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Value of Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) Market Predicted to Surpass US$ by the of 2075 2015 2021 – Bulletin Line

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Global Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) market Research presents a Comprehensive scenario Which can be segmented according to producers, product type, applications, and areas. This segmentation will provide deep-dive analysis of the Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) business for identifying the growth opportunities, development tendencies and factors limiting the development of the marketplace. This report features forecast market information based on previous and present Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) industry scenarios and growth facets. Each of the Essential regions coated in Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) report are North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. The Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) market share and market prognosis of every region from 2020-2027 are presented within this report. A deep study of Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) marketplace dynamics will help the market aspirants in identifying the business opportunities that will lead to accumulation of earnings. This segment can efficiently determine the Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) hazard and key market driving forces.

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The Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) report is segmented to provide a clear and Precise view of this international Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) market statistics and market quotes. Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) report Information represented in the form of graphs, charts, and statistics will show the Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) growth rate, volume, goal customer analysis. This report presents the significant data to all Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) business aspirants which will facilitate useful business decisions.

Key players in the global nanomedicine market include: Abbott Laboratories, CombiMatrix Corporation, GE Healthcare, Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Mallinckrodt plc, Merck & Company, Inc., Nanosphere, Inc., Pfizer, Inc., Celgene Corporation, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and UCB (Union chimique belge) S.A.

Key geographies evaluated in this report are:

Key features of this report

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The Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) report cover following data points:

Part 1: This part enlists the global Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) marketplace Overview, covering the simple market debut, market analysis by kind, applications, and areas. Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) industry states and prognosis (2020-2027) is presented in this part. Additionally, Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) market dynamics saying the chances, market risk, and key driving forces are studied.

Part 2: This part covers Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) manufacturers profile based On their small business overview, product type, and application. Additionally, the sales volume, Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) product price, gross margin analysis, and Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) market share of every player is profiled in this report.

Part 3 and Part 4: This part presents the Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) competition Based on earnings, earnings, and market share of each producer. Part 4 covers the Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) market scenario based on regions. Region-wise Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) sales and growth (2015-2019) is studied in this report.

America and Europes Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) industry by countries. Under this Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) revenue, market share of those nations like USA, Canada, and Mexico is provided. Under Europe Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) report contains, the countries such as Germany, UK, France, Russia, Italy, Russia and their sales and growth is coated.

Part 7, Part 8 and Part 9: These 3 sections covers Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) The earnings and expansion in these regions are presented in this Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) industry report.

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Part 10 and Part 11: This component depicts the Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) marketplace Share, earnings, sales by product type and application. The Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) sales growth seen during 2012-2020 is covered in this report.

Related to Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) market (2020-2027) for every region. The sales channels including indirect and direct Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) advertising, traders, distributors, and future trends are presented in this report.

Part 14 and Part 15: These components present Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) market key Research findings and judgment, research methodology, and data sources are covered.

Therefore, Global Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) report is a complete blend covering all The very important market aspects.

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Value of Healthcare Nanotechnology (Nanomedicine) Market Predicted to Surpass US$ by the of 2075 2015 2021 - Bulletin Line

How TikTok resurrected the cult of Effy Stonem – i-D

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

As long as the term has existed, culture has always been obsessed with the idea of the It Girl; the trope that describes a fashionable and effortlessly cool young woman, whos seemingly chill from dawn (or whenever it suits her to get up) til dusk, an assumed personality who the boys generally lust after and all the other girls want to be. In the past, It Girls have included celebrities like Alexa Chung or Chlo Sevigny, but more often than not these untouchable figures with projected near-fictional narratives are, rather than real women, actual fictional characters. Back in the late noughties, these wouldve included boy-eater Jennifer Check of Jennifers Body, and Gossip Girls Serena Van De Woodsen. Noticeably, one particular it-girl has made a questionable comeback for Gen Z: the Bristol party girl with the stone-cold stare that began as a supporting role before becoming one of the main characters in the following seasons -- Kaya Scodelarios debut role as Effy Stonem from Skins.

Effy first stumbled her way onto our screens in January 2007 on Channel 4 to an audience of over one and a half million. Despite being completely silent, and initially presented as a secondary character to protagonist Tony, Effy became a force of nature, a mysterious fan favourite for teenage girls across the country. Her uber-curated grunge aesthetic, smeared make-up and appetite for hedonism were quickly replicated by fans who smudged their eyeliner and tried to perfect vacant, judgemental stares in honour of their new queen.

Fast forward thirteen years and its evident from TikTok that Effy is still the it-girl for alt youth, perhaps never stepping down from her throne in the first place. Girls on the app are digging out their Doc Martens, penciling black kohl across their waterlines and cosplaying as Effy, paying homage to their idol whilst synced with the original Skins theme tune. Seven years after the show finally ended, Effy lives on in memes attempting to bait depressed edgy girls and claims that she walked so that the e-girl could run. But without new content -- aired every Thursday night on Channel 4 -- to stoke the cool fire of teenage apathy, what's it like being a Skins stan in 2020?

Whilst one viral caption reads every girl in the UK wanted to be Effy at some point, Americans can sit this one out, there are many US fans of Skins on TikTok. Having first heard of the show through GIFs and fan edits on Tumblr, sixteen-year-old LA-based creator Gaby was instantly intrigued and started watching it online. I loved how unique the characters were, she says, not only their looks but their personalities as well. Each character had their own little story that coincided with each other, allowing me to understand who's being portrayed whilst relating their experiences to my own.

At the time I made that video I would get a lot of comparisons to Effy in my comment section, especially when it came to my fashion and makeup, adds Gaby, who uses TikTok occasionally to create montage or homage videos to the character. I used to be mesmerised by Effy and her character definitely influenced me when it came to my look... everything from the fishnets to the heavy eyeliner. I was absolutely in love.

Though she also realises that Skins is shot in a way where 'reckless living' is glorified, Gaby recognises a lot of the behaviour in her friend group but admits this could be down to living in a city. I live in LA where the nightlife is crazy and the people I surround myself with are even crazier, so a lot of aspects of Skins are relatable to my own experiences. But for a kid who lives in a small town and has a generally tame friend group, Id assume the show is seen as pure fiction.

Coco Vieno is an 18-year-old singer based in London who came across the show after an ex introduced her to it, her Skins inspired look TikTok video has amassed over 200k views. the look was inspired by her makeup because she seems so effortless and careless in everything that she does and when Im going through a tough time I like to distance myself from it and imagine what she would do to act like she isnt bothered. I wanted to make that video so I could live the fantasy of being like her for a few minutes.

Asides from directly influencing her fashion sense, which she admits changed to appeal more to the dirty 2000s aesthetic of the show, Coco feels Skins has affected her life in other ways too. It made me feel like my life was boring compared to theirs, she reveals, and it compelled me to get into bad situations with people that reminded me of the characters, and to party and drink more to escape from the boringness of everyday life.

Arguably though, there is something a bit sinister, or questionable at the least, around incorporating aspects from a fictional character into your own life, especially when the way they act results in little consequence and obviously glorified. Since the show first aired, both Effy and Cassie have often been linked to #thinspo or #problematicfave posts, triggering eating disorders in young watchers trying to achieve that look. But whilst they can be written out of a bad situation, thats not how reality works and so it can be dangerous.

TikTok user Juulspodsleftthechat, known IRL as Savanna, created a fake How To Be Effy From Skins tutorial to bait all the d3pr3ssed edgy girls" into watching. As someone who suffers from mental illnesses herself, she understands why Effys character appeals to that specific demographic so strongly. She has obviously toxic traits but still seems to be portrayed as popular and desirable to the characters around her. I believe this speaks to a lot of people because its about being accepted despite your mental illness.

Personally, I think that Skins is actually an awful show for those suffering with mental health problems, she tells me. It seems to romanticise addiction and unhealthy relationships with those around you. I think it is especially damaging to those with eating disorders as Cassie in Gen 1 seems to outline specific eating disorder tips and tricks. Eating disorders are incredibly competitive and seeing someone else who is ill can urge other people to try harder to be recognisably ill. I think there is danger in emulating fictional scenarios as people are more likely to take the fun aspects of Skins and forget about the problems the characters had due to their self destructive behaviours.

With so much pressure on teenagers nowadays -- from academic achievement to growing up with social media -- its easy to see why Effys indifferent attitude and edgy aesthetic are still exciting, becoming the ultimate dream life for teenage girls over the past decade despite being an exaggerated work of fiction. Even if Skins had never existed, teen characters and their problems would undoubtedly still have have been romanticised across fiction. But there's something specifically about Effy's character in particular which remains captivating, even for a generation of teens who were too young to notice or care about the show when it originally aired. Coco perhaps sums it up best: Our generation has either grown-up with or recently come across Skins, and every time Im in a weird situation that seems like it would fit the Skins aesthetic, theres always someone that acknowledges that," she says.

"I think this show has really influenced my generation on what our teenage years should be like.

How TikTok resurrected the cult of Effy Stonem - i-D

Sohn: Be kind. It pays off in ways you may not expect – Chattanooga Times Free Press

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

If you can be anything, be kind.

We've all seen or heard that simple sentence: It's a meme, it's a shirt, it's everywhere. But too often it's absent from our hearts and our actions. We hear it, maybe smile, file it away, move on down the road and glower at the guy moving slowly in the crosswalk and coughing with no mask on.

But what if he has no mask and wants one? What if his legs are too weak to carry him all the way to the health department? We've got an extra, unused one in the glove box. Should we offer it to him?

You bet. And here's the kicker. He won't be the only beneficiary. Science says being kind pays off.

"Research shows that acts of kindness make us feel better and healthier. Kindness is also key to how we have evolved and survived as a species, scientists say," according to the recent reporting of Seth Borenstein of The Associated Press. "We are hard-wired to be kind."

Of course, we're also hard-wired to be jealous and aggressive with each other. After all, we read about murder in just the fourth chapter of Genesis. But there's good news there, too. In December, Science Focus cited the work of several researchers to posit that humans may have evolved aggression if for no other reason than a communal defense response "but that doesn't mean we were hard-wired for war."

So there's hope, And to keep it that way in today's chaos (pick just any three things and add the COVID-19 pandemic), let's highlight the newer research on kindness.

"Kindness 'is as bred in our bones as our anger or our lust or our grief or as our desire for revenge,' University of California San Diego psychologist Michael McCullough, author of the forthcoming book "Kindness of Strangers," told The AP. "It's also, he said, "the main feature we take for granted."

When psychologists lumped values into 10 categories and asked people what was more important, benevolence or kindness, kindness came out on top. It beat hedonism, having an exciting life, creativity, ambition, tradition, security, obedience, seeking social justice and seeking power, said University of London psychologist Anat Bardi, who studies value systems.

Kindness and cooperation work for many species, whether it's bacteria, flowers or our fellow primate bonobos, according to Duke University evolutionary anthropologist Brian Hare.

Hare studies bonobos and compares the peaceable and decidedly kind and small monkeys historically known as pygmy chimpanzees to larger aggressive chimpanzees that attack outsiders.

Bonobos don't kill but help out strangers as well as each other. Their reward? The more friends you have, the more individuals you help, the more successful you are. Male bonobos are far more successful at mating than their male chimp counterparts, says Hare, author of the new book "Survival of the Friendliest."

McCullough says the human ability to reason "is the secret ingredient, which is why we donate blood when there are disasters" and why most industrialized nations spend at least 20% of their money on social programs, such as housing and education.

But both kindness and aggressiveness, like other traits, can be activated or dampened by emotional activity and outside stimuli. Duke's Hare used a mother bear as an example. She is loving and generous to her cubs, but aggressive and dangerous when an outsider comes near.

Sound familiar? Like the polarization of the world? When we are feeling isolated or threatened by virus, unemployment, climate change, statue change, a protester, a mask, even an unmasked cougher, we become more likely to morally exclude those "others" and dehumanize them. The cruelty begins.

Still more research, however, shows that our bodies reward us when we choose kindness.

University of California Riverside psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky has tested the concept in numerous experiments over 20 years, finding again and again that people feel better when they are kind to others.

"Acts of kindness are very powerful," she told The AP. The people who were kind to others became happier and felt more connected to the world.

And it's not just emotional. It's physical. In people doing more acts of kindness, the genes that trigger inflammation were turned down. And in new ongoing studies, she's finding more antiviral genes in people who perform acts of kindness.

So, yeah, stop and offer that slow guy in the crosswalk your extra mask.

And give a cheer for science while you're at it. Again and again science not only finds and seeks new treatments for our ills and foibles, but also proves age-old wisdom.

After all, it was the Ancient Greek fabulist and storyteller Aesop who, sometime around 600 B.C., taught:

"No act of kindness however small is ever wasted."

Jeffrey Epsteins prison confession, the worlds most dangerous woman, and the end of the world, in this weeks dubious tabloids – Boing Boing

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

The tabloids are suffering a liquidity problem, in more ways than one.

As circulations fall and newsstand sales hit pandemic lows, tabloid headlines are writing checks their stories cant cash.

"Epsteins Chilling Prison Confessions! screams the cover of this weeks National Enquirer. "Cellmate breaks silence! Prince Andrew and Bill Clintons worst nightmare.

But neither Prince nor former President will lose any sleep over this revelation.

Billionaire pedophile and suicide Jeffrey Epsteins alleged former New York jail cellmate - an ex-cop awaiting trial for four murders, which hardly makes his testimony unimpeachable - reportedly claims that Epstein revealed . . . shock, horror . . . that Bill Clinton never touched any of Epsteins harem of girls.

Epstein claimed Clinton never went with any of the girls he knew, the cell-mate wrote in a letter to a friend.

As if that ground-shaking confession wasnt enough, the supposed cell-mate also has this to say about Prince Andrew, also implicated in the under-age sex scandal: absolutely nothing.

Though the headline promises that Cellmate says perv spilled his guts about Andrew, its clear from the story that this confession includes not one word on the Royal rogue.

The cell-mate cop also claims that Epstein feared that powerful forces wanted him dead, and then paradoxically offered the ex-cop $3m to kill him. It only makes sense in the twisted logic of the tabloids.

Fears For Sick Shut-In Cher! reports the Enquirer. The singer has been staying at home and keeping away from friends - just like millions of other Americans self-isolating during the pandemic. But to the 'Enquirer that makes her an ailing diva living like an invalid. Arent we all?

Singer Justin Biebers wife Hailey Takes Break From Needy Bieber! claims the Enquirer,' oblivious of the fact that the married couple are currently happily enjoying a tropical vacation together, having recently returned from a retreat at the five star Amangiri resort in Utah.

Bruce Ditches Hollywood For Idaho Paradise! reports the Enquirer, oblivious of the fact that Bruce Willis has owned a large estate in Idaho for decades and spends months there each year even without a pandemic.

And of course the Enquirer cant ignore the British Royals, this week bringing us the highly dubious claim: Meghan Buying Mom A Royal Title!

La-di-da Meghan is allegedly upset that Prince Williams in-laws may be getting Royal titles while her own mother, Doria Ragland, does not. Stretching credulity beyond its limits, the Enquirer claims that Meghan will buy Doria a title for her birthday in September, when a Ladyship of the Manor title could be sold by the Manorial Society in the UK, or alternately she will make Doria a countess or a lady" of some small European principality, which allegedly sell titles over the internet for around $100! You can almost hear them making this up as they go along.

The Globe continues its hard-hitting geopolitical coverage by devoting its cover to The Worlds Most Dangerous Woman! - Kim Yo-Jong, who the rag insists has taken control of North Korea after the death of her brother Kim Jong-Un. They are of course oblivious to the fact that Kim Jong-Un showed up in public this week for a ceremony to mark the 26th anniversary of his dynasty-founding grandfathers death - an appearance that the Globe will next week doubtless attribute to the body double who they claim is making appearances while Kim Yo-Jong is threatening to nuke America and its allies, ordered a computer war on the global economy, and runs a counterfeit ring and organized crime gang. Thats one busy woman.

The Globe has finally figured out who is to blame for Prince Andrews entanglement in the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal, reporting: Queen Made Andrew A Monster!

The Princes alleged hedonism and bad judgment are supposedly the result of pampering by the Queen, who made sure Andrew was spoiled rotten! As if life in Palaces, 24-hour bodyguards and international travel on the taxpayers dime isnt pampering enough.

Duchess Kate and Duchess Meghan are once again facing off like hair-clawing cat-fighting soap divas in the Globe story Kate & Meghans $10m Showdown!

Duchess Kate has reportedly "issued an ultimatum to Meghan: Shut your mouth or you and Harry will lose your $10 million royal allowance.

Since William and Kate dont control the royal purse-strings this reeks of wishful thinking. Kate allegedly phoned Meghan to discuss a rapprochement between Princes William and Harry, but Meghan was so arrogant, Kate finally exploded. Right. That happened.

Why is it that the biggest news stories are always buried deep inside the tabloids? You have to get to page ten of the Globe for the literally Earth-shattering story: The End of the Earth Is Near!

Noting a catalogue of recent disasters: deadly diseases . . . giant dust storms . . . devastating quakes . . . insect swarms . . . economic ruin . . . the Globe concludes that the biblical End of Time prophecies have come true this year, citing the Book of Revelation and Nostradamus. Fair enough - you cant argue with science.

Talking about headlines making empty promises, youll be hard-pressed to find more of a fact-free vacuum that this weeks cover of Us magazine, with the headline: "Jennifer Aniston, Finally, In Her Own Words.

Except not a single one of those words has been shared with Us' magazine. Aniston is allegedly writing a memoir, which gives Us' free rein to speculate on what she might discuss in her book - Brad Pitt, TV series Friends,' Brad Pitt, her lack of children, Brad Pitt - but gives us no idea what she actually might say about any of it. Its a one-sentence story about Aniston writing a memoir stretched across four pages and the cover. Bravo.

People magazine devotes its cover to the tragic loss of Broadway star Nick Cordero to COVID-19, and in a separate story reveals that Duchess Meghan Speaks Out - though of course, she hasnt. Her attorneys have simply stated in court papers that she felt unprotected by the Palace when the British media were piling on in their criticism of her every move. Both Buckingham Palace and Kensington, as Meghan is doubtless aware, have a well-established policy of not commenting on media reports (except on very rare occasions) because doing so tends to inflame the story and keep it going.

Us mag interpreted this same story in even more partisan terms: Palace Tells Meghan: We Wont Help You!"

Thankfully we have the crack investigative team at Us mag to tell us that Emily Ratajkowski wore it best (its worth noting that Emily seems to wear an awful lot of clothes that can be found on the backs of others, and I wonder if she does it deliberately knowing that she hasnt lost a Who Wore It Best? match-up yet?), that actor Peter Gallagher can speak gibberish in any number of languages, and that the stars are just like us: they walk their dogs, cook, garden, drink coffee and eat sweets. The fact that they smile while doing it suggests that they are not entirely oblivious to the paparazzi lenses.

Its never too early to buy a Great Pumpkin Illuminated Halloween Tree (only four payments of $33.75 plus shipping and handling) or a Nightmare Before Christmas Welcome Sign Collection ($36.99 each plus shipping and handling) as advertised in this weeks tabloids.

But who could resist the special figurine offered in the Globe of Melania Trump, a Vision of Bridal Elegance!"

This Melania Trump Wedding Day Keepsake figurine is an impressive 9 1/2 high and made of some undisclosed material with the look of fine porcelain, a wedding dress that sparkles with 40 Swarovski crystals, and a genuine fabric tulle veil.

All for just three payments of $33.33 plus shipping and handling.

And its incredibly life-like: the small smile on the figurine's face is as frozen as the real ones.

Onwards and downwards . . .

Link:

Jeffrey Epsteins prison confession, the worlds most dangerous woman, and the end of the world, in this weeks dubious tabloids - Boing Boing

Coronavirus daily news updates, July 12: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world – Seattle Times

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

As COVID-19 continued to ravage the nation and the world, President Donald Trump wore a mask in public Saturday for the first time. In other news, Disney began reopening its Florida resorts even as that state continued to report high numbers of cases.

The Washington state Department of Health did not report new numbers on Saturday as its system was down for maintenance; an update is expected Sunday afternoon.

Throughout Sunday, on this page, well be posting Seattle Times journalists updates on the outbreak and its effects on the Seattle area, the Pacific Northwest and the world. Updates from Saturday can be found here, and all our coronavirus coverage can be found here.

The following graphic includes the most recent numbers from the Washington State Department of Health, released Friday afternoon.

Washington health officials confirmed 1,438 additional coronavirus cases over the weekend, including 14 more deaths.

Thestate Department of Health'sdata system was shut down for maintenance on Saturday, so this data is for Friday and Saturday, and is current as of 11:59 p.m. Saturday.

The update brings the states totals to 40,656 cases and 1,438 deaths, meaning about 3.5% of people diagnosed in Washington have died,according to the state Department of Health (DOH).

So far, 686,005 tests for the novel coronavirus have been conducted in the state, per DOH. Of those, 5.9% have come back positive since testing began slightly higher than the percentage of positive tests in the past week, whichthe state reportsis at 5.2%.

Overall deaths are concentrated in King County, Washington's most populous county, where DOH has confirmed 11,866 diagnoses and 637 deaths.

Scott Greenstone

Andrea Dragnas pre-pandemic pastime of scouting new makeup colors at Sephora has given way to a new, more socially distant ritual: trying on lipstick, eye shadow and blush through the webcam on her phone.

Its easy and surprisingly accurate, she says, and most importantly, doesnt require setting foot in a store. Its the perfect way to shop in the days of COVID, said Dragna, 40, who ordered nearly $300 worth of cosmetics last weekend after a virtual try-on session.

The coronavirus pandemic is reshaping the way Americans shop. Stores are reopening but being reoriented to avoid interaction: Fitting rooms are taped off, sample counters are closed and product testers have been put away.

Thats set off a scramble to re-create an integral part of the shopping experience, allowing people to virtually try on clothing, shoes, cosmetics, eyeglasses, even a new haircut or eyebrow shape, on their smartphones and computers. If consumers are presented with an authentic representation of themselves, analysts say, they are more likely to buy and less likely to make a return. But privacy experts warn the technology could also form a pipeline to valuable personal and biometric information.

Does UV light kill the new coronavirus? – Live Science

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Ultraviolet light has been used to stop pathogens in their tracks for decades. But does it work against SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the pandemic?

The short answer is yes. But it takes the right kind of UV in the right dosage, a complex operation that is best administered by trained professionals. In other words, many at-home UV-light devices claiming to kill SARS-CoV-2 likely aren't a safe bet.

UV radiation can be classified into three types based on wavelength: UVA, UVB and UVC. Nearly all the UV radiation that reaches Earth is UVA, because most of UVB and all of UVC light is absorbed by the ozone layer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And it's UVC, which has the shortest wavelength and the highest energy, that can act as a disinfectant.

Related: What is ultraviolet light?

"UVC has been used for years, it's not new," Indermeet Kohli, a physicist who studies photomedicine in dermatology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, told Live Science. UVC at a specific wavelength, 254 nanometers, has been successfully used to inactivate H1N1 influenza and other coronaviruses, such as severe acute respiratory virus (SARS-CoV) and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), she said. A study published June 26 to the preprint database medRxiv from Kohli's colleagues awaiting peer review now confirms that UVC also eliminates SARS-CoV-2.

UVC-254 works because this wavelength causes lesions in DNA and RNA. Enough exposure to UVC-254 damages the DNA and RNA so that they can't replicate, effectively killing or inactivating a microorganism or virus.

"The data that backs up this technology, the ease of use, and the non-contact nature" of UVC make it a valuable tool amid the pandemic, Kohli said. But responsible, accurate use is critical. UVC's DNA-damaging capabilities make it extremely dangerous to human skin and eyes, Kohli said. She cautioned that UVC disinfection technologies should primarily be left to medical facilities and evaluated for safety and efficacy by teams with expertise in photomedicine and photobiology.

When it comes to a-home UVC lamps, their ability to damage skin and eyes isn't the only danger, Dr. Jacob Scott, a research physician in the Department of Translational Hematology and Oncology Research at Cleveland Clinic, said. These devices also have low quality control, which means there's no guarantee that you're actually eliminating the pathogen, he said.

"UVC does kill the virus, period, but the issue is you have to get enough dose," Scott told Live Science. "Particularly, for N95 masks, which are porous, it takes a pretty big dose" of UVC-254 nm to eliminate SARS-CoV-2. This kind of accuracy isn't possible with at-home devices.

In hospitals, the geometry of the room, shadowing, timing and the type of material or object being disinfected are all accounted for when experts determine the right dosage of UVC needed to kill pathogens. But that kind of "quality assurance is really hard out in the world, out in the wild," Scott said. At-home devices don't offer that kind of precision, so using them could offer a false assurance that SARS-CoV-2 has been eliminated when it hasn't, he noted. "Having something you think is clean, but it's not, is worse than something that you know is dirty" because it affects your behavior toward that object, he said.

Both Kohli and Scott and their teams are working to make UVC disinfection of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face masks and N95 respirators, more efficient. Kohli's group advises hospitals and vendors repurposing existing UVC equipment for N95 respirator decontamination. Scott's group developed a machine that can be used by smaller medical facilities and a software program that helps users factor in the geometry of the disinfection room so that staff can deliver the most effective dose of UVC.

There are ongoing conversations in the field about installing UVC units in ceilings to decontaminate circulating air, Kohli said. And others are researching another wavelength of UVC called UVC-222 or Far-UVC, which may not damage human cells, she added. But that will require more research, Kohli said. Still, it's clear that "used accurately and responsibly, UVC has enormous potential."

Originally published on Live Science.

Love in the time of coronavirus: Couples share how they found matches in the middle of a pandemic – CNN

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

When coronavirus first hit in March, the freelance production manager paid about $30 for a three-month premium subscription on the dating app Hinge -- and he figured he'd just keep swiping until that ended.

Like many, the 29-year-old used dating apps like Hinge as a way to connect with others, especially since making in-person connections had become nearly impossible with Covid-19 shutdowns. He went on one Facetime date -- the girl, he said, seemed like she was "just going through her matches ... like on a spreadsheet."

But on May 29, he had plans to meet up with a different match -- this time in person. A 28-year-old nurse named Brooke, with whom he would hike Runyon Canyon -- Los Angeles' picturesque, influencer-ridden trail.

It was in the middle of their approximately three-mile hike, when the two decided they felt comfortable enough to remove their face masks, that he knew this was different. Their guards were down, or as he described it, "all caution (regarding coronavirus) was thrown to the wind."

Now, less than one month and many dates later, they split most of their time between his West Hollywood apartment and hers in Long Beach. He's done what many initially considered impossible with social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders:

He found love during a global pandemic.

"This is truly two people finding their soulmate during the most unlikely of times," he told CNN in a phone interview. "We're thinking about eloping to Vegas if the chapels open."

While this may sound extreme, many formerly single people -- and dating experts -- say the pandemic has actually helped people find their matches more easily.

"Because we have this dedicated time to find love, there are no distractions -- you're not a bar looking at people around you or looking at your drink. Everyone's more present and they are more conscious about the way they are showing up to these virtual or real-life dates."

Xu and podcast co-host Julie Krafchick, who are based in San Francisco, said they've noticed an overall change for the better in terms of the dating landscape over the past few months.

"Consider this a reset," Xu said. "Even though we're losing magic of that first date -- the first kiss, first touch -- we're forced to think about how we can reinvent dating."

The 'fail fast mentality'

Dating has never been -- and never will be -- perfect. Before the pandemic, Xu and Krafchick answered questions on their podcast such as "Do Millennials even want to find love?" and "Is monogamy dead?"

"We can't have amnesia that dating wasn't perfect before," Krafchick said. "Part of the reason we created the podcast in the first place was to answer the question, 'What the f**k is wrong with modern dating?'"

The biggest challenge for the singles out there before the pandemic, Krafchick said, was that many spent a lot of time in relationship limbo.

"No one wanted to say they were excited about someone," she said. "No one wanted to define the relationship."

Now, however, the pandemic has led to what Krafchick described as the "fail fast mentality."

"People are starting to feel it's better to fail fast than be in this constant state of equilibrium," she said. "Like, let's either get it off the ground or end it."

The podcast hosts have heard countless stories during these past few months of people who have successfully found love, and people who have felt more encouraged by their dating experiences even if their quarantine relationships didn't work out.

"Coming out of quarantine, everyone has a really strong feeling of a yes or no," Xu said.

Many have also taken this time in quarantine to self reflect, which has helped pave the way to finding healthier relationships.

"I think this time has given people a lot of clarity into what they want in life," Krafchick said. "It's shown life is short and at the end of the day, relationships are what matters most. A lot of people have used this time to do self work, especially in the dark middle period of quarantine, where it didn't feel like there was any way to meet someone."

Virtual dates have also made people throw their old notions of dating out of the window, as they are forced to get creative. For example, "there are 'Zootie' calls now," Xu explained. "Zoom booty calls."

'A whole other dimension of consent'

With this uncharted era of dating also comes new conversations around consent: Do you feel safe meeting in person during a pandemic? Do you agree to wearing masks on the first date? Do you feel comfortable being less than 6 feet apart?

Jessica Gerhardt, a Santa Monica, California, native, and her new partner -- they have not labeled the relationship yet -- waited three months before they decided to meet in person for the first time last week.

The two, who had mutual friends in the music scene, began talking after he "slid into her DMs" on Instagram. Before they met up, he researched and looked into data about social distancing, Gerhardt said.

"We both consented to hug when we first met," the 30-year-old told CNN. "There's a whole other dimension of consent during this pandemic. Under normal circumstances, of course I'd want to hug -- but it was helpful to have that conversation before and nice to know if we don't do something it's not necessarily a sign of 'Oh, I'm not attracted or interested, but I'm trying to be considerate of your safety and vice versa.'"

The lack of touching before meeting, Gerhardt said, made her feel like the two were cultivating "deeper intimacy" as they got to know each other.

They ended up going on a social distance walk in her neighborhood while both wore face masks. At the end of their walking date, he asked whether he could use her bathroom before he drove home.

"He came inside, and we both took off our masks after I asked, 'Do you feel comfortable being maskless?' and he said, 'I feel comfortable.' It was a nice surprise," she said. "We ended up feeling comfortable enough to also hold hands and cuddle. It was really sweet."

While they do not have plans to move in together any time soon, Gerhardt said he has now joined her quarantine pod, which includes her roommate and her roommate's boyfriend.

Learning each other's values early on

How people have acted during this time has helped provide a window into their beliefs, which for some singles has helped narrow down their pool of potential matches.

For example, on dating apps, many have said they have encountered photos of people holding "Black Lives Matter" signs at protests on their profiles. Others said they've seen people sporting face masks in their pictures, to highlight the fact that they are following social distancing guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order to curb the spread of the virus.

"With the Black Lives Matter movement, Covid, and everything else that's been going on, it's been causing people to have way deeper conversations," Krafchick said. "You can really quickly realize who has same values as you and who would be a better long-term partner. (Talking about) those things can really help you understand someone a lot better on a deeper level and get you past those basic dating questions."

Liz Dwyer, who lives in LA, fell for a guy named Demis Courquet-Lesaulnier, who she has been messaging on Instagram since before the pandemic. He lives in Paris, and they had plans -- pre-coronavirus -- to meet abroad. Now, that plan has been put on hold.

But that hasn't slowed their relationship down at all. In fact, it's sped things up. Dwyer said she's gotten closer to her now-boyfriend these past few months virtually, thanks to many of the current events they discuss.

"We have completely different cultural backgrounds," the writer and editor told CNN. "I'm American, he's French. I'm Black, he's White. We had to get to know each other -- not just on the 'I think you're good looking' and 'you're cute too' conversation."

"He was open to understanding what was happening in terms of racism," she said.

Without the pandemic, she doesn't know what their relationship would look like today.

"I don't know what the future holds," she added, "but no matter what, the experience has changed me for the better."

Finding your 'apocalypse partner'

Ronni Morgan, 32, and her partner Adriane (AJ) Johnson, 41, met on the HER app -- a dating app for queer people -- on March 23.

They started by texting, having FaceTime dates and watching Netflix together virtually, with Morgan in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Johnson in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

When they finally reached a point where they felt safe enough to start planning an in-person meeting, they found an AirBnB in between their two locations that they considered secluded and off-the-beaten path.

From the beginning, Morgan said, the two were "on the same page about how to handle the pandemic."

"We have both taken it very seriously," Morgan told CNN. "I don't think we would've made it this far otherwise."

When they finally did meet, on June 26, Morgan said their weekend together "legitimately was like a lesbian romance novel, complete with a fireplace, velvety red blanket and epic thunderstorm."

"When we did finally get to meet in person, we were already so deeply connected there was no question of what the chemistry would be like," she told CNN.

Their relationship is still a long-distance one -- but Morgan said there's no doubt in her mind that she's found her "apocalypse partner," aka the person to ride out the pandemic with.

"There's this meme that talks about how dating in 2020 is about choosing your apocalypse partner wisely and honestly I couldn't agree more," Morgan said. "I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, there's no one I'd rather be braving the new world with than AJ."

"I never imagined I'd meet the love of my life during a global pandemic but here we are," Morgan wrote in a post sharing their story on Facebook.

"Anything is possible."

Meeting at the virtual bar

Back in March, Krafchick and Xu decided to bring their community of listeners together in a Facebook group they called "Love in the Time of Corona by the Dateable Podcast." They said they felt it was important for people to feel less alone as quarantine began.

So far, the group has amassed more than 500 members -- who all actively utilize the group to share their experiences with dating in comments, over virtual happy hours, and, sometimes even with the two hosts as guests on their show.

Thursday afternoon, a "Dateable"-hosted virtual happy hour was in full swing, with about 20 people from across the United States -- some returning faces, others new to the hangout -- hopping on a video chat on Facebook.

Group members could check out different Facebook rooms, including: "The Bar," where Krafchick and Xu kicked off the afternoon with intros. Then, some stayed behind to play a game of "Would You Rather?" with dating-themed questions.

"Would you rather date someone who is in a lot of debt but donates to charity on a regular basis," Xu asked the group, "or someone who has no debt, but doesn't donate to charities?"

Others joined the "Playtime" room, where they participated in dating-themed trivia. And some joined a new "room" called the "Dance Floor," where one member taught a dance class.

Original post:

Love in the time of coronavirus: Couples share how they found matches in the middle of a pandemic - CNN

Fact-Checking Biden on the Coronavirus and His Own Record – The New York Times

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Since effectively securing the Democratic nomination in April, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has focused his low-profile campaign on hammering President Trumps handling of the coronavirus epidemic. We rounded up some inaccurate claims in his recent remarks.

What Mr. Biden Said

Theres a study out of Columbia University and a disease control center up there. They pointed out that if he had listened to me and others and acted just one week earlier to deal with this virus, thered be 36,000 fewer people dead. in an interview in May on the radio program The Breakfast Club

This is misleading. A study by infectious disease modelers at Columbia University did find that about 36,000 deaths could have been prevented through early May had social distancing measures been enacted by March 8, rather than in mid-March. But there is no record of Mr. Biden urging adoption of those measures before March 8, nor does Mr. Trump have the power to compel their nationwide enforcement.

The study estimated the combined effects of all intervention practices including mask wearing, travel restrictions, business and school closings and shelter-in-place orders as they were varyingly applied and complied with over time on a county-by-county basis, said Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University and a co-author of the study.

Mr. Biden has a point that Mr. Trump, far from promoting social distancing measures or lockdowns, was playing down the severity of the virus in early March. But while the presidential pulpit might have incentivized governors and mayors to act quicker, Mr. Trump lacks the authority to impose and enforce quarantine and isolation measures in states and cities. (As early as mid-February, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had spoken of the need to mitigate the spread through social distancing and nonpharmaceutical interventions at a community level.)

Mr. Biden had warned in an op-ed in late January that the case number was likely to grow. He also criticized Mr. Trumps previous proposals to cut funding to health agencies, promoted international cooperation and vowed to uphold science and harness expertise. He made similar points in interviews, town hall events and debates in February, but he did not suggest locking down cities or limiting social gatherings. A campaign spokesman argued that Mr. Bidens urging Mr. Trump to let the experts speak included the health officials recommendations of social distancing.

It was not until March 12, when Mr. Bidens campaign released its plan to combat the coronavirus, that he urged the C.D.C. to provide more clarity in issuing guidance on social distancing.

That was a day after Mr. Trump addressed the nation and promised guidelines on school closures, social distancing and reducing large gatherings, which were released on March 16.

What Mr. Biden Said

Forty percent of the money that was supposed to go to small businesses did not go to small businesses. It went to large businesses. in a town hall event in June

This is misleading. Mr. Biden was referring to the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers forgivable loans to cover payroll costs.

Data through June 20 showed that the relief program had approved more than 4.6 million loans totaling $514.9 billion. Of those, loans of over $1 million represented 35.1 percent of the funding and 1.7 percent of the number of loans. But loan size does not directly correlate to business size.

While the term small business may conjure up images of a locally run mom-and-pop shop, the government generally defines the term as companies with fewer than 500 employees, though that can vary across industries by average annual receipts and number of employees.

Companies that meet the definition, as well as some nonprofits and some larger food and accommodation businesses, are all eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program. Because of this expansive eligibility criteria, some high-priced law firms, lobbying firms, private schools, luxury hotels and restaurant chains qualified for and took out millions of dollars in loans.

But of the tens of thousands of companies that received over $1 million in loans, many were likely to adhere to the colloquial understanding of a small business like a local craft brewery in Philadelphia, an artisanal cowboy boot company in El Paso, an independent bookstore in San Francisco and a family-owned third-generation florist in Boston.

Survey data also undercuts the suggestion that small businesses had been crowded out by large ones: about three-quarters of small businesses had requested assistance from the lending program and about 72.4 percent had received funding through June 27. Moreover, when the program first expired and before it was extended on June 30, it had more than $130 billion still in its coffers.

What Mr. Biden Said

Without a uniform plan and guidance from the federal government that state and local leaders can use to inform their reopening plans, this is going to continue to be worse than it wouldve been otherwise. in remarks in July

This is exaggerated. Though they were nonbinding and criticized by some as vague, the White House did release guidelines in mid-April about opening up American again.

The guidelines recommended states and regions meet certain criteria including a downward trajectory of cases or positive rates for 14 days, increasing testing and contact tracing capacity, and the ability toindependently supply personal protective equipment and medical equipment before they move through three phases of reopening.

Of the 30 states that had planned to begin reopening in early May, most had failed to meet those guidelines.

The Biden campaign also pointed to reporting in May from The Associated Press that said the Trump administration had suppressed detailed reopening guidance from the C.D.C., but that guidance was revised and eventually released later that month.

Mr. Biden is right that messaging about the guidelines has been far from uniform. Officials in the Trump administration have stressed the importance of the guidelines, but also noted in recent weeks, even as virus cases have been surging, that reopening plans and timelines were up to states. Mr. Trump himself has actively encouraged states to open in spite of the guidelines.

What Mr. Biden Said

The N.A.A.C.P. has endorsed me every time Ive run. I mean, come on, take a look at the record. in the May interview on The Breakfast Club

False. As a tax-exempt nonprofit, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People cannot and does not endorse political candidates at any level, the president and chief executive of the organization said in a statement.

Mr. Biden was imprecisely referring to the largely high marks he received from the N.A.A.C.P. in its voter information guides throughout his career, ranging from 60 percent in 1995 to 1996 to 100 percent in three congressional terms.

Mr. Biden later acknowledged that his claim was a mistake and said that he had overwhelming support from the African-American community my whole career.

Based on scattered polling data throughout Mr. Bidens long electoral history, his claim of overwhelming support from Black voters is generally true. The Wilmington News Journal reported that Mr. Biden won 65 percent of Black voters in 1972, his first Senate race. Polling in March 1984, before his re-election bid, also showed him leading his opponent among Black voters. More than 80 percent of Black voters backed Mr. Biden in 1990 and 1996, and more than 97 percent in his last Senate race in 2008, according to exit polling data provided by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. Black primary voters in South Carolina powered him to a crucial victory this year en route to securing the presidential nomination.

What Mr. Biden Said

Ive been against Keystone from the beginning. in a May interview on CNBC

This is exaggerated. Whether Mr. Biden privately opposed the Keystone XL pipeline project from the beginning, he rarely spoke about it publicly as vice president and did not really stake out a position.

The pipeline, which would carry crude oil from Canada to Nebraska, was first proposed in the summer of 2008 and attracted fierce opposition from environmental groups and others during the Obama administration.

A first proposal for the pipeline was rejected by President Barack Obama in January 2012, reasoning that a deadline set by Congress did not leave his administration time to do a thorough environmental assessment. Mr. Obama said that the decision was not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, and left the door open for a revised application.

Mr. Biden, responding to a question about Keystone on Twitter that month, said a permit could possibly be revisited, but it would need thorough study.

In March of that year, Mr. Obama voiced support for the southern leg of the Keystone pipeline from the Gulf of Mexico to Cushing, Okla. A month later, Mr. Biden was again asked in an interview about the initial rejection of the entire pipeline.

It hadnt gone through the process, he said. There is a process to make sure it can be environmentally sound.

A year later, an environmental activist wrote a blog post claiming that Mr. Biden had told her he opposed the pipeline but said I am in the minority. The vice presidents office declined to verify the account but noted that Mr. Biden had made his views known on this issue and his views havent changed, Politico reported.

Ben Casselman contributed reporting.

Curious about the accuracy of a claim? Email factcheck@nytimes.com.

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Fact-Checking Biden on the Coronavirus and His Own Record - The New York Times

An injection may block COVID-19, but feds have failed to act – Los Angeles Times

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

It might be the next best thing to a coronavirus vaccine.

Scientists have devised a way to use the antibody-rich blood plasma of COVID-19 survivors for an upper-arm injection that they say could inoculate people against the virus for months.

Using technology thats been proven effective in preventing other diseases such as hepatitis A, the injections would be administered to high-risk healthcare workers, nursing home patients, or even at public drive-through sites potentially protecting millions of lives, the doctors and other experts say.

The two scientists who spearheaded the proposal an 83-year-old shingles researcher and his counterpart, an HIV gene therapy expert have garnered widespread support from leading blood and immunology specialists, including those at the center of the nations COVID-19 plasma research.

But the idea exists only on paper. Federal officials have twice rejected requests to discuss the proposal, and pharmaceutical companies even acknowledging the likely efficacy of the plan have declined to design or manufacture the shots, according to a Times investigation. The lack of interest in launching development of immunity shots comes amid heightened scrutiny of the federal governments sluggish pandemic response.

There is little disagreement that the idea holds promise; the dispute is over the timing. Federal health officials and industry groups say the development of plasma-based therapies should focus on treating people who are already sick, not on preventing infections in those who are still healthy.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said an upper-arm injection that would function like a vaccine is a very attractive concept.

However, he said, scientists should first demonstrate that the coronavirus antibodies that are currently delivered to patients intravenously in hospital wards across the country actually work. Once you show the efficacy, then the obvious next step is to convert it into an intramuscular shot.

But scientists who question the delay argue that the immunity shots are easy to scale up and should enter clinical trials immediately. They say that until theres a vaccine, the shots offer the only plausible method for preventing potentially millions of infections at a critical moment in the pandemic.

Beyond being a lost opportunity, this is a real head-scratcher, said Dr. Michael Joyner, a Mayo Clinic researcher who leads a program sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration to capitalize on coronavirus antibodies from COVID-19 survivors. It seems obvious.

The use of so-called convalescent plasma has already become widespread. More than 28,000 patients have already received the IV treatment, and preliminary data suggest that the method is safe. Researchers are also looking at whether the IV drip products would prevent new infections from taking root.

The antibodies in plasma can be concentrated and delivered to patients through a type of drug called immune globulin, or IG, which can be given through either an IV drip or a shot. IG shots have for decades been used to prevent an array of diseases; the IG shot that prevents hepatitis A was first licensed in 1944. They are available to treat patients who have recently been exposed to hepatitis B, tetanus, varicella and rabies.

Yet for the coronavirus, manufacturers are only developing an intravenous solution of IG.

Joyner told The Times that 600 COVID-19 survivors donating their plasma each day could, depending on donation volumes and concentrations, generate up to 5,000 IG shots. With millions of probable survivors in the United States, he said, capacity isnt a problem.

Plasma companies said theyve focused their efforts on an intervention for the sickest patients. Grifols, for example, said it has not developed a shot because it is pursuing a federally supported IV formula to treat patients already infected with a serious case of COVID-19, but the company acknowledged that an antibody injection would be a good choice for prevention.

Advocates for the immunity shots say businesses are reluctant to invest in a product that could soon be replaced by a vaccine, so the government should offer financial incentives to offset that risk. Billions of federal dollars are already being spent on vaccine research through Operation Warp Speed, and funding for an IG shot that could serve as a bridge to a vaccine would come with a relatively modest price tag, they say.

Antibodies are the most precious resource on the planet right now, next to air. We have the industry, the technology, and the know-how to produce a proven product, said Patrick Schmidt, the chief executive of FFF Enterprises, a major distributor of IG products in the United States.

The amount of money and resources going into a vaccine, with no guarantee it will work this could have saved lives by now.

The proposal for an injection approach to coronavirus prevention came from an immunization researcher who drew his inspiration from history.

Dr. Michael Oxman knew that, even during the 1918 flu pandemic, the blood of recovered patients appeared to help treat others. Since then, convalescent plasma has been used to fight measles and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, among other diseases.

Like other doctors, Oxman surmised that, for a limited time, the blood coursing through the veins of coronavirus survivors probably contains immune-rich antibodies that could prevent or help treat an infection.

On March 27, he and Dr. John Zaia, the director of City of Hopes Center for Gene Therapy, submitted a proposal to the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, urging the rollout of IG shots for first responders and members of other high-risk groups.

The agency granted $12.5 million to Grifols and $14.5 million to Emergent BioSolutions to produce plasma-based COVID-19 medicines in IV form drips, among more than 50 different biomedical partnerships to fight the pandemic. But the immunity shot proposal was rejected.

The pair followed up with a detailed proposal to conduct a clinical trial at UC San Diego. They believed injectable 5-milliliter vials of IG could be given quickly by minimally trained healthcare workers, offering at least two months of immunity to doctors and nurses, as well as residents of nursing homes, college dormitories and military submarines.

The submission was backed by four other infectious disease researchers and statisticians, but it was also rejected, records show.

A spokeswoman for BARDA told The Times that the agency had received thousands of submissions, and that while we are interested in the potential of [IG] for treatment and prevention, we are focused intently on treatments for hospitalized patients to save lives.

The strategy baffled Oxman and Zaia, who said the IG shots are a far more efficient delivery system that can potentially reach many more people.

Whats more, prophylactic shots would probably require far fewer antibodies than IV treatments, Joyner said. With IG shots, plasma donations could possibly go twice or even five times as far, he said.

If a second wave of the virus were to arrive before an effective vaccine, that stockpile would be all the more essential.

Oxman started focusing his attention on the key players in the industry the manufacturers who dominate the development of plasma drugs. He held weekly phone calls with Schmidt, the distributor; together, the two tried to persuade seven companies to produce the shots themselves and bring them to health agencies for testing. They were unsuccessful.

Takeda and CSL Behring, two large companies who co-lead the new CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance to develop an IG product for IV drips, said their efforts are trained on the sickest. The IV formula represents the fastest path to reach patients, assuming the trial is successful, said Julie Kim, the head of the plasma-derived therapies business unit at Takeda.

Financial calculations may be another factor for companies. Intravenous plasma products are traditionally the main economic driver for the industry, supply experts said, in part because vaccines have replaced many short-term immunity shots over the years. The money-making antibodies are also far more diluted in intravenous drugs than in injectable ones, which boosts profit margins.

They charge a fortune off of intravenous drugs in the hospital. They dont want to devote the manufacturing plant to something that wont make oodles of money, said one infectious disease expert, who has advocated for coronavirus IG shots but asked not to be publicly identified.

Researchers also said industry executives have little incentive to produce the immunity shots for the coronavirus, given the possibility that a longer-lasting vaccine could replace it within a year.

Representatives for CSL, Takeda and Grifols all challenged that assertion.

The choice of one delivery method or another has no connection with the potential financial or pricing implications, a Grifols spokesman told The Times.

Throughout May, researchers and doctors at Yale, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Duke and four University of California schools sent a barrage of letters to dozens of lawmakers. They held virtual meetings with health policy directors on Capitol Hill, but say they have heard no follow-up to date.

Dr. Arturo Casadevall, the chair of the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project, said he spoke to FDA officials who told him they do not instruct companies on what to produce. Casadevall told The Times that the leaders of the national project were very supportive of the need to develop an IG shot rapidly and that he believed it would be very helpful in stemming the epidemic.

Joyner, of the Mayo Clinic, said there are probably 10 million to 20 million people in the U.S. carrying coronavirus antibodies and the number keeps climbing. If just 2% of them were to donate a standard 800 milliliters of plasma on three separate occasions, their plasma alone could generate millions of IG shots for high-risk Americans.

At a hot-spot meatpacking plant, or at a mobile unit in the parking lot outside a mall trust me, you can get the plasma, Joyner said. This is not a biological problem nor a technology problem. Its a back-of-the-envelope intelligence problem.

The antibody injections, for now, do not appear to be a high priority for the government or the industry.

Grifols, on April 28 the same day that the U.S. topped 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases made a major product announcement that would expand its leadership in disease treatment with immunoglobulins.

The product was a new vial for IG shots to treat rabies.

Coronavirus warning from Italy: Effects of COVID-19 could be worse than first thought – Sky News

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

The long-term effects of COVID-19, even on people who suffered a mild infection, could be far worse than was originally anticipated, according to researchers anddoctors in northern Italy.

Psychosis, insomnia, kidney disease, spinal infections, strokes, chronic tiredness and mobility issues are being identified in former coronavirus patients in Lombardy, the worst-affected region in the country.

The doctors warn that some victims may never recover from the illness and that all age groups are vulnerable.

The virus is a systemic infection that affects all the organs of the body, not, as was previously thought, just a respiratory disease, they say.

Some people may find that their ability to properly work, to concentrate, and even to take part in physical activities will be severely impaired.

The physicians warn that people who do not consider themselves in a vulnerable group and aren't concerned at contracting the disease could be putting themselves in danger of life-changing illnesses if they ignore the rules to keep safe.

They stress that the need for social distancing, hand washing, and masks is as important now as it ever was.

The warnings come amid growing concerns in northern Italy that a second wave of the virus could be imminent. Doctors in two of the main hospitals in the region have reported a handful of new cases of severely ill people with respiratory problems.

Dr Roberto Cosentini, head of emergencies at Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo, oversaw the response to the virus that swept through this alpine province claiming the lives of at least 6,000 people.

He gave Sky News unprecedented access to the hospital's emergency rooms in March when the first shocking effects of the virus were broadcast around the world, changing perceptions of the scale of the problem.

Now he is leading efforts to again send a warning across the globe that COVID-19 is a lethal killer that affects the whole body, and is not going away.

"At first, initially, we thought it was a bad flu, then we thought it was a bad flu with a very bad pneumonia, it was the phase when you came here, but subsequently we discovered that it is a systemic illness with vessel damage in the whole body with renal involvement, cerebral involvement," he told me in the now silent COVID-19 emergency room that was overwhelmed a few months ago.

"So we are seeing other acute manifestations of renal failure that require dialysis; or stroke, and then acute myocardial infarction, so a lot of complications or other manifestations of the virus.

"And also now we see a significant proportion of the population with chronic damage from the virus."

One of the few positives emerging from the pandemic that caused havoc to the health service here was the creation of a unique environment where doctors and experts in different fields found themselves working together for months, effectively learning new skills. That co-operation is helping the understanding of the virus.

Dr Emanuela Catenacci is a neurosurgeon at Cremona Hospital and when we first met her in March she had been co-opted to work on the intensive care wards during the worst of the outbreak.

She is back on neurology, but crucially, whereas in the past she would have treated patients completely independent of other departments, now she can see the link. That link is COVID-19, and it's a multi-organ killer.

"In our hospital now we have a practice with immunologists, who are checking these patients, especially the most severe, those with the most severe illnesses, and they are checking not only lungs, but all the systemic manifestations of COVID pathology," she told me.

"The virus is a systemic infection, some of our apparatus organs have the biggest manifestation, such as lungs as we know, but also brain, skin, and sometimes we have vasculitis, so it's not [just] high respiratory or low respiratory infection, it's not finished [at] that," she said.

The Italian doctors' findings in their patients mirror a recent study carried out at University College London.

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Researchers identified serious neurological complications arising from COVID-19 including delirium, brain inflammation, stroke and nerve damage in 43 people aged 16 to 85.

Some of the patients had experienced no severe breathing problems at all, with the neurological disorder being the first and only sign that they had coronavirus.

An intensive testing and follow up analysis of all survivors has been launched in Bergamo. Teams of doctors examine those who have recovered on a constant basis, trying to track the changing properties of the virus.

Filippo Alcaini, 65, is one of the survivors being tested.

He was intubated in February after becoming severely ill, but recovered. He has been COVID-19-free for four months but he still has problems breathing and has periods of severe exhaustion. He accepts his ongoing condition, but sends a clear warning to people to take care not to catch the virus under any circumstances.

"To those who don't respect the rules, I wish they could have a week of what I felt, a week of feeling as bad as I have been," he told me.

"Perhaps then they understand that they cannot underestimate the many warnings and mandatory rules we have been given."

The doctors carrying out the follow-up and testing programme say they simply do not know enough about the virus to predict what is going to happen next.

"It's something very different, that changes the body of the patient," Dr Gianluca Imeri explained to me.

"We've also seen forms of asthma develop after coronavirus infections. We for sure know the damage of coronavirus is caused by inflammation, and asthma and other respiratory diseases are inflammatory diseases, and there are also some inflammatory diseases in our body that can be developed and triggered by coronavirus.

"Simple coronavirus pneumonia is something that patients will recover completely from, from a radiological point of view, but probably the biggest change is inflammation. I mean, we have seen inflammation in all of their bodies, vascular systems, and respiratory systems, so we think we have to tackle inflammation in these patients even when they recover from the acute phase of the disease."

So little is known of the virus that any long-term planning is guess work.

Doctors believe that even the youngest and mildest infected are at risk of their lives being changed forever, and it could take years to become apparent. Whole workforces could become less productive as a consequence.

The advice from Italy is simple: Don't get infected.

See more here:

Coronavirus warning from Italy: Effects of COVID-19 could be worse than first thought - Sky News

Look Out, Mars: Here We Come With a Fleet of Spacecraft – The New York Times

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

The United Arab Emirates and China are looking to join the elite club.

The UAE spacecraft, named Amal, which is Arabic for Hope, is an orbiter scheduled to rocket away from Japan on Wednesday, local time, on what will be the Arab worlds first interplanetary mission. The spacecraft, built in partnership with the University of Colorado Boulder, will arrive at Mars in the year the UAE marks the 50th anniversary of its founding.

The UAE wanted to send a very strong message to the Arab youth, project manager Omran Sharaf said. The message here is that if the UAE can reach Mars in less than 50 years, then you can do much more. ... The nice thing about space, it sets the standards really high."

Controlled from Dubai, the celestial weather station will strive for an exceptionally high Martian orbit of 13,670 miles by 27,340 miles (22,000 kilometers by 44,000 kilometers) to study the upper atmosphere and monitor climate change.

China will be up next, with the flight of a rover and an orbiter sometime around July 23; Chinese officials arent divulging much. The mission is named Tianwen, or Questions for Heaven.

NASA, meanwhile, is shooting for a launch on July 30 from Cape Canaveral.

Perseverance is set to touch down in an ancient river delta and lake known as Jezero Crater, not quite as big as Floridas Lake Okeechobee. Chinas much smaller rover will aim for an easier, flatter target.

To reach the surface, both spacecraft will have to plunge through Mars' hazy red skies in what has been dubbed seven minutes of terror the most difficult and riskiest part of putting spacecraft on the planet.

Jezero Crater is full of boulders, cliffs, sand dunes and depressions, any one of which could end Perseverances mission. Brand-new guidance and parachute-triggering technology will help steer the craft away from hazards. Ground controllers will be helpless, given the 10 minutes it takes radio transmissions to travel one-way between Earth and Mars.

Look Out, Mars: Here We Come With a Fleet of Spacecraft - The New York Times

The quest to find signs of ancient life on Mars – The Jakarta Post – Jakarta Post

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Mars may now be considered a barren, icy desert but did Earth's nearest neighbor once harbor life?

It is a question that has preoccupied scientists for centuries and fired up sci-fi imaginings.

Now three space exploration projects are gearing up to launch some of the most ambitious bids yet to find an answer.

Scientists believe that four billion years ago the two planets both had the potential to nurture life -- but much of Mars' intervening history is an enigma.

The new Mars probes from the United States, United Arab Emirates and China will launch this summer.

Their goal is not to find Martian life -- scientists believe nothing would survive there now -- but to search for possible traces of past lifeforms.

These vast and costly programs could prove futile. But astrobiologists say the red planet is still our best hope for finding a record of life on other planets.

Mars is "the only planet with concrete chances of finding traces of extraterrestrial life because we know that billions of years ago it was inhabitable," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of French space agency CNES in a conference call with journalists this week.

Le Gall is one of the architects of NASA's Mars 2020 exploratory probe, which is scheduled for launch at the end of July when Earth and Mars will be the closest for more than two years.

The more than $2.5 billion project is the latest -- and most technologically advanced -- attempt to uncover Mars' deep buried secrets.

But it is not alone, as enthusiasm for space exploration has reignited.

Read also: UAE to launch first Arab probe to Mars

'News from Mars'

Scientific inquiry of the red planet began in earnest in the 17th Century.

In 1609 Italian Galileo Galilei observed Mars with a primitive telescope and in doing so became the first person to use the new technology for astronomical purposes.

Fifty years later Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens used a more advanced telescope of his own design to make the first ever topographical drawing of the planet.

Mars -- compared to the "desolate, empty" moon -- has long seemed promising for potential inhabitability by microorganisms, wrote astrophysicist Francis Rocard in his recent essay "Latest News from Mars".

But the 20th century presented setbacks.

In the 1960s, as the race to put a man on the moon was accelerating towards its dazzling "Giant Leap", Dian Hitchcock and James Lovelock were putting a dampener on hopes of finding life on Mars.

Their research analysed the planet's atmosphere looking for a chemical imbalance, gases reacting with each other, which would hint at life.

"If there is no reaction, then there is probably no life there," Lovelock told AFP.

"And that was the case -- Mars has an atmosphere that is completely inactive as far as chemistry is concerned."

Their conclusion was confirmed a decade later, when the Viking landers took atmospheric and soil samples that showed the planet was no longer inhabitable.

This discovery was a "real tanker" for Mars research, Rocard told AFP.

Mars programs essentially paused for 20 years.

Then in 2000 scientists made a game-changing discovery: they found that water had once flowed over its surface.

Follow the water

This tantalizing finding helped rekindle the latent interest in Mars exploration.

Scientists pored over images of gullies, ravines, scouring the Martian surface for evidence of liquid water.

More than 10 years later, in 2011, they definitively found it.

The "follow the water, follow the carbon, follow the light" strategy has paid off, Rocard said.

Every mission since the discovery of water has brought "more and more evidence to light that Mars is not quite as dead as we thought," Michel Viso, an astrobiologist at CNES, told AFP.

The latest US rover to make the journey -- aptly named Perseverance -- is scheduled to touch down in February of next year after a six-month journey from launch time.

The probe is perhaps the most highly-awaited yet. Its landing spot, the Jezero Crater, may have once been a wide, 45-kilometer river delta.

Rich in sedimentary rocks, such as clay and carbonates -- the same types of rocks that hold fossil traces on Earth -- Jezero could be a treasure trove.

Or perhaps not.

"We know that water once flowed, but the question remains: for how long?" asked Rocard. "We don't even know how long it took for life to appear on Earth."

If the mission can bring these rocks back to Earth they might yield answers to the questions that have long confounded scientists.

But they will have to wait at least 10 years for the analysis to be available.

Viso said the results will likely be "a bundle of clues" rather than a clear answer.

Read also: NASA names next Mars rover 'Perseverance'

In the beginning

Scientists are also considering perhaps an even more profound question.

If life never existed on Mars, then why not?

The answer to this could enrich our understanding of how life developed on our own planet, Jorge Vago, the spokesperson of the European Space Agency said.

Due to shifting plate tectonics below the Earth's core, it is exceedingly difficult to find any traces of life here before 3.5 billion years ago.

Mars has no tectonic plates and so there is a chance that four-billion-year-old signs of life that "one could never find on Earth" may be preserved there, Vago said.

And if the latest Mars programs fail to find signs of ancient Martian life, there are always further frontiers to explore.

Encelade and Europe, two of Saturn's and Jupiter's moons, respectively are considered promising contenders.

Although reaching them remains more science fiction than reality.

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The quest to find signs of ancient life on Mars - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta Post

NASA Issues Two New Directives to Stop Humans Contaminating Mars And The Moon – ScienceAlert

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

It's fair to say we humans haven't done a great job of looking after our home planet, and now NASA has published updated guidelines to try and ensure that we don't end up having a negative impact on the celestial bodies we visit next.

These guidelines are known as planetary protection policies instructions for preventing other planets from catching our bugs and indeed for preventing any contamination coming back the other way as well. Future NASA missions will have to abide by these recommendations before they get the all clear.

The updates are actually relaxing some of the previous rules, however, not tightening them it's long been argued that the guidelines have to change for crewed missions to proceed, as putting humans on the surface of the Moon or Mars without any microbes at all going along with them is just about impossible.

The first policy to get an update is the catchily named NID 8715.128 (NID stands for NASA Interim Directives), which covers human and robot missions to the Moon or "space vehicles intended to land, orbit, flyby, or otherwise encounter Earth's Moon", as the document itself puts it.

Part of the new report specifies different approaches to different parts of the Moon. Areas of greater scientific interest such as permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) where water might be lurking, or the area where the Apollo spacecraft landed. These sites can still be visited, but under more controlled conditions (so a complete biological inventory will be required for these trips, for example).

"We are enabling our important goal of sustainable exploration of the Moon while simultaneously safeguarding future science in the permanently shadowed regions," says Thomas Zurbuchen, the Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

"These sites have immense scientific value in shaping our understanding of the history of our planet, the Moon and the Solar System."

The second policy to be refreshed is referenced as NID 8715.129, and lays the foundation for human missions to Mars. It doesn't go into a great deal of detail, but it does set out a framework for new directives ones that allow humans to set foot on the Red Planet while still protecting it.

Despite the best efforts of the Curiosity rover, there's still a huge amount about Mars that we don't know, and that makes it difficult for NASA to figure out what precautions need to be taken. Those preparations are now being sped up.

"It's vital that NASA's regulations remain synchronised with our capabilities and plans," says NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

"This NID will enable the human exploration of Mars, creating new opportunities for awe inspiring science and innovative commercial activities. I believe science and human exploration are complementary endeavours and I'm excited to see these policy reforms open up a new era of discovery."

The NID commits NASA to a process of investigating quarantine and waste disposal systems that can protect the Martian environment as much as possible, and to coming up with technologies to monitor the impact we're having on the surface so future changes can be made if necessary.

We're excited about where space exploration might lead us next, and these new directives should mean our journeys are as safe as possible as well both for our crews and anything else we might meet.

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NASA Issues Two New Directives to Stop Humans Contaminating Mars And The Moon - ScienceAlert

The UAEs First Mars Mission Is a Robo-Meteorologist – WIRED

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

When the UAE was created, some countries were already sending things to space, says Omran Sharaf, the program manager for the Hope mission. To catch up requires us to be much faster than other nations. The moon is difficult, but Mars is much more difficult. And if a young nation like the UAE can reach Mars, then it shows you can do much more.

If everything goes according to plan, the UAE will become just the fifth country to successfully put a spacecraft on or around Mars. But the Hope mission will also be marked by a number of firsts. Its the first interplanetary mission launched by a majority Arab country, it will be the first time a Japanese rocket has launched a spacecraft to Mars, and if all goes well, Hope will be the first spacecraft to get a comprehensive understanding of the tenuous Martian atmosphere. Planetary scientists believe that Mars was once sheathed in a thick layer of carbon dioxide, but that this atmosphere was rapidly stripped away by solar winds in the early days of the solar system. Once Hope arrives in orbit next February, it will track seasonal atmospheric changes over the course of a full Martian year, which is the equivalent of two Earth years, and give researchers better insight into this process.

Hope will help fill in the gaps in understanding left by NASAs Maven orbiter, which has been studying the Red Planets atmosphere since 2014. Maven was built to observe the dynamics of the upper atmosphere, says Bruce Jakosky, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Mavens lead researcher, but its instruments werent designed to get a good look at what was happening closer to the surface. Hope is outfitted with three instruments that will allow it to study the lower Martian atmosphere at different wavelengths to understand how it interacts with the upper atmosphere and the rest of the planet to create seasonal weather patterns.

Maven couldnt do everything, says Jakosky, who was a scientific adviser for the Hope mission. In designing the Hope mission, we wanted to pick areas that were important, yet not really addressed by earlier missions. And our experience with Mars is that every time you make a new type of measurement, you make fundamental discoveries about the behavior of the system.

For example, Hope will shed light on a Martian mystery uncovered by Maven, which detected large plumes of hydrogen escaping from the planet. The hydrogen likely comes from atmospheric water vapor split apart by sunlight in the lower atmosphere, but the processes that cause it to escape into space arent well understood. Theyre worth figuring out, though. Geological evidence collected by Martian orbiters and rovers suggests that a younger Mars may have hosted vast oceans of liquid water on its surface around 4 billion years ago. But today the planet is cold, dry, and barren. Studying its atmosphere may tell us how it became this way, and whether conditions were ever conducive to life.

We know that Mars used to have a much thicker atmosphere, it was warmer, and it was wetter, says Tanya Harrison, the science programs manager at Planet, an Earth-imaging satellite company, who previously worked on NASAs Curiosity Mars rover. The big questions are, how did the atmosphere get to the point its at today, and whats causing it to blow into space?

The Hope spacecraft may be on a mission to Mars, but its architects also underscore its importance for people back on Earth. The Emiratis and their neighbors are expected to be hit especially hard by climate change; some projections forecast that large swathes of the Middle East will be uninhabitable by the middle of the century due to drought and soaring temperatures. Sharaf says that the skills gained from launching and operating Hope will help Emirati scientists and engineers develop the technical skills they need to deal with climate change on Earth.

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The UAEs First Mars Mission Is a Robo-Meteorologist - WIRED

Spains Q1, 2020 Gambling Results Grow by 12.5% YOY – GamblingNews.com

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Shortly after Spain proposed new restrictive measures to online gambling and betting, advertisement and promotions, the DGOJ presented the Q1, 2020 gambling numbers, marking an overall 12.5% year-over-year increase in gambling revenue.

Spains gambling revenue has grown yet again in the first quarter of the year. Results for Q1, 2020 were up 12.5% year-over-year, thanks to accelerated activity across every vertical of the market, including sports betting as well as iGaming, bingo, and poker. However, most activities came to a halt in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic which forced most of Spain on shutdown.

Revenue leading up to March 31, however, ended up at 218.0 million or around $246 million. The official results from the Direccin General del Ordenacin del Juego show that players wagered an estimated 4.80 billion or up 3.6% year-over-year.

There has been a growth in the frequency and volume of online betting and gaming accounts, with 289,340 new people signing up to place a bet, or a 5.6% more than a year before. Some 911,218 accounts were active during the reported period.

Sports betting naturally contributed the most to the overall results with 110.6 million in the books or 8.7% year-over-year growth, and 50.8% of the whole quarterly total. Fixed-odds betting was the main and most bet-on market, which also grew by 13.1%.

Interestingly, live betting, or in-play betting as its known, accounted for the second-largest generator of revenue with 61.3 million during the period, or 4% year-over-year.

Another vertical of growth was online gaming in Spain. The revenue was up by 16.8% over the period, arriving at 77.6 million over the entire reported period released in DGOJs latest numbers. Slots were the main driver of growth with 43.2 million of the total revenue.

Interestingly, live roulette added 18.4 million to the total revenue, which constituted a 35.6% growth in the specific segment, DGOJ reported. Meanwhile, poker has seen more people joining and trying the game. The revenue stood at 24.2 million or a 13.1% increase year-over-year.

Tournaments during the lockdown grew quickly, the regulator explained, and cash game contributions rose by 7.9% to 8.1 million. Bingo operations added another 3.7 million to the overall results, marking a 14.7% overall increase in activities.

DGOJ offered insight into marketing investment by gambling firms, which saw another 28.3% in Q1 and ended with 118.2 million. However, marketing efforts may soon come to a halt, after Spain sent a revised gambling regulation proposal to the European Commission.

Effectively, Spain wants to curb the reach of gambling advertisement, suspend most promotions, and tighten the control and restrictions over the sector. Some of those measures were part of ad-hoc solutions during the lockdown, but they have now been inked into the long-term plans of the government.

Should they come into effect, this may stop years of growth Spain has been posting recently. Gambling advertisements were limited when the COVID-19 crisis began. But even before that, the government said that it would seek to suspend at least 80% of all gambling advertisements in the country.

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Spains Q1, 2020 Gambling Results Grow by 12.5% YOY - GamblingNews.com

Online Gambling Software Market Research Report by Downstream Applications, Competitive Analysis And Regional Forecast by 2024 – Daily Research…

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

The Global Online Gambling Software Market is broadly and deeply studied in the report with a key focus on the competitive landscape, regional growth, market segmentation, and market dynamics. We have used the latest primary and secondary research techniques for compiling this comprehensive research study. The report offers Porters Five Forces analysis, PESTLE analysis, competitive analysis, manufacturing cost analysis, revenue and production analysis, and various other types of analysis to provide a complete view of the global Online Gambling Software Market. Each segment of the global Online Gambling Software market is carefully analyzed on the basis of market share, CAGR, and other vital factors. The global Online Gambling Software market is also statistically presented with the help of Y-o-Y growth, CAGR, revenue, production, and other important calculations. The report presents the market competitive landscape and consistent in-depth analysis of the major vendor/key players in the market along with the impact of economic slowdown due to COVID.

Global Online Gambling Software market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer;

the top players including

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On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share, and growth rate of each type, primarily split into

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Our report includes ongoing and latest market trends, company market shares, market forecasts, competitive bench-marking, competitive mapping, and in-depth analysis of key sustainability tactics and their impact on market growth and competition. In order to estimate the quantitative aspects and segment the global Online Gambling Software market, we used a recommended combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches. We studied the global Online Gambling Software market from three key perspectives through data triangulation. Our iterative and comprehensive research methodology helps us to provide the most accurate market forecasts and estimates with no to minimum errors.

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Table of Contents:

Report Overview: It covers the scope of the research study, companies profiled in the report, objectives of and years considered for the research study, and highlights of type, application, and regional segmentation. As part of the highlights of segmental analysis, this section discloses growth rates and market shares of segments.

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Geographical Online Gambling Software Market Analysis: This part of the report assesses key regional and country-level markets on the basis of market size by type and application, key players, and market forecast.

Profiles of International Players: All of the companies profiled in this section are deeply evaluated, keeping in view their prices, gross margin, revenue, sales, and core and other businesses. This section also gives company details, a business overview of players, and other information.

Online Gambling Software Market Dynamics: Here, the report provides supply chain analysis, regional marketing analysis by type and application, and analysis of market drivers, restraints, and opportunities.

Appendix: It includes author details, a disclaimer, data sources, research approach, and research methodology.

Breakdown by Type, Application, and Region

Key Findings of the Report

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Online Gambling Software Market Research Report by Downstream Applications, Competitive Analysis And Regional Forecast by 2024 - Daily Research...

Online Gambling Software Market Size By Product Analysis, Application, End-Users, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies And Forecast Up To 2026 -…

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

New Jersey, United States,- Latest update on Online Gambling Software Market Analysis report published with extensive market research, Online Gambling Software Market growth analysis, and forecast by 2026. this report is highly predictive as it holds the overall market analysis of topmost companies into the Online Gambling Software industry. With the classified Online Gambling Software market research based on various growing regions, this report provides leading players portfolio along with sales, growth, market share, and so on.

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UK gambling charity calls on banks to improve card blocking systems – Yogonet International

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

K gambling charity GambleAware has released a report urging banks to improve card blocking systems introduced to help problem gamblers after it emerged 40% of current accounts offer no help in this area.

The ability for customers to ask for payments to gambling sites to be blocked is considered important as it helps those whose betting is out of control, especially considering that problem gambling is thought to cost the UK up to 1.2bn a year.

Researchers at the University of Bristols personal finance center found that many banks were failing to offer the ability to block such spending, or the controls were easily turned off, the Guardian reports.

GambleAware said Nationwide and Capital One do not offer to block card payments to gambling companies as a standard feature. Of the eight banks that do offer the option, customers of three could immediately turn them off.

The reports authors have called on the regulators to ensure all banks have card blockers in place, with the restrictions unable to be removed for at least 48 hours. They have also called on financial institutions to do more to raise awareness among customers that the blockers are available.

Prof Sharon Collard, of the University of Bristol, said: "Our research has found bank card gambling blockers are not available on roughly 40% of personal current accounts. This means an estimated 28 million people are missing out on this crucial tool to block gambling expenditure which helps protect them from harm. We are calling on the Financial Conduct Authority to urgently recommend that gambling blocks are standard on all debit and credit cards."

The GambleAware chief executive, Marc Etches, said: "Keeping people safe from gambling harms requires banks to play their full part in providing consumers with effective means to block gambling transactions."

Last week ministers pledged to review the 2005 Gambling Act in the face of a growing consensus among MPs and addiction experts that the current legislation is no longer effective.

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UK gambling charity calls on banks to improve card blocking systems - Yogonet International

Greyhound review Tom Hanks goes to war on the high seas – The Guardian

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Tom Hanks has often found that the military or quasi-military uniform of a much-loved authority figure rather suits him: that sensitive, faintly rheumy gaze is often to be seen under a peaked cap or battered helmet. He was the container-ship captain in Paul Greengrasss Captain Phillips, the heroic airline pilot in Clint Eastwoods Sully, the teacher-turned-soldier in Spielbergs Saving Private Ryan. Now he is the US naval commander Ernest Krause in this robustly old-fashioned second world war adventure, in which Hanks also makes his screenwriting debut, adapting the 1955 novel, The Good Shepherd by CS Forester.

Hanks plays a captain during the Battle of the Atlantic who has finally been promoted. He has been given command of a destroyer with the call sign Greyhound and tasked with protecting vital supply convoys on their way from the US to Britain, through mountainous seas and surrounded by U-boats led by lethally cunning German sadists.

Having bade a rather formal farewell to his wife, Evie (a brief cameo for Elisabeth Shue), Ernest sets sail and quickly finds himself in terrifying danger. An early and flukey success against the enemy leads him to make miscalculations due to inexperience, and soon his convoy is attacked by a sinister wolf pack of vengeful U-boats, who start picking off ships, one by one, with terrifying precision. Their leader (voiced by Thomas Kretschmann) screeches Germany-calling-type taunts over the radio: Ve hear the screams of your comrades as zey die! You vill die today!

Hankss troubled captain is visibly tired and vulnerable, at one stage poignantly asking for his soft slippers to brought to him to soothe his aching feet. His subordinates, including Charlie Cole (Stephen Graham) have affection for their chief, but you can see a tiny flicker of dismay on their obedient faces. Has the old man got what it takes?

Easily the most startling moment comes with the captain making a mortifying mistake about the two galley stewards whose job it is serve him meals: Cleveland (Rob Morgan) and Pitts (Craig Tate) are the only black crew members. In his exhaustion and distraction, the captain calls one by the others name. This blunder is of course not presented as evidence of his callousness, still less of systemic racism, just the understandable lapse of a thoroughly decent guy under unimaginable pressure. Hanks is the only actor (and screenwriter) in Hollywood who could possibly have got away with this, although I cant see him or anyone else risking such a line right now.

Greyhound is a very traditional and indeed traditionalist movie, with Hanks beginning and ending his first day in battle kneeling in prayer. Yet the action itself sticks largely and somehow expressionistically to the tense, claustrophobic world of the bridge with the captain barking all manner of opaque naval jargon. In some ways it resembles a kind of ocean-going stage play: the other, distant ships and the vast heaving grey sea are rendered digitally. But its effective and watchable, with some genuinely tense moments as Hanks has to make split-second decisions about two Nazi torpedoes heading his way from different directions, and then desperately bellow his orders over the wind and rain. He is very much the sort of mythical figure that Walter Mitty might imagine himself being.

Im also a sucker for some old-school cat-and-mouse strategy between allied ships and German U-boats and this doesnt disappoint. There are moments with Hanks looking urgently into the distance through his captains binoculars, which reminded me of Jack Hawkins in The Cruel Sea.

Death is the most difficult thing to represent in a war movie, or any movie. Three sailors are killed in battle, and Hanks and director Aaron Schneider contrive a burial-at-sea sequence halfway through, which is notable for one tiny touch of what might be called mythic insubordination. Just as a shrouded body is about to be solemnly dropped from its flag-wrapping over the side into the sea, it gets tangled. We get an infinitesimal cutaway to Hankss alarmed face: is this sad moment going to turn into farce? But in the next moment, the problem is righted and the ceremony goes ahead.

Another sort of movie might have put far more emphasis on things like this. As well as death and tragedy, war is full of absurdity, indignity, chaos, all sorts of bizarre and embarrassing things that dont get mentioned in the official record. Greyhound is content with its keynote of sombre reverence.

Greyhound is available on Apple TV from 10 July.

This article was amended on 12 July 2020 to correct the spelling of Elisabeth Shue.

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Greyhound review Tom Hanks goes to war on the high seas - The Guardian

Exclusive: U.S. turns screws on maritime industry to cut off Venezuela’s oil – WTVB News

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Danzig

Monday, July 13, 2020 1:03 a.m. EDT by Thomson Reuters

By Jonathan Saul and Matt Spetalnick

LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several companies that certify vessels are seaworthy and ship insurers have withdrawn services to tankers involved in the Venezuelan oil trade as the United States targets the maritime industry to tighten sanctions on the Latin American country.

U.S. sanctions have driven Venezuela's oil exports to their lowest levels in nearly 80 years, starving President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government of its main source of revenue and leaving authorities short of cash for essential imports such as food and medicine.

The sanctions are part of U.S. efforts to weaken Maduro's grip on power after Washington and other Western democracies accused him of rigging a 2018 re-election vote. Despite the country's economic collapse, Maduro has held on and frustrated the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Maduro's government says the United States is trying to seize Venezuela's oil and calls the U.S. measures illegal persecution that heap suffering on the Venezuelan people.

Washington has honed in on the maritime industry in recent months in efforts to better enforce sanctions on the oil trade and isolate Caracas, Washington's special envoy on Venezuela Elliott Abrams told Reuters.

"What you will see is most shipowners and insurance and captains are simply going to turn away from Venezuela," Abrams told Reuters in an interview.

"It's just not worth the hassle or the risk for them."

The United States is pressuring shipping companies, insurers, certifiers and flag states that register vessels, he said.

Ship classification societies, which certify safety and environmental standards for vessels, are feeling the heat for the first time.

The United States is pressuring classifiers to establish whether vessels have violated sanctions regulations and to withdraw certification if so as a way to tighten sanctions further, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Without certification, a vessel and its cargo become uninsured. Ship owners would also be in breach of commercial contracts which require certificates to be maintained. In addition, port authorities can refuse entry or detain a ship.

London-headquartered Lloyd's Register (LR), one of the world's leading ship classifiers, said it had withdrawn services from eight tankers that were involved in trade with Venezuela.

"In accordance with our programme for complying with sanctions' laws, where we become aware of vessels operating in breach of relevant sanctions laws, LR classification has been withdrawn," a Lloyd's Register spokeswoman said.

Abrams said the pressure on the maritime industry was working.

"We have had a number of shippers that come to us and say, 'We just had our insurance company withdraw the insurance, and the ship is on the high seas and we've got to get to port. Could you give us a license for one week?'," Abrams said.

In June, the United States designated six shipping companies - two of them based in Greece - and six tankers they owned for participating in proscribed Venezuelan trade.

Another leading ship classifier, Hamburg-headquartered DNV GL Maritime, said it had suspended services for three of those vessels in June.

The company resumed services when the United States removed those vessels from the list of sanctioned entities after the shipping companies that own and operate the vessels agreed to cease trade with Venezuela.

CHILLING EFFECT

The United States has threatened sanctions on any company involved in the oil trade with Venezuela, and that has had a chilling effect even on trade permitted under sanctions.

Some oil companies are refusing to charter vessels that have called at Venezuelan ports in the past year, even if the voyage was exempt from sanctions.

"The shipping sector has been at the receiving end of U.S. action on Venezuela and it has caused much uncertainty as no one knows who will be next," one shipping industry source said.

Insurers are also in a bind. They have been conservative in their interpretation of U.S. sanctions to avoid any potential violations, said Mike Salthouse, chairman of the sanctions sub-committee with the International Group association. The group represents companies that insure about 90% of the world's commercial shipping.

"If there is ambiguity as to what is lawful and what is unlawful it makes it almost impossible for an insurer to say whether someone has cover or not," he said.

Even after ships and companies are removed from the sanctions list, they may face difficulties, Salthouse said.

"The stigma associated with a designation may last some time," he said.

Oil majors, for example, may review relationships with companies that own or manage vessels that the United States had designated and then removed to avoid any possible problems with other vessels, he said.

'REAL THREAT'

Venezuela is on the list of high risk areas set by officials from London's insurance market.

"If a vessel sails to Venezuela they have to notify the underwriter and it may be that the underwriter will not be able to cover them," said Neil Roberts, head of marine underwriting at Lloyd's Market Association, which represents the interests of all underwriting businesses in London's Lloyd's market.

The industry faces "the direct and real threat of having its trade stopped by a watchful U.S. administration because of an inadvertent infringement," he said.

"This risk alone is enough to fuel the multiplication of compliance checks."

Some of the biggest global flag registries including Panama and Liberia are also looking more closely at ships that were involved in Venezuela trading as they come under U.S. pressure to withdraw registration for ships violating sanctions.

Maritime lawyers in Panama said its registry is fining vessels that do not comply with the U.S. maritime guidance issued in May. The registry is mostly de-flagging vessels targeted by multilateral sanctions rather than unilateral U.S. sanctions, the lawyers said.

Officials at Liberia's registry did not respond to requests for comment.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a former investor in shipping, helped craft the strategy targeting the maritime sector, sources said.

A Commerce Department spokesperson acknowledged Ross had worked with other government agencies "to determine how to best hold accountable those who are evading U.S. sanctions" on Venezuela.

Abrams vowed to keep up the pressure.

"There are people who don't cooperate ... We'll go after the ship, the ship owner, the ship captain."

(Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City and Elida Moreno in Panama City; Editing by Simon Webb and Daniel Wallis)

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Exclusive: U.S. turns screws on maritime industry to cut off Venezuela's oil - WTVB News

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