Celebratory bullets fired up, come down and can kill!

Bullets fired into the air during celebrations fall with sufficient force to cause injury and death (1). However, few data exist regarding the epidemiology of injuries related to celebratory gunfire. When fired into the air, bullets can return to the ground at speeds greater than 200 ft./sec., a sufficient force to penetrate the human skull and cause serious injury or death (1). News media reports from around the world suggest that celebratory gunfire injuries might be a widespread public health problem; however, further data are needed to determine the extent of the problem.......
Bullets fired into the air during celebrations fall with sufficient force to cause injury and death (1). However, few data exist regarding the epidemiology of injuries related to celebratory gunfire. In Puerto Rico, where such celebratory actions are common, news media reports have indicated that approximately two persons die and an estimated 25 more are injured each year from celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve. The Puerto Rico Department of Health (PRDOH) invited CDC and local law enforcement agencies to assist in the investigation of injuries resulting from celebratory gunfire that occurred during December 31, 2003--January 1, 2004. This report summarizes the findings of that investigation, which determined that 1) bullets from probable celebratory gunfire caused 19 injuries, including one death and 2) such injuries affected a higher percentage of women and children aged <15 years than injuries from noncelebratory gunfire, with the majority occurring in certain public housing areas in densely populated, metropolitan San Juan. Education and enforcement of existing laws are needed to prevent these injuries.

A probable celebratory gunfire injury was defined as an unintentional firearm injury (International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes W32--W34 [2]) inflicted outdoors by an unidentified assailant during the 48-hour period beginning 12 a.m., December 31, 2003, and ending 11:59 p.m., January 1, 2004. Available information regarding the injury or event had to be consistent with the return trajectory of a bullet fired into the air. Cases were identified from newspaper and law enforcement reports and hospital and medical examiner records. For persons who sustained injuries from celebratory gunfire, information was collected on age, sex, time of injury, injury severity, body location of injury, and geographic location where the injury occurred. Age and sex information were also collected for persons who sustained injuries from noncelebratory gunfire that occurred during the study period.

During the 2-day period, 43 persons were injured by gunfire. Of these injuries, 28 (65%) were identified as unintentional; 19 (68%) of those met the case definition for probable celebratory gunfire injuries. Median age of the 19 persons injured from celebratory gunfire was 24 years (range: 4 months--82 years); 12 (63%) were male. Four (21%) persons were hospitalized, including one who died from a head injury. The most common body location for injury from celebratory gunfire was the head (36%), followed by foot (26%) and shoulder (16%) (Figure 1).

Of the 19 injuries, 18 (95%) occurred in metropolitan San Juan; 14 (78%) occurred among persons in 10 of the city's 51 public housing areas. Four public housing areas accounted for eight (42%) cases. Eight (42%) injuries occurred during 6 p.m.--10 p.m. on December 31, 2003, and nine (47%) injuries occurred between 10 p.m. on December 31, 2003, and 2 a.m. on January 1, 2004.

The sex and age of the 19 persons with a probable celebratory gunfire injury were compared with the sex and age of 24 other persons with a noncelebratory gunfire injury. Seven (37%) persons who sustained injuries from celebratory gunfire were female, compared with three (13%) females among 24 persons with injuries from noncelebratory gunfire. Four (21%) persons who sustained injuries from celebratory gunfire were children aged <15 years; no injuries from noncelebratory gunfire occurred among this age group (Figure 2).

Reported by: I Rodriguez, MS, B Mirabal-Colon, MD, Center for Hispanic Youth Violence Prevention, School of Medicine, Univ of Puerto Rico, San Juan; J Alonso-Echanove, MD, C Rodriguez, MS, J Rullan, MD, Puerto Rico Dept of Health. A Crosby, MD, I Arias, PhD, Div of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; F Alvarado-Ramy, MD, Epidemiology Program Office; V Balaban, PhD, B Cauthen, MD, EIS officers, CDC.

Editorial Note:

When fired into the air, bullets can return to the ground at speeds greater than 200 ft./sec., a sufficient force to penetrate the human skull and cause serious injury or death (1). News media reports from around the world suggest that celebratory gunfire injuries might be a widespread public health problem; however, further data are needed to determine the extent of the problem. The data presented in this report indicate that bullets from probable celebratory gunfire caused 19 injuries, including one death, during December 31, 2003--January 1, 2004, in Puerto Rico. These injuries primarily occurred at midnight on December 31 in a limited number of public housing areas. Celebratory gunfire injuries affected a high percentage of children and females, populations not typically at high risk for such injuries. These findings are consistent with a previous study of celebratory gunfire injuries in a metropolitan area (1).

Firearm-related injuries are a significant public health concern in Puerto Rico. In 2001, a total of 738 deaths were attributed to firearm injuries, a rate of 19.2 per 100,000 population, which is substantially higher than the U.S. national rate (10.4) and higher than the rates for all U.S. states (3). The celebratory gunfire injuries described in this report represent a small but preventable proportion of firearm injuries in Puerto Rico.

The findings in this report are subject to at least three limitations. First, no standards exist for defining cases of celebratory gunfire injuries. For example, the "lost bullet" classification used by Puerto Rico law enforcement does not differentiate between falling bullets and stray bullets. The data sources used in this study were not developed for identifying celebratory gunfire injuries and provided limited context information, preventing definitive confirmation of falling bullet trajectory for some injuries. In addition, law enforcement records did not record injury severity, and not all medical records contained adequate information to determine injury severity; therefore, injury severity was not analyzed. Second, the lack of electronic databases containing records for previous years limited evaluation of possible trends. Finally, no information was available regarding persons who used firearms, and no direct information was available from victims and witnesses, who might have provided information about the circumstances of the injuries.

To limit celebratory gunfire, in 2002, the Puerto Rico legislature increased penalties for reckless discharge of firearms. In addition, previous prevention efforts by PRDOH included a public awareness campaign advising residents to remain indoors from 11 p.m. on New Year's Eve to 2 a.m. on New Year's Day (J. Alonso, MD, PRDOH, personal communication, 2004). PRDOH, in collaboration with local law enforcement and the Puerto Rico Departments of Family, Housing, and Education, is participating in a multi-agency prevention effort for New Year's Eve 2004 to reduce celebratory gunfire injuries.

On the basis of this study, investigators made several recommendations to the Puerto Rico Ministry of Health. First, existing laws against celebratory gunfire should be actively enforced. Second, PRDOH, in collaboration with community leaders of public housing areas, should develop a campaign focused on changing attitudes and behaviors toward celebratory gunfire in these areas. Third, to minimize the risk for injury from celebratory gunfire, residents should remain indoors from 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve to 2 a.m. on New Year's Day. Finally, to more accurately monitor these and other injuries over time, an emergency department--based injury surveillance system should be implemented.

Acknowledgments

The findings in this report are based, in part, on contributions by A Correo, V Colon, P Fuentes, Puerto Rico Police Dept; J Acosta, MD, N Almodóvar, M Ayala Molina, Medical Svcs Admin; M Conte, MD, Puerto Rico Forensic Institute; M Franco Ortiz, PhD, J Rivera, MD, Center for Hispanic Youth Violence Prevention, School of Medicine, Univ of Puerto Rico, San Juan..

References

Ordog GJ, Dornhoffer P, Ackroyd G, et al. Spent bullets and their injuries: the result of firing weapons into the sky. J Trauma 1994;37:1003--6.
World Health Organization. International statistical classification of diseases and related health problem, tenth revision. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 1992.
CDC. Deaths: final data for 2001. Natl Vital Stat Rep 2003;52(3).

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Dec 29th 2004
From The Economist print edition
This is a great article that gives us a glimpse into what nanotechnology really is, what it can be used for, and why...........

Nanotechnology will give humans greater control of matter at tiny scales. That is a good thing, says Natasha Loder (interviewed here)

ATOMS are the fundamental building blocks of matter, which means they are very small indeed. The world at the scale of atoms and molecules is difficult to describe and hard to imagine. It is so odd that it even has its own special branch of physics, called quantum mechanics, to explain the strange things that happen there. If you were to throw a tennis ball against a brick wall, you might be surprised if the ball passed cleanly through the wall and sailed out on the other side. Yet this is the kind of thing that happens at the quantum scale. At very small scales, the properties of a material, such as colour, magnetism and the ability to conduct electricity, also change in unexpected ways.

It is not possible to “see” the atomic world in the normal sense of the word, because its features are smaller than the wavelength of visible light (see table 1). But back in 1981, researchers at IBM designed a probe called the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), named after a quantum-mechanical effect it employs. Rather like the stylus on an old-fashioned record player, it could trace the bumps and grooves of the nanoscale world. This allowed scientists to “see” atoms and molecules for the first time. It revealed landscapes as beautiful and complex as the ridges, troughs and valleys of a Peruvian mountainside, but at the almost unimaginably small nanometre (nm) scale.

A nanometre is a billionth of a metre, or roughly the length of ten hydrogen atoms. Although scientists had thought about tinkering with things this small as long ago as the late 1950s, they had to wait until the invention of the STM to make it possible.

Nanotechnology is generally agreed to cover objects measuring from 1 to 100nm, though the definition is somewhat arbitrary. Some people include things as small as a tenth of a nanometre, which is about the size of the bond between two carbon atoms. At the other end of the range, in objects larger than 50nm the laws of classical physics become increasingly dominant.

There are plenty of materials that simply happen to have features at the nanoscale—such as stained glass, mayonnaise or cat litter—but do not qualify for the nanotechnology label. The point about nanotechnology is that it sets out deliberately to exploit the strange properties found in these very small worlds.

At the nanoscale, explains George Smith, the amiable head of materials science at Oxford University, “new, exciting and different” properties can be found. If you were to start with a grain of sugar, he says, and chopped it up into ever smaller pieces and simply ended up with a tiny grain of sugar, that would be no big deal. But as an object gets smaller, the ratio between its surface area and its volume rises. This matters because the atoms on the surface of a material are generally more reactive than those at its centre.
IBM, General Electric, and Lux Research offer more information about current nanotechnology research.
So icing sugar, for instance, dissolves more quickly in water than does the granulated form. And if silver is turned into very small particles, it has antimicrobial properties that are not present in the bulk material. One company exploits this phenomenon by making nanoparticles of the compound cerium oxide, which in that form are chemically reactive enough to serve as a catalyst.

In this invisible world, tiny particles of gold melt at temperatures several hundred degrees lower than a large nugget, and copper, which is normally a good conductor of electricity, can become resistant in thin layers in the presence of a magnetic field. Electrons, like that imaginary tennis ball, can simply jump (or tunnel) from one place to another, and molecules can attract each other at moderate distances. This effect allows geckos to walk on the ceiling, using tiny hairs on the soles of their feet.

But finding novel properties at the nanoscale is only the first step. The next is to make use of this knowledge. Most usefully, the ability to make stuff with atomic precision will allow scientists to produce materials with improved, or new, optical, magnetic, thermal or electrical properties. And even just understanding the atomic-scale defects in a material can suggest better ways of making it.

Indeed, entirely new kinds of material are now being developed. For example, NanoSonic in Blacksburg, Virginia, has created metallic rubber, which flexes and stretches like rubber but conducts electricity like a solid metal. General Electric's research centre in Schenectady in New York state is trying to make flexible ceramics. If it succeeds, the material could be used for jet-engine parts, allowing them to run at higher, more efficient temperatures. And several companies are working on materials that could one day be made into solar cells in the form of paint.

Because nanotechnology has such broad applications, many people think that it may turn out to be as important as electricity or plastic. As this survey will show, nanotechnology will indeed affect every industry through improvements to existing materials and products, as well as allowing the creation of entirely new materials. Moreover, work at the smallest of scales will produce important advances in areas such as electronics, energy and biomedicine.



From small beginnings
Nanotechnology does not derive from a single scientific discipline. Although it probably has most in common with materials science, the properties of atoms and molecules underpin many areas of science, so the field attracts scientists of different disciplines. Worldwide, around 20,000 people are estimated to be working in nanotechnology, but the sector is hard to define. Small-scale work in electronics, optics and biotechnology may have been relabelled “nanobiotechnology”, “nano-optics” and “nanoelectronics” because nano-anything has become fashionable.

The “nano” prefix is thought to derive from the Greek noun for dwarf. Oxford's Mr Smith jokingly offers an alternative explanation: that it “comes from the verb which means to seek research funding”. And research funding is certainly available by the bucketload. Lux Research, a nanotechnology consultancy based in New York, estimates that total spending on nanotechnology research and development by governments, companies and venture capitalists worldwide was more than $8.6 billion in 2004, with over half coming from governments. But Lux predicts that in future years companies are likely to spend more than governments.

For America, nanotechnology is the largest federally funded science initiative since the country decided to put a man on the moon. In 2004, the American government spent $1.6 billion on it, well over twice as much as it did on the Human Genome Project at its peak. In 2005, it is planning to shell out a further $982m. Japan is the next biggest spender, and other parts of Asia as well as Europe have also joined the funding race (see chart 2). Perhaps surprisingly, the contenders include many developing countries, such as India, China, South Africa and Brazil.

In the six years up to 2003, nanotechnology investment reported by government organisations increased roughly sevenfold, according to figures from Mihail Roco, senior adviser for nanotechnology at America's National Science Foundation. This large amount of funding has raised expectations that may not be met. Some people worry that all the nanotechnology start-ups will help to inflate a bubble reminiscent of the internet one. But there are good reasons to think that the risk has been exaggerated. Private investors are being much more cautious than they were during the dotcom boom, and much of the money that is being spent by governments is going on basic science and on developing technologies that will not become available for years.

However, a number of existing products have already been improved through nanotechnology, with more to come in the next few years. Bandages for burns have been made antimicrobial by the addition of nanoparticles of silver. Fabrics have been stain- and odour-proofed by attaching molecules to cotton fibres that create a protective barrier. Tennis rackets have been strengthened by adding tiny particles that improve torsion and flex resistance. Other applications include coatings for the hulls of boats, sunscreen, car parts and refrigerators. In the longer term nanotechnology may produce much bigger innovations, such as new kinds of computer memory, improved medical technology and better energy-production methods such as solar cells.

The technology's most ardent proponents claim that it will lead to clean energy, zero-waste manufacturing and cheap space travel, if not immortality. Its opponents fear that it will bring universal surveillance and harm the poor, the environment and human health—and may even destroy the whole planet through self-replicating “grey goo”. This survey will argue that both sides overstate their case, but that on balance nanotechnology should be welcomed.

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Cancer detection methods using nanoparticles.

David Adam, science correspondent
Tuesday December 28, 2004
The Guardian

Don't tell Prince Charles, but scientists in the US have turned to nanotechnology in the fight against cancer. While HRH's worries over the science of the very small sparked headlines last year about the world being consumed by "grey goo", doctors at Harvard medical school have been injecting magnetic nanoparticles to track tumours.
The millions of miniature metal balls flood the body and concentrate in healthy lymph nodes. Using medical imaging equipment, the scientists then scan cancer patients for the particles to see if their nodes are normal or malignant, which show a different pattern. This tells the doctors how far the disease has spread and influences how it is treated........

Mukesh Harisinghani, who leads the research, said: "In any type of cancer there are two things you want to know more about - the best treatment to offer the patient and the long-term prognosis. Each of those two things is related to the presence or absence of lymph node metastasis."

This metastasis, or spread, is usually determined by removing pieces of lymph tissue under anaesthetic. "This technology is a non-invasive and accurate way of doing it without cutting open your patient," Dr Harisinghani said.

The nanoparticles, each the size of a small virus and more than 1,000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair, are made from iron oxide. They are given a sugary coating to stop them breaking down too quickly, mixed with water, and slowly injected.

The particles migrate to the lymph nodes, where they stay for up to five days before degrading. The sugar is then excreted and the iron built into red blood cells. Scientists say each nanoparticle dose provides roughly the same boost in iron levels as two steaks a week for a month.

Dr Harisinghani said it was the first clinical application of the technology for patient care.

Together with his colleague Ralph Weissleder, Dr Harisinghani gave the nanoparticles to 25 men and nine women with a range of cancers, and scanned their lymph nodes with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine.

Healthy and cancerous nodes look different because the iron oxide particles are taken up by immune cells (macrophages), which are common in normal lymph nodes but largely absent from those with cancer.

The patients in the trial had already received standard exploratory surgery to examine their lymph nodes for tumours, meaning the scientists could compare the results. The nanoparticle method identified malignant tissue 98% of the time. The results appear in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Other scientists have experimented with the iron oxide nanoparticles to image brain tumours before surgery. The Harvard pair say they are the first to train a computer to spot the difference between the healthy and diseased patterns, and to present the results as 3D reconstructions.

Radiologist Andrea Rockall is using the iron oxide balls to image gynaecological cancers at St Bart's hospital in London. "It looks a bit like Guinness and I tell the patients it's because of all the iron so they're not shocked," Dr Rockall said.

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Balancing 'Hysteria And Suspicion': Doctors Face New Responsibilities In 'Bioterrorism Era'

ST. LOUIS -- The emergence of bioterrorism as a threat is creating new responsibilities for the medical community and, for the first time in history, is putting physicians at the forefront of managing disaster, according to an article by Saint Louis University researchers in The Lancet.........
"Unlike other forms of terrorism, in which an acute exposure or traumatic injury is rapidly inflicted and quickly recognized, such as the 9/11 attacks, bioterrorism may involve an incubation period of days or even weeks," says Bruce W. Clements, MPH, associate director of the Institute for Bio-Security at Saint Louis University School of Public Health, and the lead author of the article.

"During these events, patients will turn to their most trusted adviser on health issues -- their doctors -- who will be expected to recognize sometimes rare conditions and take appropriate action. This means doctors will be the tip of the sword -- not the military, not the police, not the firefighters."

Clements presents his argument in an article published in the Dec. 18 issue of the medical journal, The Lancet.

Clements, and his co-author R. Gregory Evans, Ph.D., MPH, director of the Institute for Bio-Security at Saint Louis University, argue that this transfer of first-responder status puts greater responsibility on doctors, a responsibility that they currently are not prepared to shoulder.

"They will be in the driver's seat deciding how an outbreak will be managed so they must be trained for it," Clements says. "The challenge lies in finding the balance between suspicion and hysteria."

Clements says it is a delicate balance because most potential bioterrorism agents listed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) -- such as those that cause smallpox, anthrax, botulism, plague, tularemia -- initially present in patients as flu-like symptoms.

"You don't want to walk into your doctor's office with flu-like symptoms and be told you might have Ebola," says Clements. "On the other hand, if you were exposed to something exotic, such as a biological agent, you would hope your physician has a high enough index of suspicion that he or she may take the extra moment to consider something unusual or atypical."

Clements and Evans urged medical schools to incorporate more information about bioterrorism into their curriculums to prepare doctors to meet the diagnostic challenge.

In addition, continuing medical education programs and community drills (such as a simulated smallpox scenario Evans and Clements developed for the CDC for use by state and local health departments) are critical in preparing doctors, they said. The exercises are designed to help physicians see how things may unfold in an atypical outbreak of smallpox and how different their work environment might be.

"In a bioterrorism incident, physicians will have to interface with the FBI and other government agencies that they've never had to speak with before," Clements says. "This type of communication doesn't come naturally. It's learned."

While physicians stand at the forefront of preparing for bioterrorism threats, Clements and Evans point out in their article that physicians have contributed to the creation and proliferation of these weapons -- both wittingly and unwittingly.

"Ethics must be integrated into all medical school courses, not just a few lectures in the first or second year of training," says Evans, a professor of environmental health.

###

The Institute for Bio-Security at Saint Louis University School of Public Health was established in 2000 with funding from the CDC. The Institute's original mission was preparing for bioterrorism or an emerging infectious disease. The mission was expanded in 2002, however, to include preparedness for all aspects of bio-security. Saint Louis University School of Public Health is one of only 36 fully accredited schools of public health in the United States and the nation's only School of Public Health sponsored by a Jesuit university.

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Think Dengue: Antisense compounds are designed to bind to specific disease-causing gene sequences and disable the disease process.

A Corvallis biotech firm is working with Army researchers on a drug to fight a tropical disease that's gaining a toehold in the United States...........

AVI BioPharma recently signed a cooperative research and development agreement with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md. This collaborative effort will examine the ability of AVI compounds to fight dengue fever and related viruses.

According to Patrick Iversen, AVI's senior vice president of research and development, AVI and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have discovered an antisense compound he thinks will be effective in fighting the dengue virus.


Antisense compounds are designed to bind to specific disease-causing gene sequences and disable the disease process.

Under the agreement, AVI's Corvallis labs will produce the synthetic antiviral compounds and perform gene sequencing and preclinical trials happen there. Walter Reed will carry out clinical trials testing the efficacy, toxicity and specificity of the drug.

"The scientists at Walter Reed are the world's authority on dengue," Iversen said, explaining why AVI does not run clinical trials in-house. "Plus, we don't want to bring dengue virus to Corvallis."

Iversen thinks that if AVI can win approval for a compound to fight dengue fever, that could open the door for a host of other antisense treatments. Not only would that benefit his company, Iversen believes, it could also boost Oregon's economy by raising the state's profile in the biotech industry.

Dengue fever is a viral infection contracted when a person is bitten by an infected mosquito. It causes flulike symptoms and can result in a fatal hemorrhagic fever. Dengue is primarily a tropical disease, with high concentrations in Malaysia, southeast China and, more recently, South and Central America.

Iversen said experts expect dengue to affect 200 million people this year. There is currently no commercial vaccine or treatment for the illness, so AVI and Walter Reed stand to break new ground if successful in getting a drug approved for widespread human use.

In the last 10 years, dengue began appearing in Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Since Oregon has relatively few mosquitoes, this area is at a much lower risk for outbreaks of the disease, Iversen said.

The research deal with the Department of Defense is AVI's second this year. In August, the company established a five-year agreement with the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. This partnership tests AVI drugs against agents on the list of bioterrorism threats, such as anthrax, Ebola, pox viruses and Marburg virus. Iversen said these joint efforts are "going splendidly."

As part of a three-year allocation in President Bush's budget, AVI received $5 million in government funding this year. According to Iversen, the next two years will each bring between $5 million and $12 million in federal support.

The research agreement "doesn't spell out dollars and cents," Iversen said. "It's not a grant."

However, he added, the deal allocates the time and resources of federal facilities and employees to work on approved projects such as the dengue and bioterrorism collaborations.

In addition to the two Army research commitments, AVI has multiple ongoing projects. It is developing antisense compounds to fight health hazards such as cardiovascular restenosis (a complication resulting from a procedure to treat coronary artery disease), various types of cancer and West Nile virus.

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Wireless users not immune to computer viruses (phillyBurbs.com)

There have been two major viruses affecting handheld electronic devices in the last six months. The most recent, known as 'skulls,'' replaces every application icon with a picture of a skull and crossbones. It also kills applications, such as the address book for a smart phone.
Security experts say you can prevent many infections just by using your head. The first major virus affecting handheld electronic devices, known as "cabir,'' spread only when smart phone users pressed "yes" when asked whether they wanted to accept a message from an unidentified device.

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Energy Alternatives and AIDS Treatment Research Could Show Promise in 2005

29 December 2004

Major scientific and medical developments in 2004 bring hope of further developments in 2005. Some of the world's most talented scientific minds would like to see progress toward a number of goals in the new year......

One of the most exciting developments in 2004 was progress toward a malaria vaccine. While not perfect, Spanish researchers are encouraged by the results of a trial in Mozambique involving 2000 children. Six months after receiving the candidate vaccine, one third of the children remained free of the mosquito-borne illness.

In the United States, researchers continue work on a better and safer vaccine against smallpox, which bioterrorism officials fear could be used as a weapon of mass destruction. Scientists have also discovered a compound that's been shown to be a 100 percent effective in protecting monkeys against the ebola virus, another lethal biological agent that could potentially be used by terrorists.

In addition, scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health are making progress in the development of a vaccine against an avian flu that international public health officials worry could become a deadly pandemic.

And then there's HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, which has already infected millions of people around the globe.

Anthony Fauci is head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Fauci says progress in one area of vaccine research could lead to breakthroughs in other areas.

"As well as the Holy Grail of our research left with HIV is to develop an HIV vaccine,” he said. “I don't think you're going to see that at all in 2005, but hopefully we'll be closer to that goal as we get into 2005."

For Nobel laureate and California Institute of Technology president David Baltimore, the most pressing issue of our time is energy. Dr. Baltimore, who won the Nobel prize for medicine, says oil dependent countries, including the United States, have to find other energy sources because oil supplies are limited and the U.S. and others are beholden to oil rich nations.

Dr. Baltimore, who has devoted his career to biological science, says technologists need to focus more attention on alternative energy sources, including wind power and safer forms of nuclear energy, and pay less attention to medical research.

"I'm in a sense less worried about that and more worried about the energy issues because I can see them dominating our concerns over the next couple of decades even as our ability to deal with health issues improves; cancer, heart disease, neurologic disease,” he noted. “And so we'll have this sort of paradox of being healthier as individuals and yet worried on a more global scale about what's going to happen in the energy area."

Astronomers hope to learn more in 2005 about Earth's planetary neighbors. This past year, space scientists were awed by data returned by two Mars rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, suggesting that water once flowed on the red planet, a condition favorable for the existence of life. Also, after years of travel to Saturn, the Cassini space probe brought into sharp focus the rings that surround our galaxy's second largest planet.

There was also disaster. The unmanned Genesis solar space capsule crashed upon landing in Utah. Scientists recovered as much solar material as they could for study.

A privately funded spacecraft known as SpaceShipOne, became the first to climb more than 115 kilometers into outer space to claim the X Foundation's $10 million prize. SpaceShipOne's developer and others are expected to continue their quest for private space travel in 2005.

Embryonic stem cell research will continue to be a hot topic in the United States, as politicians and scientists argue whether cells from human embryos should be grown into other tissue to treat disease. All agree that human cloning is unethical, but what about the copying of cats?

As the year came to a close there was news of the world's first cloned-to-order kitten. A Texas woman paid $50,000 to have researchers create a copy of her 17-year-old feline that died last year. The kitten was made from DNA taken from its predecessor. According to the woman, the kitten is identical to the cat she lost.

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Protein Fuels Melanoma's Growth

A protein that plays a critical role in the growth of the deadly skin cancer melanoma has been identified by scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital Boston. They found that malignant melanoma can't grow without a steady supply of this protein, called CDK2. Normal cells don't need CDK2. The findings suggest it may be possible to develop drugs that cut off the supply of CDK2 to melanoma cells. This may prove an effective way to halt the growth of melanoma without causing damage to other cells. In research with laboratory-grown melanoma cells, the scientists found that adding a chemical that suppressed the activity of the CDK2 gene, which produces CDK2 protein, significantly slowed the growth and spread of melanoma cells.CDK2-inhbiting drugs already exist, the study authors noted. They hope their study results will lead to clinical trials of these drugs in people with melanoma.
The study appears in the December issue of Cancer Cell. HealthDayNews. Yahoo

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DPP IV inhibitors show promise for new drugs.

PPD and its partner Syrrx have filed an investigational new drug application for a treatment of type II diabetes with the Food and Drug Administration.
The companies said the newest, known as SYR619, has shown promise in early clinical studies. Both proposed drugs are based on so-called DPP IV inhibitors but each relies on separate chemical classes. DPP is related to regulation of insulin levels.
The companies said their research also has the potential to treat obesity, high cholesterol, and other metabolic problems.

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Eliyahu can bend time and space

Employing Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, Eliyahu can zip around the world warping time and space. Scientists calculate the old Prophet may be aided by computer-generated trip-planners. For the past several years, a handful of holiday-hearted physicists, engineers and
biologists have theorized as to just how Eliyahu performs his yearly Passover miracle while obeying the laws of physics. Larry Silverberg, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at N.C. State University, came up with the most detailed answer to an engineering challenge "that seems almost impossible." The key to Eliyahu’s travel is what Silverberg calls "a relativity cloud," in which Elyahu learned how to bend time, space and light - essentially making clocks run more slowly for him than for the rest of us. Walking through a Jew’s house may take Eliyahu several minutes, "but to us it would seem like a wink of the eye," Silverberg said. Arnold Pompos, a physics researcher at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, six years ago came up with a slightly different version. He has Eliyahu traveling at 99.9999999 percent of the speed of light, delivering all his protection in about 500 seconds. The rest of the night he can feast on matzah and wine. At that speed, Eliyahu would leave a trail of light across the dark sky. To help Eliyahu get to places more efficiently, mathematicians have come up with possible routings to tens of thousands of cities. In September, Danish computer scientist Keld Helsgaun came up with one that's considered the most efficient to date, allowing Eliyahu to visit more than 1.9 million locations worldwide while traveling just slightly more than 4.67
million miles. It all may sound fantastic, Silverberg said, but "we know this kind of stuff is possible."

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Suicide of Pediatric Surgeon

Xinhua - English: "Child heart surgeon Drummond-Webb commits suicide

www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-27 09:28:24

BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhuanet)-- Chief of pediatric and congenital heart surgery at Arkansas Children's Hospital Dr. Jonathan Drummond-Webb commited suicide on Sunday.
The 45-years-old surgeon was found dead early Sunday morning.
The hostipal said he apparently took an overdose of drugs and left a note for his wife, who discovered the body.
He was haunted by a sudden bout of depression.
Drummond-Webb had a national reputation in America for his work with infants and children with heart problems. He was the subject of an ABC television documentary mini-series in 2002 and earlier this year performed the first successful implant of a heart pump for children.
Dr. Jonathan Bates, chief executive officer of Arkansas Children's Hospital, said Drummond-Webb worked tirelessly to save his patients.
'Some would say they saved 98 out of 100,' Bates said Sunday. 'He looked at it and said I lost two out of 100.'
'This is a high-risk business. We see children walking out, we also see children who do not make it.' Dr. Jonathan Drummond-Webb was quoted as saying by AP earlier this week. Enditem
"

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Going grey takes on a different hue as scientists identify stem cell role - Science - www.smh.com.au

Going grey takes on a different hue as scientists identify stem cell role - Science - www.smh.com.au

Scientists have finally solved the puzzle of why turning silver is an inevitable part of ageing.

Loss of hair colour is caused by the malfunction and death of special stem cells in hair follicles, an American team has found.

The research, which identified a gene that helps keep these stem cell alive, could also explain why some people go prematurely grey...........
Another Christmas, and another grey hair. But don't blame it on the children or on stress.

Scientists have finally solved the puzzle of why turning silver is an inevitable part of ageing.

Loss of hair colour is caused by the malfunction and death of special stem cells in hair follicles, an American team has found.

The research, which identified a gene that helps keep these stem cell alive, could also explain why some people go prematurely grey.

The stem cells were only discovered two years ago by a member of the team, Emi Nishimura, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. The cells' job is to provide a continuous supply of melanocyte cells, which move down to the active region at the bottom of the hair follicle. The melanocytes then manufacture and store the pigments that give our hair its characteristic hue as it grows.

The researchers studied mice as they aged and went grey and found that loss of hair colour occurred at the same rate as loss of stem cells. To their surprise, the researchers also discovered that some stem cells began to make mistakes and produced melanocytes that lived in the wrong part of the hair follicle, where they could not contribute to maintaining hair colour.

Samples of scalp tissue from people of different ages confirmed a similar process occurs in humans. People aged 20 to 30 had an abundance of stem cells, but these cells "were absent from most hair follicles of 70 to 90-year-olds", the team reports in the journal Science.

Mice that lacked a gene called Bc12 were also studied. They lost their stem cells soon after birth and quickly went grey.

People who lose their hair colour at a young age may have mutations that make this gene inactive, the researchers conclude.

The researchers' aim is to help develop new treatments for the skin cancer melanoma, which occurs when melanocytes grow out of control.

The team leader, Dr David Fisher, also of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said they wanted to work out what caused the stem cells that produced melanocytes to die off gradually as people grew older.

"Eventually we hope to tap into this death pathway, thereby using drugs to mimic the ageing process, to successfully treat melanoma," he said.

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Brief Report: Acute Illness from Dry Ice Exposure During Hurricane Ivan --- Alabama, 2004

Brief Report: Acute Illness from Dry Ice Exposure During Hurricane Ivan --- Alabama, 2004
Dry Ice can cause hypoxemia as well as hypoxia. Beware of recirculating air during transport due to sublimation.

Natural disasters such as hurricanes often impair delivery of essential services, including electricity. When normal refrigeration methods are unavailable, affected populations seek alternative means of protecting perishable foodstuffs. One alternative is to use frozen carbon dioxide (CO2) (i.e., dry ice).......

In September 2004, in anticipation of a power outage during the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, a man aged 34 years in Mobile, Alabama, purchased a 100-lb block of dry ice from a local ice house. The block of dry ice was divided into four equal parts and packaged in brown paper bags, which were placed in the front seat of the man's pickup truck. The windows were closed, and the air conditioner was set to recirculate air inside the cab of the truck. After driving approximately one quarter mile from the ice house, the man had shortness of breath; his breathing difficulty increased as he drove the next mile. The man telephoned his wife and asked her to call 911. He then pulled his truck into a parking lot, parked, and lost consciousness. His wife drove to the parking lot and located her husband's truck; immediately after she opened the door to the vehicle, her husband began to awaken.

Emergency medical services personnel arrived soon afterward. They determined that the man's vital signs were normal and he required no further medical evaluation. Although the man complained of a headache for the next 24 hours, he recovered completely.

Dry ice has a temperature of -109.3ºF (-78.5ºC) and can be used to keep perishable foods cold (1). As dry ice melts, it undergoes sublimation (i.e., direct conversion from a solid into gaseous CO2, bypassing the liquid state). Improper ventilation during use, transport, or storage of dry ice can lead to inhalation of large concentrations of CO2 with subsequent harmful effects, including death (1,2). Previous reports have described illness and death caused by occupational exposures and unintentional nonoccupational exposures to dry ice in enclosed spaces such as automobiles and submarines (1,2).

Under normal conditions at ambient temperature, CO2 is a colorless, odorless gas and a simple asphyxiant that displaces oxygen when inhaled. As the inhaled concentration of CO2 increases, more oxygen is displaced from the lung alveoli, where gas exchange takes place. The central nervous system (CNS) tightly regulates dissolved CO2 in the blood; changes in the partial pressure of CO2 cause changes in the respiratory rate. An increase in CO2 concentrations triggers an increase in respiratory rate, causing further uptake of CO2, which can ultimately lead to signs and symptoms of hypoxia and hypoxemia, including headache, confusion, disorientation, and death. Respiratory and CNS changes can occur within seconds of exposure to high levels of CO2, suggesting that the toxicity of CO2 might be related to systemic effects that are not fully understood.

Because CO2 is colorless and odorless, persons who transport, use, and store dry ice must be educated about its potential dangers. Dry ice should be kept in small quantities in an insulated "cold box" or similar transport medium that is maintained at (-94.0ºF (-70.0ºC) or in an open, well-ventilated space (3). Persons with signs or symptoms of illness while exposed to dry ice should be moved to an area with fresh air and provided with supplemental oxygen. Usually, the long-term outcome for patients with mild-to-moderate CO2 poisoning is excellent.

In the case described in this report, the man did not receive any warnings from the ice house regarding the potential danger of CO2 exposure from dry ice. If the air conditioner had not been set to recirculate air inside the cab of the truck, the CO2 poisoning symptoms might not have occurred. In addition, placing the ice in the bed of the man's truck would have reduced exposure.

Reported by: M Tucker, B Eichold II, MD, DrPH, K Micher, MS, Mobile County Health Dept; JP Lofgren, MD, Alabama Dept of Public Health. J Schier, MD, M Belson, MD, M Patel, MD, C Rubin, Div of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, National Center for Environmental Health, CDC.

References

Goldfrank LR, Flomenbaum NE, Lewin NA, Howland MA, Hoffman RS, Nelson LS, eds. Goldfrank's toxicologic emergencies. 7th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2002.
Gill JR, Ely SF, Hua Z. Environmental gas displacement: three accidental deaths in the workplace. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 2002;23:26--30.
Baxter PJ, Kapila M, Mfonfu D. Lake Nyos disaster, Cameroon, 1986: the medical effects of large scale emission of carbon dioxide? BMJ 1989;298:1437--41.

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