Monday, July 27, 2020
Playing Trivial Pursuit with the kids reminded me of synesthesia - an unusual neurologic condition that links different sensory perceptions with abstract concepts. There are many types, but the most common is perceiving specific colors associated with words or numbers. The most interesting, I think, are people that associate tastes with words. (There are numerous Reddit AMAs with synesthetes who will tell you what your name "tastes" like to them.) What is interesting to me is what this says about human perception - that we are all locked in bodies with data input mechanisms (our five senses). While there may be variations in the hardware, we all have numerous external reference points for interpreting our perceptions and the ability to moderate our reactions. In other words, what we do with that input data is under our control.
Background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
AMA: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/f9q79/iama_synesthete_who_tastes_words_ama/
-------------Latest data
Check out the FT data. Some states seem to be trending in the right direction - (cases per million) dropping in Tx and AZ), FL, CA, MD, and rising. But, as the week goes on, we will have a better sense of what is happening.
http://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data-explorer?yScale=log&zoomToSelection=true&time=2020-04-16..&country=USA~GBR~CAN~BRA~AUS~IND~DEU~FRA~ITA~SWE&deathsMetric=true&dailyFreq=true&aligned=true&perCapita=true&smoothing=7
FT data - the second graph down now has state-level data - I suggest setting it to cases, per million, linear, and add your state to the highlighted list.
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&cumulative=0&logScale=1&perMillion=0&values=deaths
The NY Times has hotspot map is an excellent quick glace of rolling 2-week case change: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
State Details:
https://public.tableau.com/views/Coronavirus-ChangeovertimeintheUSA/2_Corona?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link
Rt data: https://rt.live/
COVID risk by US county: https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/
Estimate your risk of exposure to a COVID positive person based on your county and the size of gathering: https://covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu/
Each of the above sites reports its source data. Please review sources like https://covidtracking.com/ to understand the quality of that data.
-------
I have lots of items to share over the last few days.
I want to start with tweetorial on containing COVID by Andy Slavitt, former CMS administrator in the Obama administration. His point - we are 4-8 weeks away from controlling the pandemic ANYTIME we want. It is a choice. A choice we must make as a country, unfortunately.
https://twitter.com/aslavitt/status/1287524301499965441?s=10
STAT News offers an update on the fact that vaccine trials demonstrate that there will, most likely, be mild and uncomfortable side effects. We will have to wrestle with the notion that there are tradeoffs to immunization, and they aren't bad, just uncomfortable (cue anti-vax and related flat earth beliefs).
https://www.statnews.com/2020/07/27/covid-19-vaccines-may-cause-mild-side-effects-experts-say-stressing-need-for-education-not-alarm/
Some related commentary about vaccines from Carl Bergstrom is worthy of sharing: https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1286803301598547968
Coffee read of the day: here is an excellent summary review by Dr. Hyde, an epidemiologist from Australia, summarizing the data on child transmission of COVID. Unsurprisingly, the evidence supports opening schools ONLY when there is a low prevalence of transmission in a community.
https://twitter.com/DrZoeHyde/status/1286985284102443008
One of the most common issues I face as a nephrologist is estimating kidney function in a patient. All of the ways we have to measure how someone's kidneys are working are indirect and, often, imprecise. There have been data that make alterations in the estimating equations based on race. There is a new debate on the tradeoffs of "race-based" estimation in the medical and lay literature. I offer up the latest version of this discussion since it cross-cuts so much of what I share - science, data interpretation, critical analysis, and race.
https://pubs.glomcon.org/archives/1491
And the antibody discussions continue. The NYTimes offers an article about antibody tests measuring the "right" antibodies. This article is a well-done overview of the issues: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/26/health/coronvirus-antibody-tests.html
Here is an interesting article in the Atlantic calling for a greater focus on wearing masks and less of a focus on surface-based transmission. This article is an example of the kind of prioritization of resource use debate we should be having.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/scourge-hygiene-theater/614599/
Here is a good article on AI-based radiology algorithms applied to COVID. We (in healthcare) are now seeing AI-augmented decision support tools used on the frontlines of care.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/07/27/covid19-ai-researchers-amass-patient-lung-scans/?utm_campaign=rss
Infographic of the day: like a hole in your head.
For those of us that are piercing-free, it may be worth studying the attached map of ear piercings to sound more intelligent when speaking with our pierced friends and colleagues:
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1739/4401/files/EAR-piercing-CHART-bodyj4you_large.jpeg?v=1530197828
Of course, there are numerous maps of piercings (all from the neck up!) at https://www.bodyj4you.com/blogs/news/body-piercing-trends-in-2018
And for those interested in more, the journal Marie Claire offers "Ouch: The History of Piercing" for the historical perspective.
https://www.marieclaire.com/beauty/a8791/history-of-piercings/#:~:text=The%20Ancient%20Piercing%2C%20B.C.,almost%20to%205%2C000%20years%20ago.
----Bonus Round-- Bias and Politics in Healthcare Articles
Last week something unique happened in the world of medical social media. A Vascular Surgery journal published an article attempting to highlight the pitfalls of social media that called out physicians who posted pictures of themselves in bikinis and drinking alcohol as "unprofessional." The backlash has been monumental. The hashtag #medbikini has been used thousands of times to point out that doctors are permitted to have a social life and be human. The original article was retracted, and the authors wrote an awkward apology. But the debate has offered a fantastic humanization of physicians. What is more impressive is how this issue surfaced other numerous and poorly-conceived articles there are in the medical literature. This backlash spawned an enlightening bit of reading.
The article that started it: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S074152141932587X
A sample of the backlash: https://twitter.com/drmichaelgold/status/1286513502182608896
and
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MedBikini&src=recent_search_click
Other intellectual vacuous articles that came to light:
(Withdrawn) 5G Technology and induction of coronavirus in skin cells
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32668870/
The attractiveness of women with rectovaginal endometriosis: a case-control study
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22985951/
Effects of remote, retroactive intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection: a randomized controlled trial
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11751349/
The "battle of sexes" construct among ultra-Orthodox Jews: what is the optimal number of children for a minimal BMI?
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10389-020-01354-4
Homeopathy combat against coronavirus disease (Covid-19)
which has the following methods section: "With the help of mathematics, we will show that the fundamental therapeutic law on which homeopathy is founded can be proved."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7272237/
Clean hands and sharp minds, team
-AW
Playing Trivial Pursuit with the kids reminded me of synesthesia - an unusual neurologic condition that links different sensory perceptions with abstract concepts. There are many types, but the most common is perceiving specific colors associated with words or numbers. The most interesting, I think, are people that associate tastes with words. (There are numerous Reddit AMAs with synesthetes who will tell you what your name "tastes" like to them.) What is interesting to me is what this says about human perception - that we are all locked in bodies with data input mechanisms (our five senses). While there may be variations in the hardware, we all have numerous external reference points for interpreting our perceptions and the ability to moderate our reactions. In other words, what we do with that input data is under our control.
Background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
AMA: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/f9q79/iama_synesthete_who_tastes_words_ama/
-------------Latest data
Check out the FT data. Some states seem to be trending in the right direction - (cases per million) dropping in Tx and AZ), FL, CA, MD, and rising. But, as the week goes on, we will have a better sense of what is happening.
http://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data-explorer?yScale=log&zoomToSelection=true&time=2020-04-16..&country=USA~GBR~CAN~BRA~AUS~IND~DEU~FRA~ITA~SWE&deathsMetric=true&dailyFreq=true&aligned=true&perCapita=true&smoothing=7
FT data - the second graph down now has state-level data - I suggest setting it to cases, per million, linear, and add your state to the highlighted list.
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&cumulative=0&logScale=1&perMillion=0&values=deaths
The NY Times has hotspot map is an excellent quick glace of rolling 2-week case change: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
State Details:
https://public.tableau.com/views/Coronavirus-ChangeovertimeintheUSA/2_Corona?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link
Rt data: https://rt.live/
COVID risk by US county: https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/
Estimate your risk of exposure to a COVID positive person based on your county and the size of gathering: https://covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu/
Each of the above sites reports its source data. Please review sources like https://covidtracking.com/ to understand the quality of that data.
-------
I have lots of items to share over the last few days.
I want to start with tweetorial on containing COVID by Andy Slavitt, former CMS administrator in the Obama administration. His point - we are 4-8 weeks away from controlling the pandemic ANYTIME we want. It is a choice. A choice we must make as a country, unfortunately.
https://twitter.com/aslavitt/status/1287524301499965441?s=10
STAT News offers an update on the fact that vaccine trials demonstrate that there will, most likely, be mild and uncomfortable side effects. We will have to wrestle with the notion that there are tradeoffs to immunization, and they aren't bad, just uncomfortable (cue anti-vax and related flat earth beliefs).
https://www.statnews.com/2020/07/27/covid-19-vaccines-may-cause-mild-side-effects-experts-say-stressing-need-for-education-not-alarm/
Some related commentary about vaccines from Carl Bergstrom is worthy of sharing: https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1286803301598547968
Coffee read of the day: here is an excellent summary review by Dr. Hyde, an epidemiologist from Australia, summarizing the data on child transmission of COVID. Unsurprisingly, the evidence supports opening schools ONLY when there is a low prevalence of transmission in a community.
https://twitter.com/DrZoeHyde/status/1286985284102443008
One of the most common issues I face as a nephrologist is estimating kidney function in a patient. All of the ways we have to measure how someone's kidneys are working are indirect and, often, imprecise. There have been data that make alterations in the estimating equations based on race. There is a new debate on the tradeoffs of "race-based" estimation in the medical and lay literature. I offer up the latest version of this discussion since it cross-cuts so much of what I share - science, data interpretation, critical analysis, and race.
https://pubs.glomcon.org/archives/1491
And the antibody discussions continue. The NYTimes offers an article about antibody tests measuring the "right" antibodies. This article is a well-done overview of the issues: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/26/health/coronvirus-antibody-tests.html
Here is an interesting article in the Atlantic calling for a greater focus on wearing masks and less of a focus on surface-based transmission. This article is an example of the kind of prioritization of resource use debate we should be having.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/scourge-hygiene-theater/614599/
Here is a good article on AI-based radiology algorithms applied to COVID. We (in healthcare) are now seeing AI-augmented decision support tools used on the frontlines of care.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/07/27/covid19-ai-researchers-amass-patient-lung-scans/?utm_campaign=rss
Infographic of the day: like a hole in your head.
For those of us that are piercing-free, it may be worth studying the attached map of ear piercings to sound more intelligent when speaking with our pierced friends and colleagues:
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1739/4401/files/EAR-piercing-CHART-bodyj4you_large.jpeg?v=1530197828
Of course, there are numerous maps of piercings (all from the neck up!) at https://www.bodyj4you.com/blogs/news/body-piercing-trends-in-2018
And for those interested in more, the journal Marie Claire offers "Ouch: The History of Piercing" for the historical perspective.
https://www.marieclaire.com/beauty/a8791/history-of-piercings/#:~:text=The%20Ancient%20Piercing%2C%20B.C.,almost%20to%205%2C000%20years%20ago.
----Bonus Round-- Bias and Politics in Healthcare Articles
Last week something unique happened in the world of medical social media. A Vascular Surgery journal published an article attempting to highlight the pitfalls of social media that called out physicians who posted pictures of themselves in bikinis and drinking alcohol as "unprofessional." The backlash has been monumental. The hashtag #medbikini has been used thousands of times to point out that doctors are permitted to have a social life and be human. The original article was retracted, and the authors wrote an awkward apology. But the debate has offered a fantastic humanization of physicians. What is more impressive is how this issue surfaced other numerous and poorly-conceived articles there are in the medical literature. This backlash spawned an enlightening bit of reading.
The article that started it: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S074152141932587X
A sample of the backlash: https://twitter.com/drmichaelgold/status/1286513502182608896
and
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MedBikini&src=recent_search_click
Other intellectual vacuous articles that came to light:
(Withdrawn) 5G Technology and induction of coronavirus in skin cells
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32668870/
The attractiveness of women with rectovaginal endometriosis: a case-control study
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22985951/
Effects of remote, retroactive intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection: a randomized controlled trial
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11751349/
The "battle of sexes" construct among ultra-Orthodox Jews: what is the optimal number of children for a minimal BMI?
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10389-020-01354-4
Homeopathy combat against coronavirus disease (Covid-19)
which has the following methods section: "With the help of mathematics, we will show that the fundamental therapeutic law on which homeopathy is founded can be proved."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7272237/
Clean hands and sharp minds, team
-AW
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