The Role of the Qur'an and Sunnah in Oral Health.

The aim of this study was to explore the ways in which the main texts in Islam, Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), contribute to understandings of oral health. The AHadith provide guidance for oral health-related behaviour but were written at a time when their symbolic meanings were perhaps vastly different to those of today. In gaining more insight into the ways Islamic HRB shape oral health-related practices and outcomes, if at all, we may be better placed to develop a more culturally sensitive and diverse dental public health and oral health promotion which takes into account religious dimensions, mediating factors, HRB and salutogenic mechanisms

Discovery of Swine as a Host for the \u3ci\u3eReston ebolavirus\u3c/i\u3e

Since the discovery of the Marburg and Ebola species of filovirus, seemingly random, sporadic fatal outbreaks of disease in humans and nonhuman primates have given impetus to identification of host tropisms and potential reservoirs. Domestic swine in the Philippines, experiencing unusually severe outbreaks of porcine reproductive and respiratory disease syndrome, have now been discovered to host Reston ebolavirus (REBOV). Although REBOV is the only member of Filoviridae that has not been associated with disease in humans, its emergence in the human food chain is of concern. REBOV isolates were found to be more divergent from each other than from the original virus isolated in 1989, indicating polyphyletic origins and that REBOV has been circulating since, and possibly before, the initial discovery of REBOV in monkeys

Effects of parasites on larval and juvenile stages of the coral reef fish Pomacentrus moluccensis

The ecological role of parasites in the early life-history stages of coral reef fish is far from clear. Parasitism in larval, recently settled and juvenile stages of a coral reef fish damselfish (Pomacentridae) was therefore investigated by quantifying the ontogenetic change in parasite load and comparing the growth rates of parasitized juvenile fish to those of unparasitized ones. Parasite prevalence in two lunar pulses of Pomacentrus moluccensis was 4 and 0% for larval stage fish, 34 and 56% for recently settled fish and 42 and 49% for juveniles. A significant increase in parasite prevalence with age group was found; the most marked increase occurred immediately after larval fish had settled. Standard length did not model prevalence well; as length is a proxy for age, this indicates that the higher prevalence in recently settled and juvenile fish compared with larvae was not a simple result of parasites accumulating with age. In one of three cohorts, there was some evidence that parasitism affected the growth rate of juveniles, as measured by otolith width. The study suggests that settling on the reef exposes young fish to potentially harmful parasites. This supports the idea that the pelagic phase may have the effect of reducing the exposure of young fish to the debilitating effects of parasites

Discovery of Swine as a Host for the <i>Reston ebolavirus</i>

Not Reston at All Reston ebolavirus is named, mistakenly perhaps, for Reston, Virginia, where it was discovered in the 1970s in imported macaques. After some alarm it was found not to be virulent in humans, uniquely among the ebola viruses, which are characteristically fatal causing a horrific spectrum of symptoms. Using a panviral detection assay, Reston ebolavirus has been rediscovered by Barrette et al. (p. 204 ) in domesticated pigs in the Philippines in association with other viruses that cause respiratory illness. The strains involved are closely related to the original macaque strain and, given how little variance there is among the viruses, it appears that it is freely circulating between these species possibly, like several other zoonotic viruses, having a reservoir in bats. Serological assays indicated that farm workers have become infected, although no obvious symptoms of human disease have been reported. </jats:p