Follow-up to "Thailand"
Raw values for troponin-T support a "Russian Roulette" myocarditis model.
Raw data for teen BNT162b2-recipient troponin-T values shows no widespread elevation, leaving the apparent myo- / peri-carditis rate at (a still whopping) 3.5% in boys.
First, housekeeping:
The Unglossed “about” page has finally been given a much-needed cleanup. The new page better reflects this journal’s current “(biology-)business-minded” approach.
Posting has been light this week due to a deep-dive into polio research. A corresponding essay, regarding whether humanity faces an impending “Polio’s Revenge”-type crisis, should arrive soon.
New analysis has been added to my review of the “The Thailand Myocarditis Study,”which has now been published in peer-reviewed form (the study, not my post).
This new analysis is thanks to Jonathan Engler (of @jengleruk and PANDA Uncut), who generously offered to share the raw data for troponin-T values which he acquired from the corresponding author. This gift both demonstrates my delinquency in not having attempted to contact the author in question myself, and allows for the appraisal of whether subclinical myocarditis in teen recipients was the “exception” or the “rule,” in the Thailand study.
It turns out to be the former: The second dose only seems to have an observable effect on the outlier cases already highlighted by the study; the other recipients seem unaffected.
The outliers — those who returned values over the 14 ng/L cutoff — thus appear to have been hit by a Russian Roulette effect, rather than to represent the tip of an “iceberg” of cardiac damage.
My post has been edited to explore these new results:
First, the raw data summary and implications for myocarditis: A Russian Roulette effect suggests that LNP transfection of heart cells is at work. An auto-immunity etiology for myocarditis appears to finally be ruled out. There is no “prime - dose” pattern to indicate sensitization to auto-antigens.
Second, the implications for the ECG results: I now favor a more pessimistic interpretation of these results relating to possible injection-induced vascular distress. This is ironic, as I had originally framed a widespread troponin-T elevation signal as being something that would corroborate the ECG results. Here it is simply the case that time has changed my outlook.
If you derived value from this post, please drop a few coins in your fact-barista’s tip jar.
