Paintings With Indian Flavour

Thanks

Rajendra Vahadane,Hemant Magarde , famous young artist

The Wonderful Teachings of Shirdi Sai Baba

“What is new in the world? Nothing. What is old in the world? Nothing. Everything has always been and will always be.” – Shirdi Sai Baba

Sai Baba of Shirdi, also known as Shirdi Sai Baba, was an Indian spiritual master who was regarded by his devotees as a saint, fakir, and satguru, according to their individual proclivities and beliefs. He was revered by both his Hindu and Muslim devotees and during, as well as after, his life it remained uncertain if he was a Hindu or a Muslim. This, however, was of no consequence to Sai Baba. He stressed the importance of surrender to the true Satguru or Murshid, who, having trod the path to divine consciousness, will lead the disciple through the jungle of spiritual training.

Sai Baba is worshipped by people around the world. He had no love for perishable things and his sole concern was the realization of the self.

He taught a moral code of love, forgiveness, helping others, charity, contentment, inner peace, and devotion to God and guru.

He gave no distinction based on religion or caste. Sai Baba’s teaching combined elements of Hinduism and Islam: he gave the Hindu name Dwarakamayi to the mosque in which he lived, practised Muslim rituals, taught using words and figures that drew from both traditions, and was buried in Shirdi. One of his well-known epigrams, “Sabka Malik Ek” (“One God governs all”), is associated with Hinduism, Islam and Sufism. He also said, “Trust in me and your prayer shall be answered”. He always uttered, “Allah Malik” (“God is King”).

If you are wealthy, be humble. Plants bend when they bear fruit.

Spend money in charity; be generous and munificent but not extravagant.

Whatever creature comes to you, human or otherwise, treat it with consideration.

See the divine in the human being.

There is a wall of separation between oneself and others

and between you and me. Destroy this wall!

I get angry with none.

Will a mother get angry with her children?

Will the ocean send back the waters to several rivers?

What is our duty?

To behave properly. That is enough.

God is not so far away. He is not in the heavens above,

nor in hell below. He is always near you.

If you cannot endure abuse from another,

just say a simple word or two, or else leave.

I stay by the side of whoever repeats my name.

Do not be obsessed with egotism,

imagining that you are the cause of action:

everything is due to God.

Do not fight with anyone,

nor retaliate, nor slander anyone.

All gods are one. There is no difference

between a Hindu and a Muslim.

Mosque and temple are the same.

When you see with your inner eye. Then you realize

that you are God and not different from Him.

To God be the praise.

I am only the slave of God.

Choose friends who will stick to you till the end,

through thick and thin

– Shirdi Sai Baba

Why the ignorant think they’re experts(The Dunning-Kruger effect)

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool,” wrote Shakespeare in As You Like It. Little did he know, but this line perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a type of cognitive bias in which people believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are. Essentially, low ability people do not possess the skills needed to recognize their own incompetence. The combination of poor self-awareness and low cognitive ability leads them to overestimate their own capabilities.

The term lends a scientific name and explanation to a problem that many people immediately recognize—that fools are blind to their own foolishness. As Charles Darwin wrote in his book The Descent of Man, "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge."

An Overview of the Dunning-Kruger Effect

This phenomenon is something you have likely experienced in real life, perhaps around the dinner table at a holiday family gathering. Throughout the course of the meal, a member of your extended family begins spouting off on a topic at length, boldly proclaiming that he is correct and that everyone else's opinion is stupid, uninformed, and just plain wrong. It maybe plainly evident to everyone in the room that this person has no idea what he is talking about, yet he prattles on, blithely oblivious to his own ignorance.

The effect is named after researchers David Dunning and Justin Kruger, the two social psychologists who first described it. In their original study on this psychological phenomenon, they performed a series of four investigations.

People who scored in the lowest percentiles on tests of grammar, humour, and logic also tended to dramatically overestimate how well they had performed (their actual test scores placed them in the 12th percentile, but they estimated that their performance placed them in the 62nd percentile).

The Research

In one experiment, for example, Dunning and Kruger asked their 65 participants to rate how funny different jokes were. Some of the participants were exceptionally poor at determining what other people would find funny—yet these same subjects described themselves as excellent judges of humour.

Incompetent people, the researchers found, are not only poor performers, but they are also unable to accurately assess and recognize the quality of their own work. This is the reason why students who earn failing scores on exams sometimes feel that they deserved a much higher score. They overestimate their own knowledge and ability and are incapable of seeing the poorness of their performance.

Low performers are unable to recognize the skill and competence levels of other people, which is part of the reason why they consistently view themselves as better, more capable, and more knowledgeable than others.

"In many cases, incompetence does not leave people disoriented, perplexed, or cautious," wrote David Dunning in an article for Pacific Standard. "Instead, the incompetent are often blessed with an inappropriate confidence, buoyed by something that feels to them like knowledge."

This effect can have a profound impact on what people believe, the decisions they make, and the actions they take. In one study, Dunning and Ehrlinger found that women performed equally to men on a science quiz, and yet women underestimated their performance because they believed they had less scientific reasoning ability than men. The researchers also found that as a result of this belief, these women were more likely to refuse to enter a science competition.

Dunning and his colleagues have also performed experiments in which they ask respondents if they are familiar with a variety of terms related to subjects including politics, biology, physics, and geography. Along with genuine subject-relevant concepts, they interjected completely made-up terms.

In one such study, approximately 90 per cent of respondents claimed that they had at least some knowledge of the made-up terms. Consistent with other findings related to the Dunning-Kruger effect, the more familiar participants claimed that they were with a topic, the more likely they were to also claim they were familiar with the meaningless terms. As Dunning has suggested, the very trouble with ignorance is that it can feel just like expertise.

Causes of the Dunning-Kruger Effect

So what explains this psychological effect? Are some people simply too dense, to be blunt, to know how dim-witted they are? Dunning and Kruger suggests that this phenomenon stems from what they refer to as a "dual burden." People are not only incompetent; their incompetence robs them of the mental ability to realize just how inept they are.

Incompetent people tend to:

Overestimate their own skill levels

Fail to recognize the genuine skill and expertise of other people

Fail to recognize their own mistakes and lack of skill

Dunning has pointed out that the very knowledge and skills necessary to be good at a task are the exact same qualities that a person needs to recognize that they are not good at that task. So if a person lacks those abilities, they remain not only bad at that task but ignorant to their own inability.

An Inability to Recognize Lack of Skill and Mistakes

Dunning suggests that deficits in skill and expertise create a two-pronged problem. First, these deficits cause people to perform poorly in the domain in which they are incompetent. Secondly, their erroneous and deficient knowledge makes them unable to recognize their mistakes.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is as follows: "People with low skill levels draw wrong conclusions and make wrong decisions, but are unable to make mistakes because of their low skill levels".

This means: a lack of understanding of mistakes made leads to a belief in one's own correctness and, consequently, to increased confidence in one's own decisions and in oneself, as well as to an awareness of one's own superiority.

Thus, the Dunning-Kruger effect is a psychological paradox that we all often face in life: less competent people see themselves as professionals, while more competent people tend to doubt themselves and their abilities. The lower the skill level, the higher the self-confidence.
At beginning of their research, Dunning and Kruger called Charles Darwin's famous statement:
"Ignorance breeds confidence more often than knowledge" and Bertrand Russell: "It is one of the unfortunate things of our time that those who are confident are stupid, and those who have imagination or understanding are full of doubt and indecision

A Lack of Metacognition

The Dunning-Kruger effect is also related to difficulties with metacognition, or the ability to step back and look at one's own behaviour and abilities from outside of oneself. People can often only evaluate themselves from their own limited and highly subjective point of view. From this limited perspective, they seem highly skilled, knowledgeable, and superior to others. Because of this, people sometimes struggle to have a more realistic view of their abilities.

A Little Knowledge Can Lead to Overconfidence

Another contributing factor is that sometimes a tiny bit of knowledge on a subject can lead people to mistakenly believe that they know everything about it. As the old saying goes, a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing. A person might have the slimmest bit of awareness about a subject, yet thanks to the Dunning-Kruger effect, believe that he or she is an expert.

Other factors that can contribute to the effect include our use of heuristics, mental shortcuts that allow us to make decisions quickly, and our tendency to seek out patterns even where none exist. Our minds are primed to try to make sense of the disparate array of information we deal with on a daily basis. As we try to cut through the confusion and interpret our own abilities and performance within our individual worlds, it is perhaps not surprising that we sometimes fail so completely to accurately judge how well we do.

Who Is Affected by the Dunning-Kruger Effect?

So who is affected by the Dunning-Kruger effect? Unfortunately, we all are. This is because no matter how informed or experienced we are, everyone has areas in which they are uninformed and incompetent. You might be smart and skilled in many areas, but no one is an expert at everything.

The reality is that everyone is susceptible to this phenomenon, and most of us experience it with surprising regularity. People who are genuine experts in one area may mistakenly believe that their intelligence and knowledge carry over into other areas in which they are less familiar. A brilliant scientist, for example, might be a very poor writer. For scientists to recognise their lack of skill, they need to possess a good working knowledge of things such as grammar and composition. Because those are lacking, the scientist in this example cannot also recognize their own poor performance.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is not synonymous with low IQ. As awareness of the term has increased, its misapplication as a synonym for "stupid" has also grown. It is, after all, easy to judge others and believe that such things simply do not apply to you.

So if the incompetent tend to think they are experts, what do genuine experts think of their own abilities? Dunning and Kruger found that those at the high end of the competence spectrum held more realistic views of their knowledge and capabilities. However, these experts tended to underestimate their abilities relative to how others did.

Essentially, these top-scoring individuals know that they are better than the average, but they are not convinced of how superior their performance is compared to others. The problem, in this case, is not that experts don't know how well-informed they are; they tend to believe that everyone else is also knowledgeable.

Is There Any Way to Overcome the Dunning-Kruger Effect?

So is there anything that can minimize this phenomenon? Is there a point at which the incompetent actually recognize their own ineptitude? "We are all engines of misbelief," Dunning has suggested. While we are all prone to experiencing the Dunning-Kruger effect, learning more about how the mind works and the mistakes we are all susceptible to might be one step toward correcting such patterns.

Dunning and Kruger suggest that as experience with a subject increases, confidence typically declines to more realistic levels. As people learn more about the topic of interest, they recognise their lack of knowledge and ability. Then as people gain more information and become experts on a topic, their confidence levels begin to improve again.

So what can you do to gain a more realistic assessment of your abilities in a particular area if you are not sure you can trust your self-assessment?

Keep learning and practising. Instead of assuming you know all there is to know about a subject, keep digging deeper. Once you gain greater knowledge of a topic, you will more likely recognize how much there is still to learn. This can combat the tendency to assume you’re an expert, even if you're not.

Ask other people how you're doing. Another effective strategy involves asking others for constructive criticism. While it can sometimes be difficult to hear, such feedback can provide valuable insights into how others perceive your abilities.

Question what you know. Even as you learn more and get feedback, it can be easy to only pay attention to things that confirm what you think you already know. This is another type of psychological bias known as confirmation bias. To minimize this tendency, keep challenging your beliefs and expectations. Seek out information that challenges your ideas.

அவமானங்கள்தான் வாழ்க்கையின் ஆசான்

அவமானங்கள்தான் வாழ்க்கையின் ஆசான். அவமானம் கத்துக்கொடுப்பது மாதிரியான பாடத்தை எந்த மகத்தான புத்தகமும் கத்துக்கொடுக்காது.அவமானங்களைத் தன்மானத்தோடு எதிர்கொள்வதே வெகுமானம்தான் .

அவமானங்களே ஒரு மனிதனை வெற்றியின் அரியாசனத்தில் அமர்த்தும். அவமானம் என்பது ஒரு மனிதனுக்கு தூண்டுகோள்தான். 

மனிதனின் மனம் அவமானங்களை கண்டால் முதலில் துவண்டாலும், வைராக்கியம் மனதில் உருவாகும். 

அதுவே முயற்சியில் வேகத்தை கொடுத்து வெற்றிக்கு வழி வகுக்கும்.

ஒருவனது அவமானங்கள்தான் அவனை கடினமாக உழைக்க வைக்கிறது. 

ஒருவனது அவமானங்கள்தான் கடுமையாய் முன்னேற வேண்டும் என்கின்ற வெறியை தூண்டுகிறது. 

ஒருவனது அவமானம்தான் வாழ்கையில் மிகப்பெரிய வெற்றியாக உருமாற்றுகிறது. ஒரு சின்ன அவமானம் கூட இல்லாமல் யாரும் உயர்ந்துவிட முடியாது.

அவமானப் படுத்துகிறவர்களை நாம் அவமானப்படுத்தினாலோ அல்லது அவர்கள்மீது ஆத்திரமடைந்தாலோ அவமானப்பட்டதாகக் காட்டிக் கொண்டாலோ அவமானப்படுத்தியவனைப் பொருட்படுத்தியதாகிவிடும். அதற்காகத்தானே அவர்கள் ஆசைப்படுகிறார்கள். அவர்களை நாம் உதாசீனப்படுத்துவது தான் நல்லது. நாம் ஆத்திரமடையும்போது உள்ளத்தளவு மட்டுமல்ல உடலளவும் பாதிக்கப்படுகிறோம்.

அமெரிக்க ஜனாதிபதியாக ஆப்ரகாம் லிங்கன் தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டு முதல்முறையாக நாடாளுமன்றத்தில் பேச எழுகிறார். அப்போது உறுப்பினர் ஒருவர் அவரை அவமானப்படுத்த வேண்டும் என்பதற்காக எழுந்து “நான் அணிந்திருக்கும் செருப்பை உங்களுடைய தந்தையார் தான் தைத்துத் தந்தார்; நன்றாக இருக்கிறது. அதற்கு நன்றி” என்றதும் தன்னை ஒரு செருப்பு தைக்கும் தொழிலாளியின் மகன் என்று இழிவுபடுத்தியதாகக் கருதி ஆத்திரப்படாமல் “மகிழ்ச்சி. அந்த செருப்பில் ஏதாவது பழுது ஏற்பட்டால் கொண்டு வாருங்கள்… நான் திருத்தித் தைத்துத் தருகிறேன். எனக்கும் செருப்புத் தைக்கும் தொழில் தெரியும்” என்று கூறினாராம். சராசரி மனிதர்கள் சினந்து சிவப்பார்கள். சரித்திரம் படைப்போர் எதற்கும் சலனப்பட மாட்டார்கள்.அவமானப் படுகிறவர்கள்தான் அதிகமாக வெற்றியாளர்கள் ஆகிறார்கள். அவமானங்களை உடைத்தெறிய வேண்டுமொனால் அவமானப்படுத்தியவனிடம் மோதிக் கொண்டிருப்பதைவிடத் தாம் பெறுகிற வெற்றிகளால் அவர்களை வெட்கித் தலைகுனியச் செய்யவேண்டும். சார்லி சாப்ளின் படாத அவமானங்களா? அவரது தோற்றம் கேலிக்குரியதாக இருந்திருக்கிறது அவரது வறுமை அவரை அவமானப் படுத்தியிருக்கிறது. அவற்றை உடைத்தெறிந்து உயர்ந்தார்.சிவாஜிகணேசன் வானொலி குரல் தேர்வுக்குச் சென்றபோது தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்படவில்லை. ஆனால் பின்னாளில் அவர் 'சிம்மக்குரலோன்'. அதுபோல அமிதாப்பச்சன் நடிக்கவந்த நேரம் நிராகரிக்கப்பட்டவர். பின்னாளில் அவர் சூப்பர் ஸ்டார்.

மறக்கக்கூடாது

அவமதித்தவர்களை மறந்துவிட வேண்டும். ஆனால் அவமானங்களை மறக்கக்கூடாது. அதை அடுத்தடுத்த தளங்களுக்கான வெற்றிப் பயணத்தின் பாதையாக்கிக் கொள்ளவேண்டும்.வந்தனா சைனி என்ற சிந்தனையாளர் “அவமானங்களை மறவாதீர் உங்கள் வெற்றிக்கான விதைகள் அவற்றில் உள்ளன” என்பார்.அவமானங்களில் வெற்றிக்கான விதைகள் இருக்கின்றன என்பது உண்மைதான். அதற்காக வெற்றிபெற வேண்டுமானால் அவமானப்பட வேண்டும் என்றும் அர்த்தப்படுத்திக் கொள்ளக்கூடாது. “நான் வெற்றியாளனாக வேண்டும். தயவு செய்து யாராவது வந்து கொஞ்சம் அவமானப்படுத்துங்கள்” என்று கேட்டுக் கொண்டிருக்க முடியாது. அவமானங்களைத் தாங்கிக் கொள்ளுங்கள் என்பதுதான் நம் அறிவுரையே தவிர அவமானங்களைக் கேட்டு வாங்கிக் கொள்ளுங்கள் என்பது அல்ல.

தாங்கி கொள்ளுங்கள்

அவமானத்தைத் தாங்கிக் கொள்வதோடு நின்றுவிட வேண்டும். அதற்காகப் பழிவாங்கும் எண்ணம் வளர்த்துக் கொள்வது நல்லதல்ல. நேரம் வரும் வரைக் காத்திருந்து அவமானப்படுத்தியவரை அவமானப்படுத்த நினைப்பது கேவலமானது. அதுவரை அந்தக் குப்பையை மனத்தில் வைத்துக்கொள்வதும் தீதானது.நாம் அவமானப் படுத்தப்பட்டபோது எப்படி உணர்ந்தோமோ அப்படித்தானே நம்மால் அவமானப் படுத்தப்பட்டவர்களும் உணர்வார்கள் என எண்ணவேண்டும்.ஆறுதல் பெறுவற்காகவோ ஆத்திரத்தை தீர்த்துக் கொள்வதற்காகவோ நமக்கு நேர்ந்த அவமானத்தை மற்றவர்களிடம் பகிர்ந்து கொள்வது கூடாது. அப்படிச் செய்வதின் மூலம் நமது அவமானத்திற்குப் பிரமாதமான விளம்பரத்தை நாமே தேடிக் கொண்டிருக்கிறோம் என்பதோடு, மீண்டும் நம்மை நாமே அவமானம் செய்து கொள்கிறோம். அவமானங்களை மறந்துவிடுவதோடு, அவமதிப்பவர்களை மன்னித்து விடுங்கள்.அவமானங்களைத் தவிர்த்துக் கொண்டும் தாங்கிக் கொண்டும் அடுத்தடுத்த வெற்றிப் பயணங்களுக்கு ஆயத்தமாகுங்கள். அவமானம் உங்களுக்கு ஒரு வெகுமானமாகும்.- ஏர்வாடி எஸ். இராதாகிருஷ்ணன்எழுத்தாளர், சென்னை94441 07879

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Medication Good News For COVID-19 Interferon Alpha 2B and Favipiravir shows good clinical efficacy in treating COVID-19

For 40 years, Cuba has been using a molecule named Interferon Alpha 2B, which has successfully been used to combat the new Coronavirus in China and elsewhere.

"The world has an opportunity to understand that health is not a commercial asset but a basic right," Cuban doctor Luis Herrera, the creator of the Interferon Alfa 2-B medication, one of the most successful medications in the fight against COVID-19

One of the ways the virus can multiply inside the cells is by decreasing the levels of Interferon naturally produced in human cells. The molecule thus, through a different metabolic way, it is able to create conditions in order to limit the replication of the virus.

Interferons (IFNs) comprise a family of secretory proteins induced in response to specific extracellular stimuli through stimulation of toll-like receptors (TLRs; ). Acting in paracrine or autocrine modes, IFNs stimulate intra- and intercellular networks for regulating innate and acquired immunity, resistance to viral infections, and normal and tumour cell survival and death. Through high-affinity cell surface receptors IFNs stimulate genes, using signalling molecules used by other cytokines, but first identified through studies of IFNs. Perturbations in these pathways can lead to overstimulation of cellular functions or can make cells resistant to a given ligand, facilitating either progression or resistance of malignancy. IFNs act on almost every cell type and through their cellular actions can be effective in inhibition of tumour emergence, progression, and for inducing regression

Favipiravir

Favipiravir (T-705; 6-fluoro-3-hydroxy-2-pyrazinecarboxamid,) is an antiviral drug that selectively inhibited the RdRP of influenza virus. It showed specific activity against all three influenza A, B, and C. also inhibited the RV replication in HeLa cells, with an EC50 of 29 µg/mL.  

The analysis showed that the primary mechanism of action of favipiravir against the influenza virus was a specific inhibition of vRNA polymerase. It is predicted that a similar mechanism might occur with other viruses, such as PV and RV, inhibited by favipiravir, which may account for its broad-spectrum inhibition. Mechanistic studies show that the favipiravir and its form favipiravir-RMP (favipiravir-ribofuranosyl-50-monophosphate) do not inhibit influenza RNA polymerase activity, but it is the phosphoribosylated form, favipiravir-ribofuranosyl-50-triphosphate (RTP) that inhibits the enzyme. Metabolism of favipiravir to its triphosphate form occurs in an extracellular environment in a concentration-dependent manner. The vRNA polymerase mistakenly recognizes favipiravir-RTP as a purine nucleotide. This favipiravir-RTP is misincorporated in nascent vRNA, or it may act by binding to conserved polymerase domains, preventing incorporation of nucleotides for vRNA replication and transcription.

China has completed the clinical research of Favipiravir, an antiviral drug that has shown good clinical efficacy against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to an official Tuesday.

Favipiravir, the influenza drug which was approved for clinical use in Japan in 2014, has shown no obvious adverse reactions in the clinical trial, said Zhang Xinmin, director of the China National Center for Biotechnology Development under the Ministry of Science and Technology, at a press conference.

More than 80 patients have participated in the clinical trial in The Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, including 35 patients taking Favipiravir and 45 patients on a control group. Results showed that patients receiving Favipiravir treatment turned negative for the virus in a shorter time compared with patients in the control group.

 a multi-centred randomized clinical study led by the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University also suggested that the therapeutic effect of Favipiravir is much better than that of the control group.

Favipiravir has been recommended to medical treatment teams and should be included in the diagnosis and treatment plan for COVID-19 as soon as possible, Zhang said.

Other Good News 

A new academic study reveals over-the-counter anti-malaria pill Chloroquine maybe highly effective at treating coronavirus. According to a new academic study presented by Thomas R. Broker, (Stanford PhD), James M. Todaro (Columbia MD), and Gregory J. Rigano, Esq., in consultation with Stanford University School of Medicine, UAB School of Medicine, and National Academy of Sciences researchers, shows that over the counter anti-malaria pills Chloroquine may be highly effective at treating coronavirus COVID-19.

On Monday, we reported that NIH has begun a clinical trial of an investigational vaccine for COVID-19. A Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating an investigational vaccine designed to protect against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has begun at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) in Seattle. The vaccine is called mRNA-1273 and was developed by NIAID scientists and their collaborators at the biotechnology company Moderna, Inc., based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) supported the manufacturing of the vaccine candidate for the Phase 1 clinical trial.

A new preliminary study shows that the coronavirus epidemic may be slowed by warm weather. A new study conducted by Chinese researchers shows that high temperature and high humidity reduced the transmission of COVID-19. If true, the warm the weather would bring the much-needed relief while we are waiting for the coronavirus vaccine, which is still about 12 months away. In a paper published in Social Science Research Network (SSRN), a repository and international a journal devoted to the rapid dissemination of scholarly research in the social sciences and humanities, Chinese researchers investigate how air temperature and humidity influence the transmission of COVID-19 and analyzed how the epidemic evolved in various Chinese cities taking into account the weather in each.

In February, we published a story when Israel scientists announced a breakthrough in coronavirus treatment. “After 4 years of research funded by Israel’s Ministry of Science & Technology, MIGAL’s researchers have developed an effective vaccine against avian coronavirus Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV), to be adapted soon and create a human vaccine against COVID-19,” the group said in a press release.

Just two weeks ago, as we reported on this site, German researchers have identified existing drug with the potential to treat coronavirus Covid-19. A team of scientists led by infection biologists from five German research institutions made a startling discovery about a potential drug that could treat coronavirus Covid-19. They found that an existing drug camostat mesylate might protect against COVID-19. They identified a cellular enzyme that is essential for viral entry into lung cells: the protease TMPRSS2. A clinically proven drug known to be active against TMPRSS2 was found to block SARS-CoV-2 infection and might constitute a novel treatment option (Cell).

A team of scientists from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha has to develop a drug to treat the virus and now ready to conduct a clinical trial. Participants are asked to come to 11 in-person study visits and four phone visits over a 14-month period, including one initial screening visit, two vaccination visits, and eight follow-ups. Patients will receive two injections of the vaccine in the upper arm with doses given 28 days apart.

Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute announced today it has received a green light from the government to begin its vaccine trials, the first of its kind. Its research team is enrolling 45 healthy people, ages 18 to 55, from the Seattle-area over the course of 14 months.

Chinese scientists say coronavirus vaccine may be available and ready next month. As we reported last week, Zheng Zhongwei, China director of the Science and Technology Development Centre of the National Health Commission (NHC) announced that the country is making progress and that a new coronavirus vaccine maybe ready for emergency use next month. Zheng said that a new synthetic messenger RNA (or mRNA) nucleic acid vaccine is the leading candidate for a vaccine to combat COVID-19.

Doctors in India has been successful in treating Coronavirus. Combination of drugs used: Lopinavir, Retonovir, Oseltamivir along with Chlorphenamine. They are going to suggest same medicine, globally. Italian  elderly Italian couple currently undergoing treatment for coronavirus (COVID-19) at a hospital in Jaipur have been administered a combination of two drugs, commonly used controlling HIV infection. This is the first time that this combination has been used to treat the deadly virus amid mounting cases in India. Following the success, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) had approved the ‘restricted’ use of the combination of medications-lopinavir and ritonavir, which are second-line HIV drugs, before they were administered to the elderly couple

Researchers of the Erasmus Medical Center claim to have found an antibody against coronavirus. A team of ten scientific researchers from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam and Utrecht University say they are the first in the world to discover an antibody capable of fending off infection by the Covid-19 the variant of coronavirus. The discovery could lead to antiviral medication and the ability for people to test themselves at home for the presence of the virus. “I am too old to jump on a table,” said cellular biology professor Frank Grosveld to Erasmus Magazine. Their article is undergoing a peer review by other researchers on the online platform BioRxiv, and they believe it well then be published by the top science journal Nature.

A German biotech company has developed coronavirus test kits with 4 million tests since the outbreak began. TIB Molbiol Syntheselabor GmbH is a technology company you probably never heard of. Since 1990, Tib Molbiol, a Berlin, Germany-based biotech company that has developed tests for ailments ranging from swine flu to SARS. Dr Landt and his team have produced 40,000 coronavirus diagnostic kits, enough for about 4 million individual tests.

Gates Foundation Wellcome Trust and Mastercard joined forces to launch a $125 million Therapeutics Accelerator to combat the coronavirus (COVID19) epidemic.  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it is joining forces with Wellcome Trust and Mastercard to create the COVID19 Therapeutics Accelerator to identify, assess, develop, and scale-up treatments to the epidemic.  The goal of the new initiative is to speed the development and access to therapies for COVID-19.

A network of Canadian scientists are making excellent progress in Covid19 research.

A San Diego biotech company is developing a Covid19 vaccine in collaboration with Duke University and the National University of Singapore.

Plasma from newly recovered patients from Covid 19 can treat others infected by Covid19.

1) US Researchers Deliver First COVID-19 Vaccine to Volunteers in Experimental Test Program

Scientists at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle delivered the first rounds of a potential coronavirus a vaccine to several dozen optimistic volunteers earlier this week.

One 43-year-old vaccine recipient is Jennifer Haller, who is a mother to two teenagers.

She was all smiles afterwards, telling AP reporters she was “feeling great” as she was leaving the clinic.

“This is an amazing opportunity for me to do something,” she added.

2) Distilleries Across the United States Are Making Their Own Hand Sanitizers to Give Away for Free

Amidst national shortages of hand sanitizers, alcohol distilleries in Atlanta, Portland, rural Georgia, and North Carolina have begun using their facilities to make their own sanitation products. 

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) says that cleaning your hands with an alcohol-based rub can help to kill viruses on your hands, many of the distilleries say they hope to continue producing their bootleg sanitizers until the virus has been properly contained.

3) Air Pollution Plummets in Cities With High Rates of Quarantine

Satellite readings of air pollution levels over China and Italy show that the regions hit hardest by the COVID-19 have also caused air pollution levels to decline dramatically.

Some reports estimate that China’s quarantine has saved more than 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere—which is about the equivalent of what Chile produces in a year.

Not only have similar effects been reported across Italy, the canals and waterways of Venice are reportedly cleaner than ever with the waters shining crystal clear in the absence of diesel-powered boats and gondoliers.

4) Johns Hopkins Researcher Says That Antibodies From Recovered COVID Patients Could Help Protect People At Risk

The vaccine being tested in Seattle isn’t the only potential treatment for the disease—an immunologist from Johns Hopkins University is reviving a century-old blood-derived treatment for use in the United States in hopes of slowing the spread of the disease.

The technique uses antibodies from the blood plasma or serum of people who have recovered from COVID-19 infection to boost the immunity of newly-infected patients and those at risk of contracting the disease.

5) South Korean Outbreak Finally Abating as Recoveries Outnumber New Infections for Three Days in a Row

According to Reuters, South Korea recorded more COVID-19 recovery cases on March 6th than new infections for the first time since the nation experienced the largest Asian outbreak outside of China.

Since the novel coronavirus outbreak was first reported in South Korea back in January, the nation reached a peak of 909 new infections on February 29th. Now, however, Reuters reports that the declining rate of infection has continued to fall with less than 100 new cases reported for several days in a row.

6) China Celebrates Several Milestones of Recovery After Temporary Hospitals Close and Parks Reopen

Crowds of medical staffers and discharged patients were filmed celebrating the closure of all 14 temporary hospitals that opened in Wuhan to treat COVID-19 patients during the worst of the outbreak.

Authorities told the South China Morning Post this week that the virus had finally passed its peak as the nation’s mainland experienced only 11 new cases on March 13th, most of which were from international travellers.

As the outbreak is finally brought under control, parks and tourist attractions are slowly beginning to reopen to the public under careful moderation.

7) Australian Researchers Testing Two Drugs as Potential ‘Cures’ for the Virus

Professor David Paterson, director of the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research and infectious disease physician at the RBWH.

At the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, scientists have found that two different medications—both of which are registered and available in Australia—have completely wiped out traces of the disease in test tubes.

Not only that, but the drugs were also given to some of the nation’s first COVID-19 patients, which resulted in “disappearance of the virus and complete recovery from the infection,” researchers told 

The university is now looking to conduct a nationwide trial with the drugs to evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of each drug administered separately and together.

8) Uber Eats is Supporting the North American Restaurant Industry By Waiving Delivery Fees for 100,000 Restaurants 

As restaurants across Canada and the United States are forced to temporarily shut down amidst COVID-19 outbreaks, Uber Eats has announced that they will be waiving delivery fees for independent restaurants.

“We know the success of every restaurant depends on customer demand,” the company said in a statement. “That’s why we’re working urgently to drive orders towards independent restaurants on Eats, to help make up for the significant slowdown of in-restaurant dining.

NEW Podcast: Daily Inspiring Covid-19 Updates from Good News Gurus Under Quarantine

“As more customers are choosing to stay indoors, we’ve waived the Delivery Fee for the more than 100,000 independent restaurants across the US and Canada on Uber Eats. We will also launch daily dedicated, targeted marketing campaigns—both in-app and via email—to promote delivery from local restaurants, especially those that are new to the app.”

9) Dutch and Canadian Researchers Are Reporting Additional Breakthrough Research on Treating the Virus

Scientists from Canada and the Netherlands have also made medical breakthroughs of their own. In Toronto, a team of researchers managed to isolate the agent responsible for the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, which will help researchers around the world develop better diagnostic testing, treatments, and vaccines. 

“Researchers from these world-class institutions came together in a grassroots way to successfully isolate the virus in just a few short weeks,” said Dr. Rob Kozak, a clinical microbiologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. “It demonstrates the amazing things that can happen when we collaborate.” 

Meanwhile, Dutch researchers have submitted a scientific paper for publishing on how they have identified an anti-body for the virus—and it could be a world-first.

10) Here Are a Bunch of Other Ways That People and Businesses Are Supporting Each Other Throughout the US Outbreak

Dollar General has announced that they will be devoting their opening hour of shopping time to elderly customers. Athletes and sports teams are pledging to pay the wages of arena employees during the shutdown. Utility companies, landlords, automakers, and internet providers are waiving a number of late fees and payments to ease the financial burden of the shutdown. School districts across the country are still opening their doors to serve meals to kids and families.

All in all, the pandemic situation may seem grim, but these are just a few examples of how businesses and individuals are still looking out for each other during times of trouble.