I have to agree - it has always bothered me on my college campus, which has a hospital, that the Doctors will come into the cafeteria with their lab coats on. Ew, a lot.

You see them everywhere -- nurses, doctors and medical technicians in scrubs or lab coats. They shop in them, take buses and trains in them, go to restaurants in them, and wear them home. What you can't see on these garments are the bacteria that could kill you.

In a hospital, C. diff contaminates virtually every surface.

Imagine sliding into a restaurant booth after a nurse has left the germ on the table or seat. You could easily pick it up on your hands and then swallow it with your sandwich.

From 2004:

Who wants to eat at a chain where the food has almost no character?

From 2007:

"I might have had the hefeweizen," he said. "But I’m not going to kill them for it."

From 2008:

Those that died of kuru were highly regarded as sources of food, because they had layers of fat which resembled pork. It was primarily the Fore women who took part in this ritual. Often they would feed morsels of brain to young children and elderly relatives. Among the tribe, it was, therefore, women, children and the elderly who most often became infected.

Recall:

Worry about the wrong things puts us at greater risk of the diseases that should be concerning us in the first place.

You see:

That's not grime you're seeing, it's historical charm.

Finally:

Hi. Um, I'm just wondering, have you got any kind of like, sort of punky, electronica, kind of grime, kind of like, new wave grime, kind of maybe like more broken beats, like kinda dubby broken beats, but a little bit kind of soulful ...? but kinda drum and bassy, but kinda more broken drum and bass, like sort of broken beats, like break-beat broken kind of drum and bass ... do you know what I mean? No?

Hospital Scrubs Are a Germy, Deadly Mess

Mike the Usurper wrote:

Decius wrote:

Mike the Usurper wrote:
The current strain of bird flu is a great hazard to birds, and probably to the people who handle them, but making a vaccine for the current strain will do a whole lot of nothing other than throw yet more money down a hole.

Can you site a reference for this? Is it clear that a vaccine for the present strain would not produce antibodies that are effective against mutant strains?

Here's one of the places it is noted, but this was something that was heavily discussed after the botch with last year's flu vaccine. They need the actual pathogen, and while close might help, it needs to be close enough.

The best way to do this is have the infrastructure ready to go like I said. The problem is, there's no money in vaccines, so the impetus for the private sector just isn't there. There IS money in the anti-flu drugs like Tamiflu (with a price tag of $60).

Vaccines are always a hit or miss. At the time that people get their annual flu shot, doctors/scientists are always unsure about whether or not the flu shot will actually help against the current year's flu. The real problem is the technology of making the vaccines. They can't "have an infastructure ready to go" to make a vaccine, because due to technical challenges, it takes six months to actually make the vaccine. That is why you get your flu shot before/right at the start of flu season as opposed to right after the start of flu season, when they would be able to design a vaccine that specifically target the current year's flu virus. I don't agree that it is a waste of money to have avian flu vaccines around. Although right now, avian flu seems to be most harmful to birds, the particular strain (H5N1) is interesting, and will be monitored closely by the CDC and the WHO. Whereas most of the time, flu would normally be most fatal to young children (who haven't had the time to develop a hefty aquired immunity system) and older people (who are susceptible to illness), the avian flu (much like the deadly 1918 pandemic strain) has been seen to affect cytokine activity (cytokines being signalling molecules for the immune system), thus becoming very dangerous for people in any age group. The 1918 pandemic was so deadly because it caused people's immune system to start attacking their lungs...so it was especially lethal to people with healthy immune systems (people in their 20s and 30s). Thus, if H5N1 turns into a pandemic, it could be quite serious, and so having a vaccine around - even if it isn't perfect - is important. I do agree that spending money on making drugs such as Tamiflu is also important (H5N1 is currently suceptible to these neuraminidase inhibitors), however, that can't be the only source of defence against a virus, because it is only effective if taken within 48 hours of symptoms appearing. As well, if the public sees money being funnelled into Tamiflu, they will start stockpiling it (actually, this has already been rumored to have started), or worst, taking it for symptoms that aren't actually the flu, thus generating resistance. Basically, I think we really need to be funding the research of vaccine production...if we could generate a faster way to produce vaccines, that would be the best thing. There are several groups studying this, and several models that are in clinical trials at the moment.
Anyway, thats the end of my rant for the evening, but if you are interested in reading more on this subject, I direct you to the November 2005 issue of Scientific American. They have a very informative and interesting article in there about preparing for potential pandemics.

RE: Bush Outlines $7.1B Flu-Fighting Strategy

Dear Memestreamers:

As a biochemist...I care about the health of your scrotum. Please make sure to fully read the scrotal safety commissions report on scrotal safety.....

Have fun, but be protected!

I care about your scrotum

] The team%u2019s discovery lays the foundation for many
] creative approaches to developing new therapies for HIV
] infection and AIDS, Sodroski says. One possibility is
] that monkey TRIM5-alpha could be delivered to HIV
] patients via gene therapy to rescue as-yet-uninfected
] cells. Alternatively, Sodroski offers, because humans
] make a protein that is 87 percent identical,
] investigators might also focus on rendering the human
] version of TRIM5-alpha more potent.

[ The sooner the better. -k]

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Monkey Protein Blocks HIV

A Dutch virologist warned hospital workers and health officials in Bangkok that pigs which feed on chicken droppings could catch bird flu. In turn, the infected pigs could pass the bird flu to humans....

[super - Nano]

Bird flu can infect pigs - (United Press International)

] EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) -- Fear of mad cow disease hasn't
] kept Cecelia Coan from eating her beloved deep-fried cow
] brain sandwiches.

There is nothing I can add to this.

[Thats freakin disgusting. Thats all I have to say:) - Nano]

Brain Sandwiches

] We found that heavy coffee consumption substantially
] reduced the risk of Type 2 diabetes in both men and women

Rattle is the ginipig for this test. We shall see if his 3 pot a day coffee intake wards off diabetes. Now taking bets.

CBS News | Coffee Cuts Risk Of Diabetes | January 5, 2004 20:13:38

Balls Deep wrote:
] ] Genetic testing confirms that the cow diagnosed with the
] ] first U.S. case of mad cow disease was born in Canada
]
] It's official, the Canadians are trying to do us in. All
] Canadians should be treated as Enemy Combatants.

Hey now....watch it:P
-Nano

RE: ajc.com | News | DNA on mad cow Holstein

] In 2002, 80 percent of streams sampled by the U.S.
] Geological Survey showed evidence of drugs, hormones,
] steroids and personal care products such as soaps and
] perfumes. The U.S.G.S. tested 139 rivers in 30 states.

Hrm...this isn't good to see....this could have serious ecological consequences

Frogs, fish and pharmaceuticals a troubling brew

] Intravenous doses of a synthetic component of "good"
] cholesterol reduced artery disease in just six weeks in a
] small study with startlingly big implications for
] treating the nation's No. 1 killer.
]
] "The concept is sort of liquid Drano for the coronary
] arteries," said Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic
] cardiologist who led the study.
]
] Larger and longer studies need to be done to determine if
] the experimental treatment will translate into fewer
] deaths, but the early results are promising, said Dr.
] Daniel Rader, director of preventive cardiology at the
] University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
]
] The treatment used a laboratory-produced version of an
] unusually effective form of HDL, the good cholesterol
] that helps protect against heart disease by removing
] plaque, or fatty buildups, from the bloodstream.
]
] "This is clearly on the level of a breakthrough that will
] have far-reaching implications," pointing the way toward
] a rapid treatment for fatty buildups, said Dr. Bryan
] Brewer, chief of molecular diseases at the National
] Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Kick ass!

[Science is soooooo rad sometimes. Now, who wants to go grab some burgers and fries?;) - Nano]

New treatment works like 'liquid Drano for arteries'