Culex quinquefasciatus, a vector mosquito responsible for transmitting human diseases. Source: www.arbovirus.health.nsw.gov.au

Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs) has become an issue of serious concern due to the appearance of pathogens like Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Ebola virus; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus; emergence of drug resistant pathogen and outbreak of infectious diseases over large geographic area. The main drivers of outbreak of infectious diseases are growth in human population, consumption pattern and waste generation, which invite human migration, urbanization, poverty, modern agricultural practices, deforestation, and other land use change. In addition,  dust transportation, indiscriminate use of antibiotics, modern transportation system for human and animals, wildlife  trade ,road building, construction of dam etc. are known to influence  emerging infection .The common factor behind such infection is, however, abrupt social and ecological changes.

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Strong and handsome, intelligent and emotional, hard and empathetic, rich and successful.....women want modern men to be more than most men can provide. Now at least one wish of women could be fullfilled by German and British scientists: the neuropeptide oxytocin improved the ability of men to be more sensitive towards fellow men. Oxytocin is also known as a hormone which is released during sexual activities and orgasms and it is combined with emotions like love and confidence. A second important role it plays in activating labor pains when a baby is born. After the birth it strengthens child-mother-bindings.

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The micrograph shows abundant (malignant) plasma cells with the occasional Mott cell, a plasma cell with an intracytoplasmic Russell bodies (an eosinophilic uniformly staining membrane bound body which contains immunoglobulin). Wikimedia Commons, Author: Nephron

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Aylin Hammann, PhD-student at the Institute of Sanitation Science in Greifswald, Germany, shows how to desinfect the hands properly. photograph: Janke/UKG

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Fat Schorsch - advertisement for a german pub (1904)

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The bed bug (Cimex lectularius) sucking blood from a human. Wikimedia Commons courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Bed bugs are small night-active insects in the family Cimicidae (order hemiptera). Different species are found in both temperate and tropical regions, where they feed by sucking blood from humans and other warm-blooded hosts. Bed bugs are flattened, brown and have a length of 4-5 mm. They are attracted to body heat and CO₂, and typically feed every 5-10 days, but they can survive for almost a year without feeding.

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Diabetes is a widespread hormonal disorder which disturbes or destroys the blood sugar (glucose) regulation by insulin and glucagon (two hormones of the pankreas). The oversupply of sugar containing food nowadays makes people sick when the sensitive balance between sugar levels in blood and cells is disturbed. A permanent too high glucose level in the blood causes in the longterm morbid effects for all kind of tissues and organs in the human body.

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HIV-Virus leaving the host cell (3-D-electron-tomographie photograph, courtesy: University hospital of Heidelberg, Germany)

  Scientists from Germany discovered an unknown mechanism in host cells of the AIDS-Virus. HIV affects cells of the immune system in humans. Viruses transform their hosts for their own purposes and reproduction. Finally they are released from the infected cell and start befalling other immune cells. But how is this achieved by the virus? The latest research results of german scientists from Heidelberg and Munich suggest an active role of the host cell itself!

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The Eastern Green Mamba (Dendroaspis angusticeps) has one of the most venomous bites. From Wikimedia Commons (Photo by user Danleo)

Snakes are limbless reptiles which can be found almost everywhere on the globe although the diversity is far greater in the tropics than everywhere else. Most snakes are poisonous and use the poison to paralyze prey, which typically include rodent, lizards and amphibians. However, the poison is also used for self-defence against larger predators and although only few species are dangerous to humans these often possess a significant threat to humans working in rural tropical settings.

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In industrialized countries macular degeneration is the most common cause for blindness in age related loss of vision. Scientists from Great Britain and Germany now showed that the age related macular degeneration is due to a hyperactivity of the immune system in advanced years. Inherited disfunction of the immune system can be the cause. In Germany approximately 4.5 million patients suffer from macular degeneration disabling them in the long term to manage their daily lives.

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Treatment with the new drug leads to a decline in plaques in treated mice (Figure: Richard Dodel)

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 Eye injuries are often the cause for blindness. For humans it is the most feared and tragic loss of a sensory capacitiy because we are highly visual beings. In the US alone 750.000 persons have lost their eyesight due to an eye injury. Some 90% of blindness cases would be avoidable.  Reason enough for international scientists and ophthalmologists to meet in Wuerzbuerg, Germany.

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Smelling, hearing, vision, degustation are sensory systems of the body which usually are considered differently. With the coming congress "Molecular Medicine of Sensory Systems" at the university of Tuebingen, Germany, this will change. Scientists from all over the world will join this meeting from 18 - 20th may 2008 to bring together their findings.

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Breast cancer is still one of the most dangerous and deadly cancer types for women. It is a malignant tumor of the mammary glands of women. Around half a million women died in 2007 from breast cancer world wide according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). In Germany with 25% it is among women the most frequent cancer type. But also men can sicken from breast cancer in rare cases.

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