Category Archives: Post Human

December 2, 2014

Cops unsure if the body part is linked to the discovery of a human head and torso found earlier.

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Yet, another human body part has been found. This time, a left arm was found in a plastic bag near a rubbish bin in Machang Bubok here Monday.

A passer-by made the gruesome discovery about 4.30pm, and alerted the police.

Seberang Perai Tengah acting police chief Supt Baharom Abu said a police team found the arm protruding from a plastic bag.

We believe it could be due to an animal, such as a dog, messing up the bag while looking for food.

Based on the condition of the arm, it must have been dumped in the area for more than three days.

Nevertheless, we are unsure if it is linked to the discovery of a human head and torso which were found earlier, he said when contacted here Monday.

He said the arm had been sent to the Seberang Jaya Hospital for post-mortem.

BERNAMA

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Human arm found in rubbish bin

"Boko Haram poses no security threat to the U.S. homeland, but its attack on Nigeria, and the Abuja response characterized by extensive human rights violations, does challenge U.S. interests in Africa. ... If Nigeria's civilian government is to forestall an implosion involving Boko Haram and the 2015 elections, and to resume its positive regional role, it needs to end ubiquitous human rights abuses by official entities, orchestrate humanitarian relief to refugees and persons internally displaced by fighting in the north, and ensure credible elections that do not exacerbate internal conflict." - John Campbell, Former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria

Since John Campbell retired from the Foreign Service after his final post in Nigeria from 2004 to 2007, he has been among the most outspoken of U.S. commentators on Nigeria. Now at the Council on Foreign Relations, his most recent commentary has again evoked angry responses from supporters of the current Nigerian government, and indicates some of the strains in the long-term alliance between the global superpower and its West African counterpart.

In a talk to the Council on Foreign Relations in early November, Nigerian Ambassador to the United States Prof. Ade Adefuye strongly criticized the failure of the United States to provide greater military support against Boko Haram, dismissing the claims of human rights abuses by the government as rumors "based largely on reports submitted by human rights groups and sections of the Nigerian media that have sympathy for the opposition parties" (see http://tinyurl.com/kz9d7md) for text of remarks).

The basic premises of Campbell's views, however, are shared by many other U.S., international, and Nigerian commentators who argue that the key obstacles to a successful Nigerian response to Boko Haram are not military resources such as funds and more advanced weaponry but rather political will and governance capacity, and that increased U.S. military involvement would have only marginal and likely negative effects.

Some contrast the highly successful Nigerian response earlier this year to curb the spread of Ebola (see below for links), and note that, unlike Ebola, the issue of Boko Haram is both divisive and closely linked with structural economic and governance issues in Nigeria, as well as with the political maneuvering leading up to national elections in February 2015.

This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains excerpts from Campbell's latest report, released by the Council on Foreign Relations in November.

A future AfricaFocus Bulletin, coming early next year, will feature a selection of excerpts from and links to a variety of other commentaries and analyses on the current Nigerian situation. Suggestions from readers are welcome. I am particularly interested in links to commentaries that are well-informed and nuanced but also understandable to readers who, like your editor, want to understand these important developments but are neither Nigerians nor specialists with in-depth background knowledge of Nigeria.

(Please send suggested links to africafocus@igc.org).

Among topics of interest as contextual background: the sharp drop in U.S. imports of oil from Nigeria, from over 30 million barrels a month in 2010 to less than 3 million barrels a month as of mid-2014 (see statistics at http://tinyurl.com/l9yz5zu).

For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on Nigeria, visit http://www.africafocus.org/country/nigeria.php For current news coverage of the complex political scene in Nigeria, visit http://saharareporters.com and http://allafrica.com/nigeria - Editor's Note

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Nigeria: Abuja & Washington Weigh Uneasy Ties

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Benjamin Watson, a tight end for the New Orleans Saints, came home Monday night after a tough loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

It was late and surely he was worn out.

He turned on the television and saw everything that was going on in Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of the grand jury decision.

As he fixated at the screen, his heart hurt for the people there.

The next day, he started to deal with his emotions -- and there were many. Watson, in his 11th NFL season, likes to write down his feelings, so throughout the day he jotted them on his iPhone.

While sitting in a Target parking lot as his wife shopped, Watson went back and put the notes together into an emotional Facebook post.

One you've probably heard about. And possibly read.

That post has 427,000 shares and more than 760,000 likes. There were 78,000 comments at last look.

In 611 words, Watson writes he is angry, frustrated, fearful, embarrassed, sad, sympathetic, offended, confused, introspective, hopeless, hopeful and encouraged.

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NFL player's post draws applause

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Benjamin Watson, a tight end for the New Orleans Saints, came home Monday night after a tough loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

It was late and surely he was worn out.

He turned on the television and saw everything that was going on in Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of the grand jury decision.

As he fixated at the screen, his heart hurt for the people there.

The next day, he started to deal with his emotions -- and there were many. Watson, in his 11th NFL season, likes to write down his feelings, so throughout the day he jotted them on his iPhone.

While sitting in a Target parking lot as his wife shopped, Watson went back and put the notes together into an emotional Facebook post.

One you've probably heard about. And possibly read.

That post has 427,000 shares and more than 760,000 likes. There were 78,000 comments at last look.

In 611 words, Watson writes he is angry, frustrated, fearful, embarrassed, sad, sympathetic, offended, confused, introspective, hopeless, hopeful and encouraged.

Read the original:
NFL player's Ferguson post goes viral

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

26-Nov-2014

Contact: Caree Vander Linden teresa.l.vanderlinden.civ@mail.mil 301-619-2285 US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases

Scientists investigating the potentially deadly hantavirus have used a novel approach to developing protective antibodies against it. Their work, published in today's online edition of Science Translational Medicine, provides proof of concept for producing antibodies against a broad range of human pathogens.

Hantaviruses cause a condition known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which has a case fatality rate of 35-40 percent. Currently there are no licensed vaccines, prophylactics, or therapeutics to prevent or treat this highly pathogenic disease.

This research involved the use of specially bred "transchromosomal" cows that have been engineered to produce fully human antibodies. Investigators first immunized the cows with DNA vaccines targeting two types of hantaviruses, Andes virus and Sin Nombre virus. The team collected plasma from the cows, purified the human IgG antibodies, and tested the material for its ability to neutralize the two different viruses.

The purified human antibodies had "potent neutralizing activity against both hantaviruses," according to the paper's first author, Jay W. Hooper, Ph.D, of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).

To assess the efficacy of the antibodies, Hooper's team used a hamster model of Andes virus, the predominant cause of HPS in South America and the only hantavirus known to be transmitted person-to-person. Infection of Syrian hamsters with Andes virus, as demonstrated in earlier studies at USAMRIID, results in a disease that closely mimics human HPS in incubation time, symptoms of respiratory distress, and disease pathology. This makes it an ideal system for evaluating the feasibility of post-exposure protection strategies.

As described in the publication, seven of eight hamsters treated with the product survived with no signs of disease. In contrast, all eight hamsters treated with control human IgG purified from unvaccinated transchromosomal cows developed lethal HPS. Similar experiments were performed demonstrating that the purified human antibodies also protected immunosuppressed hamsters against lethal disease caused by Sin Nombre virus. This virus, which causes HPS in the US and Canada, has been associated with notable hantavirus outbreaks, including the cluster of cases at Yosemite National Park in 2012.

Recently, according to Hooper, scientists in Chile have had some success in using convalescent plasma from HPS survivors to treat the disease, which suggests that a polyclonal antibody approach to treatment is feasible. However, the immune plasma is in short supply and must be matched to each patient's blood type. The transchromosomal cows used by USAMRIID collaborator SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc. offer the opportunity to produce large quantities of antibodies that are fully "human," meaning they will not be seen as foreign antigen by the human immune system.

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Human antibodies produced in DNA-vaccinated cows protect in lethal models of hantavirus

Pyong Yang, Nov 28 (IANS): North Korea Friday lashed out at the US human rights record, saying the ongoing mass protests against racial discrimination exposed severe human rights abuse in the US.

Protests have taken place in about 170 US cities, including Boston, Los Angeles and New York, and at least 196 people have been arrested since a grand jury decided Monday not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson in the Aug 9 shooting death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American.

"This is a clear proof of the real picture of the United States as tundra of human rights where extreme racial discrimination acts are openly practiced," Xinhua cited the official KCNA news agency a North Korean.

The wrongful US standards on human rights have provoked concerns all over the international community, including its allies, the spokesman said.

He added it was ironic that the US, despite being a human rights abuser itself, always gauges other countries' human rights records with its own problematic standards.

Tuesday, a mass rally of 100,000 soldiers and citizens was held on the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang in protest against a UN human rights resolution on NortH Korea, which it claimed was part of a US-led human rights "racket" aimed to bring down its social system.

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Ferguson protests expose human rights abuse in US: North Korea

Marrakech, Nov 28 (IANS): The 2nd World Forum on Human Rights has begun here with the participation of more than 6,000 people from a hundred countries.

The forum, which will last till Nov 30, is a platform to tackle several issues, including the rights of children, women, disabled people and migrants, in addition to other unresolved issues from the Vienna Conference on Human Rights and other issues related to the new generation of human rights, MAP news agency said.

The opening session Thursday was marked by the message of Morocco's King Mohammed VI, who is the patron of the conference. This is the first time that Morocco has hosted such a conference, a tribute to its progress on the human rights front.

The list of participants includes Nobel Peace Prize winners, heads of UN agencies, government representatives, NGOs, leading academics, human rights activists and international media.

The meeting will feature thematic forums that will be organized and managed by civil society stakeholders. The main conclusions of these forums will be presented at a final conference that will bring together civil society, representatives of the international system of human rights protection and international NGOs.

The 1st World Forum on Human Rights was held in 2013 in Brazil.

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100 countries at World Human Rights Forum in Marrakech

WASHINGTON Prominent Democrat, gay rights activist and Obama donor Terry Bean is taking a leave of absence from his post at the Human Rights Campaign after being arrested and indicted on two counts of third-degree sodomy and third-degree sexual abuse with a teenage boy.

Bean and his 25-year-old former boyfriend, Kiah Lawson, allegedly used the iPhone app Grindr to arrange a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old boy in a Eugene, Oregon hotel on Sept. 27, 2013.

Bean has donated almost $70,000 of his own money to Obamas campaign and was responsible for raising at least a half million dollars during the 2012 election cycle.

Obama has publicly thanked Bean for his campaign contributions.

"I want to thank somebody who put so much work into this event, Terry Bean, Obama said during a July 23, 2012 event in Portland. Give Terry a big round of applause.

Beans attorney, Kristen Winemiller, said his client is the victim of an extortion ring, and has stressed that no allegations against Terry Bean should be taken at face value. We look forward to the opportunity to clear his name."

The Human Rights Campaign announced Bean was taking a break from his work there.

Terry Bean has taken a voluntary leave of absence from the HRC boarduntil his issues are resolved. Bean is just one of 80 board members,none of whom have daily oversight or responsibility for any of ourprograms, spokesman Fred Sainz said in a statement.

Beans name has been dropped from the HRC Board of Directors listing because he is not currently an active member.

Bean made a political appeal to HRCs membership during an Oct. 8, 2008 fundraising dinner in 2008, saying, the election of Joe Biden and Barack Obama may turn out to be the most pivotal moment in our journey for equality."

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Obama fundraiser, donor facing sex abuse charges

The Washtenaw ISD Board of Education voted unanimously at their Nov. 25 meeting to hire Cassandra Harmon-Higgins as the WISD executive director of human resources.

She will transition into her new post by mid-December.

Harmon-Higgins currently serves as the interim superintendent of Howell Public Schools and has been the executive director of labor relations for that district since 2012.

She anticipates joining the WISD staff.

I am honored to be selected for the position and genuinely excited to become a part of the WISD team, Harmon-Higgins said.

Harmon-Higgins has practiced law with the Access to Justice Legal Assistance Center, law firm Ramey & Associates P.C. and served as in-house counsel for Michigan AFSCME Council 25, AFL-CIO.

She earned her undergraduate degree from Florida A&M University, her masters from Florida Atlantic University and her law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing. Washtenaw ISD Supt. Scott Menzel said Harmon-Higgins possesses the expertise that the agency was seeking and believes she is the right fit for the position.

Cassandra comes to us with a wealth of legal and educational expertise and is the ideal candidate for the human resources position, Menzel said. We warmly welcome her to the team and Im confident she will be a strong asset to our agency and to our constituent districts.

Kristen Clark has served as Washtenaw ISDs executive director of human resources since 2012. She is leaving in early December to accept a position as director of classified personnel with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District in Orange County, California.

Source:Washtenaw ISDpress release

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Washtenaw ISD hires new executive director of human resources

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Nov-2014

Contact: Lee-Ann Donegan leeann.donegan@uphs.upenn.edu 215-349-5660 University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine @PennMedNews

PHILADELPHIA - New Penn Medicine research has found that elevated levels in the blood of the brain-enriched protein calpain-cleaved II-spectrin N-terminal fragment, known as SNTF, shortly after sports-related concussion can predict the severity of post-concussion symptoms in professional athletes. The complete findings were released today in the Journal of Neurotrauma.

This new study builds on previous research from this group showing that elevated blood levels of SNTF on the day of a mild traumatic brain injury treated in the emergency room predicted those patients who would go on to suffer diffuse axonal injury and long-term cognitive dysfunction.

"We extended this biomarker research to the domain of professional sports to test its merit as an objective and rapid way to determine players' severity of brain injury," says lead author, Robert Siman, PhD, Research Professor of Neurosurgery at Penn. "This blood test may aid neurobiologically-informed decisions on suitability for return to play following a sports-related concussion."

The study, conducted in collaboration with Henrik Zetterberg, MD, PhD and Kai Blennow, MD, PhD, of the Sahgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and their colleagues, enrolled 288 players in the top Swedish professional ice hockey league. Each of the 28 players who suffered a concussion during the first half of the 2012-2013 season received serial blood draws and was evaluated daily for symptom resolution using the latest guidelines for treatment of sports concussions. Eight of the concussed players were symptom-free within a few days of their injury, but 20 of the players had persistent post-concussion symptoms requiring they be withheld from play six days or longer. An additional 45 players were evaluated during the preseason, 17 of whom were also tested before and after a concussion-free training game.

Compared to those players who were not concussed, or whose concussion symptoms resolved rapidly, the researchers found an increase in the blood SNTF concentration from one hour up to 144 hours post-concussion in those players experiencing persisting post-concussion symptoms. SNTF is a protein that is present at undetectable levels in healthy human brains, but is produced under conditions where nerve cells are traumatized and begin to die. Concussions that lead to lasting brain dysfunction cause SNTF to accumulate in vulnerable long axon tracts of the brain, and its blood elevation is a measure of this diffuse axonal injury.

"These results show that SNTF has promise as a blood biomarker for sports-related concussion and beyond. High blood levels of SNTF appear to identify acute brain damage that corresponds with persisting symptoms after concussion. These observations lend further support to the growing awareness that concussion is not trivial, since it can induce permanent brain damage in some individuals," agree Siman and senior author, Douglas H. Smith, MD, professor of Neurosurgery and director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at Penn.

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Penn researchers identify protein that predicts post-concussion severity in professional athletes