Vaccination has changed little since the time of Louis Pasteur. The method involves deliberately injecting a dead or inactivate organism into a person to stimulate their immune system to produce cells that fight off the fully fledged organism.
However, many infections have resisted all attempts at producing vaccines.
One of these is the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), which is usually the cause of genital herpes.
Now Michal Margalith at Vical, a biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego, says he and colleagues have developed an HSV-2 vaccine using the emerging technology of DNA vaccines.
This involves injecting the patient with a circular piece of DNA called a plasmid that programs their cells to produce HSV-2 proteins that trigger an immune response. That should train the vaccinated person's immune system to fight off the real virus.
The team says that the technique has successfully produced an immune response in mice. However, DNA vaccines are still highly experimental in humans.
Read the full genital herpes vaccine patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
Archive for April, 2008
Genital herpes vaccine
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008Be Happy with Yourself
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
The magic of feeling well is to be Happy with yourself. Feeling well is priceless. In order to attract to our life what we wish we need to first have consideration how well we feel with ourselves, our life, our relationships and our assets. When we are conscious of what we have and what we [...]
Microwave rock drill
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
Tunnelling through soft ground is relatively easy. Set a drilling machine to work in hard rock such as granite or basalt, though, and the rate of progress drops dramatically because of slow cutting speed and the increased rate at which drill bits wear out.One way to speed up drilling would be to heat up the rock ahead, causing it to crack. Engineers have attempted to do this using gas jets, lasers and even electric heaters, but with little success, says Jacques Ouelett, a mining engineer at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Instead, he suggests fitting a drilling head with a low energy microwave generator to heat rock just ahead of the drill bit. This fractures the rock efficiently making it much easier to cut.
Read the full microwave rock drill patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
Success: What Leads to Success?
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
Richard St. John did a 3 minutes presentation in TED: Ideas worth spreading about the Secrets of success. I could not agree more to what he just found after interviewing 500 people for 7 years and resume in 8 words the Secrets of Success. So, what leads to success? 1. Passion Passion is all, if [...]
Why 99% of the “secrets” you find on the Internet might be just worthless?
Monday, April 28th, 2008
The reason I started this blog on the first place was because I wanted to share Ideas, secrets, opinions and experiences that might help you shortcut your way to Success. No matter what you are looking for in your life the Holy grail resides inside you. You are the one with the ability to manipulate [...]
Make the Best Business Deals by knowing your Client
Friday, April 25th, 2008
An often overlooked sales method is to just know your client in a more personal way. Normally, people do business just as good as they tend to manage their own personal lifes, so why not then look deep into the person? I have personally took my time to know all my bosses and all the [...]
Impress your Boss and Secure your Job
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
Many times I have asked myself up to the point of having it experienced it, what are the mains skills a Boss is looking for in an employee?. I say “up to the point of having experienced it” because I did and then I read about it just to confirm it. Obviously there is no [...]
Brain Protein May Impact Eating Habits
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
Researchers have found that a protein in the brain may have some significant influence on the ability to feel full.
Impairments in Language Development Can Be Detected in Infants as Young as Three Months
Saturday, April 12th, 2008
Speech Problems Could Be Corrected Before Child Learns to Talk
Bathtub lighting effects
Friday, April 11th, 2008
Ever mindful of new ways to sell electronics to the public, the consumer electronics company, Philips has come up with a way to make bath time even more fun.The company's design consists of a bathtub studded with red, yellow and green LEDs that can make water appear almost any colour. The LEDs are controlled by a computer that can be programmed to produce all kinds of special lighting effects.
One idea is to synchronise the colour of the bath LEDs with one in the tap, making the bath water the same colour as the water flowing in. Another idea is to change colours in the bath from the bottom up, in way that makes it look as if the bath is filling with coloured light.
The possibilities are limited only by the bather's imagination and the amount of time they can devote to programming the system before the water gets cold.
Read the full bath lighting patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant