Bang Goes My Holiday!
There are various things I want to visit in Germany and I felt that the best thing to do would be go for a few days,
But the BBC are reporting these facts about travel to Germany.
- From Sunday, people travelling from the UK will not be allowed to enter Germany
- The decision is down to a rise in cases of the Indian variant in the UK
- German citizens and residents, plus people with an exceptional reason, can still enter – but face a two-week quarantine
So bang goes my holiday!
I particularly wanted to go to Hamburg to take a few pictures of the Siemens Gamesa ETES trial installation in the city.
However I’ve been able to locate the installation on Google Maps.
Note.
- The wind-turbine towards the South-West corner of the map.
- Siemens Gamesa ETES trial installation is the prominent odd shaped building towards the South-East corner of the map, just below the shadow of the turbine.
- The installation seems to have lots of pipes connected to it.
This second map shows the installation from an angle.
This document on the Siemens Gamesa web site describes the installation.
- The nominal power is 30 MW.
- The capacity is 130 MWh.
- 80 % of the technology is off the shelf.
The picture on the front says “Welcome To The New Stone Age”.
If anybody should find themselves in Hamburg with some time to waste, I’d be very grateful for a copyright-free image.
The installation appears to be just off the VollHöfner Weiden.
My INR Readings Before And After My Second AstraZeneca Jab
I am on long-term Warfarin after a serious stroke.
I also measure my own INR using a simple hand-held meter.
So with all the fuss about the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots, I thought I’d do an experiment around my second dose of the vaccine.
I maintained a constant Warfarin dose of 3.5 mg, which is the daily dose, I have agreed with my GP.
I maintained a reasonably constant diet. That is fairly easy if you’re coeliac and on a long-term gluten-free diet, as I am.
I measured my INR every morning.
These are my results.
- April 12th – 2.3
- April 13th – 2.8
- April 14th – 2.8
- April 15th – 2.9
- April 16th – 2.5
- April 17th – 2.3
- April 18th – 2.3
- April 19th – 2.4 – 2nd Jab
- April 20th – 2.2
- April 21st – 2.2
- April 22nd – 2.6
- April 23rd – 2.5
- April 24th – 2.4
- April 25th – 2.7
- April 26th – 3.0
- April 27th – 2.7
- April 28th – 2,5
- April 29th – 3.0
- April 30th – 3.1
- May 1st – 2.9
- May 2nd – No Data
- May 3rd – 2.8
It would appear that the results have been less stable since the second jab.
I am a Control Engineer with a B. Eng. from Liverpool University and I’m not surprised at these results.
It’s just like the bounce you get when the wheel of your car hits a pothole.
I would suggest that more research needs to be done.
Oxygen Supplies In Disaster Management
The title of this post is the same as this peer-reviewed paper on PubMed.
This is the Abstract.
Mass casualty events and disasters, both natural and human-generated, occur frequently around the world and can generate scores of injured or ill victims in need of resources. Of the available medical supplies, oxygen remains the critical consumable resource in disaster management. Strategic management of oxygen supplies in disaster scenarios remains a priority. Hospitals have large supplies of liquid oxygen and a supply of compressed gas oxygen cylinders that allow several days of reserve, but a large influx of patients from a disaster can strain these resources. Most backup liquid oxygen supplies are attached to the main liquid system and supply line. In the event of damage to the main system, the reserve supply is rendered useless. The Strategic National Stockpile supplies medications, medical supplies, and equipment to disaster areas, but it does not supply oxygen. Contracted vendors can deliver oxygen to alternate care facilities in disaster areas, in the form of concentrators, compressed gas cylinders, and liquid oxygen. Planning for oxygen needs following a disaster still presents a substantial challenge, but alternate care facilities have proven to be valuable in relieving pressure from the mass influx of patients into hospitals, especially for those on home oxygen who require only an electrical source to power their oxygen concentrator.
The Covid-19 situation in India, may be a total different type of disaster, but what is happening in the country is having the same outcome – A serious lack of medical oxygen!
It should not be forgotten, that we nearly had serious oxygen problems last year in the UK.
A Possible Solution
I feel we need to develop a reliable oxygen system that can supply large amounts of medical grade oxygen, which can be delivered quickly and easily to site.
Could The System Be Electrolyser-Based?
I feel that this could be an a possibility.
- Electrolysers need just a water and electricity supply.
- They produce both hydrogen and oxygen.
- If the hydrogen isn’t wanted it can be added to the gas main.
Electrolysers may offer size, safety, weight and other advantages in difficult environments.
The System Must Be Air-Transportable
This would be absolutely essential amd as the equipment might be flying into a serious disaster, surely it would be preferable if it could be fitted into a Hercules.
Conclusion
As I write this post, this article on the BBC has just been published, which is entitled UK Sends Supplies To India Amid Record Virus Surge.
This is an extract.
The assistance package includes 495 oxygen concentrators – which extract oxygen from the air to give to patients – as well as ventilators.
India is seeing thousands of deaths a day amid oxygen shortages.
Will that be enough?
We certainly must be as well-prepared as we can.
Blood Clot Risk Eight Times Higher From Covid Than AstraZeneca Vaccine, Study Finds
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Telegraph.
This is the first two paragraphs.
The risk of a rare brain clot from coronavirus is approximately eight times greater the risk presented by the AstraZeneca jab, a University of Oxford study has found.
The research, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, and compared blood clot rates among 500,000 coronavirus patients with data from the roll-out of 34 million vaccine doses across Europe.
I will certainly be having my second AstraZeneca jab next Monday.
This press release on the Astra-Zeneca web site is entitled Oxford Phase III trials interim analysis results published in The Lancet.
This is an extract.
In addition to the Oxford led programme, AstraZeneca is conducting a large study in the US and globally. In total, Oxford University and AstraZeneca expect to enrol more than 60,000 participants globally.
The Telegraph article also says this.
The incidence of rates for cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) – a rare blood clot on the brain – is 39 per million coronavirus patients, while it is five per million recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Note that five per million is 0.3 per 60,000.
Any participant, who got a blood clot in the AstraZeneca Phase III trial would have been a very unlucky person.
Those who say, that the AstraZeneca vaccine was rushed and that many more people should participated in the trials may have a point.
But countering that is my belief that data analysis has improved so much in the last twenty years that all the data on all the vaccines has been so thoroughly analysed by some of the best data analysts and analytic software, that most more common problems have been identified.
Covid-19, Coeliac Disease And Budesonide
I am coeliac and whenever a drug is shown to have positive effects against the Covids, I type its name into Dr. Google with coeliac disease.
With dexamethasone, I found it is used in some countries. as an alternative to a gluten-free diet.
Typically, these countries appear to be one with a Pop-A-Pill-For-Everything habit.
Budesonide appears to be used for Crohn’s disease, which is associated medically with coeliac disease.
As we keep hearing that the best way to fight the covids is with your immune system and coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease, is enough research being done as to the role of undiagnosed coeliac disease in this pandemic?
Coeliac UK are just advising Keep Calm and Carry On with the gluten-free diet!
Keep Calm And Carry On!
I saw a superb example of this on a bus today.
The bus was fairly crowded and I was standing.
A guy gets on and it was fairly obvious that he had no arms and from his age and appearance, it looked like he could have been a victim of thalidomide.
But no-one moved to offer him a seat!
So as the bus moved off, he calmly walked up the stairs to the top deck!
Shame on all those seat-sitters!
Mayor Sadiq Khan Plans to Ban London Underground Gambling Ads
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Gambling News.
It’s probably the right thing to do, but as fast food ads have been banned and others are probably to be banned as well, where does the Mayor think he is going to get the money to run Transport for London from?
As he is going to have an enquiry into the legalisation of cannabis, which I am against, as it ruins your immune system, I shall be voting for someone else.
Fall In Covid Infection Rates A Pleasant Surprise, Says Adviser
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
The adviser who is pleasantly surprised is Mike Tildesley of the University of Warwick.
I am not surprised that Mike Tildesley is pleasantly surprised.
I have successfully built mathematical models on computers for over fifty years, and since the pandemic started I have been pursuing my own mining of UK, WHO and Wikipedia data and peer-reviewed scientific papers from sources all over the world.
Several scientists have said, that an individual’s immune system is important, when it comes to fighting the covids.
I am coeliac on a long-term gluten-free diet and we as a group have a strong immune system. This probably explains, why we are 25 % less likely to suffer from cancer, than the general population. This fact is not from the Gwyneth Paltrow School of Quack Science, but from JVT’s alma mata; Nottingham University.
It has also been shown by the University of Padua, who followed a group of coeliacs on a long-term gluten-free diet, that they did very well during the first wave of the virus in Padua, with no serious cases reported.
Look at the figures for Cambodia, which has very low figures. They have had just 22 deaths and they have a fatality rate of 0.78% according to Wikipedia. Our rate on a similar basis is 2.94 %.
Can their gluten-free diet be the reason?
I’ve also heard verified stories of groups of immigrants doing well, as they have not been seduced by Western junk food and are sticking to traditional diets.
I think there are a large number of people out there like coeliacs on a long-term gluten-free diet, who because of their diet or lifestyle are not going to get the virus and act like moderators do in a nuclear power station to slow the reaction. So they are slowing the transmission of the virus. We have already seen how some religious groups and types of behaviour have accelerated the spread of the virus, so why can’t groups exist that slow the rate of spread?
Hence Mike Tildesley’s pleasant surprise!
I have not found any UK-based scientific research on how coeliacs are faring in the pandemic and the charity Coeliac-UK has said nothing except Keep Calm And Carry On!
Let’s hope the good scientists of Padua are continuing to follow their coeliacs through successive waves of the pandemic!
We need more research now!
UK Medicines Watchdog ‘Considers Limiting Use Of Oxford-AstraZeneca Coronavirus Vaccine In Young’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the first two paragraphs.
The medicines watchdog is considering restricting use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in younger people, it was reported last night.
Channel 4 News said sources had told it that the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) could decide as soon as today after concerns about very rare cases of blood clots potentially linked to the vaccine.
I’m, no medic, but I do find, I got a different reaction to the AstraZeneca vaccine to that of my friends.
But I am coeliac on a long-term gluten-free diet and have therefore got a strong immune system.
I believe my immune system gave the vaccine and its carrier a bit of a kicking.
But then it did that four months ago, with a pneumococcal vaccine.
There is a peer-reviewed Danish study, which I wrote about in A Danish Study On Links Between Coeliac Disease And Blood Clots.
I just wonder if there is a link in there somewhere.
All those, who have suffered blood clots after having the AstraZeneca vaccine should at least be tested for coeliac disease.
The Anonymous Widower 