For the whole of the 20th century it was believed that the Black Death and all the plagues of Europe (1347–1670) were epidemics of bubonic plague. This review presents evidence that this view is incorrect and that the disease was a viral haemorrhagic fever, characterised by a long incubation period of 32 days, which allowed it to be spread widely even with the limited transport of the Middle Ag...

OBJECTIVES This report presents the 2000 period infant mortality statistics from the linked birth/infant death data set (linked file) by a variety of maternal and infant characteristics. METHODS Descriptive tabulations of data are presented and interpreted. RESULTS Infant mortality rates ranged from 3.5 per 1,000 live births for Chinese mothers to 13.5 for black mothers. Among Hispanics, ra...

For the whole of the 20th century it was believed that the Black Death and all the plagues of Europe (1347–1670) were epidemics of bubonic plague. This review presents evidence that this view is incorrect and that the disease was a viral haemorrhagic fever, characterised by a long incubation period of 32 days, which allowed it to be spread widely even with the limited transport of the Middle Ag...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of black rice extract (BRE) on tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP)-induced oxidative injury in HepG2 cells. MATERIALS/METHODS Methanolic extract from black rice was evaluated for the protective effect on TBHP-induced oxidative injury in HepG2 cells. Several biomarkers that modulate cell survival and death incl...

The successful reconstruction of an ancient bacterial genome from archaeological material presents an important methodological advancement for infectious disease research. The reliability of evolutionary histories inferred by the incorporation of ancient data, however, are highly contingent upon the level of genetic diversity represented in modern genomic sequences that are publicly accessible,...

Pathogenic bacteria such as Yersinia pestis, causative agent of the plague, have a genetic armoury proteins they use to defend themselves against immune system when invading host. Upon invasion, Y. pestis deploy molecular cloaking device, made protein called Caf1, which allows them avoid being eaten by host’s macrophage cells. Caf1 has several interesting structural properties that allow it car...