tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20456755077354773572024-03-06T01:32:38.850-05:00The Science RantYou can be your own scientist.
Ken Mitton, Ph.D. (Editor)kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.comBlogger164125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-74739949347733934872024-02-20T12:17:00.006-05:002024-02-20T12:17:54.702-05:00The Science Rant's Most Read Post of the last 12 months is from 2018: Hockey Pucks and Locks for Classroom Doors <p> </p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">By far, the most-read post in <i>The Science Rant</i> over the last several months into 2024, and over the entire existence of this blog, continues to be from 2018:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">"Run, Hide, Fight: Is Your Kid's University Campus Unprepared for a Campus Shooter?"</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This was a post I wrote during the moment when my university, Oakland University, decided to address the installation of door locks that could be activated from inside the classroom by professors and students during an active shooter situation. This post continues to be the most read over the last year and the last few months and I think interest renews every time we have another shooting on an American campus. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">While there are no guarantees for absolute safety when a killer has a gun, the inability to lock doors was sadly brought to the public's attention last year at Michigan State University. At that moment anyone who might have thought that students and faculty at Oakland University lobbying publically for interior classroom door locks was excessive learned that OU made a wise decision in 2018. The administration listened to its community and they made one essential step for trying to protect our community. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The sad situation is that while most grade schools and high schools in this country have interior lockable classroom doors and active shooter practice drills for all staff and students, that is not the case when your children arrive at most colleges. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>So ask your college-attending kids this week if the doors of all their classrooms are lockable from the inside.</i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">You can check out the popular 2018 post here and read about the famous Hockey Puck campaign of 2018: <a href="https://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2018/12/what-you-need-to-know-about-preparation.html" target="_blank">Run Hide Fight</a></span></span></p>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-74149178914418190222024-02-16T14:10:00.003-05:002024-02-16T14:10:25.041-05:00COVID-19 Vaccine has performed well against recent variants so far this season. <p> The CDC reports that the current updated COVID-19 vaccine has performed well against strains of the virus so far this Fall and Winter (2023/2024). That includes the JN.1 variant.</p><p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/whats-new/covid-19-vaccine-effectiveness.html?ACSTrackingID=USCDC_2216-DM121810&ACSTrackingLabel=Weekly%20Summary%3A%20Healthcare%20Quality%20and%20Worker%20Safety%20Information%20%E2%80%93%20February%207%2C%202024&deliveryName=USCDC_2216-DM121810" target="_blank">CDC Vaccine Performance Update</a></p><p><br /></p>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-66663255352674431602023-08-29T17:33:00.003-04:002023-08-29T17:45:37.197-04:00Show this to your Parents: Scientific Truth about WHY Your TUITION is so Expensive? <div><span style="font-size: medium;">I may be a university professor now, but I was an undergraduate student in college in the 1980s. The <i>education cost</i> in 1980 was about $4,500 per student. Most States provided about 70% of that to the university and the remainder, called <i>tuition</i>, was the student's share of the cost. It was about $1,200 a year then, which paid for an entire year (September to April) of a full-time student course load. Not $1,200 per course, $1,200 total. To put that in perspective, we could get a full-time summer job, make $500 per month, and save our next year's tuition after 2-1/2 months of work. Then the rest of the Summer was money we could use for other things. So how do we get to $15,000 plus per year in 2023? Its is very simple when you compare the education cost and the tuition between the 80's and now. <span></span></span></div><a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-science-of-tuition-and-student-loan.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-32494157399083106452023-02-22T17:01:00.008-05:002023-02-22T17:03:07.936-05:00Rare Disease Day 2023 - the last day of February each year.<p><span style="font-size: medium;">It has been 40 years since the Orphan Drug Act was passed by the United States Congress to incentivize the development of treatments for "orphan", meaning rare, diseases. In 2022 Congress also passed the Rare Diseases Act to amend the Public Health Service to form an Office for Rare Diseases within the National Institutes of Health. One of the research areas within my laboratory targets orphan inherited pediatric retinal diseases. Diseases rarer than Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) which is itself considered rare. These conditions include FEVR (Familial Exudative Vitreo-Retinopathy), Norrie Disease, Persistent Fetal Vascular Syndrom, and Retinoschisis. The first three conditions cause incomplete development of the blood supply for the neural retina within our eyes, causing blindness. The latter condition results in a very delicate neural retina where the layers of the retina can separate and become filled with liquid. This condition also causes blindness. All of these orphan diseases affect infants and children of all ages. Our lab at Oakland University, in the <a href="https://oakland.edu/eri" target="_blank">Eye Research Institute</a>, carries out research DNA-sequencing for Families with these conditions who present at Associated Retinal Consultants here in Michigan. Families are from all over the country and also outside of the United States. Funding is difficult to find for rare disease research, but we seek support from a few private foundations so that no Family pays for the research DNA sequencing that we do. OU science students and OUWB medical students take part and learn about applied human genetics.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In North America, the <a href="https://rarediseases.org/rare-disease-day/" target="_blank">National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD),</a> is a partner with several similar regional organizations to facilitate awareness and support for rare diseases around the globe. While rare diseases may have fewer affected persons, there are many different rare diseases and together they impact over 300 million people around the world. Do you have a rare disease or know someone with a rare disease? Seeking information? Please visit the NORD website. Please also share this blog post to increase awareness. February 28th is Rare Disease Day in 2023. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Sincerely</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Ken Mitton</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">PS Thanks to the Carls Foundation and Pediatric Retinal Research Foundation of Michigan for making our lab's research DNA-sequencing for Families possible in 2023. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-84651691302231425062022-12-16T01:31:00.005-05:002022-12-16T01:32:25.318-05:00Twitter under Musk has Suspended Core American Reporters from our Free Press, and this Scientist has Suspended Twitter by Quitting it. <p><span style="font-size: medium;"> I have decided that my participation in Twitter is now simply helping Twitter under Musk operate as he promotes anti-democratic groups, and racist groups, and has now blocked important access of real American Journalists who make up our Free Press. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">So this day, December 15, 2022 is my personal day of infamy when I not only uninstalled the twitter app from my devices but I canceled my twitter account as long-term user of well over a decade. I now have a Mastodon server-based account at <a href="https://techhub.social/@kpmitton" target="_blank">https://techhub.social/@kpmitton</a> and am already enjoying the democracy and values of like-minded individuals. No ads, no crap, just people like me who want to make the world a better place, but on a platform were no billionaire crazy autocrat can interfere with our communications. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Check out my previous post here on The Science Rant if you want to know how to get rolling in the Mastodon environment. Most of the journalists that I follow, and scientists, and entertainers have accounts in the Mastodon Fediverse too. I really like the Mastodon App and its functionality. No control forcing things into my feed that I do not follow, no ads. For my chosen Mastodon homebase, techhub.social, many of us who use this node donate a modest few dollars per month to our server manager's Patreon fund and we are ad-free and in control of our own worldwide communication and sharing. It is like supporting public radio. It belongs to us and Musk can simply go sit on it. Twitter will be filing for bankruptcy early in 2023. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Looking forward to 2023. Stay safe out there. Get those vaccinations and take care of each other. Welcome to the Dolphin crowd. Dolphins work together, they even kill sharks who try to hurt them. Swim smart out there.</span></p><p>Ken Mitton</p>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-70800593656038514342022-11-20T22:05:00.009-05:002022-12-18T15:46:54.230-05:00Ok, What is this Mastodon Social Networking Thing and How Do I Move In?<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Mastodon, how do I move in?</span></h1><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So, you are on Twitter and have used the platform for many years like I have. (I was @kpmitton on Twitter for 12 years) Now we have had to deal with conmen, conwomen, narcissistic ex-presidents, white supremacists, liars, Nazis, anti-democratic power mongers, bigots, racists, and Elon Musk banning real free speach. So we all would like a place where the servers are not owned by one company, or one billionaire, and where fake news and misinformation are not permitted. That is where Mastodon servers were born designed to take the best of the earliest forms of networking on the Internet when it was mostly UNIX-based, command-line computers and accounts. Think nodes, think neurons, think decentralized networks, yet think also about being able to follow and be followed by anyone with an account on any of many Mastodon servers. Still able to have followers as you could on Twitter but Elon Musk and Donald Trump have no say at all about the Network nor can they permit hate and lies with the excuse (used wrongly) of freedom of speech. This is how Mastodon works. Imagine following other people and posting your own short thoughts just like twitter but there are NO ads. Imagine that you get to pick and choose all that shows up in your feed. Twitter was like that for its first three years. Where can you find this wonderful twitter replacement. Where do you find it, and how do you join it? It's as easy or as hard as it was when we all joined Twitter. We may fumble around a for a few days until we get the hang of it, but here is how to get there and how it works. It is no more complicated than Twitter, but better moderated by its users. That would be you and me. It does not run on commercial advertising revenue and it is not governed by algorithms that companies can pay to control who and what you see in a 1984 senario. How? Read on.<span></span></span></p><a name="more"></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I will tell you right now that the easiest way to start with Mastodon is to use the App on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device. You can make an account from those apps. You can also go to a joining website portal. Before making your account, know this. It is possible to have your own username. On Twitter, I am kpmitton and in the Mastodon universe, I am also kpmitton. There is no one collection of servers run by "Mastodon". You might find you can make accounts with the same user name on different servers in the network, but that would not serve you well because users on any server can follow you and be followed by you from any server you live at. </div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Mastodon is really the communication protocol that people use to set up servers which are called "<i>instances</i>" or "<i>Mastodon Instances</i>". They are really similar to different people having their own websites on their own servers. For social interaction and communication, it is like having many Facebook servers and different people grouped on different ones. This is kind of true about the Facebook platform. Yet everyone can connect with each other in Facebook. You are oblivious to the fact that you and your best friend may have Facebook accounts that are residing on completely different servers. However, Facebook controls it all, they own rights to use your words and videos, and images as you store them there for free. They can also change the name of the game, and the rules of the game at any time and you have no control over it. If Facebook decided to start charging $10 a month for your Facebook account, they could, they are a private company, and fundamentally a business that exists to make a profit. Same for Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In the Mastodon universe, you see and know what server your account resides at. It is like your server is a particular town or city and your username is also linked to that address. Mastodon users with accounts on other servers can find you by searching your user name (kpmitton for me), or they can directly find your account with your full address. My "town" server is called "TechHub.Social" and it was started by a guy named Nic. A programmer. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">BEFORE you make an account browse the servers, or instances, available. Servers have been set up in this new social network by persons with various interests, so you may find one that is for journalists, or technology persons like myself (there were no bioscience ones, but biotech is tech too). These servers can often be joined by anyone, even if you are not a techno geek you are welcome to join Techhub.social. Do not rush, servers are not going anywhere. Then pick one and make an account for yourself. Again, you can start from the phone apps for Mastodon (in the Apple Store, or Good Play) and they will let you pick your user name, register your email, and be associated with one of the many servers now set up around the globe. Even some companies and institutions and newspapers are setting up their own Instances (servers) using Mastodon's open-source code. Servers have been set up for different parts of the globe, different work interests, arts, humanities, social connections, disabilities, and different Human Communities. No Nazis though. Not permitted. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">If you want to use a website from your laptop, you can join Mastodon at <a href="https://joinmastodon.org/" target="_blank">joinmastodon.org</a> . Again, do not be confused by all the server instances. No matter which one you join, you will have access to the entire collaborative community. If you are a photographer or editor, you may want to join a server that was started with your community in mind. A good place to make contacts with others who have your immediate interests. (Currently, 11/20/2022, there is NO mastodon.org. That domain is reserved but not used. Use JoinMastodon.org for web browsers.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I chose to join TechHub.Social, an instance of Mastodon server set up by a fellow Canadian. (Turns out he is from Quebec. I was born in Quebec as well, but alas, I am an Anglophone Quebequois, not very French. But I bet we both like the Habs? Maybe we both like St. Viature Bagels in Montreal?) The Mastodon Apps are just like the Twitter apps in your hand. You see your posts (Toots I call them, elephants and mastodons toot, right?), and who you follow and who follows you. On my laptop here is the web version of my view right now using the "Light" colored option:</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhW9KaWCaSGx7O7NEGvMYt7MeXEMCz3h2D-ImYRZWDvv_lVIVyPvqqPfeRxezxNFc_KqSJoWq2vc65fQtH0cn7IL77ljG9gUoSpY_VYCINYIjbHHgwqC7u_8UtNzby_B-rV2HzouHfKklPvXXlm1i0C7CRRVyi53oLx4OPSYJOmhtBF-yN0GOvR6nkklQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1380" data-original-width="2344" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhW9KaWCaSGx7O7NEGvMYt7MeXEMCz3h2D-ImYRZWDvv_lVIVyPvqqPfeRxezxNFc_KqSJoWq2vc65fQtH0cn7IL77ljG9gUoSpY_VYCINYIjbHHgwqC7u_8UtNzby_B-rV2HzouHfKklPvXXlm1i0C7CRRVyi53oLx4OPSYJOmhtBF-yN0GOvR6nkklQ=w400-h235" width="400"></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And here is my view when I select the "Dark" colors option:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhbI2IATh9Azu3pApma0z3r8uIfghoPkoKReuUb6aWNOEvEYXG14jokvU3v19qhmcDrT6HIvOnq_CT7xr_FjvXdXNrmnnCqeD8sc3c97pb8_pPMJmpFK61OTb8PKZ7jM4osJhAy3j-un52GIi5LbAmXGmRWkrW9q5l6kgd7hhUUCH8U_P26SyZDBq_HYw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1486" data-original-width="2166" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhbI2IATh9Azu3pApma0z3r8uIfghoPkoKReuUb6aWNOEvEYXG14jokvU3v19qhmcDrT6HIvOnq_CT7xr_FjvXdXNrmnnCqeD8sc3c97pb8_pPMJmpFK61OTb8PKZ7jM4osJhAy3j-un52GIi5LbAmXGmRWkrW9q5l6kgd7hhUUCH8U_P26SyZDBq_HYw=w400-h275" width="400"></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As you can see I have set up my profile picture from the Edit Profile option and added an Artemis-1 screen capture from NASA's mission tracker. I love NASA and space stuff :). I have started to add people that I follow, and some have started to follow me back. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Here I can scroll down, like we do on Twitter, and read the posts in my personal feed from those I follow, or topics and #hashtags that I can set up to watch as well. Note that we can repost other posts too as in Twitter. In Mastodon, this is called boosting. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhdorkEIKEiq3iQ7bFmBffvBANPW2a3jqYldmNqq6pWp1E1eMhRxZcniH5bKXXyB0H9T1r4aUkwgguFebFSo0uNcdh8b1j5QxOiazIOxTAsqHkQq7DLIfYYHSA_py_YahBwUJiwMDUBfGXoz-tjjTQ_3XvVMJrQf5EuUf3y4Vg_Q-mzAhnK3YffdX7S9A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1504" data-original-width="2350" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhdorkEIKEiq3iQ7bFmBffvBANPW2a3jqYldmNqq6pWp1E1eMhRxZcniH5bKXXyB0H9T1r4aUkwgguFebFSo0uNcdh8b1j5QxOiazIOxTAsqHkQq7DLIfYYHSA_py_YahBwUJiwMDUBfGXoz-tjjTQ_3XvVMJrQf5EuUf3y4Vg_Q-mzAhnK3YffdX7S9A=w400-h256" width="400"></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In addition to seeing posts from those I set up to follow, I can click on Local and quickly see the recent posts from my local group or instance, that is the "<i>TechHub.Social</i>" server in the Mastodon federation. Like the Neural Retina that I study as a scientist, this federation is sort of like creating a whole field of vision from a network of photoreceptors. Vision is decentralized, in that if you lose photoreceptor "instances" in one part of your visual field, you still have the rest of your visual field. To take out your vision, you would have to neutralize the entire eye or take out the entire Internet to break Mastodon communication. Even if the Mastodon server I use was taken away, I would just move my account to a different server of which there will be thousands. All over the world. Servers are set up and communities of users chip in a few bucks to support having our servers up and running and we communicate and can share information. Follow and be followed. No Musks or Trumps or Nazis to cramp our Democracy. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Find me on Mastodon. Look for kpmitton or kpmitton@techhub.social from inside your Mastodon. Think the bird is cute? So are Mastodons, as you can see from the info page of the techhub.social instance, set up by @Nicdex: See <a href="https://techhub.social/about">https://techhub.social/about</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlUa4RSb1vyll6j421mdf3KsZw6ugfdXt9Vr5Dq9es8RS-JtJ27AoGgT8ZAROfhCq1pQ2giFO649tpJFVXQJFVGFKVHdTXLhhIw-du6sAXiu-Y-N3cD4f_uVFO4h6w-vzOeIeKBdgrvCy4cX9GGMEwZvTkZuJKKKin6Fi_k_1rZ1appNvDeU-qNueHIA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1374" data-original-width="2406" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlUa4RSb1vyll6j421mdf3KsZw6ugfdXt9Vr5Dq9es8RS-JtJ27AoGgT8ZAROfhCq1pQ2giFO649tpJFVXQJFVGFKVHdTXLhhIw-du6sAXiu-Y-N3cD4f_uVFO4h6w-vzOeIeKBdgrvCy4cX9GGMEwZvTkZuJKKKin6Fi_k_1rZ1appNvDeU-qNueHIA=w400-h229" width="400"></span></a></div><br><br></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">SUMMARY:</h2><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">1) Use Mastodon App to set up your account, or go to the JoinMastodon.org website.</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">2) Browse around the different community interest servers (instances) available around the globe. Most let anyone join, but you may find one already started by persons in your career, hobby, or other interest. Some are just for social networking. It's kind of nice to belong to a specific server, yet be fully connected to the full network.</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">3) Make your account on the Mastodon instance (server) you choose. </h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br>4) Just like Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, edit your profile and add some information. </h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">5) Send your friends your user name in Mastodon and invite them to join and find each other. </h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">6) I am @kpmitton@techhub.social (my account is based on the server with the domain name TechHub.Social, and it links and communicates in the greater Mastodon federation).</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br>7) Enjoy no ads, and no longer have Elon Musk control what you see or follow. Also enjoy a place where it is not permitted to participate if you post misinformation or promote hate, antivaccine information, and other such harmful activity. LGBTQ community is welcome and attacks on persons or communities are not allowed to participate in the Mastodon network. </h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">8) Follow George Takei, just search for him. Your very first nice person.</h3><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMbdCEJI3yEp_WVg3eylcIcCnVrw1JTxwvfv1Szn9XeTSDselqqaEfsEHih0CrJck1nnuFyBJrRtsdvPDiyB9qhalJPgvH_TNae3r-rbtZYbSeyw2z9hsADSzBOqiCDEkbdHbYnBvAJijqJYOwgVY8Qr9ZRvM0zsroYH-SVTfZ3EHrqIXnrdJhtL61ww" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1462" data-original-width="2194" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMbdCEJI3yEp_WVg3eylcIcCnVrw1JTxwvfv1Szn9XeTSDselqqaEfsEHih0CrJck1nnuFyBJrRtsdvPDiyB9qhalJPgvH_TNae3r-rbtZYbSeyw2z9hsADSzBOqiCDEkbdHbYnBvAJijqJYOwgVY8Qr9ZRvM0zsroYH-SVTfZ3EHrqIXnrdJhtL61ww=w400-h266" width="400"></a></div><br><br></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br>Remember. You can be your own scientist. Knowledge is power.</h3><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><br><br></span><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br></p>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-49104221830852645502022-11-14T16:28:00.001-05:002022-11-14T16:28:09.618-05:00COVID19 Walks Into a Bar.........<p>A COVID19 virus walks into a bar and asks the masked bartender for a dark draft beer, hands $5 to him, and watches the game on the TV. COVID finishes his beer and goes to the bathroom, and returns to find $5 beside his glass refilled with beer. Amused, but pleased, COVID enjoys a second draft, and hands the $5 to the bartender again. Soon COVID heads off for another bathroom break and returns to find his beer glass again full and the $5 again. "What, did I win free beer today or something?", he says to the barkeep. No, you are just really popular with those two guys over there in the corner booth and they insisted to pay for all your drinks. COVID turned around, letting eyes adjust to the dimly lit corner booth, and who did COVID see?....</p><span></span><a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2022/11/covid19-walks-into-bar.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-38468319204288560862022-04-27T13:08:00.009-04:002022-04-27T20:52:37.984-04:00To Mask or Not to Mask, That is the Question?<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> As a biomedical scientist, who also blogs, I get many questions from people around me concerning getting vaccinated for COVID19 and now more often about masks. Which mask? Do I need to mask? Where do I need to mask? Do they work? Should I just let myself get COVID19 to gain natural immunity? Is that better than vaccinated immunity? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As far as immunity goes, I have two doses of Pfizer and two doses of Moderna now. Yes, I have the second booster just a few weeks ago, and yes I wear a mask and an N95 one at that when I am in crowded indoor spaces. I will be wearing an N95 mask in airports and on aircraft and in convention centers. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Most importantly, I made the decision to wear an N95 mask because of my own skill and knowledge set as a career scientist and inventor with over 25 years of lab time under my belt. I understand DNA and RNA, how to put RNA into cells (like the RNA vaccines do), and how RNA is used as a template to make protein and all that stuff. That is what I do for a living. I have even designed a genetic test panel that we use to DNA-sequence kids with very rare inherited retinal conditions to determine the changes in their DNA that cause their medical condition.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Let me be clear that I fully understand that currently there are no laws that force me to wear a mask at all here in Michigan, Oakland County (my work), and Macomb County (my residence). I choose to wear an N95, and so far I am one of the 45% or so of people in the United States who have not been infected with COVID19. This last point is the reason I wear an N95. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Most of us know many people who have both survived or died from COVID19. I also know many vaccinated persons who just had the "COVID19 cold", and they certainly fell into the "survived" category because they were vaccinated. However, I also know more persons around me who "just had a bad cold", but about a month later strange problems and long-covid symptoms have cropped up in their lives. Things like headaches, insomnia, foggy brain, constant exhaustion, and transient spells of extremely high blood pressure that leave them unable to walk without assistance for an hour. All of this explains two of my personal decisions for my own health:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">1) I chose to get vaccinated to get immunity. </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While COVID19 infection and even repeated infections will spark your immune system into action, they are infections and real COVID19 virus still forms in your body and kills and disrupts several cell types of many different organs in the body including lungs, intestinal tract, sinus neurons (smell), and even our brains. I get a better immunity from the vaccines and avoid the dangers of the virus. Its a no brainer for me. I am over 50 and qualified for the 2nd booster, which I have now.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;">2) I chose to wear an N95 because I do not want a "COVID Cold".</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">An actual COVID19 infection, even if we have some immunity already, brings to me some risk of developing a new long-term medical condition. As a male who has entered his 60s during this pandemic and who makes a living using his brain to investigate human biology, disease, and design potential new therapeutics, I really need an "unfoggy brain". There are computer scientists, engineers, and medical scientists who have had to take leave from their careers because of neurological symptoms left to them by COVID19. I do not wish to risk being in that situation, even if the risk is tiny. Being told you have a very tiny risk becomes moot if you are one of those who end up in the very tiny "unlucky" group with neurological problems.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;">So, when will I stop wearing my N95 mask in some higher-risk situations? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">When the high risk goes away. I will base that on my risk of getting exposed to the latest strain of COVID19 going around. Currently, that is still a very significant risk. It is currently a higher risk than we have of getting the flu in most years. Once all the unvaccinated people around my part of Michigan eventually get COVID19 and some immunity, the extent of active COVID19 in the community will get low enough that I will consider taking off the N95. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">With warmer weather, I am going to favor eating outside at restaurants, and attending outdoor events and festivals. I will still pop my N95 on when I go into Starbucks to pick up my coffee, and I will watch the data available for Michigan from testing. Unfortunately, the extent of active COVID19 is harder to judge now as many states have stopped a lot of their testing efforts. However, there is good data from watching current hospital ER and admission data. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I am simply going to err on side of caution so I avoid COVID19 itself if possible. That is good for my health and it also reduces the risk of a family member getting an infection transmitted through me. Just because a very conservative judge decided to block a Federal CDC mandate to require masking on airplanes does not change the science of the situation. A good mask, N95 is best, serves to stop the spread of respiratory diseases like COVID19 and many more that have plagued humans over time. COVID19 will mindlessly, robotically, continue to spread in the very automated ways that all viruses spread and if you do not have an N95 in a crowded venue then you choose a higher risk of infection. So be it. COVID19 cares not about anyone's politics. In general, illnesses and diseases do what they do regardless. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">So it's my choice for my health, based on how my science brain thinks, to wear an N95 mask. If you choose to be riskier then I wish you good luck. I really hope for the best for everyone, but you will be rolling a pair of dice that are different than my pair of dice. Your dice will have more than one side with one dot and your chances of rolling "snake eyes" will simply be greater than mine. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Good Luck to us all. </span></p>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-59235627271852563202022-03-28T17:23:00.004-04:002022-03-28T17:23:20.184-04:00Confused on What to Do Next if Exposed to Someone Who has COVID19? This Calculator Provides Specific Advice. <p><span style="font-size: medium;">Have you been in close contact with persons who have tested positive for COVID19? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Not sure what actions you should take at home or work in this situation? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Do you wear a mask at home, or should you get a test yourself? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">All the answers depend on time and if you are vaccinated or if you had COVID19 yourself in the last few months. Simply click your answers into this online calculator and it quickly helps you figure out the best medical advice on what to do next. </span></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/quarantine-isolation.html?ACSTrackingID=USCDC_2067-DM78705&ACSTrackingLabel=New%20Quarantine%20and%20Isolation%20Calculator%20%7C%20COVID-19&deliveryName=USCDC_2067-DM78705#" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">CDC COVID Exposure and Response Calculator</span></a></p><p><br /></p>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-45166381014415900682022-01-13T12:25:00.018-05:002022-01-15T20:17:18.104-05:00Omicron Variant versus Delta Variant: Lessons on What to Expect From Coronavirus Adaptations<p><span style="font-size: medium;">My previous blog post described how Coronavirus strains adapt and benefit from their naturally high error rate when they copy their own RNA as more virus particles are produced in an infected cell. (<a href="https://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2021/09/trojan-horses-pandoras-box-and-gambling.html" target="_blank">Click to read that posting here.</a>) If these changes cause a particular strain to spread easier among us humans then these new strains quickly take over the infection race. There is no evil plot, just the random events of statistics and bad luck for us as variants like Omicron spread faster. Delta is still around, but Omicron gets to new unvaccinated persons first, and eventually, more of those requiring admissions to our hospitals will have Omicron and not Delta. That said, both Delta and Omicron are killing people inside our hospital ICUs. Why exactly does Omicron spread faster than Delta?<span></span></span></p><a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2022/01/omicron-variant-versus-delta-variant.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-36711470993374021662021-11-28T20:47:00.001-05:002021-11-28T20:49:01.808-05:00Trojan Horses, Pandora's Box, and Gambling with the Variants of COVID19. <p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Updated for Omicron variant, November 28, 2021)</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who are the gamblers? Our leaders at many levels, including those managing our workplaces, towns, cities, counties, and states, continue to underestimate the potential outcomes of </span><span class="r-18u37iz" style="-webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; background-color: white; color: #0f1419; flex-direction: row; white-space: pre-wrap;">COVID</span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> variant emergence. What many molecular biologists (scientists who work with DNA and RNA) and mathematicians understand is that the very nature of viral replication makes viruses into ever-changing evolution machines. The strain of COVID19 now running rampant through our network of unvaccinated neighbors is far more infective than the ones we dealt with in early 2020. This is the how and why.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span></span><span></span></span></p><a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2021/09/trojan-horses-pandoras-box-and-gambling.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-15876854837616414142021-11-20T11:36:00.005-05:002021-11-22T22:01:53.176-05:00Does the COVID19 Vaccine Booster Work? Judge for yourself with your own eyes.<p><span style="font-size: medium;">In my main work as a biomedical research scientist at Oakland University (Oakland.edu) I study mechanisms of how genes are turned on and off in the retina and what causes some diseases to threaten vision in people from infants to adults. I also design the biotechnology production of human proteins in bacteria to make potential future therapeutics (drugs) to repair damaged blood vessels in the retina. Fundamentally, I am first and foremost a biochemist and have been fortunate to have gained experience in most specialities of biochemistry including metabolism, cell physiology, human physiology, DNA, RNA, Proteins, carbohydrates, hormones, cytokines, and some infectious diseases. Even a little past work with aspects of viruses, including HIV. You can do many things over 25-plus years in the lab. When the pandemic shut down non-covid research for some months into summer 2020, statewide, I pivoted, with the help of a few students to start evaluating a mobile fingertip blood test for antibodies to the COVID19 spike protein, from a US company called Epigentek. (Note I do not work for Epigentek, nor own any stock in the company.) As we found that this particular brand of the test was reliable (no false positives) and very specific to detect only antibodies to the COVID19 spike protein, we have used it to get a snapshot of when antibodies are detectable in our community after COVID19 infections (in 2020) and after COVID19 vaccinations in 2021. So, what about vaccination? I knew that even in my own case, before vaccination we cannot detect any antibodies in our blood. What about after vaccination? After </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">6 months? After a booster shot? Here are my own tests to share with you to show you why I am quite happy with my vaccinations and my booster shot.</span></p><p><br></p><span></span><a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2021/11/does-covid19-vaccine-booster-work-judge.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-3349250939548170932021-10-08T22:30:00.003-04:002021-11-20T11:03:47.907-05:00Like Old Jedi, Good Antibodies just Fade Away........<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJhryVrX87c8cnS0jnWPN8tvdaWy-siY0sIpq1VkA9y59WcVPW_XNp3ff-84XDp8kHBqSPdO58YBC1XaY_-MAv0iBl4FzxqHBmKS7y6HMoOCvKR4USywQLwcIYzbX2wvY5cTtCzpbWmKD5/s1600/1633746636195512-0.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJhryVrX87c8cnS0jnWPN8tvdaWy-siY0sIpq1VkA9y59WcVPW_XNp3ff-84XDp8kHBqSPdO58YBC1XaY_-MAv0iBl4FzxqHBmKS7y6HMoOCvKR4USywQLwcIYzbX2wvY5cTtCzpbWmKD5/s1600/1633746636195512-0.png" width="400" />
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</div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Above is our test of my blood's Covid 19 antibodies (IgG class) at 3 months after my 2nd dose of Pfizer vaccine. Marked with the black dot. The red line to the right is a control line.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Below is my test done today, now about 5.7 months after full vacvination. </span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdiRsK2mptDeoSkGMeJcuuIjLU_fWd6RvekOxWELNHGmKi6OXuBc7Gp_2VN1R5RumqwCu18esrjI9Tg2NqKUE7D9nkecx0ly1nQQjG7iIzOEpKOv_a-1tBz9pvZJkuZ4oiqEzornOvzo7g/s1600/1633746633439503-1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdiRsK2mptDeoSkGMeJcuuIjLU_fWd6RvekOxWELNHGmKi6OXuBc7Gp_2VN1R5RumqwCu18esrjI9Tg2NqKUE7D9nkecx0ly1nQQjG7iIzOEpKOv_a-1tBz9pvZJkuZ4oiqEzornOvzo7g/s1600/1633746633439503-1.png" width="400" />
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</span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">As you can see the relative concentration of my antibodies to the spike protein of Covid 19 is still easy to detect but is about half of what I had at 3 months. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Now even if my antibodies fade away completely, I will likely have resident immune system clonal cells that are ready to detect and respond more quickly to a Covid 19 infection than I would have prior to being vaccinated. However, in time, the number of those cells will also decrease. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">So we should expect that a yearly vaccine shot to Covid19 will be routine medicine just as the flu shot is too. Generally, our human immune system does not remain primed for more than 6 months against corona-type viruses, which is the class of virus that Covid 19 belongs to. Many coronaviruses are actually cold viruses and we already know that it's possible to get a full-blown cold more than once from the same coronavirus strain within a single winter because coronaviruses trigger a shorter lasting immunity.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The viral RNA polymerase that makes copies of the Covid 19 RNA within infected cells has an error rate of 1/10,000, and the genome of Covid19 is about 30,000 bases long. Thus each new virus made in one of our infected cells has an average of 3 mutations. That is three bases different from the virus that infected the cell. That means that almost all 3,000 to 5,000 copies made in one infected airway cell are all mutated, changed, different from the original infecting virus. That is how viruses change, adapt, and evolve. Most of the mutations will not make much difference, some will make the virus less efficient, but some can make the virus replicate faster and also bind faster and stronger to our airway cells. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">That is why variants like Delta occur and the virus will have opportunities to become even worst if we have large regions of mostly unvaccinated persons. Mutations have changed the Delta variant's spike protein and just one changed link in that protein makes it bind to and infect cells faster than the virus at the start of the pandemic.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">As a molecular biologist with expertise in gene expression, genetic diseases, and RNA and DNA polymerases, I am concerned.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">I will get my Covid-19 booster as soon as I am eligible. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Ken Mitton</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">PS. I got my flu shot last week and have done so every year for over 15 years. I have not had the flu in that time.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-9559955214259274402021-08-30T02:12:00.003-04:002021-08-30T12:07:08.140-04:00Delta: COVID19 Cases and Deaths for Any Country<span style="font-size: medium;">Sadly, in August 2021, here I am making an update to this post, which I first added here over a year ago, way back in 2020. Here in the United States, as in several other countries, conservative political leaders have gone almost insane. They have conned so many Americans into walking right into a COVID19 pandemic that is now killing off mostly unvaccinated republican voters in counties with low vaccination rates. </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>I am a scientist in North America, who has lived and worked on both sides of the US/Canada border, and as a medical research professor, I felt it my duty to use my blog here to provide more awareness with access to numbers that you can trust. </span><span>This data visualization lets you follow the progress of COVID19 in the USA and other countries, and visualize it over time. I have included some iFrame code to this blog post to give you the ability to change the time frame and even the selection of countries you may be interested in. You can adjust the graph views to suit your need for knowledge.</span></span><div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Currently, in addition to my eye research, I also manage a small local research study in Oakland County, Michigan, to monitor the presence of antibodies to the COVID19 spike protein in persons. <u>My students and I have found that vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer, and J&J, do well at producing antibodies in our test volunteers, including ourselves.</u> We are all vaccinated at this point. So keep wearing a mask, get vaccinated, and think about the people who will not get harmed because you buffer them from this pandemic disease.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The "delta" variant is simple and dangerous. </b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">I can understand why, because I often make proteins and custom modifications to the structure of proteins for medical research. The purpose of my research at Oakland University is to understand how specific proteins work for vision. I engineer human proteins, which are required to develop structures in our retinas, for bacterial factory production as potential therapeutics to repair damaged human retinas. For conditions such as Retinopathy of Prematurity and Diabetic Retinopathy. In the 90s I briefly got to do some research on how the HIV protease can also harm a cell's proteins in addition to simply processing the making the more HIV virus. Since then we have the knowledge of the human genome. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">So now I can also tell you that viruses generally replicate their own DNA or RNA sequences with low fidelity. That is the DNA or RNA Polymerases that replicate their DNA/RNA tend to make frequent mistakes, to change their genetic code. This, in turn, changes the components that make up the virus's proteins, including the spike protein you hear about on the news. This "spike protein" is used by the virus to bind to cells that line our sinuses and respiratory tract (lungs). This high error copy rate creates hundreds of variations of the COVID19 spike protein in every person who is infected with COVID19. Most of the errors will result in a less infectious virus but once in while, versions like the delta variant evolve to spread faster and more efficiently. This is the case now in 2021, August. So I am updating and reposting this blog, as we all need to watch how numbers rise again. Numbers of cases and numbers of deaths. As 99.9% of persons entering ICU and 99.9% of those dying from Delta variant in the ICU are unvaccinated, I suggest you get vaccinated ASAP. </span></div><div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Here are graphs that you can adjust to look at different timelines for cases of illness and deaths for any country. I embedded <i>iFrame</i> code in this posting to give you graphs that you can also adjust. Table and MAP views are also available. Book mark this blog posting so you can return here. The data in these graphs will update automatically. </span><br>
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</span></div></div></div></div><a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2020/04/active-exploration-graphs-for-covid19.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-58850497677324539642021-06-29T09:36:00.003-04:002021-07-28T09:10:26.162-04:00Bad Pharma Good Pharma: how Patients and their Doctors are fooled about the drugs sold to them.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOJpgrOvqk9bR_s_lEbALyYYYHhSOeDWPBWwqzsSEEAuRClMtISAVh3v6Hr6thyphenhyphen0qVMhzFf4ZJUJVcTnJjjG6uR0reJHrRhIpJ_dV2IHaq72G5HGhjgUf4TG4GEyuaHOLUtoqYAP8iiMdD/s1600/SnakeOilbyKPMITTON2014.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOJpgrOvqk9bR_s_lEbALyYYYHhSOeDWPBWwqzsSEEAuRClMtISAVh3v6Hr6thyphenhyphen0qVMhzFf4ZJUJVcTnJjjG6uR0reJHrRhIpJ_dV2IHaq72G5HGhjgUf4TG4GEyuaHOLUtoqYAP8iiMdD/s320/SnakeOilbyKPMITTON2014.jpg" title="" width="228"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snake oil salesmen are alive and well in the 2000's.<br>
They know how to use the Congress to overturn FDA new<br>
review panel recommendations and market away.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">Bad Science is simply not doing science right. If you cut corners, never repeat experiments to confirm they are reproducible, bury negative results, then you can end up with egg on your face as a scientist. At best, the target for teasing by your colleagues, or at worst a biomedical company that contributes to the illness or deaths of many people and who will never be trusted again in the science or medical world. As it should be. </span></span><br>
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<span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">Bad science or medicine seems to happen when money is part of the motivation equation in the form of "for profit". Unfortunately, that is the context where most commercial Pharma research occurs, including clinical trials. With shareholders to pay, there is a strong executive pressure to get the product developed and flying out of the pharmacy on Doctor's prescription pads as soon as possible. This factor, profits, are one of the greatest conflicts of interest (COI) we must manage.</span></span></span><br>
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<span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">For all of us, as the patient, this can have bad consequences. For our Doctors, they may be making prescription decisions based on information that is skewed or incomplete. They can be in a position where they cannot even get the full story on many of the drugs they must choose from. The Pharmacist will be in the same position as your Doctor. The problem that is keeping all three of us in the dark is reporting bias on the part of the drug developer. That is, under-reporting of negative trial results, and basic cherry-picking of trial results. While we have currently, in the United States, a political effort to reduce government regulations, we already suffer commercial lobbying and political overriding of FDA biomedical science recommendations on drug approvals. This includes ignoring expert panel recommendations to not approve a drug and instead let the company market away. Essentially neutering the ability of the FDA to save us all from snake oil salesmen, even in 2018.</span></span></span><br>
</span><a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2013/07/cherry-picking-and-bad-pharma-how.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-31085503928619878122021-06-26T11:31:00.003-04:002021-06-26T11:31:50.361-04:00Vaccination Update: COVID-19 and your antibodies to the virus.<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> In my lab we have been doing side research since mid-summer of 2020 testing persons who recovered from COVID19 for antibodies in their blood. Later, in 2021 we added to the research study process to also test persons after they have been vaccinated with at least one dose of an FDA-approved vaccine. What have we learned in our little local community study here in Oakland County Michigan?</span><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br><br></span></span></p><a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2021/06/vaccination-update-covid-19-and-your.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-63758957093731018662021-02-20T00:26:00.001-05:002021-02-20T23:43:45.666-05:00We are Reaching Half-A-Million COVID 19 Deaths in the United States.<p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;">By the end of Monday 22nd February 2021, we will pass through and above 500,000 deaths from COVID19 in the United States. I calculate and plot the doubling time in days averaged over a moving 7-day period. Doubling time, based on the previous seven days average, as of the end of 2020 had dropped below100 days. The doubling time for US deaths from COVID19 is increasing again early in 2021, as seen in the current graph below.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span></span></span></p><a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2020/09/current-doubling-time-for-number-of.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-55404591198017376492021-02-11T22:54:00.001-05:002021-02-11T23:00:33.093-05:00What are the Special Syringes for More Vaccine Doses?You have heard about the idea of getting an extra dose out of a vaccine vial? It is on the news regularly. The Pfizer vaccine comes in a volume to get 5 doses, but there is some extra volume provided to allow for getting those 5 doses. Then, if you have a special syringe you could get a sixth dose.<div><br></div><div>How? </div><div><br></div><div>A regular syringe will empty a few hundred microliters of liquid when the plunger is pushed. When the plunger reaches the end of the regular syringe there will still be some liquid in the small channel between the plunger and the start of the fitted needle and inside the needle itself. This is called dead space volume and it can be 70 to 90 microliters. After five uses that adds up to about 400 microliters, almost half of a 1 milliliter (1 cc) syringe, or at least one extra sixth dose.</div><div><br></div><div>There are, however, syringes like special insulin syringes that come with an attached needle and have a very thin, and very short channel between the plunger and the needle. Some have a thin plunger extension that also pushes into the thin channel. As a result of this, these syringes have a very low dead space volume, from 2 to 5 microliters. So, if you have these low dead space syringes, you do not lose that 400 microliters after five injections, so several hundred microliters remain in the vial to give you one more shot. The six shooter!</div><div><br></div><div>Ken Mitton</div>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-53752291823512510192021-02-06T11:20:00.005-05:002021-02-07T11:41:20.723-05:00New Covid19 Variants Can Infect Those Who Had Covid19 Before. Vaccination Protects Better.It looks like the newly adapting Covid19 variants can reinfect persons who had the illness before. There is emerging evidence from the UK that this is a new concern. However, there is also emerging evidence that vaccinated persons are more resistant to illness and infection from the same new variants. The South African variant is one example of the newly evolving Covid19 strains. <div><br /></div><div>Some preliminary testing has been done using patient blood serum from persons vaccinated with various versions of the vaccines now in use. Here is what we know as of early February 2021.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Pfizer two-dose vaccine (RNA type) seems to generate serum antibodies that react and bind well to the spike protein of the South African variant. The paper reporting this is not yet peer-reviewed in a journal but it is pre-print public here: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.07.425740v1">https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.07.425740v1</a></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Moderna vaccine, similarly, has likely protective ability to the new strain. Their own report is found here: <a href="https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-covid-19-vaccine-retains-neutralizing-activity-against">https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-covid-19-vaccine-retains-neutralizing-activity-against</a></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Other vaccines in the process of approval review in the UK seem to offer some reactivity to protect against the new South African variant too, as reported in this BBC news post: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55850352">https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55850352</a></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>These include the Jannsen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine, a new single-dose protocol vaccine: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55857530">https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55857530</a></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine offers limited protection against the new variant but the company is also now developing a second version of the vaccine to match the amino acid changes in some of the new variants that are evolving around the world.</li></ul><br />So, for those persons who had Covid19, their immunity after a real infection may not be a justification for skipping vaccination. I am signed up and eagerly awaiting my turn. I will gladly get vaccinated and I suggest you get it too even if you have recovered from a covid19 infection. </div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Ken Mitton</div><div>The Science Rant</div>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-19349987078664685372020-11-11T21:45:00.005-05:002020-11-16T14:58:23.256-05:00November 2020: The Rule of 70 and Why Your Hospitals are Feeling the COVID Tsunami Second Wave<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilj9MdpXgLgpH4TVO5BvX2dyTy3WX6rJCmlX6Didd9z8J62mTUpYV6bJ0H25UJPyJ-gc4Spo67igDL13WY0VdgDQeQf43_jiyc6pM7bseMcjrirJmbeFlZsk5jvOox24JnP7p__Y8vEP6Y/s1600/3-17-2020CasesMoreThan100USA.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="806" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilj9MdpXgLgpH4TVO5BvX2dyTy3WX6rJCmlX6Didd9z8J62mTUpYV6bJ0H25UJPyJ-gc4Spo67igDL13WY0VdgDQeQf43_jiyc6pM7bseMcjrirJmbeFlZsk5jvOox24JnP7p__Y8vEP6Y/w400-h263/3-17-2020CasesMoreThan100USA.png" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><b>Math helps us understand disease spread in populations.</b> A historical view of the rise in cases of COVID19 as the first wave hit in March 2020. The apparent and surprising rise in cases after a long period of just a few cases is typical of the exponential nature of pandemic disease spread in populations. US data seems to have an instant-looking start because there was no significant amount of patient testing, then testing is being increased. Back in March, the actual cases in a population spreading COVID19 were increasing at 12% a day, which the <i>Rule of 70</i> tells us is a doubling every 6 days. (Graph by KPMitton from CSSEGIS COVID19 data )</td></tr></tbody></table><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">1/11/2020 UPDATE: </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">This is an update of a posting I wrote back in March 2020 in the first wave of COVID19 just rising mostly in states where COVID19 first arrived. We are in danger again of having local hot spot states now like North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, where the percent daily increases in cases exceed 5% per day. Early in 2020, we were up to a national average of 12% per day in the first wave. Rates one month ago had dropped well below 1% but now the average US daily increase in cases over last week had risen to 1.5 % per day, but that is the average of all 50 states. In hot states now we are having community locations with over 5% daily increases, and the experience in March will now happen again in November and December 2020. When you have a constant percent daily increase in case number, this percentage factor leads to an acceleration in numbers that can easily and suddenly fill a hospital. Here is the reason, the simple math behind it all. The Rule of 70.<span></span></span></div><a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-rule-of-70-and-why-your-hospitals.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-10602577310607741582020-10-23T12:37:00.003-04:002020-10-23T12:46:50.998-04:00In search of reliable mobile fast tests for COVID-19 Antibodies.<p> </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">While all research labs were shut down for a few months, late March to mid-June 2020, for all but COVID19 related research, I turned my biochemical skills to a project to help evaluate one version of a serum COVID-19 antibody test that can use a single droplet (10 microliters) of blood from a finger-poke and which gives a reliable result in 15 minutes. Also without using any powered equipment. Cheap, mobile reliable tests like this can be used in almost any location. The problem in January to March 2020 was that many unreliable kits for such tests were rolled out mostly by firms looking to cash in, even selling online to the public. The main problem with those test kits was that they either 1) fail to detect antibodies to COVID19 when people have them, or 2) they say you are positive for antibodies to COVID19 BUT you are not.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Using finger-tip blood for tests of this type is very possible, and in fact, there are FDA and European Union approved tests that use this format "lateral flow test" for AIDS and Legionnaires Disease. However, those tests have been around for some time and were of course tested to confirm their reliability. So I approached a particular manufacturer of antibody-based research reagents when I heard they were turning their expertise to making a reliable family of tests for COVID19 antibodies in blood. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span></span></span></p><a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2020/10/in-search-of-reliable-mobile-fast-tests.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-1976559177348066002020-06-22T14:00:00.000-04:002020-07-13T09:25:13.476-04:00How the Family of a Bioscientist Shops and Cleans Groceries in the Midst of The American Pandemic of 2020.<span style="font-size: large;">I know you have anxiety about shopping for food for you and your family. I know you are scared. You can be afraid. Fear is normal when there is danger, but stop thinking about it and prepare to get your groceries. You can do this. You can order them for delivery, but it is true that delivery is not smooth in all parts of the United States. If you can find a grocery store that is using staff to control traffic of shoppers: distance control, limited numbers of people in stores, a system for sterilizing wagons for you, separation in check out lines, procedures for protecting you and the cashiers, then you can shop yourself as well. This too may vary around the country. In either case, what do we do when we get our food at our door? Well, in our household we wash them, in warm water with regular dish soap. NOT surface cleaners. DISH SOAP. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><u>The CDC does not recommending washing food packaging or foods with household surface cleaners because those would be toxic chemicals if they contaminate your food.</u> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I know that viruses are actually very susceptible to soap, detergents, and their main molecular components dissolve nicely in soapy water. Make sure you have enough dish soap to make suds, bubbles. Of course, any food you cook will destroy the virus too, but you can still wash your veggies for your salads and for safe handing in your own home doing food preparation. Make sure you rinse off all your dish soapy water well, but just use dish soap <u>and do not use surface cleaners on your food.</u></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">You should be able to also use tap water washing without any soap at all, but I have heard from persons who have lots of anxiety about shopping for fresh food, and dish soap in water may help you feel less of that anxiety. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Again, just use dish soap made for washing food dishes, and just use the dish soap in lots of water. Rinse the wash water off. Let your produce drip dry a few minutes before you try to place them in the fridge. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here is a little video on how. It's easy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">You can do this. You can :).</span><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X0T9DjfcGy8" width="560"></iframe>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here are some updated guidelines from the US CDC regarding COVID-19 and food. So far there is no evidence that the spread of COVID-19 happens from food or the risk is extremely low. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/food-and-COVID-19.html?deliveryName=USCDC_2067-DM31266" target="_blank">US CDC Food Guide for COVID-19</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-65749680607701204692020-05-30T15:01:00.000-04:002020-05-30T15:46:37.456-04:00Manned Space Flight from the United States begins again. Watch Live on NASA TV successful!!<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">You can watch the launch about to happen from Florida here on NASA TV.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Using the Space-X rocket. Two astronauts. Bob and Doug reach orbit. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />Falcon 9 launch smooth. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />See more at NASA TV using the link below:</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#public"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#public</span></a><br />
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<br />kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-3648434263271090322020-04-26T13:32:00.000-04:002020-04-26T18:49:54.210-04:00APOLLO 11 TRACKER: the Pandemic Lockdown Edition for NASA Lovers like me.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAwWLaQ3FRmo-Lo2phKdIsot3CSaIrAgRMXlB65Tkszonx08JuQpWtgwRAE-iZqA2pDKhXs76VRnSnUkejdqaZ1yPv2FznvZ3BuB_w_gfRErEDmll263FcMdvLRimMw8ZfWiN0D-ijK4Fr/s1600/20190717_113741.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAwWLaQ3FRmo-Lo2phKdIsot3CSaIrAgRMXlB65Tkszonx08JuQpWtgwRAE-iZqA2pDKhXs76VRnSnUkejdqaZ1yPv2FznvZ3BuB_w_gfRErEDmll263FcMdvLRimMw8ZfWiN0D-ijK4Fr/s400/20190717_113741.jpg" title="" width="400"></span></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Come with me in 2019, and follow in real-time (50 years ago) what is/was going on with the Apollo 11 Mission to the Moon. You can get these reference books today if you are a NASA fan like me. I also have my Buzz Aldrin NASA Ball Cap on. These books were news reference books published by NASA. They were in the hands of Walter Cronkite and his coworkers and they are great for nerds like me.</span><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is the updated version of my Apollo 11 blog in real-time, last July 2019 recapturing the mission of Apollo 11. I have reposted this for anyone stuck at home during our COVID19 pandemic stay-at-home activities. </span></span><br>
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</div><a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2020/04/apollo-11-tracker-pandemic-lockdown.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2045675507735477357.post-43601425894854568242020-04-22T16:54:00.000-04:002020-04-22T16:59:40.709-04:00VIDEO: Why Coronavirus (COVID19) is not like the Flu, and how you can save lives staying home.<span style="font-size: large;">So, you are young or annoyed about wearing a face mask in public places like stores and airplanes? Do you think this pandemic is no different than the common flu? Well, you are wrong and with two simple numbers, I can show you how YOU can be responsible for either infecting and killing several fellow humans or help spare them by breaking the chain. These numbers are 1.4 and 3. They are tiny numbers, but they explain why COVID19 is causing many of our most vulnerable citizens to lose their lives in ICUs all around the United States and the world. Mostly in the United States unfortunately where many people are refusing to help protect others. </span><br>
<a href="http://thesciencerant.blogspot.com/2020/03/why-is-flu-not-like-coronavirus-covid19.html#more"></a>kpmittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642325103544464244noreply@blogger.com0