Also it goes without saying that some countries need to figure out how to vaccinate themselves along with developing adequate testing and tracking facilities.
But any discussion around the need for boosters cannot be had in a vacuum. In addition to considerations of immune kinetics among the immunized, there are also issues of vaccine equity and availability to factor in. And as long as vaccinated people are staying out of hospitals and morgues, then to Katrina Lythgoe, an evolutionary epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, UK, theoretical arguments around vaccine resistance are secondary. “In my view,” she says, “apart from people who are particularly vulnerable, efforts should be directed to getting people, globally, vaccinated.”
Music can be a powerful tool. Music therapy hasn't received enough attention, but hopefully that will change now that the Mozart K.448 effect is being verified.
Musical components important for the Mozart K448 effect in epilepsy
Robert J. Quon 1,4*, Michael A. Casey2,3, Edward J. Camp4, Stephen Meisenhelter4, Sarah A. Steimel1, Yinchen Song1,4, Markus E. Testorf4,5, Grace A. Leslie6, Krzysztof A. Bujarski1,4, Alan B. Ettinger7 & Barbara C. Jobst 1,4
Abstract There is growing evidence for the efficacy of music, specifically Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major (K448), at reducing ictal and interictal epileptiform activity. Nonetheless, little is known about the mechanism underlying this beneficial “Mozart K448 effect” for persons with epilepsy. Here, we measured the influence that K448 had on intracranial interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) in sixteen subjects undergoing intracranial monitoring for refractory focal epilepsy. We found reduced IEDs during the original version of K448 after at least 30-s of exposure. Nonsignificant IED rate reductions were witnessed in all brain regions apart from the bilateral frontal cortices, where we observed increased frontal theta power during transitions from prolonged musical segments. All other presented musical stimuli were associated with nonsignificant IED alterations. These results suggest that the “Mozart K448 effect” is dependent on the duration of exposure and may preferentially modulate activity in frontal emotional networks, providing insight into the mechanism underlying this response. Our findings encourage the continued evaluation of Mozart’s K448 as a noninvasive, non- pharmacological intervention for refractory epilepsy.
his observations helped spark the inklings of a notion that would survive his century, into the next, and the next: the promise of perfect immunity, a protection so comprehensive and absolute that it might even stave off measles for a lifetime. After measles vaccines were licensed in the 1960s, that expectation ballooned even further. Experts eventually came to describe the shot’s defenses as so strong and swift that the virus could be immediately purged from the body in nearly everyone who received it—stomping out not only the symptoms of measles, but the very possibility of the pathogen’s proliferation at all. To modern immunologists, the phenomenon is known as sterilizing immunity, the ability to “totally prevent infection,” Taia Wang, an immunologist at Stanford University, told me. The measles vaccine is still often held up as its paragon.
on the need to vaccinate the world
The pressing need to quickly sort out how to vaccinate the world. It's very possible - perhaps even likely - that a variant or two could emerge that put everyone back to the beginning along with being much deadlier.
Also it goes without saying that some countries need to figure out how to vaccinate themselves along with developing adequate testing and tracking facilities.
08:16 in General Commentary, health and diet, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)