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Sci-Tech watch

Doctor Ivette Lozano from Dallas, Texas on treating patients with HCQ Cocktails

Inimitable: Food for thought. U/D: When it reaches the pharmacy . . . U/D May 19, another Lozano interview: And, oh yes, breaking 1: Mr Trump is praising — yes, I am NOT using, “touting” — a promising vaccination. Announcement by the firm, here. Breaking, no 2, courtesy Daily Mail as usual: Of course, the now standard, it’s risky is in the subheads. U/D: Video: Compare our Texas Doctor’s remarks. And then, there is the latest from Dr Raoult: Whose report do you believe, why? END

OWID — Covid patterns

Let’s look at daily confirmed cases: and at a seven-day rolling average for deaths: South Korea seems to have beaten this wave. Several advanced countries show a stubborn plateau, which is reflected in the linear ongoing growth. It is not confined to the US, we need to learn from the Koreans; who BTW are HCQ users. The “mesa” for China underscores the observation that Chinese data has to be regarded with care. END

Covid-19 Tracking the peak of Wave1 (w. OWID)

We can best see the peak in the death statistics, as global daily deaths begin to decline: However, we seem to have a prolonged inflexion, giving a linear growth since mid April, i.e. growth and saturation are in rough equipoise, though the very end is beginning to tip over: The pattern of doubling time has shifted, with major countries slowing significantly, e.g. here is the USA in immediate context: Daily fresh global cases shows the flattened peaking: National patterns show this too, with China showing secondary etc waves: It is noteworthy that the UK now views China’s data as questionable: The British government will no longer recognise the number of coronavirus deaths reported by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over Read More ›

A low-cost ventilator based on the Ambu Bag (do you think a “Gold Standard” Placebo control is needed . . . )

Ventilators are a key treatment for Covid-19, and there has been a wave of interest concerning development of low-cost ventilators; especially with a projected Covid-19 wave in excess of 100 millions for Africa. Here, then, is the Israel developed AmboVent, one of something like 300 fast-track initiatives to develop such globally: Video: This is of course one of several designs pivoting on the nearly ubiquitous manual respirator bulb, as per a suggestion that has been on the table for some time. Now we see a [near-?] commercial product. Video on the suggestion: Their blurb: The AmboVent initiative is led, by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) 108 electronic depot in partnership with Magen David Adom (MDA) (Israel’s red cross). The R&D Read More ›

UVA as an antiviral? — AYTU Healight (in partnership with Cedars-Sinai)

H’mm, it just may be feasible to use actinic radiation as a respiratory tract antiviral: Screenshot: U/D: From cache, another screen shot: Notice, AYTU is restricting bandwidth to UVA, UVA 400 nm – 320 nm, which is less damaging to us than shorter wavelength UV bands. Interesting concept, at minimum, though how they would get it deeper into the lungs is another question. Let’s not forget, radiation therapy — using X-Rays — is still used to destroy cancer. I guess, another use- it- early solution, if it works. END U/D, PS: I found a Fox News mention:

Dr Raoult in his own voice on HCQ, with English sub-titles

Jerry has again hit gold, and so here is Dr Didier Raoult, in his own voice, with English sub-titles: Let us view and discuss. U/D: it will be helpful to take time to follow this video also, where others have a say. (As time permits, I will put up some screen captures as updates below.) Let us view and let us think together. END F/N: Let me stack screen shots, first, who and what we are dealing with: Next, the study: Note, for reference, its approval: Research protocol approved by the ANSM [= “Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé (ANSM)”, i.e. National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products] and the Île-de-France CPP Read More ›

Dr Zelenko’s HCQ-based ALT-ernative to the near-Business As Usual (n-BAU) approach

Jerry drew our attention last night to a radio interview by Dr Vladimir Zelenko. In this interview, he summarises his approach and rationale, giving results and making several announcements. (Unfortunately, the media cannot be embedded at UD as it is not YT. Kindly, go here; and make sure your browser has no active ad blocker.) On listening last night, here are my first observations on highlight points: Brazil and Israel are doing his early treatment, clinical diagnosis (backed up by nasal swab test), outpatient-oriented dosage for vulnerable patients protocol, ALT-1. He has treated 405 in that profile and sees 95% reduction on the expected death rate for the n-BAU baseline. He points out that the Raoult [by implication] protocol, which Read More ›

Oh, about that flawed FDA Covid-19 test . . . it may have been contaminated with the virus

Here’s the report: As the new coronavirus took root across America, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent states tainted test kits in early February that were themselves seeded with the virus, federal officials have confirmed. The contamination made the tests uninterpretable, and—because testing is crucial for containment efforts—it lost the country invaluable time to get ahead of the advancing pandemic. The CDC had been vague about what went wrong with the tests, initially only saying that “a problem in the manufacturing of one of the reagents” had led to the failure. Subsequent reporting suggested that the problem was with a negative control—that is, a part of the test meant to be free of any trace of the Read More ›

On Scientific Methods and alternatives to the “Placebo Control is the gold standard” view, in the face of pandemics (–> Logic & First Principles, 38)

It is clear that we need to re-think how we go about doing science to warrant approaches to the pandemic. So, allow me to headline a comment from the double-blind thread: KF, 16: >> I am also thinking back to the old “Scientific Method” summary we were taught in schools and its roots in Newton’s Opticks, Query 31: As in Mathematicks, so in Natural Philosophy, the Investigation of difficult Things by the Method of Analysis, ought ever to precede the Method of Composition. This Analysis consists in making Experiments and Observations, and in drawing general Conclusions from them by Induction, and admitting of no Objections against the Conclusions, but such as are taken from Experiments, or other certain Truths. For Read More ›

H’mm, Remdesivir may be promising . . .

I am seeing a report: Gilead Science’s experimental antiviral medicine remdesivir is reportedly showing promise for the treatment of people plagued with the novel coronavirus, with nearly all patients in a closely monitored clinical trial at a Chicago hospital discharged in just days, an early assessment of data released this week revealed . . . . STAT, a medical news outlet, first reported that an early peek at the data from the clinical trial in Chicago suggested that coronavirus patients were responding to the Gilead Science drug. “The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great. We’ve only had two patients perish,” Kathleen Mullane, the University of Chicago infectious disease specialist overseeing the Read More ›

Are double-blind placebo-controlled studies the rightful “gold standard”? (So that, whatever does not “measure up” can be discounted or dismissed?)

As we have seen in recent weeks as Covid-19 and Hydrochloroquine cocktail treatments have been on the table, there is a clear tendency to view and treat double-blind placebo controlled testing as a “gold standard” yardstick and to then use such to discount and dismiss whatever does not “measure up” such as Professor Raoult’s work over in France. I will now argue in outline that such an attitude is selectively hyperskeptical, seriously ethically, epistemologically and logically flawed, and sets up a crooked yardstick. It is a commonplace in Medical research that arguably more lives were saved, net, than perished through the tainted medical studies in the Nazi death camps. However, the taint was seen as so serious that a programme Read More ›

Hydrochloroquine on the march, as this wave of Covid-19 peaks

Prof Raoult’s web site hosts an interesting map, under the title, “Pays où l’hydroxychloroquine est recommandée”: India, of course, has the further approval for prophylaxis. That’s significant, as talk on vaccines tends to point to 12 – 18 months and double-blind, placebo controlled tests in progress or about to start in the US look likely to take more than a year. Meanwhile, OWID tracks how time to double to current number of deaths — probably the best statistic — is continuing to stretch out: (Notice, the S-curves and driving impulses.) Likewise, we can see the daily cases clearly peaking (for THIS wave . . . notice, Wave 2 for China and even an uptick to a Wave 3): This is Read More ›

Further thoughts, on “peaking” of the pandemic

Recently, we here at UD saw that global trend lines are curving over from exponential growth in new Covid-19 cases. Likewise, health authorities have been talking of the US and the UK peaking in perhaps ten days. Where I am, we are still growing: one, two, five, nine total. (And no, Black the Ripper is not credibly a Covid-19 case.) Here’s a graphic that gives pause, with labelled phases — recall, the crest of new infections is the inflexion point on the growing arm of the S-curve of cumulative cases: But, the further consideration is, onward waves triggered by fresh outbreaks or new strains once lock-downs . . . which cannot be long sustained . . . are relaxed: These Read More ›

The world’s physicians weigh in — they want Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin

. . . and, they expect a secondary wave. Sermo is a global Doctors’ forum site, which allows building of a global consensus of Physicians. As a part of its efforts, it has had a “statistically significant” survey of over 6,000 doctors, regarding Covid-19. Excerpting the just linked report: Largest Statistically Significant Study by 6,200 Multi-Country Physicians on COVID-19 Uncovers Treatment Patterns and Puts Pandemic in Context April 2, 2020 Sermo Reports on Hydroxychloroquine Efficacy, Rise in Prophylaxis Use; Over 80% Expect 2nd Outbreak New York, New York – April 2, 2020 – Widespread confusion, conflicting reports, inconsistent testing, and off-indication use of existing and experimental drugs has resulted in no single source of information from the frontlines. To create a Read More ›