NASA recreates cosmic dust in lab

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Washington, May 11 : NASA scientists have for the first time reproduced tiny particles of dust that are known to accumulate around red giant stars.

Stellar dust is very special stuff as it forms the building blocks for planets.

"The harsh conditions of space are extremely difficult to reproduce in the laboratory, and have long hindered efforts to interpret and analyse observations from space," Farid Salama, space science researcher at NASA's Ames Research Centre in California, was quoted as saying.

Using the Cosmic Simulation Chamber (COSmIC), scientists have been able to create the same dust that is ejected into the interstellar medium as a star approaches the end of its life.

Until now, the production mechanisms behind these small dust grains have been a mystery and impossible to recreate in a laboratory setting.

"Using the COSmIC simulator, we can now discover clues to questions about the composition and the evolution of the universe, both major objectives of NASA's space research programme," Salama said.

The key to COSmIC is its extreme low pressure chamber at its heart.

Able to simulate the stellar environment down to densities billions of times less than that of earth's atmosphere, jets of cold argon gas seeded with hydrocarbons are sprayed into the vacuum.

The extreme cold, high radiation environment can then be simulated, blasting the whole system with an electrical discharge.

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NASA recreates cosmic dust in lab

Bahrain hospitals used by Irish medical school (RCSI) linked to rights abuses – Video

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Bahrain hospitals used by Irish medical school (RCSI) linked to rights abuses
For the first time since the resurgence of civil unrest in early 2011 the Irish Medical Council will visit Bahrain to accredit a constituent college of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland...

By: Gearid Cuinn

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Bahrain hospitals used by Irish medical school (RCSI) linked to rights abuses - Video

Emails hint at uneasy ties between Texas Tech and UMC

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The loss of the anesthesia contract by the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine to a private vendor might have been only one of the sore points in an uneasy relationship between Texas Tech and University Medical Center, according to emails obtained under the Texas Public Information Act.

In February, the UMC board voted 5-2 to award its contract for anesthesia services to Somnia, which submitted a $7.5 million bid, much lower than the Texas Tech bid of $11.2 million.

Last week, UMC's CEO Jim Valenti said UMC and Somnia were negotiating some of the last-minute details before signing the contract. A copy of the final contract was not available as of late Friday.

Somnia deferred questions about its contract to UMC officials.

Internal emails by employees of Texas Tech alleged that Somnia's final contract figure may end up closer to the Texas Tech bid of $11.2 million, once all the doctor and nursing staffing is factored in.

Financial aspects about the competing anesthesia contract proposals were discussed in a Jan. 31 internal email to Dr. John Wasnick, interim chairman of the anesthesiology department, and were copied to Dr. Jose Manuel de la Rosa, Texas Tech regional dean and founding dean of the medical school.

"So, basically what I take from this is that their vastly superior proposal in fact did not address the staffing demands of the RFP (request for proposal) we were presented," Wasnick said in his email, referring to Somnia's $7.5 million bid. Wasnick was interim dean of the anesthesiology department.

Wasnick was referencing an email attachment for Texas Tech Regent L. Rick Francis that said, "Based on our analysis, the difference in price between (the medical school's) bid and the agencies' (Somnia's) bid is less than $100,0000 when all hours are added in."

In an interview, Valenti disagreed with Wasnick's conclusion, saying the Texas Tech bid was for $14.2 million, minus the billing collections, which leaves the bid at about $11.2 million.

"I wished that Texas Tech had submitted a more competitive bid," Valenti said.

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Emails hint at uneasy ties between Texas Tech and UMC

Embracing the future

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If the University of Illinois really wants to make a positive difference, proponents of a new medical school on campus are showing how.

A public medical partnership between the University of Illinois and the Carle Medical System may be a gleam in the eyes of the plan's proponents, but it's still one of the most exciting proposals to come along in years.

Much work including raising vast sums of money must be done before this ambitious undertaking comes close to getting off the ground. But the possibilities of this partnership training needed doctors, mind-bending research linking medicine, science and engineering, expanding Carle's footprint as a destination hospital, vast economic expansion are unlimited. Most important, they represent a rush to embrace a future that will be here before people know it.

UI Chancellor Phyllis Wise has spoken repeatedly about the need to think and dream big. This proposal to create a new medical school linking the UI and Carle, one outlined in a consultant's report that was long in the making, outlines in real-world terms that ambition and what will be required to fulfill it.

They range from very real concern about raising the money $100 million for a new building and $200 million for an endowment to a potential UI turf battle between local administrators who want a campus medical school and the UI's Chicago campus that already has one.

At the risk of getting the cart before the horse, the consulting firm Tripp Umbach recommends immediately choosing a name for this new entity to avoid confusion with the current University of Illinois-Chicago College of Medicine, developing a business plan and financial model by September and filing an application for accreditation by the end of the year.

By 2015, the consultant's report recommends hiring a dean, one with a national reputation in "engineering and science-driven medicine," to oversee the institution's founding. By 2016, the tentative plan is to hire a distinguished faculty with the first incoming class to follow the next year.

That kind of warp speed may not be possible, but suggestions that it is re-emphasize just how serious local UI administrators are about creating a new institution that melds practical medical training with groundbreaking research in a way that could touch the lives of many thousands of people.

It remains to be seen what UI trustees think about the plan. UI President Robert Easter said only that "it's an idea that's on the table," one that must go through the traditional layers of review before it's sent to the UI and Carle boards for a final decision.

Not surprisingly, many questions remain. Concepts are one thing: the administrative outline how an institution like this would operate on a day-to-day basis is quite another.

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Embracing the future