"There's too many problems to think that you can fix me
My name is called the world and I'm dying of unbelief see
I'm the kind of person who's strong and wants to react
So feel me when I fight for the cause of bringing hope back
Don't ask me where I'm going cuz I could never prove that..."
Saw these guys live and talk about stage presence! By far one of the best acts I've seen in this lifetime. Just a bit disappointing that I never took advantage of the opportunity to see them when I was in Greenville, SC for my stint at Lockheed, they are from Charlotte, NC (a little under a 2 hour drive).
Can't wait for Mike's album to drop...
Getting vaccinated for the flu or other infections could become as easy as pressing a patch onto the skin--no shot in the arm required
No needle: Microneedles made of a polymer that dissolves in body tissues can be used to deliver vaccines directly and painlessly into the skin. The microneedles shown here, inserted into pig skin, dissolve in a matter of minutes.
Credit: Sean Sullivan, Georgia Institute of TechnologyA new paper published in Nature Medicine describes a patch that holds an array of microneedles that administer a vaccine and dissolve painlessly. That could make it possible for people to get inoculated more easily and even administer their own vaccines.
Most vaccines are delivered by an injection into muscle. But Mark Prausnitz, lead author of the paper and a chemical and biological engineer at Georgia Institute of Technology, says that the surface of the skin could be a better entry point. Because the body expects to encounter harmful invaders on its surfaces, the skin is loaded with cells that can launch an immune response--a key step for a vaccine to work.
Researchers have investigated other microneedle patches as a way to deliver drugs. This version, a collaboration between the labs of Prausnitz and Richard Compans, a microbiologist at Emory, adds an innovation: The needles are constructed out of a polymer that dissolves in bodily fluids. Just several hundred micrometers in length, the needles can penetrate the outer layers of the skin before melting away in a few minutes. As they do so, a vaccine encapsulated in the needles travels into the skin. Only a thin biodegradable backing is left behind, and it washes away in water.
Researchers tested the patches on mice and found that the animals that received the flu vaccine by skin patch could fight off an infection 30 days later just as well as mice that had received an injection. Furthermore, mice vaccinated through the skin had a much lower level of virus in their lungs, suggesting that the patch could provoke a more effective immune response.
Prausnitz and his collaborators are seeking funding for a clinical trial of the influenza vaccine patch in humans. They are also investigating the possibility of using a similar system for other types of infectious diseases.
Samir Mitragotri, a chemical engineer at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says that the work is "highly innovative," and that the dissolving microneedles solve two important problems in immunization: They are painless, and they avoid the need to dispose of medical waste.
Bruce Weniger, a flu vaccine researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adds that the patches would be less invasive for patients and easier to deliver to remote populations. As such, they could help make vaccination campaigns easier in developing countries. But Weniger adds that economics may get in the way of replacing existing vaccine shots with patches.
Albeit my weekly schedule has become somewhat demanding due to early morning conference calls w/ Europe, and evening gym workouts/classes consisting of cardio, yoga, pilates, and strength training the nights leave me just enough margin to do an event(s). Event(s) will definitely consist of going back to my introductory roots here in SF: Concerts & Volunteering, and this year's concert line-up is simply phenomenal. The following is just a sample of the artist(s) who have caught my eye:
