MicroB

Contributors to the thread might want to consider the following: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9654214/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5105210/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10025478/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33567524/ https://pathsocjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/path.2162 So, the Angiotensin system we know basically regulates blood pressure. It probably does a bunch of other things. We know over expression of part of the system, through Angiotensin II, can lead to myocarditis in young mals. There is deregulation of the same enzyme in AD patients. Incidently, most AD patients eventually go into heart failure, which is what happened to my father. ACEII is the receptor that down regulates Angiotensin II, breaking it down. So interferance in the receptor can lead to vascular events; increased blood pressure, stroke etc. But ACEII is everywhere in the body. Its full role is not fully understood, but its impact is far reaching. Coronaviruses including Sars-Cov-2, use the AceII receptor as a means to enter a cell, and infect it, through the spike protein. The spike protein likely structurally varies in different coronaviruses and coronavirus variants. This protein will compete with Angiotensin II to bind to the receptor. How well it competes depends on, among other things, its Affinity Constant. What that protein is stuck to impacts the Affinity Constant; its about charge. Now, most of the vaccines mimic the spike protein, to generate an immune response. Unlike the virus, the vaccine (or whatever you want to call it) induced spike protein isn't attached to a virus. Its going to have a lower affinity constant and is less likely to bind to the ceII receptor. The exception was that early Chinese vaccine that used inactivated virus that had been passaged through Chimpanzee cells (ie, so it wasn't exactly like the human form). But I can see a plausible mechanism how such a vaccine might induce side effects in patients. But I see a much stronger explanation why COVID-19 is such a complex diease; we thought originally it was a respiratory disease, and treated patients as if it was a respiratory disease, with unsurprising poor results, when in some patients, it became a vascular disease, a renal disease and possibly a neurological disease. To paraphrase Matt Damon's character in The Martian, they (the medical community) are going to "science the sh*t" out of this, probably for the next 20-30 years. Careers will be built on this, reputations made, and reputations ruined. They are going to get to the bottom of COVID-19, but that will be the least magnificent outcome. I can foresee an unlocking of this angiotensin system. How does it protect the obese? Why, when it goes wrong, does it affect young men and not young women. What on earth has to to do with dementia? And that will potentially unlock cures to illnesses that will affect a great many of us; our cardiovascular health, our mental health, how is this system affected by the environment (if a virus can screw it up, what else can). Every pandemic and major epidemic in history has lead to medical breakthroughs and advancement of our healthcare systems.

🤔 So much going on there. You accuse the Chinese of being universally racist, but to you, all Thai people look the same. You remark on Thai people visiting Chinese shrines, but not on Thai people visiting a temple dedicated to a man from Nepal, nor Churches where the congragation follows a carpenter from Nazareth. You also allegedly met a Chinese man who must live in the one place in Thailand with no ethnically Chinese people.

Don't forget to add they don't live in Wigwams like all other Americans.

My Thai wife decided to surprise me by learning to drive on the QT, then buying a 2014 Fiesta from a friend. I tried to persuade her not to buy it, because of the Powershift issue, But she brought it anyhow...... When I tried it in January, it seemed ok; 80k kms, no real squeaks. In heavy traffic, I detected a little judder, like someone was riding the clutch. That's the danger sign. I figured if it doesn't guess worse than that, I could live with that. Went back to the UK for a while, and the invitable. The car wouldn't engage reverse at Tesco-Lotus. Towed to the island Ford dealer. Cost of a new clutch and labour was 80,000; what the car cost. Interestingly, part prices were exactly the same as the UK. 9 hours labour was super cheap. With the clutch gone, the car was worthless. I elected to repair. From what I understand, Ford has revised the replacement parts, so it should last the rest of the life of the car, which I guess is 4-5 years tops. In the Ford's favour, it does drive very nicely. The Powershift isn't the greatest but I'm the only one who gives it beans. The wife thinks it still looks modern. For her, perfect first car; its got a few dings and dents, so I won't be upset with the inevitable post tap. If you find one with recent clutch work, it will be all good. The rest of the car is robust. In general, Fiestas seem to be about half the price of a same aged Toyota and Honda. Of course, there is good reason for that. But if you find a car that's had the work, given that its an old car now, it will be a sound buy. However, don't trust a Thai "engineer" to give it the all clear in any pre-purchase check over. The engineer who told my wife it was all good clearly didn't see the front pads that were down to the backing plates.

Share the photos you saw. They will still be in your cache. Use Google image search to identify the original source, which, I guarantee you, is not wikipedia. Clearly, you took your belief about Bandera from Wikipedia. Clearly, you have no idea how Wikipedia is compiled. Clearly, you have no idea that Wikipedia should be taken with a pinch of salt. Clearly, you have no idea that you can go into the change logs on Wikipedia, and reproduce said photo and its source. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/BANDERA%2C STEFAN_0059.pdf When you referred to the Waffen SS "division", I knew you were talking cobblers. The Waffen SS consisted of many divisions, some all German, some non-German, some, increasingly to the end of WW2, a mixture. The Ukrainian division was SS Galicia. It was supported by Andriy Melnyk, as a counterweight to Bandera's UPA, which was outside of german control (and why Bandara found himself under arrest by the Germans). Maybe what you are confused about is the transfer of the 14th Division in April 1945, after Hitler killed himself, to Ukrainian National Committee, of which Bandara, and Melnyk, were members. As I stated before, the committee had the objective, at the end of the war, of extricating Ukrainians from German command, I suppose for the purposes of forming some sort fo resistance to Stalin post war, in the way the Baltic states organised armed resistance long after WW2. Bandera, disgusting individual he was, never took the SS oath that you believe he did, and never had rank in the German army. Its easy for one's brain to be turned to mush by Russian propaganda. I'm glad you recall that Russia invaded the Crimea in February 2014. Literally, they started it. They tried to kill the Ukrainian garrison troops there, and then they proceeded to humiliate some very brave men. Putin is a former KGB thug who's job in East Germany, which he apparently enjoyed, was to eliminate opposition to the East German Government. You apparently admire the fellow. He's raping Russia of its wealth, with his circle of cronies. Yeltsin was on to him. Russian TV is not free and fair journalism, and is full of stooges of Putin. You're a mug. People used to listen and believe Lord Haw Haw during WW2. You've understood what exactly? That Ukraine doesn't deserve to exist? That the Ukrainian language is made up? That NATO has been plotting for 30 years to destroy Russia? That Stalin was right in trying to starve Ukrainians to death? That there are no Nazis in Russia? That Turtle tanks are clear evidence of a sophisticated, winning military? You by now know the term Ho Hos, because you watch to Russian telly. Oh, wait, you don't actually watch Russian telly, because you don't understand Russian. Instead you watch a English language service, delivering a message they want you to suck up. Back in the days of the USSR, you could tune in and listen to Radio Moscow, where the announcer, usually female, would give the Soviet version of the world's news. Which was usually garbage, unless it was the football results.

He actually spent most of WW2 first in a concentration camp, Sachsenhausen in 1942, then house arrest by 1944. Early in the war, he was certainly a collaborator, but the Germans arrested him as they feared revolt. Right at the end, he was part of the Ukrainian National Committee, that was trying to extricate Ukrainian units from German command; presumably he thought the Nazis were finished, and he wanted to contunue the fight in Ukraine. He was a Right Wing Nationalist, and a bit of a thug, but never served in any of the SS Divisions (the SS consisted of many Divisions, most of which were little different by War's end from regular army) with any kind of rank, let alone a "senior officer". On the otherhand, Putin is very interested in rehabilitating Stalin, and this started long before Russia's seizures of Ukrainian territory. Nazi sympathies seem to be common in that part of the world, not just confined to Ukraine. The Russian army is full of them, judging from tattoos (which the Russians were using as a measure to identify so-called Ukrainian Nazis). I would put that down to people of Putin's generation who taught their youth a twisted history of WW2. leading to political immaturity. Putin might think in his head he's another Peter the great (though it seems his real hero is Czar Nicholas 1), but in reality, he's a racist, homophobic thug , with views that are indistinguishable from German Nazis, with the added touch that he's out to financially rape Russia. He doesn't have a political ideology that genuinely seeks to better the lot of the Russian people, hence he's quite happy to depopulate the Russian far east of its menfolk in his mincemeat tactics. He holds the average Russian in contempt, a serf, in the same way the Czars did. Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are politically immature. The idea of political opposition that doesn't involve thumping each other over a disagreement hasn't yet take root. A good article: https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2023/01/ukraine-stepan-bandera-nationalist Thanks to people with mindsets like Putin, the non-Russian former Soviet States are denied a legitimate history. In wartime, people do look to historic heroes, even anti-heroes. Many countries do this; some of the leaders of the Irish uprising had some shady views. Subhas Chandra Bose is venerated as a hero of India, even though he chose to actively side with Nazi Germany and Japan, and recruited Indian soldiers into his army to fight other Indian soldiers, who had taken a different oath. Indian National Army veterans received a pension but WW2 Indian Army veterans did not https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGJpbTDW0AAyt33.jpg:large

When submitting supporting evidence for a UK visitor visa application, is there a need to disclose banking details. I'm happy enough to submit a P60, and a redacted front page of a bank statement (obscuring the account number), showing savings balance, because I don't really trust someone at VFS to safeguard that data. They don't need to know my bank account number, do they?

Likely high, but probably not as high as that https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18477756/ H5N1 infection is probably under reported. A Thai study in a village population suggested seropositivity at about 9%. Thailand has reported about 20 deaths, with 12 from 17 identified cases in 2004 (CFR 70.6%). But deaths are likely grossly underestimated as well. Infection in cattle might take this virus into a new direction, for better or worse. It might become more or less infectious to humans, or the virulence might be worse orless. Influenza originated in birds, and seems to have made the jump into humans about 2000-2500 years ago in Greece, about when Greeks started raising pigs in stys. Flu then stayed relatively benign until the 19th Century, first with Russian flu. H5N1 going from birds into cattle doesn't make it more likely that birds can infect humans, but that the virus has another route of transmission. Cattle possess both human-like and bird-like sialic acid receptors, so, on the face of it, this ought to result in a virus more likely to infect humans. So its important to eradicate this virus in cattle before it gets any further. The virus to date has been found in dairy cattle, infecting the teats. You are going to hear a lot more about FLI Riems in Germany, as they work to study infection in cattle.

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Your comments mean nothing without sources, and so will be disregarded. Your comment on prices in (presumably) California is irrelevant. Your comment on the 2019 Canntrust incident is irrelevant in 2024. Please cite more recent examples to support your supposition that US publicly traded companies are routinely involved in the evasion of Thai customs law to place cheap product on the market. Name these companies.

A seperate issue. Much of that methamphetamine is produced on an industrial scale by the UWSA in Myanmar; Wa State is effectively a narco-state, with a dodgy relationship with the Tatmadaw, in what is a full blown civil war, as well as funding from China. The cannabis policy has not worked because it has facilitated the entry of foreign criminal gangs into Thailand, primarily from the US. To make it work, and to address the methamphetamine problems, requires a combination of much tougher border security along with regional cooperation and interdiction. Look how well that's worked between Mexico and the US. Its ruinously expensive, and appears to have made little dent. Parts of Mexico have become ungovernable as a result of interdiction policies. A libertarian approach might be to open the Thai agricultural sector to foreign investment. Have the legitimate producers in the US, with their sacks of cash, buy Thai farms and land. That is fraught with problems, both about changes in Thai land ownership law, and the potential impacts on food production. Thailand can't really do anything to influence what is happening in Myanmar, nor China. But it can close down cannabis shops. Otherwise, it has to think about how it can support Thai farmers, and drive out foreign competition.

And yet the majority of cannabis sold in Thailand is US grown https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailands-promised-cannabis-bonanza-disappoints-politicians-trade-blame-2023-04-06/ https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/5/8/thailands-cannabis-industry-says-us-growers-are-eating-their-lunch Why is US-grown cannabis cheaper than Thai cannabis? Labour costs must be higher, then there are transportation costs. I can't imagine the growers with licences, such as Ultra Health, Mammoth Farms, Palo Verde Center, Copperstate Farms, Cresco labs etc, will want to get involved with shadey practices involving fruit imports, hollowed furniture. Companies like Aurora and Cronos are publicly listed, and such activities are really bad for ESG, and make shareholders unhappy. Probably organised crime, who's business is not just cannabis, wanting to defend market share by deliberately undercutting legitimate businesses, and running "businesses" in a way that most will find intolerable (low labour costs due to use of illegal immigrants, slave labour, illegal cultivation on land you don't own, construction and operation of grow houses without heed of safety law). My understanding is that the Thai decriminalisation was primarily intended to help poor Thai farmers with an alternative cash crop, which is laudable, rather than a moral stance regarding the use of narcotics, but instead, these farmers, doing the right thing, are finding themselves in competition with essentially foreign criminal gangs, who, due to regulation of their industries in the US locking them out, are looking for alternative markets to dump unregulated cannabis. Regulation in the US has not created a free for all, but instead created cartels who were able to obtain state licences. If you don't have a state licence to grow the stuff, you are still a criminal, and now your rivals have the forces of government on their side to drive you out of business. And it gets even seedier. Much of the illegitimate cannabis production in the US, which is being dumped in Thailand, is financed by Chinese Triads; https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/21/illicit-cannabis-china-00086125 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-market-marijuana-tied-to-chinese-criminal-networks-infiltrates-maine/ Regulation has given a veneer of respectability to criminality. The buyers of cannabis in Thailand looking for US grown stuff are probably confusing that with legitimate cannabis, when in fact its probably grown by people involved with snakeheads, money laundry, extortion etc.

Funnily enought I am a card carrying member of the Conservative and Unionist Party.. I take it you are a Septic Tank.

Its a wasted discussion now. People are set in their beliefs. Jonas Salk invented the first Polio vaccine. It took 20 years of research, kickstarted by Roosevelt. The vaccine arrived after 40 years of a Polio epidemic that lead to summer shutdowns of beaches, swimming pools and schools. Roosevelt, a Polio survivor, did not live to see the Salk vaccine. Eisenhower did, and Ike literally cried when he awarded Salk with the Cogressional Medal. What is less remembered is that first Salk vaccine was a disaster. There was nothing wrong with the vaccine, which used a formaldehyde inactivated polio virus (viruses was still a novel concept, having only been discovered in the 1930s). Back then, there were no clinical trials. 3 companies were contracted by the US government to scale up production of Dr Salk's vaccine, and get it into the arms of American kids. One of those companies though didn't know how to make formaldehyde. Consequently, 200,000 does went out with live virus. As a result, the FDA was created, because the government realised it wasn't enough to invent a new medicine, you also needed to know how to make it. The mistake though didn't stop parents getting their kids vaccinated. The Polio vaccination campaign is the second most successful vaccination programme in history. In the 1860s, people in Leicester rioted over the smallpox vaccine. They didn't want it. The Labour party campaigned to get rid of the vaccine act, and the formation of the NHS brought an end to it, followed by a catastrophic collapse in smallpox vaccination rates in the UK. In 1962, smallpox broke out in Bradford. People were soon queueing for it. Some attitudes change, some do not.

Partial vaccination means the same as for any other vaccine; failure to complete the prescribed dosages. The number of dosages depends on the vaccine. The term is synonymous with "incomplete vaccination". For instance, if you have the HBV vaccine, which typically uses a recombinant antigen produced in yeast cells or hamster ovarian cells, you need 3 vaccinations before you can be considered fully vaccinated. The HBV vaccine gives 80% effectiveness against the risk of developing hepatitis. Conversely, the whooping cough vaccine (Pertussis) is considered non-sterilising, ie it does not stop infection, nor prevent spread, but it does mitigate the illness. The problem is the term "sterilizing vaccine"; a vaccine that prevents infection. Its a biological myth, because its based on how a disease is measured. The usual measure of the efficacy of a vaccine is the prevention of illness, and the disappearance of cases. In most cases, disease is determined by symptoms. But its actually impossible to demonstrate infection never occurred. The measles vaccine is held up as a highly effective vaccine; it virtually eliminates measles in kids. But, when vaccination levels falls, there is a resurgence in cases. The vaccine, it turns out, doesn't prevent infection events. It prevents kids developing measles (rash), but if you start testing for the measles virus, its still circulating among those kids. The paradigm for infection detection is increasingly molecular. In 2020, it was PCR. In the next pandemic, it will be CRISPR, with 1-2 orders of magnitude increase in sensitivity and specificity. The myth created by Danish physician Peter Ludvig Panum when he assessed the effectiveness of measles vaccination in the Faroes, in the 1840s, which he observed to be perfectly effective, will be eroded. The lay public, in general, do not understand how vaccines work. Why would they, its not a topic they paid much attention to at school. The HPV vaccine is near enough perfect in preventing cervical cancer in women. Its probably the most effective vaccine known. The Rabies vaccine, at most, provides 2 years protection, but more typically 6 months protection. One wouldn't quibble though about efficacy after being bitten by a rabid dog, like I was (and I had the early recombinant version into the belly).

Blocked Susan lea for not reading.

Generally, the same people skeptical of climate change/climate emergency/global warming, are also the same people resisting geneticslly engineered crops, and who generally push against scientists, to the extent some want scientists to be incarcerated. The ability of plants to photosynthesize (take oxidized cardon in CO2, and convert it to reduced carbon in sugars) is dependant on access to phosphate, nitrogen and a few metals, to manufacture the enzymes needed to fixate CO2. Major threat to rice yields in SEA is seawater contamination of fields. So work is being done on salt-resistant rice, which also makes them more resistant to drought. But genetic manipulation of strains can lead to domination of viable strains by a small number of countries. The Beijing Genomics Institute is easily the largest gene sequencing organisation in the world, and they were part of the Human Genome Project. After that was completed, they switched their focus to studying the rice genome. Likely, China holds the knowledge and knowhow in improving crop yields.

If you had multiple TIAs and strokes, at least you won't be drawing pension for that long. My dad got through 10 extra years after a TIA, and that likely triggered the Alzheimers he had for the last 5 years. So you think its ok to transfer the health burdens from a country like the UK to a country like Thailand. You ask what difference does it make to the UK government where they live? And then states the reason. Saves money, and they don't even have to give you more money. I'm aware of all the other stuff you referred to. And its 35 qualifying years, not 30 years that you confidently stated, to get a full pension. It seems given the numbers of pensioners living overseas on reduced pensions, the UK doesn't need to incentivise anyone to leave the UK. Your mum lived rent free, but people like me paid for that. her time in the home and getting benefits off the State was also facilitated by all those pensioners living it up in Spain, Greece, Canada, USA, Australia. Thailand. And then the country voted to ruin the lives of those pensioners through an act of national suicide called Brexit. Don't worry, in a few years time, there won't be a UK to pay out pensions. Even on a full pension, your mum would have failed to meet Thailand's retirement visa requirements of a minimum income of 65,000 baht per month. How on earth do you think the government can fund a 50% increase in the State Pension in order to retire to Thailand. So she could not have left the UK (to go to Thailand). Certainly not the EU. I'm not justifying the government's position. Just saying why they will never change that position, and its pointless people campaigning for it. There was a Petition, that got widespread coverage in the national press: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/money/frozen-state-pension-payments-petition-32165447 https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/642749 It attracted 5,352 signatures before it ran out of time. I thought there were half a million affected, and you were all going to sign this.. The simple truth is no one cares. More people signed a petition to raise the motorway limit to 100ph, to increase funding for deaf athletes, to take action to support the DRC, to bring back Kung Fu into GCSES.

£10 poms. Through the fifties and sixties, about 200-300,000 people emigrated from the UK per year.

Why would UK residents, except family, care what happens to Expats. You made your choices, eyes wide open. Only if Bona Vacantia was involved, would the treasury benefit from your passing.

So, they left the UK aged 25 years. You must pay NI for 10 years to get any pension. Most of those expats will not have paid enough NI to get any pension (you get 1 year credited in 6th form, zero NI credits in higher education, so those with any professional qualification would not get anything). 80% of UK expats have a degree, and among the pensioner population, you will likely see an elevated representation of graduates, compared to the UK domiciled population. If you had paid in for 10 years, and 40 years later, in 2024, retired, your pension would be £63.20 per week. That's also how much you would get if you returned home, though you'll subsequently benefit from inflationary increases. You will also be able to access Pension Credit if in the UK, to bring your income up.

You really believe she was living on £9 a week in the US? Expats in the USA get their pension uprated every year. Someone receiving £9 per week didn't work in the UK for many years.

Why does the UK government have to do anything about? Because its fair? Out of pity? 320,000 pensioners in the UK, out of about 13 million, exist on a State pension. 66% of UK pensioners pay tax. What percentage of expatriate pensioners only have a State Pension? Vanishingly small I suspect. Right now, you are saving them money apparently (an interesting position; I don't use the NHS much. Should I get a rebate for the money saved? I've never been in prison either, so I should get a refund there. Not been on the dole, so some more money back. Maybe I don't own a car, more money I am owed etc etc). So why should they change anything? While expats who have been out of the UK for more than 15 years cannot vote, of the numbers that can, a pitifully small number bother to register. It peaked in the run up to the Brexit vote, then has declined since. Generally Expatriates don't want to exercise their right to vote. If you want your full pension, its pretty simple. Go back home. Otherwise, this is a life choice you made, that you knew about when you retired, and what pensioners have known about since 1955. Its a policy they effectively supported in all those elections they voted in before they retired. What would you say to UK voters, who have no intention to retire overseas, or who can only dream about retiring to some beach, why they should vote to improve your lot? When apparently all that money that you gave up because of a life choice, could be used, for instance, to establish a National Social Service (proper residential care that doesn't involve emptying someone's estate) (because you believe there is a magic pot of cash). I suspect if UK pensioners decided to stop emigrating, and all expatriate pensioners were repatriated, then the entire system will collapse; both pensions, the NHS and Adult Social Services.

Then move back to the UK. Then you will get your pension. All 500,000 of you. Test the system. The system was built on the assumption, essentially, of the £10 Pom. That a substantial portion of British workers would leave the UK for elsewhere, effectively subsidising the home market. The UK government claims illegal immigration costs $3 billion. Other sources dispute that, with some evidence. Parliamentary expenses are £140 million The cost of treating smoking related disease to the NHS is about $3 billion. Scrap treatment of a self inflicted illness, and you have your savings to boost pensions. Being humane, the government will offer free morphine to those with lung disease to help them on their way. This is the natural absurdity when you conflate the DWP budget with other budgets. There isn't a pool of money to dip into. There is only HMG's ability to borrow money. So they would have to borrow more money, to spend on mostly well to do pensioners living in sunny climes. Or borrow the same money, , and ebut redistribute the moneys differently. So your example of illegal immigration; the natural conclusion is for the Home Office to scrap its illegal immigration budget, which would include getting rid of the UK Border Force (we never had it before), cutting back on Royal Navy patrols, having a policy of non-intervention of foreign beggers on the streets of the UK, and stopping intervention in the black market sweat shops, as it costs too much. Therefore the cost of illegal immigration goes away. And the quote was from 1994, if you bothered to look at it. Maybe there is something about government finances that you know that has radically changed. If so, please share, rather than keeping it to yourself. Willian Hague in July 1994 said:

No waste of my time, Burt Reynolds-wannabe.