Critical elements of one of the most cited pieces of Alzheimer’s disease research in the last two decades may have been purposely manipulated, according to a report in Science.

This story — which is gaining national traction — has Minnesota connections.

Questions have surfaced about as many as 10 papers written by Sylvain Lesné, and often coauthored by [Karen Ashe] and other U scientists, and whether they used manipulated or duplicated images to inflate the role of a protein in the onset of Alzheimer’s.

You have to read the Science piece above. Disappointing, if true. Utterly disappointing.

A clinic in the Twin Cities, part of a system that is a partnership between the U of M and Fairview, is starting its own post-COVID care model, specializing in those COVID-19 survivors (so-called “long haulers”) whose infection has resulted in worsening of their chronic conditions – or new viral-induced chronicities.

Two intensivists at the University of Minnesota Medical Center were in the process of creating the clinic for all critically ill patients when the pandemic arrived, and they realized it could help the many patients whose severe COVID-19 resulted in lingering health problems and related stress.

The goal is to set expectations for recovery for those patients and link them immediately with the therapy and resources they will need after their hospitalizations, said Dr. Sakina Naqvi, a U pulmonologist and critical care physician who co-created the clinic. “A lot of these patients have breathing issues, scarring of the windpipe, because they have been on ventilators for so long.”

On the news of an announcement on another biotech company’s COVID vaccine development, here’s the latest from Operation Warp Speed and the pitfalls associated with EUA (emergency authorization for FDA approval) of these vaccines to prepare for rollout next year. Worth a listen.

Since the daily infection totals have exceeded 100K for the second day in this country, well, of course.

Coronavirus infections could double over the next month as the virus continues to spread across the United States, Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch predicted during an online discussion Friday. The US recorded more than 121,000 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, the highest single-day total since the pandemic began. Cases have also surpassed 100,000 on Friday.

“I think if caseloads double in the next month, I will not be at all surprised. If it goes more than that I would be somewhat surprised but not completely shocked,” Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said during a chat with the Journal of the American Medical Association.

But Lipsitch said he doesn’t like to make predictions because he still believes coronavirus mitigation efforts can work to bring down transmission rates.

“It’s not that I don’t want to make them, it’s that making projections gives the impression that it’s not in our hands, that it’s some kind of hurricane where we can stand there, but we can’t do anything about it,” he said.

A possible role of hypercoagulability in COVID-19 patients.

In a paper published in Science earlier this week, researchers provide a glimpse into what may be driving the clots triggered by COVID-19 infection. The group found that a specific set of antibodies known as autoantibodies—which are rogue versions of cells meant to defend the body from pathogens, but instead attack its own cells (in this case the body’s own blood vessel cells)—may be partly responsible for the clotting risk associated with the disease. Among 172 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, they found that half produced these autoantibodies. In addition, when the scientists injected the autoantibodies into lab mice, the animals developed blood clots.

There’s an excellent treatment in the Strib on how politics and political “competition” bewteen neighboring states (MN and WI) led to the latter neighbor’s exponential growth of positive COVID-19 cases over the former’s more measured approach to prevention of spread. Minnesota is surrounded – literally – by 4 states whose percent positivity rates are among the top ten in the nation, and its current standing in comparison to the COVID surges in the Dakotas, Iowa, and Wisconsin may provide insight into how its response is a reflection of the politics of the pandemic. Wisconsin is billed in the piece as a “cautionary tale” for its more earnest neighbor the west – though cases here continue to surge in a similar, but lagging, trajectory – as the novel coronavirus knows no political boundaries.

Minnesota sets a new daily record in new COVID cases. It’s firmly in the red zone.

[A] Minnesota Department of Health spokesman said Friday that the record-high case count includes few backlogged cases. The number of tests reported to the state Thursday were unusually high, with 44,398 tests. That is more than double the 20,646 tests reported one day earlier. Health officials also said that there were 13 additional deaths, with six of those among residents of long-term care facilities. In total, Minnesota so far has recorded 119,396 COVID-19 cases along with 2,212 deaths.

Think Minnesota has achieved control with respect to the the percentage positivity rate and new case (incidence) rates? Think again.

Minnesota now has a new case rate above the national average, according to data [White House COVID-19 task force leader] Birx provided to [State Health Commissioner Jan] Malcolm on Sunday. The state also has reported an increase in the positivity rate of diagnostic tests from 4.9% two weeks ago to 5.2% last week. Case growth has increased 7.9% over the past week and for the first time was larger than the 7.6% increase in testing activity, Malcolm said.

(1) The perfect storm that isn’t a hurricane. (WaPo)

(2) COVID-19 has disproportionately affected persons of color in Twin Cities. (Strib)

(3) Renomination of POTUS to be held in private. (AP)

(4) POTUS searches in vain for adoration. (CNN)

(5) Impotus Americanus. (Lincoln Project)