“Jane Zu read something online and says it’s interesting”
Supercomputer analysis of Covid-19 leads to new theory
61–70 of 154 posts
Re: Supercomputer analysis of Covid-19 leads to new theory
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
> One thing that I think strongly suggests that this hypothesis is wrong is that there is no strong relation between ACE-inhibitors and Covid mortality. Perhaps you can clear up something for me. We've all heard how obesity and hypertension are risk factors for covid morbidity. But I could never get a clarification regarding treated vs. untreated hypertension. AFAIK, many obese people take ACE inhibitors to treat hyp…
I had this same question early on and I recall reading somewhere that treated hypertension reduced risk. Ostensibly, even if that was from a credible source, it may not mean much though.
The problem is that the relationship between hypertension, antihypertensives, and Covid is going to be very nuanced and difficult to ascertain without large patient populations to study. One of the very unique aspects of the Covid pandemic is that the NPIs seem to be very effective at damping the spread, so much so that the pool of patients to study keeps moving from region to region every 60 days or so.
Re: Supercomputer analysis of Covid-19 leads to new theory
#63Seems like it should be really straightforward to determine if this hypothesis is right by measuring bradykinin levels in Covid patients versus non-Covid patients. One thing that I think strongly suggests that this hypothesis is wrong is that there is no strong relation between ACE-inhibitors and Covid mortality. Indeed, most of the studies that I've seen suggest that ACE-inhibitors have a somewhat protective effect…
The cited article has been retracted.
(I know this because I have the PubPeer extension installed which puts a big red warning by it.)
Re: Supercomputer analysis of Covid-19 leads to new theory
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had this same question early on and I recall reading somewhere that treated hypertension reduced risk. Ostensibly, even if that was from a credible source, it may not mean much though.
The problem is that the relationship between hypertension, antihypertensives, and Covid is going to be very nuanced and difficult to ascertain without large patient populations to study. One of the very unique aspects of the Covid pandemic is that the NPIs seem to be very effective at damping the spread, so much so that the pool of patients to study keeps moving from region to region every 60 days or so.
What does "NPI" mean in this context?
Re: Supercomputer analysis of Covid-19 leads to new theory
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is that the relationship between hypertension, antihypertensives, and Covid is going to be very nuanced and difficult to ascertain without large patient populations to study. One of the very unique aspects of the Covid pandemic is that the NPIs seem to be very effective at damping the spread, so much so that the pool of patients to study keeps moving from region to region every 60 days or so.
What does "NPI" mean in this context?
Non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as distancing and mask wearing.
Re: Supercomputer analysis of Covid-19 leads to new theory
#66Re: Supercomputer analysis of Covid-19 leads to new theory
#67The anthropomorphization of computers (especially powerful ones) is pretty annoying. A _person used a supercomputer_ to analyze Covid-19, and I’m guessing the theory didn’t just ‘emerge’ from the computer.
This is really common for big companies like Google: any mistake is attributed to the algorithm, as if it had programmed itself. Of course, the money goes to the corporation, not to the algorithm.
Re: Supercomputer analysis of Covid-19 leads to new theory
#68> Interestingly, Jacobson’s team also suggests vitamin D as a potentially useful Covid-19 drug. The vitamin is involved in the RAS system and could prove helpful by reducing levels of another compound, known as REN. Again, this could stop potentially deadly bradykinin storms from forming. The researchers note that vitamin D has already been shown to help those with Covid-19. The vitamin is readily available over the…
This is discussed in this radio lab episode as well: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/invis...
Very very interesting theories as it also helped during the 1918 flu.
Re: Supercomputer analysis of Covid-19 leads to new theory
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
I remember a professor of mine (I forgot in which class) saying that humans generally make up 3 kinds of explanations about a system's behavior: 1. When a system is very simple, we explain its actions in terms of its properties and external forces acting on it. 2. When it's a medium complexity system, we tend to explain its actions in terms of its design, putting ourselves in the designer's shoes. 3. When it's a comp…
Seems like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentional_stance
I was just going to mention that. Another link:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intentionality/
"However, in the absence of detailed knowledge of the physical laws that govern the behavior of a physical system, the intentional idiom is a useful stance for predicting a system’s behavior."
Re: Supercomputer analysis of Covid-19 leads to new theory
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
> One thing that I think strongly suggests that this hypothesis is wrong is that there is no strong relation between ACE-inhibitors and Covid mortality. Perhaps you can clear up something for me. We've all heard how obesity and hypertension are risk factors for covid morbidity. But I could never get a clarification regarding treated vs. untreated hypertension. AFAIK, many obese people take ACE inhibitors to treat hyp…
The answer to treated vs untreated hypertension right now is that we simply do not know. What we do know is that treated hypertensive patients don't appear to have significantly worse outcomes. This article does a great job outlining the current state of the knowledge on the subject of Covid/hypertension as well as some clinical trials that should be posting results early next year [1]. I haven't seen any studies tha…
[deleted]