one toke

It’s been established that smoking wards off coronavirus (1 ,2), although that fact has not been widely promulgated.  Could you be protecting yourself even better if you were smoking dope?  I apologize if this is old news.  Two days old to me, which is when my dear friend and high school classmate in Houston sent me this news item about a finding out of Oregon State University (3).

In a diligent collaboration between researchers at the “Global Hemp Innovation Center” and the “Linus Pauling Institute” (who can beat that combo?!), came this discovery.  It’s well known that cannabis sativa contains a myriad of biologically active molecules.  Thanks for the THC, but there’s way more.  The class known as the cannabinoids must be important, as our brains and other cells have receptors for them.

What these folks ended up with was really a beautiful piece of work.  They stated a bit of their driving philosophy in the intro: “Natural products are the most successful sources of drugs and drug leads in the history of pharmacology.  Although combinatorial chemistry receives more emphasis for lead discovery by the pharmaceutical industry, nature continue to be a source of unique structural diversity for new drug discovery.”  So true.

Their search benefited from prior investigations that defined the battleground.  Infection by coronavirus begins by the attachment of the virus through the receptor binding domain (RBD) for the S1 subunit of the spike protein (residues 331-524) to the host receptor ACE2 on the outer membrane of cells, not just in lungs, but on arteries, heart, kidneys, and intestines.  Yes, they really do know this stuff down to the last molecule.

So, anything that gets in the way of this interaction would be a good thing.  It’s what those experimental mRNAs try to coax out in the form of antibodies to the spike, which get ever more ineffective as the spike continues to mutate beyond the original SARS-CoV-2 strain that provided the RNA..

So what these Beavers (Oregon State’s mascot) did was take a shotgun approach.  Thinking there must be something in this weed that would work, they employed a method called MagMASS in which they basically put the S1 component of spike protein on a bead and ran through stuff to see what would stick.  Many things did not, including THC, but 2 cannabinoids bound quite tightly: CBGA (cannabigerolic acid: tetrahydocannbinolic acid, THCA-A) and CBDA (cannibidiolic acid).  After that “aha” moment, the investigators showed the structural similarity of these compounds to the spike protein binding site, showed that these compounds blocked entry of SARS-CoV-2 into cultured cells, and showed this same blockage to variants B.1.1.7 (alpha) and B.1.351 (beta).

There are several pretty pictures in their paper.  I like this one which show how the cannabinoids bind snugly to the spike protein. Take that, Mr. Corona!

So what happens next?  Can stoners waive this paper at the COVID nazis demanding to see their vaxx passport?  At the very least, such preparation might make such oppression feel a little more tolerable.  Hey, what have you got to eat?  But seriously folks, there is more work to do.  What concentration of CBDA and CBGA needs to be attained at the alveolus to achieve relevant blocking?  How does that compare to the levels attained by smoking a regular joint?  Such data are attainable although I could only find the means, not the end (5).  Fortunately, CBDA is the most abundant cannabinoid in hemp (6). Concentrations of both CBDA and CBGA vary from strain to strain (7). One could see a route by which the OSU researchers patent the compounds, or at least the delivery system, and leave us with some sort of inhaler, costing God knows how much. A combo product with tobacco has some appeal, with perhaps some synergy between the anti-COVID compounds from each leaf. Not to be too blunt (8). With tinkering with marijuana’s genes a reality, and continuing to advance (9), producing a strain that makes only CBDA and CBGA should be feasible. Coronavirus protection without the buzz. Where’s the fun in that?

And time for our epidemiologist buddies to kick into gear!  There are now 28 states where marijuana use is either fully legal or significantly decriminalized.  How are those states doing with their COVID compared the other backward knuckle draggers?

While we wait for the data to roll in, seems to be a way forth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNKL9onYB_8

You always knew it was good for you.

References

1.         Ike B.  Smokin’ corona.  WordPress. 2020 March 18. https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/03/18/smokin-corona/

2.         Ike B.  smoke ‘em if you got ‘em?  WordPress. 2020 April 23. https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/04/23/smoke-em-if-you-got-em/

3.         News staff.  OSU study: Compounds in hemp block COVID-19 from entering human cells.  KVAL 13. January 11, 2022.   https://kval.com/news/local/osu-study-compounds-in-hemp-could-block-covid-19-from-entering-human-cells?fbclid=IwAR2i9prcOU0Bl3mMv_lvvSYMFseh2_ar8puP4AV01UzW3-ofCkGK6Xe6gNE

4.         van Breemen RB, Muchiri RN, Bates TA, Weinstein JB, Leier HC, Farley S, Tafesse FG. Cannabinoids Block Cellular Entry of SARS-CoV-2 and the Emerging Variants. J Nat Prod. 2022 Jan 10. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c00946. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35007072. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c00946

5.         Fundación canna.  Quantification of the concentration of THC, CBD, CHG, THCA, CBDA, CBGA, THC total, CBDTotal, CBGTotal in HPLC. https://www.fundacion-canna.es/en/quantification-concentration-thc

6. Formato M, Crescente G, Scognamiglio M, Fiorentino A, Pecoraro MT, Piccolella S, Catauro M, Pacifico S. (‒)-Cannabidiolic Acid, a Still Overlooked Bioactive Compound: An Introductory Review and Preliminary Research. Molecules. 2020 Jun 5;25(11):2638. doi: 10.3390/molecules25112638. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7321064/

7. Coogan, T.A. Analysis of the cannabinoid content of strains available in the New Jersey Medicinal Marijuana Program. J Cannabis Res 1, 11 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42238-019-0011-z

8. Hitt C. The tightly-rolled history of the blunt. Thrillist. 2020 August 21. https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/what-is-a-blunt-history-origins-timeline

9. Long A. Genetic editing offers marijuana and hemp companies a way to improve plant strains. MJBizDaily. 2021 February 23 (updated 2021 December 17). https://mjbizdaily.com/genetic-editing-offers-marijuana-and-hemp-companies-a-way-to-improve-plant-strains/

songs

A movement needs some good songs. We – all of us skeptical about what our betters are telling us to do about this little virus – are starting to get some.

Check out the latest, out of Canada, where they have it way worse than we do, even with the “free health care”. Matt Bevner is a contemporary Christian music artist. But this message is secular https://youtu.be/_qrSbTIA2Lw.

I’m glad some young folks are stepping up. Till now, the strongest songs were from my generation’s septagenarian guitar god Eric, this his most recent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNt4NIQ7FTA.

And this his first one, with a little help from Van Morrison, protesting the lockdowns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DirL4RI1448

Way back when this first started, I thought we needed to have a fun song to keep our spirits light as we fought this thing together (beware, much virology follows the song nonsense) https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/03/14/my-corona/.

It stopped being a laughing matter long ago, but our spirits can still use a boost. Thanks to Messrs Bevner, Clapton, and Morrison for their contributions to that effort. Lets hope we hear some more.

Off with the masks!

My wife and I have decided the masks are forever off.  Should anyone question us on our decision, our response will be “we’re just not doing that bullshit anymore”.  Sure, there might be some situations when donning a mask is a social grace, like entering the UPS store or teaching a class, when a fight is just not worth it.  But mainly, we’re done.  There was no reason to expect that masks, with their 300 nm pore size, would stop the 100 nm coronavirus. Even back in 1918, at the time of the Spanish Flu epidemic, studies concluded that mask use did not impede transmission of the virus.  St. Anthony’s back and forth last winter should have been a clue that masks had their power as symbolism rather than prevention.  Have you ever seen the Haz-mat suits that people who study viruses actually wear?  The latest ramp up that the more expensive N95 should prevail over Omecron points even stronger at the nonsense of the whole dictate.  N95 masks let pass but 5% of particles 100 nm or smaller.  So did Omecron shrink in all of its mutations?  If not, why is this shield now preferred for a virus with far less virulence?  I’ve taken to tack a strip saying “N96” onto my cloth mask, indicating its evident superiority.  If “11” was good for Spinal Tap.  Time to pass all the damned masks into a big bonfire.  Better get an EPA impact statement.

the end

The best thing about 2022, besides it not being 2021, is that Mr. Corona in his current Omicron configuration, will sweep over us, leaving us at last mostly immune to further coronavirus.  Ditch the mask, give your friend a hug, and enjoy the concert.

It came to me there’s a way to make this happen faster.  As I’m not really that smart, have no academic standing any more, and zero political connections, I’ll bet there are others who’ve had the same idea and can make it happen.

In the theme of “everything old is new again”, let’s return to the turn of the 19th century, London.  Smallpox was a scourge, a disgusting disease that disfigured the victims with blisters and open sores before sometimes killing them, about 3 in 10.  Survivors retained their scars.  The disease lingered into the 20th century in parts of the world, which is why we have pictures like this

Enter Edward Jenner. 

A prodigy who apprenticed himself to a surgeon at age 13 and there first heard the tale of a milkmaid who’d contracted cowpox and considered herself protected from smallpox, he took a while to make something of this lesson.  We know now both cowpox and smallpox are caused by closely related viruses of the variola family.  Throughout the 18th century, inoculation of swabs from cowpox sores to healthy people in order to ward off smallpox, called variolization, had been practiced in various parts of Europe and even in the Royal Court (1).  But Dr. Jenner was the first to do a proper study and write it up, so he gets credit (2).  If you click to the source, you can see he prefaces his report with a letter to the King. Beating smallpox was a big deal.

All of jolly old was ecstatic at Jenner’s discovery.

Gillray, James, 1756-1815, The cow-pock, or, The wonderful effects of the new inoculation! [print] : vide – the publications of ye Anti-Vaccine Society, [London] : Pubd June 12th 1802, by H. Humphrey St James’s Street, [1802], 1986.319, (imaged on display in Gilray and the Art of Satire exhibit, Fall 2019)

Smallpox has been eradicated, with the last case in the world reported in 1977.

Jenner is rightly revered to this day.  He’s considered the father of immunology.  So as a rheumatologist, he’s one of my patron saints.

So right under our nose is the final solution to COVID, in a manner Jenner would heartily approve.  Omicron is probably a little closer to 2019-nCoVBetaCoV/Wuhan/WIVo4/201 than cowpox virus is to smallpox virus, but it exerts the same effect.  Viruses are basically dead without a living host, but they all can be propagated in tissue culture, and Omicron is no exception (3).  Such culture systems can be ramped up to industrial levels.  Aliquots of virus could be produced for much less than the billions we dumped on Pfizer, Moderna, and J & J,  although Fauci wouldn’t get a cut out of this one. Final product, little spray vials everyone could shoot up their noses, thereby getting their own little case of Omicron and getting it the hell over with.

Even easier.  Pretend life is normal now.  It actually is, dontcha know. To paraphrase John Lennon “COVID is over, if you want it”.

Happy New Year

References

1.         Riedel S. Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2005;18(1):21-25. doi:10.1080/08998280.2005.11928028.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200696/

2. Jenner E.  An inquiry into the causes and effects of the variolae vaccinae: a disease discovered in some of the western counties of England, particularly Gloucestershire, and known by the name of the cow pox.  London: Ashely & Brewer, 1802.  https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-2559001R-bk

3.         Zhao H, Lu L, Peng Z, Chen LL, Meng X, Zhang C, Ip JD, Chan WM, Chu AW, Chan KH, Jin DY, Chen H, Yuen KY, To KK. SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant shows less efficient replication and fusion activity when compared with delta variant in TMPRSS2-expressed cells. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2021 Dec 24:1-18. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2021.2023329. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34951565. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34951565/

Hogmanay!

You think we Yanks do a New Year’s blow out, check out what the Scots do!  They’ve been celebrating Hogmanay this time of year since Mary Queen of Scots returned from Paris in 1561 (1).  The church forbid public celebrations of Christmas, as it was seen as an appropriated pagan tradition which discounted the sanctity of Christ’s birth.  Living in a temperate climate with latitudes similar to ours, the urge for a solstice-time celebration was primal, as the pagans well knew.  So what’s close?  The New Year!  And since one night is not enough the Scots were set to go this year from Wednesday till tomorrow.  What happens?  General carousing.  Public festivals hearken back to Viking times.  Natives do a lot of visiting.  And drinking.  The first person to step into your house on the1st is given special status.  Drunken Scotsmen in kilts toss fireballs into the bay.  Fire is a big part of the celebration.  Dark times.  Gotta encourage the light.

All that was to have been ours.  Shortly after reading about this celebration last year, we booked passage and a cottage on the water in Edinburgh.  A month or so ago we checked out regulations about you know what.  Unvaxxed, we thought we were screwed.  Not so, we were welcome but would have to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival.  With only 9 days booked, we saw problems.  Fortunately, the nice lady at the cottage company pushed our booking to same time next year, so we may still get to do this, God willing. We just learned today that the Scots were cancelling the whole thing this year because COVID. Damned shame. Where are those drunken Scots in kilts going to throw their burning trees? I’m sure the drinking will continue.

Meanwhile, how do you celebrate Hogmanay at home?  We’re confining our fire celebration to the fireplace, but there’s plenty of that.  And there’s the food.  It’s been said that all of Scottish cuisine is based on a dare (2).  But last year, I learned how to make a few choice snacks.  We haven’t sought a sheep’s stomach to fill with oatmeal, etc., but neeps’n’tatties and kirlie are pretty tasty.  This year I’m taking on meat and ale pie, daring to alter the on-line recipe by substituting lamb for beef.  As I write this, it’s still cooking and hasn’t been finished with a crust over each mini-serving.  I expect it will be fabulous.  We’ll finish it up right before the bowl game starts.  We hope our Wolverines throw a fireball at the Bulldogs and continue their relentless pissed off pursuit of victory.  We’ve got the champagne chilling.  Go Blue!  Brandon too!

Oh, if you want to try that meat pie:

References

1.         Hogmanay & New Year in Scotland.  https://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/events/christmas-winter-festivals/hogmanay/

2.         Mike Myers.  Haggis.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CloGus131G0

cast

I’m sure you’ve realized by now I like to distribute Bobby McFerrin’s 1988 hit “Don’t worry, be happy” very frequently (1).  I think it’s often the appropriate response to news I’ve just conveyed, like the latest on Omicron (2).

One of my dear friends and faithful readers Sandy asked about the characters in the video.  Was that Robin Williams?  In fact, yes is the answer. Bobby did the video with 2 other characters, Detroit’s own and our beloved and much missed Robin Williams along with dancer extraordinaire Bill Irwin, also considered “clown” (3).  Watching the video again with that knowledge makes it even more fun.  I recommend doing it frequently.

References

1.         Bobby McFerrin – Don’t Worry be happy.  YouTube February 24, 2009.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU

2.         Ike B.  It’s over.  WordPress. December 26, 2021.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2021/12/26/its-over/

3.         Bill Irwin, from Wikepedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Irwin

my mom the babe

My sister Jolene gave all of us a wonderful Christmas gift, a framed reproduction of a photo of our mom lounging on the beach – with her mom! – on Santa Anna Island (now Anna Maria) –  a seven mile barrier island off the Gulf coast of Florida – where they used to escape to in the winter.   Mom is spectacular, probably age 17-18, but so is her mom, who’s 25 years her senior. 

She’d go on and entice a smooth-talking once MSU linebacker for rollicking times in Port Austin, when that was a happening thing.  Their coupling resulted in me, so here I am.  My mom went on and married Italian electrician John and had a wonderful life, raising the 4 kids who are my brother and sisters, John dying some years ago.  I’m happy I could interject myself in the past decade into her life.  I’ve loved her since our first meeting, and my wife has noted all the scary similarities we seem to show.  She was beautiful to me long before I saw this picture, but oh my.  How did I get a mom like that?

it’s over

It’s a good doctor who can explain things. I’ve been trying to do that with Mr. Corona for almost 2 years. But Dr. Ted Noel, a retired anesthesiologist/intensivist knocked it out of the park today (1). I’ve been emphasizing the high rate of errors coronavirus makes in replicating its RNA genome as source of all the mutations we’re seeing. But I totally forgot about recombination, which is almost certainly what gave us the friendly monster we call Omicron. Let’s welcome him, and catch him if we get a chance. It’s a way more effective vaxx than those science fair experiments they’re still trying to foist upon us, which not only don’t work, but greatly increase the risk for catching Omicron. And there’s that VAERS thing (2). Booster schmooster!

I’ve called on Bobby McFerrin several times in the course of this thing. But his message to us applies now more than ever (3). Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

References

  1. Noel T. When does COVID stop being COVID? The American Thinker. December 26, 2021. https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/12/when_does_covid_stop_being_covid.html
  2. OpenVAERS. https://openvaers.com/
  3. McFerrin B. Don’t worry be happy. YouTube. uploaded February 24, 2009 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU

dandy dozen, revisited

Happy Boxing Day, my friends. In the U.S., only Massachusetts takes it as an official holiday, and the employees don’t even get to take it off. But those in the Queen’s realm are busy seeing that those who have served them over the year, and some of the poor, are getting their boxes of thanks. Long before that, today marked the feast of St. Stephan, you know, where good King Wenceslas looked out. All reminders that Christmastide is far from over, with 11 days remaining to celebrate. I wrote about this a year and a day ago. As I went back to consult that post to help plan my next week and a half, I thought it would be worth sharing https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/12/25/dandy-dozen/

Lit’l Christmas Eve

Twisted how our Christmas traditions develop.  Perhaps because they are so varied shows how rich and wonderful our traditions really are.

Following a tradition we made years ago – nothing to do with Christmas – got us into a situation that tangled up our traditions and introduced us to some new possibilities. All of it has made for a most enjoyable Little Christmas Eve.

This latest recipe that got us there grew out of our weekly search for something for Thursday dinner.  For many years, I had a weekly posting at East Ann Arbor Health center, taking me home after clinic past Plum Market, which had great seafood and Zingerman’s bread and of course wine.  We enjoyed the simple meals I took home and at one point realized, who else eats like this?  Thus was the concept of “Jesus Dinner” born.  Some of our entrées even simmered over a charcoal grill, although I don’t think we ever achieved the exquisite offerings of  John 21:15-17.  We did stray to the non Kosher at times.  As long as it came from the sea. It was toward this sin we would go for our next dinner, set to occur on Little Christmas Eve.  That white clam sauce with linguine looked mighty tasty, so there we were headed.

It was also important to eat fish on Little Christmas Eve, a holiday important to Norwegians such as our 25% selves.  Usually the fish is more substantial, like a big slab of gravlax.  For purists, there’s the noxious slab of buried cod, lutefisk.  Peppering the celebration with scallops and other shellfish is allowed.

Little did we know that our clam recipe would drop us into a whole other tradition.  My food.com recipe told me this dish is often the centerpiece of the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a southern Italian tradition where to celebrate the end of the proscription against meat set to occur on Christmas, a feast of seafood gets thrown the night before.  Nothing special about 7, as that was appended in a piece in the Philadelphia Enquirer in 1983.  Looking over expected recipes, I said “not tonight hon”.  We had some scallops in addition and that was that. But pretty dandy nonetheless.  Now we’re eager to see the 2019 movie of the same name (1).  The plot involves a working class Pennsylvania family near Pittsburgh welcoming WASP-y girlfriend for Christmas.  Kathy and I would probably identify with the WASP-y girlfriend, tho’ we both have Pittsburgh roots.  Kathy’s dad was born and raised there and I lived near there for a couple years as I was growing up.

As Jesus said (Mark 7:18-19): “There is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him, but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.”  So it doesn’t matter much what we eat.  Come these Holidays food takes special significance for the memories it triggers.  But maybe we should just make stuff that tastes good.  America is still the grand melting pot, so why not take advantage of all the wonderful things that have come before?  Kathy and I still haven’t decided whether 2 consecutive seafood nights will be the norm at our forthcoming Christmases.  I have no Italian blood, but my dear dad enjoyed his WWII duty in Rome and my birth mom married an Italian electrician, happily carrying the DeLuca name ever since.  Why not add a little “when the moon hits your eye with a big pizza pie”.  Can’t go wrong when Dino is singin’ ya to it (2).

We did find some Norwegian/Scandinavian music  for our Little Christmas eve (3, 4)

But check out what you’re missing

First, the requisite pot ( a wok here) with the wonderful slop

Probably looks better in a bowl over the linguine. That’s a chunk of a Zingerman’s baguette in the foreground. Sop duty

Finally, if you should wish to reproduce this masterpiece (it’s a very simple recipe that I only changed a little from Food.com)

References

  1. IMBd overview. Feast of the Seven Fishes. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7846056/
  2. Dean Martin Live – That’s amore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbTvKUttFXI
  3. Scandinavian Christmas Songs. Christmas songs from Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6WSWFvOxRp47V3m37vbMuJ,
  4. Norwegian Christmas Music – playlist by norwayathome. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GqJQFc4PEcIgF2dk8