Two Irish hunters ...

Two Irish hunters got a pilot to fly them to Canada to hunt moose. They managed to bag 6.

As they were loading the plane to return, the pilot said the plane could take only 4 moose.

The two lads objected strongly. "Last year we shot six. The pilot let us take them all and he had the same plane as yours."

Reluctantly, the pilot gave in and all six were loaded.

However, even on full power, the little plane couldn't handle the load and went down crashing in the woods.

Somehow, surrounded by the moose bodies, Paddy and Mick survived the crash.

After climbing out of the wreckage, Paddy asked Mick, "Any idea where we are?"

Mick replied, "I think we're pretty close to where we crashed last year."

Forgotten supercars: VW W12

Speed records were broken and the car was developed further with a 6.0-litre engine, giving 600bhp and a 217mph top speed. As recently as the 2002 Geneva motor show, VW was still showing a revised W12 on its stand, but within months the project was canned, thanks to a glut of supercars under development within the VW Group.

Record breaking daredevil wingsuit base jumper Heather Swan

Six years after her first skydive Heather Swan began base jumping in 2005. Here she can be seen jumping off Tombstone, Utah

South Australian whooping cough outbreakArticle

TORY SHEPHERD:
SOUTH Australia is experiencing its worst whooping cough outbreak on record - and babies are the main victims of the potentially fatal and highly infectious disease.

Babies are most vulnerable as they are too young to be immunised, and rely upon 'herd immunity' - the high immunisation of those around them .

SA Health has received almost 3500 notifications this year, compared with 859 at the same time last year and 318 in 2007.

National statistics show the rate in South Australia is twice as high as the national average.

A four-week-old NSW baby who died in March was the first fatality from the disease in a decade. Since then it is understood two other children have died.

SA Health Communicable Disease Control branch director Dr Ann Koehler said nationally there had been a "big wave" of infections. She said SA had the highest rate, although it was not clear why. Dr Koehler said more cases were being diagnosed as people were tested for swine flu

THE PACE TRIAL AND THE MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL

Anonymous: 'Will the charity Action for ME (whose only members in law are the executive, everyone else is merely a subscriber to their magazine)now stop funding only psychological research into ME that uses the discredited Oxford criteria to select patients?

The PACE trial (part funded by AfME) - why it is one of the worst scandals in medical history: ....'

XMRV Research - A Landmark for ME

Some years ago those suffering from diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) were denigrated and trivialised by the same type of establishment corruption which has been directed toward ME sufferers. Both diabetes and MS were illnesses which were regarded as psychiatric until insulin and MRI were discovered. The ability of an MRI scan to show the pathology of MS destroyed the psychiatrists who wished to portray that illness as "women's hysteria".

The discovery by the Whittemore-Peterson, the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic researchers of xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) in ME patients may well be the equivalent defining moment for ME.

As our letter to the CMO in 2006 stated - "although there is much to learn about the details of these illnesses our present understanding and treatments have emerged from careful research studies that have exposed the inadequacies of the psychiatric models".

The WPI has tested more samples since submitting the first paper and our EMEA colleagues report of the interest around Europe in studying this. One Swedish clinical virologist has described this research as important as the discovery of HIV and already there are plans for studying this in Swedish ME patients.

The news of the XMRV research is really encouraging in bringing ME into the main stream media coverage and getting new researchers interested in the field, and wanting to reproduce the results. This is exactly what ME needs - to be perceived and treated as a mainstream organic illness needing funding to provide correct treatments.

Although the discovery is quite serious, as it is a retrovirus and therefore has its own consequences, we feel it is better in the long term for patients to know what is wrong with them rather than continually being left in limbo due to ignorance and outdated information.

Researchers will now have to study the XMRV virus, how it behaves etc. and it is necessary for governments and healthcare organisations to treat ME with the urgency it requires. We now have another biomarker which, of course, needs to be verified by other researchers first before we can be absolutely certain of its importance. There are bound to be people in support groups who have different reasons for their illness and we need biomarkers to make sure a diagnosis given is a correct one.

The WPI website states:

"We have detected the retroviral infection XMRV is greater than 95% of the more than 200 ME/CFS, Fibromylagia, Atypical MS patients tested. The current working hypothesis is that XMRV infection of B, T, NK and other cells of the innate immune response causes the chronic inflammation and immune deficiency resulting in an inability to mount an effective immune response to opportunistic infections."

Interestingly, in a discussion after this year’s IiME Pre-Conference Dinner presentation by Hillary Johnson, Professor Harald Nyland mentioned how some diseases need two viruses for a disease to develop. He also mentioned Burkitt’s lymphoma as an example where the presence of two viruses, EBV and malaria is needed.

The elapsed time taken by Science magazine in publishing the research findings may be seen as proof of the excellence of the work being performed by the team of researchers at the WPI, the NCI and the Cleveland Clinic.

There have been comments about Lombardi et al. not giving demographic details of the patients and controls used in the recently published XMRV study. Scientific journals have all their own rules governing the format in which they want research articles written. This XMRV study has been written according to the rules given by the Science magazine and all other interested researchers can request more detailed information on methodology etc. if they wish.

For Science to publish an article on ME is a landmark itself and has a huge positive effect on all biomedical ME research. Having the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic working with the WPI and publishing these results, in a journal of the calibre of Science, is as good as it gets. This work should open up more funding opportunities for other existing biomedical ME researchers.

If the WPI and subsequent research does not conclusively prove that XMRV is the cause of ME it will at least have interested more researchers to participate in biomedical research in this area. And will have broken the mould.

We should all take this opportunity to make a real push for funding for more biomedical studies based on homogenous well defined patient groups. IiME will continue to campaign for biomedical research, and apply for grants for biomedical research, in the sure knowledge that good science eventually will win through.

Our view on the XMRV research is echoed by the words of Professor Martin Pall, a speaker at our 2007 conference -

"There have been comments in the media to the effect that this finally shows that CFS/ME is physiological, not psychological. This is true, but this should have been obviously true anyway, at least six or seven years ago. Nevertheless the media coverage of CFS/ME obtained by Mikovits and her colleagues must be viewed as a true gift to those interested in extending public knowledge of this disease."

The discovery of XMRV in ME patients has changed the ME/CFS landscape for good.

We have more detail on the XMRV research - click here .

Our statement on the research was published here .

The tea room - it's alive!

Ewe'll be caught short

Professor, wonder why it's empty?

Top Gear lap record smashed

With a new series due in weeks and Top Gear Live shortly to hit London and Birmingham expect to see a flurry of activity from the team.

Having said that, news that the Top Gear test track lap record has just been smashed surprisingly has nothing to do with the TV show.

Frustrated at being denied the opportunity to prove itself on the programme, British sports car builder Ultima took things into its own hands and hired the track out. The result? A lap time to humble a Ferrari FXX.

A Ferrari FXX with Michael Schumacher at the wheel, no less, the seven-time world champion famously posting a 1min 10.7sec time in the track-only Enzo-derived mega Ferrari. So, what about the Ultima GTR720?

LATEST NEWS: XMRV TESTING

Dr. Vincent Lombardi, the primary investigator and first author on a paper that appeared in the 8 October 2009 issue of “Science”, is the Director of Operations for the licensing and development of the XAND test assays used by VIP Dx for the detection of XMRV.

To read this landmark publication, "Detection of an Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood Cells of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome", please go to (www.sciencemag.org).

We are pleased to announce that VIP Dx has licensed this technology allowing us to offer the most accurate and sensitive testing available for XAND (XMRV associated neuro-immune disease).

TO ORDER XAND TEST KITS, CONTACT VIP Dx.

To learn more about our XMRV tests,
CLICK HERE.

Retrovirus may shed light on mystery of chronic fatigue

BY: Dr Garrett FitzGerald was once sent many patients who suffered from chronic fatigue. He listened with sympathy but believed the condition was psychological.

Back in the news big-time is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. A recent paper in Science reports infection with a gammaretrovirus (XMRV) in 67 per cent of cases. The virus has been detected from blood and saliva in long-term sufferers.

Is it time to apologise to all the patients who were diagnosed as being somewhat cracked? I recall one colleague referring to the condition as the Muirisheen Durkan syndrome:

So, goodbye Muirisheen Durkan
I’m sick and tired of workin’!

For some unknown reason, I was sent many patients with the syndrome from all over the country. I was almost always impressed by the genuine nature of the symptoms, having no doubt that there just had to be something other than psychological reasons underneath.

I could do nothing for them
I listened (often the consultation lasted more than an hour) and in most instances after investigation told the patients that they were probably suffering from CFS/ME. I told them I could do nothing for them in terms of cure or alleviation.

The only contribution I made was to warn them about the quacks which they (understandably) were attending or ...

Virus Tied To Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

National Public Radio:

IRA FLATOW, host:

You're listening to SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR News. I am Ira Flatow.

Up next, the latest on a mysterious illness called chronic fatigue syndrome. Researchers have been studying people who have been diagnosed with it, trying to figure out what might be causing their symptoms, which range from joint pain, debilitating fatigue and inflammation.

A team of researches reports that - the team report that they hit - they've hit on something. Out of 101 people diagnosed with chronic fatigue, 67 percent of them had a specific virus in their blood: a virus called XMRV. And just four percent, or so, of healthy volunteers had the virus in their blood. Scientists have known about the virus for a while. It's been implicated in other diseases.

Joining me now to talk more about this work, published in the journal Science, is John Coffin, professor of molecular biology and microbiology at Tufts University in Boston.

Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY, Dr. Coffin.

Dr. JOHN COFFIN (Professor of molecular biology and microbiology, Tufts University, Boston): Good afternoon, Ira. Thank you.

FLATOW: So, this is a pretty good indication, a pretty good connection?

Dr. COFFIN: For a first report, it's very good, in fact. There's still a lot of work to be done, to firmly establish a causal relationship between the virus and the disease. But it's a very, very interesting first step.

FLATOW: Well, this would also vindicate a lot of people who have chronic fatigue syndrome who have, you know, been abused by people who think it's all in your head, you've got something else, it's just a syndrome, there's no real cause to it. Things like that.

Dr. COFFIN: I would imagine that's the case, yes.

FLATOW: Mm-hmm. And so how did you go about - what was your motivation for looking for this viral connection?

Dr. COFFIN: I have to make one thing very clear right here. The work we're discussing was not mine. It was done by other groups. I'm a very interested observer and chronicler of their work. And I had worked on this virus many years ago when we thought it was just a mouse virus.

The people that did work on it, ...

World Pneumonia Day, November 2, 2009

CDC.gov: Announcement: World Pneumonia Day --- November 2, 2009

In the United States, seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate and Hib vaccines are recommended for infants and children aged <2, the first World Pneumonia Day, November 2, 2009, is being promoted by a coalition of 40 major health, humanitarian relief, advocacy, faith-based, government, and other organizations; CDC and UNICEF are providing technical assistance. Events are scheduled at CDC and
elsewhere in the United States, and in other countries. Additional information is available at http://worldpneumoniaday.org.

Hemispherx Biopharma Updates Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) Treatment and Commercial...

Reuters Mon Nov 2, 2009 8:46am EST
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 2, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. (NYSE
Amex:HEB) (the "Company"), announced a two-prong CFS clinical mission for November and December 2009.

The Company plans to widen its ongoing clinical programs in CFS by accelerating collaborations with a consortium of researchers who have just discovered a retroviral link to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (please see October 8, 2009, online issue of Science). A clinically validated test to detect retrovirus antibodies in patients plasma is also currently under development

(please see US National Institutes of Health at:
http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/CFSxmrv). With the consortium of
researchers at the Whittemore Peterson Institute, the Company is also now evaluating the defect in immunosurveillance in specific subsets of CFS patients in a clinical study entitled "Therapeutic Activation of NK lymphocytes to Alleviate Chronic Fatigue Syndrome." These immune defects may be due to the previously undetected retrovirus.

The Company also plans to complete all outstanding queries from the FDA regarding its New Drug Application (NDA) for Ampligen(R), an experimental therapeutic, during November and December, 2009. On May 26, 2009, the Company announced a delay on the Ampligen NDA which, at the time, had a PDUFA date of May 25, 2009. As noted in the 10-Q and 10-K filings at the time, the FDA did not request additional information from the Company at that time.

However, several outstanding NDA items, requiring Hemispherx responses, existed at the time of the FDA delay as noted in the August 8, 2009, 10Q filing. Between March 9, 2009
and September 15, 2009, the Company issued six (6) new reports to the Agency spanning various subjects including a) clinical safety assessments, b) specialized pre-clinical toxicology reports, and c) abbreviated chemistry and manufacturing control reports. The Company believes that these reports may fully retire all Agency queries in these particular areas.

The Company also plans to submit four (4) additional reports on interrelated topics in November and December, 2009, which will include pharmacokinetic analyses in multiple lower animal species (primates, rodents, etc.) ("the Lovelace Laboratory Studies") and final validation reports of certain manufacturing procedures conducted at an independent facility, Hollister-Stier
Laboratories in Spokane, WA. Some of these reports were recently cited in
BioMedReports.com and the Science Business Exchange (October 15, 2009).

About Hemispherx Biopharma

Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. is an advanced specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the manufacture and clinical development of new drug entities for treatment of seriously debilitating disorders. Hemispherx's flagship products include Alferon N Injection(R) (FDA approved for a category of sexually transmitted diseases) and the experimental therapeutics Ampligen(R) Oragens(R), and Alferon LDO. Ampligen(R) and Oragens(R) represent experimental RNA nucleic acids being developed for globally important debilitating diseases and disorders
of the immune system. Hemispherx's platform technology includes large and small
agent components for potential treatment of various severely debilitating and
life threatening diseases. Hemispherx has in excess of 50 patents comprising its
core intellectual property estate and a fully commercialized product (Alferon N
Injection(R)). The Company wholly owns and exclusively operates a GMP certified
manufacturing facility in the United States for commercial products. For more
information please visit www.hemispherx.net.

About Whittemore Peterson Institute

The Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro Immune Disease exists to bring
discovery, knowledge, and effective treatments to patients with illnesses that
are caused by acquired dysregulation of both the immune system and the nervous
system, often resulting in lifelong disease and disability. www.wpinstitute.org.

Information contained in this news release other than historical information,
should be considered forward-looking and is subject to various risk factors and
uncertainties. For instance, the strategies and operations of Hemispherx involve
risk of competition, changing market conditions, change in laws and regulations
affecting these industries and numerous other factors discussed in this release
and in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Any specifically referenced investigational drugs and associated technologies of the
Company (including Ampligen(R), Alferon(R) LDO and Oragens(R)) are experimental
in nature and as such are not designated safe and effective by a regulatory
authority for general use and are legally available only through clinical trials
with the referenced disorders. The forward-looking statements represent the
Company's judgment as of the date of this release. The Company disclaims,
however, any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Clinical trials for other potential indications of the approved biologic Alferon N Injection(R) do not imply that the product will ever be specifically approved commercially for these other treatment indications; Similarly, the completion of NDA filing process with Ampligen(R) does not imply that the product will ever be approved commercially.

-0-
CONTACT: Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc.
Dianne Will
518-398-6222
ir@hemispherx.net