The original theory was from a fringe scientist and when it surfaced nearly all mainstream scientists found it laughable. Man’s contribution to CO2 in the atmosphere is so small when compared to the contributions from volcanoes, plants and especially the oceans, it’s doubtful man could affect anything, let alone climate, by producing CO2. But Thatcher had a problem and a plan.

The previous government had been brought down by a devastating and violent coal mine strike and another strike came along as she was in office. Being determined to break this cycle, a large part of it being coal miners, ultimately dictating terms to the government, she was determined to move the country away from coal as a power source.

Not trusting Middle Eastern oil as a power source that would produce stability, she wanted to move Britain toward nuclear energy in a major way. The strongest selling point was that nuclear energy was clean and she seized upon the CO2 theory, reasoning that if she could increase concern over coal, she’d be able to implement plans to begin building nuclear reactors.

Millions pounds were placed on the table at Britain’s National Academy of Science to produce specific science that heightened concerns over CO2 as a serious health and environmental concern. The money available to scientists for such work grew, in Britain and across Europe and even in the US. It was the seed of the Global Warming industry we see today.

Most people would choose the Deactivate link from the Settings menu, but this doesn’t actually delete the account, it just archives it – in case you change your mind!
However you may not like the idea of your details being kept on file.

To completely delete an account use the following steps.

• On the main Facebook page, choose the Help link. When the page opens, type “delete” into the search box at the top then press Return.
• Facebook will display instructions, read this then click on the “here” link at the bottom of the paragraph.
• At the next screen, click “Submit” then type the password associated with the account to be deleted, type in the required capture words. Click OK.
• When the Permanently Delete Account dialogue box appears you can click OK again to finish up.

Note that Facebook retains the data for another 14 days, so don’t log on during that period – unless you want to resurrect your account again – wait until at least day 15 before checking.

“Here we show that the main environmental risk candidate – vitamin D – and the main gene region are directly linked and interact.”

A UK and Canadian team found that vitamin D helps to control a gene known to increase MS risk, the PLoS Genetics journal reports.

It suggests that vitamin D supplements taken during pregnancy and early in life could prevent the disease.

The researchers found that proteins activated by vitamin D in the body bind to a particular DNA sequence next to the gene, altering its function.

They believe that vitamin D deficiency in mothers or even in a previous generation may lead to altered expression of the gene in their offspring.

05/02/09
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7871598.stm

“Say Chlamydia pneumoniae and before you get to pneumoniae most people think of a sexually transmitted disease.”

“As soon as people hear the name Chlamydia their ears shut down,” said Dr. Charles W. Stratton, associate professor of Pathology. “They either don’t hear or don’t understand the second part – pneumoniae. They think of Chlamydia trachomatis, a common cause of sexually transmitted diseases. Chlamydia pneumonia is the one that’s not fun to catch.”

The Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) organism, first described in 1988, is not the sexually-transmitted type. It is an airborne organism that you get from breathing after a person carrying the organism has coughed.

“They float around as droplet nuclei, similar to TB. People cough and up come these infectious bodies. They float around a room. You breathe. In they come and now you’ve got your own.”

It’s how they work inside the body that Stratton, Dr. William M. Mitchell, professor of Pathology, and colleagues have been looking at for the past five years.

The study of the organism has intensified as Stratton’s colleagues at Vanderbilt and other medical centers around the country, including Johns Hopkins and The Mayo Clinic, look at the role of Chlamydia in diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Pyoderma gangrenosum, Coronary Artery Disease and Interstitial Cystitis.

Stratton said that Chlamydia is sneaky.

When viruses invade a cell, if they are active, they integrate in the human DNA and basically take over the cell.

“They tell the cell, ‘Ok, today, we’re going to do nothing but make viruses and the cell often dies in this process,” Stratton said.

Chlamydia works in a different way.

First, when you breathe in Chlamydia, it can infect the ciliated cells, the cells lining the airways. Ciliated cells are like an escalator that moves mucus along. Chlamydia can paralyze the ciliated cells because it steals their energy. So the host has a nasty respiratory infection.

When you have an active infection of any kind, the body has an immune response to it. Part of the immune response is that monocytes and macrophages try to engulf the pathogen and kill it.

But they can’t always kill Chlamydia. Instead, they disseminate the organism to peripheral blood mononuclear cells and the organism can silently infect other cells in the body.

“With these cryptic infections, you don’t have symptoms. And because Chlamydia isn’t really a virus, when it’s causing a cryptic infection, it’s metabolizing. It’s eating, drinking, singing and dancing. It’s alive.”

Since Chlamydia can’t make its own energy, it has to steal energy from the human cell. This means the chlamydia-infected cell doesn’t work well.

“If Chlamydia is actively metabolizing in a cell, it’s up to no good. It’s stealing energy. I can’t picture anything good coming from chlamydia being in a human cell.”

Chlamydia also likes to infect endothelial cells, the cells that line blood vessels. When there’s inflammation in the body, there often is angiogenesis, meaning new blood cells are formed. And Chlamydia is drawn to those cells.

So if Chlamydia is in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells and there’s an inflammation in the host’s body, you’re “unlucky,” Stratton said. Any secondary inflammatory process could become secondarily infected by Chlamydia no matter what the source of the inflammation, Stratton said.

“Now you’ve got a chronic problem,” Stratton said. “Now you’ve got a major chronic infection in the tissue, whether it’s the brain (MS) or in the joints (Rheumatoid Arthritis).

“If you have inflammation, a spider bite, a viral joint infection, viral meningitis or encephalitis, it doesn’t matter what it is, if a Chlamydia-infected cells happens to end up in that inflamed area, you may have just started yourself a Chlamydia farm.”

Stratton said this doesn’t necessarily mean that Chlamydia causes the disease, but it may play heavily into how the disease progresses. There may be many causes of MS, Rheumatoid Arthritis or other diseases in which Chlamydia is believed to play a role.

“One thought is that Chlamydia is not the cause of anything other than pneumonia but once it causes a lung infection and gets into your peripheral blood mononuclear cells, it’s available to cause secondary infections in other tissues if the infected white cells happen to go to those tissues.

“It may be that MS is an infection of the brain that is caused by viruses, and most people who get that viral infection of the brain have a headache for a week, then get better. If you happen to have Chlamydia, however, you may go on and have a chronic illness.”

http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/reporter/index.html?ID=779

Infection with a common bacteria could be the switch that turns on the autoimmune response in multiple sclerosis (MS) according to the findings of Wayne State University PhD graduate, Derek Lenz, now of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. He described the work he carried out as part of Robert Swanborg’s team at Wayne State University School of Medicine. He said studies in rats show that an antigen found in the bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae mimics part of a myelin protein in the animal’s central nervous system. When injected into the animal, it provokes the immune response that causes the rodent version of MS, experimental allergic encephalitis.

http://tinyurl.com/8ckw6

However, C. pneumoniae may seem an unlikely cause of MS – it is a ubiquitous pathogen and, by the age of 70, nearly everybody will show a positive blood test. It causes silent epidemics of bronchitis and low-grade respiratory infections. (This would be the illness that I had in 1974, the one and only time that I had a “chest infection” and I didn’t see a doctor nor have time off work.)  When not infecting the cells of the lungs, it survives as a spore that is metabolically inert and almost impossible to destroy. ( The cryptic stage!)

The research paper  carries on to say that cpn may not be the determining factor for the development of MS and that genetics may also come into the equation. But as far as I am concerned, cpn is the first thing that I can tackle – the only thing in fact because in the traditional neuro view there is nothing for me but to crawl away and die.

It’s a good job that my current GP is a brave star, if my GP was still Holley I would have been told that I’d have to learn to live with it or, die with it in this case. She was always a waste of space!

“Say Chlamydia pneumoniae and before you get to pneumoniae most people think of a sexually transmitted disease.

“As soon as people hear the name Chlamydia their ears shut down,” said Dr. Charles W. Stratton, associate professor of Pathology. “They either don’t hear or don’t understand the second part – pneumoniae. They think of Chlamydia trachomatis, a common cause of sexually transmitted diseases. Chlamydia pneumonia is the one that’s not fun to catch.”

The Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) organism, first described in 1988, is not the sexually-transmitted type. It is an airborne organism that you get from breathing after a person carrying the organism has coughed.

“They float around as droplet nuclei, similar to TB. People cough and up come these infectious bodies. They float around a room. You breathe. In they come and now you’ve got your own.”

It’s how they work inside the body that Stratton, Dr. William M. Mitchell, professor of Pathology, and colleagues have been looking at for the past five years.

The study of the organism has intensified as Stratton’s colleagues at Vanderbilt and other medical centers around the country, including Johns Hopkins and The Mayo Clinic, look at the role of Chlamydia in diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Pyoderma gangrenosum, Coronary Artery Disease and Interstitial Cystitis.

Stratton said that Chlamydia is sneaky.

When viruses invade a cell, if they are active, they integrate in the human DNA and basically take over the cell.

“They tell the cell, ‘Ok, today, we’re going to do nothing but make viruses and the cell often dies in this process,” Stratton said.

Chlamydia works in a different way.

First, when you breathe in Chlamydia, it can infect the ciliated cells, the cells lining the airways. Ciliated cells are like an escalator that moves mucus along. Chlamydia can paralyze the ciliated cells because it steals their energy. So the host has a nasty respiratory infection.

When you have an active infection of any kind, the body has an immune response to it. Part of the immune response is that monocytes and macrophages try to engulf the pathogen and kill it.

But they can’t always kill Chlamydia. Instead, they disseminate the organism to peripheral blood mononuclear cells and the organism can silently infect other cells in the body.

“With these cryptic infections, you don’t have symptoms. And because Chlamydia isn’t really a virus, when it’s causing a cryptic infection, it’s metabolizing. It’s eating, drinking, singing and dancing. It’s alive.”

Since Chlamydia can’t make its own energy, it has to steal energy from the human cell. This means the chlamydia-infected cell doesn’t work well.

“If Chlamydia is actively metabolizing in a cell, it’s up to no good. It’s stealing energy. I can’t picture anything good coming from chlamydia being in a human cell.”

Chlamydia also likes to infect endothelial cells, the cells that line blood vessels. When there’s inflammation in the body, there often is angiogenesis, meaning new blood cells are formed. And Chlamydia is drawn to those cells.

So if Chlamydia is in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells and there’s an inflammation in the host’s body, you’re “unlucky,” Stratton said. Any secondary inflammatory process could become secondarily infected by Chlamydia no matter what the source of the inflammation, Stratton said.

“Now you’ve got a chronic problem,” Stratton said. “Now you’ve got a major chronic infection in the tissue, whether it’s the brain (MS) or in the joints (Rheumatoid Arthritis).

“If you have inflammation, a spider bite, a viral joint infection, viral meningitis or encephalitisi, it doesn’t matter what it is, if a Chlamydia-infected cells happens to end up in that inflamed area, you may have just started yourself a Chlamydia farm.”

Stratton said this doesn’t necessarily mean that Chlamydia causes the disease, but it may play heavily into how the disease progresses. There may be many causes of MS, Rheumatoid Arthritis or other diseases in which Chlamydia is believed to play a role.

“One thought is that Chlamydia is not the cause of anything other than pneumonia but once it causes a lung infection and gets into your peripheral blood mononuclear cells, it’s available to cause secondary infections in other tissues if the infected white cells happen to go to those tissues.

“It may be that MS is an infection of the brain that is caused by viruses, and most people who get that viral infection of the brain have a headache for a week, then get better. If you happen to have Chlamydia, however, you may go on and have a chronic illness.”

However my first reaction was that she had seemed a competent performer, at ease with speaking “directly to the American people” or rather, directly to the camera. On reflection though, since learning that the candidates had prior knowledge of the questions, I realise that she had been well coached to do this when the going got a little tough. So I now think that her selection was a cynical move by the Republicans to appeal to those voters who would have voted for Hilary Clinton, or just for a bit of totty.

Somehow I don’t think it will work with the former, the latter is anyone’s guess.

A selection of comments on the net – my favourite is the first one below!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/10/st_louis_mo_you_can.html#commentsanchor

1. Sarah Palin is very familiar to me, as there are thousands just like her here in Texas. She is the type who would hire a hit man if her daughter didn’t get to be cheerleader.
2. I am an American mom that wants my children to grow up in a country that values intelligence, education, equality, and our constitution. Shouldn’t the people that lead us also be people that we look up to and that emulate the best of us? Shouldn’t we be employing the sharpest and the brightest to lead us? If the choice is “folksy or intelligent”. I want my kids to be intelligent.

   I am not completely thrilled with either Presidential candidate, but I was impressed with Joe Biden’s performance. Palin played her mom at the dinner table routine and Biden showed a side of him, (that I have not seen) a caring father that also has had to worry about the needs of his children. He is clearly a well rounded, well read, intelligent, articulate person that is WAY more ready to lead this nation if need be. I am glad that he is in Obama’s corner and that he will be his confidant. He is a definate asset to the Obama campaign.

   Sarah Palin is way out of her league. Yes she held her own at last nights debate, but the bar was set so low what does that mean? Are we supposed to applaud her for not making a complete fool out of herself. Why am I not hearing more about her comment on the power of the Vice President? Where was she going with that?
   Joe Biden did a great job setting her straight. There are checks and balances in place so that no one person has too much power. Leadership is not about grabbing more power it is about using the power that you do have wisely for the good of the people. A leaders needs should NEVER come before the needs of their people.

   I will be terrified if McCain wins the election. If something were to happen to him, and it could, we would be in serious trouble. In choosing Sarah Palin he made an extremely poor judgement call.

3. As for the person that asked why it around the world care about the VP, because if McCain wins, he’s old and has numerous health problems. There’s greater than 1 in 3 chance that he will die before his first term is up and then this bimbo will be president.
4. These two “hockey moms” are what we are constantly bombarded with by our media in the USA, now the BBC too has joined them. Immediately after the “debate” (which Palin refused from the start to participate in, by not answering questions, that was great) the pundits and such on public and commercial tv just swooned over the fact that Palin wasn’t as bad as expected and Republicans must be so elated. She’s fine if she is well rehearsed, I guess. If you call that fine. Her “colloquialisms” as one put it were so endearing to us – the ignorant masses. Well, we’ve been pushed to be as stupid as possible by the corporate owned and controlled media, but Americans don’t want a president or vice president stupider and more backward than themselves. We don’t want to have a beer with them or identify our lives with them, we want leadership, intelligence, compassion, and yes, someone we can trust to make our lives and the world better. That would not be McCain-Palin. As a woman I am insulted the Republicans nominated her – it’s a joke on us, but not very funny.

If you want to know what women think of Sarah Palin check out http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/

“I am a 53-year-old white woman who supported Hilary Clinton in her run but switched to Obama when I felt he could unite this country better than Hilary. Now we have Sarah Palin as a potential VP. Her lack of grasp on issues is of great concern to me, as evident in her unscripted interview with Katie Couric. I am dismayed the VP debate scheduled this week is allowing the questions to be submitted in advance to the candidates. I don’t believe it’s fair to try and catch them off guard, but they should both be well versed and have a firm understanding of today’s issues. I want to know what their gut feeling is, not what their handlers tell them to say. It’s an insult to the intelligence of women to have someone as qualified as Hilary Clinton a potential President and move on to the possibility of Sarah Palin as a representative of our nation. She doesn’t represent anything I believe in, mainly, true democracy and freedom from big government, education based on fact not faith based, uniting all races and cultures, securing our country through diplomacy, and making the US become something more than “arrogant” in the world’s eyes. Count me in as someone who is truly scared by the prospect of Sarah as VP. How could we continue to go so low after eight years of Bush?”
-Elizabeth B., 53

Having got that bit of housekeeping out of the way then what effects have I seen so far?
The good:-

• Sleep all through the night mostly – unless there is thunder around!
• Can tolerate hotter showers and don’t need to touch the walls or screen to keep my balance in there, even when my eyes are shut.
• Can stand on one leg (either leg) with eyes shut for a short time, longer with open eyes.
• Can walk straighter and for longer times – unless it’s during a pulse, or just after.
• Fatigue is not so apparent eg. don’t have to lie down and sleep during the day.