The Virus - Are You Affected?

[bilby]

I was checking the stats for new dead.

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data

The curve flattened in July and August for the whole world and is still stable. While it sucks we can't go to parties, society works and we can still do stuff. I'm feeling really hopeful about it.

Still no vaccine on the horizon. It'll be a while. The world speed record for producing a vaccine is still held by the Mumps Rubella vaccine developed 1963-1968. That was done after decades of basic science collected in advance. Something we barely have for Corona viruses. Even if we shave two years off, it's still two years to go. So we better get used to this new normal for a while. But I'm cool with it. Life works here in Denmark. I'm not suffering from the measures we now have in place. And we should always have been using masks in the subway anyway.

Another positive development is that I haven't had a cold since the Corona measures got into place. I think that is positive.

So I'm feeling quite chipper and cheerful

In 1965 the knowledge of the structure and function of nucleic acids was only a dozen years old.

There were computers, but none as powerful as my wristwatch.

1965 is closer to the mainstream acceptance of the miasmatic theory of disease than it is to the present day.

Seriously, if we can't do better than the guys in the pre-Moon landing era at developing an effective vaccine, we all deserve to die.

The main problem is that we've known about Coronaviruses since forever, but they've barely been studied. There was a US researcher who tried getting the funds to make a Coronavirus vaccine 20 years ago. Nobody gave a shit and the project died. There's a lot we don't know about Coronaviruses still.

But sure, in theory we should be better at it. And the vaccine industry now is massive and much more well funded than the fledgling companies of 1965. And we have computerz.

But the situations are similar. The Rubella pandemic of 1965 has a lot of similarities to Covid-19, in both contagion and effects.

Fun fact. Stanley Plotkin who developed the Rubella vaccine in the 60'is is still in the business and is now busy developing a Covid-19 vaccine.

Since forever?

In English law, 'Time immemorial' means prior to the beginning of the reign of Richard I in 1189 CE.

Viruses were first suggested in 1892 CE by Ivanovski.

Viruses have been known for about 18% of 'forever', even by the very conservative definitions set out by English statutes.

Coronaviruses have been known for rather less time than that.

 

[DrZoidberg]

The main problem is that we've known about Coronaviruses since forever, but they've barely been studied. There was a US researcher who tried getting the funds to make a Coronavirus vaccine 20 years ago. Nobody gave a shit and the project died. There's a lot we don't know about Coronaviruses still.

But sure, in theory we should be better at it. And the vaccine industry now is massive and much more well funded than the fledgling companies of 1965. And we have computerz.

But the situations are similar. The Rubella pandemic of 1965 has a lot of similarities to Covid-19, in both contagion and effects.

Fun fact. Stanley Plotkin who developed the Rubella vaccine in the 60'is is still in the business and is now busy developing a Covid-19 vaccine.

Since forever?

In English law, 'Time immemorial' means prior to the beginning of the reign of Richard I in 1189 CE.

Viruses were first suggested in 1892 CE by Ivanovski.

Viruses have been known for about 18% of 'forever', even by the very conservative definitions set out by English statutes.

Coronaviruses have been known for rather less time than that.

The first Coronavirus was identified in 1965. Google tells me it was 229E. It's been whooshing around infecting humans, probably for centuries.

Here's the list of known coronaviruses:

Human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-229E)
Human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63)
Human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43)
Human coronavirus HKU1 (HCoV-HKU1)
Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-1)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

We knew pretty early on that coronaviruses had a potential for becoming nasty. We still couldn't be bothered to develop a vaccine pre-emptively. I heard an interview on TWIV with a researcher whose dedicated her life to the coronaviruses since the 1980'ies and is now the world leading expert. She was shy and picked the field because it was unlikely to generate any attention. Boy, did that plan backfire.

 

[ZiprHead]

I was checking the stats for new dead.

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data

The curve flattened in July and August for the whole world and is still stable. While it sucks we can't go to parties, society works and we can still do stuff. I'm feeling really hopeful about it.

Still no vaccine on the horizon. It'll be a while. The world speed record for producing a vaccine is still held by the Mumps Rubella vaccine developed 1963-1968. That was done after decades of basic science collected in advance. Something we barely have for Corona viruses. Even if we shave two years off, it's still two years to go. So we better get used to this new normal for a while. But I'm cool with it. Life works here in Denmark. I'm not suffering from the measures we now have in place. And we should always have been using masks in the subway anyway.

Another positive development is that I haven't had a cold since the Corona measures got into place. I think that is positive.

So I'm feeling quite chipper and cheerful

In 1965 the knowledge of the structure and function of nucleic acids was only a dozen years old.

There were computers, but none as powerful as my wristwatch.

1965 is closer to the mainstream acceptance of the miasmatic theory of disease than it is to the present day.

Seriously, if we can't do better than the guys in the pre-Moon landing era at developing an effective vaccine, we all deserve to die.

Speaking of computers...

A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged

(A hypothesis is not a theory. )

 

[barbos]

I was checking the stats for new dead.

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data

The curve flattened in July and August for the whole world and is still stable. While it sucks we can't go to parties, society works and we can still do stuff. I'm feeling really hopeful about it.

Still no vaccine on the horizon. It'll be a while. The world speed record for producing a vaccine is still held by the Mumps Rubella vaccine developed 1963-1968. That was done after decades of basic science collected in advance. Something we barely have for Corona viruses. Even if we shave two years off, it's still two years to go. So we better get used to this new normal for a while. But I'm cool with it. Life works here in Denmark. I'm not suffering from the measures we now have in place. And we should always have been using masks in the subway anyway.

Another positive development is that I haven't had a cold since the Corona measures got into place. I think that is positive.

So I'm feeling quite chipper and cheerful

In 1965 the knowledge of the structure and function of nucleic acids was only a dozen years old.

There were computers, but none as powerful as my wristwatch.

1965 is closer to the mainstream acceptance of the miasmatic theory of disease than it is to the present day.

Seriously, if we can't do better than the guys in the pre-Moon landing era at developing an effective vaccine, we all deserve to die.

Speaking of computers...

A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged

(A hypothesis is not a theory. )

Very interesting, but the following part is patently incorrect:

The researchers note that some aspects of the RAS system are sex-linked, with proteins for several receptors (such as one called TMSB4X) located on the X chromosome. This means that “women… would have twice the levels of this protein than men,” a result borne out by the researchers’ data.

Women don't have twice of anything because only one of X chromosomes is active in the cell.

 

[Rhea]

Speaking of computers...

A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged

(A hypothesis is not a theory. )

Very interesting, but the following part is patently incorrect:

The researchers note that some aspects of the RAS system are sex-linked, with proteins for several receptors (such as one called TMSB4X) located on the X chromosome. This means that “women… would have twice the levels of this protein than men,” a result borne out by the researchers’ data.

Women don't have twice of anything because only one of X chromosomes is active in the cell.

Then why is trisomy a problem?

 

[barbos]

Very interesting, but the following part is patently incorrect:

Women don't have twice of anything because only one of X chromosomes is active in the cell.

Then why is trisomy a problem?

Because mechanism only works for regular number of chromosomes, obviously.

 

[Rhea]

Very interesting, but the following part is patently incorrect:

Women don't have twice of anything because only one of X chromosomes is active in the cell.

Then why is trisomy a problem?

Because mechanism only works for regular number of chromosomes, obviously.

Oh. Obviously.

 

[barbos]

Because mechanism only works for regular number of chromosomes, obviously.

Oh. Obviously.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-inactivation

Normal females possess two X chromosomes, and in any given cell one chromosome will be active (designated as Xa) and one will be inactive (Xi). However, studies of individuals with extra copies of the X chromosome show that in cells with more than two X chromosomes there is still only one Xa, and all the remaining X chromosomes are inactivated. This indicates that the default state of the X chromosome in females is inactivation, but one X chromosome is always selected to remain active.

So if there is some effect it is not direct and mild. wikipedia says XXX women are more less normal.

 

[J842P]

Women don't have twice of anything because only one of X chromosomes is active in the cell.

That doesn't follow at all.

 

[barbos]

Women don't have twice of anything because only one of X chromosomes is active in the cell.

That doesn't follow at all.

And that makes no sense.

 

[J842P]

Women don't have twice of anything because only one of X chromosomes is active in the cell.

That doesn't follow at all.

And that makes no sense.

The fact that women only have one (active) X chromosome does not imply that women don't have twice of anything, especially not the levels of some protein.

 

[barbos]

And that makes no sense.

The fact that women only have one (active) X chromosome does not imply that women don't have twice of anything, especially not the levels of some protein.

Anything in that context means some random proteins encoded by X chromosomes.
you would think people doing genetic studies would know about it.
Over-expressing or under expressing the whole chromosome by a factor of 2 would have too large of an effect.

 

[SimpleDon]

My sister-in-law is in an ICU in Lawton, Oklahoma diagnosed with COVID-19. She is on a respirator.

How she got the disease is anyone's guess. She is a dementia sufferer, who doesn't get out much except to visit doctors and everyone she lives with including her daughter, her son-in-law, an Army captain currently at Fort Sill but with orders to go to South Korea, i.e. one of Trump's losers, and her four grandsons, all of whom have tested negative for the disease after her diagnosis.

 

[SimpleDon]

My Medium has an interesting article A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged, A closer look at the Bradykinin hypothesis
.

Earlier this summer, the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee set about crunching data on more than 40,000 genes from 17,000 genetic samples in an effort to better understand Covid-19. Summit is the second-fastest computer in the world, but the process — which involved analyzing 2.5 billion genetic combinations — still took more than a week.
When Summit was done, researchers analyzed the results. It was, in the words of Dr. Daniel Jacobson, lead researcher and chief scientist for computational systems biology at Oak Ridge, a “eureka moment.” The computer had revealed a new theory about how Covid-19 impacts the body: the bradykinin hypothesis. The hypothesis provides a model that explains many aspects of Covid-19, including some of its most bizarre symptoms. It also suggests 10-plus potential treatments, many of which are already FDA approved. Jacobson’s group published their results in a paper in the journal eLife in early July.

If this hypothesis holds up it means that COVID-19 isn't a flu at all, it is a cardiovascular disease.

Much of what it says rings true with my experience with the disease, for example, I used a cough-assist machine to bring up the congestion in my lungs rather than using oxygen through a respirator. This was hard to do because my lungs were painful, another symptom predicted by the hypothesis. I suffered through erradic blood pressure for three to four months during the worst of it and after. I coughed up blood during the worse days of it, causing everyone but me to threaten to take me to the emergency room. I prevailed, and to this day I think that this decision saved my life.

 

[SimpleDon]

Surely this has been known for sometime.

Nearly every American who has died of coronavirus also suffered from other underlying diseases, recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data reveal. According to the CDC's latest update on COVID-19 fatalities, 94 percent of people who have died of the infection in the US had at least one pre-existing condition, such as obesity, high blood pressure or heart disease. Coronavirus was the sole cause of death for just six percent of fatalities as of data published August 26.

DailyMail

Meanwhile, in California, the insufferable prick of a governor (Gavin "follow the "science"" Newsom) has come up with a four-tier, colored system to determine when and how a county can open up.

I don't understand why you think that this is relevant to stopping the pandemic. Yes, of course, the disease kills people with preexisting conditions. It also kills people without preexisting conditions, albeit at a much lower rate. There are indications that it damages the cardiovascular system permanently. That is, it could become a preexisting condition in the future.

It is a supremely infectious airborne disease, which is why they are promoting the public health measures against it, not its victim profile, as you apparently believe it should.

I understand that you prefer to follow ideology with its many conspiracy theories instead of science but you don't seem to be winning any converts here. Perhaps you could detail your ideology. Who you have read that has convinced you of its supremacy over science? Who has convinced you that the victim profile is more important than the virulence of the disease in a pandemic?

Is it possible that you are projecting your desires above what is good for the nation as a whole? This is undoubtedly the reason that is driving Trump into the mishandling of the pandemic, his justifiable belief that this time his often seen incompetence will doom his reelection chances.

 

[ZiprHead]

Jesus Fucking Christ - Mask holsters?!?



At least he's wearing a mask.

 

[Derec]

If this hypothesis holds up it means that COVID-19 isn't a flu at all, it is a cardiovascular disease.

Well we knew that since the beginning. Flu is caused by the influenza virus, while this is caused by a coronavirus.

Still, very interesting. Hopefully it will yield some good treatments soon.

 

[marc]

For those who like to shoot their mouth off

 

[marc]

New study is estimating that the Sturgis rally is responsible for 250,000 cases reported in August.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

New study is estimating that the Sturgis rally is responsible for 250,000 cases reported in August.

And how many more come from those cases?