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Chicago hospital's remdesivir trial for covid has anecdotal success
News that almost all covid patients on trial treatment with remdesivir were cured and discharged from the Chicago hospital has pushed up Gilead's shares by 13% at Nasdaq. Of course, if and when approved by the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies, Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir could become the first treatment for covid.

WASHINGTON, Apr 17: Coronavirus (covid) patients at a Chicago hospital who were given remdesivir on trial were cured of symptoms like fever and acute respiratory problem within 6 days and were discharged from hospital, it has been claimed. The rate of success was over 90%.

Yet, the data are anecdotal. The department had recruited 125 people with covid. All the patients were treated with daily infusions of remdesivir. Most of them have been discharged.

“The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great. We’ve only had two patients perish,” said Dr Kathleen Mullane, University of Chicago.

The same trials are being run concurrently at other places too.

If and when approved by the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies, Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir could become the first treatment for covid. Gilead's shares have already shot up.

However, the report about the 6-day success has come out now only although the experimental drug was given the go-ahead in March. Remdesivir was developed by Gilead Sciences as a treatment for Ebola virus, and has been on trial as an experimental drug to treat covid for some time. A Chinese trial in January last was successful.

In the absence of any specific treatment for this new coronavirus infection, doctors have all over the world been resorting to symptomatic treatment trying out combinations of various drugs.

There are several treatment options, vaccines and antibody tests being discussed and tried all over to contol this pandemic.

One other drug being administered widely in countries like india and the US for covid is hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), used in the treatment of malaria and rheumatoid arthritis. US President Donald Trump had notoriously canvassed for HCQ inviting adverse criticism of favouring certain European pharmaceutical companies. But the fact is he pleaded with India to lift a ban on export of the drug, and finally he received the shipments from India. In India, it is reported that this cheap and safe drug is taken by the medical staff as a preventive medicine all over the country but not generally administered as a therapeutic option for covid.

However, reports from Sweden, France and Brazil indicate that hydroxychloroquine in covid patients lead to cardiac issues.

Several trials are going on in the US and other countries on this drug. Henry Ford Health System, New York University and the University of Washington are some such centres. Following the protocol, the results are expected not before at least a couple of months.

In India, what is widely being administered for covid patients is a combination of the HIV drugs, Ritonavir and Lopinavir, which the doctors claim has been successful. The Drug Controller General of India recently gave approval for HIV anti-retroviral drugs to be used for the treatment of covid in case of a public health emergency.

Meanwhile, in the US and many other countries trials are going on with convalescent plasma. It's an old concept. The technique involves injecting blood plasma containing antibodies from patients who have recovered from covid into new patients. However, this method had failed to yield results in ebola. India last week launched a major project on these lines under the guidance of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Several trials are also underway in New York and Orange County, California. On the flip side, a donor can help just about two patients only with one draw a week.

Next comes the green signal from vaccine research. Some NIH scientists are hopeful of a breakthrough well within this year for emergency use. Several companies in the US have already put on trial their vaccines. The first trial started on March 17.

Biotech firms Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Novovax, Pfizer, CanSino Biological, Beijing Institute of Biotechnology are all in the clinical stage.

Meanwhile, studies are also going on on the efficacy of BCG since there are reports that in countries where the vaccination is done universally there are fewer cases of covid.

As part of covid management, antibody tests are also going on. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved four antibody tests. An antibody test only verifies whether one had an infection in the past, indicating the immunity level and the vulnerability of infection. It is not a treatment in itself.

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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.

The irony lies in her illustration of her experiences in the country she has been living in for the last four years. What it really is!

ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!

The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.

Many of the victims were charred beyond recognition, making identification difficult. Three hundred nineteen body parts have been sent for DNA matching with relatives to determine the identities.

  • The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
  • The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
  • The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)

A comment on social media on Kanimozhi's answer on the question of national language read: "Daughter of Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi. Delivered the Birthday Present to her Father!!" (Karunanidhi was born on June 3, 1924) (Today's headlines )

Trump said, "Elon is not really leaving" and will be "back and forth" to the White House because DOGE is his "baby." "I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things.”

Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.

PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.

Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people. (Today's headlines )

"Coming from a system like in England, empowering," she says she never had an idea of this sort of experience... being asked to “socialise with middle-aged men” who financed the event...humiliating...

Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.

Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.

As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.

The committee headed by justice Kurian Joseph will study Centre-State relations and make proposals to ensure foolproof separation of powers.

"It's a big victory not just for Tamil Nadu but for all Indian States. DMK will continue to struggle for and win State autonomy and Federal polity," Chief Minister MK Stalin said.

Of 2.08 km in length, it features 99 spans and a 72.5-metre vertical lift span that rises up to a height of 17 metres, facilitating smooth movement of ships while ensuring seamless train services to the holy town of Rameswaram on Pamban island.

ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!

What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America! (Today's headlines )

PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).

In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.

THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.

The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.

Suddenly these colonial clerks feel this effortless, little rule will tremendously enhance security and convenience for the railway passengers manifold. More stations will be covered in the next 77 years! (Also See: New Delhi station stampede... What went wrong?)

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