What is H7N9 bird flu? What is the pandemic risk?

Infection with the flu virus H7N9 is normally confined to poultry birds - but it was first found to have infected a human in March 2013, going on to cause 132 infections in people during that spring, and leading to 44 deaths.^1,2

The H7N9 virus is an avian influenza. The bird flu does not usually cross to humans, and when zoonosis does occur, it is a rare event.³

Because humans have not developed immunity to these subtypes of flu virus - which are continually evolving - the infections they cause us can be severe and life-threatening.³

Another avian flu virus has crossed over from bird populations to spread among humans - it was the H5N1 bird flu that first broke out in 1997.³ It caused severe respiratory illness and death, and continues to circulate around poultry in parts of Asia and north-east Africa.⁴

Whenever a new type of bird flu infection is reported in a person, fears are soon raised that it could be deadly, too. The concerns come in three stages:

• Does the new virus subtype cross easily from birds to humans?


• How bad is the illness when the virus infects a person?


• Will the virus spread quickly and widely among human populations?

As soon as new reports emerge, researchers and governments swing into action to start identifying and tracking the new flu virus, the aim being to maximize the chances of containing any potential epidemic. An international body is at the center of this effort, called the Global Early Warning System (GLEWS), which coordinates disease surveillance work by bodies including the World Health Organization (WHO).

What are the symptoms of human infection with H7N9 flu?

Our best memories have usually been created by age 25

By the time most people are 25, they have made the most important memories of their lives, according to new research from the University of New Hampshire.Researchers at UNH have found that when older adults were asked to tell their life stories, they overwhelmingly highlighted the central influence of life transitions in their memories. Many of these transitions, such as marriage and having children, occurred early in life.

Listening to 'beautiful but sad' music may improve a low mood

New research from psychologists at the universities of Kent and Limerick has found that music that is felt to be 'beautiful but sad' can help people feel better when they're feeling blue.The research investigated the effects of what the researchers described as Self-Identified Sad Music (SISM) on people's moods, paying particular attention to their reasons for choosing a particular piece of music when they were experiencing sadness - and the effect it had on them.

Brain-training game improves vision and success of baseball players

In baseball, vision can play a key role in a player's success. If they have trouble seeing the ball, chances are they could be out after three strikes. But new research from the University of California, Riverside, suggests that a brain-training video game could help to improve the vision of baseball players and, in turn, help them win more games.

The study findings were recently published in the journal Current Biology.

The research team, including Prof. Aaron Seitz, a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), assigned 19 players from the UCR baseball team to complete 30 sessions of a vision-training video game that Prof. Seitz created, while 18 other team members did not undergo the training.

Each game session lasted 25 minutes and was carried out prior to the start of the 2013 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) division 1 baseball season.

Visual sharpness improved

The investigators found that the players who carried out the video game training reported, on average, a 31% improvement in visual sharpness and became more sensitive to contrasts in light.

The researchers say they were surprised to see such strong improvements, particularly since baseball players tend to have very good vision.

According to the Snellen eye chart - used by health care professionals to measure visual activity - 20/20 is classed as normal vision.

After completing the vision-training video game, the researchers found that some players saw their vision improve to 20/7.5. This means that what the average person can read at a distance of 7.5 feet, these players are able to read at a distance of 20 feet.

When it came to skills on the baseball field, the researchers found that the players who completed the vision-training video game had a 4.4% reduction in strikeouts, and the UCR team scored 41 more runs than projected.

The results accounted for the usual expected skill improvements in players over a season.

"I didn't think we would see as much of an improvement as we did. Our guys stopped swinging at some pitches and started hitting at others," says Doug Smith, UCR Head Baseball Coach.

"Their average strikeout total went down and batting went up. There is such a high percentage of failure in our game. Even the best players fail to hit 70% of the time. Everyone is looking for an edge to be that little bit better. Our guys are more confident now when they come to the plate."

In the video below, the researchers explain how the study was conducted and the results they found:

Training could help non-athletes with low vision

Prof. Seitz says he believes the reason why the vision-training video game produced such good results is that it focuses on the brain rather than just the eye muscles. He explains:

"Our integrated training program is unique in that we focus on training the brain to better respond to the input it receives from the eyes and in that, we examined both standard measures of vision as well as real-world performance in elite players.

The improvements are substantial and significantly greater than that experienced by players in the rest of the league in the same year."

As well as athletes, the investigators say this approach to perceptual learning-based training could help people who have low vision that impacts their ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.

"We use vision for many daily tasks, including driving, watching TV, or reading," says Jenni Deveau, a recent PhD graduate of UCR and co-author of the study.

"This type of vision training can help improve not only sports performance, but many of these activities in non-athletes as well."

In other vision news, Medical News Today recently reported on a study suggesting that exercise could slow the progression of diseases that cause blindness.

Written by Honor Whiteman



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Monkey controls limb movements of 'avatar' using its mind

In the movie Avatar, humans operate the bodies of a human-hybrid species, called Na'vi, with their minds. Now, researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, have carried out a similar technique in monkeys - using neural devices that allowed an alert monkey to control the mind of one that was temporarily paralyzed.

The research team, including Ziv Williams of the Department of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School, says the findings provide proof of concept that such strategies could be used in the rehabilitation of patients who are paralyzed.

The research was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

According to the investigators, previous research has demonstrated that neurons in many parts of the brain are able to control external devices, such as a cursor on a computer screen. This direct communication is known as brain-machine interface ( BMI ).

The researchers say recent studies have even shown that using BMIs could potentially control robotic limbs.

In 2012, Medical News Today reported on a study detailing how a paralyzed woman was able to control a robotic prosthetic hand with her thoughts.

But the research team notes that although findings such as these are an important step forward in motor control, another important goal has been to determine how a paralyzed individual may be able to control the movement of their own limbs.

However, the study authors say there have been problems reaching this goal.

"Unlike the control of external devices, a distinct problem in attaining limb movement control is that the output of the motor system - for example, the corticospinal tract and its associated afferents - is generally not explicitly known," they explain.

"The exact combination of successive agonistic and antagonistic muscle contractions naturally used to produce limb movement to different targets in space is difficult to explicitly ascertain or reproduce."

But the researchers say they aimed to address these problems by focusing on the specific movement targets themselves, rather than intervening in movement trajectory.

Avatar monkey controlled through pre-recorded neural activity

For the study, the research team used two Rhesus macaque monkeys aged between 6 and 8 years old.

One monkey was sedated and used as the "avatar," while the other was used as the "master" monkey. Both monkeys took turns being either the avatar or the master throughout various sessions.

Inherited predisposition to leukemia found in infants

Babies who develop leukemia during the first year of life appear to inherit an unfortunate combination of genetic variations that can make the infants highly susceptible to the disease, according to a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Minnesota.The research is available online in the journal Leukemia.Doctors have long puzzled over why it is that babies just a few months old sometimes develop cancer. As infants, they have not lived long enough to accumulate a critical number of cancer-causing mutations.

Preventing zoonotic feline tularemia by finding influential geospatial factors

Kansas State University epidemiologist is helping cats, pet owners and soldiers stay healthy by studying feline tularemia and the factors that influence its prevalence.Ram Raghavan, assistant professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology, and collaborative researchers have found that a certain combination of climate, physical environment and socio-ecologic conditions are behind tularemia infections among cats in the region. More than 50 percent of all tularemia cases in the U.S. occur in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas, Raghavan said.