scholarly journals Detection and characterization of the SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.526 in New York

Author(s):  
Anthony P West ◽  
Joel O. Wertheim ◽  
Jade C. Wang ◽  
Tetyana I. Vasylyeva ◽  
Jennifer L. Havens ◽  
...  

Wide-scale SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing is critical to tracking viral evolution during the ongoing pandemic. Variants first detected in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil have spread to multiple countries. We developed the software tool, Variant Database (VDB), for quickly examining the changing landscape of spike mutations. Using VDB, we detected an emerging lineage of SARS-CoV-2 in the New York region that shares mutations with previously reported variants. The most common sets of spike mutations in this lineage (now designated as B.1.526) are L5F, T95I, D253G, E484K or S477N, D614G, and A701V. This lineage was first sequenced in late November 2020 when it represented <1% of sequenced coronavirus genomes that were collected in New York City (NYC). By February 2021, genomes from this lineage accounted for ~32% of 3288 sequenced genomes from NYC specimens. Phylodynamic inference confirmed the rapid growth of the B.1.526 lineage in NYC, notably the sub-clade defined by the spike mutation E484K, which has outpaced the growth of other variants in NYC. Pseudovirus neutralization experiments demonstrated that B.1.526 spike mutations adversely affect the neutralization titer of convalescent and vaccinee plasma, indicating the public health importance of this lineage.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony P. West ◽  
Joel O. Wertheim ◽  
Jade C. Wang ◽  
Tetyana I. Vasylyeva ◽  
Jennifer L. Havens ◽  
...  

AbstractWide-scale SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing is critical to tracking viral evolution during the ongoing pandemic. We develop the software tool, Variant Database (VDB), for quickly examining the changing landscape of spike mutations. Using VDB, we detect an emerging lineage of SARS-CoV-2 in the New York region that shares mutations with previously reported variants. The most common sets of spike mutations in this lineage (now designated as B.1.526) are L5F, T95I, D253G, E484K or S477N, D614G, and A701V. This lineage was first sequenced in late November 2020. Phylodynamic inference confirmed the rapid growth of the B.1.526 lineage. In concert with other variants, like B.1.1.7, the rise of B.1.526 appears to have extended the duration of the second wave of COVID-19 cases in NYC in early 2021. Pseudovirus neutralization experiments demonstrated that B.1.526 spike mutations adversely affect the neutralization titer of convalescent and vaccinee plasma, supporting the public health relevance of this lineage.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1949 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-383

THE two communications in this issue are from Dr. George Baehr, President of the New York Academy of Medicine, an organization which has a long tradition of study of the problems of medical care. First is the statement made in behalf of this Academy before the Senate Committee which has been hearing testimony concerned with the various medical care bills now before Congress. This statement is a succinct and thoughtful appraisal of these bills and indicates that S-1970 (Flanders-Ives-Herter-Javits Bill) comes nearest to meeting the Academy's requirements for a voluntary prepaid comprehensive medical service plan. The second communication is Dr. Baehr's analysis and comments upon S-1970 (Flanders-Ives-Herter-Javits Bill). He points out that, in the words of Senator Flanders, S-1970 is essentially a "'voluntary health insurance bill calling for compulsory public contribution,'" which is to take the form of a subsidy for the operating deficits of voluntary prepayment agencies. Other outstanding features of the bill are the provisions designed to stimulate group practice and the requirement that subscription charges shall vary with income. The implications of a subsidy for the operating deficits of voluntary agencies and the fostering of group practice on a nation-wide scale will warrant careful study. It should also be noted that individuals with wide experience in existing prepayment organizations have expressed real concern as to the feasibility of private organizations doing business with clients on a sliding premium basis.


During the twenty-five or so years I studied the physiology of the gametes at Cambridge, I was often impressed, and sometimes depressed, by the complexity of the problems posed by the phenomena I could see but seldom understand. The subject of this evening’s lecture is also extremely complex. But the comparative paucity of my knowledge of petrol and pollution, though a dangerous thing, absolves me from that plethora of cautionary or precautionary adverbs and paren­thetical qualifications which are so dear to the heart of the specialist. When, however, the Executive Secretary told me there would be a discussion period at the end, I felt it desirable and, indeed, essential to have the help of a specialist to deal with any difficult questions─or easy ones for that matter─ you may in due course wish to pose. Dr Alun Thomas is, therefore, here to help me and, fortified by his presence, I propose to start with some parochial though somewhat dis­turbing statistics. Table 1. Vehicles and cars in the U. K., millions year vehicles cars 1970 16 12.5 1975 20.5 16.5 1985 27.5 23 Note: the total number of motor vehicles in the U. S. A. in 1968 was about 100 million. There are about sixteen million vehicles in the United Kingdom this year, of which some twelve and a half million are cars, with over a million in London (table 1). They will use more than 25 x 10 9 litres of petrol. By 1975 there will be twenty and a half million vehicles with sixteen and a half million cars. By 1985 the number of cars will rise to twenty-three million, about double the present number. Apart from the noise and congestion for which they are and will be increasingly responsible, what do cars produce in the way of harmful substances? How harmful are these now ? How harmful will they become ? How much of them is produced? Is the situation in London similar to that in Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo? Does the public prefer acceleration to clean air? Can it have both? The purpose of this lecture is to put before you the facts when they are known─ and this is by no means always the case─so that dispassionate answers to the questions I have just raised, and allied ones, can be given.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (15) ◽  
pp. 133-146
Author(s):  
Nur Izzati Ariffin ◽  
Faridah Hussain

The 2020 France attack regarding the controversial issue of the public portrayal of Prophet Muhammad’s caricature had created havoc all over the world. This research focuses on how the 2020 France attacks-related issues were portrayed in the media in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and the United States (U.S.). This analysis aims to determine the dominant issues covered, the news slant, and the newspapers' tone and framing regarding the 2020 France attacks-related issues. Using content analysis, the data from news articles and feature articles collected from two mainstream online daily newspapers, which were The Independent from the U.K. and The New York Times from the U.S. were examined. This study also aims to compare the differences between the U.K. and U.S. media in framing and reporting the 2020 France attacks-related issues. A total of 56 news articles were analysed, from which three major issues were reported in the newspapers during that period. The most frequently reported issue was the Islamist ‘Terrorism’ in France issue. The findings of the study indicated that the news slant of both newspapers was significantly different. The Independent's news slant was balanced towards both France and Islam, while The New York Times' news slant was against Islam.


1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-203
Author(s):  
Robert Chatham

The Court of Appeals of New York held, in Council of the City of New York u. Giuliani, slip op. 02634, 1999 WL 179257 (N.Y. Mar. 30, 1999), that New York City may not privatize a public city hospital without state statutory authorization. The court found invalid a sublease of a municipal hospital operated by a public benefit corporation to a private, for-profit entity. The court reasoned that the controlling statute prescribed the operation of a municipal hospital as a government function that must be fulfilled by the public benefit corporation as long as it exists, and nothing short of legislative action could put an end to the corporation's existence.In 1969, the New York State legislature enacted the Health and Hospitals Corporation Act (HHCA), establishing the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) as an attempt to improve the New York City public health system. Thirty years later, on a renewed perception that the public health system was once again lacking, the city administration approved a sublease of Coney Island Hospital from HHC to PHS New York, Inc. (PHS), a private, for-profit entity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 7-35
Author(s):  
Andrea Lynn Smith

The centerpiece of New York State’s 150th anniversary of the Sullivan Expedition of 1779 was a pageant, the “Pageant of Decision.” Major General John Sullivan’s Revolutionary War expedition was designed to eliminate the threat posed by Iroquois allied with the British. It was a genocidal operation that involved the destruction of over forty Indian villages. This article explores the motivations and tactics of state officials as they endeavored to engage the public in this past in pageant form. The pageant was widely popular, and served the state in fixing the expedition as the end point in settler-Indian relations in New York, removing from view decades of expropriations of Indian land that occurred well after Sullivan’s troops left.


Citizens are political simpletons—that is only a modest exaggeration of a common characterization of voters. Certainly, there is no shortage of evidence of citizens' limited political knowledge, even about matters of the highest importance, along with inconsistencies in their thinking, some glaring by any standard. But this picture of citizens all too often approaches caricature. This book brings together leading political scientists who offer new insights into the political thinking of the public, the causes of party polarization, the motivations for political participation, and the paradoxical relationship between turnout and democratic representation. These studies propel a foundational argument about democracy. Voters can only do as well as the alternatives on offer. These alternatives are constrained by third players, in particular activists, interest groups, and financial contributors. The result: voters often appear to be shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent because the alternatives they must choose between are shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent.


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