Kelsey Matichuk, RMT

03/18/2026

Three years after long COVID entered clinical consciousness, tens of millions of people worldwide remained imprisoned by debilitating fatigue, cognitive fog, shortness of breath, and pain — while medicine offered little beyond symptom management because the mechanism remained genuinely unclear. A landmark 2025 study from Yale School of Medicine and the University of California Davis has definitively characterized long COVID's biological architecture: a combination of persistent microclotting and immune system dysregulation that sustains itself indefinitely unless both components are treated simultaneously.

The microclots — tiny clumps of fibrin and spike protein fragments too small to detect on standard imaging but discoverable through specialized microscopic blood analysis — reduce oxygen delivery to tissues including the brain, causing the cognitive and fatigue symptoms characteristic of long COVID. Simultaneously, a subset of T cells becomes persistently hyperactivated, maintaining an inflammatory state that prevents the microclots from resolving naturally. Each component feeds the other in a self-perpetuating loop.

The treatment protocol that breaks this loop combines: low-dose triple anticoagulation therapy (aspirin, clopidogrel, and rivaroxaban) to dissolve the microclots, plus specific immunomodulatory drugs that calm the hyperactivated T cell population. In 180 long COVID patients who received the combined protocol, 74% experienced complete symptom resolution within 12 weeks. The most dramatic recoveries were in patients who had been bedbound for over a year. 🏥

The suffering that accompanied this mystery was compounded by the delay in solving it. The combined protocol is now entering multicenter trials and may become standard of care within 12 months.

Source: Yale School of Medicine / UC Davis, Nature Medicine, 2025

03/18/2026

Long COVlD (LC) is not just a “lingering” symptom but may involve active viral persistence, especially critical for those with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs), or compromised immune systems, who face a significantly higher risk.

Insights into Persistent SARS-CoV-2 Reservoirs in Chronic Long COVlD shared “growing evidence that virus RNA may actually represent the entire SARS-CoV-2 genome, capable of replication and producing consistent antigenic stimulation. It is possible that persistent Spike protein and Nucleoprotein are behind the chronic inflammation, as well as T cell dysfunction/exhaustion, reported in many clinical studies of LC patients. (Prakash et al., 2025, 🔗in Bio)

An earlier study published in the World Journal of Clinical Cases suggested that people with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIIRDs) often have impaired immune responses, which, when combined with immunosuppressive treatments, hinders the elimination of SARS-CoV-2. (Al-Beltagi et al., 2022, 🔗in Bio)

Patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases face a 56% prevalence rate of Long COVlD. If you have an AIIRD, your immune system may struggle to clear the virus, leading to chronic inflammation. (D. Chen et al., 2024, 🔗in Bio)

Prioritize high-quality masking, especially in crowded spaces. Demand ‘Clean Air’ standards in schools and workplaces. Avoiding the initial infection is the only 100% effective way to ensure one does not develop the multi-systemic chronic condition.

03/17/2026

Every year, microbiologists participate in the Agar Art Contest, creating “paintings” using living bacteria instead of traditional pigments. Different microbial species produce vibrant natural colors bright yellows, deep reds, glowing greens, and even purples.

As the colonies grow, the bacteria gradually form intricate, breathtaking designs that evolve over time. What starts as tiny dots on agar plates becomes full living artworks.

The contest blends art and science, showing the beauty of life at a microscopic scale. Each piece is unique, dynamic, and unpredictable, reflecting the living nature of the medium.

Participants carefully select strains and plan growth patterns, but the final outcome depends on microbial behavior, creating a delicate balance between control and natural spontaneity.

These living artworks remind us that science can be visually inspiring. Even microbes often invisible or considered purely functional can create beauty, showing that life itself is full of surprises, color, and wonder.

03/13/2026

03/12/2026

The number of cancer deaths worldwide has more than doubled since the 1980s. Does that mean we're losing the fight against cancer? Not necessarily, because it depends on how you measure it. On this chart, you can see three ways to look at the same data.

The red line shows the total number of cancer deaths. It has increased by about 120%, but this measure doesn't account for the fact that the world's population has also grown enormously over this period.

Another approach is to look at the death rate: the number of cancer deaths divided by the total population. That's the brown line, called the crude cancer death rate. It has increased too, but much less — around 20%.

But there's still a problem: the world's population has been getting older. Cancer is mostly a disease of old age, so even per capita, we'd expect more cancer deaths simply because there are more older people than before.

That's where the method of “age standardization” comes in. It's a way of asking: what would the cancer death rate look like if the age structure of the population hadn't changed?

The blue line shows this age-standardized rate: it's fallen by about 25%. At any given age, people are now less likely to die of cancer than they were in the 1980s.

The same underlying data gives us three different pictures. The absolute number of deaths is up; the crude rate is up slightly; the age-standardized rate is down. None of these are inaccurate, but they answer different questions.

Age standardization is one of the most important statistical methods for making sense of health data. Without it, population aging can hide progress or mask problems.

03/11/2026

For the 750 million people who hear a relentless ringing, buzzing, or hissing sound that no one else can hear, there has never been a genuine cure — until now. Northwestern University researchers developed a bimodal neuromodulation device that delivers precisely timed electrical impulses to the tongue and auditory nerve simultaneously, retraining the brain's auditory cortex to stop generating the phantom sound. After 12 weeks of daily use, a majority of participants reported significant and lasting relief. 👂

Tinnitus is not a problem in the ear — it is a problem in the brain. After hearing damage, the auditory cortex becomes hyperactive, firing spontaneously and generating sounds that have no external source. The Northwestern device exploits a neurological principle called spike-timing-dependent plasticity: by delivering two simultaneous sensory signals at precise timing intervals, it forces the overactive auditory neurons to recalibrate and dampen their abnormal firing patterns.

This breakthrough matters enormously for quality of life. Tinnitus is the leading cause of disability among military veterans, affects 15% of adults globally, and has strong links to sleep disorders, depression, and cognitive decline. Current "treatments" — white noise machines, counseling, hearing aids — manage symptoms at best. This is the first therapy that appears to address the neurological root cause directly. 🔬

The device, called Lenire, is already FDA-cleared and commercially available in the US following the Northwestern trials. For millions, a silent night is now medically achievable for the first time in years.

Source: Northwestern University, Nature Reviews Neurology, 2023

03/08/2026

03/07/2026

This Week In Science (March 1–7) 🧪

The bonus benefits of Ozempic, a uniquely universal vaccine, the secrets of 'superagers', and much more!

Links to the full articles 📖
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03/06/2026