Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/MFHCp63kTaM

The CPSC and Textron now recall Textron E-Z-GO PTVs and Tracker Off-Road Vehicles.  The parking brake catch bracket may deteriorate causing the parking brake to fail and creating a crash hazard.   About 6600 of these vehicles were sold at E-Z-GO and Tracker Off-Road dealerships nationwide, online via E-Z-GO’s Dealer to Driveway program, and through Tracker Off-Road Ready to Buy program.  If you bought one of these vehicles, stop using it and contact Textron by phone at 1-888-525-6040 or via email at [email protected].

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2021/Textron-Specialized-Vehicles-Recalls-PTV-and-Off-Road-Vehicles-Due-to-Crash-Hazard-Recall-Alert

#textron #offroadvehicles #brakes #crashes #recall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/MFHCp63kTaM

The CPSC and Textron now recall Textron E-Z-GO PTVs and Tracker Off-Road Vehicles.  The parking brake catch bracket may deteriorate causing the parking brake to fail and creating a crash hazard.   About 6600 of these vehicles were sold at E-Z-GO and Tracker Off-Road dealerships nationwide, online via E-Z-GO’s Dealer to Driveway program, and through Tracker Off-Road Ready to Buy program.  If you bought one of these vehicles, stop using it and contact Textron by phone at 1-888-525-6040 or via email at [email protected].

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2021/Textron-Specialized-Vehicles-Recalls-PTV-and-Off-Road-Vehicles-Due-to-Crash-Hazard-Recall-Alert

#textron #offroadvehicles #brakes #crashes #recall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/YxZTrsLC0e0

Eating healthy, plant based foods is associated with a 41% lower risk of contracting a severe case of CoVid.  Researchers at Harvard’s Mass. General Hospital and King’s College London analyzed data from 592,571 subjects in the US and UK accumulated from March to December, 2020.

Participants noted their dietary habits on a smartphone-based survey, and each was given a PlantBasedDiet score based on their consumption of foods such as fruits and vegetables. Based on their scores, each was placed in one of 4 groups representing the representing the highest versus the lowest levels of healthy eating. 

While the healthiest eating only reduced the risk of any CoVid infection by 9%, it provided significant protection against CoVid infections that landed you in the ICU, on a ventilator, or in the morgue.

https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2021/09/06/gutjnl-2021-325353

#CoVid #plantbaseeddiet #healthyeating #icu

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/YxZTrsLC0e0

Eating healthy, plant based foods is associated with a 41% lower risk of contracting a severe case of CoVid.  Researchers at Harvard’s Mass. General Hospital and King’s College London analyzed data from 592,571 subjects in the US and UK accumulated from March to December, 2020.

Participants noted their dietary habits on a smartphone-based survey, and each was given a PlantBasedDiet score based on their consumption of foods such as fruits and vegetables. Based on their scores, each was placed in one of 4 groups representing the representing the highest versus the lowest levels of healthy eating. 

While the healthiest eating only reduced the risk of any CoVid infection by 9%, it provided significant protection against CoVid infections that landed you in the ICU, on a ventilator, or in the morgue.

https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2021/09/06/gutjnl-2021-325353

#CoVid #plantbaseeddiet #healthyeating #icu

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/W6oovAmIhHk

Masking singers and the bells of musical instruments significantly reduces CoVid-carrying aerosols, but keeping their performances safe requires limiting them to 30 minutes indoors and 60 minutes outdoors.  These conclusions stem from collaborative studies by engineers at the Universities of Colorado and Maryland.

The investigators compared the aerosol output from singers, woodwind instruments, and brass instruments utilizing flow visualization, anemometer measurements, and quantitative aerosol measurements.  Singers were masked with surgical masks, and instrument bells were covered with surgical masks or HEPA MERV 13 filters.

In general, brass instruments emitted more aerosols followed by singers and then woodwinds.  Masking provided near complete elimination of aerosols for singers, while instrument bell masks and HEPA filters couldn’t block aerosols escaping from keyholes and around mouthpieces.  As expected, aerosol accumulation reached critical levels faster indoors than outdoor.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsenvironau.1c00007

#CoVid #aerosols #brass #woodwinds #singers

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/W6oovAmIhHk

Masking singers and the bells of musical instruments significantly reduces CoVid-carrying aerosols, but keeping their performances safe requires limiting them to 30 minutes indoors and 60 minutes outdoors.  These conclusions stem from collaborative studies by engineers at the Universities of Colorado and Maryland.

The investigators compared the aerosol output from singers, woodwind instruments, and brass instruments utilizing flow visualization, anemometer measurements, and quantitative aerosol measurements.  Singers were masked with surgical masks, and instrument bells were covered with surgical masks or HEPA MERV 13 filters.

In general, brass instruments emitted more aerosols followed by singers and then woodwinds.  Masking provided near complete elimination of aerosols for singers, while instrument bell masks and HEPA filters couldn’t block aerosols escaping from keyholes and around mouthpieces.  As expected, aerosol accumulation reached critical levels faster indoors than outdoor.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsenvironau.1c00007

#CoVid #aerosols #brass #woodwinds #singers

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/R44bfNmIRNo

When students in fully-open schools wear effective masks, the incidence of hospitalization of all in a community may be reduced by as much as 71%.  This the conclusion of a North Carolina study that employs a computer model using accumulated state data.  The simulation begins in July, 2021 with Delta CoVid predominant and predicts expected deaths and hospitalizations over the following year.

With schools fully open and students wearing masks with 70% filtration effectiveness, the expected rate of new CoVid infections in the community drops by an average of 36%.  

Masks with only 50% filtration only reduce the infections by 23%.  Infection reduction is greatest for the school-aged, but there is a substantial reduction in hospitalizations and CoVid deaths for their parents and grandparents too.

If the students were to wear KN95 or N95 masks in school, the reduction of serious and life-threatening CoVid cases would be even more substantial.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.11.21263433v1.full.pdf+html

#CoVid #masks #school

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/R44bfNmIRNo

When students in fully-open schools wear effective masks, the incidence of hospitalization of all in a community may be reduced by as much as 71%.  This the conclusion of a North Carolina study that employs a computer model using accumulated state data.  The simulation begins in July, 2021 with Delta CoVid predominant and predicts expected deaths and hospitalizations over the following year.

With schools fully open and students wearing masks with 70% filtration effectiveness, the expected rate of new CoVid infections in the community drops by an average of 36%.  

Masks with only 50% filtration only reduce the infections by 23%.  Infection reduction is greatest for the school-aged, but there is a substantial reduction in hospitalizations and CoVid deaths for their parents and grandparents too.

If the students were to wear KN95 or N95 masks in school, the reduction of serious and life-threatening CoVid cases would be even more substantial.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.11.21263433v1.full.pdf+html

#CoVid #masks #school

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/kxtrGTKuUn8

A University of Houston spinoff company has developed a nasal spray that triggers robust CoVid antibodies and cellular immunity while being storable without freezing for up to 11 months.  The vaccine has two components: spike protein and a nanoparticle adjuvant called nanoSTING.

The components are stored separately with the nanoSTING refrigerated and the spike protein in freeze-dried, powdered form.  Just before use, the spike protein is reconstituted, mixed with the nanoSTING, and sprayed in the nose as a single dose vaccine.  This vaccine formulation  makes storage and distribution around the world much simpler than with the mRNA vaccines.

This nasal vaccine induces strong lining immunity within the nose where CoVid usually enters the body.  The levels of IgA secretory antibody and killer T cells protect against viral penetration and proliferation but only so far in a mouse model.  Work is underway to initiate human trials.

https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(21)01005-1?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2589004221010051%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

#CoVid #vaccine #nasalspray #singledose

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/kxtrGTKuUn8

A University of Houston spinoff company has developed a nasal spray that triggers robust CoVid antibodies and cellular immunity while being storable without freezing for up to 11 months.  The vaccine has two components: spike protein and a nanoparticle adjuvant called nanoSTING.

The components are stored separately with the nanoSTING refrigerated and the spike protein in freeze-dried, powdered form.  Just before use, the spike protein is reconstituted, mixed with the nanoSTING, and sprayed in the nose as a single dose vaccine.  This vaccine formulation  makes storage and distribution around the world much simpler than with the mRNA vaccines.

This nasal vaccine induces strong lining immunity within the nose where CoVid usually enters the body.  The levels of IgA secretory antibody and killer T cells protect against viral penetration and proliferation but only so far in a mouse model.  Work is underway to initiate human trials.

https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(21)01005-1?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2589004221010051%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

#CoVid #vaccine #nasalspray #singledose