New ideas for saving Tasmanian Devils
Posted by ERV on May 7, 2013 I cannot deal with the fact Tasmanian Devils are being driven to extinction by a contagious, untreatable cancer. I cannot deal with it. Click on the first link to see the science behind the tragedy: Numbers arent enough Click on the second link to see why I cannot deal with this, psychologically: Oh no… Cedric…
‘Scientists on brink of HIV cure’. Ugh. UUUUUUUGH. *sigh*
Posted by ERV on April 28, 2013 *sigh* *heaviersigh* One of the many problems we have when treating HIV patients is that HIV can hide (latent). So a cell can be infected with HIV, but not show any signs of being infected. The HIV provirus is just chillin in the host cell DNA, not making any viral proteins/babby viruses, so the individuals…
HPV vaccine works. NO WAY!!!!
Posted by ERV on April 21, 2013 The HPV vaccine works! Genital warts in young Australians five years into national human papillomavirus vaccination programme: national surveillance data. In Australia, they started vaccinating girls/women against HPV in 2007. In 2007, 11.5% of women under 21 (age-range most likely to get the vaccine before they were sexually active) were diagnosed with genital warts. 0.85%…
Craig Venter: True Revolution in Medicine
Posted by ERV on April 14, 2013 Craig Venter gets it. He gets it. I wish I had 5 minutes to talk to him. I dont. But we do have this ~21 min vid where he talks about some of the innovative things he and his crew are working on (phage therapy, faster ways to make influenza vaccines). True Revolution in Medicine…
Keep calm and do virology
Posted by ERV on April 8, 2013 There is another new bird flu. H7N9 Bird Flu Cases Reach 21 In China; Death Total Unchanged At Six More bird flu cases reported in China New deadly bird flu virus infects at least 20 in China The NPR article is quite good: Human Cases Of Bird Flu In China Draw Scrutiny This ‘bird flu’…
The Antarctica Files: Studying blogs of Antarctic tourists
Posted by ERV on April 3, 2013 HA! A blog post by an Antarctic tourist about a paper studying the blogs of Antarctic tourists! Being there: examining the behaviour of Antarctic tourists through their blogs *Very* fun idea! If you want to know how tourists are behaving/interacting with environment and wildlife of Antarctica when they visit, you could hitch a ride with…
Indulging Idiots: TOO MANY TOO SOON!!!!!
Posted by ERV on April 1, 2013 Step 1– Wooer makes some ridiculous claim about vaccines. This claim has no science supporting it, but it gets *worse*. There is actually not even a theoretical scientific framework where the claim could work. Claim is antiscience right out the gates. Step 2– Repeat wooer claim ad nauseum online. Step 3– Scientists actually go to…
“28% of South African school girls infected with HIV”– Good news/Bad news
Posted by ERV on March 29, 2013 So I freaked out a couple weeks ago when the statistic came out that “28% of South African school girls are infected with HIV”: South Africa: ‘Over 25% of schoolgirls HIV positive’ 28 Percent Of South African Schoolgirls Have HIV Because Of ‘Sugar Daddies,’ Health Minister Says The good news is, this statistic is WRONG:…
43.9% of parents dont care if their daughter dies.
Posted by ERV on March 27, 2013 *throwsapaperdown* Reasons for Not Vaccinating Adolescents: National Immunization Survey of Teens, 2008-2010 Our findings across 3 years show that, even as clinicians are increasingly recommending HPV, increasing numbers of parents, >40% in 2010, do not intend to vaccinate their adolescent female children with this vaccine. Parents intending to refuse are increasingly concerned about vaccine safety…
‘Dismal prognosis’ with leukemia? Nothing a GMO virus cant fix.
Posted by ERV on March 25, 2013 Using a genetically modified HIV-1 to genetically modify leukemia patients T-cells to teach them how to kill the cancer? YAWN! Thats childs play, at this point. Lets give those GMO viruses a real challenge. Lets get them to fight a real bastard form of leukemia– B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (B-ALL) in adults. In kids, B-ALL…