Now, however, he said, 'I'm calling time on short-term contracts. 26 28th May to be held at the Harrogate International Centre. The first vaccine to combat bloodsucking gut worms has been developed by a team at the Moredun Research Institute in Edinburgh. Intestinal hookworms are parasites of grazing livestock and man. Using a technique with potential for all such worms, sheep were immunised with proteins extracted from parasite intestinal cells so that their blood made antibodies.
Plans are now under discussion to produce the vaccine commercially.
April Painless blood tests may be on the way. A robot has been developed at Imperial College in London which prods the arm with a probe and locates the vein under the skin. The position of the veins is then displayed on a screen. The robot's operator chooses an area and instructs the robot to insert the needle and withdraw the blood. The technique is said to be painless and will be particularly useful in taking blood samples from young children and obese people, whose veins are difficult to locate.