Lzvolk

@lzvolk.bsky.social

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Retired biologist (pathology). Living in an intellectual desert, interested in everything.

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Lzvolk

TMPRSS2 and glycan receptors synergistically facilitate coronavirus entry www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

TMPRSS2 and glycan receptors synergistically facilitate coronavirus entrywww.cell.com Coronavirus entry is initiated by the recognition of proteinaceous and/or glycan receptors. Here, cryo-EM analysis of the HCoV-HKU1 spike in the inactive, glycan-activated, and functionally anchored s...

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Lzvolk

An emerging PB2-627 polymorphism increases the pandemic potential of avian influenza virus by breaking through ANP32 host restriction in mammalian and avian hosts www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

An emerging PB2-627 polymorphism increases the pandemic potential of avian influenza virus by breaking through ANP32 host restriction in mammalian and avian hostswww.biorxiv.org bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution

Wish a piperazine derivative like cetirizine was included. It’s not a HRH1 antagonist, but an inverse agonist. Would be interested to know if piperazines have same effect on SARS-2 virus. #chemistry

The histamine receptor H1 acts as an alternative receptor for SARS-CoV-2 journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

The histamine receptor H1 acts as an alternative receptor for SARS-CoV-2 | mBiojournals.asm.org In addition to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can utilize alternative cofactors to facilitate viral entry. In this study, we discov...

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Lzvolk

Did we learn NOTHING from the emergences of H5N1 in 1997 and 2004??

Live poultry markets may be source of bird flu virus in San Francisco wastewater www.latimes.com/environment/...

Live poultry markets may be source of bird flu virus in San Francisco wastewaterwww.latimes.com As health officials try to understand how H5N1 got into Bay Area wastewater, they are pointing to live bird markets. But questions remain.

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Lzvolk

Really good 15 min TWiV episode with Paul Offit outlining how false and irresponsible the recent lab leak nonsense from @nytimes.com is. I for one appreciate the brevity - there really is nothing more to it. If you're interested in the topic, give it a listen. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukv9...

Beyond the Noise #40: Lab leak maniawww.youtube.com In this episode Dr. Offit asks, why did the New York Times publish an op-ed supporting the lab leak theory when all evidence supports a zoonotic spillover?Sh...

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Lzvolk

We have learned so much about how viruses transmit over the past four years & yet none of the passive yet effective measures (better ventilation, HEPA filtration) have been adopted as new standards. An opportunity to future proof our buildings & workplaces let slip away. www.rte.ie/news/2024/07...

Covid rates were a third higher in deprived areas - ESRIwww.rte.ie A new report has found that Covid-19 infection rates were more than a third higher in the most deprived areas of Ireland, relative to more affluent areas.

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Lzvolk

This is so cool! Frog & amphibian have been dessimated by the disease chytridiomycosis, caused by a fungal pathogen. Researchers have realised that the fungi is heat intolerant so little brick saunas for frogs can help kill the fungi! Recovered frogs more resistant to further infxn 🧪

These frog 'saunas’ could help endangered species fight off a deadly funguswww.nature.com How a hot resting spot can help frogs survive chytridiomycosis infection, and the decades-long hunt for dark matter in black holes. Hear the biggest stories from the world of science | 3 July 2024

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Lzvolk

Neurotypicals: Life isn't fair. Get used to it. Neurotypicals when an autistic needs accomodation: If we did that for you, we'd have to do it for everyone or it wouldn't be fair.

"We find community-wide declines in total butterfly abundance and species richness to be most strongly associated with insecticides in general, and for butterfly species richness the use of neonicotinoid-treated seeds in particular." www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles...

Insecticides, more than herbicides, land use, and climate, are associated with declines in butterfly species richness and abundance in the American Midwestwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Mounting evidence shows overall insect abundances are in decline globally. Habitat loss, climate change, and pesticides have all been implicated, but their relative effects have never been evaluated i...

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Lzvolk

I don't know how we're going to be able to maintain a democracy with these decisions. Between this and Citizens United, SCOTUS has effectively said money is speech and, if you have a lot of it, you can use it to buy whatever policies you want.

The final SCOTUS decision today is Snyder v. US. Kavanaugh has the court's 6-3 decision on ideological grounds, holding that the Section 666 bribery statute does not apply to "gratuities" given for public officials' *past* acts. Jackson writes the liberals' dissent.

Beautiful creature and interesting anatomy!

Here’s some Monday motivocean from this opulent opalescent nudibranch, Hermissenda opalescens: “Seas the day, frond! You got this!”

Brilliant!

My latest New Scientist cartoon.

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Lzvolk

Shared this with the lab first thing this morning

SCIENCE CAT (my latest cartoon for New Scientist)

Dip pen, ink, watercolor, and water soluble colored pencil.

One of the satisfactions and joys of being retired is to try something new. Like painting with watercolor(and occasionally pen & ink).

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Lzvolk

"My 40 years of life experience did not suddenly shift because of diagnostic criteria. Rather, autism explained decades of bullying & relationship abuse—and also my accomplishments." @krpgryal.bsky.social, on journalists second-guessing autistics' diagnoses. katieroseguestpryal.com/2024/06/21/d...

Did this Writer Say Autism Is Fake? | Katie Rose Guest Pryalkatieroseguestpryal.com

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Lzvolk

excellent investigation, beautiful visualisation, and scary findings. tech corps are burning our planet down so people can stop making art www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

AI Is Wreaking Havoc on Global Power Systemswww.bloomberg.com New artificial intelligence data centers are coming online so fast that the electricity demand is straining global power grids and threatening clean energy goals.

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Lzvolk

Some reduce the 2024 campaign to a contest between two old men, but it's a choice of two slates of federal appointees who'll impact your life in a million ways. Biden has staffed executive agencies with excellent choices who are doing good work. Trump will empower an army of Stephen Millers.

Under current law, you really couldn’t do much better than Biden’s FTC and NRLB. New Deal shit.

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Lzvolk

"But what happens when overlooking and tolerating greater levels of harm becomes a shared cultural habit? Like the proverbial frog in boiling water, we acclimate to ignoring more and caring less at our own peril." www.scientificamerican.com/article/weve...

We’ve Hit Peak Denial. Here’s Why We Can’t Turn Away From Realitywww.scientificamerican.com We are living through a terrible time in humanity. Here’s why we tend to stick our heads in the sand and why we need to pull them out, fast

WTF! Is deSantis rubbing off on NY legislators? And I thought I moved to a sane state!! Anti-mask legislation is like going backwards. What’s wrong with this country? 😖

In our latest, we look at the rise of anti-mask legislation in New York and North Carolina: how North Carolina managed to make its mask ban worse, why New York Democrats are trying the same thing, and how the rise of bans is an attempt to break solidarity on.soundcloud.com/NsanmB2VyH8f...

The Rise of Mask Bans (06/20/24)on.soundcloud.com Beatrice, Artie and Phil discuss New York Democrats’ plan to ban masks on the subway and beyond, and take a close look at the latest updates on North Carolina’s anti-mask bill HB237, “Unmasking Mobs a

Excellent interview!!

'Now, of course, I’ll point out that we’ve never really looked for flu in cattle before, and it’s conceivable that there have been outbreaks in cattle before that we just missed. But the cattle thing is something new, and new is bad, because we don’t know much about it.'

Are We Prepared for Bird Flu? | NEJMwww.nejm.org A new strain of H5N1 influenza is spreading in dairy cows in the United States. Will it cause an epidemic in humans? And what does our public health system need to do in order to be ready if it does?

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Lzvolk

Protests are happening across Israel, including in Tel Aviv, with hundreds of thousands of people demanding a deal, the release of hostages, and new elections.

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Lzvolk

'In an article published this month, Nuzzo and a group of colleagues noted that the problem wasn’t testing capability but a failure to deploy that capability swiftly. The U.S. reported excess mortality eight times as high as other countries with advanced labs and other technological advantages'

‘We’re flying blind’: CDC has 1M bird flu tests ready, but experts see repeat of COVID misstepswww.fiercebiotech.com It’s been nearly three months since the U.S. government announced an outbreak of the bird flu virus on dairy farms. | As the outbreak grows—with at least 114 herds infected in 12 states as of June 18—...

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Perfect summation. If you can’t get your own papers published, write unreviewed opinion articles and claim that real scientific studies are fraudulent.

This is an excellent description of the editorial failure behind The NY Times' decision to run Alina Chan's lab leak article. What's the value proposition to the readership of presenting a one-sided argument that most scientists find lacking? Did no editor bother to ask that question?

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Lzvolk

Reply to

John TImmer

Well said. I get the value of contrarians in scientific research, but too many of us who are not experts in a field of study seize on their words without the humility to realize we don’t know enough to evaluate them. If most of their peers disagree, it’s likely with good reason!

Bingo 👇🏽

Edit: she works on AAV as a gene therapy delivery vector so I might be a little wrong here. But I still wouldn’t listen to a postdoc adeno-associated virus engineer over people who’ve spent their lives doing epidemiology and virology of coronaviruses.

More often than not, I'm embarrassed to be a US citizen.

From letters to the NYT Editor in response to Chan's essay:

Thank you. This excerpt from the letters is the most salient, IMO."In publishing this essay, The Times has implicitly invited nonexperts to weigh a scientific argument. Yet however persuasive the evidence presented may seem, we nonexperts are not in a position to know all the evidence.......

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Lzvolk

Latest update from out Pan Canadian Milk Network: tested an additional 38 samples (72 samples tested to date from all ten Canadian provinces). All samples have tested negative for Influenza RNA. Preprint update has been submitted and should be live shortly👇 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Longitudinal Influenza A Virus Screening of Retail Milk from Canadian Provinces (Rolling Updates)www.medrxiv.org medRxiv - The Preprint Server for Health Sciences

I’m new here & have a question. Does BlueSky use hashtags (like Mastodon) to “collect” posts with same/similar subject matter? Trying to navigate this platform and find topical posts I’m mostly interested in. TIA. #BlueSky 😏