Here's how the new Turner Classic Movies "Essentials" guest — the man behind "The Incredibles" and "Ratatouille" — has been influenced by Hitchcock, '50s sci-fi and James Bond.

It’s rather unfortunate that the best some of us can do in a time of a global pandemic is to stay at home in order to help. Quarantines for that matter, are tough challenges for the regular person. However, they don’t have to feel like an unproductive slog, why not treat yourself to some self-improvement […]

The post 12 Free Web Development Courses to Take While in Self-Isolation appeared first on SpyreStudios.

M. Burstein
Nov 1, 1970; 11:583-595
Articles

Expert

Paul E Lacy
Jan 1, 1967; 16:35-39
Original Contribution

HE Hohmeier
Mar 1, 2000; 49:424-430
Articles

As migrant- and refugee-receiving countries in Europe, North America, and beyond prioritize services that are focused on employment, language instruction, and civic integration, newcomers who are not in the workplace are at high risk for social isolation. As a result, societies should reconsider what successful integration looks like for vulnerable newcomers who will never find traditional employment or who need a longer-than-average timeline to get there.

Loneliness is a surprisingly common phenomenon in the 21st century. In 2018, a survey conducted by The Economist and the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that 22% of adults in the United States and 23% of adults in the United Kingdom often or always feel lonely or left out. Interestingly, many people who describe themselves as […]

A trio of young northern violinists recently joined their contemporaries across Canada for a project that aims to bring people together through music — while being apart.

Here’s some culinary inspiration as you wait out a global pandemic

CBC Ottawa is committed to bringing you all the information you need to know about COVID-19 to stay safe. But we also want to make room for all the positive stories. You'll find them here.

The new reality of life under COVID-19 means Montreal Alouettes GM Danny Maciocia will be physically alone in his basement while he and his staff participate in the CFL draft.

A B.C. couple who shaved their eyebrows off in the spirit of forcing themselves to stay at home has tackled another isolation challenge — home haircuts. 

One of the loveliest towns in Italy is the walled city of San Gimignano, an hour’s drive from Florence. When I first visited it was bleak midwinter and all but a few shops and cafes were shuttered against the sleet. Its claim to fame is a profusion of medieval towers, hence its hyperbolic label as the Manhattan of Tuscany. When I arrived these fortresses soared overhead, making shadowy streets even darker.

For many people, lockdown has meant looking for joy in the natural world around us.

[SAPS] A 35-year-old taxi driver is facing attempted murder charges (read with DMA Regulation 14(3) and in a quarantine site in Cape Town after he was stopped in a vehicle checkpoint (VCP) on the R61 in Beaufort West yesterday ferrying about seven passengers. The driver, who had apparently tested positive for the virus after taking a test on 30 April 2020 on the N2 Tsitsikamma roadblock in the Eastern Cape, was duly informed two days ago by the testing authority of the outcome of the test. Yet, he allegedly proce

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Older adults are at an increased risk of lacking company and being socially isolated. Recent studies prove that a lack of social relationships is as strong a risk factor for mortality as are smoking, obesity, or a lack of physical activity. Enter Little Brothers.

Little Brothers is an effort dedicated to spreading awareness and relieving isolation and loneliness in elders, a problem that often goes unseen. Little Brothers is in 7 U.S. cities and 10 countries worldwide. Its mission is carried out by more than one nonprofit organization.

Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly San Francisco facilitates more than 4,000 friendly visits a year. Volunteers are matched with elders in San Francisco, and they form and build a relationship through home visits, outings, or common interests.

We recently met with Andrew Butler, the program manager at Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly San Francisco. He explained that many volunteers form a relationship with an elder, and their stereotypes about older people are quickly broken down.

"A lot of what we do is creating awareness. I think a lot of the information that we share through training or events really inspires people," said Butler. He also suggested that we speak with a member of Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly San Francisco, Andy Morgan, to get a proper feel for the organization.

Andy Morgan is a highly spiritual 86-year-old who loves to read. Originally from Transylvania, Andy came to San Francisco in 1962 and has worked a variety of jobs throughout his life.

However, he stresses that he has never defined himself by what he did for a living. Aside from books and his spirituality, Andy values personal relationships and enjoys company.

Our conversation with Andy revealed why Little Brothers' impact matters so much.

I wanted to ask if you have any main visitors.

Andy Morgan: Yeah! I have one main visitor come every week. Rain or shine, he comes and sees me. He brings me food from Trader Joe's, and he does my laundry.

Wow, that's a sweet deal. Would you share a particular visit that has stuck with you over the years?

There's nothing that stands out; every visit is enjoyable. What we usually do is grab a spiritual book, you know, all those books over there are on spirituality, and we read from it and then we discuss it. I've been on the spiritual path since the 1960s, so if he has any questions, I can try and clarify.

I was wondering what makes you happy.

What makes me happy? Knowing that my within-ness, that which makes me breathe and which makes me exist, is pure joy and pure love. When you do a lot of meditation, something opens up within you, and I just feel, practically all the time, this feeling of love and joy and peace.

Of course no one can maintain that 24/7, but I can always come back. If something goes wrong, I can just remind myself of my true nature.

That's beautiful. Thank you so much for opening your home to us.

My pleasure; it's been a joy having you guys. Could I just read you one very short poem? It says …

Be as a Flower

Truth is very simple
A flower does not try to be beautiful.
Its True Nature is Beauty.
Just by its Very Being.

In the same way, when you Awaken
To your true nature,
You will naturally exude Love,
Compassion, Beauty.
It is all you.
For it is your True Self.

(poem by Robert Adams)

TechSoup is proud to support our member, Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly San Francisco, in its mission to spread awareness about and help elders at risk of loneliness and isolation. There are incredible people like Andy all over the world who are at risk of being forgotten. But they should never be. TechSoup provides technology and services to Little Brothers staff members to help run their nonprofit so that they can focus on fighting the effects of elder isolation.

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Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, has ordered visiting officials of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to go into isolation at a quarantine centre for 14 days.

Bello gave the directive on Thursday night when the NCDC officials led by Dr Andrew Noah showed up at the Government House, in Lokoja, the state capital.

The agency had sent a delegation of rapid response team to ascertain the true status of Kogi as a COVID-19-free state. 

The governor said that the step was to ensure that the laid down procedure of checkmating the scourge by NCDC was strictly followed.

Presenting a letter titled: “Deployment of Rapid Response Squad to help in fighting COVID-19,” Dr Noah explained that the mission of the NCDC was to provide logistics to all states of the federation of which Kogi could not be left out.

He said two members of the team would be left behind to help the state and support efforts already in place.

Speaking shortly after receiving the letter, Bello outlined steps taken so far by the state to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

He then asked that the NCDC officials be subjected to testing and isolated in the state quarantine centre or leave the state immediately if they refused.

div class="element-action-button"> SIGN UP TO OUR COVID-19 NEWSLETTER. SIGN IN OR REGISTER, THEN SELECT TOP NEWS STORIES A Ministry of Health review of previously turned down requests to leave compulsory isolation early on compassionate...

As coronavirus lockdowns around the world are easing, the resort town of Kalkan on the Mediterranean coast is drawing the attention of tourists who want to holiday in isolation.

[This Day] The federal government yesterday raised the alarm that many states in the country may soon run out of bed spaces for COVID-19 patients at their isolation centres due to the increasing number of Nigerians testing positive to Coronavirus.

CHITRAL: An isolation ward set up by Aga Khan Health Service at Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Drosh, was handed over to the Health Department on Friday.District Health Officer Dr Shahzada Haiderul Mulk was chief guest at the ceremony in which AKHS representative Anwar Baig, Additional Assistant...

CHITRAL: An isolation ward set up by Aga Khan Health Service at Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Drosh, was handed over to the Health Department on Friday.District Health Officer Dr Shahzada Haiderul...

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Medical student Mia gets more than she bargains for in German thriller Biohackers and former US surgeon general Vivek Murthy has a new book about loneliness

While most film and TV production around the world has shut down, one UK network has made a new drama series "Isolation Stories" about life under lockdown. Edward Baran reports.

Title: Isolation During Coronavirus Pandemic a Trigger for Depression
Category: Health News
Created: 4/27/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2020 12:00:00 AM

ABSTRACT

Insights into the interaction between phages and their bacterial hosts are crucial for the development of phage therapy. However, only one study has investigated global gene expression of Clostridioides (formerly Clostridium) difficile carrying prophage, and transcriptional reprogramming during lytic infection has not been studied. Here, we presented the isolation, propagation, and characterization of a newly discovered 35,109-bp phage, JD032, and investigated the global transcriptomes of both JD032 and C. difficile ribotype 078 (RT078) strain TW11 during JD032 infection. Transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) revealed the progressive replacement of bacterial host mRNA with phage transcripts. The expressed genes of JD032 were clustered into early, middle, and late temporal categories that were functionally similar. Specifically, a gene (JD032_orf016) involved in the lysis-lysogeny decision was identified as an early expression gene. Only 17.7% (668/3,781) of the host genes were differentially expressed, and more genes were downregulated than upregulated. The expression of genes involved in host macromolecular synthesis (DNA/RNA/proteins) was altered by JD032 at the level of transcription. In particular, the expression of the ropA operon was downregulated. Most noteworthy is that the gene expression of some antiphage systems, including CRISPR-Cas, restriction-modification, and toxin-antitoxin systems, was suppressed by JD032 during infection. In addition, bacterial sporulation, adhesion, and virulence factor genes were significantly downregulated. This study provides the first description of the interaction between anaerobic spore-forming bacteria and phages during lytic infection and highlights new aspects of C. difficile phage-host interactions.

IMPORTANCE C. difficile is one of the most clinically significant intestinal pathogens. Although phages have been shown to effectively control C. difficile infection, the host responses to phage predation have not been fully studied. In this study, we reported the isolation and characterization of a new phage, JD032, and analyzed the global transcriptomic changes in the hypervirulent RT078 C. difficile strain, TW11, during phage JD032 infection. We found that bacterial host mRNA was progressively replaced with phage transcripts, three temporal categories of JD032 gene expression, the extensive interplay between phage-bacterium, antiphage-like responses of the host and phage evasion, and decreased expression of sporulation- and virulence-related genes of the host after phage infection. These findings confirmed the complexity of interactions between C. difficile and phages and suggest that phages undergoing a lytic cycle may also cause different phenotypes in hosts, similar to prophages, which may inspire phage therapy for the control of C. difficile.

Q fever, caused by Coxiella burnetii, is a worldwide zoonotic disease that may cause severe forms in humans and requires a specific and prolonged antibiotic treatment. Although current serological and molecular detection tools allow a reliable diagnosis of the disease, culture of C. burnetii strains is mandatory to assess their susceptibility to antibiotics and sequence their genome in order to optimize patient management and epidemiological studies. However, cultivating this fastidious microorganism is difficult and restricted to reference centers, as it requires biosafety level 3 laboratories and relies on cell culture performed by experienced technicians. In addition, the culture yield is low, which results in a small number of isolates being available. In this work, we developed a novel high-content screening (HCS) isolation strategy based on optimized high-throughput cell culture and automated microscopic detection of infected cells with specifically designed algorithms targeting cytopathic effects. This method was more efficient than the shell vial assay, at the level of time dependency, when applied to both frozen specimens (7 isolates recovered by HCS only, sensitivity 91% versus 78% for shell vial) and fresh samples (1 additional isolate using HCS, sensitivity 7% versus 5% for shell vial), for which most strains were recovered more rapidly with the new technique. In addition, detecting positive cultures by an automated microscope reduced the need for expertise and saved 24% of technician working time. Application of HCS to antibiotic susceptibility testing of 12 strains demonstrated that it was as efficient as the standard procedure that combines shell vial culture and quantitative PCR.

Antibodies in blood taken from people who recovered from COVID-19 are widely seen as a key to developing a possible cure for the disease

Find a hobby, for starters, and don't forget the mission, say scientists who have worked at remote research stations

Due to COVID-19, what we think of as traditional funerals are unable take place in Saskatchewan, and it's taking a toll on those who have lost loved ones.

Follow our live coronavirus updates HERE Coronavirus: the symptoms

Coronavirus: the symptoms Read our LIVE updates on the coronavirus here

An English bulldog nicknamed "Big Poppa" has found internet fame after his owner posted a picture of him looking forlorn during the coronavirus lockdown.

In today's Diary: Unofficial Eurovision replacement planned / David Nicholls on his unkind friend / Robert Halfon has too many Whatsapp groups / Simon Hoare creates new barnet formula

NPR's reporter in Nairobi finds his parents connecting with his kids through TikTok. Formerly the realm of Gen Z, the app's now a family board game where Grandma and Grandpa reveal their silly selves.

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/alien-isolation

https://store.steampowered.com/app/214490/Alien_Isolation/

Thought this discount was notable enough to warrant its own thread.

Thanks MysterD for the following post

 

GameBillet has Alien: Isolation Collection [Steam key] for $9.29.

 

Side note:

On GameBillet, all the Alien Isolation's DLC's, Season Passes, etc. are on sale on GameBillet too:

 

Alien Isolation sale on GameBillet:

Alien Isolation: Collection (Base Game & All 7 DLC's) = $9.29.

Alien Isolation: Season Pass (The 5 Challenge Maps DLC Pack) = $4.10

Alien Isolation: Crew Expendable DLC (Story DLC #1) = 79 cents

 

Alien Isolarion: Last Survivor DLC (Story DLC #2) = 79 cents.

'Reasons to be Cheerful with Matt Lucas' will start on 26 April

Actors will be responsible for filming themselves, with directors giving instruction remotely, in accordance with official lockdown rules

The series will consist of four 15-minute episodes