Aitutaki, Cook Islands: Is this the world's most beautiful lagoon?

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Nigel Tisdall Jan 12 2015 at 4:45 PM

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The Cook Islands more than live up to the South Pacific dream. No wonder Captain Bligh's men took the mutinous decision to stay.

On April 11 1789, His Majesty's ship Bounty came across a supremely beautiful triangle of white sands and coconut palms lost in the vast blue counterpane of the South Pacific. Its commander, Lt William Bligh, was the first European to set eyes on Wytootackee, as he called it - although, in fact, it is not at all tacky. The journal of his voyage, now available online, gives no indication that he had reached what is today billed, with much justification, as "the world's most beautiful lagoon". Sixteen days later, perhaps understandably, his crew mutinied.

Now known as Aitutaki, this epitome of the South Seas idyll has become a chief reason to visit the Cook Islands. Lying west of Tahiti, this once-British constellation of 15 volcanic islands and coral atolls is sprinkled across an oceanic territory the size of Greenland. Its gateway, Rarotonga, seems ridiculously remote, yet dropping into this balmy world is a surprisingly easy affair thanks to an umbilical, once-a-week flight from Los Angeles with Air New Zealand.

Cook Islanders have strong links with the Land of the Long White Cloud. They use the New Zealand dollar and drive on the left, and share a mutual appreciation of Polynesian culture, rugby and custard squares. The weather is hot, the frangipani in bloom and the mangoes ripe.

Kicking back is what it's all about on Aitutaki, which instils mellowness like commuters get stress. A 45-minute flight north of Rarotonga, its tiny airport is delightfully laid-back, with chickens strutting past the check-in counters and tattooed men as big as fridge-freezers proffering garlands of heavenly scented flowers. The island rises no higher than 400ft and you can drive around it in 15 minutes. There's nothing to see - although you could try to spot one of its three policemen.

Except, of course, for that bewitching lagoon. Its shimmering layers of blue and green deliver complete bucket-list satisfaction - providing the sun's out. A favourite way to savour this moment is from a hammock strung between two palms at the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort, the only upmarket hotel that looks on to its dreamy waters. Another is to take one of the many cruises that explore its magical motus (islets).

Some vessels are large and loud, so I opt for a snorkelling safari aboard the small and simple Teking, which takes up to 12 passengers. We make three stops to plunge into the warm water to admire dazzlingly dressed fish and purple table corals as big as bandstands. Lunch is served on a desert island, a feast of yellowfin tuna, okra salad and fried plantain laid out in giant clam shells. All goes well until we near One Foot Island, where you can get a souvenir stamp in your passport, and the boat breaks down. There don't appear to be any life-jackets and we've run out of water. There is beer, though, and someone wryly observes that Aitutaki is where they filmed the reality shows Shipwrecked and Survivor.

By comparison, life on Rarotonga feels almost hectic. The hub of the Cook Islands is dominated by a rainforest-cloaked volcanic core rising to 614 metres, with a sleepy coastal road uniting its low-key beaches and reefs. You can drive the full circle in 45 minutes, or there are public buses with signs that simply say "Clockwise" or "Anti-Clockwise".

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Aitutaki, Cook Islands: Is this the world's most beautiful lagoon?

River Islands: 400 homes on 2014?

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River Islands at Lathrop is on pace to build nearly 400 homes this year.

Thirty families have moved into new homes as if the end of 2014 as the first residents of the planned community of 10,800 homes.

Three builders sold 86 homes and have started building 200 homes as 2014 drew to a close. Building started in earnest in August.

Cambay Group in July projected 90 homes would be built or started in 2013 with 250 homes breaking ground in 2015. Then in 2016 the target is for 500 homes with production expected to continue at that level in subsequent years.

If the pace continues, home building will exceed earlier projections.

The interest is incredible, Cambay Project Manager Susan DellOsso said in reference to traffic at model homes and the visitors center.

That means River Islands by itself could eclipse Manteca as the fastest growing city in San Joaquin County when it comes to new homes being built. Manteca has been leading the county with an average of 300 housing units a year since 2008. There are a lot of draws for the 4,800-acre planned community. They include:

Universal river access via a linear park along the edge of 14 miles of San Joaquin River and delta habitat. Thats in addition to 400 acres of lakes within River Islands.

A park of some type within a quarter of a mile of every home in River Islands. The first interior park being built will have soccer fields, extensive tree plantings and a wide expanse of steps leading down to the waters edge of a lake. It is being named Michael Vega Park in honor of the first Lathrop resident killed in the Global War on Terror.

Service by an independent district that will provide electricity at rates ultimately 25 percent below what PG&E charges.

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River Islands: 400 homes on 2014?

Genetic discovery about childhood blindness paves the way for new treatments

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An international research team finds a link between retinal degeneration and lipid metabolism

IMAGE:Dr. Robert Koenekoop examines a child's eyes and vision at the McGill Ocular Genetics Laboratory. view more

Credit: McGill University Health Centre

This news release is available in French.

Finding genes for retinal degenerations has immediate benefits for people living with blindness and vision loss, their families, and their physicians. Establishing a genetic cause confirms the clinical diagnosis at the molecular level, helps predict the future visual prognosis, suggests therapies, and allows some patients to join clinical trials. While more than 200 genes for retinal degenerations have been identified, approximately 40-50% of cases remain a mystery.

When 11 year old Naomi Lalandec walked into Dr. Robert Koenekoop's clinic at the Montreal Children's Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) with blindness and dwarfism due to Oliver McFarlane Syndrome (OMS), her unknown mutation sparked an international gene hunt. Comparing her genome to others with OMS and Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), another form of childhood blindness, uncovered a new gene that is critical for vision. What makes this breakthrough exceptional is that it opens up new treatment avenues for OMS and LCA and potentially other retinal degenerative diseases.

"It was like finding a needle in a haystack," said Dr. Koenekoop, who is also a researcher at the Research Institute of the MUHC and a Professor of Human Genetics, Paediatric Surgery and Ophthalmology at McGill University. "It was so obvious to all of us that this was big; a new gene, a possible new disease pathway, a new treatment avenue." With ongoing support from the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), Canada's largest charity supporting vision research, Dr. Koenekoop has spent more than a decade searching for genes linked to blindness. This search brought together an international team of scientists, including Dr. Michel Cayouette at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montral (IRCM), Dr. Doris Kretzschmar at the Oregon Health and Science University, Dr. Jacek Majewski from the McGill University and Gnome Qubec Innovation Centre and more than 30 others from around the world. Together, the team identified mutations in the PNPLA6 gene in families with retinal degeneration. This is the 20th gene associated with LCA and the first associated with OMS.

Although we've known about the PNLPA6 gene for more than 45 years, no one had identified that mutations in this gene can lead to retinal degeneration - until now. To better understand the role of this gene, the team studied how it functions in fruit flies. They learned that the PNPLA6 gene is expressed and located in photoreceptors (which are the light-sensing cells in the eye) and that mutating the gene causes photoreceptors to die.

To determine what PNPLA6 was doing in photoreceptors, the team did a variety of experiments. They observed that some lipids were elevated in fruit flies with the PNPLA6 mutation, which led them to conclude that PNPLA6 affects phospholipid metabolism. Phospholipids are located in our cell membranes where they influence the membrane's shape and functioning. They also influence how cells communicate with each other by determining the signals that are able to pass through cell membranes. When phospholipids stop doing what they are supposed to do, important signals get lost and cells can no longer maintain their structures or respond to their environment.

This novel insight about the role of phospholipid metabolism in photoreceptor biology paves the way for new sight-saving treatments. These potentially game-changing results were published on January 9, 2015 in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.

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Genetic discovery about childhood blindness paves the way for new treatments

Seattle Genetics, Bristol-Myers Report Clinical Trial Collaboration

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By RTT News, January 12, 2015, 08:18:00 AM EDT

(RTTNews.com) - Seattle Genetics, Inc. ( SGEN ) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. ( BMY ) Monday said they have entered into a clinical trial collaboration agreement to evaluate the investigational combination of Seattle Genetics' antibody-drug conjugate, or ADC, Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) and Bristol-Myers Squibb's immunotherapy Opdivo (nivolumab) in two planned Phase 1/2 clinical trials.

The first trial will evaluate the combination of Adcetris and Opdivo as a potential treatment option for patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma or HL, and the second trial will focus on patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell and T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Adcetris is an ADC directed to CD30, a defining marker of classical HL, which combines the targeting ability of a monoclonal antibody with the potency of a cell-killing agent. Opdivo is a human programmed death receptor-1 blocking antibody that binds to the PD-1 receptor expressed on activated T-cells.

The studies are expected to begin in 2015, with Seattle Genetics conducting the HL trial and Bristol-Myers Squibb conducting the NHL trial.

Adcetris is approved in relapsed HL and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma, but is not currently approved for the treatment of relapsed, transplant eligible HL or for the treatment of other types of NHL. Opdivo is currently not approved for the treatment of lymphoma.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

http://www.rttnews.com

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Diabetes Miracle Cure Review | The Hidden Gem Of Diabetes Miracle Cure – Video

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Lose weight, reduce fat and cure diabetes/cancer, be organic/vegan. – Video

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Lose weight, reduce fat and cure diabetes/cancer, be organic/vegan.
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