Live data from Hacker News

Scientists discover receptor that blocks Covid-19 infection

sydney.edu.au

81–90 of 167 posts

Re: Scientists discover receptor that blocks Covid-19 infection

#81
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

"The high risk of bias in the trials, variation in outcome measurement, and relatively low adherence with the interventions during the studies hampers drawing firm conclusions." Means they aren't sure themselves, if their results are usable at all. For the individual, one unmasked exposure undoes the entire effort. We're not talking about toxicity. This seems to be clear to the authors aswell. The strongest language…

"We included 12 trials (10 cluster‐RCTs) comparing medical/surgical masks versus no masks to prevent the spread of viral respiratory illness (two trials with healthcare workers and 10 in the community). Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of influenza‐like illness (ILI)/COVID‐19 like illness compared to not wearing masks (risk ratio (RR) 0.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84 to 1.09; 9 trials, 276,917 participants; moderate‐certainty evidence. Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of laboratory‐confirmed influenza/SARS‐CoV‐2 compared to not wearing masks (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.42; 6 trials, 13,919 participants; moderate‐certainty evidence)."

Re: Scientists discover receptor that blocks Covid-19 infection

#82
post #8

That's good. But the lower lungs already get seepage of body serum/humoral igM and igG. If you really want to protect against infections then you have to induce mucosal immunity (and get tissue resident B and T cells) in the surface layer of the upper respiratory. Unfortunately intramuscular vaccinations do not do that, they only give serum/humoral immunity. So they're only the first step to protect against serious d…

Asking as a laymen, any concerns about intranasal vaccines bypassing the blood-brain barrier? Or is that a feature not a bug?

Re: Scientists discover receptor that blocks Covid-19 infection

#83
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

When people complain about prejudice against fat people, this is what they mean. I fail to understand why someone's size would make their advice less credible, particularly on topics other than weight loss. If anything, being at higher risk would dispose them to take the virus more seriously. After all, "trying to eat healthy" is rarely successful. The vast majority of dieters do not succeed in achieving long-term we…

[flagged]

Re: Scientists discover receptor that blocks Covid-19 infection

#84
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes I think I'm the only low risk person left on the planet wearing a mask and vaccinating. Then I see old folks or one 30y/o woman in the supermarket wearing a mask, and I remember that this protects them too. There's even some performers asking fans to mask up so high risk people can come to their shows. Gives me a tiny glimmer of hope for humanity.

[flagged]

It always amazes me when someone ignores the 99 studies that show masks are effective, and highlights the one that says maybe they’re not. Cherry picking in action!

Just one of the literally hundreds of studies showing effectiveness: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7883189/

Re: Scientists discover receptor that blocks Covid-19 infection

#85
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

When people complain about prejudice against fat people, this is what they mean. I fail to understand why someone's size would make their advice less credible, particularly on topics other than weight loss. If anything, being at higher risk would dispose them to take the virus more seriously. After all, "trying to eat healthy" is rarely successful. The vast majority of dieters do not succeed in achieving long-term we…

> particularly on topics other than weight loss.

Fat people have often tried a variety of weight loss techniques. Their advice is liable to be more pertinent than a skinny person who has trouble gaining weight.

Re: Scientists discover receptor that blocks Covid-19 infection

#86
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

On the other hand, the authors there start their conclusion off with The high risk of bias in the trials, variation in outcome measurement, and relatively low adherence with the interventions during the studies hampers drawing firm conclusions. But it's a short discussion, people can go read it for themselves.

It's like how condoms aren't that effective because a large subset of people prefer to use nothing instead.

Okay sure... but if I'm not in that subset then I'm good.

Re: Scientists discover receptor that blocks Covid-19 infection

#87
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Some masks do work. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/respiratory-protection-us/produc...

If you or someone in your family is immuno-suppressed, have at it. Otherwise in terms of risk avoidance you might as well start wearing a crash helmet when you ride the bus just in case.

Re: Scientists discover receptor that blocks Covid-19 infection

#88
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When people complain about prejudice against fat people, this is what they mean. I fail to understand why someone's size would make their advice less credible, particularly on topics other than weight loss. If anything, being at higher risk would dispose them to take the virus more seriously. After all, "trying to eat healthy" is rarely successful. The vast majority of dieters do not succeed in achieving long-term we…

[flagged]

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/overweight-and-healthy-t...

"Carrying too many pounds is a solid signal of current or future health problems. But not for everyone. Some people who are overweight or obese mange to escape the usual hazards, at least temporarily. This weight subgroup has even earned its own moniker—metabolically healthy obesity."

"But some people who are overweight or obese manage to avoid these changes and, at least metabolically, look like individuals with healthy weights. “Obesity isn’t a homogeneous condition,” says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. “It appears that it doesn’t affect everyone in the same ways.”"

Re: Scientists discover receptor that blocks Covid-19 infection

#89
post #67
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming a 180 day school year (which would actually mean a 10 day period would be closer to 3-4% not 4-5%), that means that half of the year they are not in school anyway. So they have a good chance of catching it outside of school days anyway even if they catch it annually. Besides that, if that's that's a huge and consistent problem, school could just reduce the number of holidays by a week or so. The variance of…

You cannot believe that <3 mo of summer accounts for half of the calendar year, and I know you know that 10d isolation runs past the weekend

There's 104 non school days regardless of any other days without school. It only takes 76 other days off (June 15-august 15 + 3 additional weeks off) is youe 180 days off.

Re: Scientists discover receptor that blocks Covid-19 infection

#90

Very interesting, according to the authors it’s “like velcro”. > [Covid] primarily uses a protein called the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor to enter human cells. Lung cells have high levels of ACE2 receptors, which is why the COVID-19 virus often causes severe problems in this organ of infected people. > Like ACE2, LRRC15 is a receptor for coronavirus, meaning the virus can bind to it. But unlike ACE…

> With mRNA vaccines we get the cells to produce the protein. Does this imply that synthesis of the spike protein is difficult, or is it that administration is? It's that the mechanism of production of spike (inside infected cells) parallels the mechanism of production of spike protein in a natural infection. This stimulates the immune response against spike without need for additional adjuvants. > This then begs the…

Thank you for the response. This makes sense.

As for the second segment. I only have more questions now. Could it be that requesting that the cells produce additional proteins of a particular kind "overloads" them or simply "asks too much" in a fashion similar to a virus?

That seems unlikely unless the administered medication is simply "too much". I wonder, is there a saturation point? ie a point where additional mRNA medication does not result in more cells producing the target protein? Seems likely.

Which then raises the question, if such a saturation point exists, then what is causing cells to explode due to virus replication? Is it that the viral particles can not escape the cell and thus they "use" pressure? If so, have we encountered a virus that "opens up" a cell without damaging it and eventually becomes parasitic to the host?

It's probably the case that when cells die prematurely, they leave traces for our immune system to trigger an issue, so not destroying the cell seems like a beneficial evolutionary advantage. Otoh, the additional code required for this is likely very "expensive".

I hope a virologist drops by and clarifies on this.

Post reply on HN