NFTs have assumed control over the world by tempest and Medicine is its most recent objective.
The University of Pennsylvania, in relationship with prestigious researcher Dr. Drew Weissman, has made a NFT of the mRNA immunization that is assisting individuals with combatting COVID-19.
The NFT is a 3D computerized piece called mRNA NFT: Vaccines For A New Era. The NFT gives a view into the sub-atomic design of the immunization and shows how a state of the art mRNA inoculation battles sicknesses, for this situation: COVID-19.
The NFT would be unloaded online through Christies New York. The computerized fine art was made by Dr. Drew Weissman, whose weighty work helped with the making of mRNA immunizations, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Aside from the advanced craftsmanship, the NFT accompanies the University of Pennsylvanias mRNA patent filings, alongside a unique letter from Dr. Weissmant. A storyboard that portrays what the NFT portrays is likewise included.
The assets raised from the unloading of the NFT would be utilized to help progressing explores at Penn Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania.
Peter Klarnet, Vice President and Senior Specialist in the Department of Books and Manuscripts at Christies said in an assertion theyve all caught wind of mRNA immunizations on the news, presently this astounding NFT provides us with an extraordinary perspective on this innovation in real life.
ALSO READ: Jay-Z, Jack Dorsey Unveil Bitcoin Academy
Its been an honor to work with the researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, who are accomplishing the work that is saving large number of lives around the world, and satisfying to know the returns from this deal will help Dr. Drew Weissman and his group saddle this new sort of immunization to battle a more noteworthy scope of diseases and lighten significantly really languishing
The British sales management firm in March turned into the main significant one to sell a NFT and from that point forward it has sold in excess of 100 NFTs. In May, it unloaded a bunch of nine CryptoPunk NTFs for nearly $17 million, surpassing its assumptions to sell them for between $7 million and $9 million. In November, Christies sold Beeples half breed NFT mold called Human One for almost $29 million.
The NFT commercial center blast this year as a component of a flood in the more extensive digital money market, whose valuation was around $2.3 trillion on Tuesday, in spite of the fact that lower than the valuation of $3 trillion it went after the initial time this year.
Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.
(STACKER) The United States as of Jul. 1 reached over 1 million COVID-19-related deaths and nearly 87.6 million COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. Currently, 66.9% of the population is fully vaccinated, and 47.8% of vaccinated people have received booster doses.
Stacker compiled a list of the counties with the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in Virginia using data from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and Covid Act Now. Counties are ranked by the highest vaccination rate as of Jun. 30, 2022. Due to inconsistencies in reporting, some counties do not have vaccination data available. Keep reading to see whether your county ranks among the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in your state.
Population that is fully vaccinated: 72.9% (27,049 fully vaccinated) 1.5% lower vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 318 (118 total deaths) 32.0% more deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 21,006 (7,795 total cases) 3.7% fewer cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 73.0% (68,788 fully vaccinated) 1.4% lower vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 299 (282 total deaths) 24.1% more deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 24,420 (23,000 total cases) 11.9% more cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 73.3% (242,530 fully vaccinated) 0.9% lower vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 286 (946 total deaths) 18.7% more deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 22,049 (72,942 total cases) 1.0% more cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 73.5% (7,789 fully vaccinated) 0.7% lower vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 292 (31 total deaths) 21.2% more deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 18,344 (1,945 total cases) 15.9% fewer cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 74.0% (79,782 fully vaccinated) 0.0% lower vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 268 (289 total deaths) 11.2% more deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 22,127 (23,845 total cases) 1.4% more cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 74.2% (18,767 fully vaccinated) 0.3% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 383 (97 total deaths) 58.9% more deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 23,916 (6,051 total cases) 9.6% more cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 75.9% (54,077 fully vaccinated) 2.6% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 206 (147 total deaths) 14.5% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 19,556 (13,928 total cases) 10.4% fewer cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 78.3% (191,601 fully vaccinated) 5.8% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 207 (507 total deaths) 14.1% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 22,125 (54,169 total cases) 1.4% more cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 78.9% (11,537 fully vaccinated) 6.6% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 116 (17 total deaths) 51.9% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 18,068 (2,641 total cases) 17.2% fewer cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 78.9% (355,198 fully vaccinated) 6.6% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 185 (833 total deaths) 23.2% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 21,661 (97,467 total cases) 0.7% less cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 78.9% (371,053 fully vaccinated) 6.6% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 159 (749 total deaths) 34.0% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 22,374 (105,234 total cases) 2.5% more cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 79.1% (327,266 fully vaccinated) 6.9% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 94 (387 total deaths) 61.0% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 19,272 (79,696 total cases) 11.7% fewer cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 79.3% (126,410 fully vaccinated) 7.2% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 120 (191 total deaths) 50.2% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 23,007 (36,679 total cases) 5.4% more cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 79.5% (18,877 fully vaccinated) 7.4% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 223 (53 total deaths) 7.5% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 18,831 (4,473 total cases) 13.7% fewer cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 80.5% (61,571 fully vaccinated) 8.8% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 161 (123 total deaths) 33.2% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 22,144 (16,945 total cases) 1.5% more cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 81.7% (9,572 fully vaccinated) 10.4% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 555 (65 total deaths) 130.3% more deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 19,701 (2,307 total cases) 9.7% fewer cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 82.3% (944,280 fully vaccinated) 11.2% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 128 (1,469 total deaths) 46.9% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 18,215 (209,019 total cases) 16.5% fewer cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 83.1% (90,884 fully vaccinated) 12.3% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 153 (167 total deaths) 36.5% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 18,727 (20,474 total cases) 14.2% fewer cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 84.6% (113,797 fully vaccinated) 14.3% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 247 (332 total deaths) 2.5% more deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 22,764 (30,620 total cases) 4.3% more cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 84.8% (57,927 fully vaccinated) 14.6% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 160 (109 total deaths) 33.6% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 16,132 (11,015 total cases) 26.1% fewer cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 88.3% (33,874 fully vaccinated) 19.3% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 209 (80 total deaths) 13.3% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 24,533 (9,409 total cases) 12.4% more cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 89.4% (211,811 fully vaccinated) 20.8% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 137 (324 total deaths) 43.2% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 22,461 (53,198 total cases) 2.9% more cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 95.0% (9,735 fully vaccinated) 28.4% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 416 (29 total deaths) 72.6% more deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 17,823 (1,241 total cases) 18.3% less cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 95.0% (23,756 fully vaccinated) 28.4% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 179 (43 total deaths) 25.7% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 9,097 (2,185 total cases) 58.3% fewer cases per 100k residents than Virginia
Population that is fully vaccinated: 95.0% (240,451 fully vaccinated) 28.4% higher vaccination rate than Virginia Cumulative deaths per 100k: 197 (478 total deaths) 18.3% fewer deaths per 100k residents than Virginia Cumulative cases per 100k: 18,815 (45,672 total cases) 13.8% less cases per 100k residents than Virginia
The Canadian Press Published Tuesday, July 5, 2022 12:20PM EDT Last Updated Tuesday, July 5, 2022 12:20PM EDT
OTTAWA -- Canada is about to toss more than half of its doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine because it couldn't find any takers for it either in or outside of Canada.
A statement from Health Canada says 13.6 million doses of the vaccine expired in the spring and will be thrown out.
A year ago Canada said it would donate almost 18 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to lower-income countries.
As of June 22, almost nine million doses were delivered to 21 different nations.
But Health Canada says there is limited demand for the AstraZeneca vaccine and it hasn't been able to find more takers for the doses available.
Canada has also donated 6.1 million doses of Moderna's vaccine out of 10 million doses promised for donation, but has thrown out another 1.2 million doses of that vaccine.
San Diego city employees, who refuse to be vaccinated and tested for COVID-19 because they say both violate their religion, are now at risk of being sacked.
The city confirmed that Advance Notice of Termination letters have been issued for at least three dozen employees, half of them in the San Diego Police Department.
KPBS obtained the letter templates through a Public Records Act. The letters, which are sent by the employees supervisor, state in part: This is to notify you that I am recommending to the Department Director that your employment with the City of San Diego as a (Employees Position) in the (Department Name) Department (add Division Name, if applicable) be terminated.
The letter goes on to say the employees refusal to take COVID-19 tests amounts to insubordination or serious breach of discipline.
But the letters are just the beginning of the citys dismissal process for the workers. The letter recommends to the department head that the employee be terminated, but the employee can appeal that decision, and then go through whats called a Skelly Hearing. After that, if the city still decides to fire the employee, he or she would get a termination notice from the department head.
Before this Termination takes effect, you may respond to the charges and this recommended action, the letter states. You have the right to be represented and may respond either verbally or in writing to (Name, Title), within 10 working days of your receipt of this notice. Failure to respond by that time will be deemed a forfeiture of your opportunity to respond.
The city could still issue more letters over refusal to test in the coming weeks.
Mayor Todd Gloria told KPBS that police officers have to follow the rules.
I think we have been exceedingly patient with these folks, we have worked on this on an individual basis to understand where they're at and what the concerns are, he said. To the extent that individuals can be out of compliance and continue to work, that is not ideal. But we will follow our due process for these individuals and hope, as the vast majority of them have, that they'll come into compliance.
If folks continue to resist being compliant with our adopted vaccine mandate, we will have to terminate their employment with the city, and that would be regrettable, he added. We need qualified professional folks to work at the city. We're recruiting folks. We're hiring currently. We would like to have more people coming to work here, and one of the ways to do that is to keep the people that you have.
The employees who objected to both COVID-19 vaccines and tests insist their Christian beliefs instruct them not to use testing swabs because they contain ethylene oxide. The chemical is a known carcinogen, but is not actually present on the swabs its used as a gas to sterilize them. Medical and religious experts say the employees claims are groundless.
Last month, Cary P. Gross and Ezekiel J. Emanuel argued that scientific advances are essential to fighting a pandemic, and they faulted Americas top medical-research agency, the renowned National Institutes of Health, for not moving faster to produce more research on COVID-19. During the coronavirus pandemic, they wrote, the NIH has appeared more a doddering, tired institution than a robust giant bestriding the gap between science and clinical care.
On June 5, The Atlantic published an opinion piece that does serious injustice to National Institutes of Health (NIH) frontline workers, researchers, and administrators who, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, pivoted to achieve groundbreaking advances in vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tests with unprecedented speed. In support of these workers, NIH strenuously objects to the articles misguided and woefully incomplete portrayal of our COVID-19 response.
The article asserts that the NIH should have been well positioned to create treatment guidance for doctors caring for patients hospitalized with a brand-new diseasea claim that gives the misimpression that NIH didnt propagate treatment information. In fact, NIH convened a panel of academic and government experts in March 2020 to critically review and synthesize available data from clinical trials and other study reports to provide clinicians with guidance on how to care for patients with COVID-19. The first NIH COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines were published on April 21, 2020, and the panel has issued more than 50 updated editions since. The guidelines have been visited more than 30 million times.
The article disparages NIHs pursuit of therapeutic options as inadequate, but the authors seem unaware of the agencys major efforts to seek effective treatments. In February 2020, before many Americans had realized the magnitude of the pandemic, researchers began enrolling COVID-19 patients into the Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial (ACTT), a multisite clinical trial organized and supported by NIH. Less than three months later, preliminary data indicated that the antiviral drug remdesivir is safe and improved clinical outcomes, thus identifying an effective COVID-19 treatment. By May 1, 2020, the FDA authorized the drug for emergency use in hospitalized patients 12 years and older. NIH initiated three additional ACTT trials, testing various agents in combination with remdesivir, and found that the addition of the anti-inflammatory drug baricitinib reduced time to recovery for hospitalized patients.
Additionally, NIHs Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) public-private partnership launched in May 2020 to develop a coordinated research strategy and prioritize the most promising therapeutic agents for testing against COVID-19. ACTIV streamlined the process for adding new agents into trials and rapidly deployed existing NIH networks of more than 620 trial sites across the U.S. and internationally. The initiative has so far evaluated more than 800 therapeutic agents and prioritized 33 for inclusion in ACTIV master protocols. Twenty-seven of these agents have completed testing, and six agents have shown compelling evidence of benefit in randomized clinical trials. Fifteen agents have been shown to be ineffective against COVID-19a finding that is equally crucial for informing clinical practice. ACTIV also includes a Tracking Resistance and Coronavirus Evolution initiative, focused on identifying emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 and sharing data about vaccine and therapeutic resistance.
While the article recognizes NIHs profoundly important contributions in developing the stabilized coronavirus spike protein used in the COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States, it shortchanges the accomplishment. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has spent the past 20 years working on vaccines against HIV, Ebola, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, Zika, and other viral infections. These studies resulted in the vaccine-design approach that would allow for the development of the stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Moreover, NIAID already had initiated pandemic-preparedness efforts that were used as the blueprint for the rapid development of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Just 198 days after the novel coronaviruss genomic sequence was released, a Phase 3 clinical trial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine began, supported by NIH and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. NIH mobilized its existing clinical-research networks to enroll a diverse cohort of participants at sites across the country and provided expert clinical-trial and immunologic support for this and other Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trials. The vaccine candidate received FDA emergency use authorization in just 11 months, an unprecedented achievement. To put that into perspective, the first measles vaccine took 10 years to develop; the first HPV vaccine took 22 years.
The authors of the Atlantic article make no mention of NIHs role in the swift development of COVID-19 diagnostic tests. NIH launched the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative in April 2020, just five days after receiving congressional appropriation. Using a Shark Tanklike approach quite different from the traditional NIH grant process, the program has sped the development and commercialization of COVID-19 tests. Notably, in only two years, companies supported by RADx have added approximately 2 billion tests and testing products to the U.S. capacity. The first at-home COVID-19 test to receive an FDA emergency use authorization was developed with RADxs assistance, and companies supported by the initiative have now received more than 40 such authorizations.
The authors also take issue with NIHs response to long COVID. To have a fighting chance at identifying the underlying mechanisms of that condition, NIH built a multidisciplinary research consortium to design rigorous clinical trials and longitudinal studies enrolling thousands of individuals, and to assess electronic health records and real-world data studies of more than 60 million adults and children. With $1.2 billion in backing from Congress, NIH went to work building the comprehensive infrastructure called the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative. The effort involves a network of more than 30 institutions recruiting hundreds of researchers to conduct studies. The goal is to understand the full clinical spectrum of long COVID and who is at risk, and to identify potential biological targets for therapeutic intervention, which the agency plans to test in clinical trials this fall.
The authors also criticize NIHs diversity efforts. While our agency fully agrees that diversity in biomedical research is a significant challenge, we take issue with the supposition that the agency hasnt taken it seriously. In fact, it was NIH that shone a light on a funding gap for applications supporting Black investigators for NIH new research-project grants. Immediately following those findings, NIH launched important diversity efforts that have been associated with narrowing the funding-support gap between white and Black investigators by 75 percent since 2016. NIH leadership was dissatisfied that the gap hadnt fully closed. In response, the agency launched the UNITE initiative to address issues of structural racism in NIH-funded biomedical research in February 2021. NIH programs also have substantially increased the number of early-stage investigators awarded first-time research-project grants from fewer than 600 in fiscal 2013 to a record high of 1,513 in fiscal 2021. We will continue to do our part to foster a diverse biomedical-research workforce that reflects the diversity of the nation.
NIH acknowledges that there is always room for improvement. We are assessing which lessons we might learn from our pandemic response and the many other research programs that we have supported. However, we are proud of the contributions our community has made to the COVID-19 pandemic response, including to the rapid development of effective diagnostic tests, treatments, and vaccines. The authors of the Atlantic article had ready access to all of the above information. Unfortunately, at a time when trust in science seems to be losing ground in the public eye, they published an essay that, through the sum of its omissions, is profoundly misleading.
Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D.Acting directorNational Institutes of Health
We have great respect for the individual efforts of NIH scientists, clinical staff, and other frontline workers. And we recognize the agencys important role in convening experts and synthesizing existing evidence during a time of great uncertainty. But the agencys problem lies in the generation of new evidence. As we explained in our article, research supported by other institutionsfunders that lack the NIHs budget and statureis getting under way faster and producing actionable findings sooner than NIH-supported research is. One study that we discussed, the United Kingdoms RECOVERY trial, launched quickly on a modest budget and has yielded more insights into COVID treatment than any other effort. To be sure, the NIH has produced important studies in the COVID-19 era, but why not see what it can learn from investigators in other settings? Science depends on open dialogue. Our view is that the NIH could do more to strengthen Americas clinical-research enterprise, and it needs a different strategy urgently.
Army reservist James Topp speaks to a crowd during a protest against COVID-19 health measures, in Ottawa, on June 30.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
The Canadian soldier charged with speaking against federal vaccine mandates while wearing his uniform and who recently led a march to Ottawa is now facing a court martial.
Warrant Officer James Topps lawyer says the army reservist was recently notified that he will be allowed to have his case heard in a military court instead of by his chain of command.
Phillip Millar says the decision represents a second about-face after the military initially offered his client a court martial, only to rescind the offer and send his case to his unit commanders.
Topp was charged in February with two counts of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline after publicly criticizing federal vaccine requirements while wearing his uniform.
He later led a months-long march from Vancouver that ended in Ottawa last week and was supported by many of the same organizers as this years Freedom Convoy.
Military law experts say the decision to allow a court martial raises the stakes for Topp by increasing the potential penalties should he be found guilty.
Yet they say it also means his trial will receive much more public attention and he will be allowed to have legal representation at trial, which wouldnt have necessarily been the case if he was tried by his commanding officer.
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UCSFs Dr. Bob Wachter called the BA.5 omicron subvariant a different beast compared to other coronavirus mutations, with differences that could prompt behavioral changes to avoid infection. The notion that hybrid immunity from both a coronavirus infection and vaccination offers a high degree of protection has been thrown into doubt with the onset of the highly infectious infectious omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
A new type of vaccine protects against a variety of betacoronaviruses including the one that caused the COVID-19 pandemic and COVIDs variants, in mice and monkeys, a Caltech study found. Betacoronaviruses are a subset of coronaviruses that infect humans and animals. The study, published in the journal Science on Tuesday, from researchers in the laboratory of Caltechs Pamela Bjorkman, professor of biology and bioengineering, found that the new vaccine is broadly protective. It works by presenting the immune system with spike protein pieces from SARS-CoV-2 and seven other SARS-like betacoronaviruses, attached to a protein nanoparticle structure, to induce production of cross-reactive antibodies, Caltech said. Vaccination with this so-called mosaic nanoparticle also led to protection against an additional coronavirus, SARS-CoV, that was not one of the eight on the nanoparticle vaccine.
Overcrowding, sometimes in antiquated buildings, played a key role in the dramatic surge of COVID-19 in California prisons, a new report from UCSF and UC Berkeley found. The spread was compounded by the need for complex coordination, and the report said extraordinary efforts by corrections officials was not enough to prevent tens of thousands of COVID infections among inmates and prison staff. Employee illness led to severe staffing shortages, and prison staff may have inadvertently carried the virus in and out of the prisons and into their homes and communities, the report said. It said risks may have been elevated because many prison staff refused to get vaccinated.
The researchers documented more than 50,000 cases of COVID among inmates in all including 240 deaths from the start of the pandemic to December 2021. Other reports have documented more than 16,000 COVID infections among prison staff, with 26 deaths. Dr. Brie Williams, a UCSF professor of medicine who helped lead the research team, said state policymakers and prison managers should closely evaluate lessons learned to help assure were better prepared in the future. This includes giving attention to massively reducing the prison population in our state in the interest of public health, as overcrowding is likely the single greatest health threat in a respiratory pandemic.
COVID-19 infection can trigger the production of immune molecules that damage cells lining blood vessels in the brain, according to a National Institutes of Health study published Tuesday. That damage causes platelets to stick together and form clots. Blood proteins also leak from the blood vessels, leading to inflammation and the destruction of neurons and may lead to short- and long-term neurological symptoms, according to National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke researchers who examined brain changes in nine people who died suddenly after contracting the virus. Patients often develop neurological complications with COVID-19, but the underlying pathophysiological process is not well understood, said Avindra Nath, the senior author of the study. We had previously shown blood vessel damage and inflammation in patients brains at autopsy, but we didnt understand the cause of the damage. I think in this paper weve gained important insight into the cascade of events.
It could take another two years before the virus that causes COVID-19 becomes endemic, according to a Yale study published Tuesday in the journal PNAS Nexus. Modeling data based on reinfection rates among rats, which are as susceptible to coronaviruses as humans, showed that with both vaccination and natural exposure, the population accumulated broad immunity that pushed the virus toward endemic stability. That is the point when the virus infects many people but loses its fangs, leading to outcomes that are not particularly harmful. Coronaviruses are highly unpredictable, so a potential mutation could arise that makes it more pathogenic, said Caroline Zeiss, a professor of comparative medicine at Yale School of Medicine and senior author of the study. The more likely scenario, though, is that we see an increase in transmissibility and probable decrease in pathogenicity.
Repeated COVID increase risks for new and ongoing health problems, according to a new study of data from more than 5.6 million people Veterans Administration patients. Compared to patients who never got COVID, those infected once or more saw a proportionally increased risk of cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, kidney, and neurological disorders, as well as mental health problems, researchers found. Antibodies from previous infections did not appear to reduce the risk. Among the 40,000 patients with two or more confirmed infections, the risk of death was twice as high and hospitalization within six months of their last infection three times higher. Given the likelihood that SARS-CoV-2 will remain a threat for years if not decades, we urgently need to develop public health measures that would be embraced by the public and could be sustainably implemented in the long-term to protect people from re-infection, the researchers wrote.
German biotech company CureVac said Tuesday it is suing BioNTech for work that it says contributed to the development of the BioNTech-Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. BioNTech said its work is original and it would vigorously contest the claim outlined in the patent infringement suit, the Associated Press reports.CureVac, which last year reported disappointing results from late-stage testing of its own first-generation COVID-19 shot, earlier this year started a clinical trial of a second-generation vaccine candidate developed with British pharmaceutical company GSK. CureVac said it would not pursue a court injunction and doesnt intend to take legal action that impedes the production, sale or distribution by BioNTech and Pfizer of their successful Comirnaty vaccine. Both CureVac and BioNTech have worked to develop the messenger RNA technology employed in their respective vaccines and potentially for other uses.
COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the United States between March 2020 -- when the pandemic got underway -- and October 2021, according to death certificate data analyzed by National Institutes of Health researchers. During those 20 months, COVID-19 accounted for 1 in 8 deaths (350,000 deaths) in the United States. Heart disease was the leading cause of death, followed by cancer, and together they accounted for 1.29 million deaths, according to the study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. Accidents and strokes were the fourth and fifth leading causes of death. In every age group 15 years and older, COVID-19 was one of the top five causes of death.
The omicron BA.5 subvariant of the coronavirus accounted for 53.6% of infections nationally last week, continuing its rapid rise to become the dominant strain of the virus in the U.S. The closely related BA.4 subvariant made up an additional 16.5% of cases, as the newer variants crowd out BA.2 and BA.2.12.1. Over the weekend, Dr. Bob Wachter, UCSFs chair of medicine, cautioned that BA.5 is a different beast from previous strains of the virus more infectious and better able to evade immune responses and could cause another surge of cases before we have a chance to recover from the previous wave.
The world half-marathon championships have been canceled because China wasnt able to host the races due to the coronavirus pandemic, World Athletics said on Tuesday. Instead of the event being held in Yangzhou in November as planned, the city will, instead, be given the rebranded world road running championships in 2027, officials said. The championships are on track to be renamed the world road running championships with the addition of 5-kilometer races and mass-participation events alongside the elite competitions. China has put tight restrictions on arrivals from foreign countries during the pandemic and imposes wide-ranging lockdowns for any COVID-19 positives within the country. China hosted the Winter Olympics in February in a bubble which involved cordoning off whole sections of Beijing.
Many Americans dont expect to rely on the digital services like health care and grocery delivery after COVID-19 subsides, a new poll finds, although many say its a good thing if those options remain available in the future. Close to half or more of U.S. adults say they are not likely to attend virtual activities, receive virtual health care, have groceries delivered or use curbside pickup after the coronavirus pandemic is over, according to a poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Less than 3 in 10 say theyre very likely to use any of those options at least some of the time.
The new BA.5 strain of the COVID-causing virus is a different beast from ones weve already seen more infectious and better able to evade immune responses and we need to change our thinking about how to defend against it, according to a data-packed Twitter thread posted today by Dr. Bob Wachter, UCSFs chair of medicine.
Hybrid immunity against COVID due to both infection and vaccination was considered highly protective against new variants earlier in the pandemic. But with super infectious omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, that may not hold true any longer. Read more about hybrid immunity and reinfection here.
How likely is it for people to catch COVID from someone who is asymptomatic? Its not impossible and may be more common than people realize, health experts say.
Two new highly infectious and immune-evasive COVID variants are now dominant in the United States, and together they likely will drive the Bay Areas long spring surge well into summer, health experts say.
Amenorrhea refers to the temporary absence of a menstrual cycle for weeks to months due to a medical cause. It can also refer to menstrual periods that havent started for people who should be in puberty.
Most cases of amenorrhea are due to pregnancy. However, amenorrhea can also be caused by several other underlying factors, including an estrogen deficiency.
If this hormone deficiency isnt addressed, it can increase your risk for osteoporosis. Estrogen deficiency is a common cause of osteoporosis since estrogen is essential to maintaining bone health.
Read on to learn how estrogen levels impact menstruation cycles as well as your bone health and how this hormone deficiency is treated.
Osteoporosis is a condition in which your bones lose mass and density, putting you at greater risk of fractures.
Two core risk factors for osteoporosis are age (being over age 65) and being a postmenopausal woman, which is when estrogen levels naturally decline. However, teens can also have hormonal imbalances that impact bone formation and increase osteoporosis risks.
Estrogen is a hormone that serves several essential functions in your body, including regulating bone formation. If you have lower estrogen levels than considered clinically average, your bones might not become as dense as they could otherwise be. This can contribute to weakness, fractures, and slow healing.
For example, people with amenorrhea are at a higher risk of wrist and hip fractures. In a 2017 study of young women who had low levels of estrogen for 6 months, bone mass density decreased similarly to what you would see in women during the first year of menopause.
For younger people, this decline in estrogen may be due to a hormonal imbalance in adolescence. Teen years are an important time for bone development. In addition to maintaining stable estrogen levels, getting enough calcium and vitamin D, and staying active in your youth help build healthy bones for the rest of your life.
Amenorrhea is classified into two subtypes depending on the underlying cause.
Most menstruation cycles begin soon after age 12. Primary amenorrhea occurs when someone expecting menstruation in puberty has yet to have their first period by age 16. Sometimes this can occur in people who have differences in sexual characteristics or development (intersex) or those who have low estrogen.
Chromosomal irregularities, and any disruptions to the pituitary gland or hypothalamus can also delay the onset of puberty. In some cases, pregnancy can be the cause.
Secondary amenorrhea refers to the absence of periods in previously menstruating people. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) defines amenorrhea as missing your period for 3 or more months.
The most common causes of secondary amenorrhea are pregnancy and breastfeeding, which naturally impact your hormone levels.
Other causes of secondary amenorrhea include:
All these things can have an impact on the way your bodys reproductive hormones are balanced, and some can cause nutrient deficiencies.
Up to 30% of amenorrhea diagnoses in women are classified as hypothalamic amenorrhea, which is typically linked to stress, restrictive eating, and exercise.
Amenorrhea refers to the absence of periods in people who should be menstruating. Menopause refers to the natural tapering off and eventual stoppage of menstruation that happens later in life. This transition can last several years and usually occurs between ages 45 and 55, according to the National Institute on Aging.
People with amenorrhea will usually resume their menstrual cycle with treatment, whereas people with menopause will no longer have periods.
For some people, a couple of missed periods wont have a huge impact on their long-term health. But any cause of period stoppage (cessation) should be evaluated by a doctor.
The long-term health effects of low estrogen in premenopausal women are still being studied. But researchers often agree that for teenagers and young adults, amenorrhea can create health risks later in life.
Childhood and puberty are crucial periods for our bodies development. If estrogen imbalances in childhood and the teen years are not treated, they can have significant future impact on cardiac, skeletal, and reproductive systems.
In addition to interfering with early development, amenorrhea can also present challenges to premenopausal people looking to become pregnant.
It may be difficult for someone with amenorrhea to know if theyre ovulating or if pregnancy is even possible for them at the moment. This can potentially create further emotional stress on top of the underlying medical condition.
Your best treatment option for amenorrhea will depend on the underlying cause, as well as your individual health factors. Determining the cause of your missed periods may involve several diagnostic tests, including those to check for pregnancy and to evaluate your hormone levels.
If an estrogen deficiency is causing your amenorrhea, the most common treatments are dietary supplements and hormone therapy. Estrogen hormone therapy involves taking a synthetic version of the hormone to bring your levels back to a healthy range.
If you have hypothalamic amenorrhea, your doctor will need to determine whats suppressing the hormone signals to your brain. If a dietary restriction or an eating disorder is causing your amenorrhea, treatment will most likely be structured to address any deficiencies and provide you with support.
If theres an anatomical reason that prevented your period from ever starting, or if your bodys hormone levels are imbalanced for some other reason, hormone treatment with estrogen, oral contraceptives, or a combination of the two treatments, might be part of your treatment plan.
Reaching out to a doctor rather than assuming the issue will resolve on its own is the safest recommendation. You could be putting yourself at risk for acute and long-term health complications, such as osteoporosis, by not getting evaluated for amenorrhea.
Low estrogen levels are a common cause of both amenorrhea and osteoporosis. Having untreated amenorrhea puts you at increased risk of osteoporosis.
Amenorrhea and subsequent low bone mass can affect teens going through puberty, postmenopausal women, and others.
No matter the underlying cause of amenorrhea, there is effective treatment available.
Taking estrogen hormone therapy to boost your low levels can return bones to full health and prevent future complications. Sometimes, another underlying health condition causing low estrogen needs to be addressed.
Pay close attention to your menstrual cycles and note any irregularities. Parents should consult a doctor if their childs menstruation hasnt begun as expected to check for estrogen deficiency.
What is the purpose of these Policies?
The Restart Plan has been prepared to inform students, faculty, staff, regulatory bodies, andthe general community about Jersey College's policies and procedures that are beingimplemented with regards to protecting our community against the spread of COVID-19. Theunderlying principle for this Plan is that a safe learning environment requires personalresponsibility. Individuals must maintain social distancing, appropriately use personal protectiveequipment ("PPE") and be accountable for self-isolating. Through personal responsibility, riskscan be reduced and in-person campus activity can resume.
The three fundamental safety principles are: (i) Maintain Social Distancing, (ii) Use Personal Protective Equipment, and (iii) Be accountable
Masks and Cloth Face Coverings: Masks or cloth face coverings arerequiredto be worn at all times while an individual (student, faculty, staff, or guest) is on a campus. Such coveringsmustcover the nose, mouth, and chin. Jersey College will provide students, faculty, and staff with a cloth face covering.
Students may not drink or eat food in any building, except in designated cafeterias. Eating and drinking is permissible outside ofeach building (i.e., at a picnic table, under a tree, or in a car) provided that students maintain atleast three (3) feet of distance and wear face coverings while not actively eating or drinking.
Recommendations or suggestions for improvements and suspected violations of the policies and procedures should be forwarded to CAO@jerseycollege.edu
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. Many of them infect animals, but some coronaviruses from animals can evolve (change) into a new human coronavirus that can spread from person-to-person. This is what happened with the current novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. Diseases from coronaviruses in people typically cause mild to moderate illness, like the common cold. Some, like the SARS or MERS viruses, cause serious infections like pneumonia. The name of this new virus is SARS-CoV-2; the disease caused by this virus is known as COVID-19.
The Federal Governmentand various states maintain robust websites dedicated to COVID-19. The websites include information including, but not limited to: (i) general information about the virus, (ii) testing information, (iii) resources for residents, (iv) travel and other restrictions, and (v) announcements.
As with other respiratory illnesses, there are steps that everyone can take daily to reduce the risk of getting sick or infecting others with circulating viruses.
Social distancing means remaining out of public places where close contact with others may occur [e.g., dormitories, schools and other classroom settings, cafeterias, shopping centers, movie theaters, stadiums, workplaces (unless the person works in an office space that allows complete distancing from others), and local public conveyances (e.g., bus, subway, taxi, ride share)] for the duration of the potential incubation period.
As can be seen in the U.K.'s Heathrow Airport on June 1, 2022 in London, England, many people have ... [+] stopped maintaining Covid-19 precautions such as face mask wearing and social distancing. This may have been fueling the BA.5 Omicron subvariant upswing that has hit the U.K. and is now reaching the U.S. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
Lets clear up one misconception. Viruses arent like deodorant on your armpit or a fart in a room. They dont necessarily automatically get weaker over time. In fact, often its quite the opposite. Mutations and natural selection can help subsequent versions of a virus get stronger and stronger in different ways, which seems to be happening with the Covid-19 coronavirus. And Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, has called the currently spreading version, the Omicron sub-variant BA.5, the worst version of the virus that weve seen.
Yeah, calling the BA.5 the worst version is like calling The Last Knight the worst Transformers movie or Police Academy: Mission to Moscow the worst of the Police Academy films. Its the worst version of whats been getting progressively worse, and you never know when another even worse version will emerge. Topol used the worst word in a Substack post entitled The BA.5 story that he linked to in the following tweet:
Spoiler alert. The BA.5 story aint a positive one for the U.S. right now, unless many more people and politicians can somehow change the lets pretend that its over and not around anymore approach to the pandemic, which may work with zits but doesnt work with Covid-19. As you can see, Topol wondered on the tweet why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not been issuing more warnings about the Omicron BA.5 subvariant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
After all, theres nothing to suggest that BA.5 will be much less problematic than past versions of the virus. As I covered for Forbes back on May 17, data had already suggested that the BA.5 was more transmissible than its predecessors, which prompted the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to reclassify the BA.5 as a variant of concern (VOC). Therefore, it hasnt been a surprise that the BA.5 has been moving towards becoming the dominant version of the virus in various parts of the world. About a week ago, on June 27, Eric Feigl-Ding, PhD, an epidemiologist and Chief of the COVID Risk Task Force at the New England Complex Systems Institute, tweeted out some graphs from an article written by John Burn-Murdoch for the Financial Times showing the BA.5-fueled rises in hospitalizations in Europe:
The BA.5 now appears to be fueling yet another Covid-19 surge in New York City (NYC). A tweet from Jay Varma, MD, Professor at Weill Cornell Medical School and former Senior Advisor for Public Health to the NYC Mayor, showed how things are high in NYC, but not in a good way:
And unlike that wild weekend in Las Vegas that involved a tooth, a tiger, and a Mike Tyson, in this case, what happens in NYC wont stay in NYC. Any wave in NYC will likely lead to similar waves throughout the U.S.
This has been the case throughout the pandemic with new and more transmissible versions of the SARS-CoV-2 replacing earlier versions and causing new surges. But what may be particularly concerning about the BA.5 is how different its structure is from those of the earlier Omicron subvariants that emerged this past Winter and how quickly those changes have occurred. Topol pointed to studies that have shown that the differences between the BA.5 Omicron subvariant and BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron subvariants are substantially greater than the differences between Delta, Beta, and Gamma variants and the original version of the virus that started this whole pandemic. Keep in mind that there was a whole year and a half between the original version and the Delta variant, whereas BA.5 has emerged no more than half a year after the first Omicron variant.
For example, a publication in Science Immunology cited by Topol presented an antigenic map of the spike proteins of the various major versions of the SARS-CoV-2 that have emerged since early 2020. An antigenic map is a diagram that shows how similar versus different the structures of various proteins are. The map makes it clear how different the BA.5 spike protein is from BA.1 and BA.2 spike proteins and how this different is much greater than the differences between the original viruss spike protein and the spike proteins of the Delta, Beta, and Gamma variants.
As Topol indicated, the big concern is BA.5 potentially being whats called immune escape. This has nothing to do with escape rooms and instead is a situation where the virus looks so different from previous versions that any existing immune protection that you may have doesnt adequately recognize this new version of the virus. Its kind of like you running into that acquaintance who has had a ton of botox and plastic surgery since your last meeting and asking him or her, who are you? Have we met before?
To understand the concept of immune escape, imagine dating someone earlier in your life like in college who turned out to be a nightmare. Say after the break-up, you imprint that persons behaviors and superficial characteristics like his or her appearance in your head. You tell yourself never again, that you will recognize the warning signs much earlier. For example, if that person wore his or her hair in a shag, a mullet, or a shullet, which is a cross between a shag and a mullet, you may say that you are never going to date someone with such a hairstyle ever again. You may equate shullet with danger, for example. As former U.S. President George W. Bush once said, Fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me...you can't get fooled again. Well, what if someone else enters your life, someone with a very different appearance but a toxic personality similar to that of your college squeeze. If you are so focused on scanning for shullets, you may not recognize that this person sans shullet nevertheless has the same personality that caused you grief in college. Your guard may be down simply because the person looks different.
In a similar vein, will your immune system recognize the BA.5 since it is so different from the previous versions that your immune system may have been exposed to via either vaccination or prior infection? The differences arent just in the spike protein. As the Outbreak.info website shows, the BA.5 includes mutations changing other parts of the virus as well.
Whats the evidence that these differences may lead to immune escape for the virus? Well, Topol referenced a publication in Cell that showed how antibodies against the BA.1 subvariant didnt neutralize the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants very well. Although antibodies aint your entire immune response, this raises concerns that your immune system wont be able to readily recognize the BA.5.
One way to deal with this immune escape subvariant is to update the Covid-19 vaccines to include mRNA for the BA.5 subvariant spike protein. But as Topol alluded to in his Substack post, there are several obstacles. First of all, Moderna and Pfizer have been focusing on updating the vaccines to account for the earliest Omicron variants, which Topol had pointed out were already very different from the BA.5. By the time these early Omicron-updated vaccines are available in the late Summer, early Fall, there could very well be a new subvariant, even more different than the BA.5. Rather than staying proactive and ahead of the curve, anticipating what may happen in the near future, the U.S. public health response had frequently been reactive. That is wait for it, wait for it, wait until it happens and then explain it away by saying something like, oh, we didnt expect this variant to arise, which is kind of what happened with the Delta and Omicron surges.
Secondly, political leaders arent even convincing enough people to get boosters of the existing Covid-19 vaccines. As the CDC Covid Data Tracker shows, only 47.8% of the population had received the first booster dose, and only 33.7% of those 65 years and older have received the second booster. Without enforcing vaccination requirements, it is unlikely that these vaccination rates will increase significantly until after another surge has occurred and many more people have either died or contracted long Covid with an emphasis on the word after. Plus, how many people will end up getting an Omicron-updated vaccine soon enough to prevent another Fall and Winter surge?
Face mask use can slow the transmission and spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome ... [+] coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and thus reduce the speed at which new variants emerge. (Photo by RB/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Finally, with politicians ditching other Covid-19 precautions like face mask requirements as if they were soiled underwear, the lack of other Covid-19 precautions will allow the virus to continue to spread widely and new variants and subvariants to emerge more rapidly. After all, the SARS-CoV-2 reproducing is like trying to photocopy your butt while drunk. Each time it tries to replicate its genetic material and itself, the virus can make mistakes in the form of mutations. Thus, the more replicating or reproducing the virus does, the mutations may result, and the more different variants can emerge. It would be better for face mask wearing, higher vaccination rates, and other multi-layered Covid-19 precautions to slow down the spread of the virus so that vaccine development and manufacturing can catch up and instead stay ahead of the curve.
Again, its highly unlikely that the SARS-CoV-2 will get weaker over time. That would be like expecting different animal and plant species to get weaker over time. This just isnt the case as evidenced by the fact that the hot dog eating records keep getting higher and higher. Instead, natural selection tends to work in the opposite direction, selecting for mutations that confer more fitness to the virus.
What might get stronger, though, is our immune protection against the virus, which can be best achieved through vaccination unless you happen to want all those dying and long Covid risks. There is a need for better and a greater variety of vaccines and vaccine approaches. Scientists just need the time, resources, and support of politicians to catch up and stay ahead of the curve. In other words, our national response to the Covid-19 pandemic should get stronger over time as well and not weaker.
