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Category: News

  • News story: G8 Summit: negotiations for historic EU-US trade deal announced

    The Prime Minister, President Obama, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso set out their plans in a joint press conference in Lough Erne.

    Watch the press conference here:

    Watch the press conference

    The Prime Minister hailed a potential deal “that could add as much as £100 billion to the EU economy, £80 billion to the US economy, and as much as £85 billion to the rest of the world”.

    He continued:

    And we should be clear about what these numbers could really mean.

    Two million extra jobs, more choice and lower prices in our shops. We’re talking about what could be the biggest bilateral trade deal in history, a deal that will have a greater impact than all the other trade deals on the table put together.

    When we last met at Camp David in the G8 and we first suggested we could reach this moment here in Lough Erne, many doubted it would be possible. Everyone knows these trade deals are difficult. Some take years to get off the ground, and some never happen at all. So it’s a testament to the leadership and the political will of everyone here that we’ve reached this point. We must maintain that political will in the months ahead. This is a once-in-a-generation prize, and we are determined to seize it.

    Watch the G8 Summit as it happens.

  • News story: G8 Summit round-up

    Updated: Removed schedule and added links to multimedia content.

    The G8 Summit took place on 17 – 18 June 2013.

    Catch up with all the events from the summit:

    Key events and announcements

    The Prime Minister arrived in Lough Erne on Sunday night (16 June).

    G8 leaders arrived on Monday morning (17 June). View arrival photos on Flickr and video on YouTube.

    The EU and US agreed to launch negotiations on a trade deal worth £10 billion to the UK. View infographic on EU-US trade agreement.

    Leaders attended bilaterals in the afternoon. A global economy working session was held in the evening and a communiqué was issued.

    Tuesday (18 June) began with working sessions, including one on counter-terrorism, followed by a family photo. Communiqués, action plans and the Lough Erne declaration were issued.

    At the end of the summit, the 2013 Lough Erne G8 leaders’ communiqué was issued, setting out the commitments made by the G8 leaders.

    After the summit, the Prime Minister made a statement in the House of Commons.

    What is the G8?

    The G8 is a forum that brings together 8 global leaders to address international issues and tackle the most pressing global challenges. Find out more about the G8.

    The Presidency of the G8 rotates each calendar year. The UK holds the Presidency throughout 2013. Read about:

  • Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets

    Final Book Now Available

    In the fall of 2010, the Office of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Secretary for Science asked for a National Research Council (NRC) committee to investigate the prospects for generating power using inertial confinement fusion (ICF) concepts, acknowledging that a key test of viability for this concept—ignition —could be demonstrated at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the relatively near term. The committee was asked to provide an unclassified report. However, DOE indicated that to fully assess this topic, the committee’s deliberations would have to be informed by the results of some classified experiments and information, particularly in the area of ICF targets and nonproliferation. Thus, the Panel on the Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets (“the panel”) was assembled, composed of experts able to access the needed information. The panel was charged with advising the Committee on the Prospects for Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy Systems on these issues, both by internal discussion and by this unclassified report.

    A Panel on Fusion Target Physics (“the panel”) will serve as a technical resource to the Committee on Inertial Confinement Energy Systems (“the Committee”) and will prepare a report that describes the R&D challenges to providing suitable targets, on the basis of parameters established and provided to the Panel by the Committee. The Panel on Fusion Target Physics will prepare a report that will assess the current performance of fusion targets associated with various ICF concepts in order to understand:
    1. The spectrum output; 2. The illumination geometry; 3. The high-gain geometry; and 4. The robustness of the target design. The panel addressed the potential impacts of the use and development of current concepts for Inertial Fusion Energy on the proliferation of nuclear weapons information and technology, as appropriate. The Panel examined technology options, but does not provide recommendations specific to any currently operating or proposed ICF facility.

    [Read the full report]

    Topics: Energy and Energy Conservation | Engineering and Technology | Math, Chemistry and Physics

  • News story: G8 and developing countries will work together to make the use of natural resources more transparent

    The Prime Minister has announced that the G8 and 15 developing countries have agreed to work together to make sure that the poorest people benefit from their country’s natural resources, by improving the transparency of their extractive industries and land rights.

    Mr Cameron made the announcement during a panel session with African leaders at the Open for Growth event today (15 June 2013), which focussed on tax, trade and transparency.

    A lack of transparency means poor countries are not benefitting as much as they should from their natural resources so that they can fund their own development and fight poverty.

    See also

    Many developing countries have vast extractive resources like oil, gas and minerals but they are often sold at below market prices, or the money made is misused or poorly invested.

    At the same time unclear land ownership rights and weak systems for managing land creates uncertainty which stops farmers and companies wanting to invest. This in turn threatens food security and increases the likelihood of local conflicts over land.

    Infographic: Unleashing the value of natural resources

    Infographic on transparency
    Credit: G8 UK

    The partnerships announced today will see G8 nations work with 8 developing countries to help them improve the information available around the sale of extractives by:

    • encouraging companies and countries to adopt the new Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative – where companies publish what they pay to governments and governments disclose what they receive from companies for their extractives resources

    • strengthening communication between governments, companies and civil society, ensuring that the new information on extractives can be properly used to hold governments to account

    • introducing stronger legal frameworks to regulate the extractives sector example by introducing new laws that make EITI standards a legal requirement

    Another 7 country partnerships will help developing countries implement globally agreed guidelines on land governance and safeguard individuals’ and companies’ rightful claims to land, to improve transparency and accountability on land deals, by:

    • supporting local authorities to formally register and protect rights to land

    • helping countries collect better data on land transactions

    • helping countries attract high quality investment that benefits the country’s economy.

    International Development Secretary Justine Greening said:

    Lack of transparency is preventing developing countries from benefitting from their valuable resources. When they do not know how much their resources are worth, people and governments have no way of knowing if they are getting a good deal for them.

    These partnerships will help developing countries make the most of their valuable resources, attracting the investment and income needed to drive economic growth, fight poverty and, eventually, end their need for aid.

    Making information about the buying and selling of natural resources publicly available is vital to tackling mismanagement. If people can see how much their government receives from selling the country’s extractive wealth they can question how that money is being spent.

    At the same time greater security over land rights means local people can raise capital against their land to improve it while international companies have greater confidence in the security of any investment.

    The G8 member states are partnering the following countries to improve transparency around extractives: Burkina Faso (France), Colombia (EU), Ghana (UK), Guinea (USA), Mongolia (Germany), Burma (USA), Peru (Canada), Tanzania (Canada). Private sector and civil society are backing the partnerships include Rio Tinto in, Peru and Mongolia, BG (British Gas) in Tanzania.

    The G8 member states are partnering the following countries to improve land registration and security of land tenure for communities and commercial investors: Tanzania (UK); Nigeria (UK) Senegal (France), Burkina Faso (US), South Sudan (EU), Namibia (Germany) and Niger (EU).

  • Best Practices in State and Regional Innovation Initiatives: Competing in the 21st Century

    Final Book Now Available

    Most of the policy discussion about stimulating innovation has focused on the federal level. This study focuses on the significant activity at the state level, with the goal of improving the public’s understanding of key policy strategies and exemplary practices. Based on a series of workshops and conferences that brought together policymakers along with leaders of industry and academia in a select number of states, the study highlights a rich variety of policy initiatives underway at the state and regional level to foster knowledge based growth and employment. Perhaps what distinguishes this effort at the state level is most of all the high degree of pragmatism. Operating out of necessity, innovation policies at the state level often involve taking advantage of existing resources and recombining them in new ways, forging innovative partnerships among universities, industry and government organizations, growing the skill base, and investing in the infrastructure to develop new technologies and new industries. Many of these initiatives are being guided by leaders from the private sector and universities.

    The objective of Best Practices in State and Regional Innovation Initiatives: Competing in the 21st Century is not to do an empirical review of the inputs and outputs of various state programs. Nor is it to evaluate which programs are superior. Indeed, some of the notable successes, such as the Albany nanotechnology cluster, represent a leap of leadership, investment, and sustained commitment that has had remarkable results in an industry that is actively pursued by many countries. The study’s goal is to illustrate the approaches taken by a variety of highly diverse states as they confront the increasing challenges of global competition for the industries and jobs of today and tomorrow.

    [Read the full report]

    Topics: Industry and Labor

  • News story: UK to help technology pioneers join the fight against poverty

    Prime Minister David Cameron announced the launch of Global Development Innovation Ventures, which will find innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems. It will test their successes and invest in the best performers – including entrepreneurs, academics and non-governmental organisations.

    The British government will invest £50 million over five years in the new investment platform, which is expected to unlock further investment capital from both the private sector and other countries. The US government and impact investor Omidyar Network will also be founding partners of the new platform.

    See also

    The Prime Minister said:

    More than any time in history our world is being shaped by innovation, new ideas, new technologies and new companies. This is the story of the global economy.

    Countries around the world have got to get this. Jobs and growth depend on it. We’ve all got to open up our economies to innovation, we’ve got to nurture new ideas, we’ve got to bend over backwards to attract the best and the brightest. A global race is underway and it is waiting for absolutely no one.

    International Development Secretary Justine Greening said:

    Britain has already supported groundbreaking technology around the world, from mobile banking in Kenya to GPS weather-warning systems in Bangladesh. We need a model that can build on these successes and make sure great ideas that can change the lives of the world’s poorest people get the investment they need.

    This new organisation means that the UK will play a key role in kickstarting a new era of innovative, cost-effective development which can help deliver a safer, more prosperous world.

    USAID Administrator Dr. Raj Shah said,

    We are proud to see that this model, born at USAID, has become a global tool for improving effectiveness in development. Our partnership with the UK and future investors will amplify our impact through the discovery of breakthrough technologies and approaches to help end extreme poverty.

    USAID Administrator Raj Shah on Global Development Innovation Ventures

    Managing Partner of the Omidyar Network Matt Bannick said:

    The challenges facing those from the poorest communities cannot be solved with conventional approaches to development aid alone.

    Global Development Innovation Ventures promises to replicate the most effective strategies we’ve deployed as a global impact investor: public and private organisations working together, leveraging technology and investing in both for-profit and non-profit organizations to spark innovation and scale successes.

    Omidyar Network is proud to be a founding partner alongside the UK and US government and to lend our perspectives and expertise to this important undertaking.

    Global Development Innovation Ventures will be open to promising innovations from around the world. The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) will engage with innovators all over the world to encourage them to submit ideas, creating jobs both in the UK and across the developing world.

  • News story: Ask Cameron: Prime Minister answers G8 questions at the BBC

    World Have Your Say was broadcast at 4pm BST on Friday 14 June.

    Watch the Prime Minister on the BBC’s World Have Your Say

    The opportunity to ask the Prime Minister questions came ahead of his hosting the G8 Summit at Lough Erne, Northern Ireland on 17 to 18 June. The UK last hosted the G8 Summit in 2005.

    Topics included the G8’s main themes of tax, trade and transparency plus questions on the conflict in Syria, wider events in the Middle East and the UK’s relationship with China.

  • News story: G8 Innovation Conference

    Updated: Amended after the event

    The Innovation Conference brought together today’s leading innovators and thought leaders across disciplines, from the G8 and beyond. From public policy to science and technology, this conference facilitated conversations that influence the dialogue throughout the UK G8 Presidency.

    High profile speakers included:

    • David Willetts, BIS Minister for Science and Innovation
    • Sir Richard Branson, who discussed entrepreneurship and innovation
    • Ron Dennis of McLaren who talked about innovation in F1 and how technologies spin out into other sectors
    • Daphne Koller, founder of Coursera, who discussed online education
    • Zaha Hadid, architect
    • Thomas Heatherwick, the designer of the new London bus, discussing innovation and creativity

    Delegates included around 250 leading international entrepreneurs, researchers, scientists, creatives and policy makers from more than 22 different countries.

    You can review events from the G8 Innovation Conference here

    In the afternoon, G8 Innovation Conference delegates split into small groups and visited innovation centres of excellence. They heard from world leading innovation practitioners and reflected and discussed on how new approaches can address current challenges.

    These included:

    • Tech City in East London
    • The Big Innovation Centre
    • Open Data Institute
    • Royal Academy of Engineering

    Overall, the event set out areas where the UK is a global innovation leader in entrepreneurship, creativity, science and technology and demonstrated the UK’s ability to provide the conditions for the cross fertilisation of ideas and inter-disciplinary collaboration. As a result, the event inspired international innovators, and enabled UK businesses and innovators to find international partners to enable them to collaborate and develop new ideas in response to global challenges.

    You can watch other videos through UKTI’s YouTube channel

    Follow UKTI Twitter @UKTI and join the conversation using #G8IC

    Follow the Twitter channel for the UK Presidency @G8 or follow #G8UK

    Read more about the UK’s G8 Presidency

    Join the discussions in UKTI’s LinkedIn Group

    Find UKTI’s photos on Flickr

    Find G8’s photos on Flickr

    Partners

    The Conference is organised by UKTI in partnership with BT and Cisco.
    Contact UKTI for advice and support investing in the UK.

  • Hormone therapy for endometrial cancer targets connective tissue, not tumor cells

    The female hormone progesterone has been used for several decades as a therapy for endometrial cancer, which starts in the lining of the uterus. Yet scientists didn’t understand the mechanisms behind the therapy or its site of action.
     
    Now, a new a study from the G.O. Discovery Lab team at UCLA and UCLA collaborators shows that progesterone, rather than directly targeting tumors, eliminates tumor cells indirectly by binding to progesterone receptors in connective tissue cells (stroma) in the tumors’ microenvironment.
     
    Like breast and prostate tumors, endometrial cancer is regulated by hormones. But unlike therapies for those cancers, in which drugs block hormone signaling, progesterone therapy actually stimulates its hormone receptor, the researchers found.
     
    While doctors know that a certain subsets of patients will benefit from progesterone treatment, prescribing the therapy is like shooting in the dark because it’s unclear in advance which women will respond and which may have resistant tumors, according to the study’s senior author, Dr. Sanaz Memarzadeh, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of the G.O. Discovery Lab at UCLA. Therefore, while progesterone can be effective as a therapy in endometrial cancer, its use is not widely embraced in clinical practice, she said.
     
    “When viewing tumors under the microscope, clinicians often focus on the cancer cells and neglect the supporting stroma in the microenvironment,” said Memarzadeh, who also is a researcher at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. “In this study, we found that all of the progesterone anti-tumor effects are in fact mediated through the stroma, even though it makes up a minor fraction of the tumor. I believe these exciting findings are going to surprise the clinical community and change the way people look at patterns of hormone-receptor expression in endometrial tumors.”
     
    The results of the three-year study, done using a specially developed laboratory model created by Memarzadeh’s team that closely mimics human endometrial cancer, appear in the early online edition of Cancer Research, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. 
     
    Memarzadeh and her team showed that when progesterone receptors are deleted from stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment, progesterone therapy won’t work. However, in a model of hormone-resistant endometrial cancer, they found that tumor cells became sensitive to hormone therapy when the progesterone receptors were returned to adjacent cells in the microenvironment.
     
    “We were really surprised to find that when we added back the progesterone receptor to the microenvironment, tumors that before did not respond to the treatment simply melted away,” said the study’s first author, Deanna Janzen, a senior research associate with the G.O. Discovery Lab. “Making one genetic change in the tumor microenvironment — deleting or adding back the progesterone receptor — completely changed the biology of the tumor. That was a striking finding.”
     
    Going forward, Memarzadeh and her team will translate this work into studies of human samples of endometrial cancer to see if their findings apply to patients. They hope to discover biomarkers that indicate response or resistance to hormone therapy. They also plan to find and test drugs that can reverse progesterone resistance, making cells sensitive to hormone therapy. This approach will provide a potential combination therapy that could prove effective for women with disseminated endometrial cancer.
     
    Currently, the most common treatment for early-stage endometrial cancer is a hysterectomy, followed by radiation and/or chemotherapy. Doctors may prescribe progesterone to endometrial cancer patients who are seeking to preserve their fertility, although they don’t know whether it will be effective. Therefore, finding biomarkers that indicate a response to therapy would provide clinicians with a valuable tool, Memarzadeh said.
     
    Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in the United States. About 49,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year alone, and about 8,000 women in the U.S. will die from their cancers. The chance of a woman being diagnosed with this cancer in her lifetime is about one in 38, according to the American Cancer Society.
     
    “This finding may have critical clinical implications, as it demonstrates that modulation of the tumor microenvironment can reverse hormone resistance in endometrial tumors,” the study states. “In future work, we will test if stromal-specific delivery of DNA methyltransferase inhibitors may be an effective way to re-sensitize hormone refractory endometrial cancers to progesterone therapy.”
     
    Ultimately, the G.O. Discovery Lab team hopes to develop a simple test so that, after biopsy and analysis of an endometrial tumor, physicians will be able to figure out whether or not their patient is a good candidate for hormonal therapy.
     
    The study was funded by the Veterans Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, the Scholars in Translational Medicine Program, a Mary Kay Award, a Charles Drew University/UCLA National Institutes of Health grant (U54-CA-143931), a Sidney Kimmel Foundation award, the Concern Foundation, and a UCLA Cancer Research Coordinating Committee grant.
     
    For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

  • News story: G8 science ministers meet in London

    On Wednesday 12 June 2013 David Willetts hosted the G8 science ministers at the Royal Society to look at key scientific challenges. For the first time the meeting also included heads of national academies.

    At the top of the agenda was dealing with global challenges, namely antibiotic resistance in medicine, and how governments can work together to develop new antibiotics and employ them more wisely.

    Antibiotics are the cornerstone of modern medicine. But due to the spread of bacteria that are resistant to several drugs, a scenario is fast approaching in which many everyday infections will become untreatable. This will make routine medical care such as hip replacements and chemotherapy much riskier. Resistance to earlier generation anti-malarial medicines is widespread in most countries where the disease is endemic.

    However the number of new antibiotics in development is at an all time low and the overuse of antibiotics is driving up resistance.

    Following the meeting, the group issued a statement, signed by all G8 members. They agreed to work together in a global effort to develop new antibiotics and technologies for quicker diagnosis and more targeted treatments.

    They also discussed other pressing global challenges, including climate change, energy security and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

    The statement recognises the role that science has to play in securing present and future sustainable growth. It also proposes new areas for the G8 to work together and collaborate on, including global research infrastructure, open scientific research data, and expanding access to scientific research results.

    Read the G8 Science Minister’s written statement

  • Antihistamines may increase pregnancy risks for women with severe morning sickness

    Women with a severe form of morning sickness who take antihistamines to help them sleep through their debilitating nausea are significantly more likely to experience premature births or have low–birth-weight babies, a UCLA study has found.
     
    The findings, the first to link antihistamine use to adverse pregnancy outcomes, are important because babies born at 37 weeks or earlier often are hospitalized longer than full-term babies, can experience problems breathing and feeding, are more prone to infection and can suffer from developmental problems. Women with morning sickness who are considering taking such medications should know the risks, said Marlena Fejzo, the study’s lead author an assistant professor of research in obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA.
     
    The severe morning sickness, called hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), is the same condition that Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, recently experienced. Its cause is unknown and the symptoms are intense: The continuous nausea and vomiting can be so violent that women in the study reported suffering from detached retinas, blown eardrums, cracked ribs and torn esophagi, Fejzo said. The symptoms can last for several months or the entire pregnancy.
     
    “It was surprising to find the link between antihistamines and adverse outcomes as these are over-the-counter medications that are used commonly by women with HG during pregnancy,” said Fejzo, who had undiagnosed HG during her first pregnancy and nearly died during her second and lost the baby. “Women and their healthcare providers should be aware of the risk for adverse outcomes when deciding which medications to take to treat their HG symptoms.”
     
    The study appears June 10 in the European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology.
     
    The six-year study compared pregnancy outcomes in two groups of women. The first was composed of 254 women with HG who were sick enough to require treatment for dehydration with intravenous fluids. The second was made up of 308 women with normal or no morning sickness during pregnancy. The researchers found women with HG had four times the risk of adverse outcomes, confirming a link between HG and adverse outcomes that had been shown in several previous studies.
     
    The study then compared women with HG who suffered adverse outcomes to women with HG who had good outcomes. Researchers looked at whether any of more than 35 medications and treatments that are commonly used by women with HG were linked to bad outcomes. They found that more than 50 percent of HG patients who experienced adverse outcomes took over-the-counter medications containing antihistamines.
     
    Fejzo also found that the medications were reportedly effective in less than 20 percent of the women who took them.
     
    “Some doctors will suggest that their HG patients take Unisom to help them sleep through their nausea,” Fejzo said. “Our findings show not only that the use of antihistamines is linked with adverse outcomes, but also that they’re not that effective. Women with HG should be aware of that so they can make educated decisions on how to treat their HG symptoms.”
     
    Adrienne Downs of Culver City, Calif., experienced some nausea and vomiting during her first two pregnancies, but nothing out of the ordinary. Her third pregnancy has not been so run-of-the-mill. Early in the pregnancy, she suffered from constant nausea, vomiting approximately every 20 minutes around the clock. She was hospitalized twice for five days each time, and had to get intravenous fluids to treat her severe dehydration and malnutrition.
     
    “I literally could keep nothing down for months,” Downs said. “I couldn’t even get up out of bed and take care of my family. It was horrible. I was very scared for my baby. How would it get any nutrition if I couldn’t eat or drink?”
     
    Downs lost 12 pounds in three weeks. Her mother had to move in to take care of her and her sons, ages 4 and 2. 
     
    Now that she is past 21 weeks gestation, Downs’ symptoms have subsided somewhat, but she still can only keep down fluids. She has gained back some of the weight she lost. Although she did not take antihistamines to treat her HG symptoms, Downs said the findings are important.
     
    “As pregnant moms, we want to be the best ‘house’ for our babies that we can,” she said. “I had never heard of this condition before I got it, so I’m glad that UCLA researchers are studying HG and may one day find the cause.”
     
    HG is diagnosed in up to 2 percent of pregnant women, although rates are higher in China. Fejzo said much more work needs to be done to understand the short- and long-term effects of medication use during pregnancy. For example, she and her team are studying women with HG pregnancies to determine if the violent nausea and vomiting have any effects on the children later in life.
     
    “We desperately need support for research into HG to determine its cause so that medications can be designed that are safe and effective,” Fejzo said. “The greatest risk factor for HG other than a previous HG pregnancy is having a sister who had HG, which increases the risk by 17-fold. This suggests a genetic component is at work.”
     
    Fejzo and her team are collecting saliva from women with HG and women with normal pregnancies and are studying the DNA they extract for genes that may predispose women for HG. She hopes that once a cause is discovered, drugs can be developed to either prevent or more effectively treat the condition.
     
    The study was funded by the Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation.
     
    For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

  • Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles

    Final Book Now Available

    The material that sustains the nuclear reactions that produce energy can also be used to make nuclear weapons—and therefore, the development of nuclear energy is one of multiple pathways to proliferation for a non-nuclear weapon state. There is a tension between the development of future nuclear fuel cycles and managing the risk of proliferation as the number of existing and future nuclear energy systems expands throughout the world. As the Department of Energy (DOE) and other parts of the government make decisions about future nuclear fuel cycles, DOE would like to improve proliferation assessments to better inform those decisions.

    Improving the Assessment of the Proliferation Risk of Nuclear Fuel Cycles considers how the current methods of quantification of proliferation risk are being used and implemented, how other approaches to risk assessment can contribute to improving the utility of assessments for policy and decision makers. The study also seeks to understand the extent to which technical analysis of proliferation risk could be improved for policy makers through research and development.

    [Read the full report]

    Topics: Energy and Energy Conservation

  • Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA rated among nation’s top pediatric hospitals by U.S. News

    Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA has been recognized as one of the nation’s best pediatric hospitals by U.S. News & World Report and is among a select group of hospitals to be ranked in all 10 of the specialty areas reviewed in the magazine’s 2013–14 “Best Children’s Hospitals” survey.
     
    Nationally, the hospital was recognized for excellence in the following categories: nephrology (ranked No. 8), gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery (11), diabetes and endocrinology (12), orthopedics (17), neurology and neurosurgery (24), heart and heart surgery (26), neonatology (33), cancer (39), urology (40) and pulmonology (44).
     
    “These rankings acknowledge our dedicated doctors, nurses and staff, who proudly deliver great care and compassion to the children and families at Mattel Children’s Hospital,” said Dr. Sherin Devaskar, the hospital’s physician-in-chief and UCLA’s assistant vice chancellor for children’s health, who holds the Mattel Executive Endowed Chair in the UCLA Department of Pediatrics.  
     
    “Most notably, among the ranked hospitals in California, our diabetes–endocrinology, gastroenterology and nephrology specialties ranked in the top two, and our orthopedic specialty ranked in the top three programs,” Devaskar said.
     
    The rankings highlight the top 50 U.S. hospitals in each of the 10 specialty areas. Eighty-seven hospitals were ranked in at least one specialty. In California, Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA was one of only three hospitals ranked in all 10 categories.
     
    U.S. News introduced the “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings in 2007 to help families of sick children find the best medical care available. The rankings offer families an exclusive look at quality-related information at the individual hospital level.
     
    Each hospital’s reputation among doctors was only a small part of what U.S. News factored into its rankings. Three-quarters of the score was determined by an analysis of patient outcomes and data on the structural resources each hospital has for pediatric care.
     
    To gather data, U.S. News used two surveys: a clinical questionnaire sent to 179 pediatric hospitals and a separate reputational assessment in which 1,500 physicians — 150 pediatric specialists and subspecialists in each category — were asked where they would send the sickest children in their specialty if location and expense were not a concern.
     
    For each hospital, survival rates, the adequacy of nurse staffing, the volume of procuedures and much more can be viewed at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/pediatric-rankings. The rankings will be published in U.S. News’ “Best Hospitals 2014″guidebook, available beginning in August.
     
    “Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA deserves high praise,” said Avery Comarow, the health rankings editor at U.S. News. “Ranking shows the dedication and expertise that Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA brings to the care of children who need those qualities the most. We think it is important to identify and call attention to pediatric centers like this one.”
     
    Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, one of the highest-rated children’s hospitals in California, is a vital component of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, ranked the fifth best hospital in nation and best in the western United States by U.S. News & World Report. Mattel Children’s Hospital offers a full spectrum of primary and specialized medical care for infants, children and adolescents. The hospital’s mission is to provide state-of-the-art medical and surgical treatment for children in a compassionate atmosphere and to improve the understanding and treatment of pediatric diseases.  
     
    For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

  • Bullock honored by Royal Society of Chemistry

    Morris Bullock, a Laboratory Fellow at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and director of the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis, a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center, was selected to receive the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Homogeneous Catalysis Award. The organization presents the award every two years.

    Bullock was recognized for his “seminal work on transition metal hydrides, his pioneering use of inexpensive metals for homogeneous catalysis and the development of a new programme on molecular electrocatalysis.”

    Catalysts speed up chemical reactions and are used to make a wide variety of industrial processes more efficient, including production of commercial chemical products, food processing, and energy production from alternate sources. Additionally, catalysts are used to improve fuel efficiency and reduce harmful emissions. Homogeneous catalysis focuses on using catalysts that are in the same liquid “phase” as the other substances.

    Transition metal hydride catalysts have metals bonded to hydrogen. Replacing precious metals such as platinum with less expensive catalysts such as iron and nickel can result in both cost-savings and decreased environmental impacts. Additionally, the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis is focused on developing a comprehensive understanding of how chemical and electrical energy is stored and utilized for applications in the development of non-fossil fuel sources.

    As part of the award, Bullock has been invited to deliver a lecture at four universities within the United Kingdom between October 2013 and May 2014. The award, including a medal, certificate, and £2000 honorarium, will be presented at a symposium associated with one of the lectures.

    Bullock joined PNNL in 2006 and has more than 110 publications overall during his career. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1979 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a doctorate in chemistry in 1983 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

    The Royal Society of Chemistry is the largest organization in Europe for advancing the chemical sciences and is supported by a worldwide network of members and an international publishing business. Their activities include education, conferences, science policy and the promotion of chemistry to the public.

  • News story: Background: G8 2013

    On 20 November, David Cameron announced that as the Chair of the G8, the UK would host the G8 Summit in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland. This announcement was a demonstration that Northern Ireland is a modern and dynamic part of the United Kingdom that is open for business, with huge potential for investment and tourism.

    The Prime Minister also wrote in the Huffington Post where he set out the three key elements of the G8 agenda – to advance trade, ensure tax compliance and promote greater transparency.

    At the start of the year, the PM wrote to his fellow G8 leaders to outline his plans for the G8 Presidency, where he hoped that the G8 commitment to open economies, open governments and open societies would support enterprise and deliver economic growth.

    On January 24, he set out the economic priorities for the G8 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he spoke in more detail of the G8 agenda on tax, trade and transparency.

    An open letter to Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council on 26 April set out the the need for radical global action to tackle tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.

    This was followed on 20 May by a letter explaining the UK’s efforts to promote greater tax compliance and an end to company secrecy.

    In an article for the Wall Street Journal, the Prime Minister spoke in more detail of the importance of freer trade, and the enormous benefit it can bring globally. He also stressed the need for financial openness, fairer taxes and greater transparency alongside more open trade.

  • News story: World leaders sign global agreement to help beat hunger

    World leaders have today signed a global agreement that will prevent millions of infant deaths, and boost the life chances of millions more, by equipping the developing world with the means to beat malnutrition.

    See also

    Prime Minister David Cameron, Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation president Jamie Cooper-Hohn led a high level summit in London of developing and developed nations, businesses, scientific and civil society groups, committing them to supporting a historic reduction in “undernutrition”.

    Video: Watch the Prime Minister’s speech on the BBC website

    Image of BBC video player
    Image: BBC

    Undernutrition is a chronic lack of nutrients that can result in death, stunted physical development and in a lower resistance to illnesses in later life. It is the biggest underlying cause of death in under-five-year-olds in the world and is responsible for 8,000 child deaths each day. It stunts the growth of children, reducing their potential, undermining their adult earnings by up to 10%, and in some countries reducing the size of the economy by 11% as a result.

    The participants – who signed a Global Nutrition for Growth Compact – committed their countries and organisations by 2020 to:

    • improving the nutrition of 500 million pregnant women and young children
    • reducing the number of children under five who are stunted by an additional 20 million
    • saving the lives of at least 1.7 million children by preventing stunting, increasing breastfeeding and better treatment of severe and acute malnutrition

    Global Nutrition for Growth Compact

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    Among the participants in today’s central London summit were two presidents and four prime ministers from Africa, Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny, philanthropist Bill Gates, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Unilever chief executive Paul Polman.

    Donors have today secured new commitments of up to £2.7 billion ($4.15 billion) to tackle undernutrition up to 2020, £1.9 billion ($2.9 billion) of which is core funding with the remainder secured through matched funding. The UK has today committed an additional £375 million of core funding and £280 million of matched funding from 2013 to 2020.

    Nutrition for Growth Commitments

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    Countries which have previously increased nutrition funding, like the US and Canada, today committed themselves to continuing those high levels of funding while others, like the European Union, the World Bank and Ireland, have increased their support substantially.

    The funds will focus on:

    • making world-class scientific knowledge and evidence available, including through a new Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, so that farmers can grow nutrition-rich and resilient crops, such as vitamin-enriched sweet potato and corn, to feed their families and local areas
    • promoting breastfeeding as a priority for protecting nutrition and saving lives
    • supporting the governments of developing countries to formulate high quality national nutrition plans and helping them to mobilise domestic resources for them and
    • ensuring businesses in developing countries place good nutrition at the heart of their workforce welfare priorities.

    International Development Secretary Justine Greening said:

    Undernutrition is stopping children and countries from reaching their full potential, accounting for the loss of billions of dollars in productivity. A strong and healthy workforce is vital if a country’s economy is to prosper. This means business and science taking a lead in fighting for good nutrition because we understand that better nutrition is the smart way to tackle extreme poverty, child mortality and economic underachievement.

    The commitments secured today will help transform the life chances of millions of children and pregnant women by ensuring they get the right nutrition at the right time, securing greater long-term economic growth and prosperity for all.

    President and CEO of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) Jamie Cooper-Hohn said:

    We have a unique window of opportunity now to marshal the global coalescence around the nutrition agenda and to tackle the root cause of child mortality and economic underachievement. With renewed commitment from all of us in recognition of the centrality of nutrition to economic growth and development we will be making one of the most important contributions to the growth and economic development of some of the poorest countries in the world.

    Today marks the start of a sustained financial and political commitment to ending undernutrition within a generation. Working together, this unique coalition can take action which history will judge as having contributed to saving the lives of millions of women and children and setting nations on a strong economic path to prosperity.

    Undernutrition is an underlying cause in 45% of deaths amongst children under five, while nearly 165 million suffer from stunting which stops children’s bodies from developing properly. The effects of undernutrition have the greatest impact in the first 1,000 days of life from conception to a child’s second birthday. Failure to get the right nutrition at this critical time causes irreversible lifelong damage.

    Nutrition for Growth builds on the process started at last year’s Hunger Summit held by the UK and Brazilian Governments in London, which highlighted the devastating consequences of undernutrition on children.

    The World Health Assembly recently agreed a new global target of a 40% reduction in the number of stunted children by 2025. The commitments secured today will transform progress towards this goal. Commitments made today will be monitored and tracked annually, and progress made in addressing undernutrition will be measured at a global event in Brazil at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

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  • Update from Amarna: Human bone study at Amarna and other topics


    The latest email news update from Barry Kemp and Anna Stevens:
    2013 physical anthropology study period

    Following a break of two weeks at the end of the spring excavation season (for the cemetery part see the Amarna Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/amarnaproject?ref=mf), the house and expedition opened again, on May 18th, for the start of the 2013 physical anthropology study period, that is due to end on June 13th. Led by Prof Jerry Rose, assisted by Dr Gretchen Dabbs, the 15-person group travelled by chartered bus to Amarna and quickly got to work. Facing them this time is twice as many bones as in the past. Since the 2012 study period, two full field seasons of excavation at the South Tombs Cemetery have taken place. The result is whole or partial skeletons of 141 individuals, who take the full total of individuals since excavation began in 2006 to 401.
    The bones are stored, by individual, in large plastic crates and skull boxes, labelled as to circumstances of finding (date, location, etc). They still retain, however, a coating of sand that needs to be carefully brushed off over fine-mesh sieves. In order to hasten this, four of the regular cemetery workmen (led by Walid Mohammed Omar) are doing this necessary job.  As the individuals emerge from their ‘dry-cleaning’ episode, they are laid out in full anatomical order on the tables in the workrooms. They are then recorded according to a full bioanthropological protocol. Beyond this, several specific research projects are under way, some of them assisted by the expedition’s on-site x-ray facility.
    A few photographs can be seen at:
    https://www.facebook.com/amarnaproject/photos_stream
    In some cases, the hair remains on the skulls, sometimes as a full head of hair. Often, however, ancient robbery has separated skull and hair, and the latter is found loose in the sand. When taken together, the eight seasons of excavation have provided a large collection. For a second time, the team was joined by Jolanda Bos from The Netherlands. Jolanda is an archaeologist and heritage consultant who has studied hair plaiting and beadwork amongst African societies. She began this time by improving the means of storing skulls with hair that will keep them stable, creating for each a paper bonnet that still allows the anthropologists access to the jaw and front of the skull for cranial measurements and dental research.
    Her Amarna findings are exciting. “The amount of complete hairstyles dating to such a limited and specific period is unique, especially in combination with the preservation conditions and the ethnic complexity of the group.” A wide variety of types of hair, ranging from very curly black hair, to middle brown straight hair were present amongst the skulls, showing the ethnic diversity of the Amarna sample. No wigs were found, the preference being for hair extensions for which abundant evidence is present. The extensions were either braided or tied into the hair of the individual. It became clear that on almost all skulls which were analyzed, fat was used to model the hairstyles. On all skulls very fine pieces of textile were found covering the hair. Whether or not this was only done for burial or whether it was the general practice in daily life as well remains unclear. The textile found on the top of the head retained traces where fat cones had been placed, but textile was also present on the back and side of the head.
    The remains of possible fat cones were discovered on most of the skulls examined.
    At least three cases were identified of sidelocks on the skulls of children, the ages being four and a half, eight and a half and nine and a half. On the back and the side of some of the skulls, botanical remains were found. They seem to have been bound with string to the back of the head of the individual; sometimes they were found in relation with a strip of textile. Possibly these are the remains of floral garlands draped around the head of the deceased.
    Bones, hair and much, much more is stored in the expedition storerooms, or magazines, situated beside the expedition house. This time the keys and responsibility are entrusted to Inspector Edward Rushdi, who otherwise helps to look after the central regional magazines at El-Ashmunein.

    Enhancing and enlarging storage is a constant need. We have just added two new sets of steel storage racking, manufactured by two brothers who have a wrought-iron business in Mallawi across the river. One of the sets was paid for by a donation from the Sussex Ancient Egypt Society.

    New publication
    The Egypt Exploration Society has recently published a further Amarna monograph, one arising from research on Amarna’s other major archaeological period, that of the early Christian communities who established themselves in the rock tombs and on desert sites. The details are:
    Jane Faiers, Late Roman Glassware and Pottery from Amarna and Related Studies. With contributions by Gillian Pyke and Wendy Smith. One Hundred and Second Excavation Memoir. London, EES 2013. 267 pages and many illustrations. It includes detailed information on the distribution of glass and pottery from the excavations carried out at the Kom el-Nana monastery.
    Forthcoming tours
    1) Between Saturday, October 5th and Saturday, October 19th Barry Kemp will accompany a tour from Aswan through Middle Egypt to Cairo. Two full days will be spent at Amarna. The tour, entitled ‘Cities of the Nile’, will be run by Ancient World Tours, a long-time supporter of the Amarna expedition.
    A further, similar tour is planned for October 2014. Consult:
    www.ancient.co.ukand tel. +44 844 357 9494
    2) Between Monday, December 9th and Sunday, December 22nd the Thames Valley Ancient Egypt Society plans to run a Study Tour to Lower Egypt, including the Faiyum, Alexandria and the Delta, taking in a number of rarely visited sites. The trip will be led by Barry Kemp and Dr Rawia Ismail. A donation will be made to the Amarna Trust. Attached are an itinerary, booking form and information sheet. See also [email protected]
    Major conservation grant
    We are delighted to report that the Amarna expedition has been awarded a major grant for the conservation of the decorated wooden coffins from the South Tombs Cemetery. The grant comes from USAID, as administered by the American Research Center’s Antiquities Endowment Fund. This stage of the conservation programme will commence at Amarna during 2014.
    That the Amarna expedition is able to run lengthy seasons of fieldwork, conservation and research also owes a great deal to the continuing support of members of the public. Thank you!
    Barry Kemp/Anna Stevens
    Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

  • UCLA earns elite ranking on survey of state physician groups’ patient-care capabilities

    The UCLA Medical Group has earned a four-star ranking, the highest achievement possible, in the California Association of Physician Groups’ (CAPG) seventh annual Standards of Excellence survey.
     
    The survey is a voluntary, critical self-assessment for the CAPG’s 150 medical group members in California. It tallies the “tools” required for health care systems to deliver a better patient experience, better population health and better affordability, as outlined in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim initiative.
     
    This year, 36 organizations achieved elite status, which involved intense testing and documentation.
     
    “The UCLA Medical Group is honored to receive this important recognition and we are very proud of our four-star rating,” said Dr. Samuel A. Skootsky, chief medical officer of the UCLA Faculty Practice and Medical Group. “Participation in this survey has encouraged us to continually improve upon our capabilities in care coordination and case management to the benefit of the patients we serve — and to demonstrate our commitment to healing humankind one patient at a time.”
     
    “The architects of health care reform have set the bar not merely to get by but to far surpass all expectations for truly coordinated patient care,” said Dr. Wells Shoemaker, CAPG’s medical director. “We know from the experience of our member groups that it takes determined leadership, synchronized initiatives across hundreds of physicians, and leading-edge tech tools to honor the individual patient experience, improve the health of populations, and hone the efficiency of our country’s health care system.
     
    The Standards of Excellence survey assesses medical groups’ practices in four key domains:
     
    Care management practices
    Providing timely, safe, effective, efficient care and constantly working to improve care.
     
    Health information technology
    Technical tools required to support care management practices, as well as individual care coordination, population awareness, performance measurement and feedback.
     
    Accountability and transparency
    Responding to the demands of the people the medical groups serve.
     
    Patient-centered care
    Developing and maintaining a high-quality service culture in the nation’s most diverse state.
     
    “CAPG’s Standards of Excellence documents precisely those features,” Shoemaker said.” Organizations that excel in the survey’s four key domains join a truly elite category of pioneering health care organizations.”
     
    The California Association of Physician Groups represents 150 groups that employ or contract with nearly 60,000 California doctors and provide care to 18 million Californians.  CAPG is committed to improving healthcare for Californians and supports a progressive and organized system of healthcare delivery, which focuses on coordinated treatment plans and comprehensive coverage, including the most current preventive services and exams.  This allows physicians to focus on illness prevention and proactive management of patients in order to maintain their optimum level of health.
     
    The UCLA Health System, which comprises the UCLA Hospital System and the UCLA Medical Group and its affiliates, has provided a high quality of health care and the most advanced treatment options to the people of Los Angeles and the world for more than half a century. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA, Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, and UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica (which includes the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital) deliver hospital care that is unparalleled in California. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is consistently ranked one of the top five hospitals in the nation and the best in the western United States by U.S. News & World Report. UCLA physicians and hospitals continue to be world leaders in the full range of care, from maintaining the health of families to the diagnosis and treatment of complex illnesses.
     
    For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

  • News story: Prime Minister visits Diageo distillery to see how renewable energy is powering growth

    The Prime Minister today visited the Cameronbridge Distillery in Fife, where drinks business Diageo recently completed a unique renewable energy facility. The facility powers the distillery by recycling the natural co-products of distillation, and is a flagship for Diageo’s ambition to drive environmentally sustainable growth.

    Cameronbridge Distillery is a key part of Diageo’s Scotch whisky production business. Scotch represents one of the UK’s outstanding economic success stories, with industry exports generating £135-per-second for the UK balance of trade in 2012.

    The Prime Minister said:

    Whisky is an iconic product with a rich heritage and a fantastic future. It is a truly global brand.

    It was a real pleasure to see the Cameronbridge Distillery. It is at the cutting edge of the spirits industry, a world leader in embracing bioenergy technology and a major contributor to Scotland’s economy.

    All those who work there should be proud of what they produce.

    During the visit to the distillery, the Prime Minister met a group of Diageo apprentices who work across a range of engineering, scientific and craft roles at the distillery. He also hammered the bung – a ceremonial tradition in the Scotch whisky industry – into a cask of single grain spirit produced using renewable energy from the bioenergy plant. The Prime Minister’s cask will now be laid down to mature for 10 years, with a pledge to auction it to raise money for environmental good causes in the future.

    Read more about the visit on Diageo’s website.

  • $18 million to study deadly secrets of Flu, Ebola, West Nile viruses

    Viruses such as Ebola, West Nile and Influenza all have the potential to kill people they infect, but antiviral drugs either don’t exist or are losing effectiveness. A new $18 million study led by pathobiologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with support from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory seeks to provide a detailed molecular understanding of how humans respond to these viral pathogens. The study’s goal is to design and develop new drugs to thwart infection.

    The plan is ambitious, seeking to build virtual models of organs the viruses attack — the liver and the lung — and to validate their accuracy with experiments in animals in five years. To acquire enough molecular data to create the models, PNNL researchers will perform high-throughput experiments that allow them to make thousands of measurements at a time. About a third of the funding, or $6.6 million, will support the PNNL team’s effort to gather data and model the data on computers.

    Computational scientist Katrina Waters and analytical biochemist Richard D. Smith will lead the PNNL team. Research teams from Wisconsin, Washington University in St. Louis and Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Mont., will infect mice and cell cultures and prepare the samples in laboratories with the appropriate safeguards. The samples will be sent to PNNL and EMSL, the DOE’s Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory on the PNNL campus.

    At PNNL, researchers will explore four different molecular profiles of the animal tissue and cell culture samples that show:

    • Which proteins are produced by genes within the cells;
    • Which proteins are active based on the most common molecular accessory found on proteins, a phosphate. Traditionally, researchers have chosen many successful drug targets based on this fact;
    • Which cellular processes are occurring based on metabolic products;
    • The collection of fats that serve as either structural components, energy stores or as signals within cells.

    All this data will paint a picture of what is going on during infection. To see that picture, the team will combine these and other available data in state-of-the-art computer models. By predicting how bodies behave when infected by the viruses, these computer programs will help researchers find new approaches to prevent or fight infection.

    Click here to read the entire release from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.