Century-old TB vaccine may work better if given in a new way

A genuine medical breakthrough.  I didn't realize BCG had lost so much of its effectiveness

Scientists think they’ve figured out how to make a century-old tuberculosis vaccine far more protective: Simply give the shot a different way.

In a study with monkeys, injecting the vaccine straight into the bloodstream dramatically improved its effectiveness over today’s skin-deep shot, researchers reported Wednesday.

“This offers hope,” although more safety studies are required before testing the approach in people, said Dr. Robert Seder of the National Institutes of Health, a senior author of the study.

Tuberculosis kills about 1.7 million people a year, mostly in poor countries. The only vaccine, called the BCG vaccine, is used mainly in high-risk areas to protect babies from one form of the disease. But it’s far less effective at protecting teens and adults from the main threat, TB in the lungs.

Most vaccines are shots jabbed in the muscle or skin. Seder came up with the idea of IV immunization a few years ago, with experiments showing a malaria vaccine candidate worked better when injected into a vein. He wondered if the TB vaccine would react the same way.

Researchers at NIH teamed with the University of Pittsburgh to study certain monkeys, rhesus macaques, that react to TB infection much like people do. They tested a variety of ways to give the TB vaccine, including a mist that the monkeys inhaled through a mask.

Six months after the vaccinations, the researchers delivered TB bacteria straight into the animals’ lungs and watched for infection. Monkeys given today’s standard skin shot, even with a higher dose, were only slightly more protected than unvaccinated animals, and the mist wasn’t too effective, either.

But in 9 of 10 monkeys, a higher-than-usual vaccine dose injected into a vein worked much better, the researchers reported in the journal Nature. The team found no trace of infection in six of the animals and counted very low levels of TB bacteria in the lungs of three.

Why? The hypothesis is that key immune cells called T cells have to swarm the lungs to kill off TB bacteria and can do so more quickly when the vaccine is carried rapidly around the body via the bloodstream. Sure enough, tests showed more active T cells lingering in the lungs of monkeys vaccinated the new way.

The findings are striking, showing that how a vaccine is given “clearly affects immunity,” University of Massachusetts TB specialists Samuel Behar and Chris Sassetti, who weren’t involved in the study, wrote in an accompanying editorial. Still, giving a vaccine intravenously isn’t nearly as easy as other kinds of shots, they cautioned.

Seder said additional safety research is underway in animals, with hopes of beginning a first-step study in people in about 18 months.

SOURCE 






New Offutt Air Force Base Commander Clamps Down on Private Guns

Has the U.S. military learned nothing in the years since the Fort Hood shooter killed 14 and injured 32 unarmed soldiers in that 2009 terrorist (or "workplace violence," per Barack Obama) attack?

Apparently not.

While it might seem paradoxical, U.S. military bases have been essentially gun-free zones. The military's own weapons are stored in guarded armories, and one doesn't hesitate to add "of course." But even the carrying of personal weapons for self-defense, concealed or otherwise, has long been banned. That's why so many were killed and injured at Fort Hood in 2009, helplessly waiting for the local police to arrive.

Things have been loosening up however.

A 2016 Pentagon rule "allows base commanders to permit troops to apply to concealed carry personal weapons on base." Although that's a far cry from some states' constitutional carry or other states' must-issue permit laws, it seems to me to be at least a step in the right direction.

Offutt Air Force Base is moving in the other direction -- and airmen aren't happy about it. According to an official announcement on Facebook, "the 55th Wing commander has directed that the transportation of privately owned firearms (POF) on Offutt Air Force Base, with few exceptions, will be prohibited." The release explains that the base commander’s "intent for this change is that firearms will be effectively controlled and safely handled on Offutt AFB and is reflective of the full confidence in the 55th Security Forces Squadron’s ability to defend the installation and its personnel." Under the prior commander's policy, "registered Department of Defense ID card holders with a Nebraska Concealed Handgun License (CHL) and holders of reciprocating state concealed carry license (CCL), to transport and secure privately-owned handguns in privately-owned vehicles within the base." But that's all been overturned.

Colonel Gavin P. Marks became the 55th's Wing Commander last June, and his new policy goes into effect today.
 
How dumb can you get?  An affirmative action appointee?

Offutt is no small deal, either. The Air Force's 55th Wing is one of the nation's premier intelligence-gathering units... among other things. It's the largest unit in the Air Combat Command, providing "worldwide reconnaissance, real-time intelligence, command and control, information warfare and combat support" around the world, but especially to our Central Command operating in the Middle East. Offutt is also home to the joint United States Strategic Command, which is in charge of the country's nuclear deterrent. If I were a terrorist like the Fort Hood shooter, Offutt would look to me like the perfect place to kill some infidels and humiliate the Great Satan.

Because when seconds count, the 55th Security Forces Squadron is only minutes away.

As Cam Edwards noted at Bearing Arms, "there are hundreds of comments on Offutt’s Facebook post announcing the decision, and while I haven’t read them all, I’ve yet to run across any comment in support of the move."

Commenters are saying things like this instead:

 *  This is totally asinine. CCL holders were finally giving permission to bring firearm on base and keep in housing. Now this? Stupid stupid decision. This does NOT keep the airmen safer, it does the opposite. We are targets, let us protect ourselves if we choose.

 *  This is craziness. Are you going to pat down and car search every person who comes on base? Cuz the wrong person can bring a gun anyway and now a smaller portion of the good guys can defend themselves. Thanks a lot!

 *  Insanity. You only have to look yesterday to Texas to see why this is a terrible decision. You can have the greatest first responders in the world, they will still be minutes away. This is a wrong decision based in politics, not data.

 *  Translation: The new commander has no confidence in the state's background checks and training classes for concealed carry licenses. He also has no combat experience and doesn't research facts before disarming the most trustworthy people under his command.

 *  My airmen chose to fight to defend our country and protect the citizens, however using your position allows you to impose your personal democratic political opinion and publicly state these Airmen are not armed which places them in harms way. I hope you are prepared to shoulder this burden should tragedy occur outside the gates since ALL now know self protection is no longer allowed.

If you have a Facebook account, you can read the long list of responses to the official announcement here, and I'd just like to congratulate everyone for keeping it far cleaner than I'd have managed to if I were an airman assigned to Offutt.

SOURCE 






The First Battle of 2020: de Blasio vs. Domino's Pizza

Welcome to 2020! Now that we're finally out of the 2010s -- the decade that our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters have described as "bad" and "terrible" and "make the hurting stop, Mommy" -- we've all been given a chance at a fresh start. As we stride purposefully into the new decade, older but wiser, battle-worn but hopeful, each day is another chance to get it right. This is a perfect opportunity to leave the past in the past. It's time to start working toward becoming our best selves.

But it ain't gonna happen overnight. Some of us are still stuck on stupid, like the mayor of the second-greatest city in the world. Bill de Blasio just decided to kick off the Twenties by going to war with... Domino's Pizza?!?

It's not that de Blasio has never heard of the law of supply and demand. He just dismisses it because he's a pinko idiot. How dare a private business charge customers as dictated by the market, when all that money could be going into his pocket by force of government?

You know what I do when a business is charging more than I want to pay? I don't pay! I find a cheaper alternative, or I do without. I make the choice that works best for me. If somebody else wants to pay more, they're free to do so. That's how it works in America. Nobody's human rights are being violated. If you don't want to pay $30 for a pizza... don't. Shrug emoji.

And what about the people who make and deliver all those pizzas on New Year's Eve? It's one of their busiest nights of the year. Are they supposed to do all that work for free? Don't they deserve to be compensated for their labor? Doesn't de Blasio care about the workers?

I wouldn't eat a Domino's pizza if it cost 30 cents, but I'm glad to see an American company standing up against this commie doofus. Evie Fordham, Fox Business:

Domino's pulled no punches in responding to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's criticism of the chain's prices in the Times Square area on New Year's Eve.

A delivery man for a Manhattan Domino's was spotted running $30 pies to revelers, and De Blasio claimed the chain was "exploiting" consumers and suggested they visit "local" joints.

"Every store in [New York City] is owned by a local resident," a Domino's spokesperson told FOX Business on Thursday. "Every employee is a local New York resident. Those stores provide jobs to thousands of his fellow citizens. With his comments, the mayor is suggesting that New Yorkers who own or work at a franchise are 'lesser than' those who don't.

Exactly.

We live in a society where you can order a pizza online on your phone and have it brought to you wherever you are, whenever you want, and this red-diaper baby is quibbling over the price. If de Blasio had his way, New Yorkers wouldn't be packed into Times Square to watch the ball drop. They'd be standing in line all day for a "free" loaf of bread.

It still amuses me that de Blasio thought it was a good idea to run for president. Somehow he thought America would hate him less than New York City does. I was bummed that he dropped out, because he's so much fun to mock. But now he's back to making New Yorkers miserable full-time, which seems like a suitable punishment for electing him. He's all yours, ya dopes!

SOURCE 






Professor: Sweden’s Society May Be ‘Dissolving’ Due To Mass Migration

Swedish political science professor Tommy Möller has warned that the unprecedented mass migration into Sweden in the last decade could unravel the country’s “democratic welfare society.”

Professor Möller, who teaches at Stockholm University, has claimed that political stability in Sweden has been greatly affected by mass migration, stating that it could be relegated to a museum in an op-ed published by Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri.

“No matter what happens, no one can deny that our society has undergone significant changes as a result of the extensive immigration, and these demographic changes will permeate Swedish politics for the foreseeable future,” Moller said and highlighted the rise of the anti-mass migration Sweden Democrats (SD) who have topped recent opinion polls.

“Problems in health care and school, the municipalities’ increased costs for supply support, housing shortages and, not least, the accelerating gang crime – all of these are problems and some of them have been linked by SD with immigration,” he said.

Mass migration has been linked to several of those issues such as in the southern city of Malmo where the vast majority of shooting suspects in a Swedish media report released earlier this year were from migrant backgrounds.

Municipalities who took in large shares of asylum seekers and migrants since the height of the 2015 migrant crisis have also seen financial difficulties, such as the municipality of Bengtsfors which claimed it risked bankruptcy earlier this year.

The Swedish municipality of Bengtsfors has petitioned the government for aid after taking in more migrants than the municipality could afford.

The professor went on to add that polarization and cultural conflicts were on the rise, warning, “Unless the integration of the newly arrived succeeds better, in the long run, the social putty that makes a democratic welfare society of our kind possible risks being torn apart.”

“Unfortunately, the interpersonal trust that is a prerequisite for a large-scale society to function has decreased in Sweden in recent years,” Moller said and added, “Gaps between people, whether economic or cultural, create a distance in terms of experience and values.”

SOURCE 

******************************

Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here. 

************************************