Scientists

Research published in the journal Hypertension has found an association between frequent naps and an increased risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

Today the World Health Organisation declared smallpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The move was announced at a press conference by its director general, Tedros Adhanom, despite a lack of consensus in the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee.

Our landscapes urgently need proactive, adaptive, integrative management to enable rural development that is compatible in the medium and long term with biodiversity and ecosystem services. It is clear that unilateral and reactive management in the face of the challenges of global change is neither effective nor intelligent. And inaction is also a decision.

Worldwide, 236,000 people die each year from unintentional drowning in aquatic environments. In Spain alone, 260 people died as a result in 2021. To raise awareness of this problem, the UN General Assembly declared 25 July as World Drowning Prevention Day.

Climate change is causing a mass extinction of species, but for birds, this loss of biodiversity has wider implications. In research published in the journal Current Biology, researchers use statistical models to predict that this extinction will decrease morphological diversity among the remaining birds at a faster rate than species loss alone.

US researchers have designed an intranasal vaccination device that is capable of delivering immunising proteins through the mucosal surface. The research, published in Science Translational Medicine, shows that strong antibody responses against viruses such as HIV and SARS-CoV-2 have been achieved in mice and non-human primates.

The WHO's Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System recorded outliers for influenza illness in 16 countries, including Spain, in early 2020. This would mean an average of 13 weeks before the first reported covid-19 peak, according to research published in PLoS Medicine.

The high temperatures have led to an increase in cases of heat stroke, a serious disorder that requires urgent medical attention.

Reducing salt intake is recommended to prevent heart failure, but restricting it too much could worsen a common type of heart failure, research published in the journal Heart suggests.

Coinciding with the heat wave, numerous wildfires have started and spread in the Iberian Peninsula, with two fatalities in the province of Zamora.