Tag: Finds

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Politics

Biden, Nonetheless Grieving His Son Beau, Finds That Not Everybody Desires to Hear About It

Biden, Still Grieving His Son Beau, Finds That Not Everyone Wants to Hear About It

But of his rocky reception with some families in Dover, Ms. Murray said, “I’m sure he understands the reaction he’s got better than many people.”

In his public meetings with world leaders, doctors, military officials and families, Mr. Biden often shares how his experience of sending his son to Iraq or fighting brain cancer affected his family. Conjuring Beau’s memory amid the violent collapse of Afghanistan, the result of the most politically explosive decision of his presidency to date, provided a rare moment for critics to indulge in a fondness of praising his son.

“Mr. Biden is not a Gold Star father and should stop playing one on television,” wrote William McGurn, a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, in a comment in the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Biden never claimed to be Son died fighting, but he has spoken many times about his son’s overseas assignment and the toll he has taken on his family. Mr Biden’s supporters say military families have a right to their mourning, but the president is entitled to too his.

“The families who grieve are free to feel free to feel like they are,” Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was killed in a 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. and who has received regular calls from Mr Biden, said in an interview. “But for everyone else who may have criticized: The President’s children, the living and the not, they formed the President.”

You have also influenced Mr Biden’s presidency from the start. In January, before Mr. Biden left Delaware for Washington, Mr. Biden told his advisors that he would give a farewell address at the Delaware National Guard headquarters. It’s a building named after his son.

“I have only one regret,” said Mr Biden as he made tearful remarks that day. “That he’s not here because we should introduce him as president.”

As Commander in Chief, Mr. Biden has no critical political advisor whose advice he trusted more than almost anyone else. He talks to his other children, Hunter and Ashley, daily, Helpers said, but he spoke to his eldest up to four times a day, exchanging notes, and discussing next steps.

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Health

Infants and Toddlers Unfold Coronavirus in Properties Extra Simply Than Teenagers, Examine Finds

Babies and Toddlers Spread Coronavirus in Homes More Easily Than Teens, Study Finds

In most cases, the chain of transmission ended with the infected child, but in 27.3 percent of households, children passed the virus on to at least one other resident.

Updated

Aug 16, 2021, 11:26 p.m. ET

Young people were most likely to bring the virus into the home: children aged 14 to 17 made up 38 percent of all index cases. Children who were 3 or younger were the first to get the disease in only 12 percent of households – but they were most likely to spread the virus to others in their homes. The likelihood of household transmission was about 40 percent higher if the infected child was 3 years or younger than if they were between 14 and 17 years old.

The results could be due to behavioral differences between toddlers and teenagers, medical experts said.

“When we think about what the social behavior of teenagers outside the home is, they spend a lot of time together, are often confined, often touching or sharing a drink,” said Dr. Susan E. Coffin, an infectious disease specialist at Philadelphia Children’s Hospital who was not involved in the study.

These behaviors could lead teenagers to contract the virus and bring it home, she said.

On the other hand, while very young children are likely to have less social interactions outside of the home, they tend to be in close physical contact with others in their household and, in addition, frequently put their hands and other objects in their mouths, which contributes to the spread could be the virus. “Once they get it into the household, it can be easily spread,” said Dr. Coffin.

It’s also possible that the youngest children have higher levels of virus in them or have higher levels of virus shedding than teenagers, the researchers found. Some studies have shown that although young children rarely become seriously ill, they can carry similar or even higher levels of the virus than adults. Although viral load is not a perfect predictor of infectivity, the data suggest that children may be as contagious as adults.

But the dynamics of disease transmission are complex, and the exact role children play in spreading the virus remains uncertain.

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Health

Coronary heart Failure Tied to Elevated Most cancers Threat, Examine Finds

Heart Failure Tied to Increased Cancer Risk, Study Finds

People with heart failure can be at increased risk of cancer.

Cancer patients are usually monitored for heart failure because some cancer drugs can damage the heart. Now, a new study suggests that heart failure patients who can live with the disease for many years could benefit from being monitored for cancer.

The researchers used a German health database to track 100,124 heart failure patients and compare them to the same number of controls who did not have heart failure. All were initially cancer-free, and the scientists tracked their cancer incidence over the next 10 years. The study is in the journal ESC Heart Failure.

The two groups were matched for age, gender, age, obesity, and diabetes incidence, although researchers lacked data on socioeconomic status, smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity, all of which are known to affect cancer risk.

Nevertheless, the differences in cancer incidence between the two groups were significant. Overall, 25.7 percent of patients with heart failure were diagnosed with some form of cancer compared with 16.2 percent in those without.

The increased rate of cancer in heart patients has been noted in other studies, but the large sample size in this analysis allowed researchers to identify differences between the cancers. Heart failure patients were more than twice as likely to develop cancer of the lip, oral cavity, and throat. The risk of lung cancer and other cancers of the respiratory tract was 91 percent higher, female genital cancer 86 percent, and skin cancer 83 percent higher. People with heart failure were 75 percent more likely to develop colon cancer, stomach cancer, and other cancers of the digestive system. Women with heart failure were 67 percent more likely to develop breast cancer and men were 52 percent more likely to develop cancer of the genital organs.

“I think it’s an interesting retrospective cohort study,” said Dr. Girish L. Kalra, Senior Cardiology Fellow at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA who was not involved in the work. “The study’s main flaw is that the database did not allow researchers to control the greatest risk of developing cancer and heart disease: smoking. Smoking cigarettes could be the common thread in this study. “

Although the strong association with oropharyngeal and respiratory cancers suggests that smoking might be an explanation, the association remained robust for a wide range of cancers. The study also controlled other factors associated with different types of cancer, including obesity, diabetes, and increasing age, as well as the frequency of medical consultations that could lead to increased detection of cancer.

In addition to smoking, there are other possible mechanisms that could explain the link. For example, a previous study found that a well-known protein biomarker for heart disease that occurs before symptoms appear also correlates with an increased risk of cancer. It is also possible, the researchers write, that chronic inflammation can be implicated in both heart failure and cancer. Alcohol consumption has also been linked to a wide variety of cancers.

“There are more correlations between heart failure and cancer than just common risk factors,” says lead author Mark Luedde, a cardiologist at Kiel University. “Heart failure is not a heart disease. It is almost always a disease of the heart and other organs. The importance of comorbidities for the prognosis and quality of life of those affected cannot be overestimated. “

Dr. Kalra agreed. “Ultimately, the heart is a guarantee for all health,” he said. “This study supports the belief that people with heart failure are a high risk group and deserve our greatest attention. As doctors, we should ensure that our heart patients are screened for cancer at the recommended intervals. And we should continue to urge our smokers to quit. “

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World News

Israeli spy ware used to focus on telephones of journalists and activists, investigation finds

Israeli spyware used to target phones of journalists and activists, investigation finds

An Israeli woman uses her iPhone in front of the building of the Israeli NSO group in Herzliya near Tel Aviv on August 28, 2016.

Jack Guez | AFP | Getty Images

According to a comprehensive investigation by the Washington Post and 16 other news organizations, private Israeli spy software was used to hack dozens of smartphones belonging to reporters, human rights activists, business people and the fiancé of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The military-grade spyware was reportedly licensed by Israeli spyware company NSO Group. The investigation found that the hacked phones were on a list of more than 50,000 numbers in countries known to monitor people.

The list of numbers was made available to the Post and other media organizations by the Paris-based nonprofit journalism organization Hidden Stories and the human rights group Amnesty International.

The NSO Group denied the results of the report in several statements, arguing that the investigation contained “unconfirmed theories” based on “misleading interpretation of leaked data from accessible and overt basic information”.

The NSO Group also said it would continue to investigate all credible allegations of abuse and take appropriate action.

NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware is licensed to governments around the world and can, according to the report, hack a cellphone’s data and activate the microphone. NSO said the spyware is only used to monitor terrorists and other criminals.

Read the full report here.

Categories
Health

Covid Is Particularly Dangerous for Individuals With H.I.V., Giant Research Finds

Covid Is Especially Risky for People With H.I.V., Large Study Finds

“HIV knocks out all the brakes on the immune system, and as a consequence you get this inflammatory response that is robust and persistent – and now you still have Covid,” said Dr. Steven Deeks, an HIV expert at the University of California, San Francisco. “I would be surprised if HIV wasn’t linked to the progression of Covid-19”.

Updated

July 15, 2021, 7:14 p.m. ET

Dr. Deeks disagreed with the study researchers’ decision to adjust the calculations for the presence of other conditions such as obesity, as HIV infection itself can cause many of these diseases. “For 25 years we have argued that a history of HIV infection is an independent risk factor for the progression of heart disease, cancer and aging,” he said. Without this statistical adjustment, the increased risk of death for these patients would most likely have been higher than the 30 percent reported in the study.

Many previous studies had a bias that could have masked some of the risk: Doctors tend to hospitalize Covid-19 patients with HIV out of caution, which means patients are less sick and more likely to survive compared to those who do not having HIV.This larger number of patients would make HIV infection seem less of a problem than it is, said Dr. Matthew Spinelli, an infectious disease doctor at San Francisco General Hospital.

“Early studies may have misled people on this issue,” he said. The results of the new study are more in line with large, population-based studies from South Africa and England showing HIV infection doubles the risk of dying from Covid-19, and from a similar study in New York state, he added added.

The new findings should prompt doctors to give people with HIV quick access to monoclonal antibodies or antiviral drugs to treat Covid-19, said Dr. Deeks. The data also underscores the need to understand how HIV infection affects a person’s response to a Covid vaccine and whether some people with HIV need a booster vaccination, as many immunocompromised people do.

AIDS activists successfully campaigned for the inclusion of people with HIV in clinical trials with coronavirus vaccines, but the data are limited. A clinical study in South Africa showed the coronavirus vaccine, manufactured by Novavax, to be more effective than analysis excluded people with HIV, suggesting that HIV infection undermines the immune response to vaccines.

Out of 100 countries that have released information, 40 listed people with HIV as a priority group for Covid-19 vaccination, said Dr. Meg Doherty, WHO directs HIV programs

Categories
Politics

Far-Proper Extremist Finds an Ally in an Arizona Congressman

Far-Right Extremist Finds an Ally in an Arizona Congressman

WASHINGTON – Nick Fuentes, der Anführer einer weißen nationalistischen Gruppe, beklagte die politische Verfolgung, der er von der Bundesregierung ausgesetzt war, als er kürzlich während eines Livestreams eine Pause machte, um einen seiner wenigen Verteidiger zu loben.

„Vielleicht gibt es Hoffnung für America First im Kongress“, sagte Fuentes und bezog sich auf den Namen seiner Bewegung, einer Gruppe, die sich zum Ziel gesetzt hat, weiße, christliche Identität und Kultur zu bewahren. „Und das ist – fast ausschließlich – dem Abgeordneten Paul Gosar zu verdanken.“

Herr Gosar, ein Republikaner mit fünf Amtszeiten und Zahnarzt aus Prescott, Arizona, trat dieses Jahr als lautstarker Unterstützer der „Stop the Steal“-Bewegung auf, die fälschlicherweise behauptete, der ehemalige Präsident Donald J. Trump habe die Wahlen 2020 gewonnen und die Kundgebung angeführt in Washington am 6. Januar, die zu den tödlichen Kapitol-Aufständen führte.

Aber die Verbindungen von Herrn Gosar zu Rassisten wie Herrn Fuentes und America First sowie zu ähnlichen rechtsextremen Randorganisationen und Aktivisten wurden weniger genau untersucht. Eine Überprüfung öffentlicher Kommentare und Social-Media-Posts legt nahe, dass sie in Herrn Gosar einen Verbündeten und Fürsprecher im Kongress gefunden haben.

Seine kompromisslose Verbindung zu ihnen ist vielleicht das anschaulichste Beispiel für die wachsende Akzeptanz des Extremismus durch die Republikanische Partei, die deutlich wurde, als immer mehr Gesetzgeber Verschwörungstheorien und rechtsextreme Ideologien unterstützen und verstärken, die in den Glaubenssystemen von Randgruppen eine herausragende Rolle spielen.

„Die Politiker erhalten die Unterstützung der aufstrebenden und sichtbarer werdenden rechtsextremen Gruppen – sie erhalten die Unterstützung dieser Wähler“, sagte Kurt Braddock, Kommunikationsprofessor an der American University, der Extremismus studiert. „Bedeutsam für die Gruppen ist, dass sie durch die Verbindung mit diesen Politikern – sitzenden Mitgliedern des Kongresses – ein Maß an Legitimität erhalten, das sie sonst nicht erhalten hätten.“

Der Vertreter von Florida, Matt Gaetz, trat letztes Jahr bei einer Veranstaltung auf, bei der die Sicherheit von den Proud Boys, einer rechtsextremen Miliz mit mehr als einem Dutzend Mitgliedern, die bei den Kapitol-Aufständen angeklagt wurden, übernommen wurde. Die Abgeordnete Lauren Boebert aus Colorado wurde wegen ihrer Verbindungen zu Mitgliedern der Three Percenters, einer radikalen Milizgruppe, auf den Prüfstand gestellt.

Und bevor sie in den Kongress gewählt wurde, unterstützte die Abgeordnete Marjorie Taylor Greene von Georgia die Hinrichtung demokratischer Gesetzgeber, darunter die Sprecherin Nancy Pelosi. Sie war auch eine Anhängerin von QAnon, der Pro-Trump-Verschwörungsbewegung, die davon ausgeht, dass eine korrupte Kabale aus Demokraten, globalen Eliten und berufstätigen Regierungsangestellten, die einen satananbetenden Kinder-Sexhandelsring betreiben, bald zusammengetrieben und für ihre Vergehen bestraft wird , und dass Herr Trump in die Präsidentschaft zurückgekehrt wird. (Frau Greene hat seitdem gesagt, dass sie QAnon nicht folgt.)

Herr Gosar ist bei Kundgebungen im ganzen Land erschienen und hat Präsident Biden als „betrügerischen Usurpator“ bezeichnet und die Bemühungen, ihn als „Aufruhr“ und einen „Putsch“ zu unterrichten, bezeichnet. Letzte Woche wurde Herr Gosar unter die Lupe genommen, nachdem ein mit Herrn Fuentes verbundener Social-Media-Kanal für eine bevorstehende Spendenaktion mit beiden Männern geworben hatte. Und in einer kürzlich durchgeführten Spendenaktion verbreitete er eine grundlose Verschwörungstheorie, dass das FBI möglicherweise hinter dem Anschlag vom 6. Januar steckt.

Die Erklärungen und Handlungen haben zu keiner Bestrafung durch die republikanischen Führer des Repräsentantenhauses geführt, die es weitgehend abgelehnt haben, diejenigen in ihrer Konferenz öffentlich zu tadeln, die Randanschauungen vertreten oder Fehlinformationen verbreiten. Der Vertreter der kalifornischen Minderheit, Kevin McCarthy, sagte der Washington Post letzte Woche, dass Herr Gosar ihm gesagt habe, dass die angekündigte Spendenaktion „nicht echt“ sei. Ein Sprecher von Herrn McCarthy antwortete nicht auf Fragen zu Herrn Gosars Verbindungen zu Herrn Fuentes.

Im Gegensatz dazu bemühte sich McCarthy schnell, den ausgesprochensten republikanischen Kritiker von Herrn Trump zum Schweigen zu bringen: Er säuberte die Abgeordnete Liz Cheney aus Wyoming von ihrem Führungsposten, weil sie über die Lügen gesprochen hatte, die den Aufstand im Kapitol angeheizt und vorgeschlagen hatten, dass sie verlieren könnte ihre Ausschusszuweisungen, um sich den Demokraten bei der Untersuchung anzuschließen.

Herr Fuentes, ein 22-jähriger weißer Nationalist, Online-Provokateur und Aktivist, der die America First-Bewegung anführt, kann sich mit einem Lebenslauf rühmen, vor dem die meisten Kongressmitglieder weglaufen würden. Nachdem er sowohl bei der Unite the Right-Kundgebung in Charlottesville, Virginia, im Jahr 2017 als auch außerhalb des US-Kapitols am 6. Januar marschiert war, hat er gewarnt, dass die Nation „seinen weißen demografischen Kern“ verliert. Andere konservative Organisationen haben ihn als Holocaust-Leugner und Rassisten denunziert.

Herr Gosar hat weiterhin mit ihm zusammengearbeitet.

Der Republikaner aus Arizona war Hauptredner auf einer Konferenz, die von Herrn Fuentes’ Gruppe im Februar veranstaltet wurde und als einziges Mitglied des Kongresses teilnahm. Herr Gosar hat das Motto und die Projekte von America First auf Twitter verbreitet und zu Herrn Fuentes’ Verteidigung auf dem Briefkopf des Kongresses an das FBI geschrieben. Im Gegenzug hat Herr Fuentes den Kongressabgeordneten in seiner Show und seinen Social-Media-Kanälen gelobt und seine Anhänger aufgefordert, Geld für seine Kampagne zu spenden.

Das Büro von Herrn Gosar antwortete nicht auf detaillierte Fragen zu seinen Verbindungen zu America First und anderen Randgruppen.

Als schriller Konservativer im Jahr 2010 zum ersten Mal in den Kongress gewählt, hat Herr Gosar zuvor Verschwörungen unterstützt und sich dadurch eine rechtsextreme Online-Basis aufgebaut. In einem Interview vor seiner Wahl wollte er nicht sagen, ob Präsident Barack Obama seiner Meinung nach amerikanischer Staatsbürger ist. Er behauptete 2017 fälschlicherweise, dass die tödliche rechtsextreme Kundgebung in Charlottesville von Liberalen geplant und von George Soros finanziert wurde. In jüngerer Zeit hat er in Frage gestellt, ob Beamte der Bundespolizei Agenten in rechtsextreme Gruppen eingesetzt haben, die das Kapitol stürmten.

Herr Gosar machte 2018 landesweit auf sich aufmerksam, als sechs seiner neun Geschwister seinen Gegner unterstützten und warnten, dass seine zunehmend extremistischen Ansichten ihn für das Amt untauglich machten. Aber er hat in seinem zutiefst konservativen Bezirk selten ernsthafte Herausforderer auf sich gezogen und steht häufig vor der Wiederwahl, auch im letzten Jahr, als er fast 70 Prozent der Stimmen erhielt.

Obwohl er immer offener über seinen Glauben an Randtheorien geworden ist, hat Herr Gosar es vermieden, die Art von ausdrücklich rassistischer Sprache nachzuahmen, die von Herrn Fuentes verwendet wurde – Kommentare, wie sie Steve King, einen republikanischen ehemaligen Kongressabgeordneten aus Iowa, dessen rassistische Äußerungen führten zu seiner Entfernung aus Kongressausschüssen, brachten ihm Zurechtweisungen von seiner eigenen Partei ein und kosteten ihn schließlich seinen Sitz.

In einer Erklärung, die letzte Woche auf Twitter veröffentlicht wurde, als Reaktion auf eine Welle der Empörung über die angekündigte Spendenaktion mit Herrn Fuentes, versuchte Herr Gosar, die Kritik abzulenken, indem er auf die Anschuldigung der Konservativen anspielte, dass unter Herrn Biden – der sich zu Wort gemeldet hat gegen systemischen Rassismus in den USA – die Institutionen des Landes werden Weißen gegenüber feindselig.

„So wie Rassenvorherrschaft in America First keinen Platz hat, hat sie keinen Platz in unserem Militär, unseren Schulen oder Sitzungssälen“, schrieb Gosar.

Er bestritt, dass die Gruppe von Herrn Fuentes „rassistische Vorherrschaft“ umfasste und schrieb, dass er „nicht sicher sei, warum jemand ausflippt“.

„Es gibt Millionen von Konservativen der Generation Z, Y und X“, schrieb Gosar. „Sie glauben an America First. Sie werden sich nicht in jedem Punkt zu 100 % einig sein. Keine Gruppe tut es. Wir werden uns nicht von der Linken unsere Strategie, Allianzen und Bemühungen diktieren lassen.“

Im Februar trat Herr Gosar auf der America First-Konferenz von Herrn Fuentes in Orlando als Hauptredner auf und konzentrierte seine Ausführungen auf Einwanderung und Zensur in sozialen Medien. Der Rest der Veranstaltung nahm einen entschieden weniger zurückhaltenden Ton an.

Herr Fuentes warnte, dass die Nation verloren wäre, wenn sie „aufhört, diesen englischen kulturellen Rahmen und den Einfluss der europäischen Zivilisation zu bewahren“. Er zeigte ein Hype-Video mit Filmmaterial über den Aufstand im Kapitol und lobte dann die „Hunderttausende Patrioten“, die das Gebäude stürmten, wie er es nannte.

Andere Redner waren Mr. King, dessen Einführungsvideo seine früheren Bemerkungen hervorhob, dass „wir die Zivilisation nicht mit den Babys von jemand anderem wiederherstellen können“, und Michelle Malkin, eine rechtsextreme Kommentatorin, die von „unserem gefährdeten Heimatland“ und der Notwendigkeit sprach, „vernichtet links und rechts globalistische Schwindler, die unsere Vergangenheit dezimieren.“

Abgesehen davon, dass er seiner Bewegung das Imprimatur eines amtierenden Kongressmitglieds verliehen hat, hat Herr Fuentes einen mächtigen Verteidiger gewonnen. Im Mai schrieb der Republikaner aus Arizona auf seinem offiziellen Briefkopf an das FBI und beschuldigte die Behörde, ihre Macht missbraucht zu haben, Personen auf die Flugverbotsliste zu verbannen, hob Herrn Fuentes hervor und behauptete, dass auch andere „Konstitutionalisten“ und „Patrioten“ ungerecht ausgerichtet.

Herr Fuentes sagte, dass Herr Gosar der einzige republikanische Gesetzgeber gewesen sei, der dazu bereit sei.

“Fast niemand von der Republikanischen Partei hatte etwas dazu zu sagen oder war besorgt”, sagte Fuentes in seiner Show und fügte hinzu, dass sein Versuch, sich mit Frau Greene zu treffen, von ihrem Team zurückgewiesen worden sei.

Der Rand ist für Herrn Gosar kein ungewöhnlicher Ort. Nach dem Kapitol-Aufstand wurde er wegen seiner Verbindungen zu Ali Alexander, einem rechtsextremen Aktivisten und Verschwörungstheoretiker, der als Anführer der „Stop the Steal“-Bewegung hervorgetreten war, auf den Prüfstand gestellt. Herr Gosar markierte ihn häufig in Twitter-Posts, einschließlich solcher, in denen er seine Anhänger aufforderte, „einen Putsch nicht zu akzeptieren“.

Bei einer Kundgebung im Dezember vor dem Arizona State Capitol, bei der Herr Gosar sprach, nannte Herr Alexander den Kongressabgeordneten „das Krafttier dieser Bewegung“.

„Er hat geholfen, wo er konnte“, sagte Herr Alexander. „Er hat angeboten, Spender anzurufen. Wir hatten tatsächlich unseren ersten DC-Marsch, weil er mich anrief und sagte: ‘Sie müssen zum Obersten Gerichtshof gehen.’ Ich sagte: ‚In Ordnung, mein Kapitän.’ Und damit hat es angefangen.“

Im April verteidigte Herr Gosar als Reaktion auf eine Ethik-Beschwerde, die die Abgeordnete Pramila Jayapal, Demokratin aus Washington, gegen ihn eingereicht hatte, Herrn Alexander und erklärte, seine Interaktionen mit dem Aktivisten hätten „einen frommen Katholiken offenbart“, der „durch eine ernsthafte Suche nach die Wahrheit und Liebe seines Landes.“

Im selben Dokument verteidigte Herr Gosar auch das Treffen im Jahr 2017 mit den Oath Keepers, einer rechten Miliz, deren Mitglieder an den Kapitol-Aufständen teilnahmen. Während des Treffens sagte der Kongressabgeordnete den Mitgliedern der Gruppe, dass sich die Vereinigten Staaten in einem Bürgerkrieg befänden; „Wir haben einfach noch nicht angefangen, aufeinander zu schießen.“

Herr Gosar sagte, er habe die Eidhüter nur angesprochen, weil sie ihn eingeladen hatten, bei ihrem Treffen zu sprechen. Aber er fügte hinzu, dass nur „Linke“ sie als extremistische Gruppe betrachteten und verwies auf ihre Website, die sie als „eine überparteiliche Vereinigung aktueller und früher dienender Militärs, Polizisten und Ersthelfer“ beschreibt, die schwören, die Verfassung zu verteidigen.

Herr Gosar nickte dann zu einer weiteren falschen Verschwörungstheorie, die nach dem 6. Januar weit verbreitet war: dass linksextreme Gruppen, darunter Black Lives Matter, dahinter gestanden hätten.

„Wenn Mitglieder von Antifa, BLM oder Oath Keepers in das Kapitol eingebrochen sind“, schrieb er, „sollten sie angemessen wegen Hausfriedensbruch usw. angeklagt werden.“

Categories
Health

Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines Prone to Produce Lasting Immunity, Research Finds

Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines Likely to Produce Lasting Immunity, Study Finds

The vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna trigger a sustained immune response in the body that can protect against the coronavirus for years, scientists reported on Monday.

The results add to the growing evidence that most people immunized with the mRNA vaccines may not need a booster dose as long as the virus and its variants do not progress much beyond their current forms – which is not guaranteed. People who have recovered from Covid-19 before they were vaccinated may not need a booster vaccination, even if the virus goes through a significant transformation.

“It’s a good sign of how persistent our immunity to this vaccine is,” said Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis who led the study, which was published in the journal Nature.

The study did not take into account the coronavirus vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, but Dr. Ellebedy said he believed the immune response was less permanent than that of mRNA vaccines.

Dr. Ellebedy and colleagues reported last month that in people who survived Covid-19, immune cells that recognize the virus remain dormant in the bone marrow for at least eight months after infection. A study by another team showed that so-called memory B cells continue to mature and strengthen for at least a year after infection.

Based on these results, the researchers suggested that immunity in people infected with the coronavirus and later vaccinated could last for years, possibly a lifetime. However, it was unclear whether vaccination alone could have a similar long-lasting effect.

Dr. Ellebedy addressed this question by examining the source of memory cells: the lymph nodes, where immune cells train to recognize and fight the virus.

After an infection or vaccination, a specialized structure forms in the lymph nodes, the germinal center. This structure is sort of an elite school for B cells – a boot camp in which they become increasingly sophisticated and learn to recognize a multitude of viral genetic sequences.

The greater the range and the longer these cells have to practice, the more likely they are to thwart any virus variants that may appear.

“Everyone is always focused on developing the virus – this shows that the B cells are doing the same,” said Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “And it will protect against the continued development of the virus, which is really encouraging.”

After an infection with the coronavirus, the germinal center forms in the lungs. But after the vaccination, the cells are formed in the lymph nodes in the armpits that researchers can reach.

Updated

July 2, 2021, 5:06 p.m. ET

Dr. Ellebedy and colleagues recruited 41 people – including eight with a history of infection with the virus – who were immunized with two doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. The team collected lymph node samples from 14 of these people three, four, five, seven and 15 weeks after the first dose.

This meticulous work makes this a “heroic study,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale. “This kind of careful time history analysis in humans is very difficult.”

Dr. Ellebedy found that 15 weeks after the first dose of the vaccine, the germinal center was still highly active in all 14 participants and that the number of memory cells that recognized the coronavirus had not decreased.

“The fact that the reactions lasted almost four months after the vaccination – that’s a very, very good sign,” said Dr. Ellebedy. Sprouting centers typically peak one to two weeks after vaccination and then decrease.

“Usually there isn’t much left after four to six weeks,” said Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona. But germinal centers that are stimulated by the mRNA vaccines “still go in, months, and most people don’t go back much”.

Dr. Bhattacharya noted that most of what scientists know about the persistence of germinal centers is based on animal studies. The new study shows for the first time what happens to people after vaccination.

The results suggest that the vast majority of those vaccinated will be protected in the long term – at least against the existing coronavirus variants. But older adults, people with weak immune systems, and those taking drugs that suppress immunity may need boosters; People who survived Covid-19 and were later vaccinated may not need it at all.

It is difficult to predict exactly how long protection against mRNA vaccines will last. In the absence of variants that bypass immunity, immunity could theoretically last a lifetime, experts said. But the virus is clearly evolving.

“Anything that would actually require a refresher would be variant-based, not immunity waning,” said Dr. Bhattacharya. “I just don’t see it.”

People who have been infected with the coronavirus and then immunized see a sharp spike in their antibody levels, likely because their memory B cells – which produce antibodies – had many months to develop before vaccination.

The good news: a booster vaccine is likely to have the same effect on people who have been vaccinated as a previous infection, said Dr. Ellebedy. “If you give them another chance to get involved, they’ll have a massive response,” he said, referring to memory B cells.

In terms of boosting the immune system, vaccination is “probably better” than recovering from the actual infection, he said. Other studies have shown that the repertoire of memory B cells produced after vaccination is more diverse than that produced by infection, suggesting that the vaccines protect against variants better than natural immunity alone.

Dr. Ellebedy said the results also suggest that these signs of sustained immune response could be caused by mRNA vaccines alone, as opposed to those made by more traditional means like Johnson & Johnson’s.

But that’s an unfair comparison because the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is given as a single dose, said Dr. Iwasaki: “If the J&J had a booster, they might get the same kind of reaction.”

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Mixing Pfizer, AstraZeneca Vaccines Provides Sturdy Covid Safety, Research Finds

Mixing Pfizer, AstraZeneca Vaccines Gives Strong Covid Protection, Study Finds

Initial results from a UK vaccine study suggest that mixing different brands of vaccine can produce a protective immune response against Covid-19. In the study, volunteers produced high levels of antibodies and immune cells after receiving a dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine and a dose of the AstraZeneca Oxford shot.

Giving the vaccines in any order will likely provide effective protection, said Dr. Matthew Snape, a vaccines expert at Oxford University, at a news conference Monday. “Any of these schedules I think could be argued and expected to be effective,” he said.

Dr. Snape and his colleagues began the study called Com-COV in February. In the first wave of the study, they gave 830 volunteers one of four vaccine combinations. Some received two doses from Pfizer or AstraZeneca, both of which have been shown to be effective against Covid-19. Others got a dose of AstraZeneca, followed by one from Pfizer, or vice versa.

With the first wave of volunteers, the researchers waited four weeks between doses. Studies have shown that the AstraZeneca vaccine offers greater protection when the second dose is delayed for up to 12 weeks. Therefore, the researchers are also conducting a separate 12-week study that should provide results over the next month.

The researchers found that volunteers reported more chills, headaches, and muscle aches than people who received two doses of the same vaccine. But the side effects were short-lived.

Dr. Snape and his colleagues then took blood samples to measure the immune response in the volunteers. They found that those who received two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech produced antibody levels about 10 times higher than those who received two doses of AstraZeneca. Volunteers who received Pfizer followed by AstraZeneca showed antibody levels about five times higher than those who received two doses of AstraZeneca. And volunteers who received AstraZeneca followed by Pfizer achieved antibody levels about as high as those who received two doses of Pfizer.

Dr. Snape said the differences would most likely decrease in the volunteers who received a second dose after 12 weeks when the AstraZeneca vaccine had more time to intensify its effects.

The study also found that using different vaccines produced higher levels of immune cells prepared to attack the coronavirus than when giving two doses of the same vaccine. Dr. Snape said it was not yet clear why mixing had this advantage. “It’s very fascinating, let’s say so much,” he said.

Dr. Snape and colleagues have started a similar study, adding Moderna and Novavax vaccines to their list of possibilities.

For now, he said, the best course of action remains to get two doses of the same vaccine. Large clinical studies have clearly shown that this strategy reduces the likelihood of developing Covid-19. “Your default should be what has been shown to work,” said Dr. Snape.

But there are many cases where that is not possible. Vaccine deliveries are sometimes delayed due to manufacturing issues, for example. Younger people in some countries have been advised not to receive a second dose of AstraZeneca due to concerns about the low risk of blood clots. In situations like this, it’s important to know if people can switch to another vaccine.

“This provides reassuring evidence that should work,” said Dr. Snape.

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A Coronavirus Epidemic Hit 20,000 Years In the past, New Research Finds

A Coronavirus Epidemic Hit 20,000 Years Ago, New Study Finds

Researchers have found evidence that a coronavirus epidemic swept East Asia about 20,000 years ago and was devastating enough to leave an evolutionary imprint on the DNA of people living today.

The new study suggests that the region was plagued by an ancient coronavirus for many years, researchers say. The finding could have devastating effects on the Covid-19 pandemic if it is not brought under control soon with vaccinations.

“It should worry us,” said David Enard, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who led the study, which was published Thursday in the journal Current Biology. “What is happening now could last for generations.”

So far, researchers have not been able to look very far back into the history of this family of pathogens. Over the past 20 years, three coronaviruses have adapted to infect people and cause serious respiratory illnesses: Covid-19, SARS, and MERS. Studies on each of these coronaviruses suggest that they jumped into our species from bats or other mammals.

Four other coronaviruses can also infect people, but usually only cause mild colds. Scientists didn’t directly observe how these coronaviruses became human pathogens, so they relied on indirect clues to gauge when the jumps happened. Coronaviruses acquire new mutations at roughly regular rates, and so by comparing their genetic variation it can be determined when they deviated from a common ancestor.

The youngest of these mild coronaviruses, called HCoV-HKU1, crossed species boundary in the 1950s. The oldest, called HCoV-NL63, can be up to 820 years old.

But before that, the coronavirus trail got cold – until Dr. Enard and his colleagues applied a new method to the search. Instead of looking at the coronavirus genes, the researchers looked at the effects on the DNA of their human hosts.

Viruses cause enormous changes in the human genome over generations. A mutation that protects against a viral infection can make the difference between life and death and is passed on to the offspring. For example, a life-saving mutation could allow humans to hack up the proteins of a virus.

But viruses can also develop. Your proteins can change shape to overcome a host’s defenses. And these changes could spur the host to develop even more counter-offensives, which leads to more mutations.

If a random new mutation creates resistance to a virus, it can quickly become more common from one generation to the next. And other versions of this gene are becoming rarer. So if, in large groups of people, one version of a gene dominates all the others, scientists know that it is most likely a sign of rapid evolution in the past.

In recent years, Dr. Enard and his colleagues searched the human genome for these genetic variation patterns to reconstruct the history of a number of viruses. When the pandemic broke out, he wondered if ancient coronaviruses had left their own mark.

He and his colleagues compared the DNA of thousands of people from 26 different populations around the world, looking at a combination of genes known to be critical for coronaviruses but not other types of pathogens. In East Asian populations, the scientists found that 42 of these genes had a dominant version. That was a strong signal that people in East Asia had adapted to an ancient coronavirus.

But whatever happened in East Asia seemed to be confined to that region. “When we compared them to populations around the world, we couldn’t find the signal,” said Yassine Souilmi, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Adelaide in Australia and co-author of the new study.

The scientists then tried to estimate how long East Asians had already adapted to a coronavirus. They took advantage of the fact that once a dominant version of a gene begins to be passed down through the generations, it can acquire harmless random mutations. The more time passes, the more of these mutations accumulate.

Dr. Enard and his colleagues found that all 42 genes had about the same number of mutations. That meant they had all evolved rapidly at about the same time. “This is a signal that we should definitely not expect by chance,” said Dr. Enard.

They estimated that all of these genes developed their antiviral mutations sometime between 20,000 and 25,000 years ago, most likely over the course of a few centuries. This is a surprising finding, since the East Asians did not live in dense communities at the time, but rather formed small groups of hunters and gatherers.

Aida Andres, an evolutionary geneticist at University College London who was not involved in the new study, said she found the work compelling. “I’m pretty sure there is something,” she said.

Still, she didn’t think it was possible to give an accurate estimate of how long ago the ancient epidemic was. “Timing is a complicated thing,” she said. “Whether that happened a few thousand years before or after – I personally think that we can’t be so sure about it.”

Scientists looking for drugs to fight the new coronavirus may want to study the 42 genes that evolved in response to the old epidemic, said Dr. Souilmi. “It actually points us out to molecular buttons to adjust the immune response to the virus,” he said.

Dr. Anders agreed, saying that the genes identified in the new study should receive special attention as drug targets. “You know they are important,” she said. “That’s the beauty of evolution.”

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Scientist Finds Early Coronavirus Sequences That Had Been Mysteriously Deleted

Scientist Finds Early Coronavirus Sequences That Had Been Mysteriously Deleted

“These additional data will play a big role in that effort,” Dr. Worobey said.

It’s not clear why this valuable information went missing in the first place. Scientists can request that files be deleted by sending an email to the managers of the Sequence Read Archive. The National Library of Medicine, which manages the archive, said that the 13 sequences were removed last summer.

“These SARS-CoV-2 sequences were submitted for posting in SRA in March 2020 and subsequently requested to be withdrawn by the submitting investigator in June 2020,” said Renate Myles, a spokeswoman for the National Institutes of Health.

She said that the investigator, whom she did not name, told the archive managers that the sequences were being updated and would be added to a different database. But Dr. Bloom has searched every database he knows of, and has yet to find them. “Obviously I can’t rule out that the sequences are on some other database or web page somewhere, but I have not been able to find them any of the obvious places I’ve looked,” he said.

Three of the co-authors of the 2020 testing study that produced the 13 sequences did not immediately respond to emails inquiring about Dr. Bloom’s finding. That study did not give contact information for another co-author, Dr. Fu, who was also named on the spreadsheet from the other study.

Some scientists are skeptical that there is anything sinister behind the removal of the sequences. “I don’t really understand how this points to a cover-up,” said Stephen Goldstein, a virologist at the University of Utah.

Dr. Goldstein noted that the testing paper listed the individual mutations the Wuhan researchers found in their tests. Although the full sequences are no longer in the archive, the key information has been public for over a year, he said. It was just tucked away in a format that is hard for researchers to find.

“We all missed this relatively obscure paper,” Dr. Goldstein said.

“You can’t really say why they were removed,” Dr. Bloom acknowledged in an interview. “You can say that the practical consequence of removing them was that people didn’t notice they existed.” He also noted that the Chinese government ordered the destruction of a number of early samples of the virus and barred the publication of papers on the coronavirus without its approval.