u.s. to donate 1/10th of its H1N1 vaccine to ukraine

Kyiv Post | "In an effort to stop the global spread of pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, the United States is planning to donate 10 percent of US domestic H1N1 vaccine supply, as it becomes available, to a WHO-led H1N1 vaccine initiative. The US donation to WHO, equivalent to 25 million doses of vaccine, would be valued commercially at approximately $10 million," the embassy said in a statement.

As part of the first phase of this initiative, Ukraine is scheduled to receive 930, 000 doses of H1N1 vaccine in early December, the embassy said.

"Planning to complement this donation with a broad range of interventions to support the safe delivery and deployment of the vaccines, the US government will be working closely with the government of Ukraine in the days ahead to identify needs and agree on a package of immunization-related commodity and technical support that can be implemented rapidly to support H1N1 immunization," the statement reads.

Besides, the US government is prepared to make available immunization ancillary materials such as syringes, needles, and vaccine safety disposal boxes, to provide technical support for immunization planning as well as for logistics and assistance to transport the vaccine, to train vaccinators and other professionals, and to prepare communications materials in support of the immunization campaign.

yushchenko team unveils sinister plans for declaring state of emergency

Zik | Speaking live on the popular 5th TV Kanal Nov. 6, the secretary of the national security and defense council, NSDC, Rayisa Bohatyryova, said the number of flue victims is so large it may be necessary to declare the state of emergence to effectively deal with the outbreak. [According to the health ministry, as of Nov. 5, there were 13 cases of the swine flue by a London lab. The number of Ukrainian who died from all kinds of flue and cold stands at about 100, or fewer than in 2008 – Ed.].

The constitution gives enough legal ground for Yushchenko to declare the emergency, Bohatyryova claimed.

As the country’s politicians cannot join their forced to combat the flue epidemic, the state of emergency may help to do this, Bohatyryova continued. All the causes of why Ukraine found itself amid the flue hurricane must be investigated and perpetrators be brought to account. But the punishment can come later. Not it is important to help the population and not to sow panic, the official summed up.

Another Yushchenko insider, his deputy chief of staff Ihor Popov believes the uncontrolled swine flue epidemic is a good enough reason for putting off the presidential election till May 30, Popov writes in his article “Elections lead to swine scenario” published by the Ukrayinska Pravda.

The flue outbreak has radically changed the course of presidential campaigning in Ukraine. It affected campaign priorities, played havoc with campaign plans, leading candidates’ teams to revise spin tactics to hype their candidates, Popov said.

In his opinion, the outbreak in Ukraine was quite timely, as without all the hubbub and rhetoric about the flue the ratings of presidential candidates would not have changed even by Feb. 7. It is the full-sized epidemic, when all Ukrainians are involved with their emotions and panic, that can affect the voting results, the official claimed.

Popov ruled out the purposeful nature of the outbreak. “Experts proved that the epidemic is here and it will take more than a week to deal with it. Unfortunately, we missed the start of the epidemic, as we did the financial crisis,” Popov noted.

Popov then listed benefits from the state of emergency, saying it will allow to control the distribution of drugs with the help of interior troops, enforce the ban on mass rallies, ensure implementation of decisions by the NSDC and minimize declarations by politicians regarding the flue handling. Also, the vertical chain of staffs set up as a result of declaring the state of emergency will curb red-tape and competition of ministries.

withheld ukraine sequences raise pandemic concerns

Recombinomics | Right now we know that many clinical specimens and viruses have been sent to one of the WHO collaborating centres for further study. We don't know the results of those studies, and it will probably take a couple of days for the full analysis of those viruses to be available. But in the meantime, what we do not have is any evidence of viruses there or anywhere else as showing any big mutations. I raise this point because I have seen in some media reports that there are reports that WHO or other groups are saying that there are mutations and I want to point out that these are rumours and factually, untrue.

The above comments from Keiji Kukuda offer some general comments on the Ukrainian H1N1 sequences at Mill Hill in London. He specifically says WHO doesn't see any "big" mutations in the samples being sequenced, which would refer to reassortment or Tamiflu resistance. However, the changes seen in Ukraine do not require "big" mutations. Small mutations, such as SNP can have profound effects for a virus like pandemic H1N1.

That virus normally circulates in swine, and has recently jumped to humans. It already has many characteristics with the 1918 pandemic strain. Both are swine H1N1 that jumped to humans. Such species jumpers can increase efficiencies with small changes. One good example is position 627 in the PB2 gene. That position comes in two forms. When there is glutamic acid (E) at that position, the PB2 enzyme copies the viral genetic material most efficiently at 41 C, the body temperature of a bird. However, if that position has a lysine (K), the enzyme is most active at 33 C, the temperature of a human nose in the winter. The swine H1N1 has an E, which may be why it goes well in lung, which is 37 C and closer to the optimal replication temperature of 41C. However, a single change that produced the most efficient replication at 37C would lead to even higher levels in the lungs, which could lead to frequent cytokine storms, like those in 1918, instead of the less frequent level seen in Ukraine.

However, the rapid spread of H1N1 in Ukraine (see map), coupled with the high frequency of hemorrhagic pneumonia raise concerns that a small change is leading to a more virulent virus. Similarly, the rapid spread of the virus could also be affected by a small change in another gene, such as HA, which controls entry of the virus to cells and influences tissue tropism.

Mill Hill has acknowledged that they have at least 15 H1N1 positive samples from Ukraine, which would identify a Ukranian specific change. The delay in the announcement of sequence results raises concerns that such changes have been detected, and such changes are undergoing further analysis.

The number of cases in Ukraine continues to expand. The number of patients with H1N1 symptoms is now approaching 1 million. Cases have been increasing at almost 200,000 per day, so it is likely that tomorrow's report will have over 1 million cases. This rapid spread increases concern that the 15 sequences at Mill Hill contain one or more of these small changes, which has led to a delay in the announcement of sequence results.

More detail on the sequences at Mill Hill is overdue. The rapid spread of H1N1 in Ukraine demands rapid sequence results. Continued delay will only increase concerns.

national h1n1 epidemic declared in bulgaria

Recombinomics | The Health Ministry made the decision based on the grounds that the number of people with swine flu has reached 210 per 10 000.

Thus, all schools in Bulgaria will be in a swine flu break all of next week (9-14 November). The Health Ministry recommends limiting the number and scope of public events.

The above comments describe the declaration of a national swine flu epidemic in Bulgaria. Earlier this week an epidemic level of H1N1 had been reported in a select number of Oblasts and municipalities (see map). However, this level was subsequently reported for the entire country, so an epidemic was declared.

Although the number of fatalities reported this far are markedly below the levels reported for Ukraine, the rapid spread of H1N1 in Bulgaria raises concerns that there will be a dramatic increases in cases and deaths in the area. Spikes in deaths have already been reported in Turkey and Italy, although none have approached the numbers reported in Ukraine, where influenza/ARI cases are approaching 1 million, and will likely surpass that number in the next report.

The explosion of cases in Ukraine raise concerns that the H1N1 virus has subtly changed, with associated increase in cases and deaths.

Sequence data on these recent fatalities in Bulgaria and neighboring countries would be useful.

reported cases in ukraine double in two days

Recombinomics | Update: The numbers from the latest update from Ukraine (see map) continue to alarm. More than half of the Oblasts and cities listed exceed the epidemic threshold, including Kiev and Kiev Oblast, raising concerns that the increase in case numbers will accelerate. Moreover, hospitalization of 39,603 raises concerns that the number of deaths will also accelerate, since 11% of hospitalized cases in California died.

478,456 Influenza/ARI

24,003 Hospitalized

60 Ventilators

81 Deaths

The above numbers are from the latest update from Ukraine. The number of infected patients has almost doubled to just under ½ million, compared to the report two days ago (see map). Hospitalized patients also have spiked higher, to 24K from 15K. ICU cases are not listed, but 60 on ventilators are. However, most (37) of those on ventilators are Chernivisti Oblast, but Lviv, which has the most fatalities and cases, has none, suggesting the data is incomplete or there are significant shortages of ventilators. The number of dead has risen to 81, but media reports describe additional fatalities, include those in the Kiev Oblast.

The explosion of cases again raises concerns that the number of fatalities is significantly higher than the 81 listed. Media reports have described an equal number of pneumonia fatalities which were not considered flu related. The basis of these exclusions remains unclear. Similarly, anecdotal reports suggest the number of fatalities is markedly higher than the 81 in the table.

The rapid rise in reported infections, hospitalizations, and deaths in the past few days raise concerns that the virus is transmitting very efficiently. Spikes in cases have been reported throughout the northern hemisphere, but the spike in fatalities and the frequency in hemorrhagic cases in Ukraine have raised concerns.

Earlier media reports suggest that an update by WHO might be issued today and include preliminary analysis of samples sent to Mill Hill in London.

Daily updates on the rapidly evolving situation in Ukraine, including sequence analysis, would be useful.

sista dr. teresa forcades drops knowledge on the flu

unidentified flue outbreak in western ukraine

Zik | Western Ukraine was hit by a severe epidemic of unidentified influenza, tentatively diagnosed by doctors as viral pneumonia. The number of dead has climbed dramatically. Doctors advise Western Ukrainians to stay at home and use preventive medication. The first pedestrians wearing face masks have been seen on Lviv streetsTwo of the dead patients were in the 22-35 age group, with 2 others over 60. He diagnosed the disease as viral pneumonia.

“We have sent the analyses to Kyiv. We don’t believe it’s the swine flue. Neither do we know what kind of pneumonia it is,
Borysevych stressed. Viral tests can last from one to two weeks. They are complicated and not done in Lviv. The course of the disease was very quick. The symptoms included very high temperature and short-wind cough.

The disease started as an ordinary chill with headache and temperature. The symptoms lasted for a week before patient condition began to aggravate.

Zakarpattya Oblast
A man has died from the swine flue in Volovets. He has recently returned from Saint Petersburg, Russia, suffering from a cold. He was rushed to the hospital when pneumonia symptoms were found by doctors. Another local who came from Moscow became sick and went to see his doctor in time. Now he is recovering safely.

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
All the six dead young people had symptoms of severe hemmorhagic pneumonia. The disease starts slowly, with temperature rising to 37.2 – 37.3 degrees, slight cough and pain in joints. Nasal catarrh developed at the end of the second or third day. Autopsy revealed that the lungs were soaked with blood, the oblast chief specialist said.

Chernivtsi Oblast
The number of persons with common flue in Chernivtsi has grown from 2,623 to 4,053. According to the local medical authorities, the city has been hit by an unknown type of the flue. The tests to identify the virus will be ready only in 2 weeks, doctors say.

nanoparticles hazardous to dna

The Scientist | Nanoparticles can damage DNA even in cells that are not directly exposed to them, according to an in vitro study published online today (November 5) in Nature Nanotechnology -- raising further questions about the safety of nanomaterials used in clinical therapies.

"DNA damage due to nanoparticles has been described for many types of nanoparticles, but that's done in a primary or direct sense," said Andre Nel, chief of NanoMedicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study. "Indirect DNA damage to hazardous nanoparticles is not something that I have seen described before."

Scientists are using nanotechnology to develop delivery systems for drugs and imaging agents, but some studies have suggested these particles may be toxic. Researchers have linked inhalation of nanoparticles or nanotubes to cardoirespiratory disease, for example. Additionally, nanoparticle debris from implants, such as cobalt-chromium (CoCr) alloy particles which can be released from metal-on-metal orthopedic joint replacements, are known to damage human cells in culture.

clusters of hemorrhagic H1N1 pneumonia in ukraine

Recombinomics | All the six dead young people had symptoms of severe hemmorhagic pneumonia. The disease starts slowly, with temperature rising to 37.2 - 37.3 degrees, slight cough and pain in joints. Nasal catarrh developed at the end of the second or third day. Autopsy revealed that the lungs were soaked with blood, the oblast chief specialist said.

The above comments are from an early story describing cases in Ukraine. The clustering of hemorrhagic cases raised concerns. The concern was increased by anecdotal reports citing a high frequency of such cases in Lviv (see map). The recent WHO announcement that they were initially focusing of severe acute respiratory illness in Lviv also increased concerns.

Hemorrhagic pneumonia was also observed in the 1918 pandemic and was thought to be linked to cytokine storm. Consequently, those with robust immune systems (previously health young adults) disproportionately died, which has also been seen in the current outbreak (Mexico, US, and worldwide). However, the cases in Ukraine appear to be clustered, raising concerns that the virus has changed.

However, the change may be minor, since the current H1N1 has produced the above symptoms in earlier cases. More severe cases may be linked to a higher viral load, which could be linked to minor genetic changes, or simply due to concentration of virus in schools. In the US the spread of the virus has been linked to school openings, which lead to an explosion of cases and subsequent student deaths. However, now there are increases in fatalities in teachers and administrators, increasing concerns worldwide.

In Ukraine, weather changes and heating issues may have led to a surge in cases, and increased concentrations of virus could have produced conditions favoring high viral loads and increased cytokine storms.

the strange case of joseph moshe

HuffPo | A man suspected of making threats against the White House was pulled from his car Thursday after an hours-long standoff in the parking lot of the Federal Building in West Los Angeles.

The man had refused to leave his red Volkswagen Beetle and withstood four rounds of chemical agents tossed inside the car after police broke a rear window. About an hour later, officers shot out the drivers window with a bean bag gun and pulled him out.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan identified the suspect as Joseph Moshe, 56, of Los Angeles. Moshe is suspected of calling a police dispatch number Wednesday and making threatening statements about the White House, Donovan said.

(but that's not the interesting part)

The interesting part is in the comments below the article about this arrest;

Project Camelot and Bill Deagle reported another side of this story involving Joseph Moshe, a biological­-scientist with a dual citizenship in Israel and mussad traning in biological warfare, hence his ability to withstand the tear gas attack. Moshe phoned Dr. Tru Ott's radio show and said that he had evidence that the vaccine company Baxter was making a bioweapon that would cause a plague when the vaccine was released.

The day after Moshe phoned the radio show, a swat team surrounded his Volkswagen Beetle near the Federal building near the Israeli consulate which was apparently Moshes destination. The mainstream media spun a story that Moshe had threatened the White House with a bomb, that there were outstanding warrants against him and that he was depressed. No mention of that Moshe was a biological­-scientist or the information he provided on Dr. True Otts radio show about the vaccine company Baxter.

NBC LA reported on Aug 17 that Moshe was in jail but Dr. Deagle says that Moshe has been sent to Israel.

The would-be bomber, Joseph Moshe, called into the Dr True Ott Show on Republic Broadcasting and said he was a microbiologist who wanted to hand over evidence to a States Attorney regarding tainted H1N1 vaccines being produced by Baxter pharmaceutical. He claimed that that Baxter’s lab in the Ukraine was in fact preparing a bioweapon disguised as a vaccine. He maintained that the vaccine contained both adjuvants designed to weaken the immune system, and replicated RNA from the virus responsible for the 1918 global pandemic. That’s it. He made no threat against Obama, nor said anything about bombs or any attack. The following day he was hauled out of his red VW beetle by a SWAT team and arrested. He was immediately extradited to Israel, where he has dual-citizenship, and hasn’t been heard from since. All this talk portraying him as being a right-wing nutcase is disinformation designed to keep his disturbing comments from alarming the public.

Read the extended commentary that accompanies this youtube video of the arrest of Moshe.

policy and technology - conflict or synergy?

UCTV | A highlight of this year's Energy Summit was the Town-Hall Meeting where audience members engaged in a dialogue with energy experts Randy Komisar, Arun Majumdar and Michael McQuade who touched mainly on consumer behavior, energy investment strategies, future energy outlook, and broadly on social responsibility of energy efficiency.

technology, politics, and the economics of reduced energy consumption

UCTV | Lynn Scarlett, former Deputy Secretary of the Interior, argues that investing in nature's capital is a smart twenty-first century energy policy. Arun Majumdar, Lawrence Berkeley Lab, explores how regulation and technology can work together to improve energy consumption. He also looks at some of the new technologies that may become large-scale solutions.

science for energy efficient production and use

UCTV | Raymond Orbach, former Under Secretary for Science, United States Department of Energy, argues that the three major energy challenges in the US are energy security, environmental sustainability, and economic impact and that a unique opportunity has emerged to change the world using a new ability to alter materials at the atomic scale like never before possible.

suncatcher

in the muck

The Scientist | Duckweed first appeared in satellite images of Venezuela in 2004 as a mysterious swirl of green on the surface of Lake Marcaibo, doubling in size with each passing day. Marcaibo is one of South America’s largest bodies of water, but with brackish water and few nutrients, it had never harbored this rapid-growing aquatic plant. Local scientists speculated that heavy rains washed sewage and nutrients into the lake along with duckweed colonies from neighboring ponds. By June, they estimated that the world’s smallest flowering plant covered 18 percent of the lake’s surface before it began receding.

The invasion could have been an ecological disaster, but for Rutgers geneticist Randall Kerstetter, it was a sign of hope. In the taxonomic showdown over the ideal organism for producing biofuel, Kerstetter is putting his mental energy into duckweed. “Duckweed is the fastest growing plant,” he says. “If you’re interested in biofuels, you’re interested in biomass.”

tiny tubers

The Scientist | When Ros Gleadow opened the airlock to the greenhouse at The Australian National University, she stepped into the atmosphere of the future. The air was thick with carbon dioxide—700 parts per million, to be precise—which matches the concentration predicted 90 years from now. While evaluating the responses of crops to the altered atmosphere in the summer of 2008, she found that the cotton, sorghum, soybean and cassava plants she’d planted 9 months earlier grew higher, a little woodier, and with more stems and smaller leaves than normal—all of which she’d expected. But when she dug the cassavas out of their pots, the tubers, which usually grow as large as yams, looked like stunted fingers.

Her cassavas of the future had produced 80 percent less food. “It came completely unexpectedly because plants normally grow bigger under higher CO2,” says Gleadow, a plant physiologist at Monash University in Melbourne. Her immediate thought went to the millions of people living in the tropics, where cassava is the third largest source of dietary carbohydrates. “If the yield decreases, there’s going to be a lot of hungry people.”

That wasn’t the only problem. The cassava plants themselves had become poisonous. Like 60 percent of all our staple crops, cassava produces chemicals called cyanogenic glycosides to deter grazing animals, which, when chewed, release cyanide gas. In small quantities, the cyanide tastes like bitter cherries, enough to ward off animals. But the high-CO2 cassavas produced three times the cyanide of today’s plant. (The poison largely shows up in the leaves, which most people avoid, although some in African countries eat the leaves as a protein supplement.) Gleadow hypothesizes that her cassavas may have poisoned themselves, meaning the extra cyanide shrank the tubers (Plant Biology, published online August 6, 2009).

Until recently, modelers saw CO2’s effect on plant life as the silver lining of climate change. They thought increases in the gas would act as fertilizer, making crops grow bigger and more lush. After all, CO2 is one of the main components of photosynthesis. In the late 1980s, experimenters projected as much as 30 percent increases by 2050 in yield for staples like wheat and soy. But recent experiments under open-air conditions showed half that rate of growth (Science, 312: 1918–21, 2006).

buffett buys bnsf...,

Washington Post | The biggest name in investing is making what he calls an "all-in wager" on the U.S. economy - $34 billion to own a railroad that hauls everything from corn to cars across the country.

The acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the nation's second-largest railroad, would be the biggest ever for Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway investment company.

It's a natural fit for the Oracle of Omaha, a city with a special place in railroad history. It was the starting point for the westward push of the transcontinental railroad. Today, Omaha is the headquarters of Union Pacific, and BNSF trains rumble through every day.

In a statement, Buffett, whose investing decisions are carefully scrutinized by the world of finance, voiced confidence in the railroad industry.

"Most important of all, however, it's an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States. I love these bets," he said Tuesday.

inside lsd - tonight

National Geographic | LSDs inventor Albert Hofmann called it "medicine for the soul." The Beatles wrote songs about it. Secret military mind control experiments exploited its hallucinogenic powers. Outlawed in 1966, LSD became a street drug and developed a reputation as the dangerous toy of the counterculture, capable of inspiring either moments of genius, or a descent into madness. Now science is taking a fresh look at LSD, including the first human trials in over 35 years. Using enhanced brain imaging, non-hallucinogenic versions of the drug and information from an underground network of test subjects who suffer from an agonizing condition for which there is no cure, researchers are finding that this "trippy" drug could become the pharmaceutical of the future. Can it enhance our brain power, expand our creativity and cure disease? To find out, Explorer puts LSD under the microscope.

foxes and chicken coops

HuffPo | There have been a few financial insiders who've raised an eyebrow over Storch's hire. Zero Hedge pointed to a big flaw in Storch's background "...at least the SEC could have hired someone with actual market/broker experience. Based on his record, Mr. Storch is not even a licensed (Series 7/63) broker."

The Atlantic points to some real concerns about his level of experience: "I'm not sure what's scarier, that this guy worked at an investment bank that many believe has questionable ethics and too cozy a Washington connection, or that he's just 29. His 'great deal of background' must be those seven long years since college ended."

For those who've lamented the various links between Goldman Sachs and the financial regulatory system, this certainly isn't good news.

Bloomberg reports that the Securities Exchange Commission has named Adam Storch, a former Goldman exec, as its enforcement division's first chief operating officer. Storch is actually just 29 years old and previously worked in Goldman's business intelligence unit.

Here's Bloomberg:

"The COO, who started Oct. 13, has "a great deal of background" in technology and managing processes and the pace of work, Robert Khuzami, head of enforcement, said yesterday in Washington. Storch, who worked since 2004 in a unit at Goldman Sachs that reviewed contracts and transactions for signs of fraud, will be charged with making the unit more efficient. Storch, reached by telephone at the SEC, declined to comment."

According to what appears to be his LinkedIn profile, Storch spent his undergraduate years at the State University Of New York At Buffalo, and earned an MBA from New York University's Stern School Of Business. Other experience -- besides Goldman -- includes working as a Senior Analyst at Deloitte and Touche.

smooth criminals

Neurological Correlates | New journal volume on “Biosocial Criminality” and two reports selected: One, because psychopaths use murder more as an instrumentality than as an expression of emotion, they don’t tell anyone about their crimes, and, moreover, therefore, are brought up on lesser offenses and get out earlier (my interpretation). Two, psychopaths can see vulnerability in others by the way they walk. Fist tap Dale.