Life: covid test, lift of mask mandate at worksite (5/19/2021)

 I was down with a cold with no fever (allergy?) for a few days. Apparently it ran its course in 5 days like regular cold. But this time, due to university policies, I needed to take a covid test before permitted to return to work.

So they arranged a covid19 PCR test with nasopharyngeal swab, which happened to be my first time. I showed up in the test site at the university hospital yesterday, and got a nose swab taken. I sneezed once.

This morning they sent an email stating "negative" and "I am cleared to work". 

I wouldn't know what exactly the sickness was. But even if it was a covid, my vaccine-trained immune system kicked it in 5 days like a regular cold. As I took off at the first sign and started working from home, no one was exposed. Bad for the virus, good for humankind.

I showed up in my office after 7 days and took care of some unfinished work, including submission of a revised manuscript. Hope the manuscript is going to be accepted.

Then this evening my worksite let us know that they are going to lift mask mandate on campus for all vaccinated employee (with some exceptions. in clinic, etc). 

Situations are changing rapidly toward "back to pre-covid days".  

In the US, PCR test itself does not have much power other than taking a snapshot of possible patient and let doctors judge if a possible ex-patient may return to worksite. Only when PCR is combined with contact tracing and some enforcement of isolation, PCR will be an effective tool to stop infectious diseases. The Chinese did it to stop community spread, but it was with the governmental power unimaginable in the US.

The vaccine really was the game changer. But only for the vaccinated. Theoretically, the game has not changed much or at all for the yet-to-be-vaccinated, including the vaccine refusers. You be careful, until the herd immunity is established by the vaccinated. Over-the-counter antiviral med for covid has been slow to come and is still an unmet need in this pandemic.

There are some scenarios that can change the game again, like emergence of vaccine-overriding lethal variants. Yet, worrying about them is the big pharma' and public health officials' business. I am feeling somewhat relaxed about covid now. Sky isn't falling, it seems.

PS 

The revised manuscript was accepted in a day (5/20/21). Lucky us.

Dance: Reach dance studio salsa social (5/8/21); Most men and many women cheat (on steps in social dance)

Reach dance studio is a new dance studio in OKC, whose party notices started to pop up in my feed. 

Around here beginning April, dance parties are coming back. After one year Corona break. 

I checked out their salsa social this past Saturday (5/8/21). There were many salsa people I knew (Good to see you guys again); also new people I met for the first time (Nice meeting you).

Earlier the day, they were inviting Salsa instructor Gerisha Figueroa from Houston for workshops (that I missed).

Salsa party can be held in many different settings (club, pub, restaurant, for example). This place is a dance studio with hardwood floor, full wall mirror, and barre on the other side. 

It is a setting dedicated to dance training and practice, also a setting easy to watch dance under good illumination.

Actually, watching others dancing is my habit and hobby at any party. After this one year break, the habit still stays. It is something I appreciate, and I appreciate it more if good dancing is presented. 

Usually it is easy to find who the instructor/professional is, just by watching.

Most men and many women cheat on steps in social dance. You can tell which one is a professional by precision of their steps and moves. They look more purposeful in dancing.

After all, they have to demonstrate the steps and moves countless times.

This precision thing is true for all dances. In addition, good salsa instructors really can dance with hips. It was a nice demonstration.

Ballroom Latin instructors try to teach the "dance with hips" as cuban motion, and have their student practice with figure-8 motion exercise to loosen and liberate hips. But it is rare to see it well-danced in social dance floor around here. 

Another trait of good salsa dancers, I was reminded, is their high energy and agility. 

Probably this is a culture thing in salsa dancing. For example, tango instructors distinguish themselves with posture, poise, balance and precision of their technique. Then they can add energy.

Salsa energy is there at first. It is raw and strong. Then they add technique and precision.

I guess this is enough of dance culture comparison, for today. 

In summary, it's "precision, hip, energy".

Reach dance studio seems to be a good place to learn and enjoy dancing. I recommend the place.

Life: April is a moving season

A few stories on recent moving surrounding me.

(a) Today one of the lab members was leaving. We had a send off party with a cake. She accepted a job offer from a biotech/medical research company in San Francisco and will be working on immuno-oncology project there. The project will be a good fit for her specialties. Good for her. 

I'll be participating in an interview for someone who may be filling in the position tomorrow.

(b) Speaking of moving out, a nice neighbor lived in a house on my walking/jogging course. We greeted each other. She even gave me some vegetables from the garden. The neighbor also seemed to have moved out a few days ago.

(c) This past Sunday, my sister was moving our mother to a care facility closer to her home. I pledged and sent Biden's $1,400 to my sister to help the moving. Thank you, President Biden.

Then there was a moving in. 

(d) There was a house on the same walking course. The house had been empty for a couple of years under somewhat gruesome circumstances.

On a summer day two years ago, I was walking down the road. Then there were police cars, police tapes surrounding the house, some cops in and out of the house, and several neighbors watching.

There was unmistakable stench of rotting meat in the air. "Someone must have died there", I thought. 

Later, local news told me that they found a man who was shot dead in the house. The man in his late 20's did not show up in his work, so his workplace sent police to check on, and they found the man's body on the floor. Certainly, I could see a bullet hole in the window. The shooter sneaked up and shot the victim from outside.

In the following months, local news reported some follow ups. They caught the shooters. The shooting was due to some sort of triangle relationship.

Come to think of it, death is a form of moving out, too.

The house was cleaned and repainted. There was a "for sale" sign in the front yard earlier this year, then the sign was gone.

Recently I saw someone moved in the house. The house is occupied again. 

Any old house would have a resident or two who died there. I would not panic to know death, unless ghost horror movie stuff /paranormal activities actually occur. 

I didn't know if real estate agents are mandated to tell these dead people circumstances to new house seekers. Quick search educated me that in most states including Oklahoma, they don't have to tell buyers about paranormal activities or death. Hmm.

I say nothing bad will happen. But, good luck to the new residents.

Science: "Covid brain" is real

Last Thursday (4/15/2021) I was checking out an online seminar of the Oklahoma Neuroscience Chapter group, entitled "COVID-19: A systemic disease with neurological complications" by Dr. Douglas Drevets.

They recorded the session and uploaded in Youtube as below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWw6zl4r49A

In short, Dr. Drevets reported Covid19 after-effects with a focus on neuro-psychiatric symptoms, and outlined the mechanisms.

He was talking about nasty symptoms that you don't want to have, such as stroke, fatigue (chronic fatigue syndrome-like, so called "long covid"), headache, anxiety, mood swing and insomnia.

 

Although the visus infects and affects ACE2-expressing target cells (rich in endothelial cells of lungs, GI tract, blood vessels), in addition, the virus affects brain as well, through directly invading neurons and through vascular damage and secreted cytokines.

Severity of respiratory covid symptoms (hospitalized or not, usually based on blood oxygen level) and neuro-psychiatric symptoms did not correlate. Even people with mild covid symptoms can have notable neuro-psychiatric symptoms later.

Other virus infections can also affect brain (Zica, Japanese encephalitis, etc). But their analysis indicated difference in cytokine expression profiles between COVID and other viral infections.

Interesting? Yes. 

What does it mean? I/we don't know (yet).

Will covid brain lead to other long-term effects or cause other diseases like Alzheimer's? Remain to be seen.

Covid is not just a cold. We are still investigating its clinical manifestations and long-term effects. 

In the meantime, you better not catch Covid and risk nasty "covid brain" now. Get your vaccine and do what you can.