Michael Schumacher operated on for a second time and shows signs of 'slight improvement'

Doctors at Grenoble Hospital have given an update on the German F1 legend's condition following his second night in intensive care

Slight improvement: Doctors have confirmed Schumacher has undergone a second procedure

Michael Schumacher has shown a "slight improvement" following a second surgical procedure as his continues his fight for life following his skiiing accident.

Doctors at Grenoble Hospital, where the Formula 1 legend is being treated gave an update on the 44-year-old's condition on Tuesday morning.

The medical team revealed that Schumacher underwent a "surgical intervention" during the night, which took two hours.

"It was a difficult decision to make [to operate], but we decided to eliminate a hematoma," said Schumacher's surgeon, Professor Payen.

"The level of inter-cranial pressure have improved. The scan does show there are other legions.

"The situation is better controlled than it was yesterday. We are unable to say he's out of danger, however we have gained a bit of time with regard to developments," the surgeon added.

"But once again the coming hours are still critical hours when it comes to strategy."

The medical team added that Schumacher's condition is improving.

"We have a few signs to feel that the situation is better controlled than it was yesterday," said the director general of the hospital.

"A new scan was carried out this morning and it shows slight improvement."

"We were able to carry out a scan without any unnecessary risk - and it showed a few signs that he is relatively stable," said another doctor.


#mirror.co.uk

9 Year old boy, youngest to reach the summit of Argentina's Aconcagua mountain

A nine-year-old boy has become the youngest person in recorded history to reach the summit of Argentina's Aconcagua mountain, which at 22,841 feet is the tallest peak in the Western and Southern hemispheres.

Tyler Armstrong - of Yorba Linda in Southern California in the US - reached the summit on Christmas Eve with his father Kevin and a Tibetan sherpa, Lhawang Dhondup, his team says.

When they climbed back down to the base camp, Tyler was much less tired than his father and their guide, said Nicolas Garcia, who handled the expedition's logistics from the city of Mendoza.

"It's a record. Never before has a child as young as nine reached the summit of Aconcagua," he said.

There was a younger boy who climbed the lower slopes of Aconcagua, Mr Garcia added. He said an Inca boy was sacrificed around 500 years ago at 16,400 feet on Piramide, one of the mountain's lower peaks. Scientific tests on the mummy, recovered in 1985, put his age at about seven.

Only 30% of the 7,000 people who obtain permits to climb Aconcagua each year make the summit, Mr Garcia said, and no one under 14 is usually allowed to attempt it.

The Armstrongs hired a lawyer to argue before an Argentine judge that Tyler could safely accomplish the feat. He had already climbed the 19,341-foot Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania at the age of eight.

With Aconcagua conquered, he is determined to reach all "seven summits", the highest mountains on each of the seven continents.

Last year, three climbers died on Aconcagua, although no one died the year before that and no one has been killed so far this summer climbing season, Mr Garcia said.

Since the first climbers reached the top of Aconcagua in 1897, more than 110 people have died trying, he said.

"Tyler is a really happy kid, very open. And he's prepared for these climbs very carefully," Mr Garcia said.

"Neither he nor his father are in for 'adventure.' Their project is pretty conservative, with a guide who is very experienced, so from my perspective, their climb wasn't imprudent."

Describing the summit, Tyler said: "You can really see the world's atmosphere up there. All the clouds are under you, and it's really cold. It doesn't look anything like a kid's drawing of a mountain. It's probably as big as a house at the summit, and then it's a sheer drop."







#irishindependent

Bad Santa Claus robs a bank in Florida

On Monday, Santa was spotted on a cctv(above) inside the Volusia County SunTrust bank, where the bearded 6-footer made a bomb threat in exchange for cash from a teller.

According to Orlando Sentinel, the unidentified suspect approached the bank teller window around 3:15 in the afternoon and placed a gift-wrapped package on the counter.

A police spokesperson said Santa then made a gesture to imply the present contained explosive, and demanded for money.

The amount of cash that bad Santa made off with is unknown to us, only that he was wearing sunglasses and appeared to be in his 30s or 40s.

When the bomb squad arrived at the scene, they discovered the gift-wrapped package to be harmless.
No one was harmed during the incident.

Police pursuit continues...

Scientists discover potential drug to block AIDS

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have identified the precise chain of molecular events in the human body that drives the death of most of the immune system’s CD4 T cells as an HIV infection leads to AIDS.



Further, they have identified an existing anti-inflammatory drug that in laboratory tests blocks the death of these cells — and now are planning a Phase 2 clinical trial to determine if this drug or a similar drug can prevent HIV-infected people from developing AIDS.

Two separate journal articles, published simultaneously in Nature and Science, detail the research from the laboratory of Dr. Warner C. Greene, who directs virology and immunology research at Gladstone, an independent biomedical-research nonprofit.

His lab’s Science paper reveals how, during an HIV infection, a protein known as IFI16 senses fragments of HIV DNA in abortively infected immune cells.

This triggers the activation of the human enzyme caspase-1 and leads to pyroptosis, a fiery and highly inflammatory form of cell death.As revealed in Nature, this repetitive cycle of abortive infection, cell death, inflammation and recruitment of additional CD4 T cells to the infection “hot zone” ultimately destroys the immune system and causes AIDS.

“Gladstone has showed how the body’s own immune response to HIV causes CD4 T cell death via a pathway triggering inflammation, and secondly by identifying the host DNA sensor that detects the viral DNA and triggers this death response,” said Dr. Robert F.Siliciano, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
“This one-two punch of discoveries underscores the critical value of basic science — by uncovering the major cause of CD4 T cell depletion in AIDS, Dr. Greene’s lab has been able to identify a potential new therapy for blocking the disease’s progression and improving on current antiretroviral medications.”



#vanguard

Update: Michael Schumacher in coma after brain operation as surgeons battle to save his life

Schumacher is still fighting for his life in an induced coma.
The seven-time F1 world champion has had one operation, which removed clots on the brain.
Doctors say they are working hour-by-hour and are unwilling to give any more information.
They did say, however, he wouldn't have survived without a helmet.

Let's put him in prayers and hope for the best!