BACKGROUND Interoceptive exposure has been validated as an effective component of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for the treatment of panic disorder but has hitherto received little research attention. We examined the effectiveness of various interoceptive exposure exercises using the Body Sensations Questionnaire (BSQ) (Chambless et al., 1984). METHODS We first performed an exploratory p...

Alarm bells have been ringing around the world about the decline in number of many amphibian populations and a new global study deepens concerns about the future of many species. Nigel Williams reports.

a group of animals under such a high level of threat is, quite frankly, unlike anything we have recorded among any other group of species to date. " Elsewhere, species from tiny mouse lemurs to massive mountain gorillas face challenges to survive in Africa. Eleven out of the thirteen kinds of red colobus monkey assessed were listed as critically endangered or endangered. Two species may already...

The threat of a flu pandemic is greater than ever because of the continuing spread of the bird flu virus in southeast Asia, the World Health Organisation warned last month. With bird flu outbreaks now being reported for more than 12 months, despite countermeasures, the possibility of a global epidemic that could kill millions of people is considered by some officials to be more likely than not....

With crude oil prices approaching $100 a barrel this autumn, following one of the worst global harvests in recent history, the idea that crops may be able to provide biofuels is one of the most contentious current agri-industrial topics. And it is presently having the greatest impact in the tropics, where ecosystems are already under unprecedented threat from human activity. Conservationists ar...

German, Finnish, Lithuanian and Swedish laboratories has recently described the various forms of hantaviruses, which cause respiratory diseases, that infect small rodents in eastern Europe. Hantaviruses can pass to humans, particularly forest workers and farmers whose work brings them into contact with these animals. A particularly virulent form has been found in the Balkan states in Europe whi...