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Animals

Disaster Risk Reduction

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Thousands Of Bacteria-Infected Mosquitoes Released To Fight Zika & Other Viruses

Tue, 2017-04-18 21:14 — Kathy Gilbeaux

miami.cbslocal.com - April 18, 2017

On Tuesday, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District released 20,000 male mosquitoes infected by the Kentucky-based company MosquitoMate with naturally occurring Wolbachia bacteria.

The offspring produced when the lab-bred mosquitoes mate with wild female mosquitoes won’t survive to adulthood. Male mosquitoes don’t bite, and Wolbachia is not harmful to humans.

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US - SouthEast

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CLICK HERE - Nucleic acid detection with CRISPR-Cas13a/C2c2

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New CRISPR Tool Can Detect Tiny Amounts of Viruses

Sat, 2017-04-15 13:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The Cas13a enzyme causes collateral RNA damage that is the heart of a new diagnostic system, SHERLOCK, that can detect minute quantities of virus and much more. Broad Institute

sciencemag.org - by Jon Cohen - April 13, 2017

. . . That’s the realm of SHERLOCK, a new diagnostic system that can detect attomolar levels of viruses in a sample and also distinguish Zika from its close relative, dengue. This exquisitely sensitive and specific tool promises to help detect diseases that other diagnostics miss, and it’s simple and cheap to use. Sexier still, it exploits a variation of CRISPR, the genome-editing method that has become the rage in biology.

ALSO SEE RELATED STUDIES WITHIN THE LINKS BELOW . . .

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Airmen Plant Hundreds of Trees to Feed the Hungry

Sun, 2017-03-19 21:26 — Kathy Gilbeaux

12newsnow.com - by Charlie Cooper, KENS - March 19, 2017

SAN ANTONIO - Hundreds of airmen got their hands dirty on Saturday to help feed the hungry by planting fruit trees at Mission San Juan National Historical Park.

They planted nearly 300 citrus trees to go to the San Antonio Food Bank . . .

. . . The food bank said that about 120,000 pounds of food will be harvested at the park. It will be able to provide about 17,000 meals throughout the community.

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US - South

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Agriculture

Food

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Will a New Glass Battery Accelerate the End of Oil?

Thu, 2017-03-09 09:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

John Goodenough, coinventor of the lithium-ion battery, heads a team of researchers developing the technology that could one day supplant it. Photo: Cockrell School of Engineering

spectrum.ieee.org - by Mark Anderson - March 3, 2017

Electric car purchases have been on the rise lately, posting an estimated 60 percent growth rate last year. They’re poised for rapid adoption by 2022, when EVs are projected to cost the same as internal combustion cars. However, these estimates all presume the incumbent lithium-ion battery remains the go-to EV power source. So, when researchers this week at the University of Texas at Austin unveiled a new, promising lithium- or sodium-glass battery technology, it threatened to accelerate even rosy projections for battery-powered cars.

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Global

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Energy

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'The Wild West of Wind': Republicans Push Texas as Unlikely Green Energy Leader

Mon, 2017-02-20 15:45 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Wind energy in Sweetwater, Texas. Photograph: Katie Hayes Luke for the Guardian

Climate change in the US: the dangers and the solutions

The most oil-rich and fracking-friendly of states has found itself with the improbable status of being a national leader in a wind energy boom

theguardian.com - by Tom Dart in Sweetwater, Texas, and Oliver Milman in New York - February 20, 2017

Living in New York and Washington, Greg Wortham heard all the grand talk about green energy from liberal politicians. Then he returned to the place where he grew up, a small town that embraced wind power so warmly that within a couple of years of the first turbine turning, it had some of the biggest farms on the planet.

Yet Wortham is not from California, Oregon or New England, but a deeply conservative sector of Texas on the edge of the Permian Basin, one of the most bountiful oil and gas patches in the world.

The welcome sign that greets motorists as they arrive in Sweetwater along Interstate 20, a three-hour drive west of Dallas, is not in the shape of an oil derrick or pumpjack, though: it’s a wind turbine blade bearing the town’s motto, “Life is sweet in Texas”.

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PositiveID Successfully Detects the Zika Virus on its Firefly Dx Prototype System

Thu, 2016-09-22 20:52 — Kathy Gilbeaux

PositiveID uses assay partner GenArraytion's Zika test, the first commercially available multi-plexed PCR-based molecular test to identify dual lineages of the Zika virus

investors.positiveidcorp.com - May 25, 2016

DELRAY BEACH, Fla., May 25, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PositiveID Corporation ("PositiveID" or "Company") (OTCQB:PSID), a life sciences company focused on detection and diagnostics, announced today that it has successfully detected the Zika virus on its Firefly Dx polymerase chain reaction ("PCR") breadboard prototype pathogen detection system ("prototype system"). . .

. . . PositiveID used assay partner GenArraytion, Inc.'s Aedes Aegypti MultiFLEX™ Bioassay test, which targets four genetic regions of the Zika virus, on PositiveID's Firefly Dx prototype system. The Zika virus test works with an existing GenArraytion MultiFLEX™ Bioassay panel that targets viruses that cause dengue fever, yellow fever and Chikungunya, which are also carried by the same mosquito and are known to cause febrile disease in humans. This test both identifies and discriminates between the Zika African and Brazilian lineages.

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CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - Nature Medicine - Identification of small-molecule inhibitors of Zika virus infection and induced neural cell death via a drug repurposing screen

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FSU Research Team Makes Zika Drug Breakthrough

Tue, 2016-08-30 12:19 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Albert Gomez

Doctoral students Emily Lee, Yichen Cheng and Sarah Ogden played a key role in conducting Zika research in Professor Hengli Tang’s laboratory.

news.fsu.edu - by Kathleen Haughney - August 29, 2016

A team of researchers from Florida State University, Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health has found existing drug compounds that can both stop Zika from replicating in the body and from damaging the crucial fetal brain cells that lead to birth defects in newborns.

One of the drugs is already on the market as a treatment for tapeworm. . . .

. . . Their work is outlined in an article published Monday by Nature Medicine.

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FDA Recommends Screening All Blood Donations for Zika

Fri, 2016-08-26 18:42 — Kathy Gilbeaux

fda.gov - August 26, 2016

As a further safety measure against the emerging Zika virus outbreak, today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a revised guidance recommending universal testing of donated Whole Blood and blood components for Zika virus in the U.S. and its territories.

“There is still much uncertainty regarding the nature and extent of Zika virus transmission,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “At this time, the recommendation for testing the entire blood supply will help ensure that safe blood is available for all individuals who might need transfusion.”

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CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT INFORMATION (2 page .PDF file)

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Keeping Zika Out Of Your Neighborhood

Wed, 2016-08-03 18:30 — Kathy Gilbeaux

by Philip K. Stoddard, Ph.D. - Mayor of South Miami & Professor of Biological Sciences - Florida International University

Tactics for keeping out Zika

1. Keep Aedes aegypti from breeding in your house and yard by eliminating all standing water (see checklist on other side).

2. Keep Aedes aegypti out of your house. Window and screens should have no gaps or holes. Move and empty your pet’s water dish every day when they don’t need it.

3. Avoid getting bitten outdoors.

Insect repellants with DEET repel flying mosquitoes and prevent them from biting. Long sleeves and trousers help. Electric fans help – Aedes aegypti is a weak flyer and likes still air.

4. Don’t let your neighbors down.

One person can provide mosquitoes for the whole neighborhood by not taking the precautions listed here.

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