Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/DRlXy8xWWRg

The CPSC and Petsmart are recalling Top Paw® Double Diner Dog Bowls.  The rubber gasket that covered the unfinished and sharp bottom edge of this product comes off easily and this create a laceration hazard.  About 100,300 of these dog bowls were sold at Petsmart stores and online at petsmart.com.  Immediately stop using these dog bowls and return them to any Petsmart store for a refund.  For additional information, contact Petsmart by phone at 1-888-839-9638 or online at petsmart.com.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2021/PetSmart-Recalls-Top-Paw-Double-Diner-Dog-Bowls-Due-to-Laceration-Hazard

#petsmart #dogbowl #laceration #recall

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/rQYCb4rorm4

The CPSC and SKE Outdoors are recalling TurboSke Kids Toddler Bike Helmets.  These children’s bicycle helmets fail to meet federal safety standards and create a head injury risk.  About 860 of these helmet have been sold online through amazon.com and other online retailers.  Do not permit your children to use these bicycle helmets.  Call SKE Outdoors by phone at 1-888-761-2989 or online at skeoutdoors.com to arrange free shipping back in exchange for a full refund or a replacement helmet.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2021/SKE-Outdoors-Recalls-Kids-Bike-Helmets-Due-to-Risk-of-Head-Injury

#skeoutdoors #bikehelmet #safety #headinjury #recall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/UfSK8N8jghc

The CPSC and Step 2 now recall StepUp Sidekick Learning Towers.  The storage tray with its cup holders and step may detach from the tower and create a fall hazard for a child.  About 1,570 of these items were sold in the US and about 34 were sold in Canada online at step2.com and at amazon.com.  Stop using this recalled StepUp Sidekick Learning Tower and contact Step2 by phone at 1-800-347-8372 or online at step2.com to arrange a full refund or a credit on Step2.com of equivalent value. For purchases on amazon, you can arrange your refund in the form of an Amazon gift card.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2021/Step2-Recalls-StepUp-Sidekick-Learning-Towers-Due-to-Fall-Hazard-Recall-Alert

#step2 #tower #tray #falls #children #recall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/IbE2Xf-8UQQ

Those fully vaccinated against CoVid who develop breakthrough infections and positive PCR tests carry the same high levels of infectious virus as the unvaccinated.  This warning comes to us from the University of Wisconsin and the CDC.  The Wisconsin researchers studied the quantitative PCR test results from 699 Wisconsin residents who tested positive for the virus in July, 2021.

Very large CoVid viral levels were detected in 68% of those fully vaccinated compared with 63% of those unvaccinated.  The viruses recovered from these samples were proven to be infectious in 95% of the vaccinated and 88% of the unvaccinated.  These large numbers of infectious virus were detected in those who were asymptomatic as well as in those suffering the symptoms of CoVid.

What should you do?  Assume that even those vaccinated could bear CoVid. That being the case, we all must continue to wear effective masks when indoors and when close together outdoors.  Assume that it is unsafe to eat indoors or to spend extended time inside public spaces.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.31.21261387v4.full.pdf

#CoVid #vaccine #spreading #symptomatic

Moderna Twice As Protective Against Delta CoVid As Pfizer

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/vhmIGC8Db4k

Those vaccinated with the Moderna mRNA CoVid vaccine are now about 50% less likely to develop a positive CoVid PCR test when compared with those who received the Pfizer vaccine.  This conclusion comes from a massive Mayo Clinic Health System study.  The researchers tabulated the month by month effectiveness of the two mRNA vaccines December 2020 to July 2021 in each of 5 states as Delta became the most prevalent form of CoVid.  They analyzed data from over 636,000 patients with at least one positive CoVid PCR test.

Initial data presented to the FDA by Moderna and Pfizer indicated that each vaccine was about 94% effective against the original wild type of CoVid.   Just looking at Mayo’s month by month Minnesota experience, as the Delta variant became more prevalent, each vaccine became less protective against CoVid but Pfizer also became significantly less protective than Moderna.  Data  in July for the 5 states Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida, and Iowa shows that Moderna’s infection protectiveness had dropped to 76% but Pfizer’s had dropped to 42%

The good news is that, over the same period, both vaccines remained very protective against serious CoVid infections that required hospitalization.  For Moderna, it was 81% and for Pfizer a statistically similar 75%.

With the Delta variant surging and our CoVid immunity waning each month following completion of vaccination, it is ultra important that all of us, Moderna or Pfizer vaccinated, use time-tested precautions such as masking, distancing, and ventilation to protect ourselves.  Those Pfizer-vaccinated should be particularly careful.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.06.21261707v3.full.pdf

#CoVid #delta #vaccine #moderna #pfizer

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/flxjj9dc1Pc

Riding with windows open WHILE wearing a mask is the wining formula for protecting yourself from CoVid.  Britain’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research studied in-car air quality with multiple sensors and estimated your probability of  CoVid transmission from another, infected passenger.  They tested various conditions including everyone masked or maskless, windows closed or open, the ventilation system bringing in fresh outside air or recirculating the air, speaking levels varying from loud to normal to only breathing, and various trip durations.

Transmission of infection rises as speech volume levels escalate.  Infection transmission diminishes when passengers wear a typical non-medical 3 layer cloth mask  as airflow through the vehicle increases by opening the windows or, second best, bringing in fresh air while air conditioning. 

 With 50%.        Loud speaking        Normal Speaking.         Only breathing

      eff. Mask

WC-RC                 28.5%/hr.                   5.1% /hr.                       1.1%/hr.

WC/AA                   5.1%/hr.                   0.8%/hr.                         ——

WO                          2.3%/hr                    0.4%/hr.                        ——

In a situation, say ride-sharing, where the driver may be infected, you as the passenger are maximally protected by sitting in the right rear seat with the right front and left rear windows open.  The more protective the mask worn by the infected passenger and the uninfected passenger or passengers, the less likely is CoVid transmission over time.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412021004396?via%3Dihub

#CoVid #automobile #ventilation #masking

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/1ZrUDJdvXOQ

The mRNA vaccines that can most effectively protect you from CoVid do carry a tiny risk that you could develop a case of treatable cardiac inflammation.  Even your risk of that is 6 times greater should you develop a CoVid infection.  This and other reassuring conclusions stem from a massive Israeli study of more than 1.7 million persons that was just published in the New England Journal.  Half the group was vaccinated with the Pfizer CoVid vaccine.  The researchers also studied s a subset of more than 340,000 unvaccinated persons half of whom developed CoVid.

The tabulated data revealed that, while vaccination increased the myocarditis risk 3-fold to 2.7 events per 100,000, a CoVid infection propelled that risk 18-fold to 11 events per 100,000 while increasing the risk of other life-threatening events including pericarditis, arrhythmias, blood clots in the veins and lungs, heart attacks, and strokes.

My advice:  there isn’t any better health and wellness move that you can make right now than a mRNA CoVid vaccination and then a booster if its been more than 6 months since your initial two dose vaccination.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2110475

#covid #vaccine #mrna #pfizer #myocarditis 

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/q0PeLQEeG-U

As the vaccines made against the wild type CoVid are helping us weather the pandemic fueled by variants that first arose in Great Britain, the B.1.117 alpha, in South Africa, the B.1.351 beta, in Brazil, the P.1 gamma, and yes in India, the B.1.617 delta, all is not well.  Since not enough people have been fully vaccinated, even in countries with advanced health systems such as the US and European countries, the virus has continued to mutate.

One particularly worrisome variant has arisen in South America, the C.37 lambda.  While the Delta variant is more contagious than the wild type and earlier variants and can break through mRNA vaccine immunity to cause infection, those vaccine-immunized do clear the virus quickly.  The lambda variant, now dominant in some South American countries and in the process of spreading around the world, appears to even more poorly bind the protective antibodies generated by our current vaccines.  The result: more severe CoVid breakthrough infections.

What’s the message.  You’d better get vaccinated and boosted.  And you’d better have an ample supply of effective masks including the KN95s and the N95 dust masks.  In all probability, you’ll may want to combine the two in particularly risky settings that include indoors or in crowds outdoors.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.25.457692v1.full.pdf+html

#CoVid #delta #lamda #vaccines #masks

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/THKzX2Ygo6o

This question continues to pop up, and now we have a randomized, multicenter study to provide a definitive answer.    Collaborators at Duke, Vanderbilt, Baylor, Temple, the University of Kansas, and the Universities of Florida and South Florida studied 1360 health care workers during the pre-vaccine era between April and November, 2020.  A group of 683 participants were randomly chosen to receive a month of HCQ and 676 were selected to receive a placebo.  Each participant was studied for any side effects from the HCQ or placebo, and the chief outcome measure was the development of a CoVid infection as authenticated by a positive PCR test.

When the numbers were tallied, there was good news and bad news associated with the HCQ therapy.  The good news:  those receiving it compared to an innocuous placebo suffered no increase in reported adverse effects.  The bad news: the HCQ does not significantly reduce the risk of CoVid infection.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.19.21262275v1.full.pdf+html

#CoVid #hydroxychloroquine 

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/hOZb_hIGmBk

From the FDA’s science and engineering lab comes the warning that your iPhone or any electronic device with a strong magnetic coupling interface could generate magnetic fields capable of activating the magnetic switches that control implantable pacemakers and cardioverter-defibrillators.

The magnetic switches in these devices are designed to be triggered by magnetic fields stronger than 10 gauss.  To test the ability of the Apple iPhone 12 series and the Apple Watches to accidentally set off these switches, the FDA measured the magnetic fields around these devices at various distances.

All the 12 series iPhones and the Apple Watch generate magnetic fields greater than 10 gauss up to 11 millimeters or nearly a half inch away.  For safety sake, the FDA scientists recommend keeping these phones and the watch at least 6 inches away from the implantable device site.  

Why?  If a pacemaker’s magnetic switch is activated, it could begin pacing when unneeded leading to abnormal heart rhythms.  Mistakenly activating the switch on an implantable defibrillator prevents it from functioning and providing a heart-starting, lifesaving jolt when needed. Other implantable devices with magnetic switches including cochlear implants, infusion pumps, and neurostimulators may be similarly affected.

So let me repeat, for safety sake, keep your iPhones and Apple Watches at least 6 inches from any implantable device.  One more thing…recent iPads have magnets too.

https://www.heartrhythmjournal.com/article/S1547-5271(21)01859-2/fulltext

#iPhone #applewatch #magnetic #pacemaker #defibrillator #cochlear #implants