Yes, I do understand the concept of controlled research, sir. Resnick and Spilling do apply it. Yes, the research took place during Black's epidemic, but not among subjects who were ill. Rather, the researchers studied subjects who were in pockets of the Protectorate that the epidemic did not reach, but whose rations were cut simply because of the turmoil in budgets due to the massive losses in animal die off and as well as harvest die-off due to a lack of a labour force to tend crops and then bring the harvest in.