Climate change may worsen infections

A growing body of work links climate to the spread of human and animal infectious diseases, but the relationships between pathogens and their hosts are complex. Predictions of how these dynamics will play out over the long run in a changing climate remain controversial. Human infectious diseases have been on the upswing since the 1970s and 1980s, says Duane Gubler, an epidemiologist at the University of Hawaii. Dengue fever, not considered a major public-health problem in the mid-20th century, now strikes 50?100 million people each year, he says. More than 3,000 children die from malaria each day, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). And emerging diseases, including West Nile virus and Lyme disease, are spreading across North America.

Drug-induced gambling

Researchers are investigating suspicions that drugs prescribed to treat Parkinson’s disease could turn patients into compulsive gamblers, according to a Washington Post report. Scientists at the US Food and Drug Administration have found a strong link between pathological gambling and the drugs, which boost the level of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine, a chemical naturally produced in the human body, plays a key role in the way the brain controls movements. A shortage of dopamine causes Parkinson’s disease. But the chemical is also associated with addictive behaviours such as drug use and pleasurable experiences such as sex and food, says the report.

Low-carb diet’s dangerous

Low carbohydrate, high protein diets may help to shed weight quickly but researchers warned that they can be unhealthy. The diets can cause constipation, diarrhoea, headache, bad breath and ketosis, which causes raised levels of ketones, or acids, in the body, says a report in the British Medical Journal. The researchers cited the unpleasant effects and a lack of trials to test the long-term effects of low-carbohydrate diets or Atkins diet.The diet, based on research by Dr Robert Atkins who died in 2003, involves eating proteins such as meat and cheese and limiting carbohydrates such as bread and pasta. Ketoacidosis is caused by dangerously high levels of ketones in the blood. It can lead to coma and death if untreated.

Fake fags can help the heart

Xian, a city in China, that’s home to the world’s most enthusiastic smokers, is crushing fake cigarettes to make medicine, according to Xinhua.The city authorities are using the fake cigarettes to extract solanesol, a compound found in tobacco which is used to treat cardiovascular diseases. One kg of solanesol costs $200, and 30 tonnes of tobacco leaf can produce up to 120 kgs.