Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Diego Maradona the greatest soccer player is no more

 Following the removal of a blood clot from his brain he passed away in Tigres, Argentina. Argentina lost its 'Golden boy'. 

Living in Brazil it was all but natural for me to get attracted to soccer. Although living for 3 to 4 times more in the USA, I am not thrilled by American Football.

He was mercurial, he was here near the goal post, next moment he is on the other goal post snaking his way and dodging his attackers. Attackers were always after him in any match. 

It was pure joy seeing him move in the field. What a loss!


Te extrañamos y el fútbol ha perdido una joya

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

What's happening to the TikTok's deal?

After all the ban on TikTok by President Trump, the issue of allow/ban TikTok is not yet done. TikTok will have another 15 days (Nov.27) to convince that it is not a security risk. It has to convince the US National Security officials. If it gets the blessing then the Oracle/Walmart deal may be approved. Users can access the app till the deadline.


More here:

Also, the deal with American companies need approval from China.

But as to whether it is really a security risk, you may get convinced if you watch this video.




Video here:

Also, the senate hearings on the Heritage Link above.

The argument that it cannot bee banned because if is used by so many worldwide does not hold a drop of water, if it cannot pass the security risk. In fact, precisely for the reason that it is used by so many, it is extremely risky to allow this app.

Monday, November 23, 2020

New Testing for COVID: TODOS Medical of Israel's RAPID COVID-19 TEST

 Although a number of vaccines have shown extremely high success rates in the range of 70-95%, it is important that similar advances are needed in testing. This is all the more important in view of the huge rates of infection world wide.

There are basically two types of tests that you can see listed at CDC.

  • A viral test for current infection
  • An antibody test to see if you had, had a past infection. 

Due to the long period of incubation testing becomes more complicated.

Well, if you test positive you should take all precautions to stay out and stay out so that you do not spread it. If you test negative, you were not infected when the sample was collected meaning you were not infected at that time of testing.

   


TODOS Medical of Israel
reported its preliminary, proof-of-concept data for tis rapid, COVID-19 test. The company claims 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity in PCR-confirmed, positive and negative COVID-19 samples from patients. The test is based on its lab-based rapid SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease diagnostic test. TODOS Medical is seeking emergency authorization from the US FDA.

More here from TODOS Medical Ltd (OTCQB:TOMDF:

https://tinyurl.com/y645tk8g

Promotional video;





Sunday, November 22, 2020

Update: COVID-19 new cases and mortality

COVID-19 new cases are increasing across the globe. This post looks at three countries that have experienced the maximum damage. 

Here is comparison for two dates, 11/14/2020  and 11/22/2020.


The below graphics are all on 11/16/2020. The US trend is alarming for the new cases. Even Brazil is on the brink of going higher in the coming weeks.



It is imperative that the travel during the coming months should be avoided. The holiday celebrations are great, but you do not want to spend it in a hospital wearing breathing machines and experience other ensuing complications. It would have been so nice if the vaccines were available a month earlier.













Friday, November 20, 2020

India claims this is fake news from China

 The Times reported that China has used a microwave weapon in Ladakh to repel Indian soldiers from their position, based on the report of a talk given by a Chinese professor Jin Canrong of Renmin university in Beijing.

Details here:  https://hodentek.blogspot.com/2020/11/chinese-use-microwave-weapons-to-repel.html

However, Indian army has denied that any such event took place during the confrontation in Ladakh.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/india-on-reports-that-china-used-microwave-weapons-in-ladakh-fake-news-2326640

It appears more like a 'fake news' circulated by China. Most news in China are monitored and it is highly likely the hews was fake. Visit the site for more fake news: https://pib.gov.in/factcheck.aspx

Looking at the logic of this announcement it appears this 'fake' news was more for domestic consumption. It definitely makes it appear China having superior technology and using judiciously  to 'avoid firing bullets'.


This said in news from such such areas of conflict may need to be taken with a (sizeable) grain of salt.

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Chinese use microwave weapons to repel Indian soldiers in Ladakh

 Indian soldiers in the Himalayan heights were literally 'microwave cooked' making them leave their positions. According to a professor in Beijing (Prof. Jin Canrong of Renmin University), the microwave weapon used by the Chinese burned the soldiers and made it so uncomfortable that they abandoned their positions. After repelling the Indian soldiers these positions were later occupied by the Chinese. It appears the microwave radiation induced extensive pain and skin irritation in the Indian soldiers. Apparently, using this weapon, they could still claim that no bullets were fired.

It is further suspected that the same weapon was used against US Diplomats in Guangzhou in 2018.

The Poly WB-1 (https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/wb-1.htm) displayed in an airshow in 2014 was used.  This appears to be the first time use of an electromagnetic weapon in a battle ground. Since, Chinese may want to use this weapon in safeguarding their new artificial islands (https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/chinas-artificial-islands-news-rumors/), it is plausible that they have upgraded the system between 2014 and 2020.

References:

https://www.globalvillagespace.com/did-china-really-use-microwave-weapons-on-indian-soldiers/

https://metro.co.uk/2020/11/18/china-cooked-indian-soldiers-alive-with-secret-microwave-weapon-13614480/

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-turns-ladakh-battleground-with-india-into-a-microwave-oven-6tlwtrtzz?wgu=270525_54264_16058407892591_8518b2a6db&wgexpiry=1613616789&utm_source=planit&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_content=22278

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Operation Warp Speed: Light at the end of tunnel at last

Operation warp Speed has yielded results that will finally control this pandemic. Pfizer and Moderna, two of the 5 companies in the operation have yielded unbelievably excellent results. President Trump foresaw that the vaccines will be available by the end of the year, and they promptly did. Nay Sayers did voice their disbelief that it can be done in such a short time. 

He did appoint the most suitable candidate for heading the operation. Dr. Saloui Moncef was announced by President Trump in May 2020 to manage the development of vaccine. He could not have chosen anyone better. Well, President Trump did respect science in choosing him whatever may be his personal view of the virus/infection.

At last, there is hope for the end of this pandemic, thanks to the foresight of Operation Warp Speed team.

Here are some screen shots from a CNBC interview aired today.








Saturday, November 14, 2020

An Update: Covid-19 vaccine developments in India

India's Serum institute is ready with 40 million doses of AstraZeneca's Vaccine ready to ship and the Novavax's vaccine will be made. The bulk of Novavax vaccine has been received by Serum. Both of these need regulatory approval.

Serum has been working on getting regulatory approval for AstraZeneca's vaccine  from India based on its trial on 1600 participants. 

The final recipients of these vaccines are yet to be published.

  • Additionally, India has two home-grown vaccines in development..

  • Reddy's laboratories is carrying put out a trial of Russia's Sputnik vaccine developed by the Gemaleya Institute.

  • Other major development has been the over 90% success rate of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

Current (as of 11/14/2020) statistics for the most affected 3 countries derived from Johns Hopkins' data is shown below.

Country

All Time

Past Day

Past Week

Past Month

 

Confirmed Cases

Deaths

New Cases

New Deaths

New Cases

New Deaths

New Cases

New Deaths

INDIA

8,773,479

129,188

44,684

520

311,399

3,626

1,466,382

17,922

BRAZIL

5,810,652

164,737

29,070

456

179,471

2,722

669.789

12,990

US

10,737,335

244,332

177,224

1,138

979,723

7,327

2,841,426

27,143

Source :    https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region

It goes beyond saying that we need to outpace the virus and develop the vaccine(s) to put an end to this  human tragedy.

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Breaking News: Towards room temperature stable Covid-19 Vaccine

 Most COVID-19 vaccines under development need cold temperature handling. They must be kept under sub-zero temperatures from transporting to distributing in a handling process called 'cold chain'. There is a pictorial from a BBC site at the bottom of the post.


Here is a quote from the link below:

"Most vaccines need to be stored within 1-degree Fahrenheit of their ideal temperature. Traditional vaccines are usually stored between 35 degrees Fahrenheit and 46 degrees Fahrenheit, but some of the leading COVID-19 vaccines need to be stored at much colder temperatures. Moderna’s vaccine requires a storage temperature of minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas Pfizer’s vaccine candidate requires a storage temperature of minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit. These are not easy temperatures to maintain accurately."

 https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/keeping-coronavirus-vaccines-at-subzero-temperatures-during-distribution

While this is not a such serious issue for most urban locations it could be a problem in rural, or isolated communities. It is all the more restrictive for semi-developed, or under developed regions of the world. For example, certain regions in India can have temperature that can exceed +50 deg C. The same can be said of many African and Latin American Countries.

There is therefore a need for vaccines that can retain their effect at higher temperatures that need no cold chain.

An Indian team at the Indian Institute of Science have tested a vaccine on animals that can be stored at 37 deg C for more than a month.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghavan_Varadarajan

Their paper has been peer reviewed and according to the link below,

" ...paper has been accepted for publication in Journal of Biological Chemistry, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, published by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

You can find more details here:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54792287

Pictorial of cold-chain:



Monday, November 02, 2020

Is China waiting for 'return to normalcy' in the USA?

 The Hill makes a compelling argument why China is looking forward to Biden winning the election.


The key is they want a China friendly US President and Taiwan is in its sight.


Read this article by Joseph Bosco in The Hill.

More here on China's challenge:

https://www.andrewerickson.com/2020/11/the-elements-of-the-china-challenge/

China occupies more of Indian territory:

https://hodentek.blogspot.com/2020/11/china-occupies-more-of-indian-territory.html

Sunday, November 01, 2020

China occupies more of Indian territory

 India seems to have lost control of about 200 square kilometers along the line of control thi summer. The area is about five times the area of Manhattan.

It is unfortunate that Pakistan sides with China and has willfully given away our land to Chinese, while China is abusing the true followers of Islam.

https://tinyurl.com/y59ktzf8

Our Jawan's are our only hope on whom we depend.


Santosh Babu mortyred in the recent action.



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