tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2378740782367400412024-03-11T21:52:19.135-07:00Health ReadingSharing thoughts on articles on health, medical science, and health care. Comments, reviews, or occasionally original writings. Contact me at yong321@yahoo.com.Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-57345629219574673782023-12-26T06:48:00.000-08:002023-12-26T06:48:47.377-08:00Excess leads to harm on the same metric as benefit from moderation<p>
Moderation is the key to health. For example, sunbathing can help synthesis of vitamin D in the body, but excessive sunbathing increases the risk of skin cancer. Resistance exercise can help increase muscle mass, but excessive exercise causes muscle strain. These excesses have one thing in common: the harm they cause is not on the same metric as the benefit brought about by the moderate use. For example, too much sun exposure will not actually reduce the synthesis of vitamin D. Excessive resistance exercise itself will not lead to muscle atrophy.
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So, are there behaviors or food intakes where overdoing creates the opposite result <i>on the same metric</i> as doing it in moderation? Here is an example:<br>
<a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/can-eating-mangoes-reduce-womens-facial-wrinkles">Can Eating Mangoes Reduce Women’s Facial Wrinkles? Pilot Study Shows Promising Results</a><br>
A 2020 randomized clinical trial at the University of California, Davis, found that eating 85 grams of mango per day can reduce facial wrinkles, but eating 250 grams can <i>increase</i> wrinkles. The experiment described in <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/11/3381">the research article</a> is simple and was well done. As for why increasing the intake of mango several times will cause increase in wrinkles, the researchers can only guess: It may be related to the large amount of sugar contained in mango. This guess is not very convincing, but there is currently no better explanation. The paper has been cited in other articles over the past two years, but the test was not further studied by any other team.
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The above test only examines one indicator: the amount of facial wrinkles. Moderate intake and excessive intake of mangoes produce opposite results on the same indicator. It is not that excessive intake causes some damage unrelated to the indicator, nor is it that large intakes reduce the amount of wrinkles more, or reach a peak (i.e. Mango intake is no longer associated with wrinkle reduction). I don’t know if there is a special term for this type of test results in epidemiology, but it is certain that such test results are not common.
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Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-4293526440904351342023-11-30T13:19:00.000-08:002023-11-30T13:24:28.643-08:00Another benefit about red meat<p>
Red meat, most typically beef, but also including some others such as pork in spite of its white color after cooking, has had a bad reputation in recent years. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) classifies red meat as probably carcinogenic to humans, but scientists <a href='https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/xpert-reaction-to-iarc-classification-of-processed-meat-as-carcinogenic-to-humans-group-1-and-red-meat-as-probably-carcinogenic-to-humans-group-2a/'>caution</a> against misreading of the news. Consumers should not rush to conclude that eating even a moderate amount of red meat is bad. In fact, unlike certain things some of us may intentionally or unintentionally consume, e.g. tabacco, or mercury, which have no safe low limit, red meat with a moderate intake is good to us because it is very rich in nutrition, especially protein.
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Now, a <a href='https://www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/oncology/nutrient-found-in-red-meat-and-dairy-products-could-boost-cancer-therapies/'>new research</a>, published in <a href='https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06749-3'><i>Nature</i></a> has just found that red meat, as well as fairy products, can boost cancer therapies. More amazingly, the research even found benefit in trans-fat, which we have for quite some time regarded as a heinous villain against our health. On the other hand, reading this research, we must keep in mind that red meat is said to boost certain cancer treatments and the specific type of trans-fat is involved, but this definitely does not suggest we should eat a significant amount of red meat or even a small amount of trans-fat, because (1) this research is still new, and (2) the cancer treatments in this research are specific, at least for now. Nevertheless, this research is something we may keep an eye on because it sheds new light on our conventional wisdom.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-4606767072998641102023-07-15T14:12:00.005-07:002023-07-15T21:47:59.920-07:00East Asians more likely to carry a gene variant associated with long COVID but ...<p>
According to a preprint research article <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.29.23292056v1.full.pdf"><i>Genome-wide Association Study of Long COVID</i></a>, "[t]he allele frequency of rs9367106-C at the FOXP4 locus varied greatly among the different study populations, with frequencies ranging from 1.6% in studies with non-Finnish Europeans to higher
frequencies such as 7.1% in Finnish, 19% in admixed Americans, and 36% in East Asians". In other words, non-Finnish Europeans have a 1.6% chance to have this gene variant associated with an increased risk of Long COVID and East Asians have a 36% chance. This is clear enough. But some people misread these simple numbers. One journalist's article <a href="https://longishmagazine.substack.com/p/scientists-discover-long-covid-gene"><i>LONG COVID GENE FOUND</i></a> says that "[t]he Long Covid FOXP4 mutations are 7x more common in Finnish people than in non-Finnish Europeans, and 36x more common in East Asians". The author must be interpreting the ratios in the research paper as a number (numerator) over some unit denominator. But if we do care about an inter-race comparison, we ought to say that the mutations are 7.1/1.6=4.44 times more common among the Finnish people than non-Finnish Europeans, not 7 times more. Likewise, East Asians are 36/1.6=22.5 times, not 36 times, more likely than the non-Finnish Europeans to have this mutation.
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When that journalist's English article was translated into Chinese and posted to Weibo, the Chinese Twitter-like social media network, an even worse headline was added, "东亚人患新冠长期后遗症的概率是欧洲人的36倍" (East Asians are 36 times more likely than Europeans to suffer from Long COVID), naively equating the ratio of carrying a gene variant to the ratio of getting the disease, a mistake I pointed out in my Weibo <a href="https://weibo.com/1938059975/Na2QoBzDr"><i>posting</i></a> (along with the Chinese translation). If the doctor of Angelina Jolie, the actress who opted for mastectomy to forestall a possible breast cancer, had told her she would definitely get breast cancer because she carries that gene, he could be instantly famous among the cancer researchers world wide, as a laughing stock.
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So, what is the chance of getting long COVID for each race? According to a February 14, 2023 <a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/these-races-are-the-most-likely-%20%20to-develop-long-covid/"><i>article</i></a> summarizing data from the US census, Asian Americans are the least likely to get long COVID among the five race categories. However, Asian Americans with long COVID have the highest chance to experience severe symptoms. To put simply, Asian Americans don't easily get long COVID, but if they do get it, their symptoms are very serious, relative to any other race. It would be interesting to reconcile this data with the latest research about the gene variant. It's possible that Asian Americans, the relatively well-educated and well-off group of Americans, follow common hygiene practices better than other Americans, hence lower rate of COVID and therefore long COVID. But due to the FOXP4 gene variant which many East Asians carry, long COVID causes the most severe symptoms to East Asians. There are still missing links in this logic, though. For example, Asian Americans are not necessarily East Asian Americans.
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Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-19543147829562925712023-04-20T15:55:00.001-07:002023-04-20T15:55:18.389-07:00Sleeping pills and Alzheimer<p>
Two seemingly conflicting reports about sleeping pills and Alzheimer:
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1. Sleeping Pills May Increase Dementia Risk: Study <a href="https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/news/20230303/sleeping-pills-may-increase-dementia-risk-study">https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/news/20230303/sleeping-pills-may-increase-dementia-risk-study</a>
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2. Alzheimer’s Disease Protein Levels Reduced by Sleeping Pill <a href="https://www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/patient-care/neurological-disorders/alzheimers-disease-protein-levels-reduced-by-sleeping-pill/">https://www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/patient-care/neurological-disorders/alzheimers-disease-protein-levels-reduced-by-sleeping-pill/</a>
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I think the key here is to make a distinction among these drugs. The good one (in the second article) is suvorexant, which according to a Google search, is sold under the brand name Belsomra. The bad ones (in the first article) are Dalmane (flurazepam), Halcion (triazolam), Rstoril (temazepam), Desyrel and Oleptro (trazodone), and Ambien (zolpidem). So if we ever need a sleeping pill, choose Belsomra and avoid the ones in the latter list.
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But why bother? If I do need a sleeping pill, I'd rather take melatonin, which is naturally secreted in our body and has no truly harmful effect.
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Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-76671114658865027522022-10-25T12:58:00.001-07:002022-11-13T06:53:20.229-08:00Higher Cancer Rates in Men and Alzheimer Rates in Women Due to Genes<p>
It's interesting to read the following two articles together:
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<a href='https://www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/oncology/higher-cancer-rates-in-men-likely-due-to-biological-differences/'>Higher Cancer Rates in Men Likely Due to Biological Differences</a><br>
<a href='https://www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/patient-care/neurological-disorders/x-chromosome-linked-enzyme-may-explain-womens-higher-alzheimers-incidence/'>X Chromosome-Linked Enzyme May Explain Women’s Higher Alzheimer’s Incidence</a>
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While men and women have different health-related characteristics, they don't account for the large differences in cancer and Alzheimer incidence rates. This implies that regardless future progress in medical sciences (barring significant gene editing), there will always be more women than men in a high-age group, and at the same time, more of these women suffering from Alzheimer than men unless this disease is completely eliminated.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-35005473183663954492022-05-02T19:34:00.000-07:002022-05-02T19:34:30.112-07:00Acupuncture, TCM, or alternative medicine in general will be fully deciphered<p>
M.D. Anderson (MDA) Cancer Center, the best cancer hospital in the US, posted a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MDAnderson/posts/365239732316947">message</a> to Facebook, "Pressing pressure points and energy channels that we can’t see may help with headaches, nausea and anxiety." Most readers cheer for or agree with the message. But one reader, a former MDA employee and also cancer survivor, criticized MDA for bringing alternative medicine into its toolbox when even the terminology used by alternative medicine is unscientific, thus tarnishing the image of MDA as a prestigious hospital. He says "What energy channels? What basis is there for the existence of these channels? I note that “Qi” is always placed in quotes. Why? If it’s something that can truly be manipulated, it ought to have an actual name and evidence of its existence. If not, then MD Anderson ought not be promoting something that has no basis in fact."
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As usual, this type of questioning leads to a hot debate, and the original poster (MDA) decides to filter out all messages except this reader's initial message and MDA's direct response. My long response to the reader's message is among those filtered out as well. But I'd like to present it below.
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<p style="color:#660066">
The terms "qi", "energy channels" etc. indeed sound pre-scientific. But lack of understanding of the real mechanisms and temporarily using these terms should not blind us from tried-and-proved efficacy of acupuncture to improve certain symptoms, most notably pain. Your attitude is very understandable, and I'd like to compare that to Einstein's toward the probabilistic nature of small particles such as electrons; his "God does not throw dice" implies that he believes the true, non-probabilistic, definite time and place of any particle will eventually be revealed and the quantum phenomena are just one stage in the history of science. Well, we don't know if he'll eventually be proven right on that but we're quite sure many pre-scientific-sounding terms and the theories associated with them in alternative medicine are being rendered unnecessary. Just like we no longer say four humors of a human body, we're gradually substituting pharmacological findings for TCM's classification of herbs into hot-cold-mild-sweet-... The latter can still be retained for pedagogically convenient tools or mnemonics. As to acupuncture, for some reason, the study of the mechanism is far slower than pharmacology. (I recall reading an article about a Chinese Academy of Science biophysicist's research in 1980's.) But just because we don't know the true nature of it doesn't mean we should stop using it if it doesn't cause serious side effects and it works most of the time. (For instance, one pressure point, called 风池--I have to look up the English name--has remarkable reproducibility in temporarily relieving headache.)
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The gold standard of double or single blind trials has its limitations, particularly when it comes to pain management (and I think one more field, psychiatry). It's almost impossible for the trial participant to not know if he's in control or intervention group. Instead of blindly blaming reported effects of acupuncture as placebo effect, other strategies such as N-of-1 trials may be adopted. For all its shortcomings, N-of-1 bypasses the said problem of blind trials and most importantly, tests a specific individual's response. When it comes to pain relief, psychiatric treatment, and probably more, it's a norm not exception for one intervention to be valid for John but not for Jack. Acupuncture falls into this category.
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(By the way, I'm sorry to hear that you had cancer but I'm glad it was cured or is in remission. I think it's you that I worked with 16+ years ago on the leukemia project. Back then MDA probably did not have integrative medicine. But I think it's a welcome addition, because it helps relieve certain symptoms.)
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-48602599981598141922021-08-29T09:45:00.008-07:002021-09-06T19:13:22.376-07:00How to read medical statistics correctly?<p>
The Bright Light News website claims to be "Shining a light on the Covid-19 narrative. Investigate. Facts matter." An <a href="https://brightlightnews.com/more-fully-vaccinated-dying-of-delta-variant-than-unvaccinated-public-health-england/">article</a> on the website dated August 23, based on statistics from the British government, is titled "More Fully Vaccinated Dying of Delta Variant Than Unvaccinated". This conclusion is surprising, and on the surface of it, is difficult to explain. I checked the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1012644/Technical_Briefing_21.pdf">original data</a> of the British government website (see the small print after Source for the URL), and found that the Bright Light article quoted the data correctly (see Table 5 on pp.22-23): In the survey, 57.1% of the people who died of the Delta variant of the coronavirus in England were completely vaccinated, and 32.8% of those have not been vaccinated. So where is the problem?
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The reality is that the vast majority of the people in the UK, about 90%, are fully vaccinated. Therefore, the ratios 57.1% and 32.8% cannot be compared in isolation. If the former were 90% and the latter 10%, i.e. matching the ratios of the vaccinated and unvaccinated population, and if there is no other factor that confounds the matter, we would be able to conclude that vaccination does not increase or decrease death rate; if the former were to exceed 90%, the latter less than 10%, then it would be that vaccination will increase the chance of dying. In case this is not clear enough, let's see another example. Imagine you have 1000 apples, 900 of them being red and 100 green. If there are a total of 10 apples that have gone rotten, 9 of them red and 1 green, and suppose there are no other confounding variables related to rotting of apples (e.g., some apples are kept in the refrigerator and others are not), then we can say that the color of the apple is unrelated to whether it rots, but we cannot say "Look! Red apples are more likely to rot than green apples, in fact by 9 times more likely!" If 6 out of 10 rotten apples are red and 4 green, we can't say that the color of the apple is unrelated to whether it's going bad or not. On the contrary, we should say that red ones are less likely to go bad, even though 6 is greater than 4!
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Medical students must receive formal training in epidemiology. I have read such a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RKW50G/">textbook</a>, in which there're plenty of such logical questions. But the case above is much simpler than the exercises in this type of textbook, and no special training is required to draw correct conclusions. Sadly, the website that claims "Shining a light" is lacking in basic logical thinking and misleads gullible people into vaccination rejection.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-90576913985942678382021-03-06T19:59:00.000-08:002021-03-06T19:59:43.153-08:00Choline helps reduce Alzheimer's risk for certain people: a new studyThe following is a bullet-point summary of a recently published research. Specifically, this is a layman's summary of a medical news article, "APOE4 Alzheimer’s Risk Could Be Abated by Common Dietary Supplement", <a href='https://www.clinicalomics.com/topics/patient-care/neurological-disorders/apoe4-alzheimers-risk-could-be-abated-by-common-dietary-supplement/'>published</a> on ClinicalOMICS magazine, supplemented with other information such as that on Wikipedia.
<ul>
<li> The primary authors of the published <a href='https://stm.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.aaz4564'>research article</a> work for MIT.
<li> People carry APOE (Apolipoprotein E) genes, which are involved in the metabolism of fats. The APOE2 variant is good, 3 neutral, 4 bad in terms of risks for late onset Alzheimer, as well as cardiovascular diseases. 14% of the general population, but almost <b>half of Alzheimer's patients, have APOE4</b>. Most people have APOE3.
<li> The Wikipedia page for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choline#Cognition">choline</a> states that "[s]tudies observing the effect between higher choline intake and cognition have been conducted in human adults, with contradictory results". And <a href='https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-436/choline'>WebMD</a> article says "Insufficient Evidence for ... Alzheimer disease". But the authors of this new study said "those trials were not targeted specifically to people with the APOE4 gene".
<li> "[C]holine supplementation ameliorated the APOE4-induced lipid defects... [M]ost people don’t consume that much [of recommended choline]... <b>[P]eople who carry the APOE4 gene may benefit from taking choline supplements</b>... The APOE4 carriers are more susceptible to choline deficiency."
<li> According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choline#Content_in_foods">Wikipedia</a>, <b>beef liver</b> contains the most choline per unit weight, 418.22 mg/100g, followed by <b>chicken liver</b> (290.03 mg/100g), <b>hen egg</b> (251.00), "wheat germ, toasted" (152.8), bacon (124.89), soy bean (115.87), pork loin (102.76). Vegetables are not rich sources of choline; the highest are brussels sprout (40.61) and broccoli (40.06), followed by cauliflower (39.10).
<li> Choline is not considered vitamin. Multivitamins you may be taking do not contain choline. Severe deficiency, which is unlikely, "causes muscle damage and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease" according to Wikipedia.
</ul>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-68897787576120487812020-07-16T15:09:00.002-07:002020-07-16T17:14:04.841-07:00African/African-American and Non-Finnish European populations more susceptible to COVID-19<p>
According to <a href="https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-020-01673-z">New insights into genetic susceptibility of COVID-19: an ACE2 and TMPRSS2 polymorphism analysis</a> published on 15 July 2020 in <i>BMC Medicine</i> by Cleveland Clinic researchers,
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"the distribution of deleterious variants in ACE2 differs among 9 populations in gnomAD (v3). Specifically, 39% (24/61) and 54% (33/61) of deleterious variants in ACE2 occur in African/African-American (AFR) and Non-Finnish European (EUR) populations, respectively (Fig. 1b). Prevalence of deleterious variants among Latino/Admixed American (AMR), East Asian (EAS), Finnish (FIN), and South Asian (SAS) populations is 2–10%, while Amish (AMI) and Ashkenazi Jewish (ASJ) populations do not appear to carry such variants in ACE2 coding regions"
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If needed, Figure 1b can be viewed <a href="https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-020-01673-z/figures/1">here</a>. This research of course mean Latinos or Asians can take it easy when it comes to prevention. In fact, the outbreaks in Brazil and India appear to contradict this research. But this research is about genetic susceptibility, not considering the social factors that may play a greater role, such as whether people wear face masks and keep social distancing.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-34430094140715782822020-07-09T21:26:00.000-07:002020-07-13T18:11:44.545-07:00Advice against COVID-19, "wash hands" vs. "wear masks", in the past months<p>
If you recall the advice from CDC and WHO since early 2020, you may notice that they strongly advised washing hands in the first few months, and did not emphasize wearing face masks as much, let alone social distancing. This is unfortunate misguidance to the public in view of the fact that the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is air-borne and transmits more through people's breath and less through touching.[note1] I wish the experts at these organizations had emphasized wearing face masks and keeping social distance more than or at least as much as washing hands early on.
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Anyway, to confirm my impression that the ratio of advice on wearing masks to hand washing increased in the past few months, I took advantage of Microsoft search engine Bing's historical searches.[note2] First I search on bing.com for "wash hands" (no quotation marks used) while limiting the time range to 1/1/2020 - 1/31/2020, 2/1/2020 - 2/29/2020, ..., 6/1/2020 - 6/30/2020. I record the approximate search result counts given by Bing. Then I search for "wear masks" and record the same counts. The result is in the following.
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<pre>
wash hands wear masks
1 524,000 362,000
2 643,000 557,000
3 2,220,000 1,640,000
4 2,090,000 3,620,000
5 2,490,000 5,350,000
6 2,270,000 4,860,000
</pre>
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The left column is the month, January (1) through June (6). The right column is the search result count for the month. We can tell that "wash hands" was found on much more webpages in March than February as if Americans woke up to the grim reality in March. So was "wear masks". But "wash hands" more or less reached a plateau, while "wear masks" overtook "wash hands" in April and stays in the lead ever since.
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This comparison by no means is a direct proof of CDC or WHO's failure to advise the more efficient preventive measure, because the Bing-indexed webpages are authored by all sorts of people. But the public listens to these health authorities. If they say more about "wash hands" and less about "wear masks" and "social distancing", people do it, too.
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By the way, the latest <i>Economist</i> magazine has an article <a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/07/08/face-off-over-face-masks-europes-latest-north-south-split">Face-off over face-masks: Europe’s latest north-south split</a>, which shows that more and more people in 14 countries started to wear face masks over time. It's interesting to see that Asian countries generally have a sharper rise of the curve than those in Americas and Europe, apparently reflecting the Asian tradition of collective compliance. (The reason China appears to be high all the time is that the data didn't start till February, when COVID-19 was already spread in China.)
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_________________<br>
[note1] Not that touching contaminated surfaces is less risky. But the probability of touching such surfaces and bringing the viruses into the body is lower than directly receiving air-borne viruses in an environment where at least one person is virus carrier or spreader.<br>
[note2] Google also provides historical search results. But in these searches, the estimated result counts are not given.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-77422853322006773462020-04-24T13:27:00.000-07:002020-07-09T20:38:18.671-07:00Racial distribution of COVID-19 cases in New York<p>
According to <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/imm/covid-19-deaths-race-ethnicity-04162020-1.pdf">New York City data</a>, age-adjusted rates of COVID-19 cases per 1000000 people as of April 16,2020 are
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<table style="background-color:beige">
<tr><td><b>Race Ethnicity</b></td><td><b>Non-hospitalized</b></td><td><b>Non-fatal hospitalized</b></td><td><b>Known to have died</b></td></tr>
<tr><td>Black/African American</td><td>335.5</td><td>271.7</td><td>92.3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hispanic/Latino</td><td>271.6</td><td>198.6</td><td>74.3</td></tr>
<tr><td>White</td><td>190.4</td><td>114.5</td><td>45.2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Asian</td><td>95.1</td><td>82.2</td><td>34.5</td></tr>
</table>
combined with <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/states/new-york-population/">NYC demographics</a>
<pre style="background-color:beige">
White: 63.79%
Black or African American: 15.64%
Other race: 8.76%
Asian: 8.31%
Two or more races: 3.05%
Native American: 0.41%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 0.04%
</pre>
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We can see that African Americans are disproportionately represented as many media outlets or <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/racial-ethnic-minorities.html?deliveryName=USCDC_2067-DM26555">government</a> organizations acknowledged. But less known is that the Asian population is significantly represented as well, if we factor in the proportion of the Asians in the whole population in the city. Note that White is 63.79% in the population compared to Asian 8.31%. This is 7.67 times as much. But the non-hospitalized cases are 190.4 and 95.1, for White and Asians respectively. Note 190.4/95.1=2.00. This means in NYC, Asians are 7.67/2.00=3.83 times as likely to contract the virus (but not hospitalized) as the white. Similar calculations can be done to non-fatal hospitalized cases and deaths.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-15609759349949842462020-03-24T15:33:00.001-07:002020-03-26T10:48:23.065-07:00Optimize bed positions in an area of limited space<!--https://www.facebook.com/elpais/posts/10157158580966570-->
<p>
The Spanish magazine <i>El País</i> <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2020/03/22/album/1584868312_266377.html">article</a> shows hundreds of beds in a big data warehouse structure.<br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcaURYQahAD0fr1fOfN5ygPqdvq7cUEy6RNkDHnp05JZ8T4KxVEcREKJqxXCUpRa9Ps39D9EomTG-WZq9O4o2LqurH_T1RAOLsWKlx7pTuXx9fmDdxSHWWGSyg6hPgW0d9eqLbp22kNg8U/s1600/BedsWithDistance.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcaURYQahAD0fr1fOfN5ygPqdvq7cUEy6RNkDHnp05JZ8T4KxVEcREKJqxXCUpRa9Ps39D9EomTG-WZq9O4o2LqurH_T1RAOLsWKlx7pTuXx9fmDdxSHWWGSyg6hPgW0d9eqLbp22kNg8U/s320/BedsWithDistance.jpg" width="320" height="174" data-original-width="980" data-original-height="533" /></a><br>
All the beds are arranged as if they are on the points of a perfect square grid or mesh, each bed about 5 meters (16.4 feet) away from the two on the same row or the two in the same column, roughly as in this pattern
</p>
<pre>
bed..bed..bed
.............
bed..bed..bed
</pre>
<p>
But this is not the most efficient use of space in terms of keeping distance while maximizing the number of beds in this limited space. If we shift every other column of beds down (or up) by half a row, schematically like this
</p>
<pre>
bed.......bed
.....bed.....
bed.......bed
.....bed.....
</pre>
<p>
although the distance between two beds in the same column remains the same, the distance to the left and right beds has increased from 5 meters to sqrt(5^2+(5/2)^2) = 5.59 meters. This 59 cm or about 2 feet of increase in distance may not sound significant, but it's better to not waste any precious space in this situation. In this new arrangement, of course the position of a bed really has to be the position of the head of the patient in bed, since that's where the contagious cough comes out.
</p>
Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-23933719104347761912020-03-19T13:49:00.001-07:002020-04-04T08:42:04.850-07:00First country of a pandemic: guilty or not guilty<p>
As of this writing, the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus infection is almost a quarter million in the world, and there are almost 10,000 deaths. While WHO has long established the convention to not name an epidemic or pandemic after the name of the country where the outbreak started, there's no cease of debate about whether that country is guilty if it had initial cover-up, denial, or do-nothing complacency. A simple answer to the titled question is definitely positive, for the reason that if the country promptly acted to notify the public, prohibit group gathering, and isolate the first few infected, there wouldn't be an outbreak beyond the limited area at all. In terms of deaths that could have been avoided, and the simple fact that death cannot be converted to life, the guilt is inexcusable.
</p>
<p>
However, there is another side to the argument. If a regular human ordinarily acts in a way that unintentionally leads to damage, the fault becomes excusable and the act is not considered guilt. If it had not been China where the coronavirus was first found and spread, if it had been Italy or Iran or the US, judging by the actions these governments took in the last two months, we may safely conclude that these countries would have made the same mistake as China, i.e. initial denial if not outright cover-up, and lack of preparedness for the spread of the virus (in spite of the extremely applaudable effort in the later stage of virus control). The ethical argument is that if every country or government, regardless its political classification, behaves the same in the initial wrongdoing, this wrongdoing can be attributed to human nature or the nature of a governing body. Even if this is a fault, it's a fault inherent in universal human nature. Just as to err is human, so to err is of the nature of a group made up of humans.
</p>
<p>
Is the country where a pandemic originates guilty if the country fails to control its spread due to negligence or misfeasance at the early stage? I say it is guilty, but does not warrant blame, because as of year 2020, human civilization has not progressed to the point where initial denial of a virus outbreak is a rare and universally condemned behavior, except when viewed in hindsight. That day will come, and a new epic in human history will begin, hopefully soon, at the end of this coronavirus pandemic. To err is, in general, human and of the nature of a congregation of humans. But to err on a specific type of event is not always so. In the case of initial denial before an epidemic outbreak, now is the time to change this error from being human to being inhuman.
</p>
<hr width=75%>
<p>
[Update]
</p>
<p>
A reader: Naming a disease after a region is not inherently racist or stigmatizing. The idea that a country should be considered guilty for an outbreak resulting from negligence is completely unjustified. Authorities responsible for harmful cover-ups should be condemned.#2cents#
? I say, no.<br>
Me: You have a good point. If I understand you correctly, we should treat the country and its authorities or government separately. The former is not guilty but the latter is. Correct?<br>
The reader: I'm not going to blame a five-year-old Chinese kid because a fifty-year-old Chinese official lied. The debate is interesting, though. Hitler rose to power in a democracy (the Weimar Republic). Does this fact make the "Germans" collectively culpable? I say, no.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-40017942574413201002020-03-05T16:26:00.002-08:002020-04-07T09:05:11.887-07:00Disinfection and reuse of face masks<p>
There is one topic related to the coronavirus outbreak but rarely covered in English: how to reuse face masks in the midst of their severe shortage in all stores, online or brick-and-mortar. Reusing masks for non-medical professionals is <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/hcwcontrols/recommendedguidanceextuse.html">recommended</a> and important. But I have not found any article in English about how to disinfect slightly infected masks in order for reuse.[note] Articles in Chinese however do abound. One written by a non-specialist, <a href="http://thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_5856993">好不容易买来的N95口罩,这么做就废了!!!(N95可重复利用方法)</a> (Doing this to N95 masks you managed to buy would trash them!!! (Methods of reusing N95)), appears to make good sense. This February 8 article is posted by <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%BE%8E%E6%B9%83%E6%96%B0%E9%97%BB">澎湃新闻</a>, a reputable news outlet. They claim the original author is a person by the Wechat ID 远方青木 or YFqingmu, whose <a href="http://wemp.app/accounts/6ca46f14-34de-482a-ab40-e6399ecf3f07?page=10">article list</a> around the date, however, does not include this article.
</p>
<p>
The main points of the article that I find most interesting are as follows (my translations in the parentheses):<br>
KN95(口罩)能拥有这么强的防护能力,核心秘密在于静电吸附原理...静电最怕的就是水...消毒的重点有两个,第一个高温,第二个无水。可靠的消毒办法总共有三种,分别是: (The secret that KN95 (masks) can have such a strong protective ability lies in the principle of electrostatic adsorption ... What static electricity most fears is water ... The keys to disinfection is twofold, the first being high temperature, the second being lack of water. There are three reliable methods of disinfection:)<br>
1、紫外线杀菌 (Ultraviolet sterilization)<br>
2、干式烘烤 (Dry baking)<br>
3、土法消毒 (DIY disinfection)<br>
...酒精含水,能杀病毒没错,但口罩也废了 (Alcohol contains water. It sure can kill viruses, but masks also become useless)
</p>
<p>
While strong UV radiation works well, most households don't have such equipment. Dry baking or heating is good. But don't put the masks in a microwave because of the metal pieces in the masks. Many Chinese use alcohol to disinfect the masks. But it's said that the masks filter mainly by electrostatic adsorption of viruses instead of, as most people believe, through the tiny air passageways. Any amount of water, including that in alcohol in high concentration, much less 75% rubbing alcohol, disables the static adsorption capability. The article suggests putting the mask in a small jar, seal the jar and throw it in boiling water.
</p>
<p>
I personally find that a coffee mug warmer you would use in office can do the work too. If the warmer is at least 20w in wattage (no USB type), the surface temperature can be as high as 140F. Contact with the outer side of the mask for a few minutes should be enough for disinfection. You need to rotate the mask once in a while so the whole surface has a chance to touch the mug warmer surface.
</p>
<p>
Some people suggest using a hair dryer to blow on masks. It should work because the temperature is high enough to inactivate the viruses. The only caution to take is that this should be done outdoors, and the air should be blown away toward nobody, in case some inactivated viruses may fly into air.
</p>
<p>
Lastly, regarding reusing masks, we may also take the strategy of using multiple of them in turn. For example, you use a new mask on day 1, another one mask on day 2, but back to the first one on day 3, and so on. You can also rotate every 3 days. The reason for setting aside the mask to be reused at least 1 day after is that the viruses may be inactivated simply by loss of contact with their hosts. (The inactivated viruses might actually serve as vaccines!) You may disinfect the mask after you take it off. But leaving it aside for tens of hours alone is also a good way to "disinfect" it.
</p>
<p>
[Update]<br>
According to the research led by an Academy of Chinese Sciences academician posted on the web on February 27 titled <a href="http://news.cnnb.com.cn/system/2020/02/27/030129831.shtml">用电吹风给口罩“充电”</a> ("Recharge" face mask with a hair dryer), the electrostatic of the masks can be recharged, as follows (my translations in the parentheses)
</p>
<p>
1.将用过的一次性医用无纺布口罩置于大于56℃热水中浸泡30分钟(56℃ 30分钟可有效灭活病毒),通常沸水与室温水(按20℃算)1:1混合后约为60度,为提高灭毒杀菌效果,可适当提高沸水比例;(Put the used disposable medical non-woven masks in hot water with a temperature of higher than 56℃ for 30 minutes (at 56℃ for 30 minutes the virus can be effectively inactivated). Usually, boiling water and room-temperature water (assumed to be of 20℃) mixed at a 1:1 ratio reaches about 60 degrees. In order to improve disinfection and sterilization, the proportion of boiling water can be somewhat increased;)<br>
2.将口罩从水中取出,甩掉表面液滴,平放在干燥的绝缘材质表面(如桌布、床单等),用电吹风机吹烘约10分钟吹干并荷电,或用普通电风扇吹口罩约15分钟,或用普通家用电子点火器对口罩进行全面覆盖的“电击”,通过口罩内部纤维的摩擦或外部放电等,使口罩材料重新荷电。(Remove the mask from the water, shake off the surface droplets, and lay it flat on a dry surface of insulating material (such as tablecloths, sheets, etc.), blow dry with a hair dryer for about 10 minutes to recharge, or blow the mask with a regular electric fan for about 15 minutes, or "shock" the mask with a general household electronic igniter. Recharge the mask materials through friction of the fiber inside the mask or external discharge.)
</p>
<p>
The video on the webpage shows exactly how this is done. Impressive! The same content of the article is also <a href="http://www.miit.gov.cn/n973401/n7647394/n7647414/c7749306/content.html">published</a> on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology webpage.
</p>
______________________<br>
[note] 2020-04-07 Update: CDC just published an article <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ppe-strategy/decontamination-reuse-respirators.html">Decontamination and Reuse of Filtering Facepiece Respirators</a>. Interestingly, they recommend "vaporous hydrogen peroxide (VHP), and moist heat" instead of dry heat. There is no mention of electrostatic property of the face masks.Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-90226066671352586422020-01-22T10:24:00.000-08:002020-01-22T15:00:26.801-08:00Vaccine for SARS?<p>
Is there a vaccine for SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)? The following is a summary of various reports.
</p>
<p>
In December 2004, the official <a href="http://www.most.gov.cn/tpxw/200412/t20041206_17862.htm">website of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology</a> claims that "中国研制出安全有效的SARS灭活疫苗" (China has developed a safe and effective inactivated vaccine for SARS), which seems to contradict the Wikipedia <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome">SARS article</a>, "[t]here is no vaccine for SARS ". According to a 2016 article from <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-sars">healthline.com</a>, "[r]esearchers are currently working on a vaccine for SARS, but there have been no human trials for any potential vaccine. According to a 2018 article from <a href="https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=25187">medicinenet.com</a>, “[n]o licensed vaccine had hitherto been developed for any human coronavirus”. But a November 2012 <a href="http: //www.nbcnews.com/id/3541381/ns/health-infectious_diseases/t/china-begin-testing-sars-vaccine/">NBC News</a> article says “Chinese researchers expect to begin human trials next month on an experimental SARS vaccine”. I have not been able to find any outcome of or follow-up to that 2012 human trial. According to a Jan 22, 2020 <a href="https://time.com/5768956/wuhan-coronavirus-vaccine-treatment/">Time article</a>, "[f]ollowing the SARS outbreak in 2003, researchers produced a vaccine that made it to phase one human trials, which test the safety of a new drug. But the effort never progressed further, mainly due to shifting research priorities as the outbreak came to an end."
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-45557459701035071352019-12-11T17:56:00.001-08:002019-12-11T17:58:00.056-08:00Eating too much ramen may be linked to higher risk of stroke but not heart attack<p>
The <a href="https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12937-019-0482-y">article</a> published on <i>Nutrition Journal</i> on 09/04/2019 explicitly says "The prevalence of ramen restaurants, but not of other restaurant types, positively correlated with stroke mortality in both men and women (r > 0.5). We found <i>no correlation between ramen restaurant prevalence and mortality from acute myocardial infarction</i>." (my italics)
</p>
<p>
And yet some media such as <a href="https://nextshark.com/ramen-stroke-japan-mortality-study/">nextshark.com</a> ("Japanese Ramen Linked to Heart Attack and Stroke Risk, Study Says") or <a href="https://qz.com/1758980/japanese-study-links-ramen-shop-prevalence-to-high-stroke-risk/">qz.com</a> ("The researchers from Jichi Medical University suspected that ramen, which is high in sodium, might be linked to higher risk of strokes and heart attacks") incorrectly report that the research links ramen with heart attack, technically known as acute myocardial infarction. A heart attack is blockage of the blood vessels to the heart, while stroke is blockage of the vessels to the brain. It's a simple distinction naive people including some journalists are ignorant of. In any case, too much sodium is always bad, although what ingredient or ingredients in ramen are responsible for higher risk of stroke are not directly investigated in this research.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-25563864366868906442019-08-04T11:01:00.000-07:002019-08-04T17:08:30.685-07:00Amount of protein in food<p>
Cleveland Clinic is a prestigious hospital in the US particularly for its heart program. So their newsletters about health are of top quality as well. In the July 26, 2019 newsletter, <a href="https://health.clevelandclinic.org/which-is-the-best-protein-source/">Which Is the Best Protein Source?</a>, we read
<pre>
Grams of ANIMAL PROTEIN per 100 grams of:
36.71 veal
36.12 beef
32.08 lamb
28.86 pork
28.74 chicken
25.51 tuna
24.62 sardines
23.63 cheese
22.10 salmon
20.50 crickets
12.58 eggs
Grams of PLANT PROTEIN per 100 grams of:
22.21 peanut butter
20.96 almonds
16.89 oats
9.04 tofu
9.02 lentils
8.86 black beans
This article is adapted from Dr. Hyman's book "What the
Heck Should I Eat?" (© 2018, Hyman Enterprises, LLC)
</pre>
On p.37 of Mark Hyman's Food: <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Food-What-Heck-Should-Eat/dp/0316338869/">What the Heck Should I Eat?</a></i>, we find this list, citing as its source a webpage on wired.com, <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/07/sustainable-proteins/">Know Your Meat—and Bugs. Introducing the Periodic Table of Protein</a>. Unfortunately, the wired.com article does not give the source, which is unusual among articles on a health topic. But it doesn't take long to find that the ultimate source of it (as well as many others such as <a href="https://www.nutritionvalue.org">nutritionvalue.org</a>) to be <a href="https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/">USDA</a> (US Department of Agriculture), where you can search for very detailed nutrition data, probably too detailed for a non-specialist. Since the amount of protein in 100 grams of eggs is surprisingly low, only 12.58 grams according to wired.com or its downstream book and webpage, let's search for "egg" on the USDA website, and we get (grams per 100 grams of eggs)
<pre>
Egg, white, dried: 81.10
Egg, whole, dried: 48.05
Egg, yolk, dried: 33.63
Egg, yolk, raw, fresh: 15.86
Egg, whole, cooked, fried: 13.61
Eggs, scrambled, frozen mixture: 13.10
Egg, whole, raw, fresh: 12.56
Egg, whole, cooked, poached: 12.51
Egg, white, raw, fresh: 10.90
Egg, whole, cooked, omelet: 10.57
Egg, whole, cooked, scrambled: 9.99
</pre>
We can see that wired.com's Periodic Table of Protein or other similar sources quote the protein content of eggs (12.58g) from USDA as probably "Egg, whole, raw, fresh" or "Egg, whole, cooked, poached", not for instance, "Egg, white, dried", which would be too high, nor "Egg, whole, cooked, scrambled", too low. If we search for "veal", the most protein-rich food in the Periodic Table of Protein, on USDA, we get a hundred of entries. I have not determined which of them most closely matches 36.71 grams per 100 grams of veal.
</p>
<p>
In short, the simple protein nutrition list is a good reference, but it hides a lot of details about whether the food is raw or cooked, which part of the food is measured, and how it is cooked.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-35864599396822132692019-06-08T07:25:00.000-07:002019-06-08T13:55:28.364-07:00Lessons learned from a story of a student that committed suicide<!--
<p>
A friend's friend's son committed suicide a few years ago short of one year to graduate from a medical school. Lessons learned:
</p>
<p>
(1) The student should not be outspoken in complaint about the school, which in this case eventually treated him as having a mental problem. Private counseling with the school counseling service is supposed to be strictly private, but who knows. If needed, seek counseling outside of school, and do not leave any information that could lead to the knowing of the school.
</p>
<p>
(2) Never say anything bad on public forums (e.g. Facebook) about a teacher while being taught by him (or her). He may become the initiator of a persecutory witchhunt.
</p>
<p>
(3) Under extreme mental stress, consider terminating the challenging work or job or career, even if this means the student won't be a medical school graduate.
</p>
<p>
(4) If possible, keep an eye on the student's purchase online. It may be used for suicidal purposes.
</p>
<p>
(5) Always check the review and background of the counselor before using him or her, if that information is available. (In this story, it was not.)
</p>
-->
...
<p>
(6) If after the counseling, the child is less open to his parents, suspect the counselor, and stop the counseling immediately.
</p>
<p>
Note Lesson (6), which is related to (5). It is probably the most obscure aspect of mental counseling and yet is of vital importance, literally. It's not uncommon for a counselor to say, perhaps casually just like any non-specialist, that the parents are not caring (enough) or not doing a good job. Except in rare cases where the parents or one parent is truly irresponsible, these defamatory words alienate the child from the loving parents. And in view of the fact that an immature child may trust his teacher or counselor more than his parents, these words are particularly damaging, and could inadvertently push the child toward total isolation and possibly suicide.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-53670196312015673302019-05-22T10:37:00.001-07:002019-11-21T07:34:18.669-08:00Eating too much sugar leads to diabetes?<p>
Does eating too much sugar cause type-2 diabetes? The answer has always been "not directly", that is, too much sugar, commonly consumed along with too much unhealthy food, causes weight gain, which contributes to diabetes. But the 2013 article by the UC San Francisco researchers, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0057873">The Relationship of Sugar to Population-Level Diabetes Prevalence: An Econometric Analysis of Repeated Cross-Sectional Data</a>, is said to give a positive answer to the question. According to news articles such as <a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2013/02/98777/quantity-sugar-food-supply-linked-diabetes-rates">Quantity of Sugar in Food Supply Linked to Diabetes Rates</a>, and <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/257108.php">High Sugar Consumption Linked To Type 2 Diabetes</a>, the author of the research article said that “in medicine, we rely on the postulates of Sir <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Bradford_Hill">Austin Bradford Hill</a> to examine <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_Hill_criteria">associations to infer causation</a>, as we did with smoking. You expose the subject to an agent, you get a disease; you take the agent away, the disease gets better; you re-expose and the disease gets worse again. This study satisfies those criteria, and places sugar front and center.”
</p>
<p>
Unfortunately, I can't find much talk about this research on the Internet, especially some time after its publication. Six years have passed and the public opinion on whether there is relationship between sugar intake and diabetes largely remains negative. An 2017 <a href="https://www.pcrm.org/news/blog/does-sugar-cause-diabetes">article</a> summarizes various studies, with a general conclusion of "No" to the title question "Does Sugar Cause Diabetes?", citing 16 references, without mention of the 2013 UCSF article.
</p>
<p>
[2019-11 Update] According to a new article <a href="https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2019/09/18/dc19-0734">Changes in Consumption of Sugary Beverages and Artificially Sweetened Beverages and Subsequent Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: Results From Three Large Prospective U.S. Cohorts of Women and Men</a>, "[i]ncreasing consumption of sugary beverages or ASBs was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, albeit the latter may be affected by reverse causation and surveillance bias." <a href="https://www.drweil.com/health-wellness/body-mind-spirit/diabetes/can-sugary-beverages-raise-the-risk-of-diabetes/">Dr. Weil</a> calls the study "the first to investigate whether or not changes in beverage choice and long-term consumption of sugar or artificially sweetened drinks is associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes."
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-42909802010835486802018-07-17T11:59:00.003-07:002018-08-01T19:40:49.309-07:00Do TCM doctors have a shorter life span than doctors of western medicine?<p>
It's a common theme on the Internet of the Chinese language: "台湾中医比西医短命六七岁" (Taiwanese Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors have a shorter life span than doctors of western medicine by six to seven years). Like almost all popular articles written in Chinese, the source of claim is not verified. In this case, it's simply stated as "台湾《联合报》报道" (according to the report of Taiwanese <i>United Daily News</i>), or "根据台湾医学会最新调查" (according to the latest investigation of the Taiwanese Medical Society"), without giving a link.
</p>
<p>
After some Googling, I managed to locate the earliest webpage that carried this information. At <a href="http://blog.udn.com/giveman/4346332">blog.udn.com/giveman/4346332</a> posted at 2010/08/23 15:08, the blogger attributed this claim to the Taiwanese 衛生署 (Ministry of Health) and 婦產科醫學會 (Taiwanese Gynecological Society) by quoting a reporter by the name of 陳惠惠. Unfortunately, there's no further link. One week later, on 2010/8/30, Professor 黃文璋 (Wen-Jang Huang) of National University of Kaohsiung <a href="http://www.stat.nuk.edu.tw/SouthShow.asp?myid=1186">wrote</a> that "雖未能找到台灣婦產科醫學會的調查報告,但在網路上查到..." (Although the investigative report by the Taiwanese Gynecological Society was not found, I searched and found on the Internet that ..."
</p>
<p>
Literature search aside, the fact that a statement claiming that TCM doctors live shorter than non-TCM counterparts can quickly become popular and continue floating on the Internet for many years is an interesting one. Indeed, TCM is said to be strong at 养生 (maintaining health) and not so at medical treatment, as most people believe. Then, why would TCM practitioners themselves die younger? If that turns out to be true based on quality statistics, there may be one factor at play: TCM doctors are not fully appreciative of the toxicity of some ingredients (they know but choose to make light of them), or have not kept abreast of some latest studies (as in the case of 马兜铃酸 or aristolochic acid found to exist in much more herbs than previously thought).
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-60291135673927369242018-03-11T18:15:00.000-07:002018-03-11T18:15:10.443-07:00Better be fat, if you're a man with cancer<p>
"Obesity associated with longer survival for men with metastatic melanoma"<br>
<a href="https://www.mdanderson.org/newsroom/2018/02/obesity-associated-with-longer-survival-for-men-with-metastatic-melanoma.html">www.mdanderson.org/newsroom/2018/02/obesity-associated-with-longer-survival-for-men-with-metastatic-melanoma.html</a>
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"Obese patients with metastatic melanoma (note: the most dangerous type of skin cancer) who are treated with targeted or immune therapies live significantly longer than those with a normal body mass index... This effect, referred to as the 'Obesity Paradox', principally manifested itself in men... The researchers found no significant differences in survival between women with normal, overweight or obese BMI... Women with metastatic melanoma have long been known to have better outcomes compared to men. In this study obesity overcame that survival disadvantage for men, leading researchers to now look at the possible impact of sex hormones in this effect... Recent studies have shown a similar survival benefit for obese patients with colorectal or kidney cancer."
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The researcher, Dr. Jennifer McQuade at <a href="https://www.mdanderson.org">M. D. Anderson Cancer Center</a>, consistently rated the best cancer hospital in the US, said, “The public health message is not that obesity is good. Obesity is a proven risk factor for many diseases,... Even within our metastatic melanoma population, we would not suggest that patients intentionally gain weight. We need to figure out what is driving this paradox and learn how to use this information to benefit all of our patients.”
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Nevertheless, the temptation for a male cancer patient in this situation to gain weight is so strong that the politically correct public health message could be ignored. Unless the cause of this "Obesity Paradox" is soon identified, it may be wise to advise these patients to try temporarily accumulating body fat in order to improve survival. Obesity is no doubt an evil. But what evil is more bad than cancer? The researcher in this study is reluctant to advocate weight gain even in this very specific case. That is understandable as they are neither interested nor specialized in making an exception to the overall healthy advice.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-42733193887893083532017-06-06T19:14:00.002-07:002017-06-06T19:14:15.022-07:00Olive oil: three brands are good<p>
An article is circulating on the Internet titled something like <a href="https://www.curejoy.com/content/studies-uncover-14-fake-11-real-olive-oil-brands-4-step-diy-authenticity-test/">Studies Uncover 14 Fake And 11 Real Olive Oil Brands (With 4-Step DIY Authenticity Test)</a> or its variant. There are a few problems with this article.
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<p>
<ul>
<li>The word "fake" is misused. Those olive oils not meeting the test requirements are not really fake, but mostly just do not have sufficient olive oil component in the blend.</li>
<li>The DIY authenticity test such as storing olive oil in the fridge to see if the oil solidifies is not reliable.</li>
<li>The biggest problem may be the brands not matching those in the ultimately quoted research article.</li>
</ul>
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I'd like to focus on the last point. The above mentioned article lists these brands in the section "Who Were Keeping It Real?", i.e. not "fake" in the author's language<br>
<pre>
Ottavio
Kirkland Organic
Corto Olive
Lucero
California Olive Ranch
Bariani Olive Oil
Cobram Estate
Lucini
McEvoy Ranch Organic
Omaggio
Olea Estates
</pre>
and, at the bottom of the Web page, reveals the source, http://www.healthyfoodhouse.com/14-fake-olive-oil-companies-revealed-stop-buying-brands-now/, which in turn claims to be based on http://livetheorganicdream.com/fake-olive-oil-companies-revealed-stop-buying-these-brands-now/, which finally indicates the trustworthy research done at <a href="http://olivecenter.ucdavis.edu/research/files/report041211finalreduced.pdf">olivecenter.ucdavis.edu</a>. That 2011 University of California at Davis article, titled <i>Report: Evaluation of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Sold in California</i>, does not list all the above 11 good brands. I checked each of them against the <i>Report</i>. Only three out of the 11 are truly listed as good brands. They are
<pre style="color:red">
California Olive Ranch
Cobram Estate
Lucini
</pre>
This is not too bad in the sense that we as non-specialists only need to memorize three names when we shop for olive oil at a grocery store.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-1725196806446835452017-03-29T20:28:00.000-07:002017-03-29T20:28:23.337-07:00Birth month and risk of diseaseA Columbia University research on the data of 1.7 million patients in a New York hospital shows that 55 diseases are associated with birth month. Averaged on all the diseases, people born in October and November have the highest risk and those born in May have the lowest.
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<p>
Breaking down to specific diseases: Born in March you have a higher risk of nine types of heart disease. Born in December, higher in reproductive diseases. Born in November, higher in respiratory and neurological diseases. See the bar graphs in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/15/what-your-birth-month-means-for-your-risk-of-disease/">Washington Post article</a>.
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But the strength of correlation with birth month varies too. See the circle at the bottom of the <a href="http://newsroom.cumc.columbia.edu/blog/2015/06/08/data-scientists-find-connections-between-birth-month-and-health/">Columbia University article</a> where the distance of the dot from the center represents the strength of correlation. Thus, acute bronchiolitis is very strongly associated with a birth at the end of November, viral infection strongly associated with a birth in mid-November, ADHD somewhat associated with a birth at the beginning of November, and hypertension rather weakly with a birth month in mid-January.Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-16980050773829260212017-02-19T14:00:00.000-08:002017-06-08T13:02:58.348-07:00Centipedes in TCM contributes to passing through blood-brain barrierChinese Central Television aired a <a href="http://tv.cntv.cn/video/C10342/c198088ddf6243919e857590fcedf625">video</a> about a touching story. In 2009, a Henan-province doctor, Song Zhaopu, went to Hotan, Xinjiang, to treat young children suffering cerebral palsy, where the disease is widespread due to under-developed economy and people's lack of knowledge of health of newborn babies. In addition to massage or physical therapy and acupuncture, Dr. Song used the following TCM medicines in the treatment: 龟甲 (tortoise shell), 鳖甲 (turtle shell), 蜈蚣 (centipede), 党参 (codonopsis), 鸡内金 (membrane of chicken gizzard). The main ingredients are the first two. Codonopsis is for nourishing <i>yin</i> and promoting <i>qi</i>, and membrane of chicken gizzard is for improving digestion. What interests me is the centipede, which, according to Dr. Song, acts as the transport agent carrying the medications into the brain, because it can go through the blood-brain barrier (see the snippet near 3:10 of <a href="http://tv.cntv.cn/video/C10342/4d9862f2dbc144069a02ef0c4b1c5cf0">the third video page</a>). This is apparently a TCM concept interpreted in the terminology of modern medical science and Dr. Song acknowledged that. If the centipede or the molecules in the blood as a result of it are capable of literally passing through the blood-brain barrier, it is a wonderful gift from mother nature because many other diseaes such as depression, dementia and Alzheimer can benefit from it. Due to the blood-brain barrier, delivering any medication to the brain is always a challenge, even though it's not the major obstacle. I did not find any research article studying the effect of dried centipedes in passing through the blood-brain barrier. But such research may be worth the effort.Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237874078236740041.post-83873436812045830792016-10-12T08:08:00.000-07:002017-06-08T13:08:16.980-07:00Not quite placebo<p>
This 2008 article, <a href="http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/583598">A Randomized, Controlled Pilot Study of Acupuncture Treatment for Menopausal Hot Flashes</a>, evaluates the effect of acupuncture on menopausal hot flashes. I'm only interested in the methods used in this study. 56 women aged 44 to 55 are divided into three groups, receiving (A) "usual care" (i.e. no acupuncture or needle treatment), (B) sham acupuncture (needle points not on documented meridians), and (C) TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) acupuncture. The result shows that groups B and C have significantly less hot flashes than group A. In spite of a small sample size, this study can be said to show a positive effect of acupuncture. But more interesting is that both groups B and C show about the same effect, with C slightly more improvement during the early stage of the treatment. While A and B are both used as control groups, B is used as a placebo group. Therefore this study can also be said to prove that acupuncture is no better than placebo.
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Alternative medicine supporters would quickly point out the difference in efficacy between groups A and C, and opponents make use of the lack of difference between B and C. But neither covers the full picture. Not all control groups are created equal, and a placebo may be designed incorrectly. This may be particularly relevant in the acupuncture study, where by convention a sham acupuncture is the same as true acupuncture except for the needle points. Unfortunately, more and more tests seem to show that such sham acupuncture is not sham enough, so to speak, although it probably also points out that the acupuncture point locations are not as important as traditionally believed.[note1]
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<p>
(See also my March 27 posting of <a href="http://healthreading.blogspot.com/2016/03/acupuncture-is-removed-from-back-pain.html">Acupuncture is removed from back pain treatment guideline in UK</a>)
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<p>
(See also <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/6/1/15711814/open-label-placebo-kaptchuk">A radical new hypothesis in medicine: give patients drugs they know don’t work</a>. "His own randomized controlled trials found that giving patients open-label placebos — sugar pills that the doctors admit are sugar pills — improved symptoms of certain chronic conditions that are among the hardest for doctors to treat, including irritable bowel syndrome and lower back pain.... You don’t have to give a drug that’s more than placebo; the placebo effect itself is something".)
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__________________<br>
[note1] The acupuncture points used in group C of this study are as follows: CV-4 关元, KI-3 太溪, SP-6 三阴交, BL-23 肾俞, HT-6 阴郄, KI-7 复溜. I'll leave this list to TCM experts to judge the quality of this selection in treatment of hot flashes.
</p>Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.com0