It appears that even the threat of me revealing my body parts to the World has resulted in a decline in hits!

Therefore to avoid losing any more visitors and in consideration of those flying in by chance, the experiment is on permanent hold. Blogsville is saved!

Today Searcher left me a comment that made me think. Soon enough the whole experiment was unravelling in front of my eyes. I have to say it's not a new idea, and for that I have to thank FastBikerChic. However, I like to think that after years of training and experience I would be able to perform the experiment in a well, slightly more scientific manner.

Aim

To monitor the number of hits to the blog entitled 'Just Lisa' over a defined period.

Methods

A collection of digital photographs will be taken with a Canon Powershot S410. The photographs to be taken are described in Table 1. At a pre-defined time these photographs will be posted on the blog site 'Just Lisa'. The photographs will remain on the blog for a period of 24 hours. During the 24 hour period the number of hits to the site will be recorded. The number of hits during this period will be analysed and described as the percentage increase/decrease compared with the mean number of hits per 24 hour period in the preceeding week.

Table 1

1. Lisa in black bra and thong

2. Close up of Lisa in black lace bra

3. Close up of Lisa's legs and thong

4. Rear view, bending over in black thong

Results

To be presented on blog 'Just Lisa' after analysis of data.

Discussion

Well, what a brilliant experiment! The photos were taken (very sexy and tasteful I have to say) and ready to load on...and then as any good scientist would do, I re-examined the experimental plan. Then I remembered that JNuts and JP has voiced their concerns at the conceptual stage. What has they thought of that I had failed to address?

Bugger...no control situation! How could I tell that any apparent increase/decrease would be due entirely the photographs and not just due to the fact that Tuesday was a boring day on the TV and/or other factors? Phew..thanks JNuts and JP!

So back to the drawing board. Until I sort out my controls the experiment is on hold.

The first case of Mad Cows Disease in a goat has been reported in France causing fear that sheep may also be infected. Sheep have their own BSE-like disease called scrapies but that has been around for years and as far as we know is not transmitted to humans. However BSE in sheep may be a different kettle of fish.

It should be noted that BSE has been shown to infect a lot of other species as well, including ostriches. That always makes me laugh..how would you know an ostrich was behaving more odd than normal? These birds have a brain that weighs 5g!! Incidentally it takes 3/4 of an hour to soft boil an ostrich egg and 1 and 1/4 hours to hard-boil it. I know I've done it.

Canada has detected its third cow with BSE and Japan has just reported its first human case of BSE, suggesting the infection may have occurred during a visit by the afflicted to the UK in 1990.

So whereas here in the UK we are starting to feel a bit happier with the whole BSE/CJD situation, the rest of the world is getting a bit twitchy. Although there is, of course, NO BSE in the USA....uuummm.

This is bizarre. The picture below was painted by a man that has been blind since birth. The link sends you to quite a long article but it interesting to think how someone can 'depict colour, shadow and perspective' of objects that they have never seen.

As a scientist working on infectious diseases, I have been attending lectures on varient CJD for a number of years now. The agent that causes the disease in humans IS the same agent that causes Mad Cow Disease, or to give it its proper name bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Clearly the cattle feeding practices of feeding cows with cow offal in the 80s was not a great idea.

In the early days, nearly 10 years ago, these talks were quite frankly very depressing and frightening. Some of the early predictions of numbers of people (hundreds of thousands) in the UK affected were horrific and you could envisage everyone knowing someone who had died from the disease.

Fortunately as time has gone on it is now emerging that the numbers of individuals that will die from the disease is much, much lower than these early estimates (see link below). Phew, the UK will not become a barren land due to this disease. Indeed last year was the first year in which all predictions showed that with regard to numbers likely to be affected the peak of the curve had been reached and we are now on the downwards slope.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4162749.stm

What is likely to be the case is that there will be many more individuals infected with the agent but these individuals may not necessarily show clinical manifestations during a normal lifetime ie die before symptoms kick in.

So working in blood transfusion what a year 2004 was. Since the disease was identified, all cases of vCJD have been closely investigated to find out if they ever gave blood. If they had, then all individuals who received a blood transfusion of some sort from these infected individuals have been placed on a register. Last year a person on this register died from vCJD.

This could just be a coincidence but the likelihood is a human to human transmission. As transmission between the same species (as seen with the bovine to bovine route where the BSE epidemic involved huge numbers of cows) is probably easier than between different species (which also helps to explain why the whole of the UK human population hasn't succumbed) iit is foreseeable that blood transfusion provides an easier transmission route for the disease.

Time will tell, however the UK blood transfusion services did act quickly on this. Since 1998 we have been importing plasma from countries without BSE in cattle. This is used to make blood products. Other blood products which have a short shelf life are still prepared from UK blood donors but most would agree that it is better to have a life saving transfusion than to worry about the tiny risk of vCJD.

After the blood recipient died last year, the UK transfusion services took the decision to ask blood donors who had previously received a transfusion not to give anymore (approx. 4% of the donor base). As you can imagine these are some of the most committed donors as they have been helped themselves by a previous donation.

Only 5% of Scottish people give blood anyway. The aged population who need the blood (hip replacement ops etc) is growing. Tattoos and piercings are commonplace (yep even me, I can't give blood for a year now to ensure I am safe from any nasty virus potentially picked up when getting my belly button done..make sure they use sterile needles!). So the blood donor population is dwindling at a time that ever more blood is required. A challenging industry to be involved in.

In summary!!

• Good news on the VCJD front. We are not all (UK people) going to die from this disease.
• Give blood if you can. it is needed!

If I get any one word anonymous comments referring to the title of this blog entry I will know it is from Norrie.

Oh..joy. Back to work. I do ask myself regularly what am I doing in this job that I could do with my eyes shut. I question the amount of effort that goes into surfing the net versus the amount of effort that goes into pushing back the frontiers of science.

Aren't scientists meant to be really dedicated and driven by the quest for knowledge in their field? Maybe just took a wrong turning somewhere. Drifting as usual. Oh well. I have decided in 2005 I need to rediscover the magic of science...or get out! Umm.. that sounds familiar.

Anyway you have to admit that DNA is a beautiful thing!

Note: Some pictures depict viruses, the subject of many years of my research, so although not actually DNA/RNA, they are essentially little more than that.