Currently in the United States many people were given the flu shot either by a doctor or even now a CVS pharmacy. This article shows how scientists have now come up with a faster flu vaccine that turns infinitesimal amounts of DNA into this new effective vaccine. It is done by a spraying technique, which sprays viral genes directly through the skin. However it is not approved yet! If this new vaccine is approved for humans to use, the new technique could help save many lives in case of a flu outbreak.

“John Beadle, a researcher from the Infectious Disease and Oncology department at PowderMed, Ltd. in London, says, ‘The traditional way of making vaccines has a number of significant drawbacks.’” They are saying that the biggest drawback to vaccines are the amount of time it takes to make them, which could take to long to save people from the flu or other diseases.

Some questions that I have are based on the new technique. How could we know if the spray will take a positive effect on everyone, if they are rushing to compete the procedure? Also, will the new technique of vaccines still make the patient sick with the virus like the one we use now?

“The Center for Disease Control estimates that more than 200,000 people in the U.S. are hospitalized each year as a result of the flu, and more than 30,000 die from it. Globally, the flu kills close to half a million people every year.”

Source: Science Daily.

Doctors at the University of Pennsylvania discovered that the Ebola virus actually disables tetherin, which is a protein that attacks viruses from spreading to other cells.  Tetherin is very a very unique protein.  It holds the power to slow down or even stop the spread of viruses moving on to the next cell in the body.
Scientists are hoping that they can study tetherin and whether they can find out how to use it to block out the viruses.  According to the article, tetherin is also used to block HIV, and may even be used for developing therapeutics for people battling Ebola or other viruses. I feel this small breakthrough could become a very useful research tool for scientists, and may actually guide them in studying how viruses attack cells and how to end that vicious cycle.

Source: Science Daily

French Isabelle Dinoire, 41, a few months after her surgery (l) and a year later (r)

The concept of organ transplantation is one that, at this point in medical science, is very well known.  Look at the back of any driver’s license.  Most of the time, when we think of organ transplantation, we think of internal organs:  heart, lung, liver, and kidney being taken from one person and given to another.   Yet, the transplantation of faces, as strange as this may sound, has moved from science fiction to science fact.  In 2005, the first facial transplant (a partial one) was performed on Isabel Dinoire of France.  She was mauled by her dog as she slept; her lips and entire the bottom of her face below her nose was torn away.  Part of a suicide victim’s face was used to restore Isabal’s ability to eat and speak normally.

At the end of March 2008, the first full facial transplant was performed in France…ironically, by a team led by a doctor who said he would not perform full face transplants.

Should this surgery be continued? Tell us what you think? Is this an area medicine should be exploring?a

A new problem is arising where patients receiving blood transfusions 29 days old or older are becoming twice as likely to contract a hospital-acquired infection than those receiving newer blood. The FDA regulations allow for blood to be stored up to 42 days before it must be discarded, which makes the situation interesting since this blood is perfectly within standards. A study was conducted with 422 patients in an intensive care unit from July 2003 to September 2006. Those who received the older blood developed blood stream infections, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, heart valve infections, sepsis and other infections.  The blood they were given was not tainted, but over time the cells degraded and released biochemical substances called cytokines that lower the patient’s immune system.

I thought this article was interesting because we just learned about the circulatory system and how the blood delivers nutrients to the body. It’s a little scary that the blood would be weakening the body instead of assisting it. This also creates an interesting issue for the Red Cross since the blood usually gets used within 17 days, but this would really limit a lot of their blood supply and they are usually in need of donors as it is. 

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/health/29blood.html?em