After an outbreak of Ockelbo disease in northern Sweden in 2013, researchers at Umeå University were able to trace the virus to mosquitos in an area of Lövånger. In a new study, researchers have shown that mosquito larvae in the Västerbotten region also carry virus that can cause infectious disease. These include the Sindbis virus, which causes Ockelbo disease, which is associated with fever, rashes and prolonged joint pain.
Body
Amsterdam, May 12, 2016 - A new position statement by the European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS) published in the journal Maturitas provides a pathway with the latest post-reproductive health strategies, with the aim of optimizing care at an international scale. The pathway will assist healthcare professionals to provide up-to-date evidenced-based information so that women seeking advice about menopausal health should not suffer in silence and be able to make informed choices.
Philadelphia, PA, May 12, 2016 -- Investigators have uncovered a "weekend effect" contributing to the worsening availability of donor kidneys in the United States. They found that kidneys that would normally be made available for transplantation were less likely to be procured from donors over the weekend (89.5% on the weekend vs. 90.2% during the week).
Researchers in Oxford who analyzed recent trends related to urinary tract stones in the UK found a sustained and high prevalence of the condition, with an increased trend to treat patients with surgery.
Many theories and hypotheses suggest that competition tends to differentiate ecological requirements after repeated interactions and allows biodiversity. Even if the mechanisms that allow species to evolve, coexist, compete, cooperate, or become extinct are becoming more and more understood, the factors that allow species to coexist in a given time within the same environment are still debated.
Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have discovered a new molecule which has the potential to prolong the life of individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF).
The molecule represents a possible future treatment and works by altering cellular ion channels resulting in improved airway hydration and significantly increased mucous clearance.
By now we are all used to seeing its more or less successful results on Italian and international celebrities, but in fact the market of Botox-based procedures (cosmetic treatments that exploit the effects of type A botulin toxin) involves a large number of individuals. Just to give an idea, about 250,ooo procedures were done in Italy in 2014. It is therefore natural to wonder about the possible side effects of this practice. One fairly unpredictable consequence concerns the emotional domain, and in particular the perception of emotional information and facial expressions.
It requires a lot of effort and expense for computer hackers to program a Trojan virus and infiltrate individual or company computers. They are therefore increasingly relying on psychological strategies to manipulate computer users into voluntarily divulging their login details. These methods are known as "social engineering". For the first time, psychologists at the University of Luxembourg have conducted a large-scale study (involving 1,208 people) to investigate how people are manipulated into sharing their passwords with complete strangers in return for small gifts.
"Sending money home from abroad is a hidden force for breaking the cycle of poverty and inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa" - Eric Akobeng, University of Leicester
A new study has shown that poverty and inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa can be reduced by international remittances.
With the highest reported risk of hip fractures in the word, Norway has good reason to consider the benefits and risks of calcium supplements. The challenge is that too little calcium and vitamin D in your diet leads to an increased risk of osteoporosis and broken bones, which taking supplements has been shown to help prevent.
However, some studies have also shown that taking supplemental calcium may also increase your risk of heart attack and stroke.
Psychologists have discovered a new genetic link between impulsivity and teenage binge-drinking. Researchers at the University of Sussex, working as part of a team of researchers from across Europe, made the discovery which is published in the journal Frontiers in Genetics.
Professor Dai Stephens from the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex said:
There's now more than just anecdotal evidence that England's hedgehog population is feeling the squeeze. In the past 55 years, there has been a moderate decline of up to 7.4 percent in the areas they frequent, says Anouschka Hof of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US and Paul Bright, previously of the University of London in the UK. This is after they resampled two sets of data collected by members of the public as part of citizen-science projects. Their findings are published in Springer's European Journal of Wildlife Research.
A vaccine against one of the most dangerous hospital germs may soon be available. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam and the Freie Universität Berlin have developed a substance that elicits an immune response against the gut bacterium Clostridium difficile. The potential vaccine resembles the sugar structures presented on the surface of the bacterium and therefore primes the immune system to recognize the pathogen itself. C. difficile infects a large proportion of patients in hospitals and kills around 15,000 people a year in the USA alone.
New research from Denmark reveals the gene that explains one quarter of all familial hypercholesterolemia with very high blood cholesterol. Familial hypercholesterolemia is the most common genetic disorder leading to premature death, found in 1 in 200 people.
A research group lead by Clinical Professor Borge G. Nordestgaard has found that cholesterol-containing lipoprotein(a) is the cause of one quarter of all diagnoses of familial hypercholesterolemia. High levels of this genetically determined lipoprotein in the blood is already known to cause heart attacks.
Up to now, research into pollen allergies has largely focused on allergens - those components of pollen that trigger hypersensitivity reactions. When it comes into contact with the nasal mucous membrane, however, pollen releases a host of other substances in addition to allergens. In a pilot study, a team of researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Helmholtz Zentrum München investigated for the first time the effects of these substances on allergy sufferers.