It has always been curious that the death rate from Covid-19 varies in different countries. Whilst the spread of the virus might be related to the measures applied by governments many have not been comfortable with an implied criticism of rates of death in those countries. Whilst medical treatments might differ slightly between countries and […]
Cardiff and it’s Bay
Coronavirus is not the flu. Its worse.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases we know. Just one person is likely to infect between 12 and 18 people. That number is called a disease’s “basic reproduction number,” or R0. Scientists use it to describe how contagious a disease is. Zika? It has an R0 of up to 6.6. Super contagious but the seasonal […]
Drug treatments a Summary
Drug treatments have some more encouraging news. A bit technical, but the scale is encouraging: Bayer, Mylan and Teva (and others): generic chloroquine We start with the most talked-about drug, which has been around for 70 years and treats malaria: now generic chloroquine, which has been used increasingly in Asia and now in Europe to […]
Llanishen Reservoir Open
Llanishen Reservoir Open is a newly-opened Cardiff beauty spot has had more than 100,000 visitors in just nine weeks. Lisvane and Llanishen Reservoirs opened to the public in July 2023 as a hub for health and wellbeing and a haven for wildlife and offers a range of water and land activities and a café. For […]
Land Rover tax for biggest most polluting vehicles
Land Rover tax for biggest most polluting vehicles is being considered by Cardiff council who are considering plans to charge people who own larger cars more to park in the city and plans to ban vehicles over a certain size from applying for any permit to park in restricted areas. Cars which are highly polluting […]
Data centre in Tremorfa – world’s biggest batteries.
The data centre element of the scheme, which Latos is responsible for will be powered by one of the world’s biggest batteries. Work on a project which will see built in Cardiff has begun, one of the firms behind it has announced. Latos Ltd and other companies, including PCG Ltd and TEP Ltd, were recently […]
Understanding how antiviral drugs work
Understanding how antiviral drugs work is extremely frustrating and not easy to understand, for an existing antiviral its not so bad as the pathways to synthesise the drug are already in place. However, new drugs are a bit different. These drugs are very complex molecules. This is basically how drugs work. The drug shown here […]
Major Vaccine Types and Their Manufacturers
Major Vaccine Types and their manufacturers include a least seven teams are developing vaccines using the virus itself, in a weakened or inactivated form. Many existing vaccines are made in this way, such as those against measles and polio, but they require extensive safety testing. Sinovac Biotech in Beijing has started to test an inactivated […]
Immunity, T-cells, Antibodies and the numbers game.
Immunity, so what do we know about immunity? Basically it is provided by both T-cells and Antibodies combined. It revolves around the T helper cells (CD4) and their ability to recognise viruses, some recognise viruses in general some corona viruses and some virus specific T cells recognise a particular virus. (VST). These are used in […]
T-cells – Unappreciated Coronavirus warriors.
T-cells, it is now becoming clear that the issue of immunity from Covid-19, the disease that is caused by coronavirus infection, is not only conferred by antibodies arising from infection but also by other components of the immune system specifically T cells. Checking for the presence of antibodies currently is both easy and quick. Deriving […]