Possible control of acute outbreaks of a marine fungal pathogen by nominally herbivorous tropical reef fish.

Primary producers in terrestrial and marine systems can be affected by fungal pathogens threatening the provision of critical ecosystem services. Crustose coralline algae (CCA) are ecologically important members of tropical reef systems and are impacted by coralline fungal disease (CFD) which manifests as overgrowth of the CCA crust by fungal lesions causing partial to complete mortality of the CCA host. No natural controls for CFD have been identified, but nominally herbivorous fish could play a role by consuming pathogenic fungi.

Prevalence of leprosy-related disability in Bangladesh.

Disability due to leprosy often lasts lifelong, so estimates of the burden of leprosy in a community based on ‘registered prevalence of leprosy cases’ or on ‘proportion with Grade 2 disability amongst new cases in past year’ will seriously underestimate the number of disabled people in the community needing support or services. In a previously highly endemic are of Bangladesh, the accumulated prevalence of disability due to leprosy amongst adults was 45·35/100,000 population.

The prognostic significance of blood pressure in the elderly.

Whilst recruiting for the Randomised Trial of the Treatment of Hypertension in Elderly Patients in Primary Care, 10,732 people aged 60-79 years of age (4,736 males and 5,996 females) were screened for hypertension. This constituted 78% of those eligible on the practice lists in this age range. These patients were followed up for a mean period of 2.