The recent global (re)emergence of arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), such as chikungunya and Zika virus, was widely reported in the media as though it was a new phenomenon. This is not the case. Arboviruses and other human microbial pathogens have been (re)emerging for centuries. The major difference today is that arbovirus emergence and dispersion are more rapid and geographically extensi...

The major challenge posed to all those seeking to explain semantic properties of natural language is the pervasive dependence on context for the way in which expressions are understood. This chapter surveys the emergence of formal models of semantics against the background of the new emphasis in linguistics during the 1950’s of formal modelling of grammars, and then details the way in which for...

Dengue is a mosquito borne disease caused by any of the four serotypes of dengue virus. Dengue 4 virus (DEN-4) was once the predominant serotype found in Malaysia causing up to 60% of dengue fever (DF) cases in 1960'sl. Since then, however, other serotypes notably DEN-2 and DEN-3 have become the predominant serotypes isolated among DF and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) patients. DEN-4 made up o...

Transmission routes of pathogenic bacteria can be very complex and can include direct transmission from human to human, contact with environment, contact with animals, aerosol transmission, vectors, and food and water intake. Clostridium difficile was historically regarded as a typically nosocomial pathogen, and hospitalization was one of the main risk factors for development of C. difficile in...

In the paper by Ford et al (this volume, pp 472–478), the authors describe the results of an open label, retrospective study of a selective denervation for severe cervical dystonia (torticollis) in 16 patients refractory to injections with botulinum toxin type A. Using functional capacity scales they concluded that six (37.5%) patients had “a moderate or complete return of normal neck function”...