She’s at little risk of serious illness if she’s generally healthy, so why take the risk of experimental vaccination?
From KTLA Channel 5:
Booster shots will likely be necessary as antibodies from both COVID-19 vaccines and infections wane at the same rate, according to a new UCLA study published Wednesday.
The study published in ACS Nano looked at the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, finding that after the second jab, antibody levels decreased an average of 90% within 85 days. That’s the same relatively rapid antibody loss that comes after a natural infection, according to the study.
Senior author of the study, Dr. Otto Yang, said that while more research is needed on the response of the immune system’s long-lasting “memory” T cells to the vaccines, the sharp drop in antibodies suggests that booster vaccinations will likely be needed to maintain protection against the potentially deadly virus.
There has been evidence that immunity from the mRNA vaccines doesn’t just depend on antibodies that dwindle over time, with some experts saying booster shots may only be needed every few years, the Associated Press reported.
“Why can’t we discuss all the options? Why can’t I get ivermection or hydroxychloroquine if my doctor prescribes it? Why are politicians so intimately involved with this disease?”
The social media monopolists (e.g., Twitter, YouTube, Facebook) and mainstream media are censoring news about the coronavirus pandemic that doesn’t fit the approved narrative. Why are they so afraid of open discussion and freedom of speech? You’d almost think they’re trying to hide something. For your consideration, an article excerpt from American Greatness:
In an extraordinary interview last week, Dr. Peter McCullough, an American professor of Medicine and Vice Chief of Internal Medicine at Baylor University, declared that the world has been subjected to a form of bioterrorism, and that the suppression of early treatments for COVID-19—such as hydroxychloroquine—“was tightly linked to the development of a vaccine.”
Dr. McCullough made the explosive comments during a webinar on June 11, with Dr. Reiner Fuellmich, a German trial lawyer, who believes the pandemic was planned, and is “a crime against humanity.”
McCullough said he believes the bioterrorism has come in two stages—the first wave being the rollout of the coronavirus, and the second, the rollout of the dangerous vaccines, which he said may already be responsible for the deaths of up to 50,000 Americans.
Dr. McCullough practices internal medicine and cardiology, is the editor of Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine, senior editor of the American Journal of Cardiology, editor of the textbook Cardiorenal Medicine, and president of the Cardiorenal Society.
I watched the video in the link above, and Dr McCullough seems like an honest, compassionate, ernest fellow. It doesn’t bother me that he’s a cardiologist. I’m sure his IQ’s higher than mine. Is he right? I don’t know.
Anonymous “PhD researchers and scientists” have attempted to collate all the available studies of various proposed early treatments and preventatives for COVID-19 at c19early.com. Why anonymous? From the website’s FAQs: “We are PhD researchers, scientists, people who hope to make a contribution, even if it is only very minor. You can find our research in journals like Science and Nature. For examples of why we can’t be more specific search for “raoult death threats” or “simone gold fired”. We have little interest in adding to our publication lists, being in the news, or being on TV (we have done all of these things before but feel there are more important things in life now).”
The Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC Alliance) published their own home-based treatment and prevention protocols. FLCCC is composed of various medical school professors and other physicians, the most famous of whom is probably Dr. Paul E. Marik, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia. FLCCC also produced a hospital treatment protocol called MATH+. MATH is methylprednisolone (a corticosteroid), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), thiamine, and heparin, + others (ivermectin was the last major addition). The MATH major components are all “off patent” and relatively cheap. What motivates the FLCCC docs? I don’t see any money in it. A quest for fame? I tend to think they’re trying to do what’s best for the patients who have an illness we didn’t know much about. Dr Gorski would probably call them grifters.
I considered the evidence in favor of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in the early months of the pandemic, and was not favorably impressed. Now, after 18 months, do we have good clinical studies that have considered it for prevention or early treatment? I don’t know since I haven’t looked lately. Both HCG and ivermectin are “off patent” so the research won’t be paid for by a pharmaceutical company; it would have to be funded by an un-corrupt government that cares about its citizens.
Compared to HCQ, I’m more favorably predisposed toward ivermectin.
Most community-based non-research physicians working full-time in the trenches, like me, don’t have the time or resources (or intelligence and skepticism?) to figure out the best way to prevent and treat COVID-19. We tend to depend on authoritative sources to teach us. The authorities have disappointed us too many times with this illness, whether through ignorance, corruption, or ineptitude. There have been too many suspicious occurrences. For instance:
If the vaccines are so effective, why do the vaccinated still need to wear a mask?
Why did some politicians, bureaucrats, and pharmacies proscribe the use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, even early-on before we had much data?
Why do social media monopolists and the mainstream media censor and de-platform voices who question the official narrative?
If this disease was so deadly, why did contact-tracing fall by the wayside so soon?
Why did NY governor Cuomo send sick patients back to nursing homes, infecting the high-risk population there?
Why didn’t the CDC understand the adverse effects of the lockdowns, which ended up not saving lives?
Why are health authorities recommending the experimental coronavirus vaccines for healthy people aged 12 to 55 when we know the risks of the virus are low for that population?
By what authority did federal and state governments violate civil rights and shut down and destroy thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of small businesses?
Why did the general public allow themselves to be fear-stricken by the mainstream media?
How does the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) have authority to set a moratorium on evictions, rent payments, and mortgage payments?
The degree of censorship and de-platforming we’ve seen with this illness are unprecedented, adding fuel to the fire of conspiracy theorists.
With luck, we’re in the last days of the pandemic now. The virus may well become endemic at low or seasonally high levels, like the flu and head colds. There will undoubtedly be other pandemics in the future. Let’s learn as much as we can from this one to mitigate the effects of the next.
…at least in terms of deaths, according to researchers at the University of Southern California and the RAND Corporation. Lockdowns are also referred to as shelter-in-place orders, which were implemented with the mistaken idea they would reduce deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic. Note that viruses can kill, but so can lockdowns via social isolation, loss of jobs/income, delayed or no treatment for non-virus illness, etc. The study at hand looked data generated by 43 countries and all U.S. states.
Are you tired of this pic yet?
“…the implementation of shelter-in-place policies [SIP] does not appear to have met the aim of reducing excess mortality [deaths]. There are several potential explanations for this finding. First, it is possible that SIP policies do not slow COVID-19 transmission. As discussed earlier, prior studies find only a modest effect of SIP policies on mobility. A potential reason for the modest impact on mobility may be that individuals change behavior to avoid COVID-19 risk even in the absence of SIP policies. It is also unclear whether modest reductions in mobility could slow the spread of an airborne pathogen. Second, it is possible that SIP policies increased deaths of despair due to economic and social isolation effects of SIP policies. Recent estimates in the U.S between March and August 2020 show that drug overdoses, homicides, and unintentional injuries increased in 2020, while suicides declined. Third, existing studies suggest that SIP policies led to a reduction in non-COVID-19 health care, which might have contributed to an increase in non-COVID-19 deaths. For example, one study in the United Kingdom predicts that there will be approximately an additional 3,000 deaths within five years due to a delay in diagnostics because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Posted onJune 28, 2021|Comments Off on Ketogenic Diet Shows Promise in Alzheimer’s Disease
“Sweat Pea, it’s not too late to go keto.”
Here’s the abstract of an article in Advances in Nutrition:
Alzheimer disease (AD) is a global health concern with the majority of pharmacotherapy choices consisting of symptomatic treatment. Recently, ketogenic therapies have been tested in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), focusing on delaying disease progression and ameliorating cognitive function. The present systematic review aimed to aggregate the results of trials examining the effects of ketogenic therapy on patients with AD/mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, CENTRAL, clinicaltrials.gov, and gray literature for RCTs performed on adults, published in English until 1 April, 2019, assessing the effects of ketogenic therapy on MCI and/or AD compared against placebo, usual diet, or meals lacking ketogenic agents. Two researchers independently extracted data and assessed risk of bias with the Cochrane tool. A total of 10 RCTs were identified, fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Interventions were heterogeneous, acute or long term (45-180 d), including adherence to a ketogenic diet, intake of ready-to-consume drinks, medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) powder for drinks preparation, yoghurt enriched with MCTs, MCT capsules, and ketogenic formulas/meals. The use of ketoneurotherapeutics proved effective in improving general cognition using the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive, in interventions of either duration. In addition, long-term ketogenic therapy improved episodic and secondary memory. Psychological health, executive ability, and attention were not improved. Increases in blood ketone concentrations were unanimous and correlated to the neurocognitive battery based on various tests. Cerebral ketone uptake and utilization were improved, as indicated by the global brain cerebral metabolic rate for ketones and [11C] acetoacetate. Ketone concentrations and cognitive performance differed between APOE ε4(+) and APOE ε4(-) participants, indicating a delayed response among the former and an improved response among the latter. Although research on the subject is still in the early stages and highly heterogeneous in terms of study design, interventions, and outcome measures, ketogenic therapy appears promising in improving both acute and long-term cognition among patients with AD/MCI. This systematic review was registered at http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero as CRD42019128311.
The Last American Vagabond posted an interview with what appears to be a well-qualified Canadian pathologist who is very wary of the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. Essentially he says that we don’t know if they’re adequately safe, especially for women of child-bearing age, pregnant women, and young folks. Dr Hodkinson reminds us that the survival rate for COVID-19 is generally very high, so why take chances with a vaccine of dubious safety.
Look, I don’t know for sure whether hydroxychloroquine is effective for prevention, early treatment, or late treatment of COVID-19. If you’re interested in the clinical studies regarding this issue, here’s a list of pertinent articles. I have no idea if the articles are comprehensive or cherry-picked. The authors of the list wish to remain anonymous, citing concern about death threats and loss of jobs.
I considered the few clinical studies available in Spring 2020 and was not impressed with the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine. The hospital where I work may not let me prescribe hydroxychloroquine even if I wanted to. I recently admitted a patient who needed the drug for a non-COVID diagnosis and the ordering software would not cooperate, which is very unusual. I had to go through the hospital pharmacist; the patient got the drug.
I do think it’s highly suspicious for politicians and others to second-guess and supersede the judgment of physicians. This, plus censorship and deplatforming by social media companies of folks who don’t toe the line of the authorities, adds fuel to the fire of conspiracy theorists. In my decades of medical pracitce, I’ve never seen anything like it.
We’ve seen enough government screw-ups and lies recently and over the years that you should always question the official narrative.
From the same authors of the first list, here’s their list of ivermectin articles. The also consider zinc, vitamin C, remdesivir, and several other therapies for COVID-19.
Here’s an assignment for an energetic investigative journalist. Find out who’s making money, and how much, on the development and distribution of the coronavirus vaccines.
Posted onJune 13, 2021|Comments Off on Semaglutide Now Available to Help With Weight Loss
Potential customers
Semaglutide was originally FDA-approved as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. The drug mimics a natural hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). It will be sold under the trade name Wegovy. The dose of this injectable medication must be increased gradually over 16 to 20 weeks to 2.4 mg once weekly to reduce gastrointestinal side effects. I have no idea how much it will cost. From the FDA:
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Wegovy (semaglutide) injection (2.4 mg once weekly) for chronic weight management in adults with obesity or overweight with at least one weight-related condition (such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol), for use in addition to a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity. This under-the-skin injection is the first approved drug for chronic weight management in adults with general obesity or overweight since 2014. The drug is indicated for chronic weight management in patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 27 kg/m2 or greater who have at least one weight-related ailment or in patients with a BMI of 30 kg/m2 or greater.
The most common side effects of semaglutide include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal (stomach) pain, headache, fatigue, dyspepsia (indigestion), dizziness, abdominal distension, eructation (belching), hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) in patients with type 2 diabetes, flatulence (gas buildup), gastroenteritis (an intestinal infection) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (a type of digestive disorder).
Posted onJune 3, 2021|Comments Off on Mediterranean Diet Decreased Hospital Length of Stay, Reduced Mortality, and Cut Medical Costs of Elderly Patients
Somewhere on on the Mediterranean Sea
The study at hand involved 183 patients in Greece.
In multivariate analyses, hospital LOS [length of stay] decreased by 0.3 d for each unit increase of MedDiet score (P < 0.0001), 2.1 d for each 1 g/dL increase of albumin (P = 0.001) and increased 0.1 d for each day of previous admissions (P < 0.0001). Extended hospitalization (P < 0.0001) and its interaction with MedDiet score (P = 0.01) remained the significantly associated variables for financial cost. Mortality risk increased 3% per each year increase of age (hazard ratio [HR], 1.03; P = 0.02) and 6% for each previous admission (HR, 1.06; P = 0.04); whereas it decreased 13% per each unit increase of MedDiet score (HR, 0.87; P < 0.0001).
Conclusion
Adoption of the MedDiet decreases duration of admission and long-term mortality in hospitalized patients >65 y of age, with parallel reduction of relevant financial costs.
Posted onMay 11, 2021|Comments Off on Lack of Related Coronavirus Antibodies Linked to Severe Illness from COVID-19
Antibodies against human coronavirus OC43 help suppress COVID-19
My colleagues and I often wonder why we see otherwise healthy 35- to 50-year-olds come into the hospital pretty sick with COVID-19. After all, isn’t it the 65 and older crowd with multiple chronic illnesses the ones that develop critical COVID-19? A recent study provides at least a partial explanation why some folks get much sicker than others.
First off, note that 30-40% of head colds are caused by coronaviruses. Most of us get one or two colds a year. SARS-CoV-2 is the particular coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Another human coronavirus, called OC43, commonly causes infection, which leads to antibody production. It turns out that these antibodies help protect us from severe disease caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus. Some of these otherwise healthy but now critically ill middle-aged COVID-19 patients just don’t have antibodies to OC 43. So SARS-CoV-2 spreads through them more virulently.
Advanced Mediterranean Diet 