Brucella has traditionally been considered a biological weapon. It was the subject of extensive offensive research in the past, and still belongs to category B pathogens on most lists. Its propensity for airborne transmission and induction of chronic debilitating disease requiring combined antibiotic regimens for treatment, its abundance around the world and its vague clinical characteristics defying rapid clinical diagnosis are some of the characteristics that apply to the pathogen's weapons potential. Yet minimal mortality, availability of treatment options, protracted inoculation period and the emergence of new, more virulent potential weapons means that its inclusion among agents of bioterrorism is nowadays mainly of historical significance. Nevertheless, in the interest of literacy and of avoiding panic, physicians and the public both should be aware of the most common zoonosis worldwide.

IVF seems to be associated with increased risk of early onset ALL in the offspring.

No abstract

A prospective study was conducted to determine risk factors for fungal colonization, drug susceptibility, and association with invasive fungal infections (IFIs) in a neonatal unit. On admission and weekly thereafter, surveillance fungal cultures were taken from mouth, rectum, and trachea of neonates with expected stays of > 1 week. Fungal colonization was detected in 72 (12.1%) of 593 neonates during 12 months. CANDIDA ALBICANS was isolated from 42% of colonized neonates. Although early colonization (age 1.3 +/- 0.2 days) was found in 2.5% of the neonates, late colonization (age 17.6 +/- 1.4 days) was noted in 14.2% of neonates hospitalized for > 5 days. Neonates born vaginally were at higher risk for early colonization than those delivered after cesarean section ( P = 0.01). By multivariate logistic regression, very low birthweight was the only independent risk factor for late colonization. Ten IFIs (nine candidemias) were diagnosed, yielding a rate of 1.1%. These episodes occurred in 6.9% of colonized neonates, compared with 0.76% of noncolonized neonates ( P = 0.002). C. ALBICANS was susceptible to azoles, but some non- ALBICANS CANDIDA spp. exhibited decreased susceptibility to these drugs.

The rapid increase in mobile phone use in young people has generated concern about possible health effects of exposure to radiofrequency (RF) and extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic fields (EMF). MOBI-Kids, a multinational case–control study, investigates the potential effects of childhood and adolescent exposure to EMF from mobile communications technologies on brain tumor risk in 14 countries. The study, which aims to include approximately 1,000 brain tumor cases aged 10–24 years and two individually matched controls for each case, follows a common protocol and builds upon the methodological experience of the INTERPHONE study. The design and conduct of a study on EMF exposure and brain tumor risk in young people in a large number of countries is complex and poses methodological challenges. This manuscript discusses the design of MOBI-Kids and describes the challenges and approaches chosen to address them, including: (1) the choice of controls operated for suspected appendicitis, to reduce potential selection bias related to low response rates among population controls; (2) investigating a young study population spanning a relatively wide age range; (3) conducting a large, multinational epidemiological study, while adhering to increasingly stricter ethics requirements; (4) investigating a rare and potentially fatal disease; and (5) assessing exposure to EMF from communication technologies. Our experience in thus far developing and implementing the study protocol indicates that MOBI-Kids is feasible and will generate results that will contribute to the understanding of potential brain tumor risks associated with use of mobile phones and other wireless communications technologies among young people.