Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Global Repository For Research into the Collateral Effects of COVID-19 Measures

https://collateralglobal.org  Go here for studies

A global repository for research into the collateral effects of the COVID-19 lockdown measures

iu-3

The aim of Collateral Global is to provide a resource for scholarship and research into the collateral effects of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are two main facets to this:

  • on the one hand we need to understand how effective the response strategies to COVID-19 have been against their original objectives, and
  • on the other hand to build an understanding of the effect of these strategies on public health, the economy and how people live their lives.

Our aim is to gather this information from around the world and provide the data, research and other supporting material as a resource to inform public policy in the years ahead.

Category:

research, Viruses

Study Shows Cloth Dragging for Ticks Only Catch A Minority

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33128644/

One out of ten: low sampling efficiency of cloth dragging challenges abundance estimates of questing ticks

Siiri Nyrhilä 1, Jani J Sormunen 1 2, Satu Mäkelä 1, Ella Sippola 1 2, Eero J Vesterinen 1 2 3, Tero Klemola 4
Affiliations expand

Abstract

Hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) act as important vectors of zoonotic pathogens. For instance, Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. spirochetes pose a severe health risk as aetiological agents of Lyme borreliosis. Commonly, to study the abundance of questing (host-seeking) ticks, a 1 m2 piece of cloth is dragged over vegetation for a determined distance. Here, we designed a tick-sampling study to estimate the sampling efficiency of this standard method. We established 10 m dragging transects in a hemiboreal mixed forest patch in SW Finland for a 5-day monitoring period.

  • Five of the transects were cloth-dragged 3× a day,
  • whereas another five transects were dragged 6× a day in a manner that after each morning, midday and afternoon dragging, a second dragging was conducted on the same transect immediately.

Captured Ixodes ricinus ticks were subsequently analyzed for tick-borne pathogens. The initial population size of nymphal ticks on a transect was approximated by the accumulated nymph catch from the dragging sessions. The sampling efficiency of the cloth dragging was low, as

  • a single dragging in a previously untouched vegetation strip always caught less than 12% (mean 6%) of the estimated population of active nymphs that were assumed to be questing during the study.
  • Clear results were not found for daily activity rhythm, as ticks were caught in all daily dragging sessions.
  • Approximately every third nymph and every second adult carried a pathogen, but nothing indicated that the occurrence of a pathogen affected the likelihood of the tick being caught by cloth dragging.
Our results suggest that only a minority of active ticks can be caught by a single cloth dragging. The abundance estimates in many tick investigations might thus be downward biased.

____________________

**Comment**

Cloth dragging to estimate tick prevalence has been used worldwide.  Similarly to the CDC’s past vastly low estimates of those infected with Lyme disease, and then having to increase this number 10-fold (which is still probably low), this study reveals tick prevalence to be much higher than we’ve been told due to single cloth dragging missing many ticks.  This in turn means there are more infected ticks that can transmit disease to animals and humans.

Such a simple study, yet profound in its findings.

Category:

research, Ticks

Mechanisms Affecting the Acquisition, Persistence & Transmission of Francisella Turlarensis in Ticks

Mechanisms Affecting the Acquisition, Persistence and Transmission of Francisella tularensis in Ticks

by Brenden G. TullyJason F. Huntley *
 
 
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, Toledo, OH 43614, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Microorganisms 2020, 8(11), 1639; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8111639
Received: 29 September 2020 / Revised: 15 October 2020 / Accepted: 21 October 2020 / Published: 23 October 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epidemiology of Tularemia and Francisella tularensis)

Abstract

Over 600,000 vector-borne disease cases were reported in the United States (U.S.) in the past 13 years, of which more than three-quarters were tick-borne diseases. Although Lyme disease accounts for the majority of tick-borne disease cases in the U.S., tularemia cases have been increasing over the past decade, with >220 cases reported yearly. However, when comparing Borrelia burgdorferi (causative agent of Lyme disease) and Francisella tularensis (causative agent of tularemia), the low infectious dose (<10 bacteria), high morbidity and mortality rates, and potential transmission of tularemia by multiple tick vectors have raised national concerns about future tularemia outbreaks. Despite these concerns, little is known about how F. tularensis is acquired by, persists in, or is transmitted by ticks. Moreover, the role of one or more tick vectors in transmitting F. tularensis to humans remains a major question. Finally, virtually no studies have examined how F. tularensis adapts to life in the tick (vs. the mammalian host), how tick endosymbionts affect F. tularensis infections, or whether other factors (e.g., tick immunity) impact the ability of F. tularensis to infect ticks. This review will assess our current understanding of each of these issues and will offer a framework for future studies, which could help us better understand tularemia and other tick-borne diseases.
___________________
 
**Comment**
About half of US tularemia cases are associated with tick bite, and annual cases are slowly increasing. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
http://www.siumed.edu/medicine/id/tularemia.htm
Tularemia, in aerosol form, is considered a possible bioterrorist agent that if inhaled would cause severe respiratory illness. It was studied in Japan through 1945, the USA through the 60’s, and Russia is believed to have strains resistant to antibiotics and vaccines. An aerosol release in a high population would result in febrile illness in 3-5 days followed by pleuropneumonitis and systemic infection with illness persisting for weeks with relapses. The WHO estimates that an aerosol dispersal of 50 kg of F. tularensis over an area with 5 million people would result in 25,000 incapacitating casualties including 19,000 deaths.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Category:

research, Ticks, Transmission, Tularemia

Are Infections Seeding Some Cases of Alzheimer’s Disease?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03084-9

Are infections seeding some cases of Alzheimer’s disease?

A fringe theory links microbes in the brain with the onset of dementia. Now, researchers are taking it seriously.
Alison Abbott

Some scientists think that microbes such as the herpes simplex virus 1 (shown here on an epithelial cell) could trigger some cases of Alzheimer’s disease. Credit: SPL

Two years ago, immunologist and medical-publishing entrepreneur Leslie Norins offered to award US$1 million of his own money to any scientist who could prove that Alzheimer’s disease was caused by a germ.

The theory that an infection might cause this form of dementia has been rumbling for decades on the fringes of neuroscience research. The majority of Alzheimer’s researchers, backed by a huge volume of evidence, think instead that the key culprits are sticky molecules in the brain called amyloids, which clump into plaques and cause inflammation, killing neurons. (See link for article)

_____________________

**Comment**

Important quote:

Several microbes have been proposed as triggers of Alzheimer’s, including three human herpes viruses and three bacteria: Chlamydia pneumoniae, a cause of lung infections; Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme disease; and, most recently, Porphyromonas gingivalis, which leads to gum disease. In theory, any infectious agent that can invade the brain could have this trigger role (there’s no good evidence, however, that SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, has this ability).

It’s also sad that Alzheimer’s research has been pigeon-holed for so long:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/01/05/the-maddening-saga-of-how-an-alzheimers-cabal-thwarted-progress-toward-a-cure-for-decades/,  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/01/14/what-causes-alzheimers-not-toxic-amyloid-new-study-suggests/

This article contains Norrins’ paper in the comment section. The article above states there are 40 studies in the cue vying for the 1 million cash prize in March, when the challenge results will be announced:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/12/23/a-turning-point-in-alzheimers-disease-microbes-matter/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/12/23/a-turning-point-in-alzheimers-disease-microbes-matter/

Category:

Alzheimer's, Lyme, research, Viruses

Danish Newspaper Reveals Largest Study on Masks Has Been Rejected By 3 Medical Journals

To understand how biased medical journals have become, please read this important article and learn that medical journals and 86% of clinical trials are funded by Big Pharma, turning journal articles into little more than marketing machines.  The COVID debacle clearly showed this in action.  Independent research, or those defying the narrative simply could either not get their work published or it was retracted.

https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz-danish-newspaper-reveals-largest-study-masks-rejected

Horowitz: Danish newspaper reveals largest study on masks has been rejected by 3 medical journals

‘The study and its size are unique in the world,’ one study author told the paper

By Daniel Horowitz

October 22, 2020

Why not just conduct a randomized controlled trial to test whether masks work against COVID-19? Why assume such a draconian and dehumanizing mandate works as if it’s an article of faith and create such division when we can discover which side is correct? That’s what a group of Danish researchers felt, which is why, over the spring, they conducted such a study. So why have the results not been published, three months later? According to one Danish newspaper, the study has been rejected by three medical journals because the results are too controversial.

______________________

**Comment**

Important excerpts:

The article reveals that, thus far, the study has been rejected by the Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, and the American Medical Association’s journal JAMA, three of the publications that have been posting much of the research on coronavirus.

The CDC, prior to changing its position on universal mask-wearing, had previously cited 10 randomized controlled trials that showed “no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of face masks.” 

The phobia among the political elites against subjecting mask-wearing mandates to the scientific method is not surprising. In July, Dr. Fauci told a group of Georgetown University students that he has no intention of conducting a controlled study in the U.S.

Yet this same Fauci has no trouble peddling his expensive antiviral Remdesivir, of which he:

  • sponsored the clinical trial for, and obtained EUA status before being peer-reviewed
  • still has not made public his financial relations with Gilead, the manufacturer 
  • instead of using science, he made the promotional announcement sitting on a couch in the White House, without allowing for review of the data.
  • at the time he also failed to disclose to the public that the primary outcomes of the study were changed, which the AHRF considers “dubious and suspicious”, of which the mainstream media ignored, but should raise serious red flags  
  • shrugged off a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center peer-reviewed, published Chinese study that was stopped due to serious adverse events  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/10/30/anthony-fauci-40-years-of-lies-from-azt-to-remdesivir/
Are we really surprised when science comes out defying the accepted narrative?  

These same people have been getting away with murder for over 40 years:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/04/26/cdc-playbook-learning-from-lyme/

I recently posted on how medical journals are bought out: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/11/05/top-medical-journal-caught-in-massive-cover-up/ (See comment section as well)

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/06/12/former-french-health-minister-blows-whistle-criminal-pressure-from-bigpharma-on-publications-means-theres-no-longer-any-real-science/

Category:

Activism, research, Viruses