Latest news with #HPPD
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Police address homeless encampment terrorizing L.A. doctor's office
A day after KTLA reported on denizens of a rooftop homeless encampment terrorizing a doctor's office in south-central Los Angeles County, city officials released a statement saying they are continuing 'to address the challenges associated with the unhoused population' at the location. Dr. Tahani Soliman, a general practitioner, in Huntington Park owns the building where she runs her practice out of at the corner of Rugby and Zoe avenues. A multi-level parking garage next door to her practice has reportedly been a hub for unhoused people, who are easily able to access her roof, camp out, steal electricity and scrap metal from her air-conditioning units and start fires. The doctor said she estimates she's spent more than $100,000 on repairs and deterrents such as barbed wire and a fence that the homeless simply tear down. Staff told KTLA that police said there was little they could do and that Soliman's calls to city officials were never returned. Frustrated and angry about the lack of support for her business, staff and patients, she's had enough. 'We are living in hell,' Soliman said. 'No protection for my employees, for my patients or my tenants. That's why I'm going to retire. Because of this, I lost everything.' In a news release, the Huntington Park Police Department said that it is actively investigating a May 7 theft that occurred at 6526 Rugby Avenue, which is Dr. Soliman's building. While authorities did not mention the May 27 fire at the parking garage encampment, the alleged electricity theft from the doctor's building or the damaged air conditioning units, officials said they were committed to ensuring public safety. Rooftop homeless encampment in L.A. terrorizing doctor's office 'Our officers regularly engage unhoused with unhoused individuals, connecting them to mental health services, social support programs and shelter options in collaboration with city and county partners,' the statement said. Officials added that they are working with community stakeholders to investigate the matter at Soliman's building, as well as addressing broader issues affecting surrounding neighborhoods. Anyone with information about the May 7 theft is encouraged to contact HPPD Lt. Soberanis at 323-826-6636. Additional questions can be directed to Lt. Elsa Cobian at 323-826-6695. Those wishing to report concerns or individuals seeking assistance can call the Unhoused Hotline at 323-926-1393. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Independent
26-03-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Malaria breakthrough as scientists find drug makes human blood deadly to mosquitoes
A drug for a rare disease makes human blood deadly to mosquitoes and could help in the fight against malaria, researchers have found. Several methods are currently used to reduce mosquito numbers and, as a result, malaria risk. One is the use of an anti-parasitic medication called ivermectin. When mosquitoes ingest blood containing this medication, it shortens the insect's lifespan. But researchers say this medication is environmentally toxic and when it is overused to treat people and animals with parasite infections, resistance to the drug becomes a concern. Now a study published in the journal Science Translation Medicine has identified another medication, nitisinone, which has the potential to suppress mosquito population and control malaria. 'One way to stop the spread of diseases transmitted by insects is to make the blood of animals and humans toxic to these blood-feeding insects,' said Lee Haines, associate research professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame, honorary fellow at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and co-lead author of the study. 'Our findings suggest that using nitisinone could be a promising new complementary tool for controlling insect-borne diseases like malaria.' This medication is typically used for patients with a rare inherited disease — such as alkaptonuria and tyrosinemia type 1 — whose bodies struggle to break down the protein building block or amino acid tyrosine. The drug works by blocking a type of enzyme called 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD). Blocking this prevents the build-up of harmful disease byproducts in the human body. However, when a mosquito drinks blood containing the drug, it also blocks this HPPD enzyme in their bodies which prevents the insect from digesting the blood, causing them to die quickly. Four people diagnosed with alkaptonuria donated their blood for the study, which was fed to female anopheles gambiae mosquitoes - the primary mosquito species responsible for spreading malaria in many African countries. The researchers explored what concentrations of the drug are needed to kill mosquitoes and compared its effectiveness to the anti-parasitic medication ivermectin. Nitisinone was shown to last longer than ivermectin in the human bloodstream and was able to kill not only mosquitoes of all ages — including the older ones that are most likely to transmit malaria — but also the hardy mosquitoes resistant to traditional insecticides. Mosquitoes which were fed the drug first lost the ability to fly and then rapidly progressed to full paralysis and death, the study authors explain. 'In the future, it could be advantageous to alternate both nitisinone and ivermectin for mosquito control,' Dr Haines said. 'For example, nitisinone could be employed in areas where ivermectin resistance persists or where ivermectin is already heavily used for livestock and humans.' However, more research is needed to determine what dosage of the drug works the best.
