L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano C oViD-19 pan- demic as of 3 June 2020: Globally - Con- firmed Cases: 6,567,060+; Fatalities: 387,899+. Recovered: 3,164,250+ Italia - Confirmed Cases: 233,600+; Fatalities: 33,600+. Recovered: 160,940+ US - Confirmed Cases: 1,901,790+; Fatalities: 109,140+. Recovered: 668,670+ California - Confirmed Cases: 120,260+; Fatalities: 4,420+. Recovered: 25,500+ Los Angeles County - Confirmed Cases: 58,234+; Fatalities: 2,489. Villa Scalabrini Confirmed Cases: 8 Residents, 11 Staff (publichealth.lacounty.go v)Neo-platonism philoso- pher p a r e x c e l l e n c e, Nicholas of Kues (1401- 1464), "Cusano" as my high school philosophy professor, Fr. Montanari, called him, coined the phrase coinciden- tia oppositorum, "coinci- dence of opposites," to describe the very simple concept that opposites con- verge, co-unite and comple- ment each other to better define a concept or an object (e.g., simplistically, the han- dle of knife is not its blade: hold it by the handle, not the blade). This principle applies to learning and understanding as well: when we seek to learn and understand some- thing, we often proceed by defining what it is and what i t is not. This process of defining its nature helps us define its limits, and there- fore i t s properties. For example, a virus is an infec- tious agent just like a bac- terium, but it is not a bac- terium: antibiotics that stop the growth of bacteria are not anti-virals… antibiotics are ineffective in Covid. It was not Cusano that established the basis of Western scientific thought, rather Socrates (c. 470– 399 BC), Plato (c.425– c. 347 BC) and especially Aristotle (384–322 BC). Nonetheless, the title of father of the scientific method must go to E p i c u r u s (c. 341-c. 270 BC). In his L e t t e r t o H e r o d o t u s, Epicurus detailed a "method for studying nature" grounded in an "experimental model" that incorporated, among others, the principle of coin- cidentia oppositorum. The same principle of coincidentia oppositorum, and the same assiduous sci- entific method applies to studying this pandemic. Scientific progress often makes "jumps" in under- standing when not only the phenomena under study are considered as they are, but also how (and why) they are not. The traditional prag- matic linear forward think- ing of science is aided by lat- eral thinking. In the numbers proffered above, we note this issue in not only the numbers of cases and deaths, but also the number of patients who have recovered (data from John Hopkins University). Two observations are imme- diately striking: (1) the pro- portion of total cases to recovered patients is not uniform across the world (the closer to 1.0, the more patients have recovered; the larger the ratio, the fewer the patients have recover relative to the total): for example, world total cases/recovered: 2.075, Philippines: 4.755, US: 2.762, Brazil: 2.197, France: 2.184, Russia: 2.155, Italy: 1.452, Saudi Arabia: 1.338, Norway: 1.097, Switzerland: 1.080, New Zealand: 1.016, etc.; (2) we do not know, yet, what enables patients infect- ed with the 2 nd Corona virus to produce SARS, (SARS-Cov2) and who developed the Corona Virus Disease of 2019, CoViD-19, to recover. Many patients infected with the virus never show symptoms (60-70%); many die, some in a matter of days, most within weeks. But a few CoViD-19 patients recover, and we do not know why or how. Yes, it might be antibod- ies in plasma – certainly. Yes, it could be T cells that have matured to kill cells infected by the virus – certainly. Yes, the treatment and interventions provided by our nurses and doctors and EMS – our true heroes in this unfolding story – their concerted indefatigable labor of love most likely sig- nificantly contribute – undoubtedly. But what else, anything else? All experts agree that when we will understand all the variables that determine if a patient recovers from CoViD-19, we will have turned a significant corner. When we will have under- stood what is so special of CoViD-19 patients in certain countries that permit most of them to recover, or alter- natively, ( c o i n c i d e n t i a o p p o s i t o r u m) what is so detrimental to CoViD-19 patients in other countries that pushes the proportion of recovered so low, then we will end this pandemic world-wide. We all have seen reports about "naturalistic reme- dies" to combat CoViD-19, or micro-nutrient supple- ments to boost our immuni- ty. Most are probably valu- able, but none have been proven to effectively control the wide spectrum of pathologies that emerge in CoViD-19, or to prevent its causative agent: SARS-Cov2, a virus whose infection is both fulminating and dead- ly. A case should be made for micro-nutrients such as vita- mins, because they are, by definition, essential for pre- serving the wellbeing of the organism. Their science- based properties are well established, ever since Scottish surgeon James Lind reported that citrus juice could help prevent scurvy, and heal patients afflicted with malnutrition in 1747. Per Saperne Di Più: CoViD-19, a word with Francesco Chiappelli Issue 6, Dott. Francesco Chiappelli, Prof. emeritus UCLA Center for the Health Sciences The main ingredient, vita- min C (VitC), was character- ized two centuries later, in 1920. VitA was described in 1913, as was VitB1 (VitB2 would wait until 1920, VitB3 until 1936, VitB12 until 1948, and so on). VitD (Calciferol) was discovered for its beneficial effects on bone, mediated by calcium metabolism, by John Hopkins Univ. Professor Elmer Verner McCollum and collaborators in 1920. VitD is synthesized fol- lowing exposure to sunlight, and technically is a pro-hor- mone. VitD from diet is inactive, and must be metabolized to its active pre- form, VitD3 (cholecalciferol) and VitD2 (ergocalciferol). The former is produced to calcifediol and the latter to ergocalciferol in the liver. Together, they are measured in the blood as 25(OH)D to determine a person's VitD status. In the kidney, 25(OH)D is cleaved to pro- duce Calcitriol, the active form of VitD3. Several recent public health reports have estab- lished that the aging popula- tion and the elderly, as well as ethnic minorities and urban minorities are alarm- ingly deficient in 25(OH)D. This is a serious problem because VitD is critical not only for bone health, but also for heart muscle and cardiovascular health in general, for diabetes type II prevention or control, for preventing or controlling at least two of the major forms of human inflammatory bowel disease: Crohn's dis- ease and ulcerative colitis, as well as for activating the innate and dampening the adaptive immune systems, in large part by regulating the cytokines produced and released during a normal immune response to a bacte- rial or viral infection, such as SARS-Cov2 – that is to say, in controlling the cytokine storm. Scientific reports on the putative effect and role of VitD in CoViD-19 are still inconclusive. So, we must not take our face masks down and take loads of VitD Continued to page 18 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

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