Zika Virus Could Become ‘Explosive Pandemic’

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By BBC. US scientists have urged the World Health Organisation to take urgent action over the Zika virus, which they say has “explosive pandemic potential”.

Writing in a US medical journal, they called on the WHO to heed lessons from the Ebola outbreak and convene an emergency committee of disease experts.

They said a vaccine might be ready for testing in two years but it could be a decade before it is publicly available.

Zika, linked to shrunken brains in children, has caused panic in Brazil.

Thousands of people have been infected there and it has spread to some 20 countries. (Read more from “Zika Virus Could Become ‘Explosive Pandemic'” HERE)

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Scientists Plan to Use Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes to Fight the Spread of Zika Virus

By Drew Prindle. If you’ve been paying attention to the news for the past week, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the recent Zika virus outbreak by now. The virus, which is currently spreading across the Americas, has been linked to a rare birth defect known as microencephaly, a condition in which infants are born with abnormally small heads and brains. Since the outbreak, there’s been a sizable uptick in infants born with this condition. The World Health Organization estimates that as many as 4 million people could be infected with the virus — and to make matters worse, there’s currently no vaccine to help stop it from spreading.

But all is not lost. Biologists are taking a bold new approach to stop the virus from spreading any further. Rather than developing a new vaccine or keeping mosquito populations at bay with insecticides, biotech firm Oxitec plans to fight the spread of Zika by deploying swarms of genetically engineered mosquitoes that will prevent virus-carrying bugs from multiplying.

The science behind it all is immensely complicated, but the overall idea is actually pretty easy to grasp. Basically, Oxitec has created a genetically modified breed of the Aedes aegypti mosquito — the species that is primarily responsible for spreading the Zika virus. This GM version (called OX513A), has been engineered to carry a gene that causes offspring to die before they reach reproductive age. When Oxitec releases these OX513A mosquitoes into the wild, they mate with females and produce offspring that never fully mature — eventually leading to a sizable reduction in the Aedes aegypti populaiton, and (hopefully) a noticeable decrease in the spread of the Zika virus. (Read more from “Scientists Plan to Use Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes to Fight the Spread of Zika Virus” HERE)

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Mystery Illness Forces American Airlines Flight to Return to London

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An American Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles was forced to return to London’s Heathrow Airport Wednesday after at least six people on board fell ill.

The Daily Telegraph reported that one member of the Boeing 777’s cabin crew fainted and five others complained of feeling unwell. With the aircraft, Flight 109, in the air over southwest Iceland, the captain made the decision to return to Heathrow.

Paramedics and fire crews surrounded the plane as it landed approximately five hours after it had taken off. The Telegraph reported that the passengers’ luggage was briefly taken away for inspection before being returned to them.

“About 2.5 hours into the flight just as we were passing Iceland we had a Tannoy announcement asking for any doctors, nurses or medical professionals on board to report to the boarding doors to assist with unwell passengers,” passenger Lee Gunn told The Daily Mirror. “The lights then came on in the cabin and there was lots of commotion.” (Read more from “Mystery Illness Forces American Airlines Flight to Return to London” HERE)

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Largest Solar System Ever Discovered Dwarfs Our Own

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Photo Credit: University of Hertfordshire/Neil CookA huge alien world orbits 600 billion miles (1 trillion kilometers) from its host star, making its solar system the largest one known, a new study reports.

Astronomers have found the parent star for a gas-giant exoplanet named 2MASS J2126, which was previously thought to be a “rogue” world flying freely through space. The planet and its star are separated by about 7,000 astronomical units (AU), meaning the alien world completes one orbit every 900,000 years or so, researchers said. (One AU is the average distance from Earth to the sun — about 93 million miles, or 150 million km).

For comparison, Neptune lies about 30 AU from the sun, Pluto averages about 40 AU from Earth’s star and scientists think the newly hypothesized “Planet Nine” never gets more than 600 to 1,200 AU away from the sun.

“The planet is not quite as lonely as we first thought, but it’s certainly in a very long-distance relationship,” study lead author Niall Deacon, of the University of Hertfordshire in England, said in a statement . . .

Deacon and his colleagues analyzed databases of rogue planets, young stars and brown dwarfs— strange objects bigger than planets, but too small to ignite the internal fusion reactions that power stars — to see if they could link any of them together. (Read more from “Largest Solar System Ever Discovered Dwarfs Our Own” HERE)

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Is Alzheimer’s Transmittable?

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For the second time in four months, researchers have reported autopsy results that suggest Alzheimer’s disease might occasionally be transmitted to people during certain medical treatments — although scientists say that neither set of findings is conclusive.

The latest autopsies, described in the Swiss Medical Weekly on [the] 26th [of] January, were conducted on the brains of seven people who died of the rare, brain-wasting Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD). Decades before their deaths, the individuals had all received surgical grafts of dura mater — the membrane that covers the brain and spinal cord. These grafts had been prepared from human cadavers and were contaminated with the prion protein that causes CJD.

But in addition to the damage caused by the prions, five of the brains displayed some of the pathological signs that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease, researchers from Switzerland and Austria report. Plaques formed from amyloid-β protein were discovered in the grey matter and blood vessels. The individuals, aged between 28 and 63, were unusually young to have developed such plaques. A set of 21 controls, who had not had surgical grafts of dura mater but died of sporadic CJD at similar ages, did not have this amyloid signature.

Transplant trouble

According to the authors, it is possible that the transplanted dura mater was contaminated with small ‘seeds’ of amyloid-β protein — which some scientists think could be a trigger for Alzheimer’s — along with the prion protein that gave the recipients CJD. (Read more from “Is Alzheimer’s Transmittable?” HERE)

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NFL Conducting Comprehensive Investigation of Peyton Manning

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The NFL says it is conducting a comprehensive review of allegations that Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning had human growth hormone delivered to his house.

There’s no timetable to complete the investigation, but it’s not expected before the Denver plays Carolina in the Super Bowl on Feb. 7 . . .

Al Jazeera reported last month that an intern at an Indianapolis anti-aging clinic was secretly recorded suggesting that Manning’s wife received deliveries of HGH, which is banned by the league. Manning, then with the Colts, was rehabbing from shoulder surgeries. (Read more from “NFL Conducting Comprehensive Investigation of Peyton Manning” HERE)

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Zika Virus Is Spreading, How Do We Stop It?

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What [do we] do about the Zika virus?

As this — another viral disease — emerges, we’re again facing down a primordial threat that reminds us we are animals in an ecosystem. It’s an ecosystem that’s changing with us and because of us. Beating back Zika will require openness to innovation in both technology and policy.

The primary mosquito species now transmitting Zika virus throughout numerous countries in the Americas, Aedes aegypti, actually evolved alongside humans to target us specifically, versus other animals.

Now it is spreading its domain, due to the warming climate and its predilection for our built-up environment. Mosquitos have already altered human history before by causing millions of deaths via the spread of yellow fever and Dengue, two viruses that are closely related to Zika . . .

While we lack definitive proof that the virus caused the severe cerebral and skull deformities these newborns are suffering with, the evidence we’ve got mandates decisive action. Doctors have found Zika virus in the amniotic fluid of affected fetuses and in the placentas and brains of miscarried fetuses with microcephaly. (Read more from “Zika Virus Is Spreading, How Do We Stop It?” HERE)

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The Shocking Confessions of Flight Attendants on Anonymous App Whisper

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Despite dealing with demanding passengers, unwieldy trolleys and turbulence at 30,000ft, flight attendants are well-known for their reassuring manner and helpful attitude.

But behind those smiles and pristine uniforms, some members of cabin crew are gradually losing their patience with difficult passengers in what one hostess describes as a ‘lonely’ job.

Air stewards have taken to Whisper, the anonymous confession app, to reveal what they’re really thinking during the flight, from hoping turbulence ‘knocks you on your ass’ to fantasising about a crash so that they can play the hero.

In one post, a flight attendant stated that during an emergency landing she spent the entire time hoping that the delay wouldn’t interfere with her 2pm hair appointment, and another revealed that she had caused a diversion when she sneakily smoked a cigarette in the toilet and set off the alarms . . .

One air hostess claimed that while working for an Australian airline, she had started drinking before both take-off and landing and another stated that they often walked up and down the aisle on a night flight to laugh at the passengers’ sleeping faces. (Read more from “The Shocking Confessions of Flight Attendants on Anonymous App Whisper” HERE)

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Niagara Falls Is Going to Go Dry – Again

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New York State plans to shut off the thundering waters of Niagara Falls – again. At least, the American side of the falls. This “once in a lifetime” event actually may take place twice in some folks’ lifetimes. The New York State parks system wants to turn off the falls on the American side sometime in the next two to three years to replace two 115-year-old stone arch bridges that allow pedestrians, park vehicles and utilities access to Goat Island.

The proposal to “dewater” the falls will be presented at a public hearing Wednesday at the Niagara Falls Conference Center. Two of three plans propose a temporary shutdown of the American Falls.

The American Falls was slowed to a trickle in 1969 to study the effects of erosion and buildup of rock at the base of the falls. When that happened, people came from all over the world to see the falls turned off, said Michelle Kratts, who served as Niagara Falls city historian until this past December . . .

In fact, something like skeletons were found. Workers on that project discovered two bodies when the water was diverted, she said.

They also found millions of coins, carrying them out in buckets to deter people from going out onto the rocks, she said. (Read more from “Niagara Falls Is Going to Go Dry – Again” HERE)

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Scientists Just Discovered Something That Shows the Human Brain Is Even More Amazing Than We Thought

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The human brain has a capacity that is ten times greater than first thought and can retain 4.7 billion books, scientists have discovered.

This is according to US scientists who have measured the storage capacity of synapses – the brain connections that are responsible for storing memories.

They discovered that, on average, one synapse can hold roughly 4.7 bits of information. This means that the human brain has a capacity of one petabyte, or 1,000,000,000,000,000 bytes.

One petabyte is the same as 20 million four-drawer filing cabinets filled with text,13.3 years of HD-TV recordings, 4.7 billion books or 670 million web pages.

However, this is only the total amount of information that the relevant part of the brain could theoretically carry at any one moment. Its actual archive of memories would be a lot smaller. (Read more from “Scientists Just Discovered Something That Shows the Human Brain Is Even More Amazing Than We Thought” HERE)

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MS Patients See ‘Miraculous’ Healings After Adult Stem Cell Treatments

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British sufferers from multiple sclerosis are reporting remarkable improvements in their condition after injection with adult stem cells taken from their own bodies. The treatment is part of a clinical trial of techniques pioneered at America’s Northwestern University by Dr. Richard Burt.

The adult stem cell treatment for MS is just one of many being applied around the world for more than 100 medical conditions, many to do with diseases of the auto-immune system.

Sheffield patient Holly Drewry, a 25-year-old mother of one, went into that city’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital in a wheelchair but left on her own feet after a single treatment using her own adult stem cells, taken from her bone marrow. “I started seeing changes within days of the stem cells being put in. It was a miracle,” she told a BBC interviewer for an episode of Panorama.

Researchers for a clinical trial at Hallamshire and at a London hospital have re-examined Drewry and found her multiple sclerosis in remission.

“I couldn’t walk steadily. I couldn’t trust myself holding her [daughter Isla] in case I fell. … It is scary because you think, when is it going to end?” said Drewry. But after a two-stage treatment involving first chemotherapy to kill her malfunctioning autoimmune system and then adult stem cells to remake it, she reported that “I walked out of the hospital. I walked into my house and hugged Isla. I cried and cried. It was a bit overwhelming. It was a miracle.” (Read more from “MS Patients See ‘Miraculous’ Healings After Adult Stem Cell Treatments” HERE)

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