(Press-News.org) Typhoon Vongfong strengthened into a Super typhoon on Tuesday, October 7 as NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead.
On Oct. 7 at 0429 UTC (12:29 a.m. EDT) the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder called AIRS that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured cloud top temperature data on Super typhoon Vongfong. AIRS data very strong thunderstorms circling Vongfong's clear 27 nautical-mile wide eye. Those cloud top temperatures were colder than -62F/-53C indicating that they were high in the troposphere and capable of generating heavy rainfall. The bands of thunderstorms circling Vongfong appeared symmetric on satellite imagery.
At 11 a.m. EDT on Oct. 7, Vongfong's maximum sustained winds were near 135 knots (155.4 mph/250 kph) making it a strong Category 4 Typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. Vongfong's center was located near latitude 17.5 north and longitude 133.6 east. That's about 649 nautical miles (747 miles/1,202 km) southeast of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. Vongfong is moving toward the west at 11 knots (12.6 mph/ 20.3 kph)
Vongfong is creating massive ocean swells with seas to 47 feet (14.3 meters), according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC).
JTWC forecasters expect Vongfong to continue tracking to the west until it runs into a trough or elongated area of low pressure sometime on Oct. 9 that will turn it to the north. By Oct. 12, the JWTC expects the center of Vongfong to be near the Japanese island of Amami Oshima. Kadena Air Base and Amami Oshima should prepare for typhoon conditions.
INFORMATION:
Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA eyes Super typhoon Vongfong
2014-10-07
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Very low concentrations of heavy metals and antibiotics contribute to resistance
2014-10-07
New Swedish research shows that plasmids containing genes that confer resistance to antibiotics can be enriched by very low concentrations of antibiotics and heavy metals. These results strengthen the suspicion that the antibiotic residues and heavy metals (such as arsenic, silver and copper) that are spread in the environment are contributing to the problems of resistance. These findings have now been published in the highly regarded journal mBio.
Antibiotic resistance is a growing medical problem that threatens human health worldwide. Why and how these resistant bacteria ...
Efficacy of potential therapy for autoimmune disorder of muscle weakness
2014-10-07
PHILADELPHIA — Nearly 60,000 Americans suffer from myasthenia gravis (MG), a non-inherited autoimmune form of muscle weakness. The disease has no cure, and the primary treatments are nonspecific immunosuppressants and inhibitors of the enzyme cholinesterase.
Now, a pair of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a fast-acting "vaccine" that can reverse the course of the disease in rats, and, they hope, in humans. Jon Lindstrom, PhD, a Trustee Professor in the department of Neuroscience led the study, published ...
Advocating weight diversity
2014-10-07
A new review of the way health care professionals emphasise weight to define health and wellbeing suggests the approach could be harmful to patients.
Author of the review article, Dr Rachel Calogero of the School of Psychology at the University of Kent, together with experts from other institutions and organisations, recommends that this approach, known as 'weight-normative', is replaced by health care professionals, public health officials and policy-makers with a 'weight-inclusive' approach.
Weight-inclusive approaches, such as the Health At Every Size initiative, ...
Hospitalized patients don't wash their hands enough, study finds
2014-10-07
Hamilton, ON (October 7, 2014) – Hospital visitors and staff are greeted with hand sanitizer dispensers in the lobby, by the elevators and outside rooms as reminders to wash their hands to stop infections, but just how clean are patients' hands?
A study led by McMaster University researcher Dr. Jocelyn Srigley has found that hospitalized patients wash their hands infrequently. They wash about 30 per cent of the time while in the washroom, 40 per cent during meal times, and only three per cent of the time when using the kitchens on their units. Hand hygiene rates ...
Probiotic yogurt could help protect against heavy metal poisoning
2014-10-07
LONDON, ON – New research shows probiotic yogurt can reduce the uptake of certain heavy metals and environmental toxins by up to 78% in pregnant women. Led by Scientists at Lawson Health Research Institute's Canadian Centre for Human Microbiome and Probiotic Research, this study provides the first clinical evidence that a probiotic yogurt can be used to reduce the deadly health risks associated with mercury and arsenic.
Environmental toxins like mercury and arsenic are commonly found in drinking water and food products, especially fish. These contaminants are particularly ...
The 'cyberwar' against cancer gets a boost from intelligent nanocarriers
2014-10-07
Two years ago, Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob of Tel Aviv University's School of Physics and Astronomy and Rice University's Center for Theoretical Biological Physics made the startling discovery that cancer, like an enemy hacker in cyberspace, targets the body's communication network to inflict widespread damage on the entire system. Cancer, he found, possessed special traits for cooperative behavior and used intricate communication to distribute tasks, share resources, and make decisions.
In research published in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of ...
Satellite sees Tropical Storm Simon over Baja California
2014-10-07
NOAA's GOES-West satellite took a picture of Tropical Storm Simon weakening over Mexico's Baja California.
On Oct. 7, a Tropical Storm Watch was in effect for Punta Abreojos to Punta Eugenia, Mexico. The National Hurricane Center expects Simon to produce storm total rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches with isolated amounts around 8 inches through Wednesday, Oct. 8, across northern portions of the Baja California Peninsula and the state of Sonora in northwestern Mexico. Over the next few days, storm total rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches with isolated amounts of around ...
Anorexia/bulimia: A bacterial protein implicated
2014-10-07
Eating disorders (ED) such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating disorder affect approximately 5-10% of the general population, but the biological mechanisms involved are unknown. Researchers at Inserm Unit 1073, "Nutrition, inflammation and dysfunction of the gut-brain axis" (Inserm/University of Rouen) have demonstrated the involvement of a protein produced by some intestinal bacteria that may be the source of these disorders. Antibodies produced by the body against this protein also react with the main satiety hormone, which is similar in structure. According ...
Gothenburg researchers identify molecule that protects women's eggs
2014-10-07
A new study led by Professor Kui Liu at the University of Gothenburg has identified the key molecule 'Greatwall kinase' which protects women's eggs against problems that can arise during the maturation process.
In order to be able to have a child, a woman needs eggs that can grow and mature. One of these eggs is then fertilised by a sperm, forming an embryo. During the maturation process, the egg needs to go through a number of stages of reductional division, called meiosis. If problems occur during any of these stages, the woman can become infertile. Around 10-15% of ...
Closing the gap: Extreme desert gecko spotted on salt-flats in central Oman
2014-10-07
The Gulf Sand gecko is a remarkable desert reptile in that it is the only lizard found habitually on sabkha substrate across large parts of the eastern Arabian Peninsula. These arid salt flats constitute one of the harshest habitats on earth, due to their extraordinary salinity.
The Gulf gecko, Pseudoceramodactylus khobarensis, belongs to a genus with a single species, and it is well adapted to this substrate featuring spiny scales beneath the fingers, long extremities and swollen nostrils.
Data on its distribution range showed a conspicuous gap between eastern United ...