summer and vacation. Days of going to the beach, pool, or river for a refreshing dip. We go out on the towel to sunbathe, play cards or shovels, or have an aperitif, and when the body begins to be dry and the heat takes hold again, we go back to the water. These are some of the most common activities during this time of year, where the bikini can become the uniform of every day. But with this can come vulvovaginal infections. From the Spanish Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SEGO) they warn of the risks that staying with a wet swimsuit may entail.

The humidity that the swimsuit maintains after leaving the water and the increase in sweating help to create the perfect environment for fungi and other pathogens to proliferate in the genital area.. Although it can happen at any time of the year, it is in summer when there are more possibilities, and therefore when more care must be taken.

Most swimsuits are usually made of lycra or nylon, and from SEGO they explain that they are fabrics that do not perspire and favor greater humidity, a factor that must be taken into account. They recommend keeping the vulvovaginal area as dry as possible after bathing.

They also suggest a shower when you get out of the water to remove possible excess chlorine and dirt.. When the vulvar area is to be washed, it should be done only with water or at most with neutral soap, without perfume, since the scientific society estimates that excessive washing in this area can be counterproductive, because it can reduce the natural defenses and alter vaginal pH. In this way, it is not recommended to wash frequently (3-4 times a day), unless it is necessary.

Likewise, they advise against the continued use of sanitary protectors (salvaslip), unless there is no other option, since they do not allow heat and humidity to be released correctly. Because they are synthetic, they can cause dermatitis and skin allergies in the area.. They also state that it is important to regularly change the compress, tampon or vaginal cup to prevent infections.

Another issue to take into account at this time of year is waxing the genital area. In the case of shaving, it is advisable to use very clean material and not shave the entire vulvar area. The hairs in this area are protective against infections or wounds from rubbing with clothing, and keep the environment of the vulva and vagina protected in these circumstances.

SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT

From SEGO they report that the most common symptoms of vulvovaginal infections are: redness, itching, discomfort during urination, irritation of the vulvovaginal area and change in vaginal discharge, whiter and lumpier in the case of candidiasis or yellowish and frothy in other infections.

In the event of discomfort, or abnormal vaginal discharge, they recommend that women go as quickly as possible to the consultation of gynecology specialists so that they can assess whether there is a vaginal infection or microbiota imbalance.

María Jesús Cancelo, vice president of SEGO, explains that prevalence data is not known because many women self-medicate: “Which is a mistake”. “What we do know is that they are very frequent and that in gynecology we see these infections in one out of every five consultations”. Taking medications without health supervision can cause changes in the vaginal microbiota, or a drop in defenses. This recommendation would also apply in the event that abnormal symptoms are detected, such as changes in the abdomen and menstruation, or other gynecological pain.

The SEGO vice-president recalls that “treatment should not be given until there is certainty of the cause of this infection, because these can have different origins and the treatment given must be specific for each cause”, for which always recommends going to a specialist.

Any woman can suffer from these infections “but there are situations that increase the risks such as continuous taking antibiotics, having a disease that decreases defenses or being subjected to treatment with oncological drugs,” Cancelo points out.. In any case, summer brings together a series of factors that favor these infections.

95% of its body is made up of water and in addition to being one of nature's most unusual creatures, it is also one of the most successful despite its apparent fragility.. The next time you come across a jellyfish, think that they have been cruising the oceans for hundreds of millions of years.. At least, from 505 million years ago, since that is the dating of the oldest fossils of swimming jellyfish discovered so far.

This is confirmed by a team of scientists from the Royal Ontario Museum, in Canada, who unknowingly guarded in their collection such ancient fossils of a hitherto unknown species of jellyfish that has been named Burgessomedusa phasmiformis.. Although jellyfish and their relatives are thought to be one of the earliest animal groups to evolve, it has been difficult to place them in the Cambrian fossil record (a period that spans from 539 million years to 485 million years ago).

Artist's reconstruction of 'Burgessomedusa phasmiformis' Christian McCal

As Jean-Bernard Caron, co-author of the study and curator of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Royal Ontario Museum, explains to this newspaper, the Burgess Shale site was discovered in 1909, but these jellyfish fossils were collected almost 80 years later by the Royal Museum from Ontario under Parks Canada research and collecting permits. “Although these fossils were discovered decades ago, they had never been formally described or studied,” adds his colleague Joe Moysiuk, co-author of this study published this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, via email.. “There's always a conflict between needing to wait to see if more fossils can be discovered and just doing the job.. After all this time, it's exciting to finally give these fossils the attention they deserve.”

According to the dating carried out, they would be the oldest confirmed swimming jellyfish: “Apart from Burgessomedusa, the next oldest definitive large jellyfish comes from the late Cambrian period, and is about 10 million years younger. These fossils are just impressions, so they provide very little detail.. There are also some slightly older fossils of microscopic larval forms that suggested that this group of animals might have an earlier origin, but now we have conclusive proof,” Moysiuk says.

Caron admits, however, that the fossil record of jellyfish is controversial: “Prior to the Burgessomedusa discovery, the oldest published jellyfish body fossil was a fragmentary, poorly preserved specimen from 518 million years ago found at the Chinese Jellyfish site. Chengjiang biota. We reinterpret this fossil as an organism resembling a ctenophore (or comb jellyfish), a different group of animals unrelated to jellyfish.. Younger fossils found in Utah (USA), and approximately the same age as the Burgess Shale site (505 million years), were also redescribed as ctenophore-type fossils in our article.. Some older microscopic fossils from China, from 535 million years ago, probably did not swim,” he reviews.

“The key point here is that Burgessomedusa unequivocally represents the oldest macroscopic swimming jellyfish in the fossil record.. The term 'swim' here is critical,” says Caron.

Poison

Regarding Burgessomedusa's resemblance to modern jellyfish, Joe Moysiuk notes that “it shares characteristics with several modern groups, but does not fit neatly into any of them.”. For example, its cubic shape resembles that of modern box jellyfish (or sea wasps), some of which are famous for their deadly stings.. The arrangement of the tentacles around the entire bell-shaped body margin is most similar to modern members of the true jellyfish group, such as moon jellyfish.. Although we're pretty sure Burgessomedusa is a member of the Medusozoa, we're not so sure which group of jellyfish it's most closely related to.”

Excavations at the Burgess Shale site in 1992 Desmond Collins

Was it a poisonous jellyfish? The authors of the discovery suspect so but are not sure. As Caron explains, “jellyfish belong to the cnidarians, which also includes corals and sea anemones.. Cnidarians are united by having stinging cells, called cnidocytes, however such cells are not preserved in fossils and can only be inferred.”

“While they primarily use this venom to catch smaller prey, in some species it can be powerful enough to kill much larger organisms, including people.”. We strongly suspect that Burgessomedusa would have had venom based on its relationship to modern jellyfish.. However, we don't know how powerful it would have been,” admits Moysiuk.

Regarding its possible prey, the researcher states that they have a specimen in which two different arthropods (related to modern spiders and crabs) are apparently preserved inside the Burgessomedusa bell: “However, we are not sure if this is evidence of predatory interaction or a random association. Arthropods and their larvae would have been the most abundant potential prey at this site.”

Fossils found in Canada that preserve jellyfish from 500 million years ago Jean – Bernard Caron

As Jean-Bernard Caron details, the size of the jellyfish specimens found vary in size and range from a couple of centimeters to more than 20 centimeters: “Given that most of the animals in the Burgess Shale site are smaller than an adult finger, the largest jellyfish specimens were gigantic compared to other organisms living at the same time in that community. The groups of small and large specimens are reminiscent of jellyfish swarms in modern oceans.”

For Caron, this scientific find made from a museum archive “exemplifies the important role of new field research and collections in increasing our knowledge of the diversity of life that existed after the appearance of animals during the so-called explosion. Cambrian”.

If we asked you, the reader, to list the things that influence your health, what would you answer? While you think about it, we dare to venture that on your list would surely include issues such as your genetic heritage, your eating habits or the amount of exercise you habitually practice.. However, beyond these individual factors, there is a series of external factors that also have a direct impact on your chances of getting sick and that we often tend to ignore.. How is the place where you live is one of them. Think about whether there are green spaces near your house and a pleasant area to walk or if, on the other hand, the sidewalks are narrow and the traffic is devilish throughout the day. Because that is also important for your well-being. “The characteristics of our neighbourhoods, the way in which our cities are designed directly affect our health”, sums up Carlos Dora, one of the world experts who best knows the effects of this health determinant.

As current president of the International Society for Urban Health (ISUH) and former coordinator of Public Health and the Environment of the World Health Organization (WHO), this Brazilian doctor recently participated in the Congress of the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians, held in Granada, where, among other issues, he spoke of the importance of acting locally to promote health and fight climate change, two factors that go hand in hand.

In many of our current cities, harmful factors for our well-being -and also for the climate- are concentrated, such as high levels of traffic, pollution, noise or lack of green areas, among others, points out Dora. But other city models are possible. Furthermore, well-designed and organized cities can be an engine to promote health. “There are already many successful examples of this transformation,” he notes. And he refers to initiatives, such as the commitment to cycling lanes carried out by cities such as Copenhagen (Denmark) or Amsterdam (Netherlands).

«In the future, just as it now seems incredible to us that before it was possible to smoke in schools or in the doctor's office, it will seem outrageous to everyone, somewhat crazy, that many of our cities are designed for cars and not for people,” he says.

Dora denounces that from the 50s of the last century, the urban development of many cities was done to serve cars, and not individuals. “It was part of an economic strategy to develop the car industry and even involved the purchase of tram companies and other collective means of transport to destroy them and that they could not be considered as an alternative for travel.. That happened in many places, there are many examples without going any further in the United States; which has caused the existence of widely dispersed cities, with houses that are far from the place of work, school, library or hospital. In these types of cities it is mandatory to take the car for everything and that has an impact, “says Dora.

First of all, in terms of pollution and health, he cites. We often think of air pollution as a negative factor for the environment.. But it also has a very detrimental effect on the body, recalls the president of the ISUH. WHO estimates indicate that in 2019 outdoor air pollution caused 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide. Because its effects go far beyond the respiratory system. There is increasing evidence of its effects on the cardiovascular or neurological systems.

«Breathing polluted air has a direct impact on the arteries that is very similar to that of hypertension or cholesterol. Pollution causes as many deaths a year in the world as tobacco and it has been shown that it can also influence the intellectual capacity of developing children, respiratory diseases and other disorders”, emphasizes Dora, who recalls that traffic is a of the main sources of pollution in cities.

Although the electric car alternative is frequently mentioned as a way to solve the problem, for the Brazilian specialist, in reality, this model is not advisable either.. «We must not forget that continuing to dedicate cities to cars, even if they are electric, means, on the one hand, continuing to generate a very high carbon footprint, because producing this type of vehicle is also very polluting.. But it also means continuing to influence other problems that derive from this model of a city, centered on cars, such as the hoarding of public space or the lack of physical activity that they cause.

Cities for people, not for cars

It is necessary that the design of cities is designed for people and not for vehicles, continues the doctor, who speaks of denser, greener cities oriented towards public transport, in which access to essential services and socialization is easy.

One of the ways to make cities more compact is to carry out development aimed at creating density around communication junction points, where there are public means of transport, safe routes for bicycles and spaces designed for walking, he explains.. Not everyone has the opportunity to go to the gym or dedicate part of their day to exercise. For this reason, it is important to be able to include routines in daily life, such as cycling or walking to work, which allow them to be active without devoting specific time to sports,” he points out.. Immediately, the specialist adds that it is also essential that cities are designed taking into account people of different ages and conditions.

Many cities, today, are designed “for healthy men, weighing 70 kg, who mainly travel by car,” laments the expert.. However, the reality is that society is more diverse. “You have to take into account the elderly, children, people with different types of physical abilities. We cannot forget that people need spaces where they can rest if they walk slowly, where they can meet other people, where they can play if they are children.. This is fundamental, creating spaces for socialization. Impersonal cities without spaces for people to have interactions are very harmful. Is demonstrated”.

Throughout the conversation, there is a point on which Carlos Dora insists several times: the importance of cities being green, with parks, landscaped areas and trees in each neighborhood.. Those who have a park near each have lower levels of stress hormones, such as cortisol, and have higher levels of dopamine and endorphins, related to well-being. There is a clear mental health benefit. And it is also important for children's early development. Being in contact with nature is very important on many levels, also because it is a stimulus to walk or to do physical exercise in the open air.

Also, keep in mind that there is a lot of evidence that shows that green areas are one of the most efficient ways to reduce temperatures in the city.. «Heat waves in areas like the Mediterranean are going to continue. People have a limit of internal temperature, there is a lot of evidence that more deaths occur during heat waves. And it has been shown that green areas help combat this excess of temperatures, just as they help the absorption of water by the soil when there are floods.. If there is only asphalt, pavement, the damage from a flood is much higher, because the water does not filter, it is not absorbed into the interior of the earth.

transformation cores

Cities can be key to transforming the health of countries, says the doctor, especially considering that the number of people estimated to live in cities in the coming years will increase significantly. Cities are an opportunity for change, because the decisions that are made locally, depending on the characteristics of each municipality, “have a direct impact”. The city can provide solutions to improve pollution, analyzing and addressing local sources of pollution; optimizing the use of public transport, waste management or adaptation to changes caused by climate change, among other factors. “There are even models to estimate how much you will gain in health if you invest in green or in the use of the bicycle”, points out Dora, who adds that “the evidence exists, what is lacking is the transfer of that knowledge for implementation”.

Many times, those who make decisions are focused on a certain area and for urban design aimed at improving health, an intersectoral connection and a long-term vision are needed, thinking of the common good, says the specialist. In this sense, remember that the movement and pressure of civil society to demand changes is essential.

“It would be essential for older people to get involved in this transformation,” reflects Dora. “They are often people with authority, time to reflect and an interest in future generations, those of their children and grandchildren, having well-being. I believe that this part of the population is essential to rethink cities, so that they take the future of cities into their own hands.. Cities that benefit the old also benefit the young. Getting involved in that change, I think, would be one of the gifts that could be left to other generations.. I think that the future may belong to the old”, he concludes.