Category Archives: Viva!

Joe Biden Begins Taking Money for a 2020 Presidential Campaign

Give it a rest Joe – your time is past. and so is Bernie’s. Major Democratic donors in Pennsylvania and California are soliciting big checks for Joe Biden, who is expected to launch his 2020 campaign next week.

Labour MPs to urge Jeremy Corbyn not to ‘torpedo’ Brexit deal

Labour eating itself for naught!

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Second referendum would be ‘divisive but not decisive’, MPs will say in letter to leader

Jeremy Corbyn is to be urged by a group of Labour MPs not to “torpedo” the prospect of a Brexit deal with Theresa May by insisting on a second referendum.

The MPs, including Stephen Kinnock and Gloria De Piero, are set to send the Labour leader a letter early next week setting out their “deep-seated reservations about a second referendum”, which they believe would be “divisive but … not decisive”.

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Lyra McKee: 29-year-old journalist shot dead in Derry – video obituary

Lyra McKee was fatally wounded during rioting in Derry on Thursday night, becoming what is believed to be the first journalist killed in the UK since Martin O’Hagan was shot in Lurgan, County Armagh, in 2001. The 29-year-old was an acclaimed Northern Irish journalist, who wrote about the Troubles and campaigned for LGBT rights

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Rune Staff Collection in Uppsala, Sweden

From the Mayan calendar to Stonehenge, the ancient practice of timekeeping has usually revolved around the same concept: using an object to track the cyclical nature of the sun and moon. But in Scandinavia, there was a type of astronomical calendar that trumped the rest with one important feature: It was portable. 

The Nordic rune staff was a perpetual calendar inscribed on a stick, piece of parchment, or plank made of wood or bone, which was carved with a set amount of runes. These symbols represented the days of the year tracked in a cyclical nature based on the 19-year Metonic cycle, correlating to the solar year and lunar month. Runic calendars have been found dating as far back as the 13th century, though the bulk of known staffs were made considerably later.

In the early 18th century, a collection of these runic calendar staffs—the second-largest collection of its kind in Sweden—was gathered by a Swedish man named Carl Ehrenpreus and donated to Uppsala Observatory. The staffs were kept at the observatory until they were eventually moved to the Gustavianum Museum, where they can be admired today.

Influenza immunity

It seems like every year we’re told that the timespan for which influenza (flu) vaccination provides us immunity is a little shorter. In the next few posts, I’ll have a look at some studies that have delved into this issue of influenza immunity following vaccination.

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I wonder if we may be focusing on the wrong aspect of all this. Immunity will probably see many of us safely through an entire flu season unless the multiple circulating flu viruses mutate in such a way as to “escape” the immunity we’ve developed from vaccination. That happens. A universal flu vaccine will fix this failing up.

A study into persistence of flu immunity

A study from 2015 followed people vaccinated for two seasons in a row or given a placebo (saline). They were bled before and then at one, six, 12 and 18 months after receiving the flu vaccine.[1]

If the subjects acquired a confirmed flu infection during the study period they were excluded (this would not have been immunity due to vaccination). Any booster effect from a flu infection that was too mild to register as symptomatic enough, was at least partly accounted for by some pre-testing which created a kind of baseline.

Blood gets collected then sent to the lab to have cells removed for antibody testing
Photo by Hush Naidoo on Unsplash

Blood specimens were tested in the laboratory for antibodies developing to two flu virus surface proteins; hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). The test is called hemagglutination-inhibition (HAI; see here for more of an overview on the HA version). In this study, it used viruses closely related to those in the vaccine which the subjects received. These were used to see how much antibody each subject produced after vaccination, at each of the time points.

AN ASIDE: The flu strains used were “closely related” as determined by lab testing. They reacted similarly to the vaccine strains when using ferret sera in HAI. What I’d like to see is the exact same strains used, together with human antisera. With other viruses that have a single-stranded genome (rather than multiple strands like an influenza virus), we generally don’t settle for “closely related” being good enough. This approach – used widely in flu’ville – overlooks contributions to human immunity made by viral components other than the surface-exposed HA and NA. This may or may not be important for understanding the strength and longevity of vaccine-induced protection.

Some shortcomings

The study didn’t look at the immune cell response to vaccination, just the antibodies produced. That’s okay, but it only tells part of the immunity story. The amount of antibody produced to flu strains is known to be related to the level of protection from wild flu strain infections.

The study also didn’t focus on those people at greatest risk of severe disease following influenza infection; young children, older adults, and those with certain pre-existing health conditions. They may respond differently to vaccination.

What the study did find

People receiving the placebo did not develop antibodies to the flu viruses contained in the vaccine. No surprise.

Vaccination offers solid protection against influenza
Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

Those who were vaccinated maintained (likely) protective levels of antibodies for 18 months – with a definite but only relativity small (2-fold) decline in levels over that time.

Subjects who had been vaccinated in the previous season saw a slightly smaller immune response to the more recent vaccination although the rate of antibody decline wasn’t really any different. This has been reported elsewhere and may be related to the very first symptomatic flu infection we had as children.[2,3,4] It’s a problem that we need to solve. Again, hopefully, future flu vaccines will overcome this issue.

A bit of a different story to what we’re used to?

I wonder if we may be overly confusing, or overly simplifying, the story of the Flu vaccine in order to drive uptake. The story of flu vaccination is certainly gaining more twists and turns as time and research uncover more aspects to consider.

Sure, it’s not the kind of vaccine that protects 95% of vaccinees from influenza every time. Absolutely, it’s not one shot that lasts a decade or more. But it is the only protective vaccine we have for the flu, and it does work better than nothing.

Study highlights

The study had a couple of big takeaways.

Most subjects respond to vaccination by developing antibodies.

I think we may talk too much about those who can’t respond or don’t respond. A caveat: because this study wasn’t focusing on the elderly it was unable to highlight that those over 65 years of age tend to have shorter immunity post-vaccination. [5] On the upside, there are now enhanced trivalent vaccines to cover the over 65s.[6,7]

Antibodies wane over time – but not as rapidly as some might suggest to you.

Protection for adults against influenza was still likely to either completely prevent, or at least reduce the severity of, illness due to wild flu virus infection for 18 months.

There is a lot of research around flu vaccination

Influenza is complex and the scientific literature reflects that. But perhaps the messaging isn’t keeping up.

Studies don’t always include all the variables when coming to conclusions around vaccine effectiveness but it is clear that current vaccines offer more benefit (less illness) than risk (most side effects = sore, warm arm and short term headache).

If you fall into a higher risk group though, make sure you talk to your Doctor about when to get your Flu shot and which one to get. A reminder that in Australia those groups include children from 6 months to five years of age, pregnant women, all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged six months and older, a person aged 65 years or older and anyone with underlying medical conditions that can increase the risk of influenza complications.[8]

My family is already vaccinated for the 2019 season. I will be soon as well.

References

  1. Persistence of Antibodies to Influenza Hemagglutinin and Neuraminidase Following One or Two Years of Influenza Vaccination
    https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/212/12/1914/2911917
  2. Original Antigenic Sin: How First Exposure Shapes Lifelong Anti–Influenza Virus Immune Responses
    http://www.jimmunol.org/content/202/2/335
  3. New flu strains and old antibodies: How sinful is ‘original antigenic sin’?
    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160818145940.htm
  4. From Original Antigenic Sin to the Universal Influenza Virus Vaccine
    https://www.cell.com/trends/immunology/fulltext/S1471-4906(17)30164-3
  5. Do antibody responses to the influenza vaccine persist year-round in the elderly? A systematic review and meta-analysis
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X16310441
  6. High-dose, immune-boosting or four-strain? A guide to flu vaccines for over-65s
    https://theconversation.com/high-dose-immune-boosting-or-four-strain-a-guide-to-flu-vaccines-for-over-65s-112224
  7. Here’s why the 2017 flu season was so bad
    https://theconversation.com/heres-why-the-2017-flu-season-was-so-bad-86605
  8. http://ncirs.org.au/sites/default/files/2019-03/Influenza-fact-sheet_25%20Mar%202019_Final.pdf

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The post Influenza immunity appeared first on Virology Down Under.

How A Trump Proposal Could Reduce ‘Happy’ Disabled People

The Trump Administration seeks to monitor disabled peoples’ social media profiles to cut benefits. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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A new policy proposal by the Trump administration calls for the surveillance of disabled people’s social media profiles to determine the necessity of their disability benefits. The proposal, which reportedly aims to cut down on the number of fraudulent disability claims would, monitor the profiles of disabled people and flag content that shows them doing physical activities. When it comes down to it, the policy dictates that disabled people shouldn’t be seen living their lives for fear of losing vital financial aid and, possibly, medical care.

The administration has been working closely with the Social Security Administration in an effort to reduce false claims believing that social media holds a cache of information regarding eligibility of Social Security Disability Benefits. They believe that by monitoring the social media accounts of disability benefit recipients, they can root out false claims and reduce the overall amount of money spent on the programs.

The proposal, like many of its policies regarding disabled people, shows a fundamental misunderstanding of disability and takes advantage of how social media operates in order to cut them off from the support they need. Disabled people don’t all function in the same way, and disability is not a set of stereotypes like taking selfies staring longingly at the world. They live lives while managing their energy for the activities they can handle and trying to make those they cannot more accessible.

Additionally, studies have shown that a majority of social media users show only the good in their lives, not the hardships or difficulties. Disabled people should be allowed to share the full scope of their existence without fear they’ll be accused of lying—and even fraud—by the United States Government which will likely reason that if a disabled person is seen going to the mall or taking time to swim or jog, they can be working.

The truth about disability is that it isn’t a series of down moments but both highs and lows that comprise the lives of the disabled. Simply because disabled people are seen exercising, dancing or shooting hoops does not mean that they have the ability to sustain that level of energy all day. This type of policy also plays upon the assumption that people with disabilities all function and move about in the world in the same way, which is entirely untrue. There are wheelchair users who can walk, people with cerebral palsy that can run and amputees that are bionic. It is just as dangerous to assume that disabled people should have to “overcome” their disabilities to do what they love as it is to assume there is nothing they want to do. One person’s body should never be considered a prescription for another.

Another thing that the general public does not understand about disability and the internet is that attention to disability issues often operates within an economy of “Inspiration Porn.” Abled people often film, post, share and circulate photos and videos of disabled people doing extraordinary things as a litmus test to how “poor” life could be with a disability and how disabled people achieve “in spite of” their disabilities (quite often, this type of posting occurs without the disabled person’s permission). And, while many disability advocates disdain this type of media representation and are vocally calling for an end to inspiration porn, there’s a not-so-often talked about number of disabled people who play upon these stereotypes for their advocacy and to further their own quest for disability rights.

Quite often, in order for disabled people to be seen as needing help, nondisabled people need to see them as pitiful, helpless and ripe for a nondisabled person to swoop in and play hero. Without the ability to do so, a great many nondisabled people would not pay attention to disability issues. Disabled people know that, and it would appear the U.S. Government does as well. Public sympathies rarely side with disabled people who appear confident and comfortable in their own bodies. Therefore, there will be little outrage for cuts to disability benefits for active disabled people.

Aside from the cruelty it takes to cut necessary funds from a disabled person’s life because of a moment of activity, it seems willfully ignorant. Many in society already see disabled as “fakers” trying to take money from unsuspecting people, and this policy would only raise those tensions among the public. Disabled people are people, and as such, lead complex lives with ups and downs like the rest of the population. Relying upon a reductive narrative of disability is dangerous and will cost lives. Due to this, the administration should look inward and learn how to #BeBest.

The Lives of Female Art Historical Figures Will Now Be Transcribed and Available Online

Diary page from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney papers, 1851-1975, bulk 1888-1942 (Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution)

Teddy Roosevelt didn’t pause to pose for any kind of presidential portrait until six months after his inauguration as the 26th American president, and it was only by chance that he allowed artist Cecilia Beaux to sketch his likeness — his first in his new presidential role. Beaux was at the White House painting a double portrait of First Lady Edith Roosevelt and her daughter, and somehow the President was convinced to sit for the Impressionistic painter for a few moments. “It has been a very real pleasure to catch glimpses of you while you have been here at the White House,” President Roosevelt wrote to Beaux in 1902, shortly after her visit. “I thoroughly enjoyed my two sittings — something which never happened before.”

If you’ve never heard of Beaux, you’re not alone. While she was a highly respected portraitist in her day, even hired by the US War Portraits Commission to paint French Prime Minister George Clemenceau, she’s received far less attention than her big-name Philadelphian contemporaries, Mary Cassatt and Thomas Eakins.

Cecilia Beaux, “Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and daughter Ethel” (1902), oil on canvas, 113 x 80 cm (image via Wikimedia)

Beaux’s personal archive has been publicly accessible at the Archives of American Art for 50 years, and fully digitized for over a decade (resulting in a whopping 6,022 online images). There is a problem, however: Beaux’s handwriting is of the sort of inky, late 19th-century scribble that is hard for 21st-century computer users to decipher. Now, a yearlong crowdsourced transcription project focused on women artists, art historians, art dealers, and gallery owners — spearheaded by a selection from the Cecilia Beaux papers —hopes to make the lives of such female creatives easier to keyword search and read. This would make it easier for scholars to research such figures in the future.

Sketchbook page from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney papers, 1851-1975, bulk 1888-1942 (Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution)

The Women’s History at the Archives of American Art project, a part of the Smithsonian Transcription Center, began this March with a diary, personal correspondence, and essay on children’s art education from Cecilia Beaux’s papers. This month features an art journal and two diaries from sculptor and museum founder Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. The project will release two to three transcription projects from a different female art historical figure each month through March 2020, with the aspiration that they be fully transcribed by anyone with an internet connection (and, most likely, the Smithsonian’s already devoted pool of digital volunteers).

“We surveyed the papers of our women creators, looking for autobiographical content that would help contextualize their lives and their work,” explained Megan Burdi, the archivist for digital initiatives managing this project, who selected the documents for transcription together with intern Justin Padilla. “I think that’s a great medium for getting to know the day-to-day life of an artist and the world that they lived in. So, the goal is to contextualize artists, art historians, art dealers, gallery owners who we might have heard of — but through their own autobiographical writing you can get a better sense of what they were like and what their life was like.”

Photograph of Anna Coleman Ladd in her studio painting a mask worn by a French soldier who was disfigured in World War I, July 1918 (image via Wikimedia)

The 13 total projects will be uploaded each month in semi-chronological order, and include both lesser-known and famous artists. Next month will feature the diaries of Anna Coleman Ladd, an American sculptor celebrated for creating custom prosthetics for soldiers injured during World War I. Some of the more contemporary artists to be featured are Color Field painter Alma Thomas, figurative painter Marcia Marcus, and art critic and curator Lucy Lippard.

“We have the papers of several women creators fully digitized and I’m always looking for ways to bring discovery to that resource so more people can find them and find interesting information for their research,” Burdi told Hyperallergic. “Transcription is a really great way to do that, because transcribing something makes it keyword searchable. So all of a sudden, all this content, it’s already very accessible on the web but it’s been opened up to keyword searching, too.”

Women’s History at the Archives of American Art joins other projects hoping to make it easier to research women artists, such as the A Space of Their Own database that will be a comprehensive and fully illustrated resource on female painters, pastellists, printmakers, and sculptors active in the United States and Europe between the 15th and 19th centuries.

“Having the transcripts available makes [material] more accessible to people, so it’s easier for them to read, they can do their research more quickly,” Burdi added. Becoming a transcription volunteer (or ‘volunpeer,’ as regulars at the Smithsonian Transcription Center have named themselves) is easy and takes just a few minutes (you can sign up here). In the process of translating idiosyncratic penmanship to a universal sans serif font, volunteers may help foster research about the American women who have shaped the arts.

The post The Lives of Female Art Historical Figures Will Now Be Transcribed and Available Online appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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