Covid sitrep

Cases are in decline all over the country. Deaths continue to rise, but they’re rising more slowly, meaning we’re (probably*) over the peak for Omicron; deaths should start declining soon.

* With this virus, it’s always “probably” and “should” and “may”.

Anti-Alzheimer’s editing

There are genetic mutations that can increase your risk of Alzheimer’s, but there is at least one mutation that can reduce that risk. And, realizing that it’s 2022, Québecois researchers decided to see what they might be able to do with good ol’ CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing.

To cut to the chase:

“Using an improved version of the CRISPR gene editing tool, we have been able to edit the genome of human cells to insert this mutation.”

Obviously this is double-extra preliminary, and it couldn’t help people who already have the disease. But, should it pan out, this means there could someday be a preventative treatment for people at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

How caffeine works

Caffeine, in reasonable quantities, is good for the heart. That’s not news. But why it was good … well, that wasn’t clear.

But now we know — or at least Canadian researchers are pretty sure they do. It’s a “cascade effect”: Caffeine blocks the activation of a protein called SREBP2. Lower SREBP2 levels cause lower levels of another protein — PCSK9. And lower PCSK9 means the liver is better able to clear out LDL cholesterol.

Lower ‘bad’ cholesterol is one benefit, but it goes beyond that:

“Given that SREBP2 is implicated in a host of cardiometabolic diseases, such as diabetes and fatty liver disease, mitigating its function has far reaching implications.”

Captain Obvious keeps his distance

“Counties With Low Vaccination Rates Endured ‘More Intense Surge’ Of Covid Cases During Delta Wave”

E-cigs and quitting

The story: Electronic cigarettes apparently don’t work as well as other smoking-cessation aids. That’s what UC San Diego health researchers found, based on survey results from former smokers and those who attempted to quit.

The nuance to keep in mind: The authors define “quitting” as not using traditional cigarettes or e-cigs. But for many smokers, vaping is an alternative to smoking, so of course the quitting rate will be lower — they aren’t trying to quit; they’re switching to a hopefully safer alternative.

CDC may swing the pendulum back

After cracking down hard on opioid prescriptions (you may have heard something about that), the CDC is now saying its six-year-old guidelines are “being misused and misapplied.” People who legitmately need painkillers aren’t able to get them.

Result: It’s considering relaxing — “softening” — those guidelines as they caused “some doctors to become too quick to cut off patients taking prescription painkillers and too strict in keeping the drugs from patients who might benefit.”

Today’s drug to worry about

It’s not a hallucinogen. It’s not an opioid. It’s an anti-depressant: tianeptine. And the FDA is warning people not to take it to self-medicate for anxiety, depression, pain, or anything else.

In the U.S., reports of bad reactions and unwanted effects involving tianeptine are increasing. Poison control center cases involving tianeptine exposure have increased nationwide

Tianeptine isn’t approved in the U.S., but it is available by prescription in Europe (except Italy), Asia, and Mexico.

Ebola in the brain

Just because someone is “cured” of Ebola doesn’t mean they’re necessarily cured. The virus can hide in the body, waiting months or even years before striking again. The scary part: This is true even if a person is vaccinated or has been treated for the disease — or both.

US Army researchers, though, have figured out where the virus hides. They knew it could persist long-term in the eyes, brain, and testes, but what was the source? Based on tests of rhesus macaques, they found it: the brain fluid. Specifically “ventricles—cavities in the brain that produce and circulate cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).”

Armed with this information, the next step is to change the treatment, if possible, to clear the virus out for good.