http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A continued increase of Lyme disease in the United States, once linked to a recovering deer population, may instead be explained by a decline of the red fox, UC Santa Cruz researchers suggest in a new study. http://phys.org/news259238502.html Biology Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:00:04 EST news259238502 (Phys.org) -- The abundance of cattle is the primary influence on the prevalence of two tick-borne pathogens, according to a paper in the April Applied and Environmental Microbiology. One of these, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, causes human granulocytic anaplasmosis, and the other, Borrelia burgdorferi, causes Lyme disease. Although other studies have examined the effect of hosts on tick and tick-borne pathogen dynamics, this is the first to clarify the role of host abundance on prevalence of the two pathogens in their natural habitat, where wildlife and domestic livestock coexist. http://phys.org/news253806288.html Biology Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:45:06 EST news253806288 The northeastern U.S. should prepare for a surge in Lyme disease this spring. And we can blame fluctuations in acorns and mouse populations, not the mild winter. So reports Dr. Richard S. Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY. http://phys.org/news251108643.html Biology Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:24:11 EST news251108643 Researchers are watching as ticks that carry Lyme disease colonize Canada, but their research aims to predict the communities most likely to be hit by this sickness. "Our findings will help community groups and government agencies to alert the Canadians who may be at risk of picking up Lyme disease – those of us who like to visit the outdoors in spring and summer, when nymphal ticks are active but difficult to spot because of their size," said lead author Patrick Leighton of the University of Montreal's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Nymphal ticks are ticks that have not yet reached full maturity. "Identifying where the ticks are setting up home helps pinpoint where Lyme disease risk will occur before people start getting the disease". http://phys.org/news250228789.html Biology Tue, 06 Mar 2012 04:10:01 EST news250228789 (PhysOrg.com) -- Cornell researchers have peered into the complex molecular network of receptors that give one-celled organisms like bacteria the ability to sense their environment and respond to chemical changes as small as 1 part in 1,000. http://phys.org/news248981532.html Biology Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:32:43 EST news248981532 Researchers at Oregon State University have shown for the first time that loss of biodiversity may be contributing to a fungal infection that is killing amphibians around the world, and provides more evidence for why biodiversity is important to many ecosystems. http://phys.org/news235662899.html Biology Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:00:04 EST news235662899 A new study offers a detailed look at the status of Lyme disease in Central Illinois and suggests that deer ticks and the Lyme disease bacteria they host are more adaptable to new habitats than previously appreciated. http://phys.org/news227879654.html Biology Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:54:29 EST news227879654 Some guy in his pajamas, home sick with bronchitis and complaining online about it, could soon be contributing to a digital collection of medical information designed to help speed diagnoses and treatments. http://phys.org/news225286322.html Medicine & Health Sun, 22 May 2011 12:32:36 EST news225286322 (AP) -- It's that time of year when the bugs emerge to bug us. http://phys.org/news221759674.html Medicine & Health Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:54:46 EST news221759674 (PhysOrg.com) -- A pilot study shows clothes treated with long-lasting insect repellant appear to offer outdoor workers significant protection against tick bites. http://phys.org/news220697958.html Medicine & Health Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:59:37 EST news220697958 One of the most feared spiders in North America is the subject a new University of Kansas study that aims to predict its distribution and how that distribution will be affected by climate changes. http://phys.org/news220625771.html Biology Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:56:45 EST news220625771 The Western fence lizard's reputation for helping to reduce the threat of Lyme disease is in jeopardy. A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that areas where the lizard had been removed saw a subsequent drop in the population of the ticks that transmit Lyme disease. http://phys.org/news217053119.html Biology Wed, 16 Feb 2011 04:32:51 EST news217053119 The risk of deadly hantavirus outbreaks in people can be predicted months ahead of time by using satellite images to monitor surges in vegetation that boost mouse populations, a University of Utah study says. The method also might forecast outbreaks of other rodent-borne illnesses worldwide. http://phys.org/news216968024.html Biology Tue, 15 Feb 2011 04:54:17 EST news216968024 – Early, correct diagnosis is the best way to prevent the development of Lyme arthritis in individuals with the tick-borne illness, according to a paper published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS). In patients who do develop the condition, most cases can be treated successfully with antibiotics, the review found. http://phys.org/news215878945.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:40:01 EST news215878945 As part of her research into breast cancer, University of Rhode Island scientist Roberta King has for years been studying the role of an enzyme in regulating estrogen activity. http://phys.org/news215868121.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Feb 2011 11:50:05 EST news215868121 Nootkatone, a component of essential oil in grapefruit peels and other sources, is used in many food, beverage and personal-care products because of its clean, citrusy taste and smell. http://phys.org/news214141588.html Biology Thu, 13 Jan 2011 11:49:45 EST news214141588 Sugar molecules coat every cell in our bodies and play critical roles in development and disease, yet the components of these "glycans" have been difficult for scientists to study, because of their complexity. http://phys.org/news210777220.html Medicine & Health Sun, 05 Dec 2010 13:13:51 EST news210777220 (PhysOrg.com) -- Plant and animal extinctions are detrimental to your health. That's the conclusion of a paper published in this week's issue of the journal Nature by scientists who studied the link between biodiversity and infectious diseases. http://phys.org/news210434809.html Biology Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:07:08 EST news210434809 Cutting surveillance for mosquito-borne diseases would likely translate into an exponential increase in both the number of human cases and the health costs when a disease outbreak occurs, according to an analysis by Emory University. http://phys.org/news207333245.html Medicine & Health Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:34:30 EST news207333245 Scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have determined the complete genetic blueprints for 13 different strains of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. http://phys.org/news206626161.html Biology Mon, 18 Oct 2010 13:09:29 EST news206626161 Benjamin Luft, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Stony Brook University Medical Center, and a team of medical researchers have determined the genetic blueprint of 13 strains of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. The finding is crucial to advancing research on Lyme disease, the most frequent tick-borne infection in North America and Europe, and may lead to better diagnostics and a vaccine. Dr. Luft presented the research results at an October 11 meeting in Washington, D.C., at the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences. The study is reported in the early online edition of the Journal of Bacteriology. http://phys.org/news206269325.html Biology Thu, 14 Oct 2010 10:02:24 EST news206269325 By integrating remote satellite imagery with revelations from door-to-door interviews, Stanford University geographer Eric Lambin and his colleagues are exploring the complex conditions that give rise to a broad range of land-use challenges - from the reforestation of Vietnam to the spread of Lyme disease in Belgium. http://phys.org/news203164022.html Space & Earth Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:40:05 EST news203164022 The existence of chronic Lyme disease is an issue of sharp debate within the medical community. Some health care workers who call themselves "Lyme literate" insist that chronic Lyme disease is frequently diagnosed and treated by primary care physicians. Others, however, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, state that there is no convincing biological evidence that chronic Lyme disease exists. http://phys.org/news202619100.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:06:08 EST news202619100 Research on the population of black-legged ticks, which can transmit Lyme disease from host animals to humans, reinforces that it is important to take preventative measures when spending time outdoors. http://phys.org/news198863883.html Medicine & Health Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:59:25 EST news198863883 Finding a tick usually involves a squeamish self-examination - carefully rubbing fingertips through the scalp, meticulously scanning the body, and groaning "eyeww" if a little bloodsucker is discovered. http://phys.org/news194545551.html Space & Earth Mon, 31 May 2010 17:26:27 EST news194545551 (PhysOrg.com) -- Using state-of-the-art NASA satellite information, about a dozen students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Ala., are busy checking state forests for ticks that may carry Lyme disease. http://phys.org/news192907773.html Space & Earth Wed, 12 May 2010 18:30:28 EST news192907773 (PhysOrg.com) -- The popular iPhone now offers a Lyme disease 'app' that allows users to better protect themselves against the most prevalent insect-borne disease in the United States. http://phys.org/news192180346.html Medicine & Health Tue, 04 May 2010 09:00:02 EST news192180346 Recommendations released Thursday on how to treat Lyme disease are likely to fuel an ongoing debate on whether the disease is chronic and whether it's appropriate to prescribe long-term antibiotics to combat the infection. http://phys.org/news191243603.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:13:40 EST news191243603 Stories of environmental damage and their consequences always seem to take place far away and in another country, usually a tropical one with lush rainforests and poison dart frogs. http://phys.org/news186329967.html Medicine & Health Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:30:01 EST news186329967 (PhysOrg.com) -- The range of Lyme disease is spreading in North America and it appears that birds play a significant role by transporting the Lyme disease bacterium over long distances, a new study by the Yale School of Public Health has found. The study appears online in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. http://phys.org/news180792631.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:30:07 EST news180792631