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RNA helicase-regulated processing of the Synechocystis rimO-crhR operon results in differential cistron expression and accumulation of two sRNAs [Gene Regulation]

The arrangement of functionally-related genes in operons is a fundamental element of how genetic information is organized in prokaryotes. This organization ensures coordinated gene expression by co-transcription. Often, however, alternative genetic responses to specific stress conditions demand the discoordination of operon expression. During cold temperature stress, accumulation of the gene encoding the sole Asp–Glu–Ala–Asp (DEAD)-box RNA helicase in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, crhR (slr0083), increases 15-fold. Here, we show that crhR is expressed from a dicistronic operon with the methylthiotransferase rimO/miaB (slr0082) gene, followed by rapid processing of the operon transcript into two monocistronic mRNAs. This cleavage event is required for and results in destabilization of the rimO transcript. Results from secondary structure modeling and analysis of RNase E cleavage of the rimO–crhR transcript in vitro suggested that CrhR plays a role in enhancing the rate of the processing in an auto-regulatory manner. Moreover, two putative small RNAs are generated from additional processing, degradation, or both of the rimO transcript. These results suggest a role for the bacterial RNA helicase CrhR in RNase E-dependent mRNA processing in Synechocystis and expand the known range of organisms possessing small RNAs derived from processing of mRNA transcripts.




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Case 3: Term Infant With Severe Respiratory Failure




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Case 2: Mysterious Hyperkalemia in a Premature Infant of 25 Weeks Gestation




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Case 1: Neonatal Trauma Following Motor Vehicle Collision in Pregnancy




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Seismic imaging of melanges; Pieniny Klippen Belt case study

The authors present results of the first high-resolution deep seismic reflection survey in the Pieniny Klippen Belt (PKB) in Poland. This survey sheds new light on the matter of olistostromes and the mélange character of the PKB. The sedimentary mass-transport deposits represented by olistoliths and olistostromes manifest themselves by different petrophysical parameters of rocks (velocity, density and resistivity) and seismic attributes. Seismic attributes are very effective in the interpretation of the geology of complex mélanges. The authors used selected attributes: low-pass filter, energy, energy gradient, dip-steered median filter, Prewitt filter, Laplacian edge enhancing filter and square root of the energy gradient. These attributes emphasize changes of the seismic image inside mélange zones. The distinguished olistoliths are now inside imbricated thrust structures and they are tectonically rearranged. Polygenetic mélanges in the PKB originated as a result of sedimentary and tectonic processes. The PKB in the investigated area forms several north-vergent thrust sheets belonging to the Złatne and Hulina nappes. Both nappes contain large chaotic, non-reflective olistoliths as well as the smaller mainly high-reflective olistoliths. Olistoliths are arranged parallel to the flysch layering and thrusts. The results presented confirm the postulated two olistostrome belts within the PKB structure.

Thematic collection: This article is part of the Polygenetic mélanges collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/polygenetic-melanges




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Layering and structural inheritance controls on fault zone structure in three dimensions: a case study from the northern Molasse Basin, Switzerland

Mechanical heterogeneity of a sedimentary sequence exerts a primary control on the geometry of fault zones and the proportion of offset accommodated by folding. The Wildensbuch Fault Zone in the Swiss Molasse Basin, with a maximum throw of 40 m, intersects a Mesozoic section containing a thick (120 m) clay-dominated unit (Opalinus Clay) over- and underlain by more competent limestone units. Interpretation of a 3D seismic reflection survey indicates that the fault zone formed by upward propagation of an east–west-trending basement structure, through the Mesozoic section, in response to NE–SW Miocene extension. This configuration formed an array of left-stepping normal fault segments above and below the Opalinus Clay. In cross-section a broad monoclinal fold is observed in the Opalinus Clay. Folding, however, is not ubiquitous and occurs in the Opalinus Clay where fault segments above and below are oblique to one another; where they are parallel the fault passes through the Opalinus Clay with little folding. These observations demonstrate that, even in strongly heterogeneous sequences, here a four-fold difference in both Young's modulus and cohesion between layers, the occurrence of folding may depend on the local relationship between fault geometry and applied stress field rather than rheological properties alone.




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Risk of MS relapse after yellow fever vaccination: A self-controlled case series

Objective

To determine whether live-attenuated yellow fever vaccine (YFV) was associated with MS relapse, we evaluated the clinical courses of 23 patients in the year before and the year after immunization at the university hospital of Geneva, Switzerland.

Methods

This self-controlled retrospective cohort included adult patients with MS receiving YFV between 2014 and 2018 and defined the year before vaccination, the 3 months thereafter, and the 9 months following as the pre-exposure (PEP), exposure-risk (ERP), and postrisk (PRP) periods, respectively. The primary outcome was the relative incidence of relapse in the ERP vs the PEP. Secondary end points included the presence of new T2-weighted (T2) or T1-weighted gadolinium-positive (T1Gd+) MRI lesions.

Results

Of 23 patients with MS receiving YFV (20 relapsing MS and 3 primary progressive MS), 17 (74%) were women; mean age was 34 years (SD ±10); and 10 of 23 (40%) were treated with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs). Although 9 patients experienced 12 relapses in the PEP, only one experienced a relapse in the ERP; 3 other patients experienced one relapse each in the PRP. None of the 8 patients receiving natalizumab at the time of vaccination experienced relapse thereafter. In the PEP, ERP, and PRP, 18, 2, and 9 patients had new brain and/or spinal cord lesions on T2 or T1Gd + MRI, respectively.

Conclusions

In this cohort, YF vaccination was associated with neither an increase in MS relapse nor emergence of brain and/or spinal lesions. Further studies are warranted to confirm these findings.

Classification of evidence

This study provides Class IV evidence that for persons with MS, YFV may not increase relapse risk.




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A case study for identification of organic-silt bottom sediments in an artificial lake formed in gravel alluvium in the geotourism locality of Slnecne Jazera in Senec (Bratislava, Slovakia)

This case study aims to identify the cubic capacity and geometry of the geological body of silt–organic sediments in the environment of a former gravel pit situated in a drainless depression of the alluvium of the Čierna voda River. It is located in the well-known geotourism locality of Slnečné Jazera in Senec, in the SW of Slovakia. To identify the body, electrical resistivity tomography was combined with the use of sonar. The research shows that this approach is appropriate for a number of activities that are subjects of engineering-geological investigations. The cubic capacity and geometry of specific aqueous engineering-geological environments must be determined in connection with the need for the management, control, quantification and extraction of selected sedimentary bodies. In addition, the management of sustainable development of reservoirs, sedimentation basins, industrial ponds, settling pits and natural pools for recreation (the subject of the case study) is important to control the limit amounts of sediments in such environments. The results of this study may be applied in analogous engineering-geological conditions. The drainless depression Slnečné Jazera contained a body of silt–organic sediments amounting to 23 000 m3 (41 Olympic-size pools of 25 m x 12.5 m x 1.8 m). The maximum thickness of the bottom sediments was about 6.3 m on the alluvium with an articulated morphology owing to the submerged digging of gravel. The proposed approach improved the control of extraction of the sedimentary body and optimized the engineering-geological conditions in this geotourism locality.




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Stability analyses of large waste dumps via 3D numerical modelling considering cracks and earthquake loading: a case study of Zhujiabaobao waste dump

This paper uses a 3D model for stability assessment of Zhujiabaobao waste dump with ground cracks. The study data were gathered via reconnaissance, geomorphological analysis and laboratory experiment. A 3D finite extended element method model that can consider cracks was then used to calculate the factor of safety (FOS) of the waste dump via the strength reduction technique. The simulation shows the dump to have an FOS of 1.22 and both the position and depth of penetration of cracks in the waste dump have a crucial impact on the stability of the slope. Because the study area is located in a seismically active area, simulation and analysis of the dynamic response of the waste dump under different magnitudes of seismic waves (peak acceleration is 0.05, 0.15, 0.25 and 0.45g) were performed via an explicit dynamic model. The simulation shows that high steps in the slope are particularly responsive to earthquakes. The approach used here for analysing stability under static and dynamic loads is useful for hazard prevention and mitigation.




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Closing the Brief Case: Mold Infection of an Indwelling Cranial Device--a Perplexing Combination of "Classic" Laboratory Findings [The Brief Case]




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The Brief Case: Mold Infection of an Indwelling Cranial Device--a Perplexing Combination of "Classic" Laboratory Findings [The Brief Case]




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Case 4: Unexpected Rash in a 12-year-old Girl




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Case 3: Polyuria and Polydipsia in an 11-year-old Boy




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Case 2: Diarrhea and Petechiae in an 8-year-old Girl




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Case 1: Progressive Dysphagia in a Teenager with Down Syndrome




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Visual Diagnosis: A Case of Stretchy Skin and Vascular Abnormalities




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Investigating the Effects of the Chemical Composition on Glass Corrosion: A Case Study for Type I Vials

Glass is the favorite material for parenteral packaging because of its physico-chemical properties. Type I borosilicate glass is worldwide use at this scope, but it may have some issues related to breakage, corrosion and delamination that might compromise the drug quality, safety and efficacy. These issues can be mitigated and avoided starting from the appropriate selection of the most suitable raw material at the early stage of the glass container design. In this study, Type I borosilicate glass vials manufactured using two glass tubes having different chemical compositions, were studied and compared in terms of their resistance to corrosion. Testing design was applied with the aim to select the best practice approach comparing different storage simulation conditions: ageing treatment through autoclaving and stability testing (real-time and accelerated). Clear differences were found between the different glass types in terms of hydrolytic and corrosion resistance that highlighted the relation between chemical composition and glass chemical durability. Non-negligible differences were also observed using different storage conditions.




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Characterization of response and corneal events with extended follow-up after belantamab mafodotin (GSK2857916) monotherapy for patients with relapsed multiple myeloma: a case series from the first-time-in-human clinical trial




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Caseum: a Niche for Mycobacterium tuberculosis Drug-Tolerant Persisters [Reviews]

Caseum, the central necrotic material of tuberculous lesions, is a reservoir of drug-recalcitrant persisting mycobacteria. Caseum is found in closed nodules and in open cavities connecting with an airway. Several commonly accepted characteristics of caseum were established during the preantibiotic era, when autopsies of deceased tuberculosis (TB) patients were common but methodologies were limited. These pioneering studies generated concepts such as acidic pH, low oxygen tension, and paucity of nutrients being the drivers of nonreplication and persistence in caseum. Here we review widely accepted beliefs about the caseum-specific stress factors thought to trigger the shift of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to drug tolerance. Our current state of knowledge reveals that M. tuberculosis is faced with a lipid-rich diet rather than nutrient deprivation in caseum. Variable caseum pH is seen across lesions, possibly transiently acidic in young lesions but overall near neutral in most mature lesions. Oxygen tension is low in the avascular caseum of closed nodules and high at the cavity surface, and a gradient of decreasing oxygen tension likely forms toward the cavity wall. Since caseum is largely made of infected and necrotized macrophages filled with lipid droplets, the microenvironmental conditions encountered by M. tuberculosis in foamy macrophages and in caseum bear many similarities. While there remain a few knowledge gaps, these findings constitute a solid starting point to develop high-throughput drug discovery assays that combine the right balance of oxygen tension, pH, lipid abundance, and lipid species to model the profound drug tolerance of M. tuberculosis in caseum.




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Importation of Extensively Drug-Resistant Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhi Cases in Ontario, Canada [Susceptibility]

A strain of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi has caused a large ongoing outbreak in Pakistan since 2016. In Ontario, Canada, 10 cases of mainly bloodstream infections (n = 9) were identified in patients who traveled to Pakistan. Whole-genome sequencing showed that Canadian cases were genetically related to the Pakistan outbreak strain. The appearance of XDR typhoid cases in Ontario prompted a provincial wide alert to physicians to recommend treatment with carbapenems or azithromycin in suspected typhoid cases with travel history to Pakistan.




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The Novel Macrolide Resistance Genes mef(D), msr(F), and msr(H) Are Present on Resistance Islands in Macrococcus canis, Macrococcus caseolyticus, and Staphylococcus aureus [Mechanisms of Resistance]

Chromosomal resistance islands containing the methicillin resistance gene mecD (McRImecD) have been reported in Macrococcus caseolyticus. Here, we identified novel macrolide resistance genes in Macrococcus canis on similar elements, called McRImsr. These elements were also integrated into the 3' end of the 30S ribosomal protein S9 gene (rpsI), delimited by characteristic attachment (att) sites, and carried a related site-specific integrase gene (int) at the 5' end. They carried novel macrolide resistance genes belonging to the msr family of ABC subfamily F (ABC-F)-type ribosomal protection protein [msr(F) and msr(H)] and the macrolide efflux mef family [mef(D)]. Highly related mef(D)-msr(F) fragments were found on diverse McRImsr elements in M. canis, M. caseolyticus, and Staphylococcus aureus. Another McRImsr-like element identified in an M. canis strain lacked the classical att site at the 3' end and carried the msr(H) gene but no neighboring mef gene. The expression of the novel resistance genes in S. aureus resulted in a low-to-moderate increase in the MIC of erythromycin but not streptogramin B. In the mef(D)-msr(F) operon, the msr(F) gene was shown to be the crucial determinant for macrolide resistance. The detection of circular forms of McRImsr and the mef(D)-msr(F) fragment suggested mobility of both the island and the resistance gene subunit. The discovery of McRImsr in different Macrococcus species and S. aureus indicates that these islands have a potential for dissemination of antibiotic resistance within the Staphylococcaceae family.




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Tumoral and immune heterogeneity in an anti-PD-1-responsive glioblastoma: a case study [RESEARCH REPORT]

Clinical benefit of immune checkpoint blockade in glioblastoma (GBM) is rare, and we hypothesize that tumor clonal evolution and the immune microenvironment are key determinants of response. Here, we present a detailed molecular characterization of the intratumoral and immune heterogeneity in an IDH wild-type, MGMT-negative GBM patient who plausibly benefited from anti-PD-1 therapy with an unusually long 25-mo overall survival time. We leveraged multiplex immunohistochemistry, RNA-seq, and whole-exome data from the primary tumor and three resected regions of recurrent disease to survey regional tumor-immune interactions, genomic instability, mutation burden, and expression profiles. We found significant regional heterogeneity in the neoantigenic and immune landscape, with a differential T-cell signature among recurrent sectors, a uniform loss of focal amplifications in EGFR, and a novel subclonal EGFR mutation. Comparisons with recently reported correlates of checkpoint blockade in GBM and with TCGA-GBM revealed appreciable intratumoral heterogeneity that may have contributed to a differential PD-1 blockade response.




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A Case of Euglycemic Diabetic Ketoacidosis Triggered by a Ketogenic Diet in a Patient With Type 2 Diabetes Using a Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitor




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Assessing Cancer Treatment Information Using Medicare and Hospital Discharge Data among Women with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in a Los Angeles County Case-Control Study

Background:

We assessed the ability to supplement existing epidemiologic/etiologic studies with data on treatment and clinical outcomes by linking to publicly available cancer registry and administrative databases.

Methods:

Medical records were retrieved and abstracted for cases enrolled in a Los Angeles County case–control study of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Cases were linked to the Los Angeles County cancer registry (CSP), the California state hospitalization discharge database (OSHPD), and the SEER-Medicare database. We assessed sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV) of cancer treatment in linked databases, compared with medical record abstraction.

Results:

We successfully retrieved medical records for 918 of 1,004 participating NHL cases and abstracted treatment for 698. We linked 59% of cases (96% of cases >65 years old) to SEER-Medicare and 96% to OSHPD. Chemotherapy was the most common treatment and best captured, with the highest sensitivity in SEER-Medicare (80%) and CSP (74%); combining all three data sources together increased sensitivity (92%), at reduced specificity (56%). Sensitivity for radiotherapy was moderate: 77% with aggregated data. Sensitivity of BMT was low in the CSP (42%), but high for the administrative databases, especially OSHPD (98%). Sensitivity for surgery reached 83% when considering all three datasets in aggregate, but PPV was 60%. In general, sensitivity and PPV for chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma were low.

Conclusions:

Chemotherapy was accurately captured by all data sources. Hospitalization data yielded the highest performance values for BMTs. Performance measures for radiotherapy and surgery were moderate.

Impact:

Various administrative databases can supplement epidemiologic studies, depending on treatment type and NHL subtype of interest.




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Prayagraj Murder Case: शवों की हालत बयां कर रही थी दरिंदगी की दास्तां, दहल गए ग्रामीण

मांडा के आधी गांव में एक साथ तीन हत्याओं से सनसनी फैल गई। मौके पर पहुंचे ग्रामीणों ने तीनों शवों की हालत देखी तो उनका कलेजा मुंह को आ गया। कमरे में किशोरी की लाश पड़ी थी और चारपाई खून से सनी हुई थी। उधर, बाहर मिले पति-पत्नी के शव के आसपास भी काफी...




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More than 900 COVID-19 cases at Cargill plant, but governments allow it to reopen

Karl Nerenberg

Cargill Incorporated is the largest privately held company in the United States, and that means it is essentially a family business. 

You cannot buy Cargill shares on the Toronto, New York or any other stock exchange. The descendants of William Cargill, who founded the company in 1865 as a grain storage operation, own 90 per cent of the company.

But if it is a family business, Cargill is no mom-and-pop operation. 

The company has grown over the past century and a half into a multi-tentacled corporate behemoth, involved in everything from grain to livestock to potash to steel to transport to financial services. In 2018, Cargill and its various subsidiaries reported revenues of over $110 billion

Cargill has operations on five continents, in more than 70 countries, including Canada, and the company's meat-packing plant in High River, Alberta is a tiny piece of that worldwide empire. 

In this country, however, the High River plant has an extremely high profile. It is one of the epicentres of COVID-19 in Canada -- in all of North America, in fact -- with over 900 reported cases out of 2,000 employees. That's almost half the workforce.  

Two people have died in connection with the Cargill outbreak -- one, a plant worker originally from Vietnam; the other, an infected plant worker's father, who had been visiting from the Philippines.

Cargill initially resisted pleas from workers and their union to close the plant, but finally relented, in late April. After only two weeks, it hastily reopened, on Monday, May 4, giving the largely immigrant workforce the Hobson's choice of either going back to a potentially fatal workplace or losing their jobs. 

Neither the workers, nor their union think the plant has become safe. 

The union, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), has gone to court to force a shutdown, until Cargill can absolutely guarantee safe and healthy conditions for all employees. 

The UFCW does not think the notoriously low-paid plant workers should have to risk their lives to fatten the balance sheet of a U.S.-based transnational corporation that ranks number 15 on the Fortune 500. 

Kenney and Trump on the same wavelength

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has a different view from that of the union and the workers it represents. 

The premier, and former Harper Conservative government cabinet minister, appropriates a concept meant to describe access to necessary basic foodstuffs we all need for sustenance – food security – and applies it to the much different situation of the High River plant. The Cargill workers have to do their part, the Alberta premier argues, to ensure food security for Canadians. 

The truth is that Canada's food security does not depend on meat from Cargill or any other commercial operation. 

If our local butcher runs out of hamburger for the barbecue, we all have other nutritious options. There are, for instance, the protein-packed pulses -- chickpeas, lentils and the like -- that farmers in Saskatchewan grow in great quantity. 

In the U.S., as in Canada, COVID-19 has been particularly hard on the meat-packing industry, forcing more than 20 plant closures, and causing meat shortages on grocery shelves. Some fast food chains have even had to take hamburgers off the menu. 

Corporate executives in the meat industry told U.S. President Trump that they were reluctant to reopen their U.S.-based plants for fear of lawsuits. The U.S. is a far more litigious country than Canada. 

The president's response was to give the corporations cover, by invoking the U.S. Defense Protection Act (DPA). In effect, the president is forcing the corporations to reopen their plants. 

The purpose of the DPA is to allow a president to harness the resources of private industry to serve public needs in time of war or national emergency. Many have urged Trump to invoke the act to assure production of personal protective equipment for front-line workers during the pandemic, but he has refused. 

Now, Trump is using the extraordinary powers of the DPA to force workers back to dangerous plants, while shielding their bosses from responsibility.

As for the High River Cargill plant workers, they fall under provincial labour jurisdiction. And the Alberta premier has already indicated he will not lift a finger to protect them. But there might be a way that federal authorities could step in.

Jagmeet Singh urges Trudeau government to act

In Canada, it is the federal government that has authority over food safety, and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh believes the Trudeau team should assertively use that power to protect the Cargill workers.

Singh put the question to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland during the House of Commons' weekly face-to-face session on Wednesday, May 6.

"Food safety and worker safety cannot be divorced," Singh told the House. "Will the government ensure that the Cargill workers are in safe work conditions?"

Freeland, in a manner all-too-typical of Liberal politicians, dissimulated, offering sympathy but no action.

"The member opposite is quite right that where the federal government has particular authority in food processing is to guarantee the safety of the foods processed there for Canadians to eat," she said, and then expressed some vague sentiments of concern. "When it comes to Cargill and food processing, I agree with the member opposite that it's something we all need to be particularly concerned about, and we have been."

The NDP leader was not satisfied. 

"Will the government commit to using the authority that it has under food safety to ensure that workers are also safe, because there's no way that food can truly be safe if workers are in dangerous conditions and if workers are contracting COVID-19?" Singh asked, adding: "If workers are dying, the food can't be safe."

Freeland would not budge. The Trudeau government wants to get credit for caring, without pushing the envelope in dealing with the most prickly and confrontational provincial government in the country, Alberta's. 

"I think we all understand there is a very clear difference between the duty to inspect food which is produced and to ensure that that food is safe for Canadians, and even more sacred duty to ensure that workers are working in safe conditions," Freeland answered. "We take both of those extremely seriously and we are aware what falls specifically in our jurisdictions. Having said that, we care very much about all Canadian workers." 

Freeland's assertion that responsibility for the safety of a product that consumers eat does not include making sure a processing plant is not an active breeder of a deadly virus reflects a narrow and limited understanding of the federal role. 

There is no evidence of food borne transmission of COVID-19, or of food packaging carrying the virus, according to authorities in both the U.S. and Canada.

But experts have not always got it right about COVID-19 since the outbreak at the beginning of this year. At this stage, all we know for sure is that there remain many unanswered questions about it.

'The worst company in the world'

What is not in doubt is the kind of company we're dealing with. 

Not too long ago the U.S. environmental organization Mighty Earth undertook a study of the social and environmental impact of Cargill's operations and issued a report they called "The Worst Company in the World."

The report opens by stating "when it comes to addressing the most important problems facing our world, including the destruction of the natural environment, the pollution of our air and water, the warming of the globe, the displacement of Indigenous peoples, child labor, and global poverty, Cargill is not only consistently in last place, but is driving these problems at a scale that dwarfs their closest competitors."

The report details how Cargill has become more powerful than governments and has betrayed repeated promises to adhere to high environmental standards. 

"Nowhere is Cargill's pattern of deception and destruction more apparent than in its participation in the destruction of the lungs of the planet, the world's forests. Despite repeated and highly publicized promises to the contrary, Cargill has continued to bulldoze ancient ecosystems, sometimes within the bounds of lax laws -- and, too often, outside those bounds as well."

With the advent to power of virulently anti-environmental Trump in the U.S. and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, there is now virtually no limit, Mighty Earth says, to Cargill's capacity to ravage rainforests, savannahs and other vital habitats. 

Mighty Earth cites many examples. 

One of those is that of "the Gran Chaco, a 110-million-hectare ecosystem spanning Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay." 

This ecosystem "is one of the largest remaining continuous tracts of native vegetation in South America, second in size only to the Amazon rainforest. These forests are home to vibrant communities of Indigenous Peoples … who have depended on and coexisted with the Chaco forest for millennia."

Cargill, the report tells us, is now actively endangering both the people and other inhabitants of the Gran Chaco to produce a cash crop -- soy -- that feeds the animals which become Big Macs and Whoppers.

"Once the impenetrable stronghold of creatures like the screaming hairy armadillo, the jaguar, and the giant anteater, Cargill has infiltrated the Gran Chaco, bulldozing and burning to make way for vast fields of genetically modified soy."

Mighty Earth also documents Cargill's use of violence to subdue Indigenous peoples, its exploitative labour practices, including child labour, and its predatory practices that have driven competitors out of certain businesses. 

This is the company that Jason Kenney says must be allowed to operate, uninhibited by health concerns, to assure our food security. 

If you believe that, you might also believe that injecting bleach into your veins can cure COVID-19, or that, as many opinion leaders in the U.S. say, it is necessary to accept that thousands must die in the interests of what they call the economy. 

The owners of Cargill are not personally offering to sacrifice their lives. They are offering their employees' lives instead.

Karl Nerenberg has been a journalist and filmmaker for more than 25 years. He is rabble's politics reporter.

Image: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr

 





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Aspiring young filmmakers invited to enter Windsor showcase

If you're 13 to 24 years old and love to make movies, you'll want to enter the Windsor Youth Short Film Showcase next week. Organizer Gemma Eva says the project is meant to spotlight local "Gen-Z filmmakers."




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QAnon Nuts Euphoric Over Latest Turn in Michael Flynn’s Legal Case

Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/Getty

Roy “Captain Roy D” Davis has devoted much of the last three years to the QAnon conspiracy theory, writing books pitching the concept to new fans and getting his car repainted with an enormous “Q” on the hood. Through it all, he’s been utterly convinced that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn—a central figure to much of the Q community—was the victim of an anti-Trump cabal orchestrated by the leaders of the deep state. He corresponded with other Flynn supporters following his legal case, and donated proceeds from one of his books to Flynn’s legal fund. 

So when Davis saw on Thursday that the Justice Department would drop its charges against Flynn for lying to the FBI, Davis was euphoric.

“He’s a hero of mine,” Davis said. “I wouldn’t do all of these things just out of the blue.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.




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In Flynn Case, Barr Again Takes Aim at Mueller Inquiry

The Justice Department's move was the latest example of the attorney general's effort to chisel away at the special counsel investigation and emphasize an alternate narrative.




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Map: Confirmed coronavirus cases, worldwide

More than 3.9 million people have been sickened and more than 270,000 killed by the coronavirus around the world. This map is updated daily.




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RPGCast – Episode 355: “Break Glass In Case Of Sub Loss”

Gamescom has wrapped up but we’re just getting started! Final Fantasy XII remaster rumors and eczema outbreaaks were leading the headlines, but Blizzard, not one...




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Nearly 90 coronavirus cases reported at Polyus unit in Siberia




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‘Every stone will be uncovered’: how Georgia officials failed the Ahmaud Arbery case

Systemic flaws within Glynn county’s district attorney offices led to a lack of action against the men involved in this ‘modern lynching’In the days and weeks after Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed, multiple Glynn county law enforcement officials failed to thoroughly investigate his death and, in one case, refused to allow police officers to make arrests, the Guardian has learned.Arbery, 25, was jogging through the neighborhood just outside Brunswick, Georgia, on 23 February when he was shot dead by two white men. Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were charged with murder and aggravated assault on Thursday evening, after graphic video footage of the killing was released publicly and sparked national outrage.Lawyers for Arbery’s family have called the killing a “modern lynching” and decried the lack of action in the case prior to the release of the video, pointing to racial inequalities in the criminal justice system.In the police report, Gregory McMichael claimed Arbery “violently attacked” his son, who shot Arbery in self defense.Jackie Johnson, the Glynn county district attorney, refused to allow police officers who responded to arrest the two men, Glynn county commissioner Peter Murphy told the Guardian in a phone call on Friday.The police department was put in touch with one of Johnson’s assistant district attorneys after the shooting, but Johnson made the decision not to charge the father and son, the former having worked in her office for more than 20 years, Murphy said.“The police at the scene went to her, saying they were ready to arrest both of them,” Allen Booker, the Glynn county district 5 commissioner, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday. “These were the police at the scene who had done the investigation. She shut them down to protect her friend McMichael.”Days later, Johnson recused herself. Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. By 27 February, George Barnhill, the Waycross judicial district attorney, and the second of three DAs on the case, took over. Less than 24 hours after seeing the video and evidence compiled by the police, Murphy said, Barnhill decided to not charge the McMichaels.“And so within 24 hours the Glynn county police had been told by two separate DA offices not to make any arrests,” Murphy said. “And obviously, they want to assume no responsibility for their actions.”On 2 April, Barnhill sent an email to law enforcement authorities saying the 25-year-old Arbery had an “apparent aggressive nature” and that his family were “not strangers to the local criminal justice system”.“Arbery’s mental health records & prior convictions help explain his apparent aggressive nature and his possible thought pattern to attack an armed man,” Barnhill said in the email, which was first reported by the New York Times.“What it appears is he was purposely trying to assault the character of the victim and there’s just no reason why,” said Chris Stewart, one of the lawyers representing Arbery’s family.The family have pointed to the McMichaels’ connection to local law enforcement both at the district attorney’s office and police department as evidence of systemic flaws and roadblocks in their search for justice. It was only after the video of Arbery’s death was released this week that the third DA’s office requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) get involved.On Friday, GBI director Vic Reynolds told reporters he could not “answer what another agency did or didn’t see” in the first two months of the investigation.“But I can tell you that based on our involvement in this case and considering the fact we hit the ground running Wednesday morning and within 36 hours we had secured warrants for two individuals for felony murder, I think that speaks volumes for itself.”In a 7 April email sent to the office of Georgia attorney general Chris Carr, Barnhill recused himself because his son worked on a case involving Arbery while working in Johnson’s office.Lee Merritt, one of the lawyers who represents Arbery’s family, said Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, found the connection between Barnhill’s son and her own on Facebook and brought it to the attention of his office.“She followed the links. That’s exactly how it happened,” he said to the Guardian on Friday by phone.According to a police report filed 23 February, Gregory and Travis McMichael grabbed their weapons, a .357 Magnum revolver and a shotgun, jumped into a truck and followed Arbery as he ran.In the email to Carr from early April, Barnhill references a “decent cell phone video of the entire shooting incident”, an apparent reference to the one leaked this week.Reynolds said on Friday that the investigation into the shooting, the video and the person who filmed it, would continue.“Every stone will be uncovered,” Reynolds said.





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For a Georgia Police Force, a Bungled Shooting Case Follows a Trail of Woes

BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- When the Glynn County Police Department arrived at the scene of a fatal shooting in February in southeastern Georgia, officers encountered a former colleague with the victim's blood on his hands.They took down his version of events and let him and his adult son, who had fired the shots, go home.Later that day, Wanda Cooper, the mother of the 25-year-old victim, Ahmaud Arbery, received a call from a police investigator. She recounted later that the investigator said her son had been involved in a burglary and was killed by "the homeowner," an inaccurate version of what had happened.More than two months after that fatal confrontation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which took over the case this week, arrested the former officer, Gregory McMichael, and his son, Travis McMichael, on charges of murder and aggravated assault.The charges -- which came after the release of a graphic video showing the killing as the two white men confront Arbery, who was African American -- made clear the depths of the local department's bungling of the case, which was just the latest in a series of troubling episodes involving its officers.And it was one element of the broader potential breakdown of the justice system in South Georgia. Attorney General Chris Carr, through a spokeswoman, said Friday that he planned to start a review of all of the relevant players in that system.Carr's office has already determined that George E. Barnhill, a district attorney who was assigned the case in February but recused himself late last month, should have never taken it on. Among his many conflicts: His son once worked alongside one of the suspects at the local prosecutor's office.S. Lee Merritt, a lawyer representing Arbery's family, has called for a federal civil rights investigation focused not only on the men who pursued Arbery but also the broader justice system."It's small-town America," Merritt said in an interview Thursday. "Those counties, the law enforcement community there, they know each other well; they recycle officers in between themselves -- it's a very tight-knit community."Over the years, Glynn County police officers have been accused of covering up allegations of misconduct, tampering with a crime scene, interfering in an investigation of a police shooting and retaliating against fellow officers who cooperated with outside investigators.The police chief was indicted days after Arbery's killing on charges related to an alleged cover-up of an officer's sexual relationship with an informant. The chief, John Powell, had been hired to clean up the department, which the Glynn County manager described last fall as suffering from poor training, outdated policies and "a culture of cronyism."The Glynn County force was the sort of department where disciplinary records went missing and where evidence room standards were not maintained, leading the state to strip it of its accreditation.Arbery was killed after the McMichaels confronted him while he was running in the Satilla Shores neighborhood just outside of Brunswick, the Glynn County seat. But neither of the McMichaels was arrested immediately after the slaying, which occurred Feb. 23 about 1 p.m.According to a police report, Gregory McMichael said that he saw Arbery running through his neighborhood and thought that he looked like the suspect in a rash of recent break-ins. McMichael, 64, told authorities that he and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, armed themselves and began chasing him in a truck.Gregory McMichael had been a Glynn County police officer from 1982 to 1989 and later worked as an investigator in the local prosecutor's office, before retiring last year.Darren W. Penn, a lawyer and a department critic, said the Ahmaud Arbery case was "another symptom or sign of a police department that appears willing to protect those that they know."Penn is representing a woman who is suing the department over claims that it failed to intervene with her estranged son-in-law, a Glynn County officer, who killed her daughter, a friend and himself in 2018.County officials and a police spokesman could not be reached Friday for comment.From the start, McMichael's connections to the police department and the prosecutor's office presented other challenges.The first district attorney assigned to the case, Jackie Johnson, recused herself because she had worked with McMichael. The second prosecutor, Barnhill, advised Glynn County police that there was "insufficient probable cause" to issue arrest warrants, according to an internal document.Finally, the case moved to Tom Durden, the district attorney in Georgia's Atlantic Judicial Circuit in Hinesville, who this week formally asked the state bureau of investigation to get involved, according to a GBI statement. A Justice Department spokesperson said this week that the FBI was assisting in the investigation.Bob Coleman, a county commissioner at large, was critical of Johnson, saying she should have given the case to the state attorney general, not Barnhill. After the Georgia Bureau of Investigation made arrests this week, Coleman said, "That's what should have happened a long time ago before the sun went down. They killed a person in the bright sunlight."Glynn County is a marshy coastal corner of Georgia about 300 miles southeast of Atlanta with about 85,000 residents, and is known mostly for its mellow barrier islands and its rich African American coastal culture.Like many Southern communities, its history is studded with racial violence, including three late 19th-century lynchings. Today, the county is about 70% white and 27% black, according to census figures.On Friday, hundreds gathered under the moss-draped trees outside the Glynn County courthouse to protest, arguing that the handling of the case had been botched as months went by without charges."I will never call the Glynn County police to my house!" one of Arbery's aunts said.Mario Baggs, a lifelong resident of Brunswick, said he believed that race was a factor in Arbery's killing, given the unfair treatment black men have long received."The black man is an endangered species," Baggs, 46, said. "We need justice; we need relief; we need the world to pay attention."Yet he also believed that Arbery's case fit into a larger pattern of dysfunction.Over the last decade, the Glynn County Police Department, which has 122 officers, has faced at least 17 lawsuits, including allegations of illegal search and seizure.One suit accused the department of wrongfully killing an unarmed white woman after officers fired through her car windshield. An investigation into that shooting found that Glynn County officers had tried to interfere with the inquiry to protect the officers involved.One of the officers in that shooting later killed his estranged wife and a friend. The wife's mother accused police of ignoring several alarming encounters in the months before the killings.Powell, the police chief, was arrested this year along with three other department officials after an investigation into a disbanded narcotics task force. The inquiry found that Powell had actively tried to shield wrongdoing by the task force. That led to his indictment on charges including violating the oath of office, criminal attempt to commit a felony and influencing a witness.As details of Arbery's death slowly emerged and were reported in The Brunswick News, Arbery's mother, increasingly distraught, called the department. She said that she had been told one thing but that the newspaper had reported something else entirely.Cooper's faith was shaken. "It's hard when you can't really believe what authority tells you, you know?" she said. "When you just cannot believe the people that's supposed to look out for all people. And when you question that, it's not a good feeling."Attempts to reach Gregory McMichael late last month were unsuccessful. In a brief phone conversation late last month, Travis McMichael, who runs a company that gives custom boat tours, declined to comment, citing the continuing investigation.The two men made a brief appearance in Glynn County Magistrate Court on Friday afternoon, but court officials said they did not enter a plea. No information about their lawyers was immediately available.Questions about the handling of Arbery's case extend beyond the police department and to Barnhill, the prosecutor who told police that there was insufficient probable cause to arrest the McMichaels.In an email Barnhill wrote to the state attorney general's office April 7, he asked to be taken off the case, stating that his son, an assistant district attorney in the Brunswick prosecutor's office, had handled a felony probation revocation case involving Arbery. He also said Gregory McMichael had helped with "a previous prosecution of Arbery."Court records show that Arbery was convicted of shoplifting and of violating probation in 2018; according to local news reports, he was indicted five years earlier for taking a handgun to a basketball game.Barnhill's office most recently drew attention beyond south Georgia for its prosecution of a black woman in rural Coffee County who had helped a first-time voter use a voting machine in the 2012 election. In 2018, a jury found the woman not guilty of multiple felonies. Her lawyers called the case "a racially motivated targeted prosecution."J. Peter Murphy, a Glynn County commissioner, on Friday defended the Police Department's decision to make no arrests in the shooting of Arbery. Murphy said the agency had been advised not to make arrests by both Barnhill and officials at the office of Johnson, the district attorney in Brunswick who formally asked to be taken off the case four days after the shooting. Neither prosecutor could be reached for comment."Tell me what the agency did wrong when its men and women were told several times not to arrest anyone?" Murphy said, referring to police. "What were they supposed to do? Cuff these guys and walk them into the jail and have no one prosecute them?"This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company





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Zoe Brock: my case against Harvey Weinstein – podcast

Like dozens of women in the entertainment industry, the actor, model and writer Zoë Brock has claimed she had a traumatic encounter with the film producer Harvey Weinstein. Now she is faced with a settlement offer that she believes would allow him to escape blame for the alleged assaults. Also today: Lily Kuo on the spread of the deadly coronavirus in China

The actor, model and writer Zoë Brock was on a retreat in the New Zealand bush in 2017 when an email pinged into her inbox. It was from a friend sending a link to a breaking news story of allegations against Harvey Weinstein. The claims from several women against the film producer were eerily familiar to an incident that Brock alleges happened to her.

This week, Weinstein goes on trial charged with rape and sexual assault. But for dozens of women with claims against him, their only recourse is to civil courts. Brock tells Anushka Asthana that while she is part of the class action suit against Weinstein, she is deeply unhappy with the terms of the proposed settlement, which she believes would allow him to accept no blame for the allegations.

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Coronavirus Hits U.S. Secret Service Staff with 11 Active Cases, 23 Recoveries and 60 in Quarantine

The service, which protects political leaders including the president, said in March there was only one case, but new documents show that the disease is more widespread than believed.




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Obama Slams Dropping of Michael Flynn Case, Calls White House COVID-19 Response 'Absolute Chaotic Disaster': Report

Audio of a private conversation shows the 44th president's unvarnished views about the former national security adviser's case and the White House's COVID-19 response.




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Microsoft showcases 13 new titles for the Xbox Series X

With conferences canceled indefinitely, companies are increasingly reliant on online events to hype product launches. As they prepare to release a next-gen console before the end of the year, expect plenty of live streams and blogs from both Microsoft and Sony in an attempt to flesh out all that their respective systems have to offer. […]




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U.S. moves to drop case against Trump ex-adviser Flynn, who admitted lying to FBI

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday abruptly asked a judge to drop criminal charges against Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn following mounting pressure from the Republican president and his political allies on the right.




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U.S. CDC reports 1,248,040 coronavirus cases, 75,477 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported 1,248,040 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 28,974 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 2,180 to 75,477.




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SBI Files CBI Case Against Rs 400 Cr Defaulters Missing Since 2016

The case against them has been registered for forgery, cheating, criminal breach of trust and corruption.





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We haven’t identified any new drugs for severe covid-19 cases yet

A number of potential drugs for treating the coronavirus are in trials. There are some promising candidates but it’s unclear if they’ll help those who need them most




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Three new Ebola cases detected in Democratic Republic of the Congo

Fresh cases of Ebola have been detected just days before the deadly epidemic in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo was to be declared over




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Australia sees huge decrease in flu cases due to coronavirus measures

Australia recorded just 229 flu cases this April, compared with 18,705 last April, probably due to lockdown measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus




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SHA considering First Nations, Métis data-sharing for COVID-19 cases

"If we don't have all the information in front of us to help us make decisions, then how do we flatten the curve and stop the spread?"




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U.S. dropping criminal case against ex-Trump adviser Flynn: AP

The U.S. Justice Department is dropping the criminal case against Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, The Associated Press reported on Thursday, citing a court filing.




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Obama says ‘rule of law is at risk’ after DOJ dropped Michael Flynn case

President Obama on Friday reacted to the Justice Department’s move to end its case against Michael Flynn by declaring that the “rule of law is at risk” -- as new details emerge about what the former president knew about the case against Flynn in the last days of his administration.



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Supreme Court tosses out convictions in Bridgegate case

Two officials tied to then-Gov. Chris Christie had been sentenced to prison for their roles in creating massive traffic jams on the N.J.-N.Y. crossing.




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Obama slams DOJ for dropping Flynn case

Former President Barack Obama slammed the Justice Department for abandoning its prosecution of President Trump's ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying it puts "the rule of law is at risk."

Mr. Obama's comments came Friday night while privately talking to ex-members of his administration. A tape of the conversation was ...