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Ellie Lobel was ready to die. Then she was attacked by bees. Christie Wilcox hears how venom can be a saviour.
Ellie Lobel was 27 when she was bitten by a tick and contracted Lyme
disease. And she was not yet 45 when she decided to give up fighting for
survival.
"They were in my hair, in my head, all I heard was this crazy buzzing — The bees, though, would rid her of disease"
Caused by corkscrew-shaped bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi,
which enter the body through the bite of a tick, Lyme disease is
diagnosed in around 300,000 people every year in the United States. It
kills almost none of these people, and is by and large curable – if
caught in time. Antibiotics can wipe out the bacteria quickly before
they spread through the heart, joints and nervous system.
But back
in the spring of 1996, Ellie didn’t know to look for the characteristic
bull’s-eye rash when she was bitten – she thought it was just a weird
spider bite. Then came three months with flu-like symptoms and horrible
pains that moved around the body. Ellie was a fit, active woman with
three kids, but her body did not know how to handle this new invader.
She was incapacitated. “It was all I could do to get my head up off the
pillow,” Ellie remembers.
Her first doctor told her it was just a
virus, and it would run its course. So did the next. As time wore on,
Ellie went to doctor after doctor, each giving her a different
diagnosis. Multiple sclerosis. Lupus. Rheumatoid arthritis.
Fibromyalgia. None of them realised she was infected with Borrelia until more than a year after she contracted the disease – and by then, it was far too late.
“I
just kept doing this treatment and that treatment,” says Ellie. Her
condition was constantly worsening. She describes being stuck in bed or a
wheelchair, not being able to think clearly, feeling like she’d lost
her short-term memory and not feeling “smart” anymore. “I would get
better for a little while, and then I would just relapse right back into
this horrible Lyme nightmare. And with every relapse it got worse.”
After 15 years, she gave up. “Nothing was working
any more, and nobody had any answers for me,” she says. “I didn’t care
if I was going to see my next birthday. It’s just enough. I was ready to
call it a life and be done with it.”
So she packed up everything and moved to California to die. And she almost did.
Less than a week after moving, Ellie was attacked by a swarm of Africanised bees. Swarm saviour
Ellie
was in California for three days before her attack. “I wanted to get
some fresh air and feel the sun on my face and hear the birds sing. I
knew that I was going to die in the next three months or four months.
Just laying there in bed all crumpled up… It was kind of depressing.”
At
this point, Ellie was struggling to stand on her own. She had a
caregiver on hand to help her shuffle along the rural roads by her place
in Wildomar, the place where she had chosen to die.
She was just
standing near a broken wall and a tree when the first bee appeared, she
remembers, “just hitting me in the head”. “All of a sudden – boom! –
bees everywhere.”
(Credit: SPL)
Her caregiver ran. But Ellie couldn’t run – she
couldn’t even walk. “They were in my hair, in my head, all I heard was
this crazy buzzing in my ears. I thought: wow, this is it. I’m just
going to die right here.”
Ellie, like 1–7% of the world’s
population, is severely allergic to bees. When she was two, a sting put
her into anaphylaxis, a severe reaction of the body’s immune system that
can include swelling, nausea and narrowing of the airways. She nearly
died. She stopped breathing and had to be revived by defibrillation. Her
mother drilled a fear of bees into her to ensure she never ended up in
the same dire situation again. Strong sting
Bees
– and some other species in the order Hymenoptera, such as ants and
wasps – are armed with a potent sting. This is their venom, and it’s a
mixture of many compounds. Perhaps the most important is a tiny
26-amino-acid peptide called melittins, which is responsible for the
feeling of burning.
When we experience high temperatures, our
cells release inflammatory compounds that activate a special kind of
channel, TRPV1, in sensory neurons. This ultimately causes the neurons
to send a signal to the brain that we’re burning. Melittin subversively
makes TRPV1 channels open by activating other enzymes that act just like
those inflammatory compounds.
“I could feel the first five or 10 or 15 but
after that... All you hear is this overwhelming buzzing, and you feel
them hitting your head, hitting your face, hitting your neck,” says
Ellie.
“I just went limp. I put my hands up and covered my face
because I didn’t want them stinging me in the eyes… The next thing I
know, the bees are gone.”
When the bees finally dissipated, her
caregiver tried to take her to the hospital, but Ellie refused to go.
“This is God’s way of putting me out of my misery even sooner,” she told
him. “I’m just going to accept this.
“I locked myself in my room and told him to come collect the body tomorrow.”
But Ellie didn’t die. Not that day, and not three to four months later.
“I
just can’t believe that was three years ago, and I just can’t believe
where I am now,” she tells me. “I had all my blood work done.
Everything. We tested everything. I’m so healthy.”
She believes the bees, and their venom, saved her life.
The idea that the same venom toxins that cause
harm may also be used to heal is not new. Bee venom has been used as a
treatment in East Asia for centuries. In Chinese traditional medicine, scorpion venom
is recognised as a powerful medicine, used to treat everything from
eczema to epilepsy. Mithradates VI of Pontus, a formidable enemy of Rome
(and also an infamous toxinologist), was said to have been saved from a
potentially fatal wound on the battlefield by using steppe viper venom
to stop the bleeding.
“Over millions of years, these little
chemical engineers have developed a diversity of molecules that target
different parts of our nervous system,” says Ken Winkel, Director of the
Australian Venom Research Unit at the University of Melbourne. “This
idea of applying these potent nerve toxins to somehow interrupt a
nervous disease has been there for a long time. But we haven’t known
enough to safely and effectively do that.”
Despite the wealth of
history, the practical application of venoms in modern therapeutics has
been minimal. That is, until the past 10 years or so, according to Glenn
King at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. In 1997,
when Ellie was bouncing around from doctor to doctor, King was teasing
apart the components of the venom from the Australian funnel-web, a
deadly spider. He’s now at the forefront of venom drug discovery.
King’s group was the first to put funnel-web
venom through a separation method called high-performance liquid
chromatography (HPLC), which can separate out different components. “I
was just blown away,” he says. “This is an absolute pharmacological
goldmine that nobody’s really looked at. Clearly hundreds and hundreds
of different peptides.”
Over the course of the 20th Century,
suggested venom treatments for a range of diseases have appeared in
scientific and medical literature. Venoms have been shown to fight
cancer, kill bacteria, and even serve as potent painkillers – though
many have only gone as far as animal tests. At the time of writing, just
six had been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for
medical use (one other – Baltrodibin, adapted from the venom of the
Lancehead snake – is not FDA approved, but is available outside the US
for treatment of bleeding during operations).
The more we learn
about the venoms that cause such awful damage, the more we realise,
medically speaking, how useful they can be. Like the melittin in bee
venom. Molecular moves
Melittin does not
only cause pain. In the right doses, it punches holes in a cell’s
protective membranes, causing cells to explode. At low doses, melittin
associates with the membranes, activating lipid-cutting enzymes that
mimic the inflammation caused by heat. But at higher concentrations, and
under the right conditions, melittin molecules group together into
rings creating large pores in membranes, weakening a cell’s protective
barrier and causing the entire cell to swell and pop like a balloon.
Because of this, melittin is a potent
antimicrobial, fighting off a variety of bacteria and fungi with ease.
But its power doesn’t stop there. Scientists hope it could fight
diseases ranging from HIV to cancer, arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
For
example, researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in
St Louis, Missouri, have found that melittin can tear open HIV’s
protective membrane without harming human cells. This envelope-busting
method also stops the virus from having a chance to evolve resistance.
“We are attacking an inherent physical property of HIV,” Joshua L Hood,
the lead author of the study, said in a press statement. “Theoretically,
there isn’t any way for the virus to adapt to that. The virus has to
have a protective coat.” Initially envisioned as a prophylactic vaginal
gel, the hope is that melittin-loaded nanoparticles could someday be
injected into the bloodstream, clearing the infection. Tall tale
But
could bees really have cured Lyme disease? Ellie is the first to admit
that her tale sounds a little tall. “If someone were to have come to me
and say, ‘Hey, I’ll sting you with some bees, and you’ll get better’, I
would have said, ‘Absolutely not! You’re crazy in your head!’” But she
has no doubts now.
After the attack, Ellie watched the clock,
waiting for anaphylaxis to set in, but it didn’t. Instead, three hours
later, her body was racked with pains. A scientist by education before
Lyme took its toll, Ellie thinks that these weren’t a part of an
allergic response, but instead indicated a Jarisch–Herxheimer reaction –
her body was being flooded with toxins from dying bacteria. The same
kind of thing can happen when a person is cured from a bad case of
syphilis. A theory is that certain bacterial species go down swinging,
releasing nasty compounds that cause fever, rash and other symptoms.
For three days, she was in pain. Then, she wasn’t.
“I
had been living in this… I call it a brown-out because it’s like you’re
walking around in a half-coma all the time with the inflammation of
your brain from the Lyme. My brain just came right out of that fog. I
thought: I can actually think clearly for the first time in years.”
With
a now-clear head, Ellie started wondering what had happened. So she did
what anyone else would do: Google it. Disappointingly, her searches
turned up very little. But she did find one small 1997 study by
scientists at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana, who’d found
that melittin killed Borrelia. Exposing cell cultures to purified melittin, they reported that the compound completely inhibited Borrelia
growth. When they looked more closely, they saw that shortly after
melittin was added, the bacteria were effectively paralysed, unable to
move as their outer membranes were under attack. Soon after, those
membranes began to fall apart, killing the bacteria.
Convinced by her experience and the limited
research she found, Ellie decided to try apitherapy, the therapeutic use
of materials derived from bees.
Her bees live in a “bee condo” in
her apartment. She doesn’t raise them herself; instead, she mail
orders, receiving a package once a week. To perform the apitherapy, she
uses tweezers to grab a bee and press it gently where she wants to be
stung. “Sometimes I have to tap them on the tush a little bit,” she
says, “but they’re usually pretty willing to sting you.”
She
started on a regimen of 10 stings a day, three days a week: Monday,
Wednesday, Friday. Three years and several thousand stings later, Ellie
seems to have recovered. Slowly, she has reduced the number of stings
and their frequency – just three stings in the past eight months, she
tells me (and one of those she tried in response to swelling from a
broken bone, rather than Lyme-related symptoms). She keeps the bees
around just in case, but for the past year before I talked to her, she’d
mostly done just fine without them. Complex cocktails
Rare
cases like Ellie’s are a reminder of the potent potential of venoms.
But turning folk knowledge into pharmaceuticals can be a long and
arduous process. “It could take as long as 10 years from the time you
find it and patent it,” says King. “And for every one that you get
through, 10 fail.”
Since the 1997 study, no one had looked further into bee venom as a potential cure for Lyme disease, until Ellie.
Ellie
has partnered with a bee farm that uses a special electrified glass
plate to extract venom. As the bees walk across the plate on the way to
and from their hive, harmless currents stimulate the bees to release
venom from their abdomens, leaving teeny little droplets on the glass,
which are later collected. Ellie says it takes 10,000 bees crossing that
plate to get 1 gram of venom (other sources, such as the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the UN, quote 1 million stings per gram of
venom), but “those bees are not harmed”.
She sends some of the
venom she purchases – which, due to the cost of the no-harm extraction
method she uses, she says is “more expensive than gold” – to Eva Sapi,
Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Science at the
University of New Haven, who studies Lyme disease.
Sapi’s research
into the venom’s effects on Lyme bacteria is ongoing and as yet
unpublished, though she told me the results from preliminary work done
by one of her students look “very promising”. Borellia bacteria
can shift between different forms in the body, which is part of what
makes them so hard to kill. Sapi has found that other antibiotics don’t
actually kill the bacteria but just push them into another form that is
more dormant. As soon as you stop the antibiotics, the Borellia
bounce back. Her lab is testing different bee venoms on all forms of
the bacteria, and so far, the melittin venom seems effective.
The next step is to test whether melittin alone
is responsible, or whether there are other important venom components.
“We also want to see, using high-resolution images, what exactly happens
when bee venom hits Borellia,” Sapi told me.
She
stresses that much more data is needed before any clinical use can be
considered. “Before jumping into the human studies, I would like to see
some animal studies,” she says. “It's still a venom.” And they still
don’t really know why the venom works for Ellie, not least because the
exact cause of post-treatment Lyme disease symptoms remains unknown. “Is
it effective for her because it’s killing Borellia, or is it effective because it stimulates the immune system?” asks Sapi. It’s still a mystery.
The bigger picture, however, is that venomous
animals could prove be excellent drug resources for devastating
neurological diseases, as so many of their venoms target our nervous
system. “We really don’t have great drugs in this area,” says Ken
Winkel, “and we have these little factories that have a plethora of
compounds…”
No one knows exactly how many venomous species there
are on this planet. There are venomous jellyfish, venomous snails,
venomous insects, even venomous primates. “When people ask me what’s the
best way to convince people to preserve nature, your weakest argument
is to talk about how beautiful and wonderful it is,” says Bryan Fry.
Instead, he says, we need to emphasise the untapped potential that these
species represent. “It’s a resource, it’s money. So conservation
through commercialisation is really the only sane approach.”
Ellie
couldn’t agree more. “We need to do a lot more research on these
venoms,” she tells me emphatically, “and really take a look at what’s in
nature that’s going to help us.”
This is an edited version of
an article originally published by Mosaic, and is reproduced under a
Creative Commons licence. For more about the issues around this story,visit Mosaic’s website here.
Grateful Singapore gives Lee Kuan Yew a hero's funeral
By Roberto Coloma
20 minutes ago
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View gallery
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Tens of thousands of
mourners braved torrential rain, howitzers fired a 21-gun salute and jet
fighters screamed across the sky Sunday as Singapore staged a grand
funeral for its founding leader Lee Kuan Yew.
"The light that
has guided us all this years has been extinguished," his son, Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said in a state funeral at the National
University of Singapore attended by Asia-Pacific leaders.
Lee's
coffin, draped in the red-and-white national flag and protected by a
glass case atop a two-wheeled gun carriage, was earlier taken in a
procession from parliament pulled by a ceremonial Land Rover as a
rain-soaked crowd chanted his name.
Four
F-16 fighters from the air force's Black Knights aerobatic team
performed a fly-past -- with one peeling off to symbolise a "missing
man" -- as the cortege made its way through a square where Lee was first
sworn in as prime minister in 1959.
He kept the position for 31
years, ruling with an iron fist to transform Singapore from a sleepy
British colonial outpost into a gleaming metropolis that now enjoys one
of the world's highest standards of living.
Singapore became a
republic in 1965 after a brief and stormy union with Malaysia. Lee, 91,
died less than five months before the island celebrates its 50th
anniversary as a nation.
State funeral procession for late Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew graphic (AFP Photo/)
A 21-gun salute is normally reserved for sitting heads of state but an exception was made for Lee.
Members of the public wait outside Parliament House for the state funeral procession of Singapore …
- 'Our national hero' -
"He is like a father to all
Singaporeans, the past, present and future generations," said Tan Yen
Lee, 26, a staff nurse at the Singapore General Hospital where Lee died
Monday after a seven-week confinement for severe pneumonia.
"We
have seen over the last week amazing scenes, a massive outpouring of
emotion for our national hero, and it culminates today."
Former US president Bill Clinton arrives at the University Cultural Center (UCC) for the funeral ser …
People wept openly, waved flags and threw flowers on the street
as the motorcade drove through districts associated with the political
career of the British-trained former trade union lawyer.
The body of former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew arrives at the University of Cultural Center for the …
Officials said more than 450,000 people -- in a nation with
just 3.34 million citizens -- had paid their last respects to Lee by the
time his public wake ended in parliament on Saturday night.
Strangers huddled together under umbrellas as they waited patiently along the 15-kilometre (10-mile) procession route.
Families
including babies and grandparents turned up early to secure choice
spots, bringing umbrellas and plastic ponchos in anticipation of rain.
"We
are here today as a family to witness this historic moment. As
Singaporeans we may have our differences, but when it comes to a crunch
we stand together. That is what Singapore is about and that is Mr Lee's
legacy," said teacher Joel Lim, 35.
Lee stepped down in 1990 in favour of his deputy Goh Chok Tong, who in turn was succeeded by Lee's son.
People wait for the state funeral of former premier Lee Kuan Yew outside Parliament House in Singapo …
- Reconciliation call -
Former
US president Bill Clinton, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South
Korean President Park Geun-Hye, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott,
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen
and Indonesian President Joko Widodo were among the dignitaries in
attendance.
Lee is revered by Singaporeans for his economic and
social legacy but criticised by rights groups for sidelining political
opponents, muzzling the press and clamping down on civil liberties. A
number of his opponents went bankrupt due to costly libel damages or
went into self-exile.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for
Human Rights Watch, called on Singapore to mark Lee's passing by "making
a break from the politics of yesteryear" while remembering his
achievements.
"The government should start by reconciling with
many of the exiles who have been persecuted and pushed away for far too
long," he said.
Members of a guard of honour prepare before a funeral procession for Singapore's late former pri …
Singapore now has one of the world's highest GDP per capita
incomes at $56,284 in 2014, up from a mere $516 when it gained
independence.
Ninety percent
of Singaporeans own their homes, thanks to a public housing scheme
launched by Lee, and the country enjoys one of the world's lowest crime
rates.
Its highly paid civil service is consistently ranked among the world's most honest.
Tens
of thousands of mourners braved torrential rain, howitzers fired a
21-gun salute and jet fighters screamed across the sky Sunday as
Singapore staged a grand funeral for its founding leader Lee Kuan Yew.
"The
light that has guided us all these years has been extinguished," his
son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, told a state funeral at the
National University of Singapore attended by Asia-Pacific leaders.
Members of the public observe a minute of silence along Upper Thomson Road for the state funeral pro …
Lee's coffin, draped in the red-and-white national flag and
protected by a glass case atop a two-wheeled gun carriage, was earlier
taken in a procession from parliament pulled by a ceremonial Land Rover
as a rain-soaked crowd chanted his name.
Four
F-16 fighters from the air force's Black Knights aerobatic team
performed a fly-past -- with one peeling off to symbolise a "missing
man" -- as the cortege made its way through a square where Lee was first
sworn in as prime minister in 1959.
He kept the position for 31
years, ruling with an iron fist to transform Singapore from a sleepy
British colonial outpost into a gleaming metropolis that now enjoys one
of the world's highest standards of living.
Singapore became a
republic in 1965 after a brief and stormy union with Malaysia. Lee, 91,
died less than five months before the island celebrates its 50th
anniversary as a nation.
A 21-gun salute is normally reserved for sitting heads of state but an exception was made for Lee.
- 'Our national hero' -
After
the eulogies ended at the state funeral, civil defence sirens sounded
across the island to signal the beginning and end of one minute of
silence.
The funeral ended with the singing of the Malay-language national anthem "Majulah Singapura" (Onwards Singapore).
"He
is like a father to all Singaporeans, the past, present and future
generations," said Tan Yen Lee, 26, a staff nurse at the Singapore
General Hospital where Lee died Monday after a seven-week confinement
for severe pneumonia.
"We have seen over the last week amazing
scenes, a massive outpouring of emotion for our national hero, and it
culminates today."
People wept openly, waved flags and threw
flowers on the street as the motorcade drove through districts
associated with the political career of the British-trained former trade
union lawyer.
Officials said more than 450,000 people -- in a
nation with just 3.34 million citizens -- had paid their last respects
to Lee by the time his public wake ended in parliament on Saturday
night.
On Sunday strangers huddled together under umbrellas as
they waited patiently along the 15-kilometre (10-mile) funeral
procession route.
Families including babies and grandparents
turned up early to secure choice spots, bringing umbrellas and plastic
ponchos in anticipation of rain.
"We
are here today as a family to witness this historic moment. As
Singaporeans we may have our differences, but when it comes to a crunch
we stand together. That is what Singapore is about and that is Mr Lee's
legacy," said teacher Joel Lim, 35.
Lee stepped down in 1990 in favour of his deputy Goh Chok Tong, who in turn was succeeded by Lee's son.
- Reconciliation call -
Former
US president Bill Clinton and Lee's close friend former US secretary of
state Henry Kissinger, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean
President Park Geun-Hye, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and
Indonesian President Joko Widodo were among the dignitaries in
attendance.
Former foreign secretary and Leader of the House of Commons William Hague represented old colonial ruler Britain.
Lee
is revered by Singaporeans for his economic and social legacy but
criticised by rights groups for sidelining political opponents, muzzling
the press and clamping down on civil liberties. A number of his
opponents went bankrupt due to costly libel damages or went into
self-exile.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights
Watch, called on Singapore to mark Lee's passing by "making a break from
the politics of yesteryear" while remembering his achievements.
"The
government should start by reconciling with many of the exiles who have
been persecuted and pushed away for far too long," he said.
Singapore
now has one of the world's highest GDP per capita incomes at $56,284 in
2014, up from a mere $516 when it gained independence.
Ninety
percent of Singaporeans own their homes, thanks to a public housing
scheme launched by Lee, and the country enjoys one of the world's lowest
crime rates.
Its highly paid civil service is consistently ranked among the world's most honest.
วันจันทร์ที่ 9 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2558
A record-breaking attempt to fly around the world in a solar-powered plane has got under way from Abu Dhabi.
The aircraft - called Solar Impulse-2 - took off from the Emirate, heading east to Muscat in Oman.
Over the next five months, it will skip from continent to
continent, crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the process.
Andre Borschberg was at the controls of the single-seater vehicle as it took off at 07:12 local time (03:12 GMT).
He will share the pilot duties in due course with fellow Swiss, Bertrand Piccard.
The plan is stop off at various locations around the globe, to rest and to carry out maintenance, and also to spread a campaigning message about clean technologies.
Before taking off, Borschberg told BBC News: "I am confident
we have a very special aeroplane, and it will have to be to get us
across the big oceans.
"We may have to fly for five days and five nights to do that, and it will be a challenge.
"But we have the next two months, as we fly the legs to China, to train and prepare ourselves."
Monday's leg to Oman will cover about 400km and take an estimated 12 hours. Details of the journey are being relayed on the internet.
The project has already set a number of world records for solar-powered flight, including making a high-profile transit of the US in 2013.
But the round-the-world venture is altogether more dramatic
and daunting, and has required the construction of an even bigger plane
than the prototype, Solar Impulse-1.
This new model has a wingspan of 72m, which is wider than a 747 jumbo jet. And yet, it weighs only 2.3 tonnes.
Its light weight will be critical to its success.
So, too, will the performance of the 17,000 solar cells that
line the top of the wings, and the energy-dense lithium-ion batteries it
will use to sustain night-time flying.
Operating through darkness will be particularly important when the men have to cross the Pacific and the Atlantic.
The slow speed of their prop-driven plane means these legs will take several days and nights of non-stop flying to complete.
Piccard and Borschberg - whoever is at the controls - will have to stay alert for nearly all of the time they are airborne.
They will be permitted only catnaps of up to 20 mins - in the
same way a single-handed, round-the-world yachtsman would catch small
periods of sleep.
They will also have to endure the physical discomfort of
being confined in a cockpit that measures just 3.8 cubic metres in
volume - not a lot bigger than a public telephone box.
Flight simulators have helped the pilots to prepare, and each man has developed his own regimen to cope.
Borschberg will use yoga to try to stay fresh. Piccard is using self-hypnosis techniques.
"But my passion also will keep me going," said Piccard.
"I had this dream 16 years ago of flying around the world
without fuel, just on solar power. Now, we're about to do it. The
passion is there and I look forward so much to being in the cockpit."
The support team is well drilled. While the mission will be
run out of a control room in Monaco, a group of engineers will follow
the plane around the globe. They have a mobile hangar to house the plane
when it is not in the air.
It is not at all certain Solar Impulse will succeed. Computer
modelling suggests the ocean crossings are feasible, given the right
weather conditions.
But that same modelling has shown also that there may be
occasions when the team simply has to sit tight on the ground for weeks
before a fair window opens.
"Last year, we had a very good exercise. We went around the
world virtually, but with actual conditions," explained Raymond Clerc,
mission director.
"For the Pacific crossing, it was an easy decision. We had a
very good window on 2 May. But when we were on the East Coast of the
USA, we had to look to cross the Atlantic and we had to wait 30 days to
find a good window to cross the Atlantic. And then it was easy - 3.5
days and we were in Seville, [Spain]," he told BBC News.
Pilot Andre Borschberg gives a guided tour of the solar plane
If the pilots should come unstuck over the Pacific or the
Atlantic, they will bail out and use ocean survival gear until they can
be picked up by a ship.
Of the two protagonists, Andre Borschberg perhaps needs a little more introduction.
A trained engineer and former air-force pilot, he has built a career as an entrepreneur in internet technologies.
Bertrand Piccard, on the other hand, is well known for his ballooning exploits.
Along with Brian Jones, he completed the first non-stop,
circumnavigation of the world in 1999, using the Breitling Orbiter 3
balloon. The Piccard name is synonymous with pushing boundaries.
Bertrand's father, Jacques Piccard, was the first to reach
the deepest place in the ocean (a feat achieved with Don Walsh in the
Trieste bathyscaphe in 1960). And his grandfather, Auguste Piccard, was
the first person to take a balloon into the stratosphere, in 1931. Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
วันอังคารที่ 3 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2558
Early Warning Signs for 9 Types of Cancer
Early diagnosis
will often significantly raise the success rate in the battle against
cancer. However, many cancer symptoms are also common
in other illnesses, leading doctors to initially diagnose these
illnesses instead of the cancer. By the time you’re done with this
article, you’ll have gotten to know the nine major cancer symptoms,
which should be your warning signs, helping you catch the cancer early
and saving your life, or that of your loved ones.
Note: Of course, the first thing to do when encountering these persistent symptoms is to contact a doctor immediately.
Colon cancer is considered to be one
of the deadliest forms of cancer in the western world, and manifests as
growths in the lining of the colon and/or rectum. When diagnosed early
enough, the success rate for treatments is very high. Adopting a
healthy, active lifestyle and fiber-rich diet, as well as avoiding
alcohol and processed meat can reduce the likeliness of developing this
type of cancer.
Blood in the stool
The appearance of blood in the stool
may indicate other stomach and intestinal illnesses, but also as a
warning sign of colon cancer. If you find fresh blood in your stool, or
have black stool, even in small amounts should not be ignored and a
physician should be consulted.
Unusually fast or slow bowel movements
When your digestive system doesn’t
work properly, it can lead to chronic diarrhea or constipation – a
possible sign of colon cancer. If your bowel movements are not normal
for a period of several weeks, or doesn’t respond to medical treatment,
it may serve as a warning sign for cancer.
Other symptoms:
Severe stomachaches
Lumps in your stomach
Unexplained loss of weight
2. Ovarian Cancer
This type of cancer attacks the
ovarian tissues and is mostly common with women over the age of 50, but
can also appear in younger women. The reasons for contracting this type
of cancer are not very well known. The known factors are genetic,
avoiding getting pregnant, and fertility treatments.
Indigestion
Symptoms such as bloating, nausea,
constipation, diarrhea, and gas can be indicative of ovarian cancer.
Since many women experience these kinds of sensitivities in their
digestive system, people rarely attribute it to cancer. This is why it’s
important to have these symptoms checked, if only to rule out cancer.
Skin cancer often attack the surface
of the skin, which later metastasize into other parts of the body. The
main cause of this type of cancer is unprotected exposure to sunlight,
and in farer-skinned individuals in particular.
A change in the shape, size or color of moles or beauty marks
Most moles and beauty marks are
benign, but some may indicate the presence of skin cancer. New moles and
beauty marks, ones that change their color, shape or size in a short
time (weeks/months), or a change in texture to brittle/greasy/bloody –
are all symptoms of skin cancer. Even if you don’t feel like having them
checked, it’s important to keep an eye on them, because anyone is
susceptible. Early diagnosis can save your life, even in cases of
malignant melanoma.
Skin sores that don’t heal after a couple of weeks
Our skin has the ability to repair
damages it experiences, but in some cases, such lesions and sores don’t
heal for weeks. This must serve as a warning, so if you notice such
sores on your skin, contact your GP immediately.
The appearance of spots or a change in the texture of the skin
If you notice new spots on your body,
or have ones you’ve never checked, as well as a change in their color
and texture, must be tested since they can be a warning sign of cancer.
4. Breast Cancer
Breast cancer usually starts as a
small, painless lump(s) in the breasts, and will later metastasize into
the rest of the body. Diagnosing breast cancer quickly increases the
survival rate considerably. Breast cancer is mostly common in women over
the age of 50, but can appear in any woman of any age. It is also
possible for men to contract, but these cases are very rare.
Abnormal lumps or swelling of the breasts
The most common symptoms of breast
cancer are the appearance of lumps, swellings or endema. They may not be
painful, but should be looked at by a doctor nonetheless.
Inflammation, lumps and dimples on the breasts
Visible changes such as inflammation,
bumps or dimples on the breasts could be indicative of cancer. Even if
you think that the symptoms are barely noticeable, don’t ignore them –
if it truly is breast cancer, early discovery can save your life.
Nipples: change in location / inflammation / secretions
If the skin of your nipple changes
texture or becomes brittle, if it becomes inflamed, swollen, its shape
changes and its location does as well (flattening or sinking of the
nipple), or secretions are common indicators of breast cancer. If the
symptoms don’t disappear after a while, consult with your physician.
This deadly cancer is common in both
women and men and leads to the formation of growths in the lungs,
destroying them. The most common cause of this cancer is first and
second-hand smoking of tobacco products.
Shortness of breath
Do you feel like you’re out of breath
more often, even when you’re resting, or that you’re constantly
wheezing, it may indicate lung cancer. If the shortness of breath a
result of an airways infection that doesn’t respond to medication, it
can also be a warning sign.
Chronic cough or bloody cough
Coughing on its own is a common
thing, especially during and after a cold or the flu. If your coughing
continues for 3 weeks or longer, or gets worse, it should serve as a
warning sign. Even if you’re in good health, but the cough persists, it
may indicate lung cancer. If you cough blood, even in small amounts,
consult your physician immediately.
Other symptoms:
Sharp pain in the chest or shoulder when taking a deep breath
Swelling in the neck, particularly in the lymph nodes
Difficulty swallowing
Lethargy
6. Stomach Cancer
Stomach cancer appears as growths in
the lining of the stomach, which later spreads to the lymph nodes and
the organs that are in close proximity to the stomach. The causes for
this cancer are unknown, though some experts claim it’s a result of
consuming preservatives. This type of cancer is more common in people 65
years of age and over.
Drastic, unintentional weight-loss
We may experience weight fluctuations
throughout our lives, planned or otherwise. However, if you experience a
drastic loss of weight when you haven’t changed your lifestyle may
indicate stomach cancer.
Chronic indigestion
Indigestion can occur quite often and
for various reasons, but when it’s accompanied by intense pain, happens
spontaneously (without any explanation), or chronic indigestion could
be symptoms of stomach cancer. It’s important to inform your physician
of these symptoms.
Growths in the oral cavity, on the
tongue, lips and gums, as well as the saliva gland and tonsils are
common in cases of mouth cancer. If it metastasizes, this cancer will
damage the lymphatic system, as well as your head and lungs. It’s more
common in men than women who are over 40. Quitting cigarettes and
reducing alcohol consumption can drastically decrease the risk of
contracting it.
Mouth or tongue ulcers that last for more than three weeks
Many people experience the occasional
mouth ulcer, which can be caused by stress, changes in the weather or a
compromised immune system. In cases where such ulcers don’t heal after
three weeks, they may be symptomatic of mouth cancer.
Other symptoms:
Red or white spots in the oral cavity
Unexplained pain in the mouth or ears
Unexplained lump in the throat
Intense sore throat
Hoarseness and trouble swallowing
Oral swelling and bleeding
Color changes in the lips, gums, tongue and inner cheeks
8. Throat Cancer
Growths on the vocal chords and the
lining of the throat are symptomatic of throat cancer, and can spread to
the esophagus, neck, and lymph nodes. Changing to a healthy lifestyle,
quitting cigarettes and alcohol can drastically reduce the risk of
developing this type of cancer.
Lumps or swelling in the neck that last more than three weeks
Any inflammation or lumps you notice
that last more than three weeks can by a symptom of throat cancer.
Whether or not the swelling/lumps are painful or not, or whether they’re
big or small, you will want to contact your physician.
Hoarseness
Pain in the esophagus and trouble swallowing
When we swallow our food, it goes
through our esophagus on its way to the stomach. If you are having
difficulties swallowing your food, or feel pain while doing so, or feel
that the food has gotten stuck in esophagus and won't go on - you should
immediately check the issue with your doctor.
Other symptoms:
Chronic vomiting
A chronic cough or coughs with blood
Unexplained loss of weight
9. Prostate Cancer Prostate cancer is one of the most
common types of cancer for men, especially those of age 70 and above.
This cancer is in ifact a malignant tumor in the prostate gland, which
belongs to the male's reproductive system and is located close to the
bladder. Difficulties peeing One of the most common problems of
aging in men is having problems peeing. However, this is also a common
symptome of prostate cancer and so such problems should not be ignored
just because you are of a certain age. Problems like giving urine
frequently or trouble pushing it out or not being able to hold it - are
major symptoms of this cancer. Other symptoms: Blood in the urine A burning sensation while peeing Blood in the semen
