The Old Folks Home

[Flockincrazy]

If the medication you are referring to is hydroxychloroquine, this might be of interest:
https://www.wect.com/2020/07/23/new-study-hydroxychloroquine-doesnt-help-covid-patients/

I do take that but the other one omg I can't remember what it is called this will make me crazy till I remember

 

[Bunnylady]

Argue all you want, but the fact still remains that it works.

The Henry Ford study (published 3 weeks ago) is here:
https://www.henryford.com/news/2020/07/hydro-treatment-study

In a nutshell:

Hydroxyquinalone alone: 13% died
Hydroxyquinalone plus azithromycin: 20.1% died
Azithromycin alone: 22.4% died
Neither drug: 26.4% died


The New England Journal of Medicine article about the new study is here:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2019014?source=nejmtwitter&medium=organic-social

The major differences are that the Henry Ford study specifically looks at the death rate (which almost looks like adding the azithromycin makes it less effective), while the study in Brazil is looking at treating the patients with mild-to-moderate levels of the disease at the time of admission to the hospital, and is analyzing the condition of the patient 15 days after treatment began. The Henry Ford study is a retrospective analysis (meaning, they are looking back at the outcomes of treatment that was done before the study began), while the Brazil study is a randomized study with parameters carefully laid out and approved before the patients were even admitted, looking at the condition of the patients who were not more than moderately ill at the time they entered the study, 15 days after admission. Yes, some of the patients in the Brazil study died, in roughly equal numbers regardless of the group they were assigned to, but that's not the only thing they were looking at. They were looking for signs that the disease process was affected, that the patient's recovery was in some way enhanced, and that was not evident from the data. As far as the heart rhythm abnormalities (which is a known side effect of azithromycin), the patients in the Brazil study were screened for them (and elevated liver enzyme levels) before they were admitted into the study, and during the study, and they were observed more frequently in the patients receiving the drugs than in those that were given neither drug.

The problem with a retrospective analysis is that "no one else was in the room where it happened, the room where it happened . . . ." (sorry, I've been watching Hamilton), so no one knows why a particular patient was given a particular treatment. It's possible that a doctor, faced with two patients, sees that patient A is clearly sicker than patient B, so he decides to give hydroxychloroquine to patient B, but gives both drugs to patient A because he thinks the patient may need more help than the one drug alone can give. If patient A succumbs, and patient B doesn't, well, patient A was worse off in the first place, so the result really isn't a surprise. With a randomized study, which group a patient goes into is already decided before he crosses the hospital threshold, so (at least in theory) the results one sees will be based on the treatment rather than some other selection process.

So, the two studies are very different, and comparing them is somewhat an apples-and-oranges scenario. The Henry Ford study seems to show that, if you are admitted to a hospital with Covid-19 and are treated with hydroxychloroquine, you have a 1 in 7 chance of dying, but if treated with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, your chances go down to 1 in 5, which is only slightly better than the 1 in 4 that you have if treated with neither drug. The Brazil study didn't find any real difference in death rate, rate of deterioration or rate of recovery 15 days post-admission between groups treated with hydroxychloroquine, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, or treated with neither drug.

But, neither of these studies has anything to do with prophylaxis (the ability to prevent disease). There have been studies on this, and there are some studies that are ongoing, and so far, none have shown that hydroxychloroquine is of any use for preventing a person that has been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 from becoming ill.

 

[getaclue]

While your numbers are somewhat off, I'd still rather go to a hospital that uses Hydorxychloroquine, and only 1 out of 8 dies, than to a hospital where they don't use it, and 1 out of every 4 dies. It's up to each person and their doctor to decide, but dropping the death toll from 26.4% to 13% is a significant number of lives saved.

 

[getaclue]

My new graphics card came yesterday. It seems to be working. I do seem to be getting a tiny bit of stutter, once in a great while with it. One of the things Dh, and I discussed, was that I need to update my cables. We know the Display Port cable we used, is old, and not up to the newer standards. I know my HDMI cables are about 3 years old, and I doubt I ordered the higher end ones for 4k, since we didn't have 4k when I ordered them.

My receiver does not do 4k, however, there are 2 HDMI inputs on the tv itself. Last night, I tried something. Instead of hooking things into the receiver, I plugged them directly into the tv. One for slot for the cable box, and one for my computer. It worked great, BUT my receiver is not ARC HDMI compatible, so I could not feed the (surround) sound from the tv to the receiver. Everyone loved the quality of the 2 4k movies I have, but they complained about having to listen to the tv speakers. Both the tv, and receiver are Toslink capable, so we ordered an optical audio cable last night. I hope that solves the problem. It would be nice to save the money, and not have to buy a new receiver, by getting a simple cable. According to all the specs, it should work, but there's always a chance that it won't. Fingers crossed.

 

[getaclue]

I changed chickens around in the coops yesterday. The juveniles were needing more room. The older ones, in the bigger pen (3) didn't need the bigger coop. I have another large coop, but have been hesitant to use it. Every time I put chickens in it, they begin dying. I am now suspecting that there may have been a contaminant of some type, in the dirt we bought, and put in that section. I've been soaking it down real good with the hose, every day. In a couple days, I'll start spraying a strong soapy mixture in there a few times, then soak it down with plain water. Hopefully, that will dilute, or break down whatever it is.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Well now one of my teeth is aching. I suspect the filling is defective, and has been for some time. But you know, Covid. Like I really need more issues.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning Old Folks Hope all have good day ? Mine is starting alright
sitting here with my coffee

 

[sourland]

Good morning again, penny.

 

[CapricornFarm]

90° today so far, I guess it could be worse. The river is up about a foot. And chocolate brown. I am sure the plants are happier. Sure glad we had some rain.

 

[sourland]

Mid 80's overcast and humid - mowed the front yard.