A western boxelder bug CREDIT: Simon Fraser University
by LiveScience Staff Date: 24 August 2012 Time: 03:54 PM ET
Western boxelder bugs frequently stretch out in the sun, though not to get a tan. Canadian researchers found that these insects use sunbathing to keep germs at bay.
"Prophylactic sunbathing defends these bugs against pathogens that they encounter in their shelters," researcher Gerhard Gries, a biology professor at Simon Fraser University, said in a statement. The pheonomen has yet to be observed or reported in other insects, Gries added.
"If they are converting the sun's solar energy to fuel chemical work, without the aid of microbial symbionts — organisms that live together with a host, often to their mutual benefit — we would consider this a highly remarkable feat in the animal world."
Deadly virus infect California's Yosemite Park visitors
From: AFP - September 01, 2012 12:08PM
Yosemite's "moonbow" - a waterfall rainbow that captures the light of the moon. New fears have been raised that thousands of visitors to the iconic park have been exposed to a deadly virus.
SOME 10,000 visitors to California's Yosemite National Park could have been exposed to a deadly virus that kills one in three victims and cannot be treated
So far, six cases of the rare hantavirus pulmonary syndrome .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hantavirus .. (HPS) have been confirmed - two of whom have died - while a "multiple" number of other suspected cases of the rodent-borne disease are being investigated.
Yosemite authorities closed down the "Signature Tent Cabins" earlier this week at Curry Village, a popular lodging area in Yosemite Valley, the tourist centre of the scenic park visited by millions of people every year.
The National Park Service .. http://www.nps.gov/yose/parknews/hanta_8-27-12.htm .. has written to some 2900 people who booked stays in the Boystown area tent lodgings between June 10 and August 24, alerting them to keep an eye out for symptoms of HPS.
With no rope to save him, Dean Potter scales a route on Glacier Point called Heaven. ........
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) .. http://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/hps/ .. estimated the number of people who actually stayed in the tent cabins - those who booked plus their guests - at 10,000.
"On August 24, 2012, the tents were disinfected and visitors were relocated. People who stayed in the tents between June 10 and August 24 may be at risk of developing HPS in the next six weeks," a spokesperson said in a statement.
The incubation period for HPS is typically two to four weeks after exposure, with a range of a few days up to six weeks.
Symptoms include fever, chills, myalgias, cough, headaches and gastrointestinal ailments.
"The disease often progresses rapidly to respiratory distress, requiring supplemental oxygen and/or intubation, non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema and shock," the CDC said.
"There is no specific treatment available, but early recognition and administration of supportive care greatly increase the chance of survival."
Since the disease was first identified in 1993, there have been some 60 cases in California and 587 cases nationwide in the United States, around a third of which have been fatal.
Parasitic Worm VIDEO Shows Huge Nematode Emerging From Dead Spider Host, Biologist Says
By Jacqueline Howard Posted: 01/12/2013 12:55 am EST | Updated: 01/12/2013 12:55 am EST
When YouTube user Brent Askwith saw a freakishly large worm slither out of a spider he had just killed, he recorded the ghoulish event and appropriately named the video [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E5vUUtSWT4 (above, as embedded)] "WTF IS THIS?!?"
"I was just editing my latest montage and this huge spider came out, so I sprayed it and killed it, then this fricken alien worm came out," Askwith wrote in the video's description.
"Most have no obvious effect on us, and we are mostly unaware of their presence," he wrote in an e-mail, "but a few are large enough to cause diseases such as trichinosis [ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001655/ ]."
In addition to looking strange, nematode parasites can cause their hosts to do strange things. Dr. Farrell gave the example of some nematodes that prey on ants -- the parasite makes its host climb a tree and wave its butt in the air [ http://bioteaching.wordpress.com/2010/06/12/parasites-affecting-insect-behaviour/ ] in order to catch the eye of a bird. The bird then nabs the ant, allowing the parasite to escape through the ant's abdomen and spread to other potential hosts.
"My personal favorite is Toxoplasma gondii [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/toxoplasma-gondii-brain-parasite-suicide-cats_n_1651523.html ]," Dr. Farrell wrote, "the protozoan that infects cats (and is the reason pregnant women should not be around cats). Toxoplasma also infects rats and makes them unafraid of cats, so they get eaten and the parasites are able to then infect the cats they desire. Weird."
Health: The weighty costs of non-caloric sweeteners Analyses in mice and humans indicate that non-caloric artificial sweeteners may promote obesity-associated metabolic changes by changing the function of the bacteria that colonize the gut. 17 September 2014 http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13752.html
Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota 17 September 2014 Non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NAS) are among the most widely used food additives worldwide, regularly consumed by lean and obese individuals alike. NAS consumption is considered safe and beneficial owing to their low caloric content, yet supporting scientific data remain sparse and controversial. Here we demonstrate that consumption of commonly used NAS formulations drives the development of glucose intolerance through induction of compositional and functional alterations to the intestinal microbiota. These NAS-mediated deleterious metabolic effects are abrogated by antibiotic treatment, and are fully transferrable to germ-free mice upon faecal transplantation of microbiota configurations from NAS-consuming mice, or of microbiota anaerobically incubated in the presence of NAS. We identify NAS-altered microbial metabolic pathways that are linked to host susceptibility to metabolic disease, and demonstrate similar NAS-induced dysbiosis and glucose intolerance in healthy human subjects. Collectively, our results link NAS consumption, dysbiosis and metabolic abnormalities, thereby calling for a reassessment of massive NAS usage. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13793.html
Celebrity chef Pete Evans' paleo baby cookbook put on hold over health fears
"The baby’s microbiome continues to grow during breast-feeding. In a study of 16 lactating women published last year [ http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0021313 ], Katherine M. Hunt of the University of Idaho and her colleagues reported that the women’s milk had up to 600 species of bacteria, as well as sugars called oligosaccharides that babies cannot digest. The sugars serve to nourish certain beneficial gut bacteria [ http://www.pnas.org/content/108/suppl.1/4653.full ]in the infants, the scientists said. The more the good bacteria thrive, the harder it is for harmful species to gain a foothold."
March 12, 2015
On hold: Health officials have concerns about Pete Evans' baby and toddler cookbook. Photo: Supplied
The publication of a paleo baby cookbook, co-authored by celebrity chef Pete Evans, has been delayed, amid calls by leading health officials that its recipes could be potentially fatal to children.
Bubba Yum Yum: The Paleo Way, co- authored by Pete Evans. Photo: Supplied
The recipe, called the "DIY baby milk formula", is a chicken liver based concoction containing no milk products, which the book claims "mimics the nutrient profile of breast milk". The recipe is marketed as a "wonderful alternative" to breast milk and the "next best thing" when breast milk is not an option.
The claim has been slammed as "false and misleading" by Julie Smith, a health and economics expert at the Australian National University.
"I think the ACCC should be looking very hard at this particular claim. The commercial publisher aims to make money out of this book and I suspect they would have to consider very carefully the investigation that would ensue if they published it."
Dr Smith said evidence backed by the World Health Organisation clearly showed that expressed breast milk was the "next best thing" for the baby when breast-feeding was not an option. Failing that, commercial baby formula should be used, she said.
The DIY formula recipe potentially exposed babies to dangerous levels of vitamin A and inadequate levels of other nutrients, The Australian Women's Weekly reported.
Michael Moore, chief executive of the Public Health Association of Australia, said his organisation was among a consortium of health groups that had approached the book's publishers with their concerns.
"We hope they will look at the evidence instead of putting babies at risk," he said.
Mr Moore echoed the concerns raised by the Public Health Association's president, Professor Heather Yeatman, who said in an interview with The Australian Women's Weekly "there's a very real possibility that a baby may die if this book goes ahead".
"Especially if [the DIY formula] was the only food a parent was feeding their infant, it's a very real risk. And [I consider that] the baby's growth and development could be impaired."
Adherents of the paleo diet restrict their food intake to the types of unprocessed foods presumed to have been eaten by early humans, such as meat, fish, vegetables and fruit.
Milk products, along with all grains and pulses, are banned.
A spokeswoman for federal Health Minister Sussan Ley confirmed the department "has been closely scrutinising this diet and book".
"The department is concerned about the inadequate nutritional values of some of the foods, in particular for infants, and is investigating further," a spokeswoman said.
Co-authored by My Kitchen Rules judge and paleo advocate Evans, actress and baby food blogger Charlotte Carr and naturopath Helen Padarin, the book features a range of other recipes based on the paleo diet that health officials have deemed unsafe or inappropriate for children. Among them are recipes that include runny eggs and added salt, which health experts claim contravene national health guidelines for babies.
Professor Yeatman said children "may be seriously affected" as a result of parents limiting their diets to the ascribed paleo doctrine.
"That's the really troubling thing: the infant is totally at the whim of their parents when it comes to feeding."
The book includes a disclaimer that states: "Although we in good faith believe that the information provided will help you live a healthier life, relying on the information contained in this publication may not give you the results you desire or may cause negative health consequences."
When contacted by Fairfax Media, Pan Macmillian would not confirm whether a revised publication date had been set or whether bookstores offering pre-ordered copies of the book had been advised to cease doing so.
.. to me this incident does, at least a little bit, beg the question as to whether or not Mr Evans is more interested in peoples health or in making bucks ..
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Homeopathy no more effective than placebos, a study by the National Health and Medical Research Council finds
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