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A Visual Guide to the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus

Illustrations by Veronica Falconieri Hays (Scientific American)

What scientists know about the inner workings of the pathogen that has infected the world

For all the mysteries that remain about the novel coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes, scientists have generated an incredible amount of fine-grained knowledge in a surprisingly short time.

Thousands of different coronaviruses may inhabit the planet. Four of them are responsible for many of our common colds. Two others have already triggered alarming outbreaks of disease: in 2002 a coronavirus caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which killed more than 770 people worldwide, and in 2012 a different strain started Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), taking more than 800 lives. SARS burned out within a year; MERS still lingers.

The newest coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has created a far deadlier pandemic in part because once it infects a person it can lie undetected for a long time. An individual who had the SARS coronavirus did not transmit it until 24 to 36 hours after displaying symptoms such as fever and dry cough; people feeling ill could be isolated before they made others sick. But people with COVID-19 can transmit the virus before they show clear symptoms. Not feeling ill, infected men and women work, commute, shop, eat out and attend parties, all the while exhaling coronavirus into the airspace of people around them. The virus can remain undetected inside the human body for so long partly because its genome produces proteins that delay our immune system from sounding an alarm. Meanwhile lung cells die as the virus secretly reproduces. When the immune system does hear the call, it can go into overdrive, suffocating the very cells it is trying to save.

In the graphics that follow, Scientific American presents detailed explanations, current as of mid-June, into how SARS-CoV-2 sneaks inside human cells, makes copies of itself and bursts out to infiltrate many more cells, widening infection. It shows how the immune system would normally attempt to neutralize virus particles and how CoV-2 can block that effort. It explain some of the virus’s surprising abilities, such as its capacity to proofread new virus copies as they are being made to prevent mutations that could destroy them. And it shows how drugs and vaccines might still be able to overcome the intruders.

Virus invasion and immune response

A SARS-CoV-2 particle enters a person’s nose or mouth and floats in the airway until it brushes against a lung cell that has an ACE2 receptor on the surface. The virus binds to that cell, slips inside and uses the cell’s machinery to help make copies of itself. They break out, leaving the cell for dead, and penetrate other cells. Infected cells send out alarms to the immune system to try to neutralize or destroy the pathogens, but the viruses can prevent or intercept the signals, buying time to replicate widely before a person shows symptoms.

Drug and vaccine intervention

Commercial and university labs are investigating well over 100 drugs to fight COVID-19, the disease the SARS-CoV-2 virus causes. Most drugs would not destroy the virus directly but would interfere with it enough to allow the body’s immune system to clear the infection. Antiviral drugs generally stop a virus from attaching to a lung cell, prevent a virus from reproducing if it does invade a cell, or dampen an overreaction by the immune system, which can cause severe symptoms in infected people. Vaccines prepare the immune system to quickly and effectively fight a future infection.

The remarkable and mysterious Coronavirus genome

The SARS-CoV-2 genome is a strand of RNA that is about 29,900 bases long—near the limit for RNA viruses. Influenza has about 13,500 bases, and the rhinoviruses that cause common colds have about 8,000. (A base is a pair of compounds that are the building blocks of RNA and DNA.) Because the genome is so large, many mutations could occur during replication that would cripple the virus, but SARS-CoV-2 can proofread and correct copies. This quality control is common in human cells and in DNA viruses but highly unusual in RNA viruses. The long genome also has accessory genes, not fully understood, some of which may help it fend off our immune system.

This article was originally published with the title “Inside the Coronavirus” in Scientific American 323, 1, 32-37 (July 2020). doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0720-32

Source: By Mark Fischetti, Veronica Falconieri Hays, Britt Glaunsinger, Jen Christiansen | Scientific American July 2020 Issue

Não importa o tempo ou o artista a cerejeira sempre é a rainha da imagem.

Hawk and Cherry Blossoms.   Woodblock print, about 1834, Japan, by artist Katsushika Hokusai

Mohommah G. Baquaqua

“’Que aqueles ‘indivíduos humanitários’ que são a favor da escravidão se coloquem no lugar do escravo no porão barulhento de um navio negreiro, apenas por uma viagem da África à América, sem sequer experimentar mais que isso dos horrores da escravidão: se não saírem abolicionistas convictos, então não tenho mais nada a dizer a favor da abolição.’ As palavras são de Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua, ex-escravo nascido no Norte da África no início do século XIX e que trabalhou no Brasil antes de fugir das amarras da servidão em Nova York, em 1847. O trecho consta do livro “An interesting narrative. Biography of Mahommah G. Baquaqua” (“Uma interessante narrativa: biografia de Mahommah G. Baquaqua”, em tradução livre), lançado assim mesmo, em inglês, pelo próprio ex-escravo, em Detroit, no ano de 1854, em plena campanha abolicionista nos EUA. A obra jamais foi traduzida para o português, permanecendo desconhecida do público brasileiro.

Fonte: http://www.bocadaforte.com.br/reportagens/baquaqua-a-auto-biografia-de-um-escravo.html

As pétalas voam Pousando suavemente Nos cabelos Forrando tudo de rosa suave Mansamente

VISIONS OF SPRING: CHERRY BLOSSOMS 

SPRING IS THERE, CATCH A GLIMPSE  A LOT OF MY FOLLOWERS, SOME VERY DEAR ONES SEEM NOT TO BE WELL RIGHT NOW. MY OWN HEALTH AND MOOD ARE PRETTY BAD SINCE THE LAST FEW MONTHS. DON’T GIVE UP PLEASE, NEITHER WILL I, PROMISE. SPRING IS THERE. TRY TO GO OUTSIDE, TAKE A DEEP BREATH. LET YOURSELF GO, AT LEAST FOR A MINUTE. MAYBE TAKE A FEW SNAPSHOTS AS A REMINDER. IT WILL HELP A LOT. HUGS :-D:-D:-D:-D 

 Novaexpress93

The maiko Ichimari with the sakkou hairstyle and a focus on her own designed kanzashi made with turtle for hapiness and a crane and some pines for longevity! (Source1, Source2)

Click image for 668 x 900 size.

On the right an ad for mosquito coil product, for King Corporation., on the left “gold standard” for ink.

Thanks to bnz, Paula Wirth, and yoboseiyo for the info.

Scanned from Taschen’s “Japanese Beauties”.

Katori Senkou mosquito coil ad, 1900-1929.

The Island Named After a Satellite

It is so small that you cannot see it on Google maps. It measures 25 by 45 meters (27 by 49 yards), about half the size of a football field. This barren bit of rock off the coast of Canada also has an unusual namesake: the Landsat 1 satellite. The small size is actually what made the island notable in 1973, when it was initially discovered. Well, that, and the polar bear trying to eat one of the surveyors.

Betty Fleming, a researcher with the Topographic Survey of Canada, was hunting for uncharted islands and rocks amidst data from the new Landsat 1 satellite. She was particularly interested in the new satellite’s ability to find small features. Working with the Canadian Hydrographic Service, Fleming scanned images of the Labrador coast, an area that was poorly charted. About 20 kilometers (12 miles) offshore, the satellite detected a tiny, rocky island. Surveyors were sent to verify the existence of the island and encountered a hungry polar bear on the island. The surveyor quickly retreated. Eventually, the island became known as “Landsat Island,” after the satellite that discovered it. Watch the video to learn more about Betty Fleming and how Landsat Island was discovered by satellite and ground surveyors.

For more details about Landsat Island, read the full stories here:

The Island Named After a Satellite

The Unsung Woman Who Discovered an Unknown Island

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Muito bom!!

Resist the road-rage on the protein super highway.

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