Lutein and brain health: Enriched formula leads to selective increases in multiple brain regions

Lutein and brain health: Enriched formula leads to selective increases in multiple brain regions: Enriching infant formula with lutein leads to selectively increased levels of the carotenoid in the brain, with the highest amounts in the visual processing center, the occipital cortex, says a new study.

New blood: Soy bean extract wins EU approval

New blood: Soy bean extract wins EU approval: A Japanese firm has won EU novel foods approval for a blood clot-benefitting fermented soy bean extract for all groups except “pregnant and lactating women.”

Study shows natto enzyme helps break down blood clots, benefits blood flow

Study shows natto enzyme helps break down blood clots, benefits blood flow: Japan Bio Science Laboratory, a company that has been developing a nattokinase ingredient, has released research results bolstering the ingredient’s effects at combating the formation of abnormal blood clots and benefiting blood flow.

The magic of mushrooms: Can this fungus help delay or prevent depression?

The magic of mushrooms: Can this fungus help delay or prevent depression?: Bioactive compounds contained within an edible mushroom may delay or prevent the onset of neurological conditions like depression, investigations have concluded.

California measles outbreak reportedly involves Orthodox Jewish community.

An ongoing measles outbreak in California is reportedly affecting a local Orthodox Jewish community.20 cases of measles have been confirmed so far, including 18 in the county encompassing Los Angeles. The outbreak has largely been limited to unvaccinated people in a single social group and the disease is spreading among personal contacts in the group. According to the Los Angeles Times, a rabbi who runs a Jewish health care foundation in the city said county health officials told him the outbreak was affecting the Orthodox Jewish population. The outbreak began in early December, about 5 months after a new state law eliminating all nonmedical vaccine exemptions, including those based on personal beliefs, took effect in California. The health department could not confirm vaccination against measles in any of the 18 patients in Los Angeles County and has reached out to leaders of the affected social group to encourage vaccination. According to the CDC, two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles. There has been a dramatic decline in measles in the United States from an estimated 3 to 4 million cases a year prior to the launch of a vaccination program in 1963 to just 70 documented cases in 2016, according to the CDC.

Mathematical model limits malaria outbreaks.

Mathematical models can effectively predict and track malaria transmission trends, ultimately quantifying the efficiency of various treatment and eradication strategies in high-risk regions. In a new paper by authors from Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics explain a malaria transmission model that considers three distinct factors: climate, the extrinsic incubation period (EIP), and the vector-bias effect. One of the most common infectious diseases in the world, malaria causes public health problems and depresses the economy of infected areas. When untreated or treated improperly, the disease can result in fatalities. Despite impressive control measures and increased prevention techniques, which have reduced the global malaria mortality rate by 29% over the last six years, 3.3 billion people throughout 97 countries and territories still face a risk of infection. According to the World Health Organization, there were 212 million cases of malaria in 2015; approximately 429,000 resulted in death. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to exhibit a disproportionately high number of outbreaks and fatalities. Mathematical models can effectively predict and track malaria transmission trends, ultimately quantifying the efficiency of various treatment and eradication strategies in high-risk regions. In a paper publishing in the SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics on January 24th, Xiunan Wang and Xiao-Qiang Zhao explain a malaria transmission model that considers three distinct factors: climate, the extrinsic incubation period (EIP), and the vector-bias effect. Using data from Maputo Province, Mozambique to simulate transmission trends, the authors ultimately present a possible way to limit the disease's transmission.

African trees kill both malaria mosquitoes and the parasite.

A new study has shown that African trees kill both malaria mosquitoes and the parasite. Scientists from the University of Oslo, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences have examined the bark from two African trees and found substances that can kill both the mosquitoes that transmit malaria, and the parasite itself. Malaria is one of the world's most serious infectious diseases and affects more than 200 million people each year. Traditional healers in West Africa have for many years used extracts from the bark of two trees in the citrus family (Rutaceae) to treat malaria, which is a widespread disease in the region and kills hundreds of thousands of people worldwide every year. Researchers at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Oslo in Norway have now shown that bark from the trees contains substances that not only kill the malaria parasite, but also the mosquitoes that transmit the disease. The scientists found several interesting substances both in the so-called Olon tree (Zanthoxylum heitzii) that is found from Cameroon to Congo, and in a related tree from Mali. The most interesting and active compounds were found in the Olon tree, but also the bark of Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides from Mali contains active substances. The scientists used extracts from the bark of the Olon tree and found that it contained at least one compound that kills the mosquitoes that transmit the malarial parasite,but the bark also contains another substance that kills the parasite itself. More than 30 species of the mosquito genus Anopheles kan infect humans with the malaria parasite,the scientists worked with both water-based and alcohol-based extracts from the bark of the two trees, and it turns out that the extracts with alcohol contains more of the active substances. The substance that kills the mosquito is called pellitorine and was found in the bark of both trees. The scientists also found that a mixture of four main substances from the bark of the Olon tree had a higher toxicity than pellitorine alone, even if the other ingredients were not toxic separately, this suggests that there is a synergistic effect between the ingredients. The scientists has now shown that the bark of the Olon tree from Congo contains at least two interesting compounds: Pellitorine that kills malaria mosquitoes, and dihydronitidin that kills the malaria parasite.