Free Republic

Videos show T cells breaching the central nervous system's defences.A T cell (green) is seen moving with the flow of blood before crawling against it and exiting the blood vessel.Ingo Bartholomaeus et al, Nature 2009 Despite being surrounded by a supposedly unbreachable defensive line, the body's central nervous system can still be attacked by autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.Now, researchers led by Alexander Flügel, director of the Institute for Multiple Sclerosis Research at the University Medical Centre in Göttingen, Germany, have watched in real time as T cells — blood cells linked to the immune response — penetrate the...

Washington DC, USA (MetroCatholic) Catholic News Service (CNS) – an agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops - is the world’s largest Catholic news organization of its kind. It was created in 1920 in order to serve as a reliable voice for communicating the Church’s message to a global audience, and today CNS generates news items and editorial pieces that are reprinted in more than 200 Catholic publications worldwide.A success story? Not exactly.In a piece published on the popular web portal Catholic Exchange, [full Story available here: http://catholicexchange.com/2009/06/11/119389/ ] author and columnist Louie Verrecchio outlines “CNS’ failure to...

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the faithful had ready access to reliable media sources that consistently present news items and important issues truthfully and completely, while also communicating the authentic doctrine of the faith so dependably that Catholics could receive the information they relay with complete confidence? The Second Vatican Council thought so. In the Decree on the Media of Social Communications, Inter Mirifica , the Council Fathers spoke of the “inherent right of the Church to have at its disposal media as necessary or useful for the instruction of Christians, and all its efforts for the welfare of souls”...

THE immune cells that attack the brains and nerves of people with multiple sclerosis could be turned into a weapon against the disease.This month sees the beginning of a trial of a personalised vaccine for MS, designed to rein in and destroy the renegade white blood cells that attack myelin cells lining the brain and nerves of patients.To make the vaccine, PharmaFrontiers of Woodlands, Texas, takes blood from an MS patient and extracts a sample of these renegade cells. The cells are then multiplied and weakened with radiation before being re-injected into the patient, whose immune system will then recognise...

Every morning I log onto the worldwide web, not because I'm a computer geek, but because I want to understand what's going on in the world. I've long since turned my back on the print media for accurate and timely news reporting, and it's getting to the point where I can't even bring myself to watch a televised news broadcasts anymore, simply because tv networks can't seem to report on much of anything these days without insulting my intelligence with some sort of politically correct blather. ... I need a television news network that doesn't slip misleading statements like "after...

Banjaluka, 23 August (AKI) - Al-Qaeda is changing tactics, but is still operating disguised training camps in Bosnia, local daily Nezavisne novine alleged on Tuesday, quoting the American Cybercast News Service (CNS). Training camps that operated during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war had been closed down, but new ones have been opened under the cover of youth centres, the paper said. The new camps were operated by mujahadeen from Islamic countries with military experience, said Ivan Colman, an American expert on terrorism quoted by the paper. “They take young people to the hills and train them for Jihad,” said Colman. “Sounds...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 - Scientific tests have led American intelligence agencies and government scientists to conclude with near certainty that North Korea sold processed uranium to Libya, bolstering earlier indications that the reclusive state exported sensitive fuel for atomic weapons, according to officials with access to the intelligence. The determination, which has circulated among senior government officials in recent weeks, has touched off a hunt to determine if North Korea has also sold uranium to other countries, including Iran and Syria. So far, there is no evidence that such additional transactions took place. Nonetheless, the conclusion about the uranium transfer...

New Ad Will Highlight Saddam's WMD, Terror Ties(CNSNews.com) - A conservative group has produced a TV ad focusing attention on a report about Saddam Hussein's Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction as well as ties to terrorists. Move America Forward said documents obtained by CNSNews.com provide "explosive and startling" information that "directly contradicts what the liberal old-line news media has been telling us." As CNSNews.com reported in early October, Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction very recently. And it turns out that Iraq also had extensive ties to al Qaeda. Move America Forward said it plans to run its...

Pro-abortion Jesuit priest Robert Drinan is scheduled to speak at Villanova University, Tuesday, September 21, 2004. Contact: Rev. Edmund Dobbin, OSA President Tolentine Hall Villanova University 800 Lancaster Avenue Villanova, PA 19085 610-519-4511 edmund.dobbin@villanova.edu Dr. Barbara Wall Office of Mission Effectiveness Villanova University 800 Lancaster Avenue Villanova, PA 19085 610-519-5431 barbara.wall@villanova.edu