Eco-Principled Wineries

"It's about creating an ecosystem. The sheep replace tractors and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save money on fuel and help create healthy soils with the micro-organisms they leave behind in manure."

Jason Haas, partner, Tablas Creek winery, Paso Robles, California 

 

"We find that seasonal integration of sheep during vine dormancy is common, while integration during the growing season is rare. Overall, farmers perceive significantly more benefits than challenges with the integration of sheep into vineyards, particularly reduced mowing (100% of farmers) and herbicide use (66% of farmers). On average, farmers reported 1.3 fewer herbicide applications annually, saving US$56 per hectare. As well, farmers indicated they were doing 2.2 fewer mows annually saving US$64 per hectare. These results suggest that wide-scale adoption of seasonal integration of sheep and viticulture can provide large ecological benefits and higher profitability vis-à-vis conventional viticulture practices; however, further integration of the two systems may provide even greater benefits not currently realized."

SpringerLink: Research for Sustainable Development: Ecological and economic benefits of integrating sheep into viticulture production

 

"We can't use tractors, because old vines aren't in straight rows."

"With mules, we can adapt the work to each individual vine and avoid damaging the roots and shoots."

Olivier Bernard, Domaine de Chevalier, Bordeaux, France

Image Credit: Featherstone Winery

A new direction in viticulture, where wineries around the world are finding it possible to culture their grape stock with the help of the animal and even the insect kingdom. At Tablas Creek winery there are two hundred black-faced Dorper sheep living the life of ... well, Riley ... as they munch their contented way among rows of vines eating the weeds that normally would take specialized mechanical equipment like tractors to do the work that sheep do naturally. And while they're munching away they also do what comes naturally when food goes in one end and waste exits the other; in the process both removing pest vegetation and fertilizing the soil that crops grow in.

This is a new direction in the commitment more vineyards are making to sustainable development through organic and biodynamic viticulture, choosing that route as a preferred alternative to chemicals. In the process they have chosen to partner with furry, feathered, scaled, animals which doing their natural thing also contribute to the health of the wineries; no longer are toxic pesticides and herbicides needed. It's a matter of experimentation and study over which choices work best.

Armadillos  in Bodega Chacra’s vineyards in Patagonia

An experiment that failed the satisfactory level when Yealands estate in New Zealand settled on giant guinea pigs to eat the  weeds until the industrious little pigs were set upon by falcons and hawks. In more successfully sustainable animal/vineyard arrangements armadillos have been employed to make use of their long sticky tongues lapping up aggressive ants that end up doing damage to vines and leaves, at Bodega Chacra in Patagonia on the edge of the central desert in Argentina; with the armadillos in action poisonous ant traps have become redundant.

At Odfjell winery in Chile's Maipo Valley, Norwegian Fjord horses, one of the world's oldest breeds, small, tough and sure-footed on mountainous vineyards, till the soil. Horses are used in vineyards in the Loire Valley and Bordeaux, France. Heritage breed New Zealand Kunekune pigs have proven to be excellent vineyard weed-mowers, used at Oregon's Balanced Earth Farm, in rotation with Scottish highland cattle and sheep. Unlike other pig breeds, the kunekunes will not tear up turf.

Three varieties of non-venomous snakes utilized to restrain the population of destructive rodents at the Chateau Coutet in St.Emilion, instead of seeing the rodents eat the vine roots and dig underground tunnels drying out vineyard soil have worked out well. At Vergenoegd Low wine estate in the Stellenbosch region of South Africa, squads of ducks march to vineyards to forage for white dune snails, an invasive species that specializes in eating buds on spring grapevines.

Poitevin mules make themselves right at home among the oldest vines at Domaine de Chevalier, come spring; they go where tractors cannot with the added bonus that mules don't compact soil, allowing more microbes to flourish in the soil. Another bonus: mules are less high-strung than horses, with greater strength and endurance. Napa wineries make use of peregrine falcons which come at a much reduced cost than draping nets over grape vines to keep aggressive starlings away from sugar-rich, ripe grapes.

Emiliana Vineyards in Chile find chickens essential to battling the vine weevil that eats vine roots and shoots. In Santa Barbara County, Jonata winery uses mobile chicken coops, rolling them from plot to plot where some 60 insect-eating birds go to work while enriching the soil with nitrogen-rich droppings. But the most common of the eco-lawn mowers tend to be easy-to-control sheep, busy from winter through to spring bud break, munching weeds, keeping vines tidy from California to England and beyond.

In Canada, Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Frogpond Farm Organic Winery is the first certified organic winery in Ontario, where the vineyard spurns the use of synthetic or chemical additives and pesticides both in grape growing and wine making. The alternative bug eaters they make good use of as partners-in-eco-system-management include a resident Guinea Fowl flock.

 

Then there is the way vineyard operation at Hinterbrook Estates Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake using solar power and where nearby Featherstone Estate Winery in Vineland makes use of ‘sheep labour’ to remove grape leaves in the fruiting zone (a process that allows the grape clusters to grow stronger). The winery has named a wine in their sheeps' honour: Black Sheep Riesling.

 

Honey’s sensitive nose will identify infected vines long before the pest can spread / Photo by Michael Housewright

Spain, Anxious to Invite the Holiday Crowd to Return Unleashed a Viral Storm

Spread of a SARS-CoV-2 variant across Europe, summer 2020

"From the spread of 20A.EU1, it seems clear that the measures in place were often not sufficient to stop onward transmission of introduced variants this summer."

"[There was] no evidence that the variant's spread is due to a mutation that increases transmission or impacts clinical outcomes."

"I've not seen any variant with this sort of dynamic for as long as I've been looking at genomic sequences of coronavirus in Europe."

Emma Hodcroft, evolutionary geneticist, University of Basel, Switzerland

"We need more studies like this to find mutations that have risen to high frequency in the population, and then reverse-engineer them to see whether they make the virus more transmissible."

Joseph Fauver, genetic epidemiologist, Yale University

 

"We can see the virus has been introduced multiple times in several countries and many of these introductions have gone on to spread through the population."

Taqnja Stadler, professor of computational evolution, ETH Zurich

Research suggests that people returning from holiday in Spain played a key role in transmitting the virus across Europe © Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

 

The SARS-CoV-2 virus continues its seemingly endless trajectory, moving at speed throughout the globe, mutating constantly, throwing up new clues and forcing old ones to be abandoned, as the medical-scientific community around the world grapples with the conundrum that it presents, unlike any previous coronavirus in its intensity, infectiousness and deathly consequences for many. As much as has been discerned to the present, it is increasingly obvious that much, much more needs to be revealed and understood before science and medicine can gain a modicum of confidence it will in time tame the epidemic.

 

The latest revelation that has been unveiled is that a coronavirus variant originating in Spanish farm workers spread with rapidity over much of Europe since the summer months, now accounting for the majority of all new COVID-19 cases in a number of countries -- and in the United Kingdom, accounting for over 80 percent of new infections. The spread has been seen as nothing less than extraordinary by an international team of scientists tracking the virus through the genetic mutations it has undergone. The variant, named 20A.EU1 is described in a research paper on the cusp of publication.

It would appear from the team's investigative work that people returning after holidaying in Spain have played a fundamental role in the transmission of the virus across Europe. Stirring the question whether the second wave now sweeping the continent might have been diminished through improved screening techniques at airports and allied transportation hubs. There is little doubt that Spain hosted the current mutated strain, since each variant is identified by its own genetic signature, enabling tracing to the place where it originated.

Scientific teams in Switzerland and Spain now rush to examine the variant's behaviour in hopes of establishing whether it may be more deadly or more infectious than other strains. Dr.Hodcroft, lead author of the study, emphasized that 20A.EU1 is unlike any version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing     COVID-19 she has heretofore encountered. Her team has been collaborating with virology laboratories to establish whether 20A.EU1 carries a certain mutation in the "spike protein" the virus makes use of to enable entry into human cells.

Mutations eventuate from all viruses, developing changes in individual letters of their genetic code which can group into new variants and strains. SARS-CoV-2 has another mutation named D614G which has been identified and is believed to make the virus more infectious. The new variant with its six distinctive genetic mutations emerged among agricultural workers in northeast Spain in June and swiftly moved through the local population, according to the study.

"One variant, aided by an initial super-spreading event, can quickly become prevalent", Inaki Comas, head of the SeqCOVID-Spain consortium studying the virus, noted. "Risky behaviour" of holiday-makers in Spain, ignoring social-distancing guidelines, who "continue to engage in such behaviour at home" aided the spread of the new variant, the researchers concluded. The new variant accounted for over eight out of ten cases in the U.K., 80 percent of cases in Spain, 60 percent in Ireland, and up to 40 percent in Switzerland and France.

Europa Press News/Europa Press via Getty Images

Tourists and residents arriving at Pablo Ruiz Picasso Airport in Malaga, Spain, on June 22 after the borders were opened.

We're Waiting?!?!

Photo by REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

"Experts predicting that there's only a 40 percent chance of a negative result, that to me actually sounds pretty optimistic."

"Even if  you have fifty percent protection, we still won't know whether these vaccines actually move the needle on the things we need to move the needle on."

"In medicine we license drugs and vaccines all the time, despite lingering uncertainties regarding impact and safety. [We can't wait for absolute certainty.]"

"The point is to make the best choices we can, given the evidence we have and to continue collecting evidence so that we can revise our choices if the data turn southward."

Jonathan Kimmelman, professor, director, Biomedical Ethics Unit, McGill University

"None of those trials [in Phase III studies] currently under way are designed to detect a reduction in any serious outcome such as hospital admissions, use of intensive care, or death. [Even mild infections could qualify as an] event."

"In Pfizer and Moderna's trials, for example, people with only a cough and a positive laboratory test would bring those trials one event closer to their completion."

Peter Doshi, associate editor BMJ (British Medical Journal)

"We just don't know what to expect. You start asking yourself very practical questions: If something doesn't work fifty percent [of the time], then do we really have something?"

"Maybe we do as an emergency response initially, but a fifty percent level we would have to imagine over time has to get better than that."

Bruce Clark, president, CEO, Medicago

Protesters call for an end to COVID-19-based restrictions in Sacramento, California.   Credit: Stanton Sharpe/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty

When might a COVID-19 vaccine be available? When no fewer than 28 experts with a quarter-century each experience in the field were asked their opinion by a team from McGill University, the guess was around June 2021 as a best-case scenario, but more likely to come on stream in the fall of next year. The experts were also of the opinion that a 3-in-10 chance existed that an issue of safety would eventuate after approval was given to the first vaccine, requiring a warning accompany the vaccine. More concerning, that a 4-in-10 chance would arise when the first large field study might project a negative result. As in back to Square One.

Professor Kimmelman of McGill University who was the senior author of the paper points out that fewer than five percent of non-pandemic flu vaccines tested in humans get approved; long odds making him puzzled at the state of confident optimism by public health officials such as U.S. coronavirus chief Dr.Anthony Fauci who states his belief with a decided certainty that an effective and safe vaccine will be available in the near future. A more realistic view, suggests Professor Kimmelman, is that an effective vaccine will evade the near future.

There is no certainty that vaccines reaching Phase III  trials representing the final stage before approval may be given, will deliver normalcy back to the world. Proposed FDA and international standards for such vaccines are being raised; how good would be good enough?, added to which looms the logistical challenge in distribution of a two-dose vaccine, and inoculating the world community, much less persuading the young and individuals at low risk of contracting COVID to be vaccinated to help achieve the longed-for herd immunity effect.

Over two hundred vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus are currently in development, eleven of which are now in Phase III studies -- each one of which involves tens of thousands of volunteers. These are double-blind and placebo-controlled blue-ribbon trials where no one is privy to who is being inoculated with the real vaccine and who a placebo. Designed to conclude after 150 to 160 COVID infections are seen among the study volunteers, a data safety and monitoring board would be set to determine whether fewer infections took place among the vaccinated group.

 

 What is of utmost importance, cautions Dr. Kimmelman, is whether a vaccine will prevent deaths, ICU admissions or hospitalizations. Where the difficulty lies is that hospital admissions and deaths from COVID-19 are uncommon -- so that of necessity it would require a large population over a prolonged period of time to acquire sufficient death numbers to determine the existence of a difference between the vaccine and placebo group.

A minimum target of fifty percent efficacy for a COVID-19 vaccine has been set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, so that a vaccine would be expected to be fifty percent superior over a placebo at preventing disease. Moderna's vaccine in an early-stage study produced neutralizing antibodies in 45 healthy 18- to 55-year-olds receiving two vaccinations 28 days apart, as reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. Side effects such as fatigue chills, headache or muscle aches occurred in over half the participants.

While AstraZeneca's vaccine produced an immune response in both the young and old, Reuters reported. It was left uncertain how well an antibody response translates into how well any vaccine can prevent COVID, however. In the same token, even a vaccine that works only half the time, offers an opportunity at keeping the potency of the epidemic at a lower level, particularly should it prevent severe disease and deaths.

And then there is the possibility that vaccines with protection of 30 percent could also have emergency authorization under FDA and international standards, when the debate turns to 'how low can you go?'

"The problem you could create is the following: You push a low-efficacy vaccine out on the grounds it's better than nothing. Right now, you've got zero. Thirty percent protection? Better than zero."

"It's a really difficult question to know at what point do you say, 'it's good enough'."

"What's the ideal? The ideal is we totally understand how this virus works, we get a vaccine, we know that it will stop this pathogen from being able to infect humans and we know that it lasts for a specified time, for example, ten years, and then you get a second vaccine."

"You can't wait until you truly understand the scope of the problem because people are dying."

Francoise Baylis, philosopher, university research professor, Dalhousie University

A technician works in a lab at Sinovac Biotech where the company is producing their potential COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac during a media tour on Sept. 24, 2020 in Beijing, China. Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

That Elusive Herd Immunity : Declining Post-COVID Antibodies

Y-shaped antibodies stick to the surface of viruses  Getty

"We can see the antibodies and we can see them declining and we know that antibodies on their own are quite protective."

"On the balance of evidence I would say, with what we know for other coronaviruses, it would look as if immunity declines away at the same rate as antibodies decline away, and that this is an indication of waning immunity at the population level."

"Seasonal coronaviruses that circulate every winter and cause common colds can reinfect people, after six to 12 months, and we suspect that the way that the body reacts to infection with this new coronavirus is rather similar to that."

"We don't yet know what level of antibody is needed in a person's blood to protect them from infection or re-infection from SARS-CoV-2, but of course that level is a crucial thing to begin to understand."

"A good vaccine may well be better than natural immunity."

Wendy Barclay, head, Department of Infectious Disease, Imperial College London 

Study: Covid Population Immunity May Not Last   Still from Video, Reuters

 

According to a study the results of which have been released this week, antibodies against the novel coronavirus were seen to rapidly decline in the British population over the summer months. It seems after all that the expected protection following infection may not in fact be long-lasting, a reality that raises the prospect of community immunity on the wane anywhere. Imperial College London conducted the study, involving 365,000 people, finding antibodies in the population fell by over a quarter in a three-month period.

The findings suggest a "rapid" decline in immunity, so that even should a successful vaccine be discovered, it may have to be administered as frequently as twice yearly. By June following the first wave of the pandemic in Britain a mere six percent of the population appears to have developed antibodies. The study showed that even this inadequate number had dropped three months later to 4.4 percent by September, most of the decline occurring within six weeks.

Britain was "miles off" achieving herd immunity, according to the scientists studying the issue, and that herd immunity may never be achieved without the use of an effective and safe vaccine. Among those most vulnerable to serious illness from COVID-19, the largest fall in antibodies was identified; those aged 75 and older where antibody levels fell by 39 percent. On the other hand, a drop of 15 percent was seen in those aged between 18 and 24.

It was not yet known what level of antibody response would be required to protect against reinfection; remaining possible that even low levels of antibodies would offer some level of protection. Researchers stressed however, that the findings suggest a significant rapid decline in immunity which raises the prospect that those infected could conceivably repeatedly suffer from infections in COVID waves to follow. This is a scenario starkly resembling the common cold infections which occur regularly.

Even should a successful vaccine be developed, that vaccine might have to be administered as frequently as every six months, an increase in the scale of the challenge to overcome the direct threat of the coronavirus to human health and longevity. Even so, researchers have reached the consensus of opinion that vaccines could prove to be more effective than hopes for natural immunity to develop.

The study effectively validated findings from similar surveys that took place in Germany where it was found that the vast majority of people failed to develop COVID-19 antibodies -- even those resident in hot spots for the disease; furthermore antibodies that did develop might fade quickly. Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, stated that uncertainty over how long immunity could last and the fact that most people never acquired antibodies in the first place, indicated the need to break transmission chains.

"Acquiring this collective immunity just by letting virus run through the population is not really an option", he declared at a briefing in Geneva. "The need for a vaccine is still very large if you want to try and get a large level of protection in the populace", added Graham Cooke, another Imperial infectious diseases expert. Dr.Barclay noted that the rapid waning of antibodies would not necessarily bear implications for the efficacy of  vaccine candidates in clinical trials currently underway.

A dog trained to detect coronavirus greets Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, during a demonstration by the charity Medical Detection Dogs, at Paddington Station in central London, October 27, 2020. Photo by Justin Tallis/Pool via REUTERS

Raising Edibles Awareness

A worker packages marijuana-infused chocolate bars at Kiva Confections in Oakland, California. In Canada edible marijuana products must not be “appealing to kids” and cannot be manufactured in the same facility where regular food products are made. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

"[It isn't clear whether sweets and gummies alter the addictive potential of cannabis], but if it gets people using products at a younger age, that creates a situation of greater risk of addiction."

"[Roughly nine percent of those using marijuana will end up dependent on it, a number that rises to about 17 percent for those who begin using in their teen years]."

Susan Weiss, director of research, National Institute on Drug Abuse

"In states where marijuana is legal, pot comes in cookies, mints, gummies, protein bars — even pretzels. These commercial products are labelled with the amount of high-inducing THC. That helps medical marijuana patients get the desired dose and other consumers attune their buzz. But something about chocolate, chemists say, seems to interfere with potency testing. A chocolate labelled as 10 milligrams of THC could have far more and send someone to the emergency room with hallucinations. "The chocolate itself is affecting our ability to measure the cannabinoids within it," said David Dawson, chemist and lead researcher at CW Analytical Laboratories in Oakland, Calif., which tests marijuana."                         CBC

Marijuana brownie, demonstration in front of Mexican Senate building. (Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images)

Fruit-flavoured THC 'pearls' are heading into the fall market for edible marijuana and they come with a #highforhalloween hashtag. Another edibles producer advertises a 'Scary Savings' promotion on CBD chocolates. These new seasonal promotions simply are the product of a maturing market, just like any other consumer products being advertised in promotional material geared to take consumers' attention that something new and exciting is being brought to the retail market.

Colours, shapes, flavours, what's not to like? Well, that old cautionary tale that what is available for adults holds an appealing attraction for younger people for whom the product is not meant, for health and development reasons. And, after all, the younger generation -- among whom many will go to any lengths to acquire what is denied them because if it's attractive to adults, it's irresistible to juveniles -- will in all likelihood come to harm resulting from their adventurism.

An increasingly wider variety of products are being produced in the marijuana industry with cannabis edibles in enticingly larger distribution of attractive new shapes, tastes and strengths, seductive to pot lovers. According to tracking industry data, there are reliable estimates that edibles in the United States saw sales rise 80 percent over the past two years.

Gummies, now intriguingly available in bear shapes, rainbow colours and flavours ranging from raspberry-lemonade to exotic Hawaiian fruits, are particularly well placed on consumers' shopping lists. Geared for consumption to buyers 21 and over, alarm bells are ringing that just as the vaping industry ended up attracting under-age users with their development of fruity flavours, a similar situation is on its way to reality with candy-shaped-and-tasting marijuana.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has yet to decide which category cannabis should fall into; a food or a dietary supplement. Companies for the present, discuss how difficult it is to get their dosing just right with cannabis edibles. According to Susan Weiss, a director of research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an increasing incidence of accidental cannabis overdoses is worrying, among children in particular.

Edible marijuana samples Santa Ana, Calif. (Chris Carlson /CP/AP)

Of the colourful, flavourful new edibles, the most enthusiastic and largest group of users are those in the age 18 to 25 range, viewed as a critical time for neural development that may be affected by cannabis use. Around nine percent of people using marijuana will become dependent on it, a figure that rises to around 17 percent in those who begin using in their teens.

According to Daniel Fabricant, CEO of the Natural Products Association, former director of Dietary Supplements at the FDA, even with non-psychoactive CBD, manufacturers should err on the side of caution. They need to ask themselves: "Have you taken the steps someone would expect a reasonable corporate citizen to take?"

Health Benefits for Elderly Exercisers

"Participants in the control group did not receive supervised exercise,  yet exercised at relatively high levels throughout the five years."

"The central implication is that either shorter-duration vigorous physical activity or longer-duration moderate physical activity or a combination of the two, that amount to the same amount of work each week, will have the same favourable health outcomes with vigorous physical activity being the time-efficient alternative."

Norwegian researchers

 

Results from a study led by a team of researchers in Norway have ascertained that exercise for older adults leads to better health outcomes along with an increase in longevity. Just in case there are still people in the elder demographic who believe that exerting themselves physically to exercise their bodies and clear their minds is out of the question for the silver-haired who are more likely to believe and practise that old adage that quiet, and prolonged restful poses represent the formula to a long and tranquil life. 

 

The researchers set out to compare three distinct exercise routines on a group of age 70 to 77 Norwegians whom they divided into three groups. 780 people were enlisted in the control group which was asked to adopt the national guidelines for physical activity of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise preferably every day of the week. The second group comprised of 387 participants used two days of the 30-minute workouts for 50 continuous minutes of exercise, done at an intensive equivalent to 70 percent of their maximum heart rate.

 

And the third group of 400 people was also tasked with using two days weekly of the 30-minute workouts' the routine then constituted of four high-intensity intervals of four minutes performed at 90 percent of their maximum heart rate. All three groups whose average age was 72.8, saw fitness and health data compiled at the beginning of the study and collected again at intervals of one, three and five years follow-ups afterward.

Researchers now know more about the types of exercise that older adults tend to prefer and the factors that increase the risk of dropping out of an exercise program. (Photo: Andrea Hegdahl Tiltnes, NTNU)

 

The two non-control groups met regularly with exercise professionals to have supervised workouts designed to make certain that participants exercised in the appropriate training scenario with intensity measured by heart rate monitors and ratings of exertion collected. Self-reporting was the mode of analyzing adherence to the exercise routine; anyone who participated in less than 50 percent of the workouts was considered non-compliant. When the study was finalized, two physicians analyzed medical data relating to all three groups, (inclusive of deaths), while which exercise routine was linked with each group was withheld from the physicians.

It was anticipated by the researchers that the two groups exceeding the national recommendations for physical activity would result in added boosts of longevity, yet it was found that no differences resulted in the analysis in the mortality rate between those who followed the 30-minute conventional routine and those who did not. A slight boost in longevity among the high-intensity interval group when compared to the exercisers who performed 50 minutes of continuous moderate-intensity exercise was, however, noted.

Researchers suspected that the outcome related to the overall good health of the study subjects. 80 percent of the subjects reported a medium or high levels of physical activity at the study initiation, suggesting that exercise routines undertaken individually already contributed to their overall health and longevity. 47 percent of the exercisers performing the high-intensity interval training remained faithful to the end of the study in comparison to the 69 percent of controls who maintained their routine for the full five years.

Peak oxygen uptake represented an unexpected finding; a measure of cardiovascular fitness showed no age-related decline over the course of the study; good news for older exercisers since a decline in peak oxygen uptake typifies the age group involved and is associated with an increased risk of premature death and coronary heart disease. The conclusion is that there is a number of options for older adults anxious to reap health benefits that physical activity offers. 

 

For active older adults, judging the effectiveness of a workout by its length or intensity is not particularly good practice.

 

"First of all, I have to say that exercise in general seems to be good for the health of the elderly. And our study results show that on top of that, training regularly at high intensity has an extra positive effect."

"Among most 70-77-year-olds in Norway, 90% will survive the next five years. In the Generation 100 study, more than 95% of the 1500 participants survived!"

"Both physical and mental quality of life were better in the high-intensity group after five years than in the other two groups. High-intensity interval training also had the greatest positive effect on fitness."

"In the interval training group, 3% of the participants had died after five years. The percentage was 6% in the moderate group. The difference is not statistically significant, but the trend is so clear that we believe the results give good reason to recommend high-intensity training for the elderly."

"One challenge in interpreting our results has been that the participants in the control group trained more than we envisioned in advance. One in five people in this group trained regularly at high intensity and ended up, on average, doing more high-intensity training than the participants in the moderate group."

"You could say that this is a disadvantage, as far as the research goes. But it may tell us that an annual fitness and health check is all that's needed to motivate older people to become more physically active. In that case, it's really good news."

Dorthe Stensvold, professor, Cardiac Exercise Research Group (CERG), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

As The World Turns Back Toward SARS-CoV-2

"Countries that have avoided the first waves [in Europe] have no reason to be complacent."

"It might be a cursed blessing [given the historical precedent of 1918 when some countries that managed to avoid the first wave of the flu pandemic were hit harder, later]."

Yangzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health, Council on Foreign Relations

 

"We are heading into a very substantial fall/winter surge [in the U.S.]"

"We expect the surge to ... continue to increase as we head towards high levels of daily deaths in late December and in January."

Chris Murray, director, Institute for Health Metrics, University of Washington 

Healthcare workers attend to a COVID-19 patient at one of the intensive care units (ICU) at the University Hospital of Torrejon in Torrejon de Ardoz, Spain   -   AP Photos

 

Having avoided the worst outcomes of the first wave of COVID-19, some of those countries in Europe are now experiencing a case spike for the first time while others which were hit hard by the initial invasion of the highly infectious novel coronavirus are once again suffering the anguish of having been ambushed by a virus that will not fade gracefully into the past. This is a virus that is more complex, more unexpected and more deadly than others that have visited an unwilling human world population.

Parts of Central and Eastern Europe where not so long ago countries received high praise for low case numbers are now attempting to cope with some of the steepest rates of infection in the world. In Latin America, South Asia and the Middle East, very similar conditions have been anguishing countries there. In Poland new cases reported daily saw a record 7,482 declared on Monday, the government announcing its plans to transform the National Stadium in Warsaw to a field hospital, even while the nation's president has become one of the COVID victims, and is now in isolation.

On Sunday, 5,059 were recorded, its health minister resigned to be replaced by an epidemiologist who has entreated Czech doctors working abroad to return to their country at a time of national need. In the coming weeks, warned Czech epidemiologist Roman Primula, there would be seen a "significant increase in the number of hospitalizations, severe coronavirus cases, and deaths".

 

A couple walks through Prague, Czech Republic. Due to a rise in coronavirus infections, the interior minister recently warned that the country's medical system is 'in danger of collapsing.' (Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images)

 

Poland and the Czech Republic were viewed as success stories a mere few months earlier. The German newspaper Die Welt had reported in June that Poland had "stood firm while others have stumbled", as the country of 38 million had a mere 23,000 cases confirmed. In Prague, thousands had attended a party in early July to say 'farewell' to the virus, despite warnings from the World Health Organization. This was at a time that the country of ten million had seen 12,000 infections.

Now, over 183,000 confirmed cases blemish Poland's success story, and the Czech Republic can boast around 174,000 COVID infections, 492 new cases per 100000 in the past seven days, indicative of one of the fastest escalating outbreaks in the world, while Poland had 140 new cases per 100000, a figure steeper than other global hot spots such as the United States and Spain. For the first time, over recent weeks some countries in the Middle East have seen the virus widely spread, where Jordan imposed weekend curfews and Lebanon shut its bars and nightclubs.

 

Cars line up at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site in El Paso, Texas, on Friday. (Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images)

 

Then there is the United States where a study by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimated the pandemic could claim over 500,000 American lives by February, over double the death rate at the present time, which is rated amongst the highest in the world. Colder weather, it is feared, will have the effect of driving people indoors where it is more likely for the virus to spread -- along with the concerns that people fail to wear masks.

Even as cool weather is just beginning to settle over the country, cases, hospitalizations and deaths are increasing to the point where nationwide, 76,195 new cases were reported on Thursday, almost a single-day record high of 77,299 seen on July 16. India is the only country that saw a greater number of cases in a one-day period on September 17, of 97,894. Should 95 percent of Americans begin to cover their faces with masks out in public however, the IHME suggests that possible death-number could drop by 130,000. 

According to U.S.Health Secretary Alex Azar, the increase is attributable to the behaviour of individuals, where household gatherings have become a "major vector of disease spead". Pennsylvania recently reported its largest single-day increase since the beginning of the pandemic.The U.S. on Thursday reported 916 fatalities due to COVID, one day after over 1,200 new deaths was reported for the first time since August. The average is 785 deaths daily over the past seven days.

 

A traffic warden directs traffic as motorists arrive for Covid-19 tests at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California on 8 October. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images

 

U.S. hospitals have seen a surge of up to 34 percent new patients of COVID-19, from October 1. The hardest-hit state based on new cases per capita have been recognized as North Dakota, with 887 new cases at last count. The most new cases in sheer numbers were reported by Texas, with 5,820 new infections, California following with 6,365. Iowa, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Wyoming all reported record numbers of hospitalized COVID patients.

While Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah reported their largest daily increase since the beginning of the pandemic. An exception is the Northeast where there has been no significant surge even as infections are trending higher. A single bright light is Vermont with no hospitalized COVID patients and a mere 16 new cases posted Thursday.

Human Guinea Pigs? Challenge Trials; SARS-CoV-2

"Good for Britain, doing challenge trails over the all too predictable bleating of some bioethicists."

"In my view, taking a known risk can be done ethically. The 'first, do no harm' principle doesn't necessarily apply here."

"Trials are experimentation. They're not intended with the same goal as routine treatment in medicine."

"With firefighters [as an analogy] you recruit people who are willing to take the risk to run into a burning building. They know that running into a burning building can kill them, they know there may be no rescue for them. But they nonetheless volunteer to do it, for high stakes, surely, although less high than a global pandemic, which is on its way to killing millions."

Dr.Amir Attaran, professor of law and medicine, University of Ottawa 

"We do feel that political leaders should come forward, because we would like Canada to be part of the solution, rather than waiting for others to do this. We do allow people to volunteer for things that carry risk. People can join the military during war because they want to help their country, and we don't say that's unethical because they might get harmed."

"We don't know how well any of these [late-stage human trial vaccines] are going to work -- unless we are exploring all options, there is a strong chance that it takes longer and longer before we have a solution."

"That's more deaths, more people getting sick, more people spending more time in ICU, hospitals having to reduce surgeries because we have too many people ill and too many people living in isolation."

Dr.Michael Silverman, chief, division of infectious diseases, Schulich School of Medicine, Western University

Clinical Research Nurse Aneta Gupta takes bloods from volunteer Yash during the Imperial College vaccine trial at a clinic in London, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. Scientists at Imperial College London are immunizing hundreds of people with an experimental coronavirus vaccine in an early trial after seeing no worrying safety problems in a small number vaccinated so far. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

 

An e-petition addressed to Parliament went into circulation, co-sponsored by Canadian Member of Parliament Marcus Powlowski from Thunder Bay, Ontario and co-signed by a number of Canadian infectious diseases experts. It asks Parliament to urgently and publicly give official support to a plan that would permit scientists intentionally infecting people with the SARS-CoV-2 virus that leads to     COVID-19, a deadly scourge ravaging all countries of the global community. This, in a serious, time-sensitive move to help in the discovery of a coronavirus-effective vaccine.

The e-petition reads in part: "The risk to young, healthy volunteers is on par with other acts of public service, such as living kidney donations". The point is to achieve popular support of human challenge trials for COVID-19 in Canada, emulating experiments in preparation to take place at the Royal Free Hospital in London, England, announced this week by the British government. Their active participation in backing human challenge trials led by Imperial College London scientists together with a subsidiary of a Dublin-based medical research company appeals to the 600 individuals who signed the e-petition in Canada.

 

Under the coordinated British scenario the initial tranche of volunteers are to enter a 19-bed isolation facility early in January where they will be infected with a purified strain of the live virus that would be introduced into their noses for deliberate infection. The intention is that the researchers' first order of business is to ascertain a minimum dose of the pathogen required for an active infection through introducing first tiny amounts of virus, increasing the dose as required to the point where it is clear the person develops mild COVID symptoms.

At which point researchers plan to inject volunteers with test vaccines, exposing them to the challenge dose in hopes of understanding how well the vaccines proffer the needed protection. That there is no rescue therapy available for this challenge trial fails to sit well with some within the medical-scientific community. Recently the warning of the "twin risks of exploitation and coersion" of volunteers was voiced by Dalhousie University philosopher Francoise Baylis and bioethicist Landon Gertz.

 

"Volunteers will be quarantined and compensated, likely around $6,500+ [the current rate of remuneration for influenza challenge studies in Britain], but possibly higher. Is $6,500 too little or too much for those consenting to a small chance of death or serious disability? What is fair compensation for agreeing to be infected with a deadly pathogen and then quarantined?"

 

Close to 39,000 would-be volunteers from across the world inclusive of 1,500 Canadians, expressed their interest in being part of a human challenge test, contacting the advocacy group 1Day Sooner. Young and healthy 18 to 25-year-olds with no underlying illnesses are considered to be at low risk of death from COVID-19, and it is from among that demographic that the researchers have chosen to select volunteer subjects. 

 

The idea behind the human challenge trial is to cut waiting time and thus, in the long range, save lives with an expedited vaccine based partly on the conclusions reached through the challenge trial results. Ordinarily it takes longer to determine whether a vaccine is working when it is used in a scenario where virus circulation within a community is at low ebb. In comparison, "challenge studies take much less time, require fewer volunteers, aren't tethered to natural infection rates and can therefore accelerate progress", explained medical ethicists Kyle Ferguson and Arthur Caplan of NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

 

Nature journal has reported that volunteers are to be treated with antiviral drugs like remdesivir immediately a nurse swab tests positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. World Health Organization interim study results had concluded that remdesivir results identified itself as no more effective than a placebo at limiting the need for mechanical ventilation or the risk of death in severely ill patients with COVID.

A nurse performs a test on a patent. Photo P. Chiasson/CP

"It takes a LONG time to get these trials going [challenge trials]."

"[Debate rages about rescue treatment; we don't have one.] As such, are we really justified in intentionally infecting healthy human volunteers -- even those that fully appreciate what they are consenting to, and are at low risk for complications and death from COVID-19 -- given that we are still discovering much about SARS-CoV-2 and its long term impact?"

"I just don't think we've hit the bar to justify the risk -- we may get there, but I don't think we are there now."

Claudia Emerson, philosopher, McMaster University

Fair Play and May the Best WoMAN Win!

"[Players] should be able to participate as the gender with which they identify and not be subject to requirements for disclosure of personal information beyond those required of cisgender athletes. Nor should there be any requirement for hormonal therapy or surgery."

Rugby Canada Guidelines for player inclusion: "I identify as female"

 

"She's [trans rugby player Kelly Morgan, 6' tall] going to be a good, good player for the next few years, as long as we can stop her injuring players in training."

founder, U.K. rugby team

 

"I do feel guilty, but what can you do? I don't go out to hurt anybody. I just want to play rugby." 

"I'm always optimistic and I think being open breaks the ice with people. I'm like, 'this is me, this is what I'm going through'." 

"Times are changing. Hopefully I'll inspire more people to come and play rugby, or any sort of sport."

Kelly Morgan/Nicholas Gareth Morgan, transgender rugby player

'If you can't take the mick out of yourself, then what's the point?'

 The World Rugby association investigated the harms women are vulnerable to in contact sports under inclusion rules, bringing together professional experts in the study of biology, sociology and kinesiology for the purpose of updating eligibility standards for player inclusion. The consultation committee based its study and conclusions on data the Karolinska Institute of medical academic research, in Sweden had published.

 

And that data led them to conclude that even following IOC hormone reduction guidelines, genetically male athletes are on average 40 percent heavier, 15 percent faster, 30 percent more physically powerful and 25 to 50 percent stronger than are female athletes; enormous spreads that make a world of difference in the time, and distance measurements distinguishing gold from silver.  

Injury to female athletes tends to increase by 30 percent when paired against genetically male competitors. The World Rugby Council issued a resolution on October 9 with respect to transgender participation: "Transgender women may not play women's rugby", representing a first for a sport federation to go its separate way from the IOC on the issue.

Ice Hockey, rugby and ringette are recognized as the riskiest of sports among youth between the ages of five to 19, for brain injuries. Brain injuries account for 27 to 44 percent of all physical harms sustained during games. Yet it is the 'hurt feelings' that may result when "gender identity and gender expression" fail to be given the respect due them that appears to rate.

The safety issue, however, is paramount, or should be, in playing hard-contact sport. Female athletes who compete against genetically male athletes don't necessarily feel safe even in non-contact sports. Three female Connecticut high school runners launched a federal Title 1X lawsuit in reflection of the fact that over three competitive seasons from 2017 to 2019, two genetically male athletes won gold and silver in 15 women's state championship titles.

The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights agreed that Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire's transgender sports and inclusion policy violated Title 1X prohibiting discrimination in educational programs and activities on the basis of sex. This was a resolution of a civil rights claim brought by Concerned Women for America. The upshot was that FPU agreed to "rescind its Transgender Participation and Inclusion Policy and will cease any and all practices related thereto".

The complaint originated when transathlete CeCe Telfer competed in the 400m hurdles on the men's team in 2015 and 2017, ranking 390th in NCAA Division 2, then in 2018 he self-identified as a woman and became eligible to compete against women according to NCAA rules. He won the women's national championship in June 2020. His win was ascribed by his coach to attitude: "I've never met anyone as strong as her mentally in my life".

 

CeCe Telfer

Screengrab via Twitter/ NCAA Division II

"But there are all these disadvantages of competing in the 100 hurdles, you know?"

"First of all, my height, how tall I am, is a disadvantage, because the wind is hitting us so hard and the taller you are, the harder you fall, basically. There’s wind resistance."  

"[Another disadvantage:] The fact that the hurdles are so close. [smaller in women’s competition; six inches shorter than in men’s races, but more than half a meter closer together]."

“And there are people who say I have the benefit of testosterone. But no: I have no benefit. I’m on hormone suppression, it doesn’t help. It’s another disadvantage. Cis women are producing more testosterone than the average trans female."

"So it’s crazy! I’m the crazy one, to be the weakest female, the weakest link in the chain, to be competing against the top ones. I should be fingered as the stupid one, for wanting to do that in the first place."

CeCe Telfer, transgender athlete

The IOC has allowed biological males since 2015, self-identifying as female for a year to compete in women's sport as long as they reduce their testosterone levels to 10 nmol/1, higher as it happens, than the female testosterone range of .54 to 2.4 nmol/1. So much for testosterone comparability. 

CeCe Telfer, center, as seen moments prior to the start of the 60M hurdles.

Screengrab/NCAA

 

Argentina, and the Consequences of Prolonged COVID-19 Lockdown

"When the quarantine came, I had to close my business completely. There came a time when I owed seven months of rent, six months of electricity, six months of gas, and union and accounting fees."

"It's a desperate situation because we're very much in debt and we're going to have to work a lot and wait a long time to catch up, and since we don't know what's going to happen next, it's a terrible uncertainty, which has affected me disproportionately in terms of my state of mind."

Daniel Aponte, bar owner, Lanus, Greater Buenos Aires

 

"When compulsory isolation is prolonged, chronic stress begins, which is linked to anxiety disorders, depression and addictions."

"These symptoms also generate sleep problems and various physical ailments."

Patricio Cristobal Rey, head, teaching and research division, mental health department, Buenos Aires University

"This whole situation has given me an arrhythmia and I have to use a Holter [portable heart monitor] to control it."

"I also have trouble sleeping, because I have trouble breathing due to this problem."

Candela Robledo, 20, Buenos Aires

 

"Having more than 200 days without pleasant stimuli, such as social meetings, trips or outings, affected my motivation ... even more so knowing that the economic situation in my context is terrifying."

"I have lost my appetite. I eat only once a day, not because I don't have enough food, but because I don't want to eat."

Azul Weimann, 3rd year of study, nutritional sciences

"My son has just turned 15 and although he is a very good student and always communicates with his classmates, lately he does not have the same enthusiasm."

"He is also afraid that his father or I will go out to work. Last week we started going to work for a few hours and he sent me a message saying that he missed me. So we decided not to leave him alone and to go to work one day each, although he doesn't like that either because he's afraid we'll get sick."

Gabriela Vianco, resident, Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires residents Ezequiel Fuentes and Mariana Rimondino say their young son has spent a third of his life in lockdown

Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina along with its metropolitan region represents home to 40 percent of the entire country's population. Argentina is a country with the highest number of psychologists in practise worldwide. Despite which few people these days of lockdown in the country are able to access treatment. Psychologists state that there are many people unable to obtain needed treatment and given the fact that the nation has enacted the most strict of lockdown rules for such a prolonged period once there is an easing and the country opens, the cost to the population's mental health will be difficult to tackle, outranking the economic situation in urgency.

 

It has been over 200 days that Buenos Aires citizens have been in lockdown, reflecting one of the world's most enduring quarantines. This, despite the fact that the country has recently become the fifth in the world to log one million confirmed cases of COVID-19. At the beginning there was a ten-day general national quarantine, decreed by government on March 20. That situation was extended by weeks, and eventually by months. Restrictions were eventually lifted for some parts of the country, but not in Buenos Aires which has undergone seven months of lockdown.

 

It is the country's small business owners who are suffering the economic consequences of the prolonged restrictions most.  Of the 600,000 small businesses that existed prior to the lockdown, a July report by the Argentine Chamber of Commerce and Services, has reported that over 42,000 of that total had closed permanently. Over 20 percent of the population works as informally employed and while companies are prohibited officially from laying off workers as a result of COVID-19, when the businesses close down their employees -- hundreds of thousands -- are left without employment. 

 

The people of Buenos Aires are hardly proud of having struggled through the world's longest lockdown — protests against further measures are growing

 

Buenos Aires University's psychology observatory reported on the results of a study that depression among the population has increased fivefold, with three of four Argentines burdened with problems sleeping, and one in two having suspended daily activities in hopes of preserving their health. Socializing has remained strictly limited to outdoor public spaces; jogging permitted only at certain times of the day, despite that the quarantine was slightly eased in September. Leaving residents to speak of the numbing effect brought by such isolation.

In the large metropolitan Buenos Aires area, children aged under 15 only may embark on shopping expeditions with their parents, while in the city proper, governed independently, restrictions are less strict, permitting parents to get out with their children twice weekly for a limited period as well as on weekends. Contact with classmates and teachers has been non-existent for over half a year.

 

A protest in Buenos Aries against lockdown measures.