26251 replies to this topic

[tanker]

They should replace it with 4chan

[kirk]

Every chronic fatigue victim I've met has been an obvious disability insurance scammer.

This doesn’t deserve a reply.. but you realize people with severe fatigue don’t even qualify for disability? (Lack of energy is not a qualifying criteria on disability paperwork.)

Ignorant and heartless is not a good combo.

[Victoria Watcher]

Canada’s language schools have asked special permission to bring in 40,000 foreign students this fall.

Many are facing financial ruin.

[amor de cosmos]

DEASE LAKE, B.C. — The Tahltan Nation has issued a notice that the public should avoid its territory in northwest British Columbia until there's a vaccine or community immunity for COVID-19.

The notice was issued Thursday, when the public safety minister also announced the restriction of visitors to Haida Gwaii, where 20 people have tested positive for the virus.

The Tahltan said in a statement that the consequences of spreading COVID-19 are too great, given the limited access to acute medical care for residents.

The nation's territory spans almost 96,000 square kilometres of land or about 11 per cent of the province.

All non-essential travel to Dease Lake, Iskut and Telegraph Creek should be avoided, and all recreational activity access points will be blocked with gates and monitored, the statement says.

*snip*

The Haida Nation has also called on visitors to stay away, particularly as local fishing lodges draw large numbers of people every summer.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth announced Thursday the use of extraordinary powers to restrict non-resident travel to the archipelago of Haida Gwaii.

"Our foremost concern is the health and safety of all residents of Haida Gwaii, and we're working together to limit further spread of COVID-19," Farnworth said in a statement.

All cases in Haida Gwaii are believed to be linked to off-island residents or those who had contact with a local who travelled elsewhere.

https://www.timescol...tion-1.24178929
 

Interior Health (IH) is reporting a total of 130 cases of COVID-19 in the Kelowna area between June 26, when exposure events were first noted, and today, July 30.

The jump in cases from the 90 announced on Monday is due to a classification change that now sees the health authority report all cases in Kelowna and not just those tied to specific events and businesses downtown in early July and over the Canada Day holiday.

“We now know the situation has shifted into more broad community transmission beyond these initial cases in downtown Kelowna,” said Karl Hardt, IH’s media spokesperson when the changes were announced on Wednesday, July 29.

“This new reporting will more accurately reflect what is happening in the city and region at this time.”

https://www.nanaimob...cation-changes/

Exclusive: 16% of parents haven’t vaccinated their kids due to COVID-19
https://www.fastcomp...due-to-covid-19

China’s coronavirus vaccines are leaping ahead – but face challenges as virus wanes
https://www.nature.c...586-020-02244-1

How does SARS-CoV-2 cause COVID-19?
https://science.scie...nt/369/6503/510
 

Leesburg, VA, July 30, 2020--An open-access article published in ARRS' American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR) investigating the association between coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and stroke subtypes determined that patients with COVID-19 presenting with acute neurologic symptoms warrant a lower threshold for suspicion of large vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke, thus necessitating prompt workup.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe an association between COVID-19 and large vessel strokes," wrote lead investigator Shingo Kihira of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

This retrospective case-control study included patients for whom a code for stroke was activated during March 16 to April 30, 2020 at a single system of six hospitals across the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. Demographic data (age, sex, and race or ethnicity), COVID-19 status, stroke-related risk factors, as well as clinical and imaging findings pertaining to stroke were collected from the electronic medical record.

https://www.eurekale...s-asa073020.php

According to researchers, the virus can not only be boiled to death, but also eliminated in room temperature water over time.

Researchers from Russia’s VECTOR State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Novosibirsk, Siberia have figured out another important weakness of Covid-19: ordinary water.

In their study, scientists discovered that about 90 percent of the virus’s particles die in room temperature water in the course of 24 hours, with 99.9 percent succumbing within 72 hours. Furthermore, scientists confirmed that boiling water containing Covid-19 kills it immediately and completely.

Significantly, researchers also found that although the virus does not multiply in dechlorinated and sea water, it can remain viable for some time, with its lifespan depending directly on the water’s temperature. Chlorinated water is also said to be highly effective at killing the virus.

https://sputniknews....o-die-in-water/

THURSDAY, July 30, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Children with COVID-19 carry as much or more coronavirus in their nose as adults, suggesting that they could pose a serious infection risk if schools and day care centers reopen, a new study argues.

Coronavirus testing performed in Chicago in March and April shows that children and teens tend to have as much virus in their nasal passages as adults, according to a research letter published online July 30 in JAMA Pediatrics.

In fact, children younger than 5 carried the highest viral loads, the researchers reported.

"It's concerning the youngest individuals were the ones with the highest amount of virus," said lead researcher Dr. Taylor Heald-Sargent, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago. "They are not always the ones who are washing their hands or wearing their masks."

https://www.webmd.co...id-19-spreaders
 

Like veteran detectives investigating a crime scene, a team of expert biophysicists and neutron researchers has been called in to assist in a scientific case. Their task is to discover how the deadly SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, after it breaks into a human cell, begins causing massive inflammation that leads to the most severe cases of COVID-19 infections. The investigation is being conducted at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The offenders are known to be tiny envelope proteins (E-proteins) on the surfaces, or "envelopes," of coronaviruses. After a virus enters a host cell, its E-protein invades the cell's manufacturing centers—the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi region—to enable the virus's genetic material to make copies of itself and assemble new viruses. The E-protein then undergoes structural changes that break the cell wall to release the newly formed viruses, which in turn proceed to invade other cells and make more copies.

longish
https://medicalxpres...flammation.html

Former GOP Candidate Herman Cain Dies of COVID-19
https://www.webmd.co...dies-of-covid19

The Army is exploring whether dogs can detect signs of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) thanks to a new research agreement with the University of Pennsylvania
https://www.military...t-covid-19.html

A “small number” of sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
https://taskandpurpo...ors-coronavirus

Bryan Cranston reveals he had COVID, reminds you to "keep wearing the damn mask"
https://news.avclub....o-ke-1844566863
 

A White House group tapped to create a national testing plan in the beginning months of the coronavirus pandemic reportedly scrapped their proposal in part because the virus was hitting “blue states” the hardest, according to Vanity Fair.

Katherine Eban reported on the group’s secret testing plan in a new report, which included the revelation that the team, led by White House senior adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, bought 3.5 million Covid-19 tests for $52 million from an Abu Dhabi–based artificial intelligence company. They were never used, deemed “contaminated and unusable.”

Kushner’s team created a report designed for President Donald Trump to read aimed at fixing challenges like “uneven testing capacity and supplies throughout the U.S., both between and within regions, significant delays in reporting results (4-11 days), and national supply chain constraints, such as PPE, swabs, and certain testing reagents.”

https://www.mediaite...ue-states-hard/

First Probable Human Case of West Nile Virus Reported in Austin, Texas
https://sputniknews....-austin-texas-/

Surgeon General Delivers Message to President from ‘Trump Country’: ‘You Look Bada** in a Face Mask’
https://www.mediaite...in-a-face-mask/

Brazil's first lady, science minister test positive for COVID-19
http://www.ecns.cn/n...tt8794940.shtml

Brazil's President Bolsonaro Has 'Mould' in Lungs After Coronavirus Infection
https://sputniknews....irus-infection/

With liquor shops locked down, 10 die in India drinking sanitiser
https://www.channeln...itiser-12980814

Exxon posts second straight quarterly loss on demand, price plunge
https://www.channeln...plunge-12980832

No coronavirus cases among Haj pilgrims, confirms Saudi ministry
https://www.khaleejt...-saudi-ministry

A British man has been living with a penis growing on his arm for four years now, after an illness, scheduling mix-ups and now the COVID-19 pandemic delayed an operation that should have seen his manhood re-attached to the place where it was originally supposed to be
https://sputniknews....ue-to-covid-19/
 

A key metric of epidemic prevention improved dramatically soon after China launched massive testing and isolation efforts against the coronavirus, according to a study published recently in Science magazine.

Serial intervals, which measure the average time between the onset of symptoms in a chain of people infected by a pathogen, have shrunk substantially from 7.8 days to 2.6 days in around a month in mainland China, driven by intensive non-pharmaceutical interventions, in particular case isolation, the study said.

Benjamin Cowling at the University of Hong Kong and his colleagues compiled a database of 1,407 transmission pairs from Jan. 9 to Feb. 13, when the Chinese city of Wuhan was the epicenter of the country's outbreak.

These findings suggest that the early isolation of cases reduced further transmission, leading to fewer cases and curbing the spread of the disease.

http://www.ecns.cn/n...tt8795142.shtml

'Enormous tragedy': Fiji records first COVID-19 death
https://www.channeln...-death-12980146
 

HANOI: Vietnam confirmed its first novel coronavirus fatality on Friday (Jul 31), state media reported, after the death of an elderly man who had tested positive in Danang, the city where the virus re-emerged in the country last week after 100 days.

The man, 70, died early on Friday, state media said.

The health ministry on Friday reported 82 new infections, 26 of which were imported, marking the Southeast Asian country's biggest single-day jump.

This is the worst day so far in Vietnam's fight against COVID-19, with all the cases linked to the Danang outbreak.

The newly confirmed infections in Danang have lifted the total number of cases in the country to 546.

Vietnam had until Friday been the only nation with a large population not to have suffered fatalities from the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.channeln...danang-12979308

In Vietnam, an Ancient Town Struggles With a New COVID-19 Outbreak
https://thediplomat....id-19-outbreak/

[Ismo07]

A British man has been living with a penis growing on his arm for four years now, after an illness, scheduling mix-ups and now the COVID-19 pandemic delayed an operation that should have seen his manhood re-attached to the place where it was originally supposed to be
https://sputniknews....ue-to-covid-19/
 

 

Ummm what?

[todd]

The only way to truly guarantee your safety:

 

 

https://www.grainger...ial-SCBA-45YT34

[Ismo07]

Global social distancing rules targeting coronavirus have pushed influenza infection rates to a record low, early figures show, signaling that the measures are having an unprecedented impact on other communicable diseases.

In China, where the earliest wide-scale lockdown measures began, new reports of diseases including mumps, measles and some sexually transmitted diseases, have declined significantly, though influenza cases have seen the sharpest drop off.

https://www.msn.com/...artan-ntp-feeds

[todd]

Ummm what?

I’m going to assume that’s clickbait(or something) until I see some more sources

[Victoria Watcher]

much earlier in this thread one person or more said the virus was much more than the temporary illness - it often lead to permanent health damage etc.

compare that now to athletes that are infected. nobody worries about their health. they will be 100% fine.

[Victoria Watcher]

if there was any chance of long lasting damage they’d opt out of the season. but only a very small fraction have from any league.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 01 August 2020 - 06:40 AM.

[Rob Randall]

While it is true a perfectly healthy young person has good odds of a full recovery you seem to get some sort of perverse satisfaction from downplaying any risks and by thinking anybody with even the slightest underlying condition somehow deserves what's coming.

[Victoria Watcher]

i’m showing that a pro athlete that might jeopardize a $25 million earning career might be VERY VERY careful not to contract the virus on advice of his doctor agent and insurance company. none seem to be offering advice to opt out.

i’m tired of the media picking extremely rare outliers to instill more fear in us. like they have done to 60% of parents that won’t send their kids back to school. it’s crap.

i’m also tired of people saying “if we all wear a mask for 14 days it would be gone”. because we are not going to do it. just like we are not going to all drive 20kmh to eradicate forever car crash injuries and deaths.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 01 August 2020 - 06:45 AM.

[exc911ence]

 

Global social distancing rules targeting coronavirus have pushed influenza infection rates to a record low, early figures show, signaling that the measures are having an unprecedented impact on other communicable diseases.

In China, where the earliest wide-scale lockdown measures began, new reports of diseases including mumps, measles and some sexually transmitted diseases, have declined significantly, though influenza cases have seen the sharpest drop off.

https://www.msn.com/...artan-ntp-feeds

 

 

Likely because a lot of regular influenza cases/deaths are now being written up as Covid-19. 

[amor de cosmos]

Wearing face coverings, practicing social distancing, washing hands, and shuttering schools and stores. These are some of the measures that have been implemented to protect people from catching the virus responsible for COVID-19. But just how effective have these interventions been?

Engineers at Carnegie Mellon and Princeton believe they have developed a mathematical modeling approach that could tell us. Their project, dubbed Modeling and Control of COVID-19 Propagation for Assessing and Optimizing Intervention Policies looks at various factors that can impact the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including virus mutations as well as preventative measures such as mask wearing.

*snip*

When people are physically connected, they form what’s called a multi-layered network, Poor says. The network could include family, coworkers, classmates, or social media friends. They, plus their acquaintances, form various degrees of connections, which the researchers call layers.

The researchers will first model these networks using data about the pandemic from a comprehensive data source, known as a data lake, maintained by C3.ai. The database includes the current number of COVID-19 cases, deaths, hospitalizations, and recoveries for countries, including by city, state, province, or county.

“It’s quite extensive, and includes details about COVID-19 victims and spread from a variety of sources globally,” Poor says.

The model can incorporate properties of the spread of the novel coronavirus that have been learned by public health and medical personnel over the past few months, Poor says. That includes the existence of “super spreaders,” asymptomatic spreaders, and delays between when a person becomes contagious and begins showing symptoms. Differences in responses to the virus between populations can also be incorporated into the model, he says, as well as some of the evidence for mutations that has emerged.

etc
https://spectrum.iee...e-measures-work
https://www.princeto...ch-c3ai-digital

The WHO said Friday that coronavirus pandemic effects would be felt for decades as its emergency committee assessed the situation six months after sounding its top alarm over the outbreak
https://medicalxpres...des-months.html
 

BBC Persian reports that the real number of deaths from Covid-19 is 42,000, confirming global speculation that the Iranian government has been concealing true figures regarding the pandemic.

BBC Persian said it had received leaked medical evidence about the true death toll in Iran, as well as lists of names of those who had died. As of July 20, 42,000 people had died — more than three times higher than the official figure, which the government most recently reported as 16,147.

In a daily briefing on July 20, the health ministry reported a total of 14,405 deaths.

Information obtained by BBC Persian said that more than 450,000 people in Iran had contracted the virus, which is more than one and a half times the official statistics.

*snip*

An anonymous source provided the information to BBC Persian. The source, who identified himself as a staff member of an official Iranian government department, sent separate lists of Covid-19 deaths and patients being treated at medical centers and hospitals in Iran to BBC Persian. The source said he or she could not reveal their identity in order to protect their own safety and that they were handing the information over to the BBC because they wanted to "reflect the truth" and end the "politicization" of the data about the pandemic.

The BBC was unable to confirm that the anonymous source was actually employed by the government or any of its official institutions, and it was unclear how he or she obtained the information about coronavirus deaths and cases. However, the BBC carried out its own verification process of the data, comparing it with other available figures and statistics, including previously confirmed figures available to the BBC. It considers the data to be accurate and verified.

https://iranwire.com...l-features/7395
 

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, August 1. /TASS/. Clinical trials of a coronavirus vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology are over, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko told reporters on Saturday.

"Clinical trials of a coronavirus vaccine developed by the Gamaleya center are over, paperwork is underway for the vaccine’s registration," he pointed out.

The health minister added that another vaccine, developed by the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector, was going through clinical trials. In addition, the Health Ministry expects that developers of two more vaccines will request permission to start clinical trials on volunteers in the next six to eight weeks.

https://tass.com/cor...n-china/1184779
 

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the Trump administration didn't violate federal law when it scaled back a billion-dollar drug reimbursement program that benefitted public and not-for-profit hospitals serving patients with low incomes.

The legal fight predated the coronavirus pandemic, but the stakes of the case became higher this year as hospitals have lost tens of billions of dollars as nonessential services and elective surgeries were put on hold.

Starting in 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services slashed the reimbursement rate paid to certain hospitals for outpatient drugs prescribed to elderly and disabled patients covered by the Medicare program. Under what's known as the 340B program, these hospitals buy drugs at a discounted rate, and then file claims with the federal government for reimbursement.

https://www.buzzfeed...funds-hospitals

On March 31, three weeks after the World Health Organization designated the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic, a DHL truck rattled up to the gray stone embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Washington, D.C., delivering precious cargo: 1 million Chinese-made diagnostic tests for COVID-19, ordered at the behest of the Trump administration.

Normally, federal government purchases come with detailed contracts, replete with acronyms and identifying codes. They require sign-off from an authorized contract officer and are typically made public in a U.S. government procurement database, under a system intended as a hedge against waste, fraud, and abuse.

This purchase did not appear in any government database. Nor was there any contract officer involved. Instead, it was documented in an invoice obtained by Vanity Fair, from a company, Cogna Technology Solutions (its own name misspelled as “Tecnology” on the bill), which noted a total order of 3.5 million tests for an amount owed of $52 million. The “client name” simply noted “WH.”

Over the next three months, the tests’ mysterious provenance would spark confusion and finger-pointing. An Abu Dhabi–based artificial intelligence company, Group 42, with close ties to the UAE’s ruling family, identified itself as the seller of 3.5 million tests and demanded payment. Its requests were routed through various divisions within Health and Human Services, whose lawyers sought in vain for a bona fide contracting officer.

*snip*

The secret, and legally dubious, acquisition of those test kits was the work of a task force at the White House, where Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and special adviser, has assumed a sprawling role in the pandemic response. That explains the “WH” on the invoice. While it’s unclear whether Kushner himself played a role in the acquisition, improper procurement of supplies “is a serious deal,” said a former White House staffer. “That is appropriations 101. That would be not good.”

Though Kushner’s outsized role has been widely reported, the procurement of Chinese-made test kits is being disclosed here for the first time. So is an even more extraordinary effort that Kushner oversaw: a secret project to devise a comprehensive plan that would have massively ramped up and coordinated testing for COVID-19 at the federal level.

etc (long)
https://www.vanityfa...f-into-thin-air

[Victoria Watcher]

Dr. Robin Shattock, a professor at the college, told The Associated Press that he and colleagues had just finished a very slow and arduous process of testing the vaccine at a low dose in the initial participants and would now expand the trial to about 300 people, including some over age 75.

“It's well tolerated. There aren't any side effects,” he said, adding it was still very early in the study. Shattock, who is leading the vaccine research at Imperial, said he hopes to have enough safety data to start inoculating several thousand people in October.
Since COVID-19 infections have dropped dramatically in Britain, making it difficult to determine whether or not the vaccine works, Shattock said he and his colleagues are also looking to test their vaccine elsewhere.
“We're looking very carefully at the pandemic, at the numbers where the hot spots are and talking to collaborators that have the facilities to do these kinds of studies,” he said.
The Imperial vaccine uses synthetic strands of genetic code based on the virus. Once injected into a muscle, the body's own cells are instructed to make copies of a spiky protein on the coronavirus. That should in turn trigger an immune response so the body can fight off any future COVID-19 infection.

https://www.cp24.com...ccine-1.5045727

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 August 2020 - 04:39 AM.

[amor de cosmos]

Ethiopia on Sunday began a massive campaign against the novel coronavirus across the nation of more than 110 million people.

The launch of the COVID-19 Prevention and Testing Campaign was announced late on Saturday by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

According to the campaign program, the country will test 200,000 people for the virus in the coming two weeks.

"The country is better prepared with 45,000-capacity quarantine facilities, while local production of hand sanitizers made it possible to save what could have been an expense in foreign currency," Abiy said, speaking during the televised launch of the one-month campaign.

"Increasing the number of people tested will enable effective decision making," he said, adding that people had now become accustomed to wearing face masks.

https://www.aa.com.t...ampaign/1929476
 

A renowned infectious disease specialist and a member of Iran’s National Scientitic Committee to Combat COVID-19 has cast doubt on the news that Russian researchers have developed a vaccine for the novel Coronavirus.

Minoo Mohraz says Russia has not yet succeeded in producing a vaccine for the disease. “This is just a show.”

“Unfortunately, the products that Russia has developed under the name of ‘coronavirus vaccine’ have not yet been approved by international authorities,” said Mohraz.

For a vaccine to be approved, she said, it must receive the seal of approval from one of three internationally-recognized centres.

https://ifpnews.com/...t-for-show-iran
 

The World Health Organization on Saturday warned the coronavirus pandemic was likely to be "lengthy" after its emergency committee met to evaluate the crisis six months after sounding the international alarm.

The committee "highlighted the anticipated lengthy duration of this Covid-19 pandemic", the WHO said in a statement, and warned of the risk of "response fatigue" given the socio-economic pressures on countries.

The panel gathered Friday for the fourth time over the coronavirus crisis, half a year on from its January 30 declaration of a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) - the WHO's highest level of alarm.

"WHO continues to assess the global risk level of Covid-19 to be very high," it said following the meeting.

https://english.alar...demic-warns-who
 

India and Brazil have now overtaken the United States as the world’s worst performers at controlling the cononavirus-19 plague.

The chart of the numbers of daily new cases in India shows the daily count soaring more than in any other country except Brazil, whereas in the United States, the daily number of new cases has plateaued ever since it hit 72,278 on July 10th, three weeks ago.

Right now, the “Tot Cases/1M pop” are 14,207 in USA, 12,537 in Brazil, and only 1,229 in India; so, clearly, India has much farther yet to go on this than do either of the other worst-three Covid-19 nations.

The “Deaths/1M pop” are 473 in USA, 435 in Brazil, and only 26 in India; so, on that measure, also, India’s situation will be becoming vastly worse, whereas both USA and Brazil might have their worst behind them on this. However, because Brazil’s daily new cases seem to be exploding almost at the same rate as in India, one can reasonably expect Brazil’s 435 to rise above America’s 473, but India’s 26 will probably not (unless India’s sharp rise in cases continues for a long time). Consequently, Brazil could turn out to be the worst of all the world’s Covid-19 hells.

At the opposite end, the world’s best Covid-19 countries, as measured on “Tot Cases/1M pop,” are, in order starting with the best: Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Papua, Tanzania, Cambodia, Taiwan, Uganda, Burundi, Angola, Syria, Niger, Thailand, Burkina Faso, Chad, Yemen, China, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo, Jordan, Mali, Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Benin, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Nogeria, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Cuba, Liberia, Japan, Sudan, Malaysia, and South Korea, all of which nations have fewer than 280 cases per million population and have populations that are higher than 5 million people (my cut-off-point). Some of these nations are in civil wars which cause few people to want to visit them; some aren’t much participating in international trade and therefore have little traffic with foreigners; some are terribly poor and therefore have almost no tourist industry, others might soon burst out with soaring increases in cases or deaths. But some of these countries are just doing a spectacularly outstanding job of protecting their populations.

[Sparky]

Seen in a motel in Parksville.

[todd]

members only

[Victoria Watcher]

canada reported 4 deaths yesterday.  sweden 0.

 

 

 

our recovery rate is now 91.91%

 

usa recovery rate is 94%.

new york recovery rate is 93.7%

texas recovery rate is 97.5%.

california recovery rate is 95%.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 03 August 2020 - 03:58 AM.

[amor de cosmos]

One of the reasons the SARS-CoV-2 virus is so successful – and thus dangerous – is that it can suppress the non-specific immune response. In addition, it lets the human cell produce the viral protein PLpro (papain-like protease). PLpro has two functions: It plays a role in the maturation and release of new viral particles, and it suppresses the development of type 1 interferons. The German and Dutch researchers have now been able to monitor these processes in cell culture experiments. Moreover, if they blocked PLpro, virus production was inhibited and the innate immune response of the human cells was strengthened at the same time.

Professor Ivan Đikić, Director of the Institute of Biochemistry II at University Hospital Frankfurt and last author of the paper, explains: “We used the compound GRL-0617, a non-covalent inhibitor of PLpro, and examined its mode of action very closely in terms of biochemistry, structure and function. We concluded that inhibiting PLpro is a very promising double-hit therapeutic strategy against COVID-19. The further development of PLpro-inhibiting substance classes for use in clinical trials is now a key challenge for this therapeutic approach.”

https://www.alphagal...y/ItemId/195702

Certainty in just 15 minutes – researchers develop a graphene oxide-based rapid test to detect infections
https://www.alphagal...y/ItemId/195733
 

A supercomputer-powered genetic study of COVID-19 patients has spawned a possible breakthrough into how the novel coronavirus causes disease—and points toward new potential therapies to treat its worst symptoms.

The genetic data mining research uncovered a common pattern of gene activity in the lungs of symptomatic COVID-19 patients, which when compared to gene activity in healthy control populations revealed a mechanism that appears to be a key weapon in the coronavirus’s arsenal.

The good news is there are already drugs—a few of which are already FDA-approved—aimed at some of these very same pathologies.

“We think we have a core mechanism that explains a lot of the symptoms where the virus ends up residing,” said Daniel Jacobson, chief scientist for computational systems biology at Oak Ridge National Labs in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The mechanism, detailed in Jacobson’s group’s new paper in the journal eLife, centers around a compound the body produces to regulate blood pressure, called bradykinin. A healthy body produces small amounts of bradykinin to dilate blood vessels and make them more permeable. Which typically lowers blood pressure.

However, Jacobson said, lung fluid samples from COVID-19 patients consistently revealed over-expression of genes that produce bradykinin, while also under-expressing genes that would inhibit or break down bradykinin.

In other words, the new finding predicts a hyper-abundance of bradykinin in a coronavirus patient’s body at the points of infection, which can have well-known and sometimes deadly consequences. As Jacobson’s paper notes, extreme bradykinin levels in various organs can lead to dry coughs, myalgia, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, headaches, decreased cognitive function, arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. All of which have been associated with various manifestations of COVID-19.

*snip*

But another genetic tendency this work revealed was up-regulation in the production of hyaluronic acid. This compound is slimy to the touch. In fact, it’s the primary component in snail slime. And it has the remarkable property of being able to absorb 1000 times its own weight in water.

The team also discovered evidence of down-regulated genes in COVID patients that might otherwise have kept hyaluronic acid levels in check. So with fluid inundating the lungs and gels that absorb those fluids being over-produced as well, a coronavirus patient’s lung, Jacobson said, “fills up with a jello-like hydrogel.”

“One of the causes of death is people are basically suffocating,” Jacobson said. “And we may have found the mechanisms responsible for how this gets out of control, why all the fluid is leaking in, why you’re now producing all this hyaluronic acid—this gelatin-like substance—in your lung, and possibly why there are all these inflammatory responses.”

https://spectrum.iee...-the-covid-code
https://elifescience.../articles/59177
 

Wolfe and his colleagues reviewed every English language article mentioning COVID-19 and neuromuscular conditions published from the start of the pandemic and running through June 18, 2020—a total of 547 publications.

"Although neuromuscular complications of COVID-19 have not received as much publicity as stroke complications, they are being increasingly reported," Wolfe said. "Guillain-Barré syndrome, a severe life-threatening paralyzing neuropathy that is a complication of many viral infections, has now been seen in COVID-19 patients in many countries, including the United States."

The literature indicated that since the pandemic hit, 27 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome stemming from the virus have been reported worldwide. Three of the cases were a variant of GBS, the Miller Fisher variant.

https://medicalxpres...-disorders.html
 

The virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, presents at least six strains. Despite its mutations, the virus shows little variability, and this is good news for the researchers working on a viable vaccine.

These are the results of the most extensive study ever carried out on SARS-CoV-2 sequencing. Researchers at the University of Bologna drew from the analysis of 48,635 coronavirus genomes, which were isolated by researchers in labs all over the world. This study was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology. It was then possible for researchers to map the spread and the mutations of the virus during its journey to all continents.

The first results are encouraging. The coronavirus presents little variability, approximately seven mutations per sample. Common influenza has a variability rate that is more than double.

"The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is presumably already optimized to affect human beings, and this explains its low evolutionary change," explains Federico Giorgi, a researcher at Unibo and coordinator of the study. "This means that the treatments we are developing, including a vaccine, might be effective against all the virus strains."

https://phys.org/new...-sars-cov-.html

Norway traces cruise liner passengers after 40 people test positive for COVID-19
http://www.ecns.cn/n...tt8795804.shtml
 

Cochabamba, Bolivia – As Latin America becomes the new focal point for the devastating spread of Covid-19, Cuba stands virtually alone in having saved its population from the dramatic health and societal collapse seen across most of the region. At the other extreme is Bolivia, where the coup regime is using the trauma of mass graves and corpses in the streets – the fruits of its own inaction – as an excuse to ban elections. A close look the divergent results of the two countries gives an insight into how two opposing ideological models have shaped the situation that Cuba and Bolivia find themselves in today.

The two countries have roughly the same population of about 11 million and were among the last in the region to see their first imported cases. Covid-19 arrived in Bolivia on March 10th; it hit Cuba the following day. The similarities end there.

At the time of writing, Cuba has yet to see a single medical professional or child die from the virus, and has a total of 2,495 cases. Meanwhile, Bolivia had 1,825 cases of Covid-19 just in the last 24 hours, adding to a staggering national total of 68,281 infections. Cuba has suffered 87 deaths from the virus while Bolivia has suffered a whopping 2,535.

The number of tests carried out is a core component of any Covid-19 strategy, if those who are presenting symptoms or are carriers of the virus are not able to access tests, then it makes tracing and isolating impossible. So far, Cuba, a blockaded country, has carried out 247,203 tests. In Bolivia, where the coup regime has complained that such tests are expensive to acquire, only 134,769 have been carried out.

https://thegrayzone....eated-covid-19/

Vietnam fights new COVID-19 strain with higher infection rate
https://asia.nikkei....-infection-rate
 

HANOI: The COVID-19 outbreak that began in the central city of Danang more than a week ago has spread to at least four factories in the city with a combined workforce of around 3,700, state media reported on Monday (Aug 3).

Four cases were found at the plants located at different industrial parks in the central city which collectively employ 77,000 people, the Lao Dong newspaper said.

https://www.channeln...tories-12985706
 

MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/. The domestic healthcare system has been able to solve almost all problems related to the novel coronavirus pandemic, head of the National Medical Chamber and co-chairman of the All-Russia People’s Front central headquarters Leonid Roshal said on Monday.

"The state has done the colossal amount of work on COVID-19. <…> More than 90-95% of all issues related to COVID-19 have been resolved," he told a round table in the All-Russia People’s Front on insurance payments to medical workers who had the novel coronavirus.

https://tass.com/society/1185265
 

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The governor of Iraq’s Karbala province said no pilgrims will be allowed into the holy city of Karbala in the first ten days of the lunar Hijri month of Muharram.

No Iraqi or foreign pilgrims can enter the city on these days, especially on the 9th and 10th of Muharram which mark Tasoua and Ashura, Nassif al-Khattabi said.

He said the city will be closed until the 13th of Muharram, adding that any gatherings of people will be banned, Al-Sumaria News reported.

https://en.abna24.co...us_1059754.html
 

As the United Kingdom is seeking to reopen the economy after being in a state of national lockdown since March, the government is considering options to stave off having to introduce national shut down amid a growing number of new coronavirus cases.

The British government is reportedly looking into halting all travel beyond the M25 and enforcing a state home policy for all over-fifties to as part of “nuclear plans” to prevent a second lockdown on a national scale amid rising new coronavirus cases.

Boris Johnson has ordered officials to consider introducing new extreme measures in order to prevent another lockdown of the UK economy, the Sunday Times reported.

If the R-rate increases in the capital, overnight stays could be prohibited and all travel in and out of London stopped.

https://sputniknews....new-covid-wave/