SOUTH AMERICA ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND HEALTH NEWSLETTER

212 t h issue, December 13, 2012 PERU: Google Street View Vehicles To Start Filming in Peru*

Last week, Google vehicles started to collect images from different districts and regions of Peru, to implement a Street View function into its popular maps, which allows to view images from a walker’s level. The Street View Function allows to perform virtual walks and verify a restaurant address, visit neighborhoods or plan a trip by exploring a place before visiting it. Elcomercio.pe was there when Google vehicles started this trip on the streets of San Isidro. It is a van mounted with sophisticated equipment and cameras, which capture 360° images. “Now, people will start seeing these vehicles in many places of Peru, taking pictures”, pointed out Susana Pabóm, Google communication manager for Colombia and Peru. “Later, images will be digitalized for Street View,” she added. “We will provide the world with a window to see Lima, Arequipa, Machu Picchu and other places in Peru”, said Pabóm to highlight that this function will allow tourists to obtain information about the most representative cities of the country.” Countries in Latin America, including Brazil, Chile and Mexico, already count on Street View. In Colombia, the picture collection process started in June. Peru is the fifth country joining this project in South America. PRIVACY. Regarding privacy, Google explained that through Street View, they will only show the same roads visible when you walk or drive.” Faces and plates of vehicles will be blurred to avoid to be seen without consent. “Once images are available to public access, we will provide the tools to allow, upon user’s request, the elimination of images showing inappropriate content“ Google precised through its official blog. Read more at: http://elcomercio.pe/actualidad/1505676/noticia-video-inicio-recorrido-vehiculos-street-view-peru

The information contained herein was gathered from news sources from across the region, and the views expressed below do not necessarily reflect those of the Regional Environmental HUB Office or of our constituent posts.

Addressees interested in sharing any ESTH-related events of USG interest are welcome to do so.

For questions or comments, please contact us at quevedoa@state.gov.

* Free translation prepared by REO staff.

Peru: Google Street View

Vehicles To Start Filming in Peru

Science: The Connection

Between Species Extinction, Organized Crime, and the Spread of Disease.

Health: An Experimental

Treatment for Leukemia Using HIV Cells.

Antarctica: Ice is Melting

Faster Than Expected.

IIP Digital Links:

Innovative Cities.

Health: Unexpected

Toughness May Mark Out Cancer Cells in the Blood.

Peru: 2012 Birdwatching

Contest.

Science: Birds Use

Cigarette Butts to Build Their Nests.

February 1, 2013 REO S&T School Contest Launching

February 4, 2013

World Cancer Day

March 22, 2013 World Water Day

April17-19, 2013 IFT Energy Santiago, Chile

July 10-12, 2013 Eolica Buenos Aires, Argentina

Next events:

In this issue:

Photo by Paul Lowry (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

The below statement was issued in observance of Wildlife Conservation Day. To learn about the Wildlife Conserva-tion Society, visit www.wcs.org. Illegal wildlife trafficking may prove to be the demise of many of our Earth's species. Further, this activity -- which is snuffing out the last populations of elephants, tigers and other animals -- finances organized crime and aug-ments the spread of zoonotic diseases. There is no lack of reasons to join efforts to stop wildlife trafficking. To-gether, we need to protect the source, break the chain and stop demand. At a recent event in Washington, D.C., U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated words spoken by the State Department's Bob Hormats, saying: "...wildlife trafficking has become more organized, more lucrative, more wide-spread, and more dangerous than ever before." The State Department also stated, "Wildlife trafficking threatens security and the rule of law, undermines conservation efforts, robs local communities of their economic base, and contributes to the emergence and spread of disease."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-cristian-samper/the-connection-between-sp_b_2220725.html

Last spring, 6-year-old Emma Whitehead was near death from leukemia. She had relapsed twice after chemotherapy, and doctors had run out of options. Desperate to save her, her parents sought an experimental treatment at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, one that had never before been tried in a child, or in anyone with the type of leukemia Emma had. The experiment, in April, used a disabled form of the virus that causes AIDS to reprogram Emma’s immune system genetically to kill cancer cells. The treatment very nearly killed her. But she emerged from it cancer-free, and about seven months later is still in complete remission. She is the first child and one of the first humans ever in whom new techniques have achieved a long-sought goal — giving a patient’s own immune system the lasting ability to fight cancer. Nine of the twelve people subject to this treatment reacted favorably. Read more at: http://elcomercio.pe/actualidad/1508432/noticia-eeuu-medicos-curaron-nina-leucemia-usando-virus-sida

New observations published by oceanographers from the University of Gothen-burg and the U.S. may improve our ability to predict future changes in ice sheet mass. The study was recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience. A reduction of the ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland will affect the water levels of the world's oceans. It is therefore problematic that we currently have insufficient knowledge about the ocean circulation near large glaciers in West Antarctica. This means that researchers cannot predict how water levels will change in the future with any large degree of certainty.

"There is a clear reduction in the ice mass in West Antarctica, especially around the

glaciers leading into the Amundsen Sea," says researcher Lars Arneborg from the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Gothenburg. One reason why West Antarctica is particularly sensitive is that the majority of the ice rests on areas that are below sea level. Warm sea water penetrates beneath the ice, causing increased melting from underneath. Read full article at: http://phys.org/news/2012-12-sea-antarctic-glaciers.html

HEALTH: Experimental Treatment for Leukemia Using HIV Cells By Denise Grady

SCIENCE: The Connection Between Species Extinction, Organized Crime, and the Spread of Disease By Cristian Samper

Photo by T. Doksone (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

ANTARCTICA: Ice is Melting Faster Than Expected

Photo by John Lester (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

Photo by Bob Harwig (flickr user). Under

CLIMATE CHANGE: World Bank Unveils 10-Year Environmental Strategy By Lisa Friedman

The video team has two new videos, also available in youtube: Innovative Cities: Rock Port, Missouri is 100% powered by wind energy. http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/video/2012/11/20121128139177.html http://youtu.be/mnifNSrZRUQ Innovative Cities: Eugene, Oregon is building a bike path infrastructure for greener living. http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/video/2012/11/20121128139175.html http://youtu.be/_4ZbziJKk_I

A surprising discovery about the physical properties of cancer cells could help improve a new diagnostic approach—a liquid bi-opsy—that detects, measures, and evaluates cancer cells in blood. Cancer cells circulating in the bloodstream can form metasta-ses—new tumors. Detecting these rare circulating cancer cells in a blood sample is much less invasive than a standard tumor bi-opsy, and could prove useful for monitoring cancer progression and detecting recurrence.

While studying what happens to cancer cells when they are subjected to powerful fluid forces, like those encountered in the bloodstream, researchers at the University of Iowa unexpectedly discov-ered that cancer cells are actually more likely to survive this turbulent fluid environment than nor-mal epithelial cells. The researchers suggest this surprising "hardiness" could be a potential bio-marker for detecting and studying cancer cells in the blood. The findings were published Dec. 3 in the journal PLOS ONE. "For many years, it's been assumed that these circulating cancer cells are quite fragile, and they es-sentially get ‘blended’ by the fluid forces in the blood," says Michael Henry, associate professor of molecular physiology and biophysics at the UI Carver College of Medicine and lead study author. "But there was no real direct evidence for how fluid forces in the blood affect cancer cells. "What we found was that normal cells were, as expected, quite sensitive to the fluid forces and most did not survive. But, surprisingly, the cancer cells seemed to be remarkably resistant." Henry suggests that resistance to fluid shear stress might be a way to distinguish benign from malig-nant cells in circulating tumor cell samples. "By adding this really simple physical test to the isolation of circulating tumor cells, this technique might let us sort out malignant cells from benign cells. Being able to quantify the numbers of ‘dangerous’ cells might be a more accurate prognostic marker for the patient than simply counting the total number of circulating tumor cells," says Henry, who also is deputy director for research with Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the UI. A simple system. Using a simple syringe and precise mathematical calculations of fluid dynamics, the UI team created an experimental system to mimic the short bursts of turbulent flow that a can-

cer cell might experience in the blood. Passing a suspension of cells through the syringe needle allowed the researchers to study the effect of a series of millisecond pulses of high fluid shear stress on a variety of different cancer cell types (prostate, breast, and melanoma) as well as normal epithelial cells from breast and prostate tissue. After 10 passages though the syringe needle at high flow rate, around half of the cancer cells were still alive. In contrast, very few normal epithelial cells survived the process. Closer examination of the cell survival data revealed an additional twist. The rate at which the cancer cells are destroyed by pas-sage through the syringe is not constant over all 10 passages. Instead, exposure to fluid shear stress during the earlier passages seems to trigger adaptive responses in cancer cells that actually increase the cells' resistance to fluid shear stress. The UI team went on to show that this "toughening up" process appears to involve expression of common cancer-causing genes. They also showed that blocking the signaling pathway controlled by one of these oncogenes reduced the cancer cells' resistance to fluid shear stress. Reat more about this topic at: http://now.uiowa.edu/2012/12/unexpected-toughness-may-mark-out-cancer-cells-blood

HEALTH: Unexpected Toughness May Mark Out Cancer Cells in the Blood By Jennifer Brown

IIP Digital Links: Innovative Cities

Invadopodium extension by a cancer cell A cancer cell (red) extends along invadopodium through a matrigel baseme nt me mbrane (g reen) . Schoumacher et al. reveal how the actin, microtubule, and vimentin cytoskeletons cooperate to drive this initial step of tumor metastasis. Read the full article at: jcb.rupress.org/content/189/3/541.full Photo by The Journal of Cell Biology (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

Photo by William Ward (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

The swift (apodidae), a migratory bird originally from North America, was found in Peru during the Birding Rally Challenge, a birdwatching contest held in Peru, whose final destination was Machu Pic-chu. Also, the presence of the Peruvian wigeon (Anas sibilatrix) was confirmed. This species has not been seen since 1850. These findings were announced by Dennis Osorio, coordinator of this contest that gathered some of the world’s most recognized ornithologists, who were part of a total of six teams from five countries: United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, Spain, and Brazil. In six days, participants had to identify the largest number of birds, in a trip that started at the Ama-zon Tambopata Natural Reserve, and ended at the Machu Picchu rainforest. The winner team was

LSU-Tigrosomas from the United States, who observed 493 birds. Forest Falcons from the United Kingdom won the second place with 490 species. Dennis Osorio commented that this is the first time in South America that a competition like this has taken place over several days, as these contests last usually 24 hours. Following Colombia, Peru is the second country in the world in diversity of birds, counting on more than 1800 species in its different ecosystems. Read more at: http://elcomercio.pe/actualidad/1505547/noticia-ave-inedita-peru-fue-descubierta-concurso-avistamientos https://www.facebook.com/notes/promper%C3%BA-oficial/birding-rally-challenge-arroj%C3%B3-resultados-muy-positivos-para-el-per%C3%BA/470419249670370

“Peru will organize a new birdwatching contest during the first semester of 2013, which will cover the North coast and the jungle, including San Mar-tin, Amazonas and Lambayeque,” announced Claudia Cornejo, Vice Minister of Tourism. The new edition of this contest looks for a 17% increase in birdwatching tourism. In September, Jose Luis Silva explained that Peru expects ap-

proximately 20,000 birdwatchers to arrive in their country next year, which will generate an income of more than 50 million dollars. According to PromPeru, the profile of birdwatchers ranges between 35-75 years old, have an annual income higher than US$60,000, stay 11-15 days and are very concerned about environmental conservation. Read more at: http://elcomercio.pe/turismo/1506145/noticia-peru-volvera-organizar-rally-avistamiento-aves-2013

PERU: 2012 Birdwatching Cont est *

HOATZIN. Weird bird observed in San Martin region, Peru. Photo by Carine06 (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

The swift was seen in Tambopata by the British team. This northern migratory bird travels South when the winter starts, but nobody knew until now that it reached the Peruvian territory. Photo by genuinno (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

Participants could also observe one of the most representative birds of Peru, the cock of the rock (Rupicola peruviana), many species of hummingbirds (Trochilinae), and the A ndea n mo tmot ( Momotus ecuatorialis), known for moving its tail as a pendulum. Birds hard to find were the Masked Fruiteater (Pipreola pulchra) and the Black-Faced cotinga (Conioptilon mcilhennyi) Photo by Ricardo Sanchez (flickr user). Under Creative Commons License.

Birds living in urban areas had to adapt themselves to their environment and start using a wide variety of materials to build their nests. In North America, for example, sparrows even use the cellulose from the cigarette butts. However, it was unknown until now, why these birds used them. Recently, scientists discovered that, in addition to be useful as thermal isolators, cigarette butts prevented the nests of being invaded by parasites and other anthropods, thanks to the smell of nicotine they retain. Read more at: http://elcomercio.pe/actualidad/1506226/noticia-aves-usan-colillas-cigarros-alejar-parasitos-nidos

2013 Bir dwatch ing Cont est*

SCIENCE: Sparrows use Cigarette Butts to Build Their Nests*