Week of May 30, 2022
Amongst the things summer brings to our house, the most eclectic is the re-emergence of our Frog Log from winter storage - a little floating ramp that allows small animals (such as frogs) to escape a swimming pool. The frog log offers a logical conundrum, demands belief that it works, and provides the potential to save animals. It is not practical to measure the number of frogs getting into and out of the pool before or after purchasing the frog log. So when we find a frog in the pool, we feel compelled to believe it is one of an unfortunate minority. We can't measure the ramp's effectiveness (the company website claims an impressive 94% reduction in drowned frogs). Thus, the frog log is the physical embodiment of logical fallacies - an emotional lure (save the frogs!) and an appeal to faith (the absence of frogs means success!). It is also a fabulous conversation piece (Ask me about my frog log?).
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Appeal_to_faith
https://froglog.us/
and the narrative history, including effectiveness data https://froglog.us/pages/history
---- Latest Data
Case rates, hospitalizations, and now deaths are still rising. The U.S. trends are a few weeks behind other countries (see the U.K. and other country links below).
N.Y. Times Tracker
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html.
The U.K. Office of National Statistics offers a clear set of graphics on hospitalizations, infections, and deaths over time and by age group.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19latestinsights/overview
Country Comparison from FT.com
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areas=hkg&areas=chn&areas=jpn&areas=aus&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usla&areasRegional=usnv&areasRegional=usar&areasRegional=usks&areasRegional=usmo&cumulative=0&logScale=1&per100K=0&startDate=2021-06-01&values=cases
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Many well-known physicians commented about the magnitude of vaccine effectiveness (in preventing hospitalizations and deaths) this past week.
Dr. Tom Frieden
https://twitter.com/drtomfrieden/status/1529185842333265920
and his U.S. News updated vaccine FAQ
https://health.usnews.com/conditions/coronavirus-and-your-health/articles/questions-to-ask-doctors-about-covid-vaccine
Dr. Monica Gandhi (often accused of being overly optimistic) offered a Medscape editorial reviewing this data and why the immune system is far more complex than just antibody levels.
https://twitter.com/MonicaGandhi9/status/1530262104166477824
and
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/974363
Three doses of vaccine continue to be essential for maximum protection:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2118946
The Washington Post published, "Covid was vanishing last Memorial Day. Cases are five times higher now. Covid-weary Americans enter summer with little effort to contain a still-raging pandemic."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/05/28/covid-memorial-day-surge/
Two important reminders
Approval for vaccinating children under age five is coming.
https://www.statnews.com/2022/05/27/jeremy-faust-interview-covid-vaccine-kids-under-5/
Data indicate children are still dying of COVID far more than the flu. It is not benign for children.
https://insidemedicine.bulletin.com/delta-and-omicron-killed-far-more-children-than-flu-ever-does/
Pregnant women need to be vaccinated!
In the linked population-based study, looking at 157,000 deliveries in Sweden and Norway, vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy showed NO increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2790608
commentary
https://twitter.com/WesElyMD/status/1528700979490824192
Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 are now co-circulating with BA2.12 in the United States. A linked Science article covers the genetic factors conferring "fitness" in the SARS-CoV-2 genome (where fitness is a variant's growth rate, Ro reproduction number, immune-evasiveness, and generation time).
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1530673789935136770
and
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm1208
and the Infographic
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm1208
Random Medical Technology and Realities
There is a non-pharmacologic vibrating capsule that, when swallowed, can aid individuals with chronic constipation. A patient takes a few pills a day and then activates them at various points - literally shaking the intestines from the inside.
https://journals.lww.com/ajg/fulltext/2018/10001/mechanism_of_action_of_vibrant_capsule_for_the.418.aspx
and
https://www.vibrantgastro.com/
and
https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/26/vibrant-raises-7-5m-for-a-drug-free-mechanical-pill-to-treat-constipation/
Monkeypox now had a dashboard.
https://ourworldindata.org/monkeypox
STAT news offered an excellent article on the history and known knowns of orthopoxviruses:
https://www.statnews.com/2022/05/26/warning-signs-ahead-of-monkeypox-outbreak-went-unheeded-experts-say/
Here is a good update on the genetic evolution of monkeypox
https://twitter.com/richardneher/status/1530843395740024832
The Atlantic has an excellent article on the convergence of science, social stigmas, and public health:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/monkeypox-outbreak-spread-gay-bisexual-men/643122/
Infographics!
The biochemistry of cheese.
https://cen.acs.org/food/food-science/Periodic-Graphics-science-making-cheese/100/i19
Here is a handy summer guide to avoiding and responding to a shark attack. I am not sure how you would use this reference mid-ocean, but "don't swim with open wounds" and "aim for the gills and eyes" seem memorable enough. Of course, statistically speaking, more people die from a reaction to a bee sting than a shark attack.
https://www.fix.com/blog/avoiding-a-shark-attack/
Things I learned this week
Robert J. Vlasic, the pickle king from the 1970s, passed away last week. His innovative marketing helped increase yearly pickle consumption 4-fold to 8 lbs per person when he sold to the Campbell Soup Company in 1978.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/21/business/bob-vlasic-dead.html
Who amongst us does not have an insatiable desire to know more about barnacles? Thanks to the power of the internet, marine biologist Jimmy Bernot is sharing his immense knowledge in Tweetorial form. Barnacle babies are called nauplii, which seems like a great Scrabble word.
https://twitter.com/JimmyBernot/status/1529010380411916289
Thanks to a loyal reader, I stumbled into the world of verbs with two past tense forms. I found lists of interchangeable past tense words:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/59162/10-verbs-two-past-tense-forms-creeped-or-crept-english
And I also found words with multiple past tense forms that are not interchangeable – the different forms have different meanings. For example, hung vs. hanged.
https://www.englishgrammar.org/hanged-vs-hung/
But language is an evolving thing. Here is a deeper discussion on the evolution of past tense forms.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2502/why-do-some-words-have-two-past-tense-forms-e-g-dreamed-vs-dreamt
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
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