SG 4 th in Stem Cell papers published on breakthroughs
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June 14, 2008 
Singapore among the top in stem cell research worldwideRepublic is ranked fourth for its focused efforts which have paid dividends By Chang Ai-Lien, Science Correspondent
SINGAPORE is punching above its weight in human embryonic stem cell research, the cutting-edge and highly controversial field that holds the promise of cures for a range of diseases.This is the conclusion of a study in the leading industry journal Cell Stem Cell, which ranked Singapore fourth behind Britain, Israel and China, after looking at papers published on breakthroughs in the field.
Singapore's global share of published work in this area is 2.9 per cent. Although small compared to the United States' 36 per cent, it is almost nine times more than what the city state is expected to produce, the study noted.
Together with Israel, Singapore was singled out for its focused research efforts which 'appear to have paid dividends', said the report in the US journal.
An actual cure and profits from research in this field may be some way down the road, but scientists here say the study is a strong endorsement of Singapore's performance in a highly competitive arena.
Dr Alan Colman, executive director of A*Star's Singapore Stem Cell Consortium, said: 'It is reassuring and great for Singapore to see independent and foreign affirmation of this welcome development.'
The study identified the US, France and Japan as underperformers. The trio had one thing in common - an uncertain research environment.This is because of the protracted policy debates over ethical issues such as harvesting stem cells from days-old embryos, which are destroyed in the process.
Singapore tackled the issue by being among the first to embrace the research with full government support and strict laws enacted to prevent abuse.
This climate helped attract the likes of Colombian clinician-researcher Eliana Martinez, 32, who came here because she was frustrated with constraints in the US.
'I learnt that Singapore is conducive for research and would not create frustrating blocks over the use of new cell lines,' said the National University of Singapore researcher.
Singapore has moved from strength to strength since a jumpstart in 1993, when stem cell pioneer Ariff Bongso became the first to obtain the precious cells from days-old human embryos.
There are more than 40 groups doing stem cell research here. And since 2000, more than US$20 million (S$28 million) has been granted for such work.
Just yesterday, the Republic counted its latest coup: Researchers from the Genome Institute of Singapore and NUS uncovered over 3,000 hotspots - a treasure map of sorts, showing areas in the genetic blueprint of embryonic stem cells which help them maintain their special qualities.
The work, published in the journal Cell, was done on mouse stem cells, but could easily be moved on to human cells if successful.
Professor Lee Eng Hin, executive director of A*Star's Biomedical Research Council, said it was another sign that Singapore was on the right track in the biomedical sciences.
'It shows that with the right combination of factors such as strong government support, a robust legal and ethical framework, the right mix of dedicated talent and state-of-the- art research infrastructure, we have been able to make our mark in the international scientific arena.'
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_247578.html -
pl search the article and share here
http://www.cellstemcell.com/
2.i think Professor Ariff Bongso of NUS shall be nomianted for Noble
Prize.
U sure laugh at me.But who know has the last laughs!!
-
i get the article:
http://www.cellstemcell.com/content/current/
Correspondence Identifying Under- and Overperforming Countries in Research Related to Human Embryonic Stem Cells
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B8G3V-4SNP1S5-9&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=d3af2da3b005ead82cc81ea47b51c0e1
Aaron D. Levine
[Summary] [Full Text] [PDF] [Supplemental Data] -
Could lionnoisy have CDV?
A sick lionA. IDENTIFICATION
1. The Issue
Burgeoning human population growth around the Western edges of
the park poses a great threat to big cats and other predators that
roam the Serengeti plains. Many of the villagers living outside
the park own dogs, and these dogs oftentimes are not vaccinated
against such common diseases as rabies or CDV. When these dogs
intermingle with Serengeti predators at kill or scavenge sites,
viruses such as CDV that can be spread through mucus secretions
have a means by which to jump from domestic to wild animal
populations. In the case of the CDV outbreak of big cats in the
Serengeti in 1994, it is thought that hyenas intermixing with
domestic dogs at one of these sites contracted the virus and then
spread it to other predators at different kill sites throughout the
park. How the fatal virus was able to make the leap from
afflicting domestic dogs to threatening to wipe out a sizable lion
population was a question scientists did not have any answer to.
And if the virus could do so much damage this time around, what, if
anything, could be done to protect the lion population from future
outbreaks?
2. Description
The Serengeti game reserve in Tanzania, Africa is one of the
largest wildlife areas left in the world and is known in part for
its well-documented and studied lion prides. Here, thousands of
antelope, wildebeests, and other herbivores carry on a daily life
and death struggle with the hyenas, jackals, cheetahs, and lions
that inhabit the reserve. The income derived from the thousands of
tourists that annually visit the park is a key source of revenue
for the Tanzanian government. Several years ago, a mysterious
virus appeared among the thriving lion population in 1994 and
proceeded to wipe out a third of the population before the eyes of
baffled scientists worldwide. It was only after the virus had run
its course several months later that the culprit was found: Canine
Distemper Virus (CDV). Previously thought to only afflict dogs and
a small number of other mammals on a limited scale, its discovery
lead scientists to wonder how this potent virus had jumped species
with such lethal results.
The Serengeti National Park is a 15,000 square kilometer
ecosystem and a place where natural preservation and economic
development are on equal footing. In 1994, there were an estimated
3,000 lions living within the Serengeti, the largest population of
big cats in the world.
Between January and March of that year, 11 lion carcasses were
found - representing a dramatic increase in mortality from previous
years and indicating to observers that there was a serious epidemic
stalking the lions. Tourists, many flying in hot-air balloons over
the park to get a better view of the wildlife, were the first to
notice that the lions were dying. One of the first lions suspected
of suffering from CDV-like symptoms was observed on February 3,
1994 and was identified because of the uncontrollable twitching and
convulsions that wracked its body. After watching many of the
lions dying or after examination of their corpses, no one scientist
knew why the outbreak had been so sudden or severe or if in fact it
was CDV that was killing the cats. At least 40 lions had died
since the outbreak started in February and some of the largest and
best-studied prides had been wiped out.
In fact, by early that year, approximately a third of a well-
known lion population study group of 250 was culled by the virus.
There was nothing experts could do to stop the current outbreak of
the virus except to let it run its natural course. The only
vaccine they had was of a weakened live virus and they didn't want
to use it because of the small chance of infecting a healthy lion
(Morrell 1994, 1664). Fortunately, the virus did not kill all
those lions that were infected so that the survivors will have
immunity against future outbreaks.
As investigators suspected and later confirmed through
extensive scientific analysis, the animals of the Serengeti were
dying of a canine distemper virus (CDV) that belonged to a
morbillivirus family or a virus very similar to it. CDV is a viral
disease that causes severe neurological symptoms and usually death
(Leary 1994, 13). Lions that were severely affected almost
inevitably died. CDV kills by attacking the respiratory,
gastrointestinal, immune, and central nervous systems of its
victims. It affected the lions' brains and caused facial
twitching, flailing paws, and convulsions. Other symptoms
included: lions looking off color with dull coats to complete
paralysis. The virus struck down lions of all ages throughout a
1,000 kilometer area within a few weeks of the initial outbreak.
Some mammals have their own version of the canine distemper
virus such as seals, dogs, black-footed ferrets, and livestock
(Miller 1994, 5). The virus strikes humans in the form of measles.
CDV can be so pervasive that it nearly wiped out the black-footed
ferret population in the Western U.S. in the 1980s. The virus had
occurred in lions and leopards in American zoos in earlier years
but never was such a large-scale epidemic among big cats observed
previously in the wild.
The disease is spread through fine droplets of an animal's
breath and is as easily transmitted as a cold. For instance - a
hyena or jackal scrapping with domestic dogs over a carcass could
have picked up the infection and passed it along to the lions in
the park in the same way (drooling, snapping, or biting) (The
Economist 1994, 76). It is thought that hyenas were the most
likely vectors of the virus because they travel great distances and
intermingle with both lions and domestic dogs at separate kill and
scavenge sites within and without the park. Nomadic lions (not
attached to any pride) could also have contributed to CDV
dissemination. The high densities of these susceptible carnivores
at kill sites could have provided an ideal environment for CDV
amplification and transmission.
Even though several suspected vectors were identified, no one
knew why there was a sudden outbreak within the big cats of the
Serengeti in 1994 because canines and felines had lived together
for many years without the virus jumping species with such
virulity. It has been known throughout the scientific community
that CDV has infected hyenas in the park since the 1960s and both
hyenas and lions have shared the same food supplies since then. If
that were true, why then was there a major lion epidemic of CDV in
1994 and not earlier? One of the theories put forward by
scientists was that CDV may have always been present in big cats
but that it had recently mutated to become more virulent (New
Scientist 1994, 8). As scientists later discovered, the CDV had
mutated due to an influx of CDV-infected dogs in the villages
surrounding the park allowing for the easy exchange of microbes
between species as domesticated dogs and wild animals intermingled.
To find out if the virus was a mutant virus, tissue samples of
23 dead lions, 11 sick lions, and 72 apparently healthy lions were
taken and sent to several labs in the U.S. It was hoped that
through extensive scientific analysis it could be determined
whether the affliction was a new strain of CDV and how it had
jumped species from dogs to cats after historically not doing so.
After many months of study and through the use of new genetic
analysis techniques, scientists were able to confirm that the
Serengeti organism was a new variant, or biotype, that was
genetically different from normal CDV (Morrell 1996, 596).
The new biotype was identified in several different ways. The
new lion strain infected lions' hippocampus whereas other strains
primarily cause an inflation of the brain stem in dogs. It also
affected dogs' bronchial tubes but in cats, it attacked alveoli,
the air sacs in the lungs (Morrell 1996, 597). A virus that has
expanded and affected new tissue areas previously not shown to be
afflicted is a sure sign of an emerging biotype. Besides the
symptoms that characterize CDV such as grand mal seizures and
recurrent twitching, scientists were able to diagnose that the
lions that had died in 1994 as also suffering from encephalitis and
pneumonia. These two diseases were usually not found in dogs
suffering from a normal CDV strain.
Scientists have been able to trace environmental changes that
apparently prompted the mutation: growing human settlements along
the Serengeti National Park's western border, with large
populations of CDV-infected domestic dogs. "Human activity was
the underlying cause of the epidemic." (Schwartz 1996, 4) The
Serengeti is surrounded by a human and dog population that is
growing at four percent a year and the people in the area own
roughly 30,000 dogs. People are moving to these areas to look for
work and the opportunity to make a living. Poor soil conditions
and job scarcity are often the reasons people leave the surrounding
areas to crowd around the national parks. Vaccination of the dogs
in these villages against CDV is rare although some dogs in the
surrounding villages had been vaccinated against distemper and
rabies. Between 1993 and 1994 a CDV epidemic swept through
villages to the west of the Serengeti killing thousands of dogs.
Tissue samples of lions taken between 1990 and October 1993 showed
no evidence of CDV. Of samples taken in 1994, 63 apparently
healthy lions and 8 of the 11 sick lions showed evidence of
infection.
Burgeoning human populations and their diseased animals put
new and unexpected pressures on wilderness areas - pressures that
make it more likely that dangerous microbes will move between
species in the future (Schwartz 1996, 1). An exchange of diseases
between species often encourages and promotes successful mutations.
Unfortunately, there are too many dogs to inoculate against these
diseases and prevent their mutation. The dogs have an extremely
high birthrate and a high population turnover so there are lots of
susceptible CDV host-animals. This kind of environment provides an
ideal condition for maintaining an epidemic. Morbilliviruses have
made incredible gains in these kinds of environments and have
evolved considerably to increase their host range. In fact, new
morbilliviruses have recently been identified in seals, dolphins,
and horses and it is thought that genetic changes may make such
expansion possible. The human population growth combined with a
pool of CDV-susceptible dogs probably lead to the new strain of the
virus that afflicted the lions.
Scientists were and still are alarmed about this latest
outbreak because the virus could come back at any time because of
the close proximity of so many non-vaccinated dogs. With the
number of dogs increasing yearly, there is a more likely chance of
contact between domestic dogs and wildlife in the future and thus
a chance of that another outbreak could occur. To help prevent
this reoccurrence, veterinarians from the Institute of Zoology in
London and the Tanzanian Parks Service are vaccinating dogs to try
and get rid of some of the reservoir where the disease could
remain.
Currently, Project Life Lion, a group local veterinary
services and wildlife authorities is traveling from village to
village vaccinating dogs in hopes of creating a cordon sanitaire
around the western villages (Miller 1995, 10). Supported mainly
through private donations, the vaccination program for dogs uses
First World money to protect an ecosystem of global importance. In
1995, forays into local villages helped vaccinate 80 percent of the
dogs in the places they visited. It is not certain, however, how
many dogs have to be vaccinated before the chain of transmission is
broken. The veterinarians have funding until 1999 and hope that
three years of intensive vaccination will eliminate the disease.
They are also vaccinating for rabies to stop the outbreak of that
disease. Yearly vaccination in the cattle of the villages since
the 1950s to stop the spread of rinderpest (a morbillivirus that
fatally afflicts cattle) has proved successful. It is hoped that
the same kind of yearly vaccination program would work as well for
the dogs.
Scientists believe that the reason the outbreak was so severe
in 1994 was because the lions were immunologically naive to CDV.
It is ironic that rinderpest in cattle has been controlled,
however, since lions may have gained immunity to CDV by eating
wildebeest or cattle infected with rinderpest (a cousin of CDV).
There are some studies that have shown that carnivores can be
protected from CDV by exposure to rinderpest (The Economist 1994,
76). Hence, its eradication through widespread vaccination of
cattle within the past twenty years may have left lions more
vulnerable to a virulent CDV strain this time around. Previous
samples taken from 77 lions tested between 1984 and 1989 showed
exposure to a virus suggesting that a similar but less lethal
epidemic occurred about a decade ago. Lions vulnerability in the
park may also be caused by the lions higher population density
(3,000 individuals in 1994, an all-time high) or their resistance
to disease might have been reduced by other infections or drought.
The large lion numbers possibly made it easier for the disease to
pass from animal to animal because there was more frequent contact.
By the time the outbreak was over several months later,
approximately 1,000 lions died of CDV and all sixteen prides within
the park were affected. It was hard for scientists to get an exact
figure because the park is so large and the lion prides are
generally spread out. Combined with the fact that scavengers can
reduce a carcass to nothing overnight, it was difficult to
calculate how many lions actually died. Because of this new potent
CDV strain, prospects for endangered populations where it occurs
may quickly take a turn for the worse. CDV impact on other
carnivore species is unknown. Less dense populations of cheetahs,
lions, or wild dogs are a clear cause for concern if exposed to a
virulent pathogen such as the new CDV biotype. There was fear
among Tanzanians and scientists that the CDV strain would spread to
the lions of the Ngorongoro Crater, an inbred and isolated
population of 80 individuals located just outside of the Serengeti.
Their genetic homogeneity could have caused them to succumb easily
to the disease (Miller 1994, 5) Fortunately, the biotype didn't
spread into their areas and the lions remained unaffected. Besides
afflicting lions, the new pathogen also killed a large number of
hyenas, leopards, and bat-eared foxes. After infecting the
Serengeti, the CDV spread northwards from Tanzania to the Maasai
Mara Game Reserve in Kenya.
For now, the threat to the Serengeti lions is past. No new
cases of CDV have been reported within the last year. Survivors
have developed an immunity and the lion population has already
recovered a quarter of its losses. By August of 1994, 85 percent
of the Serengeti lion population were found to have anti-CDV
antibodies (Roelke-Parker et al. 1996, 441). A number that bodes
well for lions facing possible future outbreaks. However tragic it
may seem to human observers, the epidemic has simply returned the
population to its previous level since 3,000 animals was an all-
time high (Morrell 1994, 1404). The surviving lions from the
latest outbreak could teach scientists about genetic factors that
made them immune to the virulent pathogen.
3. Related Cases
APPLE Case
NEMATODE Case
BALLAST Case
TIGER Case
Key Words
(1): Domain = AFRICA
(2): Bio geography = DRY
(3): Environmental Problem = INFESTation
4. Draft Author: Geoff Galster (May, 1996)
B. LEGAL Clusters
5. Discourse and STATUS: Agreement and In Progress
Although Tanzania has done little to capitalize on its
natural resources, increased tourist activities could help support
its conservation efforts. So far, Tanzanian authorities have
limited tourist accessibility to the Serengeti for fear of too much
destruction and tourist-driven development and degradation of the
area. But if the Tanzanian government would allow more tourist-
driven activities near the park, they could use the generated
revenue to potentially build housing elsewhere and relocate many of
the villagers presently living on the park's western fringes. (Or
they could institute a thorough dog vaccination campaign) By
moving these people and their dogs, the risk of future CDV
outbreaks in the park becomes less-likely to occur.
6. Forum and Scope: TANZANIA and UNILATeral
If the Tanzanian government had the money and the
infrastructure in place, it could pass legislation making it
mandatory for all dogs in the Serengeti area to be vaccinated for
CDV, rabies, and other highly-infectious diseases. Some sort of
dog registration and vaccination could be required. Presently, the
task of inoculating these village dogs has been taken over by
veterinarian groups based outside of Tanzania and funded mostly
through private sources.
7. Number of Parties Affected: 1
Tanzania's Serengeti National Park was the most severely
affected area during the 1994 CDV outbreak. As noted previously,
however, the virus did spread into neighboring Kenya and the
animals of the Maasai Masa Game Reserve. Overcrowding and
encroachment on park areas is an increasingly-serious problem faced
by many governments around the world. Trying to balance the needs
of the country's populace with the needs of the country's natural
resources is a difficult task. As long as you have human
populations living in close proximity to wild animals, the
possibility for outbreaks like the one in 1994 in the Serengeti are
inevitable.
8. Legal Standing: NGO
Project Life Lion, run by veterinarians based in the U.S. and
Britain, along with Tanzanian Park authorities, is doing all that
it can to prevent future outbreaks by vaccinating as many dogs as
possible before their money runs out.
C. GEOGRAPHIC Clusters
9. Geography
a. Continental Domain: AFRICA [AFRIC]
b. Geographic Site: Eastern Africa
c. Geographic Impact: TANZANIA
10. SUB-STATE: NO
11. Habitat Type: TROPICAL [TROP]
D. TRADE Clusters
12. Type of Measure: Regulatory Standard
The threat posed by new roads, hotels, restaurants etc. is
really not comparable to what might happen if a more virulent CDV
outbreak occurs among the lions in the near future. If a high-
profile species like the lion is reduced to a few prides or
eliminated altogether from the park by a new outbreak, then
Tanzania is likely to have very little tourism at all and the harm
inflicted by potential tourists is a moot point.
13. Impact Direct of Indirect: INDirect
14. Relation of Measure to Impact
a. Directly Related to Product: NO
b. Indirectly Related to Product: NO
c. Not Related to Product: NO
d. Related to Process: YES Species Loss Land
The only trade that would affected by the loss of big game in
the Serengeti to a viral outbreak would be the tourist trade. This
would directly impact the Tanzanian government's revenue flow and
indirectly affect its populace and the wild animals populations
still remaining. No mention of the zoo trade in animals of the
Serengeti was indicated in any of the articles researched for this
piece. It is not known whether the zoo trade negatively impacts
these species or the loss of these species hurts the zoo trade.
15. Product Type: TOURism
I don't think wild animals are products although they can and
are marketed to foreign populations.
16. Economic Data
17. Degree of Competitive Impact
Growing human population on the park's western edges will have
a HIGH and severe impact on the wildlife within the park as long as
domestic and wild animals intermix and as long as the domestic dog
population remains infected with CDV or other diseases. Until the
pathogen is completely eliminated in the domestic dog population,
disaster for the Serengeti lions and other predators could happen
any time. If the outbreak was serious, however, tourists might
have stopped coming to visit and Kenya would have lost a source of
income for its economy.
18. Industry Sector: Tourism [TOUR]
19. Exporter and Importer: MANY and Tanzania
E. ENVIRONMENT Clusters
20. Environmental Problem Type: Species Loss Land
21. Name, Type, and Diversity of Species
Name: Lion
Type: Mammal-feline
Diversity: See below
Only several thousand animals thought to be in existence throughout
Africa. The Serengeti population, now a little more than 2,000
animals, represents the largest population of big cats anywhere in
the world.
IUCN Status: VULNERABLE
22. Impact and Effect: HIGH and SCALE
23. Urgency and Lifetime: HIGH and 10-20 years
It has been found that morbilliviruses can genetically alter to
infect a variety of hosts very quickly. Even though the lions of
the Serengeti are immune to this last strain of CDV, no one can say
for sure that if and when the next time a CDV strain jumps species,
it won't be more devastating. Male lions usually live 10 to 15
years while the life expectancy of female lions is a little more
than 20.
24. Substitutes: Habitat Protection
F. OTHER Factors
25. Culture: YES
Dogs are very revered by the Tanzanian tribesmen for many
reasons including their ability to help with the hunt.
Vaccinations are not common and population grows incessantly
because there is no spaying or neutering of the animals.
26. Human Rights: NO
27. Trans-Boundary Issue: YES
It was in 1994 when the virus spread from Tanzania to Kenya
and could be in the future because of the close proximity of the
countries and the large game migrations.
28. Relevant Literature
The Economist 13 (August 1994): 76.
Leary, Warren. "A Mysterious Disease Strikes Serengeti Lions." The
New York Times, 7 June 1994, sec. C p. 13:3.
Miller, Susan Katz. "Lions Die of Sneering Sickness." New Scientist
4 (June 1994): 5.
Miller, Susan Katz. "Jabs for Dogs may save Serengeti Lions." New
Scientist 2 (September 1995): 10.
Morrell, Virginia. "Mysterious Ailment Strikes Serengeti Lions."
Science 3 (June 1994): 1404.
Morrell, Virginia. "Serengeti's Big Cats Going to the Dogs."
Science 17 (June 1994): 1664 - 1665.
Morrell, Virginia. "New Virus Variant Killed Serengeti Cats."
Science 2 (February 1996): 596 - 598.
New Scientist 11 (June 1994): 8.
Roelke-Parker, Melody E. et al. "A Canine Distemper Virus Epidemic
in Serengeti Lions." Nature 1 (February 1996): 441- 444.
Schwartz, John. "Lions' Death Sent Scientists Tracking Virus on
Serengeti." The Washington Post, 1 February 1996, sec. 1A. P. 4.