The World Health Organization says hundreds of thousands of people around the world develop life-threatening illnesses each year from antibiotic-resistant organisms that are often found in hospitals. Ridding hospitals of contamination has become a major challenge and a huge expense. But a Texas-based company, called Xenex Healthcare Services may have the solution to this problem – with a device that uses light to kill micro-organisms.  This machine fires bursts of ultraviolet, or UV, light that penetrate the cells of micro-organisms and kill them.

For the full article: VOA News

Procedural errors, such as incomplete or unclear medication orders, fell by over 90 per cent, while the number of serious clinical mistakes – including those that result in death – decreased by 44 per cent.

Lead researcher Professor Johanna Westbrook, from UNSW’s Australian Institute of Health Innovation, says the implementation of e-prescribing technology could “absolutely” save lives.

“This is probably one of the first studies internationally which has shown, yes, we really are going to get the benefits that we hope from these systems,” Prof Westbrook told AAP.

For the full article: Herald Sun

Researchers have demonstrated a striking method to reconstruct words, based on the brain waves of patients thinking of those words. The technique reported in PLoS Biology relies on gathering electrical signals directly from patients’ brains.

Based on signals from listening patients, a computer model was used to reconstruct the sounds of words that patients were thinking of. The method may in future help comatose and locked-in patients communicate.

In a 2011 study, participants with electrodes in direct brain contact were able to move a cursor on a screen by simply thinking of vowel sounds.

A technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging to track blood flow in the brain has shown promise for identifying which words or ideas someone may be thinking about.

By studying patterns of blood flow related to particular images, Jack Gallant’s group at the University of California Berkeley showed in September that patterns can be used to guess images being thought of – recreating “movies in the mind”.

Now, Brian Pasley of the University of California, Berkeley and a team of colleagues have taken that “stimulus reconstruction” work one step further.

The team focused on an area of the brain called the superior temporal gyrus, or STG.

This broad region is not just part of the hearing apparatus but one of the “higher-order” brain regions that help us make linguistic sense of the sounds we hear.

The team monitored the STG brain waves of 15 patients who were undergoing surgery for epilepsy or tumours, while playing audio of a number of different speakers reciting words and sentences.

The trick is disentangling the chaos of electrical signals that the audio brought about in the patients’ STG regions.

To do that, the team employed a computer model that helped map out which parts of the brain were firing at what rate, when different frequencies of sound were played.

With the help of that model, when patients were presented with words to think about, the team was able to guess which word the participants had chosen.

They were even able to reconstruct some of the words, turning the brain waves they saw back into sound on the basis of what the computer model suggested those waves meant.

The authors caution that the thought-translation idea is still to be vastly improved before such prosthetics become a reality.

But the benefits of such devices could be transformative, said Mindy McCumber, a speech therapist at Florida Hospital in Orlando.

“As a therapist, I can see potential implications for the restoration of communication for a wide range of disorders,” she told BBC News.

“The development of direct neuro-control over virtual or physical devices would revolutionise ‘augmentative and alternative communication’, and improve quality of life immensely for those who suffer from impaired communication skills or means.”

For the full article: BBC News

A 6,500-year-old Sumerian gold jar, the head of a Sumerian battle axe and a stone from an Assyrian palace were among 45 relics returned to Iraq by Germany on Monday.

The items were among thousands stolen from Iraq’s museums and archeological sites in the mayhem that followed the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The tiny gold jar, dating to 4,500 BC, the bronze axe head, clay tablets bearing cuneiform script, a metal amulet and other artifacts were seized by German police at public auctions and turned over to Iraqi officials in a ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Alexander Schonfelder, deputy head of the German diplomatic mission in Iraq, said German law dictated that any artifacts taken from Iraq after 1990 should be returned.

Some 15,000 artifacts were thought to have been looted from the Iraqi National Museum and thousands more from archeological sites since the start of the 2003 war.

Up to than 10,000 of the National Museum pieces are still missing, said Amira Eidan, general director of the museum.

Iraq, which the ancient Greeks called Mesopotamia or “land between two rivers” because of its Tigris and Euphrates, is regarded by archaeologists as the cradle of civilization.

In recent years the Iraqi government has slowly reassembled some of the country’s lost history.

For the full article: Reuters

The post-card perfect beaches of Hawaii’s Big Island will now be safer from toxic litter and costly waste thanks to recent decisions by the Hawaii County Council and Mayor Billy Kenoi.

In late December, the Council approved a bill that would restrict retailers from offering plastic bags at the checkout counter. And just over a week ago, the bill was signed into law by Kenoi. In doing so, the Big Island joined its neighbors Kauai and Maui which already have similar bans in place. However, support for the bill was far from unanimous.

A frequent surfer, Kenoi acknowledged that plastic bags can become unwelcome litter and also threaten marine mammals that mistake them for food. However, Kenoi said he also agrees with bill opponents who feel charging for plastic bags, education and voluntary recycling are better solutions than government mandates for addressing littering issues.

Hawaii County’s law affects only plastic shopping bags distributed at the checkout counter; garbage bags, those available in the produce section of supermarkets and packaging material are excluded.

For those who feel that the bill is unfair, or will negatively impact retailers in extremely wet areas like Hilo, there will be plenty of time to create an adaptation plan, as the law won’t take effect until Jan. 17, 2013. After that, businesses may sell plastic shopping bags for an additional year without violating the law.

For the full article: Care2

What began as a classroom discussion in Wisconsin has blossomed into a national project to raise water conservation awareness and help people lower their daily water use.

For the full article: VOA News

These lush expanses have found their way onto the walls — both inside and out — on numerous sites in recent years revitalizing public buildings, hotels, offices and even a multi-storey car park in Netherlands.

Aside from their pleasing aesthetic qualities, vertical gardens could also deliver more practical benefits says Mark Laurence, creative director at Biotecture, a UK company who design and build green walls.

“The market is rapidly moving into looking at how they can provide eco-system services and green infrastructures for urban environments,” Laurence said.

The market is rapidly moving into looking at how they can provide eco-system services and green infrastructures for urban environments

Mark Laurence, Biotecture LtdTheir modular hydroponic system — where plants sit in a soil-free set up with nutrients delivered through irrigation channels — can be retrofitted to just about any wall.

A recent creation erected on the side of Edgware Road Underground station in central London is hoping to improve air quality.

The 200-square meter wall near Marylebone Road — one of the UK capital’s grimiest thoroughfares — is being monitored by Imperial College, London.

The leaves also have an electrostatic charge that also attracts particles.

“A researcher I was speaking to recently reckons green walls in urban canyon environments (areas where walls are higher than the width of the road separating them) are more effective than trees at collecting particles because the way the wind eddies around and then moves down the wall,” Laurence said.

Some believe that in less polluted areas, green walls could be employed to grow food, which could aid urban food security. Biotecture have successfully trialled a wall which grew 45 varieties of vegetable.

There are various systems for DIY constructions with most requiring a compost-based system, he says, but homemade hydroponic systems can be made using plastic bottles. All you need is irrigation and adequate light.

For the full article: CNN News

Partners in the initiative, including 13 manufacturers of drugs or medical equipment, pledged to come up with new products and infrastructure to improve the lives of the 1.4 billion people affected by 10 illnesses such as visceral leishmaniasis, river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, the manufacturers said in a joint statement today.

The group will include the World Bank, the U.S., U.K. and United Arab Emirates governments and global health organizations working to accelerate progress in treating debilitating and fatal illnesses that thrive in hot and humid conditions. Commitments total $785 million for research, development and distribution, including $363 million from the foundation over five years for research, the partners said.

“We pledge to work hand-in-hand to revolutionize the way we fight these diseases,” Andrew Witty, the chief executive officer of London-based Glaxo who was acting as spokesman for the drugmakers, said in the statement in advance of a press conference in the U.K. capital.

The project is part of the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s work on treating neglected tropical diseases in the past decade. The foundation pledged on Jan. 26 to provide $750 million in grants over six years to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to make up for cutbacks in government donations.

Participants in the neglected tropical diseases project promised to sustain or expand existing drug donations to meet demand through 2020, the group said today. They also committed to sharing expertise and compounds to speed up the search for new treatments. The program is intended to follow goals set out in the WHO’s 2020 Roadmap on Neglected Tropical Diseases.

“The efforts of WHO, researchers, partners and the contributions of the industry have changed the face of neglected tropical diseases,” WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in the statement. “These ancient diseases are now being brought to their knees with stunning speed.”

The WHO’s goals are “completely unachievable” without today’s effort, said Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft Corp. who is co-chairman of foundation, in an interview.

For the full article: Bloomberg

Two years after India launched an ambitious plan to dramatically increase the use of solar power, this renewable energy is beginning to light up homes and fire factories. Falling costs of solar energy are making it a viable alternative to power generated by fossil fuels.

For the full article: VOA News

Dentists across the country, including New Hampshire, will be offering free services to low-income children this week, including dental examinations, cleanings, fluoride treatment, and sealants.

The American Dental Association about a decade ago started the event, in order to offer services to children who did not have regular access to dental care and to raise awareness about the importance of dental health, according to James Williamson, the executive director of the New Hampshire Dental Society. He called it both a service opportunity and a chance to help those in need.

In February, the society and its dentists visit schools to talk about the importance of oral health, how to properly brush, good nutrition, “and all the things that lead to good oral health care,” Williamson said. Education opportunities like this, as well as the sealant programs offered in Concord, Manchester, and other communities, have helped prevent a lot of problems down the road, he said. The Concord Sealant Coalition, a group of dentists that offer the treatments, go into the Concord School District and screen kids at certain ages each year and provide the sealants.

During the last few years, the society has been trying to increase the number of participating dentists. Williamson said some groups get together in Concord at one office and after determining that there are kids who are in need, each of the dentists will take the kids into their offices and provide the treatment, he said.

Feb. 3, he said, is really about kids. Williams said the society was beginning to stress the need for children to come in during their first year to have their teeth checked out. He said that old adage that, “they’re only baby teeth, they don’t matter,” was a false one, adding that was early visits in the first three years can detect problems early. Dentists have also reached out the family practitioners to stress the need for early oral health care.

Williamson said the goal was to eventually get to 100 percent coverage for New Hampshire residents although he readily admitted that he didn’t know if that was possible or not. He said there were “many barriers,” including financial ones, to good dental health care, adding that the resources were there. Williamson said that many children don’t qualify for assistance and their parents can’t afford dental care.

Williamson said the society has tried to get funding into the state budget for children and adults but it often gets shifted around to other things.

According to officials, more than 9,000 dentists and 28,000 volunteers participated last year, offering services to nearly 400,000 children in the United States.

For the full article: Patch.com