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We had a UCL Grand Round on 'Covid Toes' today. The speaker confirmed (and showed pictures to show) that the pathology of Covid Toes does not look thrombotic - more a dermal lymphocytic infiltrate suggesting diffuse vascular injury perhaps. They also indicated that Covid toes are not a feature...

There seems to be good evidence for microvascular damage during acute Covid but I don't think it adds up as a basis for LongCovid. There is a report of cotton wool spots in retinae during acute Covid but not as far as I can see later. The nailbed lesions reported are mostly not what one expects...

I am afraid I don't buy the attempt to make the micro clots long lasting and yet troublesome. The liver and spleen remove fine debris from blood all the time. Red cells, which pass nicely through capillaries are constantly being cleaned or 'pitted' to remove complement bound material stuck to...

No, most brain inflammation will produce a diffuse polyclonal rise in IgG. Yes, oligoclonal bands occur in other diseases with antigen specific responses but that is the point - they are a sign of an antigen specific response. Finding a genetic link to MHC in MS was therefore not very...

The risk related immune genes are already known for MS. You more or less have to have a particular MHC type to get MS. I forget which but it points towards a particular way of handling antigens. It may not have taken things that much further forward though since we already knew that MS was...

Yes, I agree on that. Maybe we should simply be pleased to see Fiona Fox having spilt the beans on her attitude to science - that she is quite happy to back poor quality work that harms patients because she is unable to make any useful judgment about quality herself. And she also sees herself...

I am not sure what you are meaning by 'autonomic dysfunction' though? It sounds as if maybe you feel a lack of maintenance of circulation. But that may not be autonomic. I just don't think anyone knows enough about what is going on to make any sensible predictions.

That is a very well organised plan for a response @Trish. I wish I could think that clearly! It is all a matter of tactics I suppose. I do have doubts that trying to influence the behaviour of Fox via the advisers may be a waste of time. Maybe the best thing is to have lots of bad reviews on...

I thought I had remembered Viner's name in the ME context. It seems that he authored 3 papers for a period of no more than 2 years in 2004-5 shortly after being appointed to GOS following his doctorate period. Interestingly, the paper with Hotopf shows no link to childhood trauma or atopy. The...

Can anyone enthusing about this approach explain to me how aphaeresis could possibly be of use? If clots actually form in living people, which has not so far been shown, and they are big enough to cause harm, then they will last for no more than a few minutes at most. If so, how can apheresis to...

I think the problem is that this is too vague a question. 'Autonomic dysfunction' is a bit like 'bad legs' - it could mean absolutely anything. Any thing could be up or down or more or less. I am not clear that POTS is autonomic dysfunction. The fact that the heart rate goes up suggests that the...

I could write directly to Riley and Viner as concerned academic colleague (being likened to the SS).

Ah, I see that Nellie was commenting on your transcript here @Trish. Mine took a time to appear and if mine appears I see no reason why yours shouldn't!

Can anyone explain to me how Amazon works? On Amazon.co.uk the only review visible is mine at one star, yet it says 75% of reviews are 5 star. On Amazon.com there are no reviews but it still gets five stars. I cannot see a review from Trish.:(

Another interesting aspect of this is what we now know about bias at SMC. In the past we have seen what appear to be biased choices of experts commenting on ME/CFS matters. Nonetheless, proving that there was bias was always tricky. Now we know there was bias. The lady in charge has made it...

The advisory committee consists of: Ian Brunskill Associate Editor, The Times and The Sunday Times Prof Eleanor Riley Professor of Immunology and Infectious Disease, The University of Edinburgh Shaun Lintern Health Editor, The Sunday Times Rebecca Morelle Science Editor, BBC News Christine...

The trustees of SMC seem to be a rather faceless group of communicator people. I am not sure that they would know what to do in response to a complaint other than find some way to support Fox. On the other hand the group of advisers, apart from a load of journalists, includes two notable...

Yes, I was wondering who the board of trustees were.

We have had YUPPIEs And NIMBYs And DINKYs I propose the TOWDGIs The ones who don't get it. An interesting byproduct of something like Fox's book is how it flushes out the TOWDGIs I guess Dorothy Bishop has played that role before in this story.

I think this shows that the inmates really have taken over the madhouse. They talk of one side of a joint when I think they mean a joint on one side of the body? I can't be bothered to source it from UCL.