Biochemistry

Why the ACE2 receptor could be key to treating Covid-19 – ThePrint

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In the search for treatments for COVID-19, many researchers are focusing their attention on a specific protein that allows the virus to infect human cells. Called the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, or ACE2 receptor, the protein provides the entry point for the coronavirus to hook into and infect a wide range of human cells. Might this be central in how to treat this disease?

We are scientists with expertise in pharmacology, molecular biology and biochemistry, with a strong commitment to applying these skills to the discovery of novel therapies for human disease. In particular, all three authors have experience studying angiotensin signaling in various disease settings, a biochemical pathway that appears to be central in COVID-19. Here are some of the key issues to understand about why theres so much focus on this protein.

ACE2 is a protein on the surface of many cell types. It is an enzyme that generates small proteins by cutting up the larger protein angiotensinogen that then go on to regulate functions in the cell.

Using the spike-like protein on its surface, the SARS-CoV-2 virus binds to ACE2 like a key being inserted into a lock prior to entry and infection of cells. Hence, ACE2 acts as a cellular doorway a receptor for the virus that causes COVID-19.

ACE2 is present in many cell types and tissues including the lungs, heart, blood vessels, kidneys, liver and gastrointestinal tract. It is present in epithelial cells, which line certain tissues and create protective barriers.

The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the lungs and blood vessels occurs across this epithelial lining in the lung. ACE2 is present in epithelium in the nose, mouth and lungs. In the lungs, ACE2 is highly abundant on type 2 pneumocytes, an important cell type present in chambers within the lung called alveoli, where oxygen is absorbed and waste carbon dioxide is released.

ACE2 is a vital element in a biochemical pathway that is critical to regulating processes such as blood pressure, wound healing and inflammation, called the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) pathway.

ACE2 helps modulate the many activities of a protein called angiotensin II (ANG II) that increases blood pressure and inflammation, increasing damage to blood vessel linings and various types of tissue injury. ACE2 converts ANG II to other molecules that counteract the effects of ANG II.

Of greatest relevance to COVID-19, ANG II can increase inflammation and the death of cells in the alveoli which are critical for bringing oxygen into the body; these harmful effects of ANG II are reduced by ACE2.

When the SARS-CoV-2 virus binds to ACE2, it prevents ACE2 from performing its normal function to regulate ANG II signaling. Thus, ACE2 action is inhibited, removing the brakes from ANG II signaling and making more ANG II available to injure tissues. This decreased braking likely contributes to injury, especially to the lungs and heart, in COVID-19 patients.

Also read: Study suggests HCQ does not significantly reduce risk of severe infection in Covid patients

No. ACE2 is present in all people but the quantity can vary among individuals and in different tissues and cells. Some evidence suggests that ACE2 may be higher in patients with hypertension, diabetes and coronary heart disease. Studies have found that a lack of ACE2 (in mice) is associated with severe tissue injury in the heart, lungs and other tissue types.

This is unclear. The SARS-CoV-2 virus requires ACE2 to infect cells but the precise relationship between ACE2 levels, viral infectivity and severity of infection are not well understood.

Even so, aside from its ability to bind the SARS-CoV-2 virus, ACE2 has protective effects against tissue injury, by mitigating the pathological effects of ANG II.

When the amount of ACE2 is reduced because the virus is occupying the receptor, individuals may be more susceptible to severe illness from COVID-19. That is because enough ACE2 is available to facilitate viral entry but the decrease in available ACE2 contributes to more ANG II-mediated injury. In particular, reducing ACE2 will increase susceptibility to inflammation, cell death and organ failure, especially in the heart and the lung.

The lungs are the primary site of injury by SARS-CoV-2 infection, which causes COVID-19. The virus reaches the lungs after entry in the nose or mouth.

ANG II drives lung injury. If there is a decrease in ACE2 activity (because the virus is binding to it), then ACE2 cant break down the ANG II protein, which means there is more of it to cause inflammation and damage in the body.

The virus also impacts other tissues that express ACE2, including the heart, where damage and inflammation (myocarditis) can occur. The kidneys, liver and digestive tract can also be injured. Blood vessels may also be a site for damage.

In a recent research paper, we argued that a key factor that determines severity of damage in patients with COVID-19 is abnormally high ANG II activity.

Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE, aka ACE1) is another protein, also found in tissues such as the lung and heart, where ACE2 is present. Drugs that inhibit the actions of ACE1 are called ACE inhibitors. Examples of these drugs are ramipril, lisinopril, and enalapril. These drugs block the actions of ACE1 but not ACE2. ACE1 drives the production of ANG II. In effect, ACE1 and ACE2 have a yin-yang relationship; ACE1 increases the amount of ANG II, whereas ACE2 reduces ANG II.

By inhibiting ACE1, ACE inhibitors reduce the levels of ANG II and its ability to increase blood pressure and tissue injury. ACE inhibitors are commonly prescribed for patients with hypertension, heart failure and kidney disease.

Another commonly prescribed class of drugs, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs, e.g., losartan, valsartan, etc.) have similar effects to ACE inhibitors and may also be useful in treating COVID-19.

Evidence for a protective effect of ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers in patients with COVID-19 was shown in recent work co-authored by one of us Dr. Loomba.

No evidence exists to suggest prophylactic use of these drugs; we do not advise readers to take these drugs in the hopes that they will prevent COVID-19. We wish to emphasize that patients should only take these drugs as instructed by their health care provider.

In collaboration with a multidisciplinary group of investigators, Dr. Loomba has initiated a multicenter (randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled) clinical trial to examine the efficacy of ramipril an ACE inhibitor compared to a placebo in reducing mortality, ICU admission or need for mechanical ventilation in patients with COVID-19.

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Krishna Sriram, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California San Diego; Paul Insel, Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine, University of California San Diego, and Rohit Loomba, Professor of Medicine, University of California San Diego

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Also read: Ashwagandha the new HCQ? Modi govt begins study to see if herb keeps coronavirus away

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Biochemistry

May: Prof Cullen Fellow announcement | News and features – University of Bristol

Peter Cullen, Professor of Biochemistry and Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator, has been elected to a Fellowship by the Academy of Medical Sciences.

The new Fellows have been chosen for their exceptional contributions to advancing biomedical science via world-leading research discoveries, running national science communication and engagement programmes and translating scientific advances into benefits for patients and the public.

Professor Cullen is internationally recognised for his identification and characterisation of the molecular mechanisms that orchestrate protein and lipid transport through the endosomal network, a complex intracellular maze found in all human cells.

His world-leading research has laid the foundations for understanding how altered function of the network contributes to an array of human diseases, ranging from cardiovascular disease and neurological disorders, most notably Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, through to metabolic disorders such a type 2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and subversion of the network by a wide range of viruses and bacteria.

Professor Cullen said: "This accolade really reflects the talent, endeavour and friendship of the current and past members of my laboratory and the amazingly stimulating and supportive research environment within the School of Biochemistry and the Faculty of Life Sciences. I must also express my extreme gratitude to the Medical Research Council, the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine and, in particular, the Wellcome Trust for their continued and long-term funding of our research".

Indeed, the Cullen laboratory was recently awarded a prestigious 1.8-million Wellcome Trust Investigator Award to continue its groundbreaking research into 2026.

The value of medical science has never been more apparent than during the current COVID-19 global health crisis. From testing and vaccine development, public health and behavioural science to addressing the impacts of lockdown measures on mental health, biomedical and health scientists are helping to guide the UK through unprecedented challenges. Many of the Academys newly elected Fellows are at the forefront of the efforts to tackle coronavirus.

Professor Sir Robert Lechler PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences said:This year our new Fellows announcement happens amidst a global health crisis. Some will face the challenge of how to continue to lead on some of the most pressing health challenges our society faces beyond coronavirus, such as heart disease, diabetes or cancer. Others have joined the global research effort to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, whether that be through working out how to treat those with the virus, joining efforts to develop a vaccine, or looking to limit the impact of the pandemic more broadly on our physical and mental health.

Never has there been a more important time to recognise and celebrate the people behind ground-breaking biomedical and health research, working harder than ever to further knowledge and protect patients and the public.

It brings me great pleasure to congratulate the new Fellows, and see our Fellowship grow to even greater heights of evidence-based advice, leadership and expertise.

The Academy of Medical Sciencesis the independent body in the UK representing the diversity of medical science. Their mission is to advance biomedical and health research and its translation into benefits for society.

The Academy is working to secure a future in which the UK and global health is improved by the best research; the UK leads the world in biomedical and health research and is renowned for the quality of its research outputs, talent and collaborations; independent, high-quality medical science advice informs the decisions that affect society and more have a say in the future of health and research.

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May: Prof Cullen Fellow announcement | News and features - University of Bristol

Human Behavior

No, you don’t have a "lizard brain": Why the Psychology 101 model of the brain is all wrong – Salon

Every so often an academic article liberates itself from the bonds of turgidity that characterize scholarly prose, and instead welcomes readers with a refreshing gust of literary flair. Such is the case with a recent piece published in Current Directions in Psychological Science,and co-authored by Joseph Cesario and Heather L. Eisthen of Michigan State University and David J. Johnson of the University of Maryland.

The title? "Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside."

No, this isn't an article debunkingfringe conspiracy theories about how the world's leaders are a bunch of literal lizard people. Rather, it addresses (and debunks)one of the most commonly-used metaphors in evolutionary psychology, the idea that the human brain evolved from lower life forms and hence has evolutionary remnants from those animals akin to an onion with layers.

If you've ever heard someone speak of you possessing a "lizard brain" or "fish brain" that operates on some subconscious,primallevel, you've heard this metaphor in action. This is called the triune-brain theory;as the authors write, the basic crux of it is that"as new vertebrate species arose, evolutionarily newer complex brain structures were laid on top of evolutionarily older simpler structures; that is, that an older core dealing with emotions and instinctive behaviors (the 'reptilian brain'consisting of the basal ganglia and limbic system) lies within a newer brain capable of language, action planning, and so on."

Even respectable science magazines frequently fall back on this metaphor of the triune-brain theory.ADiscover article from 2010, titled "You Fall in Love Because Your Brain is a Jellyfish, Lizard, and Mouse Ice Cream Cone," is a prime example of triune-brain theory in action. As writer Kyle Munkittrick wrote then:

Feel that pebble in your shoe? Thank a jellyfish. Ever duck before a rogue Frisbee collides with your noggin? Thank a lizard. Remember where you left your keys? Thank a mouse. Hamiltoninterviewed David Linden from John Hopkins University whoexplained that our brain is the way it is because evolution is "the ultimate tinkerer and cheapskate." Evolution built our brain by taking simpler brains and just piling more brains on top - like adding scoops of ice cream to an ice cream cone. Hence, the pieces of our brain inherited from these other creatures are largely unchanged.

The problem, though, is that it just isn't true. Or, as the coauthors of the aforementioned paperput it:"this belief, although widely shared and stated as fact in psychology textbooks, lacks any foundation in evolutionary biology."

As they explain, thetriune-brain theorypromoted the overly-simplistic idea that animals can be easily organized from "simplest" to "most complex," and implies that evolution "is a linear progression in which one organism became another and then another." The authors explain that "the correct view of evolution is that animals radiated from common ancestors"; another implication of the assumption, "that structural complexity endows functional complexity," is in fact still up for debate.

"Perhaps mistaken ideas about brain evolution persist because they fit with the human experience: We do sometimes feel overwhelmed with uncontrollable emotions and even use animalistic terms to describe these states," the authors conclude. "These ideas are also consistent with such traditional views of human nature as rationality battling emotion, the tripartite Platonic soul, Freudian psychodynamics, and religious approaches to humanity. They are also simple ideas that can be distilled to a single paragraph in an introductory textbook as a nod to biological roots of human behavior. Nevertheless, they lack any foundation in our understanding of neurobiology or evolution and should be abandoned by psychological scientists."

It is worth noting that the "lizard brain" metaphor appears often in science journalism as well. Last month Elon Musk discussedhow he believes the lower brain is the "boss" and issues directives to the upper brain during an YouTube interview on a MIT Lex Friedman podcast episode. In March,Mike Lofgren of BillMoyers.com used the analogy to explain why conservatives tend to be more motivated by fear than liberals, arguing that "MRI tests have shown that different centers of the brain light up more robustly in these persons than others, and their amygdala the so-called 'lizard brain'that controls the threat response is larger than average. To what extent this characteristic is an inherited tendency and to what extent socialization alters the highly adaptable components of the brain is debatable." (Not to say thatMusk and Lofgren were wrong about the larger points they were trying to make, merely that they used a misleading scientific analogy to express it.)

Unfortunately, the triune-brain theory remains a staple of introductory science textbooks. The study's coauthors sampled 20 introductory psychology textbooks, published from 2009 and 2017. "Of the 14 [textbooks] that mention brain evolution, 86% contained at least one inaccuracy along the lines described above," they said."Said differently, only 2 of the field's current introductory textbooks describe brain evolution in a way that represents the consensus shared among comparative neurobiologists."

That means ifyou're clinging to a neurobiological misconception and feeling angry about it, you can no longer blame your lizard brain for those strong emotions. You have only your own human brain to blame.

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No, you don't have a "lizard brain": Why the Psychology 101 model of the brain is all wrong - Salon

Human Behavior

Restorers of Xumishan Grottoes prove to be picture of dedication –

Relic restoration experts repair murals in the No 48 cave of Yuanguang Temple at the Xumishan Grottoes in Ningxia on April 27. It's the first repair and recovery project carried out at the 1,500-year-old grottoes since the Qing Dynasty.[Photo/Xinhua]

Even during the scorching summer, the team of seven had to wear layers of thick clothes and knee pads to stay warm in a freezing and damp grotto. The dark space is dimly illuminated by their headlights and is home to wall paintings dating back hundreds of years.

They are not adventurers, but seven restorers who are helping to bring back the luster of the artwork found in more than 160 grottoes that dot the red cliffs of Xumishan in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

The Xumishan Grottoes, first built in the late period of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), house 162 caves and more than 1,000 statues, along a main stretch of the ancient Silk Road.

The murals, which total 185 square meters, are now in dire need of repair due to destructive human behavior and natural factors such as erosion that have occurred over the course of a millennium.

"I got goosebumps when the whole pattern of the painting showed up clearly after we had spent some 20 days cleaning it," says 60-year-old Wang Minquan, an expert in the group who has been participating in the year-long repair program-the largest of its kind since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)-since April.

The work can be tedious and demanding, Wang says, adding that young people these days do not have the patience to climb up and down the scaffolds, fix cracks and clean flaky walls all day.

On some steep rocky slopes, the team has to scramble a few dozen meters to reach a higher stone statue, with ropes tied around their waist like a climber.

Years of work in the freezing and dark grottoes has resulted in cervical spondylosis and cold legs for Wang and his colleagues.

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Human Behavior

Mary E. Fissell: Pandemics come and go. The way people respond to them barely changes. – Greensboro News & Record

Pandemics have been afflicting humans for millennia, probably for as long as weve lived in large groups. Outbreaks struck the ancient Greeks, the Byzantines, the Incas and the Native Americans, among others. A century ago, the so-called Spanish flu, which as you probably know by now didnt actually originate in Spain, killed about 50 million people, and perhaps many more, around the world.

Im a historian who studies medicine in 17th-century England, and lately Ive been thinking about one particular pandemic: the bubonic plague that struck England in 1665, killing at least 200,000 people, including about 15% of the population of London. As we struggle to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic, what strikes me most is how similar our experiences and responses are to those of the people living in England more than three centuries ago. No Zoom, no Instacart, no Tiger King, but human behavior in the face of plague seems remarkably familiar.

Just as today, a global economy was a key driver of the English epidemic. Bubonic plague, which is bacterial rather than viral, is typically spread to humans by fleas who have fed on the blood of infected rats. Earlier plague epidemics such as the Black Death of the 1300s, which may have wiped out half the population of Europe came to Europe via merchants traveling back from Asia along the Silk Road. In the same way, contemporary observers reported that the 1665 epidemic may have been brought to London by Dutch trading ships; the epidemic had already spread there a year earlier. In the months before it reached England, authorities had tried, obviously without success, to quarantine ships from the Netherlands and other plague-affected places.

Another conspicuous resemblance is socioeconomic. In the United States, weve seen that COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting poor people, as well as blacks and Latinos. Overall, these groups tend to have poorer health and less access to health care, and they are more likely to live in crowded, unhealthy conditions and to work in jobs that require them to come into close contact with others who may be infected.

In New York, for example, the death rate among blacks is twice as high as it is for whites; for Latinos, it is 60% higher. In Louisiana, blacks make up a third of the population but so far account for almost 60% of COVID-19 deaths. About 5,000 meatpacking workers, and perhaps many more, have tested positive for the virus to date, largely because of a lack of safety measures and the industrys cramped and grueling working conditions.

The situation 350 years ago in London was similar. During the epidemic, the London city government counted the dead, tracking how many people died of plague in each parish. This work was performed by searchers of the dead, who were often older poor women. These parish lists, known as Bills of Mortality, were printed up and sold weekly, a kind of early version of ZIP-code-by-ZIP-code health reports from state health departments.

Examining these lists, both 17th-century readers and historians have found that, no surprise, the poorest neighborhoods tended to have the highest death rates from the plague. The reasons for this are probably similar to the causes of todays disparities the poor were already less healthy, lived in dense, unsanitary neighborhoods and did the citys dirty work.

They also could not leave. Even without our current scientific knowledge, people knew that the disease moved from place to place. And once it reached English shores, people practiced social distancing as best they could, by getting away from the worst disease hot spots. Just as we are seeing today, those who could afford it left the cities for the countryside, where there was less disease; the classic medical advice of the time was leave quickly, go far away and come back slowly.

Even King Charles II left London, for Salisbury; when the disease showed up there, he went to Oxford. The poor, though, were largely stuck. They had no place to go, and they needed the work they were doing to survive.

And just as they are now, rumors flourished. In recent weeks, hydroxychloroquine, diluted bleach and bananas have all been promoted as treatments, with little or no evidence backing them up. Conspiracy theories have proliferated, including the false claim that Bill Gates is somehow behind the pandemic. In 17th-century England, wigs became the focus of rumor. At the time, this was a big deal; elaborate powdered wigs were the height of fashion for both men and women. During the epidemic, however, people came to fear them as a source of disease they were made from human hair, and who knew where it came from?

Other rumors spread, too: Perhaps the two comets seen a few months apart had presaged the plague. Stories of women taken to plague hospitals against their will, and houses suddenly shut up, spread rapidly. All the while, city church bells rang incessantly to mark the passing of parishioners.

Over the past few months, weve also seen officials and others use scapegoats to explain the pandemic. In the United States, China, where the virus originated, has been the most common target. Unsubtly, some leaders and media figures have called the pandemic the Chinese virus, or the Wuhan virus, after the city in which it first appeared. In recent months in the United States, there has been a sharp increase in anti-Asian bias, and 30% of people in a recent survey said they had witnessed an incident of such bias.

Past outbreaks have been no different. During the bubonic plague of the 1300s, Jews were accused of poisoning wells and food supplies, and pogroms destroyed thousands of communities across Europe. Other European cities blamed prostitutes and ran them out of town when a plague threatened. In 1665 in England, those Dutch ships were all too easy to blame because the English were at war with the Dutch at the time. Its worth noting that these ways of thinking have recurred more recently: At the turn of the 20th century in the United States, tuberculosis was called the Jewish disease, and Italian immigrants were blamed for outbreaks of polio.

By early 1666, the outbreak had abated, to the point that the king and other well-off Londoners returned. Life slowly returned to normal. For reasons that remain mysterious, this was the last large outbreak of bubonic plague in England.

Today, as we face another disease, one that we still dont understand very well, 17th-century England reminds us that despite the enormous leaps weve made in science and technology, humans themselves remain in many ways the same: imperfect, not always rational and still deeply vulnerable to novel nasty microbes.

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Mary E. Fissell: Pandemics come and go. The way people respond to them barely changes. - Greensboro News & Record

Human Behavior

DEM Offers Tips on Preventing Conflicts with Coyotes – Portsmouth Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. Keenly intelligent, extraordinarily adaptable, and willing to eat almost any available food whether natural, including small animals, birds, insects, and fruits; scavenged roadkill; or easily obtainable human-provided sources such as garbage, pet food, birdseed, and compost Rhode Islands coyotes are on the move again.

Typically, adult male and female coyotes breed in late winter and the female gives birth to a litter of 4 to 8 pups in April. Consisting of the adult pair and the pups, this social unit will be maintained until the pups become yearlings and disperse on their own or get booted out by their parents. Noisy, hungry pups must be fed.

That means adult coyotes will be seen and heard foraging and hunting for food in rural, suburban, and even urban Rhode Island neighborhoods over the next several months. As daylight hours increase, adult coyotes may spend more time actively foraging during daytime than they would at other times of the year.

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) advises Rhode Islanders that the No. 1 key to minimizing interactions and conflicts with coyotes is reducing food sources available to them, either intentionally or unintentionally around our homes and neighborhoods. Coyotes that rely on natural food sources remain wild and wary of humans. Feeding coyotes or any wild animal however, makes them less fearful of people and they can become casual or even bold when encountering people.

If you see coyotes that are bold and brazen, its often directly related to intentional feeding or easy and reliably available food sources associated with human activities, said DEM wildlife biologist Charles Brown.

Intentionally feeding wild animals habituates them, causes them to lose their inherent fear of humans, and may lead to brazen behavior. It also leads to a whole series of problems, including frequenting areas close to homes and preying on domestic animals such as chickens, cats, and small dogs.

Coyotes play an important ecological role by controlling populations of rodents, resident geese, and in some cases white-tailed deer, Brown said. Shy and elusive by nature, most coyotes usually make every attempt to avoid interactions with people.

Coyote attacks on people are very rare. On the other hand, more than 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year in the United States, over half of dog bite injuries occur at home with dogs that are familiar to us, and over 800,000 receive medical attention for dog bites, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

HOW TO CUT DOWN ON COYOTE CONFLICTS

Remove attractants from your yard. This means removing all food and water sources like pet food dishes and birdfeeders and keeping barbecue grills clean of grease. Dont put meat or sweet food scraps in your compost pile, and keep compost in secure, vented containers. Put your trash in containers with secure lids and store them in sheds and garages away from doors if possible. Put garbage for pickup outside on the morning of collection, not the night before. If you have fruit trees, pick up fallen fruit.

Cut back brushy edges and dense weeds from around your yard and structures like sheds. These areas provide cover for coyotes and their prey.

Chase coyotes off your property. Keep coyotes wild by hazing them, which means doing things to scare them or chase them away. According to the website CoyoteSmarts.org (or here on Facebook), the following actions are effective hazing tactics:

Protecting pets. Keep pets, particularly cats, indoors. Coyotes dont distinguish between domestic and wild animals and are likely to view cats and small dogs as potential food and larger dogs as competition. For the safety of your pets, always keep them leashed when outdoors and feed them indoors. Outdoor feeding can attract many wild animals. Do not leave small dogs outside unattended, especially at night.

When confronted by a coyote. Stand up and look big. Wave your arms. Yell loudly. Dont lose your head. Keeping an assertive posture and making eye contact will convey a message of authority that coyotes will typically respect. Maintain eye contact. If the coyote does not retreat, walk slowly away toward the house. Do not turn your back on the animal.

Report aggressive behavior. Coyotes that exhibit bold or aggressive behavior towards humans should be treated with caution and reported to authorities. Also, animals that appear or act aggressively or are noticeably sick should be reported to the DEM Division of Law Enforcement (222-3070) or to your local animal control officer. Also, any contact between a coyote and a dog or other domestic animal should be immediately reported to your veterinarian and animal control officer.

Never feed coyotes. Feeding coyotes or other wild animals causes behavioral changes that will almost certainly cause unintended problems for neighbors and the animals that were meant to benefit. Report neighbors that are feeding coyotes to the DEM Division of Law Enforcement (222-3070) or to your local animal control officer.

Adult female coyotes typically weigh 33-40 pounds, while males typically weigh 34-47 pounds. They often look heavier because of their thick fur. The first appearance of coyotes in Rhode Island occurred in the mid-1960s, part of a range expansion into the eastern United States that began at the end of the 19th century.

Coyotes can currently be found in all Rhode Island communities except New Shoreham. They may hunt and travel alone or sometimes will travel as a group, usually an adult pair with their offspring from the most recent litter. In our area, coyotes are mostly nocturnal, mainly to avoid interactions with people. They remain active year-round and do not hibernate. Coyote pairs are territorial and will exclude other coyotes from their established territory.

Coyotes are now well established as part of our native fauna and unless you live on Block Island, you can expect that coyotes occur in your town or neighborhood and at some point, you may actually see one in your yard, on the bike path, or crossing a farm field, said DEM wildlife biologist Charles Brown. Not all coyotes exhibit bad traits and those that do have likely been encouraged or conditioned to behave that way because of human behavior.

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DEM Offers Tips on Preventing Conflicts with Coyotes - Portsmouth Press

Human Behavior

Dine In Maine: Listen to these podcasts while you prep – Press Herald

Its easier to destroy a pair of headphones than you might think. How do I know? Messy, hard-earned experience.

One pair sliced cleanly into three pieces as I bisected a stubborn butternut squash. The next dangled, then tangled into the ball whisk of my Kitchen Aid as it launched lashings of chocolate buttercream across my kitchen.

Eventually, I caved and bought a Bluetooth speaker. It was either that or give up listening to food podcasts as I cook, and that felt like a bridge too far.

For me, podcasts about the culinary world breed a sense of connection to other home cooks, as well as chefs and restaurateurs, growers and producers. They reinforce the context that frames what I do with my hands as I assemble the components of a dish.

Theyve also introduced me to stories and ideas I might never have sought out on my own. Everything from how to preserve unused cookie dough (freeze it into logs), to the separated-at-birth melodrama of Zinfandel and Primitivo (They took a DNA test; turns out theyre 100% the same grape.)

Whether youre new to food podcasts or a veteran listener, I hope youll find something appetizing in this list of eight of my favorites. Some began airing this year, others have archives several hundred episodes deep, but every one would be worth sacrificing a pair of headphones.

Note: There are many ways to access podcasts. Apps like Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher all make locating episodes simple. Many home audio devices, like Amazons Echo (Alexa) and Google Home, also allow access through simple voice requests.

Gastropod

Since 2014, celebrated writers Nicola Twilley and Cynthia Graber have explored the hidden stories behind how (and what) we eat. Each episode takes a single topic caffeine, artificial flavorings, the cherry tomato and refracts it through the overlapping lenses of culture, science and history. Meticulously researched and always entertaining, Gastropod uses the low-key charm of its hosts to sneak up on you. Before you know it, youll be captivated (and peckish).

Quintessential episode: Museums and the Mafia: The Secret History of Citrus (Season 4)

Gastropod.com

The Splendid Table

What began as a nationally syndicated Minnesota Public Radio program aimed at an audience of home cooks, The Splendid Table has, over 21 years, mutated into the leviathan of food podcasts. In no small part, thats due to its early embrace of technology. Splendid Table was one of the first programs to host its own website (starting with featured recipes, then a dinner-themed newsletter and, eventually, full episodes of the show). Some of its popularity is undoubtedly also due to the expertise and charisma of its hosts, Lynne Rossetto Kasper and, since 2017, Francis Lam. With more than 700 episodes in its catalog, theres enough compelling audio content here to keep you busy for months.

Quintessential episodes: Any of the often hilarious annual Turkey Confidential call-in programs. The shows website describes the first in this series (2006) as Thanksgiving triage at its best.

splendidtable.org

The Sporkful

Host Dan Pashmans podcast began as a cross between entertainment and therapy: a release valve for him to process his most obsessive culinary thoughts. Indeed, in 2010, he began The Sporkful with an entire episode parsing the differences between panini and grilled cheese, then moved on to programs about calculating ideal ratios of butter and salt for popcorn, and even tactical planning for dinner at a buffet. In recent years, Pashman has turned The Sporkful into a more interview-oriented podcast, but it has lost none of its original appeal.

Quintessential episode: Episode 19, in which Pashman and NPR science correspondent Robert Krulwich use physics and geometry to optimize sandwich construction and consumption.

sporkful.com

Eaters Digest

Originally birthed in 2015 as Eater Upsell, a podcast primarily about well-known North American chefs, writers and television personalities, this podcast hit an inflection point in 2017, right around the time the restaurant world recognized it had a Mario Batali-shaped #MeToo problem. Since then, and especially under the aegis of current hosts Amanda Kludt and Daniel Geneen, Eaters Digest has branched out to explore the forces that shape the ways we eat out (and, often, in). If you want to find out whats happening right now in the world of food, this should be your first stop.

Quintessential episode: Ruth Reichl and the Rise and Fall of Gourmet Magazine (March 20, 2019).

eater.com/eatersdigest

Cooking Issues

Descriptions can be deceiving. When I first came across Cooking Issues in 2010, I thought it was just another call-in show designed to help home cooks figure out how to roast a squash or debone a duck. I quickly recalibrated my expectations when I heard hosts Dave Arnold and Nastassia Lopez delivering their rapid-fire, stream-of-consciousness advice and discovered the programs orientation toward science and modernist techniques. That doesnt mean you cant listen to find out how to use a bread machine, but a week later, you might wind up learning about avant-garde gastronomic approaches like dispersing aromas with a vape pen or attaching electrodes to food to initiate ohmic heating.

Quintessential episode: Episode 215 (July 21, 2015) featuring legendary author and fellow food-as-science scholar Harold McGee.

heritageradionetwork.org

Home Cooking

When I read last month that Samin Nosrat author of the James Beard Foundation award-winning Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat and host of the Netflix miniseries of the same name and Song Exploder podcast creator HrishikeshHirway were combining forces to host a podcast about cooking during the current pandemic, I subscribed without listening to a single episode. Both bring an easygoing expertise to interviewing guests, like baker Stella Parks and actor/latke aficionado Josh Malina, and offer clear, adaptable answers to listener questions about whether to soak beans and how to make bread when flour is scarce.

Quintessential episode: Home Cookings debut (March 27, 2020) Bean There, Done That and its quick, three-sentence how-to-cook-a-bean recipe.

homecooking.show

Food Court with Richard Blais

Another newcomer, this podcast is unique among its peers because of its game show format. Hosted by Atlanta chef Richard Blais, a former Top Chef: All-Stars champ, Food Court is a rollicking hybrid: part trivia quiz, part debate-based panel show. Each episode features entertaining guest contestants who argue on either side of some of the most contentious culinary issues pie vs. cake, cheap vs. expensive coffee, and most controversial of all: cilantro, yes or no? (For the record, the answer is yes.)

Quintessential episode: Bagels: Toasted vs. Not Toasted (April 7, 2020)

ihr.fm

The Food Coma Podcast with Joe Ricchio

Freelance food writer and former food editor for Down East Magazine, Joe Ricchio is an absolute blast to listen to as he hosts this mostly Maine-focused podcast. Long a fixture of the Portland-area food scene, Ricchio radiates an infectious enthusiasm for his culinary-world guests and their work. Episodes begin with a broad theme (food entertainment, human behavior) but quickly detour into tangents that are at once engaging, revealing and frequently side-splittingly funny.

Quintessential episodes: Relationships with Nellie Edwards (January 27, 2020), wherein Ricchio tells you what he really thinks of using Groupon discounts at restaurants, and Network TV, Motorcycles, and Vulcans with Rob Caldwell (January 6, 2020), a Freaky Friday episode that turns interviewee into interviewer.

foodcomapodcast.com

Andrew Ross has written about food and dining in New York and the United Kingdom. He and his work have been featured on Martha Stewart Living Radio and in The New York Times. He is the recipient of three recent Critics Awards from the Maine Press Association.Contact him at: [emailprotected]Twitter: @AndrewRossME

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Originally posted here:
Dine In Maine: Listen to these podcasts while you prep - Press Herald

Human Behavior

Where Is The 100 Filmed? The CW Show Filming Locations – The Cinemaholic

The 100 is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama that follows the story of the people who are sent to Earth to find out what it looks like now for the continuation of humanity. Ninety-seven years ago, a nuclear disaster had wiped out most of the people. The survivors fled and lived in the space station orbiting the Earth. But now, the makeshift home is running out of space, and they need to get their feet back on the ground.

One of the key points about the version of Earth that the show presents is that it strays away from the urbanity of the current world, and lays emphasis on the basic ferality of human nature by posing it with the wildness of nature. With the social structures as we know them out of the picture, the mercurial nature of human behavior is brought to the fore.

In the form of the Grounders, the Reapers, and the Mountain Men- the series presents a complex web of human thought-process and their basic instinct of cruelty and survival. To reflect the same danger in their surroundings, the series relied on a lot of outdoor locations. Here are all the places where it has been filmed.

The 100 follows the story of 100 juvenile detainees who are sent to a post-apocalyptic Earth to find out if the planet is ready to be habitable again. These young people have to survive the harsh environs of the Earth, which is still recuperating from the nuclear apocalypse that had happened some 100 years ago. The 100 offers a captivating world to us and presents our planet in a new light. Despite a lot of cultural and scientific differences between our world and that of The 100, it still looks a lot like ours, though less populated. All these beautiful backdrops for The 100 can be found in Canada. Vancouver, British Columbia serves as the central filming location for the series.

Throughout seven seasons, The 100 has extensively employed locations in and around Vancouver. Some scenes have been filmed in the Vancouver Film Studios and Aja Tan Studios. However, the story requires a lot of outdoor locations, throwing the characters into dangerous situations that Earths new surroundings impose on them.

Filming under water is a challenge. Fortunately, our camera man is up to it, putting on his swim trunks to get the perfect shot. #the100 pic.twitter.com/M7jhi0dSGh

The 100 Writers Room (@The100writers) May 11, 2017

#the100 BTS: Here's a shot of the mystery room still being completed before filming the next day. pic.twitter.com/aczjdX6Ur5

Shawna Benson (@shawnabenson) March 3, 2016

Vancouver locals will find a lot of places familiar with the world of The 100. Seymour Mainline and the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve appear in a lot of episodes in the series. The Spur 4 Bridge is also a familiar sight in the show, along with the Spur 7 Beach. The tunnels of the Britannia Mine Museum have appeared in the earlier seasons of The 100. The lush surroundings of several parks have been used to portray the picture of an uninhabited Earth. These places include Lynn Canyon Park, Twin Falls, Upper Coquitlam River Park, Widgeon Valley National Wildlife Area, and Stawamus Chief Provincial Park.

NEWS | #The100 cast and crew was filming at BC place in Vancouver yesterday. pic.twitter.com/LczvTyjvvf

Bellarke News (@InfoBellarke) September 15, 2017

Gibsons Mansion and The Vancouver Club serve as the exterior and interior setting for Alies Mansion. The series has also been shot on location at Surrey City Hall, Oceanic Plazza, Annacis Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, West Cordova Street, Guinness Tower, Blieberger Farm, Canada Place & Burrard Street.

The cast and crew of #The100 begin filming the final season today lets send them some love! pic.twitter.com/lijYPwgwRw

Eliza Taylor Daily [Fan Account] (@dailyejt) August 26, 2019

The Gravel Pit near Mid-Valley Viewpoint has also been used as a critical location in several episodes. Apart from this, the Coal Harbour Seawall, Gillies Quarry, Minaty Bay, and Widgeon Slough North Dock also feature throughout several seasons. The infamous Riverview Hospital also serves as one of the filming locations for the sci-fi series. All the places near the water bodies in The 100 have been filmed in places like Britannia Beach, Steve Falls Dam, Watts Point Beach, and Lighthouse Beach.

Filming of the season finale of #The100 #The100Season3 @yvrshoots pic.twitter.com/ezvkVZaJbg

@Sandra (@SandraOlsson) January 22, 2016

NEWS | From the beginning to the end today marks the last day of filming of #The100. A heartfelt thank you to Bob and Eliza for being the best Bellamy and Clarke we could have asked for. #BellarkeForever pic.twitter.com/AFStnWMhJ1

Bellarke Buzz (@BellarkeBuzz) March 14, 2020

Read More: TV Shows Like The 100

Originally posted here:
Where Is The 100 Filmed? The CW Show Filming Locations - The Cinemaholic

Human Behavior

Safe driving dependent on 3 parts: car, road, driver | News, Sports, Jobs – The Adirondack Daily Enterprise

Consumer Reports had an interesting article, asking the question can we save more lives with advances in safety technology that is reshaping the auto industry. CR questions why the highway death toll is still so stubbornly high. Good question.

As the CR article continues, it makes it clear that there are three parts to safety: the car, the road, and the driver.

The cars

We are doing an excellent job using technology to develop crash-avoidance safety features in cars, such as automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection, forward collision warning and blind spot warning. CR believes that these safety systems should become standard on all models because they save lives. But with every new safety feature there is a corresponding negative side. Drivers may rely too heavily on what they perceive as the ability of the technology to bail them out of trouble.

The promise of self-driving cars is so exciting because the technology could significantly reduce traffic deaths. More than 90% of crashes are linked to driver error, according to National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. In theory, a robot-driven car doesnt fall asleep or get drunk. It doesnt make human mistakes.

The roads

A poorly designed road can escalate a small error into a fatality. Traffic engineers know that a minor change in the sweep of a curve or an unclear road sign can have an impact on safety. For this reason, dozens of cities in the U.S. are completely rethinking road design with safety top of mind.

In the U.S., there are about 12 roadway deaths per 100,000 people per year, according to the World Health Organization. In much of Western Europe, its fewer than five. In Sweden, its less than three. Some communities are changing their street design and traffic laws. In 2014 New York was one of the first cities in the U.S. to adopt the Vision Zero concept, which calls for city planners to rethink everything about roads, bike lanes and pedestrian routes. The goal is to eliminate all vehicle-related deaths.

Speed limits also play a key role in road safety, yet outside of cities, the trend has been to set them higher. During the 1970s energy crisis, the U.S. adopted a nationwide 55 mph limit. Now most states have a speed limit of 65 or 70 mph on highways. Seven states have adopted an 80 mph speed limit on some highways, and the speed limit is 85 mph on a 40-mile stretch of Texas tollway between Austin and San Antonio.

The driver

Motorists have become used to driving faster than the posted speed limit no matter the number, says Russ Martin, director of policy and government relations at the Governors Highway Safety Association. Even though almost everyone recognizes that speeding isnt safe, they do it anyway.

Its no mystery that driver mistakes contribute to highway crashes and injuries. Drunken driving, speeding and failing to wear a seat belt are three major reasons. Sometimes drivers engage in more than one of these risky behaviors at the same time. Each contributes to about 10,000 traffic deaths per year. Human behavior remains the most common contributor to crashes, but its also the hardest to change.

Safety advocates say the solutions are well known. Seat belt use, for example, is higher in states with strong enforcement. States with tougher drunken-driving laws have lower death rates. Most states ban driver texting and the use of handheld devices while driving, but many drivers do it anyway.

Many drivers think they can multitask while operating a car safely. But National Transportation Safety Board research shows thats a myth; humans can focus cognitive attention only on one thing at a time, says Bruce Landsberg, vice chairman of the NTSB. We try to fix human nature here, but thats really hard.

Hard or not, we need to do it.

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Safe driving dependent on 3 parts: car, road, driver | News, Sports, Jobs - The Adirondack Daily Enterprise

Human Behavior

Wehner: ‘The human capacity for self-deception is tremendous’ – Henry Herald

Brian Stelter asks Peter Wehner, a veteran of past GOP administrations, about the willingness of Trump supporters to excuse unpresidential behavior. "The human capacity for self-deception is tremendous," Wehner says. And "they feel that they are in an existential fight, an existential struggle, and Trump is on their side."

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Wehner: 'The human capacity for self-deception is tremendous' - Henry Herald