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POPSAchilles Heel Of HIV Found?
“Unlike the changeable regions of its envelope, HIV needs at least one region that must remain constant to attach to cells. If this region changes, HIV cannot infect cells. Equally important, HIV does not want this constant region to provoke the body’s defense system. So, HIV uses the same constant cellular attachment site to silence B lymphocytes - the antibody producing cells. The result is that the body is fooled into making abundant antibodies to the changeable regions of HIV but not to its cellular attachment site. Immunologists call such regions superantigens. HIV’s cleverness is unmatched. No other virus uses this trick to evade the body’s defenses.” Paul’s group has engineered antibodies with enzymatic activity, also known as abzymes, which can attack the Achilles heel of the virus in a precise way. “The abzymes recognize essentially all of the diverse HIV forms found across the world. This solves the problem of HIV changeability. The next step is to confirm our theory in huma
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POPSPathologists Believe They Have Pinpointed Achilles Heel of HIV Sudhir Paul, Ph.D., pathology professor in the UT Medical School, said, “Unlike the changeable regions of its envelope, HIV needs at least one region that must remain constant to attach to cells. If this region changes, HIV cannot infect cells. Equally important, HIV does not want this constant region to provoke the body’s defense system. So, HIV uses the same constant cellular attachment site to silence B lymphocytes - the antibody producing cells. The result is that the body is fooled into making abundant antibodies to the changeable regions of HIV but not to its cellular attachment site. Immunologists call such regions superantigens. HIV’s cleverness is unmatched. No other virus uses this trick to evade the body’s defenses.”
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POPSResearchers Developing Cocaine Vaccine More: "It's a very clever idea," says David Eagleman, a Baylor neuroscientist. "Scientists have spent the last few decades figuring out reward pathways in the brain and how drugs like cocaine hijack the system. It turns out those pathways are difficult to rewire once they've seen the drug. But the vaccine just circumvents all that." Kosten asked the Food and Drug Administration in December to green-light a multi-institutional trial to begin in the spring and is awaiting a response. Approval would mark a breakthrough in the treatment of cocaine addiction, which now mostly involves psychiatric counseling and 12-step programs. It presumably would be the final clinical hurdle before the vaccine -- more than a decade in the making -- might be approved for treatment.
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POPSCocaine Vaccine "It's a very clever idea," says David Eagleman, a Baylor neuroscientist. "Scientists have spent the last few decades figuring out reward pathways in the brain and how drugs like cocaine hijack the system. It turns out those pathways are difficult to rewire once they've seen the drug. But the vaccine just circumvents all that."
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POPSSmoking is cureable after all... Thanks to medical breakthroughs this is first among a new category of treatments. Now imagine how life would be with a spirits vaccine, coffee vaccine, sugar vaccine, and perhaps sex vaccine.... its going to be interesting :-)
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POPSCocaine Vaccine in the Works I'm dying to know what people think about this. For the seriously addicted I find this to be a promising option in the battle over addiction, but I fear the "Big Brother" dimension where they may try to force these vaccines on young children in an advancement of The Drug War. Thoughts?
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POPSImmunize Your Children Or Go To Jail
I am adamantly opposed to any sort of mandatory, forced or imposed vaccination programs. I do NOT trust the pharmaceutical companies. Last time I was vaccinated, I was deathly sick for three days and thought I was going to die! Despite this, blood tests showed that I still hadn't developed the necessary amount of antibodies for the vaccine to be effective and I was advised to have the vaccination again! Yeah right!! In your dreams Dr. Death! *LOL* One of my cats is also extremely sensitive to vaccinations and gets SO sick too. Vaccinations and medicine are NOT one size fits all. No-one should be forced to have anything injected into them or their children (or pets.) I'll take my chances against the bugs any day, rather than being bumped off by the vaccination itself! If this were imposed upon me or my kids (or pets), they would be home schooled instantly or we would leave the state. End of story. There's a little video at the site, but it wouldn't clip.
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POPSAlzheimer's Disease - Cured By Antibody Injection? My mother suffers from a form of dementia. My dad had the beginnings of a form of dementia when he died. I am not looking forward to my last years on the earth if I have to follow this path. This is important news for those of us who have this crippling brain disease in our families, or anyone who wants quality last years!
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POPSFrom Drugs to Cell Repair Machines
To repair a car, a mechanic first reaches the faulty assembly, then identifies and removes the bad parts, and finally rebuilds or replaces them. Cell repair will involve the same basic tasks - tasks that living systems already prove possible. Access. White blood cells leave the bloodstream and move through tissue, and viruses enter cells. Biologists even poke needles into cells without killing them. These examples show that molecular machines can reach and enter cells. Recognition. Antibodies and the tail fibers of the T4 phage - and indeed, all specific biochemical interactions - show that molecular systems can recognize other molecules by touch. Disassembly. Digestive enzymes (and other, fiercer chemicals) show that molecular systems can disassemble damaged molecules. Rebuilding. Replicating cells show that molecular systems can build or rebuild every molecule found in a cell. Reassembly. Nature also shows that separated molecules can be put back together again. The ma
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