May 24, 2012 Jeff Jacoby: The peace process battered Israel's reputation Near-nuclear nation threatens to walk out of summit unless it gets its way Clifford D. May: What Iran's Rulers Want Michael Muskal: 'Pro-choice' position hits record low, according to poll Chris Farrell: Are We in a Tech Bubble? Kimberly Lankford: Switching Medicare Advantage Plans Mid-Year Bryan McIver, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Understanding hyperthyroidism and its variety of treatment options French rights groups want Google to stop suggesting 'Jew' Two-fly rule for Beijing toilets The Kosher Gourmet by Penelope Wall: PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS --- hold the steak! May 23, 2012 Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: Baghdad talks highlight Western naivete Putin's latest defiance shows Obama's whisper didn't work Tony Pugh: More private colleges offering tuition discounts Lisa Gerstner: 4 Money-Etiquette Questions Answered Mary Beth Franklin: How to Choose the Right Annuity for You Art Markman, Ph.D.: Get smart: How to bulk up your creativity muscles Israeli scientists use skin cells to help repair heart muscle Tina Susman: The wig wasn't enough: Man gets 13 years for posing as his dead mom The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen:A simple way to do fish right May 22, 2012 David S. Cloud and Kathleen Hennessey: Obama changes mind on Pakistan invite to NATO summit --- and then gets dissed by country's president US Senate approves new sanctions against Iran ahead of Baghdad talks Warren Richey: Can US group challenge overseas surveillance act? Supreme Court to decide Supreme Court: Twins can't claim dead dad's benefits Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage Environmental Nutrition editors: The lowdown on a low-acid diet Pomegranate juice maker used deceptive ads, FTC judge rules Relatives outraged over spoof on Hamas chief's killing The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: Enjoy a celebration of the most rich and layered flavors: Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa chili May 21, 2012 Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks Howard LaFranchi: NATO summit: Who will foot the bill for long-term Afghanistan security? Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF James K. Glassman: 5 Stock Picks Among Online Retailers Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy? 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What you need to know before you buy Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again Environmental Nutrition Editors: Get the facts on palm sugar sweetening The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES) May 14, 2012 Richard Simon: Purple Hearts for domestic terror victims? Nando Pelusi, Ph.D.: The privacy paradox: Surrounded by strangers, we risk isolation, anxiety Chris Farrell: Investing Lessons from the Great Recession Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia Tiffany O'Callaghan: New hormone mimics effects of exercise without the sweat The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight May 11, 2012 Rabbi B. 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Jewish World Review How Stuff Works: How vaccines work By Marshall Brain http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT) accines are big news right now. All over town you can find places delivering the normal, seasonal flu vaccine — everywhere from the county health clinic to the local drugstore. There is also a lot of buzz around the special H1N1 vaccine — millions of people are being vaccinated. There is currently an outbreak of the mumps in Brooklyn, N.Y., and surrounding areas because people there weren't vaccinated properly. At the root of all this is a simple and fascinating technology that takes advantage of a special property of the human immune system. We can understand how it works by looking at the world's first vaccine. If we could go back in time to the 1700s, the world was a very different place. Infectious diseases ran rampant. Mumps, measles and polio were obvious problems, but there was also a scourge called smallpox. It killed millions. It left many people blind. And those who survived the disease were often left with disfiguring scars from the disease's pustules. These scars have been found on the faces of Egyptian mummies, so we know the disease is thousands of years old. There was, however, a group of people who seemed to be untouched by smallpox. These people were known as milkmaids — women who milked cows for a living. Their immunity to smallpox was obvious because of their smooth skin. A scientist named Edward Jenner noticed this, and hypothesized that the women were being protected by exposure to cowpox. In other words, the women were getting infected with cowpox, which is a much milder disease than smallpox. Once the women recovered from cowpox, they had somehow acquired immunity to smallpox. Jenner's breakthrough idea was this: If he were to purposefully infect people with cowpox at a young age, he would be able to protect them from smallpox for life. Jenner called the process vaccination — vacca being the Latin word for cow. James Phipps was the first boy to be vaccinated. Jenner made a small cut on his skin and inserted pus from a cowpox lesion. The boy did get sick with cowpox, and then recovered normally. And he became immune to smallpox in the process. The rest, as they say, is history. The process of vaccination was improved and refined, to the point where today the disease known as smallpox has been completely eradicated. Why did this work? Jenner had no concept of the actual mechanisms. It would be more than 100 years before scientists discovered viruses. But the mechanism is the basis of all vaccines today. When a human being is infected by any viral disease, the human immune system has to discover and eliminate the virus. Virus particles are extremely small — much smaller than bacteria cells, which are themselves a hundred times smaller than human cells. The virus particles attach to human cells, inject a tiny bit of genetic material and force the cells to manufacture millions of new virus particles. To eliminate a virus, white blood cells in your body produce antibodies. Antibodies are molecules that cling to virus particles and deactivate them. The clinging antibodies also act like beacons that make it easy for the body to eliminate the virus particles. However, the body does not make antibodies for a specific virus until it gets exposed to the virus. This is why most viral diseases are only caught once in a lifetime. The idea behind any vaccine, therefore, is to pre-expose the body to a form of the virus so that the body is producing antibodies when the real virus comes along. In the case of smallpox, it turned out that the cowpox virus particles were nearly identical to smallpox virus particles — so close that cowpox antibodies also cling to smallpox virus particles. Once exposed to cowpox, the same antibodies would attack smallpox too. Other vaccines deliver dead virus particles. The body learns to produce antibodies against the dead virus, and then when it sees live virus particles it eliminates them immediately. All vaccines work on this same basic principle, exposing the immune system to the disease in some way so the body learns to produce antibodies. Those antibodies then confer protection against the real disease. Are vaccines something to be afraid of? Obviously not. We should be far more fearful of the diseases they prevent. Vaccines have made our world a much better place, and when used widely can completely eliminate dangerous and deadly viruses. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Comment by clicking here. Previously: How the smart grid works How sea level works How employee screening works How to avoid catching a cold How bread works How a home energy audit works How Omega-3 fatty acids work Social networking How trick birthday candles work How electric cars like the Nissan Leaf work How a manned mission to Mars works How gold works How bad breath works How the ultimate sunglasses work Any rocket is easily converted to a missile How to have a great staycation How a black box works How a solar roof works How nuclear bombs work How the Hubble Space Telescope works How hay fever works How to know when to rent vs. buy How swine flu works How a kidney dialysis machine works How children die in hot cars How a trillion dollars works How electronic cigarettes work How chimpanzees work How in vitro fertilization works How supertankers work How poisons work How corn works How dog ID chips work How President Obama's limousine works How emergency power works How aircraft carriers work How antibiotics and vaccines work How mucus works How iron and steel work How aspirin works How igloos work How the Predator UAV works How retention ponds work How water absorbers work How melamine works How digital music works How coal mining works How an economic depression works How the liver works How 3D movies work How oil pipelines work How jet packs work How seismographs work How Olympic technology works How Personal Rapid Transit works How 3G works How the Global Position System (GPS) works How octane works How cruise missiles work How submarines work How miles work How octane works How food preservation works How beer works How holding your breath works How smoke detectors work How heat pumps work How your night vision works How concentrating solar collectors work How your key fob works How the common cold works How the Large Hadron Collider Works How making a TV show works How dry cleaning works How exoskeletons work How an oil refinery works How landfills work How the Orion spacecraft works The cutting edge in HDTV Redefining the CD How the HDMI cable scam works How glow-in-the-dark toys work How the subprime mortgage crisis works How gift cards work How Tasers work How giant TV screens work How foreclosure works How Air Force One works How wildfire fighting works How vitamins work How ejection seats work How reattaching limbs works How hot air balloons work How paparazzi work How counterfeiting works How CDs work How the Edsel worked How Stinger missiles work How hybrid cars work How sharks work How mosquitoes work How diesel engines work How water towers work How the Dawn mission works How Kassam rockets work How the North American Eagle works Why aren't we flying to work? How tofu and soy milk work How Colony Collapse Disorder works How airbags work How the U.S. income tax works How gum works How caffeine works How Daylight Saving Time works How a cruise missile works How snow making works © 2007, How Stuff Works Inc. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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