Since the current International Health Regulations were implemented in 2007, the World Health Organization has declared only three events to be public health emergencies of international concern: the 2009 H1N1 infl uenza pandemic, the recent resurgence of polio and, now, the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa.1 The species circulating in West Africa, Zaire ebolavirus, carries the...

We are living in a climate of fear about our future climate. The language of the public discourse around global warming routinely uses a repertoire which includes words such as ‘catastrophe’, ‘terror’, ‘danger’, ‘extinction’ and ‘collapse’. To help make sense of this phenomenon the story of the complex relationships between climates and cultures in different times and in different places is in ...

Building confidence is essential for qualified nurses undertaking numeracy assessments. This qualitative research study explores self-reported levels of in at various stages the life-course, including when a test as part Community Practitioner Nurse Prescribing (CPNP) qualification. An hour-long, semi-structured focus group was conducted by authors, and resulting data thematically analysed. The...

Neutrophils are the most abundant innate immune cells, making up 50%–70% of all leukocytes. Neutrophils are the “first responders” of host defense, preventing infections by deploying sophisticated antimicrobial strategies acting in concert. As neutrophils are short-living cells, they are continuously produced and released from the bone marrow in abundance (>10 per day). Circulating neutrophils ...