Our collective pandemic experience has made us keenly aware that bats have an uncanny ability to carry around deadly viruses, but somehow still survive.

There is a lot we don't yet know about this enviable virus resistance - along with other bat abilities, such as extreme longevity - but new highly-detailed genome sequences may provide some clues.

"Thanks to a series of sophisticated statistical analyses we have started to uncover the genetics behind bats' 'superpowers,' including their strong apparent abilities to tolerate and overcome RNA viruses," said Stony Brook University evolutionary and conservation biologist Liliana Dvalos.

By comparing the genomes of six bat species with other mammal genomes, the researchers have found evidence that the immune systems of bats functions in a unique way to other mammals. And better understanding exactly how they fight off viruses could help us do the same.

These virus resisting superpowers have allowed bats to thrive in many environments around the world. They now make up 20 percent of all living mammal species, with over 1,400 identified bat species.

And despite their ability to carry germs, they play vital roles in our ecosystems.At least 500 plant species depend on bat pollination (like bananas, mangos, and agave), other plants depend on their poop, and some species keep insects in check (including pesky mosquitoes) by devouring them.

Understanding their resistance and its unfortunate virus-incubating side effect, could help us co-exist more safely.

Dvalos and colleagues sequenced and compared the genomes of six very different bat species: insectivorousRhinolophus ferrumequinum,Molossus molossus,Pipistrellus kuhliiandMyotis myotis, frugivorousRousettus aegyptiacusand omnivorousPhyllostomus discolor.

They then compared these with 42 other mammal genomes, allowing them to find the parts that differ in bats, and therefore identify the genetic instructions that code for unique bat traits.

As well as a strong evolution on hearing-related genes - likely connected to their incredible echolocation abilities - the team found bats have lost a family of mammalian genes involved in our immune system. These include some immune-stimulating inflammation genes associated with autoimmune diseases in humans.

Changes in another group of immunity genes called APOBEC were also seen. These genes have been lost, expanded or duplicated across different bat species. They create enzymes involved in blocking a virus's ability to insert its genes into their host genome - a critical part of the virus's ability to replicate.

"More and more, we find gene duplications and losses as important processes in the evolution of new features and functions across the Tree of Life," explained Dvalos.

Within the bat genome the team also found what we might think of as fossilsed viruses - old bits of virus genes that were inserted into the bat genome and then passed on through generations.

Humans have these fossil viruses too and they provide a record of viral infections through our evolutionary history, like a genetic memory.

The bat genome had a higher diversity of these virus fossils, and they revealed bats have survived viruses that were previously thought to only infect birds.

Taken together, these findings support growing evidence that bats can tolerate and survive viral infections better than most mammals, because their immune system works differently.

"Our reference-quality bat genomes provide the resources required to uncover andvalidate the genomic basis of adaptations of bats, and stimulate new avenues ofresearch that are directly relevant to human health and disease," the researchers wrote in their paper.

Maybe bats can one day share their antivirus superpowers with us as well as their germs.

This research was published in Nature.

Here is the original post:
Bats Can Survive Carrying Deadly Viruses, And We're Starting to Figure Out How - ScienceAlert

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

Kaiser Health News:Its About Love And Solidarity: Mutual Aid Unites NYC Neighbors Facing COVIDNancy Perez, a 45-year-old resident of the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, contracted COVID-19 in March. She stayed quarantined in her room for a month to isolate from her two sons and grandson. A few days before she got the virus, shed met a volunteer with Bed-Stuy Strong one of the many mutual aid groups around the country that have rallied to provide help in the face of the pandemic. Bed-Stuy Strong assembled an army of volunteers to help vulnerable neighbors with food deliveries and basic supplies. While Perez was in isolation, volunteers regularly delivered cooked food for her sons, ages 17 and 20, and her 4-year-old grandson. (Lawrence, 7/27)

Kaiser Health News:The Color Of COVID: Will Vaccine Trials Reflect Americas Diversity?When U.S. scientists launch the first large-scale clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines this summer, Antonio Cisneros wants to make sure people like him are included. Cisneros, who is 34 and Hispanic, is part of the first wave of an expected 1.5 million volunteers willing to get the shots to help determine whether leading vaccine candidates can thwart the virus that sparked a deadly pandemic. If I am asked to participate, I will, said Cisneros, a Los Angeles cinematographer who has signed up for two large vaccine trial registries. It seems part of our duty. (JoNel Aleccia, 7/27)

Kaiser Health News:Employers Require COVID Liability Waivers As Conflict Mounts Over Workplace SafetyAfter spending a May day preparing her classroom to reopen for preschoolers, Ana Aguilar was informed that the tots would not have to wear face masks when they came back. Whats more, she had to sign a form agreeing not to sue the school if she caught COVID-19 or suffered any injury from it while working there. Other teachers signed the form distributed by the Montessori Schools of Irvine, but Aguilar said she felt uncomfortable, although it stipulated that staff members would be masked. At 23, she has a compromised immune system and was also worried that she could pass the coronavirus on to her fianc and other family members. (Meyer, 7/27)

Kaiser Health News:Last Thing Patients Need During Pandemic: Being Last To Know A Doctor Left NetworkAs the coronavirus spread silently through New York City early this year, Deborah Koeppel had an appointment with her cardiologist and two visits with her primary care doctor. Both physicians are members of Concorde Medical Group, a practice in Manhattan with an office conveniently located a few blocks from where Koeppel works. She soon received notices telling her after the fact that those doctors were not in her health plans network of providers. According to the notices, she was on the hook for $849 in out-of-network cost sharing for three visits, which typically would cost her nothing from in-network providers. (Andrews, 7/27)

NPR:Florida Case Count Surpasses That Of New York, The Country's Original EpicenterFlorida has recorded more coronavirus cases than New York. Only California, the most populous state in the country, has more. As of Sunday afternoon, data from Johns Hopkins University shows 423,855 people in Florida have tested positive for the coronavirus, compared to 411,736 in New York. California leads with 450,242 cases. (Treisman, 7/26)

Tampa Bay Times:Florida Coronavirus Cases Show Little Sign Of Slowing As State Surpasses New YorkThe number of infections and deaths tied to the novel coronavirus in Florida showed little sign of slowing Sunday as the state surpassed New York for the second-highest number of confirmed cases in the United States. Only California, with a population nearly twice as high as Floridas, has more cases. Floridas Department of Health reported 9,344 infections and 78 fatalities. The overall caseload is 423,855 since March 1, and the number of deaths tied to the virus is 5,972. (Dawson, 7/26)

The Hill:US Surpasses 1,000 COVID-19 Deaths For Fourth Straight DayThe U.S. tallied over 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths Friday for the fourth straight day this week, yet another sign of the alarming spike in COVID-19 cases across the country.There were 1,178 new deaths Friday alone, according to the COVID Tracking project, compared with 1,038 Tuesday, 1,117 Wednesday, and 1,039 Thursday. Over 137,000 people have died in the U.S. and over 4 million people have contracted the virus in the country since the outbreak began. (Axelrod, 7/25)

NPR:U.S. Coronavirus Hot Spots: Mid-Atlantic And Northeast Could BackslideFor weeks the U.S. coronavirus pandemic has largely been driven by spiraling outbreaks in the South and West. But some forecasters say Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states could soon be in deep trouble again, too. The warning comes from researchers at the PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, which has built a model to provide four-week forecasts for every U.S. county. NPR spoke to David Rubin, PolicyLab's director, an epidemiologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. (Aizenman, 7/24)

Stat:Trump Unveils Four Executive Orders Aimed At Lowering Drug PricesThe Trump administration unveiled four executive orders on Friday aimed at bringing down pharmaceutical prices, a last-ditch effort by the White House to cut drug costs before the November election. It remains unclear whether the Trump administration is capable of finalizing many of the actions by Election Day and whether it intends to do so. (Florko and Facher, 7/24)

Politico:Trump Signs Limited Drug Pricing Orders After Last-Minute Debate"The four orders I'm signing today will completely restructure the prescription drug market," Trump said in a speech, hearkening back to his 2016 campaign promise to slash costs. But the ambitious plans are rife with limitations. The rebate order comes with a caveat that any plan cannot increase seniors' premiums, the unworkable problem that led the adminstration to kill its original rebate rule last year. (Owermohle, Cancryn and Luthi, 7/24)

Politico:Trumps Talking Health Care Again, With 2020 In MindPresident Donald Trump is suddenly talking about health care again. He signed several executive orders on drug pricing on Friday. He vowed to unveil some new health plan by the end of next week, although he hasnt provided specifics or an explanation of how hell do it. His aides are touting a speech in which Trump will lay out his health care vision. White House counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway has been calling Trump the health care president. (McGraw and Ehley, 7/26)

AP:AP-NORC Poll: US Course At Record Low, Trump Sinks On VirusA new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds Trumps approval for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic falling to a new low, with just 32% of Americans supportive of his approach. ... Even as he tries to refocus his contest with Biden on divisive cultural issues and an ominous law and order message, Trumps reelection prospects are likely to be inextricably linked to his handling of the pandemic and whether voters believe the country will head back in the right direction under his leadership. The AP-NORC poll makes clear the challenge ahead for Trump on that front: 8 in 10 Americans say the country is heading in the wrong direction. (Pace and Fingerhut, 7/26)

Politico:Make America Normal Again: Trump Backers Plead For A Virus PlanPresident Donald Trump restarted the White House coronavirus briefings. He urged Americans to wear masks. He even scrapped his partys convention. To many of his own allies, its still not enough. Trumps political allies, alarmed by his sinking poll numbers, are warning that the presidents best chance to get reelected is to outline more detailed plans to conquer the coronavirus he keeps trying to wish away. They are advising him to offer people something concrete they can look to as the pandemic surges in dozens of states, eroding months of progress. (Kumar, 7/24)

The Wall Street Journal:GOP To Propose Aid Bill, With Extra Jobless Benefits Set To ExpireAfter days of disagreements between the White House and GOP lawmakers, Republicans are set to release their proposal for the next coronavirus relief bill on Monday, with millions of Americans on the verge of losing expanded unemployment benefits.Lawmakers now have little time before the $600 weekly supplement to jobless benefits ends. In negotiations with Democrats, three months before the election, an agreement on unemployment insurance might prove to be the most difficult to reach. (Ballhaus and Duehren, 7/26)

The Hill:White House, Senate GOP Race To Finalize Coronavirus Package Ahead Of Monday RolloutThe White House and Senate Republicans are workingto finalize a coronavirus relief package ahead of a Monday rollout. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows were back in the Capitol on Sunday for a second day of meetings with GOP staff as they work to lock down the forthcoming proposal. As he left the Capitol, Meadows told reporters that they had"been working through just some of the technical language" and had reached "an agreement in principle." (Carney, 7/26)

The Hill:Mnuchin: It 'Wouldn't Be Fair To Use Taxpayer Dollars To Pay More People To Sit Home'Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin took a hard line Sunday against the $600 increase in unemployment benefits that was a part of the last coronavirus relief measure, saying, It just wouldnt be fair to use taxpayer dollars to pay more people to sit home than they would working and get a job. GOP lawmakers have taken a hard line against theenhancement as they negotiate with the White House over a new relief measure. The initial bill won blowback from Republicans who said some people would make more money not working than going to work. (Budryk, 7/26)

The New York Times:Trump Officials Float Idea Of Narrow Bill To Extend Unemployment BenefitsTop Trump administration officials proposed on Sunday potentially short circuiting free-ranging stimulus talks with Democrats to rush through a much narrower bill prioritizing an extension of federal unemployment benefits that are set to expire this week for millions of Americans. Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, said he would now like to see lawmakers act this week to extend and alter the unemployment program, give tax credits to businesses to help ease reopening costs and grant employers new liability protections while setting aside a long list of other objectives, including Democrats priorities. (Fandos and Cochrane, 7/26)

AP:White House Pushes Narrow Virus Aid; Pelosi Blasts GOP DelayHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday assailed Republican disarray over a new pandemic relief package as the White House suggested a narrower effort might be necessary, at least for now. The California Democrat panned the Trump administrations desire to trim an expiring temporary federal unemployment benefit from $600 weekly to about 70% of pre-pandemic wages. The reason we had $600 was its simplicity, she said from the Capitol. (Mascaro and Superville, 7/26)

The New York Times:Fires And Pepper Spray In Seattle As Police Protests Widen Across U.S.Weeks of violent clashes between federal agents and protesters in Portland, Ore., galvanized thousands of people to march through the streets of American cities on Saturday, injecting new life into protests that had largely waned in recent weeks. One of the most intense protests was in Seattle, where a day of demonstrations focused on police violence left a trail of broken windows and people flushing pepper spray from their eyes. At least 45 protesters had been arrested as of early evening, and both protesters and police officers suffered injuries. (Baker and Bogel-Burroughs, 7/25)

AP:Police And Protesters Clash In Violent Weekend Across The USProtests took a violent turn in several U.S. cities over the weekend with demonstrators squaring off against federal agents outside a courthouse in Portland, Oregon, forcing police in Seattle to retreat into a station house and setting fire to vehicles in California and Virginia. A protest against police violence in Austin, Texas, turned deadly when a witness says the driver of a car that drove through a crowd of marchers opened fire on an armed demonstrator who approached the vehicle. And someone was shot and wounded in Aurora, Colorado, after a car drove through a protest there, authorities said. (Martin, 7/26)

Reuters:Seattle Black Lives Matter Clashes Spark 45 Arrests, 21 Police InjuredDozens were arrested and many police injured in clashes around Seattles biggest Black Lives Matter protest in weeks on Saturday, police said, with a renewed energy sparked by violent clashes between activists and federal agents in nearby Portland, Oregon. Police said officers used non-lethal weapons in attempts to disperse the thousands of marchers in the late afternoon after some protesters set fire to the construction site for a King County juvenile detention facility and courthouse. By 10 p.m., police had made 45 arrests in connection with todays riot in the East Precinct, the Seattle Police wrote in a Twitter post. Scruggs, 7/25)

The New York Times:Hurricanes Choice For Texans: Shelter From The Virus Or The StormBartt Howes boat was his refuge from the pandemic. Battling diabetes and H.I.V., he knew that catching the coronavirus as well could kill him, so he had been living alone on the docked boat for three months. Then Hurricane Hanna began to slam the Texas coast on Saturday, forcing Mr. Howe to trade one deadly menace for another: To avoid injury or death in the hurricane, he had to risk infection ashore. I had managed to stay safe all this time, but the storm kicked me out of my boat, he said with a hint of resignation. Now here I am, back on land, on borrowed time. (Sandoval, 7/26)

AP:Tropical Storm Hanna Drenches South Texas Amid Virus CrisisA day after roaring ashore as a hurricane, Hanna lashed the Texas Gulf Coast on Sunday with high winds and drenching rains that destroyed boats, flooded streets and knocked out power across a region already reeling from a surge in coronavirus cases. Downgraded to a tropical storm, Hanna passed over the U.S.-Mexico border with winds near 50 mph (85 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. It unloaded more than 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain on parts of South Texas and northeastern Mexico. Border communities whose health care systems were already strained by COVID-19 cases with some patients being airlifted to larger cities found themselves under siege from the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic season. There were no immediate reports of any deaths on either side of the border. (Mone and Merchant, 7/26)

The Washington Post:Tropical Storm Hanna Unloading Flooding Rains In South TexasOn Sunday evening, Hanna continued its march southwest as a tropical depression, slipping into Mexico while still lashing the Rio Grande Valley with prolific rainfall. The direct strike by Hanna comes at a time when the Lone Star State is grappling with a spike in coronavirus cases. (Cappucci, Samenow and Freedman, 7/26)

The New York Times:FEMA Sends Faulty Protective Gear To Nursing Homes Battling VirusExpired surgical masks. Isolation gowns that resemble oversize trash bags. Extra-small gloves that are all but useless for the typical health workers hands. Nursing home employees across the country have been dismayed by what theyve found when theyve opened boxes of protective medical gear sent by the federal government, part of a $134 million effort to provide facilities a 14-day supply of equipment considered critical for shielding their vulnerable residents from the coronavirus. (Jacobs, 7/24)

The Washington Post:Sen. Hawley Lays Down New Antiabortion Marker For Supreme Court NomineesSen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Sunday that he would not support any nominee for the Supreme Court unless they had publicly stated before their nomination that Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established federal protection for abortion, was wrongly decided. I will vote only for those Supreme Court nominees who have explicitly acknowledged that Roe v. Wade is wrongly decided, Hawley said in an interview with TheWashington Post. By explicitly acknowledged, I mean on therecord and before they were nominated. (Costa, 7/26)

Politico:Trump Administration Invests $472M More In Moderna Vaccine CandidateThe Trump administration is going to pump another $472 million into expanding Modernas clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of its coronavirus vaccine candidate. What happened: Moderna announced Sunday that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, known as BARDA, is pouring the additional dollars the day before the phase three trial of the vaccine candidate is slated to start. (Roubein, 7/26)

Reuters:Moderna Gets Further $472 Million U.S. Award For Coronavirus Vaccine DevelopmentThe U.S.-based drug maker said the additional funding will support its late-stage clinical development including the expanded Phase 3 study of Modernas vaccine candidate. In April, Moderna had received $483 million from the U.S. federal agency that funds disease-fighting technology, when the experimental vaccine was in an early-stage trial conducted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. (7/26)

The Hill:Meadows Says White House Is 'Hopeful' It Can Announce New Coronavirus Therapies 'In The Coming Days'White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Sunday that the administration is hopeful it can announce new therapies to treat the coronavirus in the coming days. Meadows told ABCs This Week that the White House has been working around the clock,with a focuson COVID-19 therapeutics, vaccines and mitigation therapies.The president has been very clear whatever amount of money and whatever amount of time needs to be invested, were doing that, the White House chief of staff said. (Coleman, 7/26)

The Hill:Azar: If We Wear Masks, We Can Avoid Further ShutdownsHealth and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Sunday that widespread social distancing and mask usage would eliminate the need for resuming shutdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic. If we wear our masks we can avoid further shutdowns but if we dont that will be the consequence, Azar said Sunday on CBS Face the Nation. (Budryk, 7/26)

Politico:Azar Blames Testing Delays On StatesHHS Secretary Alex Azar Sunday blamed the current delays in coronavirus testing on the states, which he said have been too slow to spend federal dollars to boost the countrys testing amid the virus's spread. The Trump administration has frequently sought to put the responsibility for the coronavirus response on governors and local officials, even as many public health officials as well as governors have called for a coordinated national emergency response. (Roubein, 7/26)

Politico:U.S. Testing Czar: Everyone Who 'Needs' A Covid-19 Test Can Get OneAdmiral Brett Giroir, the Trump administration coronavirus testing czar, said that anyone who needs a coronavirus test can get one but he acknowledged that the average turnaround time for tests is too long as states smash records for numbers of cases. Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," he pushed back at former Trump chief of staff Mick Mulvaney who earlier this month called his familys difficulties obtaining tests promptly inexcusable" this many months into the pandemic. (Roubein, 7/26)

The Hill:Ex-CDC Director On US, COVID-19: 'We Are A Laggard'Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden on Sunday said the U.S. had been a laggard in addressing the coronavirus pandemic, specifically pointing to lack of centralized information. Ill be frank, we are a laggard, Frieden said on Fox News Sunday. We are one of the top in the world in terms of the cumulative death rate unlike many other countries that have high death rates, ours is continuing to increase. (Budryk, 7/26)

The Hill:CDC: Even Mild Coronavirus Symptoms Can Persist For WeeksCOVID-19 can result in prolonged illness even in people with mild symptoms, including young adults, according to a newanalysisreleased Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).It has been known that people severely ill after contracting COVID-19 can stay sick for several weeks. But less has been known about theeffects of the disease on people with milder symptoms who dont require hospitalization. (Hellmann, 7/24)

Stat:Covid-19 Vaccines May Cause Mild Side Effects, Experts SayWhile the world awaits the results of large clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines, experts say the data so far suggest one important possibility: The vaccines may carry a bit of a kick. In vaccine parlance, they appear to be reactogenic, meaning they have induced short-term discomfort in a percentage of the people who have received them in clinical trials. This kind of discomfort includes headache, sore arms, fatigue, chills, and fever. As long as the side effects of eventual Covid-19 vaccines are transient and not severe, these would not be sources of alarm in fact, they may be signals of an immune system lurching into gear. (Branswell, 7/27)

The New York Times:Your Coronavirus Antibodies Are Disappearing. Should You Care?Your blood carries the memory of every pathogen youve ever encountered. If youve been infected with the coronavirus, your body most likely remembers that, too. Antibodies are the legacy of that encounter. Why, then, have so many people stricken by the virus discovered that they dont seem to have antibodies? Blame the tests. (Mandavilli, 7/26)

The Wall Street Journal:A Big Unknown In Covid-19 Vaccine Development: How Long Will Protection Last?If any of the most-advanced Covid-19 vaccines prove to work safely, they may protect people for months or years rather than the rest of their lives, according to emerging science and health experts. Only a handful of vaccines generate lifetime immunity for most people, such as the ones for measles, a viral infection that naturally produces lifelong immunity. Experts caution against expectations of such longevity for Covid-19, citing experience with other respiratory viruses plus emerging data on the longevity of the antibodies that can prevent the virus from entering human cells and replicating. (Hopkins, Hernandez and Loftus, 7/26)

The Washington Post:Coronavirus Vaccine Trials Aim To Include The Black And Hispanic CommunitiesEach fall, the Rev. Rob Newells urges the congregation at Imani Community Church in Oakland, Calif., to get a flu shot. He builds bridges everyday between the countrys most vulnerable, marginalized communities and the medical system, defusing suspicion about HIV prevention treatments and educating people about medical research. He prods health-care leaders to think harder about their messengers: Dont send a white doctor to tell black people what they need to do for their own good. But with the first massive coronavirus vaccine trial in people set to start Monday, Newells finds himself in an unfamiliar place: on the fence about what to tell his colleagues, his community, his cousins. Biomedical research, Newells knows, is a long and painstaking process and he is concerned about a vaccine campaign that seems so narrowly focused on speed. (Johnson, 7/26)

Stat:Covid-19 Surge Helps AI Researchers Amass Lung ScansAt first, the images of lungs infected by the novel coronavirus were hard to come by. It was early in the pandemic, and Joseph Paul Cohen, a researcher at the University of Montreal, was trying to stockpile radiology scans to train an artificial intelligence model to recognize warning signs of severe illness. With so few images available, the work was next to impossible. But in recent weeks, the resurgence of Covid-19 in the U.S. and other hotspots has solved that problem, allowing him to amass hundreds of lung scans from clinical reports published around the world. (Ross, 7/27)

The New York Times:Corporate Insiders Pocket $1 Billion In Rush For Coronavirus VaccineOn June 26, a small South San Francisco company called Vaxart made a surprise announcement: A coronavirus vaccine it was working on had been selected by the U.S. government to be part of Operation Warp Speed, the flagship federal initiative to quickly develop drugs to combat Covid-19. Vaxarts shares soared. Company insiders, who weeks earlier had received stock options worth a few million dollars, saw the value of those awards increase sixfold. And a hedge fund that partly controlled the company walked away with more than $200 million in instant profits. (Gelles and Drucker, 7/25)

The Washington Post:ADHD Video Game Treatment Approved By FDACan a video game help children struggling with ADHD? That question inspired hopeful headlines last month after the Food and Drug Administration permitted marketing of the first digital game that may be prescribed to treat children ages 8 to 12 who have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In EndeavorRx, designed for iPhones and iPads, children guide an avatar surfing through molten lava and an icy river, dodging fires and icebergs while grabbing flying objects. The game is not yet available for purchase, nor has a price been released, but its Boston-based developer, Akili Interactive Labs, may now feature its unique status in ads and pursue coverage by insurance plans. (Ellison, 7/26)

CIDRAP:Study Finds No Transmission Of COVID-19 From Moms To NewbornsA study yesterday in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health found no evidence of COVID-19 transmission between 120 babies born to mothers with COVID-19, even after 2 weeks of breastfeeding with appropriate hygiene precautions. The findings led the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to change its guidance on infants and COVID-19positive mothers. The guidelines now recommend that newborns "room-in" with infected others after delivery if proper hygiene precautions are taken, including wearing a mask when appropriate and practicing hand hygiene. (7/24)

CIDRAP:Pilot Study Evaluates Use Of Dogs For SARS-CoV-2 DetectionA small pilot study suggests trained scent-detection dogs have the potential to be used for mass detection of people infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, German researchers reported yesterday in BMC Infectious Diseases. In the study, eight dogs were trained for 1 week to detect SARS-CoV-2 from saliva or tracheobronchial secretions of patients infected with the virus. During the training, dogs were presented with positive and negative samples (confirmed by RT-PCR tests) using a device with seven scent holes with tubes leading to metal containers that held the samples. Only one hole had a container with a positive sample, and the other six had containers with control samples. After a week, the researchers conducted a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. (7/24)

AP:US Agency Vows Steps To Address COVID-19 InequalitiesIf Black, Hispanic and Native Americans are hospitalized and killed by the coronavirus at far higher rates than others, shouldnt the government count them as high risk for serious illness? That seemingly simple question has been mulled by federal health officials for months. And so far the answer is no. But federal public health officials have released a new strategy that vows to improve data collection and take steps to address stark inequalities in how the disease is affecting Americans. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stress that the disproportionately high impact on certain minority groups is not driven by genetics. (Stobbe, 7/25)

USA Today:Diabetes And COVID: Coronavirus Highlights America's Health ProblemsDr. Anne Peters splits her mostly virtual work-week between a diabetes clinic on the west side of Los Angeles and one on the east side of the sprawling city.Three days a week she treats people whose diabetes is well controlled. They have insurance, so they can afford the newest medications and blood monitoring devices. They can exercise and eat well. Those generally more affluent West LA patients who've gotten COVID-19 have developed mild to moderate symptoms feeling miserable, she said but treatable, with close follow-up at home. ... On the other two days of her work week, it's a different story. (Weintraub, 7/27)

The New York Times:In Era Of Sickness, Doctors Prescribe Unusual Cure: VotingThe sign is easy to miss in the waiting room of the emergency department at Massachusetts General Hospital, next to the reception desk and a hand sanitizer pump. Register to vote here, it says, above an iPad attached to a podium. The kiosk has stood there since November, before the pandemic began and stayed there through the worst weeks of April, when 12 gasping patients were put on ventilators during a single grueling 12-hour shift. Now, as the number of coronavirus patients has slowed to a trickle, Dr. Alister Martin, the 31-year-old emergency room doctor who built the kiosk, is determined to keep trying to register voters. (Stockman, 7/25)

NPR:Gene Therapy Sees Encouraging Success In Child With Duchenne Muscular DystrophyThis is the story of a fatal genetic disease, a tenacious scientist and a family that never lost hope. Conner Curran was 4 years old when he was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic disease that causes muscles to waste away. Conner's mother, Jessica Curran, remembers some advice she got from the doctor who made that 2015 diagnosis: "Take your son home, love him, take him on trips while he's walking, give him a good life and enjoy him because there are really not many options right now." (Hamilton, 7/27)

NPR:Could A Flu Shot Reduce Your Alzheimer's Risk?For years, public health officials have been trying to dispel the myth that people who get a flu shot are more likely to get Alzheimer's disease. They are not. And now there is evidence that vaccines that protect against the flu and pneumonia may actually protect people from Alzheimer's, too. The evidence comes from two studies presented Monday at this year's Alzheimer's Association International Conference, which is being held as a virtual event. (Hamilton, 7/27)

The Washington Post:References To White Men Still Dominate College Biology Textbooks, Survey SaysCharles Darwin. Carolus Linnaeus. Gregor Mendel. Theyre all men. Theyre all white. And their names appear in every biology book included in a new analysis of college textbooks. According to the survey, mentions of white men still dominate biology textbooks despite growing recognition in other media of the scientific contributions of women and people of color. The good news, the researchers say: Scientists in textbooks are getting more diverse. The bad news: If diversification continues at its current pace, it will take another 500 years for mentions of black/African American scientists to accurately reflect the number of black college biology students. (Brookshire, 7/26)

NPR:ADA At 30: 'We Are Not The Ones That Need To Change'Before the Americans with Disabilities Act granted people with disabilities greater protection and accessibility, a little-known law set the groundwork. In 1977, Judy Heumann helped lead a peaceful protest that forced the government to follow through with Section 504. As part of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, the law would force hospitals, universities and other public spaces that received federal money, to remove barriers to accessibility for all Americans. But its implementation was long delayed over the costs necessary to retrofit buildings to comply with the law. (Shapiro and Bowman, 7/26)

AP:TV Reporter Credits Viewer With Noticing Cancerous LumpA television news reporter in Florida is crediting an eagle-eyed viewer for noticing a lump on her neck and emailing her that she should get it checked out. Victoria Price, a reporter for WFLA in Tampa, followed the advice and was diagnosed with cancer. Price tweeted that she is undergoing surgery on Monday to remove the tumor, her thyroid and a couple of lymph nodes. (7/26)

Politico:Sinclair To Delay Segment Featuring 'Plandemic' Conspiracy TheorySinclair Broadcasting on Saturday said it will delay its scheduled airing of a news segment featuring a viral conspiracy theory surrounding Anthony Faucis role in the Covid-19 pandemic.America This Week host Eric Bolling was scheduled to air an interview with Judy Mikovits, a medical researcher featured in the Plandemic video that claims Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, was responsible for the creation of the coronavirus, Media Matters reported. (Eliza Weaver, 7/25)

The Wall Street Journal:Sinclair Postpones Controversial Show About CoronavirusSinclair Broadcast Group Inc., the owner of 191 television stations across the U.S., delayed the airing of an interview about the alleged origins of the coronavirus pandemic that drew widespread criticism on social media. An episode of America This Week, which was slated to air over the weekend, features an interview with medical researcher Judy Mikovits, who has claimed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the governments top infectious-disease expert, helped manufacture the coronavirus and spread it to China. Dr. Mikovitss claims have previously attracted attention in the documentary Plandemic, which was earlier pulled from major online platforms including Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.s YouTube. (Rizzo, 7/26)

AP:Workers Praise Disney Virus Safety, But Will Visitors Come?Every week, it seems, Kaila Barker, her husband and their five children change their minds about whether to travel from their home in Connecticut to Floridas Walt Disney World as planned in September. On the one hand, the lack of crowds means more opportunities to go on rides without long waits. On the other hand, Connecticut and Florida have implemented pandemic-related quarantines for each others residents and visitors, and the Barkers worry whether the Disney magic will get lost with mandatory mask-wearing for visitors and workers, temperature checks and no parades, fireworks shows or up-close meet-and-greets with costumed characters. (Schneider, 7/26)

The Wall Street Journal:Major Truck-Stop Chains Will Require Drivers To Use Face MasksThe biggest U.S. truck-stop operators will require customers to wear masks starting next week, joining major retailers, restaurants and airlines in rolling out policies aimed at reducing the spread of coronavirus. Pilot Co., which operates 780 travel centers under the Pilot Flying J and other brands, said its mandate will take effect July 28. Similar policies kick in July 29 at Loves Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc. and TravelCenters of America Inc. sites. (Smith, 7/24)

USA Today:Walmart Mask Incident In Minnesota: Pair With Swastikas Banned A YearA Minnesota man and woman who wore face masks with swastikas on them in an incident captured on video have been banned fromWalmart storesnationwide for at least a year.The video, posted to Facebook on Saturday byRaphaela Mueller, shows a man and woman in a Walmart in Marshall, Minnesota, wearing red face coverings with swastikas. The woman flips off the camera while the man checks out groceries. (Culver, 7/26)

AP:Some US Police Resist Enforcing Coronavirus Mask MandatesLang Holland, the chief of police in tiny Marshall, Arkansas, said he thinks the threat of the coronavirus has been overstated and only wears a face mask if hes inside a business that requires them. He doesnt make his officers wear them either. So the day after Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed an order requiring masks to be worn in public throughout Arkansas, Holland made it clear his department wasnt going to enforce the mandate in the Ozarks town of about 1,300, calling it an unconstitutional overreach. (DeMillo, 7/26)

AP:Amid Virus, Uncertainty, Parents Decide How To School KidsJoshua Claybourn is leaning toward sending his kindergarten daughter to in-person classes at a private school next month. Holly Davis sixth-grade daughter will learn online, though the family has not yet decided what to do for school for a teenage daughter who requires special accommodations for hearing problems and dyslexia and another whos starting college. As they decide how their children will learn this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic, parents are anxiously weighing the benefits of in-person instruction against the risks that schools could shut their doors again or that their children could contract the virus and pass it on. (Webber and Groves, 7/26)

The Hill:McEnany Likens Schools To 'Essential Places Of Business' In Push For ReopeningThe White House would support sending children back to school even if future studies showed kids transmitCOVID-19 at a higher rate than currently known, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Friday, arguing schools are "essential places of business." McEnany fielded multiple questions from reporters about President Trump's push for a return to in-person learning this fall even as he cancels some events for the Republican National Convention due to concerns about holding a mass gathering during the pandemic. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, also said Friday it's "an open question" how rapidly children under the age of 10 spread the virus. (Samuels, 7/24)

AP:Colleges Plan For Virus Testing, But Strategies Vary WidelyFor students heading to Colby College in Maine this fall, coronavirus testing is expected to be a routine part of campus life. All students will be required to provide a nasal swab every other day for two weeks, and then twice a week after that. All told, the college says it will provide 85,000 tests, nearly as many as the entire state of Maine has since the pandemic started. Colby, a private school of 2,000 students, joins a growing number of colleges announcing aggressive testing plans to catch and isolate COVID-19 cases before they spread. Harvard University says all students living on campus will be tested when they arrive and then three times a week. Boston University plans to test most students at least once a week. (Binkley, 7/26)

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First Edition: July 27, 2020 - Kaiser Health News

On Saturday, India's Serum Institute of India (SII), which has partnered with British pharma giant AstraZeneca for manufacturing the Oxford vaccine candidate for COVID-19, sought permission from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for conducting Phase II and III human clinical trials of the potential vaccine, highly-placed sources said on Saturday.

As reported by news agency PTI, the Pune-based drug firm submitted its application to the DCGI on Friday seeking permission for conducting the trials of the vaccine candidate 'Covishield'. According to the application, it would conduct an observer-blind, randomised controlled study to determine the safety and immunogenicity of 'Covishield' in healthy Indian adults. The firm said that an around 1,600 participants of more than 18 years would be enrolled in the study.

After reports in the medical journalThe Lancetclaimed the initial trial results showed that the vaccine was safe and prompted protective immune response, the firm plans to start phase II and III human trials in India in August.

At the same time, the Phase I human clinical trial of India's first indigenously-developed vaccine against novel coronavirus, COVAXIN, began at the AIIMS with the first dose of the injection given to a man, who is in his 30s. Already, over 3,500 volunteers have registered themselves for the trial, of whom the screening of at least 22 people is underway, said Dr Sanjay Rai, Professor at the Centre for Community Medicine at AIIMS and the principal investigator of the study.

The global race for vaccines is well and truly on. Last week, Michael Ryan, the head of emergencies at the World Health Organisation, had hailed "good news" from two COVID-19 vaccine candidates in early human trials, but warned that there was a long way to go. "We now need to move into larger-scale real-world trials. But it is good to see more data and more products moving into this very important phase of vaccine discovery," Ryan told reporters at a news conference. Ryan's comments came after scientists at Oxford University,in a paper published in the medical journalThe Lancet, said their experimental vaccine had been shown to trigger a protective immune response in hundreds of people who got the shot. Also, in the journal, Chinese researchers from CanSino Biologics published a study on their experimental vaccine, which uses a similar technique as the Oxford team, that also reported an immune response.

Vaccine testing is a four-stage processpre-clinical testing on animals; phase I clinical testing on a small group of people to determine its safety and to learn more about the immune response it provokes; phase II trials, or expanded safety trials, where dosage and frequency will be tested across wider cross-sections of the population; phase III large-scale tests where the vaccine is administered to thousands of people to confirm its efficacy. Phase I and phase II are the early trials, which will then be followed by a rigorous, intensive Phase III clinical testing, where the longevity of the vaccine response (whether the vaccine will last for long periods of time) will be analysed.

At the same time, a vaccine candidate under development by Pfizer Inc and Germany's BioNTech showed promise in a small, early study.

What do all these studies mean?

Let us take them one by one.

InThe Lancet, Oxford University scientists said their vaccine candidate, prepared in partnership with the pharma giant AstraZeneca, appeared safe in the early trial phases, inducing a strong immune response within the body.Doses of the vaccine were given to 1,077 healthy adults aged between 18 and 55 in five UK hospitals in April and May as part of the phase I clinical trial and results. The results show they induced strong antibody and T-cell responses for up to 56 days after they were given. T-cells are immune responses by the body against the foreign virus, and are crucial for maintaining protection against the virus for longer periods of time.

"In addition, the strongest immune responses were produced in 10 participants who received two doses of the vaccine, indicating that this might be a good strategy for vaccination," said Andrew Pollard, chief investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial.

At the same time, a vaccine candidate under development by China's CanSino Biologics Inc and the country's military research unit, showed similar safe immune response in most of the 508 healthy volunteers.

Both the vaccine candidates (CanSino and Oxford-AstraZeneca) are adenoviral vector vaccines; that means they are prepared from a weakened, non-replicating version of a common cold virus that carries the coronavirus spike proteins into the human body, helping the immune system identify and build antibodies against the virus.

Both the studies reported adverse events such as fatigue, headache, and local tenderness, but found those to be tolerable and mostly ameliorated by paracetamol.

At the same time,Pfizer and BioNTech also released an early phase non-peer reviewed study which claimed thatvirus-neutralising antibodies were induced in 60 adults who were given two doses, a result in-line with a previous early-stage US trial.These preliminary data are encouraging in that the vaccine is able to produce neutralising antibody responses in humans, and that it does so at relatively low dose levels,Ugur Sahin, MD and CEO of BioNTech, said in a statement. The Pfizer-BioNTech candidate is an RNA vaccine. Here, no attenuated viruses are injected. Rather, a genetic code is introduced, which induces the human cells to create the foreign protein, alerting the immune system, and help the body recognise the entry of the virus in all its forms. The RNA vaccines are easier to make, but they are a new and unproven technology.

These studies come on the back of early phase results released byAmerican biotech giant Moderna, which said their RNA vaccine prompted neutralising antibody activities in healthy adults, though it led to minor side effects in many patients.

Russia, meanwhile, has made progress with a vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Institute in Moscowfinanced and backed by the Russian defence ministry. State-run news agency TASS had reported that the vaccine had completed human trials though it has only cleared Phase-I trials so far and is currently undergoing Phase-II trials. Russias deputy defence minister has said that this vaccine is ready, noting that of the two groups of volunteers who were administered the vaccine, all had built up immunity

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko on Saturday said that the vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Institute, as well as a vaccine developed by the Vektor State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology which was recently approved for clinical trials, were neck and neck.

Russia plans to begin mass production of the Gamaleya vaccine in August, with medical workers to start receiving the vaccine that very month. The vaccine will be widely used in parallel with Phase III trials, Murashko said.

Lastly, an RNA vaccine being developed by the Imperial College, London, showed promise when tested on mice, hwihc developed highly-=specific COVID-19 antibodies that were able to neutralise the virus. This vaccine has since been approved for human trials across England with trials on more than 200 people.

What are the challenges next?

Longevity of the vaccine effects will undoubtedly be the biggest challenge, which will be addressed in the phase III trials. The vaccine developed by Oxford University has shown some positive signs of protection in the preliminary results of the early trial. It is being claimed that it will be more effective than others because it will develop antibodies and "natural killer cells" [T-cells] against SARS-COV2. But the biggest challenge would be the longevity of the [neutralising] antibodies,Sunit K. Singh, professor and head, molecular biology, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu Universitytold THE WEEK.

In SARS-CoV-2, antibodies are known to fade between three-six months, as reported by various studies, he said. So what would be the fate of protection induced by a vaccine once the antibody response vanishes or is reduced? A virus of this kind will certainly need an attack from both sidesthe antibodies and T-cells, he added.

How are Indian pharma companies placed?

At least seven Indian pharma companies are working to develop a vaccine against coronavirus as they join global efforts to find a preventive to check the spread of the deadly virus that has already infected more than 14 million globally. Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute, Zydus Cadila, Panacea Biotec, Indian Immunologicals, Mynvax and Biological E are among the domestic pharma firms working on the coronavirus vaccines in India.

Bharat Biotech has received approval to conduct phase I and II clinical trial for its vaccine candidate COVAXIN, that has been developed and manufactured in the company's facility in Hyderabad. Last week, it started the human clinical trials.

Pharma majorZydus Cadila has said that it is looking to complete clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D in seven months. The company had last week started clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate with the first human dosing. Depending on the study outcomes, and if the data is encouraging, and the vaccine is found to be effective during the trials, it could take a total of seven months for the trials to be completed and for the vaccine to be launched, Zydus Cadila Chairman Pankaj R. Patel said in a statement.

Panacea Biotec in June said that it was setting up a joint venture firm in Ireland with US-based Refana Inc to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. The company, in partnership with Refana, aims to manufacture over 500 million doses of COVID-19 candidate vaccine, with over 40 million doses expected to be available for delivery early next year, Panacea Biotec had said.

Indian Immunologicals, a subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), has inked an agreement with Australia's Griffith University to develop a vaccine for coronavirus.

Others like Mynvax and Biological E are also working to develop vaccines for COVID-19.

-Inputs from Namita Kohli

Read more:
How close are we to a coronavirus vaccine? All you need to know - THE WEEK

Volunteer tutoring students in classroom

In an earlier post, we explored how the practice we call retirement is transforming under the influence of the Baby Boomers. Now lets look ahead to what we anticipate happens next.

In the first chapter of James Micheners captivating 1959 book Hawaii, he talks about how for millions of years, large tectonic plates were slowly moving and grinding against each other far below the sea that we now call the Pacific Ocean. As these forces converged, masses of land started to rise up from those plates and ultimately surfaced as beautiful Polynesia.

And so it is with the future of retirement. For thousands of years, medical, economic, social, and demographic forces have been shifting and often grinding against each other. From this interplay a new stage of life has been emerging and morphing. Worldwide, nearly a billion people are in or near retirement, and they enjoy many more options and opportunities for how to spend their newfound time affluence.

In 2004, we wrote an article in the Harvard Business Review titled Its Time to Retire Retirement, for which we were proud to receive a McKinsey Award (tied with the legendary Peter Drucker). We now believe the word retirement is reaching the end of its line. Its far too small and narrow for what is now emerging. Its positive connotations freedom, leisure tell only part of the story. Its negative connotations withdrawal, decline are increasingly problematic. The words retirement and retiree will most likely linger for another decade or so, but their meanings will evolve as the lifescape of retirement keeps expanding, disaggregating, and diversifying.

We believe its time to re-identify the Lifestage Formerly Known as Retirement to mean something far bigger and worthy of a new name.

The Third Age: Lifes New Frontier

It is from outside the realm of traditional psychology that we find a pivotal perspective on the new possibilities and lexicon of maturity. A compelling philosophy has emerged from the European tradition of adult education that provides a simple yet visionary orientation. Referred to as the third age, this point of view has three ages of man, each with its own special focus, challenge, and opportunity.

In the first age, from birth to approximately 30 years of age, the primary tasks of life center around biological development, learning, and survival. During the early years of history, the average life expectancy of most men and women wasnt much higher than the end of the first age, and as a result the entire thrust of society itself was oriented toward these most basic drives.

In the second age, from about 30 to 60, the concerns of adult life focus on issues pertaining to the formation of family, parenting, and productive work. The years taken up by the second age are very busy and filled with social activity; the lessons gathered during the first age are applied to the social and professional responsibilities of the second. Until the last century, most people couldnt expect to live much beyond the second age, and society at that time was thus centered on the concerns of this age.

However, with the rise in longevity and the coming of the age wave, a new era of human evolution is unfolding, the third age. There are new purposes to this third age of life. First, with the children grown and many of lifes basic adult tasks either well under way or already accomplished, this less pressured, more reflective period allows the further development of the interior life of the intellect, memory, and imagination, of emotional maturity, and of ones own personal sense of spiritual identity.

The third age has another dimension: theres plenty of time and opportunity to try new things. Not just to be reflective but to explore new facets of life. Not just to relax in front of the TV but to seek out new transformative adventures. Not just to share wisdom but to contribute directly to society in new ways. Not just retire, but maybe have an encore career, another modified go-round of lifes second age. The third age is now full of potential for individuals, families, and society. The scope of this potential is enormous and unprecedented. And from this perspective, modern elders are seen not as social outcasts, but as a living bridge between yesterday, today, and tomorrow a critical evolutionary role that no other age group can perform.

To get a sense for where were heading, Ken looks back to his close friendship with Gray Panther founder Maggie Kuhn. In 1978, Ken was interviewing her for New Age Magazine and she told him: Were the elders of the tribe, and the elders are charged with the tribes survival and well-being. We who are older have enormous freedom to speak out, and equally great responsibility to take the risks that are needed to heal and humanize our sick society. We can and should try new things and take on entirely new roles.

She went on to list what she thought were the most important of those roles: Testing new lifestyles, including living in more cooperative modes. Building new coalitions across ethnicities and economic conditions, because age is a universal. Serving as watchdogs of public bodies and guardians of the public interest. Monitoring corporate power and responsibility on behalf of workers and society. In short, using the power of wisdom and experience and attention to assess society, heal what ails it, and plan for its future. Maggies challenge and agenda were and remain ambitious but they seem to be even more relevant and needed today than when she outlined them decades ago.

A Great Age?

Will the Boomers use their experience and assets to help shape a future based on mindfulness and generosity of spirit? Or will they act only to promote their own interests #OKBoomer-style?If we are to live longer, on average, than humans have ever lived before, and if the global center of gravity is to shift from youth to age, should this be regarded as good news or bad? The answer is, It depends. It depends on whether or not we can:

Uproot the ageism that clouds our hopes for the future and replace it with a new, more positive image of aging

Replace the limiting confines of the linear life plan with a flexible, cyclic plan with periods of education, work, and leisure throughout life much more appropriate to the shifting needs of a longer life

Create a new spectrum of family relationships that are matched to the companionship, friendship, and caregiving needs of adults

Discover ways to grow old well, in the absence of debilitating illness, and especially the diseases of the aging brain such as Alzheimers

Create products, services, housing, and programs that will treat older men and women with respect and provide comfort, convenience, pleasure, peak experiences, and purpose

Foster a new era of cooperation and interdependence among people of all ages while creating a social system that is fair and equitable for everyone

A few years ago, when we interviewed renowned psychologist and author of Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman, PhD, he reflected, The legacy to the boomer generation wont be the me first image of their early years, but rather the potential huge surge in volunteerism that might characterize their later years. Its not how you begin the act, its how you leave the stage that people remember.

Its time to write the next act about reframing aging and enabling people to thrive in the Third Age.

This is the fourth in a 10-part series on The Future of Retirement that we are posting over the course of several months. If you are interested in better understanding whats ahead, we invite you to check out our new book What Retirees Want: A Holistic View of Lifes Third Age.

View post:
Retiring Retirement: The Rise Of Lifes Third Age - Forbes

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Xuchang UNice Hair Products Co.,Ltd Introduces Natural Hair Wigs That Certainly Tend To Change The Present Appearance And Gives An Outstanding Result...

Soy has been part of traditional Asian diets for the past millennium, and in recent years, its slowly become a staple in many vegans, vegetarian and plant-based diets. Now while the move away from meat products is welcome, you cant deny that youve heard the rumors. There are rumors about whether soy foods are a welcome alternative to meat or rather a serious health risk that we should be avoiding.

Soy continues to be one of the most controversial foods on the planet with many praising its benefits, whilst others claim that its actually bad for you especially because it contains plant estrogens.

So, which is it? Is soy the answer to all things plant-based, or should we avoid it just as much as we avoid red meat? Read on to find out.

Soy products are made from soybeans, which are plant food that belongs to the pea family. They come in many colors, most notably green, yellow and black. Whilst the majority of soybeans are processed into soy foods, soybeans also help to produce soy oil as well as protein powder and soy isoflavone supplements. Whats more, some people even use the remnants of soy oil processing as food for farm animals and pets.

Soy has been the subject of many studies, and before we delve into the benefits of soy, it should be noted that many soy-based studies have been financed by the soy industry. It is something worth keeping in mind.

Lignans and isoflavones are phytoestrogens found in the body that mimic the sex hormone estrogen. Research suggests that in mimicking estrogen, these two compounds can offer cancer-protective benefits.

For instance, a 2014 studyfound a strong correlation betweensoy-food and a 26% reduced risk of developing breast cancer. A more recent study echoed these findings by suggesting that suggested isoflavones in soy can help reduce the risk of hormone associated cancers, such as breast cancer.

If youre battling with lockdown weight, then you may need to look to soy-based products. Thats at least according to one animal study.

The study, published last yearin the journal Molecules, found thatcertain compounds in soy isoflavones helped to prevent the buildup of fat around the organsof rats.That said, the researchers believe that the findings provesoy isoflavones potential for managing obesity.

Studies suggest that soy may help you on your journey in starting a family.

One studyfound an association between soy consumptionand better outcomes for women undergoing fertility treatments. A separate study also found that womenwho ate soy before in vitro fertilization (IVF) faced a higher chance of a successful pregnancy than those who did not.

Funnily enough, a studypublished in the journal Andrology found that male soy food intake did not affect or influence IVF outcomes.

If youre battling with uncomfortable menopausal symptoms like hot flashes, soy foods may help.

Compounds found in soy can mimic estrogen, and this may then help alleviate menopausal symptoms.

A reviewof 17 studiespublished in the journal Menopause found that women who had takenadailydose of soy isoflavones for 12 weeks experienced 20.6% fewer hot flashesanda 26.2% reduction in symptom severityover the course of the study.

The isoflavones found in soy may help to improve insulin sensitivity. In fact, a previously mentioned study suggested that soy isoflavones may help to reduce the risk of diabetes. Exactly how it does this is still unknown.

Prostate cancer is currently the second most common cancer found in men worldwide, so its important to take the right precautions in reducing ones risk and it appears that consuming more soy products may help.

A2018reviewof 30 studies (a total of 266,000 men across North America, Europe, and Asia) found a strong correlation betweenhigh soy consumption anda lower risk of developing prostate cancer. The study found a 29% reduced risk in regards toall soy foods and a 35% lower risk when it came to non-fermented soy foods.

In 2000, the FDA supported claims that soy protein can support heart health, and the American Heart Association supported these claims (1).That said, in2008, the AHA sent a letter to the FDA requesting that it reconsider its authorized health claim. This then begs the question of what does current research say about soy products and heart disease?

Well, a 2015 reviewthat looked at 35 studies found that soy products helped to reduce levels ofLDL (bad) cholesterol and total cholesterol while raising HDL (good) cholesterol. The researchers also noted that soy supplements did not have the same cholesterol-lowering effect as soy foods.

Another review study published in 2017 looked at 17 observational studies, and that found a strong link between eating more soy foods and a 17% lowered risk of cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease as well as an 18% lowered risk of stroke.

As mentioned, soy contains phytoestrogens which are plant compounds that can mimic the human hormone estrogen. The most popular of these plant compounds are isoflavones, and it is often linked to a number of soys health benefits. Unfortunately, its also responsible for a few of its health concerns.

This is because disrupting your hormones can affect the way your body functions. In men, hormonal imbalances can affect their libido, energy and it may even increase the risk of man boobs. With women, hormonal imbalances wont only disrupt your menstrual cycle, but it can also affect fertility and even increase the risk for some cancers. A reviewpublished in theJournal of Nutritionfound that high consumption of soy can affect ovarian functioning.

Some formulapreparationscontain soyand a baby consuming hormones in large quantitiesis sure to affect their health. Research suggeststhat exposure to soy phytoestrogens early in life can alter the timing and character of breast development(2). Another studylinkedsoy formula consumption to a greater risk of developing uterine fibroids.

Goitrogens are compounds found in soy that may affect thyroid function. According to research, goitrogens affect how much iodine your thyroid gets and this can lead to hypothyroid problems (3).

In fact, a study examining women and men on a vegetarian diet found that women with higher soy intake faced an increased risk of having higher levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), which maysignify an underactive thyroid.

Phytates are anti-nutrients naturally found in a number of foods, including soy.

Being anti-nutrients, phytates affects the bodys absorption of minerals. These include zinc, calcium, iron, and magnesium, which can increase the risk of deficiencies.

While you can neutralize phytates in other foods through soaking and slow cooking, the phytates found in soy can only be neutralized through long fermentation.

Trypsin is a digestive enzyme that helps the body break down and digest protein.

Lack of trypsin can cause digestive problems. With soy being high in trypsin inhibitors, eating soy may increase the risk of stomach cramps and diarrhea.

A large majority of soybeans grown in the United States are genetically modified. While more studies are still needed, there has been some research highlighting the negative health effects of GMO foods (4).

Whats more, a lot of soybean crops are sprayed with the chemical herbicidesglyphosate, whichis rich in controversy.

While some studies suggest that soy can help with fertility, other studies have found that soy intake may negatively affect fertility.

A study done on 11688 women found an association between high soy isoflavone intake and a lower likelihood of having been pregnant or giving birth to a live child.

Its clear that more research is needed to properly examine the relationship between soy intake and fertility.

Now you may be reading this and wondering if soy is so bad, which is it so prominent in Asian diets and why is the Asian population so healthy?

Well, the fact is, Asians do not eat a lot of soy. Rather, they consume small amounts of soy (around 10 grams a day 2 teaspoons!) and most of it is fermented, such as nato, miso, or tempeh.

Its clear that more research is needed to determine all the positive and negative effects of eating soy. If you are looking to eat soy, the best thing to do would be to pick minimally processed forms of soy.

Whole soy products are the least processed, and they include soybeans and edamame. Soy milk and tofu are also included in this list as they are made from whole soybeans.

Fermented soy foods are processed by boiling, fermenting, and refining soybeans. Theyre also safer to consume as they are free of antinutrients. The most common fermented soy products include soy sauce, tempeh, and miso.

If you have a high risk for hormonal cancers and thyroid disorders, it would be advisable to stay clear of soy and soy-based foods.

Its clear that more high-quality research is needed to fully determine the effect soy consumption can have on our overall health. So, if you really want to be careful, you can opt to skip the soy all together and focus on other plant-based meat substitutes that boost your health, rather than jeopardize it.

Link:
Soy Foods: Are They Good Or Bad For Your Health? - Longevity LIVE

Recently watching The Kingmaker, an American documentary film about the life of Imelda Marcos was like being transported to the Philippines. One cant help looking back to Thailand to compare as well.

Think about the divisive person that is Imelda Marcos, and her late husband, dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos. Choose your favourite divisive Thai political figures and compare. Thaksin or Prayut, anyone?

Think about how many years Thailand has been obsessed about Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister Yingluck. Thaksin was elected as prime minister in 2001, in case you no longer remember, and Thai society has been obsessed about him for nearly two decades now.

The youth now spear-heading anti-government protests are really the post-Thaksin-Yingluck generation, however. Unlike the redshirts, yellowshirts and multi-color shirts, the young are definitely not obsessed about bringing Thaksin or Yingluck back from exile or having them extradited from Dubai or wherever they may happen to be residing.

Nevertheless, many from the older generations continued to be still either rabidly pro-or-against Thaksin-Yingluck. And the division has severed friendships and even family ties over the past near two decades.

In the Philippines, Imelda Marcos became the republics First Lady in 1965 and lasted in that position until her husband and she were ousted by a popular revolt in 1986 and hastily left for exile.

She returned to her home country in 1991, two years after her husband, ex-President Marcos passed away.

At 91, Imelda tried and failed to propel her only son, Bonbong Marcos, in a bid to be elected as Vice President in 2016, the same elections that saw Rodrigo Duterte elected to the Malacanang Palace.

With such enduring political longevity spanning six decades, its no surprise that Imelda is a much larger than life figure. The 2019 film, directed by Lauren Greenfield suggested at the end of the film that Imelda dreams of making her son the next president or the Republic of the Philippines continued. At 91, perhaps shes running out of time. Thaksin at 70, still has a good decade or two to seek political revenge.

Readers beware, I by no means try to imply that Thaksin is comparable to Ferdinand E Marcos, who ruled by martial law for nearly nine years from 1972 to 1981. They both have been accused of massive corruptions, however.

And while Marcos rule was marked by 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, Thaksin had his war of drugs that according to Human Rights Watch, saw 2,275 extra-judicially killed when he was Thailands premier. Horrible these figures may be, the current Philippine President Duterte, has already surpassed both and his war on drugs campaign saw over 30,000 people killed extra-judicially.

The second point that led me to reflect back at Thailand after seeing the film was the US support for dictatorship during the Cold War (and beyond). If it suits Americas national interests, they have no qualm supporting a dictator here and there. Fearing communist takeover, both Marcos and Imelda were beneficiaries of US-backing for decades including the near-decade when martial law was imposed.

Historian Jose Raymund Canoy, author of An Illustrated History of the Philippines noted that: Although the administration of President Jimmy Carter emphasized the promotion of human rights worldwide, only limited pressure was exerted on Marcos to improve the behaviour of the military in rural areas and to end the death-squad murders of political opponents.

Another Filipino author, Luis H. Francia, wrote in his book

Another Filipino author, Luis H. Francia, wrote in his book A History of the Philippines: From Indios Bravos to Filipinos that Marcoss martial law exposed the darkness at the heart of the US foreign policy.

In spite of the rhetoric, democracy was hardly the most important issue for the U S. government when it came to its client states, Francia wrote.

Here, the film could have done a much better job in highlighting this expedient relationship. In Thailand, dictators like Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat were also like Marcos Americas boy. Today, we can perhaps substitute fears of communist taking over Thailand or the Philippines to that of Americas fears for China taking over Thailand and the Philippines. Then you can guess how the US will behave vis--vis dictator or hybrid dictator.

Back to Imelda, the chummy and mutually-beneficial relationship with America turned sour by February 1986 after a growing popular uprising was about to sweep the Marcos couple from power.

In the film, Imelda accuses the US government of kidnapping them to facilitate a regime change.

Its not true that we flee from our country, Imelda recalled in the film. We were kidnapped.

Many believe the Marcos were lied to by the US who told the dictator couple that they would be flown to Ilocos Norte, the home province and political base of Ferdinand Marcos. Instead, they eventually end up in exile in Hawaii where Ferdinand would die in 1989.

Last but not least, at least the film had unprecedented access to Imelda and yet contained counter narratives of others including from Beth Day Romulo, American wife of the late long-time foreign secretary Carlos P. Romulo.

The film was screened in the Philippines. Now I wonder if there will be a critical documentary about Thai leaders (named your favourite one!) who are still alive, ever produced and screened in Thailand.

In the Philippines, even God can be criticized. I cant say its the same for Thailand, as even some mortals are more godlike here.

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Opinion: Filipino The Kingmaker Resonates in Thailand, Too - Khaosod English

Since earlier this year, William Ducker has not liked going to the supermarket and navigating a shopping cart around the aisles.

Everybody is very worried about touching communal objects, and Im one of those guys, said Ducker, a professor at Virginia Tech.

But unlike everybody, Duckers field of expertise made him realize he could alleviate that worry.

Im a surface chemist. ... I look at surface coatings, he said. I thought I could fix this problem.

So Ducker and a team of graduate students at Tech created a liquid coating that destroys SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, when the coating solidifies on everyday items such as doorknobs and pens.

The thin layer of copper-based coating retains its virus-disabling property for at least six weeks, meaning such surfaces would no longer need frequent cleanings. Ducker says he thinks the coating could be effective for years but is only confident about a few weeks because the coating has only existed for that long.

Last week, Ducker and colleagues became one of the first teams if not the first to publish an academic paper showing that such a coating is effective against the new coronavirus. A Surface Coating that Rapidly Inactivates SARS-CoV-2 appeared July 13 in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, a journal published by the American Chemical Society.

The surface coating is made from particles of cuprous oxide, which can be made out of recycled copper pipes and wires, bound with polyurethane, a varnish commonly used to finish wood.

Although previous research has established cuprous oxide as effective against viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is a novelty. While conducting a Google Scholar search on the longevity of the virus on surfaces, Ducker came across the research of Leo Poon, a professor at the University of Hong Kong and a leading expert on emerging viruses.

Ducker emailed Poon: Would he be interested in testing the new coronavirus on his coating? Poon replied about 20 minutes later, and they began a collaboration.

Honestly, I was unbelievably excited when Poon said he agreed to test it, Ducker recalled. And then after we found out it worked, oh my God, I was just so excited. I think this is just such a great thing.

After about an hour on glass or stainless steel painted with the coating, the effectiveness of virus samples was reduced by about 99.9% on average, the paper says.

Poons team put bits of SARS-CoV-2 in little drops that mimic as a respiratory droplet which is how COVID-19 spreads and plopped them on the coated surfaces. After varying periods of time, they lifted off the droplets and measured their virality by attempting to infect a monkey kidney cell, a standard mimic of a human cell.

After being exposed to the coating, droplets could no longer infect the monkey cell, Ducker said.

Swapan Ghosh, a polymer scientist in India who has developed a silver-based anti-viral coating, said the novelty of the paper lay in the experiments ability to test it on SARS-CoV-2.

Its good work, because in this pandemic its very diligent work, so I appreciate it Ghosh said.

Ghosh questioned whether the surface coating would work in the dark, since light activates the antiviral properties in cuprous oxide. He also wondered whether the toxicity of the copper elements should be measured.

Ducker agreed testing the coating in the dark would be interesting but doesnt foresee that happening because the experiments are done in high-level biological safety labs that make such a test tricky. .

The actual product, I think what Im after, is people being and feeling safe, Ducker said, which is why he wants to call the material SafetyCoat. That was always my objective.

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Afraid of touching objects amid COVID-19? This Virginia Tech professor has a solution - Bristol Herald Courier

After months of lockdown and living with restrictions necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, most businesses have been severely impacted. On the other hand, a silver lining has been a shift in businesses processes and practices, providing an opportunity to reinvent how companies are run. To create agile, transparent and resilient organisations requires reimagining of management principles and business models.

To share their insight on this development, Forbes India brought together a diverse panel of business barons to share their learnings and offer perspectives for longevity in enterprises. Moderated by Manu Balachandran, special correspondent, Forbes India, the participants included Atul Jalan, CEO, Manthan; Rono Dutta, CEO, IndiGo; RM Vishakha, MD & CEO, IndiaFirst; Dr. Nandakumar Jairam, chairman & CEO, Columbia Asia Hospitals; Karan Bajwa, CEO, Google Cloud India, and Sanjay Gupta, CEO, Google India.

Vishakha recounted that her organisation was able to seamlessly move everything to work from home, thanks to a robust business continuity plan and access to technology. From investments to the call centres, everything functioned smoothly despite being in remote locations.

A challenge for bringing in new business, she admits, is to be able to replace the human connect. For a business like ours, which entails selling a promise for a 15 to 20-year period, acquiring new clients is dependent on building relationships and instilling trust. We still have to figure out how to inspire trust in potential clients without the human touch, while we are just a face on a video or a call on the phone. This is especially pertinent in an environment where cheating is so rampant.

Offering his perspective, Gupta explained how the pandemic has made him unlearn assumptions that constant travel is a business necessity, and that finding partners, such as international experts, entailed a lot of cooperation and waiting. During the lockdown, not only did he experience that work went on just as well when he couldnt travel, and connecting with international experts and colleagues became much faster and more effective online. I am more humbled at the end of this experience and I realise that many things are possible by simply changing ones mindset, he concluded.

Seconding Gupta, Bajwa observed that there have been some fundamental shifts in business processes. First, the way technology was used has changed. There is a clear opportunity to shift technology from being an enabler of a business to the fore of a business. Second, a shift in the consumption model of technology towards being considered as regular opex rather than large lump sum capex will remove cost barriers for constant usage of relevant technology. All these shifting trends present businesses with a real opportunity to completely reinvent themselves, rather than merely reorient, he said.

Jairams observations highlighted that there such parallels could be drawn for the health care industry as well. The administrative segment is very much like what the others already described - going to office, copious travel on work, etc. These activities revealed themselves as a waste of time and money when technology enabled virtual meetings delivered greater efficient than before, he said, explaining that his organisation has become more comfortable with tele-consultations and remote delivery of medicine. It is efficient, saves time waiting at hospitals and is definitely going to enable a patient and doctor to interact in a different way.

Dutta of IndiGo voiced the possibility that many businesses and leaders might go back to embracing conventional ways once they can do so. After 9/11, people stopped traveling and video conferencing was all the rage. But they had to revert to physical meetings that demanded travel, because sometimes the human touch and relationship building that was crucial to building businesses was missing, he said. Even within an organisation, networking and knowing people across different divisions is a great asset. We are social animals, so as long as human beings do business and take decisions, relationships are key; it could simply mean getting together and having a drink in the evening. Thats what makes things work. He also agreed that the pandemic has altered the way he approached his work: I used to be a big believer in long-term planning and that has been turned on its head. Right now, we don't know which segments will open and what mandates will follow. So, we have to just plan for the short term and take a lot of course corrections as we go, he said.

Jalan of Manthan believed that the pandemic has just speedened up the adoption of trends and technolgoies that had already made their way into business consciousness. Video conferencing, work from home, telemedicine, none of these are new trends. But this pandemic has put all those trends on steroids. There were talks about universal basic income, data monetisation, data privacy, how to regulate the role of social media, etc. I think this crisis has brought all these and other issues to the fore.

He pointed out that the best of human ingenuity comes forth during times of challenge and crisis and constraint, and technology would facilitate this resourcefulness. At a personal level, he added, it has been a reminder that change is the only constant and that we have to quickly adapt to change to flow with the times.

The discussion proceeded with the participants sharing their experiences on how mindsets of customers, as well as management and employees of the company had changed. Bajwa explained how the changing mindsets during the crisis presented Google with the opportunity to approach its clients with the intent of serving and not selling. We engaged with customers and enabled them to achieve the first level of being able to work from home, getting connected, using collaboration platforms, etc, he said, adding that technology companies will now need to start providing technology to customers in a manner that is not elitist, but democratised.

Gupta summed up the observations made by his colleague, by stating that the greatest transformation among consumers and business owners and boards was the openness to change and do it fast. He pointed out two distinct themes that had emerged in business thinking - concerns around conserve cash and ideating toward transformation of the business. The silver lining to the crisis is that it has forced people and companies to introspect on what is really important to them, he said. As a result, in the post Covid-19 world, human needs will become sharper and technology will help deliver experiences safely.

See original here:
Evolution of technology, mindsets and more in the time of crisis - Forbes India

Olivia de Havilland, one of the last pillars of Hollywood royalty and a contemporary of Bette Davis and Errol Flynn, died "peacefully from natural causes" Sunday at the age of 104, talent agent Jim Wilhelm told USA TODAY. Her death marks the passing of one of the last stars of classic films of the 1930s, an actress before her time in the fight for equality, and an icon who took on the studio system and won.

Best known for her sweet-natured role as Melanie Hamilton in "Gone With the Wind," the two-time Oscar winner (for 1946's "To Each His Own" and 1949's "The Heiress") will be remembered most for her beautiful diction, an air of refinement and gumption, and grace on and off camera. Outspoken and steely in real life, de Havilland starred in more than 50 films on the big and small screen from 1935 to 1988, and was known as a staunch advocate for actors rights and creative freedom in Hollywood.

Bound by the grip Warner Bros. held on her career, the 27-year-old star sued the studio in 1943, prompting a collapse of oppressive long-term contracts in Hollywood. And in the latter years of her life, the British-American actress reminded she was no pushover, making headlines by filing a lawsuit in Los Angeles over being portrayed as a gossip monger in Ryan Murphys FX show "Feud: Bette and Joan," which chronicled the longtime rivalry between actresses Davis and Joan Crawford.

She was born Olivia Mary de Havilland in 1916 in Tokyo, where her father Walter Augustus de Havilland taught English at the Imperial University and then became a patent attorney. Her mother Lilian Augusta Ruse was a stage actress educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, but she left her career to move to Japan with her husband.

On a family trip to California in 1919, Olivia became ill with a bronchial condition and her younger sister Joan (later to become the actress Joan Fontaine) developed pneumonia. Lilian decided to remain in California with Joan and Olivia for her daughters health. They settled in Saratoga, a suburb of San Francisco, while her father abandoned the family and returned to Japan. De Havillands mother divorced in 1925 and married George Fontaine, a strict stepfather the girls resented.

Fontaine died in 2013 at age 96. De Havilland's death was also preceded by son Benjamin Goodrich in 1991. She is survived by her daughter, Gisele Galante Chulack, son-in-law Andrew Chulack and niece Deborah Dozier Potter. Funeral arrangements will be private, Wilhelm said.

After making her Hollywood debut in a version of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," de Havilland - named for the Bard's "Twelfth Night" character Olivia - made an early mark opposite Flynn. In 1934, she had signed a contract with Warner Bros., who decided to pair her with the then-unknown Australian They starred a year later in "Captain Blood," a swashbuckling hit that made the two of them bonafide stars, and they made seven more movies as one of Hollywoods most memorable on-screen romantic pairings. She played Maid Marian to Flynn's title rogue in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" in 1938, and they last appeared together in 1941s "They Died With Their Boots On."

With David O. Selznicks 1939 Civil War epic "Gone With the Wind," de Havilland said at the time that having read the Margaret Mitchell novel, she knew she could bring the character of Melanie to life, and the actress' soft voice and graceful manner made her the perfect fit for a pivotal role: Melanie's indelible goodness saved Scarlett OHara (Vivien Leigh) from social ruin more than once and even touched Scarletts hard heart. Though far less showy than Scarlett, de Havillands iconic role is deeply etched in audiences hearts.

The character earned de Havilland her first Oscar nomination, for best supporting actress, but she lost to her "Wind" co-star Hattie McDaniel. De Havilland's second nod came for 1941s "Hold Back the Dawn," where she shared the best actress category with her sister, who won for "Suspicion." De Havilland took home her own best actress Oscar five years later, for her performance in "To Each His Own," and they are still the only siblings ever to have won lead acting Academy Awards.

But de Havilland and Fontaine fostered a heated competitiveness that lasted all their lives, from childhood to stardom. That rivalry rumored to have escalated into a feud where the two didnt speak was the subject of Hollywood gossip for decades.

In 2016, three years after her sister's death, de Havilland finally broke her silence on their relationship to the Associated Press: "A feud implies continuing hostile conduct between two parties. I cannot think of a single instance wherein I initiated hostile behavior." However, she added, "I can think of many occasions where my reaction to deliberately inconsiderate behavior was defensive.

In 1949, Fontaine put it differently, telling columnist Hedda Hopper: You see, in our family, Olivia was always the breadwinner, and I the no-talent, no-future little sister not good for much more than paying her share of the rent."

De Havilland referred to her sister as Dragon Lady.

"Dragon Lady, as I eventually decided to call her, was a brilliant, multi-talented person, but with an astigmatism in her perception of people and events, which often caused her to react in an unfair and even injurious way," de Havilland said in 2016.

De Havilland, who won her second best actress Oscar for "The Heiress," was also nominated for her performance in 1948s "The Snake Pit," one of the earliest films to feature a realistic portrayal of mental illness. That role also cemented her reputation for embracing flawed and unglamorous characters.

I believed in following Bette Davis example, she told the Los Angeles Times in 1988. She didn't care whether she looked good or bad. She just wanted to play complex, interesting, fascinating parts, a variety of human experience. I wanted Melanie to be just one of the images. Let's have a few others.

Being as well-received as she was both by the public and critically for her part in "Gone With the Wind," de Havilland longed for more substantial parts early in her career, particularly more serious ones than as Flynns demure leading lady, who was usually a damsel in distress. But Warner Bros. did not support her efforts. De Havilland grew increasingly frustrated by the lack of challenging roles and began to reject scripts.

While De Havilland wanted to pursue opportunities with other studios, Warner Bros. told her they added six months more to her seven-year contract for times she had been on suspension. (Legally, studios could suspend contract players for rejecting a role, then add that time to the contract period.)

At the urging of her lawyer, she sued Warner Bros., supported by the Screen Actors Guild. The case went to the Supreme Court of California and the court ruled in her favor in 1945. Known as the de Havilland Law, the landmark decision proved to be one of the most important and far-reaching legal rulings in Hollywood, reducing the power of the studios and giving greater creative freedom to actors.

Performers of that era and later benefited from her legal case, and the law won de Havilland much respect among her peers and colleagues. Fontaine was even quoted as saying Hollywood owes Olivia a great deal. But Warner Bros. circulated a punitive letter that essentially blacklisted de Havilland. She did not work for a film studio for two years until Paramount signed her in 1946.

"As soon as my victory was legally confirmed and I was free to choose the films that I made, Paramount presented me with the script of 'To Each His Own,' " playing an unwed teenage mother. This was exactly the kind of challenge for which I fought that case," she told the AP with pride in 2016.

In addition to championing actors rights, de Havilland was known for her liberal political stance. She organized a fight for control of the Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions, which she felt was being manipulated by a small group of Communists. She failed and then resigned, triggering a wave of resignations, including that of an actor she had recruited to the group, Ronald Reagan. Even though she had very publicly worked to organize Hollywood resistance to Soviet influence, she was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1958 because of her vocal liberal activism.

On the personal front, de Havilland was romantically involved with Flynn, Jimmy Stewart, director John Huston and filmmaking mogul Howard Hughes, though Havilland eventually married Navy veteran and novelist Marcus Goodrich in 1946, before divorcing in 1953. They had one son, Benjamin, who died in 1991 after a battle with Hodgkins disease.

She wed French journalist Pierre Galante in 1955, moved to Paris, and had a daughter, Gisele. De Havilland's adjustment to Parisian life was recounted in her 1962 memoir "Every Frenchman Has One." The couple divorced in 1979.

De Havilland only appeared occasionally in films in the 1950s and turned down the role of Blanche Dubois (which won Leigh her second best actress Oscar) in 1951's "A Streetcar Named Desire." While some thought it had to do with the suggestive themes of the story, she said in 2006 that she declined the part because she had recently given birth to her son.

Her few film roles in the 60s included "Lady in a Cage" (1964) and "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte" (1964). In 1965, she was the first woman to preside on a jury for the Cannes Film Festival.

De Havilland continued acting in films until the late 1970s and on television through the 1980s. She won a Golden Globe in 1987 and also earned an Emmy nomination for "Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna." And In 2009, she lent her distinctive voice to the narration of a documentary on Alzheimers disease entitled "I Remember Better When I Paint."

In her later years, she maintained perspective on her impressive longevity: All the artists I had known during the Golden Era (live) elsewhere, she said in 2016, including the after world.

Originally posted here:
Olivia de Havilland, Gone With the Wind actress and Hollywood royalty, dies at 104 - Destin Log