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Day: 29 July 2023

Savchuk Foundation raises €50,000 for the CSM’s paediatric brain cancer research

by: Stephanie Horsman
29/07/2023
Savchuk csm

The Scientific Centre of Monaco has received a €50,000 boost from the Savchuk Foundation, which will help further its research into treatments to stop brain cancers in children before they take hold.  

Brain cancer’s most aggressive forms prey on young children, sometimes infants, and many types remain uncurable, leading to heartache and heartbreak over the tragic loss of young life.  

CSM’S SPECIALISED DEPARTMENT 

The Scientific Centre of Monaco (CSM) has a special Stem Cell and Brain Tumours team within its medical biology department, and one of its principal focuses is looking at ways to reproduce the early events, such as a blockage in an embryonic state, that lead to brain cancer in children in a controlled laboratory setting.  

Headed up by Doctor Vincent Picco, the research could lead to increased understanding on how these cancers start, as well as provide real treatment and prevention solutions.   

““We use human neural stem cells whose properties are very similar to those of embryonic cells which will form the brain. In particular, they have the ability to proliferate and specialise in the different cell types found in the brain,” Dr Picco explains. “However, when we experimentally deprive them of their ability to specialise, the cells thus stuck in a proliferative embryonic stem state become capable of forming tumours.” 

The new techniques developed at the CSM are helping its scientists to understand the early phases and specificities of paediatric brain cancers, assist in the creation of revolutionary therapeutic approaches and allow the centre to conduct the necessary studies to find ways to fight these very specific cancers. 

Though the developments are promising, investment is needed to take these studies to the next level.  

FUNDING INJECTION 

Enter the Savchuk Foundation, an organisation that backs projects of this kind, and which recently held a fundraiser at the CSM. The event brought in an incredible €50,000, making it possible to continue and even accelerate the current stages of the overall project.  

The Savchuk Foundation promotes “educational, sporting and scientific projects where everyone’s energies are combined in order to go ever further in the mobilisation against disease”. It was created in tribute to Aleksandr Savchuk, who died in 2014.  

 

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 Photo source: CSM

Experts warn that turbulence is on the rise, and climate change could be to blame

by: Stephanie Horsman
29/07/2023
turbulence climate change

Excessive or strong turbulence has increased in frequency by as much as 55% in the last 40 years, according to UK-based researchers, and climate change could be at the root of the phenomenon.  

Air travel has made a spectacular comeback after the pandemic years, with millions making the most of opportunities to get away to see friends and family or to escape to destinations known and unknown.   

Whilst this is great for the travel industry, it may be more of a mixed bag for travellers, whose experiences are being coloured by excessive turbulence in the skies.   

WORRIES  

Researchers from Britain’s University of Reading have been looking into the phenomenon. According to the data collected, they say that incidents of strong turbulent events over the Northern hemisphere have gone up by 55% over the past 40 years. They cite climate change as the cause, and they say it is only going to get worse.   

In March of this year, seven people were sent to hospital after a Lufthansa flight from Texas to Germany hit a rough patch. In another similar incident, dozens were injured on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu in December 2022.   

JET STREAMING  

Pilots have traditionally used the Earth’s air flow patterns, called jet streams, to allow faster and easier west to east travel. The jet streams, though, are becoming more and more prone to clear-air turbulence, undetectable by radar, and pose challenges to pilots who get caught out by unexpected events.   

“The jet stream, which is this fast-flowing band, is getting more chaotic and stronger with global tropospheric warming,” University of Reading’s Isabel Smith told AccuWeather. “As you’re flying, [clear-air turbulence] can come out of nowhere, hit the aircraft quite suddenly, and you don’t have time to put the seatbelt sign on.”  

SOLUTIONS?  

Flying outside jet streams is a potential solution, but not a good one, say the experts, as flights would use more fuel to power the engines, thus contributing to the climate changes that are causing turbulence in the first place.   

“We’ll probably end up with more convoluted, longer flight routes, longer waiting times, and flights will become more expensive,” said Smith.  

Future planes may be built with technology to better detect turbulence, but for now, the best advice to keep from getting injured is to keep seatbelts on at all times.   

 

 

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Photo source: Tapio Haaja, Unsplash