Deputy Chief Patricia Cassidy of the Jersey City Police Department has blood drawn to test for coronavirus antibodies in Jersey City, N.J., on Monday.; Credit: Seth Wenig/AP

The Food and Drug Administration is stiffening its rules to counteract what some have called a Wild West of antibody testing for the coronavirus.

These tests are designed to identify people who have been previously exposed to the virus. The FDA said more than 250 developers have been bringing products to the market in the past few weeks.

In a rush to make antibody tests available as quickly as possible, the FDA had set a low standard for these tests. Manufacturers were supposed to submit their own information about the accuracy of their wares, but the agency had no standards for what would be acceptable. Companies weren't allowed to claim the tests were authorized by the FDA, under initial guidance issued in mid-March.

Now the FDA is telling manufacturers that if they want their tests to remain on the market, they must meet minimum quality standards and submit a request for emergency use authorization, a temporary route to market for unapproved products when others aren't available. The EUA involves a lower standard than the usual FDA clearance or approval.

The FDA said 12 manufacturers have already opted to request EUA's for their products. More than 100 other producers have been talking to the agency about using this process, said FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn. He spoke on a press call Monday. Companies have 10 days to submit that request.

"Our expectation is that those who can't [meet the new standard] will withdraw their products from the market and we will be working with them to help them do that," he said.

These tests are now so widespread that people can order them from lab giants Quest or LabCorp. The tests can cost more than $100. Though the FDA's original guidance calls for these tests to be run by a certified lab, the kits themselves are simple to use and have been readily available.

Despite the enthusiasm surrounding these tests, they have substantial limitations. Though people who test positive for antibodies have in most cases been exposed to the coronavirus, scientists don't know whether that means those people are actually immune from the coronavirus, and if so for how long.

"Whether this is the ticket for someone to go back to work [based solely on an antibody test result], my opinion on that would be no," Hahn said.

The tests may be more useful when combined with information from a standard coronavirus diagnostic test, or in someone who has symptoms, or if the results have been confirmed with a different antibody test. That "would dramatically increase the accuracy of those tests," said Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health

Antibodies are a potentially valuable research tool, and can be used to determine the prevalence of a disease in a population. In that circumstance, individual false results are less important. New York State used antibody tests to determine that about 20 percent of people in New York City have already been exposed to the coronavirus.

In California, researchers have attempted to measure the prevalence of the coronavirus in Los Angeles County and Santa Clara County in the Bay Area. Those unpublished results have garnered criticism because even a test that's more than 99 percent accurate can produce many false positive results when used to survey hundreds or thousands of people.

In the face of this criticism, the authors of the Santa Clara study have posted revised results acknowledging the high degree of uncertainty in their findings. Those findings haven't been peer-reviewed.

The emergency use authorization is only valid during the time of the national emergency. "Once the national emergency ends, the EUA authorizations end as well," Shuren said. Companies that want to keep marketing these tests will need to get them approved through the regular, more stringent FDA process.

FDA officials say they will continue to crack down on companies that falsely claim their tests are approved by the FDA, or that market them for home use, which isn't currently allowed.

You can contact NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris at rharris@npr.org.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

; Credit: Fanatic Studio/Gary Waters/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

There has been a rise in the number of minors contacting the National Sexual Assault Hotline to report abuse. That's according to RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, which runs the hotline.

By the end of March, with much of the country under lockdown, there was a 22% increase in monthly calls from people younger than 18, and half of all incoming contacts were from minors. That's a first in RAINN's history, Camille Cooper, the organization's vice president of public policy, tells NPR.

Of those young people who contacted the hotline in March, 67% identified their perpetrator as a family member and 79% said they were currently living with that perpetrator. In 1 out of 5 cases where the minor was living with their abuser, RAINN assisted the minor in immediately contacting police.

"As a result of looking at the information that we had from those sessions, it was clear that the abuse was escalating in both frequency and severity," Cooper says. "So a lot of the kids that were coming to the hotline were feeling pretty vulnerable and traumatized. And it was a direct result of COVID-19, because they were quarantined with their abuser. The abuser was now abusing them on a daily basis."

Lockdown orders are first and foremost public health and safety measures. But statistically speaking, home is not the safest place for every young person. RAINN reports that about 34% of child sexual abusers are family members. Closing schools and canceling youth activities like sports removes children from the watchful eyes of "mandatory reporters" — those trusted adults, like teachers, nurses and child care providers, who are required by law in most states to report suspicions of child abuse or neglect.

However, Cooper says her organization has confirmed with authorities around the country that the child welfare system is still operating during the pandemic. That is, an official report of current and ongoing abuse will still trigger an investigation, and, if necessary, a child will be removed from the home.

"[Child welfare workers] will be coming to the home in person and proceeding with a formal investigation and a child forensic interview and things like that," she says. If the abuse is farther in the past and the child is not quarantined with the accused, Cooper says, the interview may take place over video chat.

In the meantime, RAINN and other child welfare organizations are lobbying to make it easier for children to report abuse. Cooper says, "One of the solutions we came up with that we are now currently working directly with the leadership in Congress on is to get all of the online learning platforms that children are interacting with to have a reporting function on that platform in plain sight for children."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

; Credit: LA Johnson/NPR

When Jessyka Bagdon set out to move her tap dancing classes online, big questions started popping up right away: What about kids who don't own their own tap shoes? How to tap dance at home without ruining the floor?

And then came the really big challenge: Online programs like Zoom are designed for meetings, not dance classes. "They're made to pick up voices," she explains, not the clickety clack of tap-dancing shoes. "So how do we make the system not filter out our tap sounds as background noise?"

So Blagdon, an instructor at 'Knock on Wood Tap Studio' in Washington, D.C., set about problem-solving. No tap shoes? Turns out Mary Jane flats work well. Saving the floor? A piece of plywood does the trick.And that muffled sound over Zoom? Blagdon says fiddling around with some computer settings can help.

In the nation's capital, like the rest of the country, kids cooped up at home for weeks now are craving both physical activity and the mental and creative challenges that extracurricular activities bring. And ballet instructors, soccer coaches and piano teachers — just to name a few — are finding the shutdown every bit as complicated as schools moving academic lessons online.

As their counterparts in schools are finding every day, it's really difficult to explain — watching on a screen — to children in a painting class exactly how to hold the brush to get the right effect. Or to align a young karate student's body just so, for a proper sidekick.

Nevertheless, coaches and instructors are finding creative ways of keeping children active and engaged.

Weeks in, Bagdon says she still has the occasional bump but not always because of technology.

"Emmy, how come you're not dancing with us, my friend?" she asks one 5-year-old who has wandered off screen during class. Her student Emeline has a perfectly valid response, "Sometimes I go to drink a glass of milk!"

For student athletes looking ahead to a summer of meets, games and matches, and the companionship of their friends and teammates, the shutdown is frustrating.

Ava Morales, 16, of Bethesda, Md., was excited about showing off her skills this month in front of hundreds of college recruiters. But instead of being in Arizona, she's stuck at home and can't even see her teammates.

"We're all best friends," she says. "So it's heartbreaking we can't spend time together and that our season is basically cancelled." The online activities are comforting, she says, because it helps keep all her team motivated.

In the Washington area, 60 local soccer clubs have joined together in a new group called DMV United. And they've made a pledge that, during the shutdown, coaches won't engage in recruiting activities.

Tommy Park, with the Alexandria Soccer Association in Virginia, says coaches have shared different online workouts as well as apps that focus on specific soccer skills.

"The apps allow you to log how many juggles you have on the ball in a row and then log that," Park explains. "Maybe you can only get five the first time and then you see your teammates at eight. So try to get nine and you see all of your teammates progress."

Some players are reviewing championship games on video, or making Instagram videos of soccer tricks; others are reading about sports psychology.

But Matt Libber with the Maryland SoccerPlex is clear, this can never replace the adrenaline rush of actually being on the field.

And he worries about some of those bigger lessons kids are missing out on, like the importance of losing sometimes.

"Competing online or through Instagram, yeah, you're losing but you're not losing," he says. A big part of what he and other coaches teach, he says, are "some of those life lessons that, you know, if you learn them as a kid, it makes being an adult so much easier."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

(Stock photo); Credit: Meathead Movers/flickr Creative Commons

As of today, KPCC is moving Breakdown coverage to our main business page, where you will find KPCC’s ongoing news and information about Southern California business and the economy.

As a result, the Breakdown blog will no longer be updated. All previous Breakdown posts will remain available here as an archive.

Please let us know if there are issues you feel merit coverage. You can comment below, by email, on our Facebook page or on our Twitter feed (just "@" mention @KPCC).

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Scammers rehash old campaigns, create credit card-stealing websites and repurpose information channels to milk the COVID-19 crisis for all it's worth

The post It’s no time to let your guard down as coronavirus fraud remains a threat appeared first on WeLiveSecurity

There is a wide range of systems for assessing and communicating the sustainability of buildings, but the variation can be confusing. Recent research has analysed the elements needed for effective assessment and examined the needs of stakeholders to inform the presentation and communication of assessment results.

Twitter is warning users impersonating unsupported browsers to enable the original site theme that the legacy version will be shut down on June 1st, 2020. [...]

The flurry of transactions show the tycoon's ambitions to pivot Reliance Industries into an Indian technology titan are going into hyperdrive

The headcount has now come down from more than 1,000 employees a year ago, with the majority of job cuts in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak that forced shutdowns in the February-April period. The headcount comprises staff on the company’s rolls as well as those on contract and outsourced manpower.

Several of Federal Bank’s digital initiatives are finally seeing massive adoption as the Kochi-based bank works on automation and self service tools to boost profits.

Several of Federal Bank’s digital initiatives are finally seeing massive adoption as the Kochi-based bank works on automation and self service tools to boost profits.

The uncertain economic climate has severely affected companies’ decisions on whether to renew Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) certification in Spain, a recent survey indicates. The study suggests that a company is less likely to renew if initial certification was mainly motivated by government subsidies and grants than if certification is believed to improve business performance.

Hari Menon pointed out that deliveries were largely constrained due to lack of on-ground staff that had left cities in large numbers prior to the lockdown

“Gaming traffic has increased by 50% in the last few weeks, with doubling of traffic in video streaming and collaborative work apps like Skype, Teams and Zoom,” said Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX International, which runs an internet exchange in Mumbai.

Online retailers such as Myntra and Tjori have their consumer engagement teams working on to engage their customers till the time the lockdown eases.

A Crisil note said due to the aggressive play by the telcos, the number of subscribers has stagnated at 19 million since 2016. Till now, the lower speed 4G served the purpose for people due to affordable smartphones, it noted. "But now, subscriptions to fixed broadband, especially in the urban areas, have surged because millions are working from home...," it said.

The criminal minds too have evolved during this pandemic. While there has been a significant drop in number of heinous crimes in city, cybercrime cases have spiked since lockdown.

There has been a significant increase in cybercrime against women, especially sextortion, during the COVID-19-induced lockdown with "caged criminals" targeting them online, say experts.

The US government’s massive $2-trillion stimulus is expected to provide liquidity to companies, including banking and financial services that are the biggest outsourcers of IT. Infosys gets 31% of its revenue from banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI).

Sharing more details of the same, an official Spokesman said that as per the latest MHA Guidelines, activities in a region shall be allowed based on the risk profiling of the region/districts into Red (Hotspots), Orange, and Green zones. ​​In the Orange zone IT/ITES would be allowed to carry out their activities with staff strength of 50 percent.

Companies like Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Haier and Godrej Appliance are leveraging Livechat, WhatsApp, DIY video as well as on-call assistance, and helping remotely on real time basis as their service centres are closed in compliance with the government directives.

The application roped in qualified doctors and medical professionals to furnish authentic corona-related information and bust myths around the same.

There are more than 30,000 microwave ovens, AC and washing machines which needs repair at a time when Indians are locked indoors and doing household chores themselves due to the lockdown.

“We request for your kind direction to the MHA on this very important recommendation from the industry which is duly considered and approved by the crisis management structure set up you – the Empowered Group of Technology and Data Management,” India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo wrote in the letter.

The decline in growth rate is likely because enterprises relook at their buying decisions owing to increased focus on profitability, said IDC's report.

The UK government on Friday launched a new virtual cyber security school aimed at encouraging teenagers to learn new skills while stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. As part of the free lessons, youngsters can learn how to crack codes, fix security flaws and dissect criminals' digital trails while progressing through a game as a cyber agent.

Zoom was the most downloaded non-game app worldwide for April 2020 with close to 131 million installs, a 60x growth from April 2019

Maitrey Modha of CNH Industrial says IoT companies would need to come up with customized solutions based on each type of manufacturing process.

The flurry of transactions show the tycoon's ambitions to pivot Reliance Industries into an Indian technology titan are going into hyperdrive

The headcount has now come down from more than 1,000 employees a year ago, with the majority of job cuts in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak that forced shutdowns in the February-April period. The headcount comprises staff on the company’s rolls as well as those on contract and outsourced manpower.

Zoom was the most downloaded non-game app worldwide for April 2020 with close to 131 million installs, a 60x growth from April 2019

A recent study, which assessed 100 streams across Europe, reveals that a key ecosystem process, leaf litter breakdown, is slowed when nutrient concentrations in the water are either very low or very high, has the highest potential at moderate nutrient concentrations and is inhibited in heavily polluted waters, implying that the relationship between nutrient levels and ecosystem processes, such as leaf litter breakdown, is complex. The researchers suggest that including an assessment of the functioning of ecosystem processes can make an important contribution to the overall evaluation of stream health.

Britain’s freshwater ecosystems are on the brink of an invasional meltdown, a new study concludes. Examining 23 freshwater species from south-east Europe, researchers investigated whether individual species in the group would ‘pave the way’ for others, resulting in a rapid increase in establishment of invasive species. The results showed that 76% of the interactions between the species were positive or neutral, highlighting the possibility of severe consequences for Britain’s freshwater ecosystems.

Conservation on private land in Poland is supported by less than half of landowners, a new study suggests. The authors conclude that both conservation agencies and landowners could benefit from voluntary conservation schemes, financial incentives and more participatory decision-making processes, while civic organisations could play a vital coordinating role.

A growing body of evidence suggests that endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) are contributing to declines in fertility. This case-control study found that EDCs were associated with changes to sex hormones and risk of subfertility in men. The researchers say environmental levels of these chemicals should be reduced to protect male fertility.

Poisoned bait is a major threat to endangered bird species in Europe. The LIFE+ VENENO project was set up to tackle this problem in Spain, developing an action plan for eradication of the illegal use of poison and protocols for law enforcement. As well as improving the prosecution of illegal poisoning in Spain, LIFE+ VENENO provides a useful model for other European countries.

The median list price of homes on the market in the U.S. is slightly higher than a year ago

The post Global shutdown could spark Australian manufacturing revival appeared first on The Lead SA.

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. ˗˗  CSX will close Lansdowne Road in Fredericksburg to through traffic on Monday, Nov. 12 through early  Saturday, Nov. 17  to...

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