Relief distribution still a challenge on Tonga’s islands

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ABC A boat lies among trees stripped by Cyclone Ian on Tonga's Ha'apai islands.

In Tonga, the Ministry of Health is working with churches on the Ha'apai group of islands to provide counselling services for victims of Severe Tropical Cyclone Ian.

Director of Health, Dr Siale Akauola, told Pacific Beat that mental health services are a priority along with providing ample supplies of safe drinking water.

Four days after the category five cyclone devastated the Ha'apai group of islands, killing one person and making thousands homeless, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has published an assessment of the damage.

It says more than half of the 1,130 buildings that were affected by Cyclone Ian have been destroyed and 34 percent of the rest have major damage.

It says that of the 17 primary and secondary schools affected in Ha'apai, 13 have major damage.

"Fortunately most of the people who've been evacuated to evacuating centres are living in large church buildings which still have adequate sanitation facilities so I'd say close to 90 percent of people are living in such church facilities," Dr Akauola said.

"So the question is sustaining the clean water supply and what happens when they move back into their damaged homes because almost 80 percent of dwellings or houses were either destroyed or have sustained major damage."

Dr Akauola says staff are taking action to ensure diseases like dengue fever or typhoid do not take hold by spraying for flies and mosquitoes as well as sourcing mosquito nets.

The United Nations situation report says the most immediate challenge is logistics to distribute relief and recovery items to outer islands as well as within affected areas.

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Relief distribution still a challenge on Tonga's islands

Islands Souvenirs celebrates Sinulog with edgy fashion show

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JUST as the city is abuzz, preparing itself to greet Sinulog revelers with colorful banners and blasting music, the well-loved pasalubong and memorabilia retailer Islands Souvenirs also gears up to wow mall-goers with their Sinulog Cut and Style fashion show.

On Jan. 17, 2014, the Cut and Style fashion show, to be held at 6PM at the Northwing atrium of SM City Cebu will feature a barrage of Cebuano personalities including a bevy of beauty queens including Miss International Tourism 2013 Angeli Dione Gomez and Queen of Cebu title holders; bright young trendsetters such as Kymberly Maitland-Smith, Mia Arcenas, Alfonso Montenegro and Tonyo Carcel; mother-and-tot tandems such as furniture retailers Agnes Huettel and daughter Alli, and Tess Lampert with daughters Veia and Maori and son Dylan; together with a handful of models and two of countrys most-followed fashion bloggers, Kryz and Laureen Uy, all strutting their stuff and showcasing their unique, personal creativity, in Islands Souvenirs Sinulog t-shirts. There will also be a special portion showcasing the limited edition Islands Souvenirs Viber t-shirts. Also to be featured is footwear by Native, worn by some of the participating personalities.

The highlight and finale of the show is American celebrity master shredder Adam Saaks who was flown in by Islands Souvenirs, from Hollywood. He will wield his skillful hands and scissors to rip, cut and style an Islands Souvenirs Sinulog shirt, live, and on the spot.

The Cut and Style Your Sinulog Shirt is available at the Northing Atrium of SM City Cebu until January 17 and all Islands Souvenirs stores until Sinulog day. Everyone is welcome to explore their edgy, creative side on Islands Souvenirs Sinulog t-shirts and join the rest of the city in celebrating the spirit of Sinulog.

Islands Souvenirs has branches in Ayala Center Cebu and SM City Cebu, with Islands Pasalubong Center branches along Archbishop Reyes Ave., across the Magellans Cross, and in Mactan.Also visit them at http://www.theislandsgroup.com.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 15, 2014.

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Islands Souvenirs celebrates Sinulog with edgy fashion show

Does Illumina Have the First $1,000 Genome?

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Illumina announces a new high-end sequencer made for factory-scale sequencing of human genomes.

Humans only: A new high-throughput sequencing machine from Illumina is optimized to sequence thousands of human genomes in a year.

The $1,000 genome has been a catchphrase of the sequencing industry for years, but despite bold promises from different companies, this benchmark hasnt been met. Now, thanks to a new sequencing machine from Illumina, it may finally be within reach.

At the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Tuesday, Illumina CEO Jay Flatley announced a new high-end sequencing machine that could accurately sequence whole human genomes at a cost of less than $1,000 each. Competitor Ion Torrent (later bought by Life Technologies) announced in 2012 that it had developed a machine capable of doing so (see Device Brings $1,000 Genome Within Reach), but capability has yet to materialize. Illuminas new machine is scheduled to reach its first customers in March. Faster chemistry and better opticsIlluminas machines read DNA sequences by analyzing patterns of fluorescent nucleotideshave allowed costs to come down.

The $1,000 price tag is often seen as vital to making whole-genome sequencing cost-effective for medical testing and personalized medicine. At this price, it might become reasonable for well-off patients to have their genomes sequenced for potential medical information.

Still, Illuminas new machines will be out of reach for most labs. The ultrahigh-throughput sequencers will be sold in systems of at least 10 machines each, at a starting price of $10 million. According to Flatley, the $1,000 price tag does take into account the cost of the machines, chemicals to do each run of sequencing, sample prep, and more. But these are machines intended to sequence tens of thousands of genomes each year.

Illumina emphasizes that the new machines will speed population-level genome sequencing for large projects aimed at understanding human disease and natural genetic variation. In his presentation, Flatley predicted an explosion of demand for factory-scale sequencing of human genomes. He pointed to a few large-scale projects already in the works, including the U.S. Veterans Affairs project to sequence the genomes of thousands of former soldiers and the U.K.s 100K Genomes project, which will sequence the genomes of National Health Service patients to help guide their care and to study genetic disease (see Why the U.K. Wants a Genomic National Health Service).

Researchers still struggle to understand how changes in DNA sequence cause disease and influence health. Large-scale sequencing projects can help reveal associations between a particular DNA variant and a disease or a healthy outcome. Over the next few years, we have an opportunity to learn as much about the genetics of human disease as we have learned in the history of medicine, said Eric Lander, founding director of the MIT and Harvard genomics center the Broad Institute, in a released statement.

The Illumina machine was built specifically for human genomes, says Flatley, and it can sequence human genomes accurately enough to reliably identify DNA variants 10 times faster than its predecessor, another high-end Illumina machine. While other machines may sequence human genomes more quickly, they cannot produce the same quality of sequence data at that speed, says Joel Fellis, a senior manager of product marketing at Illumina.

Flatley says the new machine can partially sequence five human genomes in a day. A complete run takes three days, during which time it can produce 16 human genomes at a quality level widely accepted by the sequencing community.

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Does Illumina Have the First $1,000 Genome?