By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) – Cases of a crippling vaccine-derived polio virus could spread in Ebola-ravaged Guinea and in Mali after a Guinean toddler traveled to Mali and became the country’s first polio case in more than four years, the World Health Organization said on Monday. Two cases were reported in Ukraine last week.. Preliminary tests showed the 19-month-old was paralyzed on July 20, seven days before being brought
British scientists say they have genetically modified chickens in a bid to block bird flu and that early experiments show promise for fighting off the disease that has devastated the U.S. poultry and egg industries. Health regulators around the world have yet to approve any animals bred as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for use in food because of long-standing safety and environmental concerns. Bird flu has become a global concern
Germany’s Bayer has advised wine grape growers not to use its Moon Privilege fungicide until its CropScience arm has investigated whether there is a connection between the product’s use and reported crop damage. Referring to “atypical symptoms” in vines where Moon Privilege — known as Luna Privilege in some markets — had been deployed in 2014, a statement on the company’s website said: “As long as the cause of this change
A medical evacuation plane with seven people on board, including a French patient, disappeared west of Senegal during a flight from Burkina Faso to Dakar, the Senegalese civil aviation authority said. The private Senegalair plane from Ouagadougou disappeared from radar screens at 7:08 p.m. (1908 GMT) on Saturday 118 km (74 miles) west of the Senegalese capital, it said in a statement. Senegal’s armed forces were conducting a search, the
As it gets harder to tear our eyes away from smartphones, televisions, tablets or computers, concerns are growing over a blue light emitted by their screens, blamed for harming the retina and causing interrupted sleep. At the IFA mega consumer electronics show in Berlin, Dutch company Philips is showcasing a new technology for its computer screens called “SoftBlue,” which it claims is gentler on the retina. “We are shifting the
Novartis plans the first human tests next year of a “smart” contact lens it is developing with Google designed to help restore the eye’s natural autofocus. “This project is progressing well,” Novartis Chief Executive Joe Jimenez told Swiss newspaper Le Temps in an interview. “I had said it would take about five years to see a product on the market,” Jimenez told the paper.
A California produce company is recalling cucumbers imported from Mexico amid concerns they could be the source of a salmonella outbreak that has killed one person and infected at least 285 people in 27 U.S. states, authorities said. One person in California died after becoming infected with a strain of Salmonella Poona, and 53 people have been hospitalized since July 3, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said
By Michael Roddy VENICE (Reuters) – So the question that will arise — if only jokingly — with the premiere of the transgender movie “The Danish Girl” on Saturday at the Venice Film Festival is should Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne win another for best actor or best actress? The British actor, who won his first Oscar this year for his portrayal of the British physicist Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of
By Nigam Prusty NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Indian government approved a long-awaited program to equalize pension payments for retired military personnel despite it being a “huge fiscal burden,” defense minister Manohar Parrikar said on Saturday. The program, known as “One Rank One Pension”, or OROP, will ensure uniform pension payments to ex-servicemen who served at the same rank and for the same amount of time, regardless of the year
Novartis Chief Executive, Joe Jimenez, told a Swiss newspaper that the first human tests of a contact lens it is developing with Google for diabetic patients will be conducted in 2016. “This project is progressing well,” Jimenez told Swiss newspaper Le Temps in an interview published on Saturday. Starting in 2014, Novartis, maker of cancer drugs including Glivec, and Google announced a cooperation to develop “smart” contact lenses to help