Grizzly Bear. Courtesy U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Follow-Up Reports:
(August 31, 2011: Yellowstone hiker found Friday was killed by a GRIZZLY BEAR; October 4, 2011: FOLLOW-UP REPORTS: Yellowstone GRIZZLY linked to death of two HIKERS euthanized.)
Yellowstone National Park 03/05/12 nps.gov: News Release – The National Park Service investigative report issued by Yellowstone National Park and a Board of Review report issued by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee on the August 2011 fatal bear attack in Yellowstone have been released to the public. The body of 59-year old John Wallace of Chassell, Michigan, was discovered Friday, August 26, 2011, along the Mary Mountain Trail in Hayden Valley. The report includes details regarding the investigation and autopsy, which confirmed that Wallace died of traumatic injuries from a grizzly bear attack. The Board of Review report is available online at http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/grizzly/yellowstone.htm
The complete National Park Service Investigative Report covering this incident has also been released. It is available online at http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/foia/foia-frd.htm
Western Hemisphere 03/01/12 culex.ca: The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), a regional arm of the World Health Organization (WHO), on Tuesday “unveiled new guidelines to help countries throughout the Americas detect and prevent transmission of the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus — a disease which has already infected more than two million people around the world,” the U.N. News Centre reports. “The guidelines’ authors, PAHO adviser on viral diseases Otavio Oliva and PAHO adviser on dengue Jose Luis San Martin, warned that the fact that people in the Americas have not been exposed to chikungunya virus, placed the region at particular risk for the introduction and spread of the virus,” the news service adds (2/28).
“While the virus has not spread locally in the Western Hemisphere, experts say there is a clear risk of its introduction into local mosquito populations … if mosquito populations in the United States or elsewhere in the Americas became infected with the virus and began spreading it to people in that area,” a PAHO press release states, noting, “Hundreds of people who have traveled from the Americas to Asia and Africa in the past five years have become infected with the chikungunya virus” (2/28). Symptoms of chikungunya — fever, nausea and severe pain, mainly in the joints — can persist for months, according to the WHO, Pravada.Ru notes (2/28).
Global 03/05/12 marketwatch.com: News Release – Vical Incorporated today announced that the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) has initiated a Phase 1 human clinical trial of a tetravalent dengue DNA vaccine formulated with the company’s Vaxfectin(R) adjuvant. The trial is based on exciting efficacy data from a nonhuman primate study recently published in the journal Vaccine1. Vical manufactured the vaccine and the adjuvant for both the preclinical and clinical studies, and is providing regulatory and clinical expertise to NMRC for the dengue program.
Vical researches and develops biopharmaceutical products based on its patented DNA delivery technologies for the prevention and treatment of serious or life-threatening diseases. Potential applications of the company’s DNA delivery technology include DNA vaccines for infectious diseases or cancer, in which the expressed protein is an immunogen; cancer immunotherapeutics, in which the expressed protein is an immune system stimulant; and cardiovascular therapies, in which the expressed protein is an angiogenic growth factor. The company is developing certain infectious disease vaccines and cancer therapeutics internally. In addition, the company collaborates with major pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies that give it access to complementary technologies or greater resources. These strategic partnerships provide the company with mutually beneficial opportunities to expand its product pipeline and address significant unmet medical needs. Additional information on Vical is available at http://www.vical.com .
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