Commuters could soon travel between Sydney and Melbourne in as little as 40 minutes in a new ultra-high speed tube.
The ‘capsule’ in the tube-based system would run
from Adelaide to Brisbane at
around 1,1223 km/h and pass through major cities along the way, The Herald Sunreported.
Travelling
from Adelaide to Melbourne or Sydney to Brisbane would take just over 30
minutes.
A
trip from Melbourne to Canberra is expected to take 23 minutes, and passengers
could travel from Canberra to Sydney in only 14 minutes.
The proposal for the ‘ultra-high speed, tube-based
inter and intra-city’ transportation system was presented to the Federal
Government.
Big
shot Elon Musk first pitched the land-based technology known as the ‘Hyperloop’
back in 2012.
This
time around, Los Angeles-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (Hyperloop
TT) submitted the plan in response to a government inquiry into automation and
land-based mass transit in October this year.
‘A Hyperloop
serving Australia’s Eastern seaboard and connecting Sydney, Melbourne and
Brisbane addresses a population of over 10 million people,’ the submission
read.
‘Adding
Adelaide, Canberra, the Southern Highlands and extending the route to the Gold
Coast increases the number to well over half of the Australian population, in a
2000km stretch of relatively flat, seismically stable terrain and creating new
business, passenger and freight transport opportunities to millions of
Australians each year.’
According
to the submission, the tube will be optimised to transport freight and better
connection regional towns.
‘When
offered in combination with the HyperloopTT passenger system, freight and cargo
operations supplement the needs of regional freight systems.
‘Moving
people and goods at ultra high-speed enables people to be more mobile between
population centers.’
The
futuristic transport system comprises of capsules magnetically levitating in a
tube on pylons, the ground or underground.
Air
pressure is lowered to reduce friction and allow the capsule to move at high
speed.4
The
entire system would also run on solar power.
As
far as the submission goes, Hyperloop TT did not predict how long the tube
would take to construct or how much it would cost.
Though
the company seems certain in its ability to deliver the out-of-this-world
system.
They
plan to have a full-scale prototype operating in France in 2019.
According
to its website, the company already has 11 global government agreements.
However,
just last year the Queensland government rejected a proposal from Virgin
Hyperloop One.
Hyperloop
TT’s rival company proposed a route from Sydney to Tamworth to Toowoomba to
Brisbane and even the Gold Coast.
Their
proposal was dismissed as it had no ‘business case’.
A protein which allows aggressive breast cancers to grow and spread has been discovered by scientists.
Experts hope finding out more about the protein will lead the way to new therapies for hard-to-treat cancers.
Triple negative breast cancer, which affects around one in seven breast cancer patients and is resistant to hormonal drugs, was the focus of the study.
Researchers found too much of a protein named LYN could help cancer cells grow and multiply, and reducing levels of LYN could slow breast cancer down.
+2
A protein named LYN by scientists could be the key to slowing down aggressive triple negative types of breast cancer which occur in around one in seven people with the disease
The Cardiff University scientists said the findings could be used to develop treatments to control levels of the protein and suppress cancers.
Professor Matt Smalley, from Cardiff University’s European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, said: ‘There are 150 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the UK every day.
‘To achieve better outcomes for people facing this disease, we need to better understand how it develops so we can improve therapies.
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‘We wanted to understand what drives an aggressive type of breast cancer called triple negative, which is resistant to hormone therapy and occurs in around 15 per cent of breast cancer cases.
‘We looked at a protein called LYN, which is involved in keeping cells alive and allowing them to divide.
‘And [we] found it was no longer properly controlled in aggressive breast cancer cells and could drive the cancer cell growth, spread and invasion.’
Around 55,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year in the UK, with more than 260,000 in the US. The 10-year survival rate is around 78 per cent.
Professor Smalley and his colleagues also discovered a link between LYN and the BRCA1 gene mutation.
The BRCA1 gene mutation, which accounts for a majority of hereditary breast cancer cases, can leave women with an up to 90 per cent chance of getting cancer.
BRCA1 genes are tumour suppressors which keep cancer cells under wraps – if the gene is faulty or missing women are at higher risk of dangerous tumours.
The Cardiff researchers found in some cases of triple negative breast cancer in women with a BRCA1 mutation, the gene could increase LYN activity.
In this way the gene mutation could directly improve the cancer cells’ ability to survive and keep spreading.
Interfering with LYN function in lab experiments killed these BRCA1-mutant cells.
Professor Smalley added: ‘Now that we understand the role LYN has in aggressive forms of cancer, we can start to think about developing targeted therapies.
‘In the future, we could potentially identify patients with increased levels of LYN or a BRCA1 gene mutation and design their breast cancer therapy to suit their type of cancer.
‘We could target LYN to improve therapy options for aggressive breast cancer.’
The research was published in the journal Cell Reports.
WHAT IS BREAST CANCER, HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES IT STRIKE AND WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Each year in the UK there are more than 55,000 new cases, and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. In the US, it strikes 266,000 each year and kills 40,000. But what causes it and how can it be treated?
What is breast cancer?
Breast cancer develops from a cancerous cell which develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts.
When the breast cancer has spread into surrounding breast tissue it is called an ‘invasive’ breast cancer. Some people are diagnosed with ‘carcinoma in situ’, where no cancer cells have grown beyond the duct or lobule.
Most cases develop in women over the age of 50 but younger women are sometimes affected. Breast cancer can develop in men though this is rare.
The cancerous cells are graded from stage one, which means a slow growth, up to stage four, which is the most aggressive.
What causes breast cancer?
A cancerous tumour starts from one abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or alters certain genes in the cell. This makes the cell abnormal and multiply ‘out of control’.
Although breast cancer can develop for no apparent reason, there are some risk factors that can increase the chance of developing breast cancer, such as genetics.
What are the symptoms of breast cancer?
The usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast, although most breast lumps are not cancerous and are fluid filled cysts, which are benign.
The first place that breast cancer usually spreads to is the lymph nodes in the armpit. If this occurs you will develop a swelling or lump in an armpit.
How is breast cancer diagnosed?
Initial assessment: A doctor examines the breasts and armpits. They may do tests such as a mammography, a special x-ray of the breast tissue which can indicate the possibility of tumours.
Biopsy: A biopsy is when a small sample of tissue is removed from a part of the body. The sample is then examined under the microscope to look for abnormal cells. The sample can confirm or rule out cancer.
If you are confirmed to have breast cancer, further tests may be needed to assess if it has spread. For example, blood tests, an ultrasound scan of the liver or a chest x-ray.
+2
How is breast cancer treated?
Treatment options which may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone treatment. Often a combination of two or more of these treatments are used.
Surgery: Breast-conserving surgery or the removal of the affected breast depending on the size of the tumour.
Radiotherapy: A treatment which uses high energy beams of radiation focussed on cancerous tissue. This kills cancer cells, or stops cancer cells from multiplying. It is mainly used in addition to surgery.
Chemotherapy: A treatment of cancer by using anti-cancer drugs which kill cancer cells, or stop them from multiplying
Hormone treatments: Some types of breast cancer are affected by the ‘female’ hormone oestrogen, which can stimulate the cancer cells to divide and multiply. Treatments which reduce the level of these hormones, or prevent them from working, are commonly used in people with breast cancer.
How successful is treatment?
The outlook is best in those who are diagnosed when the cancer is still small, and has not spread. Surgical removal of a tumour in an early stage may then give a good chance of cure.
The routine mammography offered to women between the ages of 50 and 70 mean more breast cancers are being diagnosed and treated at an early stage.
For more information visit breastcancercare.org.uk or www.cancerhelp.org.uk
The
wife of renowned Tongan singer and composer Feleti Kaufusi has died after about
two weeks following his death on December 10.
A funeral service will be held for her in Tongatapu
on January 7.
Losaline Lupe Kaufusi
was a public health officer at Tonga’s Ministry of Health.
She died last Sunday,
December 23. The cause of her death has yet to be officially released.
She is survived by two
children she bore with Feleti.
It is understood
Feleti had a total of 10 children, including the offspring of a previous
marriage.
Call for help
The double tragedy has
left local musicians and business community reeling.
Business man Faka’osi
Maama was devastated.
He quoted on Facebook
a lament by the couple’s son Semisi which said: “…mo li’aki pehe’i mai pe ‘e kimoua
mautolu….”.
This translates into
English as: “You abandoned us like that.”
Maama has asked his 5000 friends on Facebook to help him create a trust fund to raise funds to help Kaufusi’s children.
Maama’s
post received 1400 reactions, 166 comments and 157 shares.
In response,
the Director of Fly Niu Airline, ‘Atu Finau, told Maama to let him know when
the Trust was set up.
Musical talent
Feleti’s musical talent
has kept his followers’ interests in his music and songs alive and kicking even
after his death.
Many shared some of
the numerous video clips in which he was featured singing either with his
electric band or in acoustic performances during kava social sessions.
The emergence of his musical talents can be traced back to early 1980s when he played bass guitar for the ‘Iongi Brothers.
Feleti, 55, later
established his own electric band with his four young brothers in the late
1980s. They performed as the Kaufusi Brothers.
They released more than a dozen albums. His songs included ‘Tangitangi.’
All his compositions
were in Tongan and he either originated some of his music or rearranged popular western tunes with his own lyrics.
He played a key role
in supporting national entertainment and fundraising activities which required
music to be played. His band toured New Zealand, Australia and Hawai’i
regularly.
Feleti’s cause of
death was not known, but his wife reportedly said he appeared exhausted after
being getting ready for a performance the day before he died.
The
main points
The wife of renowned Tongan singer and
composer Feleti Kaufusi has died after about two weeks following his death on
December 10.
A funeral service will be held for her
in Tongatapu on January 7.
Losaline Lupe Kaufusi was a public
health officer at Tonga’s Ministry of Health.
Former coach of the Tongan rugby
team, Fr David Mullins, has died.
A funeral service will be held
for him in Auckland next Monday.
The Marist priest was coach of the Tongan team, which became the Ikale Tahi, during its tour of New Zealand in 1969.
His involvement with the team began when he was a teacher at Apifo’ou College, the largest Catholic school in Tonga.
He later became the school’s principal.
Fr David Mullins (2nd to the left 2nd row) with his ‘Apifo’ou College team which won the intercollege rugby tournament in 1961
His Apifo’ou 1st XV senior team won the intercollege rugby tournament in three consecutive years including 1961.
Tonga’s national team made its
New Zealand debut in the 1969 tour against Hamilton Bays and lost by only one
point in a game played in fog.
Despite the 22-21 loss, the team
was praised for its skills on the field and its courtesy off the field.
The team went on to defeat New
Zealand Maoris in two tests.
Fr Mullins also contributed to
the formation and establishment of the Tonga Rugby Board.
He spent 35 years in Tonga in all.
He was a director of Catholic
education and Vicar General of the diocese for a time.
He was also deputy editor of Taumu’a Lelei, the Catholic church’s
newspaper in Tonga.
Later he spent seven years
working as chaplain to migrant Tongans in the United States and New Zealand.
He moved to the Our Lady of
Lourdes parish in Glen Eden in late 1998, becoming its second longest serving
parish priest.
Fr Mullins’ links with sport in
Tonga were not forgotten after he left the kingdom. In 2014 he was guest of
honour at a reception hosted by the 2019 Pacific Games Organising Committee.
Fr Mullins was born in
Christchurch on September 29, 1930 and ordained at St Mary’s Church,
Christchurch, on July 15, 1956.
His father, Jack, was a World War
One veteran who captained Canterbury in rugby and was a long serving sports
editor at the Christchurch Press.
Fr Mullins died at the Little
Sisters of the Poor in Ponsonby, Auckland, on Monday.
A vigil service will be held at
the Little Sisters of the Poor, 9 Tweed Street, Ponsonby, Auckland this Sunday,
December 30, at 4pm.
A requiem mass will be celebrated
at St Patrick’s Church, 19 Sunset View Road, Panmure, Auckland next Monday,
December 31, at 11am.
The main points
Former coach of the Tongan rugby team, Fr David Mullins, has died.
The Marist priest was coach of the Tongan team, which became the Ikali
Tahi, during its first tour of New
Zealand in 1969.
Fr Mullins also contributed to the formation and establishment of the
Tonga Rugby Board.
A search at sea at Laulea Beach, Fatumu, for the father who hasn’t been seen since Christmas day continued today.
Viliami Vaka’uta, 24, is presumed dead after he attempted to save her wife in the water at about 2pm.
Police reportedly said a palangi man was also rescued after he attempted to help save the wife.
The incident devasted the family.
A
relative claimed on Facebook this evening December 27 Police and the rescue
team have not found him.
“The divers and the rescuers are still out
there searching for his body. It has been the worst Christmas ever for his
families and our families,” she wrote.
“My
heart breaks for my niece and I can not begin to imagine how she feels and
listening to my sister crying out to me makes it much even harder !!!”
“I felt so helpless that I cant even hug her
and her daughter and be there to comfort them. My heart goes out to his mother
and his father and all his families.”
Laulea beach is one of the most
dangerous places in Tonga to go swimming due to powerful rip currents and waves
that are known to sweep people out to sea.
In 2017 Soane Tangipa ʻAtaʻata died after he went swimming at the beach.
In 2015 ‘Inoke
Mapaleve Mo’unga, 32, of Kolonga drowned at the beach after
visiting there with his wife and friends.
In 2012
Catholic priest, Father Mikaele Mateo , 37, died at Laulea Beach while helping
to rescue his five young nephews who were swept out to open sea by
strong currents.
Tonga’s Miss
Heilala 2019 pageant kicked off in New Zealand last week with Tuitui and
Brilliant Star Fashion Show selecting its contestant for the kingdom’s beauty competition.
Miss Soana
Falahola ‘Aleva, 23, will represent the Fashion Show in Nuku’alofa in about
seven months time.
The double
major Bachelor of Arts student works as a creative member for Do Good Feel
Good, a dance tutor for Selwyn College and the Youth Town Parnell. She is a professional
hip hop dancer, a youtube vlogger (as ‘Jojo’) and a krump dancer.
‘Aleva also worked as a radio announcer for Niu FM and is a Tongan youth show host for Radio 531PI. She also worked as a Youth Co-ordinator for the Tongan Youth Trust and graduated from Radio Training School with a diploma in Journalism, Multimedia and radio broadcasting.
The daughter of
Tongan choreographer and Radio 531 PI Tongan producer Losalio Milika Pusiaki,
‘Aleva was selected during the Fashion Show’s catwalk exhibition which was held
at the Otara Community hall on Friday night.
Brilliant Star
Fashion Show is not new to the Miss Heilala competition and other New Zealand
and international beauty pageants.
The first time
it participated in the Miss Heilala competition in 2017, its contestant, Miss
Titania Tiara Monic Matekuolava, became the first runner up.
She came second to Ophelia Kitiliti Kava who was crowned Miss
Heilala 2017.
Matekuolava later in 2017 was sponsored by the Tuitui Fashion Show
to join New Zealand’s Face of Beauty International Ltd’s Super Model
competitions in which she was crowned as Miss International Supermodel Tonga
2018. This gave her an opportunity to travel to Thailand and represented Tonga
during the Face of Beauty International 2018.
The Fashion Show sent another contestant to Miss Heilala 2018, but she was unsuccessful.
Fashion designer Tuitui Folauhola Tonbar, the Director of Tuitui Fashions Show and Brilliant Star, said she willingly supported beauty contests and fashion shows because they helped her talent and her business a lot.
The main points
Tonga’s Miss Heilala 2019 pageant kicked off in
New Zealand last week with Tuitui and Brilliant Star Fashion Show selecting its
contestant for the kingdom’s beauty competition.
Miss Soana Falahola ‘Aleva, 23, will represent
the Fashion Show in Nuku’alofa in about seven months time.
The alleged theft of two decorative lights from the grave of the Prime Minister’s wife’s Neomai Tu’itupou Pōhiva was disrespectful, a daughter of Hon. Pōhiva said.
The incident occurred just four days after the body of Tonga’s First Lady was buried on December 19.
The Prime Minister’s daughter ‘Ana Koli Fifita
said the family had decided not to lodge a complaint with the Police.
She said if such robbery had happened while her
mother was still alive Neomai would not complain, implying she was a woman who had
a great sense of patience.
Koli said she went to the cemetery early on Sunday morning, December 23, and realised the lights had gone.
She told Kaniva
news the lights had been put on top of the grave as a dedication by
Neomai’s grandchildren.
She said she regretted this kind of
disrespectful behaviour.
As Kaniva news reported last week, Neomai was laid to rest at Telekava 1 community
cemetery in Kolomotu’a, Nuku’alofa.
The Prime Minister’s
70-year-old wife, who bore him seven children, “died peacefully” after a long
battle with cancer.
Koli also posted her complaint on Facebook.
A commentater on her post said the same thing
had happened to her husband’s father’s grave after July.
She said they installed a memorial stone, a
banner and decorated the grave with lights but when they visited the cemetery
again in September the lights had all gone.
Another online writer said the same thing had happened to a relative’s
grave nearby.
Another person said Neomai had suffered during the political struggles
she and her husband had gone through during her life and now she was dead some
unscrupulous people continued to harrass her.
Online comments have denounced the theft of the lights as “evil.”
The main points
The alleged theft of two decorative lights from
the grave of the Prime Minister’s wife’s Neomai Tu’itupou Pōhiva was
disrespectful, a daughter of Hon. Pohiva said.
The incident occured just three days after the
body of Tonga’s First Lady was buried on December 19.
For more information
Queen Nanasipau‘u leads mourners at First Lady of Tonga’s funeral
services
A 6.4 earthquake has rattled residents across Tonga.
USG said the earthquake strikes 82 kilometres north north east of Nuku’alofa at 11.08am (UTC Time). It was 100.2 kilometres depth.
Our correspondent in Tonga said he ran outside of his house when the quake hit.
He said it went on for about less than a minute.
There was no casualty reported or tsunami threat alert issued.
There was also no report of damage.
Tonga’s earthquake came after Indonesia’s disaster agency said 222 people were dead and hundreds more injured after a tsunami struck coastal areas around the Sunda Strait between the islands of Sumatra and Java on Saturday (Dec 22) night.
“222 people are dead, 843 people are injured and 28 people are missing,” Indonesia’s national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Sunday evening.
“This number is predicted to increase because not all victims have been successfully evacuated, not all health centres have reported victims and not all locations have got complete data.” Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/tsunami-indonesia-168-dead-beaches-volcano-krakatoa-11057318
