Hitting where it hurts: The garden variety of vaccines induces antibodies. But, for a vaccine to hit where it hurts, in conditions like malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and cancers, it must stimulate cell mediated immunity. Hill et al from Oxford have developed a vaccine against malaria based on the prime boost technology which has produced strong T cell responses. The principle is worth understanding in view of its potential in many important diseases. First a plasmid containing plasmodium falciparum antigen is injected. The second injection is with a recombinant vaccinia virus with similar plasmodium antigens. This has resulted in 5-10 times higher T cell responses than other vaccines. But whether they are clinically protective or not remains to be seen. The road from the lab to the field is long and tortuous (Nature Medicine, Advance online publication DOI:10.1038/nm881, (2003). The Lancet interactive, May 31 2003).

Shrinking globe, expanding horizons: Mehran Anvari, a laproscopic surgeon has kick-started the telerobotics program in Canada by an anti-reflux surgery on a 66 year old woman 400Km away. The technology involved here was different from the first telerobotic surgery done in New York in 2001. There the surgeon operated on a patient in France via a specially laid fiber optic cable which is exorbitantly costly and safely out of reach of the average mortal. In Canada the surgeon’s hand movements are transferred electronically via the more easily available high speed national internet system on a specially blocked off pathway which prevents traffic jams. Via the internet network and audio-visual teleconferencing technology, the information is downloaded to robotic arms in a remote operating theatre. Intense research is on to handle any kind of network failure during the surgery (The Lancet interactive 24 May 2003).

Games people play: It is not for nothing that human beings have evolved complex leisure activities. Studies from Rochester University show that people who play complicated action video games are able to focus on visually complex situations, keep track of multiple items at once and process fast-changing information better than non-gamers. To exclude any innate differences of regular game players, they subjected non-gamers to daily practice with video games and assessed them. Lo and behold, those who had played these games had a better ability to handle fast changing visual information in just 10 days. Games which required attention on a single object at a time did not improve visual processing skills. These findings hint at potential benefit for visually impaired patients recuperating from stroke or cataract surgery (Green, C. S. & Bavelier, D. Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423, 534 - 537, 2003).

Gouri Rao Passi,
Consultant, Department of Pediatrics,
Choithram Hospital & Research Center,
Indore 452 001, India.
Email: [email protected]