Coronary heart disease exhibits a winter peak and summer trough in incidence and mortality, in countries both north and south of the equator. In England and Wales, the winter peak accounts for an additional 20,000 deaths per annum. It is likely that this reflects seasonal variations in risk factors. Seasonal variations have been demonstrated in a number of lifestyle risk factors such a physical...

Sympatric species from the same ecological guild, that exhibit partial altitudinal segregation, can potentially interact in areas of syntopic occurrence. Besides general species' ecology, physiology can provide important answers about species interactions reflected in altitudinal patterns. Lizards Podarcis muralis and Iberolacerta horvathi exhibit partial altitudinal segregation, while they str...

BACKGROUND The recent emergence of a novel pandemic influenza A(H1N1) strain in humans exemplifies the rapid and unpredictable nature of influenza virus evolution and the need for effective therapeutics and vaccines to control such outbreaks. However, resistance to antivirals can be a formidable problem as evidenced by the currently widespread oseltamivir- and adamantane-resistant seasonal infl...

INTRODUCTION This study investigated influenza activity in Bangkok, Thailand between June 2009 and July 2012. METHODOLOGY Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to detect influenza viruses among patients with influenza-like illnesses. RESULTS Of the 6417 patients tested, influenza virus infection was detected in 42% (n = 2697) of the specimens. Infl...

BACKGROUND A variety of studies have noted seasonal variation in blood lipid levels. Although the mechanism for this phenomenon is not clear, such variation could result in larger numbers of people being diagnosed as having hypercholesterolemia during the winter. METHODS We conducted a longitudinal study of seasonal variation in lipid levels in 517 healthy volunteers from a health maintenance...