WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016 HEALTH & SCIENCE News in Brief Rhode Island School of Design

Egypt says international organs network arrested works with NASA on suit CAIRO: Egyptian authorities announced Tuesday the arrest of 25 members of an international network allegedly trafficking in human organs, including uni- versity professors and doctors. “Today at dawn, the Better, more agile suits a requirement for Mars mission largest international network for trading human organs has been captured,” the country’s PROVIDENCE: When scientists are trying to Administrative Control Authority said in a statement figure out how to live in near-isolation in a on its website. The network “is made up of Egyptians dome to simulate a Mars mission, the last thing and Arabs taking advantage of some of the citizens’ they’ll need is an ill-fitting - so one difficult economic conditions so that they buy their of the nation’s top design schools has come to human organs and sell it for large sums of money,” it the rescue. Staff members and students at the said. The authority, which is responsible for tracking Rhode Island School of Design have come up corruption cases in state institutions, said 25 people with a new, adjustable suit that closely resem- were arrested including university professors, doc- bles an actual space suit. tors, medical workers, owners of medical centres, Real space suits are designed to work in intermediaries and brokers. They were found in pos- zero gravity, meaning they’re too expensive session of “millions of dollars and gold bullion”, it and too heavy to use at the NASA-funded Mars said. Ten medical centers and laboratories had been simulation mission in Hawaii. The simulated searched and the authorities had found documents space suits that are used instead wear out related to the charge and computers with trading quickly and aren’t all that comfortable. They’re information. Egypt’s parliament passed a law in 2010 small and provide poor ventilation. The new banning commercial trade in organs as well as trans- suit, unveiled Monday in Providence, is expect- plants between Egyptians and foreigners, except in ed to be tested during the next Mars simula- cases of husband and wife. A World Health tion mission in 2017 in Hawaii. A yearlong Mars Organisation coordinator at the time, Luc Noel, simulation mission ended in August. It was the named Egypt that year as one of the top five coun- fourth HI-SEAS, or Hawaii Space Exploration tries in illegal organ trade. The law aimed to regulate Analog and Simulation. NASA funded the organ transplants in a bid to curb illegal trafficking study, run through the University of Hawaii. and tourism for such operations. Andrzej Stewart was the chief engineering offi- cer on that mission. At 6 feet 2, Stewart couldn’t zip up the simulated suits, so he wore Korea expands cull a hazmat suit instead, which he said was easy to contain bird flu to wear but not very realistic. SEOUL: South Korea yesterday said it was The entire crew saw a need for a better suit, expanding a cull of chickens and ducks to try to said Sheyna Gifford, the mission’s space doctor. contain a damaging bird flu outbreak. The H5N6 A realistic suit is important, so crew members virus was first confirmed on November 18 at a can see what experiments they can do and farm in central South Korea and has since what tools they can use while wearing it, and spread to farms around the country, with the how the habitat should be designed to accom- total number of cases now standing at 28. modate it, she said. “What we’re aiming for is The agriculture ministry said in a statement the best possible simulation, to inform NASA that it has culled more than 4.4 million birds and about what we learned on that simulation so PROVIDENCE: In this Monday, Dec 5, 2016 photo, Andrzej Stewart, the chief engineering officer on a year-long Mars simulation mis- would slaughter another 2.7 million. Health they can succeed in the real thing,” she said. sion that ended in August, puts on a new space suit at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). — AP authorities agreed to issue a so-called “standstill” order to restrict workers at poultry farms from Future missions moving around the country if the virus contin- At RISD (often spoken as “RIZ’-dee”) on ues to spread, the ministry said in a statement. Monday, Stewart donned the new suit to see Asian countries dominate, science There have been no cases of human infections how it fit, how he moved in it and how well the from H5N6 in South Korea, although between ventilation and radio communications worked. 2014 and April 2016, the virus killed six people Gifford was an observer, along with a NASA teaching criticized in PISA survey in China, according to the South’s Centers for spacesuit engineer who will provide feedback PARIS: Asian countries dominated the top OECD countries, many of them in Europe, Last month, parents in Spain staged a Disease Control and Prevention. The World to ensure that the design best resembles the places in the latest PISA survey that meas- reported they did not get regular science strike to protest the amount of homework Health Organization warned earlier this year architecture of suits NASA may use for future ures skills among high school students lessons. schools were handing out. Spain scored that the strain “has caused severe infection in exploration missions. It was the suit’s first rig- released yesterday, but the report criti- These students scored significantly low- 493 points in the latest PISA tests-corre- humans” but added “until now human infections orous test. Stewart said that the ventilation cized the teaching of science in many er in the tests. Schools that did not offer sponding exactly to the OECD average. with the virus seem to be sporadic with no kept him cool and that the suit restricted his countries. The survey of 72 countries and dedicated science lessons tend to be in Perhaps predictably, head teachers ongoing human to human transmission”. movement like a real suit would. “It’s great to finally be able to put on a full economies found that the quality of sci- poorer areas of countries, the report not- told the researchers that truancy was suit and be able to walk around, be able to ence lessons was more important than ed. The problem was particularly bad in one problem that hindered student equipment or even staffing levels. And it Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, learning the most. But another signifi- Sick abandoned as Kenyan move in it,” Stewart said. “It makes me feel a lot more like an astronaut.” The white suit is made confirmed earlier findings that loading stu- Slovakia and Taiwan. cant factor they reported was staff resist- doctors’ strike continues of heavy-duty nylon fabric; carbon fiber that dents down with homework was rarely the ing change. Bullying and students’ use of NAIROBI: Sick Kenyans were turned away from hos- forms a hard shell for the upper torso area; and key to success in science. Homework not the answer alcohol or illegal drugs were reported as pitals, and patients left stranded in their wards as a foam that replicates the pressurization of an Singapore came top of the table for its The results also suggested that the key far less significant. crippling strike by doctors and nurses demanding actual suit. It comes in 16 pieces; components teaching of science, reading and mathe- to success in science teaching, even more pay rises entered a second day yesterday. Several can be replaced or resized easily to fit the short matics. Its students scored an average of than well-equipped and well-staffed Asian countries dominate patients are reported to have died as a result of lack and the tall. It weighs about 50 pounds. 556 points, compared with the average departments, was how much time was Asian countries dominated the top 10 of care in public hospitals, many of which are com- Work began after Gifford told Michael Lye, among Organization for Economic Co- spent teaching the subject. Those teachers of the PISA table, with Japan recording the pletely unstaffed. Kenyans have been directed to pri- the adjunct faculty member who coordinates operation and Development (OECD) coun- who actually demonstrated scientific ideas second-highest average score behind vate clinics that are unaffordable to the majority of projects between the school and NASA, about tries of 493. Where once Finland led the and who adapted their teaching to meet Singapore. Macao, Hong Kong and the the population. the opportunity to make a more realistic suit. way in educational excellence, Singapore students’ needs produced better results, mainland Chinese territories that were “We have had a lot of patients leaving our facility Gifford said the new suit is great, especially its is now the example to other countries, the the report said. tested also featured in the top 10, as did because we have no services offered due to the modularity, because it will fit whomever is on report said. That tended to happen in smaller class- Taiwan and Vietnam. But the top-ranked ongoing strike,” said David Mukabi, the superintend- the crew, though the exterior ventilation tubes “Everyone used to go to Finland. Now es, and students who received this kind of European country, Estonia, took third ent in charge of Busia hospital in western Kenya. He will have to go inside the suit so they don’t get you have to go to Singapore to see what teaching were more likely to go on to a sci- place. The only other European country in said a 24-year-old patient had died on Monday night caught on something or crushed. The suit, the they are doing,” OECD Chief of Staff ence-related career, it added. “Students the top 10 was Finland, in fifth. as a result of the stayaway. Meanwhile two women only one RISD made, will be shipped to HI- Gabriela Ramos told reporters ahead of score five points higher in science for every Canada was seventh on the list, well died at the Port Victoria Hospital in western SEAS, Lye said. The materials for the suit cost the report’s launch. Nearly a quarter of all additional hour spent per week in regular ahead of the United States, which ranked Budalangi. “Two patients died last night ... because about $10,000, paid for with grants from the students in Singapore (24 percent) also science lessons, after accounting for socio- 25th among OECD countries. PISA, the of the strike because there was no one to attend to HI-SEAS program and the Rhode Island Space scored in the top two categories in science economic status,” the report noted. Programme for International Student them,” said an official at the hospital. Local media Grant Consortium, Lye said. Students in the tests, compared with just eight percent But the results also suggested that the Assessment, was devised by the OECD to reported tales of patients suffering burns or in industrial design and apparel design programs across the OECD countries. study needed to be done in school, not at measure countries’ performance in teach- labour left stranded in front of hospitals. At one hos- worked on it. RISD is one of the country’s top The five top-performing countries in home. “School systems where students ing 15-year-olds the core subjects. PISA pital in western Kenya a security guard had to help a art and design schools and has a large industri- the PISA tests, which were carried out in spend more time learning after school, by tests are carried out every three years and woman give birth, while in another an orphaned al design department. It has worked with 2015, were Singapore, Japan, Estonia, doing homework, receiving additional in 2015 they covered all 35 OECD coun- child was left alone in an empty ward with no par- NASA before, including on a project to design Taiwan and Finland. The report found how- instruction or in private study, tend to per- tries and 37 partner countries and ents to organise her transfer, The Standard daily space gloves. — AP ever that around six percent of students in form less well in science,” said the report. economies. — AFP reported.