COVID-19 Deaths in America Compared

Some have wondered how other diseases’ mortality (death statistics) compares with COVID-19.

To illustrate, their questions can be stated somewhat like “on an annualized basis, how many deaths have historically occurred because of “X” disease when compared to COVID-19?”

Such a comparison examines ONLY death.

It does not examine risk.

“Death as a Strangler”; “Death playing the violin at a Masquerade during a cholera outbreak in Paris in 1831.” 1845, by Alfred Rethel (1816-1859)

It’s akin to asking “who will die?”

Answer: Your death is a 100% certainty.

Or, if you prefer, we know for a hard, cold fact, that you will die. The corollary operative Latin phrase is “memento mori,” translated literally “remember die,” and which translates functionally as “remember death,” or loosely as “remember that you must die.”

Death rates do NOT examine how quickly hospital or healthcare systems have been or could be overwhelmed with “X” disease.

In some localities, New York City most notably, COVID-19 has overwhelmed the healthcare resources of America’s most populous city.

Death rates do NOT examine the disease’s ease of transmissibility.

COVID-19 is spread by breathing. Cancer is not. Heart disease is not. Accidents are not. Cerebrovascular disease is not. Alzheimer’s is not.

Cancer, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, etc., are typically chronic (long-term) conditions.

COVID-19 is not, and has often killed in a matter of days.

Death rates do not consider the insidious nature of COVID-19, i.e., that it hides in the body, often not even making its presence known (at least 30-50% of those infected are asymptomatic, i.e., show no signs of infection – not even one, including fever), even after an incubation period that ranges from 2-14 days.

Death rates do NOT examine

DJ Trump Plays Americans For Fools

So… the Bullshitter in Chief went to Allentown, PA today – to Owens & Minor, a PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) manufacturer’s distribution facility, no less – and REFUSED to wear that Made in America product, and had the audacity to say in part, that:

“You know, we’ve been doing testing at a level that nobody has ever done it before. We cannot get any, and we cannot get the press to write about it or write fairly about it. And nobody has ever done. We’ve done double what anyone else — if you add up all of the countries in the world, we’ve done more testing than all of the countries in the world added up together. Nobody has ever done anything like that. And we have the best tests.”

Look, Americans aren’t dummies.

And he’s just blowing smoke. Purely.

Just because someone doesn’t have a university degree doesn’t make them a complete blithering idiot.

Seriously.

And you don’t have to be a brainiac to know that America (330,000,000) has MANY MORE people than Spain (46,752,506).
And the UK

French Scientists Discover COVID-19 In December 2019 BEFORE The China Outbreak

This information, which was reported just yesterday (Monday, 4 May 2020), is turning the entire understanding of this disease on its ear.

Previously thought to have originated in China, COVID-19 is now thought to have been spreading globally long before the outbreak in Wuhan, China ever occurred.

An interesting observation:
This individual –and– “Patient Zero” in Wuhan were BOTH fishmongers.

A germane question:
Could this virus be related to, or capable of being transmitted in aquatic wildlife?

---

Who: 42 year old man born in Algeria, lived in France for many years, worked as fishmonger

What: retrospective investigation for SARS-COV2 (novel coronavirus, aka COVID-19) in respiratory samples collected

Where: intensive care units (ICUs) of hospital north of Paris, France

When: December 27, 2019

Why: Presented to emergency ward with hemoptysis (coughing up blood/bloody sputum), cough, headache and fever, evolving for 4 days

How: RT-PCR test (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) the most sensitive technique for mRNA (genetic) detection and quantitation currently available

Additional Facts: Last trip was in Algeria during August 2019. One of his children presented with ILI (influenza-like illness) prior to the onset of his symptoms. His medical history included asthma, type II diabetes mellitus. Had not visited China.

See also: COVID-19 in France since December, hospital test suggests
Researchers testing old samples found COVID-19 in a man treated a month before France confirmed its first cases.
(https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/covid-19-france-december-hospital-test-suggests-200504154024084.html)

See also: French hospital discovers Covid-19 case from December
Man found to have had virus a month before government confirmed first cases
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/04/french-hospital-discovers-covid-19-case-december-retested)

See also: After retesting samples, French hospital discovers COVID-19 case from December
(https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-france/after-retesting-samples-french-hospital-discovers-covid-19-case-from-december-idUSKBN22G20L)

See also: French hospital discovers country’s first known Covid-19 case, from December
A French hospital which has retested old samples from pneumonia patients discovered that it treated a man who had Covid-19 as early as Dec. 27, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.
(https://www.france24.com/en/20200505-france-s-first-known-covid-19-case-was-in-december)

See also: After Retesting Samples, French Hospital Discovers COVID-19 Case From December
(https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/05/04/world/europe/04reuters-health-coronavirus-france.html)

See also: Genetic Study Shows COVID-19 Was in France Weeks Before The First Case Was Reported
(https://www.sciencealert.com/genetic-investigation-reveals-covid-19-was-circulating-in-europe-before-cases-were-reported)

---

International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents

Available online 3 May 2020, 106006

In Press, Journal Pre-proof
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.106006
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924857920301643#fig0002

Highlights

• Covid-19 was already spreading in France in late December 2019, a month before the official first cases in the country.

• Early community spreading changes our knowledge of covid-19 epidemic.

• This new case changes our understanding of the epidemic and modeling studies should adjust to this new data.

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic is believed to have started in late January 2020 in France. We report here a case of a patient hospitalized in December 2019 in our intensive care, of our hospital in the north of Paris, for hemoptysis with no etiological diagnosis and for which RT-PCR was performed retrospectively on the stored respiratory sample which confirmed the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. Based on this result, it appears that the COVID-19 epidemic started much earlier.

SARS-COV-2 was already spreading in France in late December 2019

---

Introduction

After its onset in December 2019 in China, the new coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) spreads widely in several countries, causing COVID-19 illness.¹ World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020.³ France reported the first cases of SARS-COV-2 related infection on January 24, 2020.⁵ Both cases had a history of travel to Wuhan.⁶ To the best of our knowledge, these 2 cases are believed to be the first confirmed cases in France. COVID-19 most commonly present with influenza-like illness (ILI).⁷ While China was facing COVID-19 outbreak, European countries were struggling with seasonal influenza.⁸ Clinical symptomatology between COVID-19 and ILIis similar,we therefore decided retrospectively to look for SARS-COV2 in respiratory samples collected in the intensive care units (ICUs) of our hospital near Paris.

Methods – Retrospective analysis

Selected records

We reviewed medical record of ICUs patients admitted for ILI between December 2, 2019 and January 16, 2020, with a negative RT-PCR performed at admission. Every respiratory sample collected in our hospital are

Which is more deadly? War, or COVID-19?

American COVID-19 Deaths
WILL SURPASS
the
TOTAL Number of Deaths
in the
Vietnam and Korean Wars
COMBINED.

33,686 + 47,424 =81,110

81,110 – 68,387 = 12,723

Remember those numbers.

What are they?

The first figure – 33,686 – represents the number of deaths in the Korean War.

The second figure – 47,424 – represents the number of deaths in the Vietnam War.

The third figure is the sum (total) of the two numbers.

The fourth figure – 68,387 – represents the number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States, as of 0450 UTC (Universal Coordinated Time), Monday, 4 May 2020.

The fifth figure – 12,723 – represents the difference between the current number of COVID-19 American Deaths and the Total number of Deaths in the Korean and Vietnam Wars combined.

Sadly, that fifth figure WILL surpass the the third figure in a matter of days.

Already, the TOTAL number of American COVID-19 deaths has SURPASSED the number of deaths in Vietnam (47,424), Iraq (3836), Afghanistan (1833), Gulf War (149), and the Beirut Deployment (256) COMBINED – 53,498.

But here’s the sad, startling fact:

This has all happened in the space of a couple months – since 20 January – a mere 106 days. On the other hand, those wars lasted far, far longer.

So, you tell me

Shocking Findings: 96% of Prison Inmates Infected with COVID-19 HAVE NO SYMPTOMS

We have been told that the MINIMUM asymptomatic (without symptoms) range was 30-50% for the general public, which means that the number of POSITIVE cases is very likely UNDER–COUNTED by that amount, and therefore at LEAST 30-50% HIGHER than tests show, precisely because without symptoms, few, if any, are being tested.

The rationale such individuals have is, ‘I don’t have symptoms, so why should I get tested?’

And that is the classic “Typhoid Mary” Mallon case of the early 20th Century in which Mary Mallon infected many with Typhoid Fever (some of whom died), and NEVER – not even once – EVER showed any signs or symptoms of disease – not even on her deathbed.

And she did NOT die of Typhoid Fever.

And what you’re about to read is PRECISELY what needs to happen to EVERYONE in America.

That is,

EVERYONE

SHOULD BE TESTED,

EVEN IF

THEY HAVE

NO SYMPTOMS!

---

In four U.S. state prisons, nearly 3,300 inmates test positive for coronavirus — 96% without symptoms

By Linda So and Grant Smith

---

Sun Apr 26, 2020 / 7:59 AM EDT

(Reuters) – When the first cases of the new coronavirus surfaced in Ohio’s prisons, the director in charge felt like she was fighting a ghost.

“We weren’t always able to pinpoint where all the cases were coming from,” said Annette Chambers-Smith, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. As the virus spread, they began mass testing.

They started with the Marion Correctional Institution, which houses 2,500 prisoners in north central Ohio, many of them older with pre-existing health conditions. After testing 2,300 inmates for the coronavirus, they were shocked. Of the 2,028 who tested positive, close to 95% had no symptoms.

“It was very surprising,” said Chambers-Smith, who oversees the state’s 28 correctional facilities.

As mass coronavirus testing expands in prisons, large numbers of inmates are showing no symptoms. In four state prison systems — Arkansas, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia — 96% of 3,277 inmates who tested positive for the coronavirus were asymptomatic, according to interviews with officials and records reviewed by Reuters. That’s out of 4,693 tests that included results on symptoms.

The numbers are the latest evidence to suggest that people who are asymptomatic — contagious but not physically sick — may be driving the spread of the virus, not only in state prisons that house 1.3 million inmates across the country, but also in communities across the globe. The figures also reinforce questions over whether testing of just people suspected of being infected is actually capturing the spread of the virus.

“It adds to the understanding that we have a severe undercount of cases in the U.S.,” said Dr. Leana Wen, adjunct associate professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University, said of the Reuters findings. “The case count is likely much, much higher than we currently know because of the lack of testing and surveillance.”

Some people diagnosed as asymptomatic when tested for the coronavirus, however, may go on to develop symptoms later, according to researchers.

The United States has more people behind bars than any other nation, a total incarcerated population of nearly 2.3 million as of 2017 — nearly half of which is in state prisons. Smaller numbers are locked in federal prisons and local jails, which typically hold people for relatively short periods as they await trial.

State prison systems in Michigan, Tennessee and California have also begun mass testing — checking for coronavirus infections in large numbers of inmates even if they show no sign of illness — but have not provided specific counts of asymptomatic prisoners.

Tennessee said a majority of its positive cases didn’t show symptoms. In Michigan, state authorities said

Are There Common Factors With Spread Of COVID-19 Disease?

Much of the media has focused upon the raw numbers for COVID-19 infection cases in the United States, and, that’s just one way of examining data. Of course, it doesn’t look good, and some may try and put a “spin” on the information as they whistle past the proverbial graveyard – it’s a type of denial… which is not just a river in Egypt.

So in that sense, I sought to examine population, population density, global population comparison, national area (in square miles) in psuedo-randomly selected nations throughout the world, and THEN to post their Infection Rates. By so doing, it gives a more clear understanding of the nature of the problem, at least in some sense.

Copper engraving of Doctor Schnabel [i.e Dr. Beak], a plague doctor in seventeenth-century Rome, with a satirical macaronic poem (‘Vos Creditis, als eine Fabel, / quod scribitur vom Doctor Schnabel’) in octosyllabic rhyming couplets.

For example, consider India.

With 1,361,462,965 people, it is the 2nd most populous nation in the world, with 17.5% of the global population. Its population density is 1,051.3 people per square mile, and it has 27,890 COVID-19 cases, with an infection rate of 2 per 100,000 people.

But, some may protest saying that the population dilutes the figures. So, let’s examine another nation.

Mozambique, an African nation on the south eastern coastal horn of that continent, has 30,066,648 inhabitants, with a population density of 74.3 people per square mile. It comprises only 0.386% of the global population. And with only 76 confirmed COVID-19 cases, its infection rate is 0.2527 per 100,000.

Again, some may protest and say that heat and sunshine are the primary reason why that nation’s infection rate is so low. So again, let’s examine another nation.

With 34,218,169 people, Saudi Arabia has 0.440% of the world’s population, is largely a

America’s COVID-19 Infection Rate Likely at Least TWICE the Reported Number

According to publicly available information compiled by Johns Hopkins University, as of 2100 GMT/UCT Wednesday, 22 April 2020, in the United States, there were:

• 842,319 Confirmed COVID-19 cases

• 46,399 COVID-19 deaths

• 4,171,896 Total COVID-19 Tests Conducted

• United States population is very nearly 330,000,000

• COVID-19’s incubation time ranges between 2 to 14 days.

• 4,466,559 have been tested

• At least 30%–50% of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic carriers (show no signs or symptoms of infection, i.e., no fever, no chills, no loss of taste, no loss of smell, no muscle aches, no nausea, no vomiting, no upset stomach, no loss of appetite, no diarrhea, no cough, no runny nose, no sore/scratchy throat, no headache, no tiredness, no shortness of breath, no difficulty breathing, no feeling of hotness {subjective fever}, etc.)

Extrapolating, what that means is:

• Only 1.3535% of the American population has been tested for COVID-19.

• 120,932 Total have been Hospitalized

• Potentially 421,160 MORE, or AT LEAST 1,263,479 people could be infected – 50% more than have been diagnosed

• The U.S. COVID-19 Death Rate is 5.5084%

Globally, there are:

• 2,623,231 Total Confirmed COVID-19 cases

• 182,740 Total COVID-19 Deaths

The COVID-19 Global Death Rate is 6.9662%.

At this juncture, there are 707,331 known Total Recovered COVID-19 cases globally.

These figures are by no means final; they are merely preliminary good estimates, because the scenario is changing daily, and more diagnoses are being made, and autopsies which are showing COVID-19 infection as a cause of death.

The Santa Clara County California Medical Examiner’s Office recently reported that following autopsy results, TWO deaths occurred in that county February 6, and 17, both related to COVID-19, which put the dates of the first known deaths in the United States back by at least two weeks, instead of the case in Kirkland, Washington on February 29 which to date, was thought to be the first COVID-19 related death in the United States.

Essentially, the implications are precisely in keeping with what we know about COVID-19, that it is insidious – progressing inconspicuously, but harmfully – stealthily and seriously damaging before it makes its presence known with symptoms.

The experts (not the POTUS) from the CDC, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, tell us that

A More Thoroughly Comprehensive COVID-19 Timeline

Editor’s Note: The timeline will be updated as information becomes available, and events occur.

BACKGROUND: In the 1970’s, amidst a national famine in which millions died, the Chinese Communist government allowed and encouraged private farming in 1978, and 10 years later legalized the private industrialization of wildlife farming, in which wildlife animals were farmed, and sold in so-called “wet markets,” where live animals were slaughtered, butchered and sold alongside other foods.

This recent outbreak of coronavirus of SARS-CoV (Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome), a coronavirus known as COVID-19, appears to have originated in a particular live-animal wet market in the Hubei province city of Wuhan, China, which population is estimated between 8.9 to 11 million – and by some estimates, the 6th most populous city in China. Of the first 41 people infected with the virus, 27 had gone to the Huanan live market in Wuhan.

Vox produced a brief video of the scenario surrounding the emergence of the novel coronavirus on March 6. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPpoJGYlW54)

This illustration reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the COVID-19 coronavirus. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. Image credit: CDC.

One particularly fascinating aspect of the market where farm-raised wildlife is sold, is that the exceeding majority of Chinese nationals do not eat wildlife, and rather, it is the well-to-do and wealthy – who are an extremely small minority of the 1.389 billion-plus Chinese population – which consume such fare.

“Animal husbandry” is the term given to describe the agricultural practice of tending to, caring for, raising, breeding, and rearing animals, particularly and especially livestock, meaning domesticated animals typically raised for human use, either as use for production of dairy, meat, fiber, clothing, etc. Typically again, those animals are hogs, cattle, goat, sheep, poultry and fowl, including animals used for labor such as donkeys, mules, horses, oxen, etc. While there are examples of farm-raised wildlife in Western nations such as with alligators, mink, etc., such animals are infrequently or rarely used for human consumption, but in China, that practice is allowed, and even encouraged.

While China has made great strides in acknowledging that animal health is important for the animals intrinsically, and in relationship to humans’ interaction with them as well, there remain many more significant advancements to be made, because the health of animals and humans are inextricably intertwined. Specifically, laws, regulations, and governmental agencies, standards and practices in veterinarian medicine, and in animal husbandry and health should be more jointly unified, widespread, and enforced.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

2017
January

10 – Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, delivered keynote address at a Harvard Global Health Institute conference in conjunction with peer-reviewed healthcare journal Health Affairs, held at Georgetown University entitled “Pandemic Preparedness for the Next Administration” which “focused on priorities for the next U.S. presidential administration and potential agenda items for pandemic preparedness.”
(https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/news/pandemic-preparedness-priorities-next-administration)

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
2018
April

White House National Security Advisor John Bolton pressured White House Homeland Security Advisor, Tom Bossert, to resign along with his team. Neither the NSC nor DHS epidemic teams were replaced.
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-homeland-security-adviser-resigns-amid-continued-turnover-in-trump-administration/2018/04/10/15db518a-3ccb-11e8-a7d1-e4efec6389f0_story.html)

May

POTUS ordered the National Security Council’s entire Global Health Security unit shut down, and called for Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biothreats Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer to be reassigned, and dissolved his team inside the agency.
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/10/top-white-house-official-in-charge-of-pandemic-response-exits-abruptly/)

7 – POTUS called for cutting $252 million of unused funds remaining from the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people, far exceeding the combined total cases reported in about 20 previous outbreaks since the 1970s.
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/10/top-white-house-official-in-charge-of-pandemic-response-exits-abruptly/)

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
2019
November

In a secret intelligence report by the military’s National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI), based upon analysis of wire and computer intercepts, and satellite images, concerns that an out-of-control disease sweeping through China’s Wuhan region could pose a serious threat to U.S. Armed Forces in Asia, that

Mayo Clinic to have COVID-19 Antibody Test by Monday

“How can I know if I’m FULLY recovered from COVID-19 novel coronavirus?” is a question that gets asked by many, particularly by those who have been infected by COVID-19.

Unfortunately – to this point, at least – the answer to that question has been “We don’t know.”

Fortunately, however, researchers have rapidly doubled-down on their research, intensified their efforts, and are becoming fruitful.

Here’s a brief story about one such effort.

MPRNews.org

Mayo Clinic expects COVID-19 antibody test to be ready Monday

---

Mayo Clinic Expects COVID-19 Antibody Test To Be Ready Monday

Pedestrians cross the street as they leave Mayo Clinic’s Gonda Building in Rochester, Minn., in 2016. Mayo researchers say they’re close to releasing tests that would tell whether a person has had and recovered from COVID-19.Alex Kolyer for MPR News file (Minnesota Public Radio)

Researchers at Mayo Clinic expect to release a test that would tell whether a person has had and recovered from COVID-19 on Monday. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports the University of Minnesota is also narrowing in on an antibody test.

The tests would help public health officials understand the scope of the outbreak and identify people who could safely be in public to help with relief efforts. They would also help in an effort to treat critical COVID-19 patients with plasma from individuals who have recovered.

Elitza Theel is director of the Mayo Clinic lab testing COVID-19 antibody tests. She spoke with MPR News host Tom Crann Wednesday.

You can listen to the interview by clicking on the audio player above, or read the transcript below, which has been edited lightly for clarity and length.

Q: Tell us first, what is an antibody?

A: Antibodies essentially recognize the virus and can help inactivate and kill it.

It’s important to know that these types of tests are different than all of the molecular tests that are being done off of nasal swabs or throat swabs. Those tests detect viral genetic material [to show whether the coronavirus has infected that person].

These [blood serum] antibody tests are detecting a person’s immune response to that virus. It takes, in some cases, 10 to 11 days for a person to mount an immune response and produce these antibodies, so these tests aren’t going to be used as a diagnostic in patients that are presenting with two or three days of symptoms.

Q: Tell us how soon they’ll be ready

A: At Mayo, we hope to have it available as early as next week. We will be doing kind of a slow roll out because, similar to the situation with molecular tests, there’s a limited supply of these tests. We’re hoping that commercial manufacturers will ramp up here in the next few weeks so that we can make it available much more widely.

Q: Then it can go straight to to doctors, public health departments, or is FDA approval needed? How does that work?

A: FDA approval is not needed at this time. However, laboratories that are offering these tests have to go through a very rigorous verification process to make sure that the tests they’re offering provide the right results.

Clinicians will be able to order this in individuals who they think having are a result for would be helpful to either guide return to work [decisions] or further quarantining.

Also, you may have heard about the convalescent plasma treatment trials. As we wait for antivirals and vaccines to be developed and deployed, we need some sort of bridging therapy. So, the idea here is to identify individuals who have recovered from COVID-19, collect their plasma, make sure that it has the antibodies, and then use that plasma to treat acutely ill patients. We’re basically providing somebody else’s antibodies to ill patients who maybe don’t have an immune response mounted yet, and these antibodies would essentially help to fight off the virus.

Q: How close are we on plasma treatment?

A: Clinical trials are starting very soon, both here at Mayo Clinic as well as many other locations across the U.S.

Q: Why is it important to have this information about how many people have been infected, even if they are recovered?

A: There’s a couple of reasons. One, we know there’s a significant number of individuals who have been infected without symptoms. So, knowing the true number, the true denominator of individuals who have been infected with COVID-19, would allow us to determine the true case fatality rate. And then the other reason this is important is identifying when, as a community, as a region, as a nation, we’ve reached herd immunity status.

Cytokine Storm

Cytokine storm.

Wot zat?

Glad you asked.

Imagine having a very minor kitchen fire – as in ’some grease/oil in a small 6-inch skillet flamed up’ while cooking breakfast one morning.

It’s easily put out by placing a lid on the pan.

Stop the air from getting to it, and VOILA!

Out goes the light.

More’n likely, anyone who’s ever cooked has experienced one.

Not a big deal, right?

So, what if, in response to that minor emergency – and yes, it is an emergency, and yes, it is minor – a fleet of 747 jumbo jets all filled with water (for forest fire-fighting purposes, they’re called “Super Tankers”) flew over your place and dumped it all atop your house?

That’d be pretty extreme, wouldn’t it?

Of course it would!

But

Questions & Answers About Cannabis

NOTE: The more frequently updated version of this page is found on the front page of this blog, which is linked here: https://warmsouthernbreeze.wordpress.com/questions-answers-about-cannabis/

Updated Saturday, 30 May 2020
While the intended audience for these Qs & As is meant primarily for medical, and healthcare science professionals, they may still be of some interest, or use, by others –– particularly for those who do not know that there is legitimate science behind the use, and recommendation of cannabis in various therapies.

From Franz Eugen Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflantzen. Published and copyrighted by Gera-Untermhaus, FE Köhler in 1887 (1883–1914). Hemp plant. A flowering male and B seed-bearing female plant, actual size; 1 male flower, enlarged detail; 2 and 3 pollen sac of same from various angles; 4 pollen grain of same; 5 female flower with cover petal; 6 female flower, cover petal removed; 7 female fruit cluster, longitudinal section; 8 fruit with cover petal; 9 same without cover petal; 10 same; 11 same in cross-section; 12 same in longitudinal section; 13 seed without hull.

So in that sense, enjoy!

––//––

QUESTION: Chronic pelvic pain affects up to 15% of women in the United States. Cannabinoid receptors are expressed on reproductive tissues (including the uterus) and non-reproductive pelvic tissues. Do patients with chronic pelvic pain use cannabinoid-based products to ameliorate their symptoms?

ANSWER: The conclusions of a survey of 122 chronic pelvic pain female patients indicated that up to 23% report using cannabinoid-based products as an adjunct to their prescribed therapies. The patients use a variety of formulations and doses of cannabinoid-based products, and most report daily or weekly use. Most users report improvement in symptoms, but did acknowledge that side effects are common.

–––

QUESTION: In what dosage forms are pharmaceutical fentanyl products supplied?

ANSWER: Fentanyl pharmaceutical products are currently available in the following dosage forms: oral transmucosal lozenges (AKA fentanyl “lollipops”), buccal tablets and sublingual tablets, sublingual sprays, nasal sprays, transdermal patches, and injectable formulations.

–––

QUESTION: Fentanyl, morphine and heroin are all analgesics. Which one of the three is the most potent analgesic?

ANSWER: Fentanyl is the most potent analgesic of the three. It is about 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin, as an analgesic agent.

–––

QUESTION: What are common street names for marijuana?

ANSWER: Often, marijuana concentrates look similar to honey with either a brown or gold color, and many of the street names refer to the golden brown color. The terms wax, ear wax, honey oil, budder, butane hash oil, butane honey oil (BHO), shatter, dabs (dabbing), black glass, and errl have all been used to refer to marijuana concentrates.

–––

QUESTION: What is hashish?

ANSWER: Hashish (AKA hash) is a THC-rich resin from the cannabis plant. This resin is collected and processed into various forms, including balls, cakes or cookies. Pieces of hashish can be broken off, and placed in pipes or cigarettes for smoking. Some individuals mix hashish with tobacco. Hashish products are considered to be Schedule I substances.

–––

QUESTION: What is the most common route of administration for the synthetic cannabinoids K2 or Spice?

ANSWER: K2 and Spice are used for recreational purposes, and smoking is the most common route of administration. Spraying or mixing the synthetic cannabinoids on dried plant material allows one to smoke it (using a pipe, a water pipe, or rolling the drug-laced plant material in cigarette papers). Also, liquid synthetic cannabinoids have been designed to be vaporized via e-cigarettes.

–––

QUESTION: Does marijuana use alter the sexual intercourse experience?

ANSWER: An online survey posed questions regarding various aspects of sexual experience and how those aspects were impacted by marijuana use. The results indicated that marijuana helped individuals relax, heightened their sensitivity to touch, and increased intensity of feelings, thus enhancing their sexual experience, while others found that marijuana interfered by making them sleepy and less focused or had no effect on their sexual experience.

–––

QUESTION: CB1 receptors are located on neurons in the CNS and PNS. Are CB1 receptors also located on cardiomyocytes?

ANSWER: Yes. CB1 receptors are located in cardiomyocytes, vascular endothelial cells as well as smooth muscle cells. Activation of these CB1 receptors may lead to oxidative stress, inflammation, fibrosis, vasodilation, and negative inotropy.

–––

QUESTION: Some cannabinoid-based medicines are used to treat chemotherapy-induced n/v. Have cannabinoid-based medicines been shown to be effective in the treatment of post-op n/v?

ANSWER: The results of studies indicate that neither nabilone or intravenous THC is effective for post-op n/v. Even premedication with nabilone was ineffective at treating post-op n/v.

–––

QUESTION: Does ketamine interact with the endocannabinoid system?

ANSWER: Yes. Ketamine induces the release of endocannabinoids.

–––

QUESTION: Do CB1 and CB2 agonists facilitate endogenous opioid signaling?

ANSWER: Yes. In fact, CB1 and CB2 agonists increase the concentrations of endogenous opioids.

–––

QUESTION: Is the endocannabinoid system linked to the opioid system?

ANSWER: Yes. Opioid receptors and CB receptors are located within the same neurons within the CNS. In addition, cannabinoids activate kappa and delta receptors to initiate a release of endogenous opioids.

–––

QUESTION: How do cannabinoids modulate pain sensation? In other words, describe the mechanism of action of cannabinoids.

ANSWER: Endocannabinoids are synthesized in the postsynaptic neuron in response to stimuli such as pain, stress and inflammation. Endocannabinoids travel in a retrograde fashion and activate the presynaptic CB receptors. Antinociceptive effects occur when either endocannabinoids or phytocannabinoids activate presynaptic inhibitory CB1 receptors. Stimulation of CB1 receptors (G protein coupled receptors (Gi,Go)) leads to a reduction of cAMP production via the inhibition of adenylyl cyclase. This results in an action on voltage gated calcium and potassium channels – there is a depression of neuronal excitability and a reduction of neurotransmitter release.

–––

QUESTION: A study by Jamal et al. published in the European Journal of Anaesthesiology reported that marijuana users required a higher dose of morphine s/p abdominal surgery. They estimated that there was a 23% increased opioid dose requirement. Have the results of studies examining the opioid requirements s/p orthopedic surgery also shown that marijuana users require more opioids than patients who do not use marijuana?

ANSWER: In a retrospective study including 3793 patients, patient-reported postoperative outcomes of 155 marijuana users were compared with those of 155 non-users. The results indicate that pre-operative marijuana users had higher pain scores at rest and on movement but did not consume more post-operative opioid analgesics. The cannabinoid users also reported a greater incidence of post-operative sleep impairment.

–––

QUESTION: CBD is a negative allosteric modulator. What does that mean?

ANSWER: A negative allosteric modulator changes the shape of the receptor and, as a result, reduces the binding ability of components that typically bind to the receptor. In the case of cannabinoids, CBD alters the shape of CB1 receptors, and THC along with endogenous cannabinoids do not bind to the CB1 receptor to the same degree as they do when CBD is not present.

–––

QUESTION: Some producers of cannabinoid products will provide a Certificate Of Analysis (CoA) from an independent certified testing laboratory. What information is typically displayed on a CoA?

ANSWER: CoAs typically indicate

Ever feel like cattle in a feedlot? High Fructose Corn Syrup works wonders!

Researchers at Princeton University have discovered what farmers have known for many years.

Corn will make you fat.

Corn chips, tortillas, corn meal, grits, hominy, raw corn, corn on the cob, creamed corn, sweet corn, pop corn… there are a veritable host of corn food products.

“But I don’t eat corn!,” you may say.

Sure you do.

Just read the ingredients labels of the foods you purchase.

Many, if not most, foods contain “High Fructose Corn Syrup,” which can be found in most unlikely of foods.

Ingredients are listed in order of concentration, from highest to lowest. Often, High Fructose Corn Syrup is