But with Operation Warp Speed, a unique combination of public and private partnership, he made it happen, at truly historic speed.

According to Nature, the fastest that any vaccine had previously been developed from viral sampling to approval was four years, for mumps in the 1960s.

Nothing beats a picture for really getting a topic and here’s one Nature did that shows how remarkable this all is.

One of the most striking features of the disease is the disproportion between its severity and the simplicity of the cure. Today we know that scurvy is due solely to a deficiency in vitamin C, a compound essential to metabolism that the human body must obtain from food. Scurvy is rapidly and completely cured by restoring vitamin C into the diet.

Except for the nature of vitamin C, eighteenth century physicians knew this too. But in the second half of the nineteenth century, the cure for scurvy was lost. The story of how this happened is a striking demonstration of the problem of induction, and how progress in one field of study can lead to unintended steps backward in another. //

Finally, that one of the simplest of diseases managed to utterly confound us for so long, at the cost of millions of lives, even after we had stumbled across an unequivocal cure. It makes you wonder how many incurable ailments of the modern world—depression, autism, hypertension, obesity—will turn out to have equally simple solutions, once we are able to see them in the correct light. What will we be slapping our foreheads about sixty years from now, wondering how we missed something so obvious? //

But the villain here is just good old human ignorance, that master of disguise. We tend to think that knowledge, once acquired, is something permanent. Instead, even holding on to it requires constant, careful effort.

Very few people meet the recommended potassium intake.

However, a low potassium intake is rarely the cause of deficiency. Deficiency typically occurs when your body loses a lot of fluid.

Common signs and symptoms of potassium deficiency include weakness and fatigue, muscle cramps, muscle aches and stiffness, tingles and numbness, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, digestive symptoms and mood changes.

If you think you’re deficient, be sure to visit your doctor, as potassium deficiency can have serious health consequences.

Fortunately, you can increase your blood potassium levels by simply consuming more potassium-rich foods like beet greens, yams, white beans, clams, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, avocado, pinto beans and bananas. //

In the US, food authorities limit potassium in over-the-counter supplements to just 99 mg. In comparison, a medium banana contains 422 mg of potassium (27, 28).

This limit is likely low because studies have shown that high-dose potassium supplements may damage the gut or lead to an abnormal heartbeat, which is fatal (27, 29Trusted Source, 30).

Taking too much potassium can cause excess amounts of it to build up in the blood, a condition known as hyperkalemia. Hyperkalemia may cause arrhythmia, or an irregular heartbeat, which can cause serious heart conditions (31Trusted Source).

A thorough marketing campaign for the use of low-quality masks has convinced millions of people that masks will reduce COVID-19 spread, but do they really?

Mike Pence
@Mike_Pence
From the time President @realDonaldTrump announced Operation Warp Speed, General Perna and his team have been working around the clock to build a distribution plan. We’re proud to report, 100 MILLION Moderna vaccine kits are already assembled and ready to go.

Kayleigh McEnany
@kayleighmcenany
SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!

After lying to the American People for an untold number of pre-election months in claiming that the @realDonaldTrump vaccine is not to be trusted, CNN REVERSES!

Post-election, CNN now admits the “unmitigated success” of Trump. ⬇️

A major study out of Denmark that sought to examine the efficacy of face masks at limiting the spread of COVID-19 has reportedly been rejected by multiple academic journals amid hints that the study found face coverings are not effective in protecting individuals from the coronavirus. //

a team of Danish scientists earlier this year sought to carry out a major randomized controlled trial study to determine how effective masks might be at stopping COVID transmission. The study, begun in April, involved around 6,000 Danish citizens, half of whom wore face coverings during "normal behavior" and the other half of whom went without them.

The study concluded in June. Yet the Copenhagen newspaper Berlingske reported this week that it has been rejected by at least three elite medical journals so far — the Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, and JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"They all said no," Christian Torp-Pederson, one of the study's researchers, told the Danish newspaper this week. He added that the study's scientists "cannot start discussing what [the journals] are dissatisfied with, because in that case we must also explain what the study showed, and we do not want to discuss that until it is published." //

The paper's lack of publication thus far is not, on its face, unheard of. Peer review — the process by which independent experts analyze, criticize and edit scientific papers prior to publication in official journals — can take several months or more from start to finish.

Yet there have been indications that the study may be ruffling feathers among medical officials and researchers, with some of the study's directors suggesting, cryptically, that its results may run against the grain of current public orthodoxy on mask usage.

Responding to a query last week about when the study will be published, one of its researchers — University of Copenhagen infectious disease Professor Thomas Benfield — replied: "As soon as a journal is brave enough to accept the paper."

Benfield in a later interview with Berlingske warned against taking that quote "out of context," stating: "The article is being reviewed by a respected journal."

Odds are, the growing public opposition to the lockdowns, and news of a return to normal in places like Sweden, made WHO’s support for the measures untenable.

While left-leaning media and pundits claim that evidence and science guide their decisions, the Great Barrington Declaration proves their ignorance and dishonesty. //

Last week, the three leading scientists drafted and posted The Great Barrington Declaration, a public petition calling for an end to the lockdowns and returning life to its pre-pandemic norm, except for the most vulnerable segments of our population.

The authors of the Great Barrington Declaration said they were driven by their “grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies.” Since its release, more than 13,000 infectious disease epidemiologists, public health scientists, medical practitioners, and more than 180,000 members of the general public, have signed the petition. //

The third reason the Great Barrington Declaration has gained such popular support from other medical experts and the general public is that it offers a “compassionate” way forward. It calls for replacing indiscriminate lockdown policies with “Focused Protection,” meaning focusing on protecting the most vulnerable. such as seniors. It offers some ideas such as regularly testing nursing home workers and delivering food and essentials to seniors who live at home. //

Such an approach will allow our society to eventually build herd immunity, “when a large portion of a community (the herd) becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely.” According to the Great Barrington Declaration, herd immunity is the best way to protect all of us in the long run, and “focused protection” is the least harmful way to achieve such immunity.

Alex Berenson
@AlexBerenson
It's coming: @nejm suggests a framework for MANDATORY vaccinations for #SARSCoV2.

"Substantive penalties could be justified, including employment suspension or stay-at-home orders for persons in designated high-priority groups who refuse vaccination."
Ensuring Uptake of Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 | NEJM
nejm.org

https://t.co/exkLv6KsA3?amp=1

When people think of Australia and planes, they usually think of Qantas. But there’s another equally iconic and arguably more important aircraft operator, the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). //

The RFDS is one of the largest primary health aeromedical organizations in the world. Using 77 planes, the RFDS offers a 24-hour emergency air retrieval service to the people that live, work, and travel across the 7.7 million square kilometers of outback Australia. Best of all, it’s free. It does not matter where you come from. If you get injured in outback Australia, the RFDS will fly in, pick you up, and transport you to hospital.

Operating from over 40 bases around Australia, the RFDS sends its planes and medical teams into remote Australia to run fly-in fly-out GP and nurse clinics, mobile dental services, patient transfers, and emergency retrievals. The planes land on anything from dusty roads to capital city airports, with ATC pushing A380s and VIP jets out of the way. //

The RFDS has four aircraft types in its fleet. The fleet includes 34 Pilatus PC-12 turboprops, 30 King Air B200s and B200Cs, ten King Air B300Cs and B350s, and a trio of Pilatus PC–24 jets. All aircraft undergo an extensive refit after purchase, so they have the necessary medical equipment to deal with any emergency. The new Pilatus PC-24 jets are styled as emergency wards in the skies and can accommodate three stretchered patients and two medical teams consisting of four doctors and nurses.

The RFDS says it can get its planes almost anywhere in Australia within two hours. //

If you keep pushing past Broken Hill, you’ll hit the Eyre Highway, a 1,660-kilometer road link between South Australia and Western Australia. It’s well maintained but otherwise just a two-lane single carriageway. Along the highway, sections have been widened to allow RFDS planes to land. The runways are signposted, have runway pavement markings painted on the road, and turnaround bays for aircraft.

The runways don’t get a lot of use, but when there’s a vehicle accident or a serious injury among the few people who live out there, they become a vital resource.

James Todaro, MD
@JamesTodaroMD
Vaccine scientists: "Antibodies against COVID-19 don't last. We need a vaccine to induce T-cell immunity"

Me: "Many people already have crossover T-cell immunity from common cold coronaviruses"

Vaccine scientists: "T-cells have no effect on herd immunity"

Me: "But...nevermind" //

One function of T-cells is to stimulate B-cells to produce antibodies. But T-cells can also fight off a virus even if you’re body doesn’t have the ability to generate antibodies by directly attacking and killing infected cells. //

James Todaro, MD
·
Aug 10, 2020
Replying to @JamesTodaroMD
2/ The pervasive misconception is that we have zero immunity against COVID-19. Based on this flawed understanding, epidemiologists projected that herd immunity is not reached until 60-70% are infected.

This is almost certainly wrong.

Of course, the media ignores this research
James Todaro, MD
@JamesTodaroMD
3/ While antibodies against COVID-19 may only last months, T cell immunity can remain protective for years.

In a study of 23 people who survived SARS in 2003, every single one had memory T cells that recognized the SARS virus 17 years later. (Nature)

https://nature.com/articles/s4158

https://t.co/4LCjGcj8u9?amp=1

4/ Moreover, blood samples from all 23 individuals showed “robust cross-reactivity” against SARS-CoV-2.

This can be called crossover immunity.

Crossover immunity is not limited to just people who were infected with SARS years ago though.

It may seem as though the debate over hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and its effectiveness as a treatment for COVID is over, but a new report from The Economic Standard argues that it shouldn’t be — and suggests that, if it is, it’s because the media and medical professionals interested in politicizing the treatment rather than helping sick people recover have done a bang-up, and ethically questionable, job of demonizing a treatment used safely the world over.

Given that rumblings have started indicating there will almost certainly be opposition to any vaccine the Trump administration promotes, the report is extremely important in the search to alleviate suffering and death from the disease going forward.

The 30 page report, entitled, “HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE AND THE BURDEN OF PROOF: An Urgent Call to Depoliticize Medicine in the COVID-19 Pandemic,” is a fascinating look at the history of the drug, how it’s currently being used to treat COVID around the world, how the U.S. media distorted information about the safety and efficacy of the drug, and how HQC should be revisited as a treatment for those with early-onset symptoms of COVID.

Peter Navarro, the Trump administration’s adviser on trade and manufacturing policy, promoted the report on twitter Tuesday, saying that it proves media outlets that downplayed the effectiveness of HCQ have blood on their hands.

Peter Navarro
@PeterNavarro45
More blood on hands of @CNN
@msnbc. @econstandard concludes hydroxychloroquine safe versatile medicine that has treated hundreds of millions over seven decades...HCQ should be more widely recommended, prescribed and promoted to treat China Virus

This release from the CDC calls into question the efficacy of mask policy if their own statements are true. //

CDC: Cloth masks that are used to slow the spread of COVID-19 offer little protection against wildfire smoke. They do not catch small particles found in wildfire smoke that can harm your health. Limit your time outside when it’s smoky. Learn how you can protect yourself from wildfire smoke: https://bit.ly/3kSMjl9.

You would think Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would be circumspect about rooting against a vaccine that the nation and the world desperately need. //

By adding partisan politics to the potent mix of paranoia and myths that have made the anti-vaxxer movement impervious to scientists’ arguments, Democrats may have already done real damage to a post-vaccine pandemic recovery. A Gallup poll conducted in August indicates 35 percent of Americans won’t take a COVID vaccine if it were available. //

what Biden and Harris fail to understand is that resistance to vaccines won’t disappear if they are in charge. The impact of the anti-vaxxer movement will be strengthened by attacks from the Democrats. Indeed, it’s likely that the already troubling resistance to such measures on the right will grow if it is Biden rather than Trump who will be asking conservatives to get vaccinated.

Democrats love to claim to be “the party of science!” but it is they who are acting like science deniers. By undermining faith in a vaccine for COVID-19, they lay further groundwork for a movement that may have already grown strong enough to destroy any hope that a vaccine will end the COVID nightmare.

In short, all the available research seems to indicate that positive PCR test results are utterly meaningless.

It turns out that the guy who won a Nobel Prize for inventing the process was right. //

Clearly someone needs to investigate why the CDC recommended that COVID testing labs run samples through 40 amplification cycles.

Why PCR testing is even still being used to generate data that keeps the country in a state of panic when it’s clearly worthless is another thing that obviously needs to be looked into seriously.

Because any test for COVID-19 will produce a certain percentage of positive diagnoses for patients who don’t, in fact, have the virus, mass testing means that alarming numbers of new COVID-19 cases will keep getting reported every day no matter how few are actually occurring.

The FDA says that one test in use has a false positive rate of 3%. That means that testing a million people a day with it would still result in 30,000 positive diagnoses being reported each day even if the real number of new infections dropped all the way down to zero! //

Nick Pineault
@nickpineault1
Recent graphic from @wodarg -- the false-positive rate of PCR tests is equal to the COVID-positive rate % in Germany... Infections they're finding are likely false-positives. //

Interestingly, the CDC and other health authorities were very much concerned about the percentage of false-positive results PCR-testing is bound to produce during every signle one of the previous four viral pandemics this century. But for some reason, they completely forgot about it this time around. //

“PCR” stands for polymerase chain reaction, the biochemical process developed by a researcher named Kary Mullis in 1983 that the test uses.

Though it was important enough to earn Mullis a Nobel Prize, most are unaware that PCR wasn‘t designed to test for viruses at all.

Mullis invented it to synthesize genetic material for research purposes and, in fact, was strongly opposed to the way it wound up being used to test for the HIV virus.

Mullis’s process takes segments of DNA through a “cycle” that doubles the amount. That might not seem like a big deal, but it starts to add up pretty quickly. //

Quantitative PCR is an oxymoron.

PCR can’t detect quantity. At best, it can detect the presence of a virus, not the amount. And without knowing the amount, there’s no way to tell if the person being tested is infected. //

If you run a sample with minute traces of viral remains through enough cycles, you’ll wind up with enough to be detected.

And it turns out that laboratories have been running the samples their testing through so many cycles that ones without nearly enough viral remains to indicate the presence of a live virus are, nonetheless, being amplified enough to produce a positive test result.

Moreover, the CDC has been telling them to do it…

Energy Dosage of Ultraviolet radiation (UV dose) in µWs/cm2 needed for kill factor

Irradiance is the power of exposure at the surface being disinfected. Irradiance is measured = µW-S/cm2 (micro-watt seconds) per square centimeter

Examples of a "Dose" (aka Kill Factor) for 99% elimination would have to deliver:
E. Coli - 6,600
Hepatitis - 8,000
Influenza - 6,600
Polio virus - 6,600
//

Robots deployed in hospitals(Medical Grade) are disinfecting the 400-600 Sq. Ft. rooms and deliver a very HI irradiance in a short amount of time (e.g. 20sec to 20min) and you can't be in the room during operation. (Interesting fact - UVC doesn't pass through glass - so if there is a window looking into the room there is no risk of exposure.) The consumer products we're discussing don't deliver anywhere near that level of irradiation.

Example of measuring a dose:
You have a light 8 In above a surface. The Irradiance (Strength) being delivered would be much lower at the surface vs @ 1 cm from the source.

So now that we measure the strength at the surface, how long does the light need to be on to kill pathogens from that distance

Examples of a "Dose" (aka Kill Factor) needed for 99% (1 Log) elimination needed:
E. Coli - 6,600 µW-S/cm2
Hepatitis - 8,000 µW-S/cm2
Influenza - 6,600 µW-S/cm2
Poliovirus - 6,600 µW-S/cm2

If the light measured .175 mW at the surface and left it on for 60 Sec it would deliver a kill factor of 10,500 µW-S/cm2 effectively eliminating all of the above //

we know the dosage values for comparable viruses in the same SARS virus family are 10-20 mJ/cm2 using direct UVC light at a wavelength of 254nm; this dosage will achieve 99.9% disinfection (i.e., inactivation) under controlled lab conditions. In real-life, the virus is often hidden or shaded from direct UVC light, reducing UVC’s effectiveness. To compensate, researchers are applying dosages of 1,000 - 3,000 mJ/cm2 to ensure 99.9% deactivation, the current CDC disinfection goal (see CDC’s recently published guidelines, online - https://www.cdc.gov/coronav...

The invisible light can kill viruses and pathogens like the one that causes COVID-19, but experts are raising alarms about the potential safety risks. //

"UL has made a conscious decision not to certify the consumer-facing, portable, handheld wand-type devices due to the inability to manage the risks," Straka tells CNET.

"What we would suggest is definitely looking at products that do have a safety certification from a nationally recognized testing laboratory, such as UL," Straka adds. "There are installers and commercial-grade products out there that do have a safety certification and which can be installed and used very safely."

Dupuytren's disease is a progressive fibroproliferative disorder of an unknown origin affecting the hands causing permanent flexion contracture of the digits. Significant risk factors for development of Dupuytren's disease include old age, male sex, white northern European extraction, presence of positive family history of Dupuytren's disease, and diabetes mellitus. The disease also seems to deteriorate rapidly in those cases showing young age of onset and additional fibromatosis affecting the back of the hands, soles of the feet and the penis. Although there is no cure, patients with Dupuytren's disease of the hand may gain a significant functional benefit following surgical improvement or correction of the deformity. With realistic expectations, timely and appropriate surgical technique in a specialist centre, and attention to postoperative recovery and rehabilitation (occupational therapy and physiotherapy support), a beneficial outcome can be achieved in most cases.