Dave Smith, Author at The Silver Ink

CDC may lose credibility says the new report

March 20, 2015 By Dave Smith

Agency’s commitment to safety an external agency expert has put together a report on lab safety at U.S centers for disease and control and prevention. The report was created by external laboratory science and research after investigating CDC labs, conducting meetings with CDC staff and a surveying about the laboratory safety culture.

The report revealed that U.S centers for disease and control and prevention (CDC) safety commitment is inadequate, inconsistent and insufficient and it is losing its credibility

The advisory committee was made in July following two mishaps and other issues happened in CDC inorder to measure the lab safety.

In May, the samples of avian influenza were mixed with the samples of H5N1 influenza accidently and sent to USDA lab.

In June employees in bioterrorism lab were working with anthrax virus. If any mistake in sterilization would have put them at risk.

In December, employees in the Ebola lab were potentially exposed to that virus when a technician mistakenly transported the wrong specimens from a high-level lab to a lower-level lab.

After each incident many internal investigations were done and various changes were recommended like certifications required transferring samples from one lab to other, cameras added to some labs.

The advisory panel concerned that the CDC may lose its credibility its working on to reduce lab safety risks and improve the culture of safety.

The panel has recommended all CDC labs to go through an external review and accreditation process.

Glowing mushroom secret revealed

March 20, 2015 By Dave Smith

A new study has provided an explanation to a long wondered phenomenon “why mushrooms are bioluminescent”.

Researchers has studied ‘flor de coco’ a mushroom which grows underneath young palm trees among decaying leaves in Brazil. It has been found that the big, yellow mushrooms attract insects with their bioluminescence characteristic during night time which helps spread its spores to different areas of the forest.

‘Flor de coco’ means coconut flower.

The first asked question in print ‘Why do fungi make light?’ by Aristotle more than 2,000 years ago was answer by their research team.

“The answer appears to be that fungi make light so they are noticed by insects that can help the fungus colonize new habitats.” said biochemist Cassius Stevani of Brazil’s Instituto de Química-Universidade de São Paulo.

“Bioluminescence has independently developed in various different life forms, including fungi, fish and insects” said Jay Dunlap, a geneticist and molecular biologist at Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine.

There are total 100,000 identified species of fungi, among them 71 are bioluminescent. And Flor de coco is one of the biggest and brightest of them.

Teens multitasking while driving

March 20, 2015 By Dave Smith

Teenagers finally understood that texting while driving is a dangerous act and hence they no longer text while driving but they are doing worse than texting like doing homework, changing clothes in car, they may be less clear about the risks of these activities.

Researchers at Oregon State University conducted a new study where 1,000 drivers aged between 14 and 18 in Idaho, Oregon and Washington were surveyed.

The result of the survey was surprising as they found teens doing multiple task while driving like changing clothes, working on assignments, putting contact lens, putting on shoes and putting on their makeup.

27 percent of teens changed clothes whole driving, the new study revealed. Last time it was 43 percent of teen’s texting while driving and this number went down to 40 percent this year sounds like good news.

“We were pretty surprised at the changing clothes bit,” says lead researcher David Hurwitz, an assistant professor of transportation engineering at Oregon State University.

The researches also conducted workshop to show the teens how hard it is to concentrate while multitasking, this includes talking on the phone while writing numbers on chalk board.

“Teens are busy, I guess.” said Hurwitz

Distracted driving is a leading cause of accidents among drivers of all ages he further added.

Bill gates warns the next disease epidemic will be much worse

March 20, 2015 By Dave Smith

Bill Gates describes the Ebola epidemic as both global failure and a wake-up call at Ted (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference.

Ebola virus disease or Ebola is caused by ebolaviruses. Signs and symptoms stars between two days and three weeks after contracting the disease.

It has killed 11000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

He said that there were plenty of technology tools that could be used to contain the spread of a virus and governments should learn from how nations prepare for war.

Countries that are part of the NATO frequently run exercises to check if they are ready if a world war breaks out, but the last serious simulation of an epidemic in the United States took place way back in 2002.

Technology can play an important role in preventing the spread of virus he said. Mobile technology can be extensively used to report where the disease breaks out and satellite mapping can collate where the problem areas are.

Advances in biology are tremendous and it has cut the time to quickly develop the vaccine for new viruses.

“There is a significant chance that an epidemic of a substantially more infectious disease will occur sometime in the next 20 years” he said.

He said, even if the system has worked out well for Ebola but it may fail to contain more infectious disease. He further added that he believe that we can solve this problem just like we have solved the other problems.

“The United Nations should empower and fund a global institution to coordinate the creation of a warning and response system, disease surveillance database, and more research on drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic tests.”

“By building a global warning and response system, we can prepare for it and prevent millions of deaths,” Gates concluded.

NASA’s MAVEN spots rare dust cloud, bright ultraviolet aurora on Mars

March 19, 2015 By Dave Smith

US space agency NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, which is exploring Mars, has spotted two very strange phenomena in the Martian atmosphere.

The two unusual phenomena include: a mysterious dust cloud and a bright ultraviolet aurora.

Cloud of Dust

The NASA spacecraft has detected the cloud of dust at orbital altitudes lying in the zone that is located between 150 kilometres (93 miles) and 300 kilometres (190 miles) from the Martian surface. The dust cloud has baffled scientists as they are clueless about from where it came and how it got there.

According to the scientists, the dust cloud has been present at the Martian surface for approximately the same time duration as long as MAVEN has existed in orbit around the Red Planet since September 2014.

Scientists say as it has been just six months of MAVEN orbiting Mars, it can’t be determined whether the dust cloud is a permanent feature or only a temporary event.

The thin cloud dust was detected by a MAVEN’s instrument called the Langmuir Probe and Waves instrument, which analyses the properties of Mars’ ionosphere.

Laila Andersson, of the Laboratory for Atmospherics and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, said, “If the dust originates from the atmosphere, this suggests we are missing some fundamental process in the Martian atmosphere.”

Ultraviolet Aurora

The glowing ultraviolet aurora lit up the northern hemisphere of Mars for five days just ahead of Christmas in 2014. Hence, the phenomenon has been nicknamed as “Christmas lights”.

The incredible aurora was imaged by the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph of MAVEN.

Alike Earth’s aurora, Mars’ was created by the charged particles like electrons and protons entering the atmosphere from above and causing ionisation, making the atmosphere glow.

Study blames low vaccination rates for Disneyland measles outbreak

March 17, 2015 By Dave Smith

A new research analysis has found that one of the important reasons behind the high number of measles cases, which has recently triggered an outbreak across the United States, was the low rate of vaccination in the country.

For the study, the scientists used complex mathematical models so as to find out the account for the rapid spread of the virus among the visitors of Disneyland.

The researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital collected and analyzed the measles case numbers reported by the California Department of Public Health and other regional surveillance records in order to find estimates of the vaccination rates of areas hit by the outbreak in Arizona, California and Illinois.

The measles outbreak, which has been traced to Disneyland in California in December last year, mainly affected those who were likely vaccinated at substandard rates.

Maimuna Majumder, lead study author and a research fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital, said, “Substandard vaccination means that less than 96 to 99 percent of the population exposed to measles during the course of the outbreak were vaccinated.”

During the study, the researchers found that the worst-hit areas showed vaccination rates as low as 50 percent. This conveniently allowed the rapid spread of the disease across the country, the research suggested.

Underscoring the findings of the analysis, Majumder said, “In our study, we discovered that MMR vaccination rates among the exposed population during the outbreak is likely to be as low as 50 percent and may be no higher than 86 percent.”

According to the researchers, the only statistically viable explanation for the high rate of proliferation of the potentially fatal virus is the large number of under-vaccinated children across the United States.

Nearly 133 cases of measles infections have been reported from across eight states in the US since the outbreak emerged in Southern California’s Disney Park late last year.

The researchers also cautioned against the ongoing outbreak in their concluding remarks, saying “it shines a glaring spotlight on the growing anti-vaccination movement in our nation and the prevalence of vaccination-hesitant parents.”

A large number of parents are opting out against vaccinating their children against serious ailments owing to their religious or personal beliefs.

About 93 percent of kids are administered with proper vaccination against the infectious measles virus. But the anti-vaccination movement in the country has fueled a large number of parents to deny vaccination for their children.

The number of unvaccinated kids has been growing in recent years. The more concerning thing is that even 92 percent vaccinated kids fail to prevent the spread of the highly contagious measles virus.

Some of the common symptoms of measles are high fever, runny nose and cough, usually followed by red rashes on the skin, starting first on the face and gradually spreading over the entire body.

The detailed findings of the study were published this week in the journal JAMA.

New Apple iPad Interactive Stylus to Be Launched Soon

March 2, 2015 By Dave Smith

TECHNOLOGY

Appleinsider.com, a website that features news and rumors about the Apple brand reported that the company may launch soon a simple stylus which will come later as a Pro version with the company’s iPad tablet (12.9-inch). In the report, AppleInsider stated that the company is also in the process of creating a more advanced version which will be able to support 3D handwriting.

Ming-Chi Kuo, a KGI Securities analyst, stated that the new stylus will be more precise compared to any finger. He added that in some cases, its usage is more convenient compared to the use of both the keyboard and mouse that will significantly improve the experience of using such iPads. Kuo also stated that the stylus may be launched as an additional option by 2015’s second quarter.

Urban Outfitters Earnings Misses Estimates as Namesake Brand Sales Decline

January 14, 2015 By Dave Smith

Urban Outfitters, based in Philadelphia, has been struggling in attracting customers at its namesake stores, posting another quarterly sale, which leaned on its Free People and Anthropologie brands’ growth.

The retailer noticed growth in its third quarterly revenue, meeting estimates, but reported lower earnings than expected.

Company sales were reported at $814 million dollars, higher than the $813 million Wall Street forecast, and up by 5% compared to last year’s same period. Urban earnings were posted at $47.1 million dollars or $0.35 dollars per share, lower than the 0.41 dollar Wall Street estimate. Last year, the company’s earnings were at $70.2 million, equivalent to $0.47 per share.

Urban’s loss was compensated by the growth of its two retailer’s brands, while sales of comparable segment jumped at Anthropologie with 2%, Free People at15%, and dropped 7% at Urban Outfitters.

Richard Hayne, company CEO said he was disappointed with the Urban Outfitters’ results, although pleased with the two brands’ performances. Hayne added that something has to be done so as to develop the Urban’s store performance and merchandise margins.

Due to Urban’s poor performance, the retailer has been selling merchandise on their shelves at a lower price increase, but will proceed in implementing higher discounts just to move its inventory, thus, resulting in a gross profit rate drop of 295 quarterly basis points.

Urban Outfitters posted its quarterly revenue of 340.4 million dollars, while Anthropologie at 327.7 million, and Free People at 141.2 million.

In the after-hours trade, company shares fell 5% to 29 dollars, and down by 17% to date.

Jack in The Box Surpasses Fourth Quarter Revenue Expectations

January 13, 2015 By Dave Smith

Jack in the Box Incorporated reported higher than expected fourth quarter overall earnings last Tuesday. Overall revenue was recorded in $344.68M, significantly higher than previous estimates forecasted amounting to $342.28M and last year’s $337.98M.

Overall operating earnings for every share, a measure that is non-GAAP, which Jack in the Box defines as earnings that are diluted for every share of the company’s continuing operations based on GAAP standards that excludes charges for restructuring and also losses and gains from refranchising, amounted to $0.54 during 2014’s fourth quarter, higher than last year’s $0.45which is above previous estimates which was recorded in $0.53.

The company’s chief executive officer and chairman, Lenny Comma, stated that the company’s overall operating earnings for every share for this year’s fourth quarter jumped 20%, which was pushed by higher than expected sales growth for same-store at Jack in the Box® and Qdoba Mexican Grill® margin expansions, and also a 10% reduction in their diluted share overall count as the company continued in using their free and growing cash flow in order to give back cash to their shareholders.

Comma added that this year’s performance capped the company’s terrific year. He also stated that with operating overall earnings for every share up by approximately 35%, the company’s third consecutive growth for this year will be more than 30%.

Same-store overall sales are currently expected to rise in their company restaurants to about 1% to 2% compared to last year’s 2.1% increase. The company is also expecting that same-store overall sales in their Qdoba restaurants to increase by almost 8% to 10% compared to last year’s 2%.

Amgen: Exceeds the Average Expectations of Analysts

January 6, 2015 By Dave Smith

Amgen Inc., which is considered to be the largest biotechnology company in the whole world, reported their third quarter performance for this year. Based on their report, Amgen performed much better than the expected. They reported higher revenue and earnings for this fiscal year’s third quarter than what is expected from them.

Amgen recorded a total of $376 million charge that is related to the restructuring that was announced on the 29^th of July 2014. It is also expected that Amgen will be able to take another charge that sums up to $150 million in this fiscal year’s fourth quarter and another additional charges for the forthcoming year 2015.

For the third quarter, the Amgen Inc.’s rose one percent. Since the restructuring announcement involving job cuts and plant closings on July, the company’s share is up by 20 percent already. Job cuts and plant closings were decided in order to make way for the launch of new medicines that include a cholesterol drug that is worth a multibillion dollar.

Excluding items, the Amgen company increased $2.30 for every share for this quarter. This exceeds the average expectations of financial analysts by 19 cents. This is good news for Amgen.

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