Posts

Universal Vaccines – The Lowdown

An interesting news item appeared last week in the BBC News Health Section.   As someone with an active interest in vaccine development it certainly attracted my attention, and I think it merits wider discussion as a possible 'game changer' in our approach to preventing human disease…. The concept of a ‘Universal’ vaccine has been in 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 humans. Acquiring and maintaining immunity is a lifelong process, and apart from anyt...
Post a Comment
Read more

UK Student Loans – SB or BS ?

UK Student loans, and more particularly the repayment of them, is a hot topic in the news at the moment.  The student body is 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 taken out under the scheme in total), and the terms of this scheme has resulted in crippling interest rates due to the built-in 3% surcharge above RPI for anyone earning over £50k. The recent and quite prolonged spike in inflation, which resulted in interest rates well over 10%, at a time when most loan balances were still high, ceratainly added to the burden (and the size of the debt).  The government is under pressure to act on this, and many a...
Post a Comment
Read more

On The Perils of Pill-Boxes...

Image
Despite the rather arresting title, anyone expecting an exciting cautionary tale about the dangers of World War 2 fortifications faced by over-adventurous offspring from this blog article will, I’m afraid, be disappointed.... The pill-boxes I refer to are those clever little inventions many of us now use to ensure we remember to take our medications as prescribed, i.e. at the right time on the right day . Some younger readers might think this is a task that should be easy enough for anyone of sound mind without external aid; they may even go so far as to scoff at the need for something so pedestrian and 'low tech', given that the only medication they ever need is the occasional paracetamol or ibuprofen for a headache. What we need to remember, though, is that the average age of our UK population is increasing rapidly, and its general health is continuing to decline in the face of a failing health service, (which is now, sadly, forced to ration its care by availability)...
Post a Comment
Read more