How do epidemiologists determine whether new Covid-19 cases are a just result of increased testing or actually a true increase in disease prevalence? | AskScience Blog

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Thursday, July 23, 2020

How do epidemiologists determine whether new Covid-19 cases are a just result of increased testing or actually a true increase in disease prevalence?

How do epidemiologists determine whether new Covid-19 cases are a just result of increased testing or actually a true increase in disease prevalence?


How do epidemiologists determine whether new Covid-19 cases are a just result of increased testing or actually a true increase in disease prevalence?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 01:17 PM PDT

AskScience AMA Series: My name is Dr. Rosalba Bonaccorsi, and I am an interdisciplinary scientist and astrobiologist at the SETI Institute's Carl Sagan Center. AMA!

Posted: 23 Jul 2020 04:00 AM PDT

I am an interdisciplinary scientist and, in 2001, obtained my Ph.D. in Geological, Marine, and Environmental Sciences from the University of Trieste (Italy). I have been an astrobiologist at the SETI Institute's Carl Sagan Center since 2009. My office and lab are based at the nearby NASA Ames Research Center, which I joined for my NASA postdoctoral research that was focused on the habitability of subsurface biospheres during a robotic drilling mission simulation in the Rio Tinto's underground (Spain).

I enjoy doing science to advance our understanding of the universe we can see and to inspire old and new generations of my fellow humans - from any latitude, longitude, and altitude - to pursue happiness through scientific knowledge, exploration, and discovery.

For the past 15 years, I have expanded my interest to the habitability of mineralogical Mars analogs, in particular as a science team member and field instructor joining NASA's Spaceward Bound expeditions to remote places including the Mojave Desert, Antarctica, Atacama (Chile), Australia, New Zealand, Israel, the Namib Desert, and the Tibetan Plateau (see links below). My ultimate goal is to achieve a broad picture of where life and its signatures are most successfully distributed, concentrated, preserved, and detected. This knowledge helps us to understand how to search for life beyond Earth. To achieve this goal I am involved in a broad array of research, laboratory, experimentation, and field exploration activities.

For instance, I have been studying the distribution of life indicators in Death Valley National Park (California) in support of the Curiosity rover mission and other planned searches for life on Mars. Last but not least, over the past three years, I have been implementing innovative laboratory experiments to simulate the plumes of the Saturnian moon Enceladus and similar environments to support future flyby missions to detect life on distant Ocean Worlds.

More specifically, I have been working at the Ubehebe Volcanic Field (UVC), in Death Valley National Park, where I am applying results from this research to support missions to Mars such as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission objectives in collaboration with MSL scientists. In Death Valley, I have been conducting long-term monitoring of the weather/climate and surface water cycle, formation, and stability of short-lived water bodies, source-to-sink of sedimentary clay minerals (clays) to support the astrobiology of clays and life detection protocols.

Another project relates to Planetary Protection (PP) involving contamination control plans to clean, disinfect and sterilize spacecraft-like hardware and certifying cleanliness levels using non culture-based biological assays e.g., LAL (Lymulus Amebocite Lysate) and ATP (adenosine triphosphate) Luminometry. The ultimate objective is to prevent biological contamination of terrestrial origin on other planets. I was Co-I of a NASA funded PP project (2008-2011).

I am also passionate about sharing what I do with students, teachers, and the general public. So, I have gotten busy with a variety of education and public outreach projects. In close collaboration with the National Park Service, I volunteered to support Park Ranger programs for several years, culminating with MarsFest Planetary Science events in Death Valley. I have also led field trips for the Road Scholar Lifelong Learning program for the Death Valley Natural History Association in 2014, engaging senior citizens to explore planetary analogues. As a former elementary school teacher (1988-89), I believe that outdoor, hands-on science education is the best way to go to learn the beauty of the scientific method and that everyone can do it. In addition to being a scientist, I have been engaged and led Education and Public Outreach events with non-profit and corporate organizations since 1989.

Last but not least, I have been involved as an instructor during the one-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) summer camp since 2011 and led the Field Program as Director for the past six years. The REU program is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the SETI Institute and managed by M. Tiscareno (PI). The objective of the field trip is to engage the REU interns to explore the biological and geological features of extreme and planetary analog environments in the framework of the astrobiology research done at the SETI Institute.

This year, due to COVID-19, I am converting the hands-on field trip into a virtual format. During the AMA day I will be at the SETI ATA facility - in Hat Creek - to visit the nearby Lassen National Park and obtain visual material to share and discuss online with this year's REU Students!

See everyone at 11am PDT (2 ET, 18 UT), AMA!

Username: setiinstitute

submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator
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What prevents white blood cells from entering the intestines and attacking the large colonies of bacteria that exist there?

Posted: 23 Jul 2020 12:34 AM PDT

If rabies is virtually 100% fatal and humans have a vaccine, why is it not common practice to give every human a rabies vaccine?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 03:01 PM PDT

How do we have accurate records of hurricanes before satellites?

Posted: 23 Jul 2020 07:41 AM PDT

For example, the 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane. We have a track for it, and even a time frame for intensification and weakening.

submitted by /u/Veers358
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What seems to be the long term consequences of having had COVID-19 and how likely do they seem to be?

Posted: 23 Jul 2020 03:54 AM PDT

Why was it not a problem to manufacture enough syringes and vials for the H1N1 vaccine and now for COVID-19 this problem is mentioned almost everywhere?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 10:55 PM PDT

I know a lot of people didn't get their shot back then but didn't we have the same problem in 2008? Also it's probably still months away from being administered to the public so there should be enough time?

submitted by /u/avocado0286
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How do smell receptors release smell molecules after they're done with them?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 06:33 PM PDT

After your nose is finished with a smell molecule, by what mechanism is it released back into the atmosphere? Are the olfactory receptor proteins set on timers somehow to release the smell molecules they bind?

submitted by /u/Izzhov
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Here in Brazil theres been talks that the US bought the rights of a lot of the possible vaccines for COVID-19, is this true and how it affects other countries?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 03:02 PM PDT

Is there research showing narcissistic personality disorder is a disease?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 03:46 PM PDT

I'll start off by saying that I'm not knowledgeable about the scientific study of mental illness and I apologize if my terminology is off. I got into an argument with colleague over whether narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a real disease or not. By a "real disease" I mean a condition that has been documented and shown to affect the brain or body. He argues that NPD isn't a real condition and basically compared it to having an inflated ego. Mind you, neither of us are doctors or have studied psychology professionally. But he basically says that psychiatry and psychology are soft sciences and that there's no actual proof that NPD is a real disease that affects the brain. Further, he says that it doesn't matter that NPD is listed in the DSM or that the general psychiatric community agrees that it is an illness because ultimately these conclusions are "opinions rather than facts." He referenced how we have hard evidence that the Earth is round or that Alzheimer's causes brain cells to waste away and I honestly didn't know what to say. I referenced studies that have found structural abnormalities in the brains of people suffering from NPD but he says that those studies show a correlation rather than actual evidence of a disease. So I guess my question is whether there is published, peer-reviewed studies showing that NPD is a neurological disorder. Can we see evidence of NPD in the bodies of people suffering from the condition?

submitted by /u/mymilkywayy
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Could the barycenter of 2 similar sized planets in a double planet system be used like a lagrange point?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 06:09 PM PDT

Could we take white blood cells of someone immune to a disease (for example, COVID19 or the flu) and genetically engineer them to be compatible with someone else’s body?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 04:35 PM PDT

I don't know if this is already a thing and it's just not efficient enough yet, or if it's something that we just can't do yet, but I got this idea and was wondering if it's even possible. Could we give people who can't get the normal vaccines white blood cells instead of a normal vaccine? Could we take the white blood cells from someone who is already immune, make sure they're compatible with someone else, and then let those white blood cells help the white blood cells that aren't immune? I don't know if this is already a thing, but it could be. It might just be a case of "it costs too much and is a bit too specific of a treatment, so it isn't used that much", but I don't know anything about it and wanted to know what Reddit knows.

submitted by /u/JCraze26
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Why is Uranus and Neptune blue?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 02:45 PM PDT

I've heard before that it's because of the methane, but that is not a complete answer because methane is not blue; it's colourless. However, methane combustion results in a blue flame. Are Uranus and Neptune combusting, or is there something else I'm missing?

submitted by /u/Joshua5684
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How Is There Snow On Mount Everest If It’s Above The Clouds?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 09:10 AM PDT

How and why does lightning create a partial vacuum?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 08:48 AM PDT

I've been trying to find an answer to this question on google but the only statement I'm finding is that it creates a partial vacuum, no other details. I'm confused by this as the way I've been thinking about it is that there is a sudden (and drastic) increase in temperature, which would mean an increase in pressure. But then a partial vacuum is stated to be a "low atmospheric pressure", would this not contradict one and the other?

I'm assuming I'm probably missing or not thinking of something else that's important.

Edit: Would like to also mention this "tube" I keep saying and still don't know what creates it

submitted by /u/SloxTheDlox
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when testing if the vaccine works, do they subject the people in the study to cov sars 2 directly?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 10:22 AM PDT

Why does cork become anti-slip when wet?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 06:48 AM PDT

How much did our ancestors have to move to search for pray?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 08:16 AM PDT

why is platinum rarer then gold?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 04:22 AM PDT

Looked at a periodic table recently and noticed that platinum is directly next to gold and wondered as to why it is so much rarer,supposedly 30 times, even though it has a lower atomic number.
From my understanding a closer atomic number to 25 means that it is more stable and so i thought that if it would be more stable then it either would be more likely to occur or be less likely to decay compared to elements with a higher atomic number?
if there is a reason why it is less common does this also apply to other element or is platinum a kind of exception in this case?

submitted by /u/TheRedditsecular
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