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Stemming Russia’s HIV Epidemic

By Guest PostMarch 21, 2013Healthblood borne pathogens, bmc public health, clean syringes, disease, district level, drug users, factor, hiv epidemic, hiv prevalence, hiv-positive, pharmacies, public health, public health sector, robert heimer, russia, sex partners, social costs, social structures, st. petersburg, state university, transmission, unsafe injection practices, virus, yale school

Clean Syringes Often Unavailable in St. Petersburg, YSPH Research Finds

Russia’s HIV epidemic is among the fastest growing in the world and injection drug users who often share needles and other supplies are hardest hit. This occurs even though pharmacies are a legal source for clean syringes and can sell them without restriction.

A recent study led by the Yale School of Public Health and St. Petersburg State University mapped the city’s 965 pharmacies and compared their locations and density to HIV prevalence at the district level. (more…)

Predicting hotspots for future flu outbreaks

By Guest PostMarch 20, 2013HealthBangladesh, bird flu, central china, egypt, flu outbreaks, flu season, flu strains, flu transmission, H1N1, h5n1 strain, hotspots, human flu, indonesia, kevin njabo, livestock, nile delta, original viruses, pandemic, poultry, predicting potential outbreak, seasonal h3n2, site, thomas smith, trevon fuller, ucla, Vietnam, wild birds

This year’s unusually long and rocky flu season would be nothing compared to the pandemic that could occur if bird flu became highly contagious among humans, which is why UCLA researchers and their colleagues are creating new ways to predict where an outbreak could emerge.

“Using surveillance of influenza cases in humans and birds, we’ve come up with a technique to predict sites where these viruses could mix and generate a future pandemic,” said lead author Trevon Fuller, a UCLA postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability’s Center for Tropical Research. (more…)

Beetroot juice – the winning formula for team sports

By Guest PostMarch 19, 2013Healthactivity, andy jones, beetroot juice, chemical processes, david weir, dietary nitrate supplementation, energy, high nitrate content, joe rees, nitrate rich juice, ospreys, paralympics, richie pugh, stamina, university of exeter, wales sevens captain, welsh rugby players

New research shows that drinking beetroot juice can significantly improve performance in team sports involving bouts of high intensity exercise.

Trials by the University of Exeter Sport and Health Sciences department have found a direct link between the high nitrate content of beetroot and the chemical processes needed to get muscles working at their most efficient during intermittent bursts of activity.

During the tests, sportsmen were either given beetroot juice with a full complement of nitrates, or juice which had had the nitrate removed. Those who had taken the nitrate-rich juice were found to have a distinct advantage when exercising over those who had been given the control juice to drink. (more…)

‘I sold my kidney … to repay the loans’

By Guest PostMarch 18, 2013Economy, Healthblack market, human organ traffickers, microcredit loan, organ trafficking, sell an organ, selling a kidney, united states, village near joypurhat

Selling a kidney or part of one’s liver to pay off loans is becoming increasingly common in Bangladesh, where desperate villagers are being exploited by human organ traffickers, a Michigan State University researcher has found. (more…)

Is this Peptide a Key to Happiness?

By Guest PostMarch 17, 2013Healthashley m blouin, biological cause, brain chemistry, charles l wilson, depression, disorder, happiness, happy, hypocretin, itzhak fried, jerome siegel, key, kidney dialysis, mch, melanin concentrating hormone, neurochemical changes, neurotransmitter, peptide, psychiatric disorders, pursuit of pleasure, radioimmunoassay procedure, richard j staba, social interactions, ssris

UCLA findings suggests possible new treatment for depression, other disorders

What makes us happy? Family? Money? Love? How about a peptide?

The neurochemical changes underlying human emotions and social behavior are largely unknown. Now though, for the first time in humans, scientists at UCLA have measured the release of a specific peptide, a neurotransmitter called hypocretin, that greatly increased when subjects were happy but decreased when they were sad. (more…)

Green Tea Extract Interferes with the Formation of Amyloid Plaques in Alzheimer’s Disease

By Guest PostMarch 15, 2013Healthakiko kochi, alaina detoma, alzheimer's disease, ayyalusamy ramamoorthy, benefit, bing ye, brain, brandon ruotoloa, copper, egcg, epigallocatechin 3 gallate, green tea, iron, jung suk choi, life sciences institute, metal associated amyloids, mi hee lim, molecule, neurodegenerative conditions, powerful antioxidants, sanghyun lee, specific proteins, structure centric, subramanian vivekanandan, suk joon hyung, tweak, university of michigan, zinc

ANN ARBOR — Researchers at the University of Michigan have found a new potential benefit of a molecule in green tea: preventing the misfolding of specific proteins in the brain.

The aggregation of these proteins, called metal-associated amyloids, is associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. (more…)

Yale Researchers Identify Salt as a Trigger of Autoimmune Diseases

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2013Healthautoimmune diseases, autoimmune encephalomyelitis, aviv regev, david hafler, destructive immune system, dietary salt, disease, dominik mueller, Environment, function, gene, Germany, hallmark of autoimmunity, high salt content, hypertension, immune cell, low fat diet, low salt, molecular circuitry, ms, multiple sclerosis, mystery, Nature, pathogenic th17 cells, prime suspect, sub-saharan africa, t helper 17, th17 cell, vijay kuchroo

For the past few decades, health officials have been reporting increases in the incidence of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Now researchers at Yale Medical School, Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute have identified a prime suspect in the mystery — dietary salt.

In the March 6 issue of the journal Nature, Yale researchers showed that salt can induce and worsen pathogenic immune system responses in mice and that the response is regulated by genes already implicated in a variety of autoimmune diseases. (more…)

Early Warning System Provides Four-Month Forecast of Malaria Epidemics in Northwest India

By Guest PostMarch 9, 2013General, Healthaccurate prediction, anopheles mosquitoes, b a cash, breeding sites, climate link, environmental condition, epidemiological records, India, indicator, infected mosquitoes, malaria epidemics, malaria risk, mercedes pascual, monsoon rainfall, northwest india, plasmodium parasite, red blood cells, sea surface temperature, semi arid region, south atlantic ocean, thar desert, transmitted via bites, tropical, university of michigan, west of africa, x rodo

ANN ARBOR — Sea surface temperatures in the tropical South Atlantic Ocean can be used to accurately forecast, by up to four months, malaria epidemics thousands of miles away in northwestern India, a University of Michigan theoretical ecologist and her colleagues have found.

Colder-than-normal July sea surface temperatures in the tropical South Atlantic are linked to both increased monsoon rainfall and malaria epidemics in the arid and semi-arid regions of northwest India, including the vast Thar desert, according to Mercedes Pascual and her colleagues, who summarize their findings in a paper published online March 3 in the journal Nature Climate Change. (more…)

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