Weekly Health Quiz: COVID-19, Salmon and Genes

1 Which of the following statements is correct?

• Giving critically ill COVID-19 patients high doses of vitamin D significantly reduces the number of days they spend in the ICU

  Research shows giving critically ill COVID-19 patients high doses of vitamin D significantly reduced the number of days they had to spend in the ICU. They were also less likely to need ventilation. Learn more.

• Giving critically ill COVID-19 patients high doses of vitamin D has no impact on the length of hospitalization
• There's no evidence vitamin D impacts COVID-19 outcomes
• Evidence shows 100% of COVID-19 cases can be avoided with a vitamin D level of 60 ng/mL

2 To create the vaccine-acquired herd immunity required to end the pandemic, COVID-19 vaccines must be able to:

• Minimize symptoms of infection
• Reduce risk of infection

  To create the vaccine-acquired herd immunity required to end the pandemic, COVID-19 vaccines must actually reduce the risk of infection. Learn more.

• Increase asymptomatic cases
• Increase the risk of infection

3 Which of the following appears to play an important role in COVID-19, influencing COVID-19-specific disease processes such as viral replication and invasion, cytokine storm induction, adaptive immunity and hypercoagulability?

• Vitamin A
• Vitamin K, K2 in particular
• B vitamins, niacin (B3) in particular

  B vitamins can influence several COVID-19-specific disease processes, including viral replication and invasion, cytokine storm induction, adaptive immunity and hypercoagulability. Niacin appears particularly important. According to a recent paper, there appears to be a causative link between low niacin status and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Learn more.

• Vitamin D2 specifically

4 Compared to wild-caught salmon, farmed salmon contains:

• Higher amounts of omega-3 and lower amounts of omega-6
• The same ratios of fats and vitamins as wild-caught salmon
• Healthier ratios of omega-3 to omega-6
• Higher amounts of omega-6 and lower amounts of omega-3 and vitamin D

  Farmed salmon have the nutritional drawbacks of containing only half the omega-3 of wild salmon and four to eight times less vitamin D, while having more than 5.5 times the amount of harmful omega-6. Learn more.

5 According to the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, which of the following companies has monopoly power and is using that power to eliminate its competition?

• Amazon and Apple
• Facebook
• Google
• All of the above

  According to an October 2020 report by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google all have monopoly power and are using that power to rid themselves of competition. Learn more.

6 Who is the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit U.S. organization that has worked closely with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China?

• Peter Daszak

  Peter Daszak, Ph.D., is the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit organization focused on pandemic prevention that has worked closely with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Daszak played a central role in the plot to obscure the lab origin of SARS-CoV-2 by crafting a scientific statement condemning such inquiries as "conspiracy theory." Despite that, he has been assigned to two separate committees tasked with identifying the source of SARS-CoV-2. Learn more.

• Matthew Pottinger
• Shi Zhengli
• Billy Bostickson

7 More than 99% of your genes come from which of the following?

• Your chromosomes
• Your microbes (microbiome)

  More than 99% of your genes come from microbes, not your chromosomes. Learn more.

• Viruses
• Your father