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NEW ATTRIBUTION. “There has been a growing recognition of Benjamin Jesty (1737–1816) as the first to vaccinate against smallpox.” https://lnkd.in/eQfnZZv View in LinkedIn

MILITARY VARIOLATION. “In 1766, American soldiers under George Washington were unable to take Quebec from the British troops, apparently because of a smallpox epidemic that significantly reduced the number of healthy troops. The British soldiers were all variolated. By 1777, Washington had learned his lesson: all his soldiers were variolated before beginning new military operations.” https://lnkd.in/eQfnZZv View in LinkedIn

IATROGENIC MEDICINE. “In fact, when we read that "the rate of smallpox infection in England actually rose during the eighteenth century," we cannot help but wonder if the practice of variolation may have contributed to that increase by directly increasing the number of infected (and therefore infectious) persons in the population.” http://www.bioethicscourse.info/jotsite/jot-chp2.html View in LinkedIn

SIGNIFICANT SIDE EFFECTS. “Although 2% to 3% of variolated persons died from the disease, became the source of another epidemic, or suffered from diseases (e.g., tuberculosis and syphilis) transmitted by the procedure itself, variolation rapidly gained popularity among both aristocratic and common people in Europe.” https://lnkd.in/eQfnZZv View in LinkedIn

TWO LIFESTYLES. “Thus, Polintons, which we believe should be more properly denoted polintoviruses, appear to lead a dual lifestyle combining features of viruses and transposons.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12728/full View in LinkedIn

POPULATION IMMUNIZATIONS. “Since there was also a demand for protection against smallpox, physicians soon began the variolation procedure on a massive scale.” Homebrews without quality controls of any type. https://lnkd.in/eQfnZZv View in LinkedIn

TRANSPOSON VIRIONS. “Unexpectedly, we have recently found that the majority of the Polintons encode two proteins homologous to the typical capsid proteins of other viruses, strongly suggesting that, at least under some conditions, these transposons actually produce virions that could infect new hosts.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12728/full View in LinkedIn

TRIALS ON ROYALTY. “Finally, on April 17, 1722, Maitland successfully treated the two daughters of the Princess of Wales. Not surprisingly, the procedure gained general acceptance after this last success.” https://lnkd.in/eQfnZZv View in LinkedIn

CYTOPLASMIC REPLICONS. “The escaped element that would replicate in the cytoplasm using the ancestral Polinton pPolB spawned two groups of mobile elements, namely cytoplasmic plasmids (so far found only in fungi) and the “Megavirales,” which share the unique trifunctional capping enzyme, RNAP, and D11-like helicase.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12728/full View in LinkedIn

NUCLEAR ESCAPE. “Polintoviruses reside in the nucleus of the host cell and, accordingly, rely on host enzymes for transcription. A key event for the emergence of the “Megavirales” was the escape from the nucleus, concomitant with the acquisition of the RNAP and the capping apparatus from the host.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12728/full View in LinkedIn