Cleveland reports 70 more people confirmed as positive for COVID-19 coronavirus – cleveland.com

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CLEVELAND, Ohio Mayor Frank Jacksons administration announced Saturday that 70 more cases of COVID-19 coronavirus have been confirmed in the city.

No new deaths were reported. Eighty-three Cleveland residents have died as a result of the coronavirus.

One previously reported case was removed from the tally as it was determined the individual was not a Cleveland resident.

The new cases lift Clevelands total confirmed cases to 3,640 and involve patients ranging in age from less than 7 years old to their 90s.

Cleveland Department of Public Health has identified one additional 40 probable cases, bringing that total to 528 cases. Those cases lifted the citys total caseload to 4,168. Those infected have ranged in age from less than 1 year old to more than 100 years old.

Fourteen percent of those cases required hospitalization, according to the Cleveland Department of Public Health.

Fifty-four percent of the cases involve women. About 60% of all those infected are African American. About 17% are white. Asian residents comprise about 1% of the cases. Race is unknown for 13% of the cases.

The Cleveland Department of Public Health will work to identify any people who were in close contact with the newly confirmed patients to determine who now would require testing or monitoring for symptoms of COVID-19.

Confirmed and probable coronavirus cases have increased 1,542, bringing the total number to 73,822, according to the Ohio Department of Health on Saturday.

The state reported, on Friday, a new record high of 1,679 new cases in 24 hours.

The previous record was last Friday, when there were 1,525 new cases.

The number of deaths increase from Friday by 20 to 3,132.

As of Friday, Cuyahoga County reported 6,674 cases of coronavirus. That figure includes 743 classified as probable cases. There were 336 reported deaths. The numbers exclude the cases from the city of Cleveland.

The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions updated tally on Saturday reported 3,630,587 cases and 138,782 deaths in the United States.

Those numbers tend to lag other reporting sites.

Johns Hopkins University of Medicine reported that as of Saturday evening 3,698,209 people had become infected with the coronavirus. By its tally, deaths in the United States totaled 139,949.

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Cleveland reports 70 more people confirmed as positive for COVID-19 coronavirus - cleveland.com

Brentwood couple battling COVID-19: ‘It’s emotionally wrecking us’ – The Union Leader

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They call themselves the COVID couple.

For nearly three weeks, Dan and Michelle Negri have been fighting the dreaded disease caused by the new coronavirus while trapped inside their Brentwood home.

Their battle has been physically and mentally draining and its one they hoped they would never have to face.

Its emotionally wrecking us, said Dan, 41.

While their infection hasnt left them hospitalized and dependent on a ventilator to survive, its been the worst few weeks of their lives.

I feel like Ive fallen from an 11-story building onto concrete, said Michelle, who is 39 and feels the experience has been worse than other health scares shes had in the past, including spinal bacterial meningitis and pneumonia.

As a way to cope with the day-to-day struggle, Michelle started a now widely read blog at http://www.apeaceofthought.com called The COVID Couple in which she chronicles their misery and urges everyone to do their part and wear a face mask in public.

The virus and masks have been divisive issues, but shes heard enough.

As Walmart and numerous other national retail chains announced last week that all customers will now be required to wear masks to slow the spread, Michelle said its time for people to stop politicizing the safety measure thats been recommended by state health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nobody likes to wear a mask, but its the responsible thing to do. Its the right thing to do. Anyone without a mask on in public is basically playing a very dangerous game of Russian roulette. Theyre just pointing the pistol at everybody else, she said.

The Negris war with COVID-19 began when Dan was exposed to the virus at work.

The timing couldnt have been worse.

Michelle, who owns Bombshells Salon and Spa in Epping, had just reopened on June 2 after being forced to shut down on March 19. Before opening her doors again, she had expressed her concerns to the New Hampshire Union Leader about safety and how she felt the state had ignored some of the recommendations from salon owners when it announced they could begin reopening in May.

While back at the salon on June 24, Michelle got a call that her husband may have been exposed to a confirmed positive case.

Fearing that she, too, may have been exposed through him, Michelle immediately cleared her appointments, closed up the salon and began quarantining at home as a precaution.

The next day, the couple got tested, but those tests were negative, or possibly a false negative.

Five days later, Dan experienced his first symptoms.

I woke up with a fever and knew right away that I had it, he said.

The fever sent him and his wife back to a COVID-19 respiratory care unit to get another test. This time their tests came back positive.

While her salon has reopened and is being run by her coworkers, Michelle isnt sure when shell be able to return. She said that fortunately it doesnt appear that any of her clients were exposed because its believed she contracted the virus after she was already in quarantine, but more than two dozen were notified as a precaution.

The diagnosis was something Dan had not been expecting as the pandemic was beginning to grip the country and he and his wife seemed to be taking all the right precautions.

It wasnt supposed to happen this way. We were the most careful people youll ever know. We were staying away from everybody. We do drive-thru only for coffee once a day. We go through so much hand sanitizer every day, he said.

Dan described his experience as an emotional roller coaster.

One day he feels better, but the next hes in pain from walking outside to their garden.

He feels weak, has dizzy spells, and some days can barely lift his arms.

As his body tries to fight off the virus, anxiety has made it even worse and has sent him to the hospital.

Its absolutely crazy how this has beat me down. If I exert myself at all, I get so fatigued so fast and you start feeling your heart rate go up, he said.

A few days after her husband began showing symptoms, Michelle experienced her first sign of trouble. Her eyes burned. With every blink, she said she could feel a hot flash of burn.

Soon she began feeling like she had cobwebs in her chest, and then the headaches started. Michelle described them as paralyzing headaches that would happen several times a day and last for hours.

The headaches reminded her of the ones she had 10 years ago when she was diagnosed with meningitis.

By the third day, she had lost her sense of taste and smell and her entire body ached.

I didnt get out of bed for four days. I was so weak, she said, adding that she couldnt even get up to hit the bathroom.

Being isolated from family and friends has also been hard.

Michelle said her 16-year-old daughter, Madelyn, relocated to an in-law apartment at their home in hopes of avoiding the virus, but she developed mild symptoms as well.

As she searches for a light at the end of a dark tunnel, Michelle said she hopes more people will start to take the virus seriously.

Shes frustrated by some of the commentary flying around on social media and elsewhere as people weigh in on COVID-19.

It hurts to see people be so mean and so thoughtless about it, she said.

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Brentwood couple battling COVID-19: 'It's emotionally wrecking us' - The Union Leader

Blood Test Could Reveal When Rheumatoid Arthritis Will Strike – Howard Hughes Medical Institute

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Scientists have identified a new type of cell that appears in the bloodstream of rheumatoid arthritis patients shortly before joint inflammation flares.

A never-before-seen cell type could forewarn of rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.

The cells, dubbed PRIME cells, accumulate in the blood during the week prior to disease flare-ups, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Robert Darnell's team reports July 15, 2020, in the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings could lead to better prediction of when severe pain and swelling, called flares will occur, as well as provide new avenues for treatment.

PRIME cells are one thing you might want to target to arrest the flare before it happens, Darnell says. Thats the ideal of medical science to know enough about a disease that you can put your finger on whats about to make someone sick.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease of the immune system that causes inflammation in the joints, especially around the hands and feet. It can be debilitating and frequently strikes people in their 30s or 40s. The symptoms come in waves, with stretches of relative quiet interspersed with painful flares. Current therapeutics, chiefly steroids, can treat these symptoms, but theres no cure.

To study this sort of disease, where symptoms vary dramatically from week to week, its critical to track changes in the body over an extended time. But its hard for patients to trek to a clinic for frequent testing. So Darnell, a neuro-oncologist at the Rockefeller University, and his colleagues developed an at-home blood collection system. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis did simple finger sticks and sent their blood to his lab. Each participant also kept a record of symptoms to identify when flares occurred.

PRIME cells are one thing you might want to target to arrest the flare before it happens.

Robert Darnell, HHMI Investigator at The Rockefeller University

Armed with these records, the researchers tested the blood samples, looking for molecular changes preceding the onset of symptoms. By analyzing the RNA of cells in the bloodstream, Darnells team could identify which types of cells were present during symptom-free times and in the weeks preceding a flare.

In samples collected two weeks prior to a flare, researchers saw an increase in immune cells called B cells. Thats not surprising, Darnell says researchers already knew these cells attacked patients joints in rheumatoid arthritis.

But in samples collected one week before a flare, his team noticed something odd. They saw an increase in RNA that didnt match the genetic signature of any known type of blood or immune cell. That got us thinking there was something fishy going on, says study coauthor Dana Orange, a rheumatologist at Rockefeller. The RNA signature instead resembled that of bone, cartilage, or muscle cells cells not typically found in the blood.

Darnells team called the newfound cell type a PRIME cell, for pre-inflammation mesenchymal cell. (Mesenchymal cells are a type of stem cell that can develop into bone or cartilage.) In the patients, PRIME cells accumulated in the bloodstream a week before the flare but disappeared during the flare. This observation, combined with previous work from another lab in mice, suggests a possible role for PRIME cells in rheumatoid arthritis flares, Darnell says.

One of the teams next steps is to test in more patients whether the presence of these cells can predict a flare, Darnell says. The researchers are still recruiting patients for this study; currently the teams blood collection system is only available for use in research. Darnell also wants to study PRIME cells molecular characteristics. If the cells do indeed take part in causing flares, he says, understanding the unique aspects of PRIME cells might enable us to target them with a drug and get rid of them.

###

Citation

Dana E. Orange et al. RNA Identification of PRIME Cells Predicting Rheumatoid Arthritis Flares, New England Journal of Medicine. Published online July 15, 2020. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2004114

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Blood Test Could Reveal When Rheumatoid Arthritis Will Strike - Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Precision Medicine Will Drive New Standards of Care in the PostCOVID-19 World – Targeted Oncology

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In the simplest terms, precision medicine is the right test for the right patient at the right time. But the practice of precision medicine is not so simple.A physician must choose from an array of complicated tests that are appropriate for a diagnosis and the creation of a treatment plan for their patient in a timely manner.Thats a lot of separate data and time points to manage for one patient, so how do we connect these individual patients together with their own personalized sets of tests and outcomes to improve population health?

We can look to breast cancer, where precision medicine has played out for the past decade and has paved the way for standard biomarker testing guidelines, risk assessment and screening protocols, as well as treatment plans that are now widely recognized and used.This clinical application of precision medicine has resulted in the avoidance of unnecessary and ineffective testing and treatment, rapid identification of targeted treatments with good responses in similar populations, and the proactive screening of families at high risk for breast cancers.

Hormone receptor and HER2 testing has become routine for primary invasive carcinomas, and recurrent and metastatic breast tumors.Knowing the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2 test results within a few days of a biopsy allows an oncologist to determine if a patient might benefit from hormone or anti-HER2 therapy. For patients who did not have a hormone receptor or HER2-positive test result or who did not respond to a standard one size fits all treatment plan, comprehensive tumor profiling can provide a personalized set of targeted therapy options that are uniquely matched to the tumor mutations.Additionally, women with early stage, lymph nodenegative breast cancer can undergo a 21-gene profiling test to determine if they need chemotherapy, once again getting the right treatment for the patient.

Approximately 5% to 10% of breast cancers can be attributed to an increased risk from inheriting a pathogenic gene mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2.Genetic counselors choose an appropriate test for each family member of the affected, and then follow-up with regular monitoring plans for those with inherited pathogenic mutations.Catching a disease early requires the right test at the right time, which is why large-scale population screening, such as BRCA testing, is recommended at earlier ages for high-risk families and populations.

The big picture comes together in precision medicine when clinical outcomes are linked to the biomarker testing choices, disease screening methods, and targeted treatment plans for large groups of patients as part of clinical trials and translational research.With the analysis of big data comes new and updated biomarker testing recommendations, patient care models, disease screening protocols, and treatment guidelines by professional medical societies.These guidelines reflect the most recent technological advances in laboratory science from the bench to the bedside, and this information is continually evolving with new studies leading to better survival rates, increased detection, and improved treatments for future patients.

Like all aspects of healthcare, the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has impacted many different areas of precision medicine. The pandemic has certainly hindered surgeries, and therefore, testing on biopsy tissue. Consequently, oncologists are expecting a wave of more advanced cancers at diagnosis due to delayed biopsies and other issues, such as postponed preventative screening and medical appointments that were put off because patients with suspicious symptoms were afraid to see physicians during the COVID crisis. Providers have tried to ensure the safest environment possible for patients by adjusting how they operate. For instance, some commercial laboratory vendors that offer liquid biopsy testing have implemented mobile phlebotomy to do the necessary blood draw at the patients house rather than in the clinic, but tissue is still needed for the initial diagnosis. Undoubtedly, there will be ramifications from these delays, as the earlier cancer is detected, the better the outcome.

Once the impact of COVID-19 begins to minimize and activities settle into a new normal, efforts to expand precision medicine across many diseases will resume. As more physicians learn the lessons of how breast cancer incorporated biomarker testing, disease screening, and targeted therapies into standard practices, support for this promising approach to personalized care will continue to grow for the betterment of individuals, families, and populations.

Jen Buhay, PhD, is the precision medicine clinical program manager for The US Oncology Network, leading biomarker testing, education, and operational efforts to support personalized patient care for oncology.Previously, she led precision medicine initiatives in a community hospital setting and worked as a laboratory scientist for commercial and academic molecular diagnostic laboratories.Dr Buhay holds a PhD in Integrative Biology (molecular genetics and computational biology) from Brigham Young University, an MS in Biology from Eastern Kentucky University, and a BS in Animal Behavior from Juniata College.She is board-certified as a molecular biologist through the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

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Precision Medicine Will Drive New Standards of Care in the PostCOVID-19 World - Targeted Oncology

GlobalGenetic Modification Market Report 2020 Sales Forecast to Grow Negatively in Western Regio post COVID 19 Impact Analysis Updated Edition Top…

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Profile of a killer: Unraveling the deadly new coronavirus – ModernHealthcare.com

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What is this enemy?

Seven months after the first patients were hospitalized in China battling an infection doctors had never seen before, the world's scientists and citizens have reached an unsettling crossroads.

Countless hours of treatment and research, trial and error now make it possible to take much closer measure of the new coronavirus and the lethal disease it has unleashed. But to take advantage of that intelligence, we must confront our persistent vulnerability: The virus leaves no choice.

"It's like we're in a battle with something that we can't see, that we don't know, and we don't know where it's coming from," said Vivian Castro, a nurse supervisor at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Yonkers, just north of New York City, which struggled with its caseload this spring.

Castro had treated scores of infected patients before she, too, was hospitalized for the virus in April, then spent two weeks in home quarantine. As soon as she returned to the emergency room for her first shift, she rushed to comfort yet another casualtya man swallowing the few words he could muster between gasps for air.

"It just came back, that fear," she said. "I just wanted to tell him not to give up."

The coronavirus is invisible, but seemingly everywhere. It requires close contact to spread, but it has reached around the globe faster than any pandemic in history.

COVID-19 was not even on the world's radar in November. But it has caused economic upheaval echoing the Great Depression, while claiming more than 580,000 lives. In the U.S. alone, the virus has already killed more Americans than died fighting in World War I.

Even those figures don't capture the pandemic's full sweep. Nine of every 10 students worldwide shut out of their schools at one point. More than 7 million flights grounded. Countless moments of celebration and sorrowweddings and graduations, baby showers and funeralsput off, reconfigured or abandoned because of worries about safety.

In short, the coronavirus has rescripted nearly every moment of daily life. And fighting itwhether by searching for a vaccine or seeking to protect familytakes knowing the enemy. It's the essential first step in what could be an extended quest for some version of normalcy.

"There's light at the end of tunnel, but it's a very, very long tunnel," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University.

"There's a lot we don't know. But I think it's absolutely certain we're going to be adapting to a new way of life. That's the reality."

The new coronavirus is roughly 1,000 times narrower than a human hair. But scrutinized through an electron scope, it is clear this enemy is well-armed.

Coronaviruses, including the newest one, are named for the spikes that cover their outer surface like a crown, or corona in Latin. Using those club-shaped spikes, the virus latches on to the outer wall of a human cell, invades it and replicates, creating viruses to hijack more cells.

Find a way to block or bind the spikes and you can stop the virus.

Once inside a human cell, the virus' RNA, or genetic code, commandeers its machinery, providing instructions to make thousands of virus copies.

But the coronavirus has a weakness: an outer membrane that can be destroyed by ordinary soap. That neutralizes the virus, which is why health experts emphasize the need to wash hands.

Like organisms, viruses evolve, searching for traits that will ensure survival, said Charles Marshall, a professor of paleontology at the University of California and self-described "deep time evolutionary biologist."

"Coronaviruses fit into the standard evolutionary paradigm extremely well, which is if you've had some innovation, you get into some new environment ... you get into a human and you do well, you're going to proliferate," Marshall said.

There are hundreds of coronaviruses, but just seven known to infect people. Four are responsible for some common colds. But in 2002, a virus called SARS, for severe acute respiratory syndrome, spread from China to sicken about 8,000 people worldwide, killing more than 700. Another coronavirus called Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome, or MERS identified in 2012 spread to humans through camels.

The new coronavirus, though, has captivated scientists' attention unlike any in decades.

When researcher Thomas Friedrich logged on to his computer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison after a meeting in January, he found colleagues had been frantically posting messages to one another about the new virus.

"People were getting increasingly excited and beginning to brainstorm ideas," said Friedrich, who has spent years studying other infectious diseases.

Now much of Friedrich's lab is focused on the coronavirus, studying its spread in Wisconsin, and collaborating with scientists around the world examining the disease's behavior in monkeys.

Even early on it was clear this virus posed a major threat, he said. Human immune systems had never encountered it. And unlike Zika, whose spread can be controlled by targeting mosquitoes, or AIDS, which most often requires sexual contact, the new virus is readily transmitted through droplets in the air.

"It had all the hallmarks, to me, of a potential pandemic," Friedrich said. "Basically, everyone in the world is susceptible."

The new virus has breached borders and claimed victims with stealth and speed that make it difficult to track.

Scientists are fairly certain the disease originated in bats, which harbor many coronaviruses. To get to humans, it may have been passed through another animal, possibly consumed for meat. By late January, when Chinese authorities walled off the city of Wuhan, where the disease was first diagnosed, it was too late to stop the spread.

The most severe pandemic in recent history, the "Spanish flu" of 1918, was spread by infected soldiers dispatched to fight World War I. But aboard ships, it took weeks for the troops and the disease to cross oceans.

Now, with more than 100,000 commercial flights a day ferrying tourists, business travelers and students around the globe, the new virus spread rapidly and virtually invisibly, said medical historian Mark Honigsbaum, author of "The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris."

"By the time we woke up to the outbreak in Italy, it had been there for weeks if not months," he said.

Soon after the first case in Wuhan, Chinese tourists with the virus traveled to France. But doctors there reported recently that a fishmonger contracted the disease even earlier than that, from an unknown source. On January 21, the first confirmed U.S. case was reported in Washington state, in a man who had traveled to Asia.

"It's one person coming in from China and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine," President Donald Trump said at the time. Ten days later, he blocked entry to most travelers from China.

But genetic analysis of samples taken from New York patients showed most of the virus present arrived from Europe instead, and took root in Februarywell before anyone thought about quarantining after a trip to Madrid, London or Paris.

Since February, when Dr. Daniel Griffin began treating patients suspected of having COVID-19, he's cared for more than 1,000 people with the disease, first noted for attacking the lungs. But the infection certainly does not stop there.

"I am actually shocked," said Griffin, a specialist in infectious diseases at New York's Columbia University Medical Center. "This virus seems to leave nothing untouched."

Scientists are getting a handle on the many ways the disease affects the body, but it's a scramble.

The lungs are, indeed, ground zero. Many patients find themselves gasping for breath, unable to say more than a word or two.

Even after five days in the hospital, Vivian Castro, the nurse who became infected, said she returned home struggling for air.

"I climbed two flights of stairs to my room and I felt like I was going to die," she said.

The reason why becomes clear in autopsies of those who have died, some with lungs that weigh far more than usual. Under a microscope, evidence of the virus' destruction is even more striking.

When Dr. Sanjay Mukhopadhyay examined autopsy samples from a 77-year-old Oklahoma man, he noted changes to the microscopic sacs in the patient's lungs. In a healthy lung, oxygen passes through the thin walls of those sacs into the bloodstream. But in the Oklahoma patient, the virus had turned the sac walls so thick with debris that oxygen was blocked.

The thickened walls "were everywhere," preventing the lungs from sustaining the rest of the body, said Mukhopadhyay, of Ohio's Cleveland Clinic.

Autopsies reveal "what the virus is actually doing" inside patient's bodies, said Dr. Desiree Marshall, a pathologist at the University of Washington who recently examined the heart of a Seattle man who died from disease.

"Each autopsy has the chance to tell us something new," she said. And those insights from the bodies of the dead could lead to more effective treatment of the living.

The coronavirus, though, keeps raising fresh questions. It left the hearts of two men in their 40s, recently treated by Griffin, flaccid and unable to pump enough blood. Some younger people have arrived in emergency rooms suffering strokes caused by blood clotting, another calling card.

Kidneys and livers fail in some patients and blood clots put limbs at risk of amputation. Some patients hallucinate or have trouble maintaining balance. Some get a treatable paralysis in arms or legs. Many have diarrhea, but often don't mention it until Griffin asks.

Their explanation? "That's the least of my problems when I can't breathe."

Initially, doctors often put patients on ventilators if their blood oxygen levels dropped. But death rates were so high they now try other strategies first, like turning patients on their stomachs, which can help them breathe. The truth is that hospital workers are learning as they go, sometimes painfully.

"Every patient that I see, I think that could've been me," said Dr. Stuart Moser, a cardiologist hospitalized in New York in March after he was infected. He recalls fearing that he might be put on a ventilator and wondering if he'd ever see his family again. Now, back at work, he said much of what he and his colleagues have learned about the virus' myriad effects enables them only to treat patients' symptoms.

"It's difficult because they have so many problems and there are so many patients," Moser said, "and you just want to do the right thinggive people the best chance to get better."

In recent weeks, researchers have recruited 3,000 patients from around the world in a bid to solve a puzzling anomaly. Why does the coronavirus ravage some previously healthy patients, while leaving others relatively unscathed?

The project, called the COVID Human Genetic Effort, focuses on each person's unique genetic makeup to seek explanations for why some got sick while others stay healthy. It's one of several projects looking for genetic causes of susceptibility, including recent work by other labs suggesting a link between blood type and risk of serious illness.

"Step one is understanding and step two is fixing. There is no other way," said one of the project's leaders, Jean-Laurent Casanova, of The Rockefeller University in New York. He is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also helps fund The Associated Press Health and Science Department.

His project focuses on people 50 or younger who had no health problems before the coronavirus put them in intensive care. But the question of why the disease affects people so differently has broader implications.

It's not clear, for example, why the disease has had such a limited impact on children, compared to other age groups. People older than 65 are well over 100 times more likely to be hospitalized for the virus than people under 18. But so far, there's no explanation why.

Do children resist infection for some reason? Or is it that, even when infected, they are less likely to develop symptoms? If so, what does that mean about their chances for passing the infection along to others, like their grandparents?

These aren't just academic questions. Answers will help in assessing the risks of reopening schools. And they could eventually lead to ways to help make older people resistant to the disease.

In largely sparing children, the pandemic virus echoes the bugs that caused SARS and MERS, said Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, a professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Florida.

Scientists wonder if children might have some key difference in their cells, such as fewer of the specialized proteins that the coronavirus latch onto. Or maybe their immune systems react differently than in adults.

While the virus has mostly bypassed children, researchers have recently been troubled by a serious, albeit uncommon, condition in some young patients, that can cause inflammation in hearts, kidneys, lungs and other organs. Most patients recovered, but the potential for long-term damage remains uncertain.

"This is what happens with a new virus," Rasmussen said. "There's a lot we don't know about it. We're on that steep learning curve.''

With states and countries reopening in the face of an ongoing pandemic, it's even more crucial to find solutions. At least the last few months have spotlighted the most critical questions.

Can people who have been infected with the disease get it again?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government's top infectious disease expert, has said that having the disease once should confer some degree of immunity. But it's not clear how much or for how long, or what levels or types of antibodies people must have to protect them against future illness.

If some people harbor the virus without symptoms, how can we block transmission?

The reality is that many infected people will never feel symptoms or get sick. That means temperature checks and other strategies based on symptoms won't be enough to stop it. Instead, many experts believe, widespread testing is needed to find silent carriers, isolate them until they are no longer contagious, and track down those they may have infected. Masks and distancing can help prevent infection and slow the spread of the virus.

Will researchers find medicines that can be used to treat the disease?

Hundreds of studies are under way, testing existing medicines and experimental ones. So far, only onea common steroid called dexamethasonehas been shown to increase survival. An antiviral medicine, remdesivir, has been shown to shorten recovery time. Two othersthe malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquinehave not proven safe or effective for treating COVID-19 in large-scale trials, but some studies are still testing them to see if they might help prevent infection or illness.

How long will it take to find a vaccine?

Scientists in more than 150 labs around the world are pursuing a vaccine and nearly two dozen candidates are in various stages of testing. But there's no guarantee any will pan out. Finding out if any offer true protection will require testing thousands of people in places where the virus is spreading widely. Some huge studies are expected to begin this month.

"It's almost the Manhattan Project of today, where an enormous amount of resources are being devoted to this," said Rene Najera, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University and the editor of a vaccine history website run by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

In the U.S., the goal is to have 300 million doses of potential vaccines by January. But any that fail tests will have to be thrown out. The World Health Organization has called for equitable sharing of any eventual vaccine between rich and poor countries, but how that will happen is far from clear.

It's also uncertain how useful any vaccine will be if a sizable number of people, their skepticism fed by misinformation, refuse to be inoculated.

Even an effective vaccine will not address the likelihood that, given the large number of coronaviruses and increasing contact between people and the animals harboring them, the world is very likely to face other pandemics, said Honigsbaum, the medical historian.

That means uncertainty will linger as a hallmark of the new normal.

The knowledge gained about the coronavirus could prove invaluable in defusing that doubt and, eventually, in defeating the enemy. The real uncertainty, Redlener said, is whether people will use the lessons learned to protect themselves from the virusor downplay the threat at their peril.

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Profile of a killer: Unraveling the deadly new coronavirus - ModernHealthcare.com

COVID-19 could directly affect the heart – Medical News Today

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A recent stem cell study has shown that SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, can infect heart cells via the same receptor present in the lungs. This may be responsible for the cardiac complications associated with COVID-19.

Experts initially thought that COVID-19 was a respiratory disease, with symptoms including cough, shortness of breath, and pneumonia. However, more recent evidence into COVID-19 shows that the disease can also cause neurological and cardiac symptoms.

Physicians have reported changes to the circulatory system in people with COVID-19, sometimes leading to blood clots, as well as cardiac complications, such as changes to the heart rhythm, damage to heart tissue, and heart attacks.

Although there is widespread agreement that COVID-19 is a risk to the heart, whether these symptoms are due to the virus directly or a consequence of other disease processes, such as inflammation, has been unclear.

Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment.

In a new study appearing in the journal Cell Reports Medicine, scientists have helped resolve this mystery by showing that SARS-CoV-2 can infect heart cells and change their function.

Their findings, from experiments in human stem cells, suggest that the cardiac symptoms of COVID-19 may be the direct result of the infection of heart tissue.

The scientists used a type of stem cell called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to generate heart cells.

Scientists can create iPSCs from a persons skin cells and then reprogram them to become any cell type in the body. They provide a useful tool for research into human disease and a way to test new treatments.

In this study, the team programmed the iPSCs to become heart cells and later incubated them with SARS-CoV-2. Using microscopes and genetic sequencing techniques, the researchers found that SARS-CoV-2 could directly infect the heart cells.

They also showed that the virus can rapidly divide inside heart cells, which caused changes to the hearts ability to beat after a period of under 3 days.

We not only uncovered that these stem cell-derived heart cells are susceptible to infection by [the] novel coronavirus, but that the virus can also quickly divide within the heart muscle cells, explains first study author Dr. Arun Sharma, a research fellow at the Regenerative Medicine Institute of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA.

Additional experiments focused on the different genes expressed by heart cells before and after the virus infected them. These studies showed activation of the innate immune response and antiviral clearance pathways to help fight the virus.

However, how does the virus get into the heart in the first place? The researchers suggest that one way in which it gains access may be by using angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). This is the same receptor the virus uses to infect cells in the lungs.

Importantly, studies have shown that treatment with an ACE2 antibody can help stop SARS-CoV-2 from replicating and save cells in the heart.

By blocking the ACE2 protein with an antibody, the virus is not as easily able to bind to the ACE2 protein, and thus cannot easily enter the cell. This not only helps us understand the mechanisms of how this virus functions, but also suggests therapeutic approaches that could be used as a potential treatment for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Dr. Arun Sharma

The researchers suggest that scientists could use stem cell-derived heart cells to screen new drugs and find compounds able to stop the infection of heart cells.

This key experimental system could be useful to understand the differences in disease processes of related coronaviral pathogens SARS and MERS, adds study author Dr. Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami, an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

There are some limitations to this approach, however. These include the fact that stem cell-derived heart cells are not exactly the same as the real thing.

The researchers also studied the cells in a dish, an isolated system lacking the immune interactions that would occur in the human body.

Nevertheless, the experiments clearly showed that the cells became infected with SARS-CoV-2, which is in line with some clinical data showing the virus in the hearts of people who died from COVID-19.

For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.

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COVID-19 could directly affect the heart - Medical News Today

U of T scientists uncover key process in the manufacture of ribosomes and proteins – News@UofT

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Researchers at the University of Toronto have shown that an enzyme called RNA polymerase (Pol) II drives generation of the building blocks of ribosomes, the molecular machines that manufacture all proteins in cells based on the genetic code.

The discovery reveals a previously unknown function for the enzyme in the nucleolus, the site of ribosome manufacture inside of human cells, where the enzyme had not been seen before. Pol II is one of three RNA polymerases that together enable cells to transfer genetic information from DNA to RNA and then proteins.

Our study redefines the division of labour among the three main RNA polymerases, by identifying Pol II as a major factor in the control of nucleolar organizations underlying protein synthesis, said Karim Mekhail, a professor of laboratory medicine and pathobiology at U of T. It also provides a tool for other researchers to interrogate the function of certain nucleic acid structures more precisely across the genome.

The journal Nature published the results today.

Mekhail and his colleagues found that inside the nucleolus, Pol II enables the expression of ribosomal RNA genes a key step in the creation of ribosomes, essential molecular complexes that make proteins in all cells. Pol II, they showed, generates R-loops hybrid DNA-RNA structures that directly shield ribosomal RNA genes from molecular disruptors called sense intergenic non-coding RNAs (or sincRNAs).

Those disruptors are produced by Pol I in intergenic, non-protein-coding sequences of DNA between genes, and they become more active in various conditions: disruption of Pol II, under environmental stress, and in Ewing sarcoma.

Pol II puts the brakes on Pol I and prevents sincRNAs from sinking the nucleolus, said Mekhail, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Spatial Genome Organization. Thats how we united the name and action of the disruptors in our discussions of this work.

Mekhail and his team developed a new technology to test the function of R-loops at specific locations on chromosomes, which they dubbed the red laser system.

The existing tool in the field would obliterate R-loops across the whole genome, but we wanted to test the function of R-loops associated with a given genetic locus, said Mekhail. We were able to turn an old technology into a modern laser-guided missile, which we are still working to further improve.

Two U of T students were co-lead authors on the study Karan (Josh) Abraham and Negin Khosraviani and Mekhail said they made exceptional and complementary contributions to the research.

Abraham, an MD/PhD student, began work on the project in 2014.

I pursued this work having observed enrichment of Pol II at ribosomal DNA genes in the nucleolus, which was compelling, said Abraham, who will finish his medical training next year. Its incumbent upon every scientist to challenge existing models should the evidence support an alternate one.

A doctoral student who joined the lab in 2018, Khosraviani said teamwork and time management were critical.

We could not have completed this research without the help and dedication of our entire lab. Coordination with local and international collaborators was also essential.

Mekhails team worked with colleagues across U of T and affiliated hospitals on the study, and with international collaborators at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Miami.

Next steps based on this research could include exploration of sincRNAs and nucleolar disorganization as biomarkers for various cancers, and whether tumours with those features respond to drugs that target intergenic Pol I or II.

COVID-19 has been devastating, but other diseases have not stopped, said Mekhail, who temporarily closed his physical lab space during the pandemic but has continued working with his team to analyze and publish results. For example, cancer is still rampant and affecting peoples lives. We have to do what we can and look forward to building on the progress weve made as soon as possible.

This research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada Research Chairs, U.S. National Institutes of Health, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program, and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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U of T scientists uncover key process in the manufacture of ribosomes and proteins - News@UofT

Video: An infectious disease expert explains the results from Moderna’s latest vaccine trials – The Conversation US

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Biotech company Moderna, one of many organizations developing a vaccine for COVID-19, published results from an early-stage test of its experimental mRNA vaccine in the New England Journal of Medicine July 14. Vanderbilt University Medical Center staff scientist and protein chemistry expert Sanjay Mishra explains what the results of the phase 1 trial mean.

They were testing for two things the proof of concept, and whether there are any side effects.

The results that just came out in the New England Journal of Medicine are interim. We have to be really clear about it.

This particular batch of results is from 45 adults between the ages of 18 and 55 who were not screened for infection [for COVID-19]. So we would call them healthy adults, although no serology or PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests were done before the trial began.

They were given one of the three doses 25, 100 or 250 micrograms. More than half the participants had discomfort, like fatigue, chills, headaches, myalgia (muscle pain) and pain at the injection site. After 28 days, the exact same dose was given a second time. After the second dose, these events of discomfort were far more common. But in general, you can say there was nothing severe reported. And then on the 29th day, blood was drawn.

These blood samples were tested for their antibody response. They found that the antibody responses, as you would expect, were higher with the higher dose. They were slightly higher than what you would expect to see in patients who had been recovering from a coronavirus infection.

They tested these things in three different ways. One of these is where you are testing the quantity of antibodies made. Then they also tested the efficacy of these antibodies in the serum through two different methods. All in all, it does seem that there is binding and neutralization of the virus.

But the second batch of results, which is from the older patients, has still not been announced. So that would be coming farther down the line. After that, they hope to come up with the third batch of results, which will include the durability of immunity from both of these age groups in one batch.

[You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help. Read The Conversations newsletter.]

The results are promising. At least they proved the concept. The results show that when you give this vaccine, the body makes antibodies. But we dont know whether those antibodies will lead to immunity in the body because all of the results that we have are observed outside the body [in blood samples].

And so that proof will come from a larger data set in the next stage. Then we would know whether the people who have received these vaccines are at least 50% less likely to become infected [to meet FDA guidelines for vaccine efficacy]. So they are good results, they are promising results, but they are pretty early in the game, so to speak.

Vaccines are meant to train the immune system to attack the disease-causing virus. In the case of SARS-CoV-2, there is a spike protein, or the S-protein, which is the flag that the immune system needs to recognize as the signature of the virus. So the goal of a vaccine is to train your immune system to recognize the S-protein, and then trigger the immune response. This S-protein is the standard in all coronaviruses, thats why theyre called coronaviruses, because the corona is the crown.

Traditionally, the vaccines involved either a weakened virus, or a preparation of the virus that would have contained (in this case) the spike protein. In the cleanest method you would have produced the spike protein in the lab and then you would have used that as the immunization candidate.

All those methods are time-consuming and require extensive quality control. And usually there is a lot of headache in scaling up from lab to production. Modernas vaccine and another candidate vaccine bypasses this process by using mRNA , or messenger RNA. It is genetic coding material which will help your body produce that protein. This way you dont have to deal with the production of the protein in the lab and risk creating an impure protein sample, which can be clinically difficult to standardize and then can be dangerous as well.

So in this case, what youre giving is not the protein or part of the virus, but a synthetic messenger RNA in a lipid droplet.

I feel cautiously optimistic. The study provides promising data on the safety and immunogenicity, or the ability to provoke an immune response. It is a good starting point for training the immunity of the body. But if I can paraphrase Robert Frost, we still have miles to go before we sleep.

Vaccine development is complex and theres a lot more work that needs to be done before this can become an actual marketable candidate.

This first batch of data is from the 18- to 55-year-old group. We do not know what the dosing would be for the older age group, which is the most vulnerable to COVID-19. As we age, we do not produce as many antibodies, which generally leads to poor vaccine response. So the question is: Will they have to go for a higher dose, which is usually the case in flu vaccines. The higher dosage, which is 250 micrograms, has led to somewhat more severe side effects in this study. So then how would that be balanced? It is still difficult to say.

There are 178 COVID-19 vaccines in various stages of development and 14 are leading to human trials, including from AstraZeneca and others. There are more potential candidates from Merck, Johnson & Johnson and others. There is a similar vaccine that is already being tested by Pfizer and BioNTech, and that has also shown positive results at the lower doses.

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Video: An infectious disease expert explains the results from Moderna's latest vaccine trials - The Conversation US

Shifting from Treatment to Prevention in Alzheimer’s Research – Michigan Medicine

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Researchers are also examining how parts of the body, other than the brain, may play a role in disease development. Studies have looked into the effect various medications individuals are already taking, such as insulin, and theyre finding promising results.

A study looking at inhaled insulin showed some cognitive and amyloid-tau distribution improvements, but the type of inhaler seemed to make a big difference. Other approaches include studying gingivitis and other markers of inflammation, which Giordani says may help track the disease process earlier on as well.

Giordani also detailed the importance of understanding how the disease manifests in different groups of individuals. For example, the network of tau distribution (another Alzheimers disease pathological hallmark) in the brain of women is very different than men as the disease starts, he said, as Alzheimers disease has been found to affect more women than men.

Researchers have also been interested in studying the disease in the LGBTQ community. Older individuals with dementia from the [LGBTQ] community tend to live alone. They tend not to be partnered, they dont tend to have children who can take care of them, [and] so this can lead to very significant difficulty, Giordani explained.

Finally, Giordani described a new dementia classification called LATE, for individuals who develop dementia in their 80s and later. This is a disease that looks like Alzheimers disease, but its related to a different protein, he described, which in turn causes them to not respond well to Alzheimers treatment drugs.

No matter who you are, risk reduction may be the key to avoiding Alzheimers disease, Giordani claims. Researchers have discovered that adopting four to five low-risk factors or preventative habits lowers the risk significantly, even for individuals with a high genetic risk.

Exercise activities, social and emotional support, maintaining our general health, challenging our brain and watching our diet: these are five things we can all do to protect our brain, Giordani said.

The Michigan Alzheimers Disease Centers next virtual lecture is July 21, featuring Scott Roberts, Ph.D., discussing Can Alzheimers Disease be Prevented? Sign up on the centers website.

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Shifting from Treatment to Prevention in Alzheimer's Research - Michigan Medicine

Study identifies gene variations that increase susceptibility to Covid-19 – ThePrint

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New Delhi: It is six months into the pandemic and scientists across the world have been publishing research findings nearly every day to improve understanding into the novel coronavirus.

Here are some of the latest research findings on Covid-19.

Scientists have identified a host of genetic factors that may influence susceptibility to Covid-19 and help guide personalised treatments for the infection.

While a majority of confirmed Covid-19 cases result in mild symptoms, the virus can unpredictably cause severe illness and death. Clinical observations suggest that genetic factors may influence disease susceptibility, but these factors remain largely unknown.

In the study, researchers have examined variations in DNA sequences in the ACE2 and TMPRSS2 genes, which produce enzymes that enable the virus to enter and infect human cells.

Looking at 81,000 human genomes from three genomic databases, they have identified over 60 variations in both genes that offer potential explanations for different genetic susceptibility to Covid-19 as well as for risk factors.

These findings demonstrate a possible association between ACE2 and TMPRSS2 variants and Covid-19 susceptibility, and indicate that a systematic investigation of these variants among different populations could pave the way for precision medicine and personalised treatment strategies for Covid-19.

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Also read: Low-cost hepatitis C drugs reduce death rate in Covid-19 patients, researchers claim

Even mildly obese people are at greater risk of suffering from severe Covid-19 infection or even dying from it, according to a new study.

Published in the European Journal of Endocrinology, the findings showed that BMI over 30 was associated with a significantly higher risk of respiratory failure, admission to intensive care and death in Covid-19 patients, regardless of age, gender and other associated diseases.

Current guidelines in the UK and the US identify those having BMI above 40 to be at greater risk of Covid-19. However, researchers have said that these recommendations were based on smaller studies and limited data.

The new study analysed the outcomes of almost 500 patients hospitalised with Covid-19. They found that obesity was associated with a significantly higher risk of severity and death. The researchers also found that any BMI higher than 30 was associated with adverse outcomes.

A common drug heparin, already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), can help block the SARS-CoV-2 virus from infecting human cells, a study has found.

Heparin, usually used as a blood thinner, is also available in non-anticoagulant varieties.

A study published in the Antiviral Research states that the drug can bind tightly with the surface spike protein, potentially blocking infection.

The drug may be administered using a nasal spray or nebulizer to lower the odds of infection. Similar strategies have already shown promise in curbing other viruses, including influenza A, Zika, and dengue, researchers have said.

Scientists have developed a surface coating which, when painted on common objects such as door knobs, light switches and shopping carts, can inactivate SARS-CoV-2 within an hour.

The team from Virginia Tech hopes to further improve this antiviral coating so that it inactivates the virus in minutes. Usually, the virus can survive on surfaces, especially metals, for several days.

When the coating is painted on glass or stainless steel, the amount of virus is reduced by 99.9 per cent in one hour, researchers have said in a study published in the ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

The researchers have said that the coating does not peel off even after being scraped with a razor blade. It also retains its ability to inactivate the virus after multiple rounds of being exposed to it.

Scientists have created a new non-invasive method to detect SARS-CoV-2 viruses from gargled solution.

The method, which is currently undergoing improvements and might be available as standard diagnostic tool for Covid-19 in the future, uses mass spectrometry to detect proteins of the virus.

Currently, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the most prominent test method being used to detect whether someone suffers from Covid-19 infection. This tests looks for genetic material of the virus, and is unable to differentiate between live viruses and viral residues.

Mass spectrometry allows molecules to be precisely identified based on their mass and charge.

The procedure to obtain samples for the PCR tests is invasive, requiring paramedics to take swab samples from the back of the throat and nasal cavity.

For the new test, the virus can be detected from gargled samples. The test currently takes about 15 minutes. However it may take a few months to be completely ready.

Also read: Disruption in healthcare services due to Covid may increase HIV, TB deaths, says Lancet study

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Study identifies gene variations that increase susceptibility to Covid-19 - ThePrint

Fake News Alert: No Lockdown Will be Imposed in Jammu From Tomorrow | Heres The Truth – India.com

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Jammu And Kashmir Lockdown Extension News: After news reports surfaced that a total lockdown has been imposed in active red zones of Jammu region to contain the spread of coronavirus, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday issued a clarification saying the report is just a rumour and there is no truth in it. Also Read - Lockdown Extension News: This State to go Under Complete Lockdown After July 21

No lockdown will be imposed in Jammu from tomorrow. The news regarding this is baseless and just a rumour, the Divisional Commissioner of Jammu region said in a statement. Also Read - Community Spread of COVID-19 Has Started in India, Cases Penetrating Down Into Towns

Issuing another statement, the Srinagar District Administration said that the Containment Zones are declared wherever cluster of COVID-19 cases emerge. Subsequent perimeter restrictions adopted as per notified Health guidelines. The red zones will see a 100% lockdown and shall be sealed for any movement, Srinagar District Magistrate Shahid Choudhary said. Also Read - Nine Bangladesh Cricketers to Resume Individual Training From Sunday

The development comes as reports surfaced that strict lockdown restrictions were imposed on Saturday in parts of Jammu and Kashmirs Rajouri district following a spike in coronavirus cases, officials said.

The entire Rajouri city and adjoining areas were sealed and people were asked to stay indoors as part of the efforts to slow the spread of the infection, reports said.

A partial lockdown was imposed in Srinagar by designating over 60 containment zones amid a surge in coronavirus cases over the past week. The lockdown will be imposed in 68 containment zones of the city from Monday and no movement would be allowed in these areas without permission.

The decision to reimpose the lockdown in these areas of city was taken at a meeting late Saturday evening, the officials said.

While the union territory administration had first announced a lockdown across Jammu and Kashmir on March 22 as part of its efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus, restrictions were imposed in many parts of the valley, including in the city, on March 19 after the UT saw its first positive case from Srinagar.

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Fake News Alert: No Lockdown Will be Imposed in Jammu From Tomorrow | Heres The Truth - India.com

Navigating ‘information pollution’ with the help of artificial intelligence – Penn: Office of University Communications

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Theres still a lot thats not known about the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, the disease it causes. What leads some people to have mild symptoms and others to end up in the hospital? Do masks help stop the spread? What are the economic and political implications of the pandemic?

As researchers try to address many of these questions, many of which will not have a simple yes or no answer, people are also trying to figure out how to keep themselves and their families safe. But between the 24-hour news cycle, hundreds of preprint research articles, and guidelines that vary between regional, state, and federal governments, how can people best navigate through such vast amounts of information?

Using insights from the field of natural language processing and artificial intelligence, computer scientist Dan Roth and the Cognitive Computation Group are developing an online platform to help users find relevant and trustworthy information about the novel coronavirus. As part of a broader effort by his group to develop tools for navigating information pollution, this platform is devoted to identifying the numerous perspectives that a single query might have, showing the evidence that supports each perspective and organizing results, along with each sources trustworthiness, so users can better understand what is known, by whom, and why.

Creating these types of automated platforms represents a huge challenge for researchers in the field of natural language processing and machine learning because of the complexity of human language and communication. Language is ambiguous. Every word, depending on context, could mean completely different things, says Roth. And language is variable. Everything you want to say, you can say in different ways. To automate this process, we have to get around these two key difficulties, and this is where the challenge is coming from.

Thanks to numerous conceptual and theoretical advances, the Cognitive Computational Groups fundamental research in natural language understanding has allowed them to apply their research insights and to develop automated systems that can better understand the contents of human language, such as what is being written about in a news article or scientific paper. Roth and his team have been working on issues related to information pollution for many years and are now applying what theyve learned to information about the novel coronavirus.

Information pollution comes in many forms, including biases, misinformation, and disinformation, and because of the sheer volume of information the process of sorting fact from fiction needs automated support. Its very easy to publish information, says Roth, adding that while organizations like FactCheck.org, a project of Penns Annenberg Public Policy Center, manually verify the validity of many claims, theres not enough human power to fact check every claim being posted on the Internet.

And fact checking alone isnt enough to address all of the problems of information pollution, says Ph.D. student Sihao Chen. Take the question of whether people should wear face masks: The answer to that question has changed dramatically in the past couple months, and the reason for that change is multi-faceted, he says. You couldnt find an objective truth attached to that specific question, and the answer to that question is context-dependent. Fact checking alone doesnt solve this problem because theres no single answer. This is why the team says that identifying various perspectives along with evidence that supports them is important.

To help address both of these hurdles, the COVID-19 search platform visualizes results that include a sources level of trustworthiness while also highlighting different perspectives. This is different from how online search engines display information, where top results are based on popularity and keyword match and where its not easy to see how the arguments in articles compare to one another. On this platform, however, instead of displaying articles on an individual basis, they are organized based on the claims they make.

Search engines make a point not to touch the information and not to give suggestions and organize this material, says Roth. The redundancy of information by itself is quite often misleading and leads to bias, since people tend to think that seeing something many times makes it more correct. Here, if there are 500 articles that are saying the same thing, we cluster them together and say, All these articles are quoting the same sources, so just focus on one of them. Then, these other articles are interviewing other people and making different claims, so you can sample from different clusters.

When visiting the website, users can enter a question, claim, or topic into the search bar, and results are grouped together based on the similarity of perspectives. Since everything is set up to be automated, the researchers are eager to share this first iteration of the platform with the community so they can improve the language-processing models. Its a community effort, says Roth, adding that their platform was designed to be transparent and open source so that they can easily collaborate with others.

Chen hopes that their efforts support both the users who are interested in sorting through COVID-19 information pollution as well as fellow researchers in the field of natural language processing. We want to help everyone whos interested in reading news like this, and at the same time we want to build better techniques to accommodate that need, says Chen.

Dan Roth is the Eduardo D. Glandt Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

The online search platform is available on the Penn Information Pollution project website.

Additional information and resources on COVID-19 are available at https://coronavirus.upenn.edu/.

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Navigating 'information pollution' with the help of artificial intelligence - Penn: Office of University Communications

Personal Insights: From Kinsale to Iran and the human kindness I will never forget – Irish Examiner

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Overlander Paul Moody was on a road trip from Kinsale to Australia experiencing a breakdown in a remote area of Iran. A good Samaritan came to his rescue and the humanity of man will stay with him forever.

SEPTEMBER was hot as hell as we hammered through the desert on our way to the isolated city of Zahedan to catch some sleep.

The empty ribbon of tarmac disappeared into the shimmering landscape, and the mountains bordering Pakistan only seemed to get further away. We still have 150 kilometres to go, Wil volunteered, a fact I was fully aware of.

With only a day left to exit Iran before our transit visas expired, there really wasnt much time to lose.

We are in Balochistan; an area the size of France which is neither a country nor state, but a region that embraces the borders of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Seldom visited by tourists, it is a bleak, brown, arid, rocky desert and mountainous region; populated by millions of fiercely independent Baluchis, denied a nationhood by colonialists, who carved up their lands as spoils of war a century ago.

This is also a troubled Separatist and Taliban region where the rule of law is tenuous. With a history of kidnapping, robbery and drug smuggling, the stress of our predicament was only compounded.

I gazed across at my son, Wil, sitting in the passenger seat. He was beginning to doze off, no doubt dreaming of his impending final year at university and the hopeful excitement of his first overland trip with his old man.

The engine suddenly screamed as I swiftly took my heavy foot from the accelerator and cut the motor. The temperature gauge was now in the red zone as I veered off the track, coming to a halt in the soft sand. Steam was wheezing under the bonnet as we jumped out of the cool of the cab into the searing heat of the midday sun. We looked at each other and without need for words, we knew we were in trouble.

I have driven this Toyota Hilux on extended overland trips for more than ten years; armed with two spare wheels, 40 litres of diesel and a toolkit just in case, with little else. Having driven around the world, I am out here now to do it again, taking a different route on our way to Australia. Ive been lucky so far, meaning my skillset doesnt match the toolkit. I tap the radiator with a spanner, and to no surprise, the steam persists.

We tried to assess the problem

We tried to assess the problem as the radiator gurgled and hissed. What the hell do we do now? asked Wil. The comfort of air conditioning and a functioning engine were gone. We checked our water supplies, just shy of ten litres, Wil told me with a sigh. All of a sudden the track ahead looked scabby and wind-blown. The road was pocked with patches of dirty sand reclaiming our lifeline to Pakistan. It was quiet now, eerily so.

Our entry into Iran had been fraught with difficulty as we were held at the Turkish border for three days due to paperwork irregularities. British citizens arent permitted to cross land borders into Iran without an official permit and guide, so we were lucky they didnt notice I was British from my passport as my thumb comfortably covered the Great Britain, leaving only Northern Ireland for them to see.

Wils Irish passport was our golden ticket. After a rejected Carnet de Passage incurred a hefty penalty, we were sent on our way with a five day transit visa to cross 2500 kilometres of Irans merciless terrain. We loved Iran so far, the people and the ancient cities of Esfahan and Bam in particular, following the Silk Roads of old, regretting we could not linger for longer.

This is a very lonely, little used road crossing the Dasht-e Lut Desert and we are still hours from our planned overnight destination, with no settlement in between. After an hour of sheltering from the scorching sun and swirling dust, I flagged down a battered truck whose driver was soon under the bonnet prodding and probing the fan belts and seals.

With no common language between us, I understood his shrug and barrage of Farsi enough that the engine was shot. The truck driver was soon into the cool of his cab and on his way with a wave, promising to send someone back from Zahedan to rescue us.

A plume of black smoke puthered from his exhaust as he roared into the distance, signalling our own lost hopes as they dispersed into the blazing afternoon sky. We descended into a gloom, hoping the next truck that came along would stop and give us a tow.

Salaam we called twenty minutes later as a little car arrived and the driver soon gave a shrug and shake of the head, confirming the truck drivers opinion that we are in trouble.

Ahmed is a Baluchi with the dark features of a Pakistani Sunni Muslim

Ahmed is a Baluchi with the dark features of a Pakistani Sunni Muslim, in long loose shirt and baggy trousers in crumpled cream. Baluchis are distrusted by the Shiite majority Iranians, who look and dress very differently. We are tiptoeing on the cultural frontier.

I flashed our rope and waved my arms in an appeal for a tow. He gave me a weary look and nodded as I swiftly hooked up our heavy truck to his mini car. Ahmed invited Wil to sit with him in the car whilst I slouched back in the Toyota.

It was now mid-afternoon and still extremely hot as his car wheels spun in the sand, rocking backwards and forwards as he tried to gain traction. We finally got underway nearly two hours after this unscheduled stop.

Twenty minutes later we rumbled to a halt with Ahmeds own motor steaming. I was incredulous that such a tiny engine in this extreme heat had been able to haul us at all.

The little car was soon back to its labours as I closely followed in tow watching the animated exchanges between Wil and Ahmed, with not a word of a common language between them. It transpired our Samaritan shared his time between his two wives five hours apart. He drove this route weekly fulfilling his obligations as a good family man.

After three hours crawling through the desert, we reached the far off mountains. Slowly we inched our way to the summit of the first pass where Ahmed stopped to unhitch the tow rope motioning me to freewheel down the mountain track into the unknown. I hurtled along in fear with neither air conditioning, power assisted steering, nor brakes, the rumble of the tyres squealing around the bends in the road leading to Zahedan.

I lost count of how many times we rested and watered our little tow truck. With a second mountain pass to cross, the daylight faded and the heat mercifully receded. Hours later the first stars twinkled as we reached our destination with its fearsome reputation.

Foreigners are warned that there is only one safe place to stay

This outpost was not a garage but a parts provider surrounded by workshops, all manned by independent mechanics who quickly surrounded us with the prospect of a pay day from two very gullible overland travellers.

Three of them were soon under the bonnet with torches and spanners probing for the source of the problem but it was quickly established that not one had the experience of diesel engines, which are a rarity in Iran. After twenty frustrating minutes one asked me to start the motor and with trepidation I turned the key. To my surprise it roared back into life and my new found mechanics stood back in dismay as a financial opportunity slipped away.

I too had a mix of emotions of both relief and concern that the engine would quickly overheat again, but it never did.

With embarrassment I turned to Ahmed who broke into a wide smile revealing nearly a full set of yellowing teeth that I had not seen before. For hours he had tugged my lump of a truck from the desert over two mountain ranges reducing the life of his little car by half, I am sure.

I took him to one side and proffered my gratitude in cash but he declined with a wave of his hand and his new found smile inviting us to overnight in his home.

My internal dialogue was host to a dilemma. Zahedans dangerous reputation gnawed at me, along with our reservation in the safety of the Esteghlal Grand Hotel. But what do I do? What do I do after this man has been so kind thus far, and has further offered the hand of friendship?

Ahmed bounced along the dark dirt roads into his bleak neighbourhood with no street lights. I followed closely, wrought with fear for possibly making the most foolish decision in my most sensible life. We soon arrived at the tall, steel gates of his compound. He tooted his horn and the gates were opened by a small, shadowy figure into a concrete yard with three small building blocks now in my headlights.

We arrived physically and mentally exhausted, sixteen hours after departing Kerman that morning, but adrenalin kicked in as we alighted into Ahmeds home.

Two dogs were howling to each other somewhere in the still darkness, which added to the tension. We were eased with a welcome from the shadowy gatekeeper, Ahmeds brother; a younger, more stocky figure than his gangly elder. We never did grasp his name nor of another silent friend who emerged from the darkness on this warm and sultry night.

The only illumination came through the open doorway of one building block, emitted by a bulb dangling from the high ceiling; television and occasional giggles and laughter could be heard from a second. A little girl suddenly appeared, flinging her arms around her daddys leg whilst trying to hide behind his baggy trousers from these two strange looking travellers, who had appeared from nowhere.

A gesture to remove our boots was made. We were ushered through the open doorway into a poorly lit large square room, furnished only by several layers of carpet. Decoration was a large tapestry along a wall and numerous cushions scattered for comfort. There was no furniture to speak of. Ahmeds exquisite rug was our home for the evening.

Brother invited us to join him

Brother was charming and hospitable as he engaged with us in his fractured English, wanting to know all about us. Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you going? Why? It would be a lie to say I was not feeling unsettled; Wil, however, seemed at ease, and took to answering his questions with enthusiasm. I took this as a pre kidnap interview.

We were soon poring over the maps of our overland route from Ireland as they tried to grasp our story that sounds farfetched even to ourselves. We are an adventurous family with a passion for travel, possibly inspired by my own travels in this Hilux, which was now parked in their yard.

With a succession of friends and family I had crossed more than eighty countries on numerous trips of up to a month at a time, leaving the truck to return home to fulfil family and work responsibilities. Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia and the Americas had all been crossed but not fully explored.

Our daughter Camilla was emigrating to Australia, so we decided to drive her part way to Istanbul airport, then carry on the road trip to meet up with her in Adelaide. We all decided to share the experience between us in driving stages to France, Italy, Croatia and Istanbul where we said our tearful farewells. Wil and I had taken up the Istanbul to New Delhi part of the drive through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and into India each with its cross border challenges.

Zahedan was the last Iranian stop before Pakistan and this is the first ever breakdown on my entire travels, and it was not even a breakdown.

Brother wanted to know more about where we live in Ireland and the pictures of Kinsale were beyond his comprehension living in a brown arid landscape and far from a sea that he had never seen. Wil and he really bonded and I began to relax a little but not entirely.

Ahmed kept appearing with food from the block house adjacent which I assumed was the family domain and during our entire stay saw no one else. I made a brief excursion to the ablutions block which defied description and was not a place to linger.

Brother and Wil started playing chess with gusto, and I admired my son for his social skills in changing a negative into a positive situation as they whooped and groaned as the game developed. We looked on with shrugs and smiles being unable to communicate anymore. The little girl fell asleep snuggled into Ahmeds lap and smiling he gently took her into his arms and swept out of the room returning with blankets for us.

We took this as the time for sleep

We plumped up the cushions, switched off the light and snuggled down under scratchy blankets, tired but unable to relax going over the events of the day and thinking about tomorrow. How safe are we, did the engine simply overheat, and will it happen again? The border crossing into Pakistan is an hour away through no mans land to the border town of Taftan described in the Lonely Planet not unfairly, as hell on earth. What are we doing here, a pensioner and his twenty year old son with his whole life ahead of him?

I dozed fitfully until a gap in the curtain let in the predawn and I was fully awake, still dressed and ready to go. Wil was in a deep sleep as I made for the chink of grey light and gently pulled it aside to focus on the yard. My Hilux was still where I left it and there are three bundles on the floor beside it that I hadnt noticed when we arrived only hours before.

I squinted and pulled the curtain wider for a better look before realising these bundles were our hosts wrapped in blankets sleeping on the concrete yard, protecting my beloved Hilux. I was astonished. They had given us their room for the night, showered us with kindness and hospitality, rescued us from the desert and, we, total strangers who were fearful of their motives and intentions were profoundly humbled. Shame on me.

I roused Wil whilst tidying the room and we were soon ready to go. As I drew back the curtain, Ahmed awoke from his slumber and with a broad smile waved us out into the yard in silence as we carefully stepped around the two remaining men fast asleep. Dawn was truly breaking as we motioned our desire to leave.

He took his key to open the large gate lock and pulled them open motioning us to reverse out. I inserted the key into the ignition and drew breath as I turned it. The engine spluttered into life and Brother and their silent friend flinched momentarily.

Ahmed in his little car guided us out of his neighbourhood back onto tarmac as we drove through the near deserted streets in the direction of the rising sun. He stopped and flagged us to wait whilst he crossed the road into a bakery returning with fresh bread and water for our journey. We thanked him profusely but still he declined a gesture of cash from us. I insisted that he took a gift for his beautiful daughter, which he accepted with demure.

He led us back into our car pointing us in the direction of the worrisome border crossing into Pakistan which we had to make with only hours to spare. We sounded our horn and drove away with sight of our Good Samaritan waving farewell, receding in our mirror.

Thoughts of the humanity of man and My Longest Day will stay with me forever.

* Paul Moody has enjoyed a life time of business and adventure in most countries of the world. He has driven his beloved Toyota Hilux twice around the world through more than eighty countries proving that the difficult is possible with grit and determination.

As part of the Personal Insights initiative we are asking readers, creative writing groups and writing enthusiasts in general to share personal essays chronicling an experience which has impacted their lives and any learnings from that life experience they would like to share with a wider audience.

The essays cann be sent via the form below or directly to the executive editor for news and digital, Dolan OHagan, at dolan.ohagan@examiner.ie for consideration.

Please note all submissions should be given the subject line Personal Insights submission to ensure they are picked up and should include any related imagery and a contact telephone number.

Only submissions which meet the Irish Examiners own strict journalistic, ethical and legal guidelines will be considered for publication.

The Irish Examiner reserves the right to edit submissions in line with those guidelines and before publication direct contact will be made with the person who has submitted the content.

No payment will be made for submissions and our decision as regards publication is final.

Our goal is to publish one submission per week and use all our powers to make sure it is seen by as wide an audience as possible.

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Personal Insights: From Kinsale to Iran and the human kindness I will never forget - Irish Examiner

Portland Police Bureau said it will stay away from peaceful protesters – KGW.com

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A number of gatherings are happening around Portland on Saturday. PPB released a statement saying it encourages peaceful demonstrations.

PORTLAND, Ore. Portland Police Bureau released a statement on Saturday stating that Portland police will not discourage peaceful demonstrations tonight.

This comes after Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty released a statement criticizing Mayor Ted Wheeler and Portland Police Bureau for its actions after a candlelight vigil she put together at the Multnomah County Justice Center.

PPB's statement said it would stay clear of peaceful protesters. It claimed that late Friday night police dispersed the crowd because it was throwing projectiles, setting off "commercial grade" fireworks, and using pieces of fence to block Justice Center doors.

Beginning tonight, command from the Federal Protective Service will not work in the Portland Police incident command center, police said. Police and federal officers worked side by side to disperse demonstrators last night.

There are various events planned around Portland for Saturday.

Artists gathered at Peninsula Park on Saturday from 3-6 p.m. in Portland to celebrate and elevate art and music by Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

The gathering, according to the Instagram post, was in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter and supporting movements. The post asked for people attending to wear masks and practice social distancing.

Then at 6 p.m. also at Peninsula Park, the Direct Action Alliance and other activists are holding an Abolish the Police rally. According to its tweet, it is asking people to show up in mass to demand the abolition of PPB and to protest the killing of BIPOC in America.

At around 8:50 p.m. a "Wall of Moms" dressed in white will march to the Multnomah County Justice Center to create a human barrier between Portland police and peaceful protesters.

There will also be a Black Lives Matter March for Justice which will begin at Holladay Park and march to Pioneer Square. The march will begin at 5 p.m. and end at 8 p.m.

There is also a Black Lives Matter occupy event from 4-9 p.m. at Lents Park. There will be performances by Mic Crenshaw and gues speakers.

This story will be updated.

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Portland Police Bureau said it will stay away from peaceful protesters - KGW.com

Taipei exhibition features art of death row inmates – Taipei Times

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By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter

A touring exhibition of works of art by people who have been on death row began yesterday at the Bopiliao Historic Block in Taipeis Wanhua District (), with organizers inviting people to ponder inmates potential to change and alternatives to the death penalty.

The Not Who We Were exhibition displays more than 20 calligraphy works or paintings by 15 people, including Cheng Hsing-tse (), who spent 14 years behind bars until he was acquitted in 2017.

Not every prison offers art classes, but he had the opportunity to learn Chinese painting from 2014 at a prison in Taichung, Cheng told a news conference.

Some inmates sent their work to family members, but in that way, members of society would not see how they had changed, he said.

The death penalty is not the only way to solve problems. I hope people can see the possibilities for inmates who are sentenced to death, he said.

The exhibition features a simulated prison ward of 1.368 ping (4.5m2) with one toilet and two beds.

Some people say that inmates live a comfortable life, but the simulated cell shows that the walled space with only one window is very narrow, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty executive director Lin Hsin-yi () said.

Death row inmates are usually known for their worst acts, but few know how they can transform after being in prison, Lin said.

The exhibition aims to encourage people to see the possibility of change in inmates and how that might be prompted through social assistance, she said.

Trade Office of Swiss Industries deputy director Beatrice Latteier, who also attended the opening, said she is impressed by the artwork and wished she could read the calligraphic characters so she could understand the creators mindsets.

For Switzerland, the promotion of human rights is an important concern and a foreign policy goal. The death penalty is against human rights and is neither a deterrent nor does it contribute to reconciliation, Latteier said.

Hopefully, Taiwanese society would be open to discuss the abolition of capital punishment, with both sides willing to communicate, she said.

The exhibition in Taipei runs through July 26 and would travel to Miaoli County from Aug. 1 to 9 and to Tainan from Aug. 22 to Sept. 3.

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Taipei exhibition features art of death row inmates - Taipei Times

Why nurses are joining the call for policing and prison abolition – SaltWire Network

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As people across North America protested police brutality and racism in late May, three nursing PhD candidates at Dalhousie University saw the need for nurses to take a stand.

So, Keisha Jefferies, Leah Carrier, andMartha Paynter came together to write a letter in early June. The letter called on nurses across the country to join the movement for police and prison abolition.

We feel its really necessary for our profession, if we are truly champions for public health, to confirm that by joining the movement, said Paynter in an interview Wednesday.

In the letter, the three friends highlight the ways in which police and prison are harmful.

In prisons, Black, Indigenous, and people of colour are disproportionately incarcerated and consequently bare what the letter refers to as the horror of prisons: isolation, restraints, infection, and injury.

To seek care while in prison requires compliance with traumatizing security protocols strip searching, observation, violations of confidentiality, the letter said.

The three colleagues believe nursing is a trusted and respected profession with a huge platform to advocate for communities experiencing harm.

Paynter said its also in the nature of nurses to intervene for the sake of their patients whether it was by administering medication or IV fluids.

What were saying is nurses need to adopt political interventions to change the course of social harm, she said.

The nurses also touched on the role of the police in the deaths of DAndre Campbell, who was shot by police in April in Ontario, and Regis Korchinski-Paquet, who fell from a Toronto balcony in May. The letter said the consequences of policing and prison challenge the efforts of nurses to provide care to their communities.

We will not have our work undone by police and prison systems, the letter reads.

The letter said any investment in reforming the police would be futile. Instead, governments should be investing in areas such as housing, education, and social assistance.

Why arent we deeply troubled by how the tables have turned to frankly dump money into policing, when policing does not work to eliminate harm? said Paynter.It actually creates not just harm but death in our communities.

Nurses are not the answer to the issue of policing, according to Paynter. But they can play a role in building public services that maintain the well-being of communities.

When these services are available, Paynter said policing and prisons would become unnecessary.

This is what she expects would happen if drugs were decriminalized.

Last week, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police released a statement to call on federal lawmakers to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of illegal drugs.

Paynter said the police shouldnt be championed for making the move this late. But if drugs were decriminalized nurses can help keep people safe by facilitating access to safe substances and providing all care thats associated with substance use.

While supporting community-based efforts to abolish policing is a priority for the three registered nurses, their letter also urges nurses in North America to start from within.

(We should) simultaneously be looking inward to see how our profession operates in a way that uses punishment and exclusion and discrimination in its operations, said Paynter.

Paynter gave an example for how nurses can be complicit in oppressing Black, Indigenous, and people of colour.

Nurses are taught to have really racist ideas about pain and policing access to pain relief based on those racist assumptions.

After releasing the letter in June, Paynter said about 1,000 people signed it. It was also translated into French, German, and Spanish.

But when she sent the letter to several nursing organizations across Nova Scotia and Canada, Paynter said she received no endorsements.

Our profession really struggles with divorcing itself from policing even though the evidence is clear that police brutality is one of the greatest infrastructures of systemic racism in this country, said Paynter.

She added that nursing organizations can start their fight against racism by increasing representation of Black, Indigenous and people of colour on their boards.

The letter Jefferies, Carrier, and Paynter wrote was published Wednesday in Public Health Nursing, a peer-reviewed journal.

Paynter said change is happening in policing and the nursing practice, but it needs to continue moving.

I envision nurses as really key leaders in a movement forward where police and prison do not exist.

Nebal Snan is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter, a positionfunded by the federal government.

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Why nurses are joining the call for policing and prison abolition - SaltWire Network

Abolishing Police Includes Abolishing ICE and Border Protection – Truthout

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In recent weeks, we have witnessed a historic reckoning over the meaning of policing in U.S. society. Thousands of people have collectively mourned the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and so many others, while demanding an end to the police violence that murdered them. Armed with riot gear, police have responded by unleashing weapons like rubber and real bullets and tear gas, which is banned in war. These police attacks against the people bolster the argument that the police cannot be reformed but must be abolished.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have reinforced these attacks.

On July 6, ICE announced it would reinstate rules prohibiting international students from enrolling in online courses. Although the COVID-19 crisis is worse than ever, compelling many universities and students to shift to online education in order to protect public health and save lives, this ICE directive targets international students for deportation and exclusion. It follows the White Houses onslaught of attacks against immigrants and migrants the border wall, the zero tolerance border policy, the Muslim ban, the attacks on DREAMers, and on and on.

Get the latest news and thought-provoking analysis from Truthout.

It also comes at a time of historic reckoning over the history of U.S. racism, particularly around the role of policing. Police have responded to protests against racist state violence with racist state violence deployed through rubber and real bullets and tear gas. These police attacks only bolster the argument that the police cannot be reformed but must be abolished.

These assaults on noncitizens, political dissenters and Black people do not stand alone, but in fact work together and emerge from shared foundations.

Indeed, ICE and CBP have reinforced police attacks on protesters.

Their participation in police violence reminds us of the tight connections between domestic policing and immigration enforcement, and why organizers pushing to dismantle policing and defend Black lives also demand that we #AbolishICE and #AbolishCBP. The webs connecting ICE, CBP and police show that policing is not just about official police departments. Policing is a means of social control over a society defined by structural inequalities by race, class, gender, immigration status and more. From its deep roots, policing grows multiple branches that extend in all directions, forming an entangled system of immigration, militarism and domestic state violence.

CBP and ICE officers have deployed to protests, even though their internal policies declare such public assemblies sensitive locations where they should not intrude for immigration enforcement. (Other sensitive locations include hospitals and churches.) However, there remains an exception to this rule. Both agencies can use their powers of arrest for criminal law. Even though immigration and criminal law are supposed to remain distinct arenas with separate enforcement agencies, courts and jurisdictions, the actions of CBP and ICE at protests work to dissolve any such distinction.

CBP has deployed drones and helicopters to provide aerial surveillance over protests in Detroit, Buffalo, Chicago, Washington, El Paso, San Diego and Minneapolis.

Especially concerning are its drones flying over Minneapolis, 250 miles from the U.S.-Canada border, well beyond its already expansive jurisdiction 100 miles from any U.S. border. Within this bloated area, CBP regularly searches people without probable cause, since Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures do not apply within the border zone. Its surveillance of Minneapolis protesters speaks to the expanding attacks on constitutional protections, in terms of space (beyond the 100-mile jurisdiction) and constitutional rights, including First Amendment rights to assembly and rights to privacy. This surveillance also shows an expansion of targets, as both citizens and noncitizens are being surveilled. These incursions on rights pose a grave danger not only to immigrants, but to democracy.

CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan boasted about these incursions on Twitter, as he sent officers to Washington, D.C.: These protests have devolved into chaos & acts of domestic terrorism. @CBP is answering the call. He used the label terrorist to delegitimize protesters and to legitimize state violence. Hundreds of CBP and ICE officers joined Washington, D.C., police to crush public assembly. They cleared the way for Donald Trumps photo op in front of St. Johns Church.

While the dangers of CBPs and ICEs expanding powers concern everyone in the U.S., these agents still overwhelmingly target our immigrant and Latinx neighbors. On June 3, five agents tackled, subdued and held at gunpoint a Puerto Rican man attending a protest in New York City. The mans Latinx identity suggests the agents used racial profiling to capture a person they suspected to be an immigrant. However, the agents dismissed the accusation by falsely claiming the man possessed a gun. Afterward, an ICE spokesperson asserted, ICE has the authority to make criminal arrests. This was not immigration related.

That mans U.S. citizenship gave him a modicum of protection from ICE that immigrants do not have. ICE colludes with local police to sweep up immigrant activists who have Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status. On May 30, Phoenix police arrested, detained and transferred three DACA-mented activists to ICE custody. Because the police charged them with felonies, including rioting, ICE can now launch deportation proceedings against them.

Anyone who seeks to abolish policing should be alarmed that ICE does not have to directly patrol protesters in order to ensnare them in its net. The entanglement between police forces and immigration enforcement did not start with these Black Lives Matter protests. They have been interlocking for decades.

ICE could seize the DACA-mented activists because of longstanding laws and policies that have increasingly entangled immigration and local law enforcement in shared policing, detention and data technologies.

For example, launched in 1996, the 287(g) program deputizes local police to enforce immigration law. A police officer can arrest a person for an immigration violation in the regular course of their duties, like while patrolling a Black Lives Matter protest.

The 287(g) program has often worked hand-in-hand with Secure Communities (S-Comm), which links local jails and prisons to federal criminal databases. Through S-Comm, ICE can ask local jails to hold an immigrant suspected of an immigration violation until its own agents can arrest, detain and deport the person.

S-Comm led to the deportations of nearly 400,000 people between 2009-2014. That the Trump administration promotes advancing the interoperability the collusion and data sharing among federal and local enforcement agencies at its base should alarm and mobilize us.

We need only to look to the agents policing protesters to see how this interoperability flows in both directions. ICE and CBP are there together, in force, exposing the flow not only from police to immigration agents, but also from immigration agents to police. And it is rooted not just in immigration-specific policies, like 287(g) and S-Comm, but also in criminal law.

For example, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 is infamous for its mandatory minimum prison sentences that filled prisons in ways that targeted Black people. The law also targeted immigrants. It mandated deportation for any drug violation and created the aggravated felony, a category of deportable offense that includes minor infractions that are neither aggravated nor felonies and that applies only to immigrants. Laws like this work together with mundane law enforcement tactics like broken windows policing. Such policing has inflicted violence on Black and Brown communities and fed immigrant detention and deportation pipelines.

The deployment of ICE and CBP to recent protests expands the power of law enforcement to subdue public assemblies. Yet it also targets solidarity, threatening deportation against immigrant activists. This targeting suggests the danger that solidarity poses to our unjust, inequitable social order and to the police that uphold it.

The calls to abolish ICE and CBP are enmeshed with the decades-long movements to abolish policing and prisons. #AbolishICE and (to a lesser extent) #AbolishCBP gained mainstream media attention in 2018 in response to Trumps zero tolerance border policy and ensuing family separations. But these calls started with the very creation of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and CBP in 2003.

Their roots reach back even further, emerging from groundwork laid by movements to abolish institutions of state violence. Organizations like Critical Resistance have brought together criticisms of the U.S. military, police and prisons, and how such institutions target and criminalize a range of oppressed people, including Black people and immigrants, for removal from society via incarceration, deportation and hyper-aggressive policing of certain neighborhoods. Migrant justice organizations like No More Deaths have in turn acknowledged how their calls to abolish ICE and CBP are rooted in centuries of Black abolitionist thought and organizing.

And Black abolitionist organizing has long sought liberation for immigrants. Since its launch in 2014, the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) platform has demanded ending the war on Black people, including the Black immigrants who endure anti-Black racism and anti-immigrant attacks. It thus calls for the abolition of police, prisons and immigration enforcement simultaneously.

As The Rising Majority, a coalition born out of the M4BL, stated in response to the Supreme Court decision to uphold DACA (for now): The police are just one component of state sanctioned violence. As we call for the defunding of police, we also unapologetically lift up the call for the abolition of ICE and CBP. Each tentacle needs to be cut off and replaced by systems of community control of health, wellness, [and] security.

These organizers remind us that cutting off one tentacle of state violence on its own cannot achieve the future that is needed for all people to thrive. Black-led abolitionist movements and organizations, like Critical Resistance and Black Lives Matter, and immigrant justice organizations like UndocuBlack, United We Dream and Mijente together demand the simultaneous dismantling of police, ICE, CBP, military, and other institutions of state violence, as well as the ideologies of racism, imperialism, patriarchy and capitalism that undergird them. To achieve the goal of abolishing police and creating a new society where all can thrive, we need to make these connections and fight against all fronts of policing power.

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Abolishing Police Includes Abolishing ICE and Border Protection - Truthout

Is investment in cryptocurrency worthwhile in 2020? – CapeTown ETC

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The global pandemic has impacted peoples financial situation significantly. If youve been searching online for investment options to grow your money for future financial stability, youve likely come across cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Its garnered much attention over the last decade, Facebook even launched a cryptocurrency called Libra. However, as with all types of investments, dont invest impulsively.

What is cryptocurrency?

A cryptocurrency is a virtual (or digital) asset created to work as a medium of exchange. It is based on a network that is distributed across an enormous number of computers. The appeal of investing in cryptocurrencies is due to its use of blockchain technology.

What is blockchain?

At its most fundamental level, blockchain is exactly as it sounds: a chain of blocks. However, in this context, block refers to digital information stored on a database (chain) that is managed by a network. By design, blockchain makes reproducibility of the digital asset almost impossible. This factor makes it a very tempting investment.

Pros and cons of investing in cryptocurrency

Pros

Its a high risk, high reward approach. The value goes through extreme ups and downs, but at the time of writing this article, Coinbase showed that one Bitcoin was worth R156 682.

A lot of mutual funds require a long-term time horizon for the investment to real returns (e.g. the suggested time horizon in an equity fund is five years). The value of cryptocurrency can change almost instantly, and massive returns can be made over a short timeframe.

Cons

Investing in cryptocurrency is a massive risk. Due to the nature of blockchain, transactions are nearly untraceable which leaves the door open for fraudulent activity and increased potential for hacking incidents which can cause investors to lose money very quickly.

The rates of return arent proven because they have no connection to regulatory standards. Therefore, theres no logical reasoning behind the upturn and downturn in value. At this moment in time, there is simply not enough data available to calculate returns accurately.

According to serial entrepreneur, Deep Patel, Cryptocurrency initial coin offerings (ICOs) are gambles. They have the potential to create huge returns on your investment, but also come with great volatility and risk.

At fio.life, our experienced team of independent financial advisers will provide you with the guidance and education required to fully understand the implications of impulsive investing.

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Is investment in cryptocurrency worthwhile in 2020? - CapeTown ETC

Global Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware Market with Coronavirus (COVID-19) Impact Analysis | likewise Industry is Booming Globaly with Top Players…

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Global Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware Market: Brief Overview

The globalCryptocurrency Mining Hardware marketreport has been updated by theMarket Data Analyticsowing to the changed market conditions because of COVID-19. Although, the world is still in hope that everything will come back to normal but the WHO finds no positive signs. The WHO has clearly mentioned that people will have to start living with this disease as there are very less chances that the coronavirus infection will go. The conditions in the global market have changed drastically and every single country is facing economic crunch owing to the slowing down of the business. Thus, it was necessary to update the Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market report.

Request a sample copy of this report@https://www.marketdataanalytics.biz/global-cryptocurrency-mining-hardware-market-industry-trends-and-forecast-13869.html#request-sample

The latest report consists of the following parts:

Part 1: Market Definition

In the first part of the Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market report, market definition and its scope is defined. In this part, the research analysts have included the target audience for the Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market.

Part 2: Research Methodologies

In the second part, research methodologies and the market tools that were research analysts are explained in detail. There are also details about the primary and secondary researches that were conducted by the research analysts.

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Part 3: DROC

The third part includes the qualitative information about the Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market. This information is mainly about the Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges.

Part 4: Market Segmentation

The fourth part of the report deals with the market segmentation. The Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market includes the following segmentations:{ASIC Miner, GPU Mining Rig};{Enterprise, Personal}. A detailed analysis of every single category in the market segments has been included. The data includes both statistics and qualitative information which are depicted in the form of tables and figures in the report.

Part 5: Regional Segmentation

Regional presence of the Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market in the major regions such as North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa is described in detail.

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Part 6: Company Profiles

The major market players in the Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware market includeBitMain Technologies Holding, Canaan Creative, Halong Mining, Advanced Micro Devices, Baikal Miner, Bitfury Group, Canaan Creative, Innosilicon, ASICMiner, Ebang Communication. Along with these many other industry players are profiled in this section.

Part 7: Observation/ Conclusions

The last part deals with the market conclusions. The conclusions mainly include the observations and the comments from the research analysts and the market experts.

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Global Cryptocurrency Mining Hardware Market with Coronavirus (COVID-19) Impact Analysis | likewise Industry is Booming Globaly with Top Players...