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When the news broke on June 24 that microblogging sensation Twitter picked up new venture investors, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the company — as luck would have it — was suffering a service outage. “Twitter is stressing out a bit right now, so this feature is temporarily disabled,” read the message. Trouble is, that message and others like it have become all too common on Twitter. The site, a tool that lets some one million people exchange brief 140-character messages, seems to be as unreliable as it is popular. In fact, it’s the surging traffic, in part, that leads to failures. Noises About Forsaking Twitter The new investments, from Bezos and Boston’s Spark Capital, will give the company “some runway and breathing room” as it invests in a big technology upgrade, says Biz Stone, a Twitter co-founder. He would not disclose the dollar or equity amounts of the investments. The goal, he says, is to rebuild the architecture “piece by piece.” The process is already underway and “will take months,” Stone adds. Existing Twitter backers Union Square Ventures in New York and Tokyo-based Digital Garage also participated in the most recent round. Bijan Sabet, a partner at Spark who landed a Twitter board seat through the investment, says the “highest priority is providing rock-solid service.” He envisions Twitter becoming “a global communication utility system,” though he didn’t elaborate on what that will look like. Bezos didn’t respond to a phone call seeking comment. More crucial to Twitter’s future than deep-pocketed investors and dependable machines are its throngs of users around the world. And it’s not clear these devotees will stick around through months of hiccups. Some are tempted to bail for rivals and related offerings, such as Plurk and FriendFeed, which appear to suffer fewer outages. As blogger Rafe Needleman asked on FriendFeed on…
Clinically Significant Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia: An Analysis of 646 Cases in Istanbul
Mars Lander Finds Salty Environment in Taste Test
The Phoenix lander’s first taste test of soil near Mars’ north pole reveals a briny environment similar to what can be found in backyards on Earth, scientists said Thursday. The finding raises hope that the Martian arctic plains could have conditions favorable for primitive life. Phoenix landed a month ago to study the habitability of Mars’ northern latitudes. “There’s nothing about it that would preclude life. In fact, it seems very friendly,” mission scientist Samuel Kounaves of Tufts University said of the soil. “There’s nothing about it that’s toxic.” Phoenix so far has not detected organic carbon considered an essential building block of life. Last week, the lander found evidence of ice below the soil. Scientists generally agree that liquid water, a stable energy source and organic, or carbon-containing, compounds are required for a habitable zone. The latest experiment was designed to test for minerals that do not have carbon in them. Earlier this week, Phoenix’s 8-foot-long robotic arm delivered a pinch of dirt dug up from near the surface to its onboard lab. Like a chemist, the spacecraft mixed the soil with water brought from Earth into a beaker the size of a teacup and stirred it. Sensors inside the beaker detect the soil’s pH and probe for traces of the nutrients. Preliminary results showed the soil had a pH between 8 and 9, researchers said. A pH less than 7 means the solution is acidic, while a pH over 7 means it is alkaline. Phoenix also detected the presence of magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride in the mixture. “It’s very typical of the soil here on Earth minus the organics,” Kounaves said during a teleconference from Tucson, Ariz. On Earth, asparagus, green beans and turnips could be planted in such an environment and chemical-loving bacteria would thrive there, he said. Planetary scientist David Paige of the University…
Novel Mutation of Aspartoacylase Gene in a Turkish Patient with Canavan Disease
Canavan disease is a neurodegenerative disease with autosomal recessive inheritance. Although this disease is prevalant among Ashkenazi Jewish population, several cases have been reported from all over the world. Canavan disease is caused by a genetic mutation in aspartoacylase gene. We have identified a novel mutation, a homozygous C432+1G>A mutation, in a 10-month-old boy who has a typical Canavan phenotype (without macrocephaly) accompanied by typical brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and diffusion magnetic resonance findings. The patient’s mother was found to be heterozygous for this mutation. We believe that future studies of aspartoacylase gene in various ethnic groups could lead to a better understanding of Canavan’s pathophysiology and gene therapy.
Recurrent Abdominal Pain Syndrome in a Cohort of Sri Lankan Children and Adolescents
Recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) is a common problem among children and adolescents. The epidemiology of RAP among Sri Lankan children is unknown. A self-administered parental questionnaire was distributed to 810 randomly selected school children, aged 5–15 years, and 734 (90.6%) were returned. RAP was diagnosed using Apley criteria. Children who fulfilled the criteria were interviewed. Seventy-seven had RAP (10.5%). Of them, 45 (58.4%) had periumbilical pain. The severity was mild to moderate in 45 (58.4%) and severe in 32 (41.6%). Common associated symptoms were headache (42.9%), anorexia (35.1%), lethargy (23.4%) and joint pain (23.4%). health care consultation among affected children was 70.1%. RAP was significantly higher in those who were exposed to stressful life events and who had a family history of RAP (p < 0.0001). RAP was not associated with school academic performance and participation in sports (p > 0.05). According to our results, the epidemiology and clinical profile of RAP in Sri Lankan children appears to be similar to that in other parts of the world, except for health care consultation, which is higher than previously reported.
In-Hospital Risk Estimation in Children with Malaria–Early Predictors of Morbidity and Mortality
Background: Rapid diagnosis and adequate therapy are crucial to prevent development of severe disease and death in children suffering from malaria. A reliable but easy system for disease severity assessment would help to fast track seriously ill children and provide suitable therapies for different patient groups. Objectives: To examine risk factors and appropriate scoring systems in children suffering from malaria for outcome in terms of morbidity and mortality. Methods: A prospective, consecutive study in children admitted to the Muhimbili medical Centre in Dar es Salaam was conducted to evaluate risk factors and test appropriate scoring systems. The simplified Multi-Organ Dysfunction Score (sMODS), a severity of disease classification consisting mainly of clinical data, was applied. Chosen outcome parameters were morbidity and mortality. Results were compared to those obtained from the World health Organisation (WHO) classification of severe malaria, the Blantyre Coma Scale (BCS) and selected single clinical parameters. Results: Seventy-five children were recruited into the study. Mean age was 28 months ranging from 6 months to 8 years. ‘Severe Malaria’, according to WHO criteria was evident in 57 patients (76%). Mean sMODS on admission was 15.6 2. Seven patients (9%) died. Among single symptoms, impaired consciousness and respiratory distress predicted both, fatal outcome and morbidity. In terms of scoring systems, the sMODS correlated with both outcome parameters. In comparison, the WHO criteria did not correlate with any of the two parameters, the BCS correlated with mortality only. Conclusion: In our study, sMODS has been shown to represent a useful quantitative approach towards disease severity classification in resource poor settings and can be used for risk estimation in children suffering from malaria in terms of both morbidity and mortality.
Early Introduction of Solids and Pneumonia in Young Infants in Papua New Guinea: A Case Control Study
A prospective case control study to determine the association of early introduction of solids with admission to hospital with pneumonia was undertaken at Mount Hagen General Hospital (MHGH) in the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) over a 3-month period in 2005. Twenty three infants up to 6 months of age admitted with radiologically confirmed pneumonia were compared with 24 infants of similar age attending the well baby clinic for immunization and with 35 infants admitted to the hospital with conditions other than pneumonia or meningitis. There was a highly significant difference in feeding patterns between the groups. Children with pneumonia were much more likely than the control children to have started solids before the age of 2 months [OR = 18.06 (4.8–72.86)]. They were also significantly more likely to have been admitted previously with a diagnosis of pneumonia (P < 0.001). The children in each group were of comparable age and weight and there were no obvious confounding factors. This study provides clear evidence for the association between early introduction of solids and pneumonia in PNG highlands children. The findings are consistent with other international data. While the reasons for the association remain speculative, the association strongly reinforces the need to educate the community on best infant feeding practices and to discourage the early introduction of solids.
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