tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post6284669257515122690..comments2024-03-29T06:45:45.894+00:00Comments on Hyperlipid: Great Barrington DeclarationPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14527788116058656094noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-33973842264182493642020-11-03T09:17:06.765+00:002020-11-03T09:17:06.765+00:00Interesting article about Israel, where the situat...Interesting article about Israel, where the situation was very much out of control by mid September, and where the circuit breaker (we call it wave breaker in Germany, as in those things you get on the coast) was unexpectedly successful in bringing down infections even if it devastated small businesses because of insufficient government support:<br />https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2020-11/corona-lockdown-israel-zweiter-infektionszahlen-pandemie-eindaemmung-erfolg-massnahmen<br /><br />Some links from the article:<br />https://twitter.com/segal_eran/status/1318615641440571392<br />https://twitter.com/segal_eran/status/1313831721981415428<br /><br />The article seems a little ahead of the twitter threads. Apparently, the 2nd lockdown was not as strict as the first and not stricly followed but wildly successful even in the orthodox population (I have not figured out how, the twitter thread dated Oct 7th still has rising rates in the orthodox population).<br /><br />It was certainly stricter than what Spain and France introduced a few weeks ago and Germany introduced now, but not as strict as the new French restrictions. I wonder why the effect of the increasingly tighter restrictions in Spain and France was so meh so far. Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15626165768870660952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-26632470011891626022020-10-29T18:13:08.639+00:002020-10-29T18:13:08.639+00:00Hi baggirl, It's an interesting idea but here ...Hi baggirl, It's an interesting idea but here in the UK it feels like utter, overwhelming incompetence. We chose this very decisively, very recently. We get what we asked for.<br /><br />PeterPeterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14527788116058656094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-8135078334450597822020-10-24T21:30:56.309+00:002020-10-24T21:30:56.309+00:00credit to Dr. Mercola for posting this:
Psychiatry...credit to Dr. Mercola for posting this:<br />Psychiatry professor Albert Biderman’s “CHART OF COERSION”:<br /><br />Isolation techniques — Quarantines, social distancing, isolation from loved ones and solitary confinement<br /><br />Monopolization of perception — Monopolizing the 24/7 news cycle, censoring dissenting views and creating barren environments by closing bars, gyms and restaurants<br /><br />Degradation techniques — Berating, shaming people (or even physically attacking) those who refuse to wear masks or social distance, or generally choose freedom over fear<br /><br />Induced debility — Being forced to stay at home and not be able to exercise or socialize<br /><br />Threats — Threatening with the removal of your children, prolonged quarantine, closing of your business, fines for noncompliance with mask and social distancing rules, forced vaccination and so on<br /><br />Demonstrating omnipotence/omniscience — Shutting down the whole world, claiming scientific and medical authority<br /><br />Enforcing trivial demands — Examples include family members being forced to stand 6 feet apart at the bank even though they arrived together in the same car, having to wear a mask when you walk into a restaurant, even though you can remove it as soon as you sit down, or having to wear a mask when walking alone on the beach<br /><br />Occasional indulgence — Reopening some stores and restaurants but only at a certain capacity, for example. Part of the coercion plan is that indulgences are always taken away again, though, and they’re already saying we may have to shut down the world again this fall<br /><br />baggirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00216863324650597920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-4073124265320791702020-10-21T03:25:25.049+00:002020-10-21T03:25:25.049+00:00"Epstein-Barr virus can be nasty too if you&#..."Epstein-Barr virus can be nasty too if you're unlucky."<br /><br />Yes. Some forty years ago I knew someone who was struck with Guillain-Barre syndrome, and it was blamed (rightly or wrongly, who knows in 1979) on an Epstein-Barr infection. Yes, it was nasty. LA_Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09775262019154051166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-34726515841394582952020-10-20T08:27:03.568+00:002020-10-20T08:27:03.568+00:00Eric,
I'm not sure an opinion piece in the Gr...Eric,<br /><br />I'm not sure an opinion piece in the Grauniad is anything I would choose to base a decision of any sort on. I have no doubt that SARS-CoV-2 does a lot of damage. I'm equally sure a medic would not recognise metabolic syndrome if it bit them on the butt. Epstein-Barr virus can be nasty too if you're unlucky. I'm not keen on lockdown/test/track/isolate to control that virus either...<br /><br />PeterPeterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14527788116058656094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-79708259445937159342020-10-19T18:24:15.998+00:002020-10-19T18:24:15.998+00:00Pass, thanks for the pep talk. I've lived my e...Pass, thanks for the pep talk. I've lived my entire adult life in the two most conservative American states, so I understand about politicization! <br /><br />I really feel for you with the fires – I donated money to a couple of Australian wildlife rescue operations. Our annual fire season here have been getting worse and worse but nothing like what Australia endured last year. I hope it's better this year. cavenewthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08461541719892430585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-71331520636295493972020-10-19T11:04:21.534+00:002020-10-19T11:04:21.534+00:00Eric, that's definitely reasonable. I'll ...Eric, that's definitely reasonable. I'll have to look into them. Thanks for the info!Justinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05688462291078238507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-38957049839802115002020-10-19T10:21:14.135+00:002020-10-19T10:21:14.135+00:00https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fu...https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2768916<br /><br />Apparently, a most Covid19 survivors have heart damage and ongoing myocardial inflammation irrespective of severity and preexisting conditions. I had not even heard of CMR technique before this.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15626165768870660952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-64196039604415633802020-10-19T08:32:17.939+00:002020-10-19T08:32:17.939+00:00Cavenewt, everything has been politicised for quit...Cavenewt, everything has been politicised for quite some time just not so much that it interferes so blatantly with everyday life as now. You do what you can ... I have been through some dark days this year. the cv pandemic is my second apocalypse in the last twelve months after the massive bushfires here (Southern Aus.) which came within metres of my house, and the two or three weeks after that were touch and go but everything has greened up again better than ever and I am still hangin' in and I hope you do too!!! I think I owe my sanity to people like Peter who keep my brain ticking over. Passthecreamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01214860448492630477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-61011605036799473582020-10-19T07:09:46.077+00:002020-10-19T07:09:46.077+00:00@passthecream Interesting, thanks. I heard in pass...@passthecream Interesting, thanks. I heard in passing about the Bradykinin hypothesis but didn't catch the vitamin D reference. I'm a big proponent of vitD for other reasons, last time I had it measured my value went off the scale. All the lab could say was "over 150" :)Frunobulaxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11809778379384984029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-31926059244200192382020-10-19T03:50:24.955+00:002020-10-19T03:50:24.955+00:00Justin, those heat exchangers run a few 100 Euros ...Justin, those heat exchangers run a few 100 Euros on ebay, either used or offered for the diy market. A whole heat recovery unit, i.e. with fans and control logic, starts at 1000 Euros. Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15626165768870660952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-15089083126133801772020-10-19T00:04:37.095+00:002020-10-19T00:04:37.095+00:00Everything is becoming so politicized these days. ...Everything is becoming so politicized these days. I've pretty much given up hope for humanity. The sad thing is we're taking so many other species down with us. cavenewthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08461541719892430585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-22694370342207912332020-10-18T21:16:30.862+00:002020-10-18T21:16:30.862+00:00Another article in the guardian, similar to the on...Another article in the guardian, similar to the one I linked previously:<br />https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/18/covid-herd-immunity-funding-bad-science-anti-lockdownErichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15626165768870660952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-21284796459096482322020-10-18T13:50:14.277+00:002020-10-18T13:50:14.277+00:00Frun: Karl pointed this one out a while back
http...Frun: Karl pointed this one out a while back<br /><br />https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7456194/<br /><br /><br />When you view that result in terms of the Bradykinin hypothesis, it looks like the vitD supplementation as a treatment is significant by not allowing plasma D levels to drop thereby increasing RAS disregulation. It adds up. As to whether the D status of an uninfected person is prophylactic - different question. Some reserves might be good to have? Passthecreamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01214860448492630477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-13198240192181776772020-10-18T13:08:52.347+00:002020-10-18T13:08:52.347+00:00Frunobulax, there are many papers and articles abo...Frunobulax, there are many papers and articles about the 'Bradykinin Hypothesis' at the moment where vitamin D has a complex role to play in a massively disregulated RAS. I think that will give you a good biomechanical explanation. <br /><br />A few quick links: <br /><br />https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackierocheleau/2020/10/02/the-bradykinin-hypothesis-what-it-is-and-what-it-can-tell-us/<br /><br />https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7267506/<br /><br />https://elifesciences.org/articles/59177<br /><br /><br />In my hemisphere(?) we are heading the other way atm, it is currently mid spring but government interventions have been very effective here since April, with quarantining, initially closures of bars, sports venues and restaurants, border closures etc, and even the adjacent state of Victoria has managed to drop it's "second wave" infection rate from a peak of 700 cases per day down to 1 to 5 over a few weeks of extremely strict controls to the point where they are now relaxing the restrictions as we head into much warmer and drier weather. There was no mandatory mask wearing back in April-June. I think it has now become mandatory in NSW and Vic. to wear them in public or at least strongly recommended. Individual states vary and I can't keep up with it. Not many people are wearing masks where I live since there is no community transmission. <br />Passthecreamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01214860448492630477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-17237294391184027232020-10-18T12:05:44.099+00:002020-10-18T12:05:44.099+00:00Eric, that is a much more expensive and efficient ...Eric, that is a much more expensive and efficient setup than what I was going to do. The heat recovery units are awesome. I would love to have radiant floor heating like you have one day. I harvest a lot of oak on my property from down trees and would love to have an indoor wood boiler with at least 1000 gallons of storage. It would be nice to just slap a coil in my hvac system to use that heat and a liquid to liquid to heat the water.Justinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05688462291078238507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-39412528996868978292020-10-18T11:34:59.919+00:002020-10-18T11:34:59.919+00:00@Passthecream Is there a "biomechanical"...@Passthecream Is there a "biomechanical" explaination why vitD deficiency would cause organ failure and the like? With atherosclerotic plaques we have one: COVID19 increases inflammation, which in turn causes blood thrombi to form. These may wander around and restrict blood vessels somewhere in the body. If it happens in a vital organ, the patient dies. Autopsies seem to confirm this.<br />vitD deficiency would contribute to that process (as it's an antioxidant), but it would be only a voice in the choir (even though perhaps a loud one).<br /><br />Also I'd expect vitD levels to be higher now (with summer behind us) than they were in March. Maybe this explains partially why mortality rates seem to have dipped a bit. (Along with the obvious other factors, like more experience, anticoagulants, Remdesivir etc.)Frunobulaxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11809778379384984029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-88849963167838273412020-10-18T10:49:07.803+00:002020-10-18T10:49:07.803+00:00I'm sure you will have already seen this repor...I'm sure you will have already seen this reported in several newspapers. Another unreviewed paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3<br />Passthecreamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01214860448492630477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-10260683283746032122020-10-18T10:34:21.873+00:002020-10-18T10:34:21.873+00:00This comment has been removed by the author.Passthecreamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01214860448492630477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-56265496065322237882020-10-18T10:32:38.840+00:002020-10-18T10:32:38.840+00:00Eric, I think it is possible even for fair skinned...Eric, I think it is possible even for fair skinned people living in the higher latitudes to get all the sun they need for adequate vitD in about 15 to 20 minutes in the sunnier months but if locked inside, eating the wrong stuff and especially if following modern dietary and medical advice that can go horribly wrong. However, I'm sure this is a multifactorial epidemic of which vitD is only one factor. Humidity and airconditioning may be other factors, crowding, and ????? <br /><br />There is one study which finds that susceptibility to this bug is strongly correlated with genetic factors which have their highest rates of expression in Pakistan and some other Asian and tropical countries, and Western Europe. <br />Passthecreamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01214860448492630477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-6772784778683872962020-10-18T09:49:19.260+00:002020-10-18T09:49:19.260+00:00Fruno, Peter: Lockdowns and not-really-lockdowns l...Fruno, Peter: Lockdowns and not-really-lockdowns like we had in Germany worked wonders to put the virus back in the bag, at a time when real infection rates were probably higher than today because of insufficient testing.<br /><br />So with all the protocols in place and mask wearing and some background immunity, we should be able to pull it off again with less severe restrictions.<br /><br />So why are tightened mask rules not working?<br /><br />I am very sceptical that mask wearing outside helps except in situations where people are really shoulder to shoulder. There should be no worries about aerosols outside, and if folks are wearing their masks properly, droplets from sneezes and coughs should get caught.<br /><br />We keep hearing that private parties, bars, night clubs are a problem. That is probably true.<br /><br />I wonder why regional politicians in Germany in the current round of tightening restrictions are very liberal with mask mandates for outside (interestingly, often from 7 am to 10 pm only) but very reluctant to close restaurants, at the most intrucing 10 pm closing times, e.g. in Berlin. A few weeks ago people were drinking and dining outside without distancing between tables being properly enforced. Now you can see them packed into tiny restaurants with tables so close the waiters can barely squeeze behind the guests' backs. Same thing for gyms. Just walking through Ulm two weeks ago, I could see full spinning or dance studios with a window cracked for ventilation.<br /><br />If aerosols are really the problem, they should close restaurants and gyms for two weeks, problem solved. They are already doing that in France and Belgium. Let's see if that helps.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15626165768870660952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-72575942134000071552020-10-18T09:08:10.807+00:002020-10-18T09:08:10.807+00:00Pass, I am not so bullish on Vitamin D as I used t...Pass, I am not so bullish on Vitamin D as I used to be. Reason: several countries in the Southern hemisphere or near the equator were hit hard, and I don't think all of them have a culture of sun avoidance.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15626165768870660952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-46025679444278599842020-10-18T08:59:47.200+00:002020-10-18T08:59:47.200+00:00Frunobulax, that's a fairly old article and it...Frunobulax, that's a fairly old article and it brings home just how much the numbers have blown up since March. <br /><br />I can't find any good vit D status vs age data right at this moment but for quite some time osteomalacia has been a problem in the elderly and now mostly thought to be related to both an inadequate D intake plus inadequate sunlight combined with a declining ability to synthesise vitD in aging skin. If I was looking for something which ties CAC, bad nutrition, age, sunlight avoidance and the conditions in aged care accommodation together, I think vitamin D status might be it. <br /><br />Most of the bad diet choices associated with metabolic syndrome have an adverse effect on vit D status. Add to that sunlight avoidance, a 'healthy' whole grain diet with hearthealthypolyunsaturates and cholesterol lowering drugs and whacko, there you have it. Passthecreamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01214860448492630477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-74462024913942972342020-10-18T06:59:16.601+00:002020-10-18T06:59:16.601+00:00Eric, can't say I'm sure, but I think it&#...Eric, can't say I'm sure, but I think it's a pretty strong conjecture. Mostly because all the risk factors for becoming a severe case correlate almost exactly with the risk factors for atherosclerosis, which is driven by metabolic syndrome. And blood coagulation appears to be the driving cause for deaths and perhaps for severe damage. <br /><br />All the explainations that I've read why there is such a strong exponential growth in mortality with age don't convince me. If it would be due to a weaker immune system, children should be very vulnerable. If it's to the flexibility/memory of T-cells, why would a 70yo have a 10-fold risk compared to a 50yo (or whatever the relation is)? But one of the few things that have a very similar distribution is CAC scores.<br /><br />Look at figure 4 in https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.105.580696 for CAC scores. Almost zero for 50 and below, then exponential growth.<br />Compare to the death rates for COVID (for example https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-death-rate-by-age-countries-2020-3?r=DE&IR=T#like-other-viruses-covid-19-doesnt-affect-all-patients-equally-2 <br />Almost perfect correlation.<br /><br /><br />As far as the other discussion, I forgot to mention one thing: If your ITT intervention isn't working, you should always question both the intervention and the compliance. Yet it appears we automatically assume that it must be the compliance. Here in Germany I see very good compliance to mask wearing (with some exceptions), and yet the intervention is clearly not working. Now they ask us to wear masks even outside, if we're not in a crowded space. Really? All we get is "wear your mask and you'll be fine". Please do show me a study that the usual masks (be it the selfmade masks mostly used here or the surgery masks where a good deal of air escapes at the side) do stop the virus from spreading. I'd like to see that. <br />Frunobulaxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11809778379384984029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36840063.post-60581977115366055282020-10-18T05:28:38.276+00:002020-10-18T05:28:38.276+00:00Justin, not sure I understand what kind of plumbin...Justin, not sure I understand what kind of plumbing you want to do. I was talking about one of these:<br />https://www.energiesparen-im-haushalt.de/energie/storage/sites/waermetauscher.html<br /><br />It consists of a stack of aluminum sheets that keep exhaust and intake air separate, but pull the heat from whichever stream is warmer. In winter, the intake air comes in at about 17°C, so does not need further heating (we usally heat through hot water coils buried in the floor. It comes with two fans that keep the inside at a tad lower pressure than the outside to keep moisture from diffusing into the walls.<br /><br />Peter, Fruno: what makes you so sure metabolic syndrome is what makes people susceptible? Yes, I have seen the statistics about obesity. The correlation is there but not super strong. Yes, there are thin fat people but they are not singled out in the statistics.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15626165768870660952noreply@blogger.com