Zombies and teeny weenie llamas

First up, maybe not truly zombies, but did this headline (emphasis on head):

Scientists jump-start two people’s brains after coma

In 2016, a team led by UCLA’s Martin Monti reported that a 25-year-old man recovering from a coma had made remarkable progress following a treatment to jump-start his brain using ultrasound.

Wired U.K. called the news one of the best things that happened in 2016. At the time, Monti acknowledged that although he was encouraged by the outcome, it was possible the scientists had gotten a little lucky.

Now, Monti and colleagues report that two more patients with severe brain injuries — both had been in what scientists call a long-term “minimally conscious state” — have made impressive progress thanks to the same technique. The results are published online in the journal Brain Stimulation.

Alrighty, the full article is here:
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/scientists-jump-start-two-pe...

The online "Paper",Ultrasonic thalamic stimulation in chronic disorders of consciousness, is here: https://www.brainstimjrnl.com/article/S1935-861X(21)00009-7/fulltext.

Ity is early in the game, but there may be hope for Congress yet, not to mention the executive branch.

Now, I have been a wee bit guilty of miniscule misdirection in my own headline, but does not

Llama nanobodies

sound like llamas with microscopic torsos? It isn't, it is, instead, a tool in the fight against Covid-19. You're all just lucky that I didn't point out that there are ARTIFICIAL llama nanobidies out there; transplants or something. OK so

A UCSF team has engineered a tiny antibody capable of neutralizing the coronavirus

I think I've readd about this before, and maybe even reported on it, for now, named AeroNabs:

“This is something that you could take after testing positive that could diminish your viral load immediately.”
–Peter Walter

But don't expect it anytime soon, there's no money out there for trials because it's all going for vaccine development. Good news all the same, however, especailly since a probable 25% of US people won't ever take the vaccines.

https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/ucsf-team-has-engineered-tin...

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I have read about that special llama, hoping somebody somewhere can patent it and make billions, as that seems to be the only way anybody else would ever get a damn shot of the llama special.
I have known people personally that stayed in comas for weeks, even months. if there is anything out there to bring them back to all this happiness and love in the world, let's get 'er done!
The neighbor rancher a mile away has two llamas protecting his cattle from wolves and coyotes. We (me and my guy) saw them eating hay yesterday.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

usefewersyllables's picture

raising and showing llamas, back when we had some money. We had to sell the herd at the same time as we lost the property back in the crash. But I still love 'em. They are really cool critters, and each one has a very distinct personality, like cats. They are unbelievably stoic, and incredibly tough: they can recover from injuries that would lay many other animals low. We had one dam who had a dystocia pregnancy, and our vet had to do a (very rare) C-section to try and save her. She not only came though it fine, the cria made it as well.

Camelid/llama blood is indeed different- it has an orangey tint, and appears to be much more viscous than blood from most critters, so I'm not at all surprised that there are some different/unique components in there. Their immune systems kick ass- there are remarkably few diseases that affect them.

I get along better with llamas than with people, and that's a fact. And there's nothing more fun than watching them "hunt" coyotes, especially when there's a new cria in the herd. The coyotes get wise after a few of 'em get stomped into mush and just stay away.

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.