Tag: Science

COVID Infection Provides Immunity Equal to Vaccination: Study

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

COVID Infection Provides Immunity Equal to Vaccination: Study

Feb. 17, 2023 — The natural immunity provided by a COVID infection protects a person against severe illness on a par with two doses of mRNA vaccine, a new study says.

…

But protection against the BA.1 subvariant of Omicron was not as high – 36% at 10 months after infection, says the research team from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

The researchers examined 65 studies from 19 countries through Sept. 31, 2022. They did not study data about infection from Omicron XBB and its sub-lineages. People who had immunity from both infection and vaccination, known as hybrid immunity, were not studied.

The Sino-American Tech Trap

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Technology is ground zero in the conflict between the United States and China. For the American hegemon, it is about the leading edge of geostrategic power and the means for sustained prosperity. For China, it holds the key to the indigenous innovation required of a rising power. The tech war now underway between the two superpowers could well be the defining struggle of the twenty-first century.

The Sino-American Tech Trap

[2021] The Dying American Autopsy

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Dying American Autopsy

Before 1970, 40-60% of patients who died in hospitals received an autopsy. In 1970, The Joint Commission, the organization responsible for hospital accreditation, eliminated the requirement of a 20% autopsy rate for in-hospital deaths for hospitals to receive accreditation. In the years since this decision, we have seen drastic declines of autopsy rates. In recent years, less than 5% of hospital deaths are followed up with an autopsy.

In a move that has further contributed to our declining autopsy rates, in 2019 the Trump administration pushed through the Omnibus Burden Reduction (Conditions of Participation) Final Rule. This rule attempted to “cut through red tape” by eliminating redundant, or excessively burdensome regulations that affect hospitals and healthcare providers. A part of this rule eliminated the requirement for hospitals to “attempt to secure autopsies in cases of unusual death and of medical-legal and educational interest”. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Trump administration argued that the autopsy requirement was redundant because states have their own autopsy regulations in place. However, the American Society for Clinical Pathology highlighted that only six states have laws requiring autopsies in the case of all unusual deaths.

How the Debate Over Antidepressants Puts Millions in Danger

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Nearly 10 percent of all Americans will experience symptoms of depression every year. One of the common forms of treatment includes a combination of therapy and antidepressants. According to the CDC, around 13 percent of Americans over the age of 18 were taking antidepressants between 2015 and 2018. The most commonly prescribed form of these are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), developed to alter serotonin flux in the brain.

How the Debate Over Antidepressants Puts Millions in Danger

Personally, I prefer being able to choose for myself. You know, my body-my choice!? I’m intelligent enough to do my own research and discuss my treatment options with my physicians. As someone who has suffered from depression, I wouldn’t demonize anyone that chooses to use antidepressants. I’ve been around people who have refused to take them and it wasn’t pretty, either. I can see why people would choose medication, over therapy, as it can be cheaper and less time-consuming (even with private insurance). I would assume that informed consent applies to most treatments (outside of coronavirus). I know that I had to sign informed consent forms every time that I went in, for refills and lab tests, every 90 days (every 30 days when I was on pain medication). Who knows, it might have changed in the past five years?! If they ever force-feed us drugs, to deal with this neoliberal hellhole, I would resist.

Scientists Find a New Coronavirus in Bats That Is Resistant to Current Vaccines

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Scientists Find a New Coronavirus in Bats That Is Resistant to Current Vaccines

The findings come as the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ACT—Accelerator’s Council Tracking and Accelerating Progress—working group report that continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the form of testing, vaccinations, and treatments, is stalling. With lower global immunity to the current SARS-CoV-2 virus, combating any new pathogens, including new coronaviruses like Khosta-2, would become more difficult. According to the latest data collected by the WHO, a quarter of people around the world still have not received a primary series of COVID-19 vaccination.

They just won’t give up! It’s over!

The Failed Serotonin Theory of Depression: A Marxist Analysis

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

By Carlos L. Garrido – Sep 9, 2022

A recent study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry sent shockwaves across the scientific community and popular outlets as it disproved the predominant “serotonin hypothesis” of depression. In just two weeks since its publication it has been accessed by nearly half a million people and the subject of dozens of subsequent articles. The researchers analyzed a total of seventeen systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and other large studies focused on the following six tenets pertinent to the “serotonin hypothesis” of depression:

The Failed Serotonin Theory of Depression: A Marxist Analysis

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea): Full Text of Kim Jong Un Speech On Nuclear Weapons Policy

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

We are pleased to present to our readers a very significant policy speech given by Kim Jong Un, the General Secretary of the Korean Workers Party and President of State Affairs. In this speech, he clearly warns the United States that he and his government are prepared to defend the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, known in the US as “North Korea”), including the use of nuclear weapons if the DPRK is faced with an invasion from the USA, the South Korean puppet regime of the US, or both.

The context of the speech is important. As we wrote in the previous article to this one, the United States has engaged in decades of deadly provocations against the Korean workers state in the form of constant “war games” in preparation for initiating an attempt to overthrow the DPRK and restore capitalist exploitation to North Korea. However, in the past several years, the United States has started to openly proclaim its intention to “decapitate” the leadership of the DPRK in a massive attack from South Korea which may include the use of nuclear weapons to destroy the defensive underground bunkers which the workers of the DPRK constructed to survive the massive bombing campaign the US launched against them in the Korean War, killing an estimated 3 million North Koreans. In response, North Korea has – in spite of crushing US sanctions that have caused immense suffering for the workers of the DPRK – embarked on a crash program to develop a nuclear arsenal capable of defending their country. We wholeheartedly agree with this heroic attempt by North Korea to defend itself from the psychotic warmongers of the US imperialist capitalist class and their murderous gangster regime in Washington. The US government is the #1 terrorist threat in the world today! Defend the DPRK! End All Sanctions Against the DPRK Immediately! US Out of the Korean Peninsula Now!

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea): Full Text of Kim Jong Un Speech On Nuclear Weapons Policy

What’s wrong with the USA?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

China has been, variously described as a rising power, a sleeping dragon and a collapsing economy. Most of the rhetoric is driven from the US. Inside their government, both the Senate and Congress have anti-China hawks, their State Department seems to see a threat at every turning point and their military seems to believe that a defensive People’s liberation Army is a bad thing as it threatens US interests. Books reports and documentaries are created about mass dissatisfaction which extended academic research seems unable to identify.

What’s wrong with the USA? (archived)