Monday, March 15, 2021
The Ides of March. Bad Day for Julius Ceasers.
In part thanks to Pie Day, I have observed that the prevalence of homophonic non-sequiturial conversational pivots is increasing in our house. Sometimes it feels like four people having independent, simultaneous discussions shifting based on similar-sounding words. These rapid shifts in topics are the conversational equivalent of modern art. Perhaps this is where spending a year with the same people (most of the time) is problematic? Maybe we were like this before the pandemic? Of course, the ratio of snarky teens to adults is 1:1 in our house.
-----Latest Data---
An average of 2.3 million doses of vaccine was administered daily in the U.S. over the last seven days.
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=casesf
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
Vaccine Tracker
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/
-----
My Friday clinic and our Thursday Q&A demonstrated several topics worthy of discussion. Let's start with two follow-up items:
There is more positive data from phase 3 trials of monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. High-risk patients exposed to the virus or are newly COVID+ and not yet hospitalized or on oxygen were less likely to become hospitalized or die after treatment. This data is good news and reinforces the value of these medications.
(Here is the best part - you don't even need to believe in the virus for this to work. In my clinic, one of my mask-refusing ("plandemic") patients told me how great he felt after developing symptoms, testing positive, and getting the Lilly monoclonal antibody a few weeks ago). I have no words.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/945136
Understanding causation versus correlation is always complex. But I am, for now, more concerned about the optics of the news that Northern European countries have stopped using AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine. FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), amplified by this news, adds more layers to my many patient discussions. Hopefully, we will quickly have more data and a clearer picture of what is happening.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-astrazeneca-vaccin-idUSKBN2B60KO
Here is more follow-up on vaccinating long-haul COVID patients. It is not yet peer-reviewed, but this small observational case-control series demonstrated that vaccines did not cause increasing symptoms and may offer some improvement in patients with prolonged COVID-19 symptomatology.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.11.21253225v2
Twitter discussion of marginal value:
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1371158638190940164
Here is my favorite discussion from Twitter last week, "[W]hat happens if you get your first covid shot, but then a shark bites your arm off just above where the needle went in, like about 47 minutes after you got the shot?"
https://twitter.com/wyomingwormboy/status/1370209677384945665
Fortunately, Yale immunologist Akiko Iwasaki did this experiment (minus the sharks). For real.
https://twitter.com/VirusesImmunity/status/1370400128016773124
Infographic of the day - all about shark attacks
https://i.imgur.com/AonTZFD.jpg
In Maryland, I have a much higher likelihood of being killed by a cow than a shark. #burgersarefirststrikeweapons
The more you know:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180228112528.htm
------Bonus Round - Gattaca, here we come!
I found this article looking at genetic variations in newlywed couples - linking genes in the oxytocin pathways to marriage satisfaction over time. If taken to an extreme, these data could, for instance, offer some predictive model for marriage outcomes. I am sure there are tons of articles correlating behavior to genetic variations, but this one was striking. But keep in mind figure 2 - irrespective of genotype, all marriages studied demonstrated decreased satisfaction over time. Surprise‽
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210218160404.htm
Article
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82307-z
Discussion
https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1370670666333122560
And for all you Millennials who didn't see the dystopian movie Gattaca, I highly recommend you watch it. It is a fantastic exploration of genetic discrimination and the many rabbit holes genetic information can take us down. It is critical to remember that the genetics of behavior, for the most part, do not predetermine an outcome, just a probability of an outcome.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/gattaca-1997
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
The Ides of March. Bad Day for Julius Ceasers.
In part thanks to Pie Day, I have observed that the prevalence of homophonic non-sequiturial conversational pivots is increasing in our house. Sometimes it feels like four people having independent, simultaneous discussions shifting based on similar-sounding words. These rapid shifts in topics are the conversational equivalent of modern art. Perhaps this is where spending a year with the same people (most of the time) is problematic? Maybe we were like this before the pandemic? Of course, the ratio of snarky teens to adults is 1:1 in our house.
-----Latest Data---
An average of 2.3 million doses of vaccine was administered daily in the U.S. over the last seven days.
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=casesf
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
Vaccine Tracker
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/
-----
My Friday clinic and our Thursday Q&A demonstrated several topics worthy of discussion. Let's start with two follow-up items:
There is more positive data from phase 3 trials of monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. High-risk patients exposed to the virus or are newly COVID+ and not yet hospitalized or on oxygen were less likely to become hospitalized or die after treatment. This data is good news and reinforces the value of these medications.
(Here is the best part - you don't even need to believe in the virus for this to work. In my clinic, one of my mask-refusing ("plandemic") patients told me how great he felt after developing symptoms, testing positive, and getting the Lilly monoclonal antibody a few weeks ago). I have no words.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/945136
Understanding causation versus correlation is always complex. But I am, for now, more concerned about the optics of the news that Northern European countries have stopped using AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine. FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), amplified by this news, adds more layers to my many patient discussions. Hopefully, we will quickly have more data and a clearer picture of what is happening.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-astrazeneca-vaccin-idUSKBN2B60KO
Here is more follow-up on vaccinating long-haul COVID patients. It is not yet peer-reviewed, but this small observational case-control series demonstrated that vaccines did not cause increasing symptoms and may offer some improvement in patients with prolonged COVID-19 symptomatology.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.11.21253225v2
Twitter discussion of marginal value:
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1371158638190940164
Here is my favorite discussion from Twitter last week, "[W]hat happens if you get your first covid shot, but then a shark bites your arm off just above where the needle went in, like about 47 minutes after you got the shot?"
https://twitter.com/wyomingwormboy/status/1370209677384945665
Fortunately, Yale immunologist Akiko Iwasaki did this experiment (minus the sharks). For real.
https://twitter.com/VirusesImmunity/status/1370400128016773124
Infographic of the day - all about shark attacks
https://i.imgur.com/AonTZFD.jpg
In Maryland, I have a much higher likelihood of being killed by a cow than a shark. #burgersarefirststrikeweapons
The more you know:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180228112528.htm
------Bonus Round - Gattaca, here we come!
I found this article looking at genetic variations in newlywed couples - linking genes in the oxytocin pathways to marriage satisfaction over time. If taken to an extreme, these data could, for instance, offer some predictive model for marriage outcomes. I am sure there are tons of articles correlating behavior to genetic variations, but this one was striking. But keep in mind figure 2 - irrespective of genotype, all marriages studied demonstrated decreased satisfaction over time. Surprise‽
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210218160404.htm
Article
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82307-z
Discussion
https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1370670666333122560
And for all you Millennials who didn't see the dystopian movie Gattaca, I highly recommend you watch it. It is a fantastic exploration of genetic discrimination and the many rabbit holes genetic information can take us down. It is critical to remember that the genetics of behavior, for the most part, do not predetermine an outcome, just a probability of an outcome.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/gattaca-1997
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
Comments
Post a Comment