Good Morning All,
Today was a frustrating day for me. It took a while to find the good news articles for you, but I managed to find some good ones. :)
I would like to introduce you to two sweet stories. First, is the storie about the woman in Hawaii who won $12,000 on a radio contest, and then decided to donate all of it to Shriners. Totally COOL! Second, is the story of a 25 year old inventor who has created gas filled winter clothing which is revolutionizing the industry. Very neat.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy today's posts. :) I'll see you tomorrow!
Today's Top 5:
1. 800 Saved from Burning Indonesian Ferry (Yahoo News Australia)
2. British Drug which Destroys MRSA Offers New Hope of Cure in Battle Against Superbugs (The Daily Mail UK)
3. Winner Turns Good Luck into "Miracle" for Kids (Honolulu Star Bulletin)
4. Gas Filled Cold Weather Clothing Wins Awards (Inventor Spot)
5. A Rare, Short Breed Horse Returns: (The Japan Times)
Honorable Mentions:
1. Scout Goes to Bat for Weld's West Nile Fight (The Denver Post)
2. Staten Island Mom's New Wheels Get Her Daughter on the Road to Better Health (Staten Island Advance)
3. Fukuda to Announce $10 Billion Climate Change Aid for Africa (Japan Today)
Today's Top 5:
1. 800 Saved from Burning Indonesian Ferry
http://au.news.yahoo.com/080518/2/16wmp.html
Sunday May 18, 09:49 PM
An Indonesian ferry caught fire in a river in Borneo island, but all of the nearly 800 people on board have been rescued unharmed, a harbour official said.
The ferry caught fire about 40 kilometres before reaching its destination in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, said the official, Abdul Kadir.
"All the passengers on board have been rescued," Kadir told AFP.
The blaze was finally extinguished five hours after it was discovered at the back of the ferry, Sampit Police Chief Jihartono told the ElShinta daily, adding an investigation would be carried out.
He said the evacuation of the 712 registered passengers and 57 crew on board had gone smoothly, but it was not yet clear whether there were other people on the boat.
Ferries in Indonesia are a crucial link between the archipelago nation's 17,000 islands and frequently carry more people than officially acknowledged.
"But so far we have not heard of any information of fatalities," he said, adding there were other boats nearby when the fire broke out, making the rescue effort easier.
Kadir said residents on the riverbank also helped to rescue the passengers and crew when the ferry caught fire.
"The boat had no adequate fire-fighting equipment, so efforts were dedicated to rescuing the people on board," he said, adding all those rescued were now in temporary shelters on the riverbank.
He declined to comment on the possible cause of the blaze, but said police and transport officials had reached the scene.
Boats are often overloaded due to lax safety standards. In December 2006 more than 500 people were killed when a ferry sank in a storm off the coast of Java.
2. British Drug which Destroys MRSA Offers New Hope of Cure in Battle Against Superbugs
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=567091&in_page_id=1770
Last updated at 12:16pm on 18th May 2008
British scientists are working on a new drug which they hope will beat hospital superbugs
British scientists are working on a new drug which they believe could herald a breakthrough in efforts to cure MRSA.
Researchers are carrying out trials of a bactericidal compound, which they claim actually kills bacteria, with a view to developing a product for use in hospitals within three years.
Most antibiotics used to treat hospital bugs such as MRSA are bacteriostatic, meaning they prevent the growth of bacteria.
Brighton-based pharmaceutical company Destiny Pharma believes its compound - codenamed XF-73 - could hold the key to stamping out the potentially-fatal bug.
A study showed that, even after 55 repeat exposures, MRSA bacteria did not develop resistance to the drug - which is applied as a gel into patients' noses - in the same way it does to antibiotics.
The research was led by Destiny Pharma's chief executive Dr Bill Love.
"If it goes through clinical trials successfully, it really is a completely fundamental breakthrough," he told today's Independent on Sunday.
"The potential is really quite amazing."
He said he hoped NHS strategic health authorities, responsible for spending money on treatment and deep cleans, would be willing to pay for XF-73 if it was approved by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, the paper reported.
In a statement, the company said: "Destiny Pharma has now completed its Phase I clinical trials and this result is the latest of many which have shown XF-73's high potential."
The firm presented its findings to the European Congress on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Barcelona last month.
XF-73 destroyed the five most common strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA) in laboratory tests, according to the study.
Five of the most common strains of MRSA were tested against the drug and an antibiotic was used as a control.
Derek Butler, chairman of the campaign group MRSA Action, cautiously welcomed the development and called on the Government to provide more funding for research into reducing infections.
He said: "We are interested in anything in the development of cures or treatment for MRSA. "However, we have reservations. I think more tests need to be done on it.
"We need to be careful in saying we have beaten the resistance problem. Bacteria have a habit of being able to get round any treatments we develop.
"But it is a good move and we are very hopeful."
A Department of Health spokesman said: "This is interesting research, and we maintain a close watch on these and other emerging findings in the field.
"Reducing healthcare-associated infections is a top priority for the NHS, and we are already seeing significant reductions in healthcare-associated MRSA bloodstream infections, with rates down by 30 per cent compared with the same period last year."
Antibacterial specialists Destiny Pharma said MRSA claims at least 1,600 lives a year in the UK.
The latest figures from the Health Protection Agency showed there were 1,087 cases of MRSA from October to the end of December last year.
Last September, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that every NHS hospital in England would be deep-cleaned in a bid to tackle bugs such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile.
But the programme, which finished in March, came in for criticism from opposition parties, contract cleaners and the NHS Confederation.
3. Winner Turns Good Luck into "Miracle" for Kids
Radio contest winner gives $12,000 prize to Shriners
http://starbulletin.com/2008/05/18/news/story02.html
18 May 2008
Against the odds, Gail Miyashiro listened and won a radio station contest giveaway.
But instead of collecting her new car, Miyashiro decided to donate an equivalent cash amount to charity.
Yesterday Miyashiro, a 59-year-old city employee, presented a $12,000 check to the Shriners Hospital for Children after winning the KSSK/Paradise Yellow Pages Lucky Number contest.
"I feel great. I just didn't think it was going to garner this much attention," she said. "Maybe it will spur others into doing something like this too."
4. Gas Filled Cold Weather Clothing Wins Awards
http://inventorspot.com/articles/gas_filled_clothing_wins_awards_13558
Posted May 18th, 2008 by Levi D. Davis
Nate Alder, a 25 year old BYU student, stumbled on a million dollar idea while deep sea diving. With the help of some friends, and fellow students, he took it from an idea to an award winning prototype. Now he is ready to sell, and, he hopes, change the way we keep warm.
Insulated clothing is old news. Not to mention the dated concept of wearing layers. In the future we will need nothing more than molecules to keep us warm. That is, if R. Nathan Alder's award winning idea takes off.
Alder, 25, a BYU student who admits to taking a leisurely approach to graduation, has designed a line of winter gear that is insulated with argon gas, allowing them to be thinner, lighter than traditional winter gear and five times as warm. He has started a company, called Klymit, to develop and sell it.
Jacket Lining Klymit's technology has won awards at numerous events, including: Invented in Utah, the BYU Business Plan Competition, the San Diego State Venture Competition, and a non-academic invention competition at the University of Oregon.
The Klymit line is insulated using a small metal cartridge of gas, familiar to anyone who has ever fired a pellet gun, which is connected to a valve. When the valve is opened, gas fills the lining of the clothing snaking through a labyrinth of tunnels specially designed to hold it evenly. The lining fills in less than a second, and each cartridge should last a whole ski season. If the wearer starts getting too hot, a turn of the valve releases some of the gas, cooing him down.
Klymit Management Team (from left: Nick Sorensen, Ben Maughan, Brady Woolford, Nate Alder; front) The Klymit team: Alder, the founder and CEO; Ben Maughan, finance and operations; Brady Woolford, product development; and Nick Sorensen, Director of Business Development, are currently using only argon, but are developing ways to use other noble gasses, like krypton and xenon, which are heavier and provide better insulation.
The inspiration for the product struck Alder, a snowboard instructor, on a deep sea diving trip. He learned that divers us noble gasses to insulate themselves underwater, and realized that same concept could be used to make snow gear more efficient. While currently making only snow gear, Klymit is developing the technology to be used in camping gear, military equipment, and even home insulation.Klymit Thermal Conductivity Comparison (click to enlarge)
Klymit has sold 18 percent of the company in an initial round of fundraising for around $320,000, and is currently involved in a second round. Interested investors can contact them through their website: www.klymit.com. They are currently in the process of licensing their line which includes prototypes for a jacket (expected to sell for around $500 to $700), pants, gloves, and ski boots. Alder anticipates the products hitting the market in the fall of 2009, and expects the company to generate $3 to $5 million in revenue by the end of 2008.
5. A Rare, Short Breed Horse Returns:
Back from near extinction, a Japanese Noma horse comes to Tokyo
Sunday, May 18, 2008
By EDAN CORKILL
Staff writer
Not even the sonorous voices of 20 young children singing "I am a Noma Horse," was enough to put Erika, who really is a Noma horse, at ease.
Maybe she didn't like being lied to. Or maybe this pretty little horse — a rare native breed that Ueno Zoo says "possesses a quiet demeanor (and) is good for working with children" — just didn't know how to handle being in the presence of royalty.
Whatever it was, the moment Princess Mako, 16-year-old daughter of Prince Akishino, stepped up to the equine guest, who was being "presented" to Tokyo's oldest zoo by Imabari City in Ehime Prefecture, Erika got a little stroppy.
Hoofs were stomped. Nostrils flared. And if it wasn't for the quick intervention of a handful of carrots, there's no telling what might have happened.
The man with the vegetables was Katsuyuki Ozawa. He had made the trip up from Imabari to say a last farewell to the 14-year-old horse who was born and raised at Noma Uma Highland, the publicly-funded reserve that he heads, and which is charged with maintaining the only population of Nomas in Japan.
That population now stands at 84 animals — a figure that you'd expect would have conservationists stomping their hooves in fear. But, when you consider it represents a 1,400 percent increase on the population of 30 years ago — which was six — you can understand why Ozawa and Co. are more likely to be rearing up in celebration.
Yes, I said six. Through a well- coordinated breeding program, the Noma — one of Japan's eight native breeds of horse — was brought back from the brink of extinction. Six have now turned into 84.
Stories like these are hardly rare in the history of horses. Of all the many hundreds of breeds of horse — who, scientifically speaking are all examples of Equus caballus (domestic horse) — dozens are known to have become extinct.
The thing is, horse breeds, like dog breeds, are essentially man-made creations engineered for a particular purpose. When horse-drawn carriages became obsolete, for example, in the early 1900s, the noble Yorkshire Coach Horse — bred for long legs, strength and good looks — went with them. That said, the Yorkshire's "foundation breeds" — breeds that were mixed to create it — still exist, which means that if carriages ever do make a comeback, Yorkshires can be brought back with them.
Noma know-it-all, Katsuyuki Ozawa
Japan's native breeds, such as the Noma, are in a more precarious position, as their foundation breeds, which were not officially recorded, can no longer be isolated. Were Erika and her kin to die out, the Noma would be no more.
Noma horses date back to the early 1600s, when a feudal lord in present day Imabari started a program of breeding horses for use in war. Horses over 121 cm (or about 12 hands at the "withers," the ridge between the shoulder blades, where horses' heights are measured from) were used in the breeding program, while smaller animals were given to local farmers.
As it turned out, what was bad for war was good for agriculture. The farmers took to the little animals for their ability to negotiate narrow mountain paths and steep slopes. Those qualities were accentuated as the horses were bred, eventually creating a recognizable and stable breed.
Erika's 97-cm height, her large head, strong hind legs, short rump and graceful, long mane are the four characteristics that most clearly identify her as a Noma horse. (Purists may prefer to call Nomas "ponies," which are generally defined as any breed of horse under 14.2 hands in height, but Ueno Zoo describes them as horses.)
Nomas grew in popularity till about the middle of the 1800s, when Noma Uma Highland estimates there were about 300. Then, what was initially their defining characteristic — an unsuitability for warfare — came back to haunt them.
During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, the Japanese army was shocked to see how big the horses used by their adversaries were. Fearing what in Cold War parlance you might call a "horse gap," the Emperor ordered the breeding of large horses suitable for the trenches.
The bureaucrats took to the task with perhaps a little too much vigor: The Baseikyoku (Agency of Equine Affairs) was established, thoroughbreds and other large breeds were imported from the West, a horse-racing industry was nurtured and, most surprisingly, the breeding of small horses was outlawed.
As a result, Noma numbers nosedived, and the breed would have died out totally had it not been for some obstinate farmers hidden in the mountains of Ehime, who kept the horses for farm work.
Erika, a native Noma-breed horse
After the war, the introduction of trucks and tractors saw the Nomas all but disappear from the farm. By the 1970s, only six survived — a pair at the Dogo (now Tobe) Zoo in Ehime and one stallion and three mares in the collection of a private breeder, who was determined to keep them alive for their historical significance. In 1978, all six were brought together by Imabari City, which wasted no time in rebuilding the population.
Erika and, indeed, all 83 of her kin, can be traced to those six horses. Then in 1989, Imabari centralized the breeding at Noma Uma Highland.
"The breed is now considered stable, and we are looking at ways to put them back into use," explains Highland director Ozawa. He says the horse is particularly good for working with kids.
But you could have fooled young Princess Mako. At the ceremony at Ueno Zoo, Erika continued to stamp and grumble. Maybe she had realized she was in the presence of the great-great-great granddaughter of the man (Emperor Meiji) who, over 100 years ago, almost caused her breed's demise.
Still, Ozawa reports that the young princess acted with considerable aplomb, helping him to placate Erika with handfuls of vegetables.
And what did Ozawa and the princess discuss while they were doing this?
"I told her about the history of the breed and the program to bring it back from near-extinction," says Ozawa. "She seemed interested."
Honorable Mentions:
1. Scout Goes to Bat for Weld's West Nile Fight
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_9289776
By Monte Whaley
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 05/17/2008 11:06:48 PM MDT
As part of his Eagle Scout project, Rex Morgan, 18, led volunteers in making bat homes for Weld County. (Courtesy of Rex Morgan )GREELEY — Weld County's plan to curtail the potentially deadly West Nile virus this summer was hatched by a star quarterback and will be carried out by local creatures of the night.
Last week, the county's department of public health and environment began the first phase of the project by handing out 100 wooden boxes — measuring 2-feet-tall and 13-inches wide — to residents willing to host some of the area's bat population in their yards.
It's hoped the bats will be attracted to their snug quarters — which can be mounted on roofs and poles — and come out at night to devour the mosquitoes transmitting the West Nile virus, said health department spokeswoman Gaye Morrison.
Bats won't replace mosquito
Click on image to enlarge repellants and the citywide spraying for the insects. But they are one more tool that public health officials will be happy to use, Morrison said.
"It's a natural way to fight mosquitoes and the West Nile," she said. "We're really happy with the idea."
The plan came from Greeley West High School's Rex Morgan, 18, who was searching for a final project to complete his bid for an Eagle Scout designation. Morgan's church bishop told him that bat houses have been used before in other parts of the country to fight mosquitoes, so he decided to bring the idea to local health leaders.
"I just knew we've had problems with mosquitoes carrying West Nile here and there needed to be a way to get at the root of the problem," Morgan said.
Since West Nile virus was first detected in Colorado in August 2002, the state has recorded 3,706 human cases and 76 deaths. Infected mosquitoes have been found in several counties, including Weld.
Morgan — who will vie for the quarterback slot at Brigham Young University this fall — found during his research that bats are the victims of mostly bad horror fiction.
They aren't interested in human blood, rarely if at all get caught in people's hair and seldom are rabies carriers.
But they do like to eat insects.
Most small bats can devour up to 2,000 mosquito-sized insects in one night, Morrison said.
Morgan led about 40 volunteers — including other Boy Scouts and members of his church — who cut and designed the bat houses. The local Lowe's home-improvement store donated the materials.
At the end of three months, the bat houses were handed over to the Weld health department. Residents swooped in and cleaned out the homes in less than a week, Morrison said.
University of Northern Colorado English professor Marcus Embry said he wanted a bat house to cut down on the annoying insect population in his backyard.
"In the evening in the summer you always see bats flying by," Embry said. "And they really do eat their weight and much more in insects. It's really quite remarkable."
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
2. Staten Island Mom's New Wheels Get Her Daughter on the Road to Better Health
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/05/staten_island_moms_new_wheels.html
by Staten Island Advance
Saturday May 17, 2008, 9:46 PM
Staten Island Advance
Sarah Boschi and her mother, Kim, were given a new minivan to drive Sarah to medical treatments in Philadelphia. Sarah Boschi will open plenty of gifts for her 5th birthday tomorrow, but it was a present for her mother, Kim, that will go a long way toward helping the family get on the road to better health.
To treat Sarah's two rare genetic diseases, Familial Mediterranean Fever and Hyper-IgD syndrome, Sarah and her mom make frequent trips to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Sarah's conditions are marked by routine bouts of high fevers and pain. She also suffers from pain in her legs, arthritic-type feelings throughout her body, regular rashes, vomiting and diarrhea.
After making those trips back and forth every four to six weeks, Ms. Boschi put more than 200,000 miles on her old van, which kept breaking down and finally lost its air conditioning.
So with the help of the Staten Island Bikers Association and Assemblyman Lou Tobacco, Rod Hawileh and Anthony Spada, owners of R&W Auto Sales in Mariners Harbor, stepped up and offered to donate a gray 1999 Ford Windstar minivan.
Brought to the R&W lot by her mother, Ms. Boschi was told she would be looking at used cars to consider buying.
"She had no idea what was happening," said Roy Dinkle of the Bikers Association, which hosted a fund-raiser for the family in February and raised more than $5,000.
When the car was presented to her, along with a lifetime warranty and a $500 gas card, "It was a tremendous weight lifted," Ms. Boschi said.
And as an extra birthday surprise, Hawileh and Spada threw in a television and DVD player for the van, to keep Sarah entertained on the long road trips.
When the family saw their new car, "I don't think there was a dry eye," Tobacco said.
And there's more good news for Sarah. After starting a new appetite stimulant medication, Sarah is eating again, without the feeding tube she has worn for more than a year.
And Hawileh's wife's uncle, a prominent surgeon in Jordan, has offered to look over Sarah's medical records, and possibly provide further treatments that might be needed in the future.
"We're going to stay with them until we do all we can," Hawileh said.
5. Fukuda to Announce $10 Billion Climate Change Aid for Africa
http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/fukuda-to-announce-10-billion-climate-change-aid-for-africa
Sunday 18th May, 07:41 PM JST
TOKYO —
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is expected to announce a plan for Japan to offer $10 billion over the next five years to help African nations tackle climate change in his speech at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in late May, government sources said Sunday.
Japan has been studying the feasibility of doubling official development assistance to Africa over the next five years as well as doubling trade and investment, they said. Japan is hoping to demonstrate its readiness to exercise leadership in the fields of climate change and African aid, which will top the agenda at the Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido in July, they said. Fukuda will advocate the launch of the new lending system and the beefing up of trade insurance in order to reduce risk and promote Japanese investment in Africa.
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