Slashdot Mirror
University Seeks Volunteers For 'Hotel Influenza' (fortune.com)
The National Institutes of Health is paying a St. Louis university to study the effectiveness of flu vaccines. An anonymous reader quotes Fortune:
The university wants volunteers to live in "hotel influenza," where they'd be either given a vaccine or a placebo, be exposed to the flu, and be quarantined for 10 days in the Extended Stay Research Unit. Compensation for such an experiment is around $3,500 (for time and travel), according to a SLU release... "In a traditional flu study, we vaccinate people and see if their immune systems respond by creating antibodies that fight flu," Dr. Hoff said in a release. "In a human challenge study, we vaccinate people, then deliberately challenge their bodies by exposing them to flu to see if they get sick"...
The 24 volunteers living in the "hotel influenza" would have private rooms and bathrooms, common areas with with chairs and TVs, along with exercise equipment, and catered meals in a dining room. They will be observed, "have blood and lung tests and nose swabs to see if they are infected with flu and shedding the virus." If they come down with the flu, they won't be able to leave until they've tested negative for the virus for two days. Nurses would be available around the clock.
One St. Louis newspaper jokes that it will either be a "sickathon" -- or "an indoor vacation complete with catered meals, TV, internet, a gym and views of the Arch".
The 24 volunteers living in the "hotel influenza" would have private rooms and bathrooms, common areas with with chairs and TVs, along with exercise equipment, and catered meals in a dining room. They will be observed, "have blood and lung tests and nose swabs to see if they are infected with flu and shedding the virus." If they come down with the flu, they won't be able to leave until they've tested negative for the virus for two days. Nurses would be available around the clock.
One St. Louis newspaper jokes that it will either be a "sickathon" -- or "an indoor vacation complete with catered meals, TV, internet, a gym and views of the Arch".
I have a classic book in front of me published in the year 1868, titled "GOD IN HISTORY and GOD IN SCIENCE," authored by London Pastor John Cumming (1807-1881).[1] May I say kindly, there's no such thing as an atheist! Some of the world's wealthiest celebrities have the stench of Hell on them, which is where they are all going, blaspheming the very God Who is kind to them. Luke 6:35b, "...for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil."
Legendary singer Billy Joel is a professed atheist...
"I gradually decided that just because I didn't have or couldn't find the ultimate answer didn't mean I was going to buy the religious fairytale. As an atheist you have to rationalize things." -Billy Joel
On page 139 of his book, "GOD IN HISTORY and GOD IN SCIENCE," Pastor John Cumming makes a brilliant observation concerning professed atheists...
Atheism is folly as much as wickedness. But suffer me, before I show this, to say, that it is absolutely impossible that any man can be an atheist, in the strict sense of that word. All that any can say is this: "No spot that I have searched does reveal a God; every organization I have examined does not show traces of wisdom, goodness, and design:" but that individual cannot say; "There is no God;" because he cannot say, "I have soared to the farthest star, I have descended to the deepest mines, I have swept all space, and searched all time, and in the realms of infinite space I have not detected any traces of a God." In other words, to be able to say, "There is no God," you must yourself assume to be God, which is a reductio ad absurdum, an utter and a complete absurdity.
SOURCE: "GOD IN HISTORY and GOD IN SCIENCE," p. 139; by Rev. John Cumming, D.D.; New York: Published by Carlton & Lanahan; 200 Mulberry-Street; 1868.
What a brilliant observation. How can any man claim to be an atheist unless he has traveled to the farthest place in the universe? The nearest star to the earth (after our own sun) is Alpha Centauri, which is 4.37 light-years away (28,200,000,000,000 miles away!). This is just one star, being the closest to earth besides our own sun, which is 93,000,000,000 miles away. My friend, the Hubble Space Telescope has discovered that there are at least 200,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe. And each of those galaxies contains BILLIONS of stars! It is anticipated that when the James Webb Telescope is launched in 2018 from NASA, that it will discover over ONE TRILLION GALAXIES!!!
The Word of God teaches that God made the stars. I love how Genesis 1:16 is written... "HE MADE THE STARS ALSO." It's like the Bible is saying, "Oh, by the way, God also made all the stars!" Genesis 1:16, "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also." God is amazing, Who knows the exact number of stars that He created, and he calls them each by their own name. Amen! Psalms 147:4, "He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names." I have just briefly discussed the stars. The world that exists under a microscope is even more amazing, complex and a mystery to mankind. How can anyone reasonably claim to be an atheist when man hasn't even discovered what's in 90% of the earth's oceans? Pastor John Cumming is so right... For anyone to say, "There is no God!," you must yourself assume to be God! No human being has traveled to the ends of the universe. In fact, no human being has ever even left the Milky Way Solar System. Psalms 145:3, "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable."
John Cumming was a Scottish minister who was well-known for his anti-Catholic writings and preaching. Amen for that! One o
I'd be interested to see what role vitamin D3 plays as well. It would be easy to test serum levels of D3 before and after the trial, and see if there's any correlation in the results.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
This is awesome! This is how testing should be done -- one humans and not on animals.
So how long after the study has concluded would any flu virus remain viable in the "hotel" (part of the university's Extended Stay Research Unit)? Will the people who are the next "guests" there still be able to contract the flu from the previous experiment?
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
They have awesome food and gigabit www2 internet connectivity. Should be a hoot!
Based on the description, this is a waste of money. PAYING people to be confined in such conditions?!? Ordinarily, people PAY to be confined to such conditions; why not just send the researchers on an ocean-going cruise ship? The cost would probably be the same as they're proposing to pay, per person, but instead of paying them, they'd only have to pay the cruise-line for the people they actually send.
Probably be more fun for everyone involved, and they'd likely get the same results.
Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
> If they come down with the flu, they won't be able to leave until they've tested negative for the virus for two days. So what if they decide to leave? Is this merely a civil breach of contract, or is it an indenture? Will they be bought back in chains by men in hazmat suits?
You are lost in a twisty maze of little standards, all different.
No thanks. They tell you it's a nice, safe study. Next thing you know your melting from the inside out and dead, the evil group that conducted the experiment has run off to a hidden compound in the Amazon, and a secretive multinational paramilitary organization has to hunt them down.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
You can cash out the 3.500$ check any time you like,
But you can no leave for ten days (or more)!
urd
I mean, this is really no different than my office during the winter. Might as well get paid.
Other things they could study is if there is a difference injecting someone with mercury(aka thimerosal) or formaldehyde and how it affects the immune system or overall body. If you look at the list of ingredients in the pdf below most of the influenza vaccines have one or the other or both. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/p...
The flu can kill after all.
The 24 volunteers living in the "hotel influenza" would have private rooms and bathrooms, common areas with with chairs and TVs, along with exercise equipment, and catered meals in a dining room.
All very well if you find yourself in the successfully vaccinated group, but you might not have much interest in excercise, meals or even TV if you get full-blown influenza. The last time I had it, all I needed was the bedroom and the bathroom, and shivering deliriously in front of a fan heater with the central heating turned up to max I would happily have paid $3500 to make it go away.
Last time I stayed at an "Extended Stay" Enrichment center I got stuck in suspension for 999999 days, and some fool called Gladys or GladDOS or something ruined everything.
Would not volunteer for testing again.
Actual influenza, not common cold which most people confuse for flu, is deadly. 500k to million people die from it every year, globally.
Even if it doesn't kill you, the toll on your immune system is enormous.
You are very likely to end up with secondary infections, pneumonia and various inflammations including but not limited to heart and brain.
It really does a number on your immune system, and unless you're taking NSAIDs like ibuprofen, you can also expect joint and muscle pain during AND after you're virus-free.
On top of that, the effect on your immune system lingers for weeks and even months - you are more prone to infections cause your body is too busy fixing all that tissue damage the virus caused.
Oh and... maybe you remember that movie Awakenings?
Well... all those people ended up in a comatose-like state most probably as a consequence of the 1918 influenza epidemic.
No penicillin or ibuprofen back then to fight all those secondary infections and inflammations. Not to mention actual antiviral drugs.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Article summary seems to have over-corrected the source article. It isn't "a St. Louis university"... "St. Louis University" is the name of the institution in question (see, e.g. their web site http://www.slu.edu/).
High-quality editing of course being the only reason anybody comes to read the Slash ... org.
Can I volunteer my mother-in-law?
Save me from these dipshits that vomit lies about the Bible in a huge copypasta.
You may claim to be spreading the Gospel, but you're working for the Father of Lies.
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
And you are grossly mistaken about communism, Marxism, and capitalism.
Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
There is something to be said to similarities between cruises and torture prisons.
Psychological pain is still pain...
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Welcome to the Hotel Influenza, such a lovely place....
You never expect irony, do you?
Want to be a professional wrestler? Visit www.iyfwrestling.com
@iyfwrestling
Do this somewhere interesting, like on a beach or something, and explicitly allow booze, and I'm in. Vacations are already a crapshoot, so if you give me something resort-like AND pay me for it, I'll take my chances knowing I might get the flu.
On second thought, I could use $3500. Count me in, St. Louis and all, but those catered meals had better include some good local barbecue.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
Just make this a LAN party and they'll get plenty of younger male study subjects: free food and fast internet to play videogames for 10 days.
That will lead to bad science, though. Too much medical science is already dominated by younger people, males, and white people. Older people, women and especially ethnic minorities are under-represented in medical trials. That leads to treatments and drugs that don't work as well on older people, women and especially ethnic minorities.
( eg, https://www.acog.org/Clinical-... )
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled"
If they accepted me, chances are, they'd find out really fast that I'm the type of poor soul that gets a flu and stays sick for an extended period of time. This usually means I get one flu, then catch another while getting over the previous one...
Sometime, I hate my immune system.