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Health and the environment
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Human health and the environment are inexorably linked. Disease can arise from environmental degradation -- deforestation, water and air pollution, species extinction-- while cures to ailments can be found in plants and animals. Below are some recent articles exploring links between human health and the environment.
70% of new drugs come from Mother Nature -- 3/20/2007
Around 70 percent of all new drugs introduced in the United States in the past 25 years have been derived from natural products reports a study published in the March 23 issue of the Journal of Natural Products. The findings show that despite increasingly sophisticated techniques to design medications in the lab, Mother Nature is still the best drug designer.
Genetically engineered mosquitoes fight malaria -- 3/19/2007
Globally, governments are spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually to reduce the impact of the malaria, a mosquito-borne disease that affects around 400 million people each year and kills one to three million die. While most of the focus to date have been on developing drugs that boost immunity to malaria or counteract the malaria parasite once it is in the victim's bloodstream, scientists have now developed a treatment that focuses on the mosquito itself. The research, described in the early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), uses a genetically engineered strain of malaria-resistant mosquitoes to out-compete natural mosquitoes when fed malaria-infected blood.
Toxin from 'translucent doughnut' could produce cancer treatment -- 2/5/2007
A toxin derived from a reclusive sea creature resembling a translucent doughnut has inspired UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers to develop a related compound that shows promise as a cancer treatment.
Madagascar plant may offer new treatment for malaria -- 12/25/2006
A plant traditionally used by healers in Madagascar may offer a new way to treat malaria, a mosquito-borne illness that kills 2-3 million people -- mostly children in Sub-Saharan Africa -- per year.
Monkey trials for medical research should continue in Britain -- 12/13/2006
British scientists support the use of primates in medical research to improve human health and reduce deaths from disease but only if no alternatives are available according to a report by the Academy of Medical Sciences. The report, which examines the scientific basis for recent, current and future use of non-human primates in biological and medical research, comes as a poll by the journal Nature reveals that most researchers have no ethical misgivings about the role of animals in their work.
Circumcision reduces HIV/AIDS infection in men -- 12/13/2006
Medical circumcision of men reduces their risk of acquiring HIV during heterosexual intercourse by 53 percent according to a University of Illinois at Chicago study. The results were so compelling researchers stopped the trial early to protect the health of participants. The study's safety board recommended that all men enrolled in the study who remain uncircumcised be offered circumcision.
Bioprospecting links health and biodiversity conservation in Panama -- 12/7/2006
The difference between bioprospecting and biopiracy as at times controversial, but a program run by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) suggests that training professionals in high-biodiversity regions can help bring benefits to local populations while promoting biodiversity conservation. The program, called the International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG), is profiled in the December issue of the journal BioScience.
By 2030 AIDS could be leading global cause of illness -- 11/27/2006
HIV/AIDS, depression, and ischemic heart disease could be leading causes of illness by 2030 say researchers from the World Health Organization in a new paper published in the journal PLoS Medicine. However the researchers project that fewer children under the age of 5 years will die from disease in coming decades.
AIDS will block Millennium Development Goals for some counties -- 11/27/2006
HIV/AIDS will make it difficult, if not impossible, for many countries to reach the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to a new analysis by researchers published to coincide with World AIDS Day on December 1, 2006.
'Bushmeat' link to SARS outbreak confirmed -- 11/23/2006
Chinese scientists say they have found a genetic link between SARS in civet cats, a racoon-like animal eaten as a delicacy in China, and humans.
Cancer viewed an evolutionary and ecological process -- 11/17/2006
The dynamics of evolution are fully in play within the environment of a tumor, just as they are in forests and meadows, oceans and streams. This is the view of researchers in an emerging cross-disciplinary field that brings the thinking of ecologists and evolutionary biologists to bear on cancer biology.
Ebola outbreaks may worsen with global warming -- 11/15/2006
Ebola outbreaks are linked to wildlife and climate according to new research published in the journal Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Ebola, a deadly hemorrhagic fever made famous in Richard Preston's book The Hot Zone, periodically emerges to affect human populations in Central Africa. Until now, scientists had little understanding of the pattern behind Ebola outbreaks.
Snail venom could be used to treat pain due to spinal cord injury -- 11/14/2006
Cone snail venom may offer a new approach to treating severe pain according to researchers at the University of Utah. "We found a new way to treat a chronic and debilitating form of pain suffered by hundreds of millions of people on Earth," says J. Michael McIntosh, a University of Utah research professor of biology. "It is a previously unrecognized mechanism for treating pain."
Global warming will threaten health through dirtier air, hotter days, and more natural disasters -- 10/23/2006
Global warming will threaten human health through dirtier air, hotter days, and more natural disasters that will worsen water quality, stress emergency systems, and create environmental refugees, warns a public health physician.
Viruses can jump primate-human species barrier, researchers warn -- 8/23/2006
Viruses that jump the species barrier between monkeys and humans can harm both people and animals, and we should take steps to reduce the risk of virus transmission. That's the message running through the September issue of the American Journal of Primatology, a special issue on disease risk analysis edited by a primate expert at the University of Washington.
Forest fires have high cost to health -- 8/10/2006
Forest fires have a huge impact on human health according to a new study from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada which attempted to put a pricetag on the actual economic losses caused by a 2001 fire that burned 116,000 hectares of forest land and settlements Chisholm, Alberta.
Biomimicry of Scorpion Venom Fights Cancer -- 7/31/2006
A new method of delivering a dose of radioactive iodine -- using a man-made version of scorpion venom as a carrier -- targets deadly brain tumors called gliomas without affecting neighboring tissue or body organs.
Global Warming to Have Significant Impact on California -- 7/31/2006
A new report from the state of California warns that climate change could have a significant impact on the state's economy and the health of its residents. The release of the report comes on the day that British Prime Minister Tony Blair and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a climate pact agreeing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Increased hantavirus risk in the US southwest -- 7/13/2006
The Four Corners region of the United States will be at greater risk for hantavirus outbreak this year than in 2005, say scientists at Johns Hopkins University, the University of New Mexico, and other institutions.
Land use, land cover affect human health, food security -- 7/5/2006
A Kansas State University geography professor is using satellite imagery to research how land use and land cover changes affect human health and food security.
Documentary explores Borneo for possible anti-HIV medicine -- 6/27/2006
Rainforest plants have long been recognized for their potential to provide healing compounds. Indigenous peoples of the rainforest have used medicinal plants for treating a wide variety of health conditions while western pharmacologists have derived a number of drugs from such plants.
Medicinal value of chocolate explored by scientists -- 2/9/2006
The cocoa plant (Theobroma cacao) holds tremendous potential to impact public health and improve the socioeconomic and ecological landscape of the countries where it's grown, according to leading world scientists who convened at the National Academies today to examine the latest scientific advances in cocoa research.
Environmental damage linked to new diseases says WHO -- 12/9/2005
The rise of deadly new diseases such as SARS, Nipah virus and bird flu could be linked to the degradation and destruction of the environment says a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Plague could worsen with global warming -- 11/14/2005
Warmer, wetter weather brought on by global warming could increase outbreaks of the plague, which has killed millions down the ages and wiped out one third of Europe's population in the 14th century, academics said.
Demise of passenger pigeon linked to Lyme disease -- 11/14/2005
Traditionally, the passenger pigeon has been held as one of the more beloved animal species to fall prey to humankind's often relentless expansion into and disregard for the natural world and its creatures. Once abundant, the bird experienced a rapid decline in the late 1800s, due almost entirely to rampant hunting, and the last passenger pigeon died in 1914. In light of new findings however, this image of a naturally plentiful species laid to waste by man is now being tested. Evidence collected over the past few years from a significant number of Native American archeological sites is beginning to upset long-accepted beliefs about one of the most famous extinct species in modern history.
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