Has Anita Baker been mentioned yet? Her voice is spectacular! Basia is good. Lisa Stansfield. The music of my youth. 😄

Jason Fung is an MD who has been having his patients try different kinds of fasts that are designed to work with how their bodies respond to fasting. There are many ways to fast and in his two books, he details how to start and fine tune fasts to suit your needs. They're both very good. He also has online information and I think there is still a facebook group. Valter Longo is a researcher at USC who has been studying the cellular effects of calorie restriction, fasting and fast-mimicking diets on animals and humans for many years, most of his career actually. He has studied the effects of fasting on aging and patients with cancer and autoimmune disease, like MS, that are very interesting. The cancer studies have been replicated with similar results. Basically, fasting induces autophagy, when your body is forced to use, repair or discard bits of lingering, damaged cellular material that causes inflammation. These bits can stick around for a long time wreaking havoc on neighboring, healthy cells. Then, after the fast is completed and feeding resumes, stem cells pop up along the spinal cord and these stem cells can be used anywhere in your body. Longo later found that his patients who went on a fast-mimicking diet (FMD) -- a 5-day, vegan diet with specific percentages of fat/carbs/protein and calories -- got results almost as good as those who did water fasting. The FMD is easier to do than water fasting so people are more likely to comply. My husband was often getting migraines during water fasts (probably due to loss of electrolytes) and so we now do this type of dieting once a month. They're just recipes I created using the free Cronometer app. You can find short PR pieces about Longo's research put out by USC. He has also done two interviews with researcher Rhonda Patrick (Found My Fitness) on You Tube, a Ted Talk and he has a book explaining his research (all proceeds go to research). If you are interested in cancer and diet, Thomas Seyfried is a researcher worth checking out, too.

I used to belong to a travel forum and knew people who travelled this way through Home Exchange. They got to know one another very well and were like a big family. It’s very much relationship based. If you want to do this, check out the Home Exchange website.

A fast-mimicking diet (FMD) is just a diet with specific macros and calories that has metabolic effects similar to fasting. (5:2 diets do not yield this result.) Valter Longo found that for his cancer patients the water fasting was just too difficult, so he devised and tested a FMD and found the results were pretty close to the water diet. He was measuring certain biomarkers. This diet, ProLon, is sold through USC but it is possible to create your own using a free app like Cronometer. (All profits from ProLon go to research, fwiw.) All five days the food is vegan. Day 1: 1100 calories roughly 10% protein, 56% fat, 34% carbs 500 from complex carbohydrates 500 from healthy fats 25 grams of plant-based protein (100 calories) 1 multivitamin/mineral supplement 1 omega3/omega 6 supplement sugarless tea water Days 2-5: 800 calories roughly 9% protein, 44% fat, 47% carbs 400 from complex carbohydrates 400 from healthy fats 1 multivitamin/mineral supplement 1 omega3/omega 6 supplement sugarless tea water I used Cronometer to create my own meals trying to reach the same calories and percentages as well as high levels of potassium and magnesium. There are also some forums online that share recipes and advice. Reddit has one called FMD.

A fast is an excellent way to shed the lining of your intestines and rebuild it. https://news.mit.edu/2018/fasting-boosts-stem-cells-regenerative-capacity-0503 Valter Longo is a researcher who has studied for years the effects of fasting on cancer, autoimmune disease and other health problems. He's at USC and you can find online articles, YouTube interviews and lectures. He also has a book (profits go to research). Jason Fung is another excellent resource. He has two books as well as an online group. Anyway, I've been fasting for years. Maybe five? I've done a variety of them for different lengths of time. Nowadays I do a monthly 5-day fast-mimicking diet at the beginning of the month with my husband. We do it for general good health and to (hopefully) keep our cells young-ish. It's easy to do but food prep takes some time. If you're going to do a one-day water fast or something similar, ideally you'd want to measure your blood sugar and know the signs of hypoglycemia to be safe. For one day, you'd probably be fine if you're not taking any diabetes medications or other medications that could be affected by fasting. Hunger pangs are usually at their worst on days 1 (and 2) but then subside or come in waves. Then, you'd want to carefully break your fast with food that won't upset your intestines too much. It's best to have those ready to eat when you stop your fast. Also important: lots of water, a bit of salt, maybe 1/4 teaspoon or so.

Just bought some Lush Avo and Magma bath bombs and Fresh Sugar and Lychee bath cubes. Makes soakin' in the tub so much better.

Regarding the preprint about heart damage, I am not aware of ways to test actual patients. Maybe there is something. I’m not sure. Possibly most people, especially asymptomatics, will be okay and the sickest will struggle but there might be drugs they could use. A senolytic, maybe. At this point and because the virus isn’t fully understood yet, it’s best not to get infected. Too many unknowns.

I had a few older fillings replaced because they were beginning to crack. You'd want to make sure your dentist will do whatever is necessary to keep you safe during the procedure. Personally, I'd use a dentist who uses ozone in his/her practice as well. You might also want to follow Dr. Lew Lim and the VieLight studies if you aren't already. https://vielight.com/intranasal-photobiomodulation-effects-systemic-nature/

Nothing to mess around with, that's for sure.

Can't you just knock out the nook and maybe remove the cabinet above (if you have one there)? That's usually not too difficult or expensive. I've gutted and remodelled two of our kitchens with my husband. It's kind of fun actually! (A sure sign of senility.) I dislike fridges with water dispensers and ice makers, but whatever you do, just don't get a Samsung French door fridge. They have a serious design flaw.

Heart tissue is notoriously slow to repair itself, unfortunately. Usually it forms scar tissue which is not ideal. People could have lifelong heart problems or problems that crop up as they age. A senolytic drug could possibly help. They're showing a lot of promise. This one, seno-7284, is being studied for cardiometabolic disorders. Very early stages. So maybe something similar could be used eventually. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/res.125.suppl_1.752

Yes, very important. Abbott Labs in Gurnee, Illinois, is hiring 2,000 temp employees to make its new $5, 15-minute BinaxNOW antigen test which will begin rolling out in September. An antigen test looks for particular proteins on the virus. https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-abbott-hiring-gurnee-covid-19-tests-20200827-bckqmk3avjenney72iii4tj5li-story.html Abbott's press release about their test: https://abbott.mediaroom.com/2020-08-26-Abbotts-Fast-5-15-Minute-Easy-to-Use-COVID-19-Antigen-Test-Receives-FDA-Emergency-Use-Authorization-Mobile-App-Displays-Test-Results-to-Help-Our-Return-to-Daily-Life-Ramping-Production-to-50-Million-Tests-a-Month

Part of a preprint explaining the heart damage they're finding even in some asymptomatic people. Pretty serious stuff. You definitely don't want to get this. https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/new-insights-into-how-covid-19-causes-heart-damage/

I think things will improve quite a bit by next spring around April. Not 100% but definitely better than now. There are a number of vaccines in Phase 3 trials already and they're looking good enough to mitigate the more serious symptoms of Covid. However, to kick the immune response up a notch, two spaced-out doses might be recommended. The vaccines administered as a nasal spray might lead to the best immune response but I think those are in the early phases of testing. It's very unlikely the virus will get more lethal. Regarding the reinfections, I read in one study that it's less than 1%. Reinfections are unusual and they're studying them. It's not considered a threat to vaccine development, though. They would not continue testing the vaccines if they thought that threat was there. The silver lining behind all this is the tremendous advancement in research and collaborations among scientists, even across countries. Vaccine development changed dramatically in the past 5 or so years and this pandemic has just served to move it even further along. It's really quite impressive. Anti-virals and other treatments have also moved along. We will be able to apply what we've learned against other future viral infections. We really must be doing this, too. And, those in the US should insist that we be better prepared. What a circus. The economy will likely take some time to recover. One of my sons is a quant trader and there are some very, very weird things going on that will eventually correct, probably after the election. Might be a good idea to read a variety of opinions and plan accordingly if possible.

The Hong Kong press release is saying people who’ve had a confirmed case of Covid should get vaccinated. Scientists are studying the reinfections but they do not believe they will cause a problem with developing vaccines. It may be the very unusual mutations that are causing the reinfections but those mutations do not appear to be widespread. It is unusual to see ADE and in the case of Dengue Fever, it is the range of antibodies that make a previously infected person vulnerable to the more deadly subsequent infections. Even so, Takeda in Japan has developed a vaccine that is showing promise for Dengue Fever. IIRC, they are making that vaccine at-risk because of the good results they’ve seen so far. https://www.unibo.it/en/notice-board/the-six-strains-of-sars-cov-2 The six strains of SARS-CoV-2 SARS-CoV-2 mutation rate remains low. Across Europe and Italy, the most widespread is strain G, while the L strain from Wuhan is gradually disappearing. These mutations, however, do not impinge on the process of developing effective vaccines. The virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, presents at least six strains. Despite its mutations, the virus shows little variability, and this is good news for the researchers working on a viable vaccine. These are the results of the most extensive study ever carried out on SARS-CoV-2 sequencing. Researchers at the University of Bologna drew from the analysis of 48,635 coronavirus genomes, which were isolated by researchers in labs all over the world. This study was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology. It was then possible for researchers to map the spread and the mutations of the virus during its journey to all continents. The first results are encouraging. The coronavirus presents little variability, approximately seven mutations per sample. Common influenza has a variability rate that is more than double. "The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is presumably already optimized to affect human beings, and this explains its low evolutionary change", explains Federico Giorgi, researcher at Unibo and coordinator of the study. "This means that the treatments we are developing, including a vaccine, might be effective against all the virus strains". Currently, there are six strains of coronavirus. The original one is the L strain, that appeared in Wuhan in December 2019. Its first mutation - the S strain - appeared at the beginning of 2020, while, since mid-January 2020, we have had strains V and G. To date strain G is the most widespread: it mutated into strains GR and GH at the end of February 2020. "Strain G and its related strains GR and GH are by far the most widespread, representing 74% of all gene sequences we analysed", says Giorgi. "They present four mutations, two of which are able to change the sequence of the RNA polymerase and Spike proteins of the virus. This characteristic probably facilitates the spread of the virus" If we look at the coronavirus map, we can see that strains G and GR are the most frequent across Europe and Italy. According to the available data, GH strain seems close to non-existence in Italy, while it occurs more frequently in France and Germany. This seems to confirm the effectiveness of last months' containment methods. In North America the most widespread strain is GH, while in South America we find the GR strain more frequently. In Asia, where the Wuhan L strain initially appeared, the spread of strains G, GH and GR is increasing. These strains landed in Asia only at the beginning of March, more than a month after their spread in Europe. Globally, strains G, GH and GR are constantly increasing. Strain S can be found in some restricted areas in the US and Spain. The L and V strains are gradually disappearing. Besides these six main coronavirus strains, researchers identified some infrequent mutations, that, at the moment, are not worrying but should nevertheless be monitored. "Rare genomic mutations are less than 1% of all sequenced genomes", confirms Giorgi. "However, it is fundamental that we study and analyse them so that we can identify their function and monitor their spread. All countries should contribute to the cause by giving access to data about the virus genome sequences". This study was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology with the title "Geographic and Genomic Distribution of SARS-CoV-2 Mutations". The authors are Daniele Mercatelli and Federico M. Giorgi, both from the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology of the University of Bologna.

If you give blood, they might check for antibodies for free. That’s what they’re doing around me. The tests are not 100% but if they do find antibodies, at least you’ll know.

Aha. Okay. I haven’t read much about what the different countries in Africa are doing. Italy has been sending ozone generators to some places, though. And others already have ozone generators.

Ozone therapy is not widely available in many South American countries to my knowledge. Cuba uses it quite a bit, though. Some countries in Africa began using it maybe a decade ago to treat Ebola. I think it’s been around longer there than South America. There are probably other factors that determine how sick a Covid-infected person gets, too.

Some African countries are using ozone. Italy has been sending over medical-grade ozone generators but some places have them already because they are used to treat Ebola. More info about ozone autohemotherapy and IV vitamin C to treat Covid: https://www.clinicaloncology.com/COVID19/Article/07-20/Two-Synergistic-Adjuvant-Therapies-Help-Fight-COVID19/58703 The coagulation parameters that the quote above mentions are d-dimer and ferritin levels. ******* HIV antivirals might also help prevent severe cases of Covid.

I am of the opinion that SCIENTISTS should be pictured on cereal boxes and not sports stars. What scientists need to know and the hurdles they’re forced to jump, they’re just not admired enough. We need to campaign more for them.

A 24-hour T cell test is in the works. That would be helpful.

Also, the first to get the vaccine will likely be health care workers, elderly, some groups of children, teachers and military. There might be a few more groups as well. Can’t remember. One of the big problems will be having enough needles and other supplies. A nasal vaccine could help, though.

I’m watching Oxford’s Chadox vaccine which was originally developed for SARS 1 and MERS. It’s been around awhile and should be safe. It might need a booster. I’d be okay with Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, too. I’d have to look more carefully at responses. Moderna is interesting, too. Vaccine development has made some big strides in the past 5-10 years. I’m following virologists and other scientists and their observations have been fairly optimistic.

Possibly. It’s very hard to say. He probably will make antibodies again or his immune system might just be able to fight off a reinfection like @Pen explained above. People with mild cases are not making as many antibodies and possibly not as many memory cells as someone with a severe case, but a mild case is MUCH better, especially if he hasn’t had the getting-better-then-takes-a-nose-dive response. It’s the unexpected clots that are so scary. Even people who’ve recovered from mild infections should take great care of their health for awhile, possibly a few months to half a year. It takes about that long for the damaged cells of the inner lining of arteries and veins to be replaced. Some people are just genetically unlucky when it comes to cytokine storms. That’s one cause of all the problems. It could be the rest of you are all very healthy and genetically blessed in that way. Vitamin C can help others to mitigate damage, though. It’s been used in adults and children in studies. I linked two of them about ... 200 pages ago? lol. China’s doing a lot of IVC on Covid patients, too.

I’m going to have to read that. 👍🏼