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Protecting health by improved building efficiency Home sweet home. Houses are supposed to be our nest, a shelter from the world outside. But how healthy are European homes? Nowadays most of our time is spent indoors, often at home, one reason being the current shift to “desk jobs”.

Household air pollution: the forgotten hazard As air pollution is largely considered to be an outdoor problem, people are little aware of indoor contaminants . The World Health Organisation estimated that each year 4.3 million people die of exposure to household pollutants.

Long live your food Industrial food treatment processes need to tackle bacteria that can spoil food . These microorganisms, although non-pathogenic, can make food products unpalatable and affect how long they can be stored for.

How safe is seafood? Consumption of seafood is regarded as healthy since it contains high quality proteins, vitamins and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. But it might also put us at risk of exposure to environmental pollutants.

Do microbes control our mood? If aliens were to examine a human, they would think we were just slavish organisms designed to feed microbes and carry them around. Our bodies contain ten times more bacteria than cells , and there are an estimated 3.

Designing ultra-sensitive biosensors for early personalised diagnostics Personalised medicine is one of the new developments that is deemed to revolutionise health care. A key component is the detection of biomarkers, proteins in blood or saliva, for example, whose presence or abnormal concentration is caused by a disease.

Gene correction for a rare disease Angeles suffers from a severe and rare genetic disease called Acute Intermittent Porphyria (AIP). This means, one of her genes restrains her liver to produce a specific protein needed for the metabolism of the blood.

Renewed hope for gene therapy in rare disease Between 30 and 40 million people in Europe suffer from rare diseases —many of them children. As most of these diseases have genetic origins, gene therapy is a major hope for their future cure .

Gloria González-Aseguinolaza - Positive signs for curative treatment against Porphyria Patients with Acute Intermittent Porphyria (AIP) are permanently tired. They continuously suffer acute pain, severe motor affection and an array of neurological problems. AIP affects one in 10,000 people in the EU.

Greater granularity on anthropogenic emission Anthropogenic emissions have, until now, been collected, but not harmonised . These consist, for example, of data of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions, smog, methane, CO 2 and even pollen and dust produced, among others by heavy industry and power plants.

When air quality governs traffic management Poor air quality costs Europe more than €700 million per year, in health expenditures and loss of economic performance, according to official EU sources.

Targeting bacterial cell division to fight antibiotic resistance Nowadays, people do not expect to die as a result of a common infection like bacterial pneumonia. However, many do. Indeed, some bacteria have become resistant to all available antibiotics, due to overuse .

Preventing antibiotic resistance in hospital textiles “Antibiotic resistance threatens a return to the pre-antibiotic era”. The World Health Organisation uses this strong expression when referring to a phenomenon that is rapidly spreading: the increasing resistance of microorganisms to antimicrobial medicines, such as antibiotics .

Less salt, sugar and fat, same pleasure The scientific community now widely recognises that salt, sugar and fat in excess in food lead to health issues . Among these are obesity, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.

No biomarkers identified to assess potential health effects of GMOs Many people in Europe are critical of genetically modified (GM) food, due to safety concerns. A Eurobarometer survey, published in 2010, revealed that the European public tends to be worried on a “mediate level” about GM food , with people in Austria being particularly concerned.

Clare Hall – who are the trusted sources of food safety information? youris.com talks to Clare Hall, social science researcher at the Scottish Agricultural College in Edinburgh, UK, about the best ways to effectively inform the public about food safety in relation to pathogens responsible for foodborne diseases.

Philippe Baralon – Anti-fraud systems could still be improved A French veterinary surgeon and former researcher at the Toulouse National Veterinary School , Philippe Baralon is the founder of Phylum , a consultancy specialised in food safety working for the food industry.

Under the weather, literally We can blame all sorts of things on the weather. But a stomach bug? It seems unlikely. Yet, scientists say greater quantities of rainfall and bigger storms will lead to more stomach upsets in parts of Europe.

A patient-specific predictive platform to treat back pathologies Despite being such a common problem, the decision-making process regarding the treatment of lumbar or low back pain is slow and it is hard for clinicians to decide if a patient actually requires a surgical treatments and to predict if these will be successful.

Prof. Jordy Sunyer "The role of environmental pollutants in our daily life is something completely new" From 13th to 16th September 13 to 16 Barcelona hosted the 2011 ISEE (International Society for Environmental Epidemiology) congress.

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