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With a high efficacy close to mRNA, it should be good news to poorer countries. Texas scientists’ new Covid-19 vaccine is cheaper, easier to make and patent-free Dr Maria Bottazzi says their vaccine, called Corbevax, is unique because they do not intend to patent it Erum Salam Sat 15 Jan 2022 10.00 GMT A new Covid-19 vaccine is being developed by Texas scientists using a decades-old conventional method that will make the production and distribution cheaper and more accessible for countries most affected by the pandemic and where new variants are likely to originate due to low inoculation rates. The team, led by Drs Peter Hotez and Maria Bottazzi from the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development at Baylor College of Medicine, has been developing vaccine prototypes for Sars and Mers since 2011, which they reconstructed to create the new Covid vaccine, dubbed Corbevax, or “the world’s Covid-19 vaccine”. Although more than 60 other vaccines are in development using the same technology, Bottazzi said their vaccine is unique because they do not intend to patent it, allowing anyone with the capacity to reproduce it. “Pretty much anybody that can make hepatitis B vaccines or has the capacity to produce microbial-based protein like bacteria or yeast, can replicate what we do,” Bottazzi said. Patent wars over mRNA vaccines have recently heated up. Moderna and the National Institutes of Health are in a dispute over who should get credit for specific discoveries that led to a Covid-19 vaccine which has been delivered to more than 73 million Americans. If Moderna is found to have infringed on the federal government’s patent, it could be forced to pay more than $1bn. At the same time, activists have called for Pfizer and Moderna to share the technology and knowhow for producing their vaccines, including taking the fight to the World Trade Organization. Low-income countries, which have few vaccine research and production facilities, have vaccinated just one in nine people, according to the World Health Organization. The US has fully vaccinated 67% of the population and provided a third vaccine dose to more than one-third. Corbevax’s clinical trial data has yet to be released due to resource constraints, but Texas Children’s hospital said the vaccine was over 90% effective against the original Covid-19 strain and over 80% effective against the Delta variant. The vaccine’s efficacy against the Omicron variant is currently being tested. The process to create the vaccine involves the use of yeast – the same method by which hepatitis B vaccines are produced. The Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines currently authorized in the US use different technologies, or vaccine “platforms”. Moderna and Pfizer use messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. This platform introduces the immune system to Covid-19 by delivering instructions on how to produce its most recognizable feature, the spike proteins which coat its surface. This helps the immune system recognize and fight the virus later, if a person is exposed. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine introduces immune cells to the spike protein through an otherwise harmless cold virus, a technology called viral vector. The Corbevax vaccine uses a platform called recombinant protein sub-unit technology, which places an actual piece of Covid-19’s spike protein in yeast cells. The yeast cells then copy the vital protein and the protein is introduced to the immune system. “We make the protein, directly and synthetically, in the lab using the yeast system,” Bottazzi explained. “We ask the yeast to make a protein that looks just like a protein that is made by the virus. Then we immunize the protein and the body then processes this protein and presents it to the immune system. Therefore, you don’t ask your body to do any major manipulation of the coding.” Crucially, storing the Corbevax vaccine only requires standard refrigeration, unlike the Pfizer vaccine, which requires ultra-cold storage in transit. Biological E, an Indian pharmaceutical company accustomed to producing hepatitis B vaccines with whom Bottazzi’s team has a longstanding relationship, has already produced 150m doses of the new Corbevax vaccine and will soon be able to produce 100m doses every month. After being overlooked by government organizations for funding, Bottazzi said, the developers behind Corbevax relied on philanthropic donations to get them over the finish line. The Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development is an academic and scientific institution in nature, but Bottazzi said developing Corbevax had forced them to stretch their resources in order to gain visibility as a serious candidate for Covid vaccine development. “We ourselves are learning how to do work that is regulatory-enabling, that enables good quality, good reproduction, good record-keeping … we mimic as if we were a small biotech or manufacturing entity,” she said. “Every technology has pros and cons. Nobody is claiming one is the super-duper, only solution. All the [vaccines] are part of the solution. But when you have a situation of such gravity around the world, you don’t pick and choose a solution – you try to use all solutions,” Bottazzi said. Bottazzi said the reason she and her team did not patent the vaccine was because of her team’s shared philosophy of humanitarianism and to engage in collaboration with the wider scientific community. “We want to do good in the world. This was the right thing to do and this is what we morally had to do. We didn’t even blink. We didn’t think, ‘how can we take advantage of this?’ You see now that if more like us would have been more attuned to how the world is so inequitable and how we could have helped from the beginning so many places around the world without thinking ‘what’s going to be in it for me?’, we could have basically not even seen these variants arise.” Bottazzi hopes her move will incentivize others to follow suit and make affordable and accessible vaccines for other diseases and viruses, like hookworm. “We need to break these paradigms that it’s only driven by economic impact factors or return of economic investment. We have to look at the return in public health.”

Extract from Sunday Times, 13 June. Fans of Texas Fried Chicken, which was here in the late 1980's, can rejoice. The chain relaunched with an outlet at the Singapore Expo on Wednesday, 9 June. Take a bite of the Original or Spicy Fried Chicken ($7.40 for a two piece combo) or the Mexicana Burger - a sandwich of chicken fillet, cheese onion and nachos ($7.40 for a combo). http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1036612/1/.html Can't wait to go this week to try! I also wan my A&W back here!!!

Bad parking habits can be found in most parts of the world. It is no different in the United States of America and police in Texas found a creative way to call out an offender. Posted on Facebook by the Southlake Police Department in reference to a Ram truck which parked poorly, one of its officers in its department apparently created a funny note which reads “We noticed you had a little trouble staying in the lines when you parked next to a handicapped space….” “Maybe if you practice coloring our path and staying in the lines here, it could help you from avoid citations in the future.” An uncolored image of the police department’s shield was also in the note. While not everyone might find it funny, we thought at least the police there had a decent sense of humor and receiving that message is much better than actually getting a fine.

I heard from a friend that he sent his car for service and then they top Texas Engine Oil. Never heard before leh. Anyone knows?

An unusual mishap took place quite recently in Aransas Pass, Texas, USA. On Wednesday, 19th June 2013, an unexpecting police officer got bitten by a monkey as he was trying to give a ticket to the driver of a speeding car, in which a monkey was riding in. The traffic policeman, Keith Moore, 21, got his hand attacked by the monkey - which probably became outraged seeing its driver being given the ticket - right when he was trying to ask the driver to sign on the speeding ticket. The officer, shocked by the attack, went back and reported it to his fellow police officer - who also happened to be his sergeant - who was waiting in the police car behind the car being pulled over. As it turned out, Moore wasn't the only one shocked as his sergeant's reaction was also the same as his. Moore told Kris TV that his sergeant thought he got stung by a bee at first. It was when Moore was walking back to his sergeant that he could tell him more clearly that it was a monkey that attacked him and that monkey just came out of nowhere. Well, you see, how is a police officer supposed to expect that there would be a monkey, or even any other animal, sitting at the back of a car? Despite the attack, Keith Moore carried on his work and gave the old man - who was driving the car the monkey was in - the ticket all the same. Later on, it was discovered that the monkey was actually kind of a celebrity and one which was normally quite friendly, too. It was a circus monkey, a professional in posing for pictures in carnivals and festivals. Well, in that case, the monkey probably just doesn't like to see its driver getting pulled over and given a ticket as it was in a rush to its performance. As for Moore, who was a rookie police officer, it seems that he had gotten a story to share with everyone back in the police base.

WEST, Texas (Reuters) - Hundreds of people were likely injured in a fiery explosion on Wednesday night at a fertilizer plant near Waco, Texas, that damaged or destroyed numerous buildings including a school and nursing home, authorities said. The blast was reported at about 8 p.m. CDT (0100 GMT on Thursday) in West, a town of some 2,700 people about 80 miles (130 km) south of Dallas and 20 miles (32 km) north of Waco. "It's a lot of devastation. I've never seen anything like this," said McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara. "It looks like a war zone with all the debris." There was no immediate official word on what sparked the explosion as emergency personnel assisted victims and doused the flames. A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, D.L. Wilson, told Reuters the blast had probably caused "hundreds of casualties" and damaged many homes. He added that a nearby nursing home had collapsed from the explosion and that people were believed trapped inside. McNamara said the nursing home and much of the center of town had been evacuated, and that residences near the explosion had been leveled. The air in town remained thick with smoke more than two hours after the explosion, and the area around the blast site was littered with shards of wood, bricks and glass. A Reuters reporter observed that a nearby middle school and several homes were severely burned. Dallas television station WFAA reported from helicopters that roughly a three-block area of West appeared to have been destroyed. More than 100 people were being taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco, said vice president of hospital operations David Argueta. Hillcrest CEO Glenn Robinson told CNN that the hospital was seeing "everything from orthopedic injuries to patients that are experiencing serious blood loss." Governor Rick Perry issued a statement saying his office had "mobilized state resources to help local authorities" deal with the incident. A White House official said the Obama administration was aware of the situation and monitoring local and state response through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The explosion came two days before the 20th anniversary of a fire in Waco that engulfed a compound inhabited by David Koresh and his followers in the Branch Davidian sect, ending a siege by federal agents. Some 82 members of the sect and four federal agents died at Waco. (Reporting by Steve Gorman, Tim Gaynor and David Bailey; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Xavier Briand) really dun understand whats happening..

Ferrari has auctioned off the first US-spec Ferrari F12berlinetta, with the proceedings going to the the American Red Cross in aid of the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Sandy developed from a tropical wave in the western Caribbean Sea on October 22. It quickly strengthened and was upgraded to tropical storm six hours later. In the US, Hurricane Sandy affected 24 states with New York City badly flooded on 29 October. Power was also cut around the city. The event took place at the inaugural 2012 Formula One Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Ferrari started bidding of the supercar at US$315,888 (S$386,173). The bidding ended at US$1.125 (S$1.375) million with the top bidder by the name of Larry Roth who hails from Long Island. Donors donated an additional US$345,000 bringing the total funds raised to almost US$1.5 (S$1.83) million. Larry will receive the delivery of Ferrari's most powerful road-going car in Q2 of 2013. Powered by a 6.3-litre V12 naturally-aspirated engine, the F12berlinetta sprints from 0 to 100km/h in just 3.1 seconds. The engine is mated to a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission. Photo Credit: autoblog.com

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/te...-165517099.html

With capital punishment, there is no turning back in the event of a wrongful conviction... Cannot imagine how Deluna's family is feeling right now. Hope he RIP. Having said that, I am still in favour of having the death penalty in our local system though I hope it is robust enough to ensure that no innocent party suffers. IIRC a guy was wrongly charged with murder with his brother in a robbery cum murder case in a HDB flat not too long ago but luckily his pro bono lawyer fought tooth and nail to clear his name and succeeded. His brother was, however, sentenced to death I think. From CNA: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp...1201353/1/.html Wrong man was executed in Texas, probe says Posted: 15 May 2012 1356 hrs

[extract] Most of us would have probably heard jokes of how a woman

Anyone heard abt this two brands. They are having 50% discount now but still very expensive. Anyone with experience with this oil. Currently I m on Amsoil 0W20 oil. The price of Roar is more $34/L after 50% discount More than twice of wat I am paying now.

[extract] By now, most auto enthusiasts would have seen the internet video of a Bugatti Veyron crashing into a Texas lake. The video was uploaded sometime in November 2009 and that's more than two years ago. This screen grab from the video shows the car travelling on a side road, just next to a lake and the speed of the car wasn

The Formula one grand prix will once again grace the soil of The United States. Despite news reports stating that New York was Ecclestone's preferred location, Austin (Texas) will in face stage its first race in year 2012. The 10-year contract is for a "purpose-built" facility, F1 chief executive Ecclestone said in a statement, although details including an actual site, cost or race date were not released. A report of the AP news agency said the venue would be built "within 10 miles" of Austin airport. The promoter for the event is Full Throttle Productions, headed by Tavo Hellmund. Mr Tavo is said to have known Mr Ecclestone for 30 years. "We have been diligently working together for several years to bring this great event to Austin, the State of Texas and back to the United States," said Hellmund. Never on a purpose-built circuit, previous US grand prix have been held at Watkins Glen, Long Beach, Las Vegas, Detroit, Dallas and Phoenix. Between 2000 and 2007, the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosted the event, and spokesman Fred Nation on Tuesday questioned whether the "business deal" between F1 and Austin is a sound one. He said,

By DANNY ROBBINS, Associated Press Writer Danny Robbins, Associated Press Writer

Wanna find out about what you guys think of Shell Helix Ultra as compared to the rest of the brands which promise a lot more. What do you think? Me reaching 15,000 soon and thinking of which brand to use.

Wheeew! World record?? Texas man jailed 4,060 years for sexually assaulting 3 teenage girls WEATHERFORD - A man was sentenced to more than 4,000 years in prison Wednesday for sexually assaulting three teenage girls over two years. A day after finding James Kevin Pope guilty, jurors sentenced him to 40 life prison terms - one for each sex assault conviction - and 20 years for each of the three sexual performance of a child convictions. At the request of prosecutors, state District Judge Graham Quisenberry ordered Pope to serve the sentences consecutively, adding up to 4,060 years. He will be eligible for parole in the year 3209, according to the Parker County District Attorney's Office. 'We believe it was a just result,' prosecutor Robert DuBoise said, adding that he was 'overwhelmed' with the judge's decision to stack the sentences. Pope, 43, abused the girls for nearly two years. It came to authorities' attention earlier this year after Pope made several inappropriate comments to a friend, who notified Child Protective Services. During the trial, the teens testified about the abuse, and their sexually explicit photographs were shown as evidence. But Mr Rick Alley, Pope's defence lawyer, told jurors in closing arguments that the victims were incapable of understanding what happened, the Weatherford Democrat reported in its Wednesday online edition. 'If it was as traumatic as they indicate, they would be able to give you (specific dates and times of the incidents). Simply because it's shocking doesn't make it true,' Mr Alley said. During the sentencing phase of the trial, a US Secret Service agent testified that while examining Pope's home computer, he found more than 200 images of child porn. Later on Wednesday, some jurors said the case was difficult because of the subject matter. 'We were careful not to make any mistakes in viewing and evaluating the evidence,' said juror Dale Lewis. -- AP http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/...ory_254174.html

Thinking of flying to Austin and stay there for 3 weeks somewhere in September. Hence I think I better do some planning now. Does anyone know of any good deal for air-tickets? I was told I need to take 3 planes to reach there. I don't really like to fly, esp. over such long journey, which is the better route for me to take? Via L.A. or via S.F. ? Thanks for any inputs and suggestions.

Yo guys, Just came across this oil being sold..... mind you... it is really not cheap. Going for $35/ltr by someone offering in the club website Anyone has any idea whether this oil is really that good to command such a price? Thanks. Oh, btw... the webby : http://www.texaslub.com/