When I Was Young

From TODAY World - TRAFFIC WOES
Monday August 4, 2008

New technology will allow on-board computers in cars to communicate with each other

LONDON — Cars that warn motorists about accidents before they happen and “intelligent” roads that direct drivers to empty parking spaces are being developed in Britain.

Traffic authorities and vehicle manufacturers are testing new “cooperative transport systems” that allow cars to send and receive up-to-the-minute information about the road ahead and the vehicles around them.

The main causes of traffic jams and accidents are drivers failing to react to changes in traffic and overreacting by braking too hard. Experts hope the project will improve safety and lessen traffic jams on the overloaded road network — there are more than 32 million vehicles on Britain’s roads.

Technology similar to that used by wireless computer networks will allow onboard computers in cars to communicate with each other to get information about hazards and congestion. In one example, sensors in the wheels of a car can detect when it is beginning to skid or the driver brakes suddenly, allowing the vehicle to send a warning to surrounding motorists that an accident is imminent.

Vehicles will also be able to provide the authorities with information about defects in the road surface. Central traffic management centres can then redirect motorists along alternative routes to avoid jams.

The technology is being tested in six locations around Europe, including a site in London. It is being developed as part of a European Commission project involving car manufacturers including BMW, Volvo and Daimler Chrysler. Mr Hermann Meyer, chief executive of Ertico, the partnership behind the project, said: “At the moment, cars receive information on their radios and GPS, but we want cars to also transmit information both to the road infrastructure and to other cars around them.

In London’s Camden High Street, a system that announces when parking lots are empty and then uses GPS to guide drivers to the space is being tested.

Using roadside masts incorporated into lampposts, they hope to provide roads with a high-speed network that will allow cars to communicate with each other and with the traffic management authorities.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

From TODAY, World
Thursday July 31, 2008

SUR VIVING THE OUTBACK

Lost prospector ate termites to combat dehydration

SYDNEY — A former pest exterminator lost in the Australian desert for four days survived by eating termites and other insects, police said yesterday.

Gold prospector Theo Rosmulder, 52, from the southern state of Victoria, was suffering from dehydration but otherwise in “surprisingly good condition,” said Sergeant Graham Clifford of Western Australia state police. Mr Rosmulder was spotted by local Aborigines on Tuesday about 10 km from his camp.

The prospector, who once worked as a pest exterminator, told rescuers he staved off dehydration by eating insects and termites, which provided some moisture and protein.

“He kept eating what he used to kill,” Sgt Clifford said. “We were always confident we’d find him, but by the same token, four and a half days was starting to get a bit questionable.”

Mr Rosmulder had been searching for gold with his wife and a group of other prospectors about 130km north of Laverton, a mining town in Southwestern Australia. He became lost on Friday after heading out alone, Sgt Clifford said.

A massive search operation was launched at first light on Saturday, with dozens of searchers combing 200 sq km of the rocky terrain by land and air.

“The chap did say he saw planes on a number of occasions and waved items of clothing, but they didn’t attract attention,” Sgt Clifford said.

On Tuesday morning, members of a local Aboriginal community spotted Mr Rosmulder, who had hung onto his metal detector throughout the ordeal. They bumped into a rescue crew on the way back to camp.

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He kept eating what he used to kill.
Sergeant Graham Clifford on how former pest exterminator Theo Rosmulder kept himself alive
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Mr Rosmulder was treated at Laverton Hospital. He told officials he planned to continue his gold hunt and was in a remote desert area yesterday.

Mr Rosmulder’s light clothing offered little protection from the elements, but temperatures in the region were relatively mild for the Australian winter, ranging from 9 to 19°C, Sgt Clifford said.

Mr Rosmulder also conserved energy by spending the first two days in the same spot near an outcrop of rocks before trying to find his way back. AP

From TODAY, News
Thursday July 31, 2008

It can halt progress of the disease by 81 per cent

Hasnita Maji d

A DRUG that can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease may be available here in about four years’ time.

A Singapore-based start-up, TauRx Therapeutics, has developed a drug, rember, which can attack the root of the problem.

Clinical trials done in 2004 and 2005, involving more than 300 patients in the United Kingdom and Singapore over a period of 19 months, showed that the treatment managed to stop the progression of the disease by 81 per cent.

During the same period, the patients did not experience a significant decline in their mental function.

Alzheimer’s, a degenerative disease that involves damage to important brain cells, causes forgetfulness, and in severe cases, hallucinations and behavioural changes.

Current therapies for Alzheimer’s do not affect the progress of the terminal disease itself, but provide only a temporary boost to mental function, with no longterm benefit. Proteins known as Tau tend to stick together to the brain cells as a person ages, but in some people, these proteins aggregate abnormally — damaging the brain cells, and leading to Alzheimer’s.

Dr Seng Shay Way, managing director of TauRx Therapeutics, said: “What our drug does is to stop them from sticking together and for those that have stuck together, we sort of dissolve them and break them apart, and hopefully restore function to the nerve cell and to the patient.”

Tests showed the drug had the biggest effect in the worst-hit part of the brain which has the highest density of the Tau protein aggregates.

The next phase of clinical trials has been planned, this time involving more than 1,000 patients from the European Union, the United States, Asia and the Middle East. If the trials prove successful, the drug will be available by 2012.

The company’s ultimate goal is to develop a product that could be widely used at the very earliest stages of the disease, long before patients experience the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

It is estimated that more than 20,000 people in Singapore are afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease, and the statistic will grow as the population ages.

In the Asia Pacific, Alzheimer’s affects almost 14 million people — a number set to reach 64 million by 2050 — and has become a growing burden on health services

CHANNEL NEWSASIA