HAVANA, Dec 20 (Reuters) — Cuba has vaccinated more of its citizens against COVID-19 than most of the world’s largest and richest nations, a milestone that will make the poor, communist-run country a test case as the highly contagious Omicron variant begins to circle the globe.
The Caribbean island has vaccinated over 90% of its population with at least one dose, and 83% of the population is now fully inoculated, placing it second globally behind only the United Arab Emirates among countries of at least 1 million people, according to official statistics compiled by ‘Our World in Data.’
What is Cuba’s secret? While many of its neighbors in Latin America, as well as emerging economies globally, have competed for vaccines produced by wealthier nations, health officials say Cuba vaulted ahead by developing its own.
The long-acting injectable HIV medications cabotegravir and rilpivirine, which are administered by a healthcare provider once a month, can be successfully implemented in health practises in the United States, according to a study presented at the 11th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021). What’s more, providers and people with HIV encountered few barriers to giving or receiving the injections despite changes in health services during COVID-19.
“Over the course of a year, even with the added challenges of COVID-19, the barriers that providers and patients thought they would face turned out not to be as concerning as originally thought,” Dr Maggie Czarnogorski of ViiV Healthcare said in a press release.
In October 2020, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the injectable combination regimen, which consists of an extended-release formulation of ViiV Healthcare’s new integrase inhibitor cabotegravir (Vocabria) plus an injectable version of Janssen’s non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor rilpivirine (Rekambys, sold in pill form as Edurant). The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the combination, sold in North America as Cabenuva, in January 2021.
As the holidays approach, gifts are being bought, and plans are being made with family and friends. These typical holiday activities are contributing to the growth of e-commerce — which has already been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Food now represents an important part of the e-commerce landscape. Chances are if you are planning to see some friends and family, you may already be thinking about where to eat, what to eat, and how best to plan it all. The good news is that there are many more options today than there were even 5 years ago.
Food delivery — from restaurant food to groceries to well-designed ingredient bundles that remove the hassle of meal planning are all available with ‘one click’. Due to COVID and the various restrictions, concern for public health, and even lockdowns millions of people have taken the leap and ordered food online for the first time.
Coming from a mobility perspective, it is interesting to note what is happening in the food industry because at the end of the day it will require new innovations and solutions to deliver the food to people’s doors. And even better will be when those mobility solutions are more sustainable and efficient than what is being used today. With the boom in this sector, it isn’t just about switching from internal combustion engines to zero-emission, but also pushing for new form factors that can further increase efficiency (lowering the cost and energy demand).
Dystopian nightmare or a simple convenience? A Swedish company implanting microchips under the skin has is promoting its devices for use as a COVID-19 health pass in a country with thousands of early adopters.
Amanda Back uses her smartphone to scan a microchip implanted in her hand to reveal her health pass.
Omicron has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the U.S., accounting for 73% of new infections last week, federal health officials said Monday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers showed nearly a six-fold increase in omicron’s share of infections in only one week.
A French architecture and landscaping company from the town of Croissy-Beaubourg has completed the country’s first hempcrete public building: Pierre Chevet sports hall.
The 4,000-square foot (380 square meters) building includes an exercise hall and changing rooms. What is Hempcrete? A mixture of hemp with lime and water, the sports hall that’s made of Hempcrete is a carbon-negative building.
Hempcrete weights an eight of regular concrete hempcrete has thermal and acoustic properties, as well as being fire-resistant. Hemp can grow up to 13 feet (4 m) and can be cultivated in 90 to 120 days. It is lighter and less expensive than wood and can grow 100 times faster than an oak tree.
According to researcher Darshil Shah the Centre for Natural Material Innovation at Cambridge, hemp can capture carbon twice as effectively as a forest of trees.
Advancing Veterinary Care With Predictive Diagnostics, AI & One Health Principles — Dr. Jennifer Ogeer, DVM, Antech Diagnostics, Mars Petcare, Mars Inc.
Dr. Jennifer Ogeer, DVM, MSC, MBA is Vice President of Medical Science & Innovation at Antech Diagnostics (https://www.antechdiagnostics.com/), one of the world’s largest reference laboratory networks, and a unit of Mars Veterinary Health (https://www.marsveterinary.com/).
Dr. Ogeer is also Chair of the Board Of Directors of Veterinarians Without Borders (https://www.vetswithoutborders.ca/), an organization that works with governments, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, local communities, farmers’ groups, and international agencies, to tackle root-cause issues affecting public health, animal health and ecosystem health in developing communities around the world.
Dr. Ogeer is also Vice-Chair of the Diversify Veterinary Medicine Coalition (https://diversifyvetmed.org/) which is working to bring greater diversity to the veterinary profession.
Dr. Ogeer is a graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC), University of Guelph, Canada. She completed an emergency medicine/critical care residency at Tufts University/Angell Memorial Animal Hospital in Boston and a Master of Science degree in Critical Care at the Ontario Veterinary College. She also has completed an Executive MBA at Western University (Canada).
Dr. Ogeer is a highly experienced residency-trained emergency and critical care veterinarian with a rich and diverse background in clinical practice, academic teaching/education, research and business management consulting.
As a former associate professor she has worked in specialty referral hospitals and several university teaching hospitals, including University of Guelph, University of Saskatchewan and Texas A&M University.
Dr. Ogeer is an active member of the veterinary community, and has published various articles in peer-reviewed journals and conducted research on hospital-acquired infections and developed protocols for infectious disease outbreak management and prevention.
Kindly see my latest FORBES article on technology predictions for the next decade:
Thanks and have a great weekend! Chuck Brooks.
We are approaching 2022 and rather than ponder the immediate future, I want to explore what may beckon in the ecosystem of disruptive technologies a decade from now. We are in the initial stages of an era of rapid and technological change that will witness regeneration of body parts, new cures for diseases, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, human/computer interface, autonomous vehicles, advanced robotics, flying cars, quantum computing, and connected smart cities. Exciting times may be ahead.
By 2032, it will be logical to assume that the world will be amid a digital and physical transformation beyond our expectations. It is no exaggeration to say we are on the cusp of scientific and technological advancements that will change how we live and interact.
What should we expect in the coming decade as we begin 2022? While there are many potential paradigms changing technological influences that will impact the future, let us explore three specific categories of future transformation: cognitive computing, health and medicine, and autonomous everything.
5G will probably not hurt you, but having these products anywhere around definitely will.
5G is rapidly overtaking other wireless technology networks and may very soon become the standard for cell phone coverage. But there has been a lot of backlash with protesters stating the technology might be harmful to human health.
This has resulted in a rise of anti-5G products that claim to protect against the supposedly harmful radiation. A lot of these products have been discovered to be scams and now a new report from BBC reveals they may actually be dangerous.
The Dutch authority for nuclear safety and radiation protection (ANVS) issued a warning about ten products it found to be radioactive, and anti 5G necklaces were found to be one of them. The ANVS warned that these products could cause harm with long-term wear.
“Don’t wear it anymore, put it away safely and wait for the return instructions,” the ANVS said in a statement.
“The sellers in the Netherlands known to the ANVS have been told that the sale is prohibited and must be stopped immediately and that they must inform their customers about this.”
For the most part, scientists claim that 5G is actually safe. The World Health Organization has stated that 5G mobile networks are not that different from existing 3G and 4G signals making them completely harmless.
Meanwhile, a study carried out by Oregon State University researchers focused on the side effects of 5G on embryonic zebrafish and found that there’s little to no health impact on them, suggesting it would be the same for humans.
