Nine Keralites killed in Mysore road accident

Mysore: Nine persons from Kerala have been killed in a road accident at Periyapattinam near Mysore.

The deceased, all hailing from Derlakatte in Mangalore, include four women and three children.

The accident occurred early morning on Wednesday when the van the victims were travelling in collided with a lorry.

Nine Keralites killed in Mysore road accident

Mysore: Nine persons from Kerala have been killed in a road accident at Periyapattinam near Mysore.

The deceased, all hailing from Derlakatte in Mangalore, include four women and three children.

The accident occurred early morning on Wednesday when the van the victims were travelling in collided with a lorry.

200 killed in Turkey coal mine explosion

AFP Istanbul: At least 200 people were killed and some 400 workers remain trapped underground after an explosion and fire in a coal mine in Turkey Tuesday, officials said Wednesday. A total of 787 people were inside the mine in Soma, 250 km south of Istanbul, when the disaster occurred. As many as 363 people have been accounted for so far, including the miners killed, Xinhua reported. At least 80 rescued miners were injured, including four who were in a serious condition, Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said at the scene as he oversaw rescue operation involving some 400 rescuers. The accident occurred as the workers were preparing for a shift change, officials said, which might have raised the casualty toll because there were more miners inside than usual. The explosion occurred at a power distribution unit two km below the surface, which caused the mine's elevator to stop working. A fire broke out after the explosion. The Soma Coal Mining Company, the mine's operator, said they had inspected the mine's facilities only two months ago and found nothing against regulations. The latest incident is one of the numerous mining accidents that Turkey has had in recent years. Accidents, cave-ins and explosions have claimed the lives of dozens of mine workers over the years. Last December, four miners, who were reportedly working at an unlicensed coal mine for 60 Turkish liras (about $30), were killed in the Zonguldak province after an accident. According to the Chamber of Mining Engineers of Turkey, 80 accidents took place in Turkish mines in 2012, killing 61 people and injuring 91 workers. Since 1955, at least 3,053 Turks have been killed and 326,208 have been injured in mine accidents across the country.

200 killed in Turkey coal mine explosion

AFP Istanbul: At least 200 people were killed and some 400 workers remain trapped underground after an explosion and fire in a coal mine in Turkey Tuesday, officials said Wednesday. A total of 787 people were inside the mine in Soma, 250 km south of Istanbul, when the disaster occurred. As many as 363 people have been accounted for so far, including the miners killed, Xinhua reported. At least 80 rescued miners were injured, including four who were in a serious condition, Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said at the scene as he oversaw rescue operation involving some 400 rescuers. The accident occurred as the workers were preparing for a shift change, officials said, which might have raised the casualty toll because there were more miners inside than usual. The explosion occurred at a power distribution unit two km below the surface, which caused the mine's elevator to stop working. A fire broke out after the explosion. The Soma Coal Mining Company, the mine's operator, said they had inspected the mine's facilities only two months ago and found nothing against regulations. The latest incident is one of the numerous mining accidents that Turkey has had in recent years. Accidents, cave-ins and explosions have claimed the lives of dozens of mine workers over the years. Last December, four miners, who were reportedly working at an unlicensed coal mine for 60 Turkish liras (about $30), were killed in the Zonguldak province after an accident. According to the Chamber of Mining Engineers of Turkey, 80 accidents took place in Turkish mines in 2012, killing 61 people and injuring 91 workers. Since 1955, at least 3,053 Turks have been killed and 326,208 have been injured in mine accidents across the country.

Convit, creator of anti-leprosy vaccine, dead

Caracas:Venezuelan physician and scientist Jacinto Convit, creator of the anti-leprosy vaccine and one of the leading researchers in the study of tropical diseases, died Monday in Caracas. He was 100.

Convit, the 1987 winner of Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific Research, invented a vaccine to prevent and cure leprosy, which in turn provided the basis for creating an immunotherapy for leishmaniasis, and contributed to the study of other illnesses like Chagas disease.

Declared a Public Health Hero by the Pan American Health Organisation, Convit worked and taught in the US for years.

Upon his return to Venezuela, he founded the Institute of Biomedicine.

Among the distinctions he received was France's National Order of the Legion of Honour in 2011. IANS

Convit, creator of anti-leprosy vaccine, dead

Caracas:Venezuelan physician and scientist Jacinto Convit, creator of the anti-leprosy vaccine and one of the leading researchers in the study of tropical diseases, died Monday in Caracas. He was 100.

Convit, the 1987 winner of Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific Research, invented a vaccine to prevent and cure leprosy, which in turn provided the basis for creating an immunotherapy for leishmaniasis, and contributed to the study of other illnesses like Chagas disease.

Declared a Public Health Hero by the Pan American Health Organisation, Convit worked and taught in the US for years.

Upon his return to Venezuela, he founded the Institute of Biomedicine.

Among the distinctions he received was France's National Order of the Legion of Honour in 2011. IANS

Patient's stem cells used to make 'heart disease-on-a-chip'

Washington:In a big step forward for personalised medicine, Harvard scientists have for the first time grown a functioning human heart tissue carrying an inherited cardiovascular disease by merging stem cell and 'organ-on-a-chip' technologies.

The research is working proof that a chunk of tissue containing a patient's specific genetic disorder can be replicated in the laboratory, scientists said. In the study, researchers modelled the cardiovascular disease Barth syndrome, a rare X-linked cardiac disorder caused by mutation of a single gene called Tafazzin, or TAZ. The disorder, which is currently untreatable, primarily appears in boys, and is associated with a number of symptoms affecting heart and skeletal muscle function.

The researchers took skin cells from two Barth syndrome patients, and manipulated the cells to become stem cells that carried these patients' TAZ mutations. Instead of using the stem cells to generate single heart cells in a dish, the cells were grown on chips lined with human extracellular matrix proteins that mimic their natural environment, tricking the cells into joining together as they would if they were forming a diseased human heart.

The engineered diseased tissue contracted very weakly, as would the heart muscle seen in Barth syndrome patients. The investigators then used genome editing - a technique pioneered by Harvard collaborator George Church, to mutate TAZ in normal cells, confirming that this mutation is sufficient to cause weak contraction in the engineered tissue.

On the other hand, delivering the TAZ gene product to diseased tissue in the laboratory corrected the contractile defect, creating the first tissue-based model of correction of a genetic heart disease.

The work, published in Nature Medicine, is the result of a collaborative effort bringing together scientists from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Boston Children's Hospital, the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Harvard Medical School.

It combines the 'organs-on-chips' expertise of Kevin Kit Parker, and stem cell and clinical insights by William Pu. The scientists also discovered that the TAZ mutation disrupts the normal activity of mitochondria, often called the power plants of the cell for their role in making energy.

'The TAZ mutation makes Barth syndrome cells produce an excess amount of reactive oxygen species or ROS - a normal by-product of cellular metabolism released by mitochondria - which had not been recognised as an important part of this disease,' said Pu.

'We showed that, at least in the laboratory, if you quench the excessive ROS production then you can restore contractile function,' Pu added.

The work is published in the journal, Nature Medicine. PTI

Patient's stem cells used to make 'heart disease-on-a-chip'

Washington:In a big step forward for personalised medicine, Harvard scientists have for the first time grown a functioning human heart tissue carrying an inherited cardiovascular disease by merging stem cell and 'organ-on-a-chip' technologies.

The research is working proof that a chunk of tissue containing a patient's specific genetic disorder can be replicated in the laboratory, scientists said. In the study, researchers modelled the cardiovascular disease Barth syndrome, a rare X-linked cardiac disorder caused by mutation of a single gene called Tafazzin, or TAZ. The disorder, which is currently untreatable, primarily appears in boys, and is associated with a number of symptoms affecting heart and skeletal muscle function.

The researchers took skin cells from two Barth syndrome patients, and manipulated the cells to become stem cells that carried these patients' TAZ mutations. Instead of using the stem cells to generate single heart cells in a dish, the cells were grown on chips lined with human extracellular matrix proteins that mimic their natural environment, tricking the cells into joining together as they would if they were forming a diseased human heart.

The engineered diseased tissue contracted very weakly, as would the heart muscle seen in Barth syndrome patients. The investigators then used genome editing - a technique pioneered by Harvard collaborator George Church, to mutate TAZ in normal cells, confirming that this mutation is sufficient to cause weak contraction in the engineered tissue.

On the other hand, delivering the TAZ gene product to diseased tissue in the laboratory corrected the contractile defect, creating the first tissue-based model of correction of a genetic heart disease.

The work, published in Nature Medicine, is the result of a collaborative effort bringing together scientists from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Boston Children's Hospital, the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Harvard Medical School.

It combines the 'organs-on-chips' expertise of Kevin Kit Parker, and stem cell and clinical insights by William Pu. The scientists also discovered that the TAZ mutation disrupts the normal activity of mitochondria, often called the power plants of the cell for their role in making energy.

'The TAZ mutation makes Barth syndrome cells produce an excess amount of reactive oxygen species or ROS - a normal by-product of cellular metabolism released by mitochondria - which had not been recognised as an important part of this disease,' said Pu.

'We showed that, at least in the laboratory, if you quench the excessive ROS production then you can restore contractile function,' Pu added.

The work is published in the journal, Nature Medicine. PTI

14 die in shipwreck near Italy

Rome:At least 14 people were killed and 200 went missing after a boat packed with migrants sank near Italy Monday, media reported Tuesday.

The boat, carrying as many as 400 Italy-bound North Africans, capsized some 185 km south of Lampedusa island, Italy's southern most point, Xinhua reported.

Around 215 people were rescued.

'We do not know yet how many people were on board, but survivors say there were hundreds,' Lampedusa port captain Giuseppe Cannarile said.

'We are on the spot and are working tirelessly,' he said.

Last week, as many as 1,000 asylum seekers landed in Sicily, the latest arrivals adding to more than 25,000 migrants who had reached Italy in the first few months of this year. Most of the migrants are reportedly from sub-Saharan Africa, with an increasing number from Syria and the Palestinian territories.

The unsustainable overcrowded conditions in Italy's migrant centres have repeatedly been exposed.

Italy's interior ministry had estimated earlier this month that some 800,000 North Africans were poised to set off for Europe.

Italian authorities have said that sea operations are insufficient to prevent more fatalities and have called for the creation of a 'humanitarian corridor' and greater support for rescue and resettlement efforts from the EU.

Rescue operations for sea patrol missions cost the Italian government more than nine million euros ($12.3 million) every month. IANS

14 die in shipwreck near Italy

Rome:At least 14 people were killed and 200 went missing after a boat packed with migrants sank near Italy Monday, media reported Tuesday.

The boat, carrying as many as 400 Italy-bound North Africans, capsized some 185 km south of Lampedusa island, Italy's southern most point, Xinhua reported.

Around 215 people were rescued.

'We do not know yet how many people were on board, but survivors say there were hundreds,' Lampedusa port captain Giuseppe Cannarile said.

'We are on the spot and are working tirelessly,' he said.

Last week, as many as 1,000 asylum seekers landed in Sicily, the latest arrivals adding to more than 25,000 migrants who had reached Italy in the first few months of this year. Most of the migrants are reportedly from sub-Saharan Africa, with an increasing number from Syria and the Palestinian territories.

The unsustainable overcrowded conditions in Italy's migrant centres have repeatedly been exposed.

Italy's interior ministry had estimated earlier this month that some 800,000 North Africans were poised to set off for Europe.

Italian authorities have said that sea operations are insufficient to prevent more fatalities and have called for the creation of a 'humanitarian corridor' and greater support for rescue and resettlement efforts from the EU.

Rescue operations for sea patrol missions cost the Italian government more than nine million euros ($12.3 million) every month. IANS