Thursday, May 16, 2002

I've written a short article explaining what prions are and how they relate to cronic wasting disease (CWD) is. This illness, a relative of Mad Cow disease is affecting the deer herd in Southern Wisconsin and threatens to be a serious problem. 12:42:41 PM

The bacteria Bordetella pertusis (the cause of whooping cough) is one of the many pathogens that we are vaccinated against when we are children. What many people may not realize is that once the age of 10 is reached, booster vacciens against B. pertusis are not administered. This is because infection in adults in normally not dangerous and there are important side effects to the vaccine. In this report a infant brought from Russia is diagnosed with whooping cough. Now the CDC and the airline are trying to track down all individuals that were exposed to the infant during its travels to America, to begin treatment against the disease. This episode underlines how rapidly disease can now spread in our mobile world. 12:26:43 PM

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (most people know it as lupus) is one of the most common autoimmune diseases. A recent report looks at the number of deaths caused by lupus and shows significant age, sex and racial variances and an increase in the number of cases. It is important to recognize the illness as early as possble and follow prescribed treatments to prevent premature death. 12:19:26 PM

The CDC has some good practical guidelines for selecting and using sunscreeen. Skin cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer and its incidence can be markedly reduced by using sunscreen properly. 12:11:53 PM

Lights switch to organic LEDs. PhysicsWeb May 15 2002 10:24PM ET [Moreover - moreover...] This could save a lot of energy. Incandecent light bulbs are very inefficient and waste large amounts of energy as heat. (Touch a typical light bulb after it has been on for a while.) LEDs are very efficient and should cost a small fraction of what typical bulbs do. 11:52:14 AM