Posts

Nicotinamide riboside vs. SARS-coV-2 update 2020-07-08T19:50:41.408Z
Why there's an ethanol glut and sanitizer shortage (WSJ) 2020-05-09T15:08:42.408Z
Nicotinamide riboside and SARS-CoV-2 2020-05-01T16:10:22.046Z

Comments

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Why We Age, Part 2: Non-adaptive theories · 2020-05-30T04:59:57.322Z · LW · GW

Look at how declining NAD+ levels in age shut down the cellular innate immunity system... it automatically kills off the old during epidemics.

And yes, this is another attempt by me to get you to pay attention to the recent developments in NAD+ boosting vs. coronavirus... there's finally a human trial on this in Denmark. Everyone please try to live long enough to worry about aging ;)

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/history/NCT04407390?V_1=View#StudyPageTop

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on 162 benefits of coronavirus · 2020-05-16T16:56:23.522Z · LW · GW

Those are all good points. One problem is that when the parasitic class prints itself a few trillion, it justifies it by also doing tax-supported "rescues" of obsolete companies, a terrible idea as your second paragraph implies.

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on 162 benefits of coronavirus · 2020-05-15T18:13:44.588Z · LW · GW

You could say the same about WW2... and a lot of idiots have. Trillions of dollars worth of destruction (mostly from the "recovery programs", aka bailout opportunities grabbed by the upper-class twits) does not help anyone achieve any legitimate goals.

Those who talk about "less materialism" while supporting transfer programs from my barely solvent self to them can stuff it.

I'd accept the "practice for a more serious pandemic" one... that's true. Problem is that there is no sign of anyone working on stopping FDA and CDC from banning PCR kits for the NEXT epidemic either... in fact, they'll both get big budget boosts from the publicity they've generated by making it impossible to even LOOK for the virus until late March for most places...

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Nicotinamide riboside and SARS-CoV-2 · 2020-05-11T20:56:03.121Z · LW · GW

Thanks!

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Why there's an ethanol glut and sanitizer shortage (WSJ) · 2020-05-11T20:55:34.634Z · LW · GW

(?) This is LessWrong... I thought everyone was either rich enough to sub to the big papers, or clever enough to get around the paywalls? If I had known that this club was going to accept me as a member, I shouldn't have joined!

Comment by william-walker on [deleted post] 2020-05-08T12:16:04.036Z

Yes, I've been working from home since March, so have "ramped up physical training" in the sense that the borderline-personality collie demands that I run 20 miles per day now ;)

Although vaccines won't be available, there are other strategies available now that can reduce severity. One is NAD+ boosting, that ameliorates the single biggest defect in old cells, the downregulation of PARP10:

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/nq4g/tru-niagen-immense-energy

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on LW Women- Minimizing the Inferential Distance · 2020-05-07T16:35:01.733Z · LW · GW

You girls all seem like normal nerds, what's the issue ;)

I get the "need equipment the right size" thing, our gun range keeps some short LOP stocks around for any women that wants to take up shooting.

BTW, I was told to learn to cook so I didn't starve to death... not sure that was actually some kind of gender abuse ;)

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Nicotinamide riboside and SARS-CoV-2 · 2020-05-07T16:23:38.783Z · LW · GW

I did not know that... I can't spare many neurons, I'd better check it out.

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Nicotinamide riboside and SARS-CoV-2 · 2020-05-05T23:44:04.346Z · LW · GW

The apoptosis pathway requires the mitochondria to be on... this has been noted since Warburg in 1935 (look up Warburg Effect).

More likely that NR would enable apoptosis to work correctly. Most of the time. Anything can happen with freakin' aneuploid cells, but that's how I would bet. Also, try to stop cells from going aneuploid in first place... this came up in the early days of telomerase research. Lengthening telomeres "sounds" like it would increase cancer, but it doesn't, if it's just from temporary activation (and I dunno why, but lengthening telomeres lenthens lifespans even in animals like mice with crazy long telomeres and telomerase on in every single cell).

Lengthening telomeres in mid-life actually prevents end-fusion events which can make cells go totally wacky (BTW, I hate using aneuploids like HeLa and then claiming you've said something about human cells... I've looked at thousands of those things in the cyto lab, and they ain't even slightly human.)

More from Brenner on SARS-CoV-2 and NAD+:

https://twitter.com/CharlesMBrenner/status/1251813463581736961

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Seasonality of COVID-19, Other Coronaviruses, and Influenza · 2020-05-05T20:10:29.375Z · LW · GW

Curve keeps dropping, hopefully this virus is as seasonal as most of its kind:

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/coronavirus-deaths-united-states-each-day-2020-n1177936

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Seasonality of COVID-19, Other Coronaviruses, and Influenza · 2020-05-04T17:56:34.968Z · LW · GW

Thanks for clearing that up for me, I've read LessWrong for years but haven't tried to post much before the virus gave me some free time, I'm still getting used to the format.

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Does the 14-month vaccine safety test make sense for COVID-19? · 2020-05-04T00:51:03.417Z · LW · GW

You're right, you can overlap Phases if the FDA cooperates.

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Does the 14-month vaccine safety test make sense for COVID-19? · 2020-05-04T00:48:41.367Z · LW · GW

In 1957 they put together a flu vaccine in four months.


Of course, in 1969 we had flight-ready NERVA nuclear rocket engines. In 1962, Orion was ready for nuclear flight... progress doesn't always go in a straight line.

Least of all in biotech, where our incentives are so twisted that we use the most dangerous treatments first.

Moderna says they'll have their RNA vaccine in production by July, BTW. And there are safer treatments under study:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.17.047480v1

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Seasonality of COVID-19, Other Coronaviruses, and Influenza · 2020-05-03T23:41:58.608Z · LW · GW

Look up how much vitamin D you get from an hour of full-body sun exposure... if Vitamin D weakened defense against SARS-CoV-2 (instead of helping, as it does against other viruses), the Australians and Indians would have trouble ;)

...when actually they're doing much better than the US.

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on What will happen to supply chains in the era of COVID-19? · 2020-05-03T23:28:18.738Z · LW · GW

One thing we can do is eliminate inventory taxes... this is one reason that companies were forced into just-in-time. We currently punish people for being prepared for any emergency ;)

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Nicotinamide riboside and SARS-CoV-2 · 2020-05-03T23:25:09.618Z · LW · GW

Thanks! Fixed now.

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Seasonality of COVID-19, Other Coronaviruses, and Influenza · 2020-05-03T23:21:40.942Z · LW · GW

Sure, that's why he disclosed. (Although you're incorrect about "profitable", so far ;)

But the Sinclair lab at Harvard hates Brenner, Iowa, and apple pie, yet came to similar conclusions:

https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202004.0548/v1

As far as lung health goes, tuberculosis prevalence is inversely correlated with B3 (of any kind, not just NR). This isn't some $@#! malaria drug or Ebola has-been, there's no side-effect downside.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3825668/

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Interview with Aubrey de Grey, chief science officer of the SENS Research Foundation · 2020-05-01T20:32:55.118Z · LW · GW

As someone who was immortalizing various cells with telomerase vectors in 2001 in the Shay-Wright lab, it's shocking to see the lack of study of telomerase activation. In 2020, you can either take Centella asiatica and astragalus like a Taoist monk, or you can use AAV-vector telomerase with no idea what it will do (it's probably not a great idea, since only rodents keep their telomerase on...)

Where are all the billionaires into cryonics that we see on Futurama (which is itself getting old...)

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on What should we do once infected with COVID-19? · 2020-05-01T17:41:11.690Z · LW · GW

Agree with the Vitamin D, C, and zinc. Also take nicotinamide riboside (a B3 variant) to raise PARP10 levels. (Recent paper on this):

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.17.047480v2


And don't forget to stagger around the neighborhood biting everyone... millions of movie fans have been waiting for this for decades.

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Seasonality of COVID-19, Other Coronaviruses, and Influenza · 2020-05-01T16:26:15.409Z · LW · GW

Is anyone using the short school day /two classes method? Given how the Finnish system works, it sounds promising.

Re susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, I think this paper has a lot of the answer, especially for older people:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.17.047480v2

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Covid-19 4/30: Stuck in Limbo · 2020-05-01T16:12:33.971Z · LW · GW

Agree that sending young people back first makes sense. Dr. Brenner's recent paper may explain why older people are at more risk, and how to fix the problem:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.17.047480v2

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Coronavirus Justified Practical Advice Summary · 2020-05-01T16:06:50.540Z · LW · GW

LA Times article mentions the nicotinamide riboside/PARP10 connection from Brenner's paper. Taking NR is probably important and certainly safe.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-01/promises-covid-19-vaccine-therapeutics-cure

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Why anything that can be for-profit, should be · 2020-04-30T16:06:06.761Z · LW · GW

Except that in the real world, only regulations can enforce monopolies.... without force, there's no way to stop other firms entering and providing services for less.

The current "health care" in the US has the disadvantages of both top-down control systems AND the profit motive, of course.... so again, we already have top-down enforced monopoly.

http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/walker/walker6.html

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Mati_Roy's Shortform · 2020-04-28T22:38:44.714Z · LW · GW

NAD+ boosting (NR now, keep an eye on NRH for future).

CoQ10, NAC, keep D levels up in winter.

Telomerase activation (Centella asiatica, astragalus, eventually synthetics if Sierra Sciences gets its TRAP screen funded again or if the Chinese get tired of waiting on US technology...)

NR, C, D, Zinc for SARS-CoV-2 right now, if you're not already.

Become billionaire, move out of FDA zone, have some AAV-vector gene modifications... maybe some extra p53 copies, like the Pachyderms? Fund more work on Bowhead Whale comparative genetics. Fund a company to commercially freeze and store transplant organs, to perfect a freezing protocol (I've seen Alcor's...)

Main thing we need is a country where it's legal and economically possible to develop and sell anti-agathic technology... even a billionaire can't substitute for the whole market.

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Should we be reassessing the argument for globalization? · 2020-04-28T22:38:44.714Z · LW · GW

No. We should be re-assessing the idea of allowing the FDA to stop the Mayo Clinic, Co-Diagnostics, Roche, et al from producing PCR test kits during epidemics. Shutting down the Principle Of Comparative Advantage is not an option.

We should all personally re-assess our basement stockpiles, as well... going to the grocery to fight over toilet paper on the first day of the Zombie Apocalypse or some nuclear tiff, is not a reasonable plan. (My own stockpile had me on Planet Smug until I ran out of canned fruit... ;)

Comment by william-walker on [deleted post] 2020-04-28T22:38:44.714Z

Start with the truths applicable to biological aging, or you'll never get to the rest of them.

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on What are the relative speeds of AI capabilities and AI safety? · 2020-04-28T22:38:44.714Z · LW · GW

Let's just save time by jumping to to the place where the AI in charge of AI Safety goes Foom and takes us back to the Stone Age "for safety" ;)

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on The Chilling Effect of Confiscation · 2020-04-28T22:38:44.714Z · LW · GW

I agree with CellBioGuy. Coincidentally I was a Cell Bio Guy... guess we were hardened by the Incubator Space Wars and their bitter aftermath ;)

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Kevin's Shortform · 2020-04-28T22:38:44.714Z · LW · GW

I'd emphasize going back in logical order, e.g. people with positive antibody tests, under 30, that don't live with old people first, and so on.

A lot of Third World people are going to die from lack of food, medicine, and the rest of poverty, while we try to keep a few people in nursing homes "alive" for another month.

I'm FOR putting MUCH more effort into actually stopping SARS and the flu, but it has to be done effectively, not just as some new excuse for bailing out Freddie and Fannie..

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Solar system colonisation might not be driven by economics · 2020-04-28T22:38:44.714Z · LW · GW

You mine in space to build in space, mostly. But removing the ecological stress of deep mining, sea mining, and processing oxides instead of pure metals is not minor.

He-3 is certainly worth shipping back to Earth (for space nuts to use to fuel He-3 mining ships, obviously).

We've gotten too used to politically generated stagnation, with resources burned up in phony wars and competition for corporate welfare... people in 1910, with 6% economic growth rates, were a lot more able to understand that it was time to start thinking about Tsiolovsky's ideas.

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on It's Not About The Nail · 2020-04-28T22:38:44.714Z · LW · GW

Now we can launch into the "I could fix this in ten seconds if you'd stop lamenting it for ten seconds" discussion ;)

Never did understand why that Cimmerian would hang around listening to the lamenting for hour after hour... barbarians are strange.

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on TurnTrout's shortform feed · 2020-04-28T22:38:44.714Z · LW · GW

Nice! Thanks!

Comment by William Walker (william-walker) on Is ethics a memetic trap ? · 2020-04-28T22:38:44.714Z · LW · GW

You forgot to check the old lady for a suicide belt before helping her across the street...

Ethics is more complicated than it looks. And it's way too complex and expensive to do much of it before you're independently wealthy. Get on your feet first.