Newmark's Door

What may be coming--the past doesn't repeat but it rhymes--real soon.

I remember waiting in a huge line at my college for the shot when they handed out a paper listing possible side effects. There were many horrible effects listed. (With no probabilities attached, of course.) As this was my first time seeing such a warning, I got out of line and didn't get the shot.

I'm much older now and I've been given a number of such warnings. Heck, listen to ads for drugs on network TV in which they about half the ad listing all the terrible things that may happen if you take the drug. Again, with no probabilities of any kind given. Excuse me, but I think such "information" is worthless. Maybe worse than worthless.

By Malcolm Kendrick, Scottish doctor. Argues that a part of the imperfect COVID response is simply terminological confusion.

Why are these figures so all over the place? It is because we are using horribly inaccurate terminology. We are comparing apples with pomegranates to tell us how many bananas we have. Our experts are, essentially, talking gibberish, and the mainstream media is lapping it up. They are defining asymptomatic swabs as cases, and no-one is calling them out on it. Why?

See also this summary of an discussion with one Harvard and two Stanford professors.

I was interested in this because I've seen estimates ranging from 55 mg/day g/day (thanks, David!) to more than triple that. This site seems scientific.

Dr. Chai has my full support:

I know, people are going to come and make comments on this answer about how I am an evil, mean, bullying, old school, horrible person who should not even be a doctor. I get it. You do not want to be corrected. Would you rather feel the pain of someone telling you that you did something wrong today, or would you rather feel the pain of knowing you killed someone tomorrow? I will let you think about that. Think about it carefully.

Yet another reason to try to be sure you get enough sleep.

It's easier than ever to look up information on the possible side effects of drugs. I think it is highly advisable.

See also "The Most Common Pain Relief Drug in The World Induces Risky Behaviour, Study Suggests".

Watch out for the bradykinin.

More: "Is a Bradykinin Storm Brewing in COVID-19?"

For the next several years at least, "precision nutrition" will be the hot new thing in nutrition and diet. (This piece is just the beginning of the article in New Scientist, but I've read the whole article and it mainly offers just details on the research. If you have access to JAMA, you could look at "Precision Nutrition—the Answer to “What to Eat to Stay Healthy”.)

Yes, salmonella on peaches and onions was unusual, but no, we're not seeing an increase in salmonella or food poisoning generally.

With the strong proviso that animal models are absolutely no guarantee of effectiveness in people, this could well be great news.

Related: "Gene That Protects Against Alzheimer's Found in Human Cell Model".