Daily Archives: April 9, 2020

Coronavirus crisis has transformed our view of whats important – The Guardian

Posted: April 9, 2020 at 5:47 pm

There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.

So said Vladimir Ilyich Lenin of the ferment of revolution, but he could just as easily have been talking about the 100 days that have passed since the moment coronavirus officially became a global phenomenon, the day China reported the new contagion to the World Health Organization.

The world has been transformed in that time, perhaps nowhere more so than Britain.

A hundred days ago, on 31 December, the UK prime minister delivered a video message full of hope and promise.

The coming year would, he said, be a fantastic one, the start of an exhilarating decade of growth, prosperity and opportunity. In 2020, he enthused, Britain would brim with confidence.

The early weeks suggested the PM might be right on one count at least. After three and a half years of rancour over Brexit, some of the poison began to drain out of the issue. Of course, it wasnt done, as Johnson promised it would be, but it seemed as if we might dwell on lesser worries.

We saw in 2020 debating Megxit, a country with no greater angst on its mind than whether the Sussexes should carry on royalling.

On 31 January, the UK formally left the European Union. This new coronavirus was low down on the bulletins, safely tagged as foreign news.

Even by early March, it had not quite bared its teeth. People knew the official advice but werent sure quite how seriously they were meant to take it. Those politicians involved in public health messaging might attempt an awkward elbow bump at the start of a meeting, only to end it with a handshake or even a bear hug.

Johnson himself, at a press conference on 3 March, cheerfully boasted that he was still shaking hands with people he met including, he said, people infected with coronavirus.

And yet, after a couple of those weeks in which decades happen, on 23 March Johnson was delivering a TV address to the nation, announcing a lockdown in what might have been a hackneyed scene from dystopian fiction. The pubs were closed, along with the football grounds and the cinemas and the theatres and the schools. Places that normally throb with noise were suddenly quiet and have remained so.

You can jog through Leicester Square, London, a place normally teeming with tourists, and hear nothing more than the flapping of a distant flag.

Two weeks on from that original edict and now the death toll is in the thousands with the prime minister himself in intensive care, a development that shook people who did not expect to be shaken. Decades, in weeks.

This is a story of change so rapid, we can barely absorb it.

People focus on the questions that are human scale and therefore digestible how long is the queue outside the supermarket? Do I need to wash vegetables if theyre wrapped in plastic? Can I walk in a park if everyone else is walking in the same park? perhaps because the larger questions are too big to take in, including the largest of all: is this plague going to kill someone I love? Will it kill me?

This is the greatest UK public health crisis in a century. It threatens a death toll in five figures. It dwarfs any such menace since the Spanish flu afflicted a nation already staggering from the losses of the first world war. Perhaps it will come to seem like an act of God that none of us could have done anything about, a plague on all our houses that could not be averted.

Or maybe a future public inquiry will examine the fact that doctors and nurses were denied basic protective equipment, that care workers were forced to use bin liners for aprons and Marigolds for gloves, along with the paucity of ventilators and, above all, Britains apparent inability to follow the WHOs instruction to test, test, test, and conclude that the UK response to Covid-19 ranks as one of the severest failures of public administration in the countrys long history.

That makes this a political crisis.

They were very slow. They didnt understand the scale of this, says one senior figure, who has witnessed the governments response close up. He says those at the top were blase, that emergency Cobra meetings were nothing like the efficient coordination exercises that have followed terror attacks, but chaotic, lacking decisiveness.

As for the PM, I was surprised at how not in control Johnson appeared to be. There was a lack of comparative data on how other countries were responding, a lack of thinking strategically or several moves ahead. Put simply, he says, the government was winging it.

The cabinet has looked callow in this period, lacking the seasoned faces of cabinets past. Dominic Raab, Rishi Sunak, Matt Hancock: they dont have that many years on the clock.

Every time a Michael Heseltine or Gordon Brown comes on the radio, social media brims with nostalgia for the heavyweights of yore.

Its one reason why the weekend just gone seemed to calm nerves. On Saturday, Labour elected a new leader who looked competent and capable. That brought one sigh of relief. Sunday brought another, as the country heard from its longest-serving public figure, its head of state.

The Queens ability to reassure rests on her status as monarch, of course, but also on her extraordinary longevity at the centre of our national life. As she reminded viewers of her TV address that night a vanishingly rare event in itself she has been communicating with Britons at moments of distress for an astonishing 80 years.

She recalled broadcasting to child evacuees in 1940, thereby summoning up the mystic power of the event which serves as the foundation story of modern Britain the moment when we stood alone against an evil menace, and prevailed. Her promise that we will meet again, at once a glance back to the wartime past and a glimpse of a more hopeful future, will be remembered as one of the most significant because necessary acts of her 68-year reign.

Had the weekend ended that way, a calm might have settled on the land. As one observer noticed, the Queens message, along with Starmers election, suggested the scaffolding of the British state was being hoisted back into place.

But the calm lasted less than an hour, the nerves jangling once more with the news that the PM had been taken to hospital proof that even the most protected individual in the country, a Falstaffian figure of hale and hearty vigour, was not beyond the claw of this dreaded virus.

Even so, despite the fear and the loneliness and the claustrophobia and the economic hardship of lockdown, few would say the country has sunk into despair.

Privately, our lives have been pared down to their barest essentials: no sport, no live entertainment, no nights out just work, for those who still have it, family and remote contact with friends.

The work has changed all laptops, pyjamas and Zoom for those who once toiled in offices while family life has changed too, becoming much more concentrated and intense.

For some, that has been an unexpected joy; for others, it has been suffocating and even dangerous.

But our public life has also been stripped to its essentials. Weve come to see whats indispensable and what is not.

It turns out that we can function without celebrities or star athletes, but we really cannot function without nurses, doctors, care workers, delivery drivers, the stackers of supermarket shelves or, perhaps unexpectedly, good neighbours.

If you didnt value those people before some of those belatedly recognised as key workers are among the lowest paid you surely value them now. In a new tradition, we emerge from our homes and start clapping every Thursday night at 8pm to make sure they know.

Almost everything the prime minister predicted a hundred days ago has failed to come true: 2020 will not be a year of growth or prosperity, but the very opposite. And yet, on one thing he was right. Somehow, we have left the widest rift of recent years behind.

Leave or remain now feels like an ancient divide, made suddenly irrelevant when the only distinction that matters is alive or dead.

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Disease is the greatest threat to bee health. Can we protect them through genetically engineered probiotics? – Genetic Literacy Project

Posted: at 5:46 pm

If you cannot engineer the organism, engineer its microbiome.

Since scientists began exploring how to solve problems using synthetic biology, by focusing on microbial symbionts, a whole universe of possibilities has opened up. We have seen a hangover cure, synthetic probiotics for humans, and even microbes that help plants fix their own nitrogen. Now the focus is on bees to get their engineered probiotic, an idea that may save the insects from disease and insulate consumers from food shortages.

Domesticated bees and other pollinators play a significant role in growing many foods, although how much is debated. A significant percentage of Americas crops between 7% and 35% relyto some extent on bees. Wheat, corn and rice are wind-pollinated. Lettuce, beans and tomatoes are self-pollinated. But in some crops, bees are essential. Honeybees have a tremendous financial importance, not only for their honey but as the insects that enable the reproduction of (many) flowering plants. As wild insects cannot be relied upon to pollinate thousands of acres of monocultures, crop producers employ beekeepers to bring their hives close to their plants. This gave birth to migratory beekeeping, a practice now essential for cultivation of plants such as almond trees on a commercial scale.

Honeybees have evolved into a managed livestock, with a complex role in agriculture and established production and management practices. Beekeepers need to maintain healthy colonies. All bee colonies decline significantly in size during the winter months, but overwinter losses have increased over the past 15 years, and now hover around 40%. These persistently high mortality rates have fedinaccurate speculations about the cause, often blaming one class of pesticides, neonicotioids as the primary culprit. The evidence doesnt support that claim. The driver of bee health problems is known and its not pesticides nor agricultural production models; its disease.

Honeybees are susceptible to many infections from parasites and viruses. In fact, the co-infection with mite parasites and RNA viruses is particularly destructive for bees and accounts for a large portion of colony losses. The most common external parasites are the Varroa mites (scientific name Varroa destructor), which feed on the fat bodies of the bees. The deformed wing virus is another common hazard. This RNA virus uses the Varroa mites as disease vectors and infects the bee bodies, leading to developmental deformities.

Varroa infection treatment is difficult. Common methods include pesticides to which Varroa started developing resistance mechanical screening of bees, as well as teaching the bees to recognize and kill infected pupae. A more selective and effective treatment could save bees and agricultural resources, and this treatment might be already present in the bees gut microbiome.

In animals, DNA stores the genetic material, and RNA molecules are short-lived and execute specific functions. Ribosomal RNA has structural role in ribosomes, transport RNA carry amino acids, and messenger RNA carries the information needed to synthesize proteins. In contrast, many viruses carry their genetic information in RNA molecules. To defend against RNA viruses, cells have developed a sophisticated system called RNA interference, or RNAi. This complex molecular machinery recognizes double-stranded RNA and breaks it down.

Bees possess an efficient RNAi machinery that protects them from intruders at a molecular level. And researchers can use this system to protect bees against mites and viruses. If we insert RNA complimentary to the deformed wing viruss genome, it will form a double-stranded hybrid molecule. The RNAi machinery can now shred the virus genome to pieces, ending thus the virus infection. The same principle can be used to target specific parasite genes. And this brought forth the idea of injecting bees with RNA to protect against Varroa mites.

There are several problems with administering RNA to individual bees. RNA is a notoriously unstable and difficult to administer molecule. The treatment is short-termed. There are off-target effects. And its almost impossible to treat entire hives. Ideally, the bees would maintain the ability to produce the suitable RNA for a long time (or permanently), but would express it only in case of infection is happening. In theory it should be possible to insert the RNA gene in the genome of the honeybees under very tight control. In practice, though, this would be extremely tough. But while the process of genetically engineering insects is not very practical, the technology to modify bacteria is quite mature.

Bees, as every organism, have a rich microbiome. It should be possible modify one of these microbes to deliver the RNA cure to its bee hosts. This is exactly the idea researchers from the University of Texas explored in a recent article published in Science. Sean Leonard and his collaborators genetically modified the bacterium Snodgrassella alvi wkB2, one of the most abundant microbes found in the honeybee gut, to continuously deliver double stranded RNA.

The researchers first verified that engineered bacteria can establish themselves in the bees gut. They tested whether the modified S. alvi can deliver RNA to their host, and if this RNA can stimulate an RNAi response. As these early experiments were positive, the scientists tried to use the new probiotic to treat deformed wing virus and Varroa mite infections. Their results showed that the administration of the engineered microbe improved survivability, while the microbe by itself didnt seem to harm healthy bees.

This work from Leonard and the rest of the University of Texas team is an encouraging proof of principle. Their study shows that bee probiotics can confer parasite and virus resistance for several days to individual bees, though they dont show yet if such a treatment will work well on a hive level. Such an approach has the potential to be a versatile and generalized cure: the beekeepers could store and administer specialized probiotics for any possible outbreak. Bee probiotics would be very specific to the disease they teat and they would have minimal environmental impact (contained within the hives and disappearing over time).

Would honeybee probiotics get regulatory clearance? The question is a bit complicated. In the US, they would likely be regulated in same way as engineered human probiotics, which are already on the market. But the honey produced by treated bees and the pollinated crops are in regulatory uncharted territory, so nothing is assured as this issue is more ideological than science-based. The food products are definitely not GMOs as the bee or crop DNA would not be affected but regulators might nonetheless under political pressure to require proof about environmental and food safety, even though there is no logical scientific basis for requiring such information as there would be no detectable difference in honey derived from such bees. Most probably, countries with tougher GMO restrictions (such as in the EU) will be as skeptical of probiotics from RNA-modified bees as they are of other genetic engineering technology, and are unlikely to approve them.

Insects are organisms with immense financial, ecological, and social importance. Synthetic biology may provide ways to protect or control insect populations without the use of harmful chemicals, destroying habitats, or introducing invasive species ways that we currently employ with well-documented consequences. Engineering the microbiome is a way to solve biological problems by bypassing the hurdles of transforming complex multicellular organisms, a back door to make synthetic biology easier. And the honeybee back door is now pried open.

Kostas Vavitsas, PhD, is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Athens, Greece. He is also a steering committee member of EUSynBioS. Follow him on Twitter @konvavitsas

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CSL Behring and SAB Biotherapeutics Join Forces to Deliver New Potential COVID-19 Therapeutic – P&T Community

Posted: at 5:46 pm

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. and SIOUX FALLS, S.D., April 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Global biotherapeutics leader, CSL Behringand innovative human antibody development company SAB Biotherapeutics(SAB) announced today their partnership to combat the coronavirus pandemic with the rapid development of SAB-185, a COVID-19 therapeutic candidate on track for clinical evaluation by early summer. The partnership joins the forces of CSL Behring's leading protein science capabilities with SAB's novel immunotherapy platform capable of rapidly developing and producing natural, highly-targeted, high-potency, fully human polyclonal antibodies without the need for blood plasma donations from recovered patients.

The therapeutic candidate, SAB-185, is generated from SAB's proprietary DiversitAb platform producing large volumes of human polyclonal antibodies targeted specifically to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Driven by advanced genetic engineering and antibody science, SAB's novel approach, leveraging genetically engineered cattle to produce fully human antibodies, enables a scalable and reliable production of targeted, higher potency neutralizing antibody product than has been previously possible. SAB's approach has expedited the rapid development of a novel immunotherapy for COVID-19 deploying the same natural immune response to fight the disease as recovered patients, but with a much higher concentration of targeted antibodies.

"COVID-19 is a nearly unprecedented public health crisis," said CSL Behring's Executive Vice President and Head of R&D Bill Mezzanotte, M.D. "That's why we're combining our leading capabilities in plasma product development and immunology with external collaborators to help find multiple, rapid solutions. In the near-term, SAB Biotherapeutics' novel immunotherapy platform provides a new and innovative solution to rapidly respond without the need for human plasma adding a different dimension to the industry-wide plasma-derived hyperimmune alliance effort we recently launched for the COVID-19 crisis. For future pandemics, SAB's platform may allow us to even more rapidly respond to patients' needs."

"Our targeted high-potency immunotherapies leverage the native immune response thereby providing a highly-specific match against the complexity, diversity and mutation of a disease," said Eddie J. Sullivan, PhD, SAB Biotherapeutics president, CEO and co-founder. "Our partnership with CSL Behring shifts our development trajectory to more rapidly scale-up and delivery of our highly targeted and potent COVID-19 therapeutic candidate, and deploy our unique capabilities to help combat this crisis. We have a successful preclinical track record for addressing infectious disease targets including Ebola, MERS, and SARS with our proprietary platform and appreciate that this collaboration with a global biopharmaceutical powerhouse will magnify the potential impact of a COVID-19 immunotherapy and provide an important framework for establishing sustainable solutions for the future."

CSL Behring has provided seed funding to offset some initial development costs that were funded by SAB in good faith, responding to the global pandemic as quickly as possible. SAB has already secured approximately $7.2 million in funding through an interagency agreement with the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense (JPEO - CBRND) and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)to support SAB to complete manufacturing and preclinical studies. CSL Behring will then commit its clinical, regulatory, manufacturing and supply chain expertise and resources to deliver the therapeutic to the market as soon as possible, on terms to be agreed with SAB.

Earlier this year, the companies announceda collaboration to investigate SAB's platform technology as a new source for human immunoglobulin G (IgG) and the potential for new therapies to treat challenging autoimmune, infectious and idiopathic diseases by leveraging SAB's DiversitAb platform.

About CSL Behring CSL Behring is a global biotherapeutics leader driven by its promise to save lives. Focused on serving patients' needs by using the latest technologies, we develop and deliver innovative therapies that are used to treat coagulation disorders, primary immune deficiencies, hereditary angioedema, inherited respiratory disease, and neurological disorders. The company's products are also used in cardiac surgery, burn treatment and to prevent hemolytic disease of the newborn. CSL Behring operates one of the world's largest plasma collection networks, CSL Plasma. The parent company, CSL Limited (ASX:CSL;USOTC:CSLLY), headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, employs more than 26,000 people, and delivers its life-saving therapies to people in more than 70 countries. For more information, visit http://www.cslbehring.com and for inspiring stories about the promise of biotechnology, visit Vita http://www.cslbehring.com/Vita

About SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc.SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc. (SAB), headquartered in Sioux Falls, S.D. is a clinical-stage, biopharmaceutical development company advancing a new class of immunotherapies leveraging fully human polyclonal antibodies. Utilizing some of the most complex genetic engineering and antibody science in the world, SAB has developed the only platform that can rapidly produce natural, highly targeted, high-potency, immunotherapies at commercial scale. The company is advancing programs in autoimmunity, infectious diseases, inflammation and exploratory oncology. SAB is rapidly progressing on a new therapeutic for COVID-19, SAB-185, a fully human polyclonal antibodies targeted to SARS-CoV-2 without using human donors. SAB-185 is expected to be ready for evaluation as early as summer 2020. The company was also recently awarded a $27 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to leverage its unique capabilities as part of a Rapid Response Antibody Program, valued at up to $27 million. For more information visit: http://www.sabbiotherapeutics.com.

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CAR T-Cell Therapy for Multiple Myeloma – Global Market Insights and Market Forecast to 2030 – ResearchAndMarkets.com – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 5:46 pm

The "CAR T-Cell Therapy for Multiple Myeloma - Market Insights and Market Forecast - 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report delivers an in-depth understanding of the CAR T-Cell Therapy use for Multiple Myeloma as well as the CAR T-Cell Therapy market trends for Multiple Myeloma in the 6MM i.e., United States and EU5 (Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the United Kingdom).

The Multiple Myeloma CAR T-Cell Therapy market report provides current treatment practices, emerging drugs, CAR T-Cell Therapy market share of the various CAR T-Cell Therapies for Multiple Myeloma, the individual therapies, current and forecasted Multiple Myeloma CAR T-Cell Therapy market Size from 2017 to 2030 segmented by seven major markets. The Report also covers current Multiple Myeloma treatment practice/algorithm, market drivers, market barriers and unmet medical needs to curate best of the opportunities and assesses underlying potential of the market.

Reasons to Buy

Report Highlights

Key Topics Covered:

1. Key Insights

2. Executive Summary

3. CAR T-Cell Therapy Market Overview at a Glance

3.1 Market Share (%) Distribution of CAR T-Cell Therapy for MM in 2030

4. CAR T-Cell Therapy Background and Overview

4.1 Introduction

4.1.1 CARs Generations

4.1.2 Genetic Engineering of T-Cells

4.1.3 How CAR T-Cell Therapy Works

4.2 The promise of CAR T-cell targeting B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) in multiple myeloma

4.3 Current challenges in CAR T

4.3.1 Therapeutic side effects

4.3.2 CAR T-cells lack of success

4.4 CAR T-cell therapy: Route to reimbursement

4.5 Unmet needs

5. CAR T-Cell Therapy for Multiple Myeloma (MM): 6 Major Market Analysis

5.1 Key Findings

5.2 Market Size of CAR T-Cell Therapy in 6MM

5.2.1 Market Size of CAR T-Cell Therapy by Therapies

6. Market Outlook

7. Emerging Drug Profiles for Multiple Myeloma

7.1 bb2121: Celgene Corporation

7.1.1 Product Description

7.1.2 Research and Development

7.1.3 Product Development Activities

7.2 JNJ-68284528 (LCAR-B38M): Janssen Research & Development

7.2.1 Product Description

7.2.2 Research and Development

7.2.3 Product Development Activities

7.3 P-BCMA-101: Poseida Therapeutics

7.3.1 Product Description:

7.3.2 Research and Development

7.3.3 Product Development Activities

7.4 CAR-CD44v6: MolMed S.p.A.

7.4.1 Product Description

7.4.2 Research and Development

7.4.3 Product Development Activities

7.5 JCARH125 (Orvacabtagene autoleucel): Celgene Corporation

7.5.1 Product Description

7.5.2 Research and Development

7.5.3 Product Development Activities

7.6 Descartes-08: Cartesian Therapeutics

7.6.1 Product Description

7.6.2 Research and Development

7.7 CT053 : CARsgen Therapeutics)

7.7.1 Product Description

7.7.2 Research and Development

7.7.3 Product Development Activities

Companies Mentioned

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/auj3ij

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200409005373/en/

Contacts

ResearchAndMarkets.comLaura Wood, Senior Press Managerpress@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

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One in four Britons ‘think the coronavirus was probably created in a lab’ – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 5:45 pm

One in four Britons think the coronavirus was probably created in a lab, research suggests.

Scientists from Kings College London asked more than 2,000 people what they believed to be true about the somewhat mysterious strain.

A quarter (25%) of those surveyed thought the coronavirus is probably man-made, a conspiracy theory circulating the internet.

Early research suggests the infection is mild in four out of five cases, however, it can trigger a respiratory disease called COVID-19.

A member of staff gives directions at a coronavirus testing centre for NHS staff at an IKEA in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. (Getty Images)

The Kings scientists surveyed 2,250 people aged between 18 and 75.

Of the participants who thought the coronavirus was probably created in a lab, 12% admitted to meeting up with friends during the UKs lockdown.

This is more than double the 5% of participants who socialised with loved ones, but were convinced of the strains natural origin.

Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice

Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world

Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area

Explained: Symptoms, latest advice and how it compares to the flu

Boris Johnson has enforced draconian measures that only allow Britons to leave their home for very limited purposes, like exercising or shopping for essentials.

The prime minister, who is in intensive care with coronavirus complications, has repeatedly stressed people are not to socialise with those outside of their home.

Nearly a quarter (24%) of the Kings participants who believed the coronavirus was probably manufactured thought too much of a fuss is being made about the pandemic.

This is compared to one in 10 (10%) of those who believed the strain is natural.

Emerging at the end of last year, only the relatively small number of people worldwide who have encountered the virus are thought to have immunity against it.

The race is on to develop a vaccine that will enable herd immunity, allowing the public to safely go back to their normal routine.

The survey participants who thought a jab will be available within three months were nearly four times as likely to have met up with friends during the lockdown than those of the opinion a vaccine will take longer.

Numerous pharmaceutical companies around the world are working to develop a jab, however, scientists have been upfront one will not be ready for this outbreak.

A vaccine may become available, however, if the infection turns out to be seasonal.

People have generally got the message about how serious the threat from the virus is and the importance of the measures being required of them, said study author Professor Bobby Duffy.

But at a time when the government is warning it may bring in more severe restrictions if enough people dont follow the rules, this research shows there is a significant minority who are unclear on what some of them are, as well as many who still misjudge the scale of the threat from coronavirus or believe false claims about it.

And this matters how we see current realities and the future is often related to how we strictly we follow the guidelines and our attitudes to the lockdown measures.

A man wears a mask outside a closed electrical-goods shop in the centre of Munich. (Getty Images)

Story continues

The coronavirus is thought to have emerged at a seafood and live animal market in the Chinese city Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, at the end of 2019.

The market is said to have sold a range of dead and alive animals, including bats, donkeys, poultry and hedgehogs.

Most of those who initially became unwell at the start of the outbreak worked at, or visited, the Wuhan market.

This has led scientists to believe the new coronavirus jumped from an animal into a human while the two were in close contact.

The coronavirus is one of seven strains of a class of viruses that are known to infect humans.

Another strain is severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), which killed 774 people during its 2002/3 outbreak.

Sars is thought to have started in bats and jumped into humans via masked palm civets.

Research suggests the new coronavirus shares more than 96% of its DNA with a strain detected in horseshoe bats and may have reached humans via pangolins.

Despite the evidence, conspiracy theories have arisen suggesting the strain could have been engineered.

To debunk this, scientists from Scripps Research in San Diego analysed the DNA of the virus and others like it.

They specifically looked at proteins on the surface of the viruses that allow them to enter human cells.

Results suggested the coronavirus evolved to target a receptor on human cells called ACE2.

This targeting is so effective, the scientists concluded it was the result of natural selection and not genetic engineering.

The coronavirus genetic backbone is also distinct from other pathogens. The scientists argued if one were to manufacture a disease, they would work off a backbone that is known to cause ill health.

By comparing the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains, we can firmly determine that [the new strain] originated through natural processes, said study author Dr Kristian Andersen.

A woman wears a mask while walking dogs in Palma, Spain. (Getty Images)

Since the coronavirus outbreak was identified, more than 1.5 million cases have been confirmed worldwide,according to Johns Hopkins University.

Of these cases, over 339,700 are known to have recovered.

Globally, the death toll has exceeded 89,900.

The coronavirus mainly spreads face-to-face via infected droplets expelled in a cough and sneeze.

There is also evidenceit may be transmitted in faecesandcan survive on surfaces.

Although most cases are mild, pneumonia can come about if the coronavirus spreads to the air sacs in the lungs.

This causes them to become inflamed and filled with fluid or pus.

The lungs then struggle to draw in air, resulting in reduced oxygen in the bloodstream and a build-up of carbon dioxide.

The coronavirus has no set treatment, with most patients naturally fighting off the infection.

Those requiring hospitalisation are given supportive care, like ventilation, while their immune system gets to work.

Officials urge people ward off the coronavirus bywashing their hands regularlyand maintainingsocial distancing.

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Fear of global plagues and greed for money are as old as mankind – SowetanLIVE

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Most of us have been taught to understand the word "historian" to refer to a specialist who writes about the past.

One of the greatest - if not the greatest - historians alive today is a 44-year-old man by the name of Yuval Harari, currently lecturing at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Five years ago, Harari changed the meaning of "history" by publishing a book about the future - Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow.

The title of this prophetic book is pregnant with meaning. It combines two beings - earthly and divine - to produce an omnipotent hybrid called "Domo Deus".

In palaeontology, the prefix "homo" refers to creatures that evolved into the human family. In classical Latin, "Deus" meant "god". Thus, Harari's book envisions a future where man can appropriate the powers of "god", and therefore become a human-god or "Homo Deus".

In the first chapter, Harari writes about the "anti-death" scientific research under way at the well-known American company Google.

In 2009, one of the leading anti-death researchers at Google, Bill Maris, fervently believed it would be possible, through genetic engineering, for a human being to live until he is 500 years old.

That idea rests on a fundamental transformation of the meaning of "death" that has taken place in the mind of man - from the understanding of death as a mysterious occurrence preordained by a deity to death understood as, according to Harari, "a technical problem that we can and should solve".

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The coronavirus threatens NATO. Let’s move to protect the alliance. – DefenseNews.com

Posted: at 5:44 pm

The global fight against COVID-19 has devastating economic consequences which might soon be felt in the defense sector. First estimates by OECD and national institutions conclude that the initial economic impact of the measures to fight the virus will by far exceed that of the 2008 financial crisis. The severe socio-economic consequences may tempt European governments to prioritize immediate economic relief over long-term strategic security and defense considerations. The good news is: there is no automatism it remains fundamentally a political decision.

If European governments do decide to slash defense spending as a result of the current crisis, it would be the second major hit within a decade. Defense budgets have only just begun to recover towards pre-2008 crisis levels, though capabilities have not. Nationally, as well as on an EU and NATO level, significant gaps still exist. European armies have lost roughly one-third of their capabilities over the last two decades. At the same time, the threat environment has intensified with an openly hostile Russia and a rising China.

With European defense budgets under pressure, the United States might see any effort to balance burden-sharing among allies fall apart. A militarily weak Europe would be no help against competitors either. The US should work with allies now to maintain NATOs capabilities.

Improve coordination to avoid past mistakes

Europes cardinal mistake from the last crisis was uncoordinated national defense cuts instead of harmonized European decisions. In light of the looming budget crisis, governments could be tempted to react the same way. This would be the second round of cuts within a decade, leaving not many capabilities to pool within NATO. If domestic priorities trump considerations about procurement of equipment for the maintenance and generation of military capabilities the system-wide repercussions would be severe. NATO defense, as well as the tightly knit industrial network in Europe, will suffer. Capabilities that can only be generated or sustained multinationally like effective air defense, strategic air transport or naval strike groups - could become even more fragile; some critical ones may even disappear.

If Europeans cut back on capabilities like anti-submarine warfare, armored vehicles of all sorts and mine-warfare equipment again, they could endanger the military capacity of nearly all allies. Ten years ago, such capabilities for large-scale and conventional warfare seemed rather superfluous, but today NATO needs them more than ever. This outcome should be avoided at all costs, because rebuilding those critical forces would be a considerable resource investment and could take years. Europe would become an even less effective military actor and partner to the US, resulting in more discord about burden-sharing.

Uncoordinated cuts would also affect the defense industry, as development and procurement programs would be delayed or cancelled altogether hitting both European and American companies. Moreover, their ability to increase efficiency through transnational mergers and acquisitions and economies of scale is limited due to continued national sentiments in Europe. Companies might decide to either aggressively internationalize, including massive increase of defense exports, or leave the market as national armed forces as otherwise reliable clients drop out. Technological innovation would suffer from a shrinking defense industrial ecosystem and duplicated national research and development efforts, risking the foundation of security for the next generation of defense solutions.

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To safeguard NATOs strategic autonomy, lean on lead nations

In order to prevent the loss of critical capabilities and infrastructure within NATO, the US should immediately start working with its European partners to preemptively plan for increasingly tight budgets. NATO should take stock of existing capabilities and offer alternatives for consolidation. Based on a coordinated effort to redefine NATOs level of ambition and priorities, it should offer plans for maintaining the military capacity to act while retiring unnecessary and outdated resources. Such a coordinated effort should include close cooperation with the European Union.

Building on the NATO Framework Nations Concept, the United States should work with a network of larger member states, better equipped to weather the economic shock of the current crisis, to act as lead nations. These countries could safeguard critical defense capabilities and provide a foundation of essential forces, enabling smaller partners to attach their specialized capabilities. Such an arrangement allows for a comparatively good balance of financial strain and retention of military capacity. Additionally, NATO should look beyond the conventional military domain and build on lessons learned from hybrid warfare and foreign influence operations against Europe.

The way ahead is clear: As ambitions for European strategic autonomy become wishful thinking in light of the current crisis, allies should focus on retaining NATOs strategic autonomy as a whole. For the foreseeable future, both sides of the Atlantic have to live by one motto: NATO first!

The authors are analysts at the Berlin-based German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).

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The coronavirus threatens NATO. Let's move to protect the alliance. - DefenseNews.com

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What way for NATO? Hungary follows Turkey down the authoritarian path | TheHill – The Hill

Posted: at 5:44 pm

Critics claim Hungary has turned into an elective dictatorship, with parliament voting to give Prime Minister Viktor Orban power to rule by decree. This follows Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who effectively rules by decreeas well as manipulates elections and arrests critics. What is NATO, an alliance focused on supposedly democratic Europe, going to do?

A better question would be, why should the U.S. continue to underwrite the transatlantic alliance?

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization began in 1949 with 12 members. A more accurate name would be North America and the Others. Now up to 30 membersthe comedic Duchy of Grand Fenwick became a member in late March, in the guise of North Macedoniathe alliance long has been notable for enabling military free-loading by a continent whose wealth matches and population exceeds that of America.

By a vast margin the biggest spender with the largest military and greatest combat capabilities is the U.S. Only eight other governments meet NATOs official objective of military outlays reaching 2 percent of GDP. Four of them barely hit the line. Only Bulgaria is significantly above that level. Greece makes this elite group because it is arming against fellow alliance member Turkey, not Russia or any other outside threat.

The 2 percent goal is not new: it was set in 2006, when seven members total met that level. Most significant, even now only one of the continents major powers, the United Kingdom, makes it across the line, staggers really, with a bit of fiscal legerdemain (expanding the definition of military outlays). France comes close. Expenditures by Germany, Italy, and Spain fall abysmally short.

Admittedly, the 2 percent standard is arbitrary, merely indicating military effort. Nevertheless, it represents important evidence of a countrys commitment to defend itself and its region. Apparently most Europeans cant be bothered to do so.

Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the states viewed as most at risk seemingly view the floor as a ceiling. Poland spends 2.0 percent, Latvia 2.01 percent, Lithuania 2.03 percent, and Estonia 2.14 percent. All claim to feel frightened by possible Russian aggression, yet is that all they believe their independence and freedom are worth? Even the very nations that proclaim themselves to be most at risk prefer to rely on Washington than devote their own resources to their defense.

Of the other 29 members only two have genuinely capable militaries, France and the United Kingdom. Germany, despite a storied past, when its prodigious battle skills were put to ill ends, has been embarrassed for years by reports of minimal readiness. Small nations such as Denmark and the Netherlands have contributed forces to allied endeavors (losing lives in the process) but would be marginal players in any continental conflagration. And mini-states, such as North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, and Croatia, are merely geopolitical ornaments, increasing allied defense responsibilities but not capabilities.

The basic problem is two-fold. Most European nations, certainly those constituting old Europe, as Donald Rumsfeld referred to it, have little fear of Russia. Vladimir PutinVladimir Vladimirovich PutinWhat way for NATO? Hungary follows Turkey down the authoritarian path Belarus's risky coronavirus strategy New START is not NAFTA MORE is a nasty authoritarian, not a foolish megalomaniac. Martians are more likely than Russians to invade the continent. European peoples know that and offer little support for a military build-up to satisfy Washingtons threat conceptions.

Equally important, NATO members assume Washington would deal with any crisis, so ask, why spend more money on the military? Moscows assault on Ukraine has spurred a small but steady spending increase by some members. However, despite constant whining by Washington, expressed more vociferously by President Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpSenators demand more details from Trump on intel watchdog firing Overnight Health Care: Trump steps up attack on WHO | Fauci says deaths could be lower than first projected | House panel warns federal stockpile of medical supplies depleted | Mnuchin, Schumer in talks over relief deal Trump says he'll look into small business loan program restricting casinos MORE, the substantive impact is and will remain small. After all, even as U.S. officials insisted that Europe must do more, they repeated reassurances of Americas commitment to the continent and increased funding for and placement of men and materiel in Europe. Congress even approved more military subsidies as part of The European Reassurance Initiative (since renamed The European Deterrence Initiative).

What incentive does any European government have to do anything more than the minimum necessary to reduce Washingtons complaining?

Now even alliance advocates are appalled by Hungarys authoritarian move. Yet Turkey has gone much further down this path, wrecking a democratic order, crushing dissent, threatening fellow NATO member Greece as well as Cyprus, aiding the Islamic State and other Islamic radicals in Syria, and moving close to Russia, even purchasing weapons from Moscow. Who seriously believes that Turkey would go to war with Russia over a threat to, say, Estonia?

Still, the more fundamental issue is whether the transatlantic alliance serves Americas interests. Orbans power play should trigger a review of Americas, not Hungarys, membership in NATO. The U.S. should turn responsibility for Europes security over to Europe, which could take over NATOs leadership or create an organization tied to the European Union. Washington still should cooperate with the Europeans but need not guarantee the security of nations well able to defend themselves.

The EU has 10 times the economic strength and three times the population of Russia. With America so busy elsewhere in the worldfighting endless wars in the Middle East and confronting a rising China in AsiaEuropean governments should do what all governments normally are supposed to do, defend their peoples. It is time for burden-shedding, not just burden-sharing.

Alliances should be a means to an end, enhancing U.S. security. In Washington, NATO has become an end, even as it undermines U.S. security. Hungarys transformation is forcing an alliance rethink, which is long overdue. In the midst of a viral pandemic and debt explosion, Americans cannot afford to provide military welfare for the rest of the world, especially populous and prosperous Europe. The Europeans should take over that responsibility.

Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Foreign Follies: Americas New Global Empire.

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What way for NATO? Hungary follows Turkey down the authoritarian path | TheHill - The Hill

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Coronavirus response: Turkey dispatches medical supplies to Allies and partners in the Balkans – NATO HQ

Posted: at 5:44 pm

An A-400M cargo plane of the Turkish Air Force carrying medical supplies donated by Turkey was dispatched to a number of Allies and partners in the Balkans region on Wednesday (8 April 2020).

The medical supplies were provided by the Turkish Ministry of Health to help combat the COVID-19 outbreak in North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo.

The supplies include masks, overalls and test kits and left from Ankara's Etimesgut Airbase on a Turkish Army aircraft earlier today.

The medical supplies were sent in crates displaying the words of 13th century poet Jalaluddin Rumi: "There is hope after despair and many suns after darkness.

North Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina requested assistance via NATOs Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC). The EADRCC is NATOs principal disaster response mechanism. The Centre operates on a 24/7 basis, coordinating requests from NATO Allies and partners, as well as offers of assistance to cope with the consequences of major crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Turkish initiative is the latest example of Allied efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, Turkey sent another A-400M cargo plane of the Turkish Air Force carrying medical supplies to Spain and Italy.

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Coronavirus response: Turkey dispatches medical supplies to Allies and partners in the Balkans - NATO HQ

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NATO welcomes its 30th member, strengthening the ties that bind | TheHill – The Hill

Posted: at 5:44 pm

The United States has a new ally. North Macedonia is now the 30th member of NATO and, as of last week, its flag now flies over NATO headquarters in Brussels. On March 27, the State Departments acting assistant secretary for Europe, Philip T. Reeker, met the Spanish ambassador to Washington, Santiago Cabanas, who handed over at arms length and without a handshake, in these days of COVID-19 the final bilateral ratification of North Macedonias membership for filing this latest accession to the Treaty of Washington.

It has been a long process. North Macedonia began its membership drive in 1995 when it joined NATOs partnership for peace, but it was continually blocked from achieving full membership because of Greeces objection to the name Republic of Macedonia. When Macedonia agreed in 2019 to change its official name and add the word North a modifier designed to differentiate the country from the province of Macedonia in Greece North Macedonia was on its way to membership.

During its 25-year wait, successive Macedonian governments decided that even though the country was not a full-fledged member, it would act as if it had become one, including through participation in NATO out-of-area deployments and facilitating NATO movements. It has not been easy. During NATOs action in Kosovo in 1999, then-NATO Commander Wesley K. Clark asked Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov if he would agree to store war materiel in the event that NATO needed to invade Kosovo with ground troops.

President Gligorov listened carefully, and replied to Gen. Clark: Would this mean that Macedonia is a member country? Before the general could finish explaining that membership is a much broader question that could be solved at his level, Gligorov continued in his deliberative style, I ask because, if we are to help in the invasion of our neighbor, we need to bear in mind that the Serbs have long knives but even longer memories.

Membership for North Macedonia provides another land link that helps connect the 30 NATO countries to each other in this case, a direct route from the Adriatic to the Black Sea. It also helps take what was known for centuries in Balkan history as the Macedonia Question and reinforces the answer. With only Bosnia and Serbia to go, membership for North Macedonia represents an important step toward completing the mission of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace.

North Macedonias membership comes at an important time for Europe and the worlds premier military and security organization. More than any other single institution, NATO has bound the United States to Europe. The United States left Europe during a period of isolationism, which ended when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor while Adolf Hitler in solidarity with his Japanese allies declared war on the United States. Over the course of four bloody years, Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, with an assist post-war from an extremely aggressive and belligerent Soviet Union, set the U.S. on a course that made it an essential element in European security.

When the Balkans exploded into bloody conflict in the 1990s, the United States and Europe came together in Bosnia, and later in Kosovo, to reestablish peace and bring that part of Europe into European institutions where it belongs. In Afghanistan, NATO states deployed under NATO command and fought a long, difficult war to make sure that country did not, as it was before, become a breeding ground for terrorism with global reach.

With countries such as North Macedonia, the complex task for NATO has been to maintain military standards while also insisting on standards for internal behavior and democratization. These latter expectations at times have proven more difficult to achieve than the military standards. North Macedonia has done well so far. It has succeeded in the important task of holding elections in which the government changed peacefully. As a former Macedonian prime minister said to me upon learning that his party had lost an election, One of the greatest tests of a democracy is not just the behavior of the government, but also the behavior of the opposition. We will do our part.

NATOs future rests on a myriad of factors. Will new members understand the responsibilities of membership? Will military standards be strengthened and better shared? Will a broad commitment to democracy and NATOs values be sustained? Can consensus decision-making be maintained with 30 members? These are all valid questions as NATO moves forward.

Ultimately, however, a great deal rests on U.S. understanding of this vital element of its security. An active U.S. presence in Europe, far from being a drain, has made the U.S. stronger and more influential. The fact that North Macedonia is now a member speaks to a U.S. commitment to collective defense that still holds. But, like many things in the world, it requires constant and relentless effort.

Christopher R. Hill is a retired foreign service officer who was a four-time ambassador, including to Macedonia from 1996-1999. He was Assistant Secretary of State for Asia/Pacific affairs from 2005-2009, and currently is a professor of the practice of diplomacy at the University of Denver and a senior nonresident fellow at the Carnegie Institute. Follow him on Twitter @ambchrishill.

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NATO welcomes its 30th member, strengthening the ties that bind | TheHill - The Hill

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