||||||
|
earth-11625753740">airline Virgin Atlantic and the gym Virgin Active</a>, have also had to overcome the financial challenges of the pandemic.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vKqbUR">
|
||||||
|
The space flight effort faces the question of profitability too. “There’s a limited number of people who can actually afford to do this,” Bednarek told Recode. “If you’re going to go to scale, you also have to figure out how to bring the cost down, and that’s very difficult to do.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7HgRZy">
|
||||||
|
Earlier this month, Branson <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/03/richard-branson-space-tourism-market-
|
||||||
|
has-room-for-20-companies.html">said</a> he thinks there’s enough demand for space travel for at least 20 different companies to compete in the industry. Thus far, the company says <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/bransons-
|
||||||
|
virgin-galactic-gets-faa-approval-fly-people-space-2021-06-25/">at least 600 people</a> have made reservations for future Virgin Galactic flights, at a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/600-people-have-
|
||||||
|
reserved-250000-tickets-to-fly-to-space-with-virgin-galactic-including-celebrities-like-tom-hanks-leonardo-dicaprio-
|
||||||
|
justin-bieber-and-lady-gaga/articleshow/84281007.cms">ticket price estimated to cost as much as $250,000</a>. Last year, Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said he thought the company could eventually bring in $1 billion a year in revenue and make spaceflight happen regularly, though he noted that the company would need more <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/06/virgin-galactic-each-spaceport-is-1-billion-annual-revenue-opportunity.html">space planes and motherships</a> to reach that goal.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i3c4jq">
|
||||||
|
And even if we’re still a ways off from widespread space tourism, Branson will soon have company: In just a few days, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22522644/jeff-bezos-astronaut-blue-origin-spacex">scheduled to journey to space</a> for about <a href="https://www.blueorigin.com/new-shepard/">11 minutes</a> in a BlueOrigin rocket, alongside other riders, including his <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-mark-bezos-jeff-bezos-brother-space-flight-2021-6">brother Mark Bezos</a> and a still-unnamed auction winner who bid <a href="https://gizmodo.com/a-mysterious-bidder-just-
|
||||||
|
paid-28-million-to-fly-to-spa-1847088584">$28 million</a> for a seat on the flight.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<div id="222sN3">
|
||||||
|
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||||||
|
From the beginning, New Shepard was designed to fly above the Kármán line so none of our astronauts have an asterisk next to their name. For 96% of the world’s population, space begins 100 km up at the internationally recognized Kármán line. <a href="https://t.co/QRoufBIrUJ">pic.twitter.com/QRoufBIrUJ</a>
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
— Blue Origin (<span class="citation" data-cites="blueorigin">@blueorigin</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/blueorigin/status/1413521627116032001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 9, 2021</a>
|
||||||
|
</blockquote>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jeSro4">
|
||||||
|
SpaceX, meanwhile, is scheduled to launch its first “<a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210201005905/en/World%E2%80%99s-First-All-Civilian-Mission-to-Space-Will-
|
||||||
|
Usher-in-New-Era-of-Commercial-Space-Exploration">all-civilian</a>” flight later this year. On board will be pilot and billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, who founded the payments processor company Shift4Payments.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U5RxAB">
|
||||||
|
Only a few hundred humans have been to space, but that number seems to be accelerating pretty quickly.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<ul>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>What the assassination of Haiti’s president means for US foreign policy</strong> -
|
||||||
|
<figure>
|
||||||
|
<img alt="TOPSHOT-Haiti-politics-assassination-Moise" src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/thumbor/SiynuJ2tYXqwpxixDorGlYWPzZY=/0x0:1408x1056/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
||||||
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69565795/1233890654.0.jpg"/>
|
||||||
|
<figcaption>
|
||||||
|
Police patrol outside the Embassy of Taiwan in Port-au-Price on July 9, 2021, after 11 suspected assassins of Haitian President Jovenel Moise broke into its embassy in an attempt to flee but were later apprehended by police. | Valerie Baeriswyl/AFP via Getty Images
|
||||||
|
</figcaption>
|
||||||
|
</figure>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
America and Haiti’s complex relationship, explained
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b10OnO">
|
||||||
|
The assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise has sent the country into shock and turmoil, sparking discussions in the international community on how to help bring stability. But Haiti’s long history of foreign involvement can’t be ignored, nor can the fact that often, aid was provided whether or not Haiti itself benefitted.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EqyHfQ">
|
||||||
|
On Wednesday, July 7, President Moise was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/07/americas/haiti-explainer-jovenel-moise-
|
||||||
|
assassination-cmd-intl/index.html">shot 16 times</a> when<strong> </strong>Hatian officials allege a group of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/09/americas/haiti-moise-assassination-july-9-intl-hnk/index.html">“professional killers’’</a> stormed his home in a suburb located near Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city. Prime Minister Claude Joseph assumed leadership and promptly declared a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8012065/haiti-future-uncertain-
|
||||||
|
president-assassination/">two-week state of siege</a> in the country in an attempt to control backlash. However Joseph’s authority is being questioned by some as President Moise had declared Ariel Henry <a href="https://twitter.com/moisejovenel/status/1412148439564029953">the new Prime Minister</a> only two days before his assassination. Henry was meant to be sworn in this past week. Complicating the issue is the fact that Haiti currently has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/world/americas/haiti-prime-minister.html">two conflicting constitutions</a> that give different instructions on what to do when the president is no longer in power.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="guPM8K">
|
||||||
|
Moise’s hunger for power defined his presidency
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JN13tM">
|
||||||
|
Moise himself had a tumultuous presidency beginning in 2017, highlighted by his authoritarian tactics and inability to gain the Haitain people’s trust. Soon after he was elected, Moise <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-haiti-military/haitian-army-set-to-make-
|
||||||
|
controversial-return-after-two-decades-idUSKBN1DJ01M">revived the nation’s army</a> which had been disbanded two decades before. This was a controversial decision in a country still dealing with the aftermath of its catastrophic<strong> </strong>2010<strong> </strong>earthquake, stoking fears that the army<strong> </strong>would drain already limited resources. Further skepticism came from the army’s history of human rights abuses and the multiple coups it carried out. The decision to bring the army<strong> </strong>back set the tone for Moise’s presidency as he continuously prioritized his interests and power over those of the people. In the absence of a functioning legislature, Haitian law allows the President to rule by decree, and in January 2020, Moise <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-
|
||||||
|
americas/2020/01/18/jovenel-moise-tries-to-govern-haiti-without-a-parliament">refused to hold Parliamentary elections</a> and dismissed all of the <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-
|
||||||
|
world/world/americas/haiti/article249251975.html">country’s elected mayors</a>, consolidating his<strong> </strong>power.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G4mxoW">
|
||||||
|
Further exacerbating problems, in<strong> </strong>February Moise refused to leave office despite legal experts and members of an opposition coalition claiming that his term ended <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/07/americas/haiti-explainer-jovenel-moise-assassination-cmd-intl/index.html">on February 7th</a>. Moise claimed that his presidency was meant to last until 2022, due to a delay in the 2017 election, and his refusal to step down led to mass anger and frustration culminating in public protests and chants of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/7/haitis-turbulent-political-history-a-timeline">“no to dictatorship”</a>.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AyoFSE">
|
||||||
|
While the identity of the killers has not been confirmed, speculation seems to be determined by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/10/doubts-raised-about-who-was-behind-the-
|
||||||
|
assassination-of-haitis-president">party alignment</a>. Moise supporters have stated that he was shot by a predominantly Colombian group of hitmen while some opposition politicians claim that he was killed by his own guards. Others have said that the Colombians were <a href="https://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/exclusivo-fueron-enganados-yo-estaria-
|
||||||
|
muerto-o-embalado-alla-el-testimonio-de-exmilitar-que-no-quiso-ir-a-operacion-en-haiti/202142/">hired as personal guards</a> to protect Moise from external threats. Fifteen<strong> </strong>Colombian suspects are currently in custody along with two Hatian-American suspects, and others still believed to be<strong> </strong>at large.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="Ljp6XP">
|
||||||
|
Haiti’s current call for intervention is reminiscent of its past
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WmdHw4">
|
||||||
|
Moise’s assassination leaves Haiti with an unstable government and an increasingly frustrated population. In addition to the current state of siege implemented by Prime Minister Joseph, Haiti’s interim government has formally requested the US to send <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/09/world/jovenel-moise-assassinated/the-legitimacy-of-haitis-interim-leader-
|
||||||
|
is-questioned-on-several-fronts?partner=slack&smid=sl-share">security assistance to protect infrastructure</a> including Haiti’s seaport, airport, and gasoline reserves as a precautionary measure. During a briefing Friday, Press Secretary <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/07/09/press-briefing-by-press-
|
||||||
|
secretary-jen-psaki-july-9-2021/">Jen Psaki</a> offered measured support from the White House, saying, “we will be sending senior FBI and DHS officials to Port-au-Prince as soon as possible to assess the situation and how we may be able to assist.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a7J4G5">
|
||||||
|
It remains to be seen how the Biden administration will react but if US troops are sent to Haiti it could begin to<strong> </strong>feel like political deja vu. Haiti has a long history of American military intervention.<strong> </strong>
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<h3 id="iN9Vfv">
|
||||||
|
Foreign intervention in Haiti has often worsened the situation
|
||||||
|
</h3>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vbCdWo">
|
||||||
|
The United States’ involvement began as early as the 1790s, when it <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/haitian-rev">provided support</a> to French colonists in an effort to subdue revolting<strong> </strong>groups of enslaved Haitians. As the revolution grew, so did US hostility toward Haiti, fearing that the revolutionary discourse would <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
|
||||||
|
politics/2018/1/12/16883224/trump-shithole-foreign-policy-haiti">spread to the enslaved population</a> in the US. And although Haiti gained independence in 1804, the United States did not recognize it as an independent nation until 1862.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="slCOLC">
|
||||||
|
This attitude towards Haiti drastically changed in 1915, after President Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/7/haitis-turbulent-political-history-a-timeline">was assassinated</a> a few months after he entered office due to his authoritarian rule and repressive actions. In the face of heightened turmoil, President Woodrow Wilson sent US Marines into Haiti to build the nation back up and <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/haiti">restore political and economic stability</a>. However the military occupation lasted for nearly 20 years during which time the US controlled parts of the country’s government and finances. In 1917 the Wilson administration tried to <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/haiti">force a new constitution</a> onto the Hatian government that would allow foreign land ownership which had been prohibited as a way to protect domestic resources and prevent foreign powers from taking control.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jeuOpj">
|
||||||
|
A more recent intervention occurred<strong> </strong>in 1994 when the <a href="https://time.com/5682135/haiti-military-anniversary/">US sent troops</a> to restore Jean-Bertrand Aristide to presidency and neutralize the militant group that had overthrown him and taken power. Known as Operation Restore Democracy, the intervention was ultimately successful since Aristide returned to the presidency but questions about the longevity of the operation and if US involvement was necessary linger to this day.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5xCYdp">
|
||||||
|
“The intervention in Haiti was a short-lived success,” James Dobbins, a US Special Envoy during the operation told <a href="https://time.com/5682135/haiti-military-anniversary/">Time Magazine</a>. “Haiti illustrated that these things take a long time — they don’t transform a society overnight.”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q2mfGq">
|
||||||
|
In fact, foreign interventions have a record of transforming Haitian society<strong> </strong>but not necessarily in a good way. In the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake that struck Haiti and killed over 200,000 people, the<strong> </strong>United Nations deployed peacekeepers to assist with rebuilding efforts. However, that<strong> </strong>following October, sewage from a peacekeeping base contaminated a major water supply causing a cholera outbreak. In an economy already weakened by the earthquake, and with health and sanitation facilities severely underfunded, the outbreak was disastrous, affecting almost <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/world/americas/united-nations-haiti-cholera.html">800,000 Haitians</a> and killing approximately <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/world/americas/united-nations-haiti-
|
||||||
|
cholera.html">10,000 people</a>. It took the UN <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/world/americas/united-
|
||||||
|
nations-haiti-cholera.html">six years</a> to admit to its responsibility.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TwGl5J">
|
||||||
|
In the wake of Moise’s assassination, many questions remain about the role of the US, including how to successfully effect long-lasting change.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RUaDd5">
|
||||||
|
Robert Fatton, a Haitian-born historian and political science professor at the University of Virginia <a href="https://time.com/5682135/haiti-military-anniversary/">spoke to Time Magazine</a> about the harm that international involvement in Haiti has caused. “[After the intervention], Haiti became a country dependent on international financial organizations for its funding, its budget — it was and still is at the mercy of what the international community is willing to give,” he said.
|
||||||
|
</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>Queen pens letter to England football team ahead of big Euro Cup final</strong> - The 95-year-old monarch recalls the country’s last big win in the game 55 years ago when England won the World Cup under Bobby Moore as captain.</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>Missed natural feeling of being in world-class event but staying positive for Tokyo, says Neeraj Chopra</strong> - “I did not get good international competitions when I wanted and there had to be several changes in training and competition schedule.”</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>Messi played Copa America final with injury, says coach</strong> - Coach Lionel Scaloni did not say what the injury was but he showered Messi with praise on his first victory with the national side.</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>How a Yoga trainer from Kerala helped resurgence of former world No. 1 tennis player Angelique Kerber</strong> - A yoga trainer from Kerala had something to cheer about when German Tennis Player Angelique Kerber made a comeback after three years to play semi-fina</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>Argentina beats Brazil to win Copa America</strong> - Argentina’s win was a particular triumph for Barcelona striker Lionel Messi, who picked up his first ever title in a blue and white shirt after more than a decade of club and individual honours.</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>Four abandoned children rescued in Bhubaneswar</strong> - Hit by the pandemic, Childline surveyed 3,000 street children in urgent need of food in central Bhubaneswar alone</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 population policy drafted keeping in mind all sections society: Adityanath</strong> - The provisions would come into force one year after the date of publication of the gazette, the draft says.</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>Maoists demand release of new job calendar by State government</strong> - ‘During padayatra Jagan had promised to fill 2.3 lakh jobs to solve unemployment problem’</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>Two injured as celebrations over Argentina’s win spill over to roads in Kerala’s Malappuram</strong> - Youngsters suffer severe burns from crackers</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>PDF extends support to relay fast by steel plant employees against privatisation</strong> - ‘A resolution passed in the Assembly on the issue was not sent to Council’</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Football-mad Italians gear up for big night</strong> - Italy’s success in the Euro competition has lifted spirits after the pandemic, Mark Lowen reports.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pope Francis leads prayers from hospital balcony after colon surgery</strong> - Francis thanks well-wishers from his hospital balcony following treatment for a colon problem.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Portugal orders house arrest for Benfica football club president</strong> - Luís Filipe Vieira is being investigated in Portugal for suspected tax fraud and money laundering.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cannes: Actress Lea Seydoux tests positive for Covid-19</strong> - The James Bond star may miss the French film festival after contracting the virus.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Esther Bejarano: Auschwitz orchestra member dies</strong> - Esther Bejarano survived in Auschwitz by playing in the death camp’s orchestra.</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<ul>
|
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|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The weekend’s best tech deals: Nintendo Switch Lite, MacBook Air, and more</strong> - Dealmaster also has deals on Dell monitors, good board games, and portable SSDs. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779054">link</a></p></li>
|
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|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>When science breaks bad: A rogues’ gallery of history’s worst scientists</strong> - A new book catalogs some of the greatest ethical lapses done in the name of science. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779135">link</a></p></li>
|
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|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Quest for “green” cement draws big name investors to $300B industry</strong> - Startups and venture capitalists are joining concrete makers against a hard problem. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779027">link</a></p></li>
|
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|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Feds indict “The Bull” for allegedly selling insider stock info on the dark web</strong> - Data allegedly sold individually or through weekly or monthly subscriptions. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779281">link</a></p></li>
|
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|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cheat-maker brags of computer-vision auto-aim that works on “any game”</strong> - Capture cards, input hardware, and machine learning get around system-level lockdowns. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779166">link</a></p></li>
|
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|
</ul>
|
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|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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|
<ul>
|
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|
<li><strong>Mother superior tells two new nuns that they have to paint their room without getting any paint on their clothes. One nun suggests to the other, “Hey, let’s take all our clothes off, fold them up, and lock the door.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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|
So they do this, and begin painting their room. Soon they hear a knock at the door. They ask, “Who is it?” “Blind man!” The nuns look at each other and one nun says, “He’s blind, so he can’t see. What could it hurt?” They let him in. The blind man walks in and says, “Hey, nice tits. Where do you want me to hang the blinds?”
|
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|
</p>
|
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|
</div>
|
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|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/littleboy_xxxx"> /u/littleboy_xxxx </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ohv13v/mother_superior_tells_two_new_nuns_that_they_have/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ohv13v/mother_superior_tells_two_new_nuns_that_they_have/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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|
<li><strong>This priest decided to skip church one sunday morning and go play golf</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
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|
<div class="md">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
He told his assistant that he wasn’t feeling well. He drove to a golf course in another city, so nobody would know him.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
He teed off on the first hole. A huge gust of wind caught his ball, carried is an extra hundred yards and dropped it right in the hole, for a 450 yard hole in one.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
An angel looked at God and said “What’d you do that for?” God smiled and said “Who’s he going to tell?”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
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|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MichaelK24"> /u/MichaelK24 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ohqdfc/this_priest_decided_to_skip_church_one_sunday/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ohqdfc/this_priest_decided_to_skip_church_one_sunday/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>How to fall down the stairs</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||||
|
<div class="md">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Step 1.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Step 2.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Step 3.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Step 6.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Step 11.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Step 16.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
Floor.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Plague001"> /u/Plague001 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ohwpql/how_to_fall_down_the_stairs/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ohwpql/how_to_fall_down_the_stairs/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>A blind man’s big penis</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||||
|
<div class="md">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
A blind man was always turned down by women because of his disability. He knew one thing though, that he had an abnormally large erection. Knowing he couldn’t successfully have a relationship, and use his hammer properly, he asked one of his dear friends to bring him to “pleasure palace”, a local sex facility.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
They go to the place and his friend says to the woman behind the desk, without his blind friend hearing, “my friend here is blind, but he claims you will not be disappointed.” So the woman agrees and brings him into a room. She pulls his pants down and wows about his erection. She knew she couldn’t handle it so she brought in another woman. She couldn’t handle it and told the boss. The boss comes in to take a look at it and tells the blind mans friend to take him somewhere else. He only knew one other place to find a vagina big enough to fulfill his wishes. So he took him to your mothers house.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/VaJohnny"> /u/VaJohnny </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ohotfd/a_blind_mans_big_penis/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ohotfd/a_blind_mans_big_penis/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||||
|
<li><strong>A boss said to his secretary, "I want to have sex with you, but I will make it very fast.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||||
|
<div class="md">
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
I’ll throw $1,000 on the floor and by the time you bend down to pick it up, I’ll be done."
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
She thought for a moment then called her boyfriend and told him the story. Her boyfriend said, “Do it but ask him for $2,000. Then pick up the money so fast, he won’t even have enough time to undress himself.” She agrees.
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||||
|
After half an hour passes, the boyfriend calls the girlfriend and asks, “So what happened?” She responds, “The …bastard…..used …..coins”
|
||||||
|
</p>
|
||||||
|
</div>
|
||||||
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/littleboy_xxxx"> /u/littleboy_xxxx </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ohibg0/a_boss_said_to_his_secretary_i_want_to_have_sex/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ohibg0/a_boss_said_to_his_secretary_i_want_to_have_sex/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||||
|
</ul>
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>
|
||||||
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Reference in New Issue