Good morning, Gnusies!
I hope everyone who can is hunkering down and being safe, and those who can’t for whatever reason are being as safe as possible.
To open with some music, some of you may have seen and heard this father and daughter team-up after their version of The Prayer went viral. I’ve been hanging out on their Youtube channel and thus far, this one’s my favorite.
In a statement Sunday night on LinkedIn, Danny Meyer, Shake Shack's founder and CEO of its parent company, Union Square Hospitality Group, and Randy Garutti, Shake Shack's CEO, said the company pursued the loan because the law stipulated that it was open to any restaurant location with no more than 500 employees — which describes Shake Shack's 189 individual U.S. restaurants.
...
"We now know that the first phase of the PPP was underfunded, and many who need it most, haven't gotten any assistance," Meyer and Garutti wrote, urging Congress to ensure that "all restaurants no matter their size have equal ability to get back on their feet and hire back their teams."
"Our people would benefit from a $10 million PPP loan, but we're fortunate to now have access to capital that others do not," they wrote. "Until every restaurant that needs it has had the same opportunity to receive assistance, we’re returning ours."
These days when you hear the term “antibodies” you instantly assume it’s in relation to Covid-19. This time, it’s not. But that’s a good thing!
Scientists at Queen Mary University of London and the University of Roehampton, London, have discovered that patients suffering from OCD have increased levels of a protein called Immuno-moodulin (Imood) in their lymphocytes, a type of immune cell.
Mice with high levels of this protein were also found to exhibit behaviors that are characteristic of anxiety and stress, such as digging and excessive grooming.
When the researchers treated the mice with an antibody that neutralized Imood, the animals’ anxiety levels reduced.
...
“There is mounting evidence that the immune system plays an important role in mental disorders,” said Professor Fulvio D’Acquisto, a professor of immunology at the University of Roehampton and honorary professor of Immunopharmacology at Queen Mary University of London, who led the research.
...
“It is early still, but the discovery of antibodies—instead of the classical chemical drugs—for the treatment of mental disorders could radically change the life of these patients as we foresee a reduced chance of side effects,” he said.
I was in the middle of putting together today’s Roundup when I got an email from my dad, who I haven’t seen since forever ago early March. That email had a link to this story, and I urge you to please read it in its entirety. I cannot do it justice in a summary. I’m in tears. You will be too.
There are many short articles about COVID-9-related studies at the link, many of them having to do with vaccines and treatments. I chose the most recent, in part because it’s a Good Thing™ — if you choose to click through, please be aware that not all of the studies are good news.
22 April — A vaccine candidate shows early success in an animal trial
An experimental vaccine protects monkeys from infection with the virus that causes COVID-19.
A team led by Chuan Qin at the Peking Union Medical College in Beijing injected rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) with three doses of a vaccine comprised of chemically inactivated particles of SARS-CoV-2 (Q. Gao et al. Preprint at bioRxiv http://doi.org/dskt; 2020). Eight monkeys were then intentionally exposed to the virus.
All four monkeys given a high dose of the vaccine had no detectable virus in their throat or lungs seven days after exposure. Monkeys that received a lower dose of vaccine showed some signs of coronavirus infection — but their levels of virus were much lower than in exposed animals that received no vaccine. This month, the company developing the vaccine received approval to start human safety trials on it.
Beam me up, Scotty!
…
In 2016 astronomers discovered the first known planet in this system: the roughly Earth-sized Proxima b. But because of its star-hugging 11-day orbit around Proxima Centauri, Proxima b is a poor candidate for imaging. Proxima c, by contrast, offers much better chances. Announced in 2019, based on somewhat circumstantial evidence, the planet remains unconfirmed. If real, it is estimated to be several times more massive than Earth—a so-called super Earth or mini Neptune—and to orbit Proxima Centauri at about 1.5 times the span between Earth and the sun. Its size and distance from its star make the world a tempting target for current and near-future exoplanet-imaging projects. Now, in a new preprint paper accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, some astronomers say they might—just might— have managed to see Proxima c for the first time.
“This planet is extremely interesting because Proxima is a star very close to the sun,” says Raffaele Gratton of the Astronomical Observatory of Padova in Italy, who is the study’s lead author. “The idea was that since this planet is [far] from the star, it is possible that it can be observed in direct imaging. We found a reasonable candidate that looks like we have really detected the planet.”
Danish toy company LEGO has announced that it is taking on the challenge of providing protective equipment for medical workers as PPE remains in short supply around the world.
The company announced its new production line on Instagram, writing:
"This week we began to make visors at our factory in Billund for healthcare workers on the frontline in Denmark. We are so incredibly proud of the team who made this happen. They worked around the clock to create designs and make moulds that can produce more than 13,000 visors a day. We are grateful to have such talented, dedicated and caring colleagues."
They are not only assisting those in the medical field, they’re also engaging kids, but you can read more about that at in the article (and also because I’m at a loss as to how to embed instagram posts).
Here we go with the prognostication thing again: This time it’s M*A*S*H.
...
The health problems caused by the anti-vaxxer movement have led many to fear how they will respond to COVID-19. Health officials warn that life many not completely return to normal in the United States until a COVID-19 vaccine is administered to the entire population.
However, there is some hope that the current crisis will change some anti-vaxxers' minds.
Haley Searcy, a former anti-vaxxer, told CNN she has changed her mind about vaccines because of the pandemic. "I was just as scared of vaccines as I was of the diseases they protect against," she said.
...
Searcy's fear of vaccines stemmed from a lack of knowledge on the subject. "I wasn't actively looking for vaccine information but the more I learned, the more I realized it would help and the easier it became to recognize the lack of science in anti-vax arguments," she said.
...
Lynette Marie Barron, who runs an anti-vaxxer group called Tough Love, says around half of its members would take a COVID-19 vaccine. She told CNN the split is "like a 50/50, which I wasn't expecting," with some saying they were "so scared" of the virus that they would get a vaccine if it were available.
Get out your hankies (again). I’ve posted a Koolulam video before. They’ve got a new one out as of three days ago, and it’s a mass-sing along — via teleconferencing. It’s amazing.
And that’s a wrap. Have a wonderful day, a safe day, a healthy day. Call a friend. Family you haven’t spoken to in too long. Stay connected. Take care of yourself.
We will get through this. We will get through this together.