A1A South

NOVA IGUACU, Brazil — The methane pipelines are already in place at the Novagerar trash dump on the outskirts of this impoverished suburb of Rio de Janeiro.

So are the legions of dump trucks that haul 2,800 tons of city trash here every day and the dozens of workers who cover the trash with soil at day’s end to prevent greenhouse gases from escaping.

This 300-acre ”green” dump is ready to tap into a potential carbon-credit market explosion that many developing countries hope will pour millions of dollars into poor communities like this one.

So far, the dump, which is owned by the Brazilian construction company Paulista, generates only 4 percent of its revenue — or $900,000 a year — from selling carbon credits.

That is bound to change, said facility director Adriana Felipetto, who predicted that annual carbon-credit sales would hit $3 million in two years and make up a quarter of the facility’s total revenue stream.

”We’re just beginning,” she said while walking through a complex of valves and pipes that treat methane emitted from the dump. “We think we’ll at least triple the revenue with no problem and find a market for our credits.”

The facility generates those credits by trapping methane produced by rotting trash under sheets of soil and plastic sheeting, converting it into carbon dioxide and releasing that gas into the atmosphere.

A DAMAGING GAS

Methane is 21 times more damaging to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, and Novagerar’s credits result from the carbon emissions it prevented by turning methane into carbon dioxide. Methane makes up about three-fifths of gases emitted by the dump’s buried trash.

Through the World Bank, Novagerar sells the credits to the Dutch government, which uses them to offset carbon emissions produced by its domestic industries.

Company officials said the dump was the first carbon-credit project approved under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which took effect in 2005. The facility has prevented the emission of 88 million cubic feet of methane since opening in 2003, the year Nova Iguac¸u’s old open-air dump closed.

Yet the carbon-credit project side of Nova Iguac¸u remains unproven. The facility still depends largely on fees paid by private trash collectors to bring in garbage and from other services, such as sterilizing medical waste produced by local hospitals.

Whether projects such as Novagerar can turn their trash into enough cash depends on whether the prices for carbon credit rise quickly enough, said Jed Jorgenson, spokesman for the Oregon-based nonprofit group Climate Trust, which funds carbon offset projects around the world.

Read the rest at the Miami Herald.

I believe carbon credits are one of the biggest frauds ever perpetrated by the greedy against the stupid.

A second and third possible outbreak of bird flu were reported at duck farms in southwestern Korea over the weekend, sparking fears that avian influenza might be spreading across the country, a government body said yesterday.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced yesterday that the two other suspected cases — at poultry farms in Jeongeup and Sunchang in North Jeolla — will mean more disinfecting operations in the region.

Jeongeup is only 27 kilometers (17 miles) from the site where the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain broke out on April 3, leading to the slaughtering of 308,000 chickens. Preliminary tests showed the presence of bird flu in Jeongeup, but such tests were not conducted at the other site in Sunchang, 74 kilometers south of the initial outbreak on a chicken farm in Gimje, North Jeolla.

According to the ministry, about 6,000 ducks at the Jeongeup farm have died since the last day of March.

Authorities killed and buried the remaining 6,500 ducks at the farm right after a preliminary test indicated bird flu was present.

The National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service took further tests to determine whether the avian influenza virus is the highly contagious strain, called H5N1.

Source and the rest of the story: JoongAng Daily

The spring needs to turn off very warm to send the H5N1 virus back into dormancy and, even so, some countries’ poultry industries have taken a beating that may take quite some time to recover from. And then it will return in the winter.

TAMPA — Fifteen years later, scientists are still learning from a woman who risked her life to be part of a controversial experiment to treat Parkinson’s disease with fetal cells implanted in her brain.

The woman died last year, and an autopsy surprised scientists. The transplanted cells showed unmistakable signs of Parkinson’s. That means the disease is able to spread inside the brain, migrating from the woman’s own cells to the transplanted ones.

It also raises questions about whether stem cell transplants could become the best treatment for Parkinson’s, because the disease might spread to affect the new cells.

The study was published online Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine. It’s the latest result from a controversial trial with surgeries performed at the University of South Florida by Dr. Thomas Freeman, medical director of the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair.

“We have learned a lot about Parkinson’s itself,” Freeman said. “This type of trial is a road map for how to make stem cell therapies, when they become available, even better.”

Parkinson’s affects part of the brain that controls movement. Brain cells that produce a chemical called dopamine die or don’t work properly. People with Parkinson’s may have uncontrolled movement, such as trembling, or difficulty moving, with stiffness, slowness and poor balance.

The study transplanted brain cells of aborted fetuses into the brains of Parkinson’s patients. The woman in the most recent study was 61 when she underwent surgery in 1993. She had had Parkinson’s for 22 years.

After surgery, she had fewer motor control problems and needed less medicine until 2004, when her health again began to decline.

Unlike later patients of Freeman, this woman knew she had surgery. In the later research, Freeman did “sham” surgery on some patients, drilling holes part way into their skulls. He then did real transplants on other patients, but neither they nor their doctors knew which were which.

Some patients improved after the treatment, but some got worse. Overall, it didn’t show a benefit. Future research in this area would likely be with stem cells, rather than fetal cells, scientists say. Although embryonic stem cells get the most attention, stem cells come from many places in the body. They can transform themselves into almost any type of cell.

Still, the latest results may help researchers learn more about what causes Parkinson’s.

“There’s something in the brain of a Parkinson’s patient that is chronically there, and that is killing the cells of Parkinson’s patients,” said Jeffrey H. Kordower, neurological sciences professor at Rush University Medical Center, the study’s lead author.

It also shows that genetics has a limited influence on Parkinson’s, since the transplanted cells don’t share the same genes as the original ones.

The results also argue against another theory. Some scientists have theorized there is one original event that happens to Parkinson’s patients, something that kills dopamine-producing brain cells, but doesn’t show until years later, as the brain ages and naturally produces less dopamine.

Since the damage seems to keep spreading, that theory seems less likely, Freeman said.

Researchers acknowledged that the results might show limits on stem-cell transplants, if those cells can be damaged.

But Freeman said he thinks stem cell transplants still hold promise for Parkinson’s. After all, this patient did well for a decade, he said.

“The possibility exists of a repeat transplant 10 to 12 years later,” he said. “Expecting long-term efficacy forever may be overly optimistic. But meaningful benefit for a decade may be realistic.”

Source: Tampa Bay Online

Ugh. Transplanting the brain cells of aborted fetuses into adult brains is something I strongly disapprove of. Stem cells produced from their own bodies, fine. Harvesting fetal brains is barbaric.

It has been a wet winter, and a fairly wet, cool spring as well. It has been several years since we’ve had such lush spring grass and clover is everywhere. There’s not much hay left at the feed stores and what there is very expensive from the previous multi-year droughts. I’ve been limiting the ewes’ access to pasture to about 3 hours per day, rationing dry hay to them, and was out of hay today. I also forgot to bring them in off the pasture until dark, leaving them out for about 8 hours.

I was putting the feed out, the ewes were eating, and just as I was putting feed in the second feed trough, a young ewe with a 4-week-old lamb staggered away from the feed and collapsed. Her eyes were rolled back, she made a few paddling movements with her feet (convulsions?) and stopped breathing. Holy crap!

I picked her up and dropped her a couple times in case her airway was blocked by her gobbling her feed, and she started breathing again, regained consciousness, and got up calling for her lamb. (Did I mention I am too old for this?)

In retrospect, though, I’m not sure that her airway was blocked, and it may be grass tetany. It has been a cool, rainy couple of days. Lots of lush growth. Her mother was a very heavy milker, and I imagine she is the same as her lamb is huge.

I have no injectable magnesium as it’s been years since we’ve had any lush spring growth. I raked up all the dry hay I could out of the bottom of the feed room (not much), and she started eating that with the other ewes. I tried to give her some oral magnesium in the form of milk of magnesia, but she wouldn’t let me near her, and I didn’t want to stress her any further by chasing her around the barn. I’ll go out again later, and see if I can maybe sneak up on her.

Sigh. I hope she survives her owner’s carelessness.

For some reason, I just loooove that poster.

OSCEOLA COUNTY, FL — A Jacksonville doctor is facing charges, following an arrest at a gas station in St. Cloud. Officers say he drove there to meet a minor for sex.

The investigation began this week when
detectives with the Special Investigations Unit received a tip from the National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children regarding a suspect who had conversations with a 16-year-old girl
on-line.

As part of those conversations that took place in January, police say the suspect, Dr. Irfan Nawaz sent a photo of himself standing in front of a local Osceola County hotel. Based on the tip they received, Osceola County detectives began an online conversation with Nawaz pretending to be a 15-year-old girl.

During the 4-hour conversation police say Nawaz asked the girl to perform a lewd act on herself. The detective and Nawaz had a second conversation on April 4. It was during that
conversation they agreed to meet the next day.

Nawaz showed up at the meeting location, where deputies say he struggled when they tried to arrest him.

Nawaz faces charges of traveling to meet a minor for sex, soliciting a minor for a lewd act and resisting without violence.

Nawaz has an internal medicine practice in Jacksonville and is also a published author in medicine journals.

He’s being held in the Osceola County jail without bond.

Source: First Coast News

Well, there goes THAT practice.

Update:

JACKSONVILLE, FL — To his colleagues, he’s a doctor of internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic here in Jacksonville.

To his victims, he’s ’search_of_dream’, his Yahoo screen name.

To police, he’s a suspected online sex predator.

Irfan Nawaz is being held at the Osceola County jail on $60,000 bond after a sting operation ended with his arrest.

According to the police report, Nawaz had a four hour long, sexually explicit conversation with who he thought was a 15 year old girl.

During the chat, the Jacksonville doctor sent the girl pictures of himself in front of a Kissimmee hotel.

April 4th, the chat apparently ended with the agreement that the girl would meet Nawaz at a gas station in Osceola.

After a 150 mile drive from the First Coast, Nawaz was ready meet the girl.

What he met instead, were officers with the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.

Once confronted, according to the report, Nawaz resisted arrest, forcing officers to deploy their tazer three times before finally arresting him.

“He was very emotional about the incident” said Osceola Sheriff’s Office Spokesperson Twis

Nawaz’ place of employment, the Mayo Clinic, has released this statement:

“We take seriously any allegation of misconduct by our staff. We are just hearing about this matter now, and will immediately conduct an internal review.”

During an initial conversation with deputies, he denied ever having other sexual conversations with minors.

“He has told deputies this ist he first time he had traveled to meet a minor he has spoke with online,” said

According to the report, Nawaz admitted to every act he’s being accused of, and eventually told investigators he has had sexual conversations with up to 10 underaged girls over the past two years.

Nawaz is in protective custody in the Osceola County Jail because of inmate threats.

An Osceola County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant tells First Coast News if Nawaz posts bond, he will be under house arrest in Jacksonville, with a gps monitor attached to his ankle.

Nawaz faces charges of traveling to meet a minor for sex, soliciting a minor for a lewd act and resisting without violence.

Nawaz is also a published author in medicine journals.

The Mayo Clinic probably isn’t going to be too enthusiastic about having a pedophile on staff. WHAT was he thinking? (Oh, right.) Not to mention the possibility of blackmail.