at the conference centre downtown they had us sit & wait 15 minutes before leaving & once in a while someone would come around & ask how everyone was doing. maybe this is one reason why? i don't remember finding out:
A Vancouver Island woman who suffered an allergic reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine says she has no regrets getting the jab.
In May, Annie Taal, a 32-year-old Victoria resident, received her first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Eight minutes after receiving the jab, Taal said she started to feel her lips go numb, and more than 15 minutes later, after leaving the Archie Browning Centre where she received the vaccine, she began to experience a loss of breath and a feeling she characterized as a sunburn.
Taal returned to the Archie Browning Centre where she was into a private area by nurses and treated.
Turns out, Taal was experiencing an anaphylactic shock.
*snip*
Taal has received her second dose and now she’s sharing her story in hopes that people feel safe to get their shots.
“I have no regrets at all. I really don’t. I was safe and cared for and I personally believe those mechanisms were also in place during the production of the vaccines,” Taal says.
“I understand the fear and uncertainty many people are feeling – but the fact-based evidence shows us the vaccines are safe and they are the best way for us to move forward through the pandemic.”
Taal, now being fully-vaccinated, is both sharing her story and participating in a study of people who have experienced allergic reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine.
https://www.victoria...ing-vaccinated/
Infections from respiratory viruses follow a predictable seasonal pattern, researchers find
Viral infections peak in January and bottom out in June, with worse seasons every second year — an ebb and flow that could help the health-care system plan ahead.
https://www.ualberta...chers-find.html
https://www.scienced...11027150743.htm
Food banks, already in crisis mode due to pandemic, are bracing for more visits as cost of living rises
Food Banks Canada HungerCount 2021 report calls for major overhaul of social safety net to reduce poverty
https://www.cbc.ca/n...eport-1.6226965
COVID-19 reduces the numbers and functional competence of certain types of immune cells in the blood, say LMU researchers. This could affect responses to secondary infections.
https://medicalxpres...vid-immune.html
Experts at the University of Waterloo’s Cheriton School of Computer Science have created a deep neural network that achieves 98 per cent detection of peptide features in a dataset. That means scientists and medical practitioners have a greater chance of discovering possible diseases through tissue sample analysis.
https://www.eurekale...releases/933004
Statistical analysis of the survey results found that people who reported feeling more invincible to COVID-19 were less willing to get vaccinated and less likely to believe in the importance of individual actions to reduce transmission.
The analysis also showed that the magnitude of this link differed among countries. Individuals with high perceived invincibility living in countries with a greater emphasis on individual freedoms and autonomy—such as the U.S., U.K., and Canada—were less willing to get vaccinated and less willing to take action than individuals with high perceived invincibility living in cultures with greater emphasis on collective action.
The authors say their findings highlight the importance of considering both individual and cultural factors when addressing pandemics. They suggest that suppression efforts employ messaging that emphasizes the importance of collective action—particularly in individualistic cultures. Meanwhile, future research could further explore the impact of cultural factors on health beliefs and behaviors.
The authors add: “While feeling invincible may be beneficial in overcoming economic hardships or during periods of war, the results of our study suggest that it threatens the likelihood that people get vaccinated against COVID-19, and this is especially the case in individualistic countries, such as the USA, where people tend to focus on their own health rather than the collective health of their community.”
https://www.eurekale...releases/932172
kind of old by now (2015) but i think still very relevant
In a series of studies published this month, an international group of behavioral researchers finds a universal perception of Americans as exceptionally—even “problematically”—narcissistic. People living both inside and outside the U.S. rate the typical American much more highly on that measure than they rate themselves, their friends, or (for foreigners) the average citizen of their own country. In many cases those ratings were strong enough to meet clinical medical standards for a diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
Here’s the upshot, via the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology:
Americans and non-Americans alike perceive other Americans as highly narcissistic. This finding does not simply reflect perceptions of higher levels of agentic traits but instead reflects the belief that the typical American is grandiose, callous, and self-centered. Although an inflated view of narcissism of a typical member of one’s culture is shared across a diverse set of regions and cultures, the effects are generally smaller in other regions of the world.
The study group, with the psychologist Joshua Miller of the University of Georgia as lead author, conducted a half-dozen surveys at home and abroad to determine the extent of perceived American narcissism. The standard personality tests used to draw their conclusions captured casual traits related to narcissism (e.g. “immodesty, self-absorption, entitlement, exploitativeness, and callousness”) as well as official psychiatric markers designated by the DSM-V manual. The general protocol asked participants to rate themselves, an acquaintance from the same country, and the character of an average American.
Across the board, results were quite similar. Two of the surveys focused on American perceptions of Americans. One group included middle-aged folks (52 years old on average) found at a mall in Athens, Georgia; another included college students. In both cases, participants rated “the character of Americans in general” as significantly more narcissistic than they rated themselves.
That said, not all narcissism is created equal. What these study participants seemed to have in mind was a person generally characterized as antagonistic, with signs of being “immodest, self-centered, dishonest, noncompliant, callous.” In another test, with an online sample, participants suggested that the sort of person they envisioned was not a young, rich celebrity, but rather a pretty normal person in terms of education, wealth, and health. To the American eye, then, U.S. narcissism is not so much Justin Bieber as Average Joe.
https://www.bloomber...vel-narcissists
The results of a new randomised clinical trial, published in The Lancet Global Health, have demonstrated that using fluvoxamine to treat high-risk outpatients with early-diagnosed COVID-19 reduced the need for prolonged observation in an emergency setting or hospitalisation, compared to a control group who received a placebo.
This arm of the TOGETHER trial is the largest randomised trial to date to assess the effectiveness of fluvoxamine for patients with COVID-19 in the community. The results represent an important step in understanding the role of fluvoxamine for outpatients with early diagnosed, symptomatic COVID-19 and reinforce the concept that it is possible to generate rapid and high-quality evidence during the pandemic.
“Recent vaccination developments and campaigns have proved to be effective and important in reducing the number of new symptomatic cases, hospitalisations, and deaths due to COVID-19. However, COVID-19 still poses a risk to individuals in countries with low resources and limited access to vaccinations.” Says Dr Edward Mills of McMaster University, co-principal investigator on the trial. “Identifying inexpensive, widely available, and effective therapies against COVID-19 is therefore of great importance, and repurposing existing medications that are widely available and have well-understood safety profiles is of particular interest.”
Fluvoxamine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), currently used to treat mental health conditions such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders. It was chosen for study as a potential treatment for COVID-19 due to its anti-inflammatory properties. According to Dr Angela Reiersen, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author, “Fluvoxamine may reduce the production of inflammatory molecules called cytokines, that can be triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection.”
https://www.eurekale...releases/932805
https://www.eurekale...releases/932847
study of the day
A UBC-led research team has uncovered how the virus responsible for causing COVID-19 escapes destruction in infected cells, allowing SARS-CoV-2 to persist and continue spreading in the human body.
The finding explains the cellular coup d'état staged by the novel coronavirus, and how it disrupts normal cell defences to hijack human host cells.
“We discovered that the virus attaches to and deactivates an important sensor protein in the host cell called galectin-8, which protects the cell against infection. By deactivating galectin-8, SARS-CoV-2 disarms a cell’s antiviral defence system and allows the virus to take over the host,” says Dr. Chris Overall, the study’s senior author, a Canada Research Chair, and a principal investigator at the UBC Centre for Blood Research, Life Sciences Institute and Faculty of Dentistry.
Overall assembled a team of local, national and international collaborators to provide samples for this study, which was published in the Oct. 26 issue of Cell Reports. The study’s co-lead authors, Dr. Isabel Pablos and Dr. Yoan Machado, are both postdoctoral fellows in his lab.
In order to turn host cells into virus-producing machines, SARS-CoV-2 uses spike proteins, which surround the outside of the virus, to attach to, invade and seize control of the host.
The researchers made the important discovery that galectin-8 attaches to the spike protein. The virus then deactivates galectin-8 by using one of its own key enzymes, called the 3CL protease, to target, attach to and cut galectin-8 in half, like a pair of molecular scissors.
Galectin-8 protects the host cell against viruses through a defence response called xenophagy: where an infected cell captures invaders like viruses in small, fluid-filled sacs, then kills them by injecting these sacs with destructive molecules.
“The key enzyme makes a single cut at a specific molecular site in galectin-8, which we precisely identified through a specialized proteomics technique developed in the Overall Lab,” says Dr. Pablos. “This single cut will likely impair the ability of the cell to destroy the virus.”
Normally, the 3CL protease is a key enzyme that helps viruses replicate, but the researchers’ work shows that SARS-CoV-2 has cleverly evolved an ability that makes its own key enzyme multifunctional, allowing it to maximize its capabilities.
https://www.eurekale...releases/932851
New study explicitly links protection of water access with lower COVID-19 infection and death rates
States that issued water shutoff moratoria ensuring low-income households had continued access to clean water experienced significantly lower daily COVID-19 infection and death rates, researchers report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine
https://www.eurekale...releases/932960
Your unvaccinated friend is roughly 20 times more likely to give you COVID
https://theconversat...ou-covid-170448
the people with MDs & PhDs say one thing, but we should also consider what the other side says
Magenta Pixie, a beloved and widely followed New Age figure in the United Kingdom who says that she channels a “divine intelligence” known as “the White Winged Collective Consciousness of Nine,” has been hospitalized with COVID-19, according to Telegram updates from her husband and daughter. In recent months, Pixie has often discussed her opposition to COVID vaccines, using coded language in which she likens them to poison apples and urging her followers to think twice before “eating the pie.”
“They have tried to tell Magenta that this occurred because she is unvaccinated,” Daniel Catzmagick, Pixie’s husband, wrote on her Telegram channel, referring to her hospitalization. He signaled skepticism, however, adding, “She is on a ward of seven covid positive ladies who are all double and triple vaccinated. Most have only recently had their booster.” Catzmagick wrote on Tuesday that her team “cannot give any further prognosis” about Pixie’s health, and temporarily shut down comments on her Telegram channel. (An assistant for Pixie did not respond to an email from Motherboard.)
Pixie, who also refers to herself as an “intuitive consultant,” has been a well-known figure in New Age “Lightworker” communities since the early 1990s, a red-haired, motherly-looking woman with a cozy, direct way of speaking and videos rife with references to angels, fairies, and forest spirits. (“Lightworker” is a term that in New Age circles usually denotes someone who is believed to be a spiritually advanced human being working for the advancement of the human race, often possessed of special powers or otherworldly intuition; in Pixie’s case, she says that she channels wisdom from a variety of spiritual beings). She has 137,000 YouTube followers and 22,000 on Telegram, where she’s frequently answered questions about COVID-19 and COVID vaccines in recent months. Unlike many New Age or spiritual figures, Pixie has never claimed COVID isn’t real, but has said repeatedly and in no uncertain terms that she believes getting vaccinated will harm her followers’ spiritual ascension.
https://www.vice.com...ized-with-covid
Denmark's controversial decision to cull all 15 million farmed mink to prevent the spread of mutated COVID-19 was ruled illegal and has since devolved into a blame game involving the nation's top politicians.
The prime minister now risks being brought before a national court after the so-called Minkgate, which is seen as one of Denmark's biggest political scandals in modern times.
All text messages from the days when Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made the contentious decision to slaughter all the country's mink stock have been deleted, TV2 has reported.
The decision to kill 15 million mink to stop a mutated COVID variant for fear that it would intervene with the vaccination process sparked controversy, as it was found to be unconstitutional – Danish law doesn't support the killing of healthy animals. Subsequently, Prime Minister Frederiksen pointed to the-then food minister and party mate Mogens Jensen, who left his post over the affair.
https://sputniknews....1090268665.html
Vaccination with Sputnik Light most effective for former COVID patients, scientists say
According to the experts, it is possible to apply Sputnik Light both for initial inoculation and revaccination
https://tass.com/society/1355235
Израиль утвердил правила въезда привитых «Спутником V»
Israel approves entry rules for those vaccinated by Sputnik V
https://iz.ru/124230...ykh-sputnikom-v
Anti-pandemic measures cost Russian regions $15.565 bln in 2020 - Accounts Chamber
According to the Accounts Chamber, most of these expenditures were covered by governmental assistance in 2020 but regional debt grew by 380 billion rubles
https://tass.com/economy/1355031
Three out of four unvaccinated Russians do not plan to get vaccinated against the coronavirus despite the authorities' efforts to increase the population’s stubbornly low uptake, according to a Gallup survey.
https://www.themosco...b-gallup-a75430
Another major port city in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Heihe, bordering Russia in the north, was urgently put under a citywide lockdown on Thursday after one confirmed COVID-19 case was found. It is the third city that has imposed such rules in the latest rebound of the epidemic in China, following China-Mongolia border city Ejin Banner and Northwest China's transport hub Lanzhou.
https://www.globalti...0/1237511.shtml
is zero-covid really a pipe dream? come on now:
(抗击新冠肺炎)贵州遵义：第三轮核检采样1750500人 均为阴性
中新网贵州遵义10月28日电 (瞿宏伦 袁超)10月28日晚，贵州省遵义市卫生健康局发布通报称，据核酸检测机构检测结果显示：截止10月28日下午15：00时，遵义市中心城区第三轮全员核酸检测已完成采样1750500人。检测结果全部为阴性。
China News Service, Zunyi, Guizhou, October 28 (Qu Honglun and Yuan Chao) On the evening of October 28, the Health and Health Bureau of Zunyi City, Guizhou Province issued a notice stating that according to the results of nucleic acid testing institutions: as of 15:00 on October 28 , The third round of nucleic acid testing for all employees in the downtown area of Zunyi has completed sampling 1,750,500 people. The test results were all negative.
http://www.chinanews...8/9597373.shtml
...and his little dog too
Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto has battled multiple health challenges over the years, including stage 4 cancer, open heart surgery, multiple sclerosis and, currently, COVID-19. Now some of his viewers are sending him death threats — because he encouraged them to get vaccinated for their own safety.
The host of Your World With Neil Cavuto announced last week that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, despite being fully vaccinated. In recent days, he has both credited the vaccine for likely saving his life and used his platform to encourage others to roll up their sleeves.
In a MediaBuzz interview on Sunday — his first since announcing his diagnosis — Cavuto acknowledged that vaccine mandates have become highly politicized but urged viewers to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their communities, especially immunocompromised people like himself.
*snip*
He was right. And he brought some of those messages with him when he returned to the airwaves on Tuesday.
*snip*
Some thanked and defended him for making his position clear, while others were less appreciative.
"I admire your remarkable strength through so much adversity, but let me give you some advice," read one. "Shut up and enjoy the fact you're not dead. For now."
Later, on his own show, Cavuto reviewed more viewer messages with the help of actor Dion Baia. On the more negative end of the spectrum, one instructed him to "pound sand" and mind his own business.
"It's clear you've lost some weight with all this stuff. Good for you," wrote one viewer. "But I'm not happy with less of you. I want 'none' of you. I want you gone. Dead. Caput [sic]. Fini. Get it? Now, take your two-bit advice, deep-six it and you!"
https://www.npr.org/...e-death-threats
Last week Ladapo — appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis — raised doubts about the efficacy of the covid-19 vaccines, and days later he refused to mask up in the office of a lawmaker battling cancer who asked him to do so.
Carlson opened his interview asking Ladapo why he thinks he’s “under attack.”
“I’m not sure why I’m sort of constantly under attack,” Ladapo responded.
“Regardless of the attacks what will remain unchanged is the fact that we’re going be making data-based decisions about public health in Florida. We’ve had a tremendous amount of success already thanks to the governor’s leadership,” he continued.
As an example he decried the effort to mandate kids wear masks in schools as an “obsession.”
https://www.mediaite...kids-in-school/
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