SMC Spain

According to a statement issued Monday by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Poland has reported that "unusual" cat deaths have been found in several areas of the country. Of the 47 samples tested (46 from cats and one from a caracal, another type of feline), 29 were positive for the avian influenza A(H5N1) virus. The surveillance period for all contacts has now ended and no contacts have shown symptoms. According to WHO, "sporadic A(H5N1) infections of cats have been reported previously, but this is the first report of a large number of infected cats in a large geographical area within a country".

Capping the consumption of European households who consume most energy - those with the highest incomes and education levels - could achieve "considerable emissions reductions", according to a UK research team. This benefit could also be achieved by simultaneously increasing the consumption of the poorest and most vulnerable users. The analysis, published in Nature Energy, estimates that limiting the energy use of the top 20 % of consumers in 27 countries in Europe would reduce emissions from domestic energy consumption by 11.4 %, 16.8 % from transport, and 9.7 % from total energy consumption. The article states that the association between high income and high energy consumption is particularly strong in countries such as Spain, where income inequality is relatively high.

In a press release last May, Eli Lilly announced positive results from a phase 3 trial of donanemab antibody therapy to treat early-stage Alzheimer's disease. Now, the study, which included 1,736 people in eight countries over an 18-month period, is published in the journal JAMA and shows that, in some cases, clinical progression of the disease was slowed.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) have published a health impact assessment of the sweetener aspartame. Citing "limited evidence" of carcinogenicity in humans, IARC has classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B). For its part, JECFA has not changed the acceptable daily intake of this sweetener, which is set at 40 mg/kg body weight. According to these bodies, with one can of diet soft drink containing 200-300 mg aspartame, a 70 kg adult would need to consume more than 9-14 cans per day to exceed the acceptable daily intake - assuming no other intake from other dietary sources.

A study of nearly 3,000 Latin Americans who attended the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona over 17 years showed that 47% were infected by the parasite that causes Chagas disease. Of these, 17% also presented cardiac alterations derived from the disease. The study reveals that there is under-diagnosis in Spain, as there is in endemic areas. However, due to the characteristics of the research, the authors point out that "these data cannot be used to estimate the prevalence of infection in the general Latin American population living in Spain", which is notably lower according to other studies. The results are published in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

The Anthropocene Working Group of the International Commission on Stratigraphy has  proposed Crawford Lake in Canada as a reference site for studying the Anthropocene as a possible geological epoch. This proposal for a Global boundary and Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) was presented today at the International Congress of Stratigraphy in Lille, France. It is a necessary, but not sufficient step for the Anthropocene to enter the International Chronostratigraphic Table, the worldwide reference for geological units. Once approved by the AWG, this proposal has to go through three more votes in international geological bodies. 

The term Anthropocene describes the profound changes on Earth due to human activities in the past decades. The concept comes from geology but has spread to other areas and has sparked controversy within science. In this article, we provide some keys to understand what the Anthropocene is, and why there has been debate in recent days surrounding its possible declaration.  

A Canadian study has examined whether there is a link between occupation and risk of ovarian cancer. After analysing data from nearly 500 women diagnosed with the disease and nearly 900 controls, they found that working for more than ten years in professions such as hairdressing or beauticians triples the risk of ovarian cancer. The risk also increases in occupations such as accountants or those related to the textile industry. The results are published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

The heat waves that took place in Europe during the summer of 2022 were associated with more than 61,000 deaths on the continent, more than 11,000 of them in Spain. These are the results of a modelling study published in the journal Nature Medicine and led by ISGlobal researchers.