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Updated: 2 hours 5 min ago

Behavioural neurobiology: The treacherous scent of a human - on article in Nature

2 hours 5 min ago
 Behavioural neurobiology: The treacherous scent of a human - on article in NatureBehavioural neurobiology The treacherous scent of a humanWalter LealNature 464 (7285), 37-8 (04 Mar 2010)info:doi/10.1038/464037aMosquitoes' odorant receptors help the insects to find humans and, inadvertently, to transmit malaria. The identification of the odorants that bind to these receptors opens up ways of reducing mosquito biting ... The malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, is an accessory to the deaths of about one million humans every year1. To acquire nutrients for their offspring, female mosquitoes feed on human blood. While sucking their victim's blood using contaminated, needle-like mouth parts, these mosquitoes unwittingly transmit the malaria-causing parasite that threatens half of the world's population. Globally, the number of people who get malaria each year is greater than the population of the United States1. It is unclear how the perpetrators of these crimes find their victims, but it is known that human-derived odorants have a key role — for example, female mosquitoes find the odour of patients with malaria particularly attractive2. Understanding odorant reception by the malaria mosquito is therefore of paramount importance, because it could lead to the development of olfactory-based strategies for controlling the insects, and so to a reduction in the number of mosquito bites. On page 66 of this issue, Carlson and colleagues3 report a milestone discovery in our understanding of the malaria mosquito's sense of smell. Through the functional characterization of 50 of A. gambiae's odorant receptors (ORs), some of which are involved in the detection of human-derived attractants, these investigators shed light on the molecules that have potential as accomplices in malaria infection.Posted by NatureRevMicrobiol to mosquitoes transmission malaria on Mon Mar 08 2010 at 02:44 UTC | info | related
Categories: malaria news feeds

BBC News - Drug-resistant malaria 'growing' in Cambodia

Fri, 2010-02-26 20:33
 BBC News - Drug-resistant malaria 'growing' in Cambodianews.bbc.co.ukParasites are developing resistance to one of the most important anti-malaria drugs, according to experts. Artimisinin has been highly effective, particularly in places where resistance to other drugs has developed. But now some patients along Cambodia's border with Thailand are taking longer to respond to the treatment.Posted by NatureRevMicrobiol to artemisinin Drug resistance treatment therapy malaria on Fri Feb 26 2010 at 20:33 UTC | info | related
Categories: malaria news feeds

King Tut's death explained? - on article in JAMA

Sun, 2010-02-21 12:00
 King Tut's death explained? - on article in JAMAKing Tuts death explainedDeclan ButlerNature News, (16 Feb 2010)info:doi/10.1038/news.2010.75Experts question claims that malaria and osteonecrosis contributed to Pharaoh's decline ... A research team says it has solved the mystery surrounding the death of the Egyptian boy-king Tutankhamun, who died in about 1324 B.C. at the age of 19. Some outside experts contacted by Nature, however, are sceptical, saying that the paper's conclusions overstep its data. Genetic fingerprinting done on Tutankhamun, commonly known as King Tut, and ten other mummies also yielded a putative five-generation family tree that includes King Tut's parents. "The paper is of importance since it deals with the most famous of Egyptian mummies. However, most of the results are predictable," says Frank Rühli of the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and joint head of the Swiss Mummy Project. Imaging results in the report, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, indicate that Tutankhamun had osteonecrosis of two metatarsal bones in one foot, according to the authors, and DNA evidence suggests that he was infected with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.Posted by NatureRevMicrobiol to history egypt malaria on Wed Feb 17 2010 at 04:28 UTC | info | related
Categories: malaria news feeds

Toutankhamon aurait succombé au paludisme et à une maladie des os - LeMonde.fr - on article in JAMA

Sun, 2010-02-21 12:00
 Toutankhamon aurait succombé au paludisme et à une maladie des os - LeMonde.fr - on article in JAMAUne étude américaine prétend avoir trouvé les causes tant recherchées de la mort, à 19 ans, du légendaire pharaon Toutankhamon. Grâce à des tests d'ADN, les scientifiques ont également levé une partie du voile sur sa filiation. Mort vers 1300 avant notre ère, Toutankhamon aurait succombé au paludisme combiné à une maladie osseuse, la maladie de Kohler. Les égyptologues ont abondamment spéculé sur l'hypothèse de maladies héréditaires dans la famille royale de la XVIIIe dynastie aussi bien que sur la cause de sa mort après neuf ans sur le trône, explique Zahi Hawass, responsable des antiquités égyptiennes au Musée du Caire, et principal auteur de cette étude. Les chercheurs se sont appuyés sur plusieurs méthodes, dont la radiologie et l'analyse d'ADN pour cette recherche effectuée sur seize momies dont onze, y compris celle de Toutankhamon, étaient apparemment membres de la famille royale. Ces recherches ont permis d'identifier le père du pharaon comme étant Akhenaton, époux de la reine Néfertiti. Les deux momies partagent plusieurs caractéristiques morphologiques uniques et ont le même groupe sanguin. Les auteurs de cette recherche ont aussi déterminé que la mère du jeune pharaon serait la momie KV35YL dont le nom reste inconnu. Ils ont aussi identifié sa grand-mère, la reine Tye, mère d'Akhenaton.Posted by NatureRevMicrobiol to egypt history malaria on Wed Feb 17 2010 at 04:21 UTC | info | related
Categories: malaria news feeds