The Playground

Quote from THHuxleynew

I'm not against Vitamin D: but my hopes that plausible-sounding claims for its efficacy would prove correct have been dashed many times by new better evidence.

I fit it into that class of supplements, and drugs with mixed study results where it comes down to; is it safe, do I think it might/will work, and if the answer to both is "yes", then take it. Included in that list would be aspirin, glucosamine, minerals, among others, with the latest addition being HCQ/Ivermectin.

Unfortunately for the latter, the western health establishment is trying it's best to block the little people from having access.

Quote from Shane D.

I fit it into that class of supplements, and drugs with mixed study results where it comes down to; is it safe, do I think it might/will work, and if the answer to both is "yes", then take it. Included in that list would be aspirin, glucosamine, minerals, among others, with the latest addition being HCQ/Ivermectin.

Unfortunately for the latter, the western health establishment is trying it's best to block the little people from having access.

Not quite the same. Vit D naturally occurs in foods and is made by the body. So keeping levels up to what a different diet would give is fine.

Aspirin, HCQ, ivermectin are not found in food (unless you drink a lot of willow-bark tea). So their usage is definitely outside the range of normal and I'd be cautious.

Aspirin, for example, is a trade-off. A useful blood-thinner against increased risk of stomach bleeding. But it is very well understood.

Dosing up on all these "non-dietary could be good or bad things" is dubious because even if individual risks are low, they are not zero, and long-term risks are not known. For COVID, HCQ and ivermectin have the problem that both could be positive or negative, and we don't have have much info on how they interact with COVID. HCQ on balance negative (it seems because of its effect on the cytokine storm). Ivermectin must be pretty close to 0 (RCTs running a long time now without having positive or negative results).

Quote from Fm1

Menstrual Irregularities, Uterus Shedding Cases Spike After COVID Vaccine Rollout: Peer-Reviewed Study

This reminds me of what appear to be castings of veins and even arteries, seen by embalmers since the summer of 2021 or so. One example : (in places, not for the faint of heart!)

Voices From The Grave with More Embalmer’s Mystery Clots

On today’s Dr. Jane Ruby Show, Dr. Jane brings back Board Certified Embalmer, Richard Hirschman for a stunning 2 part interview – he is busier than ever…

rumble.com

Quote from Mark U

This reminds me of what appear to be castings of veins and even arteries, seen by embalmers since the summer of 2021 or so. One example : (in places, not for the faint of heart!)

https://rumble.com/v14dnva-voi…almers-mystery-clots.html

Not only that: there have been reports of scary aliens bursting out of people's stomachs and seizing new victims for egg implantation

A killer whale (Orca sp.) has just been put down by the French in the estuary of the river Seine! And a Greenland Shark died and was washed up on the shores of Marazion (Cornwall) here. All further ecological evidence for Global Warming, I would presume. I tried to warn a diver here about the possibility of a Great White Shark lurking in the Celtic sea off the coast here, but he thought I was just taking the piss (making fun of him) and tried to attack me with a punch in the face! Oh well, I should keep such observations of Climate Change to myself in future. But Nature will always strike back and re-balance the situation since surfers and seals look like the same prey for them!

P.S. I am a member of the SAS (Surfers Against Sewage) not the Special Air Service!

Quote from THHuxleynew

I thought you'd appreciate the humour.

But if instead you would like to look at the underlying (serious) issue we could discuss it. I'll happily be contradicted.

The issue is that in all science, but medicine particularly, it is very easy to mistake coincidence for real causal relationships.

In that cartoon you can see how "1 in 20 chance of occurring by coincidence" - which is a precise mathematical statement - can easily be misused. So that p-values, which are meant to show whether a result is significant or not, can be used to prove anything. All you need is 20 attempts and your 1 in 20 chance is likely to come up. A poorly conducted but reasonable sounding experiment with Jelly beans can prove absolutely anything is correlated to coloured jelly bean intake as long as the jelly beans have enough distinct colours.

You post here papers which discuss various interesting correlations.

I reply to you when you claim to know better than everyone else (without argument except these links) and assert strongly that something is proven. Often something about the merits of Vitamin D.

I'm not against Vitamin D: but my hopes that plausible-sounding claims for its efficacy would prove correct have been dashed many times by new better evidence.

You, and other people here, mistake one trial showing a correlation (or even many trials showing correlations) as evidence of a causal relationship. They are different, as we can see. There are universal and strong correlations between high calcifediol in the bloodstream and lots of good health indicators. In the cases so far that have been tested fully they do not show any causal relationship between extra Vit D supplementation and health (maybe some small causal connection to auto-immune disease? But it would need more data to see whetehr that is real).

Note that people who take Vit D supplements may be healthier on average than others - that is not the same as saying that if you are given Vit D supplements it makes you healthier.

That is one of the key statistical mistakes made by people. It is natural. And you again and again appear to be making it.

THH

PS - perhaps you'd prefer me to stick to xkcd?

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I have given you my reasons for supplementing as well as the science behind it. My doctor recommends supplementing year round, maybe you could give him a call, I'll send you his number. I see no reason to engage you in this anymore. I'm glad you were not around at the dawn of humanity, we'd still be debating the risk reward of fire. You supplement vitamin D for your bones, I supplement vitamin d for better overall health. We both agree to it's benefits, you just continue to sell it short, same as evidence for cold fusion. It's just a game for you, forever the devil's advocate! As I said before, you are playing a losing hand.

U.S. Doctors Reconsidering Use of Pfizer’s Paxlovid for Low-Risk COVID-19 Cases due to CDC Health Advisory

TrialSiteNews | Where Life Sciences Research Meets the World

More U.S. healthcare providers are reconsidering the use of the antiviral Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir and ritonavir) for lower-risk COVID-19 infected persons after…

www.trialsitenews.com

More U.S. healthcare providers are reconsidering the use of the antiviral Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir and ritonavir) for lower-risk COVID-19 infected persons after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory cautioning that the potential for recurrence of COVID-19 (also called “COVID-19 rebound”) associated with Pfizer’s antiviral investigational therapy Paxlovid. Recommended for early-onset treatment of mild-to-moderate SARS-CoV-2 among persons deemed higher risk for severe disease progression, the observation of COVID-19 rebound has been reported to occur between 2 and 8 days post initial recovery and associated with a resurgence of COVID-19 symptoms or a positive new viral test even after the individual had previously tested negative. While the CDC declared a brief return could, in fact, be part of some “natural history of SARS-CoV-2 infection in some persons” regardless of use of Paxlovid, the market is now responding, reports Reuters.

Deena Beasley writing for Reuters reports that while sales of Paxlovid have skyrocketed with the resurgence of COVID-19 infections this may change considering the recent CDC alert. Beasley writes that “over 162,000 courses were dispensed last week,” and that compares with on average 33,000 we week since the launch date. Pfizer has the Biden administration to thank again. While POTUS helped drive vaccination (and Pfizer -BioNTech BNT162b2 is the only formally approved vaccine), his administration has been aggressively pushing for the use of Paxlovid. In fact, the government has made sizeable purchases.

Yet Reuters reports with more use comes more rebound COVID-19 cases even after completion of the five-day regimen. TrialSite has reported a sales forecast for 2022 of up to $22 billion for Paxlovid. Could this CDC HAN Health Advisory impact those numbers?

Quote from Dr Richard*

A killer whale (Orca sp.) has just been put down by the French in the estuary of the river Seine! And a Greenland Shark died and was washed up on the shores of Marazion (Cornwall) here. All further ecological evidence for Global Warming, I would presume. I tried to warn a diver here about the possibility of a Great White Shark lurking in the Celtic sea off the coast here, but he thought I was just taking the piss (making fun of him) and tried to attack me with a punch in the face! Oh well, I should keep such observations of Climate Change to myself in future. But Nature will always strike back and re-balance the situation since surfers and seals look like the same prey for them!

The diver was probably traumatized watching Jaws as a kid. Maybe should have said a white Mackerel shark instead hehe

We all believe in climate change - after all, places like Toronto were buried in over 1 km of ice a mere 18 thousand years ago. Heck just 45 years ago we believed in global cooling and another glaciation might be on it's way. Such a fickle species. Let's enjoy the relatively short interglacials while we can.

To back up your data about serotonin re-uptake inhibitors - another useful one is Olanzipine which I have taken continuously throughout the pandemics. Despite being double vaccinated with Pfizer's mRNA concoction, I have not suffered from any effect of being exposed to all the variants or any effect from the vaccine itself! Cannabindiol (the non-psychoactive form of Cannabis Sativa) also seems to be effective against the different variants, as is psilocybin (according to Prof. Nutt from Imperial College) who recommends it for treating suicidal depression. There is a lot more scientifically to be done on this, I don't dispute, but things (as the last Labour Manifesto once said) can ONLY GET BETTER (Sang by Brian Cox the astrophysical rock star).

Quote from Dr Richard*

To back up your data about serotonin re-uptake inhibitors - another useful one is Olanzipine which I have taken continuously throughout the pandemics. Despite being double vaccinated with Pfizer's mRNA concoction, I have not suffered from any effect of being exposed to all the variants or any effect from the vaccine itself! Cannabindiol (the non-psychoactive form of Cannabis Sativa) also seems to be effective against the different variants, as is psilocybin (according to Prof. Nutt from Imperial College) who recommends it for treating suicidal depression. There is a lot more scientifically to be done on this, I don't dispute, but things (as the last Labour Manifesto once said) can ONLY GET BETTER (Sang by Brian Cox the astrophysical rock star).

That's some strong stuff doc, be careful, you might consider niacin as an alternative to olanzipine. Cannabis, nicotine, vitamin supplements all show an effect but magic mushrooms to my understanding has no effect on COvid but will make for an eventful evening.

Quote from Fm1

That's some strong stuff doc, be careful, you might consider niacin as an alternative to olanzipine. Cannabis, nicotine, vitamin supplements all show an effect but magic mushrooms to my understanding has no effect on COvid but will make for an eventful evening.

I stand corrected on shrooms, it seems they are showing an effect on lose of smell. Again this condition is caused by vitamin deficency, zinc, thiamine, niacin and iron.

Real-World Experience with Favipiravir for the Treatment of Mild-to-Moderate COVID-19 in India

Favipiravir for the treatment of Mild to Moderate COVID | POR

Favipiravir, an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase inhibitor (RdRp), is a broad-spectrum oral antiviral agent approved in India under emergency use authorization.

www.dovepress.com

Background: Favipiravir, an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase inhibitor (RdRp), is a broad-spectrum oral antiviral agent approved in India under emergency use authorization, for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The present study was planned to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of favipiravir in real-world clinical practice.

Materials and Methods: This was a multicentric, retrospective, single-arm study conducted across four centres in India, after obtaining permission from the independent ethics committee. Medical records were analysed to evaluate effectiveness and safety of patients who were prescribed favipiravir.

Results: The medical records of a total of 360 patients met the inclusion criteria, with 358 of them available for the final analysis. Males made up 58.46% of the study population. The average age of enrolled patients was 51.80 ± 16.45 years. The most common symptoms were fever, cough, and myalgia-fatigue. The median time to clinical cure and fever relief was five and four days, respectively. The average length of stay in the hospital was six days. In total, 8% of the patients experienced adverse events. Hepatic enzyme elevation, diarrhoea, decreased appetite, headache, fatigue, and giddiness were the common symptoms.

Conclusion: In our real-world study, favipiravir was found to have a clinical cure rate of more than 90% in mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients. This supports the use of favipiravir in the treatment of COVID-19. Favipiravir was well tolerated, with only minimal side effects, which were transient in nature.

New England Journal of Medicine reports from an Israel study:

Those double vaccinated with no previous infection were about 6 times more likely to be infected than the unvaccinated and recovered, 6 to 8 months after either vaccination or previous infection.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa2118946

Dr. Byram Bridle, a researcher and prof from University of Guelph about one hour drive from me, had early (privately leaked) access to Pfizer's bio distribution data, through the Japanese.

It so happens that this data has come out this month, as part of the court-ordered monthly dump of data released from the FDA to the public.

Dr. Bridle was able to compare the earlier leaked data report to the present FDA data dump report. It turns out the FDA is heavily redacting data. They are hiding unpleasant looking results - namely the inference that the spike protein would be ending up in the liver, kidneys and adrenals.

So we can see that the FDA is looking out for big pharma. Are they looking out for the American public?

Hiding Data Accentuates Concerns About mRNA Vaccines

Leaked vs. Official Reports Show Excessive Redaction

viralimmunologist.substack.com

Another "a" comment by Rossi magically became a sock puppet post. I don't know what's going on there but it's certainly suspicious.

Quote from Mark U

It turns out the FDA is heavily redacting data.

Dr Bridles Recommendations…my comments

1. Properly designed and comprehensive pharmacokinetic/biodistribution studies need to be conducted with mRNA ‘vaccines’. Instead of 'shonky'ones The results of these studies need to be fully and transparently disclosed to the public if they are to be able to make properly informed decisions regarding these inoculations.
2. An investigation needs to be launched into why contradictory data were not disclosed to the scientific community. Withholding important results is not OK. Also, there needs to be an investigation into who was responsible for redacting this particular document. Why were non-proprietary data redacted? This caused alarming data to be hidden from the public. The redacted data contradicts the official "minor side effects " narrative

Vitamin D food fortification in European countries: the underused potential to prevent cancer deaths

Vitamin D food fortification in European countries: the underused potential to prevent cancer deaths - European Journal of Epidemiology

Background: Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials have shown that vitamin D supplementation reduces cancer mortality by 13%. Vitamin D fortification of…

link.springer.com

Abstract

Background: Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials have shown that vitamin D supplementation reduces cancer mortality by 13%. Vitamin D fortification of foods may increase vitamin D levels in a similar manner as vitamin D supplementation and could achieve similar reductions in cancer mortality. Whereas some European countries already implemented widespread fortification of foods with vitamin D, in other countries only few or no foods are fortified. In this study, we estimated the reduction in cancer mortality presumably already achieved by current fortification policies in 2017 and the potential for further reductions if all countries had effective fortification. Methods: We reviewed scientific literature, publicly available information, and contacted health authorities to obtain information on current vitamin D food fortification policies in 34 European countries. Together with country-specific cancer death statistics from Eurostat, information on life expectancy, and country-specific fortification policies, we used data from studies on supplementation and serum 25(OH)D increases and cancer mortality to estimate numbers of probably already prevented cancer deaths and numbers of potentially further preventable deaths and years of life lost. Results: Current vitamin D fortification is estimated to prevent approximately 11,000 in the European Union and 27,000 cancer deaths in all European countries considered per year. If all countries considered here would implement adequate vitamin D fortification of foods, an estimated additional 129,000 cancer deaths (113,000 in the European Union) could be prevented, corresponding to almost 1.2 million prevented years of life lost (1.0 million in the EU) or approximately 9% of cancer deaths (10% in the EU). Interpretation: Systematic fortification of foods might considerably reduce the burden of cancer deaths in Europe.

Study Results

As reported by the study authors, “We estimated that approximately 27,000 cancer deaths were prevented by established fortification policies in 2017, with the potential to prevent an additional 129,000 cancer deaths by implementing vitamin D fortification to the optimal degree in all European countries.

“In summary, our study suggests that more widespread vitamin D food fortification policies in European countries might make a major contribution to lowering the burden of cancer deaths in Europe, with the potential to prevent approximately 129,000 additional cancer deaths (more than 113,000 in the EU) and approximately 1.2 million (1 million in the EU) years of life lost per year, corresponding to approximately 9% (10% in the EU) of cancer deaths and years of life lost.”

Association of Cerebral Venous Thrombosis with mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines: A Disproportionality Analysis of the World Health Organization Pharmacovigilance Database

Association of Cerebral Venous Thrombosis with mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines: A Disproportionality Analysis of the World Health Organization Pharmacovigilance Database

Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), a rare thrombotic event that can cause serious neurologic deficits, has been reported after some ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccinations…

www.mdpi.com

Abstract

Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), a rare thrombotic event that can cause serious neurologic deficits, has been reported after some ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccinations against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, there are few reports of associations between COVID-19 mRNA vaccination and CVT. We retrospectively analyzed CVT occurrence, time of onset after vaccination, outcomes (recovered/not recovered), and death after COVID-19 vaccination from adverse drug reactions (ADR) reports in VigiBase. A disproportionality analysis was performed regarding COVID-19 mRNA vaccines (BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273) and the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine. We identified 756 (0.07%) CVT cases (620 (0.05%) after BNT162b2 and 136 (0.01%) after mRNA-1273) of 1,154,023 mRNA vaccine-related ADRs. Significant positive safety signals were noted for COVID-19 mRNA vaccines (95% lower end of information component = 1.56; reporting odds ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI) = 3.27). The median days to CVT onset differed significantly between the BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccines (12 (interquartile range, 3–22) and 11 (interquartile range, 7–16), respectively; p = 0.02). Fewer CVT patients died after receiving mRNA vaccines than after receiving the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (odds ratio, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.22–0.45; p < 0.001). We noted a potential safety signal for CVT occurrence after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination. Therefore, awareness about the risk of CVT, even after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination, is necessary.

Keywords: adverse drug reaction; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; venous thrombosis; vaccines