As the world woke up to a global pandemic in early 2020, a new EU-funded research initiative was just getting underway – the Versatile Emerging Infectious Diseases Observatory (VEO). The researchers involved in this timely initiative had set out to improve how we respond to public health emergencies through better disease surveillance. Their
Professor Majorie van Duursen, a Dutch environmental health expert and toxicologist, has her sights set on improving women’s health. Her principal target? Substances known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) found everywhere around us, from the air we breathe and the clothes we wear to the products we put on our skin. Van Duursen, head
With nearly 30 years of experience in human nutrition research and teaching, Professor Kevin Cashman has dished out his fair share of nutritional advice to individuals, the media and government. Now Chair of Food and Health at University College Cork, Ireland, Cashman is coordinating a wide-ranging EU-funded research initiative called Zero_Hidden Hunger_EU along with
The drug also caused a notable decrease in amyloid plaque buildup, which is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. ART-ur/ Shutterstock Rahul Sidhu, University of Sheffield Alzheimer’s disease is usually associated with old age. But around 5%-10% of all Alzheimer’s cases occur in people under the age of 65. Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease progresses more
David Clarke has a busy life juggling two jobs. He works three days a week recycling waste at a supermarket in Drogheda, his home town in eastern Ireland. On other days, he takes the hour-long bus ride to the capital Dublin to work in a gift hamper warehouse. Aged 44 and living with
Many will remember the sourdough bread-baking craze that emerged at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when people were stuck at home and looking for something creative to do. With social media feeds full of images of sourdough “starters” with quirky names and crisp, freshly baked loaves, home bakers discovered the joys –
In the village of Lerești, in the centre of Romania, a bus with a purpose pulled up last August. Having already travelled through Lithuania and Poland, it was on the third of its five stops in Romania, on a mission to raise awareness of cancer – both ways to prevent it and options
Yap Boum, Mbarara University of Science and Technology Walking through the crowded streets of the Pakadjuma neighbourhood in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, I am struck by the vibrant atmosphere around me. Children play happily in puddles, surrounded by piles of plastic bags and open ditches of sewage. Shacks patched
Yap Boum, Mbarara University of Science and Technology The Ebola virus devastated west Africa in 2014, claiming over 11,000 lives in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. It was the largest Ebola outbreak since the virus had first been discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976. Ebola is a terrifying virus which,
For 89-year-old Mercedes Alvarez from the northern Spanish city of Gijón, cataract surgery was more than a routine medical procedure, it was a life-changing experience. “At first, I didn’t want to do it, even though I had trouble seeing anything,” Alvarez said. “I spent sleepless nights worrying because, at my age, even a