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JENNER’S VACCINATION. “In May 1796, Edward Jenner found a young dairymaid, Sarah Nelms, who had fresh cowpox lesions on her hands and arms. On May 14, 1796, using matter from Nelms' lesions, he inoculated an 8-year-old boy, James Phipps. No disease developed, and Jenner concluded that protection was complete.” James Phipps was son of Jenner’s gardener. https://lnkd.in/eQfnZZv View in LinkedIn

THE HYPOTHESIS. “Pondering this, Jenner concluded that cowpox not only protected against smallpox but also could be transmitted from one person to another as a deliberate mechanism of protection.” https://lnkd.in/eQfnZZv View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE concludes this weekend on the continuation of the historical vignette about the development of the smallpox vaccine in the west. An equally interesting history could be told about its very early development in China and India. This history shows that the development of medical advances can, at times, be based on flimsy evidence, uncontrolled experiments, apples-and-oranges source materials, a degree of quackery mixed with obsession, and a decidedly zig-zag path. But despite this, these advances can occur. View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE concludes this weekend on the continuation of the historical vignette about the development of the smallpox vaccine in the west. An equally interesting history could be told about its very early development in China and India. This history shows that the development of medical advances can, at times, be based on flimsy evidence, uncontrolled experiments, apples-and-oranges source materials, a degree of quackery mixed with obsession, and a decidedly zig-zag path. But despite this, these advances can occur. View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE concludes this weekend on the continuation of the historical vignette about the development of the smallpox vaccine in the west. An equally interesting history could be told about its very early development in China and India. This history shows that the development of medical advances can, at times, be based on flimsy evidence, uncontrolled experiments, apples-and-oranges source materials, a degree of quackery mixed with obsession, and a decidedly zig-zag path. But despite this, these advances can occur. View in LinkedIn

“RAPID EVOLUTION of viral genes, a common phenomenon that is likely to have occurred in the history of the giant viruses, especially immediately following the acquisition of the respective genes from the host, can obscure their affinity with homologs from cellular organisms within one of the recognized domains.” https://lnkd.in/eU7uHHB View in LinkedIn

ONE FOOT IN, ONE FOOT OUT. “The outcome of the phylogenetic analysis of the universal genes of giant viruses is (at least, in principle) readily interpretable: the placement of the viral genes outside the three traditional domains of cellular life is compatible with the fourth-domain hypothesis, whereas their reliable placement inside any of the three domains would falsify this hypothesis.” https://lnkd.in/eU7uHHB View in LinkedIn

OVERLAP WITH RIBOSOMAL RNA DOMAINS. “Unlike other viruses, the giant viruses encode several proteins that are universal among cellular life forms, in particular translation system components, such as aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases and translation factors. The presence of these universal genes allows one to formally include the giant viruses in the “tree of life” that constitutes the basis of the three-domain system.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12728/full View in LinkedIn

FOURTH DOMAIN PROBLEMS. “This effect of nonuniform evolutionary rates is a pervasive problem in the analysis of deep phylogenies. Indeed, a subsequent reanalysis of the phylogenies of several universal genes present in giant viruses has failed to find support for the fourth-domain hypothesis.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12728/full View in LinkedIn

JENNER’S SON BECOMES ILL, following his father’s experimental innoculation. “Unfortunately, however, in the years following these experiments, young Edward "became a sickly child and exhibited signs of mild mental retardation," likely due to neurological damage.” His son later had repeated boosters with one severe reaction. https://lnkd.in/d2v-Dvh View in LinkedIn