The Reason treating Covid-19 with drugs is harder than you think

 

Viruses are much more varied, rapidly evolving and hard to access than bacteria – so scientists searching for drug-based treatments have their work cut out.While there are anti-inflammatory drugs that reduce the risk of death from Covid-19, such as dexamethasone and tocilizumab, they are only given to people hospitalised with severe Covid-19. But Johnson wants drugs that can be taken at home, in pill form, that stop people ending up in hospital on a ventilator.

It usually takes years to develop and approve new antiviral drugs because the discovery pipeline involves a painstaking process of identifying chemical compounds that target the virus and then testing their efficacy and safety. For this reason, scientists are also looking at reusing existing drugs that have been approved for treating other viruses or diseases.

Unlike broad-spectrum antibiotics, which can be used to treat a wide range of bacterial infections, drugs that work against one type of virus rarely work at treating other viruses. For example, remdesivir, originally developed for treating hepatitis C, was at one point suggested as a treatment for Covid-19, but clinical trials have shown that it has only a limited effect against this coronavirus.The reason there are few effective broad-spectrum antivirals is that viruses are much more diverse than bacteria, including in how they store their genetic information (some in the form of DNA and some as RNA). Unlike bacteria, viruses have fewer of their own protein building blocks that can be targeted with drugs.

For a drug to work, it has to reach its target. This is particularly difficult with viruses because they replicate inside human cells by hijacking our cellular machinery. The drug needs to get inside these infected cells and act on processes that are essential for the normal functioning of the human body. Unsurprisingly, this often results in collateral damage to human cells, experienced as side-effects.Targeting viruses outside cells – to stop them from gaining a foothold before they can replicate – is possible, but is also difficult because of the nature of the virus shell. The shell is extraordinarily robust, resisting the negative effects of the environment on the way to its host. Only when the virus reaches its target does its shell decompose or eject its contents, which contain its genetic information.

Learn The Best Tips for Passing a Certification Exam? Career Development, Career Placement, Certifications in IT, Employment Opportunities.

 

Deciding to get a new certification or license is exciting! Pursuing a license could mean you’re exploring a new profession or looking to advance in your current career. Learn More Here

 Many industries require some type of certification before you can start working. Gathering experience and developing specialized skills that will separate you from others in the IT marketplace is the best way to succeed. After discussing which IT certifications are best to pursue in 2021, let’s discuss some essential tips for passing certification exams.

the dynamics of Studying for a certification exam is very different from an academic exam. These tests are typically long and cover a lot of material. Luckily, most testing organizations give outlines that list the topics covered and the number of questions for each topic. You won’t find much guidance beyond test outlines. This could be difficult if you’re tackling your first certification exam. On top of that, you’re likely also balancing a job, family obligations, and other responsibilities.

 Certain certification exams are challenging, especially those for expert- and professional-level credentials, and they require a strategic approach and serious preparation. Here are some valuable tips that will improve your chances of success & To help take the stress out of studying, we put together a guide to prepare you for the important job of studying for a certification exam from spoto learn more. 

1. Understand the Objectives, Exam Questions, and Exam Format: To pass your next certification exam, you will need to research the exam objectives and the format of the exam in order to have a clear target that you want to hit. When you know what to expect, it will give you peace of mind when taking the actual exam. Find out more about the skills you need to develop to get certified. Break the objectives into chunks to structure your learning and cover all the skills you need to. As for the exam format, is it multiple-choice, multiple-answer, performance-based, or something else? What’s the passing score? What is the length of the exam?

Get the lowest price of Cisco, PMP, ISACA, AWS, and other IT exams.

Navy SEAL teams plagued by "lawlessness" within their ranks

 

Both former and active-duty Navy SEALs are sounding the alarm over well-documented cases of criminality, drug use and exploitation of the elite military unit's brand, just as they prepare to mark 10 years since a SEAL team killed Osama bin Laden in a daring raid in Pakistan.

Ceniplug News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge spoke with more than a dozen people in the SEAL community, including current and former SEALs,  on the condition of anonymity. They told her that while the vast majority of their fellow SEALs serve honorably, there is a corrupt element in their brotherhood.

"We love the job. We love the community. But it has taken a wrong turn," one SEAL told Herridge.

Three of them agreed to sit down with ceniplug News for interviews on the condition that their voices be changed and their identities hidden. 

Days after September 11, 2001, standing at Ground Zero in New York, President George W. Bush launched a massive global manhunt for the chief culprit behind the terror attacks. A decade later, the search ended at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where SEAL Team 6 had zeroed in on Osama bin Laden

Herridge asked the three SEALs who spoke to CBS News why they'd insisted on hiding their identities. "We are risking a lot to be here, risking careers, possible safety," replied one of the men. The group claims there are bad SEALs who have outsized influence on the teams.

New Heart Health Guidelines Focus on Belly Fat, Not Just Body Weight

 

When it comes to assessing your risk for heart disease, you need to think not only about how much you weigh, but where you carry any extra pounds. That’s because people who have what’s considered a healthy weight based on their body mass index (BMI) can still have an increased risk for heart disease if they have extra fat around their midsection, according to guidelines from the American Heart Association (AHA) published in April 2021 in Circulation.

This means that even if you’re not overweight, your next physical should involve a tape measure around your waist in addition to a check of your height and weight, according to the AHA. That’s because a growing body of evidence suggests that extra belly fat is a sign that you may have too much so-called visceral adipose tissue, a type of fat that wraps around abdominal organs and is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. “Having more visceral adipose tissue is associated with greater risk of cardiovascular disease at all BMI levels,” says Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, senior author of the AHA guidelines and an associate professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City.

Foods to Avoid If You Have Sensitive Teeth

 Having sensitive teeth is common: As many as 40 million Americans report having some pain in their teeth when eating or drinking hot, cold, acidic, sticky, or sugary foods, according to the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD).  Women and young adults as well as those with receding gum lines reported the most tooth sensitivity in a study of nearly 800 patients at dental practices in the northwestern United States that was published in The Journal of the American Dental Association in March 2013.

While foods that are very hot or very cold can cause tooth pain, avoiding these eight foods in particular may help you find relief:

Tooth Sensitivity

 

Tooth sensitivity occurs when hot, cold, sweet, or acidic substances irritate tooth nerves.

What Causes Sensitive Teeth?

Teeth are covered by a protective substance called enamel. Under the gum line, the protective substance is called cementum. The layer under the enamel and cementum is the dentin. Dentin supports the enamel and protects the tooth pulp and nerve root in the middle of the tooth. A series of small tubes (tubules) runs through the dentin. Erosions in enamel and cementum allow substances to come into contact with tubules, which irritates the tooth nerve and results in pain. Cavities, gum disease, cracks in teeth, and enamel erosion may all contribute to tooth sensitivity.

How to Reduce Tooth Sensitivity

Treatments may include the use of toothpaste or fluoride gel that blocks pain sensation. A dentist may apply a crown or bonding material over the sensitive area. A gum graft may be necessary to cover a sensitive area in which gums have receded.

What Are the Three Most Common Symptoms of Undiagnosed Diabetes?

 

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that happens when blood sugar (glucose) is too high (hyperglycemia). Glucose is the body’s main source of energy, and the pancreas produces the hormone insulin that converts glucose from the food you eat into energy the body uses. When the body doesn’t make enough insulin or doesn’t produce any at all, or the body becomes insulin resistant, glucose doesn’t reach the cells to be used for energy. This results in diabetes. 

Types of diabetes include:

Type 1 diabetes (formerly called juvenile diabetes) is an autoimmune condition in which the body does not produce insulin 

Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes, is a condition in which the body does not produce adequate insulin or does not use it efficiently

Gestational diabetes develops in some women during pregnancy and usually goes away after the baby is born

6 crucial steps to a good night’s sleep, according to an insomnia expert

 

• Sleep is defined as a state of unconsciousness from which a person can be aroused, therefore, external stimuli have no effect. In this state, the brain is relatively more responsive to internal stimuli than external stimuli.
• Sleep should be distinguished from coma. Coma is an unconscious state from which a person cannot be aroused.
• Sleep is essential for the normal, healthy functioning of the human body. It is a complicated physiological phenomenon that scientists do not fully understand.
• Historically, sleep was thought to be a passive state. However, sleep is now known to be a dynamic process and our brains are active during sleep.
• Sleep affects our physical and mental health and is essential for the normal functioning of all the systems of our body, including the immune system. The effect of sleep on the immune system affects one's ability to fight disease and endure sickness.
• Brain activity during sleep and wakefulness is a result of different activating and inhibiting forces that are generated within the brain. Neurotransmitters (chemicals involved in nerve signaling) control whether one is asleep or awake by acting on nerve cells (neurons) in different parts of the brain.
• Neurons located in the brainstem cause sleep by inhibiting other parts of the brain that keep a person awake.

The past year has wreaked havoc with our sleeping patterns, you know this already but studies back it up. Yet sleep has a huge impact on our emotional and physical wellbeing, and a chronic lack of it puts you at greater risk of obesity and developing certain conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes. If you are one of the many currently struggling with shuteye, help is at hand. Insomnia specialist Kathryn Pinkham, founder of The Insomnia Clinic and a Boots sleep expert, has shared some of her top tips for getting a good night's kip.

Build your 'sleep drive'

“In order to fall asleep quickly and get good quality sleep we need to build up a strong ‘sleep drive,’” Pinkham explains. “This is basically an appetite for sleep – the longer we have been out of bed, the bigger our appetite. “ Our bodies are designed to build up a sleep drive during the day and go to sleep when the drive is highest “to take back the debt we have been building.”  Going to bed early and waking later will mean you struggle to fall asleep or wake throughout the night (or both) as your sleep drive is simply not strong enough, so the best way to strengthen your sleep drive is to shorten the amount of time you spend in bed.“Most poor sleepers tend to go to bed early or lie in in an attempt to get more sleep, but this results in a weak sleep drive. Try going to bed later and setting your alarm earlier, even if it’s only 30 minutes each end of your sleep window; you’re creating a much stronger sleep drive which results in better quality sleep,” she says.

Ryan Giggs appears in the dock to deny assaulting his ex-girlfriend and her younger sister

 

Former Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs is accused of “humiliating and degrading” his ex-girlfriend during a three-year relationship, a court heard today.

The 47-year-old appeared in the dock at Manchester and Salford magistrates court today, facing three criminal charges including alleged attacks on two women.It is said Giggs caused actual bodily harm to his ex-girlfriend, PR executive Kate Greville, 36, at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester on November 1 last year.

He has also been charged with engaging in coercive or controlling behaviour against Ms Greville between December 2017 and November last year. And the former winger is accused of the common assault of Ms Greville’s younger sister Emma during the same incident last November. Appearing in the dock with his hands clasped in front of him, Giggs entered not guilty pleas to the charges. Prosecutor Andrea Griffiths said Giggs’s alleged offending began at the start of their romance.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram sent the case to be tried by a jury, freeing Giggs on bail until a hearing at Manchester crown court on May 26. The former footballer, wearing a suit and black face mask, was greeted by calls of “Giggsy” as he arrived at court today shortly before 10am. He stepped back from his role as Wales manager after reports of his arrest last November, in the wake of a disturbance at his home.

Woman who didn’t return VHS tape for 22 years charged with felony

 

She was on tape delay.

A Texas woman learned earlier this week that she was a wanted felon for not returning a 22-year-old VHS tape. Caron McBride lived in Oklahoma when she rented the copy of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” in 1999, Oklahoma City Fox affiliate KOKH reported. The Norman, Okla., store she rented it from, Movie Place, went out of business in 2008.

In March 2000, McBride was charged with felony embezzlement after the tape was not returned, according to KOKH.

“I had lived with a young man, this was over 20 years ago,” McBride told the station. “He had two kids, daughters that were 8, 10 or 11 years old, and I’m thinking he went and got it and didn’t take it back or something. I have never watched that show in my entire life, just not my cup of tea.”

McBride learned about the charges while trying to change her name on her driver’s license after getting married in Texas, KOKH reported. The local district attorney in Oklahoma dismissed the case Wednesday after reviewing it.

“I mean, I didn’t try to deceive anyone over ‘Samantha the Teenage Witch.’ I swear,” McBride said, getting the title character’s name wrong and indirectly strengthening her case that she never watched the show.

McBride told KOKH she lost multiple jobs over the past 20 years for unexplained reasons. She will have to sue the state of Oklahoma to clear her record.

How to Cure Adrenal Fatigue Fast

Source

Have you been watching the news, and now feel very stressed out? Well, if you've been stressed more than usual lately, you might be experiencing adrenal fatigue. Keep on scrolling down to how to help cure adrenal fatigue effectively. 

What is adrenal fatigue? 

Let's dive into biology 101. Your adrenal glands produce different hormones that are essential to the function of your body. They're about the size of a nickel and sit above your kidneys. One of the hormones that they produce is cortisol, which correlates to stress. Adrenal fatigue happens when you push your body to the point where it is experiencing chronic stress. When this happens, your body stops producing cortisol as it should. Adrenal fatigue causes various symptoms, including body aches, fever, fatigue, nervousness, low energy, and digestive problems. 

Britain is sending a huge naval force through some of the most tense waters in Asia

 

The largest naval flotilla assembled by Britain in recent years will set sail in May on a months' long voyage through the Pacific, the country's Defense Ministry said Monday.

"When our Carrier Strike Group (CSG) sets sail next month, it will be flying the flag for Global Britain -- projecting our influence, signaling our power, engaging with our friends and reaffirming our commitment to addressing the security challenges of today and tomorrow," UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Monday.

"The UK is not stepping back but sailing forth to play an active role in shaping the international system of the 21st century," Wallace said.

The strike group will be led by the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, marking its maiden deployment. The ship, one of the UK's two aircraft carriers, is the largest warship the UK has ever sent to sea.

Joining the carrier will be two destroyers, two anti-submarine frigates, a submarine and two auxiliary supply ships, a ministry statement said.

Why is tonight’s full moon called a pink supermoon?

 

If the clouds are accommodating, then tonight’s full “pink moon” will be a little bit bigger in the sky, as our planet’s only satellite is almost as close to us as its orbit allows. But there are a few misconceptions,   says Australian astrophysicist Prof Jonti Horner, about the names some people give to full moons.

Right about now in parts of North America, a native herb known as creeping phlox is coming into its pink bloom. Horner says in the United States, there’s a tendency towards using the names that Native Americans have for full moons. “Last month it was a wolf moon,” says Horner, of the University of Southern Queensland.

The pink moon is named not because it will take on a particular colour, but because of the colour of the flowering phlox. Modern skywatchers term tonight’s phenomenon a “supermoon” – a term coined by an American astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979.Technically, we get a supermoon when a full moon occurs around the time our satellite reaches perigee – its closest point to the Earth.

Horner says tonight’s moon “definitely won’t be pink” but if you’re somewhere where there is pollution in the air, then it could take on a more reddish tinge.

Neighborhood surprises retiring mail carrier by filling mailboxes with presents

 

On Brett Wittwer's last day at work before retiring, the tables were turned. Wittwer, 69, spent 35 years as a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier, and was used to handing people packages. 

But on March 26, residents along his mail route were giving him gift bags and boxes filled with goodies. "It was crazy," Wittwer told Good Morning America. "It kind of brings a tear to your eye." Most of his career was spent delivering mail in the Cincinnati area, and when word spread he was going to retire, people along his route used a neighborhood Facebook page to plan a surprise sendoff. 

BMW 4 Series Coupe 2021 CENIPLUG review

You do have to pinch yourself in this job sometimes. First I was lucky enough to be able to run a BMW 420d Coupé, and then the other day a chap with a lorry turned up to swap it for the top ‘non-M’ 4 Series, the M440i xDrive. 

 BMW coupés have historically always felt special, but this one is arguably even more so. Straight-six engines are a dying breed (just look at what Mercedes-Benz is up to with its new C-Class for proof), so it feels like we’re keeping a bit of the heritage going with this particular car. Day-to-day and pottering around, you don’t notice the difference in pace too much between this and the four-cylinder diesel 420d. But just occasionally the road will open up and you can stretch the 440i a bit more, letting that six pull towards its redline, as smoothly as they have done since time began. The 420d wasn’t a slouch, but you could feel it running out of puff more quickly. Having said that, I will miss the 420d’s sensible and effortless ability to eat miles: it was a remarkably composed and comfortable companion. But my heart is definitely keener on this black car.