#coronavirus journal

[reality-detective]

A medical textbook from 1989 explains that coronavirus is, in fact, the common cold. 🤔

[thejournallo]

how to meditate a easy way?

oh, hi!

Meditation, in general, is really easy!

You have to lay down in a comfortable position, or if you want, you can sit on the ground or in a yoga position that you like.You can put some music on, light up some candles, and set up a mood for you to relax in.

Concentrate on your breathing; I usually do 4 seconds in, 4 seconds out, and repeat.

After a while, you will enter a relaxing state, and your mind will automatically shift to think and visualize other things. In a deep state of meditation, you can feel your body go numb in a good way.

Meditation is as simple as this: you can concentrate on other things other than your breathing to start the meditation, but concentrating on the breathing or doing breathing exercises helps us calm the body and mind and can be helpful for the everyday basics.

[raskoolz]

Liminal Spaces

Recently, I've noticed a growing trend online of people posting photos of liminal spaces and forming internet communities around this concept.

So what are liminal spaces?

In your own daily life, you may have noticed that there are certain places or states of being in which you may have felt different, "off", or uncomfortable. These places are often associated with liminal spaces and there's a reason why they may seem so uncanny or feel surreal.

The word "liminal" comes from the latin word limen, which in English means "threshold".

The anthropologist, Arnold van Gennep first wrote about the concept of liminality when he developed the idea of rites of passage.

He defined:

a "rite of separation" (preliminary rite)

a "rite of transition" (liminary rite)

and a "rite of incorporation" (post-liminal rite)

This transition theory was formed to explain the pattern he observed when it comes to changes in people's lives.

In short, liminal spaces are transitional or transformative spaces. It's the uncertain transition between where you've been, and where you're going- whether it means physically, mentally or metaphorically.

As a result, these places are often associated with an abandoned or sad atmosphere. They are also usually tied to feelings of despair, confusion, and hopelessness- as well as wonder, awe, and curiosity. Often it is also tied to the idea of a disconnect from the concept of reality or a neglected aesthetic.

To be in a liminal space means to be on the precipice of something, but not quite there yet. Often, when we are in liminal spaces, we have a feeling as if we are on the verge of discovering something new.

This can, of course, take the form of a literal physical place, but it can also take the form of physiological or mental states. There are liminal spaces, but maybe also liminal people- liminal careers, liminal relationships, and liminal events.

A recent example of this can be found during our own lived experience of going through COVID. A worldwide pandemic that brought a halt to our usual routines and day-to-day functions.

(And because this was the case, I think it should come as no surprise that this was when the idea of liminal spaces became more popular online.)

Perhaps what these bizzare/surreal/spooky pictures of abandoned places, and empty rooms allows us to do is to come to terms with our own feelings of confusion or dread.

For some of us (or even a majority of us), maybe we are currently living in a liminal space.

Maybe things don't make sense for you right now, and that's okay.

Maybe things are weird, different, or unfamiliar- and the rules, guiding belief systems, or structures you inhabit have changed, and you've lost your own footing within all that.

But perhaps- if you allow it, these conditions are precisely what is necessary for you to come to a deeper understanding of yourself. Only through these experiences of uncertainty can we learn to tap into the permanently available recreative power we all carry within each of us.

Maybe we could also learn to see the beauty, awe, and mystique that comes with these pictures- and to appreciate them for what they are:

A way for us to just "be" and be okay with it.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Helena Hind at MMFA:

A segment from one of Fox News’ daytime “straight news” programs cited a study to claim that the COVID-19 vaccine caused millions of “excess deaths” in the U.S. The journal that published the study had clarified nearly a week earlier that this interpretation was false.

The study, published June 3, 2024, in the British Medical Journal, found that excess mortality rates in Western nations were high from 2020 to 2022 “despite the implementation of containment measures and COVID-19 vaccines.” The researchers also encouraged governments to examine the underlying causes of excess mortality to inform public health policy. During the June 12 edition of America Reports, Fox anchor John Roberts characterized the findings differently: “A new study suggests COVID vaccines could be at least partially to blame for more than three million excess deaths in the United States and other countries from 2020 to 2022.” [...] Last week, multiple other right-wing media outlets (and at least one conservative British outlet) repeated the false narrative blaming the vaccine for excess deaths, prompting the British Medical Journal to issue a statement correcting the misinterpretation of the study’s findings.

Fox “News” and other right-wing outlets continue to amplify anti-COVID vaccine talking points, such as falsely blaming excess deaths on COVID vaccines.

[iliveinprocrasti-nationn]

i can never understand all the people going “covid’s just a cold” “it’s just like the flu”. it’s not influenza or a rhinovirus. covid sars-cov-2: severe accute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. scientifically, it can never be a cold or flu, and it will cause severe accute respiratory syndrome. that’s not posturing or dramatics, it’s science

[commonsensecommentary]

“Our inability to solve our many problems is a direct result of the insular extremism—promoted daily by liars, bullies, and nut jobs who revel in their power and influence—that today passes for intelligence.”

[corona-journal]

Long covid, and being afflicted with multiple covid

So a good friend of mine, an ED nurse, is sadly one of the outliers who is susceptible to covid and its variants.

He has had one infection of covid, which led to long covid, and now he's had pneumonia like symptoms, since diagnosed as another infection of covid.

(Screenshot below)

The medals are for the ambulance service, but nothing likely will be done (medals wise) for nurses or doctors.

The world isn't injust, it's indifferent.

Politics makes for injustice....

29 April 2024.

[corona-journal]

This pre-dated the pandemic.... but I didn't know that measles could reset your immune system memory to zero (in layman's terms).

Well....

Shit.

28 December 2024

VACCINATE YA KIDS FFS

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Maya Yang at The Guardian:

A controversial study that promoted hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, as a treatment for Covid-19 has officially been withdrawn. On Tuesday, Elsevier, a Dutch academic publishing company which owns the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, issued the retraction of the March 2020 study, saying “concerns have been raised regarding this article, the substance of which relate to the articles’ adherence to Elsevier’s publishing ethics policies and the appropriate conduct of research involving human participants”. Elsevier added that concerns had also been raised by “three of the authors themselves regarding the article’s methodology and conclusions”. An investigation by Elsevier’s research integrity and publishing ethics team, as well as the journal’s co-owner, the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, found multiple issues within the study, according to a lengthy retraction notice. Among those include the journal being unable to confirm whether any of the patients involved in the study were acquired before ethical approval had been obtained. The journal has also not been able to establish whether there was equipoise between the study patients and the control patients. According to the Association of Healthcare Journalists, equipoise is the “genuine uncertainty within the expert medical community – not necessarily on the part of the individual investigator – about the preferred treatment.” The retraction notice also said that the journal has not been able to establish whether the subjects in this study should have provided informed consent to receive azithromycin as part of the study. According to the original study, the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid would increase if used with azithromycin, an antibiotic. It went on to add that there is “reasonable cause to conclude that azithromycin was not considered standard care at the time of the study”. Since the study’s publication, three of its authors, Johan Courjon, Valérie Giordanengo and Stéphane Honoré, have contacted the journal to express their concerns “regarding the presentation and interpretation of results” and stated that they “no longer wish to see their names associated with the article”. Meanwhile, several other authors disagree with the retraction and dispute the grounds for it, the retraction notice said.

According to Nature, the study is the highest-cited paper on Covid-19 to be retracted, as well as the second-most-cited retracted paper overall.

The International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents retracts a March 2020 study that promoted hydroxychloroquine as a dubious COVID “cure”.

[corona-journal]

History from 4 years back. Boris Johnson, Brexit and Covid.

Early this week, K and I watched the BBC 4 part series on Boris Johnson

It was interesting to recall how Covid and Brexit were in close conjunction, then Russia invaded Ukraine.

The images of empty streets, medical staff working on patients, were unwelcome memories.

One short video was of a heart rate machine flat lining, and a medical staff member in full multi layered disposable protective gear just reaching up and switching the machine off.

Followed by a voice over of 'The UK is the first country to reach 100,000 covid deaths'.

Next was a series of short clips with marquee tents set up, biohazard clothing people walking along, or in or out of these tents.

Implication: makeshift morgues.

My wife K was more interested in how Boris rose then fell from power.

I'm recalling memories, viewed through the lens of hindsight.

I felt, and still feel, sad.

10 May 2024

[herbsandsorethroat]

My boss got corona

So I'll work alone until Year End.

Good thing? Maybe? I don't know.

I need to work overtime to cover closing shift which sucks

Right now I'm so tired.

I know I have to process my feelings but I don't have the energy for it.

I just want you to rest

[corona-journal]

Hmm.

Long covid sufferers may need this....

"Long covid is what's wrong, I can name several prescriptions that don't do much"

can’t wait to wear this to the pharmacy 😎

[myrawjcsmicasereports]

 Isolated Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Positivity Following Vaccination Against Coronavirus Disease A report of two cases by Manar Al Sanaa AlZeedi in Journal of Clinical Case Reports Medical Images and Health Sciences 

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)—a respiratory illness caused by a recently identified, highly transmissible virus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)—has had considerable global morbidity and mortality.1,2 As a result, a number of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have been developed with unprecedented speed. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is the most common marker of acute HBV infection and is detectable between 1–9 weeks of exposure to the virus, with decreasing HBsAg concentrations indicative of resolving viremia. Herein, we report two cases of isolated HBsAg positivity after COVID-19 vaccination in the absence of other HBV markers, symptoms, risk factors, or recent vaccination. The test turn to ne negative after  period of time in both cases.�� Laboratory technicians and clinicians alike should be aware of the possibility of HBsAg false-positivity following anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

Introduction

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)—a respiratory illness caused by a recently identified, highly transmissible virus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)—has had considerable global morbidity and mortality.1,2 As a result, a number of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have been developed with unprecedented speed.3 While these vaccines have satisfactory efficacy and safety profiles, experience with their use is undeniably limited.4,5 Accordingly, additional knowledge of rare side-effects is important to inform future recommendations.

Hepatitis B is a highly contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV), a virus transmissible via contact with contaminated bodily fluids, including blood, saliva, semen, or vaginal secretions; in addition, it can also be transmitted to an infant during childbirth.6 Up to 30% of the global population is believed to have a current or previous HBV infection.7 Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is the most common marker of acute HBV infection and is detectable between 1–9 weeks of exposure to the virus, with decreasing HBsAg concentrations indicative of resolving viremia.8 Individuals who have achieved immune control of HBV infection will typically show HBsAg negativity approximately 15 weeks after infection onset.8

In 1981, the first HBV vaccine was approved for human use.7 Transient antigenemia is known to occur for up to two weeks after HBV vaccination, thereby leading to a false-positive diagnosis of HBV infection.9,10 However, there are as yet no reports of hepatitis B antigenemia following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Herein, we report two cases of isolated HBsAg positivity after COVID-19 vaccination in the absence of other HBV markers, symptoms, risk factors, or recent vaccination

Case 1

A 37-year-old woman with no significant medical history underwent hepatitis screening during a routine medical check-up. Laboratory testing indicated HBsAg positivity and hepatitis C antibody negativity. No evidence of liver disease was found during a physical examination. She had received two doses of the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer/BioNTech), with the last dose received 4 months earlier. The patient was a health care worker; however, there were no recognized self-reported risk factors for viral hepatitis, including needle stick injury. Furthermore, she had been vaccinated against HBV many years beforehand, with good immunity response, and an HBsAg test conducted two years earlier had been negative.

An HBV profile performed after one week using the neutralization method showed negative HBsAg findings (0.4 IU/mL) [Figure 1], a protective titer of HBsAg antibodies (anti-HBs; >1,000 IU/mL), and negative findings for hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc), hepatitis B envelope antigen (HBeAg), and hepatitis B envelope antibody. No viral load was detected with regards to HBV DNA.

Case 2

A 14-year-old boy underwent hepatitis screening during a routine sports medical evaluation. He had received two doses of the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer/BioNTech), with the last dose received a month beforehand. All routine laboratory findings were within normal limits, except for HBsAg positivity. No hepatitis indicators were found during a physical examination. An HBV profile performed one week later failed to detect HBsAg (0.17 IU/mL) [Figure 2]. The boy had been vaccinated against HBV at one year of age as part of a routine child immunization program.

Figure 2: Final HBsAg results for Case 2.

Discussion

Recommended testing to evaluate for HBV infection includes HBsAg, anti-HBs, and anti-HBc (immunoglobulin M [IgM] for acute in infection and IgG for past exposure).7,8 However, correct interpretation of the findings is paramount to avoid misdiagnosis and inappropriate management. Although transient antigenemia can persist for up to two weeks after HBV vaccination, neither of the patients described in this report had been vaccinated against HBV in the weeks prior to their presentation.9,10 In both cases, HBsAg positivity occurred in the absence of clinical indicators of an underlying HBV infection or HBV risk factors and positivity to other hepatitis B markers, highly suggestive of false positivity.

Different hepatitis B markers become detectable as the infection evolves and can therefore be used to differentiate between acute and chronic infections and susceptibility to future infection.11,12 In the early phase of acute infection, HBsAg is the first marker to develop, followed shortly by HBeAg approximately one week after HBsAg is detectable.12 In those who are symptomatic, there is a rapid rise and then a slow decrease in IgM anti-HBc. Finally, in the convalescence stage, anti-HBs positivity occurs at approximately 6 weeks to 6 months of exposure, once HBsAg has disappeared.11,12 Under normal circumstances, isolated HBsAg positivity therefore occurs only in the very early stages of acute HBV infection before the patient is symptomatic.

Serological profile of an acute HBV infection. Reproduced from the Hepatitis B Foundation website.8

False-positive isolated HBsAg seropositivity has been described in other circumstances, including in the setting of malignancy.11,13 Costa et al. reported a 77-year-old female patient with a basal cell carcinoma who demonstrated persistent isolated HBsAg positivity, despite periodic testing over several months.11 Similarly, Tang et al. described a middle-aged female with primary hyperparathyroidism with repeated HBsAg positivity over a 5-week period prior to the surgical removal of a parathyroid adenoma.13 Other instances in which isolated HBsAg seropositivity may occur include mutated HBV variants and underlying immune conditions such as lupus.11,14

Both groups of researchers attributed the HBsAg positivity in their respective cases to heterophilic antibody interference.11,13 Heterophilic antibodies are poorly defined, low-affinity immunoglobulins which can cross-react with a wide range of animal antigens. As such, the presence of heterophilic antibodies have been shown to affect findings from lateral-flow immunoassays by binding to the target antigen, thereby generating false-positive results.15 Consequently, Costa et al. recommended that initial positive HBsAg findings be confirmed using a neutralization technique in which anti-HBs is incubated with HBsAg to block the HBsAg signal.11

Other infections, such as Epstein-Barr virus, may also give rise to low levels of heterophilic antibodies that can persist for up to a year.11,16 Rheumatoid factor cross-reactivity has also been found to result in misleading immunoassay findings.11,17 The two cases of HBsAg positivity described in this report appeared to be isolated, with subsequent testing failing to show persistent antigenemia, lending support to the theory that the false positivity may have been due to an indigenous factor or an exogenous analytical or operational error.17 Appropriate blocking agents are therefore recommended in order to minimize the risk of false-positive reactions.17,18

Conclusion

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the two cases presented in this paper are the first reports of isolated HBsAg positivity following COVID-19 vaccination. Laboratory technicians and clinicians alike should be aware of the possibility of HBsAg false-positivity following anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, although further research is needed to determine whether such findings are the result of the vaccination or due to other factors. Misdiagnosis of HBV can have potentially serious implications, including inappropriate management, unnecessary testing, surgical or treatment delays, adverse emotional consequences, and social stigma.

[carlocarrasco]

Muntinlupa City Health Office says there are no local cases of COVID-19 FLiRT variants detected

Recently in the City of Muntinlupa, the city health office stated that there are no cases of the new variants of COVID-19, according to a Manila Bulletin news report. To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the Manila Bulletin report. Some parts in boldface… The Muntinlupa City Health Office said there are no cases of the new variants of Covid-19 in the city amid the start…

[corona-journal]

.....I suspect this is pretty much correct, on a correlation with various statistics bureau data bases, for some future researchers....

That's a lot of people who were affected by the pandemic, feeling its effects 2 to 3 years later....

2 Dec 2024

[corona-journal]

Work from home now Return To Office

Well, the management desire to be seen to be in charge has led to Return To Office.

The above comic illustrates exactly what happens.... just change the office decor and occasional work uniform.

For some (like me) I prefer working from the office as it gets me out of the house.

One co-worker, he preferred work in the office to avoid blurred work - home life feelings.

Others in the same office will log on 7 pm to do work.... on a Sunday night....

A third co-worker voiced how she struggled after working all day at the home office.... felt exhausted and nervous, simultaneously....

I still prefer to work in a office setting, and home is home.

25 November 2024