Warning of Serious Brain Disorders in People With Mild Coronavirus Symptoms (theguardian.com) 235
Doctors may be missing signs of serious and potentially fatal brain disorders triggered by coronavirus, as they emerge in mildly affected or recovering patients, scientists have warned. From a report: Neurologists are on Wednesday publishing details of more than 40 UK Covid-19 patients whose complications ranged from brain inflammation and delirium to nerve damage and stroke. In some cases, the neurological problem was the patient's first and main symptom. The cases, published in the journal Brain, revealed a rise in a life-threatening condition called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (Adem), as the first wave of infections swept through Britain. At UCL's Institute of Neurology, Adem cases rose from one a month before the pandemic to two or three per week in April and May. One woman, who was 59, died of the complication. A dozen patients had inflammation of the central nervous system, 10 had brain disease with delirium or psychosis, eight had strokes and a further eight had peripheral nerve problems, mostly diagnosed as Guillain-Barre syndrome, an immune reaction that attacks the nerves and causes paralysis. It is fatal in 5% of cases.
Red states are not affected (Score:3, Funny)
This only affects people with brains, and so they are laughing at the blue states, "ROTFLAMAO Einstein! brain is over rated, do you agree it at least now?"
Re:Red states are not affected (Score:4, Insightful)
All the Red state Governors assured their residents, they are safe and they would not be affected.
This only affects people with brains, and so they are laughing at the blue states, "ROTFLAMAO Einstein! brain is over rated, do you agree it at least now?"
Coming from an intelligent American who's a fan of comedy and reasonable thought, these kinds of jabs aren't even worth a punch line anymore.
The political civil war being waged right now, is costing innocent lives. Our leaders don't care, and our citizens are too stupid to blame them. Instead, it's just endless shit-slinging between the two parties. Red and Blue don't represent politics anymore. They're fucking gang colors now. One would expect those claiming to be armed with brains, are smart enough to realize that.
Obviously not, and so the Devolution of America by both sides, continues...
Re:Red states are not affected (Score:4, Insightful)
The assertion that "both sides are equally to blame" is morally lazy, logically flawed, and factually inaccurate. If there was ever a time that required discernment, it's now. Your "both sides"-ism lets the culpable off the hook and tarnishes those who are trying to help. Moral equivalence is worse than unhelpful. Try to be better.
Re:Red states are not affected (Score:4, Insightful)
That is the effect of this both-siderism. Both sides are not equal. One side is much much less responsible for the division. You can guess which side *I* think is responsible for the damage. But I try to be neutral, and let you decide which side is more responsible.
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By now anyone who relies on rhetoric instead of evidence is part of the problem, not the solution. Or they are a comedian.
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Red and Blue don't represent politics anymore. They're fucking gang colors now.
I've already felt this way for a long time, but hearing it the way you've quoted it still blows my mind.
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High population living density favors viral spread. High population office density favors viral spread. (For example when the WTC attack happened I looked up the number of people there and found that daily workers plus visitors was around 1/2 the population of Wyoming). High population density is also frequently associated with travel hubs, shipping ports, and other quick means of initial viral contact. Mass transit also favors viral spread. It's no surprise that coastal areas and main tourist destinations
Re:Red states are not affected (Score:5, Interesting)
Large urban areas also tend to have a higher proportion of people who think government will help solve their problems - hence a leaning toward Democratic control. No real surprises at all for where problems cropped up first.
I'm not sure that's accurate.
Large urban areas are defined by the influence of common goods and services, mass transit, massive buildings, traffic rules (formal and informal) adapted to help crowds function efficiently, etc, etc.
The value of government goods is apparent since they're used everywhere. The value of government rules is similarly apparent since people breaking or exploiting rules can cause inefficiencies and harm.
So cities value a strong and active government because they constantly see the benefits of having one.
In rural communities you don't get the big government projects (outside of roads) because the economies of scale don't justify them. And there's enough space that people doing their own thing doesn't really harm anyone. People tend to favour a smaller government because they don't see the benefits of more government in their daily lives.
That doesn't necessarily mean either group is right, but it's more nuanced than saying that city people "think government will help solve their problems".
Re:Red states are not affected (Score:5, Interesting)
USPS has no area marked "no service". They charge you 52 cents or so to deliver a letter anywhere in the USA. They will fly a plane to remote Alaskan village. They will drive a postal truck through 60 mile routes every day even if they end up delivering just junk mail and three first class mails. Almost all the losses of the USPS comes from rural service. Can you get FedEx or UPS to serve the rural areas? 80% of the US territory is "no service" area for them. Then they made congress to make USPS deliver packages for them in rural areas bearing all the losses while they cherry pick profitable areas. In a no holds barred contest between USPS and these parcel delivery services, USPS can easily roll them over. USPS delivers more parcels/letters in one day than do these parcel companies do in the entire year. You did not even think of this as govt benefit to rural areas subsidized by taxes paid by the city folk, did you?
Rural electrification board, rural telephone service subsidy, rural broadband subsidy, small city air transportation subsidy, govt run train services for smaller cities there are tons and tons of govt services to rural folk. But they are brainwashed into thinking there is no benefit for them.
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USPS has no area marked "no service". They charge you 52 cents or so to deliver a letter anywhere in the USA.
Horseshit. They'll deliver it to a post office in any town of consequence in the USA, but that's as close as you can get to claiming that. They didn't deliver to my last address, though UPS and FedEx will. And they delivered mail to my street (just not the end of it where I lived) in a Jeep! You could get in and out of there in any weather in any typical vehicle.
Can you get FedEx or UPS to serve the rural areas?
Yep. They may charge more, though. Then again, they may not. USPS shipping costs aren't exactly trivial.
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Interestingly enough, mass transit isn't as strongly associated with COVID spread as one would expect. The question of "Why?" seems to be unanswered. Perhaps there's usually enough air circulation to prevent it, but that wasn't my experience they last time I took BART across (well, under) the Bay. Or perhaps in current conditions there isn't the crowding I remember.
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That's true, anything above small farming community population density favors viral spread. That means suburbs and higher.
Yes, that's why urban areas got hit first. But not necessarily hardest. Compare two urban areas in the same state, San Francisco (high density) and San Diego (medium density), San Francisco wasn't hit a
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Large urban areas also tend to have a higher proportion of people who think government will help solve their problems - hence a leaning toward Democratic control. No real surprises at all for where problems cropped up first.
Actually there are big surprises, because data (payed taxes vs received from Federal Government) do not support your claim at all [businessinsider.com].
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What does this have to do with liberal/conservative? Just because some wacko may be liberal doesn't mean all liberals are wackos. And whatever misguided point she's trying to make, I doubt she actually believes 2+2 != 4 when it comes to adding up the numbers on her grocery store bill.
I'd say someone Trump's illogical rants about COVID-19 (such as less testing means there will be fewer cases) and other things are far more dangerous.
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Covid is a conspiracy! (Score:3, Funny)
Ah... now it makes sense. (Score:3, Informative)
I was wondering why Trump was acting so hard to promote Covid-19 spread with his administration.
What I still don't understand is why people of his party choose to go along with it. Weird self-selection mechanism that party has.
Numbers matter (Score:5, Insightful)
At what rate relative to the death rate?
If the number of people suffering from long term health effects is small compared to the death rate, it doesn't significantly change how we should react to the virus. OTOH if the long term disability cases are much larger than the number of deaths, that might suggest different policies.
As it is we just know that "some" people have long term disabilities as a result of the virus. One in a million? One in ten? Anyone have actual statistics?
Re:Numbers matter (Score:5, Insightful)
Only clue is that they've seen this in "more than 40 patients"....
Which implies "fewer than 50 patients". Out of more than 300K patients who have had covid-19 in UK...
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"more than 40 patients"....
Which implies "fewer than 50 patients".
A billboard for a local hospital chimes in: "We're one of the top 22 hospitals in the state!"
Really? I do SO wonder exactly where you placed! Maybe # 2.2?
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A valid criticism, as long as you don't think they've seen all the cases. What you need to know is "40 out of how many you've looked for the symptoms in?"
Another question would be "Would a general practitioner have noticed the problems you're noticing?" Not quite as relevant, but necessary to place things in context. You need to know not only how much you found, but also how much you looked at, and what someone else would have seen.
That said, I think that these things being detected is currently quite ra
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These are good questions... But I think the bigger issue here is that there are a lot of unexpected effects that are only now slowly being acknowledged/observed. We're not taking into account all of those effects in our covid responses yet, so it's important to discuss them as we become aware so we can respond most effectively.
In particular, this type of news lends support to the utility of requiring masks in public, since we know there are potential unknowns, but we don't yet know the extent.
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Also, how often do those issues occur without Covid-19. Or how often does it happen with other things like the flu? It was my understanding that a common cold or flu has a slight chance of kicking off all kinds of awful immune disorders. Even the bacteria in your mouth can cause your immune system to go after your heart.
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At what rate relative to the death rate?
If the number of people suffering from long term health effects is small compared to the death rate, it doesn't significantly change how we should react to the virus. OTOH if the long term disability cases are much larger than the number of deaths, that might suggest different policies.
As it is we just know that "some" people have long term disabilities as a result of the virus. One in a million? One in ten? Anyone have actual statistics?
I'm guessing that will be the subject of future studies. This paper seems to be more of a confirmation that this is a real problem that needs additional study.
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That's not necessarily the case. The *proportion* of cases with "neurological sequelae" doesn't have to be very large to be a serious concern, especially if the *total number* of cases is very large. Brain damage is life changing and can burden society and family members with enormous long term costs.
Recent estimates of stroke prevalence among confirmed COVID-19 cases are actually running about 1.5%, which happens to be lower than the reported case fatality rate, but is nothing to take likely when you hav
I don't think numbers matter (Score:2)
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That may be so, but numbers are important for society to decide how to respond to issues.
Can't just make sweeping changes across society because a couple people were negatively affected by everyone. (At the same time, it doesn't mean we should ignore warning signs from small groups of people.)
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And that's a really tricky question. Some of the damage, like minor kidney damage, is quite difficult to detect...and reports are that there is essentially no recovery. You just start off with a bit over twice the kidney capability you need, and as long as too much isn't damaged, you never know you're approaching the need for occasional dialysis. Similarly for small strokes. They're quite difficult to detect...unless they happen somewhere crucial. But you don't recover. What you do is switch some exce
pre-covid brain disorders (Score:2, Insightful)
What about brain disorders in people who don't have it yet but are stupid enough to engage in risky behavior? Shouldn't we put those them in an asylum?
Brain injury (Score:3)
The term "disorder" is usually used with mental illnesses where the term is meant to describe thought processes as no longer having an orderly behaviour, hence disorder. When people have a split personality, lack attention or have mood swings then this is described as a disorder. The stress, which people experience and the changes we go through due to the outbreak can also trigger mental disorders without someone actually being infected.
So to describe the consequences of COVID19 on the brain as a disorder is somewhat misleading. Nerve and brain damage should be described as actual injuries and a better title would have been to call it "serious brain injuries".
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Organic personality disorders are a thing.
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Still not making a lot of sense.
If it didn't start in China itself with a few months of warning (that we chose to ignore), and instead it came from, say, Chinese restaurants all over the US, you might start to have something like a leg to stand on. But the way it looks like now, you're hopping about on your balls.
Re:Chinese bio-weapon (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's be honest, it's not Covid-19 they're taking advantage of, it's an apathetic and ignorant US President. Both China and Russia have effectively declared their current leaders as supreme dictator for life during his tenure and, if Trump is tempted at all to comment, it's to congratulate them on their "success".
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So you're pushing for political change to prevent this shit from ever happening again, like universal health care, right?
Just like it did in Italy and Britain.
Re:An ounce of prevention (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm all for freedom of speech, but when idiots and villains spread nonsense about treating a novel virus, it really makes me think there needs to be a lot more accountability on the Internet.
Re:An ounce of prevention (Score:5, Insightful)
You know when the plague hit Europe in the late 1340's we look back at the history and laugh at the how people did so many ridiculous things to try to keep it at bay.
Thinking the smell of flowers can prevent it.
Killing Cats because they were familiars to witches.
Now 650 years later
We have just as much stupid ideas floating around.
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Well, the people haven't changed, only their education has.
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When people panic, their emotional centers take over, and higher level cognitive functions shut down. They read medical journals they don't understand, draw conclusions that have the authors going "that's not even wrong", and then they head to Facebook with their nifty cures. Some of the purveyors of nonsense are, of course, snake oil dealers, some on the other hand are just plain idiots.
Re:An ounce of prevention (Score:4, Insightful)
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Not to mention that the surgical mask came into use in 19th century France when surgeons observed better patient outcomes when they wore one during surgery, but we still have people who apparently can't imagine that a mask can keep you from giving someone else a disease.
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It should be obvious by now that aerosols are behind the super spreading events.
That's not obvious at all. It's possible, but it's not obviously the case.
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I am going to smell so many cats, I will never catch Covid19.
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You're mixing up your history and what to attribute to stupidity there, but we can learn a lot from the plague:
The commoner killed cats because they were familiar to witches. They had no knowledge, no education, and would be the modern day equivalent of a homeopathic consuming, vitamin d+zinc taking moron trying to figure out their own way to cure what they didn't know anything about.
The plague doctor used flowers. It was a very reasoned and scientific response to the knowledge at the time: The plague sprea
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Also, don't drink silver.
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Yes ignorance on the internet is counter productive.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov]
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I'm all for freedom of speech, but when idiots and villains spread nonsense about treating a novel virus, it really makes me think there needs to be a lot more accountability on the Internet.
It's actually not nonsense. There have been several papers about both zinc [medrxiv.org] and vitamin D [medrxiv.org] deficiency being correlated with worse outcomes.
My gut says that vitamin C is likely to be useless, but that doesn't mean folks aren't looking into it [medicalnewstoday.com]. The effects of NAC [cebm.net] and quercetin [frontiersin.org] are anybody's guess at this point.
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My gut says that vitamin C is likely to be useless,
Unless the patient is vitamin C deficient, then it's likely to be very helpful.
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Are you worried about the patient coming down with scurvy? :-D I mean yes, severe deficiency is bad, but that's not particularly common, at least in developed countries.
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Re:An ounce of prevention (Score:4, Insightful)
"In almost all Covid cases that required hospitalization the patient had low vitamin D levels." And you know this how?
Look it, if you are going mime the alleged president saying stupid shit, you'll need to up your game.
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Not sure what the president has to do with what doctors are recommending.
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Correlation isnâ(TM)t causation - old people have low vitamin d levels, but theyâ(TM)re probably getting sick.. because theyâ(TM)re old.
Either way, lots of references here.
If youâ(TM)re in the northern hemisphere and work indoors, you probably have low vitamin D.
https://www.theatlantic.com/he... [theatlantic.com]
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Correlation isn't causation, but low vitamin D levels are bad anyway, so taking a D supplement is a good idea. Just don't go hog wild, and remember that it's cumulative over time, so don't take even "rather high" doses over an extended period of time.
OTOH, that *IS* a valid correlation, and often a correlation does point at a causal factor. Sometimes precisely at the correct causal factor. But taking too much vitamin D is also known to cause problems, so be moderate.
The same advice goes for zinc. Zinc d
Re:An ounce of prevention (Score:4, Insightful)
In almost all Covid cases that required hospitalization the patient had low vitamin D levels. I have heard numerous doctors who treat Covid patients admonish people to take the current supplements:
Quercitin (OTC zinc ionophore) - Does the same thing HCQ does without a prescription
Zinc - Known for years to inhibit most virus growth
NAC - Also good for inhibiting virus growth
D - See above
C - Because it's vitamin C
I'd much rather be ready than spend my time worrying about getting it.
I think people who post bullshit like this should be held criminally responsible when people die.
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It certainly is true that long-term dietary trends can leave someone with serious health issues that leave them vulnerable to death if they get Covid-19. That said, it's not like eating well is some sort of guarantee that you won't be vulnerable.Think of it this way, a good diet is basically the number one thing you can control that will determine how tall you will grow to be. It is not, however, the main factor that will determine how tall you will get (except in fringe cases of extreme malnourishment, of
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It's definitely bullshit. But do we give up rights to dissent in order to protect ignorant people. Or do we blame the people who believe this trash?
Ultimately we have a philosophical problem where we need some elite class to fact check everything before we can see it. And then who watches over them, if we're all too stupid to smell bullshit?
The level of magical thinking in our population is a symptom of our decline. That decline can be reversed, assuming we ever get around to admitting we have a problem. Ed
Re:An ounce of prevention (Score:4, Informative)
Overall prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the population is extremely high: 41.6% (source [nih.gov]). Not surprisingly the highest prevalence is among blacks (82.1%).
Obesity, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia are all significantly associated with coronavirus complications. They're also significantly correlated with vitamin D deficiency. That alone would be enough to produce a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 complications.
Still, deficiency is very common and supplementation is very safe, so it's a no-brainer to take the RDA of vitamin D daily. I would *not* megadose, nor would I count on supplementation warding off COVID-19.
As always, the best medicine is taking good care of yourself.
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Being SLIGHTLY more specific than your "...is very safe..." and "...would *not* megadose...", Vitamin D toxicity is a real, but rare thing. You have to really megadose to get it, according to The Mayo Clinic [mayoclinic.org].
However, we already saw some moron die from eating fish tank tablets because a celebrity politician say "hydroxchloroquinine" and he thought the tablet ingredient was close enough.
These people are the reason bags of peanuts containt the allergy warning "contains peanuts".
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>"However, we already saw some moron die from eating fish tank tablets because a celebrity politician say "hydroxchloroquinine" and he thought the tablet ingredient was close enough."
No. What we saw was a woman who committed 1st degree murder by giving her husband a huge dose of fish tank cleaner, then taking a trace of it herself to belay suspicion, then pretending she was motivated by Trump saying hydroxchloroquinine (not fish tank cleaner) COULD be an interesting drug that should be investigated. Of
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I'm pretty sure Hanlon cut himself shaving when he read your post....
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>"I'm pretty sure Hanlon cut himself shaving when he read your post...."
While it is POSSIBLE they were both that stupid, if you look into the whole situation, it doesn't add up as just stupidity.
https://www.nationalreview.com... [nationalreview.com]
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Basically you're just pointing at one right-wing paper that's quoting another right wing paper that felt like it was very important to point out that the woman involved had donated to Democrats. That fact by itself seems to be enough to damn her by their logic. The actual homicide investigation, which was automatic and mandatory in deaths from non-natural causes has basically concluded that this was not a murder.
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That was hardly a diatribe. I've certainly gone off on diatribes before. That was three sentences. Three sentences that pointed out that the actual homicide investigation was automatic, so isn't evidence of anything except that he died of non-natural causes in and of itself. That investigation is basically concluding that this is accidental. The article you linked to is basically just regurgitating another article that mostly just goes on about the fact that this woman donated to Democrats.Neither article a
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Even if it was murder, I've seen nothing suggesting that she hid what he was being given in any way. If she was trying to murder him, it sounds like she only managed it since he voluntarily took the poison that she gave him. In any case, at about the same time right-wing sites were clambering all over each other to pronounce this a murder by an evil Democrat-donating spouse, what the police actually said was:
The death of Gary Lenius has not been ruled a homicide at this time," said Detective Jason Flam, a Mesa police spokesman. "It is normal protocol at the Mesa Police Department for all death cases (other than obvious natural causes) to be investigated. All death cases are assigned to a homicide detective for their review as a matter of protocol.
"Please do not confuse this fact with what is currently being reported that this case is now a homicide investigation,” he continued.
It appears that you are falling victim to that confusion. I looked up the most recent news article I
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>"It appears that you are falling victim to that confusion."
Possibly.
>"while the case is still open, the detective in charge expects to return the same result."
Well, perhaps they really were that stupid, then. I just can't imagine anyone doing such a thing that has any sense, whatsoever. I need to lower my expectations, yet again. Seems the older I get, the more disillusioned I become. If this is the price of wisdom, perhaps I need some blue pills.
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His wife murdered the guy you're referring to by feeding him fish tank tablets and blamed Trump as her alibi because she was a Democrat with an extreme case of Trump Derangement Syndrome
https://news.yahoo.com/woman-b... [yahoo.com]
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Thank you. I was unaware of the details.
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I don't think there's any need for thanks there. What you were just fed was rampant speculation. The actual mandatory homicide investigation appears to be wrapping up with the conclusion that this was indeed an accidental death. What the GP wrote appears to be just typical right-wing conspiracy theory stuff. There is the possibility that it's true, but they're going around acting like it is true and 100% proven. In actual journalism, they wouldn't even call it an alleged murder since the police are not alle
Vitamin D and Coronavirus: Article I wrote. (Score:2, Informative)
Vitamin D helps avoid severe symptoms.
Vitamin D may help, won't hurt.
To avoid severe Coronavirus Covid-19 symptoms, take Vitamin D supplements. Don't take too much Vitamin D. See the articles about 2 studies below.
These 2 studies are initial investigations.
Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Vitamin D could help fight off Covid-19 â" new TILDA research [www.tcd.ie]
(Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, April 3, 2020)
"TILDA" is "The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing."
Quotes:
The Slashdot software needs improvement. (Score:2)
Also, Slashdot doesn't accept normal quote marks.
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I spent a lot of time trying to post this article I wrote for friends. The Slashdot software kept complaining that there were "too few characters per line".
How many were there?
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AFAIKT, this all falls into "correlation is not causation". That said, having a RDA of Vitamin D is certainly not a bad idea. I'd say the same thing for zinc. And various other vitamins and minerals.
So. Take a good quality multi-vitamin plus minerals pill each day. Shouldn't do any harm, and may do a lot of good. The "eat a good varied diet" idea isn't bad, but chemical fertilizers don't replace the minerals that the plants mine out of the soils, so it's not really reliable unless you want to go the "
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Well, you're right on the first one, it does the same thing as HCQ, which is nothing.
You're also right on the vitamin D - it seems to be making a significant difference in whether you get more severe symptoms or not.
You probably are wrong on the vitamin C, some studies even indicate that it could lead to a more severe form. However, the disease is so bad that even if you get a "mild" case, you can still get lung damage, CNS damage, blood clots, type I diabets and what not. So make sure your vitamin D levels
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Yet the virus is surging in L.A., in the summer, when people are still violating shelter in place orders.
Not having any vitamin D is very harmful. Having enough is good. Having extra? It's not clear that it makes much difference. We'll probably know more AFTER the pandemic is over.
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Is he? I mean, so far the only politicians who had it were Johnson and Bolsonaro. And, well, considering the topic is brain damage...
If I was Trump, I'd start to worry.
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In Africa several high rankings politicians died of it.
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Ain't it interesting that this wasn't even worth a ticker line in our news? Apparently we don't even care when African politicians die, not just any Africans.
Re:No worries guys! (Score:4, Interesting)
Itt was both in German news and on the guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/wo... [theguardian.com]
This is the highest ranking so far, there have been more. In Iran as well.
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"Is he? I mean, so far the only politicians who had it were Johnson and Bolsonaro. And, well, considering the topic is brain damage...
If I was Trump, I'd start to worry."
Another future president also had it, together with obvious brain damage.
Kanye.
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I guess the "scarred lungs" and "blood clots" didn't scare enough people. WE GET IT. YOU WANT US ALL TO WEAR MASKS. Enough already. We give in.
Stupid citizens running around with no masks chanting "muh freedum"? THAT is what you call giving in?
I'm sorry, have you ever actually lived in America? You don't know Mass Ignorance very well. Fucker went viral in the US months ago.
Unless COVID causes internet outages and social media bans, Americans don't give a shit. They'll die before admitting they're wrong about masks, and the numbers prove it.
Re:Chicken and the egg (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Chicken and the egg (Score:5, Informative)
When the label "Marxist" gets tossed at someone who in just about every other part of the Free World would be called a Social Democrat, and those accusations are flung by everyone from guys in MAGA hats to commentators on Fox News to Republican politicians, I'm thinking there's a significant fraction of the US population who actually doesn't know what Marxism or Communism are.
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fair point.
same with fascism.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
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So this means all BLM protestors are now Marxists? Bro, do you even logic?
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It's called being a useful idiot [wikipedia.org].
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Oh, so because a co-founder identifies with a particular ideology, that means that every single thought in their head stems from that ideology, and that no other possible ideologies can also intersect with those ideas?
Soviet Russia was far ahead of the United States on equality between sexes, does that mean that gender equality is a communist idea and that women everywhere had better get back into the kitchen before you raise your Pimp Hand of Freedom?
Don't be a fucking idiot, please. It's perfectly plausi
Re: Chicken and the egg (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Chicken and the egg (Score:5, Insightful)
When the label "Marxist" gets tossed at someone who in just about every other part of the Free World would be called a Social Democrat...
Hell, the label "socialist" routinely gets tossed at people who in most European countries would be called a Conservative (e.g. most of the leadership of the Democratic party).
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I've always thought the mark of good satire/trolling is if you can't really tell if it's genuine or not
so, thank you for the compliment.
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Obvious victim here above....
Re:Chicken and the egg (Score:4, Insightful)
Umm... Guillain-Barré is typically caused by an infection, and usually a viral infection at that. When a patient has a COVID-19 infection and concurrent GBS, arguing that the COVID-19 infection didn't cause the GBS is almost comically absurd.
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GBS is an autoimmune disorder. It isn't caused but triggered by infection, trauma and a number of things (surgery, vaccines, HIV etc). It is not uncommon to get GBS after a stay in the hospital, the question is whether it's more prevalent with one disease than the other.
Re:Chicken and the egg (Score:4, Informative)
Sure. But the point is that infections are a very common trigger, and the trigger, whatever it happens to be, is the cause of the illness; prior to being triggered, the person is (at most) predisposed to getting GBS; they don't have it.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Chicken and the egg (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps you are not aware that a number of brain disorders ARE a viral infection (viral meningitis for example). As dgatwood points out, GBS is often kicked off by a virus.
Covid causing the brain problem is actually easier to believe than the idea that there is a new disease causing brain inflammation that just happens to have only been seen in people who coincidentally have COVID-19. It's also easier to believe than that there just happens to be an order of magnitude increase in idiopathic brain swelling during the covid pandemic.