All posts on August, 2018


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Inbreeding and disease are factors in decline of yellow-banded bumblebee

By sequencing the genome of the yellow-banded bumblebee, researchers have found that inbreeding and disease are likely culprits in their rapid decline in North America. This is believed to be the first time the genome of an at-risk bumblebee has been sequenced and it allows researchers to take a deeper look into the potential reason for their diminishing numbers. What they found surprised them.

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Rapid development in Central Africa increases the risk of infectious disease outbreaks

The Central Africa region is experiencing rapid urbanization, economic growth and infrastructure development. These changes, while generally positive, also make the region more vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks. Efforts to build up the health care infrastructure in Central Africa are critically needed to mitigate or prevent a large outbreak of Ebola or other infectious disease in the region.

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Antibiotic side-effects in kids lead to nearly 70,000 ER visits in the US each year

The use of antibiotics drives the development of antibiotic resistance, a major threat to public health worldwide. But these drugs also carry the risk of harm to individual patients, including children. According to a new analysis, antibiotics led to nearly 70,000 estimated emergency room visits in the US each year from 2011-2015 for allergic reactions and other side effects in children.

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Scientists close in on mystery surrounding dangerous blood syndromes

Scientists may be on the road to solving the mystery of a group of mostly incurable blood diseases called myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), which cause people to have immature, malfunctioning bone marrow cells that fuel a diverse set of health problems and can lead to leukemia. Researchers report identifying a gene that in laboratory experiments fuels the biological processes that cause the different types of MDS that physicians see in patients.

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Bird feared extinct rediscovered in the Bahamas

One of the rarest birds in the western hemisphere, the Bahama Nuthatch, has been rediscovered by research teams searching the island of Grand Bahama. The finding is particularly significant because the species had been feared extinct following the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and had not been found in subsequent searches. But it is feared that there could only be two left — placing the species on the verge of extinction and certainly among the world's most critically endangered birds.

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