public health
Thomas Dambo: The Master of Upcycled Urban Sculptures
Thomas Dambo, born in Odense, Denmark in 1979, grew up in a creative and communal environment. From a young age, Dambo was encouraged to explore his creativity, building his first wooden box for his brother’s pacifier and scavenging materials to construct massive fortresses with his friends.
As a teenager, Dambo delved into street art, urban exploration, and graffiti. His passion for urban culture and hip-hop led him to become a beatboxer, touring with Norwegian rapper Skranglebein. In 2004, he formed the hip-hop super crew Fler Farver with his younger brother and friends, releasing nine albums and gaining significant recognition in the Danish underground hip-hop scene.
Chimpanzees May Self-Medicate With Plants, Using the Forest as a Pharmacy
Chimpanzees may be using the forest like their own personal pharmacy. When they’re sick, the primates appear to seek out and eat plants with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, according to new research.
Observers have long suspected that chimpanzees use plants to self-medicate. Now, a new paper published last week in the journal PLOS ONE offers more evidence in support of this idea.
Researchers followed two groups of wild chimpanzees through Uganda’s Budongo Forest for eight months. They recorded what the animals ate, as well as whether they were sick—which they determined by checking their feces for parasites, testing their urine for elevated levels of immune cells and looking for wounds.
What is a Healthy Forest?
Healthy forests are beneficial for people and wildlife.
When forests are healthy, they produce enough food, water and shelter to support local wildlife, clean the air, reduce erosion into nearby streams and lakes, and are less susceptible to large-scale high-severity wildfires.
But what does a healthy forest look like?
Rogan Brown: The Science of Paper
Rogan Brown is an Anglo-Irish artist notable for his intricate paper sculptures that beautifully intertwine art and science. Drawing inspiration from the microscopic to the monumental—microbiology, botanical forms, geological structures, and marine ecosystems—Brown meticulously handcrafts and laser-cuts complex three-dimensional artworks. His pieces surpass mere representation, merging scientific accuracy with surreal artistic flair.
Dengue fever, once confined to the tropics, now threatens the U.S.
Climate change is expanding the habitat of the mosquitoes that carry the disease, allowing them to spread further north.
Meg Norris was traveling in Argentina in April when the first signs of dengue fever hit her. The weather in Salta, just south of the Bolivian border, was warm, but Norris, a 33-year-old from Boulder, Colorado, zipped a fleece sweatshirt around her body to stop herself from shivering.
“I thought it was sun poisoning,” she said.
Dengue Explained in Five Minutes
Check out this video by Free Med Education to learn about dengue fever, its cause, and its symptoms.
The Rise of Dengue: A Global Perspective
Around the world, dengue is considered the most common viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes that affects people. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the disease is now endemic in more than 100 countries. In the first three months of 2024, over five million dengue cases and over 2000 dengue-related deaths were reported globally. The figures so far project that 2024 could be even worse than 2023, with the regions most seriously affected being the Americas, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific.
In the Americas, there were 6,186,805 suspected cases of dengue reported in the first 15 weeks of 2024. To put this into perspective, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), this figure represents an increase of 254% compared to the same period in 2023. Of these cases 5,928 were confirmed and classified as severe dengue.
Mary Beth Heffernan: From the Studio to the Hospital Ward
Mary Beth Heffernan, a Los Angeles based artist, brings together corporeality and imagery through various media. Her work examines deep questions about how bodies and their experiences are represented in digital and physical forms.
One of Heffernan’s most notable projects, the PPE Portrait Project, began in 2014 to humanize the protective gear of Ebola workers in Liberia. By placing portraits on protective equipment, the project helped mitigate fear and foster connections between healthcare workers and patients. The initiative gained international attention and was adapted for COVID-19 response, impacting healthcare settings worldwide, including major institutions like Stanford Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Understanding Measles
Check out this video by CBC on one of the world’s most contagious but preventable diseases. Learn how measles attacks the body and what makes it so contagious.
Europe and the U.S. Battle Measles – Again
Initially, doctors in the Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina thought the rash on young Imran’s* stomach could be scarlet fever. Or maybe it was Kawasaki disease. As reported by Eurosurveillance, that was in early December 2023. By Christmas, four of Imran’s preschool classmates had been admitted to the hospital with measles. By mid-January 2024, another epidemiologically linked case – again originally misdiagnosed as the much less contagious scarlet fever – presented in a neighboring canton. Two more quickly followed. Between the last week of December and the middle of February, the Balkan nation had reported 141 new measles cases.
Barts Health Trust’s Dr. David Harrington said the misdiagnoses should not be unexpected.
“Many front-line clinicians won’t have seen measles for several years,” he told Medscape UK. “So good education and training and collaboration between public health and infection specialists with those in primary and emergency care is key.”