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IBM has scooped an eminent UK engineering award for its “middleware” breed of software called Websphere MQ.

Used by top global banks, it has transformed e-commerce, allowing data transfers across computer systems without the need for custom coding.

The Royal Academy of Engineering’s MacRobert prize rewards technological and engineering innovation.

IBM, one of four finalists, was awarded the £50,000 prize money by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh at a London ceremony.

The software, developed by IBM’s Hursley Laboratory in the UK, is crucial for the computing infrastructure of many top companies.

“This award recognises the importance of software as an engineering discipline in its own right, as much as it recognises the success of IBM WebSphere MQ,” said Graham Spittle, director of the Hursley lab Director.

“The MacRobert Award is an indication of the maturity of the industry and recognition of the significance of the role IT plays in the modern world.”

‘Pioneering’ ware

Banks that provide internet services make use of the software’s adaptability so that transactions take place without mistakes, even when computers go offline.

The software means vital information can be swapped between computer systems, wherever they are and whatever hardware, programming language or operating system they use.
IBM describes the software, which was developed in 1994, as “pioneering” because it lets applications on any of over 40 separate computer platforms to communicate and handle data transfer easily.

Previously, the only way to connect such systems was through custom coding.
“Without Websphere MQ we might never have enjoyed the full benefits of the e-commerce revolution,” said Dr Robin Paul, Chairman of the MacRobert judging panel.
“When you realise how many IT systems have to talk to each other when, for example, you check your balance and transfer funds online you really start to appreciate the value of this innovation.

“By enabling seamless communications between computers, the engineers at Hursley have effectively created the oil that now keeps the world’s e-commerce machine running.”
The other finalists for the MacRobert award included self-cleaning glass, an eco-friendly fuel-injection system, and displays that can switch from 2D to 3D.

Scientists are on their way to developing an effective antidote for botulinum toxin - one of the world’s most feared biological weapons.

Defence experts say that just one gram of the poison can kill hundreds of thousands of people.

Several people each year fall victim to “botulism” from food poisoning, but the toxin is also used as Botox - injected into brows to relax wrinkles.

The US team’s findings appear in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

With funding from the US government, researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Maryland, have broken through a barrier towards developing an effective antidote against the most potent form of the toxin.

The researchers have developed a protein that blocks the effects of the toxin by tricking it into not attacking cells in the body.

Biologist Subramanyam Swaminathan, who led the research, told BBC News: “We anticipate at least four to five years before this can be turned into an approved drug.”

The Clostridium botulinum bacterium produces seven different neurotoxins, which attach to proteins inside human nerve cells and blocks the chemicals they use to communicate with each another and with muscles. This can paralyse breathing muscles, which eventually suffocates the victim.

The new protein developed at the Brookhaven National Laboratory acts on the most powerful of these seven toxins, for which there is no medical treatment.

It behaves as a decoy to proteins in the nerve cells, which means that the toxin chooses not to attach itself to the nerve cells when it enters the body. This prevents paralysis.

“It is about 10 to 15 times better than the best one available so far,” said Subramanyam Swaminathan.

Vaccines for botulinum toxin already exist, designed to be administered before an attack, but this research could produce a drug that would work afterwards.

The US government has proposed increasing funding for research into defence against bioweapons such as botulinum to $9bn (£4.5bn; 5.8bn euros) in 2009. This is a rise of more than 5% on the previous year.

Although botulinum toxin has never been successfully used as a bioweapon, the Japanese terrorist cult, Aum Shinrikyo, tried three times between 1990 and 1995.

Also, in the run-up to the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq reportedly produced thousands of litres of the toxin.

Breathing in air pollution from traffic fumes can raise the risk of potentially deadly blood clots, a US study says.

Exposure to small particulates - tiny chemicals caused by burning fossil fuels - is known to increase the chances of heart disease and stroke.

But the Harvard School of Public Health found it also affected development of deep vein thrombosis - blood clots in the legs - in a study of 2,000 people.

Researchers said the pollution made the blood more sticky and likely to clot.

The team looked at people living in Italy - nearly 900 of whom developed DVT.

Blood clots which form in the legs can travel to the lungs, where they can become lodged, triggering a potentially fatal pulmonary embolism.

The risk of DVT is known to be increased by long periods of immobility. In particular, passengers on long-haul flights have been shown to be vulnerable, but so are people who spend long periods of time sitting at their office desk without exercising, or walking around.

Researchers obtained pollution readings from the areas they lived and found those exposed to higher levels of small particulates in the year before diagnosis were more likely to develop blood clots.

The Archives of Internal Medicine report said for every 10 microgrammes per square metre increase in small particulates, the risk of developing a DVT went up by 70%.

Air quality guidelines generally state that small particulate concentrations should not exceed 50 microgrammes.

Risk Factor

Lead researcher Dr Andrea Baccarelli said: “Given the magnitude of the effects, our findings introduce a novel and common risk factor into the development of DVT.

“And, at the same time, they give further substance to the call for tighter standards and continued efforts aimed at reducing the impact of urban air pollutants on human health.”

Dr Beverley Hunt, medical director of the DVT charity Lifeblood, said: “We have known for some time that air pollution has been associated with increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

“This study shows for the very first time that air pollution also increases the risk of clots in the veins and tells us why.

“It’s an exciting finding because air quality is something we can improve on through tightening air quality legislation.”