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Ally Anderson takes home AFLW’s best and fairest

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Brisbane Lion Ally Anderson says she is “shocked” and in “disbelief” over her surprise AFLW best and fairest victory.

Remarkably, Anderson became the first winner in AFLW history not to make the All-Australian team, and finished 11th in the AFL Coaches’ Association (AFLCA) Champion player award.

She is also the second Brisbane Lion to win the award over the last two seasons, following teammate Emily Bates earlier this year.

Asked if she had considered herself a chance of winning the medal, Anderson replied “not even a little bit”.

“Obviously, if you watched my speech, I wasn’t very prepared,” she told a press conference after the count.

“So I probably didn’t sound great on stage, but I just had absolutely no idea [I would win].”

Reflecting on her omission from the All-Australian team, the 28-year-old was typically humble.

“I guess it was disappointing [to miss out],” she said.

“But I was so happy for my teammates who made it, so at the end of the day it didn’t really matter to me.

“I guess I had a consistent year, but I was surrounded by such great teammates, and that’s sort of what got me over the line.”

A proud Ghangalu woman, Anderson also becomes the second First Nations player to take out the AFLW’s highest individual honour, after Dja Dja Wurrung woman Maddy Prespakis in 2020.

Anderson said the cultural significance of her win had hit her after teammate Courtney Hodder congratulated her with a hug.

“I was just sort of like, oh yeah, I’m the first Indigenous Brisbane Lions player to wear this medal,” Anderson said.

“It’s such an exciting feeling. It makes me really proud, and you know, if young girls can sort of look at me and be like, that’s a pathway that they want to take, then that means a lot to me.”

Anderson finished the count on 21 votes, two ahead of the hot favourite, Richmond midfielder Mon Conti.

The Brisbane midfielder began the final round of the count one vote ahead of Conti, before Conti polled two votes for her game against North Melbourne.

But, in a thrilling finish, Anderson was awarded best on ground for her 26-possession game against Collingwood, leapfrogging Conti. It was her third three-vote performance in a row to round out a barnstorming end to the season.



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Appliance Repair Technician

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Saudi Arabia stuns Argentina at World Cup | CBC Sports

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Saudi Arabia scored one of the biggest World Cup upsets ever by beating Lionel Messi’s Argentina 2-1 on Tuesday.

Messi’s quest to win the one major title to elude him got off to a shocking start and brought back memories of Cameroon’s 1-0 win over an Argentina team led by Diego Maradona in the opening game of the 1990 World Cup.

Goals by Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari in a five-minute span in the second half gave the Saudis the win. Argentina took an early lead with a 10th-minute penalty by Messi.

The Argentina loss rivals other World Cup upsets like Senegal’s 1-0 win over titleholder France in the 2002 tournament opener and the United States beating England by the same score in 1950.

Undefeated streak ends

Argentina’s 36-match unbeaten run ended at the Lusail Stadium in Messi’s fifth — and likely last— World Cup.

The Paris Saint-Germain star shook hands with a Saudi coaching staff member after the final whistle and stood with his hands on his hips near the centre circle, an all-too-familiar scene for one of the best players ever, who is yet to win the biggest prize in soccer.

Saudi Arabia’s Salem Al-Dawsari, front, celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal against Argentina. (Ricardo Mazalan/The Associated Press)

The unlikely victory was sealed by a somersault by Aldawsari, who brought down a high ball just inside the penalty area, turned one defender, jinked past another and drove a powerful shot past goalkeeper Emi Martinez, who got a hand on the ball but couldn’t keep it out of the net in the 53rd minute.

A stunned Messi watched as scores of green-clad fans from Saudi Arabia, Qatar’s neighbour, celebrated in disbelief in the stands. Saudi Arabia’s substitutes stormed the field.

Messi put Argentina ahead from the penalty spot after the video assistant referee told the referee to take a look at a jersey grab by Saud Abdulhamid on Argentina midfielder Leandro Paredes.

With Saudi Arabia’s first shot in goal, Saleh Alshehri found the bottom corner with an angled finish through the legs of defender Cristian Romero.



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Purnachander remembered his guru M. Balamuralikrishna through kritis composed by the legendary musician

Post By Entertainment


Poornachander with Pappu Gnandev on the violin, Burra Sriram on the mridangam, and Raghu Hari on the morsing.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Versatility was the hallmark of M. Balamuralikrishna. An unconventional and experimental approach marked his musical journey. Apart from being a gifted vocalist, he was a composer, instrumentalist, percussionist and a guru. Sarvani Sangeetha Sabha recently organised P. Purnachander’s concert, on M. Balamuralikrishna’s remembrance day.

An accomplished violinist and proficient vocalist, Purnachander had the rare privilege of learning from two legendary musicians — Lalgudi Jayaraman and M. Balamuralikrishna. And in this concert, his repertoire comprised kritis mostly composed by Balamuralikrishna.

Purnachander began with the popular varnam ‘Omkara pranava’ in raga Shanmukhapriya, which has several swarakshara prayogas.

He then rendered Balamuralikrishna’s Tamil composition on Ganesha, ‘Pirai aniyum perumaan mainthan’ in raga Hamsadhwani. It has a captivating chittaswara and the kalpanaswaras that Purnachander rendered were soulful. Pappu Gnanadev’s responses on the violin was equally enjoyable. An Engineering graduate, Gnanadev, was born and brought up in a family of musicians and was groomed by senior vocalist Pantula Rama.

Purnachander’s next was a kriti composed by Balamuralikrishna on his guru, Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu. The kriti was ‘Guruni smarimpumu’ in raga Hamsavinodini. He followed it up with the Kamavardhini piece on goddess Bala. The chittaswaram enhanced the appeal of the piece and Purnachander chose the charanam line ‘Raaka nishaakara bimbaanane’ for niraval.

Rare raga

Like his guru Balamuralikrishna, who is known for his compositions in rare ragas, Purnachander too chose to present the rarely heard Tanarupi. His choice of kriti was ‘Shri ramam sada bhajeham’. After this came an elaborate Sankarabharanam alapana, and an elegant response from Gnanadev, followed by the Tyagaraja kriti ‘Manasu swaadheenamaina’ in Mishra Chapu. The swaras were at pallavi.

Purnachander next rendered his own composition on his guru. After an alapana in Saurashtram, he rendered the kriti ‘Entho bhagu murali ravam’. The anupallavi described how Balamuralikrishna trained under Ramakrishnayya, while the charanam highlighted his musical prowess and personality.

The thani by Burra Sriram (mridangam), an IT professional, and Raghuram Hari (morsing), a teacher was well-planned and presented.

After Balamuralikrishna’s Bhimpalas composition, ‘Paraakelane o paraambike’ came his Tamil piece in Charukesi, ‘Thunai neeye kumara’ and Purnachander did full justice to it. He followed it up with yet another Tamil piece, ‘Jaya jaya gurunatha’, a guru keerthanai by Balamuralikrishna set in the rare raga Vallabhi.

Before he wound up his concert with the popular Brindavani thillana, ‘Dheen nanana’, Purnachander chose to render ten shlokas (Dasasloka) in praise of Balamuralikrishna, composed by Amarnath Sarma. Purnachander concluded with Madhyamavathi piece ‘Mangalam giri tanaye’(Misra Chapu, Balamuralikrishna).

The Chennai-based reviewer writes on Carnatic music.



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7 Digital Advertising Trends that Could Change Your Approach

Post By Digital Marketing

Krista Neher

Nov 22 2022

Digital Advertising Trends You Can’t Ignore

Digital advertising is still an evolving aspect of digital marketing. While it isn’t new anymore, industry norms, guidelines, and best practices are always emerging. And smart marketers always pay attention to digital advertising trends.

The IAB (iab.com) is the industry standard for digital advertising and they set guidelines for advertisers and publishers to create more harmony in the digital advertising trends and industry.

Programmatic

Programmatic advertising refers to the automation of digital advertising. Programmatic advertising ad suppliers or publishers who have advertising inventory are automatically matched with advertisers, or buyers of ads instantly.

Before the rise of programmatic advertising, most ads were purchased based on negotiations for a set price. For example, a baby brand may choose to advertise on BabyCenter.com for a set price.

With programmatic, the process is automated, which allows advertisers to maximize the impact that they generate from their ad budget. For example, an advertiser wanting to target baby content can now automatically run ads on thousands of baby sites for the best price possible.

Facebook and Google ads are purchased programmatically, as are ads purchased through most online ad platforms.

Ad Fraud and Viewability

Ad fraud and viewability are popular topics in digital advertising circles, and they highlight some of the challenges that advertisers have with digital.

Ad Fraud is primarily an issue in display advertising, as ads appear all over the Internet on different platforms without a lot of control. Essentially it happens when publishers create false impressions to generate revenue from advertisers. So, advertisers are paying for ads that people didn’t see.

Over the years, much ad fraud has been detected and advertising platforms have more controls in place to minimize this. That being said, there are still issues where millions of ad dollars are spent on false impressions.

Ad Viewability is when advertisers want to make sure that their ad was in view by a human for a reasonable amount of time (usually a few seconds). This issue has plagued digital advertising since the beginning.

The challenge is that just because an ad load on a page doesn’t mean that the requirements have been met. Ad platforms have started to crack down on this more and more, offering only viewable impressions as inventory, but with so many different sites and placements, it is difficult to monitor.

These issues are mostly limited to display ads since search, social, and video ads happen on more controlled platforms. Most advertisers with small spending (in the tens of thousands or less) won’t need to focus on these issues. Bigger advertisers who invest heavily in display often use software and third-party tools to monitor and mitigate ad fraud and viewability issues.

Brand Safety

Brand safety has emerged as an issue as businesses want to understand what content their ad appears around. In television, we often hear about advertisers “pulling” their ads from offensive shows.

Online advertisers want the same amount of control about where their ads show up. With many advertising channels like Facebook and YouTube relying on user-generated content, it is difficult for businesses to control where their ads are displayed.

Advertisers have been horrified to find that their ads are displayed on a video promoting white supremacy for example.

This tends to be an issue more relevant for big brands, and ad platforms have adopted technologies and controls to minimize this risk. Advertisers can have more control over where their content displays if they are concerned about this.

Down-Funnel Ad Objectives

Digital advertising platforms are evolving and one of the things that we are seeing is that there’s more focus on tracking and optimizing for on-site behavior and conversions.

Meaning, that instead of running ads where you pay for and optimize for clicks, you can now run ads where you pay for and optimize for on-site sales or email signups. Advertising platforms are using algorithms and on-site tracking to find the people who are most likely to convert and are targeting ads at them.

Personalization and Customization

Personalization and customization are emerging as opportunities for marketers to run more effective ads. The idea is to create ads that are customized or personalized to the specific person seeing them.

For example, a business selling custom cakes could create one ad targeting women who are planning a wedding and another targeting moms who are planning birthday parties. Even though the product is the same, the ads can be targeted differently for different audiences.

In the example below, you can see how a restaurant can choose different targeting based on their objectives.

Mobile Surpasses Desktop

While this argument isn’t new or a trend, many businesses have not yet adapted their strategy to one mobile-first. Mobile is over twice the size of the desktop and is projected to continue to grow quickly.

This should not be surprising as time spent on mobile devices is growing dramatically. This means you need to focus on every aspect of your digital advertising strategy. From the ads to your website experience, make sure it is made for mobile first.

The Emergence of Big Players

When it comes to digital ads, Facebook and Google are by far the biggest players in the space. Google accounts for about 40% of digital ad revenue and Facebook accounts for around 20%.

While Google represents significantly more market share vs. Facebook, the Google ads are run on three distinct platforms. Example: YouTube, Display, and Search.

With these players making up so much of digital ad spending, businesses focus their efforts on them and replicate on others as appropriate. To give you an idea, Google Search ads can be uploaded into Bing Search Ads to automatically replicate the strategy.

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Footsteps of the Buddha: Monks from Bhutan on trip to India

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A delegation of leading Buddhist monks from Bhutan upon arrival in Kolkata on November 22, 2022, en route for a trip to holy Buddhist sites in the country.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Kolkata airport was awash with red-ochre robes as high-ranking monks from the ‘Land of the Thunder Dragon’ arrived in Kolkata on November 22 on a spiritual and academic tour of India, from where Guru Padmasambhava travelled to teach Buddhism to Bhutan.

The 24-member delegation will visit Buddhist holy sites, the Infosys campus at Hyderabad as well as meet top Indian officials in Delhi.

“It is the duty of every member of the Sangha [Buddhist monastic order] to try to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha,” Venerable Ugen Namgyal, the secretary of the Central Monastic Body of Bhutan, told PTI, explaining why the powerful delegation is on a visit to the country.

The International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) in coordination with the Central Monastic Body of Bhutan has organised the eight-day long trip for the monks who head the Buddhist Sangha in each of the districts in the picturesque Himalayan kingdom, which lies sandwiched between India’s West Bengal and China’s Tibetan autonomous region.

Bhutan is known for its Buddhist culture, where people’s lives still revolve around the traditions associated with the religion.

Prayer flags fluttering in the wind and chortens (Buddist shrines) in every village are a common sight. The concept of ‘Gross National Happiness’ as a development model for the kingdom nestled in the high Himalayas too relies in large part on this unique culture.

“We have two giant neighbours on two sides, but with India, we have a wonderful relationship. Buddhism came from this country. Bengal, our immediate neighbour, has strong linkages with us and has contributed to Buddhism in our Kingdom,” said Ven. Namgyal.

Guru Tilopa is believed to have travelled to Bhutan from Bengal preaching the Vajrayana school of Buddhism. Most Bhutanese follow the Drukpa subsect of the Kargyupa sect of Vajrayana Buddhism.

The monks, led by IBC’s deputy secretary-general Venerable Jang Chup Choden and Ven Namgyal, will visit various Buddhist sites in India, including the Nagarjuna Konda in Andhra Pradesh, Buddhavanam in Telangana and Sankissa in Uttar Pradesh.

‘Zhung Dratshang’ or the Central Monastic Body of Bhutan was established in 1620. The unification of the country, codification of the laws, and organisational development of the dual system of governance took place only after the establishment of this significant institution.

According to Bhutan’s Constitution, the ‘Zhung Dratshang’ is an autonomous institution, financed by an annual grant from the royal government.

“For us, Buddhism is a way of life. Even our arts and architecture reflect our religious traditions,” he said.

“While China too is a neighbour, we have little interaction with that country. Being Buddhist, Bhutanese have a greater affinity to Indian values,” the monk said.



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Kerala man assaulting child in viral clip is a Muslim, contrary claims on social media are false – Alt News

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The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created an uproar on social media. News reports mentioned that the reason for the man’s behaviour was still unclear and the girl had been sent for a medical examination.

Several social media users, mostly from abroad, shared the video and claimed the man in the video was a Hindu.



Twitter handle @islamalghamry66 from Turkey also shared the video. The caption can be translated as: God is enough for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs. In the Indian state of Kerala, an extremist Hindu brutally beats a 9-year-old Indian Muslim girl just because she is on her way to an Islamic school!!

Another user, @Fnyees, shared the video with the same claim adding how discrimination against Muslims in India was growing under the present regime.

Fact-check

We noticed that India Today reported that the accused was named Abubakar Siddique and he had been arrested by the Kerala police. The footage tweeted by the media outlet had ‘Kasargod, Kerala’ mentioned on top left corner.

 


Alt News reached out Kasargod police for a confirmation, who asked us to contact the Manjeshwar police station. We then spoke to inspector Santhosh Kumar of Manjeshwar police station in Kasargod, who confirmed that the incident had taken place on November 17, around 8 am., and the accused, Abubakar Siddique, had been arrested and sent to judicial remand for 14 days. According to police, he has been charged under IPC section 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (for voluntarily causing hurt), IPC section 364 (abduction with the intent of murder) and sections 9 and 10 of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act. The police mentioned that the man claimed he was smoking at a shop nearby and reacted violently upon being provoked by the girl. However they are unsure of the claims.

Hence, the tweets from Turkey and Saudi Arabia claiming a Hindu man assaulted a 9-year-old Muslim girl is false.

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Independent journalism that speaks truth to power and is free of corporate and political control is possible only when people contribute towards the same. Please consider donating in support of this endeavour to fight misinformation and disinformation.

To make an instant donation, click on the “Donate Now” button above. For information regarding donation via Bank Transfer/Cheque/DD, click here.





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Scuffle video from Bengal shared as attack on BJP poll campaigners in Morbi, Gujarat – Alt News

Post By Fact Check

The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to it and assaulting the occupants is viral on social media. It has been linked to the campaign for the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat.

Twitter user ‘@Polytikles’ tweeted the video and wrote that this is how the BJP was welcomed in Gujarat. The tweet has been viewed almost 18,000 times and garnered 254 retweets at the time of the writing of this aeticle. (Archived link)

Another Twitter user named Manoj, a self-proclaimed ‘fan’ of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, tweeted the clip and wrote that BJP supporters campaigning for the party in Gujarat’s Morbi were beaten up. It is worth noting that at least 135 people recently died due to the collapse of a hanging bridge on the Machchu river in Morbi, Gujarat. (Archived link)

There were others too who described it as a video from Morbi. The same claim was made on Facebook and Twitter by many users.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Fact-check

The people seen in the video are speaking in Bangla. Using this as a clue, Alt News performed a keyword search on YouTube. This led us to a Times Now report dated August 6, 2022, which contains scenes from the viral video. According to this report, a scuffle broke out between Trinamool Congress and BJP workers on August 5 in West Bengal’s Hooghly district. TMC MLA Asit Mazumdar alleged that BJP supporters stopped his vehicle and attacked him. Meanwhile, BJP workers claimed that Asit Mazumdar attacked them during his rally.

ETV India also covered this incident. According to the report, following the clash, police were deployed at the Khadina area in which there was a dispute between the workers of the two parties.

To sum it up, a video of a clash between BJP and Trinamool Congress workers in West Bengal was falsely circulated as locals attacking BJP workers in Gujarat’s Morbi as they were campaigning for the upcoming elections.

Donate to Alt News!
Independent journalism that speaks truth to power and is free of corporate and political control is possible only when people contribute towards the same. Please consider donating in support of this endeavour to fight misinformation and disinformation.

To make an instant donation, click on the “Donate Now” button above. For information regarding donation via Bank Transfer/Cheque/DD, click here.



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Q&A: TV contest winner’s microplastics innovation

Post By Science And Technology


The popular Arabic TV show Stars of Science is in its 14th season but winners of the contest had previously all been men – until Omani innovator Somaya Al-Siyabi entered the race.

The programme was launched by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development in 2008 to encourage aspiring science and technology entrepreneurs in the Middle East and foster new talent.

Al-Siyabi, an innovation and science specialist at North Sharqiyah Education, in Oman, was crowned winner of this year’s competition for her hi-tech device designed to help solve the problem of microplastic waste in the sea.

“In half a century, plastic bags and waste will become more numerous than fish in the seas and oceans,” Al-Siyabi tells SciDev.Net in an interview about her award-winning innovation and the path that led her to it.

How did you become a specialist in innovation?

I worked as a teacher, passionate about science and biology, for five years and I always attended conferences, seminars and scientific forums … before becoming a robot programming trainer for teachers in the North Sharqiyah governorate.

I then obtained my Master’s degree in biology from the College of Science at Sultan Qaboos University, before returning to work in schools and then moving to the Scientific Exploration Centre to become an innovation specialist.

Before all that, I attended Sumaya School for Girls in Ibra, and when I studied biology I felt that it was the field in which I could excel. But this clashed with my family’s desire for me to specialise in education and mathematics. They wanted me to become a teacher, and although it was not my desire, it was the right start to my career path and I went on to specialise in biology until after four years I became a biology and science teacher.

What is the story behind your passion for innovation and the Stars of Science competition?

My passion for innovation and interest in scientific research began during my Master’s degree in 2017, as scientific research and innovation took the lion’s share of my time. It motivated me to learn, read previous studies, and try to reach solutions about the problems facing the environment. In 2021, I received the Youth Proficiency Award, an annual award granted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth to encourage Omani youth to be creative and innovative in various fields.

The same year, I participated in the Challenge and Innovation Forum in Qatar, during which I heard about the Stars of Science competition and learned about the steps to apply. I submitted my idea to get rid of microplastics and it was accepted among the 100 innovations submitted to the competition. It was then sifted into the best seven innovations, before the final winner was announced and I received the honour of this precious title.

Why microplastics?

For years, I have followed the problem of the concentration of microplastics in huge quantities in the seas, as plastic accounts for 85 per cent of all marine litter and is a harmful and polluting material for the oceans.

I spent a lot of time researching and reading in order to come up with an idea or innovation to get rid of this amount of microplastic, as I was working in the field of biotechnology and nanotechnology separately.

Innovator Somaya Al-Siyabi. (Courtesy photo).

But through my participation in Stars of Science, I focused on merging the two methods, both sequentially so that one side does not affect the other, and so that each side is supportive to the other, to speed up the process of analysing the microplastic. This was highly praised by the jury in the competition, because it is a modern method and is highly effective, and I am now working on patenting an invention.

What is the innovation?

My project is on the treatment of microplastics, which are less than five millimetres in length and represent a serious threat to the aquatic environment and living organisms. It is an environmentally friendly device in the form of a floating ball containing microbial mats and nanomaterials, which analyses the microplastics that come into contact with them, under the sun, within a short period of time. The device can float on top of piles of plastic waste in the oceans, capturing and disposing of microplastics.

What impact did you achieve after you were announced as the Star of Science?

I left my family and three children for three months to sit in laboratories, working hard to showcase and prove my innovation, and visiting the highest scientific centres in America. But I consider the biggest impact not to be fame, nor the reward for what I researched and worked so hard on. What pleased me was the interest of the Omani and Arab audiences of all ages to follow the stages of the Stars of Science competition, as if they were following a football tournament.

The question is no longer “who is Somaya?” Rather, “what did she do to become the talk of all Arabs”? The competition has succeeded in creating an interest in science and its role in development and solving global problems, and this in itself is a success and a great impact.

I saw this in the countless messages I received from children and adults, not only from Oman but from most countries in the Arab world, and some of them wept with joy.

Innovators face many challenges. What about you?

The most prominent challenges that faced me were the lack of studies and research related to this field. But if we succeed in applying this innovation on the ground, it will solve the problem of microplastics significantly … and I consider that obtaining the title of Star of Science is the beginning of a long road and not the end. Currently, I am seeking to establish my own company with employees from different disciplines related to the project.

What happens after the Stars of Science win? Have companies or scientific bodies contacted you to adopt your innovation and work to implement it?

There are ministries and government and private agencies that have already supported me and believed in my innovation, and since the award I have already received many calls and inquiries, especially from entities within the Sultanate of Oman. But as you know, taking innovation to the next stage is time-consuming.

We need to apply the experiment in wider and larger environments and laboratories to monitor the variables that affect the success of the project idea, which is based mainly on the formation of cells of the catalyst; these cells are like the building blocks of a microplastic analysis unit.

This article was produced by SciDev.Net’s Middle East and North Africa edition and has been edited for brevity and clarity.





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Antivirals Could Reduce Long COVID Risk, and How Well the New Boosters Work: COVID, Quickly Podcast, Episode 43

Post By Science And Technology


Tanya Lewis: Hi, and welcome to COVID Quickly, a Scientific American podcast series! This is your fast-track update on the COVID pandemic. We bring you up to speed on the science behind the most urgent questions about the virus and the disease. We demystify the research, and help you understand what it really means.

I’m Tanya Lewis, one of Scientific American’s senior health editors. Josh is taking the week off. Today, I’m going to talk about how the antiviral Paxlovid may protect against long COVID, and what we know about the effectiveness of the new booster shots.

—

Lewis: We’ve talked a lot about long COVID on this show—lingering symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, headache, difficulty breathing, etc. But so far, there haven’t been many effective ways of preventing it. Vaccination provides some protection, but the only way to totally reduce the risk is avoiding COVID altogether.

But there’s some promising news: a recent preprint study of COVID patients with at least one risk factor for severe disease found that those who took the antiviral Paxlovid had a 26 percent lower chance of developing long COVID symptoms three months later, compared with the control group.

There were 9,000 patients in the Paxlovid group and about 47,000 in the control group. Those in the Paxlovid group had a lower risk of 10 out of 12 long COVID symptoms. These include an abnormal heart rhythm, ischemic heart disease, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, fatigue, liver disease, muscle pain, diabetes, and cognitive impairment.

And the protective effect was seen in people who were vaccinated, boosted, or unvaccinated.

But Paxlovid had another positive effect: it reduced the risk of death or hospitalization even beyond the acute phase of COVID. Patients were 48 percent less likely to die and 30 percent less likely to be hospitalized.

We know from previous studies, including one by the researcher who led this study, Ziyad Al-Aly at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Healthcare System, that people who’ve had COVID are at an increased risk of heart problems for up to a year after getting COVID—even after a mild case. Paxlovid could reduce that risk.

Of course, the new study results still need to be replicated in other studies and populations. But if Paxlovid is one more tool in our toolbox for fighting long COVID, that’s a good thing.

—

Lewis: There’s some more good news on the vaccine front. 

We’ve been waiting for data on how well the new bivalent booster shots work against Omicron. 

A number of studies have shown the shots work better than the original vaccine against the newer variants of SARS-CoV-2 that are currently circulating.

Both Pfizer and Moderna recently announced that their vaccines produced substantial levels of neutralizing antibodies against the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants. 

Moderna says its vaccine provided some protection against a rapidly gaining variant called BQ.1.1, but the numbers were too small to draw strong conclusions.

We still haven’t seen the actual data, just press releases. 

And showing the vaccines generated strong antibodies is not the same as showing that they protected against actual infection or severe disease. 

But it is a sign that the vaccines are supercharging our immune systems to respond to the virus.

The Pfizer and Moderna results are in line with a number of preprint studies. Suthar et al. at Emory University found the bivalent boosters led to a four-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies against BA.5 vs. the original vaccine, and a 10-fold increase against BQ.1.1. Shi et al. found a three-fold increase against BA.5 but not much of a difference against BQ.1.1.

A handful of other studies found no difference between the new bivalent booster and the original vaccine. But we know the original vaccine still provides good protection against severe disease and death.

All of this suggests that getting the new booster shots is a good idea. Sadly, only a small fraction of Americans have gotten the updated shots. We know that the people dying of COVID now tend to be older folks, especially those who are not up to date on their vaccines.

There’s still time to get your booster—or remind Grandpa to get his—ahead of the holidays, but don’t delay.

—

Lewis: Now you’re up to speed. Thanks for joining us. Our show is produced by Jeff Delviscio and Tulika Bose. Come back in two weeks for the next episode of COVID, Quickly! And check out sciam.com for updated and in-depth COVID news.

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]



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