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Copyright by The Mehs A Creation of 7682
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Monday, December 29, 2008 9:06 PM
The Difference Between Viruses and Bacteria Viruses are the smallest and simplest known life form. They are 10 to 100 times smaller than bacteria. The biggest difference between viruses and bacteria is that viruses must have a living host - like a plant, or animal - to multiply, while most bacteria can grow on non-living surfaces. Unlike bacteria, which attack the body like soldiers mounting a pitched battle, viruses are guerilla fighters. They don't attack so much as infiltrate. They literally invade human cells and turn the cell's genetic material from its normal function to producing the virus itself. Bacteria carry all the machinery needed for their growth and multiplication, while viruses carry mainly information - for example, DNA or RNA, packaged in a protein and/or membranous coat. Viruses harness the host cell's machinery to reproduce. In a sense, viruses are not truly "living," but are essentially information (DNA or RNA) that float around until they encounter a suitable living host. References: Food and Drug Administration May 2007 http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/
Soon Huat reported
The Mehs virus is spreading...
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Saturday, December 27, 2008 9:18 PM
This is a trailer of Resident Evil: Degeneration. This movie is about a simple virus is genetically engineered with other viruses to form the highly contagious and mutagenic biological agent known as the T-Virus. The T-virus is extremely deadly and can inject people with just a single bite from the infected people.
The Tyrant Virus, or t-Virus, is the main virus used by the terrorist, and is responsible for the creation of most of their biological weapons.
According to reports in the video, Dr. James Marcus succeeded in creating the Tyrant Virus at the Arklay Management Training Facility on December 4, 1978 through synthesis of the Progenitor virus and leech DNA. Through this synthesis, the photosensitivity of the early Progenitor strain was replaced with pyrosensitivity, a property that can be seen in most of the series' enemies.
The Tyrant Virus allegedly operates similarly to most other viruses, but also has the abilities to animate dead tissue, to substantially mutate its host, and to infect nearly any tissue in any type of host. It animates dead tissue by killing and replacing any mitochondria in infected cells, and then combining with these cells to produce enough energy for motor and lower brain functions. By doing this, most of the body's systems, such as the circulatory or respiratory systems, are made redundant. However, this process has the drawback of severe necrosis in the host, and produces the distinctive rotted appearance of most biological weapons. The mutations are produced when the virus incorporates itself into the host's RNA and considerably alters it. Creatures with genetic structures different than humans generally show less severe mutations, and usually only increase in size.
As a side effect of the virus' consumption of its host, specifically its digestion of the host's frontal lobes, all hosts suffer from greatly increased aggression. The virus also damages the hypothalamus, which results in a flood of neurotransmitters, enzymes, and hormones which induce a psychopathic rage and hunger in the host.
The Daylight is the only t-Virus vaccine, but must be taken before transformation. The non-canon Live-action film series also present a preventative vaccine known simply as the Anti-Virus, which must be taken within several hours after the initial infection. In Resident Evil, it is revealed that if the Anti-Virus is taken too late, the T-virus will cause it to be rejected.
What will happen to the people when the viruses are in the hands of the terrorist? The human race might be wiped out due to the deadly characteristic of the T-virus. Will this happen in the future? Watch this movie and pray hard that this is fiction…
The Mehs virus is spreading...
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The Mehs virus is spreading...
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Thursday, December 25, 2008 7:07 PM
Rabies virus (RV) rotating virion Rabies viruses have a characteristic bullet shape. Their genomes are single stranded negative sense RNA. This RNA is combined with a nucleoprotein to create a nucleocapsid. The nucleocapsid is wound tightly as a helix (yellow in this graphic). The nucleocapsid helix is organised during morphogenesis and stabilised by matrix proteins. The matrix layer is surrounded by a viral envelope derived from the host cell during budding. The surface of the rabies virus is covered by spikes or knobs formed from glycoprotein. These are connected to the matrix by a transmembrane region. Rabies viruses can infect mammals and are best known for causing rabies in dogs (rabid or mad dogs). It used to be called hydrophobia since the sight of water would cause terrible fear in those infected. Rabies is generally lethal unless treatment is given very quickly. Transmission to humans can occur from bats and other wild mammals in infected areas.
Soon Huat reported
The Mehs virus is spreading...
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Wednesday, December 24, 2008 9:40 PM
An Interesting 'Virus'
While doing random websurfing today, I found this interesting picture of a 'virus'. From the descriptions it says: This is the 'Flickr Virus', a microvirus that is affecting so many throughout the world. Little is known about its structure and how it transmitted, although recent work indicates that it is a small sphere of energy (possibly light) that travels via the internet. Infection usually occurs soon after a Flickr 'Pro Account' has been acquired.
Symptoms: 1. The patient has a craving for 'viewings' and 'comments' on his/her images and develops a compulsion to upload images to satisfy this need. 2. Obsessive checking for inclusion in 'Scout' and 'Explore'. 3. A compelling desire to add the tag 'interestingness'.
Treatment: There is no real effective or permanent cure. Total abstinence from Flickr may work for short periods while the patient returns to a normal life style but this is usually only a temporary situation. Long term research, funding, and recognition as an illness is needed.Of course this might just be another one of my 'Refractographs' created out of light and only an image on your computer screen to be treated as a a bit of fun. On the other hand don't stare at it for too long or view large - it could be contagious! ;)
Hence I gave it the name「Flickrviridae」- the most creative virus in the year 2008 haha.
Soon Huat reported =)
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Monday, December 22, 2008 9:24 PM
Gels to protect women from HIV may help men more By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Mon Jul 7, 10:34 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gels aimed at helping women protect themselves from the AIDS virus may end up helping men as much or more, researchers predicted on Monday. Computer models predict that if and when such gels or creams are perfected, they would reduce the risk that men could get the incurable virus from women. But women who use such gels, or microbicides, could end up with fewer treatment options if they do become infected with HIV anyway, said Sally Blower of the University of California, Los Angeles, and David Wilson of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. "Paradoxically, although microbicides will be used by women to protect themselves against infection, they could provide greater benefit to men," they wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A microbicide is a gel or cream that could be applied vaginally or rectally to protect against sexual transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. None are on the market now, although several are being tested. Two versions use HIV drugs such as tenofovir which is usually taken orally to suppress the virus. Blower and Wilson wanted to see if women risked developing resistance to such drugs if they used a microbicide but got infected anyway. Their idea is that the drugs can be absorbed into the body through the vaginal wall and then, like any other drug, could cause the AIDS virus to mutate. Blower said their mathematical models predicted this was indeed possible, especially under real-world circumstances when some people like sex workers might not use the products consistently. "What we found out that was interesting or surprising or paradoxical, was that under some conditions males would actually benefit a lot more than females," Blower said in a telephone interview. "You would actually prevent a lot more infections in men than in women. That was surprising." For their models Blower and Wilson used data taken from ongoing trials of microbicides, along with what is known about how HIV develops resistance to existing drugs and how consistently people use drugs and condoms. If an eventual microbicide was not 100 percent effective, and if women did not use it consistently, then a certain percentage of women would get HIV anyway. Some of these women would continue using the microbicide but not take cocktails of HIV drugs, and so would develop resistance. Often, drug-resistant HIV is less likely to be transmitted from one person to another, Blower said. So male sex partners of such women might be protected from HIV. An estimated 33 million people have HIV, mostly in Africa. More than 61 percent of Africans with HIV are women who were infected by their husbands or other male sexual partners. Most of the 3 million people who get HIV every year globally are women. Condoms prevent infection but many men refuse to use them. Experts say women, and some men, need a private way to protect themselves. "At the moment, there is absolutely nothing that women can do to protect themselves from HIV -- condoms are not in women's control," Blower said.
Soon Huat reported =)
The Mehs virus is spreading...
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Sunday, December 21, 2008 7:34 PM
Normal skin vulnerable to HIV CHICAGO - INSTEAD of infiltrating breaks in the skin, HIV appears to attack normal, healthy genital tissue in women, US researchers said on Tuesday in a study that offers new insight into how the Aids virus spreads. They said researchers had assumed the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, sought out breaks in the skin, such as a herpes sore, in order to gain access to immune system cells deeper in the tissue. Some had even thought the normal lining of the vaginal tract offered a barrier to invasion by the virus during sexual intercourse. 'Normal skin is vulnerable,' Dr Thomas Hope of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine said in a telephone interview. 'It was previously thought there had to be a break in it somehow,' said Dr Hope, who is presenting his findings at a meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Francisco. He said until now, scientists had little understanding of the details of how HIV is transmitted sexually in women. Dr Hope and colleagues at Northwestern in Chicago and Tulane University in New Orleans developed a new method for seeing the virus at work. They studied newly removed vaginal tissue taken from hysterectomy surgeries, and introduced the virus which carried fluorescent, light-activated tracers. They watched under a microscope as the virus penetrated the outer lining of the female genital tract, called the squamous epithelium. They also observed the same process in nonhuman primates. In both cases, they found HIV was able to quickly move past the genital skin barrier to reach immune cells, which the virus targets. Dr Hope said the study suggests the virus takes aim at places in the skin that had recently shed skin cells, in much the same way that skin on the body flakes off. The finding casts doubt on the prior theory of the virus requiring a break in the skin or gaining access through a single layer of skin cells that line the cervical canal. And it might explain why some prevention efforts have failed. Dr Hope said one clinical trial in Africa in which women used a diaphragm to block the cervix had no effect at reducing transmission of the virus. Nor have studies of drugs designed to prevent lesions in genital herpes proven effective. Dr Hope said the findings emphasise the need for treatments such as a vaccine to prevent infection. And it makes clear the need for the use of condoms, which are highly effective at preventing infection. 'People need to remember that they are vulnerable,' Dr Hope said. 'The sad part is if people just used a condom, we wouldn't have this problem.' In the United States, HIV is mostly passed among men who have sex with men. Females account for 26 per cent of all new HIV cases in the United States, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Globally, HIV is more commonly spread by heterosexual sex. The virus has infected 33 million people globally and has killed 25 million. -- REUTERS Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Tech%2Band%2BScience/Story/STIStory_315397.html
Amas reported
The Mehs virus is spreading...
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Tuesday, December 16, 2008 7:25 PM
Poxviridae
•Can affect both vertebrates and invertebrate animals.
Structure -Has an enveloped virus particle -Generally shaped as an oval or brick -Virion has a diameter of 200 nm and length of 300 nm -Genome is carried in single stranded (ss) linear DNA.
Smallpox Virus •Cure invented by Edward Jenner •Found out that cowpox is the vaccination to small pox. •Tested by pricking a boy with milkmaid affected by cowpox virus and exposing him to smallpox virus. •Amazingly few scares were seen and he recovered quickly. •It is the largest virus cell and it can be seen through a light microscope.
Mohaan reported
The Mehs virus is spreading...
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Monday, December 15, 2008 8:02 PM
Virus What Is a Virus? A virus is an extremely tiny infectious agent that is only able to live inside a *cell. Viruses can be rod-shaped, sphere-shaped, or multisided. Some viruses look like tadpoles. Basically, viruses are composed of just two parts. The outer part is a protective shell made of *protein. This shell is often surrounded by another protective layer or envelope, made of protein or lipids (fats). The inner part is made of genetic material, either *RNA or *DNA. A virus does not have any other structures (called organelles) that living cells have, like a nucleus or mitochondria. These organelles are the tiny organs that maintain a cell's metabolism (life processes). A virus has no metabolism at all. http://www.acnepain.com/virus.html
Soon Huat reported
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This virus blog is created for our Microbiology B assignment on Virology.
* Amas Goh Chun Kiat
* Low Soon Huat
* N. Mohaan
* Phua Yao Xing
* Wilson Chu Hong Wen
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