As I wrote last time, I sometimes will just briefly cover studies that are significant but I don’t have the viable time to break down in detail, which I am aware it is the preferred articles (non-extensive, not complicated articles). AIDA is an acronym, it is a cheeky way to say “Round-up news”, stands for Alternate Interval Data Analysis, but also stands for something else. If someone guesses the something else correctly, you get a gift =D.
Per the title, and I won’t delve deep into this for a few good reasons, NovaVax itself published a paper on the antibody class differences between its Covid vaccine, and mRNA. NovaVax is a protein-based vaccine, similar to many other vaccines we used for decades, just with cutting-edge technology and especially its “adjuvant” which is proprietary.
Unlike the mRNA vaccines, NovaVax target protein is produced outside the body, in moth cells (they grow faster than mammalian cells) but sadly, it is still Spike-centric, meaning it only targets the Spike Protein. The entire paper can be found here, and reminding the reader again, this paper was produced by NovaVax researchers themselves. All pharma companies did the same FYI.
As I wrote a very long time ago and became a trend later on, repeated mRNA vaccination induces a subtype of antibody called IgG4, mostly anti-inflammatory, or “immune tolerant”, while repeated vaccination with NovaVax induces higher levels of IgG3.
For comparison, IgG 3 lasts roughly 7 days in your body, while all other classes (1, 2, 4) last around 22-29. IgG3 lasts a lot less because it is the most potent subclass, so it is short-lived to avoid damage and long-term sequelae.
Depending on who you ask why there is a shift towards IgG4, you will get a distinct answer, and distinct explanations, from harmful, to protective, to in-between, to we just don’t know, and these are all valid responses. To me, it is a compensatory, protective response against the onslaught of antigenic exposure from the vaccine and the amount of toxins the vaccine and consequentially after it, the Spike Protein releases in the body.
While IgG4 does not contribute to disease and isn’t perceptible in severe cases (I am talking about hospitalization), IgG3 is, and IgG3 is known to activate the complement system (this will be important in a few weeks, or if you saw a recent paper on Long Covid, important now… lol), something IgG4 is theoretically capable of, but there are so many hurdles to do it, it is highly unlikely. It doesn’t mean NovaVax is worse, or better than mRNA, but the fact remains that IgG4 shift only occurs in the mRNA.
My only remaining question is if any other mRNA vaccine using specific antigen targeting as done with SARS-CoV-2 also induces IgG4. The IgG4 shift does not occur from the first dose, it needs 3 doses to go from a very small percentage to a higher percentage of total IgG4 levels. Is this intrinsic to the platform or the targeted protein (Spike Protein).
With this out of the way, now the information that I find is great to know, and you should be aware of it.
Vitamin C reduces the severity of common colds: a meta-analysis
By comparing multiple studies, and doing complex data analysis, the authors found that supplementing 1 gram of Vitamin C per day reduces the severity of colds without influencing their overall duration. Given that most people would find it incredibly annoying if not outright “wrong” to take 1 gram of C every day, the authors suggest therapeutic usage.
In simple terms, you get the sniffles, you supplement Vitamin C. I myself recommend 300-400 mg of Vitamin C twice a day, it has too many benefits, and too low of a cost for anyone not to.
Melatonin improved glucose homeostasis is associated with the reprogrammed gut microbiota and reduced fecal levels of short‐chain fatty acids in db/db mice
Anyone who followed me on Twitter or read this Substack since the start is very aware I am a big supporter of the usage of Melatonin. Melatonin has a significantly fantastic safety profile (high dosages for weeks pose no toxicity to humans), and it plays a role in mitochondrial, immunological, and metabolical health. It can correct how your body breaks down certain amino acids on its own, with a special interest in Tryptophan, shifting it away from the Kynurenine Pathway.
Here the authors found one of the mechanisms by which Melatonin helps the body improve lipid metabolism. This incredibly important metabolic pathway is often skewed in people with metabolic syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes, and Insulin Resistance. These problems or just glycolipid dysmetabolism can be present as sequelae after severe SARS-CoV-2 infection and in Long Covid.
Melatonin achieves improvement in metabolism by shifting the microbiome. Your pancreas, liver, muscles, adipose tissue (fat), and muscles have melatonin receptors, and so do mitochondria. Melatonin will help the body regulate its overall metabolism.
Metformin protects the heart against chronic intermittent hypoxia through AMPK-dependent phosphorylation of HIF-1α
The subject covered in this paper demands greater detail, which I plan to do at some point in the future since sleep quality is paramount to long-term health from any perspective scientifically measurable. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (often called OSA) has one very peculiar and harmful feature, Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia.
Hypoxia can activate HIF-1a as a transcription factor, meaning it regulates the expression of dozens of genes, in turn affecting dozens of proteins. It plays a major role in many detrimental health states, both acute (fast, short-term like pneumonia) or chronic (long-term), Hypoxia also plays a role in cancer and Metformin has been studied as an anti-cancer drug and one of its mechanisms is regulating HIF-1a.
Here the authors found that Metformin reduces how large the damage to the heart tissue is (infarct) when the heart suffers ischemia-reperfusion injury, a fancy way to say when blood and oxygen stop going to the heart, and after a while returns, which can lead to oxidative damage and inflammation and damage the heart itself.
It does so by potently activating AMPK, an enzyme that basically controls how cells use and produce energy, especially important when cells are in a low energy state, such as the one described here. Add this to the gigantic list of positive effects Metformin has, especially significant in regards to SARS-CoV-2 and Spike Protein-derived injury.
Also since I mentioned cancer, and since we are facing surging numbers of cancer. Metformin’s almost perfect analog.
Berberine improved the microbiota in lung tissue of colon cancer and reversed the bronchial epithelial cell changes caused by cancer cells
The lung is a common organ for colon cancer metastasis, and the objective of this experiment was to explore the protective effect of berberine on lung tissue or alveolar epithelial cells induced by colon cancer.
Conclusion
Berberine can selectively regulate the abundance of some microbiomes of lung tissue in colon cancer, improve the inflammatory response in lung tissue, and antagonize the cancerous stimulation of colon cancer cells to lung tissue cells by regulating the bronchial epithelial cell phenotype, extracellular matrix remodelling and the expression of the repair gene RAD51.
I would live this one for the Long Covid article I am writing right now, but I will leave it here and may refer to it again, because trust me, proper sleep is among the most important aspects of life one has to achieve, that and exercise.
The Impact of 5-Hydroxytryptophan Supplementation on Sleep Quality and Gut Microbiota Composition in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Older adults with poor sleep had improved sleep quality, and higher levels of serotonin after supplementing 5-HTP (a precursor of serotonin, a byproduct of tryptophan), and the supplementation with 5-HTP even improved the microbiome diversity.
I have suggested the supplementation of either Tryptophan or 5HTP to many, many people, especially certain subgroups of vaccine-induced and Long Covid. Once again, this will be very important in the very short term. Poor sleepers regardless of age may benefit from the supplementation too, but healthy people with good sleep don’t need either. You may, perhaps, supplement, short-term after a strong respiratory infection for aiding many functions of your body and immune cells.
As the last addition, sometimes exercising is not an option, especially for a large number of older people, and one of the leading causes of death is falls among that population. Incidentally one of the most overlooked symptoms of neurodegeneration is exactly that. More falls, aiding in the morbidity of the disease.
Exergame and cognitive training for preventing falls in community-dwelling older people: a randomized controlled trial
Exergames are games that make you “exercise”, in this paper they used games like Dance Dance Revolution in almost 800 people over 65 years old followed by 12 months. While they did not find any improvement in physical or cognitive function, the falls were significantly reduced in the exergame group.
If you have older people in your family or you are one and suffer from impaired mobility, this type of game the easiest setting is a very good tool to employ to improve overall health outcomes.
I also think playing other types of games exerts different cognitive benefits, the same benefits younger adults experience, but less exponentially, and broader. Except if you are grinding camos in Call of Duty. That is a mind-killer.
I hope this one was beneficial, helpful, or at least informative to you. Short, not overly complicated, digestible.
If you chose to support my work at any point, thank you very much !
Your mom is good hands. Her recovery will be quick.
Professor - AIDA: marketing model - Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action;
Detection Algorithm: Analytic Isolation and Distance-based Anomaly
Opera: Verdi
Cruise line: Carnival's German branch;
Anime: Sora to Umi no Aida (The Space Between The Sky & Sea);
Game 1. 2022 interactive movie/game from Punch Punk Games;
2. Aida Family: playable characters of SAKURA School Simulator;
3. Ascension: visual novel by Rinmaru. It follows the story of Aida.
4. A.I.D.A. - Adult Parody RPG (+18) Voluptuous Robot 's Lewd Wasteland Adventure by Paccsu.
5A. The World R2: Artificially Intelligent Data Anomaly
5B. The World 2017 action JRPG .hack//G.U. Last Recode: Because of a computer anomaly known as AIDA, Shino and other individuals have been trapped in comas in real life after their in-game deaths.
Exactly how I feel viz AIDA-ed out.