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The discovery of penicillin, and the consequent development of other antibiotics during the 20th century, provided medical sciences with an effective method to treat infectious diseases for the very first time. But currently, the numbers of pathogens resistant to common antibiotics keep rising, which presents a serious challenge to modern medicine. Hospital infections with multiresistant germs lead to an increase in morbidity and mortality, as well as prolonged waiting times and significantly higher treatment costs. Annually, an estimated 700,000 people worldwide die from getting infected with resistant pathogens.
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In cases of Chikungunya, dengue fever and leishmaniasis, most people think primarily of African, Asian, as well as Central and South American countries. The fact that these supposedly tropical diseases also occur in parts of Europe, is often neglected. In recent years, cases in which these infections were not imported from tropical countries, but were rather locally acquired in Europe, have multiplied. This development is especially owed to the spread of host animals and particularly to foreign mosquito species. They are able to overcome large distances because of expanding global passenger and freight transport, and, as a result of climate change, they acquire new habitats in southern and…
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The turn of the century saw the field of digital technologies rapidly progressing, revolutionizing everyday life in the process. The advancement of digitization has also reached medical sciences, although the use of modern technologies and digital solutions remains unequally distributed between the different disciplines. While digital data storage and processing, as well as telemedicine, are commonly used in the field of radiology, the majority of outpatient care is dominated by outdated computer systems, requisition slips and paper files. Despite previous concerns and hesitations, the topic of digitizing medical sciences has increasingly become the focus of public opinion and politics.…
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Early 2017, an Italian study looked at a possible interdependency between a Mediterranean diet and the height of the phase angle. The Mediterranean diet has long been regarded as one of the healthiest nutritional diets. It is characterized by the use of fresh products rich in vitamins, nutrients and unsaturated fatty acids. Large amounts of fat, meat and sugar, on the other hand, are not part of this diet. Because of this, the Mediterranean diet appears to have an overall positive effect on life expectancy, by also preventing the development of many diseases of affluence, such as type II diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease.
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In past decades, overweight and obesity have become a global health issue, not only for the health care systems in first world countries. Obesity also increasingly affects countries with lower or middle income. In many places around the globe, overweight and obese people make up 50% of the adult population. In some countries like Mexico or the USA, it is even higher.
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The Bioimpedance Analysis (BIA) is used for measuring a patient's body composition, it's an established method with many clinical uses primarily within the medical fields of nutrition, rehabilitation and sports medicine. Benefits also extend to cardiological, oncological and nephrological patients. In recent years scientific interest has increased focus on the use of BIA in intensive care. Here it is used to control the hydration and nutritional status of critical patients.
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According to the calendar, the solstice on June 21 officially marks the beginning of Summer - and with it comes the season of outdoor barbecues. Few activities are as strongly associated with Summer as the act of outdoor grilling with friends and family. With the use of an open fire, food has a unique taste that has a great appeal to many. This experienced taste is based on a non-enzymatic browning reaction known as the Maillard reaction. When heated, amino acids and reducing sugars (such as glucose or fructose) react with one another and form a new chemical compound which is responsible for the characteristic taste, smell and the appearance of grilled or fried food. However, this reaction…
