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Health

01 Dec 2015

World AIDS Day 2015 – 1st December

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes HIV infection, which can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Since AIDS was clinically first observed in the USA in 1981, HIV infection has become one of the most important global health issues in the world. Held on 1st December annually since 1988, World AIDS Day gives people an opportunity to show support for people living with HIV and acknowledge those who have died. To support the global goal to stop the transmission of HIV, it is also a day to raise awareness about the prevention and control of AIDS.   Although HIV infection was first detected in 1981, with the disease it causes being named AIDS in 1983 and the virus itself HIV in 1984, it is important to note that AIDS did not originate in 1981. There are two viruses associated with AIDS: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-2 is less pathogenic than HIV-1 and is mostly restricted to West Africa. HIV-2 is structurally similar to a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) strain, SIVsm, which infects the sooty mangabey monkey. It is hypothesized that SIV crossed the species barrier to humans when contaminated animal blood entered cuts on the hands of people who were in […]

Health

26 Oct 2015

Staff Pick: Energy drink consumption in Europe

This month’s Staff Pick comes from Tania Pernes. Tania is an Editorial Project Manager at Frontiers and is responsible for growing our Health Journals. The article she selected as her staff pick is currently the most successful article in Frontiers in Public Health with more than 28,000 views. Frontiers Staff Pick: Energy drink consumption in Europe: a review of the risks, adverse health effects, and policy options to respond As an athlete, my coach used to mention the potential of energy drinks on post-workout recovery or between high intense exercises. Personally I was never a fan of sugary drinks and was always skeptical about them. Fridays were the only days I could go out for a drink or two with my friends. After rejecting the energetic drinks at the gym, I consumed them at the club without even thinking about it. The lack of information from the young community, aggressive marketing strategies and the unawareness by those who we trust on a family level is quite a cocktail for our health. This article gave support to my skepticism regarding these drinks and I now better understand the risks and consequences to my health. I highly recommend this to anyone, but in […]

Health

29 Sep 2015

Celebrating coffee on International Coffee Day

Happy International Coffee Day! As millions of people celebrate their drug of choice, this is a perfect time to consider where we would be without coffee. Would we… …be more productive? Drinking coffee, and the caffeine that comes with it, does result in various chemical responses that give you that buzz of energy (check out the video by Science Alert for a summary). We have all heard individuals claim that they cannot start the day without their cup of coffee – but research suggests that after the honeymoon period of lovely highs and bursts of energy, continued coffee drinking actually just acts to counter-affect caffeine withdrawal (Rogers et al, 2010). Then there is our own daily cycle to take into account. Just like a cup of coffee affects individuals differently (it only makes three in ten people poo), it also affects individuals differently during different times of the day. Your daily hormone fluctuations can alter how coffee affects you. In fact early in the morning may not be the best time to drink coffee – check out this Science Alert video to find out when you should be drinking coffee. It is not all about the energy and efficiency – […]

Health

29 Sep 2015

World Heart Day 2015

Prof Hendrik Tevaearai Stahel joined Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine as Field Chief Editor this month (Photo credit: University Hospital of Bern (Inselspital)) On World Heart Day, Frontiers presents an exclusive interview with Prof Hendrik Tevaearai Stahel, Associate Professor at the University of Bern and Head of R&D at the Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery at the University Hospital. Prof Tevaearai recently joined Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine as Field Chief Editor. What motivated you to become a cardiovascular surgeon? As I wrote in my editorial for Frontiers in Surgery, section Heart Surgery, it all started when I was seven years old. I was injured and needed an urgent operation on my wrist. It was my first contact with the operating room, and I was immediately fascinated by this environment. I knew then I was going to be a surgeon. During medical school I had the chance to spend a month in the cardiovascular surgery unit of Lausanne University Hospital. I will always remember the first time I saw a real heart beating in a patient’s thoracic cavity. The head of the clinic was a very inspiring and charismatic person, and this added a lot to the already huge respect I had for this discipline. A few years later, I finally became […]

Health

19 Aug 2015

World Humanitarian Day

  World Humanitarian Day is a day dedicated to celebrate and recognize humanitarian work around the globe. Initially established by the UN General Assembly in 2008, and first observed one year thereafter, it is held annually on August 19th, coinciding with the anniversary of the 2003 terrorist attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq. Today, we are celebrating the 7th World Humanitarian Day, a time to recognize and increase general public awareness of humanitarian activities. A day to honour the work of humanitarians worldwide has become of increased importance, seeing as the total number of people in need of humanitarian help has drastically risen over the past decade. This day also underlines the importance of international cooperation in meeting humanitarian needs around the world, highlighting the demand to do more, as humanitarian crises continue to grow. The theme of this year’s WHD is to “Inspire the World’s Humanity”, and is aided by the #ShareHumanity digital campaign, aiming at mobilizing a larger and more active citizenship through social media, at a time at which the world is ever more digitally connected. More on the World Humanitarian Day may be found here: http://www.worldhumanitarianday.org/

Health

20 May 2015

Staff Picks for #MHBlogDay

Our Frontiers Editorial Office brought to our attention a couple of papers that are getting a lot of attention lately so we decided to write a short blog in honor of Mental Health Blog Day (#MHBlogDay) . The first is a paper on the association between depressive symptoms and physical diseases in Switzerland (read full paper).  The objective of the paper is to estimate the association between the symptoms and physical diseases to estimate mental and physical health care costs in the future. The second paper that is growing in interest is The Grand Challenge by the SCE. The grand challenge paper is interesting because it’s the SCE’s reflection on the 2013 release of DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual which lists mental disorders). The paper looks at the impact psychiatric diagnoses have on the lives of the people and on the health care systems that support them. It also looks at how moving from the current categorical approach to diagnoses to a continuum approach could help solve some of the current problems. Have a great #MHBlogDay!

Health

29 Oct 2014

A Living History of Immunology: New Frontiers in Immunology Research Topic

A new Frontiers in Immunology Research Topic brings together the stories of those at the forefront of modern-day immunology “In the highly competitive world of biomedical science, often the rush to publish and to be recognized as ‘first’ with a new discovery, concept or method is lost in the hurly burly of the moment, as ‘the maddening crowd’ moves on to the next ‘new thing’. One of the great things about immunology today is that it has only matured as a science within the last half-century, and especially within the past 35 years as a consequence of the revolution of molecular immunology, which has taken place only since 1980. Consequently, most of those who have contributed to our new understanding of how the immune system functions are still alive and well, and still contributing. “‘A Living History of Immunology’ intends to collate as many stories as possible from the investigators who actually performed the experiments that have established the frontiers of immunology. Accordingly, we are after the ‘truth’, to combat ‘revisionist science’, by those who want to alter history by telling the stories a different way than actually happened. In this regard, one of the good things about science versus […]

Health

24 Mar 2014

World Tuberculosis Day 2014

To mark World Tuberculosis Day (24 March), Frontiers presents a selection of articles on the latest research, concepts and innovations in the field of TB. Resistance in tuberculosis: what do we know and where can we go? Frontiers in Microbiology (Keith D. Green and Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova) Many strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are becoming increasingly drug-resistant. A mini-review covers how different M. tuberculosis strains resist anti-tuberculosis drugs and how these resistance mechanisms can be overcome. Current and Novel Approaches to Vaccine Development Against Tuberculosis Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology (Antonio Campos-Neto, Mark Cayabyab and Lilia Macovei) There is currently no vaccine available to protect adults against M. tuberculosis. This review focuses on the current strategies and innovations being explored to create an effective tuberculosis vaccine. The response of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to reactive oxygen and nitrogen species Frontiers in Microbiology (Iona Bartek, Martin I Voskuil, Gary K. Schoolnik and Kevin Visconti) This paper studies how M. tuberculosis responds to a number of damaging highly reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, one of the body’s primary defenses against M. tuberculosis infection. Functional characterization and evolution of the isotuberculosinol operon in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and related Mycobacteria Frontiers in Microbiology  (Reuben J Peters, Francis M Mann, Meimei  Xu and Emily K Davenport) This article attempts to understand the function of two M. […]

Health

28 Nov 2013

World AIDS Day 2013

World AIDS Day, held every year on 1 December, is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV and AIDS. In this first of two blog posts dedicated to World AIDS Day, Frontiers presents a selection of articles on HIV and AIDS research. Eradication of HIV and cure of AIDS, now and how? Frontiers in Immunology (Jielin Zhang and Clyde Crumpacker) This paper proposes novel strategies to combat HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy)-resistant HIV and reviews current HIV treatment strategies and their limitations. Association Study of Lipoprotein (a) Genetic Markers, Traditional Risk Factors and Coronary Heart Disease in HIV-1-infected Patients Frontiers in Immunology (Lander Egaña-Gorroño, Esteban Martínez, Tuixent Escribà, Marta Calvo, José M. Gatell and Mireia Arnedo) HIV and HAART drugs can interact with the body in many different ways. This paper examines how coronary heart disease affects HIV-infected patients compared to uninfected individuals. Immune activation and collateral damage in AIDS pathogenesis Frontiers in Immunology (Frank Miedema, Mette D. Hazenberg, Kiki Tesselaar, Debbie van Baarle, Rob J. de Boer and José A. M. Borghans) The body’s immune system response to HIV is the main driving factor behind the development of AIDS. This review lays out how a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of immune activation may help facilitate […]

Health

28 Nov 2013

Professor John de Wit discusses HIV research and self-regulation

Frontiers presents an exclusive interview with Professor John de Wit, director of the Centre for Social Research in Health, Sydney, Australia. He recently joined Frontiers as an associate editor for the HIV and AIDS editorial board.   What drove you to focus more on the social aspects of HIV rather than the biomedical? When I was a psychology student, at what is now called Radboud University Nijmegen (the Netherlands), my interest was in understanding and changing the factors that shape people’s experiences and behaviours. I was in particular fascinated by theories of attitudes and attitude change, through communication. When I became aware of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s and had to decide on a topic for my master’s thesis, it seemed logical to look at the efficacy of HIV education in schools. This first research experience made me realise just how difficult it is to change people’s beliefs, attitudes and practices. My research over the 20 years since that early experience has been concerned with what I consider not only the most fascinating riddle of them all, but also a key component of an effective HIV response: the question why we do what we do, even if it can put us in harm’s way, and […]