Injecting mosquitoes with bacteria could stop dengue fever, scientists find
August 25, 2011 No Comment
Australian researchers think they can slow spread of disease among humans by preventing insects from picking up the virus Injecting bacteria into mosquitoes can block them from transmitting the dengue virus and help control the spread of a disease that kills 20,000 people a year in more than 100 countries, scientists have said. In two papers published in the journal Nature on Thursday, researchers in Australia showed how female mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacteria passed the bug easily to their offspring, making them all dengue-free. They said such infected mosquitoes should be released into the wild, so that the spread of dengue to people may be reduced. “The main feature we saw was their ability to reduce dengue transmission,” said Professor Scott O’Neill, lead author and science faculty dean at Monash University. “It almost completely abolished dengue virus in the body of the mosquito.” In their experiment, O’Neill and his colleagues injected the bacteria into more than 2,500 embryos of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that can spread dengue fever. After they hatched, they were treated to blood meals laced with the dengue virus, and none picked up the virus. “The [Wolbachia] bacteria doesn’t spread environmentally. It gets passed on from mother to children through the eggs,” O’Neill told Reuters. “When an infected male mates with an uninfected female, all her eggs die. That gives an indirect benefit to the females with Wolbachia because when they mate with infected males, their eggs hatch normally … all their eggs have Wolbachia in them so Wolbachia gets more and more common with every generation.” O’Neill said there were two theories to explain why the Wolbachia was able to block the uptake of dengue. One was that the Wolbachia boosts the mosquito’s immune system and protects it from viruses such as dengue. The second was that the Wolbachia competes with dengue for food inside the mosquito, making it harder for the dengue virus to replicate. More than 50 million people in more than 100 countries fall sick and 20,000 die each year from dengue fever. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for the disease. The only method of prevention is to control mosquito populations through eliminating breeding sites and using insecticides. O’Neill’s team released nearly 299,000 infected mosquitoes in January at more than 370 sites in north-eastern Australia, and the bacteria spread into the wild mosquito population successfully, with their offspring also infected over a three-month period. The team is seeking approval to release such infected mosquitoes into dengue-endemic sites in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Brazil to see if it reduces rates of dengue transmission in people. “It is an alternative strategy for dengue control which could be low-cost and sustainable and suitable for deployment in large urban cities in the developing world,” O’Neill said. But he added: “With any control [measure] over time, we might expect them to become less effective, like insecticides. “We don’t know how long that might take to occur. If it provides effective control for 20-30 years, that is still a very good step forward for dengue control.” Medical research Australia guardian.co.uk
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US report revealing fears over military growth is dismissed by Chinese officials as ‘cold war mentality’ China appears on track to forge a modern military by 2020, a rapid buildup that could be potentially destabilising to the Asia-Pacific region, the Pentagon has said. Fuelled by its booming economy, China’s military growth in the past decade has exceeded most US forecasts. Its aircraft carrier programme, cyberwarfare capabilities and anti-satellite missiles have alarmed neighbours and Washington. Some China watchers, including members of the US Congress, note with apprehension that rising Chinese defence spending coincides with Washington’s plans for defence cuts. “China clearly believes that it can capitalise on the global financial crisis,” said the house armed services committee chairman, Howard McKeon, adding that the US military presence in the Pacific must not be sacrificed in an attempt to control US spending. The US defence department’s annual assessment to Congress on the Chinese military flagged all the major concerns about China’s growing military might, including Beijing’s widening edge over Taiwan. It also noted cyber-attacks in 2010 – including those on US government computers – that appeared to have originated in China. “We have some concerns [on cyber] about some of the things that we’ve seen. And we want to be able to work through that with China,” said Michael Schiffer, a deputy assistant secretary of defence. The report focused on 2010, a year when the Pentagon said China’s military modernisation programme paid “visible dividends”. It cited China’s fielding of an operational anti-ship ballistic missile, continued work on its aircraft carrier programme and the completion of a prototype of China’s first stealth fighter jet, the J-20. The J-20 programme, the Pentagon report said, would not achieve “effective operational capability” before 2018. “Despite continued gaps in some key areas, large quantities of antiquated hardware and a lack of operational experience, the PLA [China's People's Liberation Army] is steadily closing the technological gap with modern armed forces,” the report said. A spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington said the report was “a reflection of cold war mentality” and would be used as a tool to depict China as a threat. “We hope the US will take practical steps to work with China for stable and healthy military ties by following the spirit of mutual respect, mutual trust, reciprocity and mutual benefit,” the embassy spokesman Wang Baodong said in an email. The military buildup could have a destabilising effect on the region, Schiffer said, calling for greater openness by the PLA and more bilateral military dialogue. “The pace and scope of China’s sustained military investments have allowed China to pursue capabilities that we believe are potentially destabilising to regional military balances,” Schiffer said. The Pentagon said that despite its progress at becoming a more potent regional military power, Beijing was not expected to be able to project and sustain large forces in high-intensity combat operations far from China before 2020. That is something the United States, still the predominant military power in the Pacific, has been able to do throughout the world for decades. One of the best ways for a military to project power is with aircraft carriers and China launched its first carrier – a refitted former Soviet craft – for a maiden run earlier this month. Schiffer said he believed Beijing was working towards building its own domestically produced aircraft carriers and sources told Reuters China was building two carriers. Still, the report said any domestically produced Chinese aircraft carrier would not be operational until at least 2015 if construction were to start this year. “Whether or not this [China's carrier programme] proves to be a net plus for the region or for the globe or proves to be something that has destabilising effects and raises blood pressure in various regional capitals I think remains to be seen,” Schiffer said. One of the biggest irritants in the US-Chinese relationship is Taiwan. The PLA suspended military ties with the United States for most of 2010 over US arms sales to Taiwan and warned that a renewed flurry of engagement could again be jeopardised by new arms sales to an island China sees as a renegade province. Schiffer said the US government had not yet made a decision on any new arms sales to Taiwan, comments echoed at the state department. A Reuters report this month said the US sale of 66 new Lockheed Martin F-16 C/D fighter jets to Taiwan appeared unlikely. China US foreign policy United States guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Ever wondered if beef ages like wine? Well a Swedish man ran something of an experiment on the matter yesterday, cracking open a jar of brisket that had been sealed for more than 70 years, The Local reports. Eskil Carlsson’s parents-in-law had sealed the beef away during World War II,…
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Switzerland wants to end the exploitation of its banking system The Treasury has struck a deal with the Swiss government to repatriate unpaid British taxes from private bank accounts and end the exploitation of the country’s secretive banking system. Switzerland has agreed to make a one-off deduction from all existing accounts held by people who are liable for British taxes but have not paid them. The tax grab could raise as much as £5bn for the Treasury and will be applied in 2013. The Swiss are giving Britain 500m Swiss francs (£384m) up front as a gesture of goodwill. From 2013 onwards, the Swiss government and banks have jointly agreed to apply a new “withholding” tax on behalf of the British government of 48% on investments and 27% on gains where the records show the person is liable for unpaid British taxes, effectively ending the country’s reputation as a tax haven. The deal will mean that the Swiss government and banks will identify accounts held by British taxpayers acting on information from HMRC, withhold the funds and return them to the UK. HMRC will never see the details of the accounts, but if people want to challenge a payment they will be expected to disclose them to UK tax inspectors. George Osborne said that the days when people could “stash the profits of tax evasion” in Switzerland were over. However, campaigners against tax evasion said that it would mean that people would be offered discounted rates of tax in Switzerland compared with the UK; that the Swiss had retained most of the secrecy in the system which they will operate and that it could undermine a more ambitious EU-wide deal that is still being negotiated. Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research UK, said: “It’s an appalling deal for the UK, an appalling deal for Europe. The one-off tax of 34% is much lower than they would have paid in the UK and in fines for avoiding it. This government is deliberately letting these people off. All those people who have been honest and paid their taxes are now saying ‘why did I bother?’ “The Swiss will not pass over the details from the British accounts. The UK will never know who these people are unless they decide to disclose their details and challenge the payments. We have now outsourced British tax justice to the Swiss, who to date have done their utmost to avoid this. We’ve also given them a competitive advantage over British banks with lower tax rates.” John Christensen, director of Tax Justice, said: “This sets back European-wide attempts to create a proper framework for information exchange and Britain and Germany have done disservice to the rest of the world because this maintains Swiss secrecy. This is a shabby deal.” The Treasury said that the rates of the withholding tax had been set slightly lower than the normal British ones to account for the fact that deductions will take effect sooner than would happen under the British tax system and that the one-off tax rate accounted for the fact that the taxpayer wouldn’t have to fund lengthy investigations to recoup the money. Treasury insiders acknowledged that the negotiations with the Swiss system had been “painstaking” and, at times, “delicate”. It follows shortly after a similar deal was struck between the Swiss and the Germans, which is almost identical apart from the upfront payment, which was nearly four times the amount. The deal will also apply to people who are non-domiciled for tax purposes – they will be approached by the Swiss and given the option of either paying the one-off tax on their whole account unless they can prove that some or all of the money was from elsewhere in the world. Osborne said: “Tax evasion is wrong at the best of times, but in economic circumstances such as the present ones, it means that hard-pressed taxpayers are forced to pay even more. That is why this coalition government made it a priority to go after those who don’t pay their fair share. We will be as tough on the richest who evade tax as on those who cheat on benefits. The days when it was easy to stash the profits of tax evasion in Switzerland are over.” The Swiss Bankers Association welcomed the fact that the deal maintained account holders “financial privacy” and stressed that while the maximum rate would be 34%, the “effective” rate for most clients would be closer to between 20% and 25% of total assets. Despite suggestions that the move could bring in £5bn for the Treasury, the Swiss banks suggested it could also cost them hundreds of millions of pounds if people withdrew savings. Tax avoidance Switzerland Europe George Osborne Banking Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Even if you’re not a member of the Grand Ol’ Party, you will probably enjoy this political ad from Republican Texas congressional candidate Roger Williams, in which he attempts to talk sense with donkeys. “Get it?” asks Kirsten Boyd Johnson on Wonkette . Sure, the “horde of dim, braying livestock animals”…
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Continue reading …A tragic ending to a sad story: The 7-month-old baby boy allegedly thrown from the roof of a parking structure by his mother died today. Noe Medina Jr. fell from a California children’s hospital garage Monday, and mother Sonia Hermosillo has been charged with attempted murder and child abuse. The…
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