NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

WORLD/ STEM CELLS CAN HELP DAMAGED HEART: Australian researchers have found a product, made of donated adult stem-cells, can increase blood supply to damaged heart muscle. Melbourne-based company Mesoblast today said it had successfully tested the product on 60 heart-attack patients in the US. The Mesoblast chief executive  told a conference in California, the company had seen significant improvements in blood flow to the heart, 6 months after a single injection of Revascor. The findings could lead to a reduction in long-term cardiac events including deaths, heart attacks and heart failure, researchers said. Mesoblast now hopes to trial the off the shelf product on 225 heart attack patients across Australia, Europe and the US. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in most countries in the world. (SK COMMENT: A study I am intimately familar with. Its definately a move forward in treating a damaged heart).

US/ ARIZONA WILDFIRE THREAT GROWS: Thousands of Arizona residents have fled a voracious wildfire that has devoured a stretch of sparsely populated pinelands the size of Phoenix and shows no sign of stopping. The Wallow fire, which began May 29, has blackened nearly 389,000 acres, making it the 2nd largest blaze in state history. It seemed poised to surpass the record-holder from 2002. Because of high winds and bone-dry terrain, the fire was 0% contained, meaning firefighters had not even begun to hem it in, much less get it under control. Also in the area and threatened by the conflagration: power lines ferrying electricity from the Palo Verde nuclear plant near Phoenix to southern New Mexico and West Texas. An El Paso utility company warned its 372,000 customers of possible rolling blackouts if the lines burn. Ferocious 35mph winds were kicking embers as far as 3 miles past the edge of the main blaze. Smoke was visible as far away as Wyoming. With smaller, but still significant, blazes in the southern part of the state, 600 square miles of Arizona was ablaze Wednesday. The blaze, which may have been sparked by an unattended campfire, tore through the evacuated town of Greer on Wednesday, forcing firefighters to flee. Officials won't know the extent of the damage until later.