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World Energy Hits a Turning Point: Solar That's Cheaper Than Wind

Wed, 2016-12-21 09:30 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Emerging markets are leapfrogging the developed world thanks to cheap panels.

bloomberg.com - by Tom Randall - December 15, 2016

A transformation is happening in global energy markets that’s worth noting as 2016 comes to an end: Solar power, for the first time, is becoming the cheapest form of new electricity.

This has happened in isolated projects in the past: an especially competitive auction in the Middle East, for example, resulting in record-cheap solar costs. But now unsubsidized solar is beginning to outcompete coal and natural gas on a larger scale, and notably, new solar projects in emerging markets are costing less to build than wind projects, according to fresh data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

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Sustainable Development

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Haiti: UN’s New Approach on Cholera Puts People at Heart of the Response

Wed, 2016-11-30 21:48 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by John Carroll

un.org

30 November 2016 – The response to cholera in Haiti will be a “long and thorough battle,” but the United Nations will stand by the Haitian people and authorities, Stéphane Dujarric, the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, on the eve of the launch of the Organization's new approach to tackling the epidemic in the country.

The new approach was announced last August and will be launched by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, 1 December. It includes rapid interventions in areas where cases are reported and the prevention of future high-risk public health crises.

The new approach on cholera also focuses on people and proposes the establishment of a program of material assistance and support to Haitians directly affected by the disease.

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CLICK HERE - Stockholm Resilience Centre - Dealing with Arctic tipping points

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Prepare for 'Surprise' as Global Warming Stokes Arctic Shifts - Scientists

Sun, 2016-11-27 21:06 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy, in the midst of their ICESCAPE mission, retrieves supplies in the Arctic Ocean in this July 12, 2011 NASA handout photo. Kathryn Hansen/NASA via REUTERS/File Photo

"Ultimately, realising resilience in the Arctic will depend on empowering the people of the North to self-organise"

CLICK HERE - Arctic Resilience Report

Thomson Reuters Foundation - by Megan Rowling - November 25, 2016

Unless the world stops burning fossil fuels that are fuelling global warming, irreversible changes in the Arctic could have disastrous effects for the people that live there and for the rest of the planet, researchers warned on Friday.

The Arctic's ecosystems are fundamentally threatened by climate change and other human activities, such as oil and gas extraction, they said in a report for the Arctic Council, an inter-governmental forum working to protect the region's environment.

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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 - British Medical Journal - Outsourcing: how to reform WHO for the 21st century

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World Health Organisation Should Outsource Key Duties, Experts Say

Thu, 2016-09-15 16:44 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical staff tackle Ebola in Kailahun, Sierra Leone. The outbreak killed 11,000 people. Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images

British Medical Journal report advises fundamental overhaul of the WHO to avoid loss of funding, warning it is at risk of repeating mistakes of the Ebola crisis

theguardian.com - by Harriet Grant - September 12, 2016

Global public health experts have called for “fundamental and extensive reform” of the World Health Organisation (WHO) including major outsourcing of key activities, warning that the organisation is already at risk of repeating the mistakes it made in handling the Ebola crisis.

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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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CLICK HERE - VIDEO - NY1 Online: City Health Commissioner, Professor Talk Concerns About Zika Virus, Both at Rio Olympics and in US

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NY1 Online: City Health Commissioner, Professor Talk Concerns About Zika Virus, Both at Rio Olympics and in US

Fri, 2016-08-05 22:16 — Kathy Gilbeaux

ny1.com - by Inside City Hall - August 3, 2016

Errol Louis discussed concerns about the Zika virus, both at the Rio Olympics and here in the United States, with City Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett and Columbia University Professor Stephen Morse.

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Playing Catch-Up With Zika

Fri, 2016-08-05 21:52 — Kathy Gilbeaux

With the growing Zika outbreak in Florida, it's a dangerous mistake to continue underestimating the virus.

Complacency is the enemy. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

usnews.com - by Stephen S. Morse - August 1, 2016

We've seen it coming for months. Zika has been moving with hurricane intensity throughout South America and the Caribbean, appearing for the first time in 42 countries in the Western Hemisphere in less than two years. . . .

. . . We cannot afford to keep trying to catch-up every time another infection appears. . . .

. . . Zika is the infectious disease crisis now, but in our increasingly globalized and urban world, we can expect many more to come.

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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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