Fatima Ghazaoui with Skin Allergy From the Sunlight

Fatima Ghazaoui with Rare Genetic Allergy to UV Light to Protect Her Skin From the Sun 

A woman with a rare genetic condition has shared how she wears a mask that looks like a 'space helmet' to protect her skin from damaging UV rays - and hasn't left the house without it for 20 years. At just two-years-old, Fatima Ghazaoui, 28, from Mohammedia, Morocco, was diagnosed with the rare skin condition Xeroderma pigmentosum, after her parents noticed intense freckling of her skin. The genetic condition leaves the skin unable to repair itself after exposure to ultraviolet radiation, which is present in daylight and some artificial light, and means a person is more likely to develop dangerous skin or eye cancers.

Fatima hasn't been out in daylight for over 20 years without wearing sun protection in the form of gloves and the helmet, which she affectionately calls her 'NASA mask', and mostly begins her days at nightfall. 'I rarely go out in daylight but if I have to', says Fatima, 'I must wear what I call a NASA mask as well as gloves to protect myself from sun rays. 'My day is different from other people's, I spend all day indoors and my day starts at night.' The condition means Fatima is easily sunburnt, even on a mild or cloudy day, and suffers with severe freckles, while having visible signs of dry skin and skin ageing.

Beatriz Pugliese Has a 80% Birthmarks on Her Skin

Beatriz Pugliese Has a 80% Birthmarks on Her Skin 

Young women Beatriz Pugliese were born with a nevus birthmark covering more than 80% of her skin. Beatriz Pugliese, 25 from Sao Paulo, Brazil underwent to reduce her birthmarks, as they are prone to cause skin cancer. Her condition, also known as a ain't congenital melanocytic nevus, is so rare that it affects just one in 500,000 people.

It consists of a huge melanoma production rate on the skin's surface. These tend to be darker patches. she has birthmarks on her entire body. She was born with a torso full of birthmarks and some parts of the legs. As she grows older, similar birthmarks started to appear but the birthmarks appear are prevalent even on the soles of her feet. Even the doctor who handled the birth was concerned. she underwent many surgical procedures.

Surgeon Still Working after 67 Years | Longest Career as a Surgeon

Dr. Mambet Mamakeev, a widely distinguished surgeon in Kyrgyzstan, was awarded the record title for longest career as a surgeon on 2020. 

Dr. Mamakeev was also presented with the prestigious title of Honorary Citizen of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan in recognition of his achievements in the medical profession.

Born in 1927, Dr. Mamakeev decided to pursue a life of medicine in 1952, and then specialized in medical surgery from 1953 onwards.

Currently residing in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Dr Mamakeev has thought to have performed over 30,000 surgical interventions and consulted/treated a minimum of 100,000 patients with various surgical requirements.

Today's news here in English and here in Japanese relates to what I've been saying about how the US should eventually have no choice but to begin concentrating on the Moon again (though the manned asteroid visit should be no problem), simply because the Moon is at just the right location whereby other nations (Japan, China, Russia, India) and private industry are able to explore it and I doubt that the US will be content to simply sit by and wait an extra 15 years for a single manned Mars flyby while the rest of the world is constructing and operating bases on the Moon. Wait for it...

As for the plan itself, it would involve sending robots to the south pole where solar energy is plentiful (24 days of light followed by 4 days of darkness) whereby they would then begin constructing a base. Recent experiences with the Mars rovers may lead one to believe that robots are incapable of doing work with any haste, but that is simply due to the large communication delay between here and Mars. On the Moon there is almost no delay at all (about 2.5 seconds there and back) so robots can easily be controlled from Earth, and in fact the Lunokhod rover drove a total of 37 km on the Moon back in 1973.

Japan's plans to create a robot-operated moon base by 2020

According to the proposal, the first robots would begin in 2015 by landing on the Moon, investigating and sending high-res images of the surface, as well as using seismometers to determine the interior composition of the Moon. After that in 2020 it would involve setting up a self-sufficient base through these robots which could move about in a 100 km radius, as well as sending back lunar rocks to Earth for analysis.

None of this is actually that difficult to accomplish, since the entire operation would be done robotically and these robots are extremely easy to control from Earth. Not only that, but setting up in the first place is not too difficult either. The rovers sent to Mars for example landed by using an interesting air bag system (inflate to encompass the rover, bounce bounce bounce bounce...then come to a stop, deflate and let the rover out) that would be impossible to use for humans due to the g-forces involved. Also note that since the Moon has (pretty much) no atmosphere any construction done on the Moon by these robots would be permanent. If part of setting up the base involved construction of a flat area for future landings, it would then remain as a permanent structure that anyone could use later on. Construct a habitation suitable for protecting humans from radiation and that would be there forever too.

Expected cost for the base: $2 billion, or less than one-eighth NASA's yearly budget. Or Canada's pitiful CSA budget (double it and I'll stop calling it pitiful) over 6 years.
Source :- pagef30

Tags: Japan, Japanese, space, robot-operated, moon, 2020

Scientists develop new method to detect mass graves

Canadian researchers have developed a new technique for detecting mass graves from the air, which they claim will help locate human remains years after the bodies have been disposed off.

Forensic experts at McGill University in Montreal have developed a technique, called hyperspectral imaging, which searches for signs of chemical changes in the vegetation growing on grave sites.

"From personal experience, I know it's possible to miss remains by a few centimetres, then realise it later and have to come back," says Andre Costopoulos, a member of the team which has used the technique for searching animal carcasses buried at Parc Safari in Quebec.

"Even quite substantial remains within an acre can be hard to find," Costopoulos says.

This method that analyses a range of visible and infrared wavelengths as it scans terrain from the air could prove useful to investigators looking for victims of war or genocide who have been buried in mass graves, New Scientist reported.

Cameras mounted on a light aircraft or helicopter detect variations in the intensity of light of various wavelengths reflected by vegetation on the ground. The precise pattern of intensities has been found to reflect changes caused by nutrients released into the soil as bodies decompose.

When searching for clandestine graves, investigators traditionally look for signs of disturbance on the ground, or dig small test trenches to identify the most likely area.

"Plants are living systems, and any changes in water content or the soil chemistry are going to affect how they reflect light," the team said.

The technique has great potential, says Ian Hanson, a forensic archaeologist at the University of Bournemouth, UK, who has investigated mass graves in Iraq and Bosnia.

"Some of these animals were buried around 20 years ago, so you could take new imagery over areas where bodies were buried 20, 30, 40 years ago and discover things that no one has ever been able to find before." This could be particularly useful in detecting older mass graves, he said.

A related method that is currently being developed by the FBI detects living humans and recently dead bodies lying on the ground, by recognising the chemical signature of human skin. It could be used when trying to locate and rescue people who are lost or missing and to track down fugitives.

Giant prehistoric tusks Researchers in northern Greece

Researchers in northern Greece have found two massive tusks of a prehistoric mastodon that roamed Europe more than 2 million years ago -- tusks that could be the largest of their kind ever found.
The remains of the mastodon, which was similar to the woolly mammoth but had straighter tusks as well as different teeth and eating habits, were found in an area about 250 miles north of Athens.One of the tusks measured 16-feet-4-inches long and the other was more than 15 feet long, the research team said. They were found with the animal's upper and lower jaws -- still bearing teeth -- and leg bones, said Evangelia Tsoukala, an assistant professor of geology at the University of Thessaloniki, who led the team that excavated the site.

The tusks were discovered in October by an excavation machine operator working at a sand quarry, but it took months for the scientific investigation to be organized.