United States

Photo: El Paso Times - (CLICK HERE to view additional photos)

texashillcountry.com - by Spring Sault - May 30, 2016

The existence of a number of aerial photos showing flood-related oil spills on a state-run website was revealed in an El Paso Times story by Marty Schladen last month, followed shortly by state officials ordering the photos removed from the website operated by the University of Texas at Austin.

Until the Times’ story was published, the photos weren’t common knowledge to the public and identified possible environmental damage caused by flooding in oil drilling areas, including fracking sites. . . .

Image: Anhydrous ammonia plant, ca. 1954. ROBERT W. KELLEY/TIME & LIFE PICTURES/GETTY IMAGES

wired.com - Sarah Zhang - May 16th 2016

Of all the elements that make up Earth’s atmosphere, nitrogen is by far the most abundant. It is also one of the most inert. Nothing happens when you breathe it in, swallow it, or let it suffuse your skin.

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CLICK HERE - 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index

The 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index shows gaps in health readiness among states.

hhnmag.com - by Matt O'Connor - April 25, 2016

Summer is rapidly approaching, and so is ideal mosquito weather and the opportunity for the spread of Zika — something hospitals need to be ready for.

The 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index, released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shows that the United States scores 6.7 out of 10 for preparedness against public health emergencies, a 3.6 percent increase since the survey began three years ago. But, some of the regions most susceptible to the spread of Zika scored below the national level, including the Deep South.

Having many states improve their scores is a positive sign that the nation is improving, but there is concern that the South isn’t as prepared for the approaching mosquito season, says Glen Mays, professor of health policy at the University of Kentucky's College of Public Health, who leads the team overseeing the Index.

An Aedes Aegypti mosquito photographed on human skin. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Cell Host & Microbe - Wolbachia Blocks Currently Circulating Zika Virus Isolates in Brazilian Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes

Presence of Wolbachia bacterium in the insects seen limiting their ability to transmit the rapidly spreading virus

wsj.com - by REED JOHNSON, ROGERIO JELMAYER, and BETSY MCKAY - May 4, 2016

Introducing a common bacterium into a species of mosquitoes drastically limits the insects’ ability to transmit the dangerous Zika virus that has been spreading rapidly, according to researchers at Brazil’s leading medical-research institute.

In a new study published on Wednesday in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, researchers at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), in Rio de Janeiro, said their experiments have shown that injecting Aedes aegypti mosquito eggs with the Wolbachia bacterium makes the eventual adult mosquitoes highly resistant to the Zika virus, thereby limiting their ability to spread it.