Author: vulgavis

  • New focus on intestinal schistosomiasis: Emergence of Biomphalaria snails and transmission of Schistosoma mansoni in Lake Malawi

    New focus on intestinal schistosomiasis: Emergence of Biomphalaria snails and transmission of Schistosoma mansoni in Lake Malawi

    Schistosoma mansoni egg. Source: Centre for Disease Control Background to schistosomes and snails Schistosomiasis is also known as snail fever or Bilharzia, caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes that live within the bloodstream. Schistosoma haematobium infects the urogenital tract while Schistosoma mansoni infects the intestinal tract. Transmission of schistosomiasis has become a major public health…

  • Hot topics in tropical medicine: Approval of Ivermectin by Health Canada

    Hot topics in tropical medicine: Approval of Ivermectin by Health Canada

    Filariform larva of Strongyloides. Strongyloidiasis is a worm infection of the gut which can be treated with Ivermectin. Flickr, Yale Rosen As we move further into 2019, reflection on the successes and challenges of 2018 enables us to better understand the landscape of tropical medicine, prioritize initiatives that capitalize on last year’s successes, and identify…

  • Airborne viruses inside “germ factories”

    Airborne viruses inside “germ factories”

    The researchers studied the airborne bacterial and viral microbiome of a daycare center throughout the course of a year. © ChiccoDodiFC / fotolia.com When my daughter was born more almost six years ago and started daycare, I noticed a seasonal pattern of illnesses (e.g. colds, norovirus in winter; hand, foot, and mouth disease in fall),…

  • BMC Geriatrics – Highlights of 2018

    BMC Geriatrics – Highlights of 2018

    Staying active: how older adults choose to exercise For any regular at the gym, there’s a noticeable phenomenon around the beginning of the year: an influx of new members followed by a quick drop-off just a few weeks later. Exercising more is a perennially common New Year’s resolution, but it can be difficult to stick…

  • Commonly Held Myths of Head and Neck Cancers

    Commonly Held Myths of Head and Neck Cancers

    Myth: Decreased smoking rates have had no impact on incidence of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) © buenaventura13 / stock.adobe.com Fact: Between 1974 to 1999, there was a decrease in oral cavity, laryngeal, and hypopharyngeal cancers in the United States. This was largely attributed to a decreasing incidence in smoking. Notably, there was no…

  • Black holes in virtual reality

    Black holes in virtual reality

    This is a cross-post from the SpringerOpen blog. In our most recent paper in Computational Astrophysics and Cosmology we present our latest Virtual Reality visualization. The simulation is based on the black hole in the center of our own Galaxy; Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). The mass of it; four million times more massive than our…

  • Should I, or should I not? The ‘tricky business’ about healthcare decision making

    Should I, or should I not? The ‘tricky business’ about healthcare decision making

    We often put a lot of effort into making important decisions for our lives. We ponder things like: “Should I apply for this new job?”, “Should I buy this car?”, or maybe even “Where should we go for our next holiday?” We often spend lots of time gathering information on our options. We seek advice…

  • The CYBATHLON Wheelchair Series to be held in Japan in May

    The CYBATHLON Wheelchair Series to be held in Japan in May

    Team RT-Movers JPN ETH Zürich/Alessandro Della Bella While the Olympics and Paralympics are contests of human abilities and strictly restrict the involvement of devices, the CYBATHLON is a competition in which technologies complement disabilities, symbolizing the future of the relationship between humans and technology. The CYBATHLON poses to society the question; “to what extent can…

  • Is there a link between caregiving and female baby boomers’ mental health?

    Is there a link between caregiving and female baby boomers’ mental health?

    © Ocskay Bence / Fotolia Caregiving, defined as providing unpaid assistance to relatives or acquaintances that have physical, psychological or developmental needs, is of great importance to society – unpaid care has been valued at $3.2 trillion in the US and £57 billion in the UK. However multiple studies have suggested that caregivers experience increased…

  • Detaining vulnerable immigrants negatively affects their mental health

    Detaining vulnerable immigrants negatively affects their mental health

    Our systematic review found that detention had a detrimental effect on an individual’s mental health, over and above the negative impact caused by uncertain immigration status. Not exactly a shocking revelation, I know. However, this finding supports those of a previous review by Robjant and colleagues that demonstrated adverse mental health consequences of immigration detention…