Features

LOS ANGELES — Robert Waag is alive and apparently cancer free more than two years after advanced melanoma reached his lungs, hips and other parts of his body — a feat only recently considered unthinkable for such patients.

Waag, 77, is on the immunotherapy Keytruda, a new type of drug that enlists the body’s defences in the fight. The first new immunotherapy drug for cancer was introduced in 2011, so long-term efficacy is unknown. But the approach is showing promise.

Before these drugs, the prognosis for most patients with advanced melanoma was a year at best. In one study of Keytruda, 40 per cent of such patients survived at least three years, and 10 per cent showed no evidence of cancer.

“The prospect that more and more patients will be cured is becoming a reality,” said Waag’s oncologist Dr Lynn Schuchter, the chief of hematology oncology at Philadelphia’s Penn Medicine who has no current financial ties to drug companies.

After decades in which progress meant eking out weeks or months at the end of life, such treatments are changing the dialogue around cancer. Leading cancer experts are beginning to talk about the possibility  that some patients will beat diagnoses once considered death sentences.

The White House calls it an “inflection point” with cancer science apparently poised for big gains. In his state of the union address in January, President Barack Obama announced a federal initiative to “cure cancer once and for all”, including up to $1 billion to boost the best ideas in prevention, early detection and treatment.

Silicon Valley innovators are joining the effort too. Napster founder Sean Parker has endowed a foundation aimed at accelerating the development of promising treatments.

For the most difficult cancers, the day that the word “cure” can be used with confidence remains a longway off, top oncologists and drug company executives said in interviews with Reuters. But as they gather Friday at the annual meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, a new optimism is expected to permeate many conversations.

Talking about recent progress against melanoma, the first cancer to be targeted by immunotherapy, Dr Daniel Hayes, incoming ASCO president, summed up the cautious shift: “It makes us wonder if we can use the word ‘cure’.”

Doctors at the ASCO meeting will hear about efforts to attack the toughest cancers with immunotherapy, including another potential game changer that tweaks a patient’s own cells to become more effective cancer killers, as well as other drugs and combinations.

Merck & Co.’s Keytruda and Opdivo, a rival drug made by Bristol Myers Squibb, work by blocking a protein tumours use to evade detection by the immune system. Roche Holding AG recently received US regulatory approval for a similar drug, Tecentriq, for treating bladder cancer.

One study of Opdivo in patients with a type of advanced lung cancer found that 23 per cent were alive two years after starting the drug, compared to 8 per cent of those given standard chemotherapy.

“We are raising the bar for overall survival,” said Fouad Namouni, the head of medical research at Bristol Myers. “How can we do more? We are looking at combining immunotherapy agents.”

Researchers are also trying to determine which patients will respond best to immunotherapy and how long they need to continue treatment. In the recent Keytruda study, the melanoma in two patients got worse after their treatment was stopped.

Waag, a retired professor of engineering at New York’s University of Rochester, is wary of stopping treatment. First diagnosed in 1998, Waag’s skin lesions were surgically removed, and he was apparently disease free for 13 years. “Then it came back — and with a vengeance,” he said.

Some patients, including Waag, experience no apparent side effects. But immunotherapy drugs can cause liver inflammation and other problems linked to revving up the body’s immune system, requiring patients to stop treatment. A substantial portion of patients do not respond to the drugs at all.

For many oncologists, a real cure will be realised only after decades of follow-up study show significant numbers of patients survive with no signs of cancer. The current benchmark for patients to be considered cancer free is five years.

At around $150,000 a year, Keytruda and Opdivo are expensive. Another, still experimental, immunotherapy approach that is generating excitement could cost much more.

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell, or CAR-T, therapies are made by extracting a patient’s immune system T cells, altering their DNA to sharpen their ability to spot and kill cancer cells, and infusing them back into the same patient.

Early studies have shown them apparently eliminating blood cancers, such as leukaemia and lymphoma, in 40 to 90 per cent of patients. But, in some cases, there were potentially life-threatening side effects.

Americans eat too much salt, and the government is asking restaurants and food manufacturers to help them cut back.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) laid out its request for “voluntary sodium reduction targets” on Wednesday that would reduce Americans’ average sodium consumption by nearly one-third over a decade.

The goal is to get down to a daily maximum of 2,300 milligrammes. Today, a typical American eats nearly 1.5 times that much — 3,400 mg of sodium per day, according to the FDA.

This rampant consumption of sodium is a major reason why one in three Americans has high blood pressure, a condition that puts people at risk for heart disease and stroke. The threat isn’t limited to adults — 10 per cent of children between the ages of 8 and 17 have high blood pressure too.

Public health experts estimate that if Americans were to reduce sodium consumption by 40 per cent, nearly half-a-million premature deaths could be avoided. The FDA’s target represents a 32 per cent reduction from current levels.

But cutting back on sodium isn’t as simple as sprinkling less salt on our fries or switching from regular to low-sodium soy sauce. That’s because 77 per cent of the sodium Americans eat comes from foods they don’t prepare themselves, according to a study cited by the FDA. Only 6 per cent is added while eating. (Another 5 per cent comes from foods prepared at home and 12 per cent occurs naturally in foods.)

As a result, even those with the best intentions — and the most willpower — could use a little boost from the government, said Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.

The FDA action “is about putting power back in the hands of consumers, so that they can better control how much salt is in the food they eat,” Burwell said in a statement. The first step in the FDA plan is to reduce average sodium consumption to 3,000mg per day within two years — a 12 per cent decline from current levels. FDA officials said this short-term target is “readily achievable”.

Then, over the next eight years, intake should drop all the way down to 2,300mg per day — a further 23 per cent cut.

It sounds like a lot, but an examination of cream cheese shows that it’s doable.

Every 100 grammes of spreadable cream cheese sold in the United States today contains 403mg of sodium, according to the FDA. To meet the agency’s short-term goal, cream cheese makers would need to reduce that to 380mg of sodium. To meet the long-term goal, sodium would need to drop to 340mg.

Australia and New Zealand are almost there already — their spreadable cream cheese contains 348mg of sodium per 100 grammes. The versions now sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland have already surpassed the FDA’s targets, with a mere 300 grammes of sodium per 100 grammes.

WASHINGTON — The use of ad-blocking software for mobile devices has nearly doubled in the past year, raising questions about the viability of online media business models, a study showed Tuesday.

Some 419 million people, or 22 per cent of global smartphone users, are blocking ads on their mobile handsets as of March 2016, the study by the consulting firm PageFair with the analytics firm Priori Data found.

Mobile ad-blocking grew by 90 per cent globally in 2015, with most of the increase in Asia, the report says.

Almost a third of smartphone users are blocking ads in China, while more than 60 per cent do so in India and Indonesia.

Users are attracted to ad-blocking browsers and applications that block marketing messages, which can be seen as annoying or intrusive. Ads can also slow down connections for mobile users and count for data allowances, which can become costly in some parts of the world.

If ad-blocking becomes widespread, however, it could undercut the Internet’s economic model, especially for media organisations struggling to make transitions from print to digital.

“This report tells a sobering story about the future viability of ad-funded media and journalism in developing economies,” PageFair Chief Executive Sean Blanchfield said.

“Ad-blocking now threatens all mobile channels,” he added. “Failure to address user concerns about mobile advertising in North America and Europe will lead to the same kind of widespread ad-block usage that we are seeing in the Asia Pacific region.”

North America and Europe have seen less of an impact from mobile ad-blocking so far, the report said.

The study found 14 million active users of ad-blocking browsers on smartphones in Europe and North America as of March.

Users downloaded content-blocking and in-app ad-blocking apps 4.9 million times from the Apple and Android app stores in Europe and North America since September 2014, the study found.

Browsers that block ads are more than twice as popular in Europe than North America, with some 27 users per thousand smartphones.

Content-blocking apps are three times more popular in North America than in Europe, with nine users per 1,000 smartphones.

A study by Adobe and PageFair last year said the losses for websites that rely on advertising could be huge — $21.8 billion in 2015 and rising to $41 billion in 2016.

Apple’s introduction of “content blocking” on iOS 9 has yet to have a significant impact, according to the report.

Just 2 per cent of US-based users of Apple devices have downloaded a content blocking app, it found.

Khalil is only six but he can download and install apps on daddy’s tablet. His father had to lock the tablet for Khalil was actually downloading paid apps that were directly debited from dad’s credit card account which details and number were saved in the device’s settings.

Mark is nine and has found, by himself, how to migrate already installed apps from the device’s main memory to the external micro-SD memory card so as to save space on the main storage area. Leila is seven and shows her mother how to make better use of the virtual keyboards on the screen and to enter non-alphabetical characters in a faster way, and also how to attach cloud-saved images to a WhatsApp message. The list is authentic and goes on and on.

Stories abound of young children doing what seems like magic with high-tech devices, often putting adults to shame with the ease and speed they display when dealing with the machines and the software. Are they really very smart kids? Is their IQ higher than their parents? Or is it just because they are exposed to high-tech at a very young age and, therefore, find it natural, comfortable to interact with it, perhaps at the expense of other skills?

Understandably, being exposed to any art, skill, language or technique when you are very young makes a big difference. This is after all the core, the essence of the learning principle and process. People who had started learning say how to play the guitar before the age of 10, stand a much better chance to become good performers than those who decide to learn the instrument once past the age of 30.

While obeying the above general, time-honoured rule, high-tech, however, seems to exhibit something more. Something that at this stage is still hard to analyse and to fully comprehend. Perhaps those that we consider as being whiz kids are simply imitating, replicating a touch-screen process the same way a chimpanzee would “learn” by watching a human being accomplish this or that task. Is this intelligence as we know it? The subject is vast and can feed a number of academic research papers.

For many observers, interacting with high-tech this way definitely makes the young smarter for it constitutes a perfect practice of the logical ways in life and in most disciplines. The menus structure found in virtually all software applications, the sequence of actions that is behind most programmes, and the binary, non-whimsical reactions of the machines, they just make perfect sense; in a way they are fair — and the young like it this way, they understand it.

Educators have found a direct correlation between playing a musical instrument, the piano in most cases, and practicing mathematics. There is a positive feedback between the two disciplines, each coming to reinforce the other when you practice it. High-tech in general and Information Technology in particular, act like mathematics but in a more direct, an even more powerful manner.

But whereas maths can appear to be a rather dry, austere matter for most, high-tech is always very attractive thanks to an unprecedented combination of elements: sound and image pleasure, infinite communication possibility, instant gratification, fun, feeling of power, feeling of not being alone, a window open on the entire world, etc. For the young it is hard to find a more motivating activity.

It remains to be seen whether the smartness acquired by using high-tech leads to actual, proven intelligence in other disciplines, or if on the contrary it reduces the ability to perform well in some others. It may take another generation or two to find out. In the meantime, watching the very young deal with high-tech is a most fascinating, often humbling experience.

LOS ANGELES — Suddenly, everyone from the US government, commercial satellite companies, universities and even high school students needs to have a small satellite.

And that is fuelling another boom, in Southern California and across the West, in companies dedicated to giving the satellites a ride to space.

By one estimate, 210 satellites weighing less than 50 kilos will be launched this year, to do such things as map the Earth, expand broadband access and track packages on shipping vessels. That’s up from just 25 launches in 2010. The number is expected to double again in five years.

In the last six months, at least half-a-dozen new launch vehicle firms aimed at the small satellite market have cropped up, said Marco Caceres, the senior space analyst for Teal Group, an aerospace and defence analysis company.

The ever-growing list includes Firefly Space Systems in Cedar Park, Texas; Rocket Lab in Los Angeles and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, best known for its space tourism endeavours.

In a quiet industrial park near Long Beach Airport where warplanes were once built around the clock, Virgin Galactic is making a satellite-launching rocket that will drop from the wing of a 747.

“There is strong confidence in the aerospace community that small satellites are the way to go,” said Kevin Sagis, the chief engineer for LauncherOne. “It’s an exciting time.”

The hopes of the upstarts are bolstered by news that companies such as SpaceX outside Los Angeles and OneWeb in Arlington, Va., are planning to launch constellations of hundreds or even thousands of satellites that would provide low-cost Internet access, especially to more remote areas of the world.

Last year, SpaceX opened an office in Seattle where engineers will build smaller satellites for launch. Around the same time, Branson announced an investment in the OneWeb venture.

“Just those two companies alone can create a whole new market,” Caceres said. “And I think that’s what launch companies are looking for.”

Traditional satellite manufacturing has long been based in Southern California. Hughes Electronics Corp. built satellites at its El Segundo facility outside LA for years before its space and communication businesses were acquired in 2000 by aerospace giant Boeing Co. Boeing still manufactures satellites in El Segundo.

Swarms of satellites are not a new idea. Huge satellite constellations were proposed back in the 1990s as a way to provide telecommunication services around the globe. But entrepreneurs badly underestimated the steep cost of building and blasting hundreds of satellites into orbit, and the proposed services were undercut by cheaper ground-based cellular services.

Plans for the ambitious Teledesic satellite constellation collapsed in the early 2000s. The network, which was to provide high-speed Internet service, was founded by cellphone pioneer Craig McCaw and garnered some investment from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, but couldn’t raise enough money to cover its high costs.

In 1999, satellite communication company Iridium filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after it signed up fewer than 50,000 customers for its global telephone service. The company later reorganised and its network of 66 satellites still provides services.

Industry players say this time will be different. They point to the greater diversity in satellite usage now as insurance against the bust of any one particular industry.

Planet Labs, for example, says it operates the largest fleet of Earth observation satellites. Data from the San Francisco company’s nanosatellites can be used to monitor farmland and track carbon emissions.

Demand for mobile connectivity is also greater than it ever was in the 1990s, even in previously unconnected places such as airplanes.

And new technology has driven down the cost of developing and launching a satellite, aided in part by miniaturisation; smaller satellites weigh less, and thus are cheaper to launch.

Tom Stroup, the president of the Satellite Industry Association, said it’s not likely that all the satellite constellations that have been announced will be launched. But he expects at least one, if not more, of the proposed projects in each sector — imaging, broadband, communication services — to succeed.

“We live in a different world than we did in the 1990s,” he said.

Another plus for this round of satellite projects is that they’re more likely to be backed by the companies’ own money, said Caceres of Teal Group.

“They’re not totally reliant on investors like they were in the 1990s,” he said. “So there’s a good chance that many of these companies will be able to put these thousands of satellites into orbit, and if they do, they need launch vehicles.”

Currently, small satellites can hitch a ride by going “piggyback” on a rocket purchased by a larger company and squeezing in where there’s space. But aspiring launch providers say this method can restrict the launch time and location, as well as the orbit where the satellite will be placed.

That’s where companies like Virgin Galactic think they can succeed.

The company announced its LauncherOne project in 2012 after it saw the potential in the small-satellite market. Virgin Galactic plans to eventually produce 24 rockets or more each year at its facility, which borders the Long Beach Airport and is near the former Boeing C-17 plant, which closed in November.

Virgin Galactic is looking to produce rockets quickly and at low cost. On average, the company said it will cost $10 million to launch a 200-kilo satellite to a 500-kilometre sun-synchronous orbit, the most commonly requested orbit. That compares with SpaceX’s starting price of $62 million for its Falcon 9 rocket, or Rocket Lab’s $5 million charge for a 150-kilo payload.

The company has invested in machines that speed the rocket production line. One of them creates new parts through 3-D printing, while simultaneously shaving off any extra material that could make a part even a hair’s width too big.

Even the launch system was designed with costs in mind.

The 20-metre-long rocket will be secured under the left wing of a modified commercial 747-400 jetliner dubbed Cosmic Girl. After the plane climbs to about 10,000 kilometres, it will release LauncherOne to deliver the payload into orbit.

LauncherOne’s first test flight is scheduled for next year. The plane will take off from Mojave and launch the rocket off the California coast near Santa Barbara.

The company has already started to fill its launch manifest. Its biggest customer is OneWeb, which has purchased flights for 39 satellites. Last year, Virgin Galactic won a $4.7 million NASA contract to carry more than a dozen small satellites into orbit. Firefly Space Systems and Rocket Lab won similar contracts.

Stratolaunch Systems, a project backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his company Vulcan Aerospace, also hopes to launch satellites from midair. It is building a rocket-carrying aircraft in Mojave that, when completed, will have the largest wingspan of any plane ever built.

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is out to use Windows software to do for altered reality what it did for personal computers: make them commonplace.

The US technology giant on Wednesday announced that Windows software already powering a wide range of devices including HoloLens augmented reality headgear is being opened to partners interested in building devices for “mixed reality” experiences.

Devices built on the Windows platform will be interoperable, meaning that someone wearing HTC Vive virtual reality gear would be able to virtually visit and collaborate with someone using HoloLens virtual reality goggles, Microsoft executives told AFP.

The list of partners already working with Microsoft included HTC, Lenovo, Asus and HP.

Microsoft said it built HoloLens to showcase the potential for the technology, which is based on the same Windows operating system that powers computers, smartphones, Xbox consoles and more.

Sharing the Windows platform will mean that augmented or virtual reality gear from various manufacturers will be able to work with one another, the same way Windows computers do.

“We are bringing the software that lights up HoloLens to the entire ecosystem of mixed reality devices — and inviting partners to join us in this platform,” Microsoft spokesman Greg Sullivan told AFP.

Walk on Mars

While virtual reality devices such as those from Facebook-owned Oculus and Sony’s PlayStation unit immerse users in fantasy worlds, HoloLens “augments” reality by overlaying holograms on the real world in view.

HoloLens lets users interact with virtual objects using hand gestures.

Microsoft would not disclose details regarding how it will make money from the move. But it is expected to pursue the kinds of licensing deals it negotiates with companies that make Windows-powered computers.

Creating a common platform for a wide range of companies to create and market mixed reality gear promises to bring down prices for altered reality gear while enriching variety in the marketplace.

Microsoft in March began its first shipments of its HoloLens to application developers, staking its place in what is expected to be an emerging computing platform.

At a recent Microsoft Build developers’ conference, the company showed some of the possibilities for HoloLens — such as giving users a view of Mars that up to now could only be seen by space vehicles, and an inside view of the brain by medical specialists aiming to deal with a cerebral tumour.

Aiming to encourage new applications for the device, Microsoft noted that developers can create “new mixed reality” with holograms to enable users to see and experience things in new ways.

The holographic capabilities in the Microsoft gear can open doors for developers to augment tasks from complex surgery to motorcycle design, according to the company.

Marketers predict virtual headsets will soon top wish lists for kids and young adults from Silicon Valley to Hong Kong. But some analysts say virtual reality will be eclipsed by augmented reality within a few years.

While visiting the United States from any part of the Middle East, Africa or Asia, one has to get accustomed to a number of things, for instance: undergoing two security checks at the airport, over 10 hours of flying time, long queues in front of the luggage carousal, probing inquisition at the immigration counter and so on and so forth. You have to also train your ears to the American drawl, which can stretch normal sentences into long monologues. 

These are some of the challenges that can make you hesitant about going there but once you overcome them, it is a delight to be in the land of milk and honey. Incidentally, I have now discovered why it is called that, literally too, because in the US, everyone calls everybody “honey”. 

The Americans are very friendly people. They are very factual people too and love printing the most obvious details like, “if you put a plastic bag on your head you might get suffocated” labels on, well, plastic bags. Or “not suitable for persons who are allergic to nuts”, warning on a pack of peanuts. This might be considered common sense in other parts of the world but in a highly litigious society like America, everything is clearly marked in black and white. 

Walking on the paved streets of Lower Manhattan, close to where catastrophe struck around 15 years ago is an eye opener. The One World Trade Centre is the main building of the rebuilt complex. It is the tallest structure in the Western hemisphere and has the same name as the North Tower of the original World Trade Centre, which was completely destroyed in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. One interesting fact is that the height of the building, complete with its spire, is 1,776 feet. This is a deliberate reference to the year when the United States Declaration of Independence was signed. 

Tourists throng this area round-the-clock and you have to crane your neck to look up to its full height. A few families, with the pleas of, “honey, can you click our picture?” besiege me. Their cell-phone selfies, even the ones planted on a long stick, cannot encapsulate the grandeur of the place. I comply, and soon become an expert at capturing the perfect snapshot. “Maybe I should switch professions and become a photographer,” says the voice in my head. 

With the Memorial Day weekend approaching, all the department stores in the country go on sale. This day, originally called Decoration Day, is marked as a federal holiday in America for remembering the people who died while serving in the armed forces. Over two-dozen cities and towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. In 1915, Moina Belle Michael, a professor at the University of Georgia, started selling silk poppies to raise funds in order to provide occupational and financial support for disabled servicemen. Her efforts resulted in The American Legion Auxiliary, and later, The Royal British Legion, adopting poppy as a symbol of remembrance for war veterans. 

Queuing up at the “Sweet Tooth” café I am daunted by the huge size of the apple pies in the display counter. 

“You want something honey?” asks the gentleman at the till. 

“A cupcake please,” I mumble. 

“What’s that honey?” he queries. 

“Cupcake,” I clarify pointing at it. 

“That’s a muffin honey,” he insists in a slow drawl. 

“I will go for the apple pie,” I drawl back. 

Many people still do not know which infections can be treated with antibiotics, and doctors may not be warning their patients about the hazards of taking the drugs too often, a UK study suggests.

Primary care doctors dispense most antibiotics, so they need to do a better job of educating patients about when antibiotics are really needed and the consequences of overusing the drugs, researchers say.

“The more you take antibiotics the more bacteria in your body will become resistant, so the next time you really need an antibiotic for pneumonia or a kidney infection, for example, it may not be as effective,” said lead author Cliodna McNulty, the head of the Primary Care Unit at Public Health England in Gloucester.

In the UK, 74 per cent of antibiotics are prescribed by general practice physicians, the researchers write in the journal Family Practice. Many patients may request the drugs for viral infections, which are not treatable with antibiotics, they add.

Antibiotics work on bacterial infections, but not on viruses. Antibiotic resistance occurs when the bacteria causing common infections evolve so that the drugs no longer work on them.

“Most coughs, colds, sore throats, flu and sinus infections are self-limiting and will get better on their own. Antibiotics only improve symptoms by about 8-12 hours,” McNulty told Reuters Health by e-mail.

Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest health threats worldwide and leads to longer hospitalisations, higher medical costs and death, according to the World Health Organisation.

The researchers used an independent research agency to conduct a face-to-face survey of randomly selected homes across England. The 1,625 adult participants answered questions about their use of antibiotics, whether their doctors gave them information about antibiotics in general and about resistance in particular, and whether they trusted their doctors’ knowledge.

Just over one-third of participants said they had been prescribed an antibiotic in the past year. 

Among those with prescriptions, 62 per cent of people with throat infections, 60 per cent with sinus infections, and 42 per cent of those with a cough or cold took antibiotics, although all these conditions tend to be caused by viruses. 

Asked whether most coughs, colds and sore throats get better on their own without the need for antibiotics, 86 per cent of survey participants agreed, but only 44 per cent correctly answered that antibiotics treat bacterial and not viral infections.

Just 45 per cent of participants agreed that healthy people can carry bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.

Two-thirds of participants remembered getting advice from their doctors about their infection or about antibiotics, but only 8 per cent said they got information about antibiotic resistance. 

Eighty-eight per cent of subjects trusted their doctors to decide if they needed antibiotics. 

“It’s extremely important for providers to share information with patients and parents about the benefits and harms of using antibiotics,” said Dr Lauri Hicks, the director of the Office of Antibiotic Stewardship at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Doctors should talk to patients about when antibiotics are and are not needed and about possible issues with antibiotics like allergic reactions and antibiotic resistance, said Hicks, who was not involved in the study.

“Doctors are often under a lot of time pressure, so doctors can also provide resources to guide patients, like hand-outs and, if appropriate, websites that have more information about appropriate antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance,” Hicks told Reuters by e-mail.

McNulty said that antibiotics can be life-saving drugs for serious infections, but they are not needed for colds or flu-like illnesses. She noted that having a stuffy or runny nose with your other symptoms is often a sign that antibiotics are not needed.

The second ever car fully developed by Mercedes-Benz’s in-house high performance AMG tuning wing, the AMG GT is an altogether tighter, tauter and more focused sports car. Retaining its AMG SLS predecessor’s classic front-midship engine and transaxle gearbox layout, the GT is a smaller but more committed and rewarding sports car, rather than swaggering exotic car.

A more accessible and dynamically capable halo car, the AMG GT is powered by a new 4-litre twin-turbo V8 engine in place of its predecessor’s charismatic big displacement 6.2-litre naturally aspirated V8. Offered in standard 456BHP and 503 GT-S guise, as driven, the lighter, more advanced GT loses little outright performance, but gains significant mid-range flexibility and efficiency.

Athletic aesthetic

Launched as 2015 model, the AMG GT strikes a similar silhouette to its predecessor, owing to the same cabin-back layout, with engine mounted behind the front axle and gear box on the rear axle for near ideal slightly rear-biased within-wheelbase weighting. Built largely using aluminium and some magnesium elements, and with lighter engine, the GT-S version sheds 80kg over its SLS GT predecessor.

In terms of design, the new GT’s lines a more rounded rather than sharp and uses freer form shapes for the headlights, wide grille and side intakes and twin bonnet ridges to create a more visceral and urgently pouncing demeanour. At the rear, the GT’s strong shoulders and tapered hatchback boot are more fluently incorporated into the overall design than its predecessor.

Fluently descending, broad and rounded, the GT’s rear features a standard discreet integrated rising spoiler that deploys at speed, or optionally in GT-S Edition 1 guise, a more aggressive fixed rear wing for more down force. Designed with less theatrical detail, the GT features more discrete side vents, while its predecessor’s gorgeous dramatic up-swinging gull-wing doors are replaced by better-packaged conventional doors.

Volcanic V8

Charismatically crackling and howling, the GT engine’s bi-turbos are located in between its two cylinder banks for more compact packaging and shorter induction and gas flow paths to significantly reduce low-end lag and improve responsiveness. Meanwhile, a dry sump design reduces engine height and allows it to be mounted lower for less lateral weight transfer, and allows for improved cornering oil circulation.

Developing 503BHP at 6250rpm and
479lb/ft throughout 1750-4750rpm, the AMG GT-S is brutally swift and benefits from a broad accessible torque band and seamless transition to urgent power accumulation. Rapid off-the-line, the AMG GT-S can rocket through the 0-100km/h benchmark in just 3.8 seconds and onto 310km/h, while an optional AMG Dynamic Plus package extends the GT-S’ torque band to 5000rpm and allows for a maximum power plateau at 6000-6500rpm.

If not as gloriously rumbling and progressive as its big displacement naturally aspirated predecessor, the GT-S smaller twin-turbo is nevertheless a brilliantly accomplished and more seamlessly fluent motor with wider range than past AMG twin-turbos. Responsive at low speed, effortless in mid-range and volcanic at top-end, the GT-S has an urgent delivery, urging one to reach for its peak power than rely on mid-range torque.

Agile and fluent

Driving the rear wheels through a 7-speed dual clutch gearbox the AMG GT-S snappily fires of gear changes in several gearbox modes of escalating responsiveness. An improvement on its predecessor, the GT-S’ gearbox is quickest in Sport+ mode and features a manual paddle shift. For improved efficiency, it can also automatically disengage between 60-160km/h when one lifts off the throttle.

Riding on sophisticated double wishbone suspension better suited for cornering manoeuvres, the GT-S also features adaptive multi-mode dampers that firm up for corners and soften for straights. Directing power through corners is an electronically controlled limited-slip differential allocating power between the rear wheels for best traction and agility, while a Curve Dynamic Assist system can predict when to apply selective inside wheel braking for tidier, more controlled and agile cornering.

Driven at the same Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi as its SLS predecessor was for these pages on three previous occasions, the GT-S’ improved dynamic prowess is almost immediately evident. With slightly shorter bonnet and seemingly more direct steering, the GT-S tucks into corners more driver connection with front wheels biting harder into a corner and rear wheels gripping with more tenacious and reassuring commitment.

Stealth, space and sophistication

A more intuitive and fluent drive through corners, the GT-S feels more agile and nimble than the previous SLS, with both chassis set-up and electronic management and assistance systems more finely tuned and nuanced for improved handling. In addition to its stealthily deployed Curve Dynamic Assist, the GT-S’ three mode electronic stability systems seem to be more subtle and less intrusive in operation.

Stable, committed and reassuring at speed, the GT-S rides in a settled and sure-footed manner with resiliently effective six-piston front disc brakes. Inside, the GT-S slightly taller roof and use of conventional doors rather than a thicker gull-wing door set-up provides noticeable better headroom. For taller drivers using a helmet during circuit driving, the added headroom is crucial for much improved visibility and driving position.

With supportive, well-adjustable seats, improved driving position and visibility one feels a greater sense of control in the GT-S’ luxuriously appointed cabin. Featuring quality metals, leathers and metals, the GT-S has a sportily sophisticated ambiance with chunky flat bottom steering and quad circular motifs for centre vents and buttons. Extensively well-kitted the GT-S comes with numerous standard and optional convenience, infotainment, safety and driver assistance systems.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 4-litre, twin-turbo, front-mid, dry sump V8 cylinders

Bore x stroke: 83 x 92mm

Compression ratio: 10.5:1

Valve-train: 32-valve, DOHC, variable timing, direct injection

Boost pressure: 1.2-bar

Gearbox: 7-speed automated dual clutch, transaxle, rear-wheel-drive, limited-slip differential

Gear ratios: 1st 3.4:1; 2nd 2.19:1; 3rd 1.63:1; 4th 1.29:1; 5th 1.03:1; 6th 0.84:1; 7th 0.63:1

Reverse / final drive: 2.79:1 / 3.67:1

0-100 km/h: 3.8-seconds

Maximum speed: 310km/h

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 503 (510) [375] @6250rpm

Specific power: 126.3BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 305.7BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 479 (650) @1750-4750rpm

Specific torque: 163.2Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 395.1Nm/tonne

Combined fuel urban / extra-urban/consumption: 12.2 / 7.8/ 9.4l/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 219g/km

Fuel capacity: 75-litres

Length: 4,546mm

Width: 1,939mm

Height: 1,289mm

Wheelbase: 2,630mm

Overhang, F/R: 900/1,016mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficiency: 0.36

Headroom: 1003mm

Boot capacity, min/max: 285-/350 litres

Kerb weight: 1,645kg

Weight distribution, F/R: 47/53 per cent

Steering: Power-assisted, rack and pinion

Turning circle: 11.5 metres

Suspension: Double wishbones, adaptive dampers

Brakes: Ventilated discs, F/R, 390 x 36mm / 360 x 26mm

Brake callipers, F/R: 6-/1-piston

Tyres, F/R: 265/35ZR19 / 295/30ZR20

6000-6500rpm, 1750-5000rpm, with optional AMG Dynamic Plus package

High school and college students who get concussions may struggle more with academics than their peers who get other types of sports injuries, a small US study suggests. 

Researchers surveyed 70 students who received emergency treatment for concussions and 108 teens and young adults treated for other injuries. 

With a concussion, students took an average of 5.4 days to return to school, compared with 2.8 days for other injuries. 

One week after getting hurt, 42 per cent of the students with concussions received academic help such as tutoring or extra time for tests, compared with 25 per cent with other injuries. One month afterwards, 31 per cent of the concussion group got help, as did 24 per cent of the other students. 

“After a concussion, there is an energy crisis in the brain; the brain needs more energy to heal than it has available,” said lead study author Erin Wasserman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

“Because of this, individuals experience symptoms like headache and dizziness, they have trouble sleeping, they may experience depression, and they often have trouble concentrating and remembering things,” Wasserman, who completed the study at the University of Rochester, said by e-mail. 

“All of these symptoms are known to cause problems in school,” Wasserman added. 

To assess how concussions impact schoolwork, Wasserman and colleagues surveyed student athletes treated at three emergency departments in the Rochester, New York, area from September 2013 to January 2015.

They excluded students who went to the emergency department more than 24 hours after the injury or who were hurt badly enough to require a hospital admission. 

For the comparison group without concussions, researchers only included athletes with isolated injuries to the extremities, such as an arm broken in one place. Concussed students were excluded if brain scans showed what’s known as acute intracranial lesions, or badly damaged tissue. 

Researchers asked about symptoms and school performance one week and one month after injuries. Questions touched on things like their concentration skills, ability to do well on tests or quizzes, and symptoms like headaches and dizziness. Scores ranged from 0 to 174 with higher scores indicating worse academic difficulties. 

At one week, 83 per cent of the concussed students reported impairments in at least one area that they did not experience before the injury, as did 60 per cent of students with extremity injuries, researchers report in the American Journal of Public Health.

Also at one week, concussed students had academic dysfunction scores 15 points higher on average than their peers with other injuries at 63 and 48, respectively. After one month, though, their scores were similar: 42 with concussions and 40 with other injuries. 

One limitation of the study is that 24 per cent of concussed students had not returned to school within a week of their injury and were excluded from the analysis. That may mean only the less-impaired students were included and for others impairment after concussion could be worse than observed in the study. 

With concussions, students may also have vision problems or difficulties with eye movements that impact school performance, said Anthony Kontos, research director of the sports medicine concussion programme at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre.

“Some students may experience difficulty shifting from near to far — like from a textbook to a chalkboard — following concussion,” Kontos, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by e-mail. 

With the potential for vision and concentration issues, as well as symptoms like headaches and dizziness, to complicate schoolwork, doctors advise students to take frequent breaks and try to stop work before symptoms get bad, said Dr John Leddy, the medical director of the concussion management clinic at the University in Buffalo. 

“We don’t know for sure what the cause of difficulty with concentration and memory in school is but a common report is that of cognitive intolerance; that is, students cannot do their work for sustained periods of time before becoming very fatigued and thus unable to process new information,” Leddy, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by e-mail. 

“Academic problems likely reflect an issue of cognitive intolerance due to an inefficient brain after concussion,” Leddy added.