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Universal Vaccines – Reality or Just Another a Pipedream ?

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An interesting news item on 'universal' vaccines appeared last week in the BBC News Health Section....  As someone with an active interest in vaccine development, the report certainly attracted my attention, and I think the methodology merits wider discussion as a possible 'game changer' in our approach to preventing human disease…. The concept of a ‘universal’ vaccine has been on the minds of those in the vaccine development field for many years, but the recent announcement is the first suggestion that such an intervention might actually be possible…and effective. I should add straight away that the Stanford research project alluded to in the above linked article is still very much in its early stages, and positive results have only been shown in lab mice to date. The methodology is nowhere near entering human trials yet, and this will be the only way to demonstrate whether a more universal approach to vaccination would be viable in the human population. Acquir...
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Windows 7 to Windows 10/11: To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade - What would 'the Bard' Have Done ?

  Microsoft (MS) withdrew support for Windows 7 way back in 2014 in line with their general policy of planned version obsolescence. By all accounts, there are still a considerable number of older pcs running Win 7; their owners have either simply not been able to afford the cost of an upgrade, or have heard of the obstacles to upgrading, and are quite reasonably reluctant to risk trying to upgrade an older pc with a new OS that it may not be able to cope with. For anyone actually brave enough to try upgrading a Win 7 pc,   MS have thrown an additional spanner in the works by no longer offering   downloads for Win 10 or Win 11 installation on pcs which they detect are still running Windows 7 or XP. Users are therefore effectively   prevented by MS from using either of the more recent OS versions......the very versions that MS were originally prepared to let you upgrade to for free. This is an obvious ploy to force users to replace their old (but still serviceable) ...
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GLP-1 Agonists and Weight Loss Therapy - Efficacy and The Side Effects

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Weight loss therapies using GLP-1 agonists have been implicated in the news recently as having a tendency to cause gallstones, and in some cases more serious gall-bladder damage. A recent report confirmed that there has been a marked rise in gall-bladder removals in UK over the last few years, and MHRA have recently updated their guidance on weight loss jabs. Should we have expected this, and what might be the consequences ? The short answer to this question is …Yes - this particular side effect was predictable, particularly after longer-term exposure..... To explain this more fully, we first need a little background. GLP-1 agonists are one of the most successful weight-loss inducing agents produced by Big Pharma of recent times; they have already generated a level of demand in the otherwise healthy population which far outstrips the available supply. Originally designed and developed as anti-diabetic agents, their ability to suppress appetite soon became the main focus of dru...
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UK Student Loans – SB or BS ?

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UK Student loans, and more particularly the repayment of them, is a hot topic in the news at the moment.  The student body, both past and present, are all clamouring for more favourable terms, given Reeves' recent threshold freeze, the burgeoning cost of living, and progressive rises in student fees.  There are particular concerns about the affordability of the legacy (i.e. Plan 2) scheme which still applies to all loans taken out between September 2012 and August 2023. The majority of outstanding loan balances currently fall under this plan (5.8 million loans were taken out under the scheme in total), and the terms of this scheme has resulted in crippling interest rates due to the full built-in 3% surcharge above RPI, whch applies to anyone earning over £50k. The prolonged threshold freeze will also ensure that virtually everone will end up paying off both the loan and the interest, unless they are permanently on benefits (or only work part time in multiple occupations). ...
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