Face masks do not completely prevent transmission of respiratory infections, but masked individuals are likely to inhale fewer infectious particles. If smaller infectious doses tend to yield milder infections, yet ultimately induce similar levels of immunity, then masking could reduce the prevalence of severe disease even if the total number of infections is unaffected. It has been suggested that this effect of masking is analogous to the pre-vaccination practice of variolation for smallpox, whereby susceptible individuals were intentionally infected with small doses of live virus (and often acquired immunity without severe disease). We present a simple epidemiological model in which mask-induced variolation causes milder infections, potentially with lower transmission rate and/or different duration. We derive relationships between the effectiveness of mask-induced variolation and important epidemiological metrics (the basic reproduction number and initial epidemic growth rate, and the peak prevalence, attack rate and equilibrium prevalence of severe infections). We illustrate our results using parameter estimates for the original SARS-CoV-2 wild-type virus, as well as the Alpha, Delta and Omicron variants. Our results suggest that if variolation is a genuine side-effect of masking, then the importance of face masks as a tool for reducing healthcare burdens from COVID-19 may be under-appreciated.
The extent to which music research has penetrated the medical science literature relative to other forms of research remains unclear. We sought to explore temporal changes in the number of music related publications relative to all medical literature as well as prespecified research subdomains of drug therapy, alternative therapy, and neuroscience between 1970 and 2019. We conducted a bibliometric review in which we quantified the number of annual publications between 1970 and 2019 using MEDLINE (PUBMED) search engine and mesh terms of “Music”; “Drug therapy”; “Alternative Medicine”; “Neuroscience”. The number of publications were quantified relative to all publications within their corresponding years. We also examined the types of journals, geographical location of publication (Based on corresponding author), and journal impact factors. To ensure appropriate content, we conducted a hand review of a random 400 abstracts to ensure they met appropriate criteria for music-medical research. We used log-linear regression, to test differences in growth rates. We determined that the relative growth in the number of music publications accelerated at a rate higher than all medical related publications or those confined to drug therapy. The proliferation of music research was attributable to higher rates of neuroscience, alternative therapy, and music therapy research. In conclusion, the temporal growth in number of music research publications relative to other comparators over the past 50 years underscores the importance, relevance, and maturation of music as an evolving discipline of contemporary medical science.
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