public health

Lyme Disease Quick Facts

Lyme disease is one of the fastest growing infectious diseases in the country and one of the most difficult to diagnose. Experts in the medical and scientific community, as well as key legislators, have deemed Lyme disease an epidemic … a national public health crisis … and a growing threat.

300,000 people are infected with Lyme disease each yearAt least 300,000 people are infected with Lyme disease each year
New tick-borne diseases are emerging … the number of tick endemic regions is growing … the tick population is increasing … and, the number of people infected with Lyme disease is steadily rising.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that at least 300,000 people are infected with Lyme disease each year in the United States. That’s 25,000 new cases per month. Twenty-five percent of those patients are children, ages 5 to 14.

Information and Infographic obtained from https://danielcameronmd.com/.

Susan Aldworth: Cultivating Art from the Brain

Susan Aldworth, born in 1955, is an artist known for her exploration of consciousness, identity, and the human mind. With a background in philosophy, Aldworth’s exemplifies the blend of art and science and establisher her as a significant figure in the UK’s Art & Science movement since the late 1990s.

Her creative practice utilizes various mediums, including printmaking, drawing, installation, and time-based media, bringing into light the lived experiences of individuals, particularly those related to medical and psychological conditions.

Aldworth’s work is featured in prestigious collections such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, and the British Library, and she has exhibited extensively both in the UK and internationally.

The CDC says maternal mortality rates in the U.S. got better, after a pandemic spike

After spiking in 2021, the maternal mortality rate in the U.S. improved significantly the following year, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The data shows that 817 women died of maternal causes in the U.S. in 2022, compared to 1,205 in 2021. These are deaths that take place during pregnancy or within 42 days following delivery, according to the World Health Organization, “from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.”

“I think that the bump [in 2021] reflects the pandemic and we’re returning to pre-pandemic levels,” says study author Donna Hoyert, who a health scientist at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

Role of Social Determinants in Maternal and Child Health

About 287,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2020. Around 95% of these maternal deaths occurred in low and lower middle-income countries and nearly every death was preventable. Equally, children under the age of five continue to face differing chances of survival based on where they are born and raised.

A child born in sub-Saharan Africa is 11 times more likely to die in the first month of life than one born in the region of Australia and New Zealand, and a 15-year-old girl in sub-Saharan Africa is 400 times more likely to die in her lifetime due to issues related to childbirth than a 15-year-old girl living in Australia and New Zealand (with the ratio for SSA being 1 in 40, compared to ANZ being 1 in 16,000 women).

Where is the Maternal Health Gap?

Maternal health has long been a central focus in global initiatives, prominently featured in key frameworks such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescents’ Health.

Unfortunately, despite these efforts, the ambitious targets—particularly those aimed at reducing maternal mortality—remain unmet.

A recent report from the Copenhagen Consensus Center highlights these challenges, and this infographic offers further insight into the statistics.

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.