While young people with parasite worms currently have a four times higher risk for developing allergies and asthma than others. Their parents are generally unaffected. Researchers at the University of Bergen (UiB) in Norway were surprised when they found that intestinal worms, so-called Helminths (Toxocara Canis) from animals, actually have an influence on allergy- and asthma risk in humans.  Their results showed that young people who test positive for this parasite, have a 4 times higher risk of developing asthma and allergies than others. “Usually, we consider a 50% higher risk as being high, but here we see a 400% higher risk,” says Professor Cecilie Svanes at Centre for International Health, UiB.

Key to allegy puzzle

According to Svanes, what is interesting in these results is that it seems to be only the young generation who has higher risk of getting asthma and allergies if they test positive on helminths, and not their parents.  “We do not know why the parasite only influences the young generation in a negative way and not their parents. If we can discover the reason for this, I think we will have solved the puzzle of why allergies have  increased enormously over the past few decades,” says Svanes.

Allergy explosion

Many studies show that the numbers of people with asthma and allergies have increased enormously over the past few decades. The reason for this is unknown.  “One of the most common hypotheses is that we have become more in contact with chemicals and less in contact with microbes and bacteria,” Svanes explains. “There are, however, many things that have changed during the last decades. Nobody knows why allergy and asthma levels have increased. The phenomena is happening all over the world. It probably relates to urbanisation among other things.”

http://www.uib.no/en/med/112977/intestinal-worms-may-solve-allergy-puzzle

Study field and income are important factors for understanding childlessness among college educated Swedish men. These are the results of a new thesis in sociological demography, which shows that nearly a fourth of college educated men remain childless while highly educated women tend to partner with men who have lower education. - Among college graduates, men who are the top earners are the least likely to be childless, and men who earn less are increasingly more likely to be childless. Every step down the ladder of income is associated with a higher likelihood of remaining childless, says Margarita Chudnovskaya, researcher in Demography. Previous research has shown that highly educated men and women often partner with each other, and that college educated women preferred men with a high education. In Sweden today, there are nearly two women for every man among recent college graduates. According to demographic theories of the “marriage market,” the “demand” for highly educated men should have increased as women compete for highly educated male partners.

Six out of 10 U.S. parents are choosing to get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for their children, according to a report published in this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends parents get two doses of HPV vaccine for their children at ages 11 or 12 to protect against cancers caused by HPV infections. Although most children are getting their first dose of HPV vaccine, many children are not completing the vaccination series. “I’m pleased with the progress, but too many teens are still not receiving the HPV vaccine – which leaves them vulnerable to cancers caused by HPV infection,” said CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald, M.D. “We need to do more to increase the vaccination rate and protect American youth today from future cancers tomorrow.” Adolescents who get the first dose of HPV vaccine before their 15th birthday need two doses of HPV vaccine to be protected against cancers caused by HPV. Teens and young adults who start the series at ages 15 through 26 years need three doses of HPV vaccine to be protected against cancers caused by HPV.

Genetic susceptibility to bipolar disorder can increase the risk for suicide attempt, but only among those who also have experienced traumatic stress, reports a study published in the December 2017 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP). Suicide in 2015 was the second leading cause of death among teens ages 15-19 with steep increases in suicide risk from ages 14 to 20. Bipolar disorder (BD) is one of the most heritable psychiatric conditions and is associated with high suicide risk. "We found that genetic susceptibility to BD can increase the risk for suicide attempt, but only among those who also have experienced traumatic stress such as bullying, sexual abuse, and domestic violence," said lead author Holly Wilcox, PhD, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "This work highlights the importance of severe environmental stressors in the development of suicide attempts in those at higher genetic risk for bipolar disorder."

Il programma genera un indotto di 23 milioni di dollari l'anno per le economie locali e protegge 8.800 specie

Il programma per le aree protette dell'Amazzonia (Programa Áreas Protegidas da Amazonia- ARPA), coordinato dal Ministero dell'Ambiente brasiliano, in collaborazione con WWF-Brasile, WWF-USA e altri partner, celebra quindici anni di attività nel 2017 come la più grande strategia sul pianeta per la conservazione e l'uso sostenibile delle foreste tropicali. L’obiettivo di proteggere almeno 60 milioni di ettari in Amazzonia (il 15% di tutto il bioma presente in Brasile) è stato raggiunto. Oggi il programma ARPA è presente in 117 “Conservation units”, che comprendono Parchi nazionali e statali, Stazioni ecologiche, Riserve biologiche o estrattive, Riserve per lo sviluppo sostenibile (RDS) negli stati di Amapá, Amazonas, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondonia, Roraima e Tocantins.
Dal totale di unità protette, 39 di esse ospitano oltre 8.800 specie, ovvero l'88% delle specie di uccelli, il 68% delle specie di mammiferi e il 55% delle specie di rettili dell'intera Amazzonia. L’ARPA lavora a stretto contatto con le comunità locali e investe nella creazione, espansione, rafforzamento e mantenimento delle unità di conservazione, garantendo risorse e promuovendo lo sviluppo sostenibile nella regione. Le aree che fanno parte del programma beneficiano di beni, progetti e contratti di servizio, come l'istituzione di consigli, piani di gestione, nonché attività di integrazione tra le comunità residenti e il loro ambiente circostante. Complessivamente, il programma ha sostenuto il rafforzamento delle comunità in trenta aree protette. Secondo uno studio condotto dal programma, le unità di conservazione supportate dall'ARPA possono generare 23 milioni di dollari l'anno per le economie locali basate sulla foresta: complessivamente, l’ARPA ha sostenuto il rafforzamento delle comunità in 30 aree protette.
"La grande sfida consiste nel garantire che le aree protette raggiungano i loro obiettivi di conservazione, in modo partecipativo e trasparente, attraverso il sostegno di risorse provenienti dalle donazioni e dal governo stesso", afferma il ministro dell'Ambiente, Sarney Filho.

Gliomas are a type of brain tumour characterised by a poor prognosis. In order to improve this prognosis, as much of the tumour as possible must be removed safely during the neurosurgical operation. However, especially in the case of slow-growing, low-grade gliomas, it is often difficult to distinguish diseased tissue from healthy tissue. In a joint project, MedUni Vienna, the University of California in San Francisco and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (both USA) have now trialed a technique designed to make low-grade gliomas visible. The technique involved using an innovative probe together with 5-ALA as a fluorescence marker during the operation. 5-ALA fluorescence specialist Georg Widhalm, Department of Neurosurgery and member MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center was heavily involved in the project. In Austria, around 450 people a year develop a glioma. Nowadays, fluorescence marker 5-ALA, which accumulates in the cancerous tissue, is routinely used during surgical resection of fast-growing gliomas (glioblastomas) to help differentiate between diseased tissue and healthy tissue. A special surgical microscope that emits blue light, thereby making the brain tumour glow red, is used during the operation. This shows the surgeon exactly which parts of the brain are diseased, so he/she is better able to resect the tumour.

When we sleep, our organism goes through different phases of sleep, however the brain remains interconnected during non-REM sleep, which was thought not to happen. The finding by a European team of researchers has also made it possible to analyse the scientific basis of consciousness, an increasingly important field of neuroscience. Sleep is composed of various cycles in which there are different stages: slow and fast-wave, which make up non-REM sleep and REM sleep. During the night, it is normal to experience four or five complete cycles, each lasting around ninety minutes. Various investigations have shown that communication between different areas of the cerebral cortex is interrupted during non-REM sleep and also when a patient is under anaesthesia, due to the loss of consciousness. “It was thought that the brain disconnected during non-REM sleep and that the individual areas could no longer communicate effectively,” SINC was told by Umberto Olcese, a researcher from the Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences of the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands).

It is possible to have breaks in long-term medication against hormone-sensitive breast cancer - without the effect of the treatment appearing to have been influenced. Women also feel better if they take a three-month break from the hormone treatment each year, according to a medication study reported in The Lancet. “It is not a fantastically big difference, but it is still discernible. Quality of life was a bit better, or a little less poorer, among those receiving treatment with a break,” says Per Karlsson, Professor of Oncology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, consultant at the university hospital and responsible for the Swedish part of the study. Bodily stiffness and brittle mucous membranes are common side-effects with anti-hormonal treatment of the kind being studied. For the women who took a three month-long break in their treatment each year, these problems lessened somewhat, compared with the control group. “It is not an easy matter continuing with anti-hormonal treatment for a long time. Many of them are made to feel really poorly by the medicines and, for some of them, a break can be a reasonable option,” says Per Karlsson.

Low vitamin D levels at birth were associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) at the age of 3 years in a recent Journal of Bone and Mineral Research study. In the study of 27,940 newborns in China, 310 were diagnosed with ASDs at 3 years of age, with a prevalence of 1.11 percent. When the 310 children with ASDs were compared with 1,240 control subjects, the risk of ASDs was significantly increased in each of the three lower quartiles of vitamin D level at birth, when compared with the highest quartile: an increased risk of ASDs by 260 percent in the lowest quartile, 150 percent in the second quartile, and 90 percent in the third quartile.

"Neonatal vitamin D status was significantly associated with the risk of ASDs and intellectual disability," said senior author Dr. Yuan-Lin Zheng.

Additional Information

Link to Study:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jbmr.3326/full

Test series with the smart security glass in the laboratories of Schott Technical Glass Solutions GmbH

There is a huge selection of glass break detectors on the market. Although these detectors reliably trigger an alarm when window panes break, they do not register all other ways in which burglars can interfere with a pane. To counter this, Fraunhofer researchers have created a new type of alarm system that recognizes any attempt to manipulate the window. It registers temperature changes in real time as well as vibrations caused by external interference with the glass, leaving burglars with no chance. The window panes of jewelry stores, art galleries and banks are protected by alarm and fitted with security glass. However, the pane or part thereof has to break before the alarm is triggered. Conventional security glass contains metal threads that tear in the event of mechanical damage, activating the alarm. If a cutting torch or a drill is used to damage the glass, conventional systems react either too late or not at all. Burglars exploit this weakness and use a drill or a blowtorch instead of a hammer. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Technological Trend Analysis INT and the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS have jointly developed a smart anti-burglary protection system that overcomes this problem. The new system quickly and dynamically records thermal and mechanical stresses from external causes. Even a gentle knock against the security glass or manipulation through the use of a flame is enough to trigger the alarm. The external force applied to the pane changes its mechanical characteristics, and the system detects this change. This method of monitoring glass panes is based on a glass break sensor built inside an optical fiber by means of fiber Bragg grating, that is, optical interference filters inscribed in optical waveguides. The fiber optics can be fitted in the corner of the windowpane or in other positions.