Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

‘That’s What Victory Looks Like:’ Former FDA Executive on COVID-19 Vaccine Prospects

Former FDA Associate Commissioner Peter Pitts sat down with The Globe Post to give a glimpse into the arena of COVID-19 vaccine researchers.

The post ‘That’s What Victory Looks Like:’ Former FDA Executive on COVID-19 Vaccine Prospects appeared first on The Globe Post.

Unlike Russia, the US Has an Opportunity to Ascend Back to Democracy

Our executive branch is indeed dominating (one of Trump’s favorite verbs) our legislative branch. Laws such as the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act with 10-year sentences for vandalizing monuments are being employed to pacify dissent. Unidentifiable federal agents kitted out like Star Wars stormtroopers are flooding American cities also with the intent of squashing protests through violent “rigid control.”

Unlike Russia, we have an opportunity at this November’s elections to begin what will be an arduous ascent back toward democracy. But this time, we need to discard those false illusions of what America stands for and, instead, imagine a democracy truer to its original intent, one that offers equal voice and opportunity to all, no matter their race, religion, sexual orientation, or economic status.

 

Source: Unlike Russia, the US Has an Opportunity to Ascend Back to Democracy

FDA’s promotion of post-COVID plasma treatment was as bad as it appeared

Image of a man speaking from behind a podium.

Enlarge / FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, speaking at the press conference in which he badly mangled statistics. (credit: Pete Marovich/Getty Image)

After several days of rumors with ever-growing hype, the Trump administration announced on Sunday that the Food and Drug Administration was granting an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a COVID-19 treatment. The move was controversial from the start, with reports indicating that the EUA was opposed by a number of health experts, including National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci. The press conference didn’t settle matters, with a growing chorus of scientists saying that the data presented in support of the EUA had been misrepresented.

On Monday night, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn acknowledged that he had made a significant error in presenting the benefits of the treatment, and he followed that statement with an apology on Tuesday. But Hahn pushed back against indications that the approval of the treatment on the eve of the Republican National Convention was motivated by political pressure.

Wrong kind of risk

The treatment at issue involves taking the antibody-containing plasma from those who have recovered from a SARS-CoV-2 infection (convalescent plasma) and giving it to those currently suffering from COVID-19 symptoms. At Sunday’s press conference, the principle justification for allowing this treatment under an EUA was a 35 percent drop in mortality for those receiving plasma in the first three days of treatment—specifically, Hahn said 35 of 100 people “would have been saved” by this treatment.

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How Swedish labs found a flaw in Covid-19 test kits – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

It was when people with only mild or no symptoms began testing themselves for Covid-19 that the weakness of the BGI coronavirus test was discovered, according to Ola Winqvist, medical director at one of the labs that sounded the alarm over incorrect test results.

On Tuesday, the Public Health Agency announced that 3,700 people in Sweden had incorrectly been told that they had Covid-19. They had all used a BGI self-testing kit from China and had mild or no symptoms at all.

Source: How Swedish labs found a flaw in Covid-19 test kits – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

10 colleges, universities with the most COVID-19 cases

  1. University of Alabama at Birmingham — 972 cases per 100,000*
  2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — 835
  3. University of Central Florida (Orlando) — 727
  4. University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) — 568
  5. Auburn (Ala.) University — 557
  6. North Carolina State University (Raleigh) — 509
  7. University of Georgia (Athens) — 504
  8. Texas A&M University (College Station) — 500
  9. University of Texas at Austin — 483
  10. University of Notre Dame (Ind.) — 473

Source: 10 colleges, universities with the most COVID-19 cases

EU suspends Mali training mission — AFRICA DIPLOMATIC

European Union has suspended its training missions in Mali after the coup d’état this month that removed unpopular President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita from power, EU officials said on August 26. The two missions training Mali’s army and police as part of international efforts to stabilise Mali and extend the state’s authority are frozen because they […]

EU suspends Mali training mission — AFRICA DIPLOMATIC