The limits of humour: On COVID-19 tendentious jokes

The aim of this chapter is to investigate through a multimodal approach how racial humour fostered the social acceptability of discrimination and to analyse its harmful effects against Chinese people, and more generally Asians, after the COVID-19 outbreak. We analyse illustrative cases of malicious and virulent racist memes and jokes in the light of humour theory, Critical Race Theory, and Discourse Historical Approach in order to elaborate on the violence resulting from negative feelings which were reactivated and showed a barefaced disregard for human compassion and its potential for harm. Divided into three main parts, the chapter emphasizes that what passed off as humour was actually xenophobia. Later on, the series of tendentious jokes that appeared on social media turned out to be vile forms of Sinophobia that was on the rise in many places around the globe in the first months of 2020. © 2022 Peter Lang AG. All rights reserved.

Mutational analysis of ORF-8 of SARS-CoV-2 -a window to immunotherapy

Background: TGF-Beta plays an important role in immune evasion in oncology. Similarly, SARSCov-2, the causal agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, also has an immune evasion function. This is mediated by ORF-8 through its interaction with multiple immune regulatory elements, including TGF-beta. This is a mutational analysis of ORF-8. Methods: We took advantage of the database of millions of SARS-CoV-2 genomes are archived and organized in phylogenetic relationships to show the evolution of ORF-8. Site numbering and genome structure use Wuhan-Hu-1/2019 as reference. The phylogeny is rooted relative to early samples from Wuhan. Temporal resolution assumes a nucleotide substitution rate of 8 × 10-4 subs per site per year. ( https://nextstrain.org/). The epidemiological data provided at https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus was used to determine the property of the variants using mortality and infectivity data at the site. Results: Scan of ORF-8 revealed a high rate of mutation at aa119 and aa120. More importantly, the mutation at 120 or 119 that resulted in null ORF8 clearly delineates the pre-Delta and Delta SARSCov-2. In fact, all the delta lineages exhibited the null mutation at 119/120. This region is important for the dimerization of ORF-8 and possibly its interaction with host TGF-beta. All other variants, including the alpha variants, are wild type (aa120 = F). Monitoring the mutations over the last several months indicated that the delta variants have now picked up the wild type F at aa120 (Faa120) in Egypt or the L at aa 120 (Laa120) in India. The epidemiology of Egypt and India indicates that the Faa120 is more immune evasive and suggestive that more infectious but not more lethal. Conclusions: This is an opportunity to monitor in real-time the evolution of ORF-8 and how it is interacting with the host immune system. Additionally, since our current clinical trial on TGF-beta inhibitors is in India and Latin America, it is an opportunity to correlate clinical findings to molecular and epidemiological data for these variants. If we are correct, the Faa120 will emerge as the dominant variant in the next wave of COVID-19.

Re-Membering - A Plea for Togetherness

Starting with a recall of the overwhelming feeling, voiced by many thinkers, that the post-WWII era brought about the 'sense of an ending' of history as Mitsein (being-in-common), the essay explores the renewed necessity to re-learn to be together in the wake of the worst modern pandemic by appealing to Jean-Luc Nancy's imagination of a community without community. Nancy's plea for a singular togetherness will be re-examined in relation to his view that COVID-19 makes us equal and 'communizes' us, including in our respective isolations, which we attempt to re-interpret within the critical framework, in memory studies, of what James E. Young called 'collected memory'. Inflecting Maurice Halbwachs's original 'collective memory' to allow for the many discrete, fragmented memories of disparate individuals united in common moments of remembrance, 'collected memory' will be seen as a hyphenated process of 're-membering', a poetic piecing together of disjointed, scattered members and isolated communities gathered in virtual unison through their respective losses. This research is supported by The Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning.

Deficiency of Vitamin D, a Major Risk Factor for SARS-CoV-2 Severity.

BACKGROUND: The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak started in March 2020 with more than 120,552,261 cases at present and having caused over 2,667,248 deaths worldwide at the time this paper was written. The clinical signs of SARS-CoV-2 infection are especially evident in the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Patients can be asymptomatic or present mild respiratory symptoms to severe acute lung injury leading to multiorgan failure and death. The study aims to assess the levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-(OH)-D) in 20 hospitalized patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and 20 deceased people and to analyze the influence of vitamin D status on the severity of their disease. METHODS: The present study was conducted on 40 patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. They were divided into two groups: 20 patients admitted to the "Victor Babes" Hospital of Infectious Diseases and 20 postmortem cases autopsied at the Institute of Legal Medicine Timisoara, Romania. During the autopsy, blood and bronchial fluid samples were collected for the laboratory. Automate Viral RNA extraction was performed on the Maxwell 48 RSC Extraction System (Promega, USA) using the Maxwell RSC Viral Total Nucleic Acid Purification kit (Promega, USA). After RNA extraction, the samples were amplified on a 7500 real-time PCR (Applied Biosystems, USA) using the genesig® Real-Time PCR Assay 2G (Primer Design, UK). RESULTS: The living and deceased patients selected for the research presented decreased vitamin D levels, which are associated with increased levels of D-dimers, C reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). These patients had a severe form of the SARS-CoV-2 disease, which led to death. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that deficiency of vitamin D in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 presents a major risk factor related to the evolution and severity of the disease.

Complex respiratory and motor rehabilitation program in a patient with post-pulmonary tuberculosis conditions and multiple sequelae after SARS-CoV-2 infection: case report

Introduction: A great variety of medical issues can occur after the COVID-19 infection including fatigue, muscle weakness, locomotor disability, self-care dysfunction, polyneuropathy, persistent dyspnea on exertion and a hypercoagulable state. Materials and methods: This paper presents the case of a nonsmoker 49-year-old male with right lung lower lobe lobectomy for post tuberculosis bronchiectasis and diabetes mellitus, who developed multiple serious physicals, neurological, hematological and respiratory consequences, related to critical COVID-19 infection and prolonged hospitalization, Results: A favorable evolution of the patient's respiratory sequels and motor impairment on both lower limbs was noticed after a complex individualized rehabilitation program started in the post COVID-19 Rehabilitation Department of Balneal and Rehabilitation Sanatorium, Techirghiol, Romania, consisting in better functional parameters and exercise tolerance, significant improvement in daily activities, remission of exertional dyspnea, social and family reintegration. Conclusions: multidisciplinary approach and complex individualized programs of rehabilitation is required after a critical form of COVID in a patients known with tuberculosis, and other complex pathologies, in order to restore physical function and mobility and optimize respiratory parameters.

Intravesical BCG: Possible protective impact against COVID-19 in NMIBC patients

Purpose: To determine the incidence of COVID 19 in a series of registered patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, treated by TUR-BT and intravesical BCG. Patients and method: We analysed 127 patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, in the medium/high risk group, registered between 2001-2020. The patients and families have been contacted by phone. In this interval, 32 patients deceased (cardiovascular pathologies, non-urologic neoplasia, tumour progression), 95 patients are still alive, 24 women and 71 men. The average age was 61.7 (16-86), the majority being over 50, included in the high-risk group for COVID-19. The patients were resected endoscopically and received a cytostatic instillation within the first 6 hours. Reresection of the tumour bed was practiced in pT1patients. The adjuvant treatment with BCG was used in the induction form at each relapse and maintenance (22 patients), respectively. Until 2005, we used the local strain (Cantacuzino Clinical Institute), after that, the strain from Bulgaria (Calgevax) and Medac (Germany). Results: 95 patients are still alive. Tumour relapses were registered in 34 patients. 3 patients registered tumour progression, resolved through radical cystectomy (2) and irradiation. In 3 cases, upper tract urothelial tumours were registered (nephroureterectomy with perimeatic cystectomy). 63 patients underwent induction treatment, while 22 underwent maintenance treatment. Complications: Intolerance to BCG in 4 patients, BCG cystitis in 5 patients, arthritis in 1 patient, septic status in 2 patients. In the analysed batch of patients, no COVID-19 cases have been registered. Conclusions: It appears that the intravesical administration of BCG represents an immunologic booster (confirmable through PPD), resulting in a reduction of the COVID-19 infection incidence. © 2019 Journal of Innovation Management. All rights reserved.