Major Victory for Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar

Election results in Myanmar show big victories for Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD) party she leads.

Voter turnout reached 80 percent, according to the Guardian news site. The NLD received 90 percent of the entire vote, reported CNN. That amount of votes for one party is called a “landslide.”

Close to 7,000 people from 91 political parties ran for office in Sunday’s election.

Election results were slow to be announced. The first results reported that NLD won 12 seats. A second report said NLD had won 15 more spots. It was also reported that seven NLD winners were women.

Aung San Suu Kyi spoke with supporters at NLD headquarters.

“I think everyone already knows or has guessed what the election result is,” she said.

The parliament in Myanmar has 498 seats. The ruling party in Myanmar – also known as Burma - is the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). The military supports the USDP.   

The ruling military party holds 25 percent of the seats in parliament. The NLD needs 333 seats – or 67 percent - to overcome a military veto.

The election was the first in Myanmar since 2011. The legislature is called the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. It consists of an upper and lower house. One of its tasks is to select Myanmar’s president.

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Words in This Story

turnout – n. the number of people who go to or participate in something

landslide – n. an election which the winner gets many more votes than the loser

task – n. a job for someone to do

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The travellers: Pacific Highway 1 coastal road

What a difference a day makes, got up and made tea just as sun appeared over our balconyhad tea on balcony befor going for breakfast

Heard and saw those pesky little humming birds,

but very shy so hard to capture on film 

Packed up our picnic and left just after 8.am

Drove up the Pacific Highway , Just after 9am stopped at Hearst castle beach took lots of pictures

then left at 9.45, 10.am we got to Elephant Seal beach

11.50 stopped at our favourite cafe,

cafe Kevah, had a drink before returning south down the 1,

had an amazing drive so much beautiful scenery 

1. Stopped at mill creek picnic area, had lunch then sat for ages watching the sea Otters playing in the sea Kelp,

Cormorants sitting and diving in the water and Pelicans, saw a lizard that just skittered off, and two ground squirrels,

left at 1.45pm, after a couple of miles we came round a sharp corner and met Bambi, a little dear just standing there, was worried for ages after that, someone would come round the bend the other way and hit it.

Got back at 4.pm, had a coffee before going for a walk

to watch the sun set

Finally got to use the chairs

Had a visitor just after sunset 

Went out at 6pm drove down the town and went in a restusrant called Brads, I had broiled halibut and veggies Michael had shrimp skewers and steak with veggies very nice too

The travellers: A rainy day in Pismo beach

Noooooo, can't sleep!

Crashed out at 10.30pm and slept until 2.30am and have struggled for the last 3hrs to get back to sleep. Michael was so drained after our four hour drive that he slept through until 5.15am.

I kept getting up to the loo and checking how light out it is and disappointed when it's still dark

Got up at 6.am and made a cup of green tea,

Fog and heavy rain forecast for today here. poor Texas has massive floods!

The fog came and went and came back again so we had a coffee in the room, rain got progressively worse so we decided to go for a drive to San Louis Obispo and visit the whole good shop, where Michael spends hours looking up and reading every packet, he's happy though as I found a breakfast cereal that's gluten, wheat, dairy and sugar free, and lots of other snacks he can eat, sat and had a cup of tea, and a cake for me, before going back and doing some shopping

Got our shopping then had lunch at wholefood shop

Got back to room about 2.00pm, Roman not cleaned, only there five minutes and some one knocked to clean it, we drank our coffee then went to lounge to wait her out

As it was still raining

This afternoon is like a different day as the sun came out nice and warm

Went to steamers for dinner had fish and chips again, Halibut in tempura batterto sleep. Mi...

The travellers: A rainy day in Pismo beach

The travellers: A rainy day in Pismo beach: Monday Noooooo, can't sleep! Crashed out at 10.30pm and slept until 2.30am and have struggled for the last 3hrs to get back to sleep. Mi...

US 'Advisors' to Syria Frustrates Anti-Assad Rebels

Tensions and frustrations were high as the United States said it would send forces into Northern Syria to fight Islamic State.

The frustration came from the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the Syrian National Coalition and Sunni Arab rebels attempting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The groups say they are upset with the U.S. government’s lack of communication with them. The U.S. announced it would send military special forces – fewer than 50 of them – to Syria to fight against Islamic State.

Rebel commanders with the FSA say they were not told of the U.S. decision. A top FSA commander told VOA in an email that “I don’t have any idea about the sending of U.S. soldiers to Syria.”  

FSA leaders said they learned of the U.S.’s plans from reporters after the news was announced in Washington, D.C.

The Syrian National Coalition also complained of the U.S. strategy in Syria.  SNC vice-president Nagham al-Ghadri said “from the beginning of the revolution until now, there is always an excuse why the U.S. is not supporting us more.”

Al-Ghadri said the main goal in Syria should be getting rid of Assad. She said “ISIS will be easy to get rid of when Assad is removed. Our to-do list is: No. 1, [against] the regime and to get rid of Assad and No. 2, ISIS.”

Other Syrian factions were upset when the Americans said the Kurdish YPG – an offshoot of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) – is its most trusted partner on the ground in Syria.

The U.S. has increased arms supplies to FSA. But FSA is upset at the U.S. for not supplying anti-aircraft missiles.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Jamie Dettmer reported on this story for VOANews.com. Jim Dresbach adapted this story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

Do you live in Syria or the Mideast? Tell us what you think about the U.S. sending advisors to Syria. Please comment on this page or on our Facebook page. 

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Words in This Story

frustration – n. a feeling of anger or annoyance caused by being unable to do something

e-mail – n. a system for sending messages from one computer to another computer

factions – n. a group within a larger group that has different ideas and opinions than the rest of the group

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section and on our Facebook page. 

Can Fish Teach Humans to Regrow Teeth?

Most people are born with two sets of teeth. They use baby teeth to break down food as children. As they become adults, the baby teeth are replaced with permanent or adult teeth. By age 65, 30 percent of all people worldwide have lost all their teeth.

But most bony fish can regrow their lost teeth. A team of scientists is wondering if that ability of some fish could somehow lead to human tooth regeneration, with adult men and women producing additional teeth as needed.

Fish do it all the time. Whenever they lose a tooth, a new one drops into place. Cichlids are a popular tropical fish. They keep their teeth throughout adulthood. If a tooth should fall out, another one takes its place.

Todd Streelman teaches biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He is working with cichlids to find out which genes help the fish keep their teeth.  

"Our approach is to find things that are hard to study otherwise and then target them in these animals.  So in this case, Lake Malawi cichlid fishes and many other fishes regenerate their dentition throughout their entire life."

As a result, a mouthful of teeth is replaced every 50 days. Professor Streelman and his team reported on their study of cichlids in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They looked at embryotic cell tissue that can develop into either teeth or taste buds.

"And what we found were some really interesting commonalities between teeth and taste buds at their earliest development."

Unlike humans, fish have no tongues in the mouth, so their taste buds are mixed in with their teeth.

Last year, the same researchers made a cichlid genome – a map of the fish’s genes. This year, they crossed closely-related cichlids and then compared genetic differences among the second-generation fish. They found what appeared to be genetic controls that could make the embryonic cells become either a tooth or taste bud.

"We could identify this because the genes that are typically positive markers of taste buds and the genes that are typically positive markers of teeth were co-expressed. They were expressed in the same places.  So we basically could watch the path through development, where this epithelial ((surface tissue)) which at one point was bi-potent ((similar tissue)) and then became either teeth or taste buds."

Teeth and taste buds begin in the same kind of tissue around the mouth of fish in their earliest stages of development. The researchers made and studied mapped cichlid genomes. They then engineered the undifferentiated tissue in fish to increase production of teeth, but cut back on taste buds. This was done at an early stage, when the fish had eyes and a brain, but were still growing jaws.

It turns out that cichlids are not the only animals that express these genes. Todd Streelman says researchers at Kings College, London, demonstrated that a few poorly studied genes in mice were also involved in the development of teeth and taste buds.

"These genes that we had identified in fishes are in fact also active in the earliest development of teeth on the jaw margin and taste buds on the tongue of mice."

Professor Streelman says the studies in fish and mice suggest that with the right signals, the tissue in humans might also be able to develop new teeth. "The direction our research is taking, at least in human health," he says, "is to figure out how to coax – work on the tissue to form one type of structure or the other."

I’m Marsha James.

VOA’s Rosanne Skirble reported on this story from Washington. Marsha James adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in This Story

regenerate – v. to grow again after being lost

dentition – n. the arrangement or condition of the teeth in a species or individual

embryonic – adj. showing that you are sure in yourself or your actions

co-expressed – v. to express together with another gene

bi-potent – adj. having a function in a biological environment

coax – v. to work or cause something to do something

Most People with Hepatitis Don't Know It

From VOA Learning English this is the Health & Lifestyle Report.

The first-ever World Hepatitis Summit was held in September of this year in Glasgow, Scotland. Health experts estimate that about 400 million people are infected with the viral disease.

Viral hepatitis infections kill nearly 1 million people a year. The majority of cases are in Asia and in African countries south of the Sahara.

A vaccine and treatment for some forms of hepatitis are now available. But whether patients have enough money to pay for treatments is a different story.

The World Health Organization says high cost of drugs is one big problem in fighting hepatitis. Another problem is the fact that most people living with hepatitis do not know they are infected.

Hepatitis explained

There are five different hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D and E. All five cause inflammation of the liver. The organ can become enlarged and painful.

Hepatitis A, E and D

Hepatitis A and E are spread through infectious waste in food or water. These forms of the disease cause acute infection. However, most people recover. The best way to prevent Hepatitis A is by getting a vaccination. But the U.S. Federal Drug Agency has yet to approve a vaccine for Hepatitis E.

Hepatitis E is usually found in countries with polluted water supplies and poor waste treatment systems. Hepatitis D only infects people already infected with the B virus.

​​Hepatitis B and C are a different story

Hepatitis B and C can be the most serious. Those two types are responsible for 80 percent of all liver cancer deaths.

Dr. Stefan Wiktor is the Team Lead of the World Health Organization's Global Hepatitis Program. He says hepatitis B and C are also different from the other types in how they are spread.

“Hepatitis B and C are transmitted by blood. So that means from a mother to a child; through blood transfusions or through injections. Hepatitis B can also be transmitted by sex. So, there are different routes of transmission.”

You can get hepatitis B from sexual contact or by sharing drug-injection equipment. The best way to prevent Hepatitis B is by getting vaccinated. Hepatitis B is common worldwide, especially in many parts of Asia and the Pacific Islands.

With hepatitis C, most people become infected by sharing instruments like needles. The majority of infected persons with hepatitis C might not know they are infected because they do not feel sick. There is no vaccine for hepatitis C. The best way to prevent hepatitis C is by avoiding behaviors that can spread the disease.

Available treatments

Dr. Wiktor says there are ways to prevent all types of hepatitis.

“Luckily, we have ways to prevent all of them. There's a great vaccine for Hepatitis B that is effective for life. And there are treatments for both B and C. So, there are now in hand means of preventing and treating both infections. So, really, this is a time to act and that’s really the point of this summit.”

Not so long ago, treating Hepatitis C was difficult with a very low recovery rate. Now, people are able to be cured completely of the virus. Dr. Wiktor considers this a major development.

“One of the most remarkable advances in the development of medicines is the development of treatments for hepatitis C. Until recently, it was very difficult to cure. It required weekly injections and only half the people who started the medicines were cured. Now, the medicines are about 12 weeks of treatment. One pill a day and almost everyone is cured. And cured means the virus is gone from their body.”

Although a vaccine and treatments are available, says Dr. Wiktor, not everyone in need can get them. He says this is a big problem. The Global Hepatitis Program says that about 240 million people are infected with chronic hepatitis B. And anywhere between 130 and 150 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C.

“The problem has been that these medicines are very expensive. In the U.S., for example, they cost more than $100,000 to treat one person just for the medicines. Luckily, the lower income countries have been able to get these same medicines at (a) much lower price. But a lot more has to happen to make these drugs affordable.”

One of the goals of the recent summit was to urge countries to develop national hepatitis treatment and prevention programs.

The WHO says people need to be aware how the disease spreads and how to treat it. If left untreated, hepatitis kills slowly. It can take 10 or more years for the virus to destroy the liver. 

I’m Anna Matteo.

VOA’s Joe DeCapua wrote this report. Anna Matteo adapted it and added original reporting for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Word in This Story

chronic – adj. medical continuing for a long time; long-term

transmit – v. to cause (a virus, disease, etc.) to be given to others

blood transfusion A blood transfusion is a safe, common procedure in which blood is given to you through an intravenous (IV) line in one of your blood vessels.

contaminate – v. to make (something) dangerous, dirty, or impure by adding something harmful or undesirable to it

remarkable – adj unusual or surprising : likely to be noticed

advances – n. progress in the development or improvement of something

injection – n. the act or process of forcing a liquid medicine or drug into someone or something by using a special needle

NATO Launches Largest Military Exercise in a Decade

NATO launched its largest military exercise in more than a decade this week.

The exercise is called “Trident Juncture” and brings 36,000 troops together from more than 30 nations. It takes place in Italy, Spain and Portugal and lasts for three weeks.

The alliance needs to be ready if a mission emerges, says NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow.

NATO could be asked to intervene in conflict zones like the Middle East, North Africa, Syria and Ukraine.

Vershbow says the alliance needs to be ready and flexible.

“We are very concerned about the Russian military build-up,” Vershbow said.

The exercises were planned two years ago. They will test a force of 5,000 troops from air, maritime and special operations units.

Officials have made up a scenario for the troops: They will protect a state and its seas under threat, according to a Reuters report.

I'm Jill Robbins.

Jonas Bernstein reported on this story for VOANews.com. Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

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Words in This Story

adversary – n. an enemy or opponent

authorize – v. to give power or permission to (someone or something)

confrontation – n. a situation in which people, groups, etc., fight, oppose, or challenge each other in an angry way

deputy – n. an important assistant who helps the leader of a government, organization, etc.

scenario – n. a description of what could possibly happen

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section or our Facebook page. 

Report: Smoking Will Kill One in Three Young Men in China

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

If you are a man living in China and smoke, you may want to stop. That is because one in three of all the young men in China will die from smoking cigarettes or other tobacco products.

Researchers reported their findings in The Lancet medical journal.

The report says, "About two-thirds of young Chinese men become cigarette smokers, and most start before they are 20 years old. Unless they stop, about half of them will eventually be killed by their habit."

The researchers conducted two large, countrywide studies on the health effects of smoking. The first study took place in the 1990s and involved about 250,000 men. The second study was launched only recently and is continuing. This study involves about 500,000 adults, both men and women.

Researchers say that in China, the number of deaths each year resulting from tobacco use will rise from about one-million in 2010 to two-million in 2030. They warn that the number will rise to three-million by 2050.

Researchers say there is no silver bullet to make these numbers go down, meaning there is no easy answer to make the problem go away.

People need to stop smoking.

China smokes more than one-third of the world's cigarettes. It also has one-sixth of all smoking-related deaths worldwide.

The story is different with Chinese women.

It seems not many women are smoking in China today. Ten percent of women born in the 1930s were smokers. But among those born in the 1960s, only about one percent smoke. And the rates of death-by-cigarette among women have also dropped.

But that could change.

Researchers note that smoking now seems more fashionable among Chinese women. Some women think it makes them seem more appealing.

Richard Peto is a professor at the University of Oxford. He helped to write the report on smoking. He said increasing the price of cigarettes may be one way to reduce smoking rates.

He said that "over the past 20 years, tobacco deaths have been decreasing in Western countries, partly because of price increases.” For China, he adds, a large increase in cigarette prices could save tens of millions of lives.

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More information about our quoted expert, Richard Peto, can be found on the website for the University of Oxford.

There it says Richard Peto’s investigations into the worldwide health effects of smoking have helped to change "national and international attitudes about smoking and public health." He was the first to describe clearly the future worldwide health effects of current smoking patterns.

Mr. Peto was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1999 for services to epidemiology. In 2010 and 2011 he received the Cancer Research UK and the British Medical Journal Lifetime Achievement Award.

I’m Anna Matteo.

In your social circles do many men or women smoke? Let us know in the comments section.

Smita P. Nordwall wrote this story for VOA News. Anna Matteo adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in This Story

habit – n. usual way of behaving: something that a person does often in a regular and repeated way : a strong need to use a drug, to smoke cigarettes, etc.

conduct – v. to plan and do (something, such as an activity)

tobacco – n. : a plant that produces leaves which are smoked in cigarettes, pipes, etc.

silver bullet – n.: something that very quickly and easily solves a serious problem

fashionable – adj. currently popular: dressing and acting in a way that is currently popular

appealing – adj. having qualities that people like: pleasing or attractive

epidemiology – n. medical: the study of how disease spreads and can be controlled

social circle – informal n. a group of close friends

The Ups and Downs of Coffee and Caffeine

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

Caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world. Many people drink coffee or tea to help them wake in the morning. And many others drink caffeine throughout the day to prevent sleepiness.

So, it is no surprise that if you get too much caffeine before bedtime, it can keep you awake. It turns out that interrupting your sleep is bad for your health on many levels, including the cellular level.

A new study explains how interrupted sleep can affect your mental and physical health. The study also explores how poor sleep can affect the cells in your body.

Researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom have joined from across the pond to investigate this issue.

The investigators are from the University of Colorado, Boulder in the U.S. and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. They found that caffeinated drinks taken up to three hours before expected bedtime can delay normal sleep times by as much as 40 minutes.

The amount of caffeine that disrupted sleep was equal to about two shots of espresso.

Kenneth Wright is head of the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder. Mr. Wright warns some coffee drinks sold in coffee shops usually contain more caffeine than that.

"This particular finding tells us that the timing of sleep and wakefulness will be pushed later because of an effect on the (biological) clock, not just promoting wakefulness chemicals in the brain."

This is no surprise. Scientists have known for a long time that caffeine keeps you awake. Caffeine affects the chemicals in the brain that control wakefulness. Caffeine also blocks chemicals in the brain that promote, or cause you to sleep.

And interrupted sleep is not good for you.

Not getting enough sleep can affect a person’s mood. It also disrupts the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle called the circadian rhythm. Your body’s circadian rhythm is found in cells throughout the entire body.

So, when caffeine disrupts your circadian rhythm, it affects hormone production and the re-growth of new cells in the human body. And this can play a role in many health problems – from obesity to diabetes to cancer.

The experiment

To look into caffeine's effect on the circadian rhythm, or circadian clock, researchers first noted the sleep-wake cycles of five healthy volunteers.

The study lasted 49 days. Researchers gave the participants 200 milligrams of caffeine a few hours before bed. Two hundred milligrams of caffeine is about the amount found in two shots of espresso. Then the researchers noted how long it took the volunteers to fall asleep.

The volunteers were also exposed at night to bright light, which is also known to disrupt sleep. Caffeine, however, interrupted the circadian clock, and patterns of sleep, more so than bright light did. Caffeine affects the production of melatonin, the sleep-producing hormone.

When a person’s circadian rhythm is disrupted, sleeping and eating patterns are thrown off. A disrupted circadian rhythm increases the chance of heart disease, obesity and mental illnesses such as depression and bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is a disease of the brain where people experience extreme highs and extreme lows.

But caffeine’s effect on the body is not all bad.

Mr. Wright says people could use caffeine to help their body’s clock, for example, when they travel.

"Another example of an implication of our findings is we may be able to use caffeine to help shift our clocks westward when we're traveling across many time zones. In this case here, caffeine may help us adapt to jet lag much faster."

The scientists published their findings in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The scientists also give some common sense advice -- people who want to wake up earlier in the morning might want to avoid that nighttime cup of caffeine.

And that’s the Health & Lifestyle report.

I’m Anna Matteo.

Do you drink caffeine before bedtime and does it affect your sleep or mood? Let us know in the comments section and on our Facebook page.

Jessica Berman reported this story from Washington, D.C. for VOA News. Anna Matteo adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

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Words in This Story

interrupt – v. to cause (something) to stop happening for a time

caffeine – n. a substance that is found especially in coffee and tea and that makes you feel more awake

across the pond – idiomatic phrase : that means on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. It is used to refer to the United States or the United Kingdom depending on the speaker's location

disrupt – v. to cause (something) to be unable to continue in the normal way

circadian rhythm – n. daily rhythmic activity cycle, based on 24-hour intervals, that is exhibited by many organisms

promote ­ – v. to help (something) happen, develop, or increase

hormone – n. a natural substance that is produced in the body and that influences the way the body grows or develops

depression – n. a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way

bipolar disorder – n. any of several psychological disorders of mood characterized usually by alternating episodes of depression and mania —called also manic depression, manic-depressive illness