Bibliosphere

This summer has been fairly relaxing so far (although that is partly due to the fact I was furloughed from work for two weeks).  I've been catching up on my reading, and have come across a few gems of scientific and historical note: A 1500 year old skeleton showing signs of Down's syndrome (trisomy 21) was found in France. The child was buried in similar fashion to the others in the site, possibly indicating that the child was treated no different than others.  Read about it at New Scientist . A 50+ year old frozen smallpox vial was found while researchers were cleaning out an old freezer at the NIH facility in Bethesda, MD.  The vial, though unsecured, was still intact and fully sealed.  The CDC has gained custody of the vial.  The contents were DNA tested to verify it's contents (definitely smallpox) and is now being tested to see if it could have infectious.  Read about it on NPR , CNN , and TIME .   Apparently plants can hear themselves being...

      As I have previously mentioned, the NCI gives under 4% of the cancer research budget to childhood cancers, of which there are hundreds of types (dozens on leukemia, scores of sarcomas, ect).  In the past decade, funding has decreased 30%.         In a new campaign, StepUp, we challenge Congress, the NIH and the rest of the government to spend more on childhood cancer research. The goal of the campaign is to reauthorize the 2008  Caroline Pryce Walker Act , as well as to increase NCI appropriations for childhood cancer research.  You can join by visiting:  http://www.soundoffatcongress.org/direct/nY2f .

     This marks the third year of me walking in the CureSearch walk to end childhood cancer.  It's also the second year of the Rhabdo Warriors team at the walk.        I'm super excited to be walking again, and I hope to make an even bigger impact by raising more money and creating a bigger team.  You can donate to me here , or to the entire team here . You can also visit my walk page:   http://www.curesearchwalk.org/saltlakecity/rhabdowarriors .        So, if you're going to be in Salt Lake on September 27th, 2014, come join the rhabdo warriors as we walk to end childhood cancer.   http://www.curesearchwalk.org/saltlakecity/rhabdowarriors

      School ended a couple of weeks ago and I finished the semester with strong grades. I'm back in Wisconsin for the summer, and will be returning to camp as Snickerdoodle.         I've been on a busy adventure on the East Coast this past weekend.  To the right you can see all the places I've been: Penn, Ben Franklin's Grave, Chemical Heritage museum, Mutter Museum, Washington monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, WWII memorial, the White House, the Liberty bell, Independence hall, Arlington National Cemetary, Philly Art Museum, Smithsonian - Natural History Museum, Capitol, and John's Hopkins Hospital.  It was a fun filled weekend.       It's finally starting to green up here in Wisconsin (everything was still leafless and grey when I got here).  We have a robin's nest in our yard, with three baby robins in it.  They hatched last Saturday, so they are 10 days old.  They've gotten their fea...

     Here is a short list of some reliable sources for information on vaccines, many of which were used in my latest series of posts on vaccination ( I , II , III , and IV ). http://www.historyofvaccines.org/  - a site by the College of Physicians and Surgeons on vaccinations, their history and how they work. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/  - CDC's website on vaccinations, the related illnesses and immunization schedules.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed  - The NIH website that allows access to research peer-reviewed articles on a variety of topics, including vaccination.   http://www.asm.org/index.php/colloquium-program/browse-all-reports/91319-adultvaccinesfaq - information on adult vaccinations http://www.vaccines.gov/ - Vaccine information about vaccine science, vaccine preventable illnesses and travel vaccines.   Enjoy!

Myth: Children get too many vaccines – it’s dangerous to get so many. Since vaccines work by stimulating the immune system, they aren’t the same as a by weight dosed medication, such as benydryl, which works by influencing biochemical pathways.  It takes the same amount of exposure for any individual to develop immunity, and more or less exposure doesn’t mean a different outcome.  For example, if I sneezed on a baby and a teenager each once, they both could get sick.  It doesn’t take one sneeze to make the baby sick and five sneezes to make the teen sick.  One sneeze does it for both.  Chemical additives, as previously discussed, are dose specific, and are added in much smaller quantities than is required for any kind of side effect.  Myth: The diseases we vaccinate against aren’t a threat anymore The only vaccine preventable disease that isn’t a threat is smallpox, which was eradicated in 1979.  As a result, we don’t vaccinate against it anymor...

Part III on vaccines Myth: Vaccines cause Autism This is just loads of wrong.  The study that considered this was rejected by peer-reviewed journals and the writer was stripped of his medical license.  The study itself used techniques that were quite harmful to the children involved (unnecessary enemas, colonoscopies and other painful tests were performed).  Additionally, recent studies (2014) have concluded that the changes in brain structure and function that result in autism begin in utero (long before childhood vaccinations).  Vaccines do NOT cause autism.  Myth: The decline of vaccine prevented illnesses wasn't due to vaccines While some graphs seem to show that diseases were in decline, and therefore the decline wasn’t due to vaccines but other measures (from nutrition to sanitation and quarantine).   While these public health measures may have had some effect on the decline of these diseases, they weren’t enough to wipe out or even slow do...