Livestream: The Science of Happiness during COVID-19
The Commonwealth Club | indybay.org | 2020-03-29
Online via livestream…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/03/28/18831892.php

Darvaza Crater: How Soviet Geologists Discovered Gates of Hell
sputniknews.com | 2020-03-29
Turkmenistan has one of the most interesting tourist attractions in the world, and it was discovered by Soviet engineers by accident.
sputniknews.com/science/202003291078750670-darvaza-crater-how-soviet-geologists-discovered-gates-of-hell/

University of California graduate students need a socialist political strategy
wsws.org | 2020-03-28
Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, striking University of California graduate students must turn out to the working class in a political struggle for trillions for public health, decent living standards, and public education for all.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/28/ucgr…

US teachers speak out on the coronavirus epidemic
wsws.org | 2020-03-28
Teachers across the country spoke on the impact the epidemic is having on education and the way forward.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/28/teac…

Coronavirus brings out the worst in criminals as they target families on free school meals
Steve Topple | thecanary.co | 2020-03-28
Not to let a global pandemic go to waste, criminals have been targeting families on free school meals. They're doing it amid the chaos caused by coronavirus (Covid-19). And they're trying to get people's bank details. | Coronavirus: criminals making the most of it: | In an email seen by The Canary, one south London school sent this message to families on free school meals: The DfE [Department for Education] have warned that fraudsters are targeting parents of children eligible for f…
thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2020/03/28/coronavirus-brings-out-the-worst-in-criminals-as-they-target-families-on-free-school-meals/

Education Cannot Solve Poverty and Inequality
Shawgi Tell | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-03-28
One of the long-standing stubborn myths about education in American culture is that education is "the great equalizer" and that education is the way to overcome poverty and inequality at the individual and societal levels. The facts show, however, that poverty and inequality are generally increasing every year despite the fact that there are more …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/03/education-cannot-solve-poverty-and-inequality/

Coronavirus testing to begin for some NHS staff
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-03-28
Coronavirus (COVID-19) tests for NHS frontline staff are to be trialled this weekend. These are part of a wider roll-out to help those given the all-clear from the disease to return to work. The move comes after prime minister Boris Johnson tested positive for coronavirus and has gone into self-isolation.Cabinet minister Michael Gove said the government was working in a "new alliance" with universities, businesses and researchers to boost testing capacity. A total of 759 people have already died in UK hospitals after being diagnosed with coronavirus. Meanwhile, 113,777 have tested positive and hundreds of thousan…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/2020/03/28/coronavirus-testing-to-begin-for-some-nhs-staff/

[Comment] Offline: COVID-19 and the NHS–"a national scandal"
Richard Horton | thelancet.com | 2020-03-28
"When this is all over, the NHS England board should resign in their entirety." So wrote one National Health Service (NHS) health worker last weekend. The scale of anger and frustration is unprecedented, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the cause. The UK Government's Contain–Delay–Mitigate–Research strategy failed. It failed, in part, because ministers didn't follow WHO's advice to "test, test, test" every suspected case. They didn't isolate and quarantine. They didn't contact trace. These basic principles of public health and infectious disease control were ignored, for reasons that r…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30727-3/fulltext?rss=yes

Thanks to the coronavirus, the poorest people in the UK are sitting on a financial time bomb
Steve Topple | thecanary.co | 2020-03-28
The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic could potentially unleash financial chaos for some of the poorest people in the UK. A new study has found that many of us have no financial safety net in the event of a crisis. But what the research doesn't say is that it's some of those at the bottom of society who'll be hit hardest. And thanks to Universal Credit, that group is about to get a whole lot larger. | Coronavirus: people are not prepared: | The financial advice company OpenMoney surveyed 2,000 people with YouGo…
thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2020/03/28/thanks-to-the-coronavirus-the-poorest-people-in-the-uk-are-sitting-on-a-financial-time-bomb/

Gilead Sciences asks FDA to rescind 'orphan' status for possible coronavirus treatment drug in rare move
Ashley Curtin | nationofchange.org | 2020-03-28
"We are committed to making the medicine both accessible and affordable to governments and patients around the world."
nationofchange.org/2020/03/28/gilead-sciences-asks-fda-to-rescind-orphan-status-for-possible-coronavirus-treatment-drug-in-a-rare-move/

COVID-19 Crisis Reveals Broadband Inequity
Sue Sturgis | commondreams.org | 2020-03-28
Eight-year-old Indi Pineau, a 3rd grader in Jeffco Public Schools, works on doing her first day of online learning in her room at her family's home on March 17, 2020 in Lakewood, Colorado. Jeffco Public Schools implemented a remote learning and work plan where teachers, students, and staff will educate and learn from home with online programs for an unknown period due to COVID-19. (Photo: RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/views/2020/03/28/covid-19-crisis-reveals-broadband-inequity?cd-origin=rss

From layoffs to COVID DANCE-OFFs, richest US universities drag their heels on virus response
rt.com | 2020-03-28
When art school students at one of America's top universities asked their dean for tuition refunds, she turned them down in a most peculiar way: through interpretive dance. The elite, it seems, are different from you and me. | With their school closed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, students at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts got in touch with college officials to ask for their tuition back. Given that a year's tuition at the art school costs upwards of $60,000, they were anxious to get the money returned. | Dean Allyson Green emailed the students back last week, denying their request. Att…
rt.com/usa/484390-university-dean-dance-coronavirus/

World boxing champ Billy Joe Saunders apologizes after video shows him 'teaching men how to hit women during lockdown'
rt.com | 2020-03-28
British world boxing champion Billy Joe Saunders has apologized after footage emerged appearing to show him teaching men how to hit their female partners if tensions flare in lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. | WBO world super-middleweight champ Saunders, 30, is seen in the footage training with a punchbag in his barn. | Talking to the camera, the boxer begins by saying: "I just want to make a little video for all you dads, husbands, if you've got girlfriends etc. | "Obviously this Covid-19 thing is getting quite serious and we are isolated in tight spaces. | "If your old woman is giving you mouth and you…
rt.com/sport/484388-boxer-billy-joe-saunders-video-lockdown/

On Strike Now for Three Years, Spectrum Workers Are Demanding Public Ownership
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-03-28
Cable technician Troy Walcott, along with 1,800 of his fellow members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 3, has been striking for three years, and there's still no end in sight. | Local 3 first walked off the job in March 2017 when their employer, Spectrum/Charter Communications

800,000 Doctors to Trump: Heed Expert Warnings and End Dangerous Campaign Against Social Distancing
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-03-28
"We need your leadership in supporting science-based recommendations on social distancing that can slow the virus." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
commondreams.org/news/2020/03/28/800000-doctors-trump-heed-expert-warnings-and-end-dangerous-campaign-against-social?cd-origin=rss

The Italian war-like measures to fight coronavirus spreading: Re-open closed hospitals now
Alessandro Miani, Ernesto Burgio, Prisco Piscitelli, Renato Lauro, Annamaria Colao | thelancet.com | 2020-03-27
As recently highlighted by The Lancet, the Covid-19 outbreak started in Northern Italy has shocked Europe, while it has been questioned if China benefits from an authoritarian advantage in disease response [1,2]. In Italy, after the shutdown of the educational system (schools and Universities will remain closed at least for one month) and the collapse of the touristic sector (90% of travels and reservations cancelled), the Government officially locked down residents of all the region of Milan (Lombardia) and other 11 provinces.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30064-X/fulltext?rss=yes

"Total System Failure": Congress Pushes $2 Trillion Pandemic Bill. Will Dems Allow "Corporate Coup"?
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-03-27
We continue our look at the massive $2 trillion coronavirus relief package

Could the Death of the National Security State be a Silver Lining of COVID-19?
Jefferson Morley | counterpunch.org | 2020-03-27
Could something good come from the catastrophe of COVID-19? Might the epic insecurity of a plague teach us something about national security? Political scientist Micah Zenko calls the current pandemic "the worst intelligence failure in U.S. history." Former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman sees "the urgent need to redefine national security." Ilan Goldenberg, a former defense…
counterpunch.org/2020/03/27/could-the-death-of-the-national-security-state-be-a-silver-lining-of-covid-19/

'Models don't match reality': White House coronavirus chief rejects doomsday predictions as US tops Covid-19 case count
rt.com | 2020-03-26
Even as the US overtook China in the official number of Covid-19 cases, the top physician leading the White House effort urged Americans not to panic, as models predicting the death of millions keep being proven wrong everywhere. | "The predictions of the models don't match the reality on the ground in neither China, South Korea nor Italy," Dr. Deborah Birx told reporters on Thursday. She noted that the alarmist statistics about the spread of the virus said Italy would reach 400,000 deaths by now, but the actual death toll was nowhere near that. | Italy, which has been the hardest-hit in terms of deaths from C…
rt.com/usa/484213-coronavirus-models-reality-birx/

COVID-19: We must break the power of big pharma
Susan Price | greenleft.org.au | 2020-03-25
Healthcare Mike DavisIssue 1258 United States COVID-19March 25, 2020COVID-19 is finally the monster at the door. Researchers are working night and day to characterise the outbreak, but they are faced with three huge challenges. | First, the continuing shortage or unavailabil…
greenleft.org.au/content/covid-19-we-must-break-power-big-pharma

King David's Ancient Road: How Israeli Archaeologists Are Aiding the Theft of Silwan
Miko Peled | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-24
Claiming "science" as their reason and in total disregard for the wellbeing of the population, tunnels are dug under Palestinian homes in Silwan, destroying foundations and forcing residents to flee.
mintpressnews.com/how-israel-archeologists-aiding-theft-silwan/266005/

Presenting Trump and Science as Equals Isn't Balanced, It's Dangerous
Neil deMause | fair.org | 2020-03-23
With more than 32,000 COVID-19 infections and 400 deaths in the US to date, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams predicting that "this week, it's going to get bad," as hospitals prepare for the eventuality of rationing treatment for patients least likely…
fair.org/home/presenting-trump-and-science-as-equals-isnt-balanced-its-dangerous/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=presenting-trump-and-science-as-equals-isnt-balanced-its-dangerous

Goes to show the level of hubris and profound BS of Western produced statistics
The Iranian | iranian.com | 2020-03-23
iranian.com/2020/03/22/goes-to-show-the-level-of-hubris-and-profound-bs-of-western-produced-statistics/

Coronavirus hits US prisons: "thousands face death sentence"
Anya Parampil | thegrayzone.com | 2020-03-22
Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Dr. Amanda Klonsky, the chief program officer at a prison education organization, about…
thegrayzone.com/2020/03/22/coronavirus-prisons-death-sentence/

[Correspondence] Future of Chernobyl research: the urgency for consolidated action
Evgenia Ostroumova, Joachim Schàºz, Ausrele Kesminiene | thelancet.com | 2020-03-18
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986, continues to create fears and myths about its health consequences, as shown by the large response to a top-rated HBO miniseries devoted to the tragic event. Risk assessments range from recognising an increase in thyroid cancer incidence in exposed children and adolescents (becoming one of the single most established long-term health effects of the Chernobyl disaster on the general population), to claims of hundreds of thousands of deaths due to the accident.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30675-9/fulltext?rss=yes

[Research Paper] A phase 1b randomized study of the safety and immunological responses to vaccination with H4:IC31, H56:IC31, and BCG revaccination in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-uninfected adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa
Linda-Gail Bekker, One Dintwe, Andrew Fiore-Gartland, Keren Middelkoop, Julia Hutter, Anthony Williams, April K. Randhawa, Morten Ruhwald, Ingrid Kromann, Peter L. Andersen, Carlos A. DiazGranados, Kathryn T. Rutkowski, Dereck Tait, Maurine D. Miner, Erica Andersen-Nissen, Stephen C. De Rosa, Kelly E. Seaton, Georgia D. Tomaras, M. Juliana McElrath, Ann Ginsberg, James G. Kublin, HVTN 602 | thelancet.com | 2020-03-18
BCG revaccination administered as a single dose ID and both H4: IC31 and H56: IC31 administered as 2 doses IM had acceptable safety profiles in healthy, QFT-negative, previously BCG-vaccinated adolescents. Characterization of the assays and the immunogenicity of these vaccines may help to identify valuable markers of protection for upcoming immune correlates analyses of C-040-404 and future TB vaccine efficacy trials.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30057-2/fulltext?rss=yes

[Research Paper] Results from the first English stool bank using faecal microbiota transplant as a medicinal product for the treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection
V.L. McCune, M.N. Quraishi, S. Manzoor, C.E. Moran, K. Banavathi, H. Steed, D.C.O Massey, G.R Trafford, T.H. Iqbal, P.M. Hawkey | thelancet.com | 2020-03-16
The methodology developed here enabled successful licencing of FMT by The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency as a medicinal product. This has widened the availability of FMT in the National Health Service via a stool bank and can be applied in other centres across the world to improve access to safe and quality assured treatments.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30045-6/fulltext?rss=yes

[Research Paper] Association of characteristics of tampon use with menstrual toxic shock syndrome in France
Amaury Billon, Marie-Paule Gustin, Anne Tristan, Thomas Bénet, Julien Berthiller, Claude Alexandre Gustave, Philippe Vanhems, Gerard Lina | thelancet.com | 2020-03-10
Our study suggests that the risk of MTSS was associated with using tampons for more than 6 h, overnight tampon use during sleep, and neither read nor followed tampon insertion instructions in case of reading.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30052-3/fulltext?rss=yes

[Comment] Patchy progress on the ICPD: are we asking the right questions?
Dorothy Shaw | thelancet.com | 2020-03-09
The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) agenda, set in 1994 in Cairo and revisited 25 years later in Nairobi in 2019, included goals for equitable education of women, reduction of infant and child mortality, reduction of maternal mortality, and access to reproductive and sexual health services, including family planning, through its well known Programme of Action.1 The ICPD was ground-breaking in recognising the benefits that empowerment of women and girls would have for themselves, their families, and, ultimately, their countries.
thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(20)30080-2/fulltext?rss=yes

TEXAS 2020 DEMOCRATIC PARTY PRIMARY
Theodore de Macedo Soares | tdmsresearch.com | 2020-03-07
Exit Poll Versus Reported Vote Count By Theodore de Macedo Soares The 2020 Texas Democratic Party presidential primary was held on March 3, 2020. Election results from the computerized vote counts differed significantly from the results projected by the exit poll conducted by Edison Research and published by CNN at poll's closing. According to the exit poll Sanders was tied with Biden but lost in the unobservable computer counts by 4.5%. In this election candidate Sanders saw the largest Continue Reading ‚Üí…
tdmsresearch.com/2020/03/07/texas-2020-democratic-party-primary/

[Research Paper] Gender parity at scale: Examining correlations of country-level female participation in education and work with measures of men's and women's survival
Adva Gadoth, Jody Heymann | thelancet.com | 2020-03-05
This study extends past research by examining actionable areas of gender equality and their impact on both male and female survival. While longitudinal research is needed to examine both causality and mechanisms, our findings suggest longevity gains for both women and men, and for all children through reduced maternal mortality, where greater parity in school and work is exhibited.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30043-2/fulltext?rss=yes

[Research Paper] Access to women physicians and uptake of reproductive, maternal and child health services in India
Nandita Bhan, Lotus McDougal, Abhishek Singh, Yamini Atmavilas, Anita Raj | thelancet.com | 2020-03-05
Higher district availability of women physicians is associated with higher maternal health care utilization but not child health care utilization. Improving gender parity in the physician workforce and rural women physician access may improve maternal health care use in India.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30053-5/fulltext?rss=yes

[Research Paper] Sport as a vehicle of change for livelihoods, social participation and marital health for the youth: Findings from a prospective cohort in Bihar, India
Nandita Bhan, Kaushik Bhadra, Namratha Rao, Jennifer Yore, Anita Raj | thelancet.com | 2020-03-04
Evidence from India shows that sport can be an instrument supporting pro-social engagement for boys and girls. Further understanding of the gendered nature of sport and the mechanisms linking sport to agency among youth is needed.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30046-8/fulltext?rss=yes

[Research Paper] Gender discrimination and depressive symptoms among child-bearing women: ELSPAC-CZ cohort study
Irena Stepanikova, Sanjeev Acharya, Safa Abdalla, Elizabeth Baker, Jana Klanova, Gary L. Darmstadt | thelancet.com | 2020-03-04
The findings provide the first evidence that perceived gender discrimination is associated with depressive symptoms among child-bearing women. Social intervention programs aimed at reducing gender discrimination can potentially contribute to better mental health of women.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30041-9/fulltext?rss=yes

[Research Paper] Effects of sexual harassment on advancement of women in academic medicine: A multi-institutional longitudinal study
Anita Raj, Karen M. Freund, Jennifer M. McDonald, Phyllis L. Carr | thelancet.com | 2020-03-04
Contrary to our hypothesis, women reporting severe workplace harassment in 1995 were more rather than less likely to advance to full professor. Women seeking advancement may be more vulnerable to sexual harassment in academic medicine vis a vis greater exposure to those who abuse their position of authority.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30042-0/fulltext?rss=yes

[Commentary] Gender equality: Framing a special collection of evidence for all
Gary L. Darmstadt | thelancet.com | 2020-03-04
In this issue of EClinicalMedicine, the editors have assembled a special collection of papers which reinforce and extend concepts advanced recently in other Lancet family journals on Gender Equality, Norms and Health [1] and Advancing Gender Equity in Science, Medicine and Global Health [2]. These works in turn, build on decades of scholarship in the study of gender inequalities which to this day have disproportionately impacted women and girls, and even more so women who are poor or from racial or religious minorities or other intersecting aspects of identify which impart social disadvantage.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30051-1/fulltext?rss=yes

[Research Paper] Violence-related knife injuries in a UK city; epidemiology and impact on secondary care resources
Nabeela S. Malik, Beau Munoz, Cynthia de Courcey, Rizwana Imran, Kwang C. Lee, Saisakul Chernbumroong, Jonathan Bishop, Janet M. Lord, George Gkoutos, Douglas M. Bowley, Mark A. Foster | thelancet.com | 2020-03-03
Knife injuries constitute 12 ∑9% of trauma team workload. Violence recidivism and intoxication are common, and females are predominantly injured in a domestic setting, presenting opportunities for targeted violence reduction interventions. 13 ∑9% of injuries involved machetes, with implications for law enforcement strategies.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30040-7/fulltext?rss=yes

[Comment] Challenges in evidence-based therapy for systemic sclerosis associated interstitial lung disease
Christopher P Denton, Voon H Ong | thelancet.com | 2020-02-27
The excellent Review of systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) by Apostolos Perelas and colleagues1 in this issue is testament to the large body of work over several decades that has helped to better define the frequency, effects, and management of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Translational research has also elucidated key aspects of aetiopathogenesis. The progression of ILD in SSc is highly variable, and we are now able to identify the patients most at risk for severe ILD and determine who is more likely to have an indolent course on the basis of clinica…
thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(20)30012-6/fulltext?rss=yes