Tourist dies of mosquito-borne virus in Australia |  |
- Tourist dies of mosquito-borne virus in Australia
- Harsher cancer warning on tobacco products in the offing
- Chinese woman cuts open her belly to save surgery cost
- Rohtang Pass reopens after five months
- Clinical trial of malaria vaccine begins in Africa
- SRC and UCLA advance design-dependent process monitoring for semiconductor wafer manufacturing
- Reverse NanoJapan: Rice to host 25-30 Japanese students
- NASA to launch new science mission to asteroid in 2016
| Tourist dies of mosquito-borne virus in Australia Posted: 26 May 2011 11:59 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Sydney, May 26 - A 19-year-old Canadian woman has died after contracting a rare and incurable mosquito-borne virus while on holiday in Australia's northern region, officials said. The department of health in the Northern Territory has issued a warning advising people to avoid being bitten, after the woman became the third person to contract the Murray Valley encephalitis - virus this year, the Australian Associated Press - reported Thursday. The woman became unwell when she arrived in Canada from a holiday in the Northern Territory this month and was admitted to hospital in Calgary, where she died Wednesday. Peter Markey, acting director of the Centre for Disease Control, said amongst the three confirmed cases of MVE is a two-year-old child. Earlier this month, a 27-year-old man died from the disease in South Australia. Markey said there was no specific medical treatment for MVE. Unlike other mosquito-borne illnesses, which are not typically fatal, about 25 percent of people who contract MVE die. Many MVE patients suffer from delirium and coma, leading to paralysis or brain damage. http://www.rxpgnews.com    |
| Harsher cancer warning on tobacco products in the offing Posted: 25 May 2011 09:12 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, May 25 - With a clinical study pointing out to prevalence of cancer more among chewing tobacco users than cigarettes smokers, the government has decided to notify harsher pictorial warnings for smokeless tobacco products in the coming months. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Wednesday that the government was in the process of formulating a harsher policy on pictorial warnings after a report from Global Adult Tobacco Survey India in January had presented an alarming cancer scenario among tobacco users. 'We are in the process of formulating a new policy. We will have one policy for the type of pictorial warning for cigarette and bedi and another harsher warning for chewing, smokeless tobacco. This is because chewing tobacco is more dangerous and is being used by more number of people. It causes cancer in more users,' Azad told reporters. 'The pictorial warnings are in the process of notification and can be notified any day. The Directorate of Visual Publicity has selected some pictures. There will be two types of warnings -- for cigarettes and for smokeless tobacco,' he added. Azad was addressing the media to highlight the achievements of the health ministry under him since 2009. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey found out that 35 percent of Indian adults use tobacco in some form or the other, the minister said. 'Most unfortunately, 35 percent adult Indians use tobacco. Of this, 80 percent are men and 20 percent women. Of the 35 percent, 26 percent men and women use chewing tobacco and only nine percent smoke cigarettes,' Azad said, reeling out figures from the study. He said among the tobacco users with cancer, 80 percent was caused by chewing tobacco while only 20 percent due to cigarette use. 'Most people are worried about cigarettes, not knowing about the harm caused by smokeless tobacco,' he added. Azad noted that the Gobal Adult Tobacco Survey was the 'biggest ever' in India conducted in 28 states and two... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Chinese woman cuts open her belly to save surgery cost Posted: 25 May 2011 05:14 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A Chinese woman cut open her stomach with a kitchen knife to relieve fluid accumulation so that she didn't have to pay the surgery cost, a media report said. China Daily reported that 53-year-old Wu Yuanbi, a migrant worker living in Chongqing municipal area, had not bought medical insurance as she wanted to save money. After her plight came to light, she was taken to a hospital and is now being given treatment free of cost. Wu is suffering for the past 13 years from Budd-Chiari syndrome, which is a condition in which her stomach fills with fluid. In 2002, her family pooled its savings to pay for a surgery that led to a large amount of fluid being taken out. When she suffered a relapse, her family was too poor to pick the 50,000 yuan - tab for the second operation, the media report said. As Wu was desperate to relieve the pressure in her stomach, she cut herself open with a kitchen knife May 8. Her husband, Cao Yunhui, had left for work when she slit open her stomach and she had to endure intense pain for hours. When Cao returned later in the day, he found Wu with a 10 cm-long wound in her stomach. She was lying in a fluid pool. Wu was immediately taken to hospital. 'If I had passed away, I would have at least spared my family the trouble of looking after me,' Wu was quoted as saying. http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Rohtang Pass reopens after five months Posted: 25 May 2011 03:02 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Manali, May 25 - Rohtang Pass, the crucial road link between this tourist resort town in Kullu district and Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, re-opened for traffic Wednesday after remaining closed for five months due to heavy snowfall, an official said here. 'The snow-clearing operation is over and road connectivity with the Lahaul Valley has been restored,' A.K. Dikshit, commander of the 38 Task Force of the General Reserve Engineering Force -, told IANS. GREF is a wing of the Border Roads Organisation - that maintains crucial highways in the country. More than a dozen villages in the Lahaul Valley were cut off from the rest of the country since late December last year after the closure of the pass. 'We are regulating the movement of traffic as the road is still slippery. Till May 31, only a few public transport buses will be allowed to ply between Manali and Keylong,' Dikshit said. The majestic 13,051-feet-high Rohtang Pass, located 52 km from Manali, lies on the Manali-Leh National Highway-21. Another GREF official said the entire stretch of the 475 km Manali-Leh highway would be re-opened for traffic by the first week of June. The idyllic and pastoral settings of the Himalayas beyond the pass have been drawing an increasing number of backpackers, especially foreigners, for adventure-related activities like mountain biking, rock-climbing and cross-jungle trekking. http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Clinical trial of malaria vaccine begins in Africa Posted: 25 May 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The vaccine, RTS,S, developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Biologicals and PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), is currently in phase III clinical trials and has previously reduced episodes of malaria in infants and young children by more than 50%. The Liverpool team, in collaboration with the University College of Medicine, Malawi, are working in Blantyre over the next three years to investigate how to maximise its effectiveness when delivered through the childhood immunisation programme. Malaria is a life-threatening parasitic infection, resulting in more than 200 million reported cases each year and approximately 800,000 deaths. In Africa a child dies of malaria every 45 seconds and the disease accounts for 20% of all childhood deaths. Scientists will assess the possible benefits of providing the vaccine to newborn babies, similar to the routine programme currently used for other vaccines, such as BCG for tuberculosis, Hepatitis-B and oral polio vaccines. The team will examine the performance of the vaccine as it is administered to infants at different stages between birth and nine months of age, alongside the standard set of immunisations used in national programmes for young children. Studies have so far suggested that the vaccine could be safely integrated with other vaccines in the World Health Organisation's Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) schedule. Leading the study from Malawi, Dr Desiree Witte, from the University's Institute of Infection and Global Health, said: Young children are particularly susceptible to infection with malaria and it is important that vaccines are introduced into the immunisation programme as early as possible. There is no licensed vaccine available against malaria and currently the candidate vaccine developed by GSK and MVI, is the most clinically advanced malaria vaccine in the world. The evaluation of different immunisation schedules will help define the programme needed for... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| SRC and UCLA advance design-dependent process monitoring for semiconductor wafer manufacturing Posted: 25 May 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. - May 25, 2011 - Semiconductor ResearchCorporation (SRC), the world's leading university-research consortiumfor semiconductors and related technologies, and researchers from theUCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science havedeveloped a new method of design-dependent process monitoring forsemiconductor wafer manufacturing. The advance promises to providesemiconductor chip manufacturing cost and productivity savings up to 15percent, potentially increase profit per chip by as much as 12 percentand ultimately lead to less expensive and higher performing electronicsdevices. The complexities of semiconductor manufacturing and the challenges ofkeeping pace with Moore's Law are well known within the industry. Modernmanufactured chips exhibit wide power and performance variation thatnecessitate careful screening, and frequency and power tests to screenfor defective chips after chip packaging has been completed areexpensive and time consuming. Therefore, the industry has significant incentive to prune failed wafersand chips during early stages of manufacturing wherever possible. Whileincreased attention has been given to the design-manufacturinginterface, little has been done to drive design intent intomanufacturing. That's where UCLA Engineering research comes into play. By using processmonitors on wafer lines tested after the initial manufacturing steps,manufacturers would be able to evaluate early die performance and waferyield estimation. Avoiding going through all the manufacturing steps fora bad wafer can realize the significant cost savings. Avoiding testingfailed die later in the process by leveraging the pruning approach isexpected to save manufacturing costs further, with nearly 70 percent offailed chips pruned with less than a 1 percent yield loss. Though theresults will depend on the design as well as the manufacturing process,the approach is especially useful in early stages of... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Reverse NanoJapan: Rice to host 25-30 Japanese students Posted: 25 May 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) In the wake of the March 11 earthquake and rolling blackouts that are severely affecting university research laboratories across Japan, the award-winning undergraduate internship program NanoJapan is scrambling to run its annual summer program in reverse; rather than having U.S. undergraduates travel to Japan for lab internships, NanoJapan is offering partner labs in Japan the opportunity to send 25-30 students to Rice University laboratories for three months. This was a tough decision since we believe the best way to support Japan right now is to continue to conduct business as normal, said NanoJapan director and founder Junichiro Kono, professor of electrical and computer engineering and of physics and astronomy at Rice. On the other hand, it was clear that some of our partner labs, especially those at Tohoku University, were severely affected by the earthquake and not ready to host any students. In the end, we decided that this reverse program is the best way to address the situation, both for our U.S. students and our Japanese collaborators. Since 2005, the NanoJapan program has sent 16 students per year from U.S. universities to Japan for 12-week internships that simultaneously immerse students in Japanese culture and in cutting-edge nanotechnology research. Several of the program's partner labs in Japan are operating at partial capacity due to rolling blackouts and energy conservation efforts. Kono and program administrator Sarah Phillips are making arrangements to host 25-30 undergraduate and graduate students from Japan along with the 14 U.S. students who have already committed to the program for this summer. We will make Rice's unique research facilities available to the Japanese students whose research has been suspended, while the U.S. students will be involved in an international research collaboration that is the hallmark of the NanoJapan program, Kono said. Kono said a number of people have generously offered... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| NASA to launch new science mission to asteroid in 2016 Posted: 25 May 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) WASHINGTON -- NASA will launch a spacecraft to an asteroid in 2016 and use a robotic arm to pluck samples that could better explain our solar system's formation and how life began. The mission, called Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, will be the first U.S. mission to carry samples from an asteroid back to Earth. This is a critical step in meeting the objectives outlined by President Obama to extend our reach beyond low-Earth orbit and explore into deep space, said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden. It's robotic missions like these that will pave the way for future human space missions to an asteroid and other deep space destinations. NASA selected OSIRIS-REx after reviewing three concept study reports for new scientific missions, which also included a sample return mission from the far side of the moon and a mission to the surface of Venus. Asteroids are leftovers formed from the cloud of gas and dust -- the solar nebula -- that collapsed to form our sun and the planets about 4.5 billion years ago. As such, they contain the original material from the solar nebula, which can tell us about the conditions of our solar system's birth. After traveling four years, OSIRIS-REx will approach the primitive, near Earth asteroid designated 1999 RQ36 in 2020. Once within three miles of the asteroid, the spacecraft will begin six months of comprehensive surface mapping. The science team then will pick a location from where the spacecraft's arm will take a sample. The spacecraft gradually will move closer to the site, and the arm will extend to collect more than two ounces of material for return to Earth in 2023. The mission, excluding the launch vehicle, is expected to cost approximately $800 million. The sample will be stored in a capsule that will land at Utah's Test and Training Range in 2023. The capsule's design will be similar to that used by NASA's Stardust spacecraft,... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
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