Petes Musings 8/17/23
A collection of interesting stories/papers I didn’t feel worthy of their own post. Shorter than my typical posts
I. Betting on The Dialysis Market in 2019
II. Masks-Co2-Fertility-Cognitive Development
III. Omicron-Artificially Created
IV. Taliban-Opium
V. Taiwan All Cause Death Update
Betting on The Dialysis Market in 2019
For anyone thinking your For Profit Health Care System provides you the best health care in the world. There is a reason we have lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality rates than other developed countries, and it isn’t related to diet or exercise. Dialysis is a good example
Note the Interesting increase in stock prices starting around 2019. With COVID, Remdesivir and mRNA jabs in the pipeline (known to insiders in 2019 ), it was reasonable to expect an increase in those developing kidney failure and fewer transplants for those with existing kidney failure
The chart above compares the stock price performance of the kidney dialysis company, DaVita (ticker DVA), with the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index since 1996.
…..Fresenius and DaVita provide “shorter and higher-speed dialysis, which enables them to process more patients per day.” Tragically, that speed comes at a cost to patient health. Mueller writes that “In clinics where dialysis is slower and gentler – in high-quality, nonprofit centers in the United States, for example, and in many parts of Europe – patients live better and survive longer…For good medical reasons, in fact, nephrologists [kidney doctors] in other developed countries typically avoid the kind of treatment [endured by patients] in clinics throughout America. Many condemn it as dangerous….”
The death statistics also speak volumes.
Mueller writes:
“ ‘The survival rate in the United States, where around 22 percent of patients die every year, is the lowest in the industrialized world,’ says Leonard Stern [a nephrologist]. ‘The mortality in Japan is only 5 to 6 percent per year, and in Western Europe it’s in the range of 9 to 12 percent per year….’ ”
The article does not discuss any increases in the number of people needing dialysis but its likely a combination of COVID, Remdesivir and COVID Vaccines damaged more than a few kidneys. That said, I don’t have any good data to support that
Masks-Co2-Fertility-Cognitive Development
A new study confirms a lot of what us anti-maskers have been concerned about. Although limited in scope it confirms how awful the idea of masking children, pregnant women and those in labor was.
Fresh air has around 0.04% CO2, while wearing masks more than 5 min bears a possible chronic exposure to carbon dioxide of 1.41% to 3.2% of the inhaled air.Although the buildup is usually within the short-term exposure limits, long-term exceedances and consequences must be considered due to experimental data. US Navy toxicity experts set the exposure limits for submarines carrying a female crew to 0.8% CO2 based on animal studies which indicated an increased risk for stillbirths.Additionally, mammals who were chronically exposed to 0.3% CO2 the experimental data demonstrate a teratogenicity with irreversible neuron damage in the offspring, reduced spatial learning caused by brainstem neuron apoptosis and reduced circulating levels of the insulin-like growth factor-1. With significant impact on three readout parameters (morphological, functional, marker) this chronic 0.3% CO2 exposure has to be defined as being toxic.
Additional data exists on the exposure of chronic 0.3% CO2 in adolescent mammals causing neuron destruction, which includes less activity, increased anxiety and impaired learning and memory.
There is also data indicating testicular toxicity in adolescents at CO2 inhalation concentrations above 0.5%.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9981272/
Sadly the study did not look at excess deaths in elderly and those with gross morbidities forced to wear masks
Omicron-Artificially Created
Excerpts from paper suggesting Omicron and perhaps other variants were artificially created. Well, you know
my take on this. As I mentioned in an earlier post
The history of Omicron is quite interesting. Detected in Botswana around Thanksgiving 2021 in several visitors who entered with diplomatic immunity. They were tested before leaving the country. This suggests they brought it in (unknowingly or otherwise) Nobody ever asked or told us what country these folks came from.
And this
https://www.visiontimes.com/2021/11/26/botswana-vaccinated-diplomats.html
The virus quickly spread around the world, behaving much like a self spreading vaccine (spreads easily but with low IFR). Its even spread to the deer population near Faucis RML in Montana and elsewhere in North America.
It makes you wonder if there are a series of engineered viruses being deployed around the world, different enough to skirt developing herd immunity and prolong the pandemic.
The Botswana case where Omicron was apparently introduced to the region via foreign diplomats. This has me thinking back to Taiwan since it was after a flurry of visits by US officials in March and April 2022 that there was a surge in Omicron cases followed by COVID deaths
March 2-2022
Taiwan’s government is juggling competing high-profile visits from the US in a busy week of diplomacy as Washington sends a delegation to democratically run Taipei just before a trip by former secretary of state (and CIA Director) Michael Pompeo.
President Tsai Ing-wen met a bipartisan group including former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen and ex-undersecretary of defense for policy Michèle Flournoy in the Presidential Office on Wednesday, a US display of support amid growing pressure from an increasingly assertive China and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2022/03/02/Pompeo-heads-to-Taiwan-as-rival-US-delegations-display-support-amid-China-threat
4-14-2022
Lindsey Graham visit
TAIPEI, Taiwan — A delegation of six U.S. lawmakers led by Republican Lindsey Graham from South Carolina arrived in Taiwan on Thursday for a two-day visit that has already been denounced by China.
The U.S. lawmakers are to meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the island’s defense minister. The visit is “again a demonstration of the U.S.’s ‘rock solid’ support and commitment to Taiwan” amid a “severe” situation in Ukraine, the island’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Graham is joined by Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Sen. Robert Portman of Ohio, Sen. Benjamin Sasse of Nebraska, and Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas.
The visit follows an announcement last week that U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi would visit Taiwan. However, Pelosi’s trip was postponed after she tested positive for COVID-19.
https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/lindsey-graham-arrives-in-taiwan-draws-criticism-from-china/
🤔
Now lets look at the paper by these Japanese authors. Note the Omicron virus was circulating in a US territory (Puerto Rico) in 2020 and which was pretty much a locked down island
Over the past three years, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has repeatedly experienced pandemics, generating various mutated variants ranging from Alpha to Omicron. In this study, we aimed to clarify the evolutionary processes leading to the formation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants, focusing on Omicron variants with many amino acid mutations in the spike protein among SARS-CoV-2 isolates. To determine the order in which the mutations leading to the formation of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants, we compared the sequences of 129 Omicron BA.1-related isolates, 141 BA.1.1-related isolates, and 122 BA.2-27 related isolates, and tried to dissolve the evolutionary processes of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants, including the order of mutations leading to the formation of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants and the occurrence of homologous recombination.
As a result, we concluded that the formations of a part of Omicron isolates BA.1, BA.1.1, and BA.2 were not the products of genome evolution as is commonly observed in nature, such as the accumulation of mutations and homologous recombinations.
Furthermore, the study of recombinant isolates of Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2, confirmed that Omicron variants were already present in 2020. The analysis we have shown here is that the Omicron variants are formed by an entirely new mechanism that cannot be explained by previous biology, and knowing the way how the SARS-CoV-2 variants were formed prompts a reconsideration of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Surprisingly, the recombinant of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 lineages, SARS-CoV-2/human/PRI/PR-192 PR-UPRRP-582/2020 (GenBank: ON928946.1), was already present in Puerto Rico in 2020. Omicron 193 (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the WHO by the Network for Genomics Surveillance 194 in South Africa on November 24, 2021 (13, 14). It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the 195 predominant variant in circulation worldwide (15).
Following the appearance of the original B.1.1.529 variant, 196 several subvariants of Omicron have emerged, including BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4, and BA.5 (19). Since 197 October 2022, two subvariants of BA.5 called BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 have emerged.
The question then arose about why a recombinant strain, SARS-CoV-2/human/PRI/PR-UPRRP-199 582/2020 (GenBank: ON928946.1), already existed in 2020. We searched for SARS-CoV-2 isolates prevalent 200 in Puerto Rico using the keywords "PRI", "PR-UPRRP", and "2020".
Consequently, we found 29 Omicron-201 associated sequences in the 127 hits obtained (Fig. 5B). These results suggest that the SARS-CoV-2 lineages bearing the amino acid sequences of the S protein are identical to that of Omicron BA.1 and Omicron BA.2 lineages were already prevalent in Puerto Rico in 2020, with 15 isolates having the complete Omicron BA.1+ R346K_mut-subset (BA1.1) , 14 isolates had a synonymous substitution of c21595u. Four isolates had an amino acid sequence of the S protein perfectly matched that of Omicron BA2 (BA.2_S), and eight were Omicron BA.2-0.1 (BA.2-S:K440N).
Despite the accumulation of many mutations in the S protein of Omicron mutants, most of the mutations are non-synonymous, with only one synonymous mutation of c25000u, which is highly unnatural, leading to the hypothesis that the Omicron mutants are artificially synthesized.
The following results presented in this study may support the hypothesis that the Omicron variants may have been artificially synthesized rather thannaturally occurring: 1) the presence of Omicron variant-associated isolates with one mutation site being Wuhan-type; 2) the almost complete absence of synonymous mutations in the S protein in these isolates; 3) the Omicron variant, which should have been first reported to WHO from South Africa on November 24, 2021, was already endemic in Puerto Rico in 2020, and that there were isolates that were recombinants between Omicron strains 235 BA1 and BA2.
Assuming that artificially synthesized mutants with only non-synonymous mutations are spread globally, this would explain how mutants with non-synonymous mutations without previous synonymous mutations develop synonymous mutations under natural circumstances.
Considering the current epidemic situation of SARS-CoV-2, it is unlikely that these viruses arose spontaneously. In explaining the formation of the SARS- CoV-2 isolate, as shown here, the SARS-CoV-2 isolates are formed by a completely new mechanism that cannot be explained by previous biology. One idea, the hypothesis that these viruses were artificially generated, is more reasonable than proposing a novel mutation acquisition mechanism. However, is there any reason to artificially create these mutants, which are unlikely to have occurred naturally, given the current SARS-CoV-2 epidemic?
Suppose the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and its one amino acid reversion mutants were artificially and systematically generated. In that case, we should suspect that the other variants (Alpha to Delta) may also be artificially generated viruses. Indeed, the lack of findings to date that many of the various mutations seen, especially in the early variants, are indeed associated with increased viral infection (29) supports the hypothesis that each variant was artificially synthesized to identify the amino acids of the S protein responsible for infectivity and pathogenicity. The possibility that the set of mutants was artificially generated to identify amino acids of the S protein involved in the infectivity and virulence is supported.
Reverse genetics experiments are an essential part of virus research, and it is inimical to virus research to consider that artificially synthesized viruses were deliberately spread throughout the world. However, now that reverse genetics has become common in virus research, we believe it is not scientific to discuss the mutation process of SARS-CoV-2 without excluding the possibility of artificially synthesized viruses.
https://zenodo.org/record/8216373
Great article here. Its self explanatory so doesn’t need much commentary, but my take is this. One of the reasons, and there were several, for invading Afghanistan is the Taliban cut off the worlds supply of opium by not growing it, and Opium was badly needed for the illicit and legal drug trade.
Today we have synthetics like Fentanyl , so opium is less of an issue. Plus we have huge stockpiles of Opium due to 20 years of bumper crops in Afghanistan. And Fentanyl is deadlier. Depopulation is a real thing.
In April of last year, the ruling Taliban government announced the prohibition of poppy farming, citing both their strong religious beliefs and the extremely harmful social costs that heroin and other opioids – derived from the sap of the poppy plant – have wrought across Afghanistan.
It has not been all bluster. New research from geospatial data company Alcis suggests that poppy production has already plummeted by around 80% since last year. Indeed, satellite imagery shows that in Helmand Province, the area that produces more than half of the crop, poppy production has dropped by a staggering 99%. Just 12 months ago, poppy fields were dominant. But Alcis estimates that there are now less than 1,000 hectares of poppy growing in Helmand.
Afghanistan produces almost 90% of the world’s heroin. Therefore, the eradication of the opium crop will have profound worldwide consequences on drug use. Experts MintPress spoke to warned that a dearth of heroin would likely produce a huge spike in the use of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, a drug the Center for Disease Control estimates is 50 times stronger and is responsible for taking the lives of more than 100,000 Americans each year.
In other words, if heroin is no longer available, users will switch to far deadlier synthetic forms of the drug. A 2022 United Nations report came to a similar conclusion, noting that the crackdown on heroin production could lead to the “replacement of heroin or opium by other substances…such as fentanyl and its analogs.”
A similar attempt by the Taliban to eliminate the drug occurred in 2000, the last full year that they were in power. It was extraordinarily successful, with opium reduction dropping from 4,600 tons to just 185 tons. At that time, it took around 18 months for the consequences to be felt in the West. In the United Kingdom, average heroin purity fell from 55% to 34%, while in the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, heroin was largely replaced by fentanyl. However, as soon as the United States invaded in 2001, poppy cultivation shot back up to previous levels and the supply chain recommenced.
The Taliban’s successful campaign to eradicate drug production has cast a shadow of doubt over the effectiveness of American-led endeavors to achieve the same outcome. “It prompts the question, ‘What were we actually accomplishing there?!'” remarked Hoh
Suzanna Reiss, an academic at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the author of “We Sell Drugs: The Alchemy of U.S. Empire,” demonstrated an even more cynical perspective on American counter-narcotics endeavors as she conveyed to MintPress:
The U.S. has never really been focused on reducing the drug trade in Afghanistan (or elsewhere for that matter). All the lofty rhetoric aside, the U.S. has been happy to work with drug traffickers if the move would advance certain geopolitical interests (and indeed, did so, or at least turned a knowingly blind eye, when groups like the Northern Alliance relied on drugs to fund their political movement against the regime.).”
Earlier this year, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas described the American fentanyl problem as “the single greatest challenge we face as a country.” Nearly 110,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021, fentanyl being by far the leading cause. Between 2015 and 2021, the National Institute of Health recorded a nearly 7.5-fold increase in overdose deaths. Medical journal The Lancet predicts that 1.2 million Americans will die from opioid overdoses by 2029.
One group who are disproportionately affected by opioids like OxyContin, heroin and fentanyl are veterans. According to the National Institutes of Health, veterans are twice as likely to die from overdose than the general population. One reason for this is bureaucracy. “The Veterans Administration did a really poor job in the past decades with their pain management, particularly their reliance on opioids,” Hoh, a former marine, told MintPress, noting that the V.A. prescribed dangerous opioids at a higher rate than other healthcare agencies.
Ex-soldiers often have to cope with chronic pain and brain injuries. Hoh noted that around a quarter-million veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq have traumatic brain injuries. But added to that are the deep moral injuries many suffered – injuries that typically cannot be seen. As Hoh noted:
Veterans are turning to [opioids like fentanyl] to deal with the mental, emotional and spiritual consequences of the war, using them to quell the distress, try to find some relief, escape from the depression, and deal with the demons that come home with veterans who took part in those wars.”
Thus, if the Taliban’s opium eradication program continues, it could spark a fentanyl crisis that might kill more Americans than the 20-year occupation ever did.
So now we see a possible motive for the US abrupt departure from Afghanistan. The Depopulation agenda is real folks, and of course fewer Veterans collecting VA benefits helps with the budget deficit.
Taiwan July Deaths
Another dismal month with about 900 COVID Deaths as the 4th Omicron Wave winds down. All cause mortality high at 17,992 deaths (14,533 in 2020)
Although Taiwan is highly vaxxed I do wonder about the role of masks in tbis based on the above paper. Despite the elimination of mask mandates (except in hospitals), many people still wear them even outdoors.
I wont do a long post on this, just a chart. I am increasingly reluctant to estimate excess deaths since I don’t think comparing to 2020 or the 2018-2020 average is very accurate in 2023 , given the rapidly aging population and 2021-2022 excess deaths -Pull Forward Effect (which might offset each other to some extent)
So I’ll end it here.
Smart author . Well-organized and informative . Thank you .