geoffrey modest medical blogs

  The question keeps coming up over whether masks are actually useful. i will present one study on mask use in Kansas in this blog, and another on a Danish study in the next blog. --------------------- MMWR just published a county level survey in Kansas from June 1 to August 23, comparing Covid-19 incidence in counties with and without a mask mandate (see  https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6947e2.htm )    Details:  -- July 2, 2020: Kansas governor issued an executive order effective July 3 requiring people to wear a mask in public spaces, though the mandate allowed counties authority to opt out  -- as of August 11: 24 of Kansas' 105 counties accepted the state mandate or had their own mask mandate; 81 counties opted out       -- counties accepting the mandate account for two thirds of the Kansas population (1,960,703 people, 67%), spread throughout the state, though they did tend to cluster together     ...

  A recent placebo-controlled trial found that semaglutide in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) significantly increased stabilization of hepatic fibrosis, but without significant improvement in fibrosis stage (see   nafld semaglutide NEMJ2020  in dropbox, or DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2028395 )    Details:  -- 320 patients 18 to 75 years old, BMI > 25, activity score for NAFLD (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease) at least 4 with biopsy-confirmed NASH and liver fibrosis, conducted at 143 sites in 16 countries, were randomized to various doses of semaglutide vs placebo, and followed for 72 weeks in a double-blind phase 2 trial  -- mean age 55, 60% female, 70% white, BMI 36, diabetes 62%, A1c 7.3%, ALT 54, AST 43  -- liver fibrosis stage: F1 28%, F2 22%, F3 49% (230 of the 320 patients had F2 or F3 fibrosis) -- total activity score by biopsy assessment: 4.9 (score ranges from 0 to 8, higher scores with increased likeliness of NASH)...