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covid-safer-hotties · 2 months ago

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By Erica Sloan

These days, it’s tempting to compare COVID-19 with the common cold or flu. It can similarly leave you with a nasty cough, fever, sore throat—the full works of respiratory symptoms. And it’s also become a part of the societal fabric, perhaps something you’ve resigned yourself to catching at least a few times in your life (even if you haven’t already). But let’s not forget: SARS-CoV-2 (the virus responsible for COVID) is still relatively new, and researchers are actively investigating the toll of reinfection on the body. While there are still a lot of unknowns, one thing seems to be increasingly true: Getting COVID again and again is a good deal riskier than repeat hits of its seasonal counterparts.

It turns out, SARS-CoV-2 is more nefarious than these other contagious bugs, and our immune response to it, often larger and longer-lasting. COVID has a better ability to camouflage itself in the body, “and it has the keys to the kingdom in the sense that it can unlock any cell and get in,” says Esther Melamed, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of neurology at Dell Medical School, University of Texas Austin, and the research director of the Post-COVID-19 program at UT Health Austin. That’s because SARS-CoV-2 binds to ACE2 receptors, which exist in cells all over your body, from your heart to your gut to your brain. (By contrast, cold and flu viruses replicate mostly in your respiratory tract.)

It only follows that a bigger threat can trigger an outsize immune response. In some people, the body’s reaction to COVID can turn into a “cytokine storm,” Dr. Melamed tells SELF, which is characterized by an excessive release of inflammatory proteins that can wreak havoc on multiple organ systems—not a common scenario for your garden-variety cold or flu. But even a “mild” case of COVID can throw your immune system into a tizzy as it works to quickly shore up your defenses. And each reinfection is a fresh opportunity for the virus to win the battle.

While you develop some immunity after a COVID infection, it doesn’t just grow with each additional hit. You might be thinking, “Aren’t I more protected against COVID and less likely to have a serious case after having been infected?” Part of that is true, to an extent. In the first couple years after COVID burst onto the scene, reinfections were generally (though not always) milder than a person’s initial bout of the virus. “The way we understand classic immunology is that your body will say to a virus [it’s seen before], ‘Oh, I know how to deal with you, and I’m now going to deal with you in a better way the second time around,’” says Ziyad Al-Aly, PhD, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine and the chief of research and development at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System.

But any encounter with COVID can also cause your immune system to “go awry or develop some form of dysfunction,” Dr. Al-Aly tells SELF. Specifically, “immune imprinting” can happen, where, upon a second (or third or fourth) exposure to the virus, your immune cells launch the same response as they did for the initial infection, in turn blocking or limiting the development of new antibodies necessary to fight off the current variant that’s stirring up trouble. So, “when you get hit an [additional] time, your immune system may not behave classically,” Dr. Al-Aly says, and could struggle with mounting a good defense.

Pair that dip in immune efficiency with the fact that your antibody levels also wane with time post-infection, and it’s easy to see how another hit can rock your body in a new way. Indeed, the more time that passes after any given COVID infection, the less of a “competitive advantage” you’ll have against any future one, Richard Moffitt, PhD, an associate professor at Emory University, in Atlanta, tells SELF. His research found that, while people who got sick initially during the delta phase were less likely to get reinfected during the first omicron wave (as compared to folks who were infected in a prior period), that benefit leveled off with following omicron variants.

There’s also the fact that no matter how your immune system has responded to a prior strain (or strains!) of the virus, it could react differently to a new mutation. “We tend to think of COVID as one homogeneous thing, but it’s really not,” Dr. Al-Aly says. So even if your body successfully thwarted one of these intruders in the past, there’s no guarantee it’ll do the same for another, now or in the future, he says.

Getting COVID again and again is especially risky if it previously made you very ill. Dr. Moffitt’s study above also found that the “severity of your first infection is very predictive of the severity of a reinfection,” he says. Meaning, you’re more likely to have a severe case of COVID—for instance, requiring hospitalization or intensive care, such as ventilation—when reinfected if you had a rough go of it the first time around.

It’s possible that some folks are more prone to an off-kilter immune response to the virus, which could then happen consistently with reinfections. The antibodies created in people who’ve had severe cases “may not function as well as those in folks who’ve had mild infections or were able to fight the virus off,” Dr. Melamed says. Though researchers don’t fully understand why, some people’s immune systems are also more likely to overreact to COVID (remember the cytokine storm?), which can cause serious symptoms—like fluid in the lungs and shortness of breath—whenever they’re infected.

Being over the age of 65, having a chronic illness or other medical condition, and lacking access to health care have all been shown to spike your risk of serious outcomes with a COVID infection, whether it’s your first or fifth fight with the virus.

But you’re not home free if you’ve only had, say, a brief fever or cough with COVID in the past; Dr. Moffitt points out that a small subset of people in his research who had minor reactions with their initial infection went on to be hospitalized with a repeat hit. The probability of that might be lower, but it’s still a possibility, he says.

Even if you’ve only had “mild” cases, each reinfection strains your body, upping your chances of developing long COVID. A 2022 study led by Dr. Al-Aly found that COVID reinfections also increase your risk of complications across the board, regardless of whether you recovered just fine in the past or got vaccinated. In particular, it showed that reinfection raises the likelihood that you’ll need hospitalization; have heart or lung problems; or experience, among other possible issues, GI, neurological, mental health, or musculoskeletal symptoms. “We use the term ‘cumulative effects,’” Dr. Al-Aly says, “so, multiple hits accrue and then leave the body more vulnerable to all the potential long-term health effects of COVID.”

That doesn’t mean your experience of a second (or third or fourth) infection will necessarily be worse, in and of itself, than what you felt during a prior case. But with each new hit, a fresh batch of the virus seeps into your system, where, even if you have a mild case, it has another chance to trigger any of the longer-term complications above. While the likelihood of getting long COVID (a constellation of symptoms lingering for three months or longer post-infection) is likely greatest after initial infection, “The bottom line is, people are still getting diagnosed with long COVID after reinfection,” Dr. Moffitt says.

Researchers don’t totally know why one person might deal with lasting health effects over another, but it seems that, in some folks, the immune system misfires, generating not only antibodies to attack the virus but also autoantibodies that go after the body’s own healthy cells, Dr. Al-Aly says. This may be one reason why COVID has been linked to the onset of autoimmune conditions like psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.

A different hypothesis suggests that pieces of the virus could linger in the body, even after a person has seemingly “recovered” (reminder that SARS-CoV-2 is scarily good at weaseling its way into all sorts of cells). “Maybe the first time, your immune system was able to fully clear it, but the second time, it found a way to hang around,” Dr. Al-Aly posits. And a third theory involves your gut microbiome, the community of microbes in your GI tract, including beneficial bacteria. It’s conceivable that “when we get sick with COVID, these bacteria do, too, and perhaps they recover [on initial infection], but not on the second or third hit,” he says, throwing off your balance of good-to-bad gut bugs (which can impact your health in all sorts of ways).

Another unnerving possibility: The shock to your system triggered by COVID may “wake up” a latent (a.k.a. dormant) virus or two lurking in your body, Dr. Melamed says. We all carry anywhere from eight to 12 of these undetected bugs at a time—things like Epstein-Barr, varicella-zoster (which causes chickenpox and shingles), and herpes simplex. And research suggests their reactivation could be a contributing factor in long COVID. Separately, the systemic inflammation often created by COVID may spark the onset of high blood pressure and increased clotting (which can up your risk of stroke and pulmonary embolism), as well as type 2 diabetes, Dr. Melamed says.

There’s no guarantee that any given COVID infection snowballs into something debilitating, but each hit is like another round of Russian roulette, Dr. Al-Aly says. From a sheer numbers standpoint, the more times you play a game with the possibility of a negative outcome, the greater your chances are of that bad result occurring. And because every COVID case has at least some potential to leave you very ill or dealing with a host of persistent symptoms, why take the risk any more times than you need to?

Bottom line: You should do your best to avoid COVID reinfection and bolster your defenses against the virus. At this stage of the pandemic’s progression, it’s not realistic to suggest you can avoid any exposure to the virus, given that societal protections against its spread have been rolled back. But what you should do is take some common-sense precautions, which can help you avoid any contagious respiratory virus. (A cold or the flu may not pose as many potential health risks as COVID, but being sick is still not fun!)

It’s a good idea to wear a mask when you’re in a crowded environment (especially indoors), choose well-ventilated or outdoor spaces for group hangouts, and test for COVID if you have cold or flu-like symptoms, Dr. Al-Aly says. If you do get infected, talk to your doctor about whether your personal risk of a severe case is enough to qualify for a Paxlovid prescription (which you need to take within the first five days of symptoms for it to be effective).

The other important thing you should do is get the updated COVID vaccine (the 2024-2025 formula was recently approved and released). Unlike getting reinfected, the vaccine triggers “a very targeted immune response…because it’s [made with] a specific tiny part of the virus,” Dr. Melamed says. Meaning, you get the immune benefit of a little exposure without the potential of your whole system going haywire. Getting the current shot also ensures you restore any protection that has waned since you received a prior jab and that you have an effective shield against the dominant circulating strains. Plus, research shows that being vaccinated doesn’t just lower your chances of catching the virus; it also reduces your risk of having a severe case or winding up with long COVID if you do get it.

So, too, can the deceivingly simple act of keeping up with healthy habits—like exercising regularly, eating nutritious foods, and clocking quality sleep. Maintaining this kind of lifestyle can help you stave off other health issues that could increase your risk of harm from COVID, Harlan Krumholz, PhD, a cardiologist at Yale University and founder of the Yale Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE), tells SELF. “Given that we will be repetitively exposed to the virus, the best investments we can make are in our baseline health,” he says.

Doing any (or all!) of the above is a big act of compassion for yourself, the people you love, and your greater community. “For the average person, it’s like, ‘Oh, COVID is gone,’ but they’re just not seeing the impact,” Dr. Al-Aly says, noting the invisibility of long COVID symptoms like disorienting brain fog and crushing fatigue. The truth is, in plenty of people, just one more infection could be the difference between living their best life and facing a devastating chronic condition.

#mask up #covid #pandemic #covid 19 #wear a mask #public health #coronavirus #sars cov 2 #still coviding #wear a respirator #lokng covid

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swampgallows · 1 year ago

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Now we know how COVID attacks your heart

Even patients with mild COVID symptoms could face a higher risk of developing heart disease and stroke

By Sanjay Mishra Nov 07, 2023 04:08 PM 5 min. read

Scientists have noticed that COVID-19 can trigger serious cardiovascular problems, especially among older people who have a buildup of fatty material in their blood vessels. But now a new study has revealed why and shown that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, directly infects the arteries of the heart.

The study also found that the virus can survive and grow inside the cells that form plaque—the buildup of fat-filled cells that narrow and stiffen the arteries leading to atherosclerosis. If the plaque breaks, it can block blood flow and cause a heart attack or a stroke. The SARS-CoV-2 infection makes the situation worse by inflaming the plaque and increasing the chance that it breaks free.

This can explain long-term cardiovascular effects seen in some, if not all, COVID-19 patients.

SARS-CoV-2 virus has already been found to infect many organs outside the respiratory system. But until now it hadn't been shown to attack the arteries.

"No one was really looking if there was a direct effect of the virus on the arterial wall," says Chiara Giannarelli, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Health, in New York, who led the study. Giannarelli noted that her team detected viral RNA—the genetic material in the virus—in the coronary arteries. “You would not expect to see [this] several months after recovering from COVID.”

Mounting evidence now shows that SARS-CoV-2 is not only a respiratory virus, but it can also affect the heart and many other organ systems, says Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis. Al-Aly's research has shown that the risk of developing heart and cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure, stroke, irregular heart rhythms, cardiac arrest, and blood clots increases two to five times within a year of COVID-19, even when the person wasn't hospitalized.

"This important study links, for the first time, directly the SARS-CoV-2 virus with atherosclerotic plaque inflammation," says Charalambos Antoniades, chair of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Virus triggers the inflammation in plaque

A recent study of more than 800,000 people led by Fabio Angeli, a cardiologist at University of Insubria in Varese, Italy, has shown that COVID-19 patients develop high blood pressure twice as often as others. More worrying is that the risk of cardiac diseases can also rise for patients who suffered only mild COVID symptoms.

"I saw a patient who now has a defibrillator, and she didn't even have a severe [COVID] illness," says Bernard Gersh, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.

Wondering whether the cardiovascular damage during COVID was due to the virus directly attacking the blood vessels, the NYU team analyzed autopsied tissue from the coronary arteries and plaque of older people who had died from COVID-19. They found the virus was present in the arteries regardless of whether the fatty plaques were big or small.

"The original finding in this study is that the virus was convincingly found in the plaque in the coronary artery," says Juan Carlos Kaski, a cardiovascular specialist at St George's, University of London, who was not involved in the study.

The NYU team found that in the arteries, the virus predominantly colonized the white blood cells called macrophages. Macrophages are immune cells that are mobilized to fight off an infection, but these same cells also absorb excess fats—including cholesterol from blood. When microphages load too much fat, they change into foam cells, which can increase plaque formation.

To confirm that the virus was indeed infecting and growing in the cells of the blood vessels, scientists obtained arterial and plaque cells—including macrophages and foam cells—from healthy volunteers. Then they grew these cells in the lab in petri dishes and infected them with SARS-CoV-2.

Giannarelli found that although virus infected macrophages at a higher rate than other arterial cells, it did not replicate in them to form new infectious particles. But when the macrophages had become loaded with cholesterol and transformed into foam cells, the virus could grow, replicate, and survive longer.

"We found that the virus tended to persist longer in foam cells," says Giannarelli. That suggests that foam cells might act as a reservoir of SARS-CoV-2. Since more fatty buildup would mean a greater number of foam cells, plaque can increase the persistence of the virus or the severity of COVID-19.

Scientists found that when macrophages and foam cells were infected with SARS-CoV-2 they released a surge of small proteins known as cytokines, which signal the immune system to mount a response against a bacterial or viral infection. In arteries, however, cytokines boost inflammation and formation of even more plaque.

"We saw that there was a degree of inflammation [caused] by the virus that could aggravate atherosclerosis and cardiovascular events," says Giannarelli.

These findings also confirm previous reports that measuring inflammation in the blood vessel wall can diagnose the extent of long-term cardiovascular complications after COVID-19, says Antoniades.

"What this study has found is that plaque rupture can be accelerated and magnified by the presence of the virus," says Kaski.

Understanding heart diseases after COVID

While this new research clearly shows that SARS-CoV-2 can infect, grow, and persist in the macrophages of plaques and arterial cells, more studies are needed to fully understand the many ways COVID-19 can alter cardiac health.

"The NYU study identifies one potential mechanism, especially the viral reservoir, to explain the possible effects" says Gersh. "But It's not going to be the only mechanism."

This study only analyzed 27 samples from eight elderly deceased patients, all of whom already had coronary artery disease and were infected with the original strains of virus. So, the results of this study do not necessarily apply to younger people without coronary artery disease; or to new variants of the virus, which cause somewhat milder disease, says Angeli.

"We do not know if this will happen in people who have been vaccinated," says Kaski. "There are lots of unknowns."

It is also not clear whether and to what extent the high inflammatory reaction observed in the arteries of patients within six months after the infection, as shown in the new study, will last long-enough to trigger new plaque formation. "New studies are needed to show the time-course of the resolution of vascular inflammation after the infection," says Antoniades.

COVID patients should watch for any new incidence of shortness of breath with exertion, chest discomfort, usually with exertion, palpitations, loss of consciousness; and talk to their physician about possible heart disease.

#covid #covid 19 #long covid #national geographic #sars cov 2

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gumjrop · 8 months ago

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The Weather

Twenty-seven US states remain at High to Very High levels of SARS-CoV-2 detected in wastewater since February 28, 2024, with five states not reporting.

Wastewater levels are decreasing throughout the country except in the Midwest. The South is still experiencing extremely high transmission. As a reminder, the last two weeks, shown in gray, are provisional data. These values may change as additional wastewater sites report data.

Despite these ongoing high levels of transmission in most of the country, and in defiance of pleas from civil society to protect the most vulnerable among us, the CDC has once again decided to walk back already insufficient protections – this time in the form of isolation guidance. It announced on Friday at 1 pm that it will repeal the 5-day isolation period for COVID-19 and instead treat COVID-19 like it does other respiratory viruses like flu and RSV, linking isolation length with symptomatology and fever. This policy, of course, is not based on the best evidence–just vibes and a lack of care for those of us still dying (1000s weekly) and still becoming disabled by Long COVID.

Last week, the CDC recommended that people 65 years and older should receive an updated booster. It did not approve a booster for other people in high-risk categories because they didn’t bother studying the benefits and risks in these groups.

Wins

OK. So it’s been a rough week. But you know what? We are all fighting back. We see you all making calls, creating and signing petitions, joining and expanding Mask Blocs, creating and distributing zines, and making your own air-cleaning systems. We see so many more masked, tested, and ventilated events than we used to! We are mobilizing collective power to keep each other safe and to transform this state.

Next week, March 11, will mark the 5th anniversary of the declaration of the pandemic. We’re not where we should be, but this pandemic has radicalized a lot of us. Keep connecting. Keep finding your people. Keep going. We will win.

Oh! And check out these Free COVID-19 and flu test vending machines in King County, Washington!

Variants

JN.1 is still the most dominant variant circulating in the United States and is projected to account for 92.3% of all circulating variants by March 2nd, 2024. Two JN.1 descendants, JN.1.13 and JN.1.18, are now the second and third most common circulating variants, projected to be at 3.3% and 1.8%, respectively.

To check for circulating variants within your community, you can find your HHS Region through the CDC Variant Tracker dashboard.

Long Covid

In an article published in Science, Drs Ziyad Al-Aly and Eric Topol reviewed the perplexing case of Long COVID. They discuss the lack of consensus and systematization when it comes to the classification of the disease, partly due to its different mechanisms and manifestations. For example, younger adult and female Long COVID patients are more likely to be afflicted by fatigue, dysautonomia, brain fog, and post-exertional malaise, while older patients are more likely to deal with cardiovascular and metabolic complications. They also discuss the current potential treatments for Long COVID, but express that since nonpharmaceutical interventions have been neglected, vaccines are the only available therapy. However, vaccines are unable to prevent Long COVID. Ultimately, they state that the only way to prevent Long COVID is by ending COVID transmission, such as by administering pan-variant neutralizing intranasal vaccines.

On March 15, 2024, the Long COVID March will be taking place in Washington D.C. at the Lincoln Memorial. The march is intended to mobilize Long COVID patients and allies to demand acknowledgment and policy changes from the government. You can read the march’s mission statement, which includes a list of objectives.

Take Action

Join us in demanding the CDC reinstate the 5-day COVID isolation policy. Despite the guidelines having already been dropped, we must still fight for adequate protections from COVID to safeguard our communities from harm. Make your voices known by sending a letter to the White House and your elected officials through our Action Network. The People’s CDC will also be implementing other action items in the coming weeks, so look out for those!

Today is COVID Memorial Day, in which we remember the 1.2 million lives lost to COVID in the United States, and show solidarity with the millions living with COVID grief and Long COVID. Check out Marked by COVID to learn more or to participate in today’s virtual vigil.

Again, we must continue to contact our elected officials to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, and we must continue to wear and require the wearing of high-quality respirators such as N95s and KN95s at protests and within organizing spaces.

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pandemic-info · 1 year ago

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Long-Term Long Covid - by Eric Topol

Unfortunately, what was seen at 6 months largely continues out to 2 years.

... [New paper at] Nature Medicine addresses what happened 2 years later to nearly 140,000 people who had Covid, compared with almost 6 million people non-infected controls.

... in the non-hospitalized group a substantial proportion— about 30%— of the 80 sequelae, including GI and neurologic, remained significantly elevated.

... I’d like to point out the data analyzed in this study was enormous, as I tried to capture with one of the supplemental tables below, representative of many others. The authors took on many advanced analytic approaches with weighting, conditional modeling, and sensitivity analyses that I’m not going to review here.

... While this is the first comprehensive and systematic study of Covid at 2 years, it unfortunately is within a highly skewed population. The demographics of nearly 90% men, with a mean age 61 years, is far different than the prototypic person with Long Covid who is more apt to be female and age 30-39 years. Furthermore, to get 2 year follow-up it meant studying a population who had Covid early in the pandemic, before vaccines or the marked evolution of the virus with new variants, including Delta, which was more virulent that the ancestral or Alpha strains that preceded it. So please keep this in mind—the results are important but they may well not be representative of the real world, broader population, of Covid and Long Covid. That’s already a major hole in our knowledge base since there is no other report yet to systematically address a more representative population.

...

Summary

At two years after Covid, there’s a persistent and considerable burden of symptoms and multi-system organ involvement in an important subgroup of people. It’s also unpredictable who will be afflicted with protracted symptoms and new medical diagnoses. While there still is no validated treatment (the Big Miss, as recently reviewed), Long Covid marches on, not just over time for most of those already suffering, but also among newly infected or re-infected individuals — like we are seeing now with increase in cases in the United States and many other countries. The main emphasis here, beyond the enduring and very concerning symptoms and organ dysfunction, is that we are still in the dark. It will take many years to fully know the sequelae of Covid, be it from unforeseen, delayed adverse outcomes like what occurred many years after influenza or polio, or the secondary outcomes of organ systems that are clearly affected, or via promotion of autoimmune conditions or pro-inflammatory pathways, potentially exacerbating risk of atherosclerosis. We’re going to need many more years of careful follow-up to fully understand the ways and extent Covid has hurt us. Meanwhile, beyond the known strategies for prevention of infection, we must consider finding effective ways to treat people who suffer from Long Covid as an urgent and foremost priority.

#long covid #research #data #eric topol #covid #summer 2023 #Ziyad Al-Aly #VA study #nature medicine #sequelae

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cinemafromcinema · 7 months ago

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A senior Palestinian resistance leader said that the Palestinian people could not stand against Israel if not for Iran's full support.

Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement Ziyad al-Nakhaleh made the remarks at a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran on Saturday.

He praised Iran's important role in supporting the resistance of the Palestinian people since the start of Israel's genocidal war against the people of Gaza in early October 2023.

Iran's active diplomacy played a leading role in clarifying the position of Palestine's resistance, he added.

The Islamic Jihad leader emphasized that the Palestinian people will achieve a final victory in their fight against Israel, saying the steadfastness of the Palestinians will be a model for all the people of the world.

Nakhaleh added that Iran has paid the price for its constant support for the resistance of the Palestinian people and its defense of the Palestinians' rights as numerous sanctions have been imposed against Tehran.

He thanked the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and the Iranian officials and nation for supporting Palestine.

#Ayatollah Khamenei #Free Palestine #Gaza #Gaza Genocide #Iran #Tehran #Sanctions #Resistance #Keep Talking About Palestine

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docpiplup · 10 months ago

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As I promised, let's start with the bookscans:

Al-ANDALUS. PERSONAJES HISTÓRICOS

(Al Andalus. Historical figures)

Concepción Masiá

Summary

Introduction.................................. 9

The precursors of al-Andalus.....13

Count Don Julián....................13

Tarif ben Malluk. ....................15

Musa ben Nusayr and Tariq ben Ziyad: the conquerors of Spania...........16

Abd al-Aziz: a good governor with an unfortunate fate ..........................25

The Odyssey of Prince Abd al-Rahman the Immigrant......................................29

Abd al-Rahman was only twenty-five years old.........................................36

Sulayman ben Yaqzan ben al-Arabi: Charlemagne's deceived "deceiver" ........................... ...........41

Amrus ben Yusuf: the muladí of Huesca

.............................................................47

The “rabadies”: adventurous spirits.. ..............................................53

Ziryab: the singer of Baghdad........61 Tarub: the favorite of Abd al-Rahman II...............,...........................................67 Abbas ben Firnas: the first aviator............................ ......................73 Yahya ben Hakan al-Bakri: the miserly poet.....................................................77

Abd al Chabbar and Sulayman ben Martin: the rebels of Mérida..........................81 Eulogio and Álvaro de Córdoba: pursuing martyrdom..........................85 The Andalusian Vikings..................... 95 The emir Abd Allah distrust and death...............................….................... 101 Musa ben Musa ben Qasi: the third king of Spain.......................................................107 Ibn Hafsun: the unredeemed rebel.....115 Abu Alí al-Sarrach: the Andalusian missionary. ...........................................125 Ibn Masarra: a freethinker in Spanish Islam.......,...........,...................................131 Abd al-Rahman III: the first independent caliph of al-Andalus. ...........,................................137 Hasday ibn Shaprut: the Jewish doctor of Abd al-Rahman III............ ....... ...................... ................... 145 Andalusians in France: the “Moorish kingdom” of Fraxinetum....................... 151 Rabbi ben Zayd: Bishop Recemundo............................................. 157 Al-Hakam al-Mustansir bi-llah: passion for culture.................................. 161

Ibn Abd Rabbhi, the encyclopedist, and Ibn Futais, the collector.................. 167 Al-Mansur “the Victorious” ...................171 Hisham II and Sanchuelo: misrule. .......191

Abu Muhammad Ali ibn Hazm: The pigeon neackle................................209

Hisham III al-Mu'tadd: the end of the Umayyad caliphate...............................215

Ibn al-Wafid: the gardener doctor.....221

Avempace. The supreme good: wisdom...................................................225

Zaida: the Moorish Queen of Leon and Castile........................................................227

Ibn Tufayl of Guadix: the best disciple of Avempace................. ............................ .231 Averroes: the universal Andalusian....233 Moseh ben Maimon: Maimonides..... ..239 Abu Yusuf Yaqub: the winner of Alarcos......................................................243 Ibn Arabi: the Sufi mystic.....................249 Avenzoar: a long dynasty of doctors. ...................................................253 Al-Ahmar: Abenámar, Moor of the Morería. ...,...............................................255 The Abencerrajes. ..................................261 Boabdil the Younger: the last Moorish king ............................................................267 Aben Humeya: the last Muslim leader of Spain................ ..........................................275 Bibliography .............................................285

Note: The spelling of Muslim names is taken from the works of: Levy Provençal, Muslim Spain, and González Ferrín, General History of al-Andalus.

Introduction

In the long eight hundred years that the Muslims remained in Spain, there were many personalities who, in all the fields of knowledge, sciences, letters and arts, stood out unequivocal, marking a milestone not only in the culture of al-Andalus, but that had a relevant character in universal culture.

On the other hand, the almost constant struggle between Christians and Muslims would also generate a whole series of great warriors who, for example, the infante Don Juan Manuel considered the best gifted for the war of all those who existed in the East and the West of their time.

The date that we all know as the arrival of the Muslims to Gothic Spania dates back to the year 711. Its expansion throughout the territory was so rapid as had been the conquest of the Persian empire and its presencein large areas of Asia or North Africa, but from a cultural point of view, the 8th century was totally sterile. The new conquerors who arrived from beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, were men at arms, mostly illiterate, who could do little contribute to a Christian Spania whose culture continued to develop under the dictates of the wisdom of Saint Isidore of Seville. Still they were left on the Peninsula

many areas where Christianity had not taken root and its importance regarding the assimilation of Islam.

The first governors of al-Andalus, dependent on Caliphate of Damascus, during the first years of occupation had to face many enormous internal problems, originated by the different origins of their own people, Arabs and berebers, mostly, while cultural issues occupied a very secondary level. But, possibly for purely practical reasons, Arabic as a language was introduced into the Christian field. According to Juan Vernet, it is possible to find some codices from times as early as the 9th century, that in its margins appear apostilles or comments in Arabic, and it seems that this language was already rooted among the Mozarabs, that is, the Christians who continued to live and preserve their religion in Muslim-dominated territories, in times before Abd al-Rahman II.

But it will be Abd al-Rahman I the Immigrant, who arrived in al-Andalus from Syria as the only survivor of the exterminated Umayyad dynasty, the one who will be concerned with introducing the principles of oriental culture in Spain, limiting itself to the legal-religious sciences that, in those moments, were the most important for the newly Muslims arrived. It was during the time of Abd al-Rahman II that the first wise men, who can be called that, enrich the cultural landscape of al-Andalus.

Poets, doctors, philosophers, mathematicians, geographers, undefeated generals...All of them will give al-Andalus and Europe a series of works that, by their importance will be translated, searched, accepted and will serve as a basis for the western culture and Renaissance ideas, in such a way that many of the great sages of the Italian Renaissance considered that all knowledge of the time came from Muslim Spain, which all the wise men were of Andalusian origin. And when the political decline and the disintegration of the caliphate, will not stop birth, grow and develop distinguished minds that will continue to maintain,for a long time, the prestige of al-Andalus. Curiously, this situation will be repeated throughout the history of Spain, when the Arab occupation just be a memory. The Spanish Golden Age will coincide with decadence of the Austrias, when the country loses its pre-ponderance in Europe, and with the disaster of '98, with the loss for Spain of its last colonies, will produce a cultural and scientific renaissance that has been called the Silver age.

Through the pages of this book we want to highlight those figures who occupied a predominant place in the history of al-Andalus, although not all of them were necessarily Muslims, since that in that cultured and tolerant al-Andalus, many Jews and some other Christians showed their genius, and of those who, often, we know more about his works than about his biography. But whatever religion they had, they were all, after all, Andalusians, born and raised in the extensive lands of al-Andalus. As a matter of curiosity we will include some groups of characters anonymous people who, due to their surprising

actions, on occasions dictated by necessity, they reveal the ingenuity or character of the Andalusians. Such would be the case of the "rabadíes", of the Moors who, for a time, established a small kingdom in France, or those Normans who ended up becoming Andalusians and Muslims to save their lives.

Perhaps this way we will learn a little more about that crossbred Spain, in which despite so many years of struggle, truces and battles, mutual loves and hates, numerous characters belonging to the three cultures, Moors, Christians and Jews shared knowledge, affinities and forms of life, making al-Andalus the cultural beacon of the West.

The precursors of al-Andalus

Count Don Julián

The conquest of Morocco had been carried out quickly, but shallow. The Berbers were only subdued after a fierce resistance, defeated by an ambitious general who had just been appointed governor of Ifriqiya and Maghrib. His successes in these lands They would prepare the ground for him to be the one to set his eyes and, also his troops, over Gothic Spania. It was Musa ben Nusayr. Musa, with the help of one of his sons, took possession of Tangier, and demanded that the subjugated tribes hostage to educate them in the new faith, which in turn, became propagandists of Islam, leaving in the conquered Morocco Arab lieutenants, including General Tariq ben Ziyad, he turned to Ifriqiya. But it seems that the Ceuta square remained in the hands of a Christian, the so-called Count Don Julián, who would have a determining role in this entire story. We could consider it as a precursor of that al-Andalus that was about to be born.

#bookblr #book scans #historyblr #history books #al andalus #al andalus. personajes históricos #al andalus. historical figures #history #spanish history #musa ibn nusayr #tariq ibn ziyad #conde don julián #count don julián #count julian

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ricisidro · 4 months ago

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Solving the puzzle of Long Covid, published in Science @ScienceMagazine on 22 Feb 2024 | written by Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly @zalaly and Dr. @EricTopol

More than 90% of cases occur in people who have mild SARS-CoV-2 infection.

#CovidIsAirborne #MaskUp #WashHands

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl0867

#sars cov 2 #covid #covid 19 #long Covid #covid is airborne #mask up #wash hands

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the-garbanzo-annex-jr · 1 year ago

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Government confirms at least 100 Israelis held captive in Gaza

An Israeli family arrives to a police station in Lod, Israel, to provide DNA samples to help identify a relative missing since a Hamas militant attack near the Gaza border, Oct. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Israel’s Government Press Office confirms that at least 100 Israelis are currently being held captive in Gaza.

Posting an infographic on its Facebook page, GPO writes that “100+ kidnapped, 2,000+ injured, 600+ murdered.”

Until now Israel has refused to confirm the number of civilians or soldiers being held hostage. Media reports have suggested that at least 170 may be being held captive in Gaza.

Iran’s Raisi speaks to Hamas, Islamic Jihad as Tehran hails terror onslaught as ‘victory’

By AFP

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a news conference on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly, at UN headquarters in New York City on September 20, 2023. (Ed Jones/AFP)

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi speaks with leaders of Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, official media say, a day after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel.

“Raisi discussed the developments in Palestine in separate phone calls with Ziyad al-Nakhalah, secretary general of the Islamic Jihad Movement, and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the [Hamas] political bureau,” state news agency IRNA reported, without giving further details.

Iran hails the Palestinian attack, calling it a “proud operation” and a “great victory.”

“This victorious operation, which will facilitate and accelerate the collapse of the Zionist regime, promises the impending destruction of the Zionist regime,” says Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“I am congratulating this great and strategic victory, which is a serious warning to all compromisers in the region,” he adds in a letter to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, referring presumably to Arab countries that have normalized ties with Israel.

#israel #hamas #gaza #war with hamas

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partisan-by-default · 9 months ago

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Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis and chief of research at the VA St. Louis Health Care System, told CIDRAP News that many children likely aren't diagnosed as having long COVID because they don't recognize or have the vocabulary to report their symptoms.

"Kids don't come home and say, 'Mom, I have postexertional malaise, I have brain fog,'" he said. "What happens is that they start doing poorly in school, and parents find out weeks and weeks later."

Hannah Davis, cofounder of the Patient-Led Research Collaborative, a group of long-COVID patients who are also researchers, said recognition can be particularly difficult in younger, preverbal children.

"Generally, long COVID research in children has been lacking compared with long COVID research in adults," she said. "A very sad thing to me is that I, and the other folks with long COVID as adults, we had this whole life where we understood what it meant to be healthy and active and not have these symptoms, and children don't necessarily, so you see it manifest in different forms."

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covid-safer-hotties · 1 month ago

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Also preserved on our archive

By Jamie Ducharme

When you reach for a COVID-19 test, it’s probably because you’ve got a scratchy throat, runny nose, or cough. But those are far from the only symptoms that make Dr. Rohit Jain, an internal medicine doctor at PennState Health, suspect the virus.

These days, when someone complains of nausea, diarrhea, or vomiting, “I always get a COVID test on that patient,” Jain says.

Why? Despite its reputation as a respiratory virus, SARS-CoV-2 can also have a profound impact on the gut. Although most people don’t realize it, “COVID-19 really is a GI-tract disease” as well as a respiratory illness, says Dr. Mark Rupp, chief of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Here’s what to know about the gastrointestinal symptoms of COVID-19.

What are the GI symptoms of COVID-19? While some people experience no gastrointestinal symptoms or mild ones, a subset of COVID-19 patients have experienced significant digestive symptoms since the early days of the pandemic.

Loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach pain are common GI symptoms of COVID-19, according to Jain’s research. Some people experience these issues as their first signs of infection, he says, while others initially experience cold-like symptoms and develop gastrointestinal issues as their illness progresses.

It’s not entirely clear why the same virus can affect people so differently, but it’s good to be aware that SARS-CoV-2 can result in a wide range of symptoms, Rupp says.

How long do GI symptoms of COVID-19 last? Some patients recover in a matter of days, Jain says, while others may suffer from diarrhea and other symptoms for weeks.

Still others may be sick for even longer. Gastrointestinal problems are a common manifestation of Long COVID, the name for chronic symptoms that follow a case of COVID-19 and can last indefinitely.

One recent study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology found that, among a small group of adults who were hospitalized when they had acute COVID-19, more than 40% who originally experienced GI problems such as stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea still had at least one a year or more later. Overall, whether they were hospitalized or not, adults who have had COVID-19 are about 36% more likely than uninfected people to develop gastrointestinal disorders including ulcers, pancreatitis, IBS, and acid reflux, according to a 2023 study published in Nature Communications.

GI problems are also common among kids with Long COVID. Stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting are telltale signs of the condition among children younger than 12, according to 2024 research published in JAMA.

Why a respiratory virus affects the gut How can the same virus cause both a runny nose and the runs?

Once SARS-CoV-2 gets into your body, it infects cells by binding to a protein called ACE2, which is found throughout the body. ACE2 is prevalent in the lungs, which helps explain COVID-19’s respiratory symptoms—but it’s also found in high concentrations in the gastrointestinal tract, “so it makes sense that the GI tract would be a target for the virus,” Rupp says. It’s in part because SARS-CoV-2 collects in the gut that wastewater surveillance is a useful tool for tracking the virus’ spread, Rupp adds.

Studies have shown that the virus can hide out in the “nooks and crannies” of the digestive system for months or even years, says Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who co-authored the Nature Communications study on chronic post-COVID GI symptoms. This may explain why gut-related symptoms can long outlast an acute infection, Al-Aly says—but there are many potential hypotheses in play, and researchers don’t know for sure which one or ones are correct.

For example, many researchers also think the virus is capable of causing widespread and sometimes long-lasting inflammation, potentially affecting organs throughout the body. This inflammatory response may have trickle-down effects on the gut microbiome, the colony of bacteria and other microbes that live in the GI tract, Rupp says. “We’re just scratching the surface as to what happens there,” Rupp says, but studies have already shown that SARS-CoV-2 can change the composition of the gut microbiome both during an acute infection and chronically.

There’s also a complex relationship between the gut and the brain, adds Dr. Badih Joseph Elmunzer, a gastroenterologist at the Medical University of South Carolina and co-author of the Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology study on prolonged post-COVID GI symptoms. His research suggests people are particularly likely to suffer long-term GI problems if they also have signs of PTSD from their acute illness or hospitalization.

That’s not to say GI symptoms are all in patients’ heads; on the contrary, Elmunzer says, they are very real. But, he says, there’s a lot left to learn about the microbiome, the gut, and the myriad ways they interact with other bodily systems.

#mask up #covid #pandemic #covid 19 #wear a mask #public health #coronavirus #sars cov 2 #still coviding #wear a respirator #long covid #covid conscious #covid is airborne

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