#H7n9 influenza: History of similar viruses gives cause for concernthe H7n9 avian flu strain that emerged in China earlier this year has subsided for now
but it would be a mistake to be reassured by this apparent lull in infections. The virus has several highly unusual traits that paint a disquieting picture of a pathogen that may yet lead to a pandemic according to lead scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases.
David Morens Jeffery Taubenberger and Anthony Fauci in a paper published in mbio the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology describe the history of H7 viruses in animal and human disease
and point out that H7 influenza has a tendency to become established in bird horse and swine populations and may spillover repeatedly into humans.
The evidence as a whole is complex and the implications of past outbreaks for predicting the future course of the current H7n9 epizootic an epidemic among animals are uncertain write the authors.
The outbreak of H7n9 earlier this year led China to temporarily close scores of live poultry markets in an effort to limit the spread of the virus
. Although this previously unrecognized strain of avian influenza A has now been associated with 132 confirmed human infections and 39 related deaths (as of June 14) the rate at
which new cases are recognized has dwindled in recent weeks. In their minireview Morens Taubenberger and Fauci point out that
H7n9 also shares many characteristics with another influenza strain that continues to spillover into humans:
highly pathogenic avian influenza H5n1. Among other commonalities both viruses have a clinical picture that includes bilateral pneumonia acute respiratory distress syndrome
and multi-organ failure and it appears they are both currently unable to easily infect most humans but cause severe disease in individuals with uncharacterized genetic susceptibilities.
The fact that many H7 viruses tend to infect conjunctival cells is also cause for concern.
Some but not all cases of human H7 infection feature prominent signs and symptoms in the eyes including itching swelling
The possibility that H7n9 might infect pigs is particularly troubling as swine are considered a mixing vessel for viruses--a breeding ground for novel viral reassortants like the 2009 H1n1 pandemic influenza strain commonly known as swine flu.
Although avian influenza viruses have not caused widespread human transmission in 94 years of surveillance there have been numerous instances of avian influenza spillover
Regardless of its future H7n9 certainly holds lessons for preventing human and animal pandemics. All the unknowns surrounding the virus make a strong case for enhancing basic and applied research into the evolution of influenza viruses and for better integration of influenza virology within human and veterinary public health efforts.
We have a unique opportunity to learn more of influenza's many secrets and thereby enhance our ability to prevent
and control an important disease that seems destined to appear again and again in multiple guises far into the foreseeable future write the authors.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by American Society for Microbiology. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
and American Cancer Society--were indifferent or skeptical to initiatives of the state and local activists.
and the evidence may help to reduce tobacco-related illness and death in the short term Dr. Bayer and co-author Kathleen E. Bachynski suggest that healthcare policymakers will need to make a stronger case with more conclusive evidence to gain the public trust.
or contestable evidence of third party harms public health officials should assert boldly that the challenge of tobacco related morbidity
and late first exposure to solid food for infants appears to be associated with the development of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1dm) according to a study published by JAMA Pediatrics a JAMA Network publication.
The infant diet has been of particular interest in the origin of the disease according to the study background.
Newborn screening of umbilical cord blood for diabetes susceptibility in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region was performed at St joseph's Hospital in Denver
and causes increases in algal blooms greenhouse gases and insects like mosquitoes that carry disease.
#Second door discovered in war against mosquito-borne diseasesin the global war against disease-carrying mosquitoes scientists have believed long that a single molecular door was the key target for insecticide.
For many years pyrethroid insecticides have been deployed in developing countries to fend off diseases such as malaria dengue fever and more.
With the door jammed wide open their cells gulp down sodium which overexcites their nervous system and eventually leads to paralysis and death.
I/II clinical trial with a drug used to control blood sugar in type 2 diabetes to determine
I/II clinical trial with a drug used to control blood sugar in type 2 diabetes to determine
By combining this trait with other plant traits such as improved disease resistance the researchers expect that there is potential to produce improved seeds for agriculture.
Some of the characters involved have worked previously to deny the reality of the hole in the ozone layer acid rain and the link between tobacco and lung cancer.
North carolina is a major livestock producer ranking second behind Iowa in hog production in the United states. S. aureus can cause a range of illnesses in humans from minor to life-threatening skin bloodstream
respiratory urinary and surgical site infections. Like most illnesses caused by bacteria S. aureus infections are treated with antibiotics.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention some Staph cannot be killed by antibiotics meaning they are resistant.
MRSA is a strain of Staph bacteria that is resistant to methicillin and certain first-line antibiotics called beta-lactams.
Infections with drug-resistant strains like MRSA can be particularly difficult to treat. The study was based on interviews
but to multiple antibiotics--including antibiotics that are used to treat human infections said Christopher Heaney Phd corresponding author of the study and assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School
Workers were not experiencing Staph infections at the time of the study but when antibiotic resistant bacteria do cause infections they can be harder to treat.
Researchers found that S. aureus that were multidrug-resistant were roughly twice as prevalent among individuals exposed to the industrial compared to the antibiotic-free livestock operation environment
Should the bees be exposed to additional stresses such as pests disease and bad weather then it is likely to increase the rate of development failure.
When S. littoralis caterpillars drop from a plant they are highly vulnerable to predators and pathogens in the soil as well as to starvation.
It's a spectacular finding that by implementing these simple tobacco control policies governments can save so many lives said lead author David Levy Phd professor of oncology at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
and reduced health-care costs and less loss of productivity due to less smoking-related disease Levy said.
If these high-impact tobacco control measures were implemented even more widely millions more smoking-related deaths would be averted said Douglas Bettcher MD director of the department of noncommunicable diseases at WHO.
By taking the right measures this tobacco epidemic can be prevented entirely. THE WHO FCTC was developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic.
Since THE WHO FCTC came into force in 2005 175 countries and the European union have become parties to it.
and treat diseases such as Alzheimer's Lou Gehrig's and cancer. The study reported this month in the journal Cell verifies a process that scientists knew existed
This is a step in the direction of understanding how to modulate systems to prevent diseases like Alzheimer's.
Over the past 20 years he said researchers have linked that aggregation process pretty convincingly to the development of diseases--Alzheimer's disease Lou gehrig's disease Huntington's disease to name a few.
There's evidence that diabetes and cancer also are linked to protein folding disorders. One of the main roles for the molecular chaperones is preventing those protein misfolding events that lead to aggregation
and not letting a cell get poisoned by badly folded or aggregated proteins he said.
when we need to like for a patient who has one of the protein folding diseases he said.
and treat diseases such as Alzheimer's Lou Gehrig's and cancer. The study reported this month in the journal Cell verifies a process that scientists knew existed
This is a step in the direction of understanding how to modulate systems to prevent diseases like Alzheimer's.
Over the past 20 years he said researchers have linked that aggregation process pretty convincingly to the development of diseases--Alzheimer's disease Lou gehrig's disease Huntington's disease to name a few.
There's evidence that diabetes and cancer also are linked to protein folding disorders. One of the main roles for the molecular chaperones is preventing those protein misfolding events that lead to aggregation
and not letting a cell get poisoned by badly folded or aggregated proteins he said.
when we need to like for a patient who has one of the protein folding diseases he said.
#Survey shows increase in resistance to drug therapies among bovine respiratory disease casesa survey of records of bovine respiratory disease cases at the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory showed that drug resistance in one of the primary
pathogens that cause BRD Mannheimia haemolytica increased over a three-year period. We have been seeing an increase in the number of antibiotic resistant bacteria that cause pneumonia (also called BRD) in cattle said Brian Lubbers assistant professor in the diagnostic lab based at Kansas State university.
Many of these bacteria are resistant to not one but almost all of the antibiotics that we use to treat pneumonia in cattle.
BRD is one of the most important diseases of feedlot cattle particularly said Lubbers adding that the economic toll from the disease has been estimated to approach $1 billion annually in the United states alone
if one takes into account drug and labor costs decreased production and animal death losses.
They found that over that period a high percentage of M. haemolytica bacteria recovered from cattle lungs were resistant to several of the drugs typically used to treat that pathogen.
Because there are a limited number of antimicrobial drugs that can be used for treatment of BRD pathogens Lubbers said multidrug resistance in those pathogens poses a severe threat to the livestock industry.
We (KSVDL) consider this type of information to be part of our active ongoing disease surveillance
However the U s. EPA states that E coli are better indicators of fecal contamination and provide the most accurate assessment of water quality conditions and human health risks.
The mosquito-borne disease first appeared in the state about 10 years ago. It already has been detected in dead birds
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention West Nile virus is the leading cause of viral encephalitis in the United states. The virus is transmitted to humans and animals through the bite of an infected mosquito.
Most people exposed to the disease do not have symptoms but in about 1-in-150 people it can be fatal
Emergency room visits were classified by specific diagnostic categories including respiratory gastrointestinal skin eye and neurologic diseases.
In fact a type of abdominal hernia was found to occur more often than the background rate during the time of spraying
and death and disease due to unusual causes was found to occur less frequently. The authors concluded that
and the killing of larval and adult mosquitoes#are used all in California to control the spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile virus
and eye irritation respiratory and gastrointestinal disturbances lethargy fatigue and dizziness. According to the UC Davis researchers the exposure to pyrethrin during the urban aerial sprayings in 2005 was minimal due to the use of ultra low volume technology.
stem rust pathogen--called Ug99--that was discovered first in Uganda in 1999. The discovery may help scientists develop new wheat varieties
and strategies that protect the world's food crops against the wheat stem rust pathogen that is spreading from Africa to the breadbaskets of Asia
It recognizes the invading pathogen and triggers a response in the plant to fight the disease.
Wheat stem rust is caused by a fungal pathogen. According to Akhunov since the 1950s wheat breeders have been able to develop wheat varieties that are largely resistant to this pathogen.
However the emergence of strain Ug99 in Uganda in 1999 devastated crops and has spread to Kenya Ethiopia Sudan
and Yemen though has yet to reach the U s. Until that point wheat breeders had two
or three genes that were so efficient against stem rust for decades that this disease wasn't the biggest concern Akhunov said.
However the discovery of the Ug99 race of pathogen showed that changes in the virulence of existing pathogen races can become a huge problem.
First they chemically mutagenized the resistant accession of wheat to identify plants that become susceptible to the stem rust pathogen.
This will help researchers to better understand the molecular mechanisms behind infection and develop new approaches for controlling this devastating pathogen.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Kansas State university. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Exposure to lower doses--or to combinations--of the poisons results in slower reflexes reduced ability to heal from injuries and neurological impairment.
Exposure to lower doses--or to combinations--of the poisons results in slower reflexes reduced ability to heal from injuries and neurological impairment.
Chui-Hua Kong and colleagues point out that crabgrass is not only a headache for lawns and home gardens but also a major cause of crop loss on farms.
Some of these sites (including Piper City Ill. are hot spots of rotation-resistance and others (in Nebraska and northwest Missouri for example) lack evidence of rotation-resistant rootworms.
#Factors that influence spinach contamination pre-harvest determineda team of researchers from Texas and Colorado has identified a variety of factors that influence the likelihood of E coli contamination of spinach on farms prior
Microbial contamination of produce seems strongly influenced by the time since the last irrigation the workers'personal hygiene and the field's use prior to planting of produce says first author Sangshin Park of Texas A&m University college Station.
These factors together with the role of weather in produce contamination should be the targets of future research efforts to design cost-effective strategies for control of produce contamination.
E coli contamination of spinach on farms in Colorado and Texas was 172 times more likely
As E coli is used commonly as an indicator of fecal contamination with food-borne pathogens the practice of hygiene--availability of portable toilets
Of particular note the researchers tested their statistical model for spinach contamination to determine how accurately it was able to pinpoint the level of contamination.
Their methodology may serve as a useful template for future investigations of contamination on farms he says.
Because produce is consumed commonly raw it would be best to prevent pre-harvest contamination by food-borne pathogens all together
and we found we could use light to coax them to make more cancer-fighting antioxidants at certain times of day.
and neurological effects as well as increasing the risk of childhood leukemia she continues. The results show that 54%of pregnant women used some kind of insecticide inside the home
Fine particulate air pollution has serious health effects including premature mortality pulmonary inflammation accelerated atherosclerosis and altered cardiac functions.
#Dietary fructose causes liver damage in animal modelthe role of dietary fructose in the development of obesity and fatty liver diseases remains controversial with previous studies indicating that the problems resulted from fructose and a diet
Based on this study we would say not said Kylie Kavanagh D. V. M. assistant professor of pathology-comparative medicine at Wake Forest Baptist
They developed diabetes at three times the rate of the control group and also developed hepatic steatosis or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
and around tissues in the body that caused the health problems. The Wake Forest Baptist team plans to begin a new study using the same controls but testing for both fructose and dextrose over a longer time frame.
#New canary seed is ideal for gluten-free diets in celiac diseasea new variety of canary seeds bred specifically for human consumption qualifies as a gluten-free cereal that would be ideal for people with celiac disease (CD) scientists
Nature conservationists call it lingering illness and the latest report on the North-Rhine Westphalian forest conditions confirms ongoing damage.
which can lead to obesity and metabolic syndrome. Results of the animal study will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San francisco. Found in plastic water bottles older baby bottles
Prior research has linked BPA in both animals and humans to obesity and the metabolic syndrome which is a cluster of metabolic risk factors that increase the chance of later developing diabetes heart disease and stroke.
This research is the first study to show that prenatal exposure to BPA increases postnatal fat tissue inflammation a condition that underlies the onset of metabolic diseases such as obesity diabetes
and cardiovascular disease said the study's lead author Almudena Veiga-Lopez DVM Phd a research investigator at the University of Michigan Ann arbor.
She said the study which examines the effects of BPA on sheep improves the understanding of how prenatal BPA exposure regulates the inflammatory response in offspring in the tissues that are relevant to development of metabolic disease.
The study was conducted in the laboratory of Vasantha Padmanabhan MS Phd Professor at the University of Michigan Ann arbor with funding from the National institutes of health's National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences.
These biomarkers were CD68 a marker for inflammatory cells and adiponectin a molecule with a known role in the development of metabolic syndrome.
Grucza's team evaluated data from an ongoing National Cancer Institute survey that monitors smoking behavior in all 50 states.
Funding for this research comes from the National Institute on Drug abuse and the National Cancer Institute of the National institutes of health (NIH.
It also was supported by grants from the American Cancer Society and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
but they could also help obese people better control inflammation-related diseases such as diabetes according to Penn State researchers.
but I was surprised at the dramatic reduction of inflammation and fatty liver disease. The researchers reported that several indicators of inflammation
and diabetes in the mice that were fed the cocoa supplement were much lower than the mice that were fed the high-fat diet without the cocoa powder
High levels of insulin can signal that a patient has diabetes. The cocoa powder supplement also reduced the levels of liver triglycerides in mice by a little more than 32 percent according to Lambert who worked with Yeyi Gu graduate student in food science and Shan Yu a graduate student in physiology.
Elevated triglyceride levels are a sign of fatty liver disease and are related to inflammation and diabetes.
The mice also saw a slight but significant drop in the rate of body weight gain according to the researchers who reported their findings in the online version of the European Journal of Nutrition.
While researchers have linked obesity-related chronic inflammation to several diseases including type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease the reason for the inflammation response is known not completely.
Lambert said two theories on inflammation and obesity that have emerged may help explain cocoa's role in mitigating inflammation.
and helps defends a plant against pathogens among a variety of other functions. Teasing out the specific genes that perform each of these discrete functions from the many genes found to be activated by ethylene might allow scientists to produce plant strains that slow down growth
or make plants more resistant to disease says the senior investigator Joseph R. Ecker head of Salk's Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology laboratory.
or pathogens says Katherine Chang the first author of the paper and researcher in Ecker's lab. In this way mapping interconnections between the hormone pathways may have implications in agriculture.
and other environmental contaminantsa study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public health has for the first time found that a mother's higher exposure to some common environmental contaminants was associated with more frequent and vigorous fetal motor activity.
Most studies of environmental contaminants and child development wait until children are much older to evaluate effects of things the mother may have been exposed to during pregnancy;
This is yet more evidence for the need to protect the vulnerable developing brain from effects of environmental contaminants both before
and there are reports of increasing numbers of cases of skin inflammation in people bitten by deer keds Knut Madslien has monitored the spread pattern of deer keds in Fennoscandia produced a description of pathological hair loss
which can be favourable for the parasite and possible pathogens in the deer ked and its host.
and that deer keds act as vectors for Bartonella bacteria infections. However it is not yet clear to what degree these bacteria can cause disease.
Measuring the stress hormone cortisol in the moose's coat was used as a method for appraising the long-term effect of the deer ked on the health
We've also started exchanging ideas and information with scientists facing related challenges such as herbicide resistance in weeds and resistance to drugs in bacteria HIV and cancer.
A small percentage of whitebark pine trees have outlived the ongoing destruction by pests and disease. These trees are the next area of focus for Crone's team.
Research at other institutions has shown that meditation can significantly reduce anxiety in patients with generalized anxiety and depression disorders.
and how behavior changes the brain both in health and disease. These advances will be due mainly to the inherent capacity of fmri for repeated measures over longitudinal studies.
#Smoking leads to fivefold increase in heart disease and stroke in under-50ssmoking increases the risk of heart disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one killer in Europe and is responsible for the death of 1. 9 million EU citizens every year.
and the risk of cardiovascular disease so the younger you are when you start the higher dose you get altogether.
Stopping young people taking up smoking is a key goal of the ESC joint guidelines on prevention of cardiovascular disease. 4 Other recommendations are to avoid smoking
Passive smoking at home or in the work place increases the risk of CVD by 30%However smoking bans lead to rapid and sizeable reductions in hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction.
or passive is associated significantly with atherosclerosis.''''She concluded: Prevention of smoking is the most cost-effective way to treat
and prevent cardiovascular disease. This is particularly important for children and adolescents who are susceptible to tobacco promotion
The Iowa State team replaced the initial steaming with ultrasound sonically smashing the corn into tiny particles in the same way physicians use ultrasound to shatter kidney stones.
But small-gaped birds such as thrushes that populate the fragmented patches of forest are unable to swallow
and illness and death associated with air pollution. That potential exists they say despite serious questions about safety disposal of radioactive waste and diversion of nuclear material for weapons.
and illness and death associated with air pollution. That potential exists they say despite serious questions about safety disposal of radioactive waste and diversion of nuclear material for weapons.
and therefore the risk of cardiovascular disease a pan-Nordic study where Lund University participated has found.
There was also decreased inflammation associated with pre-diabetes. -The subjects who ate a Nordic diet had lower levels of harmful LDL cholesterol and higher levels of good HDL cholesterol.
to rally popular support for strong science-based approaches to prevention of tobacco use to expose the truths about the harms of tobacco use to current users
*The World health organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic.
This work was supported by National Cancer Institute grant CA-087472. The funders had no role in study design data collection
and in childhood respiratory tract infections and such suppression of the normal microbiota may have longterm consequences on brain development.
or other brain related diseases including potentially Parkinson's disease Alzheimer's disease and autism. Answers will be easier to come by in the near future as the declining cost of profiling a person's microbiota renders such tests more routine Mayer said.
#Ugly plants worse for allergy patientsas allergy season continues for Middle Tennessee and much of the nation a largely unknown adage rings true:
the uglier a flower or weed the more allergy-inducing its pollen tends to be.
Ragweed mugwort plantain and pigweed have more than just their unappealing appearance in common--they're some of the worst offenders to allergy sufferers said Robert Valet M d. assistant professor of Medicine and an allergist at Vanderbilt University Medical center's Asthma
Sinus and Allergy Program (ASAP) clinic. Ragweed can produce up to 1 billion pollen grains per plant throughout a pollen season according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
Of those allergic to pollen-producing plants 75 percent are allergic to ragweed. The relationship between allergy-causing pollens and their flowers is something like a beauty pageant Valet said.
A general rule of thumb is that flowers that smell or look pretty attract insect pollenators so they are not generally important allergens
because their pollen is not airborne. However those that are very ugly or plain are meant to disperse pollen in the wind
which is the route most important for allergy. Valet says allergy season--divided into spring summer
and fall--runs from March to October and doesn't end until the first hard frost.
Of special note to allergy sufferers are Northern grasses including Timothy-grass ryegrass and Kentucky bluegrass and Southern grasses including Bermuda grass and Johnson grass.
--which decreases the pollen in the air temporarily--but once allergy season is underway anything between a moderate
and very high pollen count will aggravate allergy sufferers Valet said. This season started later than last year's
Valet recommends that people with pollen allergies first try over-the-counter allergy medications before talking with their doctor about prescription medications and nose sprays.
For people with known pollen allergies everyday solutions can include taking an antihistamine before doing yard work
If these measures do not relieve the symptoms he suggests going to see an allergist to be tested for specific allergies
and treated accordingly with options including counseling about allergen avoidance medications and allergy shots. Story Source:
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