Biology Digest

  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled insider trading charges against one of Karuna Therapeutics’ investors, a doctor and medical investigator who bought more than 1,600 shares after hearing secret details from a positive clinical trial readout. Mohammed Bari, M.D., of Rancho Santa Fe, California, was  charged by the SEC  for scooping up shares after hearing Karuna was soon to announce positive clinical trial results for schizophrenia drug KarXT. The SEC's complaint alleges that Bari, a medical investigator on the KarXT trial, was informed by the company in November 2019 that the therapy had been found safe and effective during the phase 2 trial. Karuna was preparing to announce the results, hailed as a “significant milestone” for the clinical-stage biotech. Within hours, Bari began placing orders for Karuna common stock, acquiring more than 1,600 shares, the SEC said.  Bari nabbed profits of nearly $120,000 when the  trial news was released , and Karuna’s share pr

  U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a firebrand ally of former President Donald Trump, was broadly denounced by her fellow Republicans on Tuesday for likening COVID-19 masks and vaccinations to the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews. But the party leadership made no mention of plans to take disciplinary action against her. House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and his Senate counterpart, Mitch McConnell, both rejected the Georgia Republican's comments after she compared masks to the badges worn by Jews before their mass murder by Nazi Germany before and during World War Two. Even after facing criticism, Greene described a supermarket chain's plan to identify vaccinated employees in the same light. "Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling. The Holocaust is the greatest atrocity committed in history. The fact that this needs to be stated today is deeply troubling,"

 

  A major online seller of disinformation about COVID-19 and its vaccines has had one of its channels removed from YouTube, days after an Associated Press investigation detailed how they work with other spreaders of false information to make money. The Truth About Vaccines YouTube channel was taken down this week, Ty and Charlene Bollinger said in a post Tuesday on the messaging app Telegram. The Bollingers' channel had about 75,000 subscribers but some of its videos had a much broader reach, including one that had over 1.5 million views and featured Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a prominent voice in the anti-vaccine movement. A message that greets visitors to the channel says the account was "terminated for violating YouTube's Community Guidelines." It was not immediately clear why the channel was shut down now; YouTube started banning anti-vaccine misinformation in October. A spokesperson said the company was working on a statement. Still, the Bollingers operate The Truth

AMELIA, Ohio (FOX19) - Veterinarians are pleading with pet owners to take preventative measures because they are seeing an uptick in parvo cases due to a new strain of the virus. Parvovirus, according to the  American Veterinary Medical Association , is described as a highly contagious gastrointestinal illness that most often affects puppies. “Symptoms that folks will notice when a pet’s coming down with parvo is inappetence, or decreased appetite, lethargy, vomiting and diarrhea,” Dr. Charlie Faircloth, the Medical Director at  All Creatures Animal Hospital  in Amelia, said. On average, Faircloth says 80 percent of dogs can survive parvo with treatment, but the newest strain of the virus, The so-called Parvo-B is spreading rapidly and causing an uptick in cases. Faircloth said because the strain is more severe, it can decrease the prognosis. William Coplen with  All Dogs Come From Heaven rescue  said his team has felt the devastating effects. They lost two puppies to parvo in recent w

  CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming’s governor is barring state officials from requiring people to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before they may access state property or services. Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, announced the directive against “vaccine passports” Friday, The Cheyenne Post reports. “Vaccine passport programs have the potential to politicize a decision that should not be politicized,” Gordon said in a statement. “They would divide our citizens at a time when unity in fighting the virus is essential, and harm those who are medically unable to receive the vaccine.” He encouraged Wyoming residents over 16 to get vaccinated but called it “a personal choice based upon personal circumstances.” Gordon’s directive encouraged Wyoming’s cities, towns, counties and private businesses to provide full access to places and services regardless of a person’s vaccine status. While some U.S. businesses look at ways to require customers to be vaccinated, officials in President Joe Biden’s adm

HOUSTON —  Dr. Peter Hotez  is a vaccine expert with the  Baylor College of Medicine  who has spent countless hours doing interviews to help guide the country through the pandemic. However, members of what he calls the anti-science and anti-vaccine movement made him a target late last week. Hotez tweeted examples of the hateful, threatening messages that were flooding his inbox. “It was filled with all sorts of Nazi imagery, Nuremberg hangings and terrible, terrible stuff. It was pretty upsetting,” Hotez said. Hotez has always been a vocal advocate for vaccines. Because of it, he says he’s been harassed by anti-vaxxers before. This time, he said he’s concerned about the damage that is being done by the movement. “They’re doing a lot of damage in terms of successfully convincing people not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. To be defiant of masks and social distancing. Let’s face it. The reason we lost almost 600,000 Americans to COVID-19 is partly due to the SARS-CoV-2, but as much it

A  CNN  analyst called on  Fox News  host  Tucker Carlson  to reveal whether or not he has been vaccinated after using his platform to spread misinformation about  coronavirus vaccines . Medical analyst Dr Jonathan Reiner called Carlson a "saboteur" for his comments, saying he was "sick of his nonsense." During the programme, host  Jim Acosta  introduced a clip of Carlson claiming that unless people "resist" they will be forced to get the vaccine. “Tucker Carlson received blowback and rightly so over this anti-vaccine rhetoric he’s been engaging in,” he said. “I honestly don’t know what the hell he’s talking about, but is this part of the problem, in terms of getting people vaccinated?” Thus far there has been no push for legislation making the vaccine mandatory. “Yeah, so I think he’s really a saboteur,” Dr Reiner said. “That’s what I think of Tucker Carlson.” He pointed out that Carlson often justifies his skepticism as him "just asking questions,&q

 

  Editor's note: this story has been updated to clarify how the bill would apply to hospitals. A Tennessee proposal prohibiting the government from mandating COVID-19 vaccination and allowing religious exemptions cleared the Senate 20-8 Thursday, despite concerns the bill could lead to heightened vaccine hesitancy. The House passed the same measure 72-20 last week. The bill is expected to head to Gov. Bill Lee's desk after the House goes through a procedural move to have its version match the Senate. The proposal would prohibit state and local authorities from mandating the COVID-19 vaccine, although no governments in Tennessee have signaled desire for a mandate. It would also allow people to waive the vaccine out of religious beliefs or "by rights of conscience" even during a pandemic. The legislation would not apply to students at public universities and colleges studying in the medical and health care field, or students at any health care facilities. The bill also