Good evening bloggers!
It is Sunday night and at last all is quiet at No 1B. I have a small Highland Park at hand, I can hear a tape of "Horrid Henry" playing in Holly's room and the cats are curled up together on the sofa. Poppy is in her room trying on her outfit for the 10th time....for the production of Aladdin in the school drama club. We went to a great fabric shop today and bought lots of wonderful spangly things to accessorise her outfit and then I had to spend most of this evening sewing it together...still good practise for the fashion show we are planning for the Monster fundraising.
Went to the hospital on Saturday hoping to make the aquaintance of humble G (think I was too late for that) he had morphed into planning and plotting G by the time I got there. So when I got back to Sarah's to pick up the kids I was delighted when she brought out a chilled bottle of pink fizz and ordered a chinese takeway...a true friend! We did a little planning for our fashion show, Sarah will try and book the church halls for the 21st April and we will approach some of the local businesses for support/sponsorship etc and most importantly have a power lunch with the local knitting group!
Spent this morning sending E.mails to the MSP's at Holyrood to warn them of our exhibition that we are taking to the Scottish Parliament this week. It concerns "The Beasts within us" and looks at the fascinating (yes honestly) relationships between people and their parasites with a bit of Scottish History thrown in to please the Scottish Nationalists..all about how the Scottish doctors were sent to the colonies as the best jobs went to the English and then the Scots discovered all these rather nasty diseases such as Malaria and Elephantiasis....
Did you know that Malaria kills 2000 children each day in Africa? Bill and Melinda Gates are pouring squillions into this area where the major issues are drug resistance and lack of effective vaccines. They are also doing the sensible thing and providing bednets to prevent the disease in the first place.
Did you know that 1 in every 3 people worldwide are infected with a parasite called Toxoplasma? Once you are infected it stays with you for life persisting in your brain. This was the parasite that killed Tommy in the Irving Welsh novel "Trainspotting". New research has shown that this parasite can alter your behaviour (so I expect Tommy Sheridan might be interested in that one!).
Did you know that parasitic worms may provide the answer to the many millions of people suffering from allergic disease? Disease such as asthma have risen to epidemic proportions in many countries in the developed world, whereas these allergic disorders are still comparatively rare in people living in the developing world. The reasons for this are unclear, but some new research has shown that children living in Africa and infected with intestinal worms had no signs of asthma. Following drug treatment to remove the worms, the children became twice as likely to develop allergic diseases leading scientists to propose that it may be the worms themselves that were somehow protecting people against the development of allergies. The dramatic rise in inflammatory bowel disease in many countries worldwide has also been linked to the absence of intestinal worms. The immune response we make to get rid of worm infestations is the same as an allergic response and the worms have learned to counter this response by inducing more regulatory immune responses that will dampen down the inflammatory responses. Therefore scientists are trying to understand how the worms can counter the allergic responses as this may lead to new therapies. Clinical trials using worm larvae or worm eggs are currently underway in the UK and the USA to treat people with asthma or inflammatory bowel disease.
We are hosting a discussion on using worms to treat allergic disease at the Edinburgh International Science Festival at the Reid Concert Hall on 3rd April at 6pm if anyone is interested in hearing more about this.
The irony of all this is that I may not actually be allowed into the Scottish parliament building tommorrow, despite having been invited by them and despite handing in all the paper work many weeks ago I still have not got security clearance. I have obviously had too many parking tickets! So I may have to set up the exhibit outside the building with all the other protestors trying to get in.
Have a good week.
Deputy Blogger
Sunday, February 18, 2007
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1 comment:
Parasites in Holyrood! You may say that. I couldn't possibly comment.
Sorry to hear that I've already missed the opportunity to meet Humble Gerry. No doubt by the time I next see him he will have morphed into Global Domination Gerry.
Anyway, I'm delighted to hear that Lee is campaigning to ensure that all politicians have things up their bums. Though I hear that they are resisting entry. You'll just have force your way in round the back.
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