Ultraprocessed Food Again Linked to Increased CVD, Death

/ SupremeCmdr / 3 Comments

High consumption of UPF in this Mediterranean cohort was associated with a 58% increased risk for CVD mortality and 52% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease (IHD) and cerebrovascular causes, independently of known risk factors for CVD, even among individuals who otherwise adhered to the Mediterranean diet.

The foods that contributed most to total UPF consumed were processed meat, which accounted for 19.8% of UPF intake; pizza (16.8%); and cakes and pies (13.4%).

The researchers found a direct linear dose-response relation between a 5% increase in the proportion of UPF in the diet and risk for all-cause and CVD mortality.

Cite this: Ultraprocessed Food Again Linked to Increased CVD, Death – Medscape – Dec 24, 2020. — https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/943200?src=rss

After reading the full summary of the study I had some issues with the study findings on pizza. Apparently I’m not alone. From the comment section:

Pizzas were mentioned by the authors and Dr. Walter Willet (for whom I have always had great admiration and consider him among my 3 most valued nutrition resources) as a UPF. However, even as a consistent follower of Mediterranean diet for >40 years, I see nothing wrong with occasional enjoyment of two or three slices of Margherita pizza (which is not covered with any processed meats or extra cheeses).

Dr. Michael Mogadam

Like I’ve said many, many times pizza is a food group and should not be considered an ultraprocessed food. Without pizza life would not be possible. Pass on the chips, sugary drinks, restructured meat (see https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/restructured-meat) and other types of junk food.

Don’t pass on the pizza!

N501Y mutation in SARS-CoV-2 virus causes increased infectivity, disease severity in mice — Science Chronicle

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Chinese researchers found N501Y mutation in a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 virus strain. In the mouse model, the N501Y mutation was found to increase the binding affinity of the virus with the mouse ACE2 receptor. The mutation in the mouse-adapted strain also caused increased virulence. In a preliminary report posted on December 19, Dr. Andrew Rambaut from […]

N501Y mutation in SARS-CoV-2 virus causes increased infectivity, disease severity in mice — Science Chronicle

Interesting article and the last paragraphs must be emphasized.

Dr. Gagandeep Kang, Professor of Microbiology at CMC Vellore, however, cautions that emergence of N501Y mutation has been seen on other occasions. According to her, the N501Y mutation in a strain that has been adapted to infect a mouse model cannot be compared with the N501Y mutation seen in the new variant infecting humans. And the severity of diseases caused by the mutation in the mouse model has no relevance to humans, she says.

“At this time, one can only say the mutation increases binding affinity in humans and hence increased transmissibility. Nothing can be said about disease severity,” says Dr. Kang.  

COVID-19 in the Elderly (case study and literature review)

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Summary

Age is a risk factor for increased morbidity and mortality in COVID-19 infections.

Elderly men have increased mortality compared to elderly women.

Elderly patients can present differently. Delirium can be the primary symptom of COVID-19 infection, as can persistent hypoxia.

Consider COVID-19 in the setting of altered mental status and geriatric falls.

Elderly patients in the ED who live in nursing homes should undergo COVID-19 testing.

Elderly individuals with COVID-19 tend to have increased lesions and lobar involvement on chest CT.

Laboratory diagnostics may differ based on age, and the geriatric population may have lymphopenia, higher CRP values, and increased D-dimer on testing.

COVID-19 in the Elderly — http://www.emdocs.net/covid-19-in-the-elderly/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=covid-19-in-the-elderly

The full article takes some time to read but it’s well worth it if you are into the clinical stuff.

Bank by Phone? You Better Check Your Account

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Researchers from IBM Trusteer say they’ve uncovered a massive fraud operation that used a network of mobile device emulators to drain millions of dollars from online bank accounts in a matter of days.

The scale of the operation was unlike anything the researchers have seen before. In one case, crooks used about 20 emulators to mimic more than 16,000 phones belonging to customers whose mobile bank accounts had been compromised.

The thieves then entered usernames and passwords into banking apps running on the emulators and initiated fraudulent money orders that siphoned funds out of the compromised accounts. Emulators are used by legitimate developers and researchers to test how apps run on a variety of different mobile devices.

To bypass protections banks use to block such attacks, the crooks used device identifiers corresponding to each compromised account holder and spoofed GPS locations the device was known to use. The device IDs were likely obtained from the holders’ hacked devices, although in some cases, the fraudsters gave the appearance that they were customers who were accessing their accounts from new phones. The attackers were also able to bypass multi-factor authentication by accessing SMS messages.

“Evil mobile emulator farms” used to steal millions from US and EU banks — https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/12/evil-mobile-emulator-farms-used-to-steal-millions-from-us-and-eu-banks/

I bank online but never use my phone. I check my accounts on a regular basis to see if anything looks odd (besides some of the websites you know who shops at).

Check your accounts. Now.

Eat More Pasta – Lose Weight!

/ SupremeCmdr / 2 Comments

In some cases, food companies can obscure their involvement through the use of what are known as “front groups,” third-party organizations disguised by innocuous-seeming names. (Until recently, for example, Coca-Cola funded a front group called the “Global Energy Balance Network” that conducted research on obesity.) Sacks and his team included front groups in their definition of industry involvement.

“It’s sometimes quite difficult to see when you’re looking at who’s funding a study, if [they] are related to the food industry,” he said. “So when we would see a paper funded by some random-sounding group, the challenge was actually digging in, going on their website and seeing who’s funding them. Because the food industry often tries to hide that.”

In the most popular nutrition journals, 1 in 7 articles have food industry involvement — https://thecounter.org/food-industry-involvement-nutrition-journals-studies/

At least 10 peer-reviewed studies about pasta published since 2008 were either funded directly by Barilla or, like the one published this month, were carried out by scientists who have had financial ties to the company, which reported sales of 3.4 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in 2016. For two years, Barilla has publicized some of these studies, plus others favorable to its product, on its website with taglines like “Eat Smart Be Smart…With Pasta” and “More Evidence Pasta Is Good For You.” And the company hired the large public relations firm Edelman to push the latest study’s findings to journalists.

Those Studies About Pasta Being Good For You? Some Are Paid For By Barilla. — https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemlee/pasta-barilla-science-funding#.dmmzapNdG

I just love writing obvious click bait headlines.

Vaccine Distribution SNAFU – Blame it on the Algorithm or “It Looked Good on Paper”

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Residents are the lowest-ranking doctors in a hospital. Stanford Medicine has about 1,300 across all disciplines. Only seven made the priority vaccination list, despite the fact that this week, residents were asked to volunteer for ICU coverage in anticipation of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

“Residents are patient-facing, we’re the ones who have been asked to intubate, yet some attendings who have been face-timing us from home are being vaccinated before us,” said Dr. Sarah Johnson, a third-year OB-GYN resident who has delivered babies from COVID-positive patients during the pandemic. “This is the final straw to say, ‘We don’t actually care about you.’”

Only Seven of Stanford’s First 5,000 Vaccines Were Designated for Medical Residents – https://www.propublica.org/article/only-seven-of-stanfords-first-5-000-vaccines-were-designated-for-medical-residents

Stanford Medicine demonstrates how much they care about their residents.

Here’s an interesting breakdown of lessons learned.

In its earliest attempts at explaining the problem, Stanford’s administrators laid blame with the algorithm. Despite best intentions, they explained, the algorithm had made a mistake that the humans had to answer for.

This is a bit like blaming the hammer for missing the nail.

3 lessons from Stanford’s Covid-19 vaccine algorithm debacle — https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/21/stanford-covid19-vaccine-algorithm/

Operation Warp Speed also experienced some hiccups.

“It looked very good on paper,” Perna said. “Paper plans are very good. Execution is where we learn, and we adapted accordingly.”

‘I failed’: Operation Warp Speed leader takes responsibility for Covid-19 vaccine distribution confusion — https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/19/operation-warp-speed-leader-takes-sole-responsibility-for-covid-19-vaccine-distribution-confusion/?utm_campaign=rss

Remember “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”

ATTENTION Non-Anti-Vaxxers – A side-by-side comparison of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines

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The most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, and joint pain. Some people in the clinical trials have reported fever. Side effects are more common after the second dose; younger adults, who have more robust immune systems, reported more side effects than older adults.

To be clear: These side effects are a sign of an immune system kicking into gear. They do not signal that the vaccine is unsafe. To date there are no serious, long-term side effects associated with receipt of these vaccines, which will be closely monitored as their use expands.

A side-by-side comparison of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines — https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/19/a-side-by-side-comparison-of-the-pfizer-biontech-and-moderna-vaccines/?utm_campaign=rss

Post and link for informational purposes only. I will not waste my time trying to convince people that a virus doesn’t care about your gender, age, sexuality, religion, skin color, politics, net worth, personal freedoms, dietary preferences, or anything else.

A virus merely wants a host organism to infect.

The Other Pandemic

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Even under the best circumstances, however, addiction is a disease prone to relapse. An estimated 40-60% of people who misuse drugs will return to using them at some point during recovery—and it’s this time that leaves them most vulnerable to overdose, since their tolerance has dropped, often dramatically, during their period of abstinence.

The US covid pandemic has a sinister shadow—drug overdoses — BMJ 2020; 371 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4751 (Published 17 December 2020)