Crews clean up 2,000-gallon fuel spill in Baltimore's harbor
Crews were working Thursday morning to contain and clean up a 2,000-gallon (7,570-liter) diesel fuel spill in Baltimore's harbor, according to state and city officials.
Initially, Johns Hopkins Hospital reported a contained 200-gallon diesel fuel spill at its East Baltimore facility on Wednesday morning, but a few hours later the fire department responded to a 911 call for a spill at a marina in Harbor East more than a mile away, officials said. The state, city and U.S. Coast Guard began coordinating a response to the spill. In an update around 7 p.m., Hopkins reported that 2,000 gallons had spilled, officials said.
More than 100 people worked through the night to make sure that the situation was under control and contained, Gov. Wes Moore said at a news conference. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott stressed that there's no evidence to suggest that the spill was affecting drinking water in the area.
A boom was deployed on the water quickly and later crews began to skim the heating oil product off the water, Fire Chief James Wallace said. They've begun to flush the storm drain system to push the product to the harbor where they have skimmers to capture it, he said. That effort will continue through the majority of the day on Thursday. Officials explained that the water appears red due to dye in the fuel.
'Very speedy response, solid coordination, partnership with our state and federal resources have put us into the position right now,' Wallace said. 'That's what's going to drive the remainder of the day and actually the coming days.'
Officials expect the containment and cleanup efforts will disrupt traffic well into the day Thursday, and they encouraged people to avoid the area.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
14 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Alzheimer's blood test can spot people with early symptoms, study suggests
A new blood test for Alzheimer's disease can accurately detect people with early symptoms, research suggests. Experts from the Mayo Clinic in the US have provided further evidence that blood tests can work to accurately diagnose dementia by examining two proteins in blood plasma. The proteins – amyloid beta 42/40 and p-tau217 – are associated with amyloid plaque buildup, which is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Researchers found the blood test was highly accurate, with 95% sensitivity, which means it was 95% accurate in picking up people with memory problems, with very few cases missed. It was also 82% for specificity, which means it was also highly accurate in ruling out people without dementia. The study was carried out on more than 500 people in an outpatient memory clinic, meaning it is real-world data. The blood test has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration regulator in the US. Dr Gregg Day, who led the study in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia, said the test was as good as more invasive tests in use. 'Our study found that blood testing affirmed the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease with 95% sensitivity and 82% specificity,' he said. 'When performed in the outpatient clinical setting, this is similar to the accuracy of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of the disease and is much more convenient and cost-effective.' Overall, researchers found that p-tau217 levels were higher in patients with Alzheimer's disease versus those without the disease. Day said the next steps in the research were to evaluate blood-based testing in more diverse patient populations and people with early Alzheimer's who showed no cognitive symptoms. Dr Richard Oakley, associate director for research and innovation at the Alzheimer's Society in the UK, said the results 'suggest this test is very accurate' and could be used alongside other tests and observations from a trained health professional. 'This study shows how blood tests are making diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease quicker, easier and more accessible than ever before in a real-world setting,' he added. 'While focused on Alzheimer's disease, the test was evaluated in people with other types of dementias too, showing that it may help with differentiate causes of cognitive decline, though more research in diverse groups of individuals and in community-based setting is still needed. 'Currently diagnosis options in the UK are often slow, expensive and can be invasive, meaning thousands miss out on the benefits one can bring. 'It's great to see blood tests like this approved for clinical use in the US. We hope to see the same in the NHS, which is why we're part of the Blood Biomarker Challenge.' The Blood Biomarker Challenge is a multimillion-pound research programme supported by the Alzheimer's Society, Alzheimer's Research UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Its goal is to bring blood tests for dementia diagnosis to the National Health Service by 2029. Oakley said: 'Blood tests will be critical to accelerate diagnosis and give more people access to the care, support and treatments they desperately need faster than ever before. 'We must see long-term investment in the tools and workforce needed to ensure everyone living with dementia can get an early an accurate diagnosis, which is even more important with disease-modifying treatments on the horizon.' Dr Julia Dudley, head of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: 'We urgently need to improve how we diagnose dementia and it's great to see international research working towards this goal. 'Blood tests in this study look at p-tau217 and amyloid beta 42/40 and showed the tests offered high accuracy in confirming Alzheimer's disease. 'This study adds to the growing evidence that blood tests can detect the diseases that cause dementia in people with early memory and thinking problems. 'An important point to consider is that people taking part in research don't always reflect the full diversity of those affected by dementia, who might have additional conditions or other characteristics. 'That is why work is needed to understand whether these blood tests work in a real-world setting. 'In the UK, studies like the Blood Biomarker Challenge are helping to build this evidence. The study is testing blood tests, including p-tau217, in thousands of people from sites across the UK. 'This work will be a crucial part of making diagnosis easier and faster, which will bring us closer to a cure.'
Sky News
4 hours ago
- Sky News
Blood test for Alzheimer's disease is highly accurate, researchers say
Researchers say a new blood test for Alzheimer's disease has been shown to be highly accurate in detecting people with early symptoms. Scientists looked for two proteins - amyloid beta 42/40 and p-tau217 - and found the test was 95% accurate in identifying patients with existing cognitive impairment linked to the condition. The US study involved 509 patients in an outpatient memory clinic in Florida and was published in the medical journal Alzheimer's and Dementia. The test, which has already been approved by the US regulator, was also 82% accurate for specificity, which means it could rule out people without dementia. Dr Gregg Day, who led the study, said the test was as good as existing, but more invasive, tests. He said the next step was to extend the test to a wider range of patients, including those with early Alzheimer's who do not have any cognitive symptoms. Scientists say the two proteins, which they have identified in blood plasma, are associated with the buildup of amyloid plaques. Amyloid protein can be found in our brains, but in Alzheimer's disease, amyloid sticks together and forms abnormal deposits, which are thought to be toxic to brain cells. Dr Richard Oakley, associate director for research and innovation at the Alzheimer's Society in the UK, said the results "suggest this test is very accurate". "Blood tests will be critical to accelerate diagnosis and give more people access to the care, support and treatments they desperately need faster than ever before," he added. In the UK, the Blood Biomarker Challenge is a multi-million-pound research programme supported by the Alzheimer's Society, Alzheimer's Research UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research. 1:09 Its goal is to bring blood tests for dementia diagnosis to the NHS by 2029. Dr Julia Dudley, head of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "We urgently need to improve how we diagnose dementia and it's great to see international research working towards this goal." She said the studies like the Blood Biomarker Challenge are a "crucial part of making diagnosis easier and faster, which will bring us closer to a cure". "The study is testing blood tests, including p-tau217, in thousands of people from sites across the UK," she added.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Switch on those glutes! Suddenly it's all about the bass, and for good reason
I'm staring at the screen, trying to write a joke. It involves a muscle called the gluteus maximus, Roman centurions and possibly a reference to Biggus somebody from Monty Python's Life of Brian. I've been sitting here for over an hour, so long that when I finally stand up I have to hobble and wobble a few steps before I can get my stride back. It's because my glutei maximi are a bit of a joke. I have spent so much of my life literally sitting on this Roman-sounding muscle, staring at screens, trying to think up killer first lines to stories that by middle-age this undernourished workhorse is vocalising its disappointment at my life choices. Everyone seems to be talking about glutes right now and it's not just some fad brought on by Kim Kardashian's internet-breaking bum. Fitness instructors tell us to 'switch on those glutes', or admonish us for having 'lazy' glutes or 'dead butt syndrome'; suddenly, it's all about the bass. And it's for good reason. The gluteal muscles are vital for getting us up and about, yet humanity's increasingly sedentary lifestyle and work are leading to neglect of our glute health, with potentially serious consequences for our overall health. Let's meet the triumvirate of the tush muscles: gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. Maximus is, as the name suggests, the big one that makes up what might colloquially be known as the butt cheek and which attaches at the back of the pelvis and at the side of the thigh bone. 'Glute max is largely responsible for extending your hips, so pushing your leg behind you,' says associate professor Angie Fearon, a physiotherapist at the University of Canberra. 'If you're standing up and you pushed your leg backwards, that would be that muscle … it pushes you forwards when you're walking, or running or hopping or skipping.' Gluteus medius and minimus take the leg out to the side and manage the rotational movement. These three muscles are vital in keeping the pelvis stable during walking, lifting the leg up and powering us forward. They are also a link from the core muscles in the stomach and the lower back down to the muscles of the legs. Weak gluteal muscles can lead to what Dr Charlotte Ganderton describes as a teapot-style gait, where people tilt their upper body from side to side over their hip as they walk. 'They're actually throwing their whole torso over their hip to be able to clear their foot through, and that obviously has significant consequences on the rest of your body and the joints that are further up from the hip, so the spine,' says Ganderton, a physiotherapist at RMIT and Alphington Sports Medicine in Melbourne. The real problem with neglected gluteal muscles is what they can lead to. 'If you don't have good functioning gluteal muscles, the actual hip joint is the one who takes on those forces,' Ganderton says. 'People that have hip pathology – so hip arthritis, lateral hip pain, which people call gluteal tendinopathy – we know that these individuals have poor hip strength, and they often have very poor hip control when we assess them in the clinic.' The two most common hip conditions that affect particularly older people are hip osteoarthritis and gluteal tendinopathy, which is sometimes also called greater trochanteric pain syndrome or bursitis. 'What we see in people with those conditions is they're often weaker in that area than an asymptomatic control group,' Fearon says. With gluteal tendinopathy, pain develops because weaker gluteal muscles leads people to overuse other muscles, which then cause irritation and inflammation of the tendons and muscles in the outer hip region. And for many, our sedentary lifestyle is to blame – it is very much a case of 'use it or lose it'. Even two weeks of sitting on our backsides with little to no activity can be enough to start deconditioning and diminishing of our muscles. Further on from that, 'the muscle no longer stays as muscle tissue, for the most part – it actually fills with fat and what we call fatty infiltrate', Ganderton says. And once that happens, it can be very challenging to reverse and rebuild the muscle. However the exercises to strengthen the gluteal muscles are actually pretty basic. The simplest one is called a 'gluteal bridge' and just involves lying on your back, planting the soles of your feet on the floor or bed and lifting your pelvis up off that surface. Or while you're lying down, roll on to your side and lift the upper leg upwards to about the width of your shoulders. Ganderton's own research in postmenopausal women with gluteal tendinopathy found that a simple standing exercise could also help. 'Standing on one leg where you've got both knees straight and you just lift up the opposite leg about a centimetre off the floor, so just weight shifting across uses a lot of muscle activity in the leg that's standing on the ground,' she says. For the more active and stable among us, Fearon also recommends squats and walking lunges, carrying weights if you're up to it. Even these simple exercises can make a big difference, Fearon says. 'Say you had 100 people with gluteal tendinopathy, in a large percentage of them, if you got them to do some specific strengthening work for the hip abductors, and you gave them some suitable education, they'd probably all improve or a large percentage of them would.' But at the most basic level, we just need to move more. 'There's really good evidence that shows that if you get up and move every 20 to 30 minutes – get up, do a few squats, go and get a glass of water, go to the photocopier, just get up and move – it actually sets off a whole lot of enzymes in your muscles, which is good,' she says. 'Your brain gets a break and overall you do better.'
