While maternal breast milk has proven an effective way of passing vital nutrients and immune-boosting proteins into a newborn baby’s system, a new study published in journal JAMA Pediatrics suggests that it may leave premature infants particularly vulnerable to cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. In most cases causing serious disease, and in chronic infections, may even lead to death.
While we’re a long way from the legal drinking ages making any drastic changes here in the United States, new research surfacing in behavioral biology may point towards a hidden benefit linked to compounds found in alcohol.
Imagine yourself completely contained; isolated and breathing a limited amount of oxygen, all while some potentially infectious pathogens lie on-board with you. Well, while it might not be Pandora’s box or a strain of the Ebola virus, this scenario is a frighteningly real study for researchers on the International Space Station.
With recent news of vampire-like parasitic plants and the West African outbreak of Ebola, it has become ever-apparent that disease and pestilence can take a serious toll on every species including humans. But have you given much thought to what could be threatening your morning cup of joe? Throughout most of Central America, in regions prime for coffee plantations, lies a fungus who also happens to love its morning brew. Thought to have originated in the coffee plantations of Africa, Hemileia vastatrix more commonly known as “roya” is a pestilent fungus known to cause disease in the species Coffea arabica—otherwise known as coffee.
In the Brazilian state of Goias, situated in the center of the nation and home to the national capital of Brasilia, residents’ expressions in the sunbaked hills of Araras are all but non-existent. Blood-red eyes peer through twisted expressions, across faces scorched and scarred by the sun. Home to a very rare, and very dangerous genetic skin disorder, Xeroderma pigmentosum, the residents of Araras have become “children of the night” as they evade the excruciating effects that sunlight has on their dermal layers.
