Roger Seheult
MedCram Videos
Roger Seheult is a physician, educator, and co-founder of MedCram Videos who has treated patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. His published research includes cost-effectiveness evaluations of vilobelimab for mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients. Additionally, his work has examined the physiological effects of prophylactic bosentan on pulmonary artery pressure and exercise capacity at high altitude.
49 claims checked on air: 3 context 3 contradicted 2 overstated 33 supported 8 unverified 5 flagged
What they said on air - flagged
A British Medical Journal meta-analysis by Martineau and colleagues showed that vitamin D supplementation significantly reduced acute respiratory tract infections by 50%.
"Martineau, who is the uh the lead author on that British Medical Journal uh meta-analysis that was done a number of years ago now, showed that supplementation with vitamin D decreased acute chest infections by 50% significantly uh in in that study." (said at 0:22:24)
The 2017 BMJ individual participant data meta-analysis by Martineau and colleagues (25 randomized controlled trials, 10,933 participants) found that vitamin D supplementation significantly reduced the overall risk of acute respiratory tract infections, but by approximately 12% across all participants (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.88, 95% CI 0.81 to 0.96), not 50%. Substantial reductions were observed only in specific subgroups: participants receiving daily or weekly dosing who were severely vitamin D deficient (baseline 25-hydroxyvitamin D < 25 nmol/L) experienced a 70% reduction (aOR 0.30, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.53), whereas bolus dosing showed no statistically significant benefit.
The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) showed that vitamin D supplementation provided health benefits.
"Also in the the longer aging uh health study called TILDA in in Ireland showed that uh vitamin D supplementation was beneficial." (said at 0:22:34)
The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) is an observational prospective cohort study of community-dwelling older adults in Ireland. Data from TILDA established that low blood serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (vitamin D deficiency) were associated with adverse health markers and outcomes, including increased risk of incident depression, elevated C-reactive protein (inflammation), and higher risk of incident prediabetes. TILDA also confirmed that vitamin D supplement users had higher serum vitamin D levels. However, as an observational cohort study rather than an interventional clinical trial, TILDA demonstrated observational associations with serum vitamin D status rather than directly testing or proving the therapeutic health benefits of vitamin D supplementation.
- supports: The Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency and the Determinants of 25(OH)D Concentration in Ol… (The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences 2018) · cited 92x in the literature
"The main predictors (p < .05) of 25(OH)D concentration were supplement use (coefficient nmol/L: 27.2 [95% CI: 15.3-39.2])" (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - context: Vitamin D Deficiency Is Associated With an Increased Likelihood of Incident Depression in … (Journal of the American Medical Directors Association 2019) · cited 61x in the literature
"This study demonstrates that vitamin D deficiency is associated with a significant increase in the likelihood of developing depression in later life." (abstract, conclusions, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - context: Association between vitamin D deficiency and the risk of prevalent type 2 diabetes and inc… (EClinicalMedicine 2022) · cited 37x in the literature
"In longitudinal analyses evaluating diabetes status 4 years later, there was a 62% increased likelihood (RRR: 1·62, 95% CI: 1·12, 2·35; p = 0·011) of developing prediabetes for those with vitamin D <30 nmol/L compared to those with ≥75 nmol/L." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - context: Vitamin D status & associations with inflammation in older adults. (PloS one 2023) · cited 16x in the literature
"In conclusion older adults with deficient vitamin D status had higher levels of inflammation as measured by CRP." (abstract, conclusions, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi)
Hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were found to have significantly lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels than symptomatic patients hospitalized with similar symptoms who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2.
"We see people being admitted to the hospital had lower rates than those that had similar symptoms but were not SARS-CoV-2 positive." (said at 0:25:40)
Observational research directly evaluating hospitalized COVID-19 patients alongside hospitalized symptomatic controls who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 found no statistically significant difference in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels between the two groups.
Heating human subjects in a 39°C water bath elevates interferon and TNF levels, and monocytes exposed to LPS produced 10 times higher interferon at 39°C compared to lower temperatures.
"And what they found was that they were able to independently of of these uh potential mutations that fever or or temperature itself was able to cause a secretion, an elevation in interferon, tumor necrosis factor, those sorts of things. There's one study that they did where they took subjects, put them in hot water baths at at various degrees... interferon levels were 10 times higher once they got up to about 39° uh centigrade" (said at 1:21:20)
The claim asserts that immersing human subjects in a hot water bath to reach ~39°C elevates interferon (IFN) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) by up to 10-fold. In controlled human experimental trials examining hot water bath hyperthermia (e.g., raising core temperature to 39.5°C), hyperthermia did not significantly elevate ex vivo production of interferon-gamma or TNF-beta from stimulated blood mononuclear cells. Furthermore, in vitro studies of human mononuclear cells cultured at febrile temperatures (e.g., 39–40°C) generally demonstrate modest or suppressed 24-hour accumulation of TNF-alpha and fail to show a 10-fold increase in interferon secretion.
In the cell, mRNA remains in the cytoplasm and does not enter the nucleus.
"mRNA is in the cytoplasm of the cell. It's not in the nucleus of the cell." (said at 1:47:24)
In eukaryotic cells, messenger RNA (mRNA) is transcribed from DNA and undergoes essential processing steps—such as 5' capping, splicing, and assembly into messenger ribonucleoprotein complexes—within the nucleus before being exported across the nuclear pore complex into the cytoplasm for translation. The assertion that mRNA is not in the nucleus of the cell is contradicted by standard eukaryotic cell biology.
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