For the last few months, Florida officials have been bringing COVID-19 vaccines to places where many people gather like concerts and malls to make it easier for someone to get a shot.
On Monday, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office hosted a pop-up at a location at an unusual venue that could put things into perspective: the funeral of 32-year-old Polk County Deputy Sheriff Christopher Broadhead. The father of five died from COVID-19 complications on Aug. 23 after being in the hospital for several weeks.
Read more at:
COVID vaccine pop-up held at funeral of fallen Florida deputy | Miami Herald
Showing posts with label Tests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tests. Show all posts
1/15/21
Covid - will vaccinations work with different variants of Covid: How worrying are the UK, South Africa, and Brazil coronavirus variants? - by Michelle Roberts
New variants of coronavirus are emerging that are more infectious than the original one that started the pandemic.
Scientists are urgently studying these mutated versions to understand what threat they pose.
The current vaccines were designed around earlier variants, but scientists are confident that they should still work against the new ones, although perhaps not quite as well.
Lab studies are underway to check this.
Vaccines train the body to attack several parts of the virus, however, not just these sections of the spike protein.
Variants could emerge in the future that are more different again.
Read more: .Covid: How worrying are the UK, South Africa, and Brazil coronavirus variants? - BBC News
Scientists are urgently studying these mutated versions to understand what threat they pose.
The current vaccines were designed around earlier variants, but scientists are confident that they should still work against the new ones, although perhaps not quite as well.
Lab studies are underway to check this.
Vaccines train the body to attack several parts of the virus, however, not just these sections of the spike protein.
Variants could emerge in the future that are more different again.
Read more: .Covid: How worrying are the UK, South Africa, and Brazil coronavirus variants? - BBC News
10/5/20
Coronavirus Tests: India's new paper Covid-19 test could be a ‘game changer’
A
team of scientists in India has developed an inexpensive paper-based
test for coronavirus that could give fast results similar to a pregnancy
test.
The test, named after a famous Indian fictional detective, is based on a gene-editing technology called Crispr. Scientists estimate that the kit - called Feluda - would return results in under an hour and cost 500 rupees (about $6.75;
Read more at::
India's new paper Covid-19 test could be a ‘game changer’
The test, named after a famous Indian fictional detective, is based on a gene-editing technology called Crispr. Scientists estimate that the kit - called Feluda - would return results in under an hour and cost 500 rupees (about $6.75;
Read more at::
India's new paper Covid-19 test could be a ‘game changer’
9/5/20
Covid-19 vaccine - Russia's COVID-19 vaccine: Trial results 'encouraging but small', say experts
A report by The Lancet medical journal on a COVID-19 vaccine
developed and tested in Russia says it has shown promising results, but
adds that more work is needed.
In trials so far, the experimental Sputnik V vaccine has elicited an immune response and has brought no adverse side effects, according to Russian researchers. Doctors studied 76 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 60, over six weeks.
In a peer review31867-5/fulltext) of the Russian studies, experts in The Lancet say the two studies31866-3/fulltext) by Denis Logunov and his team from the N F Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology have several strengths.
Read more at:
Russia's COVID-19 vaccine: Trial results 'encouraging but small', say experts | Euronews
In trials so far, the experimental Sputnik V vaccine has elicited an immune response and has brought no adverse side effects, according to Russian researchers. Doctors studied 76 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 60, over six weeks.
In a peer review31867-5/fulltext) of the Russian studies, experts in The Lancet say the two studies31866-3/fulltext) by Denis Logunov and his team from the N F Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology have several strengths.
Read more at:
Russia's COVID-19 vaccine: Trial results 'encouraging but small', say experts | Euronews
5/4/20
US's number one problem - testing: Donald Trump is lying about the size of coronavirus testing — but lying about size is typical for him says John Oliver
If there’s one thing Donald Trump does best it’s lie about the size of things.
“Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver pointed out that one of the most
dangerous things the president is lying about right now is the size of
the group of people that will be tested for the coronavirus.
When asked this week if the U.S. could reach the benchmark of 5
million coronavirus tests per day recommended by public-health
experts, Trump said USA would. “Well, it will increase it, and it’ll increase it by much more than that in the very near future,”
Trump said, before going off on another incoherent fever-dream that he has singlehandedly saved the world in some kind of war.
The reporter followed up, “Sorry, are you saying you’re confident you can surpass 5 million tests per day?”
“Well, we’re going to be there very soon,” he said, more concisely. “If you look at the numbers, it could be that we’re getting very close. I mean, I don’t have the exact numbers. We would have had them if you asked me the same question a little while ago because people with the statistics were there. We’re going to be there very soon.”
Currently, the U.S. is only able to test about 200,000 people per day.
“There is absolutely no way on Earth, on this planet or any other planet, that we can do 20 million tests a day, or even 5 million tests a day,” said Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary of health. He’s the person in charge of the U.S. testing response.
Read more: John Oliver: Donald Trump is lying about the size of coronavirus testing — but lying about size is typical for him – Raw Story
“Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver pointed out that one of the most
dangerous things the president is lying about right now is the size of
the group of people that will be tested for the coronavirus.When asked this week if the U.S. could reach the benchmark of 5
million coronavirus tests per day recommended by public-health
experts, Trump said USA would. “Well, it will increase it, and it’ll increase it by much more than that in the very near future,”
Trump said, before going off on another incoherent fever-dream that he has singlehandedly saved the world in some kind of war.
The reporter followed up, “Sorry, are you saying you’re confident you can surpass 5 million tests per day?”
“Well, we’re going to be there very soon,” he said, more concisely. “If you look at the numbers, it could be that we’re getting very close. I mean, I don’t have the exact numbers. We would have had them if you asked me the same question a little while ago because people with the statistics were there. We’re going to be there very soon.”
Currently, the U.S. is only able to test about 200,000 people per day.
“There is absolutely no way on Earth, on this planet or any other planet, that we can do 20 million tests a day, or even 5 million tests a day,” said Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary of health. He’s the person in charge of the U.S. testing response.
Read more: John Oliver: Donald Trump is lying about the size of coronavirus testing — but lying about size is typical for him – Raw Story
3/1/20
The Nethertlands: About 100 tested for Covid-19 incl. family of Amsterdam coronavirus patient
As many as 100 people have been tested in the Netherlands for the
Covid-19 strain of coronavirus, Dutch health authority RIVM told Parool.
Among them are the husband and three children of an Amsterdam woman who tested positive for the virus on Friday, one of whom required a second test to rule out a possible false positive.
The new figures mean the Netherlands has begun ramping up testing of people in the country, as just about 50 had been screened by the end of Wednesday. All test results thus far were negative, apart from two people, including the woman from Amsterdam now in quarantine in Diemen.
Her family's results were expected to be announced by the RIVM and public health service GGD Amsterdam on Saturday. Her symptoms were mild, the city confirmed.
Out of precaution, some youth athletes playing matches in Amsterdam
Ijburg will not shake hands before or after their games, broadcaster NOS
said. They will also take stricter hygiene precautions, including the
use of disinfecting soaps. Two of the Amsterdam woman's children attend
schools on Ijburg. Nevertheless, Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema told
reporters Friday night that there is no cause for panic, and no events
were ordered cancelled by her or Diemen mayor Erik Boog.
Read more: About 100 tested for Covid-19 incl. family of Amsterdam coronavirus patient | NL Times
The new figures mean the Netherlands has begun ramping up testing of people in the country, as just about 50 had been screened by the end of Wednesday. All test results thus far were negative, apart from two people, including the woman from Amsterdam now in quarantine in Diemen.
Her family's results were expected to be announced by the RIVM and public health service GGD Amsterdam on Saturday. Her symptoms were mild, the city confirmed.
Read more: About 100 tested for Covid-19 incl. family of Amsterdam coronavirus patient | NL Times
2/23/20
European Aircraft Industry: Airbus reveals futuristic blended wing aircraft design
The French aircraft maker Airbus rolled out a model of the small-scale, remote-controlled aircraft demonstrator it's been using to test the design at the Singapore Air Show 2020 on Tuesday.
This "blended wing body" demonstrator is called MAVERIC -- which stands for Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls -- and is two meters long and 3.2 meters wide.
Testing has reportedly been underway since June 2019 but the project, which launched in 2017, was kept under wraps until this month.
According to Airbus, MAVERIC helps accelerate understanding of new aircraft configurations and matures the technology necessary to fly such a radically different aircraft.
What's so special about this aerodynamic "blended wing body"? In addition to the environmental benefit -- approximately 20% less fuel burn compared to current single-aisle models with the same engine -- Airbus says the plane's unusual and spacious configuration opens up new possibilities for cabin design.
To prove this point, it also released a series of design renderings showing what passengers onboard a blended wing aircraft might be in for. Noise would likely be reduced too, due to the plane's "shielded" engine, which is mounted above the central body.
Read more at: Airbus reveals futuristic blended wing aircraft design | CNN Tr
This "blended wing body" demonstrator is called MAVERIC -- which stands for Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls -- and is two meters long and 3.2 meters wide.
Testing has reportedly been underway since June 2019 but the project, which launched in 2017, was kept under wraps until this month.
According to Airbus, MAVERIC helps accelerate understanding of new aircraft configurations and matures the technology necessary to fly such a radically different aircraft.
What's so special about this aerodynamic "blended wing body"? In addition to the environmental benefit -- approximately 20% less fuel burn compared to current single-aisle models with the same engine -- Airbus says the plane's unusual and spacious configuration opens up new possibilities for cabin design.
To prove this point, it also released a series of design renderings showing what passengers onboard a blended wing aircraft might be in for. Noise would likely be reduced too, due to the plane's "shielded" engine, which is mounted above the central body.
Read more at: Airbus reveals futuristic blended wing aircraft design | CNN Tr
7/10/18
Health: When Will I Die? Scientists Develop New Blood Test That Could Reveal Life Expectancy - by Khasmira Gander
Life is short, the saying goes, and exactly how much time we
have before we shuffle off this mortal coil is anyone’s guess. But this
uncertainty could be consigned to history, according to the creators of a
blood test they claim can predict a person's life expectancy.
The test measures what the scientists at Yale University call a person’s “phenotypic age,” The Guardian reported. Put simply, if a person’s phenotypic age is higher than their chronological age, they may be at greater risk of dying. It works by measuring nine biomarkers in the body, the authors wrote in a paper published in the biological sciences archive bioRxiv. The paper was not peer-reviewed.
Dr. Morgan Levine, assistant professor of pathology at Yale School of Medicine, explained to The Guardian the test can identify differences in life expectancy among individuals who are seemingly healthy.
The team defined "healthy" as being free of disease and having a normal BMI.
"It’s [the test] picking up how old you look physiologically," Levine told the newspaper. "Maybe you’re 65 years old but physiologically you look more like a 70-year-old, so your mortality risk is more like that of a 70-year-old.”
A clinician could therefore use the results as the basis for personalized lifestyle advice on how to prevent diseases and raise a patient's life expectancy, she said.
To develop the test, the researchers analyzed 42 clinical measures documented in participants of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Factors such as their lifestyle and medical history were recorded, as well as a cause of death where relevant. The measures included glucose levels, white blood cell count and levels of albumin, a protein made by the liver.
“Phenotypic age was significantly associated with all-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality,” the authors wrote.
Every year a person’s phenotypic age was above their real age, their risk of dying rose by 14 percent in those between 20 to 39 years old; 10 percent in the 40- to 65-year-old category, and 8 percent among 65 to 84 year olds. Overall, people who aged fastest had more diseases than those who aged at a slower pace.
The test can also differentiate among individuals who appear to be healthy, and “who may have otherwise been missed using traditional health assessments,” the authors wrote.
It is unclear if and when the test will be rolled out in the general population. Yale University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Levine told The Guardian the team hopes the test will help "the majority of the population who are middle-aged, who don't have things wrong with them."
Read more: When Will I Die? Scientists Develop New Blood Test That Could Reveal Life Expectancy
The test measures what the scientists at Yale University call a person’s “phenotypic age,” The Guardian reported. Put simply, if a person’s phenotypic age is higher than their chronological age, they may be at greater risk of dying. It works by measuring nine biomarkers in the body, the authors wrote in a paper published in the biological sciences archive bioRxiv. The paper was not peer-reviewed.
Dr. Morgan Levine, assistant professor of pathology at Yale School of Medicine, explained to The Guardian the test can identify differences in life expectancy among individuals who are seemingly healthy.
The team defined "healthy" as being free of disease and having a normal BMI.
"It’s [the test] picking up how old you look physiologically," Levine told the newspaper. "Maybe you’re 65 years old but physiologically you look more like a 70-year-old, so your mortality risk is more like that of a 70-year-old.”
A clinician could therefore use the results as the basis for personalized lifestyle advice on how to prevent diseases and raise a patient's life expectancy, she said.
To develop the test, the researchers analyzed 42 clinical measures documented in participants of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Factors such as their lifestyle and medical history were recorded, as well as a cause of death where relevant. The measures included glucose levels, white blood cell count and levels of albumin, a protein made by the liver.
“Phenotypic age was significantly associated with all-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality,” the authors wrote.
Every year a person’s phenotypic age was above their real age, their risk of dying rose by 14 percent in those between 20 to 39 years old; 10 percent in the 40- to 65-year-old category, and 8 percent among 65 to 84 year olds. Overall, people who aged fastest had more diseases than those who aged at a slower pace.
The test can also differentiate among individuals who appear to be healthy, and “who may have otherwise been missed using traditional health assessments,” the authors wrote.
It is unclear if and when the test will be rolled out in the general population. Yale University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Levine told The Guardian the team hopes the test will help "the majority of the population who are middle-aged, who don't have things wrong with them."
Read more: When Will I Die? Scientists Develop New Blood Test That Could Reveal Life Expectancy
10/1/16
Britain: A Peek at the Secret English Farm Where Amazon Tests Its Drones - by Mark Scott
After hours of searching, I pulled onto a dirt track here in the rolling hills of Cambridgeshire and spotted a small dot whirring across the blue sky, gently swaying in the breeze as it steadily flew about 200 feet above the ground.
Jackpot: It was an Amazon drone.
Barely visible to the naked eye, the unmarked aircraft, about the size of a large model plane, floated across a field about 1,000 yards in the distance, the lights on its four-pronged sensors flashing brightly against the afternoon sun.
Amazon, the giant e-commerce company, began secretly testing unmanned aircraft this summer at an undisclosed location in Britain (its largest outdoor test site, according to an Amazon executive). I set out to find the top secret site, wanting to see how we all may one day receive online deliveries.
In retrospect, signs of Amazon’s secret tests were hidden in plain sight.
There was the warning to pilots that unmanned aircraft would be flying in the area, about an hour north of London, until early October; the uncharacteristically fast cellphone reception in such a remote area — a must when processing drone data; and the growing list of jobs and openings at Amazon’s research and development site in Cambridge related to Prime Air, the company’s ambitious plan to use drones for everyday deliveries.
Read more: A Peek at the Secret English Farm Where Amazon Tests Its Drones - The New York Times
Jackpot: It was an Amazon drone.
Barely visible to the naked eye, the unmarked aircraft, about the size of a large model plane, floated across a field about 1,000 yards in the distance, the lights on its four-pronged sensors flashing brightly against the afternoon sun.
Amazon, the giant e-commerce company, began secretly testing unmanned aircraft this summer at an undisclosed location in Britain (its largest outdoor test site, according to an Amazon executive). I set out to find the top secret site, wanting to see how we all may one day receive online deliveries.
In retrospect, signs of Amazon’s secret tests were hidden in plain sight.
There was the warning to pilots that unmanned aircraft would be flying in the area, about an hour north of London, until early October; the uncharacteristically fast cellphone reception in such a remote area — a must when processing drone data; and the growing list of jobs and openings at Amazon’s research and development site in Cambridge related to Prime Air, the company’s ambitious plan to use drones for everyday deliveries.
Read more: A Peek at the Secret English Farm Where Amazon Tests Its Drones - The New York Times
11/17/13
Cellular Phones: LTE-Advanced tests in Europe push wireless speeds - by Mikael Ricknäs
European operators Vodafone, Telefónica, and EE have all started testing LTE-Advanced, and are aiming to offer wireless connectivity speeds exceeding 200Mbps. But the hardware isn't as speedy: A lack of devices means commercial services will have to wait.
While LTE is still in its infancy in many parts of the world, operators have started to test LTE-Advanced, which uses a handful of technologies to increase speeds even more. Last week, Vodafone and Telefónica in Germany announced small-scale trials of the speedy technology in Dresden and Munich, respectively. The two join British operator EE, which announced a test in London's startup cluster Tech City earlier this month.
All three are taking advantage of a feature called carrier aggregation to improve speeds. It allows networks to devote more resources to some users by treating two channels in the same or different frequency bands as if they were one. The amount of frequencies used decides the maximum bandwidth. EE is using two times 20MHz to reach 300Mbps, while Vodafone and Telefónica are using one 10MHz channel plus one 20MHz channel for up to 225Mbps.
Read more: LTE-Advanced tests in Europe push wireless speeds | TechHive
8/29/13
Syria: UN Experts to Bring Syria Samples to European Labs
The United Nations says some of its chemical weapons experts in Syria will personally take samples to laboratories around Europe after leaving Damascus on Saturday morning.
U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq says the team's final report will depend on the lab results and that it could take "more than days."
However, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expects to receive an initial report on the investigation soon after the experts leave Damascus. Haq said Ban is flying back to New York on Thursday, cutting short a visit to Austria to be ready to receive the report.
The team's mandate is only to determine whether chemical weapons were used in an attack that reportedly killed hundreds of people last week. But Haq suggested that the findings might indicate who was behind the attack.
Read more: UN Experts to Bring Syria Samples to European Labs - ABC News
U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq says the team's final report will depend on the lab results and that it could take "more than days."
However, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expects to receive an initial report on the investigation soon after the experts leave Damascus. Haq said Ban is flying back to New York on Thursday, cutting short a visit to Austria to be ready to receive the report.
The team's mandate is only to determine whether chemical weapons were used in an attack that reportedly killed hundreds of people last week. But Haq suggested that the findings might indicate who was behind the attack.
Read more: UN Experts to Bring Syria Samples to European Labs - ABC News
7/9/13
The Netherlands: Mobile phones used to monitor air pollution
Thousands of people in the Netherlands are today taking part in an experiment to measure air quality using their smartphones.
They have downloaded a special app and attached a small piece of equipment to their phones which enables them to analyse the volume and type of pollutants in the air.
The experiment is the brainchild of asthma charity Longfonds which will use the results to draw up a pollution map of the country.
Read more: DutchNews.nl - Mobile phones used to monitor air pollution
They have downloaded a special app and attached a small piece of equipment to their phones which enables them to analyse the volume and type of pollutants in the air.
The experiment is the brainchild of asthma charity Longfonds which will use the results to draw up a pollution map of the country.
Read more: DutchNews.nl - Mobile phones used to monitor air pollution
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