Novel Coronavirus

[BetteTheRed]

I don’t really see a benefit of this. Nobody can change their genes. Others might be less at risk, but that’s statistically and they shouldn’t let down their guard. I looks more like a case of too much research money is thrown at researchers and they are researching for researchings sake.

One clear potential benefit is the possibility of customized treatment depending on your genetic risk factors.

Basic research is often pooh-poohed, but it's often the building blocks upon which other research is built, which eventually leads to clinical research.

 

[Waterfall]

One clear potential benefit is the possibility of customized treatment depending on your genetic risk factors.

Basic research is often pooh-poohed, but it's often the building blocks upon which other research is built, which eventually leads to clinical research.

I wonder about CRISPR. Would a procedure like that be able to remove something that attracts the virus or add something to repel it?
Found this:

COVID-19 and gene editing: ethical and legal considerations

One of the methods researchers are exploring to combat COVID-19 is gene editing: altering the genome of the virus to make it harmless.

theconversation.com

 

[ChemGal]

I wonder about CRISPR. Would a procedure like that be able to remove something that attracts the virus or add something to repel it?
Found this:

COVID-19 and gene editing: ethical and legal considerations

One of the methods researchers are exploring to combat COVID-19 is gene editing: altering the genome of the virus to make it harmless.

theconversation.com

I think that's too far away. The only clinical application I could see within a few years for COVID-19 is a live virus vaccine or for the production of antigens or something of that nature. Learning more for future issues is helpful though.

 

[ChemGal]

One clear potential benefit is the possibility of customized treatment depending on your genetic risk factors.

Basic research is often pooh-poohed, but it's often the building blocks upon which other research is built, which eventually leads to clinical research.

Drug targets in general too that are beneficial for all not just those with specific genes.

 

[Mrs.Anteater]

One clear potential benefit is the possibility of customized treatment depending on your genetic risk factors.

See that’s what I would question. Patients would be treated depending on the symptoms, not depending on the genes. A doc wouldn’t say that his blood type shouldn’t make him need oxygen so I am not giving him any. Or, the other way around, I am giving him oxygen because of his genes despite his O2 levels are fine.
Even with vaccination - would you trust if research says you are likely to have a mild case because of your genes - so you don’t need a vaccination?

 

[Mendalla]

See that’s what I would question. Patients would be treated depending on the symptoms, not depending on the genes. A doc wouldn’t say that his blood type shouldn’t make him need oxygen so I am not giving him any. Or, the other way around, I am giving him oxygen because of his genes despite his O2 levels are fine.
Even with vaccination - would you trust if research says you are likely to have a mild case because of your genes - so you don’t need a vaccination?

That's not what gene-specific medicine is about, though. It's about tailoring treatments, esp. for things like cancer, to the patient's genetic profile. It helps ensure that where multiple treatment plan are possible, the most effective one is chosen.

 

[ChemGal]

See that’s what I would question. Patients would be treated depending on the symptoms, not depending on the genes. A doc wouldn’t say that his blood type shouldn’t make him need oxygen so I am not giving him any. Or, the other way around, I am giving him oxygen because of his genes despite his O2 levels are fine.
Even with vaccination - would you trust if research says you are likely to have a mild case because of your genes - so you don’t need a vaccination?

Symptoms aren't the only reason to treat people. We treat different cancers differently - based on the mutations - the genes, not the symptoms. We've been learning more too about how people respond to different types of medications.

With something like COVID-19, there are various possibilities. We may find out that certain receptors are problematic for some - maybe their genes causes them to have more of them, or maybe a slight variation - so a drug may target that, say competitive binding where the drug binds so that the virus cannot.
Or it could be the response, with a cytokine storm. This genetic information may show some people start to express certain cytokines way more than others, so we inhibit those specific cytokines knowing they have genes that are likely to upregulate certain ones. Or maybe it's easier to just test for the individual cytokines when someone is sick - but that genetic information from the studies has guided us what to look for.

 

[ChemGal]

Even with vaccination - would you trust if research says you are likely to have a mild case because of your genes - so you don’t need a vaccination?

Yes! Not in the 'mild case' aspect, but other genetic issues. What's the point of vaccinating someone who has a primary immunodeficiency that prevents them from making antibodies? Instead of vaccinating them, which isn't doing to do anything for them and can actually be dangerous in the case of live vaccines we can give them IVIG or SCIG so that they are at least getting passive immunity.

 

[EasternOrthodox]

Here’s another FT article. I think they’ve stopped the free reading completely.

Coronavirus produces ‘sinister’ tentacles in infected cells

Highly unusual structure raises hopes for use of cancer drugs to treat the disease

https://www.ft.com/content/2690623a-6824-4837-a36d-73519b77aa7a

Scientists have discovered that the virus behind Covid-19 causes the infected cells to grow stringy protruding branches — a highly unusual structure that allows the virus to attack several cells at once.

Researchers led by the University of California San Francisco have released the first ever close-up images of the spaghetti-like tentacles that were taken using an ultra-powerful electron microscope.

“There are long strings that poke holes in other cells and the virus passes through the tube from cell to cell,” said Professor Nevan Krogan, director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute at UCSF who led the project. “Our hypothesis is that these speed up infection,” Prof Krogan said of the “nasty and sinister” branches.

The images taken by scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) laboratory in the US and University of Freiburg in Germany will be published in the medical journal Cell on Saturday.

Most viruses do not cause infected cells to grow these tentacles. Even those that do, such as smallpox, do not have as many or the same type of branching as Sars-Cov-2, the virus behind Covid-19.

The discovery has highlighted a number of drugs that could be deployed against the disease, most of which were previously being developed to treat cancer. Prof Krogan said cancers, HIV, or Sars-Cov-2 were all searching for the “Achilles heel of the cell”.

“It totally makes sense there’s an overlap in anticancer drugs and an antiviral effect,” he said.

The initial experiments were done in African green monkey kidney cells, which have previously been shown to become easily infected by the virus. But the potential drugs were then tested in human lung cells.

The potential Covid-19 drugs include silmitasertib, made by Taiwan-based Senhwa Biosciences, which directly inhibits the CK2 enzyme used to build the tubes. Senhwa is already working with the NIH to run trials in the US.

The researchers compared these cancer treatments to remdesivir, a Gilead Sciences drug that has shown it can cut recovery times in a large trial. They found five drugs that were more potent against the virus, including Xospata, also known as gilteritinib, made by Japan’s Astellas Pharma and already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for leukaemia patients.

Other possible treatments include abemaciclib, an FDA-approved drug sold as Verzenio by Eli Lilly, and ralimetinib, also developed by Indianapolis-based Lilly, as well as dasatinib, an approved drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb.

The Quantitative Biosciences Institute’s coronavirus research group — which includes researchers from New York to Paris — specialises in searching for drugs that target the human proteins the virus needs to reproduce, rather than tackling the virus directly.

In a previous paper published in the journal Nature, they discovered potential drugs that could be repurposed including over-the-counter medicines for coughs and allergies.

So far, their work has been focused in the laboratory but they are looking to start clinical trials in humans. The scientists also suggest trying these new drugs in combination with remdesivir.

 

[Mendalla]

And this highlights a big difference between now and 1918: Science has expanded our knowledge. We know far more about bodies, viruses, genetics, and so on, which increases the likelihood of us finding treatments and, hopefully, preventative measures like vaccines.

 

[EasternOrthodox]

And this highlights a big difference between now and 1918: Science has expanded our knowledge. We know far more about bodies, viruses, genetics, and so on, which increases the likelihood of us finding treatments and, hopefully, preventative measures like vaccines.

Yes, things have changed a lot!

But according to a book I read they also argued about face masks and when it was safe to open up again. San Francisco had a second peak, smaller than the first, after that it passed.

 

[BetteTheRed]

Yes, the science has evolved. I'm not sure human idiocy has at all, or if so, minimally.

 

[Ritafee]

Even with vaccination - would you trust if research says you are likely to have a mild case because of your genes - so you don’t need a vaccination?

I know I don't need a vaccination.

 

[Ritafee]

This thread is for anything related to the Novel Coronavirus.
Let's talk and share.

1. One child dies every ten minutes from a preventable disease.

2. Four in five Yemeni children, 12.3 million (the entire population of Illinois) are in desperate need of aid.

3. Over 1.7 million children (the entire population of West Virginia) have been forced from their homes and into camps or hovels, where they have been at special risk of cholera and other disease.

4. Some 10.2 million children (the entire population of North Carolina) do not have access to basic healthcare.

5. Some 2 million children (the entire population of New Mexico) under the age of 5 suffer from malnutrition.

6. 325,000 children (the population of Riverside, Ca.) suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition.

7. Almost half (45%) of children under 5 are stunted, which means that malnutrition has left them small for their age and damaged their cognitive development.

8. Some 1.2 million pregnant or breastfeeding mothers (the population of Maine) suffer from acute malnutrition, such that their health and the health of their children is seriously endangered.

9. Only 1/2 half of health facilities are operational but even those suffer from severe shortages of medicine, equipment and personnel (some of which haven’t been paid for years or are getting a pittance).

10. Nearly 10 million children (the population of Michigan) do not have access to safe drinking water.

The coronavirus has plunged the world into a deep recession.

Yet Canada’s support for weapons sales to Saudi Arabia has never faltered.

Opinion: In the midst of our COVID-19 crisis, Canada lifted its moratorium on arms exports to Saudi Arabia

Further arms sales to Saudi Arabia during the pandemic undermine Canada’s support for a global ceasefire

www.theglobeandmail.com

 

[Waterfall]

1. One child dies every ten minutes from a preventable disease.

2. Four in five Yemeni children, 12.3 million (the entire population of Illinois) are in desperate need of aid.

3. Over 1.7 million children (the entire population of West Virginia) have been forced from their homes and into camps or hovels, where they have been at special risk of cholera and other disease.

4. Some 10.2 million children (the entire population of North Carolina) do not have access to basic healthcare.

5. Some 2 million children (the entire population of New Mexico) under the age of 5 suffer from malnutrition.

6. 325,000 children (the population of Riverside, Ca.) suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition.

7. Almost half (45%) of children under 5 are stunted, which means that malnutrition has left them small for their age and damaged their cognitive development.

8. Some 1.2 million pregnant or breastfeeding mothers (the population of Maine) suffer from acute malnutrition, such that their health and the health of their children is seriously endangered.

9. Only 1/2 half of health facilities are operational but even those suffer from severe shortages of medicine, equipment and personnel (some of which haven’t been paid for years or are getting a pittance).

10. Nearly 10 million children (the population of Michigan) do not have access to safe drinking water.

The coronavirus has plunged the world into a deep recession.

Yet Canada’s support for weapons sales to Saudi Arabia has never faltered.

Opinion: In the midst of our COVID-19 crisis, Canada lifted its moratorium on arms exports to Saudi Arabia

Further arms sales to Saudi Arabia during the pandemic undermine Canada’s support for a global ceasefire

www.theglobeandmail.com

Worth discussing.....perhaps opening a new thread to talk about it would be a good idea.

 

[Ritafee]

Worth discussing.....perhaps opening a new thread to talk about it would be a good idea.

Right a new thread ... code for ... worth discussing but ... no one is really interested.

 

[Northwind]

Right a new thread ... code for ... worth discussing but ... no one is really interested.

No. Worth discussing in its own thread.

 

[Ritafee]

The coronavirus has plunged the world into a deep recession.

No. Worth discussing in its own thread.

 

[Waterfall]

Right a new thread ... code for ... worth discussing but ... no one is really interested.

Strange interpretation Rita....but seeing as you are trying to second guess me, I'm here to tell you that the interpretation is wrong.

 

[Ritafee]

So the science on covid .... rapidly emerging ... but we still really know nothing about it. We have 'Experts' that are declaring knowledge of how many people have died from covid ... even though that is scientifically impossible. What we do know is that we have a lot of people that are dying of bizarre respiratory conditions all of the time ... this is not novel.

There seems to be a syndrome that is familiar with covid and that syndrome goes back to another corona virus of 2001 2002 ... SARS which produced pneumonia in otherwise healthy adults, turning them blue before leaving them to drown in their own lung fluids.

And yet again we have people dying of lack of oxygen - hypoxic injury to the whole system - in NY nearly 9 in 10 covid patients put on a ventilator died. So it is not a respiratory event ... from SARS to now ... 18 years of science says this is not a viral type of infection. If it was a virus overwhelming your system you would see an appropriate immune system response on presentation ... so it should be treated as an hypoxic injury. Cyanide poisoning treatment kits?

People are not dying of covid ... they are dying of secondary pneumonia bacterial in nature or organ failure ... unmasked by the virus but not directly caused by the virus. If the virus was causing these deaths than why is everybody that gets exposed not dying of hypoxic injury. Very few people who get exposed to covid experience this.

What is being unmasked by the virus is the toxicity of our environment. People that are dying are by and large in areas where there is high agricultural residues of round-up and high residues of small particulate air pollution ... rising levels of unsafe cyanide?

So we have a toxic stew and nature is trying to adapt to this perfect storm with a virus unmasking the toxicity of our soil and air pollution. So putting everyone on lockdown ... reduces production of cyanide ... and people stop dying of 'covid' for a while.

We have no one to blame but ourselves. In a collapsing empire covid is a massive distraction from economic instability in a health 'care' system that can not keep up with our self inflicted chronic disease development.

Viruses have been transiting our globe since long before humans showed up. Without human travel ... air still travels with or without human spit droplets within 3 feet of each other. So we can limit the concentration of cases for a while by locking down and wearing masks and not risking quicker (3-5 days) 'Germs on a plane' ... but the air will still move aerosols great distances. Interestingly we can screw up the normal transmission of a virus by air pollution ... so every fall between october and january -- 'flu season' -- adopt a no pollution protocol --- ride a bicycle.

The US is a sick society as a general rule ... why are we surprised that they are suffering more deaths from corona virus. A true public health organization would have saved thousands of lives by taking people off ACE inhibitors and statins and prescribing a healthy diet.

And stopping the influenza vaccinations would have helped as well.

But instead of learning from the past ... physicians have been brainwashed to not trust their own intuition ... paralyzed by fear of moving outside of the status quo.

This virus will be gone by next summer with or without a vaccine.

What level of fear have we induced in humankind that we are letting our revered elderly and our young people dying from conditions that have an overall mortality similar to flu ... die alone.

This is a medical tyranny of fear tearing apart the very fabric of what it means to be human. There is an innate drive in us to stay connected and to have fellowship with one another.

Guess this one has to get moved to another thread ... conspiracy thinking?

I am off to bed ... to dream of a better world that I know is possible.