Meningitis-Ausbruch in England: erinnert daran, daß es sehr viel mehr gibt als nur Corona, auch mit höherer Sterblichkeit trotz Antibiotika.
Solche Ausbrüche sind selten, kommen aber immer wieder mal vor. Bei ca. 5-10% kommt Neisseria meningitidis unbemerkt im Rachen vor.
You may complain about it, but this is obviously correct. I think the preferences of Israelis are psychotic, but it's their preferences and, given those preferences, what is bad for other people is good for them.
For instance, to the extent that Israeli actions make it harder for Trump to find an off-ramp, this is bad for the US and the rest of the world because it means the economic fallout will be worse, but it's good for Israel because it means that Iran will be wrecked even more. They will also suffer economically but think it's worth it.
The only risk for Israel is that, if shit really hit the fan and the war results in a global economic meltdown, a future US administration will prevent them from "mowing the lawn" again to prevent that from happening again, which incidentally gives them even stronger incentives to drag the war out and collapse the regime if they can.
There is also a risk that, beyond the question of Israel's freedom of action toward Iran specifically, Americans will get tired of constantly being wrapped up in Israel's affairs and it will destroy the "special relationship", but rightly or wrongly the Israelis assume that it's just a matter of time before this happens anyway.
Iran is firing MORE and they are hitting MORE per shot than during the first days of the conflict.
Not good..
I had the privilege to speak with @shervin, one of the closest advisors of the Crown Prince of Iran @PahlaviReza. Watch.
Surprisingly strongly worded article in the Guardian condemning the latest assault on Lebanon by Israel - quite an outlier in the meek and supine Western media.
R to @anish_koka: Some background --
Why do hierarchical testing ? (any statisticians / trialists reading are welcome to correct/clarify)
The two word answer : Multiple Comparisons.
Every time you run a statistical test at p<0.05, you're accepting a 5% chance of a false positive, otherwise known as finding an effect that isn't real. Otherwise known as a Type 1 Error.
Basically, if you test 10 endpoints in the same trial, each at p<0.05, your chance of getting at least one spurious significant result by chance alone rises to about 40%. Test 20 things and it approaches 64%. This is the multiple comparisons problem.
Without any correction, a trial could throw everything at the wall and call whatever sticks "significant." This is commonly referred to as a fishing expedition.
Hierarchical testing is one way to keep the overall false positive rate at 5% across all the tests you plan to run.
Pretty simple logic : you only get to test the next hypothesis if the previous one passed. Because each test is conditional on the prior one succeeding, you never spend more than 5% alpha total across the entire chain. No penalty needed for multiple testing as long as you follow the sequence.
Back to VESALIUS ..
R to @anish_koka: After both co-primaries passed, the secondary endpoints were tested in this fixed sequential order:
1. MI + ischemic stroke + ischemia-driven revascularization — HR 0.79 ✓
2. CHD death + MI + ischemia-driven revascularization — HR 0.79 ✓
3. CV death + MI + ischemic stroke — HR 0.73 ✓
4. CHD death + MI — HR 0.73 ✓
5. MI alone — HR 0.64 ✓
6. Ischemia-driven revascularization — HR 0.79 ✓
7. CHD death alone — HR 0.89, p=0.39 ✗ — chain breaks here
R to @anish_koka: The design of the trial was interesting
-Two co-primary endpoints were tested simultaneously.
- 3-point MACE: Death from coronary heart disease + myocardial infarction + ischemic stroke
- 4-point MACE: 3-point MACE + ischemia-driven arterial revascularization
The choice to have two co-primaries rather than one is meaningful. 3-point MACE is the harder, more clinically meaningful endpoint — it excludes revascularization, which is partly operator and system-dependent. 4-point MACE is softer and easier to move because revascularization is more frequent and more influenced by physician decision-making than by hard events.
Having both as co-primaries gave the trial two shots at success and ensured that even if the harder 3-point endpoint had been borderline, the softer 4-point likely would have carried it through. (Both were positive)
R to @anish_koka: This tests PCSK9 inhibitors in a lower risk group of patients - No prior MI, but 50% had evidence of coronary disease or cerebrovascular disease (without a clinical hx of stroke or MI) .. so this is testing PCSK9inhibitors for primary prevention as opposed to FOURIER and ODYSSEY which were secondary prevention trials.
R to @anish_koka: The PCSK9 inhibitor class of medications have demonstrated benefit in the FOURIER and ODYSSEY trials that included patients who already had a heart attack or an ischemic stroke.
These were high risk patients, but they were already on statins with an LDL that was ~90mg/dl to start. The benefit with regards to mortality was pretty small - some of the lowest benefit seen of all of the trials done to date with lipid lowering despite the fact that the average LDL in the treated group was ~50.
On the heels of this comes the VESALIUS-CV trial
R to @anish_koka: As time progresses (see legend) the mortality reductions seen in the statin trials attenuates for a # of reasons
1. In an effort to broaden indications for use, lower risk populations are chosen
2. Subsequent trials have patients already on statins and consequently have much lower baseline LDLs to start with (FOURIER and IMPROVE-IT at bottom left) have starting LDL of ~90 and did not show a clinically significant decrease in mortality despite ~50% LDL lowering
R to @anish_koka: To date, lipid (LDL-targeted) RCTs have demonstrated reductions in cardiovascular events in a variety of settings. The great grandfather 4S trial in 1994 showed that simvastatin used in patients who had just had a heart attack, who on average had an LDL of 189, reduced cardiovascular mortality and overall mortality by 2.9% -- meaning you would need to treat ~35 people to prevent one fatal event.
The VESALIUS-CV trial is a really interesting and important trial that is very informative with regards to lipid lowering therapy and benefit.
It builds on the many foundational randomized controlled trials that have come before demonstrating the benefit of LDL lowering. 🧵
Basij members are too afraid to man their checkpoints 👇
🔬Scientific progress depends on discovery, but also the freedom to question, debate, and examine evidence wherever it leads.
In the spirit of that ideal, I’m thrilled to announce the launch of our NIH Scientific Freedom Lecture Series, an exciting new forum aimed at advancing transparency, rigor, and open scientific inquiry.
Please join me March 20 at 2:30pm ET for our inaugural talk, titled “Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19” featuring a conversation with Matt Ridley, D.Phil.
Guests can attend in person at the Masur Auditorium in NIH Building 10 or online via the NIH videocast page. https://bit.ly/3PsHAu5
Blood Pressure Reduces the Risk of Heart Failure and Stroke: Early Non-Drug Intervention Advised
Internist and cardiologist Dr Peter McCullough® told Amanda Head and John Solomon on Just the News, Real America's Voice, told the hosts that the goal of lowering blood pressure is to reduce the risks of heart failure and stroke. Early interventions are wise and later about 65% of Americans can expect to be on blood pressure lowering medications. Courtesy Real America's Voice March 4, 2026. http://www.twc.health/focalpoints
Aberwitzige, realitätsfremde Aussage des Kanzlers: "Wir wollen und wir werden uns schützen vor diesen Disruptionen, die uns alle erfassen." So klingt die Bonner Republik. Träumen Sie weiter, Herr Merz.
With equivalent news coverage and generous testing there would be nothing unprecedented going on.
https://trusttheevidence.substack.com/p/unprecedented
Kanzler Merz hält Kurs: "Wir müssen in der EU jetzt schnell zu einer Einigung über das sogenannte 20. Sanktionspaket kommen, und wir müssen auch dringend den bereits vereinbarten Kredit über 90 Milliarden Euro für die Ukraine zur Auszahlung bringen."
On behalf of Iranians, I want to thank all Israelis—inside X and outside. From the bottom of our hearts thank you for standing with us, not only in this war, but from the very beginning.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 🇮🇱🙏
Study involving 1.7 million children has found that myocarditis & pericarditis only appeared in children has received Covid-19 mRNA vaccines
Not a single unvaccinated child in the group suffered from these heart related problems
🚨 BREAKING: Channel 14's @DBalazada reports Pezeshkian is considering resignation. He told his inner circle:
“They [IRGC] don't let me do anything, have cut me out of military and strategic decisions, and don't even allow me to talk to the Supreme Leader. I feel useless.”
Pinned: Twice Daily Routine Nasal/Throat Sprays and Gargles Reduce the Risks of the Common Cold
Real America's Voice Just the News hosted by Amanda Head and John Solomon interviewed Dr Peter McCullough,® Chief Scientific Officer of The Wellness Company. McCullough said routine twice daily nasal/throat sprays and gargles can markedly reduce the risk of transmitting and acquiring the common cold. Courtesy Real America's Voice March 4, 2026. http://www.twc.health/focalpoints
Von „Sarrazins Prognosen sind völlig absurd und pure Hetze“ zu „Inschallah meine Glaubensbrüder, lasst uns Iftar im deutschen Reichstag feiern!“ in gerade einmal 16 Jahren.
Muss man auch erstmal schaffen.
Herr Merz hat keinen Begriff von Deutschland. Die Bundesrepublik ist ihm eine Fußnote in der Geschichte der Europäischen Union. Das ist atemberaubend defensiv.
Wes Streeting has called the Kent meningitis outbreak – now with 20 cases and two deaths – "unprecedented". Prof Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson take a look at the data to see if he's right. https://dailysceptic.org/2026/03/18/how-unprecedented-is-the-kent-meningitis-outbreak/
Das Alkoholverbot in Südafrika reduzierte tödliche Gewalt und Unfälle dramatisch und rettete 600 Leben. https://www.nzz.ch/folio/120-tote-weniger-pro-woche-die-verblueffende-wirkung-von-suedafrikas-alkoholbann-ld.1921375?utm_campaign=mrf-twitter-NZZ&mrfcid=20260318699bfcf444c4e21fcfd7d062
Herr Bundeskanzler Merz nennt "ein vereintes Europa für uns in Deutschland die einzige Garantie und die wichtigste Garantie, die wir für unsere Zukunft haben". Der Bundeskanzler erwartet alles von Europa und nichts von Deutschland. Ein deutscher Kanzler sollte so nicht reden.
R to @orwell2022: 4/ Yes, you’ll find hockey sticks.
Look where they sit: urbanized locations.
That’s not a climate signal.
Now try this: find 5-10 truly rural stations (minimum/no urban built around at visual inspection) showing the warming shape?
Tell us the names if you find them. Good luck.
"KI-Verordnung: Bundesregierung legt Umsetzungsgesetz vor"
@efarbeitsrecht
https://efarbeitsrecht.net/ki-verordnung-bundesregierung-legt-umsetzungsgesetz-vor/
UPDATE: IRAN'S PRESIDENT TELLS INNER CIRCLE HE FEELS “USELESS”
“I’m not part of the strategic discussions. They don’t let me do anything. I feel useless. I have nothing to do here.”
Senior Iran Analyst @DBalazada reveals what sources close to President Pezeshkian are telling Channel 14 tonight:
Pezeshkian says he is completely frozen out of military decisions, cut off from ‘Supreme Leader’ Khamenei, and excluded from all strategic planning. He describes feeling like a non-entity inside his own government.
Sources affirm he is actively considering resignation.
The bottom line: Iran’s presidency has been reduced to a figurehead. The Revolutionary Guards are running the country, and the man nominally in charge knows it.
Via Channel 14’s @DBalazada on @MaggieTabibi’s evening edition.
Watch 👇
Time Magazine: Why are So Many Young People Getting Cancer?--Experts Fail to Consider the Pandemic
Dr Peter McCullough® on Real America's Voice Just the News with Amanda Head and John Solomon commented that the 2025 issue of Time Magazine describing turbo-cancer was willfully blind that the world has had a pandemic with a laboratory engineered oncogenic virus and many underwent genetic vaccination which is also linked to cancer. Courtesy Real America's Voice March 4, 2026. http://www.thefocalpoints.com
I met an 84-year-old woman who was offered euthanasia at a Canadian hospital practically upon arrival.
Miriam didn’t want to die. She recovered well and travelled to Cuba, Mexico, and Guatemala.
Stop offering death to people who have adventures to lead!
R to @orwell2022: 3/ Method:
Stations: ≥100 yrs, ≥9 months/yr
Built-up: GHSL, 5×5 km
Data:
GHCNv4M raw (QCU) http://doi.org/10.7289/V5XW4GTH
GHSL Built-S http://doi.org/10.2905/9F06F36F-4B11-47EC-ABB0-4F8B7B1D72EA
Tool built: Codex 5.4 (~25 min)
R to @orwell2022: 3/ Low built-up ≠ high-quality station. It’s a mandatory condition, not a guarantee.
Switch to sat view and inspect the site closely— the problems often shows up immediately. Like here.
Coastal locations
commonly have this issue. Water makes them appear rural. They aren’t.
Pinned: 2/ This map shows all stations with 100 years of data and at least 9 valid months per year.
That leaves about 500
🌎 https://orwell2024.github.io/builtmap/ 🌎
Stations are colored by the level of built-up area around the site. Click any station to view its details and temperature curve.
1/ Can you actually find a hockey stick in truly rural stations?
Not in a stitched statistical construct — in a real, coherent station record.
Here’s a tool to test it yourself.
Link below.
Heute vor 10 Jahren starb Guido Westerwelle. Er bleibt einer der besten Redner, die die Bundesrepublik je gesehen hat.