Page 28 - aruba-today-20180217

A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 17 February 2018
Report details harm to Cuba diplomats but offers no cause

By LAURAN NEERGAARD cluding some findings that
and JOSH LEDERMAN can’t be even uncon-
Associated Press sciously altered, bolstering
WASHINGTON (AP) — Doc- the doctors’ belief that the
tors are releasing the first symptoms were not mass
detailed medical reports hysteria.
about the hearing, vision, At least six people had a
balance and brain symp- change in work perfor-
toms suffered in what the mance noted by supervi-
State Department has sors and colleagues, the
called "health attacks" on JAMA report found.
U.S. diplomats in Cuba. Still Viruses or chemical expo-
missing: A clear diagnosis of sures are unlikely, Smith’s
just what happened to trig- team wrote, although they
ger their mysterious health couldn’t be “systematically
problems. excluded.”
All together, the symptoms Advanced MRI scans spot-
are similar to the brain dys- ted “a few” changes in
function seen with concus- what are called white mat-
sions, concluded a team ter tracts of the brain in
of specialists from the Uni- some patients, with three
versity of Pennsylvania who showing more than would
tested 21 of the 24 embas- In this Sept. 12, 2017, file photo, a customer sits at the lobby bar of the Hotel Capri in Havana, be expected for their age,
sy personnel thought to be Cuba. the report said. But the au-
affected. Associated Press thors acknowledged those
Whatever the cause, the abnormalities could be
Havana patients "experi- clear that the findings are injure the brain. We have two countries, estranged due to something earlier in
enced persisting disability preliminary, essentially a to suspect that it's a conse- for a half-century, restored life.
of a significant nature," the listing of symptoms and quence of something else." relations under President For many the symptoms
Penn team concluded. tests. And important com- The mysterious case has Barack Obama in 2015. lasted months, and doctors
Cuba has insisted there plications remain, including sent U.S.-Cuba relations The new report outlined designed customized reha-
were no attacks. that there's no information plummeting from what had the battery of testing the bilitation therapy that did
The Journal of the Ameri- to compare the patients' been a high point when the patients underwent, in- seem to help.q
can Medical Association brain or hearing health be-
Wednesday, although key "Before reaching any de- Spacewalking astronauts finish
released the report late fore they went to Cuba.

findings were first disclosed finitive conclusions, addi-
by The Associated Press in tional evidence must be months of robot arm repair
December. obtained and rigorously
The mystery began in late and objectively evalu-
2016 when U.S. embassy ated," JAMA associated By MARCIA DUNN to Earth for a tuneup and long and more than 440
personnel began seeking editor Dr. Christopher Muth CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) then flown back up. pounds (200 kilograms).
medical care for hearing cautioned in an accompa- — Spacewalking astro- This last spacewalk in the Vande Hei and Kanai ac-
loss and ear-ringing that nying editorial. He noted nauts wrapped up months series should have been complished their main ob-
they linked to weird noises that many of the symptoms of repair work Friday on the completed long before jectives so fast that they
or vibrations — initially lead- overlap with a list of other International Space Station now, but was postponed had time to tackle ex-
ing investigators to suspect neurologic illnesses. 's big robot arm. because of complications tra chores. They breezed
"sonic attacks." Now, of- "It really looks like concus- The Canadian-built, 58-foot with the robotic hand that through those as well, al-
ficials are carefully avoid- sion without the history of robot arm had both of its was installed last month. lowing the spacewalk to
ing that term, as doctors head trauma," report co- aging mechanical hands Ground controllers even- end a little early, at the six-
involved in the probe won- author Dr. Douglas Smith replaced on spacewalks tually solved the problem. hour mark.
der whether the sounds of Penn's Center for Brain conducted in October Further delays were caused “Awesome job again, with
were a byproduct of some- Injury and Repair, said in and January. NASA astro- by this week's late arrival of everything completed,”
thing else that might help a podcast provided by naut Mark Vande Hei and a Russian supply ship. Mission Control radioed.
explain the full symptom JAMA. Japan's Norishige Kanai The old mechanical hands “We’re all happy here.”
list: memory problems, im- He said that sound, heard quickly moved one of those are original space station Replied Vande Hei: “It was
paired concentration, irri- by 18 of the 21 patients, old hands to a long-term parts, in orbit since 2001. great to be a small part of
tability, balance problems couldn't be to blame: storage location outside, Each hand — a bulky bun- a team in space represent-
and dizziness. "There is no known mecha- and took the other one in- dle of latches — is more ing a whole space team on
Wednesday's report makes nism for audible sound to side so it can be returned than 3 feet, or a meter, the ground.”
The astronauts marveled
over the Earthly vistas,
from start to finish. They
emerged from the orbiting
complex as the sun rose
over Peru, 250 miles below.
A half-hour later, they were
soaring over London and,
15 minutes after that, over
Turkmenistan.
Four other men live at the
space station.q