MRSA superbug strain 'tracked' via genome

Researchers have developed a technique for precisely tracking the spread of the super bug MRSA in hospitals.                                                           

The team from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge looked at the genomes of MRSA strains from across the globe and at one hospital in Thailand.

They were able to spot small changes that allowed them to track the strain back to an individual patient.

They say this adds to the understanding of how MRSA can spread so rapidly and should lead to better treatments.

DNA sequencing

The research, which is published in the journal Science, involved teams in the UK, in Bath, Oxford and London, and Thailand, Portugal and the United States.

Scientists used new high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies to compare MRSA samples from patients to show how they were genetically related.

They were able to spot single-letter differences in the genetic code.

They looked at two different sets of samples: one set taken from people across the globe and another from a single hospital in Thailand.

They sequenced the entire genomes of each sample.

In the hospital setting it revealed single letter genetic changes in the samples showing that no two infections were caused by entirely identical bacteria.

This allowed them to discover whether one patient had infected another or whether the infection had come in from another source.

They found that the MRSA strain studied acquired about one single-letter change in its genetic code every six weeks.

Worldwide search

They also looked at samples from hospitals in several parts of the world collected over more than 20 years.

The rate of mutation apparently supports the theory that MRSA emerged in the 1960s at the time of widespread antibiotic use.

Professor Sharon Peacock, a microbiologist at the University of Cambridge said: "The implications for public health are clear. This technology represents the potential to trace transmission pathways of MRSA more definitively so that interventions or treatments can be targeted with precision and according to need."

Researchers say it would be too expensive to use the technology widely at present but the cost should fall in the next few years.

Professor Mark Enright, an expert in molecular epidemiology at Imperial College, London, said the work gave researchers "a good idea as to how this particular type of MRSA has evolved and how it behaves in and out of hospitals".

"This work is a great demonstration of new, rapid DNA sequencing that in the near future will be how important pathogens such as MRSA will be identified," he said.

"Such unambiguous identification will form the basis for rapid diagnostics of microbial infection and will tell us how they spread in hospitals identifying each human host and surface in chains of transmission between patients."

Skydiver Felix Baumgartner seeks to break sound barrier

The Austrian extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner says his next goal is to try to break the long-standing record for the highest ever parachute jump.

It is 50 years since the American Joe Kittinger made history by leaping from a balloon at 102,800ft (31km).

Many have sought to repeat the feat down the decades but all have failed.

Baumgartner, who is famous for stunts such as jumping off the Petronas Towers, aims to skydive from a balloon sent to at least 120,000 ft (37km).

It is likely that in his long freefall of more than five minutes, he will exceed the speed of sound - the first person to do so without the aid of a machine.

"One of the unknowns is how a human body will react approaching supersonic speeds," he said.

"The effects of the transition from subsonic through transonic to supersonic velocity and back again are not known. This is just one of the things we'll learn."

Baumgartner and his supporters claim the project will gather scientific data also about the stratosphere and how the body copes with the extreme conditions so high above the Earth's surface.

The most recent attempt to try to better Kittinger's mark was made in 2008 by the Frenchman Michel Fournier.

The former paratrooper and adventurer had spent years preparing for "Le Grand Saut", or Big Jump, only to see his balloon break free and float off into the sky just as he was about to climb inside the ascent capsule.

Baumgartner acknowledges the risks of breaking the sound barrier

Baumgartner has frequently incurred the ire of the authorities because of his base-jumping - the highly dangerous practice of parachuting from buildings. He also made headlines in 2003 when he crossed the English Channel on a carbon wing strapped to his back.

His assault on Kittinger's record is likely to take place later this year over an as yet unnamed location in North America. He will ascend to the stratosphere in a pressurized capsule attached to a high-altitude helium balloon, and then jump out at an altitude he hopes will exceed 120,000ft.

He will be wearing a specially modified full-pressure suit and helmet.

The organisers of the project called Red Bull Stratos say, if all goes well, he should break the speed of sound about 35 seconds into his descent.

Joe Kittinger's 16 August 1960 jump was an extraordinary achievement. It was made nine months before Alan Shepard was even launched on the first American sub-orbital space trip.

Kittinger experienced intense swelling in his right hand as his glove malfunctioned and his body reacted to the low pressure at high altitude.

The retired USAF colonel is now supporting the Austrian in his endeavour.

As well as coping with freezing temperatures and ultra-thin air, a key objective for Baumgartner must be to try to maintain a correct attitude during the descent and prevent his body from going into a spin and blacking out.

"Looking at the bigger picture, it's clear that we have a unique opportunity to support science in a very specific field," he said.

"Maybe one day it will be possible to bring astronauts home safely from space if their spacecraft malfunctions. It sounds like a sci-fi scenario, but aeronautics is definitely moving in that direction."

Michel Fournier has promised to make another attempt in 2010 also, if he can secure the funding.

Historic Bentley snowflake photos for sale in US

Ten of the pioneering photos of snowflake crystals US farmer Wilson A Bentley began taking more than a century ago are to be sold in New York.

Bentley (1865-1931) is credited with capturing the first images of single snowflakes on camera. He made thousands of the jewel-like prints, no two alike.

His photomicrography technique involved a microscope and a bellows camera.

He caught pneumonia in a blizzard and died just weeks after the publication of his book Snow Crystals.

The sale of his crystal images is a rare event, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Chicago art gallery owner Carl Hammer is selling them along with 16 of Bentley's winter scenes at an antiques show at New York's American Folk Art Museum.

"They're remarkably beautiful," said Mr Hammer.

"There are imperfections on the outer edges of the image itself and on the paper, but the images themselves are quite spectacular."

'Good for 100 years'

Snowflake expert Kenneth G Libbrecht said the photos did not meet modern standards because of the "crude equipment" Bentley used.

"But he did it so well that hardly anybody bothered to photograph snowflakes for almost 100 years," Mr Libbrecht added.

Bentley, who was known as The Snowflake Man, wrote in 1925: "Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others.

"Every crystal was a masterpiece of design, and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost."

Mr Libbrecht said the method of singling out a crystal to photograph had not changed.

"You basically let the crystal fall on something, black or dark-coloured, and then you have to pick it up with a toothpick or brush and put it on a glass slide," he said.