Daily Business Report-May 5, 2020
Credit: City of Pueblo
Visualizing What COVID-19 Does to Your Body
By now, researchers and health experts have gained a better understanding of the range of symptoms caused by COVID-19, which include fever, a dry cough, and of course, the dangerous inflammation of the respiratory system. Most of us know that COVID-19 can be much more severe than a typical flu, but lesser known are the mechanics behind how the virus causes pneumonia in its victims.
Today’s informative illustration, by scientific designer and animator Avesta Rastan, details the effects COVID-19 has on our lungs, from moderate to severe cases.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), most people who contract COVID-19 only experience mild flu-like symptoms. Occasionally though, the infection can cascade into a severe case of pneumonia that can be lethal, especially for older people and those with underlying medical conditions.
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Undelivered: Governor’s promise
to immediately deliver food to seniors
Last week Gov. Newsom announced that eligible seniors throughout California could immediately get three free restaurant meals per day delivered to their door.
Yet a week later, not a single meal has been delivered, and tens of thousands of Californians who have tried to sign up have been left disappointed, confused and maybe even hungry.
During his press conference last Friday, Newsom said counties and cities were ready, but in reality, most were caught off-guard: Most didn’t know that such a program was under consideration. Now they are scrambling to identify restaurants and eligible seniors before federal funding runs out on May 10.
It’s the latest example of how Newsom has announced an ambitious coronavirus response plan before details were hammered out and, in this case, even before the agencies recruited to carry it out were notified.
Under the governor’s plan, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse 75 percent of the cost of the meals, which would cost up to $66 per person for three meals per day. The state will cover another 18.75 percent. That leaves about six cents out of every dollar to be paid by cities and counties.
Of California’s 5.7 million seniors, about 2.4 million might qualify for the program, according to UCLA’s California Health Interview Survey. If half of them enrolled, the total federal, state and local costs could reach more than two billion dollars per month.
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Clinical trial to investigate whether hypertension
drug ameliorates COVID-19 severity
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have launched a clinical trial to investigate whether a drug approved for treating high blood pressure, heart failure and diabetic kidney disease might also reduce the severity of COVID-19 infections, lowering rates for intensive care unit admissions, the use of mechanical ventilators and all-cause mortality.
The trial will be randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled, the gold standard for clinical trials. It will involve multiple sites, with the University of California San Diego as coordinating institution. Up to 560 participants will be recruited, either presenting with COVID-19 symptoms at emergency departments or currently hospitalized with the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. The trial is expected to run one year.
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Researcers develop method to produce hydrogen
peroxide at lower cost for hospitals
A team of researchers has developed a portable, more environmentally friendly method to produce hydrogen peroxide. It could enable hospitals to make their own supply of the disinfectant on demand and at lower cost.
The work, a collaboration between the University of California San Diego, Columbia University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the University of Calgary, and the University of California, Irvine, is detailed in a paper published in Nature Communications.
Hydrogen peroxide has recently made headlines as researchers and medical centers around the country have been testing its viability in decontaminating N95 masks to deal with shortages amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
While results so far are promising, some researchers worry that the chemical’s poor shelf life could make such decontamination efforts costly.
The main problem is that hydrogen peroxide is not stable; it starts breaking down into water and oxygen even before the bottle has been opened. It breaks down even more rapidly once it is exposed to air or light.
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La Jolla Institute for Immunology to host
coronavirus immunotherapy clearinghouse
La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) has been awarded a $1.73 million grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to establish a Coronavirus Immunotherapy Consortium (CoVIC) as part of the foundation’s global efforts to stem the tide of the current coronavirus outbreak, the Institute announced today. Antibody therapies are often the first novel therapies advanced for an emerging infectious disease.
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AppLovin makes strategic
investment in Redemption Games
AppLovin, a mobile games company that fuels the growth of many of the world’s most popular mobile games and game studios, has made a strategic investment in San Diego area-basedRedemption Games. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
Redemption Games was established in 2015 by co-founders Michael Witz and Dan Lin, who led the team that designed and developed chart-topping Cookie Jam (a leading match-3 game with more than $500 million in lifetime sales). Following an investment from Supercell in 2018, the duo launched Sweet Escapes in July 2019 — this year’s fastest growing puzzle game in the app store — and claimed the only new studio to break into the Top 100 grossing puzzle games within the last year. Redemption Games will continue to operate independently with existing management.
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Exercise boosts motor skill learning
via change in brain’s transmitters
Researchers find switch in chemical messaging is key prelude to motor skill acquisition
by Mario Aguilera | UC San Diego
Doctors have relentlessly impressed upon us the many benefits of exercise. Energy, mood, sleep and motor skills all improve with a regular fitness regimen that includes activities such as running. This has become of particular interest in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But what happens in the brain during these improved states of health? The underlying neurological changes that open the door to these benefits have been unclear.
Now, Assistant Project Scientist Hui-quan Li and Distinguished Professor Nick Spitzer of the University of California San Diego have identified key neurological modifications following sustained exercise. Comparing the brains of mice that exercised with those that did not, Li and Spitzer found that specific neurons switched their chemical signals, called neurotransmitters, following exercise, leading to improved learning for motor-skill acquisition.
“This study provides new insight into how we get good at things that require motor skills and provides information about how these skills are actually learned,” said Spitzer, the Atkinson Family Chair in the Biological Sciences Section of Neurobiology and a director of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind.
The study’s results are published May 4 in Nature Communications.
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Billions in coronavirus funds will go to farms.
But farmers say it’s not enough to keep them afloat
by Manuela Tobias | CalMatters
Ryan Indart says he may have to kill off some of the sheep at his east Clovis ranch this fall. With restaurants shuttered amid the coronavirus pandemic, he has no market for his animals. When a new flock arrives in October, he won’t have enough space in his pasture if his current flock is still there.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday a $3.6 million program to help farms and food banks stay afloat, coupled with a philanthropy pledge of $15 million. That promise came on the heels of a much larger federal aid package of $19 billion for farmers and ranchers across the country.
But, Indart says, even if he gets the maximum amount of aid, it will only keep his ranch afloat for about two months at best. And the money wouldn’t cover his current losses.
Farmers across the San Joaquin Valley echoed Indart’s concern.
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Remote Working is the Future of Work
by Kelly Festa and Ellie Begum
The concept of remote working or telecommuting is no passing trend. In fact, it’s been around for decades. Physicist Jack Niles coined the term “telecommuting” in the 1970s when he was remotely developing a complex communications system for NASA. Niles went on to write the book on The Telecommunications-Transportation Tradeoff, a timely read at a time when the ’70s oil crisis was coming to a head —with obvious parallels to the crises of today. Later in the 1980s, IBM started experimenting with remote terminals in some of their employees’ homes. This decision laid the foundations for IBM’s seminal role in developing the remote work model, as by 2009, 40% of the company’s 386,000-strong staff had the option to work from home. A year later, the Telework Enhancement Act was passed by the government, realizing the value of making remote work a secure and viable option for federal workers as well.
Today, an estimated 5 million Americans make up the remote workforce. This represents a growth of around 91% over the last decade. Much of this is due to the fact that whatever your job is or whichever industry you come from, there are a number of remote working options that can fit your needs and requirements. This access to greater work flexibility is a big part of why remote work is becoming more popular around the world.
A Thriving Work Model
During the last decade, remote work has evolved to the point where people no longer just work at home, but also travel to different places like cafés, coworking spaces, and even different countries. Right here at home, San Diego County saw a 25% increase in the number of coworking spaces that sprang up in the area just last year. From 1.2 million square feet of dedicated coworking spaces in 2018, to 1.5 million square feet in June of 2019, this new and remote workspace model is becoming part and parcel of the county’s business ecosystem. This comes as no surprise, as Industrious notes that coworking spaces are equipped with premium amenities along with flexible memberships that suit remote workers. These include private offices, fully equipped meeting rooms, and special member only events for networking. Not to mention, coworking spaces are often thoughtfully designed for anyone ranging from business owners and coffee shop frequenters, to entrepreneurs.
The Bright Future of Remote Working
If you can do your job on a laptop with an Internet connection, there’s bound to be a remote working option that can cater to your needs, especially considering the rapid innovation in the industry today. One company called Selina is subverting the coworking space model and attracting digital nomads who want to combine travel and work. Through contracts with companies looking to tap the increasing pool of skilled digital nomads, Selina provides flexible global travel opportunities alongside traditional office work, all while ensuring that their coworking spaces in hip locations around the world are supplied with everything working nomads need to thrive.
Similarly, We Heart Magazine details how an emerging Asian trend combines coworking spaces with coliving residences. In this case, dedicated coworking spaces cater to digital nomads to encourage collaboration and business-to-business partnerships. As these remote working models continue to innovate and develop, it will become easier for everyone from solo freelancers to big companies to reap the benefits of tech-based flexibility, an increasingly crucial factor in the ever-changing global business landscape.
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