20171219

Scientists sniff out Parkinson's disease smell
Scientists are close to establishing what causes a smell associated with sufferers of Parkinson's disease.
They hope it could lead to the first diagnostic test for the disease.
The breakthrough came after Joy Milne astonished doctors with her ability to detect the disease through smell under scientific conditions.
A team from Manchester has found distinctive molecules that seem to be concentrated on the skin of Parkinson's patients.
One in 500 people in the UK has Parkinson's - that is 127,000 across Britain.
Musky smell
It can leave them struggling to walk, speak and sleep.
musky 【形】麝香（質）の、麝香の香る［香りの］ジャコウ鹿（シベリア・チベットの小型の鹿）の雄の腹部の麝香腺分泌物から採れる黒褐色の香料。
Currently there is no definitive test for the disease, with clinicians diagnosing patients by observing symptoms.
This is how the disease has been diagnosed since 1817, when James Parkinson first established it as a recognised medical condition.
However, that could change because of Joy Milne from Perth, whose husband Les was told he had Parkinson's at the age of 45.
About a decade before her consultant anaesthetist husband was diagnosed, Joy noticed she could detect an unusual musky smell.
consultant 【名】 コンサルタント、相談役、顧問、医師、弁護士、会計士◆専門的相談を受ける職業について使われる
anesthetist 【名】麻酔医
Joy said: "We had a very tumultuous period, when he was about 34 or 35, where I kept saying to him, 'you've not showered. You've not brushed your teeth properly'.
tumultuous【形】騒々しい、大騒ぎの 騒動［暴動］を引き起こす〔感情などが〕ひどく動揺した"
It was a new smell - I didn't know what it was. I kept on saying to him, and he became quite upset about it. So I just had to be quiet." 
The retired nurse only linked the odour to the disease after meeting people with the same distinctive smell at a Parkinson's UK support group.  
She told scientists at a conference, and subsequent tests carried out by Edinburgh University's Dr Tilo Kunath confirmed her ability.
subsequent  【形】 〔時間や順序が〕次の、後の、それに続く、後続の
Joy was given 12 unmarked T-shirts to smell - six worn by Parkinson's patients and six worn by volunteers without the disease.
She correctly identified the six worn by Parkinson's patients, but could also smell the odour on a T-shirt worn by someone in the control group without Parkinson's.  
Joy was told three months later that this person had in fact been diagnosed with Parkinson's after the T-shirt tests. 
No cure
Dr Kunath said: "She was telling us that this individual had Parkinson's before he knew, before anybody knew.
"So then I really started to believe her, that she could really detect Parkinson's simply by odour that was transferred on to a shirt that the person with Parkinson's was wearing."
Joy's husband died in 2015, aged 65.
There is no cure for the disease and Joy's last promise to him was that she would investigate her special ability and how it might help others. 
Dr Kunath has enlisted the help of Prof Perdita Barran, an expert in chemical analysis from Manchester University, to try to isolate the actual molecules that form the odour that Joy is able to smell.
enlist【他動】〔協力・支持などを〕得る   ～に協力を求める
Image caption
Prof Perdita Barran and her team found that people with Parkinson's seem to have some different molecules, which is what Joy is smelling
Prof Barran's team collected samples from patients with Parkinson's and a control group of those without, to see if there were molecular signatures that only people with the disease have.
The samples were put through a mass spectrometer, a device that isolates and weighs individual molecules. 
The first set of results indicated there were 10 molecules distinctive to Parkinson's sufferers.

Prof Barran said: "It is very humbling as a mere measurement scientist to have this ability to help find some signature molecules to diagnose Parkinson's. It wouldn't have happened without Joy.
humbling  【形】 謙虚な、偉そうにしない、謙遜の、プライドを下げた、卑下の
人のプライドを傷つける、自分を卑小な存在だと感じさせる［気付かせる］、屈辱的な、〔誇り・意思などを〕くじかれる
"For all the serendipity, it was Joy and Les who were absolutely convinced that what she could smell would be something that could be used in a clinical context and so now we are beginning to do that."
serendipity【名】セレンディピティ◆別のものを探しているときに、偶然に素晴らしい幸運に巡り合ったり、素晴らしいものを発見したりすることのできる、その人の持つ才能。◆【語源】イギリスの作家ホレス・ウォルポール（Horace Walpole）が1754年の書簡で使った造語。次々に予期せぬ発見をする"The Three Princes of Serendip"というペルシャの童話から作ったもの。
for all ～にもかかわらず

20171218

Dracula ticks in amber tell ancient blood-sucking tale
Feathered dinosaurs were covered in ticks just like modern animals, fossil evidence shows.
Parasites similar to modern ticks have been found inside pieces of amber from Myanmar dating back 99 million years. 
One is entangled with a dinosaur feather, another is swollen with blood, and two were in a dinosaur nest.
entangle【他動】〔糸などを〕もつれさせる、からませる
Scientists say the discovery, which has echoes of Jurassic Park, is the first direct fossil evidence that ticks fed on the blood of dinosaurs.
The research is published in the journal, Nature Communications.
Amber is fossilised tree resin. The sticky substance can trap skin, scales, fur, feathers or even whole creatures, such as ticks.
resin【名】 樹脂（製品）、松やに
In this case, the researchers found a type of tick, now extinct, that is new to science. They named it, Deinocroton draculi or "Dracula's terrible tick".
"Ticks are infamous blood-sucking, parasitic organisms, having a tremendous impact on the health of humans, livestock, pets, and even wildlife, but until now clear evidence of their role in deep time has been lacking," said Enrique Penalver from the Spanish Geological Survey (IGME), the lead researcher on the study.
infamous 【形】〔人などが〕悪名高い、ひどく評判が悪い
The fossils in amber may echo the fictional world of Jurassic Park, but they will not give up the secrets of dinosaur DNA.
give up【句他動】～を引き［明け］渡す、～を差し出す
All attempts to extract DNA from amber specimens have failed since the complex molecule is too fragile to be preserved. However, the fossils do give a snapshot of the lives of the feathered dinosaurs, some of which evolved into modern-day birds.
"The fossil record tells us that feathers like the one we have studied were already present on a wide range of theropod dinosaurs, a group which included ground-running forms without flying ability, as well as bird-like dinosaurs capable of powered flight," said Dr Perez-de la Fuente.
theropod 【名】獣脚竜
"So although we can't be sure what kind of dinosaur the tick was feeding on, the mid-Cretaceous age of the Burmese amber confirms that the feather certainly did not belong to a modern bird, as these appeared much later in theropod evolution according to current fossil and molecular evidence."
The researchers found further evidence of ticks riling dinosaurs. Hair-like structures from skin beetles found attached to two of the ticks suggest they lived in the nests of feathered dinosaurs, along with the beetles.
rile 【他動】〈話〉（人）をイライラさせて怒らせる
"The simultaneous entrapment of two external parasites - the ticks - is extraordinary, and can be best explained if they had a nest-inhabiting ecology as some modern ticks do, living in the host's nest or in their own nest nearby," said Dr David Grimaldi of the American Museum of Natural History, who worked on the study.
Together, these findings suggest that ticks have been sucking the blood of dinosaurs for almost 100 million years.
 After dinosaurs died out in the mass extinction 66 million years ago, ticks clung on and continued to thrive.
Ticks are closely related to spiders, scorpions and mites. They feed on animals and can pass diseases on to people, pets, wildlife and livestock.

120171216

The family that doesn't feel pain
Letizia Marsili, 52, first realised she was different when she was very young.
She had a high threshold for pain, which meant she didn't feel burns or notice broken bones. Five other family members are also affected by the condition which means they are insensitive to pain. 
Letizia told the BBC: "From day to day we live a very normal life, perhaps better than the rest of the population, because we very rarely get unwell and we hardly feel any pain.
"However, in truth, we do feel pain, the perception of pain, but this only lasts for a few seconds." 
Scientists believe the condition could be down to some nerves not reacting properly. 
Researchers who studied the family hope their discovery of a gene mutation in family members could help chronic-pain sufferers in the future.
"We have opened up a whole new route to drug discovery for pain relief," said Prof Anna Maria Aloisi from the University of Siena in Italy.
open up a new route to  ～への新たな道を開く
How is the family affected?
Letizia's mother, two sons, sister and niece all show signs of being affected by the syndrome that is named after the family - Marsili pain syndrome.
She said pain was an important alarm signal and because they feel it only fleetingly, the family often have fractures that go undetected and this leads to inflammation in their bones.
fleetingly  【副】  一瞬に、つかの間に
They also experience burns and other injuries without knowing.
Letizia said her 24-year-old son Ludovico, who plays football, has encountered problems.
"He rarely stays on the ground, even when he is knocked down. However, he has fragility at the ankles and he often suffers distortions, which are micro fractures.
knock down 【句動】倒す
distortion【名】 ねじれ
"In fact, recently X-rays have shown that he has lots of micro fractures in both ankles."
ankle【名】  足関節、くるぶし
She said her younger son Bernardo, 21, had a calcification of the elbow without even realising he had broken it after falling off his bike. He continued to cycle for another nine miles.

Letizia says she fractured her right shoulder while skiing but continued to ski all afternoon, only going to the hospital the next morning because her fingers were tingling.
tingling 【名】うずき、チクチク［ヒリヒリ］する痛み、ヒリヒリ感、チクチク感
The same thing happened when she broke a bone in her elbow playing tennis. 
"Because of a lack of pain, it got so stressed that it ended up breaking," she says.  
But the worst thing, she says, has been problems in her mouth because of a tooth implant that went wrong. 
Letizia's mother, Maria Domenica, 78, has had a number of fractures which have never healed properly and have hardened naturally. She often suffers burns because she doesn't feel any pain. 
Her sister Maria Elena often damages the top of her mouth because she burns herself with hot drinks, and her daughter Virginia once left her hand in ice for about 20 minutes without feeling pain.
Despite all this, Letizia says she has never seen the condition "as a negative for our lives". 
Why do they feel little pain?
Lead study author Dr James Cox, from University College London, said the Marsili family members had all their nerves present, but "they're just not working how they should be". 
He said: "We're working to gain a better understanding of exactly why they don't feel much pain, to see if that could help us find new pain relief treatments." 
The research team, whose findings are published in the journal Brain, worked with the family to find out the nature of their phenotype - the observable characteristics caused by their genetics.
phenotype 【名】《遺伝》表現型
The Marsili syndrome, named after them, means the affected individuals are less than normally sensitive (or hyposensitive) to extreme heat, capsaicin in chilli peppers and have experienced pain-free bone fractures. 
What did scientists discover about their genes?
The researchers mapped out the protein-coding genes in each family member's genome and found a mutation in the ZFHX2 gene. 
They then conducted two studies in mice which had been bred without this gene and found that their pain thresholds had been altered. 
When they bred a new line of mice with the relevant mutation, they found they were notably insensitive to high temperatures. 
Prof Aloisi said: "With more research to understand exactly how the mutation impacts pain sensitivity, and to see what other genes might be involved, we could identify novel targets for drug development."
The family is believed to be the only one in the world to be affected by this faulty gene.

20171215

Haemophilia A trial results 'mind-blowing'
British doctors say they have achieved "mind-blowing" results in an attempt to rid people of haemophilia A.
mind-blowing【形】恍惚とさせる
Patients are born with a genetic defect that means they do not produce a protein needed to stop bleeding.
Thirteen patients given the gene therapy at Barts Health NHS Trust are now off treatment with 11 producing near-normal levels of the protein.
Jake Omer, 29 from Billericay, Essex, was on the trial and says he feels like he has a new body.
Like 2,000 other people in the UK, his body could not make clotting factor VIII.
血液凝固第VIII因子 ( coagulation factor VIII )
血液の凝固作用に関わる重要な因子の１つ。とくに血友病Aの患者さんでは、この因子が欠乏しているところから抗血友病因子とも呼ばれています。血液凝固に関わる他の因子の多くがタンパク質を分解する酵素であるのに対し、この因子は止血機構の最終段階で、フィブリン分子とフィブリン分子を結びつけ、凝固反応を促進する補助因子として働くのが特徴です。
A minor injury used to cause severe bleeding. He remembers losing two front teeth as a child and bleeding for days afterwards.
Even the impact of walking would lead to bleeding in his joints and eventually cause arthritis.
Jake has needed at least three injections of factor VIII a week for most of his life.
But in February 2016, he had a single infusion of gene therapy.
Jake told the BBC: "I feel like a new person now - I feel like a well-oiled robot.
"I feel I can do a lot more. I feel my body allows me to do more.
"I don't think I would have been able to walk 500m without my joints flaring up, whereas now I think sort of two, three, four-mile walk - I could quite easily achieve that."
flare up 【句動】 急に［パッと・めらめらと］燃え上がる〔問題・病気などが〕急に起こる ひどくなる
sort of
〈話〉多少、いくらか、幾分、ある程度、やや、少し、ちょっと◆【用法】動詞・形容詞の前に置かれる
〈話〉まあ言ってみれば～みたいな
The first time he knew it had worked was four months after the therapy when he dropped a gym weight and bashed his elbow.
bash  【他動】 ～をぶつける、強く打つ、強打する
He started to panic, but after icing the injury that evening, everything was normal the next day.
'Transformational'
The therapy is a genetically engineered virus.
It contains the instructions for factor VIII that Jake was born without.
The virus is used like a postman to deliver the genetic instructions to the liver, which then starts producing factor VIII. 
In the first trials, low doses of gene therapy had no effect. 
Of the 13 patients given higher doses, all are off their haemophilia medication a year on and 11 are producing near-normal levels of factor VIII.  
Prof John Pasi, who led the trials at Barts and Queen Mary University of London, said: "This is huge. 
"It's ground-breaking because the option to think about normalising levels in patients with severe haemophilia is absolutely mind-blowing.
"To offer people the potential of a normal life when they've had to inject themselves with factor VIII every other day to prevent bleeding is transformational."
transformational 【形】変形の、変換の、転換の
An analysis of the first nine patients on the trial was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Larger trials are now imminent to see if the therapy can truly transform the lives of patients.
It is also uncertain how long the gene therapy will be effective. 
Liz Carroll, the chief executive of The Haemophilia Society, said: "Gene therapy is a potentially game-changing treatment.
"Despite world-leading treatment standards in the UK many still suffer painful bleeds leading to chronic joint damage."
However, she warned there was a wide variation in who responded to therapy, which still needed to be explained.
 Gene therapies are likely to be spectacularly expensive. However, the current cost of regular factor VIII injections is about ￡100,000 a patient per year for life.  
Jake says the therapy should help him live a full life with his family: "It's going to allow me as my boys grow up to be more active with them, to kick footballs about, to climb trees, to hopefully run around the park with them, not be someone who has to worry."

20171214

Lactalis baby milk in global recall over salmonella fears
The global recall affects consumers in several countries including Britain, China and Sudan.
French baby milk formula maker Lactalis has ordered a global product recall over fears of salmonella contamination.
formula 【名】〔乳幼児用ミルクの〕フォーミュラ◆母乳の成分を含むよう調合されたミルク。
Health authorities in France said 26 infants in the country have become sick since early December.
The recall affects products and exports to countries including Britain, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sudan.
It covers hundreds of baby milk powder products marketed globally under the Milumel, Picot and Celi brands.
Lactalis is one of the world's biggest dairy producers. Company spokesman Michel Nalet told AFP "nearly 7,000 tonnes" of production may have been contaminated, but the company is currently unable to say how much remains on the market, has been consumed or is in stock. 
Lactalis believes the salmonella outbreak can be traced to a tower used to dry out the milk powder at its factory in the town of Craon in northwest France, according to AFP. 
All products made there since mid-February have been recalled and the company said precautionary measures have been taken to disinfect all of its machinery at the factory.
disinfect  【他動】消毒する、殺菌する
The recall expands a health scare that started at the beginning of December after 20 children in France under the age of six fell sick. At the time a limited recall was issued but regulators found the measures Lactalis had put in place to manage the contamination risk were "not sufficient". Salmonella bacteria can cause food poisoning and symptoms include diarrhoea, stomach cramps and vomiting. 
The illness, caused by intestinal bacteria from farm animals, is dangerous for the very young and elderly because of the risk of dehydration.
It is not the first time the baby milk formula industry has been rocked by a health scare.
health scare 《a ～》健康上の不安
Six babies died and around 300,000 others fell ill in 2008 after Chinese manufacturers added the industrial chemical melamine to their infant milk powder products.

20171212

Huntington’s breakthrough may stop disease
The defect that causes the neurodegenerative disease Huntington's has been corrected in patients for the first time, the BBC has learned.
neurodegenerative 【形】 《医》神経変性の
An experimental drug, injected into spinal fluid, safely lowered levels of toxic proteins in the brain.
The research team, at University College London, say there is now hope the deadly disease can be stopped.
Experts say it could be the biggest breakthrough in neurodegenerative diseases for 50 years.
Huntington's is one of the most devastating diseases.
Some patients described it as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and motor neurone disease rolled into one.
motor neurone disease  運動ニューロン疾患
Peter Allen, 51, is in the early stages of Huntington's and took part in the trial: "You end up in almost a vegetative state, it's a horrible end."
vegetative state 《a ～》《医》植物状態
Huntington's blights families. Peter has seen his mum Stephanie, uncle Keith and grandmother Olive die from it.
blight【他動】破滅させる
Tests show his sister Sandy and brother Frank will develop the disease. 
The three siblings have eight children - all young adults, each of whom has a 50-50 chance of developing the disease.
sibling 【名】 きょうだい
Worse-and-worse
The unstoppable death of brain cells in Huntington's leaves patients in permanent decline, affecting their movement, behaviour, memory and ability to think clearly.
Peter, from Essex, told me: "It's so difficult to have that degenerative thing in you.
"You know the last day was better than the next one's going to be."
Huntington's generally affects people in their prime - in their 30s and 40s
Patients die around 10 to 20 years after symptoms start
About 8,500 people in the UK have Huntington's and a further 25,000 will develop it when they are older
Huntington's is caused by an error in a section of DNA called the huntingtin gene. 
Normally this contains the instructions for making a protein, called huntingtin, which is vital for brain development.
huntingtin gene ハンチンチン遺伝子
But a genetic error corrupts the protein and turns it into a killer of brain cells. 
The treatment is designed to silence the gene. 
How the drug works
On the trial, 46 patients had the drug injected into the fluid that bathes the brain and spinal cord.
The procedure was carried out at the Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London.
Doctors did not know what would happen. One fear was the injections could have caused fatal meningitis. 
But the first in-human trial showed the drug was safe, well tolerated by patients and crucially reduced the levels of huntingtin in the brain. 
Prof Sarah Tabrizi , from the UCL Institute of Neurology, led the trials.
Prof Sarah Tabrizi, the lead researcher and director of the Huntington's Disease Centre at UCL, told the BBC: "I've been seeing patients in clinic for nearly 20 years, I've seen many of my patients over that time die.
"For the first time we have the potential, we have the hope, of a therapy that one day may slow or prevent Huntington's disease.
"This is of groundbreaking importance for patients and families."  
Doctors are not calling this a cure. They still need vital long-term data to show whether lowering levels of huntingtin will change the course of the disease.
The animal research suggests it would. Some motor function even recovered in those experiments.
Peter, Sandy and Frank - as well as their partners Annie, Dermot and Hayley - have always promised their children they will not need to worry about Huntington's as there will be a treatment in time for them.
Peter told the BBC: "I'm the luckiest person in the world to be sitting here on the verge of having that.
"Hopefully that will be made available to everybody, to my brothers and sisters and fundamentally my children."
He, along with the other trial participants, can continue taking the drug as part of the next wave of trials.
They will set out to show whether the disease can be slowed, and ultimately prevented, by treating Huntington's disease carriers before they develop any symptoms. 
Landmark Huntington's trial starts
Prof John Hardy, who was awarded the Breakthrough Prize for his work on Alzheimer's, told the BBC: "I really think this is, potentially, the biggest breakthrough in neurodegenerative disease in the past 50 years.
"That sounds like hyperbole - in a year I might be embarrassed by saying that - but that's how I feel at the moment."
hyperbole 【名】 誇張（法）、誇大広告
The UCL scientist, who was not involved in the research, says the same approach might be possible in other neurodegenerative diseases that feature the build-up of toxic proteins in the brain. 
The protein synuclein is implicated in Parkinson's while amyloid and tau seem to have a role in dementias.
alpha-synuclein protein
α-シヌクレインタンパク質     SNCA 遺伝子によってエンコードされるアミノ酸140残基からなるタンパク質  α-シヌクレインの蓄積は、パーキンソン病をはじめとする神経変性疾患 (いわゆるシヌクレイノパチー) の原因とされている
tau protein  タウタンパク質  
Off the back of this research, trials are planned using gene-silencing to lower the levels of tau.
gene-silencing technology  遺伝子抑制［サイレンシング］技術
Prof Giovanna Mallucci, who discovered the first chemical to prevent the death of brain tissue in any neurodegenerative disease, said the trial was a "tremendous step forward" for patients and there was now "real room for optimism".

But Prof Mallucci, who is the associate director of UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, cautioned it was still a big leap to expect gene-silencing to work in other neurodegenerative diseases.
associate director 副所長
She told the BBC: "The case for these is not as clear-cut as for Huntington's disease, they are more complex and less well understood.  
"But the principle that a gene, any gene affecting disease progression and susceptibility, can be safely modified in this way in humans is very exciting and builds momentum and confidence in pursuing these avenues for potential treatments." 
The full details of the trial will be presented to scientists and published next year. 
The therapy was developed by Ionis Pharmaceuticals, which said the drug had "substantially exceeded" expectations, and the licence has now been sold to Roche.
exceed expectation 〔数量・結果などが〕期待［予想］を上回る［超える］

20171211

Call for lung health screening in top football clubs
Professional footballers should be screened for exercise-induced asthma, researchers say, after a study found three in 10 could be affected. 
University of Kent scientists used lung tests to identify players with symptoms and improved their fitness after treatment. 
Elite athletes are known to be prone to asthma-related problems because of their high-intensity breathing.
Experts said screening made sense and could prevent later problems.
In the study, presented at a meeting of the British Thoracic Society, 97 footballers in England from two Premier League clubs, one Championship club and a League One club had their lung health tested during pre-season.
Coughing and wheezing
Twenty-seven players tested positive for airway or breathing problems, also known as exercise-induced asthma.
Ten of those had no previous history of asthma or airway problems.
When they were treated with appropriate medication, their symptoms - such as tightness of the chest, wheezing and coughing after playing - reduced, and their lung function improved over time.
wheezing 【名】喘鳴
The researchers also found that their aerobic fitness and performance on the pitch improved.
aerobic fitness 《スポーツ》エアロビクス［エアロビック］フィットネス
Dr John Dickinson, from the school of sport and exercise science at the University of Kent, said although top football clubs were good at screening players for heart problems, they were not carrying out tests which could identify respiratory problems - which were much more common.
"Clubs can't rely on players reporting symptoms because they are not always that obvious and sometimes they are written off as poor fitness," he said.
The researchers used medical tests to assess the footballers' breathing, airway function and how efficiently they could empty their lungs.
They were then able to detect asthma-related symptoms accurately and tailor treatment for those affected.
tailor treatment to an individual patient  治療法を個々の患者に合わせる
Improving the health of footballers' airways also has other benefits, Dr Dickinson said.
"They are less likely to pick up coughs and colds." 
What is asthma?
It is a common lung condition caused by inflammation or swelling of the breathing tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs
It can cause wheezing, breathlessness, a tight chest and coughing
This can occur after exposure to a trigger, such as allergens (pollens, animal fur and house dust), cigarette smoke, gases, cold air, exercise and chest infections
Asthma can affect people of all ages and the severity of the symptoms varies from person to person
Exercise-induced asthma only happens during or after exercise

High rates of exercise-induced asthma have been found in other sports among elite athletes. 
Experts believe it may be connected to athletes exercising regularly at high intensity which means their breathing rates are also high 
When the air is cold and dry, and if there is exposure to air pollution or other allergens like pollen, this could worsen symptoms - but more research is needed to confirm this.
Dr Lisa Davies, consultant respiratory physician and chairwoman of the British Thoracic Society's board of trustees, said lungs were pivotal to exercise and life in general.

"In key sports, where the lungs are worked hard and are prone to repeat exposure to different and challenging internal and external conditions - it really makes sense to have lung health screening, so if there are any airway problems they can be treated."

20171207

Babies' brains damaged by pollution, Unicef says
Seventeen million babies under the age of one are breathing toxic air, putting their brain development at risk, the UN children's agency has warned.
Babies in South Asia were worst affected, with more than 12 million living in areas with pollution six times higher than safe levels. 
A further four million were at risk in East Asia and the Pacific. 
Unicef said breathing particulate air pollution could damage brain tissue and undermine cognitive development.
particulate 【名】 《particulates》微粒子   微粒子状物質
Its report said there was a link to "verbal and non-verbal IQ and memory, reduced test scores, grade point averages among schoolchildren, as well as other neurological behavioural problems".
The effects lasted a lifetime, it said. "As more and more of the world urbanises, and without adequate protection and pollution reduction measures, more children will be at risk in the years to come," Unicef said.
in the years to come今後の数年
It called for wider use of face masks and air filtering systems, and for children not to travel during spikes in pollution.
spike【名】急騰、急伸
Last month hazardous smog began blanketing the Indian capital Delhi, prompting the Indian capital's chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to say the city had become a "gas chamber".
Some schools in the city were closed but there was criticism when they re-opened, with parents accusing the authorities of disregarding their children's health. 
Indian and Sri Lankan cricketers playing in Delhi vomited on the pitch during high levels of pollution. 
In northern China, air pollution is estimated to cut life expectancy by about three years and the government has imposed tougher emissions rules on companies, although state media have reported that these are routinely flouted.
flout  【自他動】 〔人・規則・慣習などを〕軽蔑する、ばかにして無視する［従わない］、逆らう
Satellite imagery used to compile the data also revealed that the issue was growing in African cities, Unicef said. Meanwhile a separate study by scientists at hospitals in London found that the British city's polluted air was leading to lower birth weights, linked to higher infant mortality and disease later in life.

​20171206

UN commits to stop ocean plastic waste
Nations have agreed that the world needs to completely stop plastic waste from entering the oceans. 
The UN resolution, which is set to be sealed tomorrow, has no timetable and is not legally binding.
seal確認する、認める
But ministers at an environment summit in Kenya believe it will set the course for much tougher policies and send a clear signal to business.
set the course for the ship  針路を決めて船のかじを取る
A stronger motion was rejected after the US would not agree to any specific, internationally agreed goals.
Under the proposal, governments would establish an international taskforce to advise on combating what the UN's oceans chief has described as a planetary crisis.
Environmentalists say ministers are starting to take plastic waste more seriously, but need to move much more quickly.  
Li Lin from the green group WWF said: "At last we are seeing some action on this issue, but we still don’t have the urgency we need. The problem needs solving right now."
One contentious issue is the wish of delegates to include businesses on the global taskforce.
Ministers say the problem will not be solved without business, but green groups point out that some firms in the plastics industry have been lobbying against restrictions for decades. 
Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s environment minister, a leading voice in the talks, told BBC News: "Business is listening to markets and seeing how marine litter is a growing popular concern. 
"It's possibly the fastest-growing environmental problem and it's therefore a fast-growing problem for business.
"We need to bring on board those companies that want to change things, then look at taxes and regulations to make more companies act sustainably.
bring someone on board   （人）を仲間に（引き）入れる
"We also need to mobilise businesses like aquaculture that suffer from marine pollution."
aquaculture 【名】  水産養殖
Baskets
Certainly, there has been a flurry of resistance from plastics firms to the bans occurring across Africa.
flurry of 《a ～》相次ぐ、立て続けの
One UN delegate, who did not want to be named, told me journalists in some countries were being paid by the plastics industry to write stories about job losses following the plastic bag ban. 
Here in Kenya, a long newspaper report counted job losses from the sudden closure of a plastics plant. But it did not mention the jobs being created in alternatives, such as labour-intensive basketwork, which provides work for the rural poor.
But some governments are standing firm, and the meeting has witnessed individual nations declaring tougher action against single-use plastic bags on their own territory. 
South Africa and Cameroon are the latest to declare a tax on the thin bags which strew Africa's fields and cities.
strew 【他動】 〔だらしなく〕～をばらまく
Nations with a near total ban include Mauretania, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mauritius, Zanzibar and Uganda. 
Bangladesh imposed a ban in 2002 after plastic bags blocked drains and contributed to major floods.
Sri Lanka and others adopted a ban for similar reasons, although in Mauretania a ban came because cattle were getting sick from eating plastic.
Whatever the motivation for restrictions, sea creatures will eventually benefit from a slackening in the tide of waste.
slacken不活発［不振］になる、落ち込む
The UN's spokesman Sam Barratt told BBC News: "Of course we would have liked to have gone further, but this meeting's made real progress.
"There's now a sense of urgency and energy behind the issue that we haven't quite seen before.
"What is obvious, though, is that the UN can't solve this problem on its own. We need to do it in partnership with governments, businesses and even individuals."
Whilst the UN grinds slowly forward, one delegate told me the meeting had been really useful for ministers to share their experiences on action they had taken in their own countries. Laggards were learning from progressives, he said.
laggard 【名】遅れる人
He highlighted collaborative action from states along Africa's Atlantic coast to clamp down on the waste that infests their seas. The UK may be brought into that partnership thanks to its British Overseas Territory of St Helena.

20171205

Philippines launches probe into dengue vaccine scare
The Philippines has launched an investigation into the immunisation of 730,000 children with a dengue vaccine that could pose health risks.
Last week French drug company Sanofi announced its vaccine could worsen the potentially deadly disease in people not previously infected.The public immunisation programme was suspended on Friday.Dengue fever affects more than 400 million people each year around the world.The mosquito-borne disease is a leading cause of serious illness and death among children in some Asian and Latin American countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).Sanofi's Dengvaxia is the first-ever approved dengue vaccine. In addition to the Philippines, the company said the vaccine was registered in Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Singapore, Thailand and Venezuela.
first-ever【形】史上初の、初めての
The vaccine has also been used in a public immunisation programme in Brazil which, combined with the Philippines scheme, has to date provided around one million people at least one dose of drug. 
Sanofi said in a press conference on Monday that there had been no reported deaths related to its dengue vaccine in the Philippines."As far as we know, as far as we are made aware, there are no reported deaths that are related to dengue vaccination," the company's medical director, Ruby Dizon, told reporters on Monday.
"Of course, rest assured, monitoring is continuing, we are working with the department of health (DOH), in collaboration, to make sure this is maintained."
rest assured 〔確実なので・保証されているので〕安心する  ・You can rest assured of our quality. : 当社の品質についてはご安心ください。
Philippine presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Monday that "people should not panic over the dengue vaccine" as the government was looking into the matter.
Dengue is a viral infection which causes a severe, flu-like illness that can be fatal if it develops into its most serious form.  
The global incidence of dengue has risen dramatically in recent decades, according to the WHO, putting about half the world's population at risk of the disease.  
Sanofi said last week that a new long-term study had shown that while the Dengvaxia vaccine worked with people who had prior infection, it posed a risk for those who hadn't. 
"For those not previously infected by dengue virus, the analysis found that in the longer term, more cases of severe disease could occur following vaccination upon a subsequent dengue infection," the company said in a statement. 
The French drug maker said it would ask health authorities to update the information given to doctors and patients working with the vaccine.
In its latest advice on the vaccine, the WHO recommended that Dengvaxia should only be administered to "subjects that are known to have been infected with dengue prior to vaccination," pending a full review of the study.
subject【名】対象者、被験者

20171204

Gravity signals rapidly show true size of giant quakes
Researchers have developed a new approach to estimate the true size of very large earthquakes.
At present, scientists use seismic waves from a rupture to work out the scale of the event.
rupture【名】裂傷、断裂
But a new analysis of the Tohoku earthquake in Japan in 2011 shows that changes in gravity can give more rapid information. This method could have accurately estimated that magnitude 9 tremor in minutes, not the hours actually taken.As Japan's largest recorded earthquake, the Tohoku event is probably best remembered for the huge tsunami it unleashed.As well as killing around 12,000 people it triggered the meltdown of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Experts believe that the quake was caused by the rupture of a stretch of the subduction zone associated with the Japan Trench, which separates the Eurasian Plate from the downward-sliding Pacific Plate.
subduction 【名】 《地学》〔プレートの〕沈み込み
Initial estimates of magnitude by Japan's meteorological agency indicated it was a 7.9 tremor. Three hours later, this was corrected to 8.8. Eventually the Tohoku quake was upgraded to 9.1 magnitude.These estimates are based on seismic waves generated by the earthquake which travel through the Earth and are recorded on seismometers all over the world. 
Scientists look for what are termed P-waves as the fastest way to deduce what is happening in an event. These travel at around 7-8km per second. 
However, French researchers have been looking at the possibility of using small shifts in gravity to estimate scale.Large tremors can cause perturbations in the Earth's gravitational field - and as these signals travel at the speed of light, they open up the possibility of much more rapid detection of quake magnitude.
perturbation  【名】《物理・天文》摂動
Up to now, gravitational signals have been difficult to detect above the seismic noise, but the French research team developed their model to analyse the Tohoku event using data recorded with broadband seismometers located some 1,000 to 2,000km from the quake."As soon as you have the location and origin time of the earthquake, you know when the seismic waves will arrive at good quality stations inland," said lead author Dr Martin Vallee, from the Paris Institute of Earth Physics.
"And if you look to see a gravity signal before the arrival time of the seismic waves, if you can see this, it really means you have a large event. If you cannot see it you will be in a magnitude 8.5 or below." 
According to the authors, this method of analysis would have reliably detected that the Tohoku quake was greater than magnitude 9 within three minutes of the origin time.
This could have had major implications especially for the tsunami that followed it. 
"Knowing that a quake is very large a few minutes after is not very useful for the areas that are directly affected because the seismic waves will already have affected the area," said Dr Vallee.
"But it is for the tsunamis which often arrive half an hour after an earthquake, they are much slower than the seismic waves, and here you have some time to react. It is very useful."
At present, the research team say that the ideal places to test the method are in locations that have had an earthquake greater than magnitude 9 in recent centuries, such as the Cascadia region of the US and Canada. 
Looking ahead, the scientists believe that with refinement, their method of analysing gravity signals could allow more rapid detection of the size of smaller events.  "It will be really important if in the future we have instruments that can measure the signal and are more sensitive," said Dr Vallee.
"We will be able to apply the same analysis to smaller earthquakes, and when I say smaller I mean magnitude 7 or 8 which in fact are very large and can destroy a lot." 
The study has been published in the journal, Science.
It's not possible to predict earthquakes but it is possible to issue alerts once a major event is under way.
 And for those not living directly above the point of rupture, but some distance away, such warnings can give people vital seconds to prepare.
These systems - they have them in places like Japan and Mexico - work on the basis of detecting the different arrival times of seismic waves. 
So-called P-waves are less destructive vibrations that run ahead of the far stronger and more damaging S-waves. But neither move as swiftly as the changes that become apparent in the gravity field once a quake has moved a great mass of rock inside the Earth. If you could practically harness this signal in an early warning system then it could provide just a few seconds more grace for the surgeon to lift their scalpel away from a patient's organ or for the driver of a packed commuter train to slow down.
grace猶予期間 恩寵
However the gravity signal is very subtle and it will be challenging to make use of it in all but the very largest events. On average there is only about one "great quake" of magnitude 8 or higher a year. But there is hope the technologies can be improved. 
This new research came out of discussions surrounding the detection of gravitational waves from black hole mergers in space.That technique had its doubters for a long while but eventually proved its worth. Even if a gravity signal cannot be woven into an early warning system, just knowing the true scale of a quake much faster will be important information for first responders.

20171129

World power 'threatened' by Chinese AI
The economic and military balance of world power could be altered as China rushes to develop artificial intelligence technology, a US think tank has warned. 
The report cites examples of how AI tech is being used in a military setting. 
In July, China announced its national plan for AI, calling for the country to catch up with the US. 
But one expert said the accusations could be "sabre-rattling". 
"China is no longer in a position of technological inferiority relative to the United States but rather has become a true peer that may have the capability to overtake the United States in AI," said the report, from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a research arm of the US intelligence community.
peer 【名】〔能力などが〕同等［同格］の人、対等者
"China's People's Liberation Army is also investing in a range of AI-related projects and PLA research institutes are partnering with the Chinese defence industry," the report said, citing publicly available documents. 
"The PLA anticipates that the advent of AI could fundamentally change the character of warfare," it added.
advent  【名】出現、到来
Killer robots?
Report author Elsa Kania said some PLA thinkers anticipate the approach of a "singularity" on the battlefield, where humans can no longer keep pace with the speed of machine-led decisions during combat.
singularity  【名】一つであること、単独（性）、単一（性）特異性、並外れたこと 珍しいもの、奇異、奇妙（なもの）
《数学・物理・天文》特異点
Pentagon policy currently calls for a human role in offensive actions carried out by machines, while the UN is considering whether to call for a ban on autonomous weapons on the battlefield.
"The PLA may leverage AI in unique and perhaps unexpected ways, likely less constrained by the legal and ethical concerns prominent in US thinking," Ms Kania wrote.
leverage 【他動】～を利用［活用］する
Prof Noel Sharkey, who heads the Campaign to stop Killer Robots, told the BBC that his meeting with Chinese officials suggested there was no desire to develop such weapons. 
"They seemed more concerned about what the West was doing and has made noises about the prohibition of such weapons so this could just be sabre-rattling."   
That said, he agreed that China was likely to catch up with the West "within five years".
"There are lots of Chinese students in AI research and Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are all doing interesting things. Baidu has more than 60 different AI platforms and has spent $1bn, buying up Western AI firms." 
Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, has also warned about China's potential in AI. At a recent conference in Washington, hosted by CNAS, he said: "I'm assuming that our lead will continue over the next five years, and that China will catch up extremely quickly. So, in five years we'll kind of be at the same level, possibly."
An unreleased Pentagon document, seen by Reuters, warned earlier this year that Chinese firms were skirting US oversight and gaining access to sensitive US AI technology with potential military applications by buying stakes in US firms.
skirt【他動】   ～の周辺を通る、～の周囲をまわる
A recently released OECD report, The Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2017, also pointed to a growth in China's tech power. 
According to the report, the number of artificial intelligence technologies patented in the five top IP offices rose by 6% a year on average over 2010-15, led by Japan. Japan, Korea and the US together accounted for more than 62% of AI-related patent applications but it saw a significant rise in filings from China and Taiwan.

20171128

EU settles dispute over major weedkiller glyphosate
EU countries have voted to renew the licence of glyphosate, a widely used weedkiller at the centre of environmental concerns.The proposal at the EU Commission's Appeal Committee got 18 votes in favour and nine against, with one abstention, ending months of deadlock. The Commission says the new five-year licence will be ready before the current one expires on 15 December. However, France plans to ban the use of glyphosate within three years. In a tweet, French President Emmanuel Macron said he had ordered a ban on the use of glyphosate in France "as soon as alternatives are found, and within three years at the latest".
Glyphosate is marketed as Roundup by the US agrochemical giant Monsanto. One UN study called the chemical "probably carcinogenic", but other scientists said it was safe to use.
The UK was among the states in favour of glyphosate renewal. Germany and Poland were also among them - though they had previously abstained.
abstain【自動】棄権する
France and Belgium were among the states that voted against. Portugal abstained.
The EU Commission says the current proposal on the weedkiller "enjoys the broadest possible support by the member states while ensuring a high level of protection of human health and the environment".
Glyphosate was introduced by Monsanto in 1974, but its patent expired in 2000, and now the chemical is sold by various manufacturers.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer in humans.
Critics say widespread use of glyphosate reduces biodiversity, by killing plants that are essential for many insects and other animals.
Some countries and regions have banned glyphosate use in public parks and gardens. Its effect on plants is non-selective, meaning it will kill most of them when applied.
How does glyphosate work?
It is usually mixed with other chemicals that help it get into plants, where it blocks a key enzyme pathway. The disruption prevents plants from making certain proteins needed for their growth.
The "shikimate pathway" involves seven enzymes, which enable the plant to form amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The pathway is not found in animals.
shikimate pathway  シキミ酸経路 は芳香族アミノ酸の生合成反応経路である。間接的にフラボノイドやアルカロイド（モルヒネ（チロシン由来）、キニーネ（トリプトファン由来）等）などの生合成にも必要。微生物や植物の大半は有しているが動物には見られない。
Some crops, such as soybean, have been genetically modified to resist glyphosate.
Farmers spray it on fields before their crops emerge in spring, so the crops do not have to compete with weeds.
Some also use it as a pre-harvest treatment to dry out crops and make them easier to harvest. The UK Soil Association says such use is risky, as it can increase glyphosate residues in food.
residue 【名】残り、残余、残留物
How widespread is it?
It is described as the world's most popular weedkiller. In the US, more than 750 products contain it.
Glyphosate use worldwide has risen almost 15-fold since 1996, when so-called "Roundup Ready" crops, genetically engineered to resist glyphosate, were introduced. 
A 2016 study by Environmental Sciences Europe notes growing concern about intensive glyphosate use, because some plants have developed resistance to it - meaning that farmers tend to use even more of the herbicide. 
Sri Lanka banned use of glyphosate in 2015 - though the tea industry opposes the ban. In 2015 too Colombia stopped aerial spraying of glyphosate - even though it had been used widely to kill illegal coca plants.+-
What is the effect on humans?
Glyphosate's toxicity is reckoned to be low, in the concentrations used by farmers, although the UN International Agency for Research on Cancer called it "probably carcinogenic".
The European Commission says that besides EFSA, the European C hemicals Agency and other scientific bodies found no link to cancer in humans. 
The Soil Association says glyphosate traces are regularly found in bread. 
According to the US National Pesticide Information Center, the chemical mostly passes through the body quickly in urine and faeces.

20171127

Deep fat fryers may help form cooling clouds
deep-fat-fried food 高脂肪
Fatty acids released into the air from cooking may contribute to the formation of clouds that cool the climate, say scientists.Fatty acid molecules comprise about 10% of fine particulates over London, and such particles help seed clouds.But researchers dismiss the idea that cooking fats could be used as a geo-engineering tool to reduce warming. Instead, the research is designed to help reduce uncertainties about the role of cooking fats on climate.
reduce the uncertainties不確定要素を軽減する［減少させる］
Researchers believe the fatty molecules arrange themselves into complex 3-D structures in atmospheric droplets.
These aerosols persist for longer than normal and can seed the formation of clouds which experts say can have a cooling effect on the climate.The authors say the study will shed new light on the long term role of aerosols on temperatures. Atmospheric aerosols are one of the areas of climate science where there are considerable uncertainties.The description covers tiny particles that can be either solid or liquid, ranging from the dusts of the Saharan desert to soot to aerosols formed by chemical reaction. 
These can have a variety of impacts, while most aerosols reflect sunlight back into space others absorb it.
Aerosols and the clouds seeded by them, are said to reflect about a quarter of the Sun's energy back into space.
aerosol 【名】 《化学》エアロゾル、煙霧質 エアロゾル大気中に浮遊する汚染物質などの粒子
Researchers have known for some time that the emissions of fatty acid molecules from chip pans and cookers may coat aerosol particles in the atmosphere - but this is the first time that scientists have looked at their role inside the droplets.
Using ultrasonic levitation to hold individual droplets of brine and oleic acid in position, the research team was able to make them float so they could analyse them with a laser beam and X-rays.
levitation 【名】 〔魔術による〕空中浮遊
brine【名】（食）塩水
The X-rays proved crucial in revealing the inner structure.
"We found these drops could form these self-assembled phases which means these molecules can stay much longer in the atmosphere," said lead author Dr Christian Pfrang, from the University of Reading.
"These self-assembled structures are highly viscous so instead of having a water droplet you have something that behaves much more like honey, so processes inside the droplet will slow down," he told BBC News.
self-assembled【形】 自己集合した
viscous【形】 粘（着）性のある
"They are resistant to oxidation so they stay around longer, so cloud formation will be easier." 
Scientists believe that the number of fatty acid molecules in the air is relatively high, comprising about 10% of the fine particulate matter over London, according to research published last year. 
This could be having an impact on the number of clouds and the amount of heat they reflect back into space.
"If you want to establish emissions control measures for McDonalds for example, you could assume that instead of two hours the molecules can last more than one day," said Dr Pfrang.
"Then this air parcel that comes from McDonalds will travel 10 times further, this is important for local air pollution but also to determine the effect of clouds which is the largest uncertainty."
"We know that the complex structures we saw are formed by similar fatty acid molecules like soap in water," said co-lead author, Dr Adam Squires, from the University of Bath,
"There, they dramatically affect whether the mixture is cloudy or transparent, solid or liquid, and how much it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere in a lab. 
"The idea that this may also be happening in the air above our heads is exciting, and raises challenges in understanding what these cooking fats are really doing to the world around us."  
The researchers say that current large-scale atmospheric models do not account for the role of 3-D structures in aerosols at all, according to the research team.
But they are dismissive of the idea that cooking fats could somehow be used as a form of geo-engineering to limit the impacts of global warming.
dismissive 【形】否定的な
Much more important they say, is to collect molecules from the atmosphere and bring them back for further study. 
"If it does have an impact, it is likely to be a cooling one," said Dr Pfrang.
"And the extent urgently needs further research."

​

20171125

Flies more germ-laden than suspected
Scientists have discovered that flies carry more diseases than suspected.
The house fly and the blowfly together harbour more than 600 different bacteria, according to a DNA analysis.
blowfly【名】《昆虫》クロバエ
Many are linked with human infections, including stomach bugs, blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Flies can spread bacteria from place-to-place on their legs, feet and wings, experiments show. In fact, every step taken by a fly can transfer live bacteria, researchers said.
''People had some notion that there were pathogens that were carried by flies but had no idea of the extent to which this is true and the extent to which they are transferred," Prof Donald Bryant of Penn State University, a co-researcher on the study, told BBC News.
the extent to which がどれだけ
Outbreaks
DNA sequencing techniques were used to study the collection of microbes found in and on the bodies of the house fly (Musca domestica) and the blowfly (Chrysomya megacephala).
The house fly, which is ubiquitous around the world, was found to harbour 351 types of bacteria. The blowfly, which is found in warmer climates, carried 316. A large number of these bacteria were carried by both types of fly.The researchers, who published their study in the journal Scientific Reports, say flies may have been overlooked by public health officials as a source of disease outbreaks.
overlook 【他動】見落とす
"We believe that this may show a mechanism for pathogen transmission that has been overlooked by public health officials, and flies may contribute to the rapid transmission of pathogens in outbreak situations," said Prof Bryant. "It will really make you think twice about eating that potato salad that's been sitting out at your next picnic," he added.
think twice  〔実行する前に〕熟考する、よく考える
However, the researchers believe flies could have their uses - acting as early warning systems for disease or even living drones sent into tight spaces to search for microbes.
"In fact, the flies could be intentionally released as autonomous bionic drones into even the smallest spaces and crevices and, upon being recaptured, inform about any biotic material they have encountered," said Stephan Schuster, research director at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
House flies are well known for their poor hygiene habits - visiting rubbish tips and feeding on all sorts of decaying food, animal corpses and faecal matter. They are suspected of carrying a range of human, animal and plant diseases. Blow flies are one of the most common flies found around dead animals. They are common in urban areas and are often found near meat-processing plants, rubbish dumps and slaughterhouses.

20171124

Finland rolls out bread made from crushed crickets
A Finnish bakery is to offer bread made from crushed crickets in a move that is hoped will help tackle world hunger. Fazer Bakery in Finland said the product, available in its stores from Friday, was the first of its kind.
Each loaf produced will contain about 70 crickets that have been dried and ground, and then mixed with flour, wheat and other seeds.
loaf 【名】 〔パンの〕ローフ 焼いてから切っていない、大きな一塊のパン。
ground細かくした
In 2013, the United Nations estimated that at least 2 billion people eat insects worldwide. 
According to the UN, more than 1,900 species of insect are used for food.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) began a programme in 2013 to encourage the breeding and consumption of insects.
Juhani Sibakov, head of innovation at Fazer, said the concept had been in development since last summer, but it could not be launched until approved by Finnish authorities.
Watch: Should we eat bugs like Angelina Jolie?
Earlier this month Finland lifted a ban on the sale of insects raised and marketed for food use.
Five other European countries - the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Denmark - already allow this.
Mr Sibakov said the bread contains more protein than normal wheat bread.
"It offers consumers a good protein source and also gives them an easy way to familiarise themselves with insect-based food," he said.The bread will be rolled out initially in stores in the Finnish capital, Helsinki. Sara Koivisto, a student there, said she "couldn't taste the difference", adding: "It tastes like bread." 
Fazer, which imports the cricket ingredients from the Netherlands, only has a limited supply. However it said it was working to find a local supplier.
In many parts of the world, insect-eating is common.
In the West, edible bugs are becoming more popular with those who want a gluten-free diet or to protect the environment. Farming insects may use less resources than farming animals.