Latest news with #S
The Sun
6 days ago
- General
- The Sun
Three ancient Egyptian tombs are unearthed after 3,500yrs -but you'd be surprised who each ornate burial site was for
A CLEVER team of archaeologists have unearthed a trio of ancient tombs which all belonged to a peculiar set of Egyptians. The three ornate burial sites date back more than 3,500 years and were discovered in the Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor. 5 5 5 The team who analysed the tombs were quickly able to uncover who each belonged to due to the names and titles of the owners being found through inscriptions inside. One of the tombs, which was found mostly destroyed, belonged to Amum-em-Ipet, from the Ramesside period. Another was used to bury a man called Baki as the third was used for the body of a person named only as S. Both of these individuals worked as regular supervisors in the time around 1550BC. Baki worked as a supervisor of the grain silo, while S was a supervisor at the Temple of Amun. They were also said to be a a writer and the mayor of the northern oases. All three tombs featured a small courtyard leading up to their entrance. Sherif Fathir, Egypt's tourism and antiquities minister, described the discovery as a significant scientific and archaeological achievement. The city of Luxor has long been seen as one of Egypt's oldest and most ancient sites which is full of unexplored history. In 2021, an Egyptian city was uncovered after 3,000 years with experts hailing it the most "important discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun". The "Golden City of Luxor" became the 'the largest' ancient city ever found in Egypt. As well as the the city streets and evidence of buildings, lots of artefacts and even skeletal remains have been discovered. The team found precious jewellery, scarab beetle amulets and coloured pottery. Elsewhere, a mysterious giant pink door has been discovered inside a 4,400-year-old tomb. The entrance was found at the Saqqara Necropolis - an ancient cemetery full of pyramids and tombs - in Cairo, Egypt. The stunning discovery was made by a team of Egyptian archaeologists as part of ongoing research work at the site. Pictures from the dig show the looming pink door which measures an impressive 15ft tall and 4ft wide. But instead of a functioning door archaeologists have actually uncovered a wall carving which has been cleverly designed to look like an entrance. A brief history of Ancient Egypt Here's everything you need to know... The Ancient Egyptians were an advanced civilisation who at one point owned a huge portion of the globe The civilisation began about 5,000 years ago when ancient humans began building villages along the River Nile It lasted for about 3,000 years and saw the building of complex cities centuries ahead of their time – as well as the famous Great Pyramids The Ancient Egyptians were experts at farming and construction They invented a solar calendar, and one of the world's earliest writing systems: The hieroglyph The Egyptians were ruled by kings and queens called pharaohs Religion and the afterlife were a huge part of Ancient Egyptian culture. They had over 2,000 gods Pharaohs built huge elaborate tombs to be buried in, some of which were pyramids – at the time among the largest buildings in the world The Egyptians believed in life after death, and important people's corpses were mummified to preserve their bodies for the afterlife The Ancient Egytpian empire fell due to a mix of factors, including wars with other empires and a 100-year period of drought and starvation 5
CBS News
27-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
3 ancient tombs of prominent statesmen discovered in Egypt
Archaeologists in Egypt have unveiled the millennia-old tombs of three senior statesmen, identified by inscriptions left on the tombs. The three sites in the city of Luxor date to the New Kingdom era, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said on social media, which ranged from about 1550 to 1070 B.C. One of the tombs is for a person called "Amon-am-Ebt," who worked in a temple or other sacred site. The tomb has a view of sacrificial items and other relics, the ministry said. The tomb includes a small courtyard, an entrance, and a square hall. That site was later reused, and another hall was built, the ministry said. Another tomb is for a person called "Baki," who was a supervisor at a nearby monastery. The tomb included multiple courtyards and an exhibition hall. The third tomb, which included a small courtyard and its own exhibition hall, was for a person identified as "S," who worked as an overseer at a nearby temple, and was also a mayor and writer, the ministry said. An image in one of the tombs. Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities Further research will be done to learn more about the tombs, their occupants and their construction, the ministry said. The tombs were found in the Dra Abu al-Naga necropolis in Luxor. In late 2024, Egyptian officials announced the discovery of an ancient tomb with 11 sealed coffins, and a trove of jewelry, near Luxor. The site was likely a family tomb, CBS News previously reported. In 2023, researchers found what is believed to be the first burial site in the city. Overall, more than a thousand burial sites have been found in Luxor, Fathy Yaseen, director general of antiquities of Upper Egypt, told CBS News in 2023.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Could a new malaria jab really finish off the disease? Researchers at GSK have high hopes
A groundbreaking new malaria vaccine that could be three times more effective than existing jabs is under development by scientists at GSK, the Telegraph can reveal. The product, earmarked for roll-out in 2035, will target both liver and blood-stages of malaria and aims to offer 90 per cent protection against the notoriously difficult to control parasite, which is carried and transmitted via mosquitoes. Development work is being led by Dr Katie Ewer, the British scientist formerly of Oxford University's Jenner Institute who helped spearhead AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine, one of the most widely distributed jabs during the pandemic. 'Malaria is a tough pathogen. It's taken 35 years to even get to the point where vaccines are available,' Dr Ewer told The Telegraph. 'Now we're building on that technology and aiming for higher efficacy and longer-lasting protection with the second-generation version. It's a really exciting time.' But it's not the first time bold claims have been made over malaria vaccines and their potential to change the tide against the notorious mosquito-borne disease that continues to kill 600,000 children every year, mostly in Africa. The first-generation jabs – GSK's product the RTS,S and a sister version, R21,developed by Dr Ewer's former team at the Jenner Institute – were both rolled out for the first time in sub-Saharan Africa last year, but have not been the silver-bullet many in the global health space had hoped for. Initially claiming to be up to 70 per cent efficacious, data from the field suggests the protection they offer is in fact much lower – around 30 per cent – and that the immune response wanes over time. 'We have a dilemma where in the context of vaccines, the malaria jabs aren't very good. We think they only provide between 30-50 per cent protection,' Chris Drakeley, professor of Infection and Immunity at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told The Telegraph. Dr Ewer's team are aiming to address some of the pitfalls of the R21 and RTS,S with their new product by targeting the malaria parasite at an additional stage of its life cycle. The existing malaria vaccines work by killing off the parasites in the liver, the first stage of a malaria infection. There, the parasites undergo a development process and rapidly multiply before releasing into the bloodstream, the point at which a person becomes sick. The new jabs will not only target the liver-stage, but also have the ability to kill any parasites that have slipped through the net into the blood – providing a backstop to ensure that all the microorganisms have been killed. 'The problem with the current vaccines is that you need to kill every single damn parasite in order to get protection, and if just a very tiny number, one or two or three of these parasites escape, over time, they will build up in the blood and the kids will still get sick,' said Prof Eleanor Riley, professor of Immunology at the University of Edinburgh. 'There's been a growing consensus over the last five to 10 years that single stage liver vaccines wouldn't be enough, and that's partly reflecting our increased knowledge of the parasite itself,' Dr Ewer said. 'By adding in a blood stage, we hope that we can give an extra layer of immunity so that the parasites that are missed at the liver stage can be blocked,' she added. 'The reason for combining the two vaccines is that neither offers very high protection on its own – and they work in completely different ways,' said Prof Riley. 'One targets the parasite in the liver, while the other attacks it in the blood. So, there's potential for an additive or even synergistic effect. 'For example, if the liver-stage vaccine reduces the number of parasites by 90 per cent, and the blood-stage vaccine also reduces what's left by 90 per cent, together they could achieve around 99 per cent effectiveness. That's the idea behind combining them,' Prof Riley explained. Malaria costs the global economy over $12 billion annually; if these vaccines are able to provide a far better level of protection against malaria than the current jabs, it may seem puzzling why their rollout could still be a decade away. But the timeline is in fact typical – and even quick – particularly in the context of malaria. More than 200 malaria vaccines have been tried and tested since the early 1990s, and none have worked until the R21 and RTS,S – both of which were only approved in 2024. The team at GSK are still in the discovery phase, meaning they are yet to select a candidate vaccine that can be taken forward to testing. It typically takes between 10 to 15 years or more to complete all three phases of clinical trials for any new drug before it can be licenced for use. Another major part of the challenge is the pathogen itself: malaria is caused by a complex parasite, as opposed to a virus or bacteria, that is highly adapted and is notoriously good at evading the immune system. 'The malaria parasite has 4,000 to 5,000 genes, compared to a virus like Covid, which only has a few – some of which are on the surface and easier to target. With malaria, there are thousands of possible targets for a vaccine, so scientists have to carefully choose which ones to focus on,' Dr Ewer explained. 'The other challenge is that most vaccines work by copying the body's natural immune response. But with malaria, that doesn't work well because natural immunity takes years to build up and doesn't last long. Our immune systems just aren't very good at fighting malaria on their own,' she added. And despite much of the technology behind liver and blood-stage malaria vaccines already existing, combining the two has proven to be a complex challenge – one that many research groups have attempted without success. A USAID-funded research project led by Simon Draper, a former colleague of Dr Ewer at Oxford, produced promising data from a trial in Burkina Faso, that found blood-stage malaria vaccines to be effective in humans for the first time in 2024. The team had planned to combine blood- and liver-stage components later this year, but their progress was abruptly halted and US overseas aid funding was suspended by the Trump administration. 'Earlier attempts to make combined vaccines using blood-stage antigens often failed because of something called 'immune interference.' This happens when the immune system focuses on one part of the vaccine, but that response interferes with or weakens the response to other important parts. 'It's not just 'shove it all in together and it should be fine'. It's a lot more nuanced,' Dr Ewer said. 'And it's not just about science – we also need to be able to manufacture millions of doses at an affordable cost. So whatever we develop has to be effective and easy to manufacture at scale,' she added. 'The current vaccines we have were a major milestone, but they're not as effective as we'd like them to be, and so second generation vaccines are super important. What GSK is doing in terms of combining the vaccines is really exciting, and if you can get 90 per cent effectiveness you are moving towards an elimination tool,' Lottie Renwick, head of strategy and policy at the charity Malaria No More UK, told The Telegraph. 'But malaria is so complicated and you're still going to need your toolbox of interventions no matter what – including bed nets, drugs, and indoor residual spraying,' she added. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
02-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Could a new malaria jab really finish off the disease? Researchers at GSK have high hopes
A groundbreaking new malaria vaccine that could be three times more effective than existing jabs is under development by scientists at GSK, the Telegraph can reveal. The product, earmarked for roll-out in 2035, will target both liver and blood-stages of malaria and aims to offer 90 per cent protection against the notoriously difficult to control parasite, which is carried and transmitted via mosquitoes. Development work is being led by Dr Katie Ewer, the British scientist formerly of Oxford University's Jenner Institute who helped spearhead AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine, one of the most widely distributed jabs during the pandemic. 'Malaria is a tough pathogen. It's taken 35 years to even get to the point where vaccines are available,' Dr Ewer told The Telegraph. 'Now we're building on that technology and aiming for higher efficacy and longer-lasting protection with the second-generation version. It's a really exciting time.' But it's not the first time bold claims have been made over malaria vaccines and their potential to change the tide against the notorious mosquito-borne disease that continues to kill 600,000 children every year, mostly in Africa. The first-generation jabs – GSK's product the RTS,S and a sister version, R21,developed by Dr Ewer's former team at the Jenner Institute – were both rolled out for the first time in sub-Saharan Africa last year, but have not been the silver-bullet many in the global health space had hoped for. Initially claiming to be up to 70 per cent efficacious, data from the field suggests the protection they offer is in fact much lower – around 30 per cent – and that the immune response wanes over time. 'We have a dilemma where in the context of vaccines, the malaria jabs aren't very good. We think they only provide between 30-50 per cent protection,' Chris Drakeley, professor of Infection and Immunity at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told The Telegraph. Dr Ewer's team are aiming to address some of the pitfalls of the R21 and RTS,S with their new product by targeting the malaria parasite at an additional stage of its life cycle. The existing malaria vaccines work by killing off the parasites in the liver, the first stage of a malaria infection. There, the parasites undergo a development process and rapidly multiply before releasing into the bloodstream, the point at which a person becomes sick. The new jabs will not only target the liver-stage, but also have the ability to kill any parasites that have slipped through the net into the blood – providing a backstop to ensure that all the microorganisms have been killed. 'The problem with the current vaccines is that you need to kill every single damn parasite in order to get protection, and if just a very tiny number, one or two or three of these parasites escape, over time, they will build up in the blood and the kids will still get sick,' said Prof Eleanor Riley, professor of Immunology at the University of Edinburgh. 'There's been a growing consensus over the last five to 10 years that single stage liver vaccines wouldn't be enough, and that's partly reflecting our increased knowledge of the parasite itself,' Dr Ewer said. 'By adding in a blood stage, we hope that we can give an extra layer of immunity so that the parasites that are missed at the liver stage can be blocked,' she added. 'The reason for combining the two vaccines is that neither offers very high protection on its own – and they work in completely different ways,' said Prof Riley. 'One targets the parasite in the liver, while the other attacks it in the blood. So, there's potential for an additive or even synergistic effect. 'For example, if the liver-stage vaccine reduces the number of parasites by 90 per cent, and the blood-stage vaccine also reduces what's left by 90 per cent, together they could achieve around 99 per cent effectiveness. That's the idea behind combining them,' Prof Riley explained. Malaria costs the global economy over $12 billion annually; if these vaccines are able to provide a far better level of protection against malaria than the current jabs, it may seem puzzling why their rollout could still be a decade away. But the timeline is in fact typical – and even quick – particularly in the context of malaria. More than 200 malaria vaccines have been tried and tested since the early 1990s, and none have worked until the R21 and RTS,S – both of which were only approved in 2024. The team at GSK are still in the discovery phase, meaning they are yet to select a candidate vaccine that can be taken forward to testing. It typically takes between 10 to 15 years or more to complete all three phases of clinical trials for any new drug before it can be licenced for use. Another major part of the challenge is the pathogen itself: malaria is caused by a complex parasite, as opposed to a virus or bacteria, that is highly adapted and is notoriously good at evading the immune system. 'The malaria parasite has 4,000 to 5,000 genes, compared to a virus like Covid, which only has a few – some of which are on the surface and easier to target. With malaria, there are thousands of possible targets for a vaccine, so scientists have to carefully choose which ones to focus on,' Dr Ewer explained. 'The other challenge is that most vaccines work by copying the body's natural immune response. But with malaria, that doesn't work well because natural immunity takes years to build up and doesn't last long. Our immune systems just aren't very good at fighting malaria on their own,' she added. And despite much of the technology behind liver and blood-stage malaria vaccines already existing, combining the two has proven to be a complex challenge – one that many research groups have attempted without success. A USAID-funded research project led by Simon Draper, a former colleague of Dr Ewer at Oxford, produced promising data from a trial in Burkina Faso, that found blood-stage malaria vaccines to be effective in humans for the first time in 2024. The team had planned to combine blood- and liver-stage components later this year, but their progress was abruptly halted and US overseas aid funding was suspended by the Trump administration. 'Earlier attempts to make combined vaccines using blood-stage antigens often failed because of something called 'immune interference.' This happens when the immune system focuses on one part of the vaccine, but that response interferes with or weakens the response to other important parts. 'It's not just 'shove it all in together and it should be fine'. It's a lot more nuanced,' Dr Ewer said. 'And it's not just about science – we also need to be able to manufacture millions of doses at an affordable cost. So whatever we develop has to be effective and easy to manufacture at scale,' she added. 'The current vaccines we have were a major milestone, but they're not as effective as we'd like them to be, and so second generation vaccines are super important. What GSK is doing in terms of combining the vaccines is really exciting, and if you can get 90 per cent effectiveness you are moving towards an elimination tool,' Lottie Renwick, head of strategy and policy at the charity Malaria No More UK, told The Telegraph. 'But malaria is so complicated and you're still going to need your toolbox of interventions no matter what – including bed nets, drugs, and indoor residual spraying,' she added.
Zawya
30-04-2025
- Health
- Zawya
Mali: Greater protection for children against malaria
Fatoumata, aged 2 years and 4 months and wearing one of her most beautiful dresses, attended an event of great importance for her health on Friday morning, as her mother Niemba explains: 'I was on my way to the community health centre for my child's routine vaccination; from there, I was directed to the site of the ceremony where a new vaccine protecting children against malaria was being launched.' The event took place on World Malaria Day, 25 April, in Kalaban-Coro, 11 km from Bamako, and was attended by many mothers and their children. This was an opportunity to introduce the malaria vaccine, making Mali the 20th African country to incorporate it into its Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). More importantly, Mali became the first country in the world to use a hybrid vaccination approach to combat malaria. This approach combines two ways of administering the vaccine: children aged between 5 and 36 months receive the first three doses according to age, while the fourth and fifth doses are administered seasonally before the peak malaria transmission season in May or June. This maximizes protection for children and has been received with great relief at national level. 'The introduction of the malaria vaccine is highly significant for Mali. Moreover, this new approach, which synchronizes the period of greatest vaccine protection with the period when the risk of malaria is highest, optimizes the effectiveness of the vaccine in a country like ours, where transmission of the disease occurs in specific seasons,' says Dr Ibrahima Diarra, Director General of the National Immunization Centre. Children under the age of 5 are especially vulnerable to malaria, as they have not yet built immunity through years of exposure. Mali is among the 11 countries with the highest malaria burden, contributing 3% of the global malaria burden. In 2023, the incidence of malaria was 273%, with a mortality rate of 5.8 per 100 000 people in the general population. This situation is particularly concerning given that Mali is also among the eight countries where malaria cases rose significantly between 2019 and 2023, with an increase of 1.4 million cases. Malaria transmission in Mali is seasonal, with most cases occurring between July and December. The hybrid approach has been studied in clinical trials in Mali, showing that seasonal administration of the RTS,S vaccine, combined with seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) – a preventive treatment given monthly during the rainy season – offers superior protection to each of the interventions used in isolation. Both the RTS,S and R21 vaccines have been prequalified and recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the prevention of malaria in children. These safe and effective vaccines target the deadliest and most widespread malaria parasite in Africa. According to Dr Patrick Kabore, WHO Representative in Mali, 'the malaria vaccine is bringing great relief to communities and to the health system in general'. 'We will continue to support this momentum, particularly by backing the national programme to combat and eliminate this disease, which often has severe consequences for the most vulnerable,' he said. The launch of the malaria vaccine complements other existing preventive measures, such as the use of insecticide-treated bed nets, intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy, indoor insecticide spraying and community awareness campaigns in favour of the vaccine and to combat misinformation. With support from partners such as Gavi and UNICEF, the R21/Matrix-M vaccine will initially be rolled out in 19 priority districts across five regions of the country: Kayes, Koulikoro, Mopti, Ségou and Sikasso. In Kalaban-Coro, Niemba was happy that her little Fatoumata was one of the first children to receive the vaccine: 'My daughter has already been sick with malaria in the past. We live in a neighborhood that isn't very clean, and our children suffer a lot from this disease. This initiative is a great relief for us, because if our child is ill, the whole family suffers, not to mention the expense involved.' Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO) - Mali.
