Virology
Dogma Does Not Belong in Science
By Gertrud U. Rey | | Basic virology, Gertrud Rey
by Gertrud U. Rey According to established scientific dogma, infection of cells with HIV-1 leads to delivery of the viral capsid into the cell cytoplasm, followed by “uncoating” of the capsid to release the single-stranded RNA genome. A viral-encoded enzyme called reverse transcriptase then catalyzes the conversion of the viral RNA into a single strand …
Let’s Talk About Measles
By Gertrud U. Rey | | Basic virology, Gertrud Rey
by Gertrud U. Rey Recent news headlines have been featuring multiple outbreaks of measles across the globe, and an announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dated January 25, 2024, also reported 23 confirmed cases in the US over the past month. These outbreaks happen every few years and are usually triggered by …
The Problem of Original Antigenic Sin
By Gertrud U. Rey | | Basic virology, Gertrud Rey
by Gertrud U. Rey Once the innate immune system senses a never-seen-before pathogen as new, it engages elements of the adaptive immune response. These adaptive immunity elements coordinate over time to develop a response that protects from re-infection and disease upon a second exposure to the same pathogen. The second exposure will immediately lead to …
A Satellite Takes a Bite of Phage
By Gertrud U. Rey | | Basic virology, Gertrud Rey
by Gertrud U. Rey Satellite viruses lack one or more of the elements needed to replicate, and thus they depend on co-infection with a helper virus that can provide the missing components. In a well-known example of a satellite-helper system, Hepatitis D virus requires the presence of its helper Hepatitis B virus to make copies …
A Nobel Discovery
By Gertrud U. Rey | | Basic virology, Gertrud Rey
by Gertrud U. Rey On October 2nd, 2023, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet announced the award of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. The decision was based on a series of fundamental discoveries that led to the development of the COVID-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. Katalin …
Viruses and Bats
By Gertrud U. Rey | | Basic virology, Gertrud Rey
by Gertrud U. Rey Remember the series of flashbacks in the ending of the movie “Contagion,” which reveal where the virus originated and how the pandemic started? As a tree is cut down, a colony of bats flies out of the tree to seek new shelter. While in flight over a nearby farm, one of …
David Tuller
Trial By Error: Pushback Against Psychologizing on BBC and in Medical Journal
By David Tuller, DrPH *This is a crowdfunding month at UC Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, the link is here. ********** BBC Radio 4 highlights criticism of interview with neurologist and author Suzanne O’Sullivan In March, neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan spoke on a BBC Radio 4 podcast called Radical, hosted by journalist Amol Rajan. …
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Trial By Error: Two Interviews–My Latest Appearance on “Tub Talks with Damon”; Julie Rehmeyer on her NYT “Modern Love” Piece
By David Tuller, DrPH *This is a crowdfunding month at UC Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, the link is here. ********** Once again, I get into Damon’s tub “Tub Talks with Damon” is a series hosted by Damon Jacobs, a sex-positive therapist and advocate for gay men’s and queer people’s health. And yes, …
Trial By Error: How Many Awful Papers Can Trudie Chalder Produce?
By David Tuller, DrPH *This is a crowdfunding month at UC Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, the link is here. How many bad papers can Trudie Chalder, King’s College London’s factually and mathematically challenged professor of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), churn out? The woman’s name seems attached to an inexhaustible supply of scientific …
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Trial By Error: Some Things I’ve Read Recently…
By David Tuller, DrPH *This is a crowdfunding month at UC Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, the link is here. ********** Julie Rehmeyer explores a friend’s death in New York Times’ Modern Love column It is hard to imagine having to cope with the aftermath of someone dying of suicide in your home. …
Trial By Error: Are Claims of “Recovery” from Psycho-Behavioral Interventions a Form of Bait-and-Switch ?
By David Tuller, DrPH *This is a crowdfunding month at UC Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, the link is here. In a medical context, what does “recovery” mean? A pretty standard understanding is this one offered by The Free Dictionary: “a return to a normal or healthy condition.” If experts suggest a …
Trial By Error: Professor Chalder Downgrades Definition of “Recovery”
By David Tuller, DrPH President Trump’s words and actions are routinely mind-boggling but never surprising, given past experience. The same is true of papers co-authored by Trudie Chalder, King’s College London’s mathematically and factually challenged professor of cognitive behavior therapy. In a recent article, she holds true to form. In “Recovery from chronic fatigue syndrome: …
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