More from @c0nc0rdance

c0nc0rdance

@c0nc0rdance

14 Nov

Let's talk about the All-Black towns of Oklahoma & how it could have been a majority Black state.

Oklahoma Territory formed in 1890, at a time when Blacks living in Jim Crow South were persecuted. Many relocated to urban centers in the North where they were minority population.

The idea of a "homeland" within the US that would be Black majority was popular; locations without existing white majority populations.

One champion for Majority Black Oklahoma was Edward P. McCabe, a prominent Black lawyer, politician, clerk from Kansas.

He organized a plan (~1881) involving 25 All-Black cities to be settled in Oklahoma territory. He hoped to swing political power to allow himself to be voted Governor of the newly created Majority Black state & government.

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c0nc0rdance

@c0nc0rdance

13 Nov

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1327224089451196420

Elon Musk is the Jon Snow of molecular biology.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1327224089451196420

In case you don't know molecular biology, PCR detects DNA or cDNA (made from RNA).

It can't detect proteins, and imagining that *every biomarker* is *always detectable* in *every sample* is a fundamental misunderstanding demonstrating lack of understanding in this field.

We're careful to say we detected viral *RNA*in a nasopharyngeal sample, which correlates to infectious virus most, but not all of the time.

Same with protein antigen or antibody: you never get a full picture, just strong clues.

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c0nc0rdance

@c0nc0rdance

13 Nov

In 1993, a new hantavirus was discovered with a focal point near 'Canyon de Muerto' on the Navajo reservation adjacent to the Four Corners region, where UT, NM, AZ, CO touch at a single point.

It had a case fatality rate of 67%.

I'll skip some detective work, though it's a fascinating story. The disease resulted from exposure to infected deer mouse droppings.

Once the outbreak was under control, the question of naming became a sticking point.

Prior convention would have been to call it "Hantavirus Muerto Canyon", classing it with Hantaviruses 'Puumala' (Finland) and 'Hantaan' (Korea) and 'Dobrava' (Slovenia)

The Navajo people of Muerto Canyon objected to being associated with a deadly cardiopulmonary disease.

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