0 The Friday Four

Bringing you four news-worthy or interesting bits to your Friday, this edition focuses on nanoparticles in vaccine development (mentioned in the vlsE patent), differences in spinal fluid in Lyme disease and CFS patients,  an artificial intestine for researching bacteria, and how drug information is presented differently online for Americans and Canadians. 1) Virus-Mimicking Nanoparticles Can Stimulate Long-Lasting Immunity Vaccine scientists say their "Holy Grail" is to stimulate immunity that lasts for a lifetime. Live viral vaccines...

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0 A History of Antigenic Variation in Borrelia hermsii, burgdorferi

I decided to investigate more of Norris et al's patent history, and found that the first patent Norris filed was back in 1991, entitled Virulence Associated Proteins In Borrelia Burgdorferi (BB). I also learned that the patent I had posted earlier this week - VMP-LIKE SEQUENCES OF PATHOGENIC BORRELIA - was first applied for as early as 2002, and decided to do a head-to-head comparison of the 2010 and 2002 patent. Out of all the points I had highlighted and posted earlier this week, they were about 99% the same. Essentially, what has been known...

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0 Package Insert excerpt: Athena Multi-Lyte Borrelia VlsE-1/pepC10 Plus Test System

The following excerpt contains only the intended use, significance, background, and cross reactivity portions of the package insert. For your review of the remaining sections and more microbio prep info, the complete package insert is here: http://www.zeusscientific.com/fileadmin/media/pdfs/inserts/athena/autoimmune/R2455E.pdf Borrelia VlsE-1/pepC10 Plus Test System A Multiplexed, Microparticle-Based Immunoassay for IgG Antibodies to VlsE-1 and IgM antibodies to pepC10 antigens. Product Number: A90151 INTENDED USE The Zeus Scientific,...

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0 More on that Vmp-like sequence - aka vlsE in Borrelia

So I know many of you have read my entry on the patent, VMP-like sequences of pathogenic Borrelia species and strains, with Steven J. Norris and Alan Barbour as primary patent holders. For some of you, the news of this patent may come as a total surprise. For others, it may not. For those of you who were listening in on or attended the October 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) workshop - A Workshop on the Critical Needs and Gaps in Understanding Prevention, Amelioration, and Resolution of Lyme and Other Tick-borne Diseases: the Short-Term...

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0 Free Video Lectures & Podcasts: UC Berkeley Molecular and Cell Biology

For those of you who use iTunes to download podcasts and have the ability to learn by listening - or hope to absorb information through repetition and osmosis - there are FREE audio podcasts on Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley you can download from iTunes. There are also some video podcasts of the classes available on iTunes and both audio and video podcasts can be found on UC Berkeley's webcast site. If you're new to studying biology, I highly recommend starting with a basic biology course first, - such as this Biology 1A lecture...

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7 Patent Watch: VMP-Like Sequences of Pathogenic Borrelia

To the dude that keeps writing in his blog that chronic Lyme patients are hypochondriacs, and to A.C. Steere, who in his March 2010 Powerpoint presentation insisted that there is no such thing as Chronic Lyme Disease and it is a misnomer, I have one question to ask: If Lyme disease is easy to diagnose and treat and not chronic - as you and the IDSA have stated - why do people in the field put this stuff in a patent application posted December 2010? Application number: 12/853,019 Publication number: US 2010/0317026 A1 Filing date: Aug 9, 2010 Check...

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0 Books: Tickborne Diseases and Disease Vectors

I've just been informed I'm getting two books in the mail in about a week or so, and when they get here, I'll be sure to let everyone know and offer my own review of them once I've read a significant portion of them... Tick-Borne Diseases of Humans edited by Jesse L. Goodman, David T. Dennis, and Daniel E. Sonenshine. Amazon product description: A ready resource, this book covers key information that will be highly useful to students and professionals in the fields of human and veterinary medicine, public health, medical entomology, acarology,...

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0 The Friday Four

Ed. note - This late edition of the Friday Four almost became the Saturday Six, due to computer problems. I still consider it to be Friday Hawaii-time - so I'm not making changes to content. 1) Bacteria Can Affect Your Moods And How You Think [video - time - 1:45 ] We Aren't Just Talking "Lyme Rage" here... 2) Gonorrhea acquires a piece of human DNA: First Evidence of Gene Transfer from Human Host to Bacterial Pathogen If a human cell and a bacterial cell met at a speed-dating event, they would never be expected to exchange phone numbers,...

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