Biology and Medicine

[Simple Minded]

Zack is right about one thing, replacing the discipline of science with consideration of potentially hurt feelings is a YUGE victory for "we."

"we" should at least take a couple minutes to recognize this historic moment and celebrate it's long overdue arrival.

So I'm buying everyone at OTNOT, a virtual Coke!


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[kmich]

Hopefully back on track ...

What is going on in the UK is already well established in our communities.

New variant of SARS-CoV-2 in UK causes surge of COVID-19

[Enki]

So...

Everyone has been watching the breakneck speed of new bio and nano tech?

AlphaFold was the atom splitting moment of the 21st Century.

Advances in modeling molecular compounds to make super light and super strong materials with functionality at molecular level.

Then the new international cooperation between labs around the Coronavirus.

Storing data in bacteria that can be passed on to the children of those bacteria.

We are going to see wondrous new tech.

[Doc]

So...

Everyone has been watching the breakneck speed of new bio and nano tech?

AlphaFold was the atom splitting moment of the 21st Century.

Advances in modeling molecular compounds to make super light and super strong materials with functionality at molecular level.

Then the new international cooperation between labs around the Coronavirus.

Storing data in bacteria that can be passed on to the children of those bacteria.

We are going to see wondrous new tech.

Wondrous new tech like CRISPER.. Yeah really wonderful

I posted this around here previously. But here it is again for you. Has to be one of the most timely predictions ever

This is The New Killer Virus That Will End Humanity
1,447,971 views
•Nov 15, 2019
-Jhz0pVSKtI

[Typhoon]

Whatever.

[Typhoon]

Nature | Immune determinants of COVID-19 disease presentation and severity

Abstract

COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection, is mild to moderate in the majority of previously healthy individuals, but can cause life-threatening disease or persistent debilitating symptoms in some cases. The most important determinant of disease severity is age, with individuals over 65 years having the greatest risk of requiring intensive care, and men are more susceptible than women. In contrast to other respiratory viral infections, young children seem to be less severely affected. It is now clear that mild to severe acute infection is not the only outcome of COVID-19, and long-lasting symptoms are also possible. In contrast to severe acute COVID-19, such ‘long COVID’ is seemingly more likely in women than in men. Also, postinfectious hyperinflammatory disease has been described as an additional outcome after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here I discuss our current understanding of the immunological determinants of COVID-19 disease presentation and severity and relate this to known immune-system differences between young and old people and between men and women, and other factors associated with different disease presentations and severity.

[Doc]

This seems to have gone unnoticed. The CCP is trying to make Eugenic Bio Weapons

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/20 ... s-researc/

A retired Chinese general, Zhang Shibo, stated in a 2017 book, “New Highland of War,” that biotechnology advances were increasing the likelihood of offensive bioweapons, including the danger of “specific ethnic genetic attacks.” A report by the Chinese military’s National Defense University in 2017 included a section warning that biology is a new domain of warfare and that a future germ conflict could include “specific ethnic genetic attacks.”

U.S. officials have said China’s secretive behavior regarding the origins of the coronavirus outbreak mirrors the secrecy surrounding its earlier biological weapons research. China possessed an offensive biological weapons program in 1984 when it signed the convention and has not provided proof that the program and weapons were dismantled.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-col ... a-sinister

China is collecting the world’s DNA and the reason is sinister: Gordon Chang

Gordon Chang warns next disease could be far more deadly than COVID-19

The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has been collecting people’s DNA for years, and according to Gordon Chang, author of ‘The Coming Collapse of China,’ the country’s sinister motivations should be of great concern to the United States.

With over 80 million health profiles, China has the largest DNA database in the world, and growing. In an interview with Fox News, Chang warned that China plans to use this information to create bioweapons designed to target specific ethnic groups.

“The coronavirus is not the last pathogen that will be generated from Chinese soil. And so we've got to be concerned that the next disease is more transmissible and more deadly than the novel coronavirus,” said Chang.

China reportedly collects the DNA of its own citizens for purposes of law enforcement, tracking down dissidents, and forming a tightly controlled surveillance state.

The second reason is something much more sinister, “China is probably trying to develop diseases that target not just everybody, but target only certain ethnic or racial groups.”

According to Chang, genetic data gives China the ability to create bioweapons that can target certain groups of people. Furthermore, he said the country’s behavior of collecting the DNA of foreigners while prohibiting Chinese DNA to foreign researchers supports this theory.

“We've got to be extremely concerned because that is not consistent with a country that wants to cooperate with the rest of the world. That is consistent with a country developing biological weapons,” he warned.

“People have said biological weapons don't work. Well, we do know they work because we had the coronavirus, which may or may not have been a biological weapon,” Chang clarified, “but we do know that it crippled the United States and that's what Beijing is really looking for.”

Now that China has had proof of concept, Chang urged the United States to act swiftly and prevent the superpower from obtaining any more American DNA.

“We should not allow any Chinese or Chinese affiliated organization to test DNA of Americans. And we’ve got to say to China, either you agree to an inspections regime or we're pulling out of the biological weapons convention.”

China has denied allegations that the coronavirus pandemic, which some believe emerged from a government lab in Wuhan, was a biological weapon. In 1984 the PRC signed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) treaty in 1984 which prohibits them from developing, producing or stockpiling biological or toxin weapons.

[Doc]

https://www.ibtimes.com/china-has-stole ... rt-3134525

China Has Stolen The Personal Data Of 80% Of American Adults:

Bill Evanina, former director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, on Sunday appeared on CBS’ 60 Minutes when he warned that Beijing is attempting to collect and exploit Americans’ health care information, including their DNA.

According to the intelligence official, BGI Group — the world’s largest biotech firm — approached Washington and five other states with offers to build and run state-of-the-art coronavirus testing labs. The Chinese firm also promised to “provide technical expertise, high throughput sequences” and “make additional donations” to the states.

The offer raised suspicions, prompting Evanina to issue warnings to the states against taking up BGI Group’s proposal.

“Foreign powers can collect, store and exploit biometric information from covid tests,” the advisory read. “Knowing that BGI is a Chinese company, do we understand where that data’s going?”

Evanina also claimed that China used “less-than-honorable” methods to steal data from foreign countries, including hacking health care companies and technology — such as smart homes, sensors and 5G networks—in the U.S. to collect Americans’ personal data.

[Doc]

Cure found for breast cancer?

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-rele ... Early.html

Atossa Therapeutics’ Phase 2 Endoxifen Breast Cancer Study Produces Substantially Positive Results Allowing Study to be Halted Early

[Typhoon]

Nature | Vaccines are curbing COVID: Data from Israel show drop in infections

The country is the first to see a direct effect of vaccines working in such a large group of people.

[Typhoon]

Nature | How ecstasy and psilocybin are shaking up psychiatry

Regulators will soon grapple with how to safely administer powerful psychedelics for treating depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

[Typhoon]

Nature | Coronavirus is in the air — there’s too much focus on surfaces

A year into the pandemic, the evidence is now clear. The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted predominantly through the air — by people talking and breathing out large droplets and small particles called aerosols. Catching the virus from surfaces — although plausible — seems to be rare (E. Goldman Lancet Infect. Dis. 20, 892–893; 2020).

Despite this, some public-health agencies still emphasize that surfaces pose a threat and should be disinfected frequently. The result is a confusing public message when clear guidance is needed on how to prioritize efforts to prevent the virus spreading.

[Miss_Faucie_Fishtits]

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[Simple Minded]

RTZoJ01FpD8

Great song. Damn shame this generation has no musically talented, socially conscious protesters.

"Hey get off my lawn! You damn kids!"

[Doc]

If this pans out we'll have to change Beautiful Women to Beautiful Eunuchs


https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 125024.htm

COVID-19 may deplete testosterone, helping to explain male patients' poorer prognosis
Over half of male patients studied were found to have lower than their normal testosterone levels

[Typhoon]

Science Mag | Current best strategies for COVID-19 treatment

[Doc]

Interesting and controversial article.

Wired | Trials and Errors: Why [Medical] Science Is Failing Us

Added [Medical] as the examples cited by the author apply specifically to that field.

But here’s the bad news: The reliance on correlations has entered an age of diminishing returns. At least two major factors contribute to this trend. First, all of the easy causes have been found, which means that scientists are now forced to search for ever-subtler correlations, mining that mountain of facts for the tiniest of associations. Is that a new cause? Or just a statistical mistake? The line is getting finer; science is getting harder. Second—and this is the biggy—searching for correlations is a terrible way of dealing with the primary subject of much modern research: those complex networks at the center of life. While correlations help us track the relationship between independent measurements, such as the link between smoking and cancer, they are much less effective at making sense of systems in which the variables cannot be isolated. Such situations require that we understand every interaction before we can reliably understand any of them. Given the byzantine nature of biology, this can often be a daunting hurdle, requiring that researchers map not only the complete cholesterol pathway but also the ways in which it is plugged into other pathways. (The neglect of these secondary and even tertiary interactions begins to explain the failure of torcetrapib, which had unintended effects on blood pressure. It also helps explain the success of Lipitor, which seems to have a secondary effect of reducing inflammation.) Unfortunately, we often shrug off this dizzying intricacy, searching instead for the simplest of correlations. It’s the cognitive equivalent of bringing a knife to a gunfight.

The comments section is certainly worth reading.

I wonder what happens when big data is applied to this problem?

[Typhoon]

Interesting and controversial article.

Wired | Trials and Errors: Why [Medical] Science Is Failing Us

Added [Medical] as the examples cited by the author apply specifically to that field.

But here’s the bad news: The reliance on correlations has entered an age of diminishing returns. At least two major factors contribute to this trend. First, all of the easy causes have been found, which means that scientists are now forced to search for ever-subtler correlations, mining that mountain of facts for the tiniest of associations. Is that a new cause? Or just a statistical mistake? The line is getting finer; science is getting harder. Second—and this is the biggy—searching for correlations is a terrible way of dealing with the primary subject of much modern research: those complex networks at the center of life. While correlations help us track the relationship between independent measurements, such as the link between smoking and cancer, they are much less effective at making sense of systems in which the variables cannot be isolated. Such situations require that we understand every interaction before we can reliably understand any of them. Given the byzantine nature of biology, this can often be a daunting hurdle, requiring that researchers map not only the complete cholesterol pathway but also the ways in which it is plugged into other pathways. (The neglect of these secondary and even tertiary interactions begins to explain the failure of torcetrapib, which had unintended effects on blood pressure. It also helps explain the success of Lipitor, which seems to have a secondary effect of reducing inflammation.) Unfortunately, we often shrug off this dizzying intricacy, searching instead for the simplest of correlations. It’s the cognitive equivalent of bringing a knife to a gunfight.

The comments section is certainly worth reading.

I wonder what happens when big data is applied to this problem?

Good article. Thanks for posting it.

As for big data and machine learning, it is all about finding correlations, so it is not a solution.

How to introduce causality is a big open question.

[Doc]

Interesting and controversial article.

Wired | Trials and Errors: Why [Medical] Science Is Failing Us

Added [Medical] as the examples cited by the author apply specifically to that field.

But here’s the bad news: The reliance on correlations has entered an age of diminishing returns. At least two major factors contribute to this trend. First, all of the easy causes have been found, which means that scientists are now forced to search for ever-subtler correlations, mining that mountain of facts for the tiniest of associations. Is that a new cause? Or just a statistical mistake? The line is getting finer; science is getting harder. Second—and this is the biggy—searching for correlations is a terrible way of dealing with the primary subject of much modern research: those complex networks at the center of life. While correlations help us track the relationship between independent measurements, such as the link between smoking and cancer, they are much less effective at making sense of systems in which the variables cannot be isolated. Such situations require that we understand every interaction before we can reliably understand any of them. Given the byzantine nature of biology, this can often be a daunting hurdle, requiring that researchers map not only the complete cholesterol pathway but also the ways in which it is plugged into other pathways. (The neglect of these secondary and even tertiary interactions begins to explain the failure of torcetrapib, which had unintended effects on blood pressure. It also helps explain the success of Lipitor, which seems to have a secondary effect of reducing inflammation.) Unfortunately, we often shrug off this dizzying intricacy, searching instead for the simplest of correlations. It’s the cognitive equivalent of bringing a knife to a gunfight.

The comments section is certainly worth reading.

I wonder what happens when big data is applied to this problem?

Good article. Thanks for posting it.

As for big data and machine learning, it is all about finding correlations, so it is not a solution.

How to introduce causality is a big open question.

It is mostly about averages. IE one size fits all. This reminds me of the Far Side cartoon. Something about the Johnsons "being the average American family with their one and a half children" I looked for the cartoon, but unfortunately it is not online.

ANyway the Big Data and machine learning may eventual come to something other than clever marketing. However the people pushing it are in general ignorant of pretty much anything outside of their "religion"

Real life story Health insurance companies tried to use it despite the claims that they backed off because of privacy issues. The "geniuses" decide they could correlate how many Facebook friends so one had to health care problems. In the sense that if someone had few facebook friends they probably needed more attention in over coming their health care issues. Never taking into account that many people while they may(or may not) have a facebook account never use it. SO say someone has a health issue and no facebook friends... A big corporation takes action by offering their services to a big Health insurance corporation to send home nurses to the home of the patient to give all kinds of advice and say in home physical therapy. Even when the in homes nurses are astounded that the patient is not bed ridden.
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Also in the past such Genuses brought the world the Pseudo Science of Eugenics and opennly promoted it through things like forced sterilization of Sexually Insatiable Female Morons

Granted It may have all be motivated by the desire to collect private(by law) health care information.

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Or it may be that the people pushing it are "moronic" Geniuses that have learned to hide their lack of intelligence. Or it may be both. How is that for correlation?

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The big picture applies to nearly all, if not all, aspects of human life

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[Doc]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56558059

Covid-19: Mexico revises coronavirus death toll up by 60%


Mexico has published revised figures indicating that the number of deaths caused by coronavirus is 60% higher than previously reported.

More than 321,000 people are now believed to have died from Covid-19 in the country.

The revised toll places Mexico with the second highest number of Covid-related deaths in the world, after the US.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has faced widespread criticism over his handling of the crisis.

The opposition has accused him of downplaying the severity of the pandemic and blamed him for delays in the vaccination programme.

[Typhoon]

Nature | Coronavirus is in the air — there’s too much focus on surfaces

A year into the pandemic, the evidence is now clear. The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted predominantly through the air — by people talking and breathing out large droplets and small particles called aerosols. Catching the virus from surfaces — although plausible — seems to be rare (E. Goldman Lancet Infect. Dis. 20, 892–893; 2020).

Despite this, some public-health agencies still emphasize that surfaces pose a threat and should be disinfected frequently. The result is a confusing public message when clear guidance is needed on how to prioritize efforts to prevent the virus spreading.

The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid-19 Kill

[Doc]

Nature | Coronavirus is in the air — there’s too much focus on surfaces

A year into the pandemic, the evidence is now clear. The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted predominantly through the air — by people talking and breathing out large droplets and small particles called aerosols. Catching the virus from surfaces — although plausible — seems to be rare (E. Goldman Lancet Infect. Dis. 20, 892–893; 2020).

Despite this, some public-health agencies still emphasize that surfaces pose a threat and should be disinfected frequently. The result is a confusing public message when clear guidance is needed on how to prioritize efforts to prevent the virus spreading.

The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid-19 Kill

From what I have seen the most effective way to prevent getting COVID is not to go inside a public space for more than a few minutes. Whether or not you wear a mask. Covid infections have hit medical personnel, even younger ones have been hit a lot harder than any other group. So I assume it is the amount of virus breathed in the viral load that at least thus far has been the biggest factor in transmission. The "Science" seems to be is that it takes 15 minutes of airosol exposure to get COVID.

[Typhoon]

To sum up, this article attempts to determine why older individuals have more serious COVID-19 symptoms.
Senescent cells.

Science Mag | Senolytics reduce coronavirus-related mortality in old mice

[noddy]

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[Typhoon]

Why exercise builds muscles: titin mechanosensing controls skeletal muscle growth under load