There are no clues as to the cause of the passenger plane crash two years ago, Chinese authorities explain

Recently CNN.co.jp reported the following:

２年前の旅客機墜落、原因解明の手がかりなし　中国当局が説明

2024.03.22 Fri posted at 12:06 JST

香港（ＣＮＮ） 中国航空史上最悪となる１３２人の死者を出した２年前のボーイング７３７―８００型旅客機墜落事故について、中国民用航空局（ＣＡＡＣ）は２０日、これまでの調査結果を公表した。

中国民用航空局は今回も墜落原因には踏み込まず、原因解明の手がかりとなるブラックボックスのデータにも言及しなかった。これまでの調査結果と同様、出発前の機体にも乗員や天候にも問題は見つからなかったと強調している。

中国東方航空５７３５便は２０２２年３月２１日、中国南西部の雲南省昆明市から南東部の広東省広州市へ向かう途中で墜落した。

中国国内では墜落原因をめぐる臆測が飛び交い、ブラックボックスの情報が公表されない理由を問いかける声も出ている。

２２年４月の時点で中国民用航空局は、墜落機から回収した２個のブラックボックスは損傷が激しく、データ復旧と解析を進めているとしていた。

米紙ウォールストリート・ジャーナルが同年５月、米当局者の話として伝えたところによると、同機から回収されたブラックボックスのデータは米国家運輸安全委員会（ＮＴＳＢ）に送られ、解析の結果、コックピット内の人物が故意に墜落させたとの見方が浮上した。

一方、中国民用航空局は、同機の墜落が故意だったとの見方を否定。同年４月の記者会見で「そうしたうわさは重大な誤解を生じさせ、事故に対する調査を妨げてきた」と強調した。

調査は今後も継続される見通しだが、同機のシステムにも構造にもエンジンにも欠陥や異常はなかったとする今回の発表について、中国のＳＮＳでは批判が噴出。「何もかも正常だったとすれば、機内の誰かが故意にやったか、突然の不可抗力のどちらかだ」というコメントがトップに浮上している。

Translation

Hong Kong (CNN) The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) released the results of its investigation into the crash of a Boeing 737-800 passenger plane two years ago that killed 132 people, the deadliest crash in Chinese aviation history.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China once again did not go into the cause of the crash, nor did it mention black box data that could provide clues to the cause. Consistent with previous investigations, the company stressed that no problems were found with the aircraft, its crew or the weather before it took off.

China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 crashed on March 21, 2022 while en route from Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan province, to Guangzhou, southeast China's Guangdong province.

There were speculation in China about the cause of the crash, with some asking why the information from the black box had not been made public.

As of April 2022, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said that the two black boxes recovered from the crashed plane were severely damaged and that data recovery and analysis were underway.

In May of the same year, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a US official, that the data from the black box recovered from the plane was sent to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and as a result of analysis, it was believed that someone in the cockpit caused the crash intentionally.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Administration of China denied that the crash of the plane was intentional. At a press conference in April of the same year, it was emphasized that `Such rumors have caused serious misunderstandings and have hindered the investigation into the accident.''

The investigation was expected to continue, but the announcement that there were no defects or abnormalities in the plane's systems, structure, or engine sparked criticism on Chinese social media. The top comment was ``Assuming everything was normal, either someone on the plane did it intentionally or it was a sudden force majeure.''

So, CAAC releases the results of its investigation into the crash of a Boeing 737-800 passenger plane happened two years ago and says that there were no problems with the aircraft, the crew or the weather before it took off. Many people in the Chinese social media comment that ``Assuming everything was normal, either someone on the plane did it intentionally or it was a sudden force majeure''. What do you think?

美國外科醫師進行首次豬腎移植給人手術

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

US surgeons perform first pig-to-human kidney transplant

By Nancy Lapid

March 22, 20242:33 AM PDTUpdated 2 days ago

March 21 (Reuters) - A 62-year-man with end-stage renal disease has become the first human to receive a new kidney from a genetically modified pig, doctors from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston announced on Thursday.

The four-hour surgery, performed on March 16, “marks a major milestone in the quest to provide more readily available organs to patients,” the hospital said in a statement.

The patient, Richard Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts, is recovering well and expected to be discharged soon, the hospital said.

Experts are keenly interested in long-term results of the groundbreaking animal-to-human transplant, said Dr. Jim Kim, director of kidney and pancreas transplantation with USC Transplant Institute in Los Angeles.

Slayman had received a transplant of a human kidney at the same hospital in 2018 after seven years on dialysis, but the organ failed after five years and he had resumed dialysis treatments.

The kidney was provided by eGenesis of Cambridge, Massachusetts, from a pig that had been genetically edited to remove genes harmful to a human recipient and add certain human genes to improve compatibility. The company also inactivated viruses inherent to pigs that have the potential to infect humans.

Kidneys from similarly edited pigs raised by eGenesis had successfully been transplanted into monkeys that were kept alive for an average of 176 days, and in one case for more than two years, researchers reported, opens new tab in October in the journal Nature.

Drugs used to help prevent rejection of the pig organ by the patient's immune system included an experimental antibody called tegoprubart, developed by Eledon Pharmaceuticals.

The surgery marks progress in xenotransplantation – the transplanting of organs or tissues from one species to another - said Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, who was not involved in the case.

The field "is marching closer to becoming an alternative source of organs for the many hundreds of thousands suffering from kidney failure," he said in an email.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 100,000 people in the U.S. await an organ for transplant, with kidneys in the greatest demand.

NYU surgeons had previously transplanted pig kidneys into brain-dead people.

Montgomery said transplant centers are taking different approaches in terms of gene edits and medications, adding that "another big step will be when the FDA authorizes clinical trials so we may better understand what will work best for patients on our waiting lists."

A University of Maryland team in January 2022 transplanted a genetically modified pig heart into a 57-year-old man with terminal heart disease, but he died two months later.

Translation

路透社3月21日 - 波士頓馬薩諸塞州總醫院的醫生週四宣布，一名患有末期腎病的62歲男子成為第一個接受轉基因豬新腎臟的人。

醫院在一份聲明中表示，3 月 16 日進行的這場歷時四個小時的手術「標誌著為患者提供更容易獲得的器官的努力中的一個重要里程碑」。

醫院表示，這名患者名叫 Richard Slayman，來自麻薩諸塞州韋茅斯，目前恢復進度良好，預計很快就能出院。

洛杉磯南加州大學移植研究所腎臟和胰臟移植主任 Jim Kim 博士表示，專家們對這項突破性的動物移植到人類的長期結果非常感興趣。

Slayman 經過七年透析後，於 2018 年在同一家醫院接受了人類腎臟移植手術，但五年後器官衰竭，他又恢復了透析治療。

腎臟由馬薩諸塞州劍橋的 eGenesis 提供，來自一頭豬，經過基因編輯，去除了對人類受體有害的基因，並添加了某些人類基因以提高相容性。 該公司也把豬固有的、有可能感染人類的病毒滅活了。

研究人員報道稱，由eGenesis 飼養的,並經過類似編輯的豬腎臟已曾成功移植到猴子體內，這些猴子平均存活了176 天，其中一個案例存活了兩年多，研究人員於10 月在《自然》雜誌開啟了新分頁。

用於幫助防止患者免疫系統對豬器官產生排斥的藥物包括一種名為 tegoprubart 的實驗性抗體，是由 Eledon Pharmaceuticals 開發。

紐約大學朗格尼 (NYU Langone) 移植研究所所長 Dr. Robert Montgomery（未參與此案）表示，這次手術標誌著異種移植 - 即把器官或組織從一個物種移植到另一個物種 - 的進展。

他在一封電子郵件中表示，該領域「正在努力成為數十萬腎衰竭患者的替代器官來源」。

據 器官共享聯合網絡 稱，美國有超過 10 萬人等待器官移植，其中腎臟的需求最大。

紐約大學的外科醫生先前曾將豬腎移植到腦死的人身上。

Montgomery 表示，移植中心在基因編輯和藥物治療方面正在採取各種不同的方法，並補充說，「另一個重大步驟將是FDA 授權臨床試驗，以便我們更好地了解什麼是對我們在等待名單上的患者最適合」。

馬裡蘭大學的研究團隊於2022年1月將基因改造豬心臟移植到一名患有末期心臟病的57歲男子體內，但兩個月後他就去世了。

              So, a man with end-stage renal disease has become the first human to receive a new kidney from a genetically modified pig in the US. The surgery marks progress in the transplanting of organs or tissues from one species to another. If this transplanting is a success, it would help millions of patients globally. This is good news to human kind.

Note:

1. USC Transplant Institute (洛杉磯南加州大學移植研究所)in its web-site says that it is the leading living donor liver transplant program in SoCal and one of the top 5 living donor programs in the US. Their experts take a complete approach to caring for transplant patients and living donors — leveraging decades of experience pioneering groundbreaking treatments. (https://info.keckmedicine.org/living-donor/?gad_source)

分析人士稱，捕獲海盜船展示了印度世界一流的特種部隊 (2/2)

Recently Yahoo New on-line reported the following:

Pirate ship capture showcases India’s world-class special forces, analysts say (2/2)

Brad Lendon, CNN

Tue, March 19, 2024 at 5:53 p.m. PDT

(continued)

The destroyer INS Kolkata, operating in the area to help ensure international maritime security, used a ship-launched drone to confirm the Ruen was being operated by armed pirates, the Indian statement said.

After the pirates fired on the drone, destroying it, and then on the Indian warship itself, the Kolkata responded by firing on the Ruen, disabling its steering and navigation, the statement said.

As the Kolkata sought the surrender of the pirates, the commandos parachuted in after a 10-hour flight from India, the air force said on X. Rafts were also dropped into the ocean from the large transport for marines to reach the Ruen.

The Indian show of force proved too much for the pirates.

“Due to sustained pressure and calibrated actions by the Indian Navy over the last 40 hours, all 35 Somali pirates surrendered,” the navy statement said.

Bulgarian leaders, including President Rumen Radev, thanked India and its Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the operation.

“My sincere gratitude to (Modi) for the brave action of (the) Navy rescuing the hijacked Bulgarian ship ‘Ruen’ and its crew, including 7 Bulgarian citizens,” Radev posted on X.

Analyst Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain, said the incident highlighted the professionalism of the Indian Navy and said Delhi’s marine commando force, known as MARCOS, had learned from its US and British counterparts.

“The Indian Navy itself is a highly trained and disciplined professional force,” Schuster said.

“MARCOS’ nearly eight months of training is modeled after Britain’s SAS. Despite a very intense selection process, only about 10% to 15% of those who enter the training graduate,” he said.

The analysts noted that the Indian Navy is experienced in anti-piracy operations, going back more than 20 years – and the restive security situation in one of the world’s major shipping lanes meant they were likely to be called on again.

In a January media briefing, an Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said maritime security in the region is a priority for India.

“The ongoing activities there are indeed a matter of concern, and it affects our economic interests,” official spokesperson Shri Randhir Jaiswal said.

“We are consistently monitoring the situation. Our naval forces, naval vessels are engaged in ensuring the safety of our commercial vessels,” Jaiswal said.

Translation

（繼續）

印度聲明稱，在該地區執行任務以幫助確保國際海上安全的「INS Kolkata」驅逐艦使用艦載無人機確認「Ruen號」正在被武裝海盜操縱。

聲明稱，在海盜向無人機開火並將其摧毀，及後向印度軍艦本身開火後，Kolkata 號向 Ruen號 開火，癱瘓其方向轉向和航行的能力。

空軍在 X 號上表示，當 Kolkata 號尋求海盜投降時，突擊隊員從印度出發，經過 10 個小時的飛行後跳傘抵達。大型運輸船還把木筏丟進海裡，供海軍陸戰隊員到達 Ruen 號。

印度的武力展示讓海盜難以招架。

海軍聲明稱： “由於印度海軍在過去 40 小時內持續施加壓力並採取了有針對性的行動，所有 35 名索馬利亞海盜全部投降。”

保加利亞領導人包括總統 Rumen Radev 在內感謝印度及其總理莫迪的行動。

Radev 在 X 上發帖稱： “我衷心感謝（莫迪）海軍採取的英勇行動，營救了被劫持的保加利亞船隻 Ruen’號及其船員，其中包括 7 名保加利亞公民。”

曾是美國海軍上尉的分析師 Carl Schuster表示，這起事件凸顯了印度海軍的專業精神，並表示德里的海軍陸戰隊突擊隊「MARCOS」曾向美國和英國同行學習。

Schuster說: 「印度海軍本身就是一支訓練有素、紀律嚴明的專業部隊」。

他說: 「MARCOS 近八個月的訓練是仿照英國 SAS 進行的。 選拔過程非常嚴格，參加培訓的人中只有約 10% 至 15% 畢業。」

分析師指出，印度海軍在反海盜行動方面經驗豐富，可以追溯到 20 多年前，而世界主要航道之一的動盪不安的安全局勢, 意味著他們很可能會再次被召喚。

印度外交部發言人在一月的媒體簡報會上表示，該地區的海上安全是印度的優先任務。

官方發言人 Shri Randhir Jaiswal 表示： “那裡正在進行的活動確實令人擔憂，它影響了我們的經濟利益。”

Jaiswal 說: “我們一直在監測局勢。 我們的海軍部隊、海軍艦艇致力於確保我們商船的安全」。

              So, the Indian Navy has rescued  a commercial ship from pirates off Somalia’s coast during an anti-piracy operation. Dozens of pirates were taken into custody. The operation involved an Indian Air Force C-17 transporter flying more than 1,500 miles to airdrop marine commandos. It showcases the ability of the Indian navy and its determination to become an active force in maintaining sea route safety in the region.

分析人士稱，捕獲海盜船展示了印度世界一流的特種部隊 (1/2)

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Pirate ship capture showcases India’s world-class special forces, analysts say (1/2)

Brad Lendon, CNN

Tue, March 19, 2024 at 5:53 p.m. PDT

The Indian Navy’s rescue of a commercial ship from pirates off Somalia’s coast last weekend shows how Delhi’s military has developed special forces capabilities on par with some of the world’s best, analysts say.

The navy rescued 17 crew members of the vessel MV Ruen during an anti-piracy operation lasting nearly two days, according to an Indian Navy news release, with no casualties reported. Dozens of pirates were taken into custody, it said.

The operation involved a navy destroyer, a patrol ship, an Indian Air Force C-17 transporter flying more than 1,500 miles to airdrop marine commandos, a naval drone, a reconnaissance drone and a P-8 surveillance jet, the release said.

“The success of the operation marks the Indian Navy as a top-class force in terms of training, command and control and other capabilities,” said John Bradford, Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs fellow.

“What marks this operation as impressive is how risk was minimized by using a coordinated force that includes use of a warship, drones, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, and marine commandos.”

Experts fear the volatile security situation in the Red Sea due to attacks by Yemen-based Houthi rebels on commercial shipping may tie up international forces and provide a window for Somali pirates in the nearby Horn of Africa – presenting a multi-billion-dollar threat to the global economy.

Yemen and Somalia are among the region’s poorest nations, both ravaged by years of civil war.

Somali pirates’ capture of the MV Ruen in December last year marked the first successful hijacking of a vessel off the country’s coast since 2017.

Spanish, Japanese and Indian warships tracked the Malta-flagged, Bulgarian-managed bulk carrier as it was taken into Somali territorial waters, according to a December report from the European Union Naval Force.

But when the Ruen, now operated by a pirate crew, last week left Somali waters with the intent of committing acts of piracy on the high seas, the Indian Navy made moves to intercept it, according to a navy statement posted on social platform X.

(to be continued)

Translation

分析人士稱，印度海軍上週末在索馬利亞海岸從海盜手中解救了一艘商船，這表明德里軍方如何有能力發展與世界上一些最優秀的特種部隊相媲美的特種部隊。

據印度海軍新聞稿稱，在持續近兩天的反海盜行動中，海軍救出了「MV Ruen 號」船隻的 17 名船員，目前沒有人員傷亡報告。 據稱，數十名海盜被拘留。

新聞稿稱，這次行動涉及一艘海軍驅逐艦、一艘巡邏艦、一架印度空軍C-17 運輸機飛行超過1,500 英里去空投海軍突擊隊、一架海軍無人機、一架偵察無人機和一架P-8 偵察機。

美國外交關係委員會國際事務研究員 John Bradford 表示： “這次行動的成功標誌著印度海軍在訓練、指揮和控制以及其他能力方面成為了一流的力量。”

“這次行動令人印象深刻的是，如何通過使用包括軍艦、無人機、固定翼和旋翼飛機以及海軍突擊隊在內的協調部隊將風險降至最低。”

專家擔心，也門胡塞叛亂分子對商業航運的襲擊導致紅海安全局勢不穩定，可能會困纏國際部隊的力量, 為附近非洲之角的索馬利亞海盜提供一個機會 - 造成數十億美元的全球經濟威脅。

也門和索馬利亞是該地區最貧窮的國家之一，兩國都飽受多年內戰的蹂躪。

去年 12 月，索馬利亞海盜劫持了 MV Ruen 號，這是自 2017 年以來該國海岸首次成功劫持船隻。

根據歐盟海軍 12 月的一份報告，當這艘懸掛馬耳他國旗、由保加利亞管理的大體積船被強行帶到索馬裡領海時, 西班牙、日本和印度軍艦對其進行了跟踪。

但根據社交平台 X 上發布的一份海軍聲明，當由海盜船員操作的 Ruen號 上週離開索馬利亞水域，並意圖在公海進行海盜行為時，印度海軍採取了攔截行動。

（待續）

Nvidia 加入量子運算雲端服務競賽

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Nvidia Joins Race in Quantum-Computing Cloud Services

Jane Lanhee Lee

Tue, March 19, 2024 at 7:25 a.m. PDT

(Bloomberg) -- Nvidia Corp. launched a cloud service for researchers to test out their quantum-computing software, seeking to profit from a field that’s winning funding around the world despite yielding few groundbreaking applications so far.

The Nvidia Quantum Cloud will first comprise a data center stacked with AI chips and systems that together simulate a quantum computer, according to Tim Costa, director of high-performance computing and quantum computing at the company. Unlike other cloud services, Nvidia’s has no quantum computer attached to it at the moment, but it will provide access to third-party quantum computers in the future, Costa told Bloomberg ahead of the GPU Technology Conference Monday.

The AI chipmaker’s cloud is years late to an already crowded arena. Microsoft Corp. started Azure Quantum in 2019, with Amazon Web Services launching Braket that same year. IBM Corp.-backed startup Strangeworks Inc. was founded in 2017 and has dozens of quantum computers on its cloud. But Alphabet Inc.’s Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure will integrate Nvidia’s quantum simulator into their offerings, Costa said.

The world’s most powerful countries and corporations are pledging billions of dollars to quantum computing research, although there are few known instances where a quantum computer has run practical applications. The global zeal stems from the promise of computation speeds that are hundreds of millions times faster than supercomputers today, along with fear of the consequences — both military and commercial — for those who miss out.

For most of the 2010s, Nvidia was largely a bystander in that push. But it’s now a key player in quantum research after its graphics processing units, designed to speed up video games, paid dividends thanks to their ability to execute a certain type of computation quickly.

A similar version of these calculations is used in quantum computer simulations, making Nvidia AI chips such as the H100 Tensor Core GPUs an important component of quantum research. The GPU is now also powerful enough to run classical algorithms once too big for computers, such as those used for drug and materials discovery and other scientific domains, said Costa.

Separately, Nvidia also said that its chips will be used in the publicly-funded ABCI-Q supercomputer that Fujitsu Ltd. is building for the quantum computing research arm of Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The supercomputer will use more than 2,000 Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPUs and will be deployed early next year.

The company said that supercomputers at Denmark’s Novo Nordisk Foundation and Australia’s Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre, both dedicated to research into quantum computing and other fields of cutting-edge technology, will also use Nvidia hardware.

Translation

（彭博）— Nvidia (輝達)公司推出了一項雲端服務，供研究人員測試他們的量子運算軟體，尋求從這個在世界各地贏得資金的領域中獲利，儘管迄今為止量子運算幾乎沒有產生出有突破性的應用。

Nvidia 高效能運算和量子運算總監 Tim Costa 表示，Nvidia 量子雲端將首先包括一個資料中心，裡面堆滿了人工智能晶片和系統，這些晶片和系統一起模擬量子電腦。Costa 在周一 GPU 技術會議之前告訴彭博社稱, 與其他雲端服務不同，Nvidia 的雲端服務目前沒有附加量子電腦，但未來將提供對第三方量子電腦的接入。

這家人工智能晶片製造商的雲端遲來遲多年，進入本已擁擠的舞台。 微軟公司於 2019 年推出了 Azure Quantum，亞馬遜網路服務於同年推出了 Braket。 IBM 公司支持的新創公司 Strangeworks Inc. 成立於 2017 年，在其雲端擁有數十台量子電腦。 Costa表示，Alphabet Inc. 的Google雲端、微軟 Azure 和甲骨文雲基礎設施將把 Nvidia 的量子模擬器整合到他們的產品中。

世界上最強大的國家和公司承諾為量子運算研究投入數十億美元，儘管量子電腦運行實際應用的已知實例很少。 全球的熱情源於運算速度比當今超級電腦快數億倍的承諾，以及對那些錯過機會的人的後果 - 軍事和商業 - 的恐懼。

在 2010 年代的大部分時間裡，Nvidia 基本上就是這項推動的旁觀者。 但它現在是量子研究的關鍵參與者，其旨在加速視頻遊戲的圖形處理單元, 由於能夠快速執行某種類型的計算而獲得了回報。

類似這些計算的版本在量子電腦模擬中使用，使 H100 Tensor Core GPU 等 Nvidia AI 晶片成為量子研究的重要組成部分。 Costa 表示，GPU 現在也足夠強大，可以運行曾經對電腦來說太大的傳统演算法，例如用於藥物和材料發現以及其他的科學領域。

另外，Nvidia也表示，其晶片將用於富士通有限公司正在為日本國家先進工業科學技術研究所的量子運算研究部門建造的公共資助的 ABCI-Q 超級電腦。 這款超級電腦將使用 2000 多個 Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPU，並將於明年初部署。

該公司表示，致力於研究量子運算和其他尖端技術領域的丹麥 Novo Nordisk Foundation 和澳洲Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre 的超級電腦也將使用 Nvidia 硬體。

              So, Nvidia Corp. has launched a cloud service for researchers to test out their quantum-computing software. Previously Nvidia was largely a bystander in this sector, now it is a key player in quantum research. I am wondering how this field will be impacted by the entry of Nivida.

Note:

A graphics processing unit (GPU) is an electronic circuit that can perform mathematical calculations at high speed. Computing tasks like graphics rendering, machine learning (ML), and video editing require the application of similar mathematical operations on a large dataset. A GPU’s design allows it to perform the same operation on multiple data values in parallel. This increases its processing efficiency for many compute-intensive tasks. (https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/gpu/#:~:text)

American male infected with polio at age 6 and survived in an "iron lung" dies at age 78

Recently CNN.co.jp on-line news reported the following:

６歳でポリオ感染、「鉄の肺」で生き抜いた米国人男性が死去　７８歳

2024.03.14 Thu posted at 12:50 JST

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（ＣＮＮ） ６歳でポリオに感染して首から下がまひし、過去７０年の大半を「鉄の肺」と呼ばれる巨大な人工呼吸器で過ごした米国人男性ポール・アレクサンダーさんが１１日午後、死去したことが分かった。兄弟のフィリップさんが明らかにした。

ポールさんの死は１２日、募金サイト「ゴー・ファンド・ミー」に開設された住宅費や医療費を募るページで発表された。

フィリップさんはゴー・ファンド・ミーのページに「全てのコメントを読んで、これほど多くの人がポールから勇気をもらっていたことを知り、信じられない思いでいっぱい。ただただ感謝している」と書き込んだ。

正確な死因は不明。新型コロナウイルスに感染して３週間前に入院していたが、今週の時点ではもう陽性反応は出ていなかった。

ポールさんは１９５２年夏、６歳でポリオを発症した。米疾病対策センター（ＣＤＣ）によると、当時はポリオの流行が最悪期を迎えていた時期で、米国ではまひ性ポリオの症例が２万１０００件あまり記録された。

ＣＤＣによれば、５０年代後半に開発されたワクチンのおかげで、今日ではポリオは撲滅されたと考えられている。

ポールさんはポリオの影響で首から下がまひし、自力で呼吸できない状態に。自伝によると、空気の圧力を変えて呼吸を刺激する大型の金属筒「鉄の肺」に入れられた。

ポールさんの母親はこの自伝の中で、「生きるのは不可能だろうと医師から告げられた」と振り返っている。

ポールさんはその後７０年間を鉄の肺の中で過ごし、２０２３年３月にはギネス・ワールド・レコーズから「鉄の肺を使用する世界で最も長生きの存命患者」に認定された。

逆境にあってもポールさんの野心がくじかれることはなかった。呼吸法を習得した結果、数時間連続で鉄の肺から出ることが可能に。大学を卒業して法学の学位を取得し、３０年間にわたって法廷弁護士を務めた。

Translation

(CNN) Paul Alexander, an American man who contracted polio at the age of six and became paralyzed from the neck down and spent most of the past 70 years in a giant ventilator known as an "iron lung," was found dead on the afternoon of the 11th.  This was revealed by his brother Philip.

Paul's death was announced on the 12th on a page set up on the fundraising site ``Go Fund Me'' to raise money for housing and medical expenses.

Philip wrote on the Go Fund Me page: "I'm in disbelief after reading all the comments and seeing how many people have been inspired by Paul. I'm just so grateful."

The exact cause of death was unknown. He was hospitalized three weeks ago with the coronavirus, but as of this week he was no longer tested positive.

Paul contracted polio in the summer of 1952 at the age of six. At the time, the polio epidemic was at its worst, with more than 21,000 cases of paralytic polio recorded in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

According to the CDC, polio was now considered eradicated due to vaccines developed in the late 1950s.

Paul's polio left him paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on his own. According to his autobiography, he was placed in an "iron lung," a large metal tube that changed the air pressure to stimulate breathing.

"Doctors told him he would not survive," Paul's mother recalled in her autobiography.

Paul spent the next 70 years in an iron lung, and in March 2023, he was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's longest living iron lung patient.

Even in the face of adversity, Paul's ambition was never deterred. He learnt breathing techniques that allowed him to stay out of the iron lung for several hours straight. He graduated from college with a law degree and served as a barrister for 30 years.

So, an American male who contracted polio at the age of six and spent most of the past 70 years in a giant ventilator known as an "iron lung" has died.  Even in the face of adversity, he tried to fulfill his ambition.  He graduated from college with a law degree and served as a barrister for 30 years. His indomitable spirit has inspired many people.

歐洲監管機構稱需要時間去批准中國客機

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Europe regulator says will take time needed to approve China jet

Thu, March 14, 2024 at 5:24 a.m. PDT

By Tim Hepher and Joanna Plucinska

COLOGNE (Reuters) - Europe's air safety regulator will take whatever time is needed to approve China's C919 passenger jet, its top official told Reuters, dampening Beijing's hopes of quickly breaking into a market marked by jet shortages and a Boeing safety crisis.

China is stepping up regulatory pressure to win foreign backing for its new jet, but industry sources have warned the landmark approvals from Western regulators could take years.

The COMAC C919 narrow body jet - designed to compete with best-selling models of dominant plane makers Airbus and Boeing - entered service in China last May after winning domestic safety certification in 2022.

Luc Tytgat, acting executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), said COMAC had initially asked for European approval in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic stopped work. It re-launched the bid in November, requesting that the work be completed by 2026.

"Honestly I don't know if we will be able to do it yet: the plane is too new to us to know how easy or difficult it will be," he said in an interview at EASA's Cologne headquarters.

"Since 2019, things continued to be done in China so we now have to be briefed on the changes," he added.

The comments come weeks after China's state-owned plane maker flew the C919 at the Singapore Airshow as it promotes the jet as a new alternative at a time when Airbus waiting lists are full and Boeing faces production quality concerns over its 737 MAX.

To land significant export deals, COMAC needs to win widespread acceptance of its design from foreign regulators led by EASA and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

Under an EU-China agreement signed in 2019, European regulators must decide whether to grant their own “validation” of China's certification of the jet to ensure any imports meet their own safety standards.

Without this approval, the C919 cannot fly in Europe.

"For us it will be a big work to reconnect and go for familiarization with what the plane looks like today," Tytgat said.

Tytgat's comments suggest EASA is at the "technical familiarization" stage, which experts say is the first part of a certification process that can last five years or more.

Western regulators have toughened certification of planes since fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 exposed flaws in design and oversight. But the scrutiny is expected to be particularly intense for the first jet from a new manufacturer.

Irish budget carrier Ryanair has said in the past it would look at the Chinese jet.

However, so far no European airline has pressed EASA to speed up certification work so that it can place an order, Tytgat said.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced at a meeting in Beijing in January that it planned to promote the internationalization of the C919 in 2024.

According to official reports, CAAC will work this year towards obtaining European recognition for the plane. The regulator has not given details of the plan.

China's regulator and its plane maker did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Following its international air show debut in Singapore, COMAC took its planes on a promotional tour of east Asia, landing in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia where it met airline and government officials. The last stop is Malaysia where the planes arrived on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Joanna Plucinska, Additional reporting by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

Translation

科隆（路透社） - 歐洲航空安全監管機構高級官員告訴路透社，歐洲航空安全監管機構將視乎時間所需而要去批准中國C919 客機，這挫敗了北京方面迅速打入因飛機短缺和波音安全危機而出現的市場的希望。

中國正在加大監管壓力，為其新飛機贏得外國支持，但業內消息人士警告稱，西方監管機構的里程碑批准可能需要數年時間。

中國商飛 C919 窄體噴射機旨在與主要飛機製造商空中巴士和波音的最暢銷機型競爭，C919於 2022 年獲得中國安全認證後，去年 5 月在國內投入營運。

歐盟航空安全局 (EASA) 代理執行長 Luc Tytgat 表示，中國商飛最初於 2019 年在 COVID-19 大流行停止工作之前請求歐洲批准。 它於11月重新啟動進程，要求在2026年之前完成這項程序。

他在歐洲航空安全局科隆總部接受採訪時說:「老實說，我還不知道我們是否能夠做到這一點：這架飛機對我們來說太新了，不知道它有多容易或多困難」。

他補充說： “自 2019 年以來，在中國事情仍在繼續，所以我們現在必須了解這些變化。”

幾週前，中國國有飛機製造商在新加坡航展上試飛了C919，在空中巴士的候補名單已滿、波音公司面臨對其737 MAX 生產品質的擔憂之際，該公司將這款飛機作為一種新的替代品進行宣傳。

為了獲得重大出口交易，中國商飛需要贏得以歐洲航空安全局和美國聯邦航空管理局為首的外國監管機構對其設計的廣泛認可。

根據2019年簽署的歐盟-中國協議，歐洲監管機構必須決定是否對中國的飛機認證進行自己的“驗證”，以確保任何進口飛機符合其自身的安全標準。

如果沒有獲得批准，C919 就無法在歐洲飛行。

Tytgat說： “對我們來說，重新接觸並熟悉飛機今天的樣子將是一項艱鉅的工作。”

Tytgat 的評論表明，EASA 正處於「技術熟悉」階段，專家表示，這是可持續五年或更長時間的認證過程的第一部分。

自 2018 年和 2019 年波音 737 MAX 致命墜機事件暴露設計和監督缺陷以來，西方監管機構加強了對飛機的認證。 對新製造商的第一架噴射機的審查預計將特別嚴格。

愛爾蘭廉價航空公司 Ryanair 過去曾表示會考慮這架中國飛機。

然而，Tytgat表示，到目前為止，還沒有歐洲航空公司敦促歐洲航空安全局加快認證工作，以便能夠下訂單。

中國民用航空局（CAAC）1月在北京召開的會議上宣布，計劃於2024年推動C919的國際化。

根據官方報道，中國民航今年將努力爭取該飛機獲得歐洲認可。 監管機構尚未透露該計劃的細節。

中國監管機構及其飛機製造商沒有立即回應置評請求。

在新加坡國際航展上首次亮相後，中國商飛帶同飛機進行了東亞宣傳之旅，降落在越南、寮國、柬埔寨、馬來西亞和印尼，並會見了航空公司和政府官員。 最後一站是馬來西亞，飛機於週二抵達。

So, the COMAC C919 narrow body jet, that is designed to compete with best-selling models of dominant plane makers Airbus and Boeing, has entered service in China last May. Recently the plane makes its international air show debut in Singapore, and a promotional tour of east Asia. Europe's air safety regulator now says that it will take time to approve China's C919 passenger jet, dampening Beijing's hope in getting a quick entry into the world market to compete with Airbus and Boeing.