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Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

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Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

#231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also known as B.1.1.529 Variant21K appears to have arisen in November 2021, possibly in South Africa. Early sequences are predominantly from South Africa, though also detected in Botswana and Hong Kong. 21K is primarily of concern due to the large number of mutations it has in the Spike gene. Many of these variants are in the receptor binding domain and N-terminal domain, and thus may play key roles in ACE2 binding a…

>This literally reads like post apocalyptic fan fiction. I find it incredibly fascinating how fast this virus can mutate in order to throw curveballs around our natural and engineered defenses and become more efficient at killing us. How is this even possible in such a short amount of time? I thought evolution takes tens of thousands of years. It's not like viruses have giant brains with massive IQs to come up with a…

Here is a nice video showing the evolution of microorganisms in action:

"The Evolution of Bacteria on a “Mega-Plate” Petri Dish" https://vimeo.com/180908160

The original paper about the experiment:

"Spatiotemporal microbial evolution on antibiotic landscapes" https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aag0822

Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

#232
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Will people ever get over sensationalism and learn to live it? You see, that's the crux of the matter: Not everyone can live with it. Literally. So far, it killed more than 5 million people globally. There is also the issue with possibly lasting brain damage (even occuring in cases that weren't severe enough for hospitalization) and life-wrecking long covid. Compassionate people have a problem ignoring all that.

Assuming you're going to live for 50 more years from today, wasting a year of your life is only worth it if it prevents a 2% chance of death.

I haven't wasted a year of my life. I've slightly modified my behaviour. I've done some things less and other things more.

Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

#233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also known as B.1.1.529 Variant21K appears to have arisen in November 2021, possibly in South Africa. Early sequences are predominantly from South Africa, though also detected in Botswana and Hong Kong. 21K is primarily of concern due to the large number of mutations it has in the Spike gene. Many of these variants are in the receptor binding domain and N-terminal domain, and thus may play key roles in ACE2 binding a…

>This literally reads like post apocalyptic fan fiction. I find it incredibly fascinating how fast this virus can mutate in order to throw curveballs around our natural and engineered defenses and become more efficient at killing us. How is this even possible in such a short amount of time? I thought evolution takes tens of thousands of years. It's not like viruses have giant brains with massive IQs to come up with a…

NOT a ELI5 but this should give you a reasonable understanding. Why are RNA virus mutation rates so damn high? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6107253/ "RNA viruses have high mutation rates—up to a million times higher than their hosts—and these high rates are correlated with enhanced virulence and evolvability, traits considered beneficial for viruses. However, their mutation rates are almost disastrously high, and a small increase in mutation rate can cause RNA viruses to go locally extinct"

Some bloke who was the head of Porton Down aka Public Health England when commenting on the London Plague pits found when digging the tunnel for Cross Rail suggested RNA viruses have a single helix so are prone to high levels of mutations unlike DNA which has the double helix checksum to reduce mutations. This is probably the episode. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04cnps9

How Messenger RNA vaccines work. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different...

mRNA is not the only solution, some dietary changes can create a chemical based attack vector as your body has evolved to cope with extremes. This just one example of many different chemical attack vectors. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7413200/

There is also this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12451198

But I cant find the hacker news link on a paper from MIT which also suggested a 3 day fast reset the immune systems "memory" which was a novel way of wiping vaccine triggered immune system responses and probably isnt what you want to do if you believe in the covid vaccines, but if you are an anti-vaxxer forced into having a vaccine, then it could be a way of wiping its effect from your body if the study was accurate.

Now before you go out fasting, just bear in mind you will be depleting your body of many things like the vampire chemical glutathione (NAC, Glutamine & Glycin) which depletes as you age. Its called the vampire chemical because it whitens skin and makes you sensitive to light amongst other things so there might have been some truth to those vampire legends!

I know Vit D is mentioned alot, the Welcome Trust in Cambridge reversed engineered the human genome back a few years back and suggested there were 2776 Vit D receptors, most concentrated around the immune system genes, but the VDR has a zinc finger so you need to take zinc and both A & D will get you closer to hypercalcemia so that brings its risks, but in 1959 the scientific community did work out if you take A & D you need to take K to mitigate the risk of hypercalcemia. And if you are elderly, you should consider taking taurine as this helps the body manage the fats in your diet (bile) amongst other things, which explains why the elderly generally absorb A & D less easily or respond less to supplementation compared to young people. You'll find taurine in some wacky places in the body.

Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

#234

still some ways to reach omega (the larger sibling of omicron)

o micron literally means "small o" and o mega literally means "big o", but those computer scientists, when they use "big O notation" they write it with an O. Omega is sad :(

I always thought "big Ο" was uppercase omicron. That would make it consistent with Θ and Ω.

Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

#235
post #73
post #62

Will people ever get over sensationalism and learn to live with it? It will continue to mutate and spread for years to come. Putting life on pause should've never been an option because of the toxic precedent it created.

Imagine there was a fire near where you live, constantly spreading and endangering lives in your community. Would you say people can just "learn to live it"?

I see that you are not from California

Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

#236

still some ways to reach omega (the larger sibling of omicron)

o micron literally means "small o" and o mega literally means "big o", but those computer scientists, when they use "big O notation" they write it with an O. Omega is sad :(

There's also a "big omega", which gives a lower bound instead of an upper bound. I guess the name is a little redundant, though.

Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

#237
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is plenty of evidence that masks and contact reduction in various forms have a massive effect on how quickly the virus spreads. If this is true, why is it when showing a chart of data it is almost impossible to pick when any of these measures went into effect? If these measures worked to any worthwhile degree their effect on any data should be absolutely profound. Thus far, you'd have a hard time picking flor…

>If this is true, why is it when showing a chart of data it is almost impossible to pick when any of these measures went into effect? Quite exactly the opposite is actually true: it's always very clear from such charts that the measures are very effective. Some examples: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/phac-aspc/images/corporate... https://www.nejm.org/na101/home/literatum/publisher/mms/jour... https://coronavirus.…

amazing how in many places the cases start dropping the instant the lockdown comes into place, or sometimes even slightly before, rather than ~10 days afterwards as would be expected from the incubation period. can the virus hear us?

Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realise this is mostly the case in the US? In the EU - previous infection and recovery gives you a COVID Pass - some countries are doing a single shot after infection at most to count you as vaccinated (Spain I believe does this) which is consistent with the data we have It’s mostly the US that has an insane vacine policy.

> It’s mostly the US that has an insane vacine policy. Source? There are plenty of other countries that require vaccinations and/or tests. I was recently checking Singapore, for instance, which still seems to require one dose of a vaccine after recovery.

I think they were referring to large parts of the US _not_ requiring vaccinations and/or tests.

Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

#239
post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that last bit sure came out of left field.

Dude was being an ignorant dipshit. Deserved it.

How did he deserve it exactly? They were being snarky, sure, but population-wide infection hospitalization rate is estimated around 2-3%, so yes, the vast majority of Covid cases were mild. That's not even a controversial statement.

Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

#240
post #112

Omicron? Was not it Nu like few hours ago? I like the longer name better. Our ministry of finance has already made a typo in a Facebook post calling it Mu (like the sound cows make).

They skipped nu because it sounds too much like mu, and they skipped xi because it sounds like Winnie-the-Poo.

Wait... Why did they really skip xi?
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