davak

Joined 13 years ago

Karma
266
Submissions
75
Member since
Jun 4
Nerd. Doc. Always interested in blending technology with medicine.

Davak -at- carotids -dot- com

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Recent submissions

Comment · 2 years ago
HypoNa --

I think you made a throwaway account for this reply, but I would really appreciate continuing this conversation with you. My email is available under my profile.

Comment · 3 years ago
Added as a Kagi bang! Love it.
Comment · 3 years ago
Agree. You could consider marketing to the DJ community where actually buying the music is commonplace.
Comment · 4 years ago
This is likely related to COVID as well, just indirectly.

- Research has shown that recent COVID-19 infection increases risk of heart attacks, strokes, and a ton of other vascular diseases.

- Overwhelmed hospital systems will have poorer outcomes in emergencies such as sepsis where time-based care is a huge factor. Worldwide sepsis mortality has gone up over the last two years, for example.

Comment · 4 years ago
Comment · 5 years ago
Install failed. OS X 10.14.6. Happy to help debug with you.
Comment · 5 years ago
Comment · 5 years ago
Good take.

Arterial clots with thrombocytopenia is incredibly rare. Additionally the PF4 activity in these patients is very abnormal and appears to be to immune mediated. Lots of science and focus going into the mechanism around this now. The other recent NEJM articles around clots associated with the other adenovirus COVID vaccines are likely a similar phenomena.

Comment · 5 years ago
This was not testing against the South African and Japan/Brazil variants that are much more likely to escape vaccination antibodies. This UK variant is mostly problematic against the unvaccinated.

In the lab the South Africa and Japan/Brazil variants have severe reduction in neutralizing antibodies which is very concerning for vaccine escape. That being said, we don’t have a great way to test for T cell and other immunity which also plays a role. Getting the vaccine decreases severity of illness regardless of the variant.

The answer is get any vaccine as soon as possible. Then get the booster too when it’s available.

Comment · 6 years ago
Probably too late for anybody's interest, but the risk of getting this from food is suspected to be incredibly low. Droplets being inhaled, entering through the eyes, or nasal mucous membranes are the likely real threats.
Comment · 6 years ago
Comment · 6 years ago
Some of the KN95s have been found to be counterfeit. Some of the ones we tested were no better than a cloth mask. When buying KN95s, please check that they've been validated by the CDC's list.

If it's legitimate KN95, it probably protects at least as good as a medical mask but probably not as good as a N95. This is because KN95s are not designed to form a complete seal so many folks will have some leakage around the edges. This is the reason that you see many systems 3d printing molded frames to improve the KN95 fit and decrease leakage.

Comment · 6 years ago
"Disposable" medical masks cost pennies to make, can be worn for multiple days, and are highly effective. In an environment where some folks refuse or can't mask, they are the most effective way for people to keep themselves safe.

By the way, I don't make or sell masks. I'm just interested in keeping people out of the hospital and my friends/family safe.

Comment · 6 years ago
The primary difference in a medical mask and an N95 respirator is the tight seal that doesn't allow air around the sides. Unless you are in a high risk aerosolized environment, an N95 is unlikely to give you much additional benefit.

Most medical masks are made of the same material out of China that filters > 95% of infectious particles. If you want extra protection, you can look for masks with an "ASTM Level" that gives additional support that the mask is medical grade.

Comment · 6 years ago
I'm a critical care doc and directly involved with COVID administrative policies for my health system organization. I have recently told friends and family to start buying and wearing medical masks. Our experience is that medical masks are very protective in protecting the wearer from catching the disease. Hospitals have plenty of masks now. A cloth mask prevents spread away from the wearer, but a medical mask protects both the wearer and those around him/her.

Medical masks protect in two ways. One, they filter the air at an extremely high level. Two, they are fluid resistant, so the saliva droplets that are filled with virus particles cannot penetrate the mask.

Most health organizations, including mine, are noticing that COVID prevalence within their employees is less than the local population as a whole despite being around contagious COVID patients all day long. The major difference in these two populations is that health care workers are wearing medical masks.

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