Prague
Barcelona, Spain, 31 August: The outcome of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) complicated by cardiogenic shock* is generally very poor. Although early mechanical revascularisation by primary PCI has been shown as superior to medical treatment, the mortality range remains high (at about 45-60%).
Ask biologists how many species live in a pond, a grassland, a mountain range or on the entire planet, and the answers get increasingly vague. Hence the wide range of estimates for the planet's biodiversity, predicted to be between 2 million and 50 million species.
The mystery of giant sperm present in some living animal groups today has taken on a new dimension. In one group of micro-crustaceans new evidence shows the feature is at least 100 million years old.
In the competition for a partner, males typically have to vie with each other -- be it with a colorful plumage, a large set of antlers or a seductive courtship dance. The females of some species, however, copulate with several males, so that rivals even after mating are still not defeated. So their sperm become rivals.
A novel system is enabling high energy physicists at CERN in Switzerland, to make production runs that integrate their existing pool of distributed computers with dynamic resources in "science clouds." The work was presented at the 17th annual conference on Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics, held in Prague, Czech Republic, March 21-27.
"Picture from Peggy and me (5-07-2008, Bavaria, Germany)"
*Maurits van den Noort received his MA-degree in Social Psychology and Neuro- & Rehabilitation Psychology from the Radboud University Nijmegen (Nijmegen, the Netherlands) and his PhD-degree in Psychology from the University of Bergen (Bergen, Norway). His main areas of interest are: human rights/life aid work, art, science. He is currently working for the Free University of Brussels (Brussels, Belgium) and he is visiting professor at Kyung Hee University (Seoul, Republic of Korea).
From Barney W. Greinke in Berkeley:
"When people point out the great technological accomplishments of the 20th century, they usually think it's the big things that are the most important ones. The atom bomb, jet airplanes, the Salk vaccine, electronic computing, DNA, men on the moon.
"How incredibly wrong they are.
Following devastating floods that submerged central Prague in water and caused 200,000 Czechs to leave their homes, the Czech government said it will be vaccinating 65,000 children against hepatitis A -- a liver disease that can spread when sewage systems are damaged and infected feces enters the drinking water. The Czech Republic's health minister has also asked the government to provide 3.5 million euros for other public health measures. The flooding has killed more than 100 people across Europe and caused billions of euros' worth of damage. It's not just the people who are hurting -- in the Czech Republic 100 animals died during the evacuation of Prague Zoo.
