iGEM meetup for teams and supervisors The best synbio projects, including iGEM teams, have one thing in common: cutting edge science in the light of carefully considered societal needs.
Slightly more tuberculosis patients in the Netherlands The key figures of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) show that in 2018 there were 806 TB patients in the Netherlands. This is 3 percent more than in 2017 (784).
Discussion regarding health-based guidance value of PFOA The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a provisional health-based guidance value for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
Strong decline of tuberculosis in the Netherlands The number of tuberculosis (TB) patients in the Netherlands decreased considerably in 2017. From 887 patients in 2016 to 787 in 2017.
Risk of measles outbreaks increases with decreasing vaccination coverage Vaccination coverage for vaccinations in the Dutch National Vaccination Program (NIP) decreased slightly by about half a percent for the third consecutive year.
Alertness about the Zika virus still needed for pregnant women Since May 2015, there has been a Zika virus outbreak in South and Central America, including the Caribbean. The Zika virus can cause birth defects, including microcephaly (small head size).
Guus Velders in Nature's "Ten people that mattered this year" Researcher Dr Guus Velders of RIVM has made the Nature top-10 list of 2016. This means that, according to Nature, he was one of the 10 most influential scientists in 2016.
RIVM research basis for historic climate agreement on HFCs Scientific research by RIVM’s Guus Velders stood partly at the basis of the HFC global climate agreement.
Measles epidemic and Salmonella outbreak cost nearly six million euros The most recent measles epidemic and outbreak of Salmonella Thomson due to smoked salmon have cost 3.9 and 1.7 million euros, respectively.
Without measures emissions of HFC greenhouse gases will increase rapidly Without global agreement on the use of HFCs, their contribution to the greenhouse effect may increase sharply to 10 percent of that of CO2 by 2050. The current contribution is less than 1 percent.