Kitsu’s Afternoon “News”: Politics and Vaccination

Original story from Discovery News posted in their Blog on 21 September 2011.

Politics has a number of victims, particularly right now when things are so savage between parties and the party lines aren’t just drawn in the sand. There are fences up and woe betide he who is on the “wrong” side of it, no matter how good their idea is or isn’t.

Republican Michele Bachmann, for example, attacked her same party competitor Rick Perry of accepting campaign funding from the pharmaceutical company that makes the HPV vaccine when he was working to make it mandatory for 6th grade schoolchildren. Bachmann raised the stakes, however, and made false accusations that the vaccine causes mental retardation. So far, no person has been able to back up the accusations against this vaccine or even get the people who supposedly make these anecdotal connections to step forward and let their situation to studied. Even with money as bait.

HPV is a political victim because we have an STD that can be vaccinated against. and heaven forbid we be able to prevent a cancer from taking root in people. Is this what’s going to happen is an HIV vaccine is developed?

Friday Makes My Day

Found via It Made My Day. Original Story: Dog finds new home after owners split

Paul Wu of Kirkland, Wash. was pulling out of his driveway one morning when he found a small dog with a bag tied to its neck. When the dog wouldn’t leave, Wu inspected the bag. Inside, he found money and a note.

“Please take care of Mr. B. He is a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. Six years old. My parents got divorced and Mr. B was supposed to go to the pound. I think he has a better chance with you. This is my birthday money for any of his care. He is used to kids, not other dogs. He’s a good boy. I know God will take care of Mr. B – Everyone loves him…especially me. Thank you.”

Wu took the dog to work with him and told the story to his colleague, Robert Kuchcinski. Kuchcinski was compelled to help. He took the dog to the vet, and learned that Mr. B had some dry skin and plugged ears, but an overall clean bill of health. He brought the dog home to his three children.

“All I want to do is let this person know, that we found him a good home. That’s the whole message,” said Wu.

 

Other IMMDs!

  • Tori’s Little Moment of Win: At a family barbecue I was approached by my cousin’s young son, who doesn’t know me very well. Out of the blue he whispered in my ear “You and me could rule the world. Don’t tell anybody.” Random adorableness MMD ^_^
  • Jamie’s Little Moment of Win: I took my daughter to McD’s the other day. A family walked in behind us and she held the door open for them. After ordering, there was an employee stocking the straws when we went over there. My daughter asked the lady if she could please have a straw, and then said thank you without any prompting from me. The best part – she’s only 4. My polite daughter MMW!
  • raeroorah’s Little Moment of Win: Even though Star Wars was before my time, I’m a huge fan of everything Star Wars. I culture a natural padawan braid that is longer than the rest of my hair. Today someone came to the till where I work and looked at me funny. After a moment he gave me a serious nod and said, “May the force be with you.” Sharing the nerdiness totally MMD
  • Freshman’s Little Moment of Win: So today, I was walking through the hallway at school to get to my next class. Walking the opposite way? A girl wearing a Link hat. IMMD.

Kitsu’s Afternoon “News”: Grab Bag

Another grab bag to help clear my inboxes.

  • CAN BIRTH CONTROL AFFECT MEMORY? 19 September 2011: Hormones effect memory and studies are showing that oral contraceptives can make retention of details more difficult over time.
  • 18-FOOT ANACONDA CAPTURED ALIVE 19 September 2011: Originally captured in 2009, explorers Niall McCann and Robert Pickles found an 18 foot long Anaconda who had never encountered people before and brought it back from their explorations with them. They have only just decided to release information about the record breaking reptile.
  • THE BIZARRE JAWS OF THE ANGEL FISH 20 September 2011: A discussion of the unusual jaw structure of reed dwelling angelfish and how that effects the niches they fill in the ecosystem.
  • SEA SQUID ARE SAME-SEX SWINGERS 21 September 2011: Monterey Bay Aquarium researchers have found that male wild squid exhibit same-sex mating behaviors, and in what might be an indiscriminate sex strategy, are just as likely to mate with other males as they are with females.
  • WATERCRAFT SWIMS LIKE A KILLER WHALE 21 September 2011: Innerspace Productions has produced a semi-submersible boat modeled on an Orca that can breach, flip, and preform other behaviors made familiar by Shamu. The same company has shark and dolphins inspired models.

Kitsu’s Afternoon “News”: HIV sides with people against Cancer (+ Bonus Stories)

Originally reported by Discovery News in their blog on 14 September 2011.

The normally life threatening Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been genetically engineered by scientists to reprogram cancer patients own immune systems to attack cancer cells. This process involves removing t-cells and infecting them intuitionally with modified HIV. The T-cells then attack the cancer. Finally, chemotherapy is used to kill off the infected t-cells and prevent the modified ones from interfering with the production of normal ones. The patient then suffers what appears to be the flu as the cancer dies.

The University of Pennsylvania group who created this process plan to continue testing it, and have already had excellent results in the 3 human tests preformed (2 cases in full remission and another in partial, all lymphocytic leukemia sufferers). Future tests are planned to include research with other forms of cancer.

 

BONUS STORIES

  • SPIKY NEWBORN DINOSAUR FOUND IN D.C. BELTWAY 19 September 2011: The first dinosaur hatchling ever discovered in the Eastern USA is not only the youngest dinosaur ever found, but represents a new species of armored dinosaur!
  • ASTEROID FAMILY NOT GUILTY OF DINOSAUR KILLING 19 September 2011: The Daptistina asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that has long been considered the source of the dinosaur slaying asteroid has been cleared for xenocide against dinosaur kind after providing an alibi: the asteroid belt didn’t exist at the time for dinosaur extinction!