Politics, Science, and Other Assorted Musings
I love helping people understand issues and look at them from a different perspective. In this blog, I hope I can offer you some new insights—bridging the gap between basic science and your medicine chest—as I am still a practicing physician, as well as having had broad clinical research experience. I'm interested in developing new medicines and treatments, as well as caring for patients—and explaining these topics for you.
As medicine has evolved, so have my interests. I have also become increasingly interested in health disparities, social justice issues, and ethics. I invite you to join me as we explore a variety of territories. I hope that reading these posts will encourage you to learn, engage, and above all, work for the forces of good.
If there are topics you'd like to see me cover, please let me know—I welcome your input as to what you would like us to discuss in this column.
Coronavirus - COVID19
Please note that I will be posting Coronavirus Tidbits of news here. You can sign up for updates by clicking the box at the right and subscribe to Covid, Politics, and Science. All Covid posts will go here, and I will upload back issues as I have time. Please share w friends. Thanks!
I’m going to have a reference file here for articles I have found particularly worthwhile, and will update this here as we learn new information. Click on the COVID-19 Resources, below, to expand that.
If you see something terrific, please share. We’re all in this together.
Quick links First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Long Covid: Persistent symptoms in adult patients one year after COVID-19: a prospective cohort study Long COVID is defined as the persistence of symptoms beyond 3 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. To better understand the long-term course and etiology of symptoms we analyzed a cohort of COVID-19 patients prospectively. Patients were included at 5 months after acute COVID-19 in this prospective, non-interventional follow-up study. Patients followed until 12 months after COVID-19 symptom onset (n=96, 32.3% hospitalised, 55.2% females) were included in this analysis of symptoms, quality of life (based on a SF-12 survey), laboratory parameters including antinuclear antibodies (ANA), and SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels. At month 12, only 22.9% of patients were completely free of symptoms and the most frequent symptoms were reduced exercise capacity (56.3%), fatigue (53.1%), dyspnoea (37.5%), concentration problems (39.6%), problems finding words (32.3%), and sleeping problems (26.0%). Females showed significantly more neurocognitive symptoms than males. ANA titres were ≥1:160 in 43.6% of patients at 12 months post COVID-19 symptom onset, and neurocognitive symptom frequency…
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Quick links First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Diagnostics: still an incredible, negligent lack of testing. If used every 3 days, rapid antigen tests for COVID-19 are about as accurate as RT-PCR testing RTqPCR tests are more effective than antigen tests at identifying infected individuals prior to or early during the infectious period and thus for minimizing forward transmission (given timely results reporting). All tests showed >98% sensitivity for identifying infected individuals if used at least every three days. Daily screening using antigen tests can achieve ~90% sensitivity for identifying infected individuals while they are viral culture positive. Drugs and Vaccines: COVID-19 Vaccine Found Safe for People with HIV Preliminary data from a sub-study published by The Lancet on June 18, 2021, shows that the Vaxzevria COVID-19 Vaccine (AstraZeneca, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) vaccine given as prime-boost dosing given 4-6 weeks apart was found well tolerated and produced equivalent immune responses in people living with HIV who are well controlled on ART compared with a similar adult population…
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Quick links First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. ~ ~ ~ News ~ ~ ~ Amidst the growing scrutiny over the possibility of leakage of Coronavirus from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, reports have now emerged about the defection of a top Chinese official to the United States. In February this year, China’s top counter-intelligence official Dong Jingwei reportedly flew to the US from Hong Kong with his daughter. The development was confirmed by a former top Chinese Ministry official named Dr. Han Lianchao, who had defected to the States after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. A pro-democracy activist in the US, Dr. Han said that the defection of Dong was discussed by top Chinese and US officials during a meeting in Alaska in May. According to him, the request to send Dong Jingwei back was turned down by State Secretary Anthony Blinken. Interestingly, the top law enforcement of China i.e. Central Political Legal Affairs Commission had posted on social media about Dong Jingwei’s supposed warning to ‘anti-China’ forces. It alleged that Dong had directed spies to look out for…
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Quick links First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News More than 70% of COVID-19 patients experience at least one persistent symptom for at least 60 days, according to the results of a systematic review recently published in JAMA Network Open. ~ ~ ~ Nearly one-fifth of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients went on to develop signs of long-haul COVID 30 days or more after diagnosis, according to a FAIR Health analysis of private insurance claims. ~ ~ ~ The Doctor Who Eliminated Smallpox Says COVID-19 Is Here to Stay The Daily Beast — Harry Siegel In some pockets of the United States, if you squint hard enough, the coronavirus pandemic might feel like it’s almost over. Larry Brilliant would beg to disagree. With U.S. COVID-19 deaths soon to surpass the domestic toll from the great influenza of a century ago even as widely available vaccines have worked wonders, Brilliant, the epidemiologist who worked with the WHO to help eradicate smallpox and was the science adviser for the eerily prescient film Contagion, thinks there’s still plenty left to worry about-but…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ New Group Will Focus on Shoring Up Drug Supply Chain, White House Says — 50 to 100 essential drugs will be chosen to bring their production onshore https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/healthpolicy/92981? ~ ~~ States Are Passing Laws That Threaten Public Health, Report Finds Scary article. Many of the comments are ignorant about the need for public health. Want a resurgence of TB? Typhoid? so many others? The comments focus on “individual” freedom and “liberty” to infect others. https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/healthpolicy/92915? Diagnostics: still an incredible, negligent last of testing. Drugs and Vaccines: J&J’s COVID-19 Vaccine Found to be Effective Against Variants of Concern This work is published in Nature, in the paper, “Immunogenicity of Ad26.COV2.S vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 variants in humans.” https://www.genengnews.com/topics/drug-discovery/jjs-covid-19-vaccine-found-to-be-effective-against-variants-of-concern/ ~ ~ ~ SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant: Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine recipients have lower…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. My latest posts: Dengue Vaccine: Takeda Reports Promising Results. My latest for Medscape https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/952476 ~ ~ ~ There is a fascinating and tragic mystery unfolding in India: What Is Behind The Deadly Rise In Mucormycosis Infections In India? https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2021/06/03/murder-mystery-what-is-behind-the-deadly-rise-in-mucormycosis-infections-in-india/?sh=5b51a115f13c News Prior COVID-19 infection reduces infection risk for up to 10 months The risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is substantially reduced for up to 10 months following a first infection, according to new findings from the Vivaldi study led by UCL researchers. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-prior-covid-infection-months.html? ~ ~ ~ Cool story: Diagnostics: Not Covid, but fascinating article: Drugs and Vaccines: What Drives COVID Vaccine Hesitancy Among Moms? — Social pressures, misinformation are at play https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19vaccine/92880? ~ ~ ~ School scholarships, custom hunting rifles and shotguns, and over $2 million in cash are…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. ~ ~ ~ Great #scicomm friend, virologist Ian Mackay is donating all profits from his infographic to charity–currently MSF. The image is available on shirts, mask, mugs, etc. at https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/65034354 Love the image…and Ian’s been a friend since first Ebola days a lifetime ago. Hope you’ll help spread the word & support. News Neat infographic on Variants of Concern – and interview w Angie Rasmussen ~ ~ ~ Covid’s Deadliest Phase May Be Here Soon OpEd by Zeynep Tufecki There’s troubling new evidence that the B.1.617.2 variant, first identified in India, could be far more transmissible than even the B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in Britain, which contributed to some of the deadliest surges around the world. In countries with widespread vaccination, like the United States and Britain, we can expect that Covid cases, hospitalizations…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. Still seeking help for our friends in India, or How this nice Jewish girl ended up starting a GoFundMe for Touch Ministries… LWH Hospital urgently needs help, so I have set up a GoFundMe for supplies. https://gofund.me/7c5442b5 Donations are tax-deductible for this charity. News China, Fauci and the Origins of Covid Did the virus come from a Chinese lab funded by the celebrated doctor’s U.S. government institute? Before Covid-19 ravaged the world, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded coronavirus research that included work at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. The idea was to study the ability of such viruses to attack humans, but could a Fauci-funded experiment actually be the source of the deadly global infection? In an exhaustive account of the viral possibilities published this week by the Bulletin of the…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be weekly for the foreseeable future. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. Special announcement – Seeking help for our friends in India, or How this nice Jewish girl ended up starting a GoFundMe for Touch Ministries… It began with the saying, “Whoever saves one life, it is as if they saved the world.” As the daughter of Holocaust survivors, and having had very bad experiences with takeovers of community hospitals here by Catholic networks, I was surprised to find myself volunteering at a mission hospital in India in 2011…I remember my initial dismay and discomfort with their morning prayer and meeting. Conducted in Hindi, I quickly found them peaceful and comforting, a good reminder for staff of their purpose and good way to start the day. I quickly fell in love with Lady Willingdon Hospital and…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. New post: Wearing A Mask For Covid-19 Protection Is Scientific And Perfectly Normal I was really angry about @emmaogreen’s post in @TheAtlantic, so I wrote a response: https://forbes.com/sites/judystone/2021/05/07/wearing-a-mask-for-covid-19-protection-is-scientific-and-perfectly-normal/?sh=48ae28e6c1a9… Some of us face the realities of what is now and is likely to happen w opening up too soon. News SARS-CoV-2 reinfection generally milder than primary infection in US study uncommon…but was associated with two deaths, according to findings from a U.S. study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. “Therefore, policies regarding face masks, social distancing and vaccination apply to survivors of initial SARS-CoV-2 infection as well,” Qureshi said. “The results also indirectly suggest that vaccination may not provide complete immunity over a long period of time and periodic boosters…
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