Collaborative post with @sciencewithanni and @sciencewhizliz. This week Pfizer released via press release some really fantastic news. They have been running clinical trials with Paxlovid and have had such amazing results that they are pausing trial early to seek FDA approval! First let’s briefly talk about what Paxlovid is. It is a new combination oral therapyContinue reading “Paxlovid Treatment”
Author Archives: annickae
HPV Vaccine Reduces Cancer
An exciting paper about the success of the bivalent HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine in preventing cervical cancer was published this week in The Lancet! It is out of England and contains observational data spanning 10 years. This paper is significant becuase it doesn’t just look at infection of HPV but actually evaluates the reductionContinue reading “HPV Vaccine Reduces Cancer”
Virus Ingredient List
Look at this ingredient list. ➡️ I see a LOT of talk around the safety profile of each of the components of vaccines but I see hardly any talk of what will be introduced into your body when infected. “Knowing what you put in your body” should include a critical evaluation of any circulating viruses.Continue reading “Virus Ingredient List”
B/Yamagata Extinct?
Exciting news out in a Nature Communications paper (h/t @laurel_bristow)! We already knew that public health measures taken during the pandemic also helped reduce transmission of the flu (and quite dramatically). Compared to previous years, the cases of influenza in the 2020-2021 winter season were incredibly low. ▪️So what does this paper add? Interestingly, oneContinue reading “B/Yamagata Extinct?”
The Central Dogma
The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology describes the flow of genetic information. DNA encodes for RNA which encodes for protein. This post helps the lay the groundwork for understanding literally everything about protein production and is the first post in a series to introduce gene therapy – my field of expertise! Gene therapy has manyContinue reading “The Central Dogma”
How much better is a mix & match?
The news is out that the FDA has authorized mix & matching COVID-19 vaccines for boosting! The CDC is meeting today to discuss recommendations around this topic. I have posted before on some mix & match data (previous #explainthatdata posts) but this latest set of data (currently pre-print) was conducted in the US (10 clinicalContinue reading “How much better is a mix & match?”
Protect Children from COVID
We’re oh so fortunate that children have relatively low risk from COVID-19 infection compared to adults. It’s true that the percentage of severe disease, hospitalization, and death increase with age. You can know this and also want to protect your children from being exposed. Children are always the population we hope to protect from harmContinue reading “Protect Children from COVID”
Vaccine Components Do Not Last
If you’re worried about long-term vaccine effects, let’s talk about how quickly the components disappear from your system. I find this to be a very important but poorly understood aspect of vaccination. Vaccines introduce your body to the pathogen (or a piece/mimic of the pathogen) and then exit the picture. Your immune system takes overContinue reading “Vaccine Components Do Not Last”
Nobel Prize: Chemistry 2021
🏆Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 goes to Benjamin List and David MacMillan for their discovery and development of organic catalysts (organocatalysis). We rarely consider how the materials we use everyday are made. Unless it’s a completely raw material, it was synthesized by chemical reaction in a manufacturing plant. Organic chemists are the masterminds behind theseContinue reading “Nobel Prize: Chemistry 2021”
Nobel Prize: Physics 2021
🏆Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 goes to Syukuro Manabe & Klaus Hasselmann for their improvement of our understanding of climate change, and to Giorgio Parisi for his enormous contributions to understanding random phenomena. We all hear about climate change on a daily basis. It’s likely that the majority of people don’t fully understand what thatContinue reading “Nobel Prize: Physics 2021”