Thursday, April 9, 2020
I woke up with the Who's Pinball Wizard in my head. Apparently, someone calls this "Earworms." And there is research on this topic. From Harvard. (https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-you-cant-get-a-song-out-of-your-head-and-what-to-do-about-it-2017100412490 )
I do not like this label. It is creepy and gross.
Nevertheless, Pinball Wizard felt like an almost good metaphor as I looked over the articles for today - we are doing a bit better but are still deaf, dumb, and blind. My analogy falls short if we are comparing ourselves to Tommy's pinball success, though. (And, unlike Tommy, this is not psychosomatic.) Testing and "knowing what we know" are still on the forefront of the conversation.
-----
Data from FT
https://www.ft.com/coronavirus-latest
They added some new infographics today, but the basics are still there.
Masks are back in the news. We are so desperate for data; these are the kinds of conclusions we get: "Our results indicate that surgical face masks COULD prevent transmission of human coronaviruses and influenza viruses from symptomatic individuals." I am not sure this is helpful, but both the methodology and some of the data is interesting.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0843-2
Likewise, Wired has a scientific data analyst who entered this fray, questioning handwashing, masks, and ends up seeing this whole debate as a reflection of our inability to grasp the differences required to handle COVID.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-face-mask-debate-reveals-a-scientific-double-standard/
None of this changes my mind - masks in medical facilities are an absolute yes. For everyone. Masks in public, not so sure. But as the prevalence of COVID reaches a certain threshold (and the frequency of asymptomatic patients is high enough), the benefit of masks in enclosed non-medical spaces may be worth the potential downsides (misuse, a false sense of security, increased face touching, etc.). Still hard to know if the non-medical masks are good enough.
Here is another vaccine, this time from Israel. Like the use of plasmids, from yesterday's article, the unique things here are 1)pivoting existing tech to deal with Coronavirus and 2) it is oral. Again, this is early in development.
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-scientists-active-component-of-coronavirus-vaccine-days-away-623228
Identifying patients infected, serially monitoring for continued infection, and having actionable data on when to return to life are all on lots of people's minds.
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/true-number-of-coronavirus-infections-tens-of-millions-of-cases-worldwide/newsstory/2eb7220b92444afaa4ec306091ccc8c6#.tyh86
https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/1/21201045/coronavirus-covid-19-recovery-isolation-contagious-cdc-data
More follow up on the politicization of science. I did not realize the CDC posted and then removed recommendations on dosing hydroxychloroquine.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-cdcguidance-idUSKBN21P39R
And my favorite data set of the day - shifting trends in online purchases.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/shoppers-buying-online-ecommerce-covid-19/
One more follow up from the Pulp Friction article yesterday. A friend in the UK shared this outstanding article on the battle between paper towels and hand dryers. A great discussion on data, lack of data, and the misuse of what little data is out there on this topic.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/25/hand-dryers-paper-towels-hygiene-dyson-airblade
-------Bonus Round - Things we aren't sure about edition
The Kingdom of Mali was a resource-rich medieval African kingdom, that included the city of Timbuktu, and had kings that were fabulously wealthy like Musa I. What I find interesting though is all that we don't know. The Kurukan Fug was one of the first efforts at codifying a federated government with clear rights and responsibilities delineated for citizens. It was a very early constitution, predating the Magna Carta. Interestingly it did not exist in a written form until the late 19th century, as it was passed down generation to generation via recitation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kouroukan_Fouga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_I_of_Mali
The lesser-known town of Herculaneum was also destroyed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In that town was a villa that contained numerous scrolls containing literature of which no other surviving copies exist. It is tantalizing to think about what could be in there. Years of work have attempted to read the carbonized papyrus scrolls, many of which are the works of an Epicurean philosopher who may have been supported by the villa's owner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_of_the_Papyri
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25106956
Clean hands and sharp minds
-AW
I woke up with the Who's Pinball Wizard in my head. Apparently, someone calls this "Earworms." And there is research on this topic. From Harvard. (https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-you-cant-get-a-song-out-of-your-head-and-what-to-do-about-it-2017100412490 )
I do not like this label. It is creepy and gross.
Nevertheless, Pinball Wizard felt like an almost good metaphor as I looked over the articles for today - we are doing a bit better but are still deaf, dumb, and blind. My analogy falls short if we are comparing ourselves to Tommy's pinball success, though. (And, unlike Tommy, this is not psychosomatic.) Testing and "knowing what we know" are still on the forefront of the conversation.
-----
Data from FT
https://www.ft.com/coronavirus-latest
They added some new infographics today, but the basics are still there.
Masks are back in the news. We are so desperate for data; these are the kinds of conclusions we get: "Our results indicate that surgical face masks COULD prevent transmission of human coronaviruses and influenza viruses from symptomatic individuals." I am not sure this is helpful, but both the methodology and some of the data is interesting.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0843-2
Likewise, Wired has a scientific data analyst who entered this fray, questioning handwashing, masks, and ends up seeing this whole debate as a reflection of our inability to grasp the differences required to handle COVID.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-face-mask-debate-reveals-a-scientific-double-standard/
None of this changes my mind - masks in medical facilities are an absolute yes. For everyone. Masks in public, not so sure. But as the prevalence of COVID reaches a certain threshold (and the frequency of asymptomatic patients is high enough), the benefit of masks in enclosed non-medical spaces may be worth the potential downsides (misuse, a false sense of security, increased face touching, etc.). Still hard to know if the non-medical masks are good enough.
Here is another vaccine, this time from Israel. Like the use of plasmids, from yesterday's article, the unique things here are 1)pivoting existing tech to deal with Coronavirus and 2) it is oral. Again, this is early in development.
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-scientists-active-component-of-coronavirus-vaccine-days-away-623228
Identifying patients infected, serially monitoring for continued infection, and having actionable data on when to return to life are all on lots of people's minds.
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/true-number-of-coronavirus-infections-tens-of-millions-of-cases-worldwide/newsstory/2eb7220b92444afaa4ec306091ccc8c6#.tyh86
https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/1/21201045/coronavirus-covid-19-recovery-isolation-contagious-cdc-data
More follow up on the politicization of science. I did not realize the CDC posted and then removed recommendations on dosing hydroxychloroquine.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-cdcguidance-idUSKBN21P39R
And my favorite data set of the day - shifting trends in online purchases.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/shoppers-buying-online-ecommerce-covid-19/
One more follow up from the Pulp Friction article yesterday. A friend in the UK shared this outstanding article on the battle between paper towels and hand dryers. A great discussion on data, lack of data, and the misuse of what little data is out there on this topic.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/25/hand-dryers-paper-towels-hygiene-dyson-airblade
-------Bonus Round - Things we aren't sure about edition
The Kingdom of Mali was a resource-rich medieval African kingdom, that included the city of Timbuktu, and had kings that were fabulously wealthy like Musa I. What I find interesting though is all that we don't know. The Kurukan Fug was one of the first efforts at codifying a federated government with clear rights and responsibilities delineated for citizens. It was a very early constitution, predating the Magna Carta. Interestingly it did not exist in a written form until the late 19th century, as it was passed down generation to generation via recitation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kouroukan_Fouga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_I_of_Mali
The lesser-known town of Herculaneum was also destroyed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In that town was a villa that contained numerous scrolls containing literature of which no other surviving copies exist. It is tantalizing to think about what could be in there. Years of work have attempted to read the carbonized papyrus scrolls, many of which are the works of an Epicurean philosopher who may have been supported by the villa's owner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_of_the_Papyri
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25106956
Clean hands and sharp minds
-AW
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