Countermeasures
A new advanced imaging technology (AIT) machine was recently installed at the DuBois Regional Airport (DUJ) in Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
The state-of-the-art machine’s target recognition software enables passengers a more... Read More »
After a Zika virus epidemic in 2015 and an outbreak of yellow fever earlier this year, Brazil runs a serious risk of being affected by Oropouche fever, a tropical viral infection similar to dengue fever, according to a recent study by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) in Brazil.... Read More »
National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists reported a new step forward in understanding and developing tools against tick-borne viruses this week, with the development of a laboratory model to study flaviviruses.
Specifically, it was researchers at Rocky Mountain Laboratories--a part of the... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently awarded three Phase 1 agreements for its mobile force protection (MFP) program, an initiative that focuses on countering the proliferation of small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS).
The agreements were awarded to Dynetics, Inc. of... Read More »
A gene variant that affects cholesterol levels could increase a person’s risk of contracting typhoid fever while a common cholesterol-lowering medication can protect zebrafish against the bacterium Salmonella Typhi, according to a recent study by researchers at Duke University.
Intrigue for... Read More »
Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector Border Patrol Agents discovered this week 60 illegal aliens attempting to cross the border in a produce trailer that reached a temperature of 49 degrees Fahrenheit.
After a canine unit alerted agents about the truck, it was referred to secondary inspection.... Read More »
A multi-institution team of researchers recently published a study examining the role of a tiny protein called a delta peptide in making the Ebola virus more contagious.
Researchers from Tulane University, Louisiana State University and the Johns Hopkins University Institute for... Read More »
With the recommendation of the Secretary of Defense and the order of the President, the Department of Defense is now moving to make the U.S. Cyber Command a unified combatant command.
The process is more symbolic than anything, but it will cause reorganization in how the department approaches... Read More »
Border Patrol agents stationed near the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego, California recently made a seizure of more than 13 pounds of methamphetamine after a would-be smuggler was observed using a remote-controlled drone to fly over the international border.
“Due to the agents’... Read More »
Due to Saudi-led air strikes and blockades, the cholera outbreak in Yemen is disproportionately affecting rebel-controlled areas, a letter recently published by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) researchers in The Lancet Global Health said.
According to the analysis, eight out of 10... Read More »
In the wake of a reported cyberattack on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) electronic comment filing system, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) recently called upon the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct an independent review on... Read More »
Rep. Norma J. Torres (D-CA) recently convened a seminar to help local government leaders prepare for potential cybersecurity threats in Ontario, California.
Federal officials from the Department of Homeland Security, the National Institute of Standards and Technology as well as private-sector... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced that it made available a panel of human plasma samples for regulatory evaluation of serological tests to detect recent Zika virus infection.
“By providing manufacturers of these tests with standardized patient samples to use in... Read More »
The Frederick National Laboratory recently announced it is producing an additional round of a Zika virus vaccine for use in ongoing studies to determine the most effective delivery methods and dosages.
According to David Lindsay, director of the laboratory’s Vaccine Clinical Materials Program... Read More »
Michael Frunzi, Senior Product Manager at Smiths Detection Inc. (SDI), is set to moderate an upcoming roundtable seminar on the dangers of illicit fentanyl exposure for first responders and how a new series of detectors and identifiers could be used to mitigate the drug’s risks.
“Smiths... Read More »
Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has received a $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study a virus that infects malaria-bearing mosquitos and develop a means of genetically modifying mosquitoes more easily.
With that money, professor Jason Rasgon and his... Read More »
James Gonzalo Medina pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime and a charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction after attempting to attack a synagogue in Aventura, Florida.
Medina admitted during the plea proceeding to planning an attack on the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center in... Read More »
The International Police Organization (INTERPOL) recently conducted a first-of-its-kind specialized training course for law enforcement in the Middle East and North Africa on countering the use of social media for terrorist activities.
The program aimed to improve methods for identifying and... Read More »
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has continued to take steps to provide a department-wide nuclear command, control and communications (NC3) oversight structure for the NC3 Weapons System, but its focus has mainly centered on sustaining the current system as it adds personnel for the new structure,... Read More »
A team of international researchers were recently awarded a three year, $5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to test a cancer drug called imatinib as a repurposed tuberculosis (TB) treatment.
Commercially sold under the name Gleevec, imatinib... Read More »
Researchers at Princeton University recently found a critical role for a new immune signaling pathway in controlling infection by the flavivirus Yellow Fever Virus (YFV).
"An improved understanding of the complex mechanisms regulating YFV-17D attenuation will provide insights into key... Read More »
In two foiled attempts to smuggle heroin and methamphetamine into the United States, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Port of Nogales seized nearly $950,000 worth of heroin and methamphetamine this week.
The smuggling methods varied, of course. In one case, a 45-year-old... Read More »
An algorithm that automatically determines how much useful information is contained in latent crime scene fingerprints was recently developed by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Michigan State University.
During the crime scene discovery process, the... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently awarded a grant worth $112,000 to researchers at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa (UH) to expand its studies of a proposed Ebola virus disease (EVD) vaccine candidate.
According to UH, the... Read More »
The number of suspected cholera cases in Yemen has surpassed more than 500,000 during 2017, with approximately 2,000 patients succumbing to the virus’ lethal effects since the outbreak began, according to a recent release from the World Health Organization (WHO).
"Yemen’s health workers are... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the CII-ArboViroPlex rRT-PCR Test.
The test is the first multiplex assay that simultaneously tests for the presence of Zika virus, all serotypes of dengue virus, chikungunya virus and West Nile... Read More »
Students studying cybersecurity at Mississippi State University (MSU) received help from the National Science Foundation (NSF) this week with the announcement of a $3.11 million award to expand its CyberCorps Scholarship program.
“Cybersecurity is an increasingly important component of our... Read More »
Motorola Solutions recently announced its next-generation of mission-critical, broadband-based solutions for first responders to use in public safety scenarios at the 2017 Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) show in Denver, Colorado.
According to Bruce Brda, executive... Read More »
Seqirus recently announced that its cell-based manufacturing technology at its facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina has delivered a four-fold increase in seasonal influenza vaccine output in just a period of two years.
“With a global influenza pandemic remaining a real and constant... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recently exercised an option with Soligenix, Inc. to fund its good manufacturing practices-compliant ricin vaccine, called RiVax, bulk drug substance and finished drug product manufacturing in order to conduct future preclinical... Read More »
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis recently developed a test that uses nanotechnology to quickly detect the Zika virus in blood.
Current Zika test requires the refrigeration of a blood sample in order to shop it to a medical center or laboratory. The recently developed test’s... Read More »
U.S. Muslims with positive opinions about ISIS and suicide bombing are more likely to experience isolation, social rejection, and depression, according to a recent National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) study.
The project began in 2012, and the... Read More »
Representatives of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) worked with the Turkish National Police last month to provide radiation detection systems and training.
Their goal was to enhance capabilities to detect smuggled nuclear and... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has two new tools at their disposal for predicting cattle shipments and preparing for disease outbreaks among them.
With department funding, the two new web-based tools include the U.S. Animal Movement Model... Read More »
The research community involved with academic biomedicine should improve its abilities to mitigate and recover from disasters, according to a recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
According to the report, the results of various disasters, ranging from... Read More »
