COVID-19 I’m going to put stars ⭐ next to papers that I think are particularly exciting. My Bad! I have, in the past, referred to the nucleocapsid as the “ball” part of the spiky ball that is a SARS-CoV-2 virion. I was wrong: the “ball” part is called the “envelope”. Inside the envelope is the… Continue reading 2024-08-31 General
Category: Testing
2024-07-30 General
COVID-19 Long COVID This paper from Italy (2024-07-15) reports that children with Long COVID have elevated levels of P-selectin compared to controls. P-selectin is a protein in cells which call other players in the immune system to help counter an infection. This preprint from USA (2024-07-25) reports that they can tell Irritable Bowel Syndrome from… Continue reading 2024-07-30 General
2024-07-14 General/BC
COVID-19 Personal Recommendation Y’know how I sung the praises of the Readimask a few weeks ago? I need to admit that I’ve had some trouble with a gap forming under my chin, especially in hot (i.e. sweaty) weather. I still like the Readimasks, and have fixed the problem for me with a piece of medical… Continue reading 2024-07-14 General/BC
2024-06-29 General/BC
I only had two pieces of BC-specific news, so I folded them in to the General post. COVID-19 Pathology IMPORTANT! This paper from USA (2024-06-21) reports using that cannabis raises your risk of severe COVID! The study found that people who used cannabis had a 28% higher risk hospitalization and 78% higher risk of ICU… Continue reading 2024-06-29 General/BC
2024-06-15 General
COVID-19 The blog has been on hiatus for three weeks and I am feeling overwhelmed. I hope to put out several General postings this week to chip away at the backlog. Personal Story The reason for the hiatus was that I went on vacation to the East Coast of the US for three weeks. This… Continue reading 2024-06-15 General
2024-05-17 General
COVID Long COVID This article from Poland (2024-05-08) reports on a conference presentation which found that people with Long COVID have much lower immunoglobulin gamma antibodies against the nucleocapsid. They theorize that could mean the virus (or viral components) could hang around longer in the body. This paper from Italy (2024-05-07) found that children with… Continue reading 2024-05-17 General
2024-05-04 General
I’m going to split blog postings into COVID-19 sections and H5N1 sections for now. I might someday split them into separate postings. Psychology Many years ago, I heard this George Carlin joke: “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” It… Continue reading 2024-05-04 General
2024-04-26 General
This article reports that BC’s Ministry of Health will switch to monthly COVID reports after the May 2 update. I will obviously cut back on BC posts in the summer; I haven’t decided how much I will cut back on the General posts. H5N1 H5N1 is starting to hit the news, and I will post… Continue reading 2024-04-26 General
2024-03-22 General
I was out of town for a few days this week, so this post is short. I’ll catch up next week. Long COVID This paper from USA (2024-01-09) found that patients treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) had a 21-29% lower rate of Long COVID than controls. (The variability comes from which class of… Continue reading 2024-03-22 General
2024-02-16 General
Government This post says there is a rumour that Dr. Teresa Tam is going to step down, with Dr. Bonnie Henry a leading contender to replace her. This article reports that the Auditor General had some very not nice things to say about ArriveCan. She said that it cost at least CAD$59.5M to produce, wasn’t… Continue reading 2024-02-16 General