For more information: www.mevis.fraunhofer.de
Showing posts with label Health News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health News. Show all posts
For more information: www.mevis.fraunhofer.de
In the journal PLOS Pathogens, the international team explains that the queen honey bee passes a blood protein to her eggs.The protein - called vitellogenin - plays a critical, but previously unknown, role in protecting bees against disease.
Co-author Gro Amdam, a Norwegian biologist and life sciences professor at Arizona State University in Tempe, is internationally known for her research on honey bees. She says:
"The process by which bees transfer immunity to their babies was a big mystery until now. What we found is that it's as simple as eating."
Prof. Amdam and her colleagues, from the University of Helsinki and the University of Jyväskylä - both in Finland - have been working in this area for more than 10 years.
They say their discovery opens the door to new ways to protect bee colonies against devastating pathogens from which they have no natural immunity.
How do bees acquire immunity?
In a honey bee colony, the queen bee relies on worker bees to bring her food, as she rarely leaves the nest. As the worker bees gather pollen and nectar in the environment, they naturally pick up pathogens.
When they arrive back at the nest, the worker bees use the pollen to make "royal jelly," which is fed to the queen. In doing so, they transfer some of the bacteria they have picked up while foraging.
When the queen eats the royal jelly, she digests the bacteria along with the other ingredients and passes it to her body cavity. Pieces of digested bacteria eventually end up in her "fat body" - the bee equivalent of the liver.
In the queen's fat body, pieces of bacteria become attached to the blood protein vitellogenin, which is carried through her blood to the developing eggs. The larvae that then hatch from her eggs have immune systems that are "vaccinated" against some of the pathogens in their environment and the diseases they cause.
Much of this story was already known; what the new study brings is the discovery that it is vitellogenin that carries the immune-priming signals.
The team explains that this natural vaccination method only immunizes bees against some - but not all - deadly pathogens. But, now we know how this happens, perhaps we can use it to create edible vaccines for insects, they note.
Co-author Dr. Dalial Freitak, a researcher at the University of Helsinki, adds:
"We are patenting a way to produce a harmless vaccine, as well as how to cultivate the vaccines and introduce them to bee hives through a cocktail the bees would eat. They would then be able to stave off disease."
One deadly disease the researchers have in mind is American Foul Brood, which spreads quickly and destroys honey bee hives.
Bee larvae catch the disease as they ingest food contaminated with spores from the American Foul Brood bacteria. The bacteria feed on the larvae and kill them.
Bees are important for our food supply
Why should the average person care about bee diseases? Because without bees, we would have a huge gap in our food supply.
Bees and other pollinators are vital for a healthy economy and critical to food security. They are important for the production of fruits, nuts and vegetables.
Estimates suggest honey bees alone support the cultivation of 90-130 crops, which directly or indirectly account for up to a third of the US diet.
Yet many pollinators - honey bees included - are in serious decline in the US and worldwide. Over the last 60 years, managed bee colonies in the US have fallen from 6 million to 2.5 million.
As well as disease, something called colony collapse disorder is responsible for this staggering loss of important pollinators. Scientists are not sure exactly what causes it, but many believe pesticides, pathogens and nutrition problems are behind it.
The researchers suggest the new findings could also help in the search for a way to combat colony collapse disorder.
They also suggest the findings have wider implications for all species that lay eggs - including fish, poultry, amphibians and insects - because they also have vitellogenin in their bodies. One possibility is the production of natural, inexpensive vaccines that the food industry can use. Prof. Amdam concludes:
"Because this vaccination process is naturally occurring, this process would be cheap and ultimately simple to implement. It has the potential to both improve and secure food production for humans."
Source:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/297637.php
While breathing wildfire smoke is linked to respiratory problems such as asthma, evidence of an association between wildfire smoke exposure and heart problems has been inconsistent," says study co-author Anjali Haikerwal, a doctoral candidate at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, examines the association between exposure to fine particulate matter air pollutant and the risk of heart-related incidents in the Australian state of Victoria in December 2006 and January 2007.
Victoria is particularly vulnerable to wildfires due to its climate, vegetation and protracted droughts. During these 2 months at the heart of the Australian summer, wildfires burned around 1 million hectares of land in the state, with smoke reaching cities situated far away from the source fires.
According to the study authors, wildfire smoke is one of the most important sources of fine particle air pollution, containing particles from burning vegetation, building materials and other substances. These fine particles can cause health problems if they get into the respiratory system or the eyes.
The particles in question are less than 2.5 thousandths of a millimeter in diameter - far smaller than a mote of dust and invisible to the human eye.
For the study, the researchers analyzed data from three large state-wide administrative datasets, containing information on out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, unscheduled hospital admissions and emergency department (ED) visits for cardiovascular issues during the study period.
Over 2 days, fine particle concentration in the air increased from the 25th to the 75th percentile. The researchers observed a number of risk increases that rose in association with fine particle air pollution at this time.
There was a 6.9% increase in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, more strongly associated with men and adults over the age of 65. There was also a 2.07% increase in ED visits for ischemic heart disease and a 1.86% increase in hospitalizations for ischemic disease, with this increase more strongly associated with women and adults over 65.
Wildfire smoke precaution 'especially important for older adults'
An important strength of the study is that the majority of fine particle air pollution was derived from wildfires, allowing the authors to assess directly the contribution of wildfire smoke to cardiovascular health events.
"These particles may act as a trigger factor for acute cardiovascular health events," Haikerwal states. "Do not delay seeking medical help if you experience symptoms of heart problems during smoke episodes from wildfires."
Due to the increased incidence and frequency of wildfires in recent years, the authors suggest that further research is required to investigate in greater detail the role of fine particulate matter exposure from wildfire smoke in triggering acute coronary events.
"The knowledge and evidence resulting from such research will inform policy and practice and help build capacity in the understanding and management of adverse cardiovascular health impacts in vulnerable communities during wildfire episodes," the authors conclude.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offer a number of tips for protecting yourself from the dangers of wildfire smoke. They recommend paying attention to local air quality reports and visibility guides if available.
When indoors, keep indoor air as clean as possible using an air conditioner, avoiding using anything that burns such as candles or cigarettes and avoiding vacuuming as this stirs up fine particulate matter that is already in the home.
"During a fire, please take precautionary measures as advised by public health officials," Haikerwal advises. "This is especially important for older adults who are at higher risk of adverse health effects during wildfire smoke exposure."
Wildfires are not the only things that produce fine particulate matter. Previously, Medical News Today reported on a study revealing that Independence Day fireworks cause a significant rise in air pollution by producing these polluting particles.
Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/296812.php
"We just got great news today," President Obama said in a video posted on the White House's Facebook page.
"In the final day (at the original enrollment deadline Sunday) we had more consumers sign up than we have ever had," said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.
On Monday, federal officials extended the deadline a week, until next Sunday, for those who couldn't enroll in Affordable Care Act insurance plans on the federal Healthcare.gov site over the weekend because of computer glitches or long waits.
"We are pleased that the vast majority of consumers were able to apply and pick a plan through HealthCare.gov or its call center without a problem," said Aaron Albright, spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
But Albright said the extra time was granted for consumers who couldn't finish enrolling because of long wait times at the federal call center leading up to the Sunday night deadline or because of a technical issue, such as being unable to submit an application because their income could not be verified.
Those people will still be able to get coverage that begins March 1.
The extension was prompted by the Saturday outage of an Internal Revenue Service function for Obamacare enrollment, which could have prevented about 500,000 people from enrolling. The glitch prevented some people from getting their income verified so they could enroll on HealthCare.gov and at least some state exchanges by the Sunday deadline.
While Connecticut's exchange was unaffected, those for Massachusetts and Washington state were hampered by the outage.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) say they have finally determined that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) - a major source of artificial trans fat in the American diet - are not "generally recognized as safe" for human consumption.
The regulators are giving food manufacturers 3 years - until 18th June, 2018 - to remove PHOs from food products.
This gives companies time to reformulate products so they do not contain PHOs, or to ask the FDA for permission to use them.
"Following the compliance period, no PHOs can be added to human food unless they are otherwise approved by the FDA," say the regulators.
FDA's Acting Commissioner Dr. Stephen Ostroff says the "action is expected to reduce coronary heart disease and prevent thousands of fatal heart attacks every year."
The FDA announced a preliminary determination to regard PHOs as unsafe to eat in 2013. That followed a review of the scientific evidence and consultation with experts.
The regulators are now finalizing the determination after considering comments from the public.
Director of the FDA's Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Center Dr. Susan Mayne says:
"This determination is based on extensive research into the effects of PHOs, as well as input from all stakeholders received during the public comment period."
While consumption has fallen, 'it is still a public health concern'
Food companies use artificial trans fats to improve the texture, extend the shelf life and increase the stability of processed foods. They are cheaper and more readily available than natural versions from meat and dairy sources.
Since 2006, companies have had to show trans fat content on the nutrition facts labels of food products sold in the US.
The FDA say that while trans fat consumption by Americans has fallen by 78% between 2003 and 2012, the current level of consumption remains a public health concern.
Companies are already removing PHOs from processed foods, and the FDA anticipate that many will achieve compliance before the deadline.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the main sources of PHOs in the American diet are cakes, cookies, pies, margarines and spreads, fried foods, savory snacks such as microwave popcorn, frozen pizza, ready-to-use frosting and coffee creamers.
Why are PHOs bad for health?
PHOs are made by heating up a food oil such as soybean or cottonseed in the presence of hydrogen and a catalyst. This makes the oil into a semi-solid, partially saturated fatty acid - like margarine - making it easier to use as a shortening in baked goods.
Trans fats are so called because when hydrogenation breaks double bonds between carbon atoms in the long-chain fatty acid molecules, this results in the hydrogen atoms attached to the carbon atoms at a double bond being on opposite sides of the double bond ("trans" means "other side," or "across").
This "trans" configuration is different to naturally occurring versions, which have a "cis" configuration, where the hydrogen atoms attached to carbon at double bonds are on the same side of the double bond.
The trans configuration in the fatty acid molecules of manufactured PHOs is thought to be what makes them bad for health - consuming them lowers "good" cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein, or HDL) and increases "bad" cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein, or LDL) in the body, raising the risk of coronary heart disease.
The CDC say eliminating the use of PHOs in food could prevent 10,000-20,000 heart attacks and 3,000-7,000 coronary heart disease deaths each year in the US.
In November 2014, MNT reported a study of hundreds of healthy working-age men that found higher consumption of trans fats was linked to poorer memory. Speculating on the reason behind the link, the researchers suggested trans fats increase oxidative stress, which affects cell energy.
Source= http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/295483.php
