#malaria experiments

[fourthswordofzoro]

It is so crucial for your wellbeing to be around really weird and nonsensical people, those who are really and unironicaly "like that" and are not doing it for a bit it's like being out in a sunshine or drinking pure water every encounter with them is a blessing

[transmutationisms]

ive been saying this for Literally Years Now but the most direct medical comparison to covid probably is never going to be HIV on any metric, overall it's probably the SARS outbreak of the early aughts (related viruses, similar transmission, what appear thus far to be similar rates/experiences of post-viral conditions and disability) and politically i do understand why people reach for HIV but like you really need to understand that our current situation is similar to how EVERY SINGLE pandemic / epidemic / outbreak has 'ended' in recent / capitalist history. these are political designations, that tend to get made once the ruling class considers itself safe, and it is typical that workers, global southerners, racialised people, &c continue to bear the brunt of diseases that would be treatable or preventable, were imperial countries and their ruling classes to care. we should be furious every time this happens and in every case where it is still happening: flu, TB, malaria, ebola, zika, plague, on and on, even the smallpox eradication campaign championed as a definitive triumph for public health occurred unevenly and the US and europe allowed the disease to continue to exact its most brutal toll on people in the Horn of Africa and southeast Asia until it was finally eradicated. covid is not unique in its medical OR political properties or ramifications, if you think it is you sorely need to do some more reading and this is why it is both unhelpful and yes, often homophobic to see how often 'covid communicators' jump straight to making alarmist and poorly contextualised comparisons to HIV, Specifically.

[eatclean-bewhole]

Did you know that pharmaceutical companies often attempt to replicate the benefits of plants in their synthetic drugs or even use plant-based ingredients in their formulations?

For example, aspirin—a common pain reliever—is derived from the bark of the willow tree, which has been used for centuries to reduce pain and inflammation. Another well-known drug, digoxin, which treats heart conditions, comes from the foxglove plant. Even quinine, a key treatment for malaria, was originally sourced from the bark of the cinchona tree.

Despite this, pharmaceutical companies often synthetically replicate plant compounds to patent and profit from them, rather than relying solely on the natural source. These companies tweak molecules or combine elements in ways that allow them to create patented versions, profiting from nature’s original remedies.

By harnessing the power of plants and nutrition directly, we can experience these benefits without the side effects of synthetic drugs.

[bogleech]

I have a question regarding mosquitos/blood-consuming arthropods in general

When they pick up, say, West Nile virus or Malaria, are they just carriers or do they get actual infections/experience symptoms of the illness?

It depends on the pathogen, but many of them have at least a subtle impact on the host for their own benefit, and the one we know best about is what bubonic does to fleas. These days it's believed the "black death" was spread between humans by lice more than fleas, but fleas do get it, and in the body of a flea the bacterium actually fills up their whole digestive system so they can barely fit any food in their gut.

This keeps the flea constantly on the brink of starving to death, so it's locked into feeding behavior. It can't drink enough blood to feel satisfied and just keeps on looking for things to bite, whereas a satiated flea would take long breaks between meals :(

We also know that malaria weakens the cell walls of mosquitoes and eventually kills them, and unfortunately insects don't have quite the kind of immune system that we do, or mosquitoes would more often destroy the malaria parasites and become immune to them over time. Fortunately that doesn't mean their bodies don't respond at all; there's evidence that they could get help from bacteria to combat malaria infection!

[thepioden]

My friends have been giving me a curated tour of the Star Wars universe so here are my Hot Theories on midichlorians from someone whose previous experience with the franchise was SOLELY seeing the original trilogy in the mid 90s:

1. Midichlorians are Force parasites, kind of like space wizard malaria, and baby Anakin really needed a dewormer. The are correlated with higher Force sensitivity but do not cause it.

2. The Jedi are currently in an era of Weird Homeopathic Woo and midichlorians are about on par with the Four Humors for actual scientific rigor. Any correlation is confirmation bias.

[macgyvermedical]

Post-viral fatigue: When was it first officially recognized as A Thing? Was it unofficially observed much before then? What did the early documentation of it in medical literature/practice look like? How has our understanding of it evolved?

For this, since it is about history, I'm going to be talking mostly about our understanding of post-viral fatigue syndrome in a pre-covid context.

I have also decided to use sources describing what would later be termed ME/CFS. While viruses are only one trigger for ME/CFS, early reports tended to notice that ME/CFS clustered in outbreaks, which speaks to a viral, bacterial, or parasite trigger (for example, an outbreak of a viral illness happens, then just afterwards, an ME/CFS or post-viral syndrome outbreak does).

Finally, it is important to note that viruses are not the only infectious agent that can cause a fatigue syndrome. Bacteria (particularly strep) and even parasites (most notably giardia and malaria) have been known to cause it. As this is a history post, it generally will not be possible to differentiate the cause of any given outbreak, so I'm kind of lumping them in together.

------------------------

Let's begin:

Between 1860 and 1880, a new disease arrived on the scene. It was called neurasthenia, and it was described:

Neurasthenia is a condition of nervous exhaustion, characterised by undue fatigue on slightest exertion, both physical and mental, with which are associated symptoms of abnormal functioning, mainly referable to disorders of the vegetative nervous system. The chief symptoms are headache, gastrointestinal disturbances, and subjective sensations of all kinds.

It probably wasn't actually new, but instead first recognized here due to the recent industrial revolution and change in work patterns. It was considered to strike upper-class men (as a consequence of their hard mental work) specifically, and thought not to strike the lower classes, women, or racial minorities (who surely never engaged in such work).

Between 1880 and 1900, in the UK, explanation after explanation was posited as the reason for the illness. It was due to overwork, or underwork. Due to a lack of electrical energy. Due to a physical insult like an infection or metabolic disturbance. Due to the law of thermodynamics playing out in the body. Basically, if the scientific community found a new cool theory, it was applied to explain neurasthenia. None of these, however, were able to be definitively proven with the technology of the time.

One thing, however, was consistent- the treatment. Like a number of other illnesses, it was sending someone to a retreat, rest home, or other place where they could experience physical and mental rest. This is also the first time "chronic fatigue" was used in the literature. Based on what we know today, this was probably a good option.

By the early 20th century, unable to find an explanation that stuck, however, physicians threw their hands up. It was all just a weird form of melancholia, they said. It is important to note here that psychiatry and neurology would not become distinct fields until after WWII. So it was mostly neurologists saying "hey, we can't figure out what causes this, so we're going to lump it in with another thing we can't figure out the cause of that also makes people stay in bed all the time."

This was followed very swiftly by other physicians, several of whom had neurasthenia themselves, advocating for it to continue to be considered it's own separate neurological condition. Unfortunately, the melancholia label stuck, and the view of it as an upper class disease that only affected men quickly flipped to one that was only experienced by the lower classes and women.

Whether understood as physical, mental, or a combination, however, the early 1900s brought with it another explanation for the problem- febrile illness. It was noted that chronic fatigue syndromes frequently followed malaria, flu, and other illnesses that caused fever. This was not the first time this had been postulated, but it was the first time it attained widespread acceptance. The lack of persistence of the culprit (at the time bacteria or parasite), however, only lent more credibility to the idea that it was mental in nature, and it was largely forgotten about.

In 1934, a series of outbreaks of what was thought to be an abnormal form of polio struck around the world. Once it was differentiated, it would be named epidemic neuromyasthenia. This was seen as a brand new illness, not connected to neurasthenia.

By the 1950s, the term had changed to "benign myalgic encephalomyelitis", which was chosen due to

the absent mortality, the severe muscular pains, the evidence of parenchymal damage to the nervous system, and the presumed inflammatory nature of the disorder,

as described in a 1959 paper on the subject. It was recognized that the disease came in both epidemic and sporadic cases, but the scientific community wasn't entirely sure what caused it. Still, the number of papers about it suggested they were looking (unfortunately, most of these papers are not available, even in abstract form).

The next problem happened in 1970. Two psychiatrists named McEvedy and Beard wrote a paper that analyzed an outbreak that occurred in 1955, proclaimed it a case of mass hysteria without talking to any of the patients, and retroactively concluded that all previous outbreaks dating back to 1934 had also been mass hysteria. Over the next 8 years, there were many papers vehemently refuting this claim, by at least 5 different authors that I could find.

Unfortunately, instead of the rebuttals cementing McEvedy and Beard as not knowing what they were talking about, it created a deep rift in the scientific community: did the disease belong to psychiatrists, neurologists, both, or someone else entirely?

People working on the physical end in the 1980s pointed to high rates of viral titers for specific viruses, circulating immune complexes, muscle biopsies showing necrosis, abnormal jitter potentials, and abnormally early acid production during exercise, among other things. Basically, there's something wrong with how the immune system is working, and also something very wrong with the physiology of the muscles.

People working on the mental end pointed to mass hysteria and high rates of anxiety, depression, and emotional liability in people with myalgic encephalomyelitis, combined with a then relatively new understanding that mental illness sometimes does wonky things with the immune system.

Note that, for the mental end of things, some of the sources cited in these papers are exceptionally old for scientific papers, like, going back to neurasthenia days and the original 1900s explanations of neurasthenia as melancholia.

Because the two camps couldn't get along (I have no proof, but I know neurology and psychiatry fought like cats and dogs for long swaths of the 20th century, so it honestly might have been a professional scrap that made this illness so fraught), "post-viral syndrome", and later "post-infectious fatigue syndrome" were coined because they didn't specifically point to physical or mental being the primary reason for the syndrome.

And this argument continued into the 2020s, and in some cases until today. The COVID-19 pandemic did finally settle it largely into a physical illness with some psychological features (rather than a psychological illness with some physical features). But it can still be exceptionally difficult to get diagnosed and correctly treated depending on where a person is and what doctor they have.

In conclusion, the history of post-infectious fatigue syndrome has gone through many names and many phases, and there was a lot to the story I wish I could have covered in this post, but it was already really long. Hopefully this gives you some understanding of the social and scientific history of this syndrome.

[guerillas-of-history]

Thomas Sankara

In his 1984 speech before the UN General Assembly, Thomas Sankara spoke out on behalf of all those suffer.

We swear that in future in Burkina Faso nothing will be done without the participation of the people of Burkina Faso themselves, nothing that has not been decided by us, that has not been prepared by us. There shall be no more attacks on our honour and dignity.

Strengthened by this conviction, we want our words to cover all those who suffer, all those whose dignity has been crushed by a minority or a system.

Let me say to those who are listening to me now that I speak not only on behalf of Burkina Faso, my country which I love so much, but also on behalf of all those who suffer, wherever they may be.

I speak on behalf of those millions of human beings who are in ghettos because their skin is black, or because they have a different kind of culture, those whose status is hardly higher than that of an animal.

I suffer, too, on behalf of those Indians who have been massacred, trampled on and humiliated and who, for centuries, have been confined to reservations, so that they do not have any aspirations to any rights whatsoever, so that their culture cannot become enriched through contact with other cultures, including that of the invader.

I speak out on behalf of those who are unemployed because of a structurally unjust system which has now been completely disrupted, the unemployed who have been reduced to seeing their lives as only the reflection of the lives of those who have more than themselves.

I speak on behalf of women throughout the entire world who suffer from a system of exploitation imposed on them by men. As far as we are concerned, we are willing to welcome all suggestions from anywhere in the world that will help us to promote the full development and prosperity of the women of Burkina Faso. In return, we will share with all countries the positive experience we are now undertaking with our women, who are now involved at all levels of the State apparatus and social life in Burkina Faso, women who struggle and who say with us that the slave who will not shoulder responsibility to rebel does not deserve pity. That slave will alone be responsible for his own wretchedness if he has any illusions whatsoever about the suspect indulgence shown by a master who pretends to give him freedom. Only struggle helps us to become free, and we call on all our sisters of all races to rise up to regain their rights.

I speak on behalf of the mothers of our poor countries who see their children dying of malaria and diarrhoea, unaware that to save them there are simple methods available but which the science of the multinationals does not offer to them, preferring to invest in cosmetics laboratories and engage in cosmetic surgery to satisfy the whims and caprices of a few men and women who feel they have become too fat because of too many calories in the rich food they consume with regularity. That must make even members of this Assembly dizzy – not to mention the peoples of the Sahel. We have decided to adopt and popularize the methods that have been advocated by WHO and UNICEF.

I speak on behalf of the child, the child of the poor man, who is hungry and who furtively eyes the wealth piled up in the rich man’s shop, a shop that is protected by a thick window, a window which is defended by an impassable grille, the grille guarded by a policeman in a helmet with gloves and a bludgeon, the policeman placed there by the father of another child, who comes there to serve himself or rather to be served because these are the guarantees of capitalistic representativeness and norms of the system.

I speak on behalf of the artists – poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, actors and so on – people of good will who see their art being prostituted by the show-business magicians.

I cry out on behalf of the journalists who have been reduced to silence or else to lies simply to avoid the hardships of unemployment.

I protest on behalf of the athletes of the entire world whose muscles are being exploited by political systems or by those who deal in the modern slavery of the stadium.

My country is the essence of all the miseries of peoples, a tragic synthesis of all the suffering of mankind but also, and above all, the synthesis of the hopes of our struggles. That is why I speak out on behalf of the sick who are anxiously looking to see what science can do for them – but that science has been taken over by the gun merchants. My thoughts go to all those who have been affected by the destruction of nature, those 30 million who are dying every year, crushed by that most fearsome weapon, hunger.

As a soldier, I cannot forget that obedient soldier who does what he is told, whose finger is on the trigger and who knows that the bullet which is going to leave his gun will bring only a message of death.

Lastly, I speak out in indignation as I think of the Palestinians, whom this most inhuman humanity has replaced with another people, a people who only yesterday were themselves being martyred at leisure. I think of the valiant Palestinian people, the families which have been splintered and split up and are wandering throughout the world seeking asylum. Courageous, determined, stoic and tireless, the Palestinians remind us all of the need and moral obligation to respect the rights of a people. Along with their Jewish brothers, they are anti-Zionists.

Standing alongside my soldier brothers of Iran and Iraq, who are dying in a fratricidal and suicidal war, I wish also to feel close to my comrades of Nicaragua, whose ports are being mined, whose towns are being bombed and who, despite all, face up with courage and lucidity to their fate. I suffer with all those in Latin America who are suffering from imperialist domination.

I wish to stand side by side with the peoples of Afghanistan and Ireland, the peoples of Grenada and East Timor, each of those peoples seeking happiness in keeping with their dignity and the laws of their own culture.

I rise up on behalf of all who seek in vain any forum in the world to make their voices heard and to have themselves taken seriously.

Many have already spoken from this rostrum. Many will speak after me. But only a few will take the real decisions, although we are all officially considered equals. I speak on behalf of all those who seek in vain for a forum in the world where they can be heard. Yes, I wish to speak for all those – the forgotten – because I am a man and nothing that is human is alien to me.

Sankara speaks in front of the United Nations on 4 October 1984. Credit: Getty Images

[inkafterdark]

Hamilton's Recurring Malaria

Alexander Hamilton was known to have recurring "fevers" and bouts of illness throughout his life, especially during warmer months. This seems to have started after the malaria infection he faced as a child. There are different types of malaria, and recurring malaria is usually caused by Plasmodium vivax or Plasmodium ovale. We're just going to go with P. Vivax because it seems most likely due to it being the dominant strain in Latin America and The Caribbean (P. Ovale is mostly centered in Sub-Saharan Africa). P. vivax is parasitic, and is characterized by dormant phases, where its hypnozoites hide in the liver, awaiting reactivation. Given that Hamilton experienced relapses every summer, it suggests that the parasite could be reactivated by warmer weather (probably a good thing he didn't live in a warmer climate). When these hypnozoites reactivate, they enter the bloodstream and reinfect the host.

In the 18th century, the primary treatment for malaria was quinine, extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree. It's made into a powder and put in water as a medicinal drink. Quinine helps by killing the parasitic infection in the blood, but it does not kill the parasites in the liver. -

How would this have affected Hamilton?

During a relapse, Hamilton would experience a sudden onset of chills, then a skyrocketing fever, headache, nausea, and vomiting. After about six hours, he'd start sweating profusely, and his symptoms would alleviate for about 2-4 hours. He'd have a brief window of time with no symptoms, before they'd recur again some hours later. He'd still be bedridden. He took quinine to alleviate his symptoms, but it could never cure him; it would only be a matter of time before he'd fall ill again. He probably dreaded summer every year. While others were enjoying the weather, he was stuck in bed, shivering and soaked with sweat. He'd be consumed with dread, fear, irritation, and helplessness.

I can't help but imagine Hamilton after a period of respite, feeling the shivers return and thinking 'God, not again'. He'd likely be fatigued after recovering a bout of it, and probably have another attack only weeks later. Though he'd survive, this likely would affect his long-term health later in life.

Knowing how productive he wanted to be, this was immensely frustrating for him, being stuck in a body that couldn't function while his mind was racing. I can see him using his lap desk in bed, since he was probably forced to spend a lot of time there recovering. He was still writing and publishing in those windows where his symptoms receded.

Other sources: 1, 2

[promptsforyourwhumpfic]

The Grand A-Z List of Whump 2/3

This list contains ~174 items listed I to Q

As always, I heavily encourage people to research topics thoroughly when writing as it is important to avoid stereotypes/misinformation. This list's intention is not to glorify/romanticise sensitive topics in any way.

This is a comprehensive list of injuries, Illnesses and tropes - including those from the Whumptober 2023 trope vote!

All submissions are listed in italics, and those who wanted to be tagged will be included at the end. If you have any more submissions: please send them via DM/my ask box.

[A-H] [R-Z] [NSFW List]

List below the cut:

I

ICU

Identity reveal

Ignorance is Bliss

Ignoring an Injury

Immersion foot syndromes (Prolonged exposure to damp and cold)

Immobilization

Immortal healed wrong

Immunodeficiency

Impalement

Improvised medicine/treatment

Indigestion

Infected (Blood, Wound, Tattoo etc)

Infested

Injured caretaker carrying an even more injured whumpee.

Injured whumpee instructs caretaker how to treat them.

Injury Discovery

Injury Revelation

Insecurity

Insomnia

Insults

Internal Bleeding

Interrogation

Interventions

Intimate whumper

Intubation

Involuntary whumper

Isolation

Isolation/Quarantine

Itching

J

Jailed

Jamais vu (The experience of being unfamiliar with a person or situation that is actually very familiar.)

Jealousy

Jet Lag

Jumping (to safety, forced to jump)

Just dying in general.

K

Keeping quiet because the enemy is nearby

Keeping the whumpee awake

Ketosis (body burning fat for energy)

Kidnapped by the opposing team

Kidnapping

Kidney Stones

Killed! (Again and again and again for the lovely immortal whumpees<;3)

Kneeling

Knife through hand and into wall/floor

Knocked Out

L

Lab Rat

Laryngitis

Late realisation

Left for dead

Leprosy

Lichenberg scars/Lightning strike

Limited Medical Supplies

Live-Streamed/Broadcast torture

Lobotomy

Locked Up and Left Behind

Losing a Bet

Loss of appetite

Loss of reality

Lost (In the woods, city etc)

Lost voice

Low Blood Pressure

Lumbago (lower back pain)

Lupus

Lured into a trap

Lying

Lyme's disease

Lymphoma

M

Magical exhaustion

Magical healing

Magic whump (using spells to harm someone)

Manhandling

Major Character Death

Makeshift Splints

Malaria

Malnutrition

Manhandling

Mauled

Measles

Medical trauma

Medieval Torture

Memory Loss

Meningitis

Menstrual Cramps

Mental illness after being kidnapping (and addressing it)

Migraine

Military lovers

Military whump

Mind control/Manipulation

Miscommunication

Missing

Missing Person

Mistaken Identity

Misunderstanding

Mono

Mopping a sweaty brow with a cool cloth

Mudslides

Muffled Scream

Mugging

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Whumpees

Multiple Whumpers

Mumps

Muscular Atrophy

Mute

Muzzled

N

Nailed to a wall or floor

Nails digging into palms

Nail marks left in the whumpees skin

Natural Disasters

Nausea

Near-Death Experience

Necrosis

Neglect

Nerve damage

Nerve pain

Nightmares

No anesthesia

No goodbyes

Non-responsiveness

Nonhuman whumpee

Not allowed to die

Not Realizing They’re Injured

Nowhere else to go

Noxious (gas/fumes)

Numb

Numbness/Paralysis

O

Obsession (with finishing the mission, the whumper obsessed with the whumpee etc)

Open Fracture

Orthostatic hypotension (low blood pressure when standing)

Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bone disease)

Outnumbered

Overdose

Overworked

Oxygen Deprivation

Oxygen Mask

P

Packing a wound

Panic attacks

Paralysis (this could be temporary or permanent)

Paranoia

Parent caring for sick child

Parkinson's

Passing out from pain

Passing out in arms

Permanent injuries that affect them long term

Phantom pain

Phobias (could lead to character stumbling and hurting themselves in an attempt to escape their fear)

Photographs/Polaroids ( Especially if they're of the kidnapped whumpee)

Physical Therapy

Piercing ripped out

Pinched nerve

Pinned Down/To The Wall

Plague

PMS

Pneumonia

Pneumothorax

Poisoning

Polio

Possession/possession recovery

Post-exertional malaise

Post-ictal confusion/any other symptoms (after a seizure)

POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)

Power Fatigue

Praise (especially if it's from the whumper)

Pregnancy (morning sickness, self-conscious, hot flushes, tired and sleepy, general malaise, swollen feet, weird cravings...)

Presumed dead

Prisoner Exchange

Protecting friend from the whumpees own team (bonus points if doing it while injured)

Psychological Torture

Psychological Whump

Psychosis

PTSD

Pulled Muscles

Puncture Wounds

Q

Q-Fever

TAG LIST: Thank you very much to the following people for submitting ideas! (I apologise if some tags did not work, I'm not sure why tumblrs not letting me tag you!)

@I-eat-worlds | @greygullhaven | @letsgowhump | @cyberwhumper @firapolemos05 | @originaldeerhottub | @whumpilicious | @drawing-dinos82 | @carenrose | @stellarinuscronicles | @gottheseasonalblues | @marvelflame2010 | @sowhumpful | @avamcu | @courtneygacha | @lordofthewhumps | @autismmydearwatson | @kuddelmuddell | @the-most-handsome-ginger | @whirls-and-swirls | @painsandconfusion

[reasonsforhope]

Determined to use her skills to fight inequality, South African computer scientist Raesetje Sefala set to work to build algorithms flagging poverty hotspots - developing datasets she hopes will help target aid, new housing, or clinics.

From crop analysis to medical diagnostics, artificial intelligence (AI) is already used in essential tasks worldwide, but Sefala and a growing number of fellow African developers are pioneering it to tackle their continent's particular challenges.

Local knowledge is vital for designing AI-driven solutions that work, Sefala said.

"If you don't have people with diverse experiences doing the research, it's easy to interpret the data in ways that will marginalise others," the 26-year old said from her home in Johannesburg.

Africa is the world's youngest and fastest-growing continent, and tech experts say young, home-grown AI developers have a vital role to play in designing applications to address local problems.

"For Africa to get out of poverty, it will take innovation and this can be revolutionary, because it's Africans doing things for Africa on their own," said Cina Lawson, Togo's minister of digital economy and transformation.

"We need to use cutting-edge solutions to our problems, because you don't solve problems in 2022 using methods of 20 years ago," Lawson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a video interview from the West African country.

Digital rights groups warn about AI's use in surveillance and the risk of discrimination, but Sefala said it can also be used to "serve the people behind the data points". ...

'Delivering Health'

As COVID-19 spread around the world in early 2020, government officials in Togo realized urgent action was needed to support informal workers who account for about 80% of the country's workforce, Lawson said.

"If you decide that everybody stays home, it means that this particular person isn't going to eat that day, it's as simple as that," she said.

In 10 days, the government built a mobile payment platform - called Novissi - to distribute cash to the vulnerable.

The government paired up with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) think tank and the University of California, Berkeley, to build a poverty map of Togo using satellite imagery.

Using algorithms with the support of GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that uses AI to distribute cash transfers, the recipients earning less than $1.25 per day and living in the poorest districts were identified for a direct cash transfer.

"We texted them saying if you need financial help, please register," Lawson said, adding that beneficiaries' consent and data privacy had been prioritized.

The entire program reached 920,000 beneficiaries in need.

"Machine learning has the advantage of reaching so many people in a very short time and delivering help when people need it most," said Caroline Teti, a Kenya-based GiveDirectly director.

'Zero Representation'

Aiming to boost discussion about AI in Africa, computer scientists Benjamin Rosman and Ulrich Paquet co-founded the Deep Learning Indaba - a week-long gathering that started in South Africa - together with other colleagues in 2017.

"You used to get to the top AI conferences and there was zero representation from Africa, both in terms of papers and people, so we're all about finding cost effective ways to build a community," Paquet said in a video call.

In 2019, 27 smaller Indabas - called IndabaX - were rolled out across the continent, with some events hosting as many as 300 participants.

One of these offshoots was IndabaX Uganda, where founder Bruno Ssekiwere said participants shared information on using AI for social issues such as improving agriculture and treating malaria.

Another outcome from the South African Indaba was Masakhane - an organization that uses open-source, machine learning to translate African languages not typically found in online programs such as Google Translate.

On their site, the founders speak about the South African philosophy of "Ubuntu" - a term generally meaning "humanity" - as part of their organization's values.

"This philosophy calls for collaboration and participation and community," reads their site, a philosophy that Ssekiwere, Paquet, and Rosman said has now become the driving value for AI research in Africa.

Inclusion

Now that Sefala has built a dataset of South Africa's suburbs and townships, she plans to collaborate with domain experts and communities to refine it, deepen inequality research and improve the algorithms.

"Making datasets easily available opens the door for new mechanisms and techniques for policy-making around desegregation, housing, and access to economic opportunity," she said.

African AI leaders say building more complete datasets will also help tackle biases baked into algorithms.

"Imagine rolling out Novissi in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast ... then the algorithm will be trained with understanding poverty in West Africa," Lawson said.

"If there are ever ways to fight bias in tech, it's by increasing diverse datasets ... we need to contribute more," she said.

But contributing more will require increased funding for African projects and wider access to computer science education and technology in general, Sefala said.

Despite such obstacles, Lawson said "technology will be Africa's savior".

"Let's use what is cutting edge and apply it straight away or as a continent we will never get out of poverty," she said. "It's really as simple as that."

-via Good Good Good, February 16, 2022

[flyingfortress1]

Reading Helmet for My Pillow thoughts Part 6:

The way Leckie describes Guadalcanal- like war is an underrated setting for horror, I will die on this hill- and the horror of war is a genre in and unto of itself. Sledge's horror in Pelelui and Okinawa the way he describes it is the horror of death, of filth, of gore- being in a meatgrinder basically.

But Guadalcanal- like first of all, this is Leckie's real experience of course- but the way he writes about it, makes the horror of that campaign different than Sledge's. They're isolated, cut off, low on supplies, it feels like everyone has forgotten about them- like who knows where Guadalcanal is right, or what it is back home? All the fighting seems to be practically at night, which is very dark and adding another level of unease, and then only at day does one feel secure from this almost invisible enemy that you're waiting for.

He talks about men getting this stare- where their pupils would dilate so that their eyes would seem almost black- more noticeable on those with brown eyes- almost animal like. Like the island itself was doing something to you.

About a corpsman who couldn't take off his helmet, wrapped up in layers of clothes (partly cause he was a redhead and would fry but it became psychological). People's attitudes are changing- the corpsman's helmet irritates Leckie's group almost irrationally. It's enough so that they trick him just to get it off, and expecting him to laugh, he instead cries, goes back to the aide station and doesn't come back until he gets another helmet- it's an action which both unsettles Leckie's group and makes them feel almost ashamed, I think. Hoosier falls into a depression. Runner gets malaria (and all his friends pile all their blankets on him so he can stay warm which is very sweet) and in a fever induced chill, tells them how it's a refreshing break from the day heat.

I guess there's a very eerie feel to Guadalcanal at times- mayhaps because of Leckie's writing style, the night attacks, the feeling of isolation- the eye thing was kinda creepy though. This is Leckie's real experience, of course, but there's a hint of the Lovecraftian unintentionally- of something else changing men- of maybe something else being out there shadowy and mysterious in the night-

-anyway, the Pacific Lovecraft au anyone lol?

would love thoughts.

[covid-safer-hotties]

ARE YOU SERIOUS? COVID-19 HASN’T GONE AWAY?

John Snow Project - 3 August 2024

Talk to most people about COVID-19 risks and a common response is, “If it was that bad, governments would do something about it.”

We’ve written previously about the analogies to smoking and the historic role governments played in normalizing harm even after the risks were well proven1.

While COVID-19 has been causing disruption at the Olympics2-4 and regions around the world report sustained high rates of transmission5-7, just this week three studies have been published demonstrating COVID-19’s role in increasing the risk of deafness8 and harming the vascular system following acute infection9, and causing immune dysregulation and cardiovascular damage in people with Long Covid10. These join the many thousands of studies evidencing the short and long-term harm of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Some people will decry the sheer volume of such studies saying it is improbable a single pathogen can cause such diverse damage. SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t care about probability or people’s expectations. It is a virus that infects cells using one of the most common receptors, a receptor that is expressed almost everywhere in our bodies. It can infect many types of immune cells and has been demonstrated to persist for years in the gut and spinal fluid of some people11. SARS-CoV-2 has also been shown to cause chronic activation of the immune system and play a role in driving new onset allergies, allergic diseases and autoimmunity12,13.

People in the Covid cautious community often wonder when governments will finally take this pervasive virus seriously. For the uninformed, COVID-19 is akin to a cold, and some particularly ill-informed people believe the virus has gone away entirely. There are still some people who are shocked to experience reinfection.

With Long Covid remaining a significant risk14,15, and promises of protective immunity, hybrid immunity and super hybrid immunity receding into the rearview mirror of ignorant and unfounded optimism, it seems people must simply accept the roulette of repeat infection. But should they? For some COVID-19 will pass with symptoms similar to a cold, for others it will be fatal. For a significant proportion it will be debilitating. And we still haven’t seen the long-tail risk. It is entirely reasonable to expect that like Epstein Barr Virus, Cytomegalovirus and HPV, SARS-CoV-2 will cause damage years or decades after infection16.

There is another way. Instead of blithe nihilism and the abandonment of principles of public health that have advanced human society for centuries, governments could instruct their public health and regulatory agencies to insist on cleaner air policies, mandating air quality that protects human health, in the same way we mandate water quality. Malaria prevention is not perfect, but that doesn’t stop us using every possible tool at our disposal to minimize the impact of the disease around the world.

Many engineers have decried the idea of needing a random trial to prove physics, but a Norwegian team did one anyway, examining whether surgical masks help prevent infection by respiratory viruses.They found surgical masks were 30% effective at reducing symptoms of respiratory infection17. This is no surprise. It’s long been established that surgical masks have a minor impact on airborne infection control, but they aren’t worn by anyone who is serious about avoiding SARS-CoV-2 or any other respiratory pathogen. A 2008 UK Health and Safety Executive evaluation demonstrated that surgical masks provide a 6-fold reduction against aerosolized virus, while respirator masks provide at least a 100-fold reduction18.

Perhaps one of the biggest calamities of the COVID-19 pandemic was robbing people of one of the most effective forms of protection: respirator masks. Many people believe masks don’t work, or if they do that they primarily protect others from infection and don’t protect the wearer. This belief is completely unfounded and wholly wrong. Respirators have long been used to protect people working with some of the most dangerous pathogens imaginable, and FFP3/N99 respirators have been shown to offer up to 100% protection against SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare settings19. Imagine how many lives might have been saved and how many cases of Long Covid could have been avoided globally if people had been told that a well fitted mask of the correct grade (N95/FFP2 or higher) can offer complete protection against infection. We don’t need a magic bullet to solve the problem of COVID-19. We need to end the denialism that afflicts us and confront reality. We need to stop living in a comforting delusion and use the tools we already know work to minimize the impact of the disease. Masks, ventilation, filtration, vaccination, isolation, and therapeutics. As this study of hospital admission protocols clearly demonstrates20, we have the tools we need to protect human health. We need to start using them.

Reading Time 4 minutes Author John Snow Project References Merchants of Doubt johnsnowproject.org/insights/merchants-of-doubt/

German decathlete Eitel to miss Paris in latest Covid-19 case sports.yahoo.com/german-decathlete-eitel-miss-paris-163813910.html

Covid cluster worsens in Australian Olympic camp as Zac Stubblety-Cook reveals infection www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/aug/01/covid-cluster-worsens-in-australian-olympic-camp-as-zac-stubblety-cook-reveals-infection

Is there a COVID outbreak at the Olympics? At least 9 athletes test positive in one week www.today.com/health/coronavirus/covid-olympics-2024-rcna164070

COVID Map Shows Surge in States With 'Very High' Levels in Wastewater www.newsweek.com/covid-19-map-wastewater-levels-1932576

COVID surging in California, nears two-year summer high. ‘Almost everybody has it’ www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-07-29/covid-surging-in-california-as-virus-levels-in-sewage-near-two-year-summer-high

Wastewater COVID-19, Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland www.bioss.ac.uk/collaborate-us/wastewater-covid-19

Incidence of hearing loss following COVID-19 among young adults in South Korea: a nationwide cohort study www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(24)00338-9/fulltext

Long-term effects of COVID-19 on endothelial function, arterial stiffness, and blood pressure in college students: a pre-post-controlled study bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-024-09646-w

COVID-19 related myocardial injury is associated with immune dysregulation in symptomatic patients with cardiac MRI abnormalities academic.oup.com/cardiovascres/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cvr/cvae159/7723296?searchresult=1

Long COVID and SARS-CoV-2 persistence: new answers, more questions www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(24)00216-0/fulltext

Incident allergic diseases in post-COVID-19 condition: multinational cohort studies from South Korea, Japan and the UK www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47176-w

High risk of autoimmune diseases after COVID-19 www.nature.com/articles/s41584-023-00964-y

Long Covid risk has dropped over time but remains substantial, study shows edition.cnn.com/2024/07/17/health/long-covid-risk/index.html

Postacute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the Pre-Delta, Delta, and Omicron Eras www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2403211

Is SARS-CoV-2 an oncogenic virus? www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9361571/

Personal protective effect of wearing surgical face masks in public spaces on self-reported respiratory symptoms in adults: pragmatic randomised superiority trial www.bmj.com/content/386/bmj-2023-078918

RR619 Evaluating the protection afforded by surgical masks against influenza bioaerosols www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr619.htm

Efficacy of FFP3 respirators for prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection in healthcare workers www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8635983/

Admission screening testing of patients and staff N95 masks are cost-effective in reducing COVID-19 hospital acquired infections www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(24)00236-6/fulltext

[darkmaga-returns]

by Jamie White

A bizarre experiment funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation developed a new vaccine strategy using mosquito bites as a delivery vector in pursuit of developing a “next generation” malaria vaccine.

The experiment was conducted by researchers at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in Leiden, Netherlands, and published last month in the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers explained how they used the bites of mosquitos to deliver a short-lived malaria vaccine comprised of genetically modified malaria parasites.

“We conducted a double-blind, controlled clinical trial to evaluate the safety, side-effect profile, and efficacy of immunization, by means of mosquito bites, with a second-generation genetically attenuated parasite (GA2) — a mei2 single knockout P. falciparum NF54 parasite (sporozoite form) with extended development into the liver stage,” the researchers stated.

The Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) parasite causes malaria in humans.

The method was meant to boost immunity through bites from mosquitoes carrying a genetically engineered version of the parasite that causes malaria.

First, researchers bioengineered two different types of malaria parasites for the experiment, GA1 and GA2.

GA1 was “designed to stop developing about 24 hours after infection in humans,” but had limited effectiveness, leading to the development of GA2.

GA2 was “designed to stop developing about six days post-infection, during the crucial period where the parasites replicate in human liver cells.”

The experiment was carried out in two stages.

[nedlittle]

*yes i know that these diseases are not gone and are still common in many parts of the world. this is a thought experiment about the 19th century

[justkidneying]

Fever

I see a lot of misconceptions about fever floating around the web, so I'm gonna try and set some things straight. We're gonna talk about what fever is, how it is caused, and types of fever. Then I'll give some writing tips. Just a note, with a lot of things, there are exceptions and special cases. I'm going to go over the most common stuff cause this isn't an immunology course.

What is a fever? The normal body temp (the average of a bunch of people) is 98.2°F. Individuals can differ from this within a degree. A fever is usually a temperature greater than 100°F. There's some leeway to this, and it takes a lot of experience to get a feel for what should be a normal temperature. But if someone comes into the office with a 100°F temp, I'm going to say that they have a fever.

So with fever (ignoring the symptoms of whatever caused it), you're generally going to have malaise, chills, paleness, and rigors (muscle contractions). There may also be behavioral symptoms such as seeking warmer environments, altered mental status, and assuming a fetal position to help warm the body. The peripheral vessels will constrict in order to keep blood in the central body. Once the fever has passed, there will be chills and sweating.

What causes fever? Fever is caused by pyrogens. These can be endogenous (from you) or exogenous (from something else). The main endogenous ones are interlueukin-1, interferon gamma, and tumor necrosis factor α. These are made by immune cells and a few other cell types. Exogenous pyrogens are made by other microorganisms. An example of this is lipopolysaccharide, which is made by gram-negative bacteria. Exogenous pyrogens induce the production of endogenous pyrogens, which induce the production of Prostaglandin E2. PGE2 acts on the hypothalamus to set the body's thermostat higher. This induces the effects seen in order to raise the body's temperature. Fever helps to stimulate the immune system and inhibits microorganism growth (too hot for them). So it's a good thing, unless it gets too high and your organs shut down and your brain melts like butter (i'm kidding...but really, it's bad). I'd say over 110°F and you're probably going to die.

What are the patterns of fever? There are three fever patterns, and they are associated with different pathologies. They are sustained, intermittent, and remittent fever. Sustained fevers are exactly what they sound like. They don't fluctuate more than a degree in a day and never touch normal baseline temp. These are typically seen with pneumonia, typhoid, bacterial meningitis, and UTI.

Intermittent fever is a fever that is only present for a few times throughout the day, with the temp going up above normal and back down to normal. This is seen with malaria, septicemia (a serious bacterial infection -> think septic shock), pyogenic infections (bacteria that cause pus formation), and TB.

Remittent fever fluctuates more than two degrees throughout the day, but does not ever touch normal baseline temps. These are seen with infectious diseases.

These patterns are okayish, but sometimes people don't always have a disease that matches the fever type. I think typhoid, TB, and tick-borne diseases (they cause a relapsing fever) are the best diseases to use fever patterns for.

Writing Tips

Okay, so first off I think fever is great for writing. So to find out what's going to happen, you need to pick out what the nature of the illness is. The most common one I see is infection from a wound of some kind. So this is going to be bacterial. I would say that you are most likely to have an infection with staph, strep, or pseudomonas. These are naturally found on the body, but are not meant to be inside you. A cut in your skin lets them in. This is bad. So your immune system will notice them and release pyrogens, and then you get PGE2, and then you get fever.

I would probably say you'd get the standard symptoms above, plus pain, swelling, and redness at the site of the infection. It's going to be an intermittent fever probably (could end up as remittent). So you would want to treat the infection itself. If there are no antibiotics or antipyretics (anti fever drugs), then you would have to clean and disinfect the wound, and basically hope that the immune system can do its thing. You can wipe the person down or use a cool compress on them, but this doesn't really reduce fever that much and is more of just a temporary relief.

Anyways, I hope this was helpful and as always, sources are in the comments. You can let me know if you have a specific situation you would want some info on in the comments/askbox/DM.

[santuario1]

I'm finally doing a proper introduction of my 'of mice and men’ OC, Martín Radomír‼️ (His name was inspired by Saint Martin de Porres, a Peruvian Catholic saint!🇵🇪) His lore isn't exactly finished, but I wanted to share his character so far and in different parts! So this one will be his family relationship and how his experiences have shaped him so far.

I have a link to his timeline/background info and how he managed to immigrate to the U.S HERE (yes it's on Wattpad, I had this OC since freshman year and use Wattpad as more of a planning/drafting since this year I decided to update his lore+character]) I highly suggest reading that first so the explanation below makes more sense but do wtv!!

I tried to summarize as best as I could but I honestly SUCK at writing so I’m sorry if this doesn’t make any sense or sounds vague

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On April 21, 1914, Martín Radomír was born in the city of Paita in Peru.

At 4, his family left Peru in February 1919 for Panama. Throughout Martín’s early childhood, his Father Andrés worked tirelessly, leaving little time to spend with his family, making Martín’s relationship with him feel voided. Still, Martín appreciated everything his father did to provide for him and his Mom. In contrast, Rosá and Martín formed a strong bond. Although Rosá felt a better role model would ideally be his father, worried Martín would turn out ‘softer’ than most boys, she used the time to teach Martín basic manners, scraps of education she learned, writing, and cooking that connected back to their Peruvian roots despite living in Panama. She often tried to get Martín to hang out with children his age but was quite bashful and reserved. Rosá's influence on Martín caused him to become more empathetic and emotionally intelligent. 

1925, Martín’s family moved after Andrés lost his job at the canals due to the protests in Panama. Their new goal was to reach the U.S. along with a group that encouraged the journey for a better opportunity. The travel was grueling and dangerous, but they pushed on for months. 1926 when they made it to Guatemala, Rosá, including the other people in their travel group, passed away due to malaria when Martín was only 12. Martín didn’t want to go on completely devastated, but Andrés knew this journey was for his family, for Martín to have a chance for something better. So they continued without them. As months went by, Martín would randomly and vividly picture every detail of his mother from the day she passed, fearing he would forget what she’d look like. As for Andrés, whenever he stared at Martín, his face began to slowly resemble the same features as Rosá.

During 1928 Andrés and Martín made it to Mexico. At 14 Martín began to work with his dad on the Haciendas. Andrés and Martín's relationship evolved slowly since the loss of Rosá. Initially, Andrés held a firm and stolid demeanor, defined by the years of hard labor he’d experienced. But as they worked together, Andrés prioritized sticking close to Martín and shaping him to the reality of the work environment. Martín was awfully scrawny due to low nutrients and lack of activity in his early development. So Andrés taught Martín how to manage hard labor and build endurance, improving his physical abilities in the Haciendas and gaining experience in agricultural work. Martín learned to become resilient and perseverance in laborious tasks.

Timeskip/quick summary → In June 1929, 15 y.o Martín and Andrés arrived in the U.S. in Arizona. From their time there, Martín learns some English, while Andrés struggles. They also find out how scary white Americans are. August 1929 The Great Depression and Mexican Repatriation Act increased the risk for Martín and Andrés. January 1930, Andrés stole from a bakery out of hunger, causing a mob. Martín and Andrés train-hopped to flee Arizona, taking them to California. Months still searching for a job, in May 1930 Martín is now 16, and Andrés finally got work slips for him and Martín to Tyler ranch.

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Spoiler Andrés dies!!!!!Sorry Martín!!!!!!! Uh, this is all I got for now, In my next post I’ll explain the cause + Impact of Andrés death, the dress Martín wears, and how Martín met George and Lennie + the relationships he forms with the people on the ranch

Also my Chromebook is like actually broken broken💔 so I’m borrowing my moms so I can still draw since I can just log into my acc. Also my sibling let me have their tablet since they don't use it anymore (ty) but I CAN FINALLY DRAW SO YAY I'll make new art but for now I'll continue to post art I made a while ago

Martín art dump!!