Another Finnish song. Hint. Corrupted by corporate greed.

https://youtu.be/va_4sd-KATc

Thirty years time. A short time, when seen through the prism at 40.

Anna Eriksson Jos Mulla Olisi Sydän

Preserving two videos this night. Video #1: https://youtu.be/VCpTmMPWg94

Have patients - a play on words! This link still worked. Other songs are now diverted to ads... only ads - I'm not even sure how long this video will last. Who's doing this shit? I haven't a clue, except to say that even as a country that was sinking beneath the waves would still have crud companies like State Farm trying to sell us insurance. And just before our collective lungs filled with water, they would ask us if we liked their ad.... Insanity

Coronavirus Covid-19 clinical information!

Coronavirus clinical:

• COVID-19 is the disease, SARS-2-CoV is the virus. 
• Transmission
  • Respiratory and likely by fomite (contact with hard surfaces). Virus found in respiratory secretions and saliva.
  • Stool shedding also described, but uncertain what role, if any, that plays.
• Incubation period
  • Mean of 6.4 days, range 2-12. For people quarantined, 14d observation recommended to exclude infection, though 24d asymptomatic time from exposure described.
  • Viral shedding occurs following recovery, but unclear what role this plays in transmission.
  • Children and intrafamilial (family) spread appear to be a growing means of transmission.
• Cause of upper respiratory tract disease and pneumonia.
  • The most common symptoms include fever, fatigue, and dry cough.
    • Fever (83-98%)
    • Cough (46-82%, usually dry)
    • Myalgia (muscle pain) or fatigue (11-44%)
    • Shortness of breath at onset (31%)
    • Less common symptoms:
      • Pharyngitis (inflammation of the pharynx )
      • Headache
      • Productive cough
      • GI symptoms
      • Hemoptysis (coughing up of blood )
• Estimates are ~80% of infections non-severe, including asymptomatic infection likely.
  • The mortality rate is thought to be ≤2%, but precise numbers uncertain due to a lack of available serological testing.
    • The mortality rate is less than that commonly ascribed to severe community-acquired pneumonia (12-15%) but more than seasonal influenza (~0.1%).
  • Most deaths in patients with comorbidities (the simultaneous presence of two chronic diseases or conditions in a patient) and often elderly (> 60 considered a "risk factor"), although healthy younger patients also described.
• Epidemiology
  
  • China remains with most reported cases, but as of March 2020, upswing in many countries including especially S Korea, Italy, US (California, Washington state).
  • 
    

NIH - Some coronavirus facts!

In late December 2019, the World Health Organization declared the illness resulting from the new virus, COVID-19, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. By early March 2020, the novel coronavirus—now named SARS-CoV-2—had infected more than 90,000 people worldwide and killed at least 3,100.Note: COVID-19 is the disease, SARS-2-CoV is the virus.

Like other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 particles are spherical and have proteins called spikes protruding from their surface. These spikes latch onto human cells, then undergo a structural change that allows the viral membrane to fuse with the cell membrane. The viral genes can then enter the host cell to be copied, producing more viruses. Recent work shows that, like the virus that caused the 2002 SARS outbreak, SARS-CoV-2 spikes bind to receptors on the human cell surface called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

The researchers found that the SARS-CoV-2 spike was 10 to 20 times more likely to bind ACE2 on human cells than the spike from the SARS virus from 2002. This may enable SARS-CoV-2 to spread more easily from person to person than the earlier virus.

Despite similarities in sequence and structure between the spikes of the two viruses, three different antibodies against the 2002 SARS virus could not successfully bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. This suggests that potential vaccine and antibody-based treatment strategies will need to be unique to the new virus.[It also suggest that more 'novel' mutations may occur in the future.]

Clinical information here - https://forsythkid.blogspot.com/2020/03/coronavirus-covid-19-clinical.html

Source: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/novel-coronavirus-structure-reveals-targets-vaccines-treatments

Origin and evolution of pathogenic coronaviruses!

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) are two highly transmissible and pathogenic viruses that emerged in humans at the beginning of the 21st century. Both viruses likely originated in bats, and genetically diverse coronaviruses that are related to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV were discovered in bats worldwide. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the origin and evolution of these two pathogenic coronaviruses and discuss their receptor usage; we also highlight the diversity and potential of spillover of bat-borne coronaviruses, as evidenced by the recent spillover of swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV) to pigs.

INTRODUCTION

Coronaviruses cause respiratory and intestinal infections in animals and humans¹. They were not considered to be highly pathogenic to humans until the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002 and 2003 in Guangdong province, China, as the coronaviruses that circulated before that time in humans mostly caused mild infections in immunocompetent people. Ten years after SARS, another highly pathogenic coronavirus, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) emerged in Middle Eastern countries. SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a receptor and primarily infects ciliated bronchial epithelial cells and type II pneumocytes, whereas MERS-CoV uses dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4; also known as CD26) as a receptor and infects unciliated bronchial epithelial cells and type II pneumocytes. SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV were transmitted directly to humans from market civets (see More Chinese push to end wildlife markets) and dromedary camels, respectively, and both viruses are thought to have originated in bats.

Extensive studies of these two important coronaviruses have not only led to a better understanding of coronavirus biology but have also been driving coronavirus discovery in bats globally. In this review, we focus on the origin and evolution of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. Specifically, we emphasize the ecological distribution, genetic diversity, interspecies transmission and potential for pathogenesis of SARS-related coronaviruses (SARSr-CoVs) and MERS-related coronaviruses (MERSr-CoVs) found in bats, as this information can help prepare countermeasures against future spillover and pathogenic infections in humans with novel coronaviruses.

CORONAVIRUS DIVERSITY

Coronaviruses are members of the subfamily Coronavirinae in the family Coronaviridae and the order Nidovirales (International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses). This subfamily consists of four genera — Alphacoronavirus, Betacoronavirus, Gammacoronavirus and Deltacoronavirus — on the basis of their phylogenetic relationships and genomic structures (Fig. 1). The alphacoronaviruses and betacoronaviruses infect only mammals. The gammacoronaviruses and deltacoronaviruses infect birds, but some of them can also infect mammals. Alphacoronaviruses and betacoronaviruses usually cause respiratory illness in humans and gastroenteritis in animals. The two highly pathogenic viruses, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, cause severe respiratory syndrome in humans, and the other four human coronaviruses (HCoV-NL63, HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43 and HKU1) induce only mild upper respiratory diseases in immunocompetent hosts, although some of them can cause severe infections in infants, young children and elderly individuals. Alphacoronaviruses and betacoronaviruses can pose a heavy disease burden on livestock; these viruses include porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus, porcine enteric diarrhea virus (PEDV) and the recently emerged swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV)³⁴. On the basis of current sequence databases, all human coronaviruses have animal origins: SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-229E are considered to have originated in bats; HCoV-OC43 and HKU1 likely originated from rodents. Domestic animals may have important roles as intermediate hosts that enable virus transmission from natural hosts to humans. In addition, domestic animals themselves can suffer disease caused by bat-borne or closely related coronaviruses: genomic sequences highly similar to PEDV were detected in bats, and SADS-CoV is a recent spillover from bats to pigs (Fig. 2). Currently, 7 of 11 ICTV-assigned Alphacoronavirus species and 4 of 9 Betacoronavirus species were identified only in bats (Fig. 3). 

Thus, bats are likely the major natural reservoirs of alphacoronaviruses and betacoronaviruses. 

 

Devils and Angels do make us...us!

https://youtu.be/orgV3sv_KcU

The Horse-Burger. Has he lost his mind?

OK. I'll save everyone the suspense. I have been adjudged, by a panel of psychiatrists (aka nut doctors), as a 'marginal' individual on the basis of mental stability. That said, I'm still loose out in society, have a spatula and am considered somewhat dangerous only in the kitchen! Disclaimer: No actual horse meat was used in the making of this meal!

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My current 'Old Man Styled American Diet' (COMSAD), while not expressly allowing for comfort foods such as hamburgers, did not specifically exclude them either! To that end, I made myself up a very simple burger with just one small twist. I added some horseradish to the duo of ketchup and mustard that I normally apply. I called it a Horse-Burger, as a result. (It's a free speech thing).

So, I had me two Ball Park buns, a hamburger patty, a slice of onion and the aforementioned trio of condiments. Simple. (Much like the cook)! Preparation was a breeze, as I cooked the burger on a 20 year old Joe Foreman grill, that was working better than I was. The whole affair took about ten minutes, start to finish. I also added a dollop of Reser's coleslaw to the plate, right next to the burger and then sat down to dig right in....

RESULTS: In what might be described as 'youthful enthusiasm' (?), I used perhaps a tad too much horseradish! [One good side effect - My sinuses cleared up for the first time in quite a while!]

All that said, the Horse-Burger was pretty darn good and tasty! I do plan to make it again!

The total cost of this meal a deal was just about a buck. Contrast that to an order of a Big Mac with medium fries at close to $8!! Below is a fairly accurate estimate of the nutritional values: