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Article 1




An Auckland professor has won official approval to resume clinical trials for implanting insulin-producing pig cells into diabetics.


Health regulators blocked Professor Bob Elliott's initial controversial research over fears that the animal transplants could introduce pig viruses into humans.
Today the listed company for which Prof Elliott is medical director said it had all the necessary approvals for new New Zealand trials.
Living Cell Technologies (LCT) chief executive Paul Tan said the company had obtained all the regulatory and ethics approvals required by Health Minister Pete Hodgson for the trials.
LCT - which is already carrying out similar trials in Russia - said it was the only company to obtain clinical trial approval for a pig cell transplant without suppressing a patient's immune system.
Auckland's regional medical ethics committee has approved the company's clinical trial protocols.
LCT planned to resume implanting pig cells in New Zealanders by the end of the year.
The company has said it hopes to commercialise its DiabeCellB pig cell transplants by 2012, targeting a global market of 24 million type-1 diabetes patients.
About 11,000 New Zealanders have type-1 diabetes, which is different from obesity-linked type-2 diabetes.
Type-1 diabetes can start in childhood, and leave patients unable to produce much insulin, which the body uses to process glucose.
They need regular injections of synthetic insulin, but if millions of pig cells inserted into their abdomens can manufacture extra "natural" insulin, their dependence on injections would be reduced.
The company said today it expected Mr Hodgson to accept the regulatory approvals in the next few weeks, so that it could start inserting pig cells into eight type-1 diabetics at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital.
In June it implanted cells from the pancreas of specially-bred New Zealand pigs into the abdomens of six Russians - all adults who had had type-1 diabetes for at least 10 years.
That trial is being held at the Sklifasovsky Institute in Moscow and is being managed by Boston-based GenyResearch Group.
This year, LCT received regulatory approvals from medicines regulator Medsafe and the Gene Technology Advisory Committee, and in May it became the first company to have an internationally-accredited laboratory for testing to ensure the absence of infectious viruses and micro-organisms in pig tissue and a system for monitoring recipients of pig cell implants.
LCT has been working with Medsafe, and the Ministry of Health on setting up a register of xenotransplant recipients and an archive for biological samples, as recommended by the ethics committee.
The national Bioethics Council called in 2005 for transplants of animal tissue into humans to be registered, and for any subsequent medical treatment to be recorded.
People with type-1 diabetes are not able to produce their own insulin because their pancreas cells are not functioning.
LCT has enclosed its pig pancreatic islet cells - which secrete insulin in response to signals from the patient's blood glucose levels - in a gel made from seaweed and branded the product as DiabeCellB.
The two key parts of the research are the seaweed gel stops the "foreign' cells triggering the patient's immune system, and its use of a breeding line of pigs which has been out of contact with "modern" pig diseases for over a century.
Other trials - such as implanting pancreatic cells from brain-dead humans - have required heavy use of immuno-suppressive drugs to avoid rejection by the patient's immune system. Human islet cell transplants cost about $US300,000 ($NZ430,000) a patient.
After two low doses of the pig islet cells over a 12-month period, the Auckland and Moscow patients will be studied for a further year to check the therapeutic effect.
"If the trial is successful, a major stride in developing a better treatment for diabetes will have been accomplished," said Prof Elliott.
One of the six NZ patients he injected with pig islet cells in 1996, Michael Helyer, of Auckland, was still gaining insulin from them when he was tested again last year.
Those trials were halted by then Health Minister Annette King because of fears that pig viruses could infect people.
Since then, LCT, which is listed on the Australian stock exchange, has acquired a ready supply of "safe" cells from two herds of quarantined pigs bred from animals isolated from human and modern pig diseases for 200 years on sub-Antarctic islands.
Dr Tan said regulators had led an international review of the health status of the pig herd and certified its manufacturing plant to standards for supplying medical grade pig cells for use in humans

Article 2







Manuel Elkin Patarroyo (born November 3, 1947) is a Colombian pathologist who developed the world's first synthetic vaccine for malaria, a disease transmitted by mosquitos that affects millions of people in the Third World every year. The vaccine was evaluated in clinical trials carried out by the WHO in Gambia, Tanzania and Thailand, and had mixed results

However, the vaccine has been proven effective at around 30 percent of the times and could save an estimated 1 million lives out of an annual death toll of 3 million; which is the most effective vaccine against malaria to this day.
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we have two successful people from different countries but whit a common idea

Memebers of the group

• http://www.newzealejandra.blogspot.com/ Alejandra Cardona
• http://www.southafricaupperint.blogspot.com/Javier Ramirez
• http://www.upperintermediateview.blogspot.com/ Lina Lizarazo
• http://www.upperintermediate.blogspot.com/ Juan Camilo Arenas

excessive things

Political parties in New Zealand can be either registered or unregistered. Registered parties must have five-hundred paying members, each eligible to vote in general elections.
If a party registers, it may submit a party list, enabling it to receive party votes in New Zealand's MMP electoral system. Unregistered parties may still nominate candidates for individual electorates, however.
Registered political parties are also able to spend up to $1 million during the campaign for the party vote. All political parties are able to spend $20,000 for electorate seats.

The music in New Zealand is a vibrant expression of the culture of New Zealand. As the largest nation in Polynesia, New Zealand's music is influenced by the indigenous Māori and immigrants from the Pacific region. The origins of New Zealand's musical culture lie in its British colonial history, with contributions from Europe and America. As the nation has grown and established its own culture, local artists have mixed these styles with local influences to create music that is uniquely New Zealand in style.The most popular styles of the late twentieth century were rock and hip hop, both genres garnished with New Zealand's unique Pacific influences. By the twenty-first century, roots, reggae, dub and electronica were all popular with local artists. New Zealand has maintained a thriving alternative scene for several decades.

The monetary unit is the New Zealand dollar which is equal to 100 New Zealand cents. Currently the New Zealand dollar has a lower value than the US dollar. Note that the exchange rate fluctuates. New Zealand´s Government is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen of England as head of state. The New Zealand Parliament is a unicameral body without an Upper House.

apart from this if you want to travel to New Zealand You need a valid passport.Follow the rules on visas
In a country where unemployment is relatively high, New Zealand, like many other nations, is wary of visitors who arrive in the guise of tourists and then work or otherwise overstay their visas.
So it is important for some intending visitors to be able to indicate in some way that they will neither work (unless they apply for and secure a work permit) nor overstay their visas.
It is unfortunate that some really genuine intending tourists get knocked back and fail to get visas because of a perceived chance that they may violate the terms of their visas.

on the other hand New Zealanders increasingly come from many ethnic backgrounds, and most immigrants to New Zealand have tried to reproduce their native cuisines or national dishes in New Zealand. Ethnic restaurants have served as community meeting places and have also given other New Zealanders a chance to try different cuisines.

Analyze these topics in contrast with Colombian reality we can see diferent points .

in first place,Colombia has historically maintained a two-party system, which means that there are two dominant political parties, resulting in considerable difficulty for anybody to achieve major electoral success under the banner of any other party

also,Dissidents from the two main parties have chances to win elections. Members of independent parties may be elected to regional or local office and may also win seats in Congress. Nowadays it is a multi-party system .

However if we cooperate the political parties with new Zealand it has five-hundred paying members, each eligible to vote in general elections different whit Colombia because it has multi-party system is a system in which three or more political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition although resulting difficult to achieve major electoral success but is not impossible