Coeliac Journey Through Covid-19 – Oxford And Cambridge Compared
Oxford And Cambridge Compared
In May 2020, I had been looking at the statistics of the two cities and the country around them and found that the numbers of Covid-19 cases were twice as high in Oxford, when related to population.
In Oxford And Cambridge Compared On COVID-19, I give my reasons for why Cambridge has lower levels of Covid-19.
Consider.
- Both cities and surrounding counties have a similar character.
- Both have well-respected hospitals, medical schools and medical research.
- Air pollution appears to be low in both areas.
- Both cities probably have a similar ethnic mix and large student populations.
As I used to live near Cambridge, I have my own mad personal theory.
Addenbrooke’s Hospital
I have used several hospitals in my life, but only two changed my life totally.
- I had my vasectomy in the old Hackney Hospital.
- Addenbrooke’s, who with a simple blood test decided I was probably coeliac.
So perhaps, I’m biased.
But consider these possible facts.
- My coeliac consultant at Addenbrooke’s told me, that he had more patients with the disease than any other in the UK.
- The manager at Carluccio’s in Cambridge, told me that they sold more gluten-free food, than any other restaurant in the group.
- In 1997, I was diagnosed fast, because Addenbrooke’s were using a new genetic test. I was later checked using an endoscopy.
Could it be that someone at Addenbrooke’s had decided they wanted to find all the coeliacs in and around Cambridge?
What would be the effects of diagnosing as many coeliacs as you could find in an area?
- A doctor of my acquaintance talked of coeliac disease as the many-headed hydra, as it led to so many other medical problems. So extra diagnosed coeliacs might improve health statistics in an area.
- Personally, I have said good-bye to migraines, nail-biting and lots of joint pains, after going gluten-free.
- I also haven’t had a serious dose of flu since diagnosis. Since 2005, I’ve probably had the flu jab.
- Joe West at Nottingham University, has shown that coeliacs on a gluten-free diet have lower cancer rates than the general population.
Consider.
- Immunotherapy is a medical technique, where the patient’s immune system is activated or suppressed to help them fight a disease.
- Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease, where gluten causes damage to the gut.
So could coeliacs on a gluten-free diet have a more powerful immune system?
Undiagnosed Coeliacs
Coeliac disease is genetic, with mine coming from an Ashkenazi Jewish ancestor from Konigsberg in the Baltic.
- Other roots of coeliac disease are Irish, Italian and black people, who have slaves as ancestors.
- There was no test for coeliac disease in children until 1960.
- There was no genetic test for coeliac disease until the late 1990s.
- Research has shown that coeliacs are at least 1-in-100 of the UK population, but could be higher.
- The NHS quotes the 1-in-100 figure on this web page, which also says reported cases of coeliac disease are higher in women than men.
If coeliacs on a gluten-free diet have a good immune system, do undiagnosed coeliacs have a poorer one?
Oxford And Cambridge Compared
Is the large number of diagnosed coeliacs around Cambridge, the reason the area has a lower COVID-19 rate than Oxford?
Conclusion
What do I know?
I’m just a mad engineer and mathematician with coeliac disease.
Canary Wharf Boosts Its Science Ambitions
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This are the introductory paragraphs.
Genomics England is to move its headquarters to Canary Wharf in east London this year as the financial quarter aims to become a life sciences hub.
The government-run DNA sequencing group will move in the autumn into One Canada Place, where its neighbours will include Brookfield, a Canadian property fund, and Reach, publisher of the Daily Express and OK! magazine.
Owned by the Department of Health and Social Care, Genomics England sequences the genomes of people with rare diseases and cancers to help doctors to treat them more effectively. With consent, some of that data is passed to researchers trying to develop new drugs and treatments.
If you type “Canary Wharf Science Hub into Google”, you find some serious articles.
This article in the FT is entitled Canary Wharf Proposes £500mn Lab Project To Reinvent Financial Hub.
This is a good idea, as scientist friends are always complaining about a lack of lab space in Cambridge and Oxford. Because of the Elizabeth Line, both these cities are not much more than an hour from Canary Wharf.
It should also fill the cafes and shops with scientists and engineers, who would replace some of those working from home because of the pandemic.
I wonder whether this model will work elsewhere?
Should The NHS Adopt A Whack-A-Coeliac Policy?
The Wikipedia entry for Whac-a-Mole, says this about the colloquial use of the name of an arcade game.
In late June 2020, Boris Johnson based the UK’s COVID-19 strategy on the game.
Because of the high number of diagnosed coeliacs in the Cambridge area, I believe that I was diagnosed to be coeliac, by possible use of a Whack-a-Coeliac policy at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, in the last years of the Twentieth Century.
- I was suffering from low B12 levels and my GP sent me to the hospital to see a consultant.
- It was only a quick visit and all I remember, is the speed with which the nurse took my blood.
- A couple of days later, I received a letter from the hospital, saying it was likely I was a coeliac and it would be confirmed by an endoscopy.
- A point to note, is that I had my endoscopy with just a throat spray and this must have increased the efficiency and throughput and reduced the cost of the procedure.
The only way, I could have been diagnosed so quickly would have been through an analysis of my genes and blood. But I was never told, what method was used.
I have a few further thoughts.
My Health Since Diagnosis
It has undoubtedly improved.
Cancer And Diagnosed Coeliacs On A Gluten-Free Diet
Joe West of Nottingham University has shown, that diagnosed coeliacs on a gluten-free diet have a 25% lower risk of cancer compared to the general population.
That is certainly a collateral benefit of being a coeliac. But is it being a coeliac or the diet?
I’m no medic, but could the reason be, that diagnosed coeliacs on a gluten-free diet have a strong immune system?
Coeliac Disease Is A Many-Headed Hydra
I have heard a doctor describe coeliac disease or gluten-sensitivity as a many-headed hydra, as it can turn up in so many other illnesses.
Type “coeliac disease many-headed hydra” into Google and this article on the NCBI , which is entitled Gluten Sensitivity: A Many Headed Hydra, is the first of many.
This is the sub-title of the article.
Heightened responsiveness to gluten is not confined to the gut
My son; George was an undiagnosed coeliac, who had a poor diet consisting mostly of Subways, cigarettes and high-strength cannabis. He died at just thirty-seven of pancreatic cancer.
Did George have a poor immune system, which was useless at fighting the cancer?
Undiagnosed Coeliac Disease In The Over-Sixty-Fives
In A Thought On Deaths Of The Elderly From Covid-19, I used data from Age UK and Coeliac UK to estimate the number of coeliacs in the UK over the age of sixty-five. I said this.
Age UK has a figure of twelve million who are over 65 in the UK. If 1-in-100 in the UK are coeliac, that is 120,000 coeliacs over 65.
But some research shows that the number of coeliacs can be as high as 1-in-50.
If that 120,000 were all diagnosed, I would have several coeliacs amongst my over-65 friends. I have just one and she is self-diagnosed.
Are all these undiagnosed coeliacs out there, easy targets for diseases like cancer and COVID-19?
The Ease Of Testing For Coeliac Disease
I was worried that my granddaughter was coeliac and I asked my GP, how difficult a test is to perform.
He said, that a genetic test is usually quick and correct and only a few borderline cases need to be referred to a consultant.
Diagnosis has moved on a lot in twenty years.
Cambridge, Oxford and Covid-19
Six weeks ago I wrote Oxford And Cambridge Compared On COVID-19, to try to find out why the number of Covid-19 cases are so much lower in Cambridge than Oxford.
Checking today, the rate of lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents is as follows.
- Cambridge 336.6
- Oxford 449
So why the difference?
In the related post, this was my explanation.
Is the large number of diagnosed coeliacs around Cambridge, the reason the area has a lower COVID-19 rate than Oxford?
It sounds a long shot, but it could be a vindication of a possible Whack-a-Coeliac policy at Addenbrooke’s in the last years of the Twentieth Century.
Or were the hospital testing the genetic test for coeliac disease? Perhaps, in conjunction with Cambridge University and/or the Sanger Centre.
Conclusion
I believe the NHS should seriously look at a Whack-a-Coeliac policy!
- The health of a large number of people would improve.
- There would be less cancer in the UK.
- A better combined National Immune System might help in our fight against the next virus to follow COVID-19.
It would be a very simple testing program, that would be mainly in the hands of the GPs, their nurses and the testing laboratories.
Oxford And Cambridge Compared On COVID-19
In Is There A Link Between Historic Coal Mining And COVID-19?, I mentioned this article in The Times, which is entitled Pressure To Free London From Lockdown As Cases Fall.
The article gives an interactive table, which is entitled Number Of Cases By Area.
Three figures are given.
- Registered cases
- Cases per 100,000 of the population.
- Cases in the last two weeks.
These figures are for areas around Oxford.
- Oxford – 615, 399, 90
- South Oxfordshire – 358, 255, 36
- West Oxfordshire – 324, 295, 50
And these figures are for areas around Cambridge
- Cambridge – 222, 177, 20
- South Cambridgeshire – 206, 131, 10
- East Cambridgeshire – 111, 124, 12
- West Suffolk – 205, 115, 18
So why are COVID-19 cases in Cambridge so much lower than Oxford?
Consider.
- Both cities and surrounding counties have a similar character.
- Both have well-respected hospitals, medical schools and medical research.
- Air pollution appears to be low in both areas.
- Both cities probably have a similar ethnic mix and large student populations.
As I used to live near Cambridge, I have my own mad personal theory.
Addenbrooke’s Hospital
I have used several hospitals in my life, but only two changed my life totally.
- I had my vasectomy in the old Hackney Hospital.
- Addenbrooke’s, who with a simple blood test decided I was probably coeliac.
So perhaps, I’m biased.
But consider these possible facts.
- My coeliac consultant at Addenbrooke’s told me, that he had more patients with the disease than any other in the UK.
- The manager at Carluccio’s in Cambridge, told me that they sold more gluten-free food, than any other restaurant in the group.
- In 1997, I was diagnosed fast, because Addenbrooke’s were using a new genetic test. I was later checked using an endoscopy.
Could it be that someone at Addenbrooke’s had decided they wanted to find all the coeliacs in and around Cambridge?
What would be the effects of diagnosing as many coeliacs as you could find in an area?
- A doctor of my acquaintance talked of coeliac disease as the many-headed hydra, as it led to so many other medical problems. So extra diagnosed coeliacs might improve health statistics in an area.
- Personally, I have said good-bye to migraines, nail-biting and lots of joint pains, after going gluten-free.
- I also haven’t had a serious dose of flu since diagnosis. Since 2005, I’ve probably had the flu jab.
- Joe West at Nottingham University, has shown that coeliacs on a gluten-free diet have lower cancer rates than the general population.
Consider.
- Immunotherapy is a medical technique, where the patient’s immune system is activated or suppressed to help them fight a disease.
- Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease, where gluten causes damage to the gut.
So could coeliacs on a gluten-free diet have a more powerful immune system?
Undiagnosed Coeliacs
Coeliac disease is genetic, with mine coming from an Ashkenazi Jewish ancestor from Konigsberg in the Baltic.
- Other roots of coeliac disease are Irish, Italian and black people, who have slaves as ancestors.
- There was no test for coeliac disease in children until 1960.
- There was no genetic test for coeliac disease until the late 1990s.
- Research has shown that coeliacs are at least 1-in-100 of the UK population, but could be higher.
If coeliacs on a gluten-free diet have a good immune system, do undiagnosed coeliacs have a poorer one?
Oxford And Cambridge Compared
Is the large number of diagnosed coeliacs around Cambridge, the reason the area has a lower COVID-19 rate than Oxford?
Conclusion
What do I know?
I’m just a mad engineer and mathematician with coeliac disease.
Thoughts On Coeliacs And Covid-19 In Cambridgeshire
I was diagnosed as a coeliac by Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
- One of the consultants there told me, that they had a very high number of coeliacs on the books and the number was one of the highest in the country.
- I also used to eat in Carluccios in the centre of Cambridge and the manager once told me that they did an Annual Dinner for the local branch of Coeliac UK.
- He also told me, that they had the highest gluten-free sales in the group.
I think it is fairly likely that Cambridge has a lot of diagnosed coeliacs.
But it is not a place with health problems, that jump out of the pages of the tabloids.
My theory is that because Cambridge does a lot of gastroenterology research, they have a good rate in finding coeliacs.
So how is Cambridgeshire doing in the COVID-19 pandemic?
In Five Eastern Counties, I said this about COVID-19 in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, where a lot of patients go to Addenbrooke’s.
- Cambridgeshire – 673 of 852,523 or 0.08%
- Suffolk – 936 of 768,556 or 0.12%
Both seem to be low. How do they compare to Oxfordshire?
- Oxfordshire – 1515 of 887, 564 or 0.17%
I wouldn’t have thought that Oxfordshire would have a rate twice that of Cambridgeshire!
- The counties are similar in population.
- Both have proportions of industry, farming and academia
- The cities of Oxford and Cambridge are similar in character
Could it be that Addenbrooke’s has diagnosed most of the coeliacs in Cambridgeshire?
I’m no medical expert, but someone should look at it!
Consultation On The Cambridge Autonomous Metro
Issue 900 of Rail Magazine has an article called Have Your Say On Plans For Cambridge Metro Network.
These are the introductory paragraphs.
The Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority has launched a public consultation into outline plans for the Cambridge Autonomous Metro (CAM)
Under current proposals the CAM network would comprise a tunnelled section beneath Cambridge city centre, and four regional routes, radiating out towards St. Neots, Alconbury, Mildenhall and Haverhill.
This is a map clipped from the proposals.
Note.
Sections shown in green are tunnelled.
Sections shown in blue are on the surface.
Some sections would appear to reuse parts of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway.
These are a few of my thoughts.
Rolling Stock
This picture from the consultation, shows possible rolling stock.
It could be a version of Van Hool’s ExquiCity BRT tram-bus, which is used is Belfast, Geneva, Metz and Parma – To name just four!
A hydrogen-powered version has also recently been introduced in Pau in France.
Could this be the version, that will be preferred for Cambridge?
- It would be carbon and pollution free.
- It could use exclusively green hydrogen, created from renewable electricity. Pau uses a hydrogen-generation system from ITM Power.
- Would hydrogen-power encourage passengers to use the system?
- It might borrow ideas from the Glider system in Belfast, which is diesel-electric powered.
- Each Belfast Glider vehicle can hold 105 passengers.
A hydrogen-powered system would surely be ideal for working in the tunnels under Cambridge.
Tunnels
This article on the BBC is entitled Cambridge Metro: Engineer Says Underground Will Work.
In the article, Professor John Miles of Cambridge University says.
Britain was a world leader in boring small tunnels
It will be tight in the cramped city, but it should be possible.
Conclusion
Oxford will want one!
Do Tourists To The UK Get Bad Advice On How To Use The Trains?
I travelled out to Oxford with a Chinese family from Hong Kong.
- They were going to Oxford and home via Bicester Village.
- They had actually flown into Edinburgh and after spwnding a few days in the City, they had taken the train to London, where they were spending another few days.
- They were going to spend a day in Paris using Eurostar.
I think they had booked most of the tickets in Hong Kong before they left.
Knowing, what I know about ticketing, I would have organised things a bit differently.
Family And Friends Railcard
Purchase of a Family and Friends Railcard can give discounts for a one-off fee of £30.
To find out ticket orices with the Family and Friends Railcard web site.
Splitting A Journey
Most tickets other than Advance tickets allow the ticket holder to break a journey and then carry on later.
Because I am a coeliac and need gluten-free food, if I’m travelling a long distance, I may break the journey in say Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds or Manchester, where I know I can get a quality gluten-free meal.
Tourists might want to break a journey between Edinburgh and London at York or Durham. This is possible on an Off Peak or Anytime ticket.
Tickets To Or From Stations Or Terminals
This ticket is a First Class Off Peak ticket between Manchester Stations and London Terminals, using Any Permitted Route.
I actually used it between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston stations, but I could have used the ticket to go via Birmingham and then take Chiltern Railways from Birmingham to London Marylebone.
I think the general rule is if your ticket is marked Any Permitted Route and you keep going in the same direction, most routes are possible.
I always ask first, as some companies have different rules.
Visiting Bicester Village, Oxford And Windsor In One Day
The Hong Kong family I met were visiting Oxford and Bicester Village.
The best way to do this is to make sure you have a Day Return ticket between London Terminals and Oxford, which is marked Any Permissible Route.
This will enable you to do the following three journeys.
- London Paddington to Oxford.
- Oxford to Bicester Village
- Bicester Village to London Marylebone.
With a Railcard, this ticket will cost £18.10.
If you want to visit Windsor, this can be done on the outward journey, by splitting the trip at Slough. There is a branch line to Windsor at Slough worked by a shuttle train, which costs £1.90 for a return trip with a Railcard.
Ranger And Rover Tickets
Check these tickets out, if you’re staying in a town or city for a few days, as they may be a cheaper option.
The various Rovers and Rangers are detailed on this web page.
London
The Oyster card in London is dying.
- But don’t worry, as the same prices are available by using a contactless bank card.
- Contctless bank cards have the same daily and weekly cap as Oyster.
- Contactless bank cards also work on the Underground, Overground, buses, Docklands Light Railway and the Emirates Air Line.
- You can now use contactless bank cards at London City, Gatwick, Heathrow and Luton Airports.
- If you want to use Gatwick and Heathrow Express services, these can be accessed using contactless ticketing too!
It appears there are very few complaints.
If you want to read a detailed analysis of London ticketing, read this page on the Finding The Universe web site.
Summing-Up
I shall be adding to this page, as it is only a rough general guide.
Use the Contact form to send any suggestions or questions.
An Outing To Oxford
I do a bit of research for a Californian lawyer, who helps small and medium-sized high-tech and other ventures setup in the UK.
He likes my opinion on the plans of start-ups and established businesses with respect to their location in the UK.
A couple of days ago, I received this e-mail.
John and his friends are funding a new venture being setup in Oxford.
The proposed CEO is a recently-widowed sixty-one year-old Canadian, who will be moving to London, where her daughter and family currently live.
Can you tell me, what it would be like commuting out from London to Oxford perhaps three days a week?
I should also say that at the moment, she is in need of having hip replacement surgery and proposes to have that in London, where she will be near to her family, during her stay.
She wouldn’t be able to walk a long distance.
This was my reply.
I can’t see much of a problem, as knowing John, the business could probably afford a few taxis and Crossrail will hopefully start running within the next eighteen months, making the London end straightforward.
Today, I went to Oxford leaving on the 09:50 train from Paddington and returning on the 13:01. Partly, to see if there were any pitfalls in the plan and also to have coffee and a snack with an old friend in the City, who helped me very much with the algorithms for Artemis.
These are my thoughts on the journey.
Trains
I travelled out in a comfortable nine-car Class 802 train. I’m not sure, whether it was the same on return or a shorter five-car train.
The outward journey was busier than the return journey, as I suspect that quite a few people live in London and work in Reading or Oxford.
But I did get a table both ways, so I was able to lay my copy of The Times flat and read it properly.
Cost
Off Peak Day Return tickets with a Senior Railcard, are £18.30 in Standard Class and £49.25 in First Class.
As I have a Freedom Pass, I bought a Standard Class Off Peak Day Return between the Zone 6 boundary and Oxford for just £13.05 with my Senior Railcard.
I consider my ticket to be good value for a pensioner’s day out!
Journey Times And Frequency
Both trains took about an hour.
There are also two fast trains per hour, many of which are nine-car trains, with the remainder being five-car trains.
,Coffee, Tea And Snacks
I was surprised to see a trolley on the train.
But I don’t think much business was being done.
Oxford Station And Oxford City Centre
There were plenty of taxis at Oxford station, but I walked the distance both ways in under twenty minutes.
A friend, who has had an NHS double hip replacement, reckons she could walk it easily.
The biggest problem would appear to be the traffic and the narrow pavements
Note, that there are a few maps and some decent cafes and restaurants.
Conclusion
Travelling from London to Oxford is a very feasible daily commute and there are many worse ways of spending an hour on a train.
Go-op Plans New Services From Summer 2020
The title of this article is the same as that of this article on Modern Railways.
This is the first sentence.
Community-owned rail operator Go-op Co-operative Ltd is seeking views on proposed new open access rail services in Somerset and Wiltshire. Services, which it hopes could start in summer 2020, would be operated by two refurbished Class 769 units working ‘a complex series of trips between Oxfordshire and Somerset’
I wrote about this before in An Ambitious Proposal For A New Train Service?
In the intervening three years, their plans have developed with more detail and a change to Class 769 trains.
I suggested the latter trains in my original post about Go-op, would be an idea.
Given the proposed route structure, they would be able to run at 100 mph on the electrified sections.
Oxford’s Nimbys Are Getting Angry!
I keep finding articles on the web, like this article on the Oxford Times, which is entitled First Person: The Campaign To Keep Oxfordshire As It Is Now.
The title says it all.
It is all about opposition to the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway, which everybody wants in someone else’s back-yard.
My feelings are as follows.
- A fully-electrified freight route should be built between Southampton and the West Coast Main Line, preferably with 25 KVAC overhead wiring.
- The East West Railway should provide at least two fast trains per hour between Heathrow and Cambridge, via Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes and Bedford.
- I would accelerate the construction of the East West Railway.
Only as a last project, would I build the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway.
The Anonymous Widower 