078 - Immunity / Omicron / Reproducibility

What does the body of evidence have to say on the topic of the immune system?

Plus: the omicron variant and its accompanying public health measures, and we go over what happens when scientists try to fulfill one of the promises of science: replicating results.

Block 1: (2:46) Immunity: what it does, self versus non-self, antigens, HLA, innate versus adaptive, fever, skin Block 2: (12:07) Immunity: Geert Vanden Bossche, eosinophils, neutrophils, G-CSF, immune boosters, vitamin C, antibodies, T and B cells, immune memory, vaccines Block 3: (30:40) Omicron, public health measures, and booster doses Block 4: (48:34) Reproducibility of cancer studies * Jingle by Joseph Hackl * Theme music: “Fall of the Ocean Queen“ by Joseph Hackl. * Assistant researcher: Nicholas Koziris To contribute to The Body of Evidence, go to our Patreon page at: http://www.patreon.com/thebodyofevidence/.

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References: 1) Driving doggos: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-15864761 2) Explanatory videos on the immune system: https://www.osmosis.org/learn/Introduction_to_the_immune_system 3) Understanding how vaccines work: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/conversations/understanding-vacc-work.html 4) Understanding how COVID-19 vaccines work: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/how-they-work.html 5) Cochrane review on vitamin C for the common cold: https://www.cochrane.org/CD000980/ARI_vitamin-c-for-preventing-and-treating-the-common-cold 6) Measles vaccine information: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/healthy-living/canadian-immunization-guide-part-4-active-vaccines/page-12-measles-vaccine.html#p4c11a4 and https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-conditions/measles-rubella-surveillance/2021/week-46.html 7) Interview with Dr. Paul Offit for New York Mag’s Intelligencer: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/12/omicron-dr-paul-offit-is-skeptical-of-boosters-for-all.html 8) Brian Nosek paper 1: https://elifesciences.org/articles/67995 9) Brian Nosek paper 2: https://elifesciences.org/articles/71601 10) New Scientist article: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2300455-investigation-fails-to-replicate-most-cancer-biology-lab-findings/ 11) Amgen’s paper on the lack of replicability of cancer research: https://www.nature.com/articles/483531a 12) Jonathan’s paper on circulating microRNA signatures for cancer: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5528532/ Music Credits: Just Deep 2 by Sascha Ende® Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/312-just-deep-2 License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license