FACEBOOK ORGAN DONORS

            Facebook users in the United States and Britain will now be able to show on their page whether they wish to donate their organs. The hope is that it will encourage more people to register as organ donors.

            Nearly 7,000 people in the United States die each year while waiting for an organ transplant and around 10,000 people in Britain are on the waiting list for an organ. With the huge numbers of Facebook members in both countries, the social networking site hopes its foray into social

engineering will make a big impact.

            An American liver transplant director at a major hospital, Dr Andrew Cameron, called it a historic day and speculated it may well eliminate the problem of people dying while waiting for a transplant.

            As well as registering as donors, people are posting their personal stories of why they are donating. Debbie

Greenwood from Manchester, 336 friends: “My 5-year-old grandson had a combined liver and kidney transplant 18 months ago, his life is now 100% better and we are eternally grateful to the donor family, ___________ we have met.”

            Facebook says the initiative is about ___________ it easier on families, as they are more likely to know their loved one’s donor status in advance. It’s also about encouraging people who may have ___________ about it, but not got around to it or who might be inspired to donate if they find out that their friends are doing it. The British site already has nearly 70,000 Facebook likes and climbing.

                                                                                                          (Leana Hosea)

          RIO FAVELAS CRIME CLAMPDOWN

            Brazilian security forces occupied one of the biggest slums in Rio on Sunday. The operation was part of a major clampdown on organized crime ahead of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

            Authorities in Rio launched a fresh attack on organised crime by taking over the Mangueira slum close to the city's famous Maracana Stadium.

            Around 800 police and Special Forces occupied the slum without firing any shots. The vast majority of residents co-operated fully with the authorities; they want their community pacified and free of drug dealers.

            The police had pre-announced the raid, a strategy that gives criminals the chance to leave the area rather than being confronted in densely populated areas. Rio's authorities are making an effort to win the trust of those living in the slums who after decades of abuse have got used to seeing the police as their enemy.

            The Mangueira is the 18th slum in Rio to be reclaimed by the authorities. But there is still a lot to be done. With hundreds of slums known as "favelas" still in the hands of organised criminals, drug dealers have vast areas in which to hide and thrive.

                                                                       (BBC News – June, 2011)

WHO SAYS ONE BILLION PEOPLE DISABLED

            A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) says the proportion of disabled people in the world is rising. It estimates around 15 per cent of the global population has some form of disability – that’s one billion people. This figure has increased from 10 per cent in the 1970s. The World Report on Disability says about one in five of the 15 per cent, nearly 200 million, suffer from a severe disability. WHO directorgeneral Dr Margaret Chan warned: “In the years ahead, disability will be an even greater concern due to ageing populations and the higher risk of disability in older people as well as the global increase in chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and mental health disorders.”

            One of the most worrying conclusions of the report is that the disabled are more likely to face discrimination in the future. The WHO says the disabled will have greater problems finding work and accessing healthcare. The report authors say disabled people are three times more likely to be denied healthcare than other people in developed countries. The WHO’s Tom Shakespeare said: “The clear message from the report is that there is no country that has got it right.” Dr Chan said: “Almost every one of us will be permanently or temporarily disabled at some point in life. We must do more to break the barriers which segregate people with disabilities, in many cases forcing them to the margins of society.”

                                                                            (breakingnewsenglish)

 JAPAN’S RADIATION PHONE

There is still widespread public concern in Japan following the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima in 2011. Now one of the country’s mobile networks is planning to launch a phone with a built-in radiation monitor, BBC correspondent Roland Buerk reports. Japanese mobile phones are known for their advanced features – they can be used to swipe through barriers at train stations, watch television, or even measure body fat and tell the users if they have bad breath. Now Softbank, a major mobile network, has launched a handset with a built-in Geiger counter. It has a button that users can press to see how much radiation they are being exposed to. Sales are likely to be driven by widespread fear over the meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power station in 2011. Many Japanese say they don’t trust reassurances from the Government and the plant’s operator, TEPCO. Sales of conventional Geiger counters have soared and in some places people have clubbed together to buy expensive equipment to check for radiation in food. Softbank is yet to announce a price for the radiation-monitoring phone, which will be released in the summer, saying only that it will be affordable.

 (BBC – Adapted

HIV HOME TESTING

A panel of scientists in the United States has recommended that a home testing kit for the HIV virus be approved for sale. The experts unanimously backed the ground-breaking product, known as OraQuick, after concluding that it would help identify carriers who are currently unaware that they are HIV positive. If the panel’s recommendation is adopted by the Food and Drug Administration, OraQuick will become the first instant HIV test available over the counter in America. Using a mouth swab to detect the presence of antibodies, it delivers a result in just twenty minutes. In home trials, the product proved 93 per cent accurate, compared with 99 per cent accuracy when similar tests are conducted by medical professionals. Supporters say the kit would advance the fight against HIV Aids by encouraging more people to test for the virus in the privacy of their own homes. Currently, almost a quarter of a million Americans are believed to be HIV positive without realising it - that’s roughly a fifth of all infections. Researchers estimate that, each year, the new test would identify an additional 45,000 carriers of the virus and avert four thousand new transmissions. But the panel also advised that the packaging should carry warnings about the variable accuracy of home-testing, and a toll-free phone number offering counselling to those testing positive. There are already other home tests on the US market. But they require a blood test which must be sent to a laboratory for analysis. Last week, another FDA panel recommended for the first time a drug to protect healthy people from _____________ HIV.

 (BBC – adapted)