Public Health
EASAC report warns Europe on extreme weather event increase
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Europe needs to plan for future probabilities of extreme weather. Heat waves, floods and storms do not respect national frontiers, so there is a need for action at both national and EU levels.
The IPCC has advised that the frequency of many types of extreme weather events will continue to grow globally in coming years. Now the national science academies of EU Member States bring into focus for the first time the scale of the challenge in Europe. Highlighting a 60% rise over the last 30 years in the costs of damage from extreme weather events across Europe, EASAC warns of the grave economic and social consequences if European policy makers do not use the latest estimates of future droughts, floods and storms in their planning while adapting to global warming and the resulting climate disruption.
“Given the tragic events this year in the rest of the world and the recent IPCC report, EASAC feels obliged to draw attention to the growing impact of extreme weather in Europe,” says EASAC President Sir Brian Heap. “This EASAC report follows a highly detailed assessment by a group of Europe’s leading experts on climate (headed up by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute) of historic and likely future changes in extreme weather over Europe. From the major loss of lives in heat waves to the economic and human costs of floods and storms, the implications are worrying. They present the European Union and its Member States with significant challenges in preparing Europe for a future with greater frequency of extreme weather. In planning to adapt to such a future, it is critical to use the latest scientific knowledge on how different types of extreme events are expected to develop. This depends not only on the type of event but also where in Europe is being considered since the EU’s 28 countries and over 500 million population live in very different climate zones, from the Mediterranean sub-tropical to the Arctic.”
Treatment target identified for a public health risk parasite
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In the developing world, Cryptosporidium parvum has long been the scourge of freshwater. A decade ago, it announced its presence in the United States, infecting over 400,000 people - the largest waterborne-disease outbreak in the county’s history. Its rapid ability to spread, combined with an incredible resilience to water decontamination techniques, such as chlorination, led the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United Sates to add C. parvum to its list of public bioterrorism agents. Currently, there are no reliable treatments for cryptosporidiosis, the disease caused by C. parvum, but that may be about to change with the identification of a target molecule by investigators at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). The findings of this study have been recently published in the Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (AAC) journal.
“In the young, the elderly and immunocompromised people such as people infected with HIV/Aids, C. parvum is a very dangerous pathogen. Cryptosporidiosis is potentially life-threatening and can result in diarrhea, malnutrition, dehydration and weight loss,” says first author of the study, Dr. Momar Ndao, Director of the National Reference Centre of Parasitology (NRCP) at the MUHC and an Assistant Professor of the Departments of Medicine, Immunology and Parasitology (Division of Infectious Diseases) at McGill University.
The oocysts of C. parvum, which are shed during the infectious stage, are protected from a thick wall that allows them to survive for long periods outside the body as they spread to a new host. C. parvum is a microscopic parasite that lives in the intestinal tract of humans and many other mammals. It is transmitted through the fecal-oral contact with an infected person or animal, or from the ingestion of contaminated water or food. Since the parasite is resistant to chlorine and difficult to filter, cryptosporidiosis epidemics are hard to prevent.
Researchers from Braunschweig describe new possibilities of the CRISPR-Cas-system
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Viruses cannot only cause illnesses in humans, they also infect bacteria. Those protect themselves with a kind of ‘immune system’ which - simply put - consists of specific sequences in the genetic material of the bacteria and a suitable enzyme. It detects foreign DNA, which may originate from a virus, cuts it up and thus makes the invaders harmless. Scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig have now shown that the dual-RNA guided enzyme Cas9 which is involved in the process has developed independently in various strains of bacteria. This enhances the potential of exploiting the bacterial immune system for genome engineering.
Even though it has only been discovered in recent years the immune system with the cryptic name ‘CRISPR-Cas’ has been attracting attention of geneticists and biotechnologists as it is a promising tool for genetic engineering. CRISPR is short for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Palindromic Repeats, whereas Cas simply stands for the CRISPR-associated protein. Throughout evolution, this molecule has developed independently in numerous strains of bacteria. This is now shown by Prof Emmanuelle Charpentier and her colleagues at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) who published their finding in the international open access journal Nucleic Acids Research.
The CRISPR-Cas-system is not only valuable for bacteria but also for working in the laboratory. It detects a specific sequence of letters in the genetic code and cuts the DNA at this point. Thus, scientists can either remove or add genes at the interface. By this, for instance, plants can be cultivated which are resistant against vermins or fungi. Existing technologies doing the same thing are often expensive, time consuming or less accurate. In contrast to them the new method is faster, more precise and cheaper, as fewer components are needed and it can target longer gene sequences.
Stanford research upends understanding of how humans perceive sound
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A key piece of the scientific model used for the past 30 years to help explain how humans perceive sound is wrong, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
The long-held theory helped to explain a part of the hearing process called “adaptation,” or how humans can hear everything from the drop of a pin to a jet engine blast with high acuity, without pain or damage to the ear. Its overturning could have significant impact on future research for treating hearing loss, said Anthony Ricci, PhD, the Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor of Otolaryngology and senior author of the study.
“I would argue that adaptation is probably the most important step in the hearing process, and this study shows we have no idea how it works,” Ricci said. “Hearing damage caused by noise and by aging can target this particular molecular process. We need to know how it works if we are going to be able to fix it.”
The study will be published Nov. 20 in Neuron. The lead author is postdoctoral scholar Anthony Peng, PhD.
Long-term unemployment may accelerate aging in men
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Men who are unemployed for more than two years show signs of faster ageing in their DNA, a new study has found.
Researchers at Imperial College London and the University of Oulu, Finland studied DNA samples from 5,620 men and women born in Finland in 1966.
They measured structures called telomeres, which lie at the ends of chromosomes and protect the genetic code from being degraded. Telomeres become shorter over a person’s lifetime, and their length is considered a marker for biological ageing. Short telomeres are linked to higher risk of age-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
The researchers looked at telomere length in blood cells from samples collected in 1997, when the participants were all 31 years old. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, found that men who had been unemployed for more than two of the preceding three years were more than twice as likely to have short telomeres compared to men who were continuously employed.
About 70 taken ill after California chemical plant leak
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About 70 people were taken ill after a sulphuric acid leak at a chemical company in California late on Monday, Los Angeles County Fire Department officials said.
People in the Carson area complained of throat and nose irritation and vomiting after being exposed to an “apparent sulphuric acid release in the air from a neighboring business,” Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Robert Diaz said.
Thirteen people were treated at local hospitals and later released, Fire Department official Phil Ulloa said. Others were treated at the scene.
Ulloa said the leak was caused by a scrubber machine malfunctioning at the Solvay chemical plant.
Without Sufficient Support, Community Health Centers Will Drop 1 Million Patients
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A new report by the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) examines the impact of federal and state policy decisions on community health centers (CHCs) and their ability to continue providing primary care to the nation’s poorest residents. The report, “How Medicaid Expansions and Future Community Health Center Funding Will Shape Capacity to Meet the Nation’s Primary Care Needs,” estimates that under a worst-case scenario, the nation’s health centers would be forced to contract, leaving an estimated 1 million low-income people without access to health care services by the year 2020.
“Without continued support, community health centers will not be able to meet the rising demand for primary care in underserved parts of the United States,” said the lead author of the report, Leighton Ku, PhD, MPH, a professor of health policy and director of the Center for Health Policy Research at SPHHS. “Unless policymakers act now to support these centers, many low-income Americans will be left without the high-quality care that can prevent many expensive health conditions from developing in the first place.”
The authors analyzed two key policy issues - the level of federal grant funding and the expansion of Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) - and examined the impact of various levels of support on health center capacity. The researchers found that with sufficient federal funding and Medicaid expansion in all states, health centers could nearly double their capacity by 2020. In contrast, health centers would have to curtail services and turn away patients if grant funding is limited, and Medicaid expansion is not broadened.
Innovative Experiment Aims to Boost Lung Transplants
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The pair of lungs sits inside a clear dome, gently inflating as doctors measure how well they’ll breathe if implanted into a patient who desperately needs a new set.
It’s a little-known twist of nature - your lungs can live on for a while after you die. The air left inside keeps them from deteriorating right away as other organs do.
An innovative experiment now aims to use that hour or more window of time to boost lung transplants by allowing donations from people who suddenly collapse and die at home instead of in a hospital.
“There aren’t enough lungs. We’re burying them,” said Dr. Thomas Egan of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who is leading the project. “It turns out your lungs don’t die when you do.”
Texting heart medication reminders improved patient adherence
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Getting reminder texts helped patients take their heart medicines (anti-platelet and cholesterol-lowering drugs) more regularly, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2013.
In a 30-day, randomized controlled trial of 90 coronary heart disease patients, one group received customized text education messages and medication reminders; a second group got education messages only; and a third received no texts.
The text messaging groups had a 16 percent to 17 percent higher rate of taking correct doses and a higher rate of taking doses on schedule compared to the group who didn’t receive text messaging.
“There is now a major initiative to apply more innovative technologies such as mHealth, eHealth, and telehealth to effectively intervene to promote medication adherence,” said Linda Park, Ph.D., study lead author and post-doctoral fellow at San Francisco VA Medical Center in California.
Genetic rarity rules in wild guppy population, study finds
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When it comes to choosing a mate, female guppies don’t care about who is fairest. All that matters is who is rarest.
Florida State University Professor Kimberly A. Hughes in the Department of Biological Science has a new study just published in the journal Nature that is the first to demonstrate a female preference for rare males using an experiment in a wild population, rather than a laboratory setting.
This study of genetic differences in male guppies is relevant to understanding variation in humans as well as in other organisms, Hughes said.
Hughes and her longtime collaborators studied guppies in Trinidad and found that male guppies with rare color patterns mated more - and lived longer - than the common males. The males’ color variations are genetic and not due to diet or temperature. And the males’ actual appearance didn’t matter to the females, who are tan in color and do the choosing of mates.
“No matter which color pattern we made rare in any group, they mated more and had more offspring,” Hughes said.
First tests of old patent medicine remedies from a museum collection
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What was in Dr. F. G. Johnson’s French Female Pills and other scientifically untested elixirs, nostrums and other quack cures that were the only medicines available to sick people during the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries?
Scientists provided a glimpse today based on an analysis of a museum collection of patent medicines used in turn-of-the-century America. It was part of the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, which is being held here this week.
Mark Benvenuto, Ph.D, who headed the study, explained that hundreds of untested products were sold in stores, by mail order or in traveling medicine shows during the patent medicine era. The products were called “patent medicines” not because they had been granted a government patent, but from an unrelated term that originated in 17th century England.
“This was an era long before the controlled clinical trials and federal regulations that ensure the safety and effectiveness of the medicines we take today,” Benvenuto explained. “Many patent medicines had dangerous ingredients, not just potentially toxic substances like arsenic, mercury and lead, but cocaine, heroin and high concentrations of alcohol.”
Deadly new bird flu vindicates controversial research
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Scientists in the Dutch city of Rotterdam know precisely what it takes for a bird flu to mutate into a potential human pandemic strain - because they’ve created just such mutant viruses in the laboratory.
So as they watch with some trepidation the emergence in China of a strain of bird flu previously unknown in humans, they also argue it vindicates their controversial decision to conduct these risky experiments despite fierce opposition.
Above all else, what the world needs to know about this new strain of H7N9 bird flu is how likely it is to be able to spread efficiently among human populations.
Declaring a truce with our microbiological frienemies
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Managing bacteria and other microorganisms in the body, rather than just fighting them, may be lead to better health and a stronger immune system, according to a Penn State biologist.
Researchers have historically focused on microbes in the body as primarily pathogens that must be fought, said Eric Harvill, professor of microbiology and infectious disease. However, he said that recent evidence of the complex interaction of the body with microbes suggests a new interpretation of the relationship.
“Now we are beginning to understand that the immune system interacts with far more beneficial bacteria than pathogens,” said Harvill. “We need to re-envision what the true immune system really is.”
Harvill said that this reinterpretation leads to a more flexible approach to understanding how the immune system interacts with microbes. This approach should balance between defending against pathogens and enlisting the help of beneficial microbes.
Study uncovers new cells in the urethra which may detect hazardous substances
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A recent study conducted by a group of German scientists revealed the presence of a previously unknown cell in the urethra of mice. These chemosensory cholinergic brush cells are in close contact to sensory neurons that express cholinergic receptors.
The authors suggest that in analogy to brush cells of the respiratory tract, the urethral brush cells may also serve as sentinels being able to detecting hazardous substances and preventing their further retrograde ingression.
The results of this investigation will be presented at the upcoming 28th Annual EAU Congress which will kick off this Friday in Milan. The study won 2nd Prize for Best Abstract in Non-Oncology.
“Urinary tract infections rate among the most common indispositions among out- as well as in-patients and are chiefly triggered by bacteria entering the body through the urethra. We here discovered a previously not recognised cell which surveils this portal of entry,” commented the presenting author of the study, Ms. Katharina Filipski of the Anatomy and Cell Biology Department at Justus-Liebig-University Giessen in Germany.
Digital records could expose intimate details and personality traits of millions
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New research, published today in the journal PNAS, shows that surprisingly accurate estimates of Facebook users’ race, age, IQ, sexuality, personality, substance use and political views can be inferred from automated analysis of only their Facebook Likes - information currently publicly available by default.
In the study, researchers describe Facebook Likes as a “generic class” of digital record - similar to web search queries and browsing histories - and suggest that such techniques could be used to extract sensitive information for almost anyone regularly online.
Researchers at Cambridge’s Psychometrics Centre, in collaboration with Microsoft Research Cambridge, analysed a dataset of over 58,000 US Facebook users, who volunteered their Likes, demographic profiles and psychometric testing results through the myPersonality application. Users opted in to provide data and gave consent to have profile information recorded for analysis.
Facebook Likes were fed into algorithms and corroborated with information from profiles and personality tests. Researchers created statistical models able to predict personal details using Facebook Likes alone.
