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Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.
by ATinNM
Thu Jul 15th, 2021 at 02:11:52 PM EST
The Origin of COVID-19 and Why It Matters
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic is among the deadliest infectious diseases to have emerged in recent history. As with all past pandemics, the specific mechanism of its emergence in humans remains unknown. Nevertheless, a large body of virologic, epidemiologic, veterinary, and ecologic data establishes that the new virus, SARS-CoV-2, evolved directly or indirectly from a β-coronavirus in the sarbecovirus (SARS-like virus) group that naturally infect bats and pangolins in Asia and Southeast Asia. Scientists have warned for decades that such sarbecoviruses are poised to emerge again and again, identified risk factors, and argued for enhanced pandemic prevention and control efforts. Unfortunately, few such preventive actions were taken resulting in the latest coronavirus emergence detected in late 2019 which quickly spread pandemically. The risk of similar coronavirus outbreaks in the future remains high. In addition to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, we must undertake vigorous scientific, public health, and societal actions, including significantly increased funding for basic and applied research addressing disease emergence, to prevent this tragic history from repeating itself.
In 2007, scientists studying coronaviruses warned: "The presence of a large reservoir of SARS-CoV-like viruses in horseshoe bats... is a time bomb. The possibility of the re-emergence of SARS and other novel viruses... should not be ignored."
Few paid attention following the disappearance of SARS after the initial outbreak in 2002. Now, 18 years later, COVID-19 has emerged as the deadliest respiratory disease pandemic since 1918, when the "Spanish" influenza pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people. We need to understand what happened so that we can prevent it from happening again, and be better prepared to contain similar pandemics at their outsets."
by ATinNM
Tue Jul 13th, 2021 at 03:10:19 PM EST
We are finally getting some information regarding the affects of Covid-19 on the brain.
The news is horrible.
How COVID-19 Affects the Brain
COVID-19 has resulted in more than 120 million cases and 2.6 million deaths to date. Respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms are accompanied by short- and long-term neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPs) and long-term brain sequelae.
Some patients present with anosmia, cognitive and attention deficits (ie, brain fog), new-onset anxiety, depression, psychosis, seizures, and even suicidal behavior. These present before, during, and after respiratory symptoms and are unrelated to respiratory insufficiency, suggesting independent brain damage. Follow-ups conducted in Germany and the United Kingdom found post-COVID-19 NPs in 20% to 70% of patients, even in young adults, and lasting months after respiratory symptoms resolved, suggesting brain involvement persists.
Entering through angiotensin-converting enzyme receptors, SARS-CoV-2 can damage endothelial cells leading to inflammation, thrombi, and brain damage. Moreover, systemic inflammation leads to decreased monoamines and trophic factors and activation of microglia, resulting in increased glutamate and N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) and excitotoxicity. These insults induce new-onset or re-exacerbation of preexisting NPs.
[emphasis added]
Frontpaged - Frank Schnittger
by ATinNM
Tue Jan 26th, 2021 at 02:20:50 AM EST
This is very interesting. Never expected to read this in a normally rather staid business website.
Scotland is heading towards independence from the UK thanks to Boris Johnson and Brexit
Scotland is heading towards independence from the UK. That's the inevitable conclusion to be drawn from the latest opinion polls which show a surge in support for Scottish nationalism.
<snip>
The combination of anger at Brexit, distrust of Boris Johnson (who has a long record of offending Scots) and the UK government's shambolic handling of the coronavirus pandemic have all conspired to create the perfect environment for the independence movement.
If the Scottish Nationalist Party does take 55 out of 59 Holyrood seats as the polling is telling us and with 20 consecutive polls giving Independence majority support it becomes difficult to see how Independence doesn't happen.
by ATinNM
Mon Oct 19th, 2020 at 05:32:31 PM EST
Started out as a quick comment to Franks' "It Ain't Over 'Till It's Over' diary and got carried away.
Frontpaged - Frank Schnittger
by ATinNM
Wed Nov 13th, 2019 at 11:14:06 PM EST
Shadow of Brexit fuels Dutch warehouse logistics boom
"Post-Brexit, the U.K. cannot function any more as a key entry and exit gateway of the EU," Lehmacher said. "Too many factors may hinder the fluidity of the supply, ranging from administrative burden to potential delays."
He added, "Flows of goods that can, will avoid the U.K. and U.K. warehousing and distribution facilities will be closed and reopened in markets in the EU, mostly in the Benelux countries where most of the EU distribution centers are located."
by ATinNM
Sun Sep 8th, 2019 at 03:26:59 PM EST
France says 'non' to Brexit delay
by ATinNM
Sat Aug 31st, 2019 at 03:37:24 PM EST
UK, EU ramp up Brexit talks as Parliament suspension backlash grows
"We cannot imagine reopening the Withdrawal Agreement," said Maas. "We assume that Brexit will happen on October 31. We will do everything to avoid a no-deal Brexit. But the British government has made it clear that if there is no agreement (on the Irish border) a no-deal Brexit will happen."
by ATinNM
Wed May 22nd, 2019 at 05:49:18 PM EST
Brexit: Calls grow for Theresa May to resign in bill backlash
Several cabinet ministers have told the BBC that she cannot stay, with one saying it is "the end of the line".
Others, though, insist Theresa May should push on with her plan to put her Withdrawal Agreement Bill to a vote.
Mrs May's own MPs have been unhappy with the concessions she has set out in the bill, but she has called for "compromise on all sides".
The BBC's political editor says it appears the government is almost at breakdown.
by ATinNM
Tue Feb 6th, 2018 at 06:00:27 PM EST
Trade barriers 'unavoidable' outside customs union, says EU's Barnier
The UK will face "unavoidable" barriers to trade if it leaves the customs union and single market, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said.
by ATinNM
Sun Feb 26th, 2017 at 05:22:37 PM EST
The Neurobiology of the article is simplified but the practical is spot-on. We on the Left keep bringing a research paper to a gun fight and then wonder why we lose. Human Decision Making, which includes deciding to act, is completed by the brain's Affective Processing systems. Affective Processing is necessary and sufficient to arrive at a decision, Cognitive Processing is neither.
by ATinNM
Thu Sep 24th, 2015 at 01:37:00 PM EST
The Growing Precariat: Why We Need a Universal Basic Income:
Globalisation, technological change, and government policies have produced a class structure with a tiny plutocracy of billionaires coexisting with a dwindling salariat, with employment security, pensions and paid vacations, and a rapidly growing precariat, living bits-and-pieces lives, without occupational careers and experiencing declining real wages. Telling the precariat that they must obtain more schooling and training is disingenuous. Millions are currently over-qualified for the labor and work they can expect to be doing.
by ATinNM
Fri Feb 20th, 2015 at 12:06:02 PM EST
Paper: Is Our Monetary Structure a Systemic Cause for Financial Instability? Evidence and Remedies from Nature
(Directly linking is beyond my power, have to Google it.)
by ATinNM
Mon Jan 13th, 2014 at 03:41:43 PM EST
Here it is.
On July 26, 1976, Jack Dougherty, a newly minted MBA from the College of William and Mary, dressed in adark blue suit and bursting with resolve, reported for his first day at W. L. Gore & Associates. He presented himself to Bill Gore, shook hands firmly, looked him in the eye, and said he was ready for anything.
What happened next was one thing for which Jack was not ready. Gore replied, "That's fine, Jack, fine. Why don't you look around and find something you'd like to do."
Whether this is a paradigm for trains or power generation depends, I guess, on the comparative value-weight of actually getting trains chugging down the track on time or the whirly-things shoving electricity down some wires versus one's relative Power position in a Top/Down hierarchy.
by ATinNM
Thu Jan 9th, 2014 at 07:05:55 PM EST
Berlin's 'poor but sexy' appeal turning city into European Silicon Valley
A decade ago Berlin's mayor Klaus Wowereit tried to attract creative types to the city by declaring "Berlin ist arm, aber sexy" (poor but sexy).
It worked. The City's astonishingly low rents compared with other European capitals - a one-bed flat a short walk from Alexanderplatz in the centre of town can still be picked up for as little as €450-a-month (£373) - have helped draw arty people from across the world and made Berlin a major centre for artists, writers, musicians and, increasingly, technology and web entrepreneurs.
Berlin has more going for it than cheap rent but a low Cost of Living is a big help in fostering Creativity and it's blood-sister Innovation.
by ATinNM
Sat Apr 27th, 2013 at 02:43:33 PM EST
Been shown fifty ways from Sunday, one of the necessaries for a vibrant economy is the creation of new businesses. Venture Capital and Angel investors have become the primary way new business ventures are funded.
I was watching a YouTube talk last night on the early history of Silicon Valley and the lecturer mentioned in passing the top investment for a start-up in the Valley in 1955 was $300,000.
Which piqued my interest and I decided to delve into it a wee bit using wage rates and VC investment as the analytical tool. (Without a great deal of thought, granted.)
Notice: all data is from US sources.
by ATinNM
Sat Apr 20th, 2013 at 03:08:48 PM EST
The cover of Sport's Illustrated has this:
image on the front cover.
I got interested and dug a little deeper.
by ATinNM
Sat Mar 23rd, 2013 at 03:50:06 PM EST
We Aren’t the World.
Joe Henrich and his colleagues are shaking the foundations of psychology and economics--and hoping to change the way social scientists think about human behavior and culture.
by ATinNM
Tue Jan 29th, 2013 at 12:19:36 PM EST
Here's an interesting article from Gartner:
Gartner Says Capitalism Going Social Will Require Organizations to Build Two-Way Relationships with the "99 Percent":
While capitalism won't collapse, there are fundamental changes under way as it morphs to a new form that is more in tune with the technology and attitudes of the 21st century," said Nigel Rayner, research vice president at Gartner. "The coming capitalist era is that of the Facebook generation, in which the values and behaviors that pervade the Internet and social media will also be adopted by innovative and disruptive businesses. With half the world's population under the age of 25, this may happen sooner than many think.
These changes won't impact all industries and businesses in the same way. Some will use them to create incremental business opportunities, but others may find their business model directly threatened, because they are seen by the 99 percent as the worst cases of exploitative business practices," said Mr. Rayner. "However, some innovative organizations will use capitalism going social to create new business models and disrupt their industries."
by ATinNM
Sat Jun 23rd, 2012 at 04:09:35 AM EST
A friend brought this to my attention: Made For Each Other: The Conservative Love Affair with Communism and How It Is Destroying Us by a Canadian blogger Phil Paine.
Usually a LQD includes a 'teaser-quote' to induce people, like a movie trailer, to go read it. I'm not going to add one. The constituent parts of the article need to be read in context and with the flow of thought.
front-paged by afew
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