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 […]
Alpha
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 […]
Kendrick Lamar and SZA announce huge Cardiff gig
Kendrick Lamar and SZA have announced a huge Cardiff gig this summer. The pair will play at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on July 19, 2025, one of four UK dates on their Grand National Tour. The announcement comes just hours after Kendrick Lamar bought SZA out during his Super Bowl halftime show last night. The pair […]
Blood Clots and Vaccinations
Blood Clots, after vaccination the vaccine instructs the body to produce spike proteins. It is the spike protein that the body reacts to and over a period of 14-21 days instructing it to produce antibodies that protect us from the coronavirus SARS Cov-2. Typically these spike proteins are produced in the liver. It takes a […]
Peter Thomas succeeded by Alun Jones
Peter Thomas will be succeeded by Alun Thomas as chairman of Cardiff Rugby. During the summer it was revealed that the 75-year-old would hand over the reins of Cardiff Blues following more than 22-years at the helm. Thomas will remain a director of the company and has been named Life President, with Cardiff legal professional […]
Welsh restaurants in the Michelin Guide
Welsh restaurants are varied, we have fantastic restaurants and gastropubs, all of which showcase the very best of Welsh produce. But some are on a different level to the rest, and have been recognised by the prestigious Michelin Guide. The Michelin series of guides have been published since 1900 and is renowned all over the […]
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 […]