THREAD: Women and "Unexplained" Diseases

It's interesting that even a condition as common as #Migraine is still not well understood.

Significant overlap with many other conditions mostly impacting women that are also "not well understood" is present.

https://t.co/EhrnxfItsm https://t.co/R7QUKrZvhR

2/ As a women’s health clinician & #COVID researcher I know ME/CFS, #LongCOVID & most autoimmune diseases disproportionately impact women after puberty. Female preponderance has likely contributed to the historical neglect of funding & subsequent lack of interest in studying them
3/ Paradoxically, the ongoing dismissal of many of women’s symptoms and abuse by the medical system is a direct result of our lack of understanding & ongoing LACK of funding.
cc: @jenbrea @ahandvanish @AthenaAkrami @Dr2NisreenAlwan @MBVanElzakker
https://t.co/ITrLBkc3uE
4/ This pattern of ignorance/lack of understanding and dismissal, further perpetuates the trauma women suffering from chronic illness must endure. @ahandvanish @AthenaAkrami @jenbrea @RanaAwdish @VirusesImmunity @angie_rasmussen

Example stats ME/CFS:
https://t.co/GKQqqtWTI7
5/ Or Functional Neurologic Disorder (FND) aka Conversion Disorder, Hysteria, or Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES).

Majority of patients with PNES are women, outnumbering men by a ratio of 3:1. Female sex preponderance occurs after puberty & usually before the age of 55
6/ You don't have to look far. Patient's are SMART. Many patients are also clinicians and scientists.

Lack of data does not equal lack of EXISTENCE of a problem, it equals lack of UNDERSTANDING of the problem.

And this problem is immense.
https://t.co/TnF2j4dKs3
7/ The intersection of sex hormones and immunobiology has never been more important for us to understand.

My optimistic hope is that the enormous amounts of funding for #COVID19 open doors to understanding pathophysiology of previously neglected diseases particularly in women.
8/ Paternalism, sexism & racism are baked into medicine, medical training, and a broken healthcare system.

But our scientific ignorance should not be wielded to blame & further abuse patients.

Our lack of understanding is not their failure but ours.

https://t.co/LwN8qc0Q4a
9/ And while we're at it, could we just abandon certain medical terms like: "incompetent cervix" and "irritable uterus"...

There are more specific, more scientific, and less offensive terminology we can use for women's bodies.

@VirusesImmunity @angie_rasmussen @DocElovitz
10/ @threadreaderapp please unroll

To read more of my Threads, please check out: https://t.co/UMdZvE2tDj

More from Health

1/16
Why do B12 and folate deficiencies lead to HUGE red blood cells?

And, if the issue is DNA synthesis, why are red blood cells (which don't have DNA) the key cell line affected?

For answers, we'll have to go back a few billion years.


2/
RNA came first. Then, ~3-4 billion years ago, DNA emerged.

Among their differences:
🔹RNA contains uracil
🔹DNA contains thymine

But why does DNA contains thymine (T) instead of uracil (U)?

https://t.co/XlxT6cLLXg


3/
🔑Cytosine (C) can undergo spontaneous deamination to uracil (U).

In the RNA world, this meant that U could appear intensionally or unintentionally. This is clearly problematic. How can you repair RNA when you can't tell if something is an error?

https://t.co/bIZGviHBUc


4/
DNA's use of T instead of U means that spontaneous C → U deamination can be corrected without worry that an intentional U is being removed.

DNA requires greater stability than RNA so the transition to a thymine-based structure was beneficial.

https://t.co/bIZGviHBUc


5/
Let's return to megaloblastic anemia secondary to B12 or folate deficiency.

When either is severely deficient deoxythymidine monophosphate (dTMP*) production is hindered. With less dTMP, DNA synthesis is abnormal.

[*Note: thymine is the base in dTMP]

https://t.co/AnDUtKkbZh
No-regret #hydrogen:
Charting early steps for H₂ infrastructure in Europe.

👉Summary of conclusions of a new study by @AgoraEW @AFRY_global @Ma_Deutsch @gnievchenko (1/17)
https://t.co/YA50FA57Em


The idea behind this study is that future hydrogen demand is highly uncertain and we don’t want to spend tens of billions of euros to repurpose a network which won’t be needed. For instance, hydrogen in ground transport is a hotly debated topic
https://t.co/RlnqDYVzpr (2/17)

Similar things can be said about heat. 40% of today’s industrial natural gas use in the EU goes to heat below 100°C and therefore is within range of electric heat pumps – whose performance factors far exceed 100%. (3/17)


Even for higher temperatures, a range of power-to-heat (PtH) options can be more energy-efficient than hydrogen and should be considered first. Available PtH technologies can cover all temperature levels needed in industrial production (e.g. electric arc furnace: 3500°C). (4/17)


In our view, hydrogen use for feedstock and chemical reactions is the only inescapable source of industrial hydrogen demand in Europe that does not lend itself to electrification. Examples include ammonia, steel, and petrochemical industries. (5/17)
You gotta think about this one carefully!

Imagine you go to the doctor and get tested for a rare disease (only 1 in 10,000 people get it.)

The test is 99% effective in detecting both sick and healthy people.

Your test comes back positive.

Are you really sick? Explain below 👇

The most complete answer from every reply so far is from Dr. Lena. Thanks for taking the time and going through


You can get the answer using Bayes' theorem, but let's try to come up with it in a different —maybe more intuitive— way.

👇


Here is what we know:

- Out of 10,000 people, 1 is sick
- Out of 100 sick people, 99 test positive
- Out of 100 healthy people, 99 test negative

Assuming 1 million people take the test (including you):

- 100 of them are sick
- 999,900 of them are healthy

👇

Let's now test both groups, starting with the 100 people sick:

▫️ 99 of them will be diagnosed (correctly) as sick (99%)

▫️ 1 of them is going to be diagnosed (incorrectly) as healthy (1%)

👇

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