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Formula One’s ‘Halo’ protection device on track for 2017

By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) – The prototype “halo” head protection device, aimed at shielding Formula One drivers from flying debris, is on track to be adopted for the 2017 season pending a safety review, race director Charlie Whiting said on Friday. The halo, which is fixed to the cockpit at three points including a central pillar right in front of the driver, made its debut in Spain earlier this month. F1 outfit Red Bull, whose team principal Christian Horner has expressed misgivings over the halo's design, are developing a separate device but Whiting said it was unlikely to be ready in time for 2017.

After Ebola, two other tropical diseases pose new threats

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) – A little-known bacterial disease may be killing as many people worldwide as measles, scientists said on Monday, while a mosquito-borne virus known as Zika is also raising global alarm. The spread of Ebola in West Africa last year shows how poorly-understood diseases can emerge and grow rapidly while researchers race to design and conduct the scientific studies needed to combat them. Researchers in the journal Nature Microbiology called for the bacterial infection meliodosis, which is resistant to a wide range of antibiotics, to be given a higher priority by international health organizations and policy makers.

Dementia may be stabilising in some countries: study

The occurrence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease may have stabilised in some wealthy nations, according to a study released Friday. A review of data from Sweden, the Netherlands, Britain and Spain showed the percentage of the population with dementia — the umbrella term for neurodegenerative diseases of the brain — holding steady, along with the number of new cases, said the study, published in The Lancet Neurology. Researchers led by Carol Brayne, a professor at the Cambridge Institute of Public Health and the University of Cambridge, compared dementia occurrence in old people across two time periods spanning the last several decades.