Scientists say Obama Mars cuts to hit research

 

The United States will scale back Mars exploration under a proposed budget by President Barack Obama released Monday that has some scientists fuming over the risk of a NASA brain-drain.

 

The plan kills a deal between the US and European space agencies to cooperate on Mars robotic rover missions in 2016 and 2018, with a view to preparing to return samples from the red planet in the next decade.

 

“It is a real scientific tragedy and I personally believe it is a national embarrassment,” G. Scott Hubbard, a Stanford University professor who served as the first NASA Mars program director, told AFP.

 

“Here we had one of the most successful NASA programs of the last decade and it is being effectively turned off.”

 

NASA administrator Charles Bolden admitted that “tough choices” had to be made in axing the European deal, but vowed to restructure the Mars program so that future robotics mission could potentially be revisited in 2018-2020.

 

The fiscal 2013 budget, which is unlikely to face a vote in Congress while Obama seeks re-election, called for a $226 million reduction, or a near 39 percent cut in the US space agency s Mars exploration program.

 

Meanwhile, it funds other big projects such as the James Webb Space Telescope and a new heavy-lift rocket to propel an eventual deep space mission to an asteroid, and provides seed money for private companies seeking to replace the space shuttle which was retired last year.

 

The overall proposal is to give NASA $17.7 billion, a decrease of 0.3 percent or $59 million less than 2012.

 

Obama s budget pointed to the successful launch last year of the Mars Science Laboratory, also known as Curiosity, the biggest and most advanced rover ever built which should land in August, as it called for reduced support for new robotic projects.

 

But according to Bill Nye, chief executive of the Planetary Society, an association of scientists skilled in the search for alien life, such program cuts could have devastating consequences.

 

“We are concerned that once planetary exploration programs are stopped, they just can t be restarted,” Nye told AFP.

 

NASA currently employs the world s top experts in landing robotic vehicles on Mars, he said, noting that the recent failure by Russia to get its Mars probe off to a successful launch provides evidence of the danger.

 

“If all the (NASA) people expert in Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) on Mars have no missions and then retire, the program just cannot recover,” Nye said.

 

Russia has been floated as potential partner with Europe in the ExoMars project should the United States withdraw.

 

According to the ExoMars deal NASA and ESA made in 2009, NASA would have contributed $1.4 billion to the project and ESA would have chipped in $1.2 billion.

 

The ExoMars plan would have sent an orbiter to Mars in 2016 and called for two rovers to land on the red planet in 2018.

 

Tens of millions of US dollars have already been spent on the plans, according to Hubbard.

 

John Logsdon, an external White House adviser and longtime space analyst, said the United States withdrew from ExoMars because it “cannot afford now to commit itself to another multi-billion dollar project.”
 

Malaria toll far higher than thought: study

 

Malaria kills more than 1.2 million people a year, nearly 50 percent more than previously thought, and inflicts a high toll among adults and older children and not just toddlers, a new investigation says.

 

But there is also good news: deaths from the mosquito-borne disease have in fact been falling sharply thanks to access to better drugs and insecticide-treated nets.

 

Published in The Lancet on Friday, the study by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Seattle, says malaria killed at least 1.2 million people worldwide in 2010.

 

The estimate will be a likely shock for health policymakers. Only last September the UN-backed Roll Back Malaria (RBM) calculated mortality in 2009 at 781,000.

 

The higher figure, say the US researchers, derives from wider and more reliable data, including use of a technique called “verbal autopsy”.

 

Under this, investigators interview relatives of someone who has recently died in order to help pinpoint the cause of death. In many poor countries which lack medical infrastructure, mortality is often poorly probed or misidentified.

 

The new study skewers the belief that the overwhelming majority of malaria deaths occur among the under-fives.

 

In 2010, more than 78,000 children aged five to 14, and more than 445,000  aged 15 or older, died of malaria, together accounting for 42 percent of the total.

 

From 1985, says the paper, malaria deaths grew every year, peaking at 1.8 million in 2004.

 

But from 2004, the toll fell every year. Between 2007 and 2010, the decline has been particularly acute — more than seven percent every year — and the big beneficiary has been Africa.

 

Among the stars are Tanzania and Zambia, which saw deaths fall by more than 30 percent between 2004 and 2010.

 

The source of the decline lies in the increased use of artemisinin drugs, replacing medications to which the malaria parasite has become resistant, and the widening distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets, says the probe.

 

The major players in this campaign are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, RBM and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. Funding rose from less than 250 million dollars annually in 2001 to more than two billion in 2009.

 

The study warns of the dangers if the momentum is lost, especially in the shortfall of support for the Global Fund.

 

In last September s estimate, RBM said mortality from malaria fell from 984,000 in 2000 to 781,000 in 2009, a decline of 38 percent if the world s population growth over this period is factored in.

 

The new study was funded by the Gates Foundation; however, the IHME is an independent research institution and The Lancet is a peer-reviewed journal.
 

CJ orders to seal Mansoor Ijazs secret letter

The Memo Commission would collect further evidences after preliminary investigation, he said.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said that the Memo Commission has been relieved for two months to complete the inquiry process.

The CJ said that Mansoor Ijaz had written a letter to him in which accused had revealed some facts. Nothing can be said that to what extent, this letter has credibility, Chief Justice remarked.

On the other hand, Asma Jahangir has complained to keep the letter in secrecy, contending that it would be against transparency of investigation.

The court has decided that the letter would be reserved after sealing in Registrar Office.

Mansoor Ijaz’ counsel Akram Shaikh moved a writ petition, seeking record his client’s statement abroad. At this, the court said that it is function of the Memo Commission.
 

Pneumonia bug evolves to evade vaccine: study

 

Bugs that cause childhood pneumonia and meningitis have evolved to evade vaccines by swapping bits of their genome with other bacteria, according to a study published Sunday.

 

The findings, published in Nature Genetics, show how quickly these life-threatening pathogens can disguise themselves with borrowed genetic decoys, and how hard it is for medicine to keep up.

 

Diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae are thought to kill over a million young children around the world each year.

 

Vaccines that protect against these so-called pneumoccoccal infections are designed to recognise a material on the outer surface of a bacterium s cell called polysaccharide.

 

Each of over 90 kinds, or “serotypes”, of these bacteria have a different polysaccharide coating.

 

In 2000, a vaccine that targeted seven serotypes proved highly effective when introduced in the United States. The same formula — which also prevented transmission from children to adults — was adopted in Britain.

 

Over time, however, the vaccine worked less well, so researchers led by Rory Bowden at the University of Oxford set out to discover why.

 

Combining cutting-edge genetic analysis with epidemiology, which examines how disease spreads, they found that the deadly pathogens escaped detection by swapping genes with other, slightly different, bacteria.

 

Remarkably, the exchanged genetic material came from precisely that part of the genome responsible for making the cell s coating — the area targeted by the vaccine.

 

The bacteria, in other words, had kept their virulence intact but changed their outward appearance.

 

“Imagine that each strain of the pneumoccoccus bacteria is a class of schoolchildren all wearing the school uniform,” explained Bowden.

 

“If a boy steals from the corner shop, a policeman — the vaccine — can easily identify which school he belongs to by his uniform.”

 

But if the boy swaps his sweater with a friend from another school, Bowden continued, the policeman will no longer know where to look and the thief, like the bacteria, will escape.

 

The researchers identified several such “recombined” serotypes resistant to the vaccine, and one in particular that had spread across the United States from east to west over several years.

 

They also observed — for the first time outside a laboratory — that the bugs were able to swap several parts of their respective genomes at once.

 

“This is of particular concern, as recombination involving multiple fragments of DNA allows rapid and simultaneous exchange of key regions of the genome within the bug, potentially allowing it to quickly develop antibiotic resistance,” the researchers said.

 

In both the United States and Britain, the original vaccine has now been replaced with a new one that targets 13 rather than seven of the telltale serotypes.

 

But the scientists caution that the bacteria will continue to morph into new forms.

 

“The current vaccine strategy … is extremely effective,” co-author Bernard Beall, a scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said in a statement.

 

“However, our observations indicate that the organism will continue to adapt to this strategy with some measurable success.”
 

Multan: BZU employee on strike

The main gates of the varsity were closed while employees of Administration Block held a strike.

Protestors said that the management has banned their different kinds of allowances, causing tremendous problems for their families.

They emphasised the government that their allowances should be restored; otherwise they would extend the chain of the strike.
 

Khosa flays Shahbaz for holding several portfolios

 

Talking to media after a function at University of Animal Sciences Lahore, Latif Khosa said that more than 100 deaths in PIC medicines reaction was a big tragedy but the Punjab CM does not like to discuss the issue.

 

He added that the federal government has directed FIA to probe into the issue so that the provincial government may not term the centre responsible for the tragedy.

 

The Punjab Governor said this is beyond understanding why the Punjab CM is holding so many portfolios when he cannot administer them properly.
 

PM Gilani vows to contain gas crisis within six months

TrendPK.com
LAHORE: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Friday said the government wants to strengthen every institution of the country.

Addressing the ceremony held in connection with convocation of Lahore College for Women University, he said every institution should function while staying in its respective domains.

Referring to his recent appearance before seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court (SC) over contempt charge, the PM Gilani said the incident bespeaks that the government honors the judiciary, vowing, ‘We will continue to respect the judiciary.’

Claiming to be abreast of the problems of the people, the PM Gilani noted that government does not claim to have resolved the troubles facing the public; but, the gas shortage issue will be tackled within next six months and the issues including circular debts and power outages will also be resolved.

Commenting upon the government response over the NATO attack on Pakistan soil in Mohmand Agency, the PM Gilani said the government reacting proactively, not only cut off the NATO supply routes but also boycotted the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan.

In contrast, Former President General (rtd.) Pervez Musharraf caved in vis-à-vis a phone call from an undersecretary of the USA, he added stressing the dictators claimed, at the very outset of their reigns, to have abolished price hike and corruption in the country; but, they could not do so even after passage of ten years.

Now, the dictators, he continued, say the people are again in their wait. He said, “I want to tell dictators that they will no longer come here.”

“Yesterday, I was among black coats of lawyers; today, I am among the black gowns of students,” the PM said congratulating the students, their teachers and parents over their successes.

Stressing that the modern education is the only means for the social and economic growth, the PM Gilani said his government is fully aware of the vitality of the education.

On the occasion, he advised the youths to create the employment opportunities instead of going on lookout for them, adding the government is also desirous of women empowerment.

The best investment, Gilani remarked, on the part of the government of any country is in standard education, adding the government, in connection with the gender equality, is treading the pathway set by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

A separate ministry has been set up for the technical education, he told the convocation. He also announced to establish an IT campus in the university. TrendPK

Hillary Clinton meets Gilani

Other high level officials of the government and army including Chief the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, DG-ISI General Shuja Pasha, Minister for Finance Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir along with other officials were also present on the occassion.

Clinton was accompanied by a high powered contingent that included Central Intelligence Agency chief David Petraeus, and US Joint Chiefs of Staff Committe chairman General Martin Dempsey.

Earlier, Clinton had said that a major offensive was under way against Haqqani militants in eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan must act to remove safe havens on its side of the border.

Vitamin D high in Crohn’s disease patients

Contrary to expectations, people with the inflammatory bowel condition Crohn s disease are likely to have excessive levels of the active form of vitamin D in their blood, researchers have found. This is associated with low bone mineral density, they report.

Dr. Maria T. Abreu from the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles led the study. She said, “Most doctors think that Crohn s patients automatically have decreased vitamin D levels and encourage supplementation with vitamin D. We would like to urge doctors to check vitamin D levels before making that recommendation.”

As Abreu s team explains in the medical journal Gut, under certain circumstances too much active vitamin D can actually contribute to the breakdown of bone, leading to osteoporosis.

The researchers found “inappropriately high” blood levels of the active form of vitamin D in 42 percent of the 138 people they studied with Crohn s disease. This was true of only 7 percent of 29 patients with ulcerative colitis, another type of inflammatory bowel disease.

Also, the higher the blood levels of active vitamin D in Crohn s patients, the lower was their bone density — regardless of whether they were treated with steroids — the investigators found.

A high vitamin D level is “an additional risk factor predisposing to development of osteoporosis” for some Crohn s disease patients, the team concludes. Treatment of the underlying inflammation, “may improve metabolic bone disease.”

Spread of viruses, scientists make new discovery

Scientists have discovered gained fresh knowledge about how viruses such as flu and HIV jump between species, a finding that is expected to help predict the appearance of new diseases.

The research carried out by Edinburgh and Cambridge universities seek to understand how viruses such as bird flu infect distant species like humans.

The scientists found that the viruses were better able to infect species closely related to their typical target species than species that were distantly related.

However, the research also suggested that when diseases make a big leap they may then spread easily in species closely related to the new victim, regardless of how closely related these are to the original target species, the BBC reported.

Dr Ben Longdon, of Edinburgh Universitys school of biological sciences who led the study, said, “Emerging diseases such as Sars, HIV and some types of flu have all got into humans from other species.

By infecting more than 50 species of flies with three different viruses, the researchers showed that species closely related to a virus usual target species were more susceptible than distantly related flies.

They also showed that groups of flies that were closely related were similarly susceptible to the same viruses.

The study, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society, was published in the journal PLoS Pathogens.

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