All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Lagarde calls for Greek debt restructuring | News | DW.COM | 08.07.2015

In comments made at the Brookings Institute think-tank in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Greece was in an “acute crisis, which needs to be addressed seriously and promptly.”

Christine Lagarde said a new plan moving forward to shore up Greek finances would require reform in Athens, but it would also require concessions from the country’s creditors.

“The other leg is debt restructuring, which we believe is needed in the case of Greece for it to have sustainability,” she said.

via Lagarde calls for Greek debt restructuring | News | DW.COM | 08.07.2015.

Pope Francis, in Ecuador, Calls for More Protection of Rain Forest and Its People – The New York Times

Pope Francis on Tuesday called for increased protection of the Amazon rain forest and the indigenous people who live there, declaring that Ecuador must resist exploiting natural riches for “short-term benefits,” an implicit rebuke of the policies of President Rafael Correa.

In his final stops of a busy day, Francis made environmental protection a central theme, invoking the biblical tenet for humans to be guardians of creation, while praising the way of life of indigenous peoples living in the rain forests. Several indigenous leaders attending Francis’ final event of the day have been fighting the policies of Mr. Correa to expand oil exploration in the Ecuadorean Amazon.

via Pope Francis, in Ecuador, Calls for More Protection of Rain Forest and Its People – The New York Times.

Researchers find Dengue virus mutates as it spreads -doah! that’s what all viruses do!

Researchers recently discovered the mechanisms that enable Dengue virus to adapt and spread throughout the world, optimizing the virus and increasing the likelihood of outbreaks.

Dengue virus most commonly spreads in the world’s warm areas. The viral strains’ diversity has caused the strains to develop to an extent that raises concerns for potential epidemics. There have been multiple dengue outbreaks because of the new strains overcoming the native strains that local residents have immunity against.

The scientists evaluated various dengue virus-2 clades that spread through Puerto Rico in 1994. This strain mutated between 1986 and 1995 into a new, more contagious strain. The researchers determined that the new virus’s proteins and RNA interact with the host in such a way that the virus can evade the body’s immune response and easily invade.

“This study highlights the critical and oft forgotten role played by non-coding RNAs in the battle between viruses and their human hosts,” Mariano Garcia-Blanco, professor of emerging infectious diseases at the Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School, said. “It emphasizes the importance of multidisciplinary research: a fabulous marriage of basic RNA biology and clinically informed epidemiology uncovered an unexpected route of virus evolution that explained (and perhaps could predict) epidemic potential.”

Further details are available in Science online.

via Researchers find Dengue virus mutates as it spreads.