Is the Kappa variant novel & newsworthy?

Let’s find out The kappa variant isn’t too far apart from the delta variant in the phylogenies tree.

In fact, by Clade separation, the kappa & delta separated out quite early in 2020 & were even detected in late 2020. Moreover, the aligned green dots suggest kappa was continuously reported.

Covaxin phase 3 is out as a preprint:

@BharatBiotech @RachesElla et al.

A quick read:

1n 1. Double-blind ✅
2. Randomised ✅
3. Multicentre ✅
4. Placebo-controlled ✅
5. Adults 18-98 yo ✅
6. 1:1 ratio of total 24419 people (n = 12221) or placebo (n = 12198) ✅
7. Two doses of BBV152 Covaxin intramuscular ✅
8. Recruitment between 16 Nov 2020 & 7 Jan 2021 ✅

2n

Are you a woman in the menstrual bleeding age who has had COVID-19?
I have some questions about contraceptive pills (CPs).

Please answer if you had mild, moderate/severe COVID, comment which pill did you take? 🙏🏻 Men & women who follow me, please share so I get as many as responses. It’s a scientific question that I can’t get my head around 🙄

Do not treat yourself with steroids like dexamethasone at home for asymptomatic and mild infections. It will prolong the length of the disease and you won’t be able to recover as easily. It can also add to more variants.

#CovidIndia

https://twitter.com/amitguptabliss/status/1389262562039148544

Yesterday's report by @PriyankaPulla on the ANVISA decision of COVAXIN was heavily criticised suggesting the inactivation test was conducted and published by @BharatBiotech- contrary to ANVISA claim. However, the test was only ex-vivo. BB has not tested this in-vivo (rodents)..1n ...A 2nd step involving inoculation of amplified virus within in-vivo model followed by monitoring for the onset of disease symptoms should be performed. In the past, 2 inactivated vaccines, measles & respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has had disastrous outcomes due to...2n

Is the health ministry doing enough to inspect the cause of COVID-19 surge?
To change strategy, we need to identify & sequence

Dr Vardhan claims SARS-CoV-2 genomics consortium is effectively processing the samples of the double variant.

Lets fact check:

#COVID19India #Thread

https://twitter.com/drharshvardhan/status/1383082011699519489

1. Yesterday, Indian State health officials said the double variant’s role cannot be ruled out in Maharashtra’s second wave. The state is recording over 50,000 new cases every day and has 5.64 lakh active cases, half of India’s Covid burden.
indianexpress.com/article/cities…

Lessons for professional & personal life. 🧵

For life during the COVID-19 2nd wave & beyond. 1. In medical education, teach an extra course called PPD (personal & professional development) which includes medical ethics, difficult conversations about end of life, breaking bad news to family, inequality in health, conflicts & global crisis,etc...

Sputnik V has 91.6% efficacy against COVID-19 & 100% against severe covid. 5 countries producing domestically incl. India & China. Aka GAM-COVID-Vac, it’s made of recombinant (S protein expressing gene of SARS-CoV2) adenovirus of 2 different serotypes (26 & 5)
Approved in India✅ PS it’s not Sputnik 5, it’s Sputnik V (the alphabet) probably a short to suggest it’s a viral vector vaccine. Sputnik 1 was also the first human-made satellite to orbit the earth.

PSA for those who have registered/about to get COVID-19 vaccine via the Co-WIN app.
It is absolutely essential that those who have had immune suppressants like chemotherapy or during organ transplants, etc should make it known during the inoculation and avoid the #Covaxin jab.

https://twitter.com/neurophysik/status/1367053532872929285

COVAXIN Efficacy: A thread...

n0 Q1: Is there a method to hypothesise the efficacy of COVAXIN when no data has been released?
Q2: How is this efficacy enhanced & measured?
Q3: Why can’t COVAXIN be compared with other mRNA vaccines like COVISHIELD (AstraZeneca), ModeRNA and Pfizer?
n1

The Lancet has NOT endorsed Covaxin. It has just published the phase I data -the preprint (non peer reviewed version) of which was available since last year. Good that @BharatBiotech published this data, but it does not mean it has a been cleared from the safety perspective. Safety clearance requires testing in many many people of various groups. In this paper, 3 types different vaccines were tested in 100 people each and compared with 75 people of placebo.

My analysis of the paper released by #BharatBiotech researchers & the Press Statement by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Restricted Emergency approval of 1out of 3 COVID-19 virus vaccine from Bharat Biotech: A thread... 1. PIB "The Phase III efficacy trial was initiated in India in 25,800 volunteers & till date, ~22,500 participants have been vaccinated across the country"

Fact check "A total of 25,800 subjects will be enrolled & randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive BBV152B vaccine and control"

TW & thread: COVID-19, menstruation & depression

Gynaecologists, Obstetrics & women that have recovered from COVID-19:

(Or keen beaners of Covid-19)

Women, How were your menstrual cycles post COVID-19 recovery? Want to know what may have happened?

Read on... 1/n So we know that SARS-COV2 affects a lot of organs in the body apart from the respiratory system. They infection is systemic after a point and the virus is found in many areas of the body including the brain, liver, gut, & the reproductive organs. But once the recovery is over..2n

My latest: In @AltNewsScience, we previously found Arsenicum Album 30 ineffective as a treatment against coronavirus. Subsequently, AYUSH released annexures to claim that homeopathy strengthens immunity. After reviewing, the claim was found unscientific. altnews.in/homeopathic-dr… Do you remember the claims of boosting immunity by modulating gene expression of the immune cells via pills? All the science of allosteric regulation to alter proinflammatory cytokines & interleukins? We reviewed each of the studies given by @moayush. Homeopathy is still fraud.

India’s 'first' indigenous COVID-19 vaccine COVAXIN, developed by @BharatBiotech with @ICMRDELHI & NIV , approved for human clinical trials from the DCGI. The Phase I + II clinical trials to start next month after pre-clinical studies demonstrated safety & immune response. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Update: The @BharatBiotech vaccine (called covaxin) was developed & tested in collaboration with University of Wisconsin & vaccine company FluGen. It is delivered intranasally & has completed Phase II trials in the USA. Bharat will manufacture clinical lots of the vaccine. 1/3

Best thing I have read today:
"Statistics means never having to say you are certain. If a statistical conclusion ever seems certain, you probably are misunderstanding something. The whole point of statistics is to quantify uncertainty." I am going to keep this going for now:
"Every statistical inference is based on a list of assumptions. Don't try to interpret any statistical results until after you have reviewed that list...1/3

The pH range is 0 (strong acidic)- 7 (neutral) - 14 (strong base).
A pH above 14 doesn't exist. Viruses have RNA (ribonucleic acid), protein & lipids as their components. Acidity is measured by Isoelectric point pH (I) is the pH at which molecules have no net electric charge.1/n

https://twitter.com/Schandillia/status/1244973438722166784

...Since, most proteins and lipids are considered weakly acidic, the myth of using alkaline foods to counter the protein in the virus may have started. It's true that most proteins 'may' be structurally altered or unfolded in high alkaline/acidic pH. But, humans are mammals..2/n

Mr @SadhguruJV, no one challenged that mother's milk can possibly be altered as/ the baby's gender, plus factors like duration of lactation, mother's diet+body, mother's genetics, etc. The contesting claim was only specific to twin babies & each breast producing different milk.

https://twitter.com/ishafoundation/status/1229845549974556672

The other factors like mother's diet and frequency of lactation probably have a larger impact on the milk composition than the gender itself. It is impossible to determine impact of gender behind composition due to many confounding factors which can never be verified on its own..

As the world is battling with Coronavirus infections, the sci-checkers + fact-checkers at Alt News, India are battling with misinformation on 2019-nCoV. Despite, the low mortality rate of the current CoV epidemic, it can be much more dangerous in the age of social media. Read on! Here, I compared the differences between the current novel CoV epidemic as opposed to the SARS & MERS CoV epidemics. Yes, they were much more fatal but we didn't have irresponsible false advices for protection & treatment.
theprint.in/opinion/corona… @ThePrintIndia @ThePrintScience

T1: Thread on data analysis & representation emerging from cognitive bias associated with research studies involving serious malpractice in #altmed #naturopathy #ayurveda #AYUSH research, i.e. no placebo controlled, no blinding, incorrect statistics, no error bars on mean data. T2: From the recent article published at @AltNews Science on dengue and papaya extract pill called Caripill altnews.in/is-caripill-th… we evaluated the two clinical trial studies in India given by pubmed

1/5: Don't dismiss the 'ducks in the pond statement' of Biplab Deb before reading this: While swimming ducks can increase surface aeration, there is no comparison of a mechanical aerator that mixes oxygen in the deeper layers of the water. 2/5: A study showed statistically significant differences in fish growth (& pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), etc) in a natural pond with ducks vs. a natural pond without ducks. Link here. So ducks were great for these ponds. lrrd.org/lrrd22/9/sasm2…