Disqus - Latest Comments for Teeny

Re: Contagion: The trailer

Teeny — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 08:44:08 -0000

I'm actually quite excited about this film :)

Re: Baruch S. Blumberg, MD, 1925-2011

Teeny — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:20:14 -0000

That's very sad to hear of his passing.
It was only 4 months ago that I was taught about his work n HBV.

Re: TWiV 102: Catch me if you can in Munich

Teeny — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 15:30:50 -0000

Really enjoyed this TWiV, thanks!

Re: TWiV 65: Matt’s bats

Teeny — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:05:19 -0000

Just thought I'd let you know - I'm writing up my research manuscript while listening to your podcasts instead of music like the others, and as a consequence people in the lab think I'm crazy!

Re: Influenza virus growth in eggs

Teeny — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:03:26 -0000

The last paragraph made me laugh. Chasing hatchlings sounds more fun than catching drosophila though!

Out of curiousity, would the chicks have flu and would that dangerously transmissable to the staff?

Re: Vaccines lecture

Teeny — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:13:31 -0000

Thank you for sharing. It is most appreciated by this undergraduate student!

Re: Are viruses alive?

Teeny — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:43:27 -0000

I wish to quote Professor Eckard Wimmer;

"When asked whether I believe that viruses are dead or alive, I answer 'Yes'"

Re: Hand hygiene removes influenza virus

Teeny — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:49:21 -0000

Going by the last published figures on WHO (http://www.who.int/csr/don/... it seems that there is a 0.45% mortality rate. I'm not completely certain what the situation is like in other countries but here in the UK the vast majority of deaths were not linked to H1N1.
By comparison, H5N1 has a 60% mortality rate (http://www.who.int/csr/dise....
Worst case scenario the virus mutates to a form that can easily be transmitted from human to human and retains its lethality in a full-blown pandemic. This is when the government should be pouring their cash into forming a vaccine and dishing out Tamiflu and Relenza as we only have a finite amount stockpiled (not to mention how arduous it is for the pharmaceutical companies to extract the active ingredient, shikimic acid). It seems reckless to be focusing so much on this current pandemic when a more sinister threat is looming.
Saying that, I wholeheartedly agree that strategies need to change. Tamiflu and Relenza aren’t the magic cure as people seem to think, nor is a vaccine manufactured and mass produced well in a pandemic.

Re: Name a scientist results

Teeny — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:08:12 -0000

With regret, I'm guilty of not knowing many female scientists (other than the notable few mentioned in your post). In one of my enzymology lectures when we were learning about Michaelis-Menten kinetics, it came as a suprise to learn that Menten was in fact a woman. Taught me a valuable lesson to never assume that equations, bodies, processes etc will always be named after a male.

Re: Pandemic quiz

Teeny — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:10:14 -0000

You could add a new illustration, one that involves a duck rudely sneezing on a pig which in turn coughs all over a frustrated farmer. Title: Coughs and sneezes spread pandemics

Re: Influenza microneutralization assay

Teeny — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:05:04 -0000

I was so suprised when my lecturer explained to us that labs still use these HeLa cells even though they aren't even human anymore. I've been wondering since, why don't they get a 'fresh' batch of transformed cells from a more recent donor? Surely cells with the correct chromosome number is the more sensible choice?

Re: WHO will redefine pandemic

Teeny — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:17:13 -0000

Bah, the ignorance of the masses shouldn't influence textbook definitions. They haven't changed the meaning of weight to what is actually mass, just because Joe Bloggs thinks that weight is measured in grams.

Re: The quasispecies concept

Teeny — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:02:02 -0000

Would this be the reason for some viruses having so many serotypes? (classic one I have in mind is rhinovirus)