A Concerned Scientist @BE@qoto.org
Former, now recovering chemist, Dad, and outdoorsman looking to get my off-grid life in order. Science, COVID and a little politics are most of what I talk about.
If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention.
Planning to move full time to my other account @BE@zeroes.ca soon as this instance is still having issues. If I followed you there and you'd like to, please follow back.
Joined Nov 2022
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
This is pretty scary. You just can't escape microplastics. And as a species we don't seem to be doing much, if anything, about it.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/22/health/plastics-food-wellness-scn/
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
CIDRAP: "Contaminated meat likely source of avian flu that killed bush dogs in UK zoo, preprint suggests"
'Likely' is an interesting choice. Let's take a look at the alternative transmission possibilities noted in the study:
* scavenging of wild bird carcases/sick wild birds landing in the un-netted pen
* indirect contact (e.g., wild bird faeces)
Both of these possibilities can involve bioaerosols
"Wild bird activity was observed on the site during epidemiological investigations"
(Cont.) 🧵
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
To this day, 4+ yrs later, @who has not apologized for their huge error of denying #CovidIsAirborne in March 2020...
That is still pending. They seem to have no intention of doing so.
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
Absence of symptoms doesn't mean absence of infection
Don't be a carrier; asymptomatic covid isn't harmless
I had no scheduled time today for journal reading, but, when I saw this article I had to take a break from other stuff and give it a read. Apologies if I missed anything. As always, point out if I did, or if I misinterpreted anything.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(24)00171-3/fulltext
I find this interesting, because next to a large-scale autopsy study(I do not know why this hasn't been done), this is probably the next best thing to look for viral persistence.
In their own words:
"This single-centre, cross-sectional cohort study was done at China–Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, China, following the omicron wave of COVID-19 in December, 2022. Individuals with mild COVID-19 confirmed by PCR or a lateral flow test scheduled to undergo gastroscopy, surgery, or chemotherapy, or scheduled for treatment in hospital for other reasons, at 1 month, 2 months, or 4 months after infection were enrolled in this study. Residual surgical samples, gastroscopy samples, and blood samples were collected approximately 1 month (18–33 days), 2 months (55–84 days), or 4 months (115–134 days) after infection. SARS-CoV-2 was detected by digital droplet PCR and further confirmed through RNA in-situ hybridisation, immunofluorescence, and immunohistochemistry. Telephone follow-up was done at 4 months post-infection to assess the association between the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and long COVID symptoms."
So, in short, what did they find? In patients who no longer tested positive via nasopharyngeal RT-PCR, a lot of viral persistence, in both "viral RNA" and "subgenomic RNA" but not universal viral persistence. Of course, they were unable to search all tissues in anyone's body, so that's not to eliminate the possibility that it was elsewhere in any test subject.
The big question to me here, and at least on my first read I think they were careful not to discuss it; was the viral RNA replicating? Given the lack of discussion on it in the article, let's just move on, but it's in the back of my mind.
Viral RNA was found, overall, in 30% of solid tissue samples collected at one month, 27% of those at two months, and 11% of those at 4 months. Further, additional subgenomic RNA was detected in 61% of samples that had viral RNA.
Also, viral RNA was detected in blood plasma, white blood cells, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells(think T cells and B cells here) of 9 patients, all of whom were immunocompromised, but none in 10 patients who were immunocompetent. Of course, everyone is immunocompetent until they're not.
Importantly, "Detection of viral RNA in recovered patients was significantly associated with the development of long COVID symptoms" and "Patients with higher virus copy numbers had a higher likelihood of developing long COVID symptoms."
There's an awful lot here, but a few other things were interesting to me:
- An even split, essentially, in long COVID between men and women.
- 78% of the patients with long COVID had 3 vaccine doses(I'm sorry, vaccination does not mean you can't get long COVID and it can't be said enough) while 86% without long COVID had 3 vaccine doses. Only 6% were unvaccinated in both the long COVID and no long COVID cohorts.
- 46% of the long COVID cohort were given one of oseltamivir, baloxavir, nirmatrelvir–ritonavir, famciclovir, and ganciclovir, while 52% of the no long COVID group were.
- Viral RNA was found in:
liver, kidney, stomach, intestine, brain, blood vessel, lung, breast, skin, and thyroid
but not pancreas, gallbladder and appendix.
- "Furthermore, to explore whether any difference in viral load was due to different concentrations of the SARS-CoV-2 receptors ACE2 and TMPRSS2, we compared the expression levels of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 in tumour tissues and paratumour tissues, and the results showed that the mRNA levels of ACE2 (p=0·83) and TMPRSS2 (p=0·49) were not significantly different"
- "Long COVID symptoms at 4 months were significantly associated with viral persistence at 1 month and 2 months post-infection but not at 4 months."
- "The host cell dysfunction caused by viral persistence might be a crucial aspect of long COVID pathogenesis."
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
This afternoon I'm at the Houses Not Handcuffs rally in Seattle.
This morning the US supreme court heard oral arguments in the Grants Pass v Johnson case. This case deals with the rights of homeless people and considers whether the act of sleeping outside can be criminalized.
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
Concern grows as bird flu spreads further in US cows: 32 herds in 8 states - Enlarge / Greylag geese sit on a field and rest while a cow passes by i... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=2019245 #avianinfluenza #dairycows #infection #outbreak #science #birdflu #herds #virus #cows #h5n1 #milk #usda #cdc #fda
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
talking to my 75 yr old mom who has breast cancer & went to the doc today for what seems to be a full body drug resistant bacterial skin infection (very itchy and painful) and she’s telling me how the doc of course is not masking and also telling her all about the major medical conference he just flew in from and I just… really cannot with healthcare professionals in full covid denial — I literally can’t imagine taking an oath to do no harm and then being willing to hurt and kill your patients
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
Sunday night's excitement about an upload from the #USDA of sequence data on the #H5N1 #birdflu outbreaks in cows led to frustration Monday as scientists realized key information had been left out of the files. Without it, it's very hard to assess what's going on. https://www.statnews.com/2024/04/21/usda-releases-h5n1-bird-flu-genetic-data-eagerly-awaited-by-scientists/
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
Holy Crap. I didn't think it was possible, but #NASA got #Voyager back online.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-voyager-probe-making-sense-months-gibberish-1851427197
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
The *only* way we can adequately manage risk in healthcare in a pandemic with an airborne pathogen is by having sustainable processes & resources in place to cope with a high volume of cases.
Stockpiles of disposable PPE expire & run out quickly, ramping up processes/skills takes too long, & we can’t rely on building infrastructure being brought up to scratch in a hurry.
Airborne precautions for respiratory tract pathogens needs to be an increasing part of our healthcare routine.
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
Do any of you have experience with so-called "Murphy" beds/wall beds?
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
Today I did in-person shopping for only the second time this year. At Costco the person who checks your membership card had a 30 second coughing fit before she could look at my card. She apologized and said it was allergies. I pointed at my mask and said that it works great for allergies. Blank stare in return. 🙃
It's quite stressful doing shopping when I'm not used to it. I did get some decaf coffee beans that taste great. 😀 Lots of fresh fruit that's too expensive elsewhere.
I do find it weird with gasoline now being almost 2 dollars a litre how every enormous truck races from one red light to the next. 
They're probably angry about the environmental tax. 😂
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
The US can't even deal effectively with the pandemic we currently face much less claim to avoid future pandemics.
Allowing media outlets to spread the dangerous claim that the COVID 19 pandemic is "long past" is a major part of the problem.
The US still sees persistently high COVID death rates (over 1,000 per week in 2024 in the US alone), and Long COVID is at its highest point and rising.
The White House has released its U.S. GOVERNMENT GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY STRATEGY 2024. PDF: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Global-Health-Security-Strategy-2024-1.pdf)
I searched the document hoping to find a plan to regulate indoor air quality but found only three instances of the word "air." One refers to air travel safety. One refers to air pollution.
The other is: "continued
support for the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System, is imperative considering
the likelihood of a future pandemic being caused by an airborne pathogen."
I do not believe we can effectively fight airborne pathogens without regulating indoor air quality, but the US government seems to disagree.
#COVID #COVIDIsNotOver #COVID19 #USPol #USPolitics #Healthcare #Pandemic #USA #MaskUp #AirQuality
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
#CovidCautious community, I’m tabling at an academic conference next month to spread awareness of both the Public Health Pledge (@phpledge) and COVID precautions as paths toward inclusivity, and I’m trying to think of what would make this table both useful and appealing to passersby. Does anyone have suggestions on what else I can do, in terms of signage, giveaways, activities, etc.?
#CovidIsNotOver #CovidIsAirborne #academiclife #Covid #PublicHealth #WearAMask
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
THEY DID IT!!!!
My local library built the seed library!
The local Master Gardeners provided a lot of the intitial seeds (oh my gosh we are stocked!!!). They used an old card catalogue to store them. Today's the kickoff!
The idea is you "check out seeds" from the library, plant/grow/harvest, let some go to seed, then "return the seeds" back to the library!
Free seeds for everyone!
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
A thread for thirteen #MECFS, #LongCovid and related research papers from w/c 15th April 2024.
Links are to our forum discussion threads, where abstracts, links to paper, analysis and discussion can be found. Inclusion does not equal recommendation.
1/14
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
Ghost appears to be going all in on ActivityPub https://activitypub.ghost.org
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
A Concerned Scientist
boosted
Walking around Sriracha #Thailand to get breakfast this morning, some 60%-90% of folks in mostly #KF94 respirators. It was just the Thai New Year's celebrations here over the weekend, maybe folks are seeing an uptick in sickies and responding appropriately, or just taking a simple effective precaution to avoid illness.
Fwiw, I've encountered very few coughers or wheezers in shared indoor spaces compared to what's been normalized in the US. Go figure 😒 #CovidIsNotOver #MaskUp
Former, now recovering chemist, Dad, and outdoorsman looking to get my off-grid life in order. Science, COVID and a little politics are most of what I talk about.
If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention.
Planning to move full time to my other account @BE@zeroes.ca soon as this instance is still having issues. If I followed you there and you'd like to, please follow back.
Joined Nov 2022
