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Smells like science

Hey hey. I found a weak-ass paper to support my weak-ass rumor-mongering. This is the article going around Twitter.

There’s a receptor in the lung called Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, or ACE2. Do I understand this? I do not. But apparently, the new Coronavirus ‘hooks in’ to these receptors. So did SARS. The more of them you have, the more susceptible you are. There was a study that counted ACE2 receptors in donated lungs (I was going to say healthy, but if you’re donating a lung, you’re probably dead).

The study found men had more ACE2 receptors than women by something like 3 to 1, and the Asian lung had, like, five times as many as the white or African lungs. Which would explain the weird way this disease is moving through the world.

It appears to be a proper academic study, but the kicker is the sample size was shit. Eight donors, of which one was Asian.

A sample size of one. This is not good.

I have to assume there have been other such studies, though. If they know there’s a connection between SARS and ACE2, I’m betting there’s a body of literature out there. It would be great if this means the epidemic can be halted, but I can’t call it good news if it means ripping a path of destruction through the East.

Oh, speaking of death. Kirk Douglas snuffs it at last and Neon Madman takes the dick. Congratulations!

You know what that means. Here. Tomorrow. Six-on-the-dot Weasel Blog Time. Dead Pool 129. (Was the Inktober Dead Pool really the most recent one?).

February 6, 2020 — 9:14 pm
Comments: 6