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DARPA-funded microchip technology optimizes convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19 patients

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Doctors and researchers are just beginning to document and understand the effects of heart disease in complicating and endangering recovery from the COVID-19 virus, as well as the potential impact of COVID-19 on the heart. In a new Loyola Medicine video, “Heart Disease and COVID-19,” cardiologist Asim Babar, MD, recommends that individuals with heart disease take especially good care of their health and heart during this pandemic.

Britain Is Developing an AI-Powered Predictive Policing System

What police would do with the information has yet to be determined. The head of WMP told New Scientist they won’t be preemptively arresting anyone; instead, the idea would be to use the information to provide early intervention from social or health workers to help keep potential offenders on the straight and narrow or protect potential victims.

But data ethics experts have voiced concerns that the police are stepping into an ethical minefield they may not be fully prepared for. Last year, WMP asked researchers at the Alan Turing Institute’s Data Ethics Group to assess a redacted version of the proposal, and last week they released an ethics advisory in conjunction with the Independent Digital Ethics Panel for Policing.

While the authors applaud the force for attempting to develop an ethically sound and legally compliant approach to predictive policing, they warn that the ethical principles in the proposal are not developed enough to deal with the broad challenges this kind of technology could throw up, and that “frequently the details are insufficiently fleshed out and important issues are not fully recognized.”

Feline Coronavirus (FCoV) RT-PCR

Feline Coronavirus (FCoV) is a common viral infection in cats. It generally causes asymptomatic infection, but can cause mild diarrhea. As yet poorly understood changes in the virus can give rise to mutants that lead to the development of feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). Most cats infected with a FCoV eliminate virus following infection, but some cats may develop a persistent infection. These cats are generally asymptomatic, can shed large amounts of virus in feces, and serve as a continual source of infection for other cats in the environment. Continual circulation of FCoV within a cat population may increase the chance that a virulent FIP strain might emerge. While the pathogenesis of FIP is poorly understood, it is now believed that detection and removal of persistently infected and shedding cats in a multi-cat household can reduce the risk of FIP emergence within that population.

In response to the increased interest within the cat breeding and cat owning community, the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University now offers a fecal RT-PCR test for FCoV. This test can be used to identify asymptomatic FCoV shedding cats so steps can be taken to isolate them from other cats or to prevent their introduction to a resident population. Samples required for the fecal RT-PCR screening test are 2–5 grams fresh feces. When screening an individual cat in a multi-cat household it is important to positively identify the source of the fecal sample. Mixing of fecal samples from multiple cats may result in an inaccurate result. Feces should be stored in a clean plastic bag to prevent dehydration.

In clinical FIP suspect cats, the test can also identify FCoV in ascites fluid, whole blood, plasma, serum or fresh tissues (kidney, liver, or spleen). Samples from FIP-suspects should include 1–2 ml of fluid (ascites, whole blood, serum, or plasma) or 1–2 grams of fresh tissues.

COVID-19 — Natural Antivirals and Immune Boosters

Natural antiviral and immune boosters (elderberry, curcumin, echinacea, quercetin etc), a new practical guide by Forever Healthy Foundation: “… We identified 50 natural substances and mixtures recommended for preventing infection with SARS-CoV-2 or lessening the severity of symptoms of COVID-19. As there hasn’t been enough time for the scientific community to conduct clinical trials on the effects of any of the compounds on SARS-CoV-2, we chose to recommend substances with established safety that have shown strong antiviral/immunomodulatory effects in previously conducted clinical trials or clinical practice.

This resulted in a final recommendation for 8 natural compounds, 4 that have shown activity against other coronaviruses and that have strong immunomodulatory effects (see Recommended Based on Scientific Literature) along with 4 further compounds that have traditionally been used for prevention/treatment of viral infections with a long record of efficacy and safety (see Recommended Based on Clinical Practice).

Additionally, we found there is some supporting evidence for 23 more substances, discussed in the Potentially Useful section…” https://brain.forever-healthy.org/plugins/servlet/mobile?con…/101057620


This Practical Guide is part of Forever Healthy’s “Maximizing Health” initiative that s eeks to holistically review the world’s leading medical knowledge on various health-related topics and turn it into actionable information.

Special thanks are extended to the whole team at Forever Healthy and all of our collaborators for their friendly contributions.

Building Blocks of the Genetic Code

Humans and all other living things have DNA, which contains hereditary information. The information in your DNA gives your cells instructions for producing proteins. Proteins drive important body functions, like digesting food, building cells, and moving your muscles.

Your DNA is the most unique and identifying factor about you—it helps determine what color your eyes are, how tall you are, and how likely you are to have certain health problems. Even so, over 99% of DNA sequences are the same among all people. It is the remaining 1% that explains much of what makes you, you!

DNA is arranged like two intertwined ropes, in a structure called a double helix (see figure 1). Each strand of DNA is made of four types of molecules, also called bases, attached to a sugar-phosphate backbone. The four bases are adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine ©, and thymine (T). The bases pair in a specific way across the two strands of the helix: adenine pairs with thymine, and cytosine pairs with guanine.

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