Brian Vastag

Former science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on #Kauai #Hawaii. Grew up in Wisconsin. Occasional SCUBA diver.

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brianvastag_at_sciencemastodon.com@mostr.pub

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Last Notes

2024-09-24 17:56:43

The Sick Times is providing regular, very useful updates to the NIH RECOVER-TLC (treating long covid) meeting underway this week:
#covid #LongCovid
https://thesicktimes.org/2024/09/23/live-blog-following-the-recover-treating-long-covid-kickoff-event/

2024-09-24 17:34:11

Hey it's just a reddit post, but it's indicative of medical ignorance that is probably widespread...testing someone for HIV because...because...no one could possibly get covid 3 times in 8 weeks. (Yes, someone could and can.)
#Covid #LongCovid
https://cdn.masto.host/sciencemastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/193/723/253/896/180/original/6864304d427bc362.png

2024-09-23 22:42:19

Listened to 4 hours of the NIH meeting to discuss upcoming initiative for clinical trials for #longcovid.
Some themes
- Several people advocated small, fast trials to ID subsets who benefit from drugs & find meaningful clinical endpoints.
Viral persistence, immune dysfunction & microclots all offer targets for treatment but not every patient shows each feature; makes trial design tricky and requires work to ID eligible patients.
- Big PhRMA still largely on the sidelines

2024-09-20 21:14:59

Another element of the pager bomb exploit: Israel had to have some kind of device on the Lebanese broadcast network.
Another blow to the 'this was so easy' crowd.
https://www.voanews.com/a/how-lebanon-s-wireless-paging-system-was-weaponized-to-make-hezbollah-devices-explode/7791044.html

2024-09-20 18:13:03

Gravitational wave detection opened a new frontier in astrophysics a decade ago, and now the brainiacs at LIGO have discovered how to 'squeeze' their lasers to eliminate some quantum-level interference and make the insanely precise detectors even more sensitive.
They expect to see new gravitational wave phenomena now.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2448742-weve-just-doubled-the-number-of-gravitational-waves-we-can-find/
#physics #science

2024-09-20 17:29:15

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@npub1kec…28ax The public gets so many mixed messages on this subject from various agencies...Sean isn't helping.

2024-09-19 23:24:32

Big Island is dealing with vog from latest Kilauea eruption. Vog is volcanic smog & it's pretty very sulfurous. We even get it over on Kauai, 300 miles west of the volcano, if the winds are right (wrong). I really notice it when we have it...I get headachy and some of my other chronic symptoms get worse.
https://www.civilbeat.org/beat/hawaiis-kilauea-volcano-is-erupting-again/

2024-09-19 23:00:12

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@npub1893…rr5k This little patch of reef still looks healthy.

2024-09-19 19:20:48

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@npub1kcv…tx2q Tyger tyger burning bright
In the sequencers of the night...
(Sorry)

2024-09-19 17:34:48

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@npub1xyr…v0h8 My buddy is a jazz saxophone player in the Milwaukee area...will definitely share this piece with him.

2024-09-19 17:28:07

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NIH is convening a meeting next week to begin planning its RECOVER-TLC initiative...TLC meaning 'treating long covid.' Yes, four years after getting over a billion dollars from Congress, NIH is getting ready to plan some clinical trials. Anyone who's familiar with NIH knows how long it'll be before they actually get going.....

2024-09-19 17:20:09

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A researcher I talked to recently put it pretty succinctly: NIH cannot and does not fund transformational research. NIH funds incremental research and that's all the institution is capable of doing with its $30 billion per year.

2024-09-19 17:17:58

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Sen. Sanders & several co-sponsors are trying to get $1 billion a year for 10 years funded in a long covid 'moonshot.' The bill is written to FORCE NIH to do certain things, like fund accelerated trials & ensure that similar conditions like ME/CFS are studied alongside long covid.
I don't know it's chances of passing but here's a good write-up of what's in the bill.
https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2024/09/15/changing-world-long-covid-mooshot-bill/

2024-09-19 16:57:31

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@npub1l8m…rrp2 God I hated doing that skill and have never had to do it for realsies.

2024-09-18 23:28:23

A while ago I mentioned I'm getting an EV shipped from Oahu to Kauai. The shipping company (there's only one) requires gas-powered cars to have no more than 1/4 tank to keep weight down and maybe other reasons.
They also require EV batteries be no more than 1/4 charged? Why? Because stupidity is not a finite resource.

2024-09-18 17:53:12

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@npub128l…vd04 thanks, that's interesting

2024-09-18 17:40:22

So many fucking businesses charge credit card fees and yet...how else am I supposed to pay the $2500 vehicle repair bill? Should've shown up with a garbage bag full of nickels.
Also...isn't it a violation of Visa etc terms of agreement?

2024-09-18 04:51:41

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Am I am bad person for wanting to find a dazed and disoriented baby bird so I can put it in the box?

2024-09-18 00:38:05

Who says we don't get big acts in #Hawaii? Flock of Seagulls is performing with ...a Depeche Mode Experience opening cover band. 😂😎

2024-09-17 00:30:16

Time to kill the Jones Act, which requires interstate shipping to be on US vessels. It drives up costs and prices in #Alaska and #Hawaii.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/09/the-jones-act-is-sinking-the-economies-of-alaska-and-hawaii/

2024-09-16 23:23:54

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All she's asking for is an aisle seat.

2024-09-16 23:22:41

Alaska Airlines is refusing to grant my friend's very modest #disability accommodations request. I've found United to be fairly accommodating for me when I ask but most corporations give no fucks.

2024-09-16 19:11:19

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The Choco Taco went on to be a big hit and was sold in Taco Bells for years.
A few years ago, the company shut down production. It was pretty big news, and I don't know why they stopped making them. You can now find $12 bespoke non-official Choco Tacos at high-end ice cream shops.
Dad is now in his 80s and not in good cognitive health anymore, but I think he's leaving the world a little richer for being the co-inventer of the Choco Taco. /end

2024-09-16 19:09:20

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Eventually, dad designed a machine to be able to handle this, which is good...because the amount of person-time required for each Choco Taco before that was excessive and they were thinking of shutting down production.
A few years later, they applied for a patent. It's my favorite patent. Just look at the illustration. 3/
https://cdn.masto.host/sciencemastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/148/803/524/242/232/original/39a46c9ff02dc945.png

2024-09-16 19:06:45

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After a year or so of work, they had a production line. A machine folded a sugar cone into a taco shape, filled it with vanilla ice cream & dipped it in chocolate.
They wanted nuts on top. But they didn't have a machine to do that, so for the first year or so, a worker on the line had to hand-dip every Choco Taco in nuts. 2/

2024-09-16 19:05:41

Today's #IceCreamInsight is about everybody's favorite novelty...the CHOCO TACO.
In the early 1980s, my dad and a colleague from Good Humor/Breyer's had a meeting with a guy from Philadelphia who worked for Jack & Jill Ice Cream Co. This other guy came up with the idea of an ice cream taco & my dad, Harold, a refrigeration enginer & his colleague Ben Benjamin, who was an ice cream scientist with his own little lab, went about figuring out how to make it. 1/

2024-09-16 03:47:39

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@npub1h56…ch5t Nice!

2024-09-16 01:34:31

All I want AI to do is add punctuation to the trillions of run-on paragraphs that pollute social media.

2024-09-14 22:05:48

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@npub1hk4…578k Looking at the ingredients of current fudgsicles it looks like that's how they're made now. I got to see them made in the 80s when they were made with better stuff.

2024-09-14 05:55:17

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@npub1fd2…d540 Yeah I tried it ..it's pretty weak and pointless.

2024-09-14 04:52:59

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@npub1uce…950w that sounds right

2024-09-14 03:49:00

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@npub1m95…tfvq Oh shit now I have to deliver.

2024-09-14 01:32:29

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@npub1w0k…z3sz I also knew a dude who did this in college and he was a...MichiGander.

2024-09-14 01:30:56

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@npub1h55…jfjp Oh really? I hadn't heard that!

2024-09-14 01:22:56

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@npub1h2k…wk2y One of these got me in Hawaii last month. Wasn't too bad, put some vinegar on it quickly.

2024-09-14 00:48:24

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@npub1c2n…4ge3 If they make it in shop it's probably low overrun.

2024-09-14 00:41:34

Do you want to know a secret about ice cream? It has air in it. In the biz it's called 'overrun.' Cheap ice cream has 100% overrun, meaning the volume has been doubled with air.
Premium brands like Ben & Jerry's and Haagen Dazs typically have 20-30% overrun. Less air, denser ice cream.
My dad worked for Good Humor/Beyer's. :)
Follow me for more ice cream insights.

2024-09-13 22:40:26

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@npub16py…v40u Isn't that still more than 600 miles/900 km a day? Initial 100% + two 80% charges.

2024-09-13 20:17:28

The target audience for this one is NERDS.
(It's a Baldur's Gate 3 meme.)
#gaming
https://cdn.masto.host/sciencemastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/132/084/983/891/375/original/f76383bbf4d0565e.png

2024-09-13 17:28:55

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@npub17hj…7a0r I was born on Friday the 13th (August) as was my only sibling (September). I'm sure it means something...

2024-09-13 05:10:36

Saw someone today complain that #Harris "accepted" the endorsement of W. Bush attorney general Alberto Gonzales. Her attitude was that Harris was making her eat shit by ..not publicly denouncing a Republican who said he was voting for her.
So fucking delicate and delusional.
Like yes, VP Harris will cater to your super sensitive fee-fees by saying she doesn't want someone's vote.
Sure.
#USpol

2024-09-13 01:59:43

Someone on #threads is trying to make "Thriends" happen.
https://cdn.masto.host/sciencemastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/127/769/117/728/019/original/8e11bda044969716.mp4

2024-09-12 03:48:17

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@npub1ye6…6a2z That's the real Terminator.

2024-09-11 23:28:21

After 25 years of being a science & medical reporter, I still don't remember what The National Academy of Sciences wants to be called. Not that I don't think. Their website has it rendered as National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (The National Academies) but I think when referencing a specific report they prefer just a reference to that single academy, e.g. The National Academy of Medicine. But who frickin knows. I'll let my editor sort it out. [snort]

2024-09-11 23:25:59

Hi new followers...a bunch of requests to follow me ended up not showing up in my preferred client (elk) so I just saw them.

2024-09-11 21:49:29

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@npub1t95…zup6 I wasn't expecting Kauai to be at the forefront of AI-generated news. Because we don't have much of it out here.

2024-09-11 19:31:49

Just checked WaPo homepage and the usual right-wing numpties who get paid to vomit GOP talking points are nowhere to be found today.

2024-09-11 03:05:26

I watched "Slow Horses" instead. It was great.
#TV

2024-09-11 01:45:47

I don't know which of your #debate quotes are real and which are hyperbole. Impossible to distinguish. [Shruggie]

2024-09-10 22:22:54

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@npub17ha…t8va I mean, why not? Not one member of Congress has faced any consequences for attempting a coup.

2024-09-10 21:47:10

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I want to add that Beth was a complicated person and from my (very close) viewpoint there were several contributing factors to her death, with depression being a major factor.

2024-09-10 21:03:50

Today the WHO marks suicide prevention day. I lost my partner to suicide in December. She was ashamed of her depression and didn't talk about it. But there's nothing shameful about being depressed...talking about it is usually helpful & I encourage everyone struggling with mental health issues to find ways to open up about it.
https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-suicide-prevention-day/world-suicide-prevention-day-2024

2024-09-09 23:46:27

**(•_•)
<)   )╯**the Department of Transportation**
/    **
**(•_•)
(   (> **has approved **
/    **
** (•_•)
<)   )> ** my ebike rebate

2024-09-09 19:53:08

For an article I'm working on, I'm interested in talking with folks who have visited #LongCovid clinics in the US to hear about your experiences.
Drop me a note here or at brianvastag@gmail.com if you're interested in chatting.
#covid

2024-09-07 21:02:45

Saturday morning market.
https://cdn.masto.host/sciencemastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/098/289/630/373/466/original/027a9b3d7fc3831a.jpg

2024-09-07 18:09:50

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@npub19s5…p9ph Is that the market in Puhi?

2024-09-06 17:42:38

#Cats are self-pedestaling.
#catsofmastodon
https://cdn.masto.host/sciencemastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/091/839/853/579/711/original/2af2efe1d38b8c73.jpg

2024-09-06 02:27:21

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@npub1ezn…5el5 That would be faster and also 4x more expensive.

2024-09-06 01:56:24

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@npub1ezn…5el5 They ship from the mainland. Young Brothers has interisland shipping all to themselves.

2024-09-06 01:27:56

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#HawaiiProblems

2024-09-06 01:27:45

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I thought I had found an 'alternate shipper' today but they just use the Young Brothers badges anyway. Lol.

2024-09-06 01:26:30

Very excited about the new (used) EV I bought on Oahu last weekend. It's a low-mileage '22 Kia Niro SUV.
But it's stuck on Oahu until Halloween because the #Hawaii Mafia, AKA Young Brothers shipping, has the monopoly on inter-island shipping and they DGAF.
They're a private company parading as a public utility. Yeehaw. So I get to make two months of payments before I can drive it.
#cars #transportation #EVs

2024-09-05 23:35:34

I am so glad the Post saw fit to publish this wonderful obituary for @npub12ez…uyf6. He deserves it.
(Gift link)
https://wapo.st/4d1K3lC
#journalism #autism #music

2024-09-04 23:14:57

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@npub16a3…9dah It's this amazing solution called dihydrogen monoxide.

2024-09-04 23:06:07

Outdoor dining, Hawaii style.
#ChickenSpray
https://cdn.masto.host/sciencemastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/081/786/451/399/239/original/e2526f17c6bd80bc.jpg

2024-09-03 18:35:21

Pharma company BioVie announces phase 2 trial of investigational new drug for #LongCovid. The drug candidate, bezesterim, is also being tested in patients with Alzheimer's & Parkinson's diseases. The company says it crosses the blood-brain barrier & reduces neuroinflammation, which is often seen in long covid.
It's being funded by DOD.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biovie-announces-fda-authorization-investigational-120000163.html

2024-09-02 22:21:18

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@npub16a3…9dah There are regs here but they're never enforced.
I meant more what happens to them in a spiritual sense.

2024-09-02 22:18:01

What happens to people who leave their ICE vehicle idling in a parking lot - generating noise and air pollution - when *they're not even sitting in it??*

2024-08-31 23:25:08

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@npub14vk…pvt7 It keeps getting shortened as costs escalate, which is unfortunate.
https://cdn.masto.host/sciencemastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/059/213/696/327/339/original/8f816759ef40df56.jpeg

2024-08-31 23:01:03

Riding the new Skyline rail on Oahu. Smooth ride, no driver so the front window is open. Now if they could just bring it into Honolulu...(It currently runs outside the city core and construction is very very slow because Hawaii.)
#transit #transportation #urbanism
https://cdn.masto.host/sciencemastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/059/118/543/342/852/original/6363fc0bfa50ad4d.mp4

2024-08-31 01:02:28

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Buy thing. Thing works.
WHAT IS THIS BLACK MAGIC

2024-08-30 20:18:59

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@npub1shw…aesf That's hard. So many people want to believe that willpower somehow cures various chronic illnesses. It's delusional but it's also baked into the fabric of Western medicine and culture.

2024-08-30 18:58:41

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@npub1es7…0df6 If it's 88 minutes long, sure.

2024-08-29 18:33:34

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One quick story about Steve. We got together for coffee in SF in 2014. I was really really sick at that point and told him a bit about it. He encouraged me to call jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, who stopped performing due to chronic illness and later died he had somewhat recovered. I said I didn't have Keith Jarrett's number and Steve offered to get it for me. Just one of many small acts of kindness.

2024-08-29 17:43:18

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He posted at @npub12ez…uyf6 and was very active on social media. I'll miss his voice.

2024-08-29 17:35:10

Steve Silberman was such a kind soul, a trenchant writer and observer of culture, and just a straight up truth-telling honest dude. We were friendly acquaintances I guess but I really enjoyed the few times we hung out. Huge loss.
https://bsky.app/profile/wardqnormal.bsky.social/post/3l2uljphb2p2e

2024-08-29 17:31:13

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@npub10mw…xxep That is just awful news. Steve was such a mensch.

2024-08-28 17:53:59

There's a Dutch virologist on here who posts a lot a out how sars-cov-2 is a normal virus that people can clear and that doesn't harm the immune systems of most people.
I don't think his intentions are bad I just think he's stuck in a paradigm he refuses to shift in the face of evidence and also conveniently ignored the people who do get damaged.
Virologists have been taught for decades that post-viral illnesses are fake.

2024-08-28 05:06:02

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@npub1pc7…r46d Yep, I have POTS, which means it's hard for me to be upright as well.

2024-08-28 01:33:06

Excited about my new e-bike, obtained today. Very comfy. I qualify for a #Hawaii state rebate of around $400 and in my little town should be able to do about 90% of my errands with it. It's also an accessibility vehicle...I can ride a regular bike about a mile before I'm done.
#cycling #ebike #bicycles
https://cdn.masto.host/sciencemastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/037/064/931/851/661/original/d9ac0fa5db0343dd.jpg

2024-08-27 17:51:59

Biden admin gets so little credit for taking on big PhRMA and winning some concessions, but this change on Medicare prescription drug coverage will help me & many others next year. PhRMA will be fine, I know you're worried about their profits.
https://cdn.masto.host/sciencemastodoncom/media_attachments/files/113/035/252/809/950/245/original/efcd01cd8466c4f6.png

2024-08-27 04:54:13

If you want some fresh #music that sounds like it's just been beamed to us from the Andromeda galaxy, I recommend this new Sungazer track.
Their rhythm in this track is so out there that band member Adam Neeley has a 20-minute video describing it.
#jazz #fusion
https://open.spotify.com/album/3ITXagjLvLZYvrTfcTcx3o?si=L5A85OKGSFCm4LzQAykqvA

2024-08-27 02:41:51

So many of my friends are struggling with various versions of long covid. Some were chronically ill before covid, some weren't but now they are.
It is well and truly fucked.

2024-08-26 03:20:37

Just remembered I turned down my editor's request to profile eLoN in 2011.
She was a little miffed lol.

2024-08-25 22:49:27

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@npub18zz…rd6u It's also a skill they practice and like any skill it can be improved.

2024-08-25 22:48:20

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@npub10kp…0rjj Yep that was the main point of giving two contracts. SpaceX has performed very well while Boeing has not; the hedge seems to be working as intended.

2024-08-25 04:26:03

I enjoy video games but do not understand why people pay for early access to unfinished products.
#gaming

2024-08-19 02:08:36

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I literally see zero TV political ads in my normal life.

2024-08-18 20:34:49

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@npub1afz…wdvg Basically like any other reporting...talk to people who knew them, family members, etc, read old newspaper articles, look at stuff the decedent has published and so on.

2024-08-16 21:16:06

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@npub1m3t…sek2 wow i did not see that...definitely a step back for usability

2024-08-16 14:54:18

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@npub1tuq…s7w3 Thanks. Just checked it out and it says mobile browsers are not supported.

2024-08-16 14:28:47

I rejoined Facebook last December after my partner died and I needed more connection in my life; many of my friends are relatives are there as well as county and local government announcements etc. I am not endorsing these facts, just stating them.
But I now find myself scrutinizing every friggin post to see if it's a real image or fake bullshit.
Great use of brain power. The #tech future is such a dystopian shitscape.

2024-08-15 18:14:45

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I see a lot of virologists and other researchers very skeptical of some of the long COVID prevalence numbers.
But if someone can now handle 10-20% less brain work than they used to, that's a huge impact even if it's not being fully disabled. And it can be very tricky to capture with standard cognitive testing unless that person for some reason completed such testing pre-covid.

2024-08-15 18:05:50

Just met up with an long-time friend I haven't seen for a while who had #covid in 2022 and says she now has occasional spells of horrible fatigue and that her "brain doesn't work like it used to." She's cut back on the amount of work she does. And she does not tell many people about this or identify as a #longcovid patient. But she is.
So when you see stats showing a substantial % of people having long COVID & are skeptical think of her - so much of it is invisible.

2024-08-15 01:03:45

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@npub1j8c…8026 Lotta airtime and cloud drives need to be filled.

2024-08-15 00:06:58

This former WaPo reporter has stopped paying attention to like 99% of all political analysis. None on tv, very little in print, sometimes a bit on a podcast. Almost all of it is cynical and it does very lttle to inform me.
#USpol #election2024

2024-08-14 05:50:59

Deleted a post because I was confused about Wisconsin's primaries.
#USpol

2024-08-14 05:43:37

I am not an election analyst or political reporter, but don't these results from tonight in #Wisconsin seem bad for #Trump? Some 20% of Republican primary voters are done with this flaming shitbag.
#USpol #Elections
https://cdn.masto.host/sciencemastodoncom/media_attachments/files/112/958/780/011/720/880/original/3f67ef76d145d02f.png

2024-08-13 20:30:34

No, your immune system isn't a muscle, and no exposing yourself to pathogens is not good for you.
The fact that this anti-human propaganda has taken hold is profoundly discouraging.
I was disabled by a virus and so were many other people I care about.
#covid #health #immunology
https://rachel.fast.ai/posts/2024-08-13-crowds-vs-friends/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEooURleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVo6dqU2Oqli5KlsKzHsFRxsdt4QQg1eWH19ZXN_m0-Gik_wgNGIMXndKQ_aem_Bl0-rczAzHnDEOvupAswQw

2024-08-13 19:55:19

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@npub1p67…xh53 🤢🤮