6.0-magnitude quake hits Indonesia

JAKARTA: A 6.0-magnitude quake hit Indonesia”s North Sumatra province Saturday, the local Meteorological and Geophysics agency said, but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami alert.

The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), 18 kilometres northwest of Panyabungan at 9:11 am (0211 GMT), according to the agency.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.

Effective HIV Vaccine Announced

Hiv vaccine, Aids vaccine, Effective HIV Vaccine Announced,

In a first, an experimental vaccine was found to reduce the likelihood of contracting HIV.

It’s very far from 100% effective. Based on a trial of 16,000 participants, incidents of contracting the virus fell 31%, but that’s much more significant than has been seen in any past trials.

WSJ: The study actually tested a two-vaccine combo in a “prime-boost” approach, where the first one primes the immune system to attack HIV and the second one strengthens the response.

They are ALVAC, from Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis; and AIDSVAX, originally developed by VaxGen Inc. and now held by Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases, a nonprofit founded by some former VaxGen employees.

ALVAC uses canarypox, a bird virus altered so it can’t cause human disease, to ferry synthetic versions of three HIV genes into the body. AIDSVAX contains a genetically engineered version of a protein on HIV’s surface. The vaccines are not made from whole virus — dead or alive — and can’t cause HIV.

Neither vaccine in the study prevented HIV infection when tested individually in earlier trials, and dozens of scientists had called the new one futile when it began in 2003.

Obviously, one trial is just the beginning of what will probably be years of development before this turns into anything that is deemed worthwhile and scalaable. Still, it’s exciting news. Watch shares of Sanofi (SNY) to move today.

by Joe Weisenthal

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Effective HIV Vaccine Announced was first posted on September 24, 2009 at 6:48 pm.
©2009 “News Trends“.

19 Pound Baby Born

19 Pound Baby Born, JAKARTA – An Indonesian woman has given birth to an 8.7-kilogramme (19.2-pound) baby boy, the heaviest newborn ever recorded in the country, a doctor said Wednesday.

The baby, who is still unnamed and is 62 centimetres (24.4 inches) long, was born by caesarean section Monday at a public hospital in North Sumatra province, a gynaecologist who took part in the operation told.

‘This heavy baby made the surgery really tough, especially the process of taking him out of his mum’s womb. His legs were so big,’ Binsar Sitanggang said.

The boy is in a healthy condition despite having to initially be given oxygen to overcome breathing problems, the gynaecologist said.

‘He’s got strong appetite, every minute, it’s almost non-stop feeding,’ he said.

‘This baby boy is extraordinary, the way he’s crying is not like a usual baby. It’s really loud.’

The boy’s massive size was likely the result of his mother, Ani, 41, having diabetes, Sitanggang said.

She had to be rushed to hospital due to complications with the pregnancy, which had reached nine months. The baby, her fourth, was the only child not delivered by a traditional midwife.

When a diabetic mother’s glucose level is high during pregnancy, the baby can receive too much glucose and grow too large, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Indonesia’s previous heaviest baby, weighing in at 6.9 kilos, was born in 2007 on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, according to the Indonesian Museum of Records website.

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19 Pound Baby Born was first posted on September 24, 2009 at 6:56 pm.
©2009 “News Trends“.