Towards a European network to promote infection prevention for patient safety In the last years there have been some important EU institutional initiatives that impact on patient safety and specifically on Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI): The European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) set a specific team on Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI), in 2009 European Commission [...]
National Institutes of Health scientists and collaborators at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, have detected abnormal prion protein in the skin of nearly two dozen people who died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). The scientists also exposed a dozen healthy mice to skin extracts from two of the CJD patients, and all developed [...]
The researcher couldn’t get Mallory Smith’s story out of her mind. Smith was a 25-year-old cystic fibrosis patient, and she was near death at a Pittsburgh hospital, her lungs overwhelmed by bacteria. All antibiotics had failed. As a last resort, her father suggested an experimental treatment known as phage therapy. That meant giving her viruses [...]
Abstract Animal influenza viruses can reassort or mutate to infect and spread sustainably among people and cause a devastating worldwide pandemic. Since the first evidence of human infection with an animal influenza virus, in 1958, 16 different novel, zoonotic influenza A virus subtype groups in 29 countries, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have caused human infections, [...]
Almond Butter Quesadillas with Pomegranate Ingredients 2 large tortillas (I used whole wheat, but you can use any kind) 3 tablespoons almond butter 1 large banana, sliced 1/3 cup pomegranates coconut oil cooking spray Instructions First, preheat a large non-stick pan to medium/high heat. Rub with coconut oil. Then, prep quesadillas by spreading on about [...]
(CNN) The age-old killer scarlet fever is on the rise in England and East Asia, according to research published Monday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, and investigators don't know why. "Whilst current rates (in England) are nowhere near those seen in the early 1900s, the magnitude of the recent upsurge is greater than any documented in the [...]
Summary Background After decades of decreasing scarlet fever incidence, a dramatic increase was seen in England beginning in 2014. Investigations were launched to assess clinical and epidemiological patterns and identify potential causes. Methods In this population-based surveillance study, we analysed statutory scarlet fever notifications held by Public Health England from 1911 to 2016 in England [...]
The importance of the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance is one of the major themes recognised through the launch of a new National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC), led by the University of Southampton. Supported by a commitment of £26 million over the next 5 years, including £12.5M funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research [...]
Significance IL-22 has been identified as a cancer-promoting cytokine, but its regulation in cancer tissue has not been addressed. Using both murine and human models, we demonstrate that cancer cells directly induce IL-22 production. We prove that interleukin-1β induced by inflammasome activation is critical for IL-22 production. IL-1β increased the activity of the IL-22 transcription [...]
Trying to buy meat these days can seem like a quiz on how well you know your labels. There’s organic. Grass fed. The always-vague natural. Sometimes—OK, a lot of times—it’s not so clear what they mean. (Isn’t all beef “natural"?) To make matters more complicated, even if you have a solid grasp on what each label means, inspection standards vary greatly from [...]
