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Exposure to airborne dust and high temperatures are significant risk factors for bacterial meningitis, a new study by the University of Liverpool's Institute of Infection and Global Health has found.

The research, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, recommends that climatic surveillance alongside simple control measures could be used to predict and minimise future outbreaks in Africa's "meningitis belt".

WORCESTER, MA - A surprising result in an experiment on Salmonella bacteria has led to a discovery that may make drug resistant cancer cells more treatable by conventional chemotherapies. Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have found that the Salmonella protein SipA naturally reduces a well-known drug resistant molecule found in many different types of cancer cells.

Researchers who examined family genealogies from Finland found that the presence of same-sex elder siblings increased the probability that people would disperse to new lands, whereas having opposite-sex siblings had less influence.

Younger brothers' high dispersal was strongly linked to lack of land resources. In contrast, women appeared to compete over availability of mates, but women with elder sisters dispersed to secure a wealthy husband, rather than due to lack of mates per se.

WASHINGTON (July 25, 2016)--A new study examining the effects of technology-mediated interviews found in-person interviews yielded better impressions for the company and the candidate. The paper, "Technology in the Employment Interview: A Meta-Analysis and Future Research Agenda," published today in the journal Personnel Assessment and Decisions.

Someday, chemically protective suits made of fabric coated in self-healing, thin films may prevent farmers from exposure to organophosphate pesticides, soldiers from chemical or biological attacks in the field and factory workers from accidental releases of toxic materials, according to a team of researchers.

DENVER - Three manuscripts published in the recent issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the official journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), explored the versatility of liquid biopsies by identifying EGFR mutations using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in urine and plasma and examining circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in plasma to predict the risk of lung cancer recurrence after surgical resection.

New York, NY, July 25, 2016 - Active surveillance (AS) has become an increasingly important alternative to surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation treatment for men diagnosed with low risk prostate cancer. However, what is the impact of AS on health related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients selected or opting for this conservative form of disease management? New research published in The Journal of Urology® found that patients on AS who were tracked for three years experienced similar HRQoL as men without prostate cancer, both clinically and psychologically.

A very unusual new species of zoantharian surprised Drs Takuma Fujii and James Davis Reimer, affiliated with Kagoshima University and University of the Ryukyus.

Scientists identified the specific proteins secreted by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii that cause the immune system in mice to attack established ovarian tumors. The study, led by David Bzik of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire, is published on July 22 in PLOS Genetics.

A simple and inexpensive therapy is equally as effective at treating depression as the "gold standard" of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), a largescale study has concluded.

A simple and inexpensive psychotherapy or talking therapy known as behavioural activation (BA) is as effective at treating depression in adults as the gold-standard cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and can be delivered by non-specialist staff with minimal training at far less cost, according to new research published in The Lancet.

(Toronto - July 21, 2016) Since the discovery of their true nature 140 years ago, lichens have been the poster children for symbiosis. In the textbook definition of a lichen, the filaments of a single fungus provide protection for photosynthetic algae or cyanobacteria, which in turn provide food for the fungus.

But 140 years after the term "symbiosis" was coined to describe lichen, it turns out there's a third party involved in the relationship - a yeast that may help provide the structure found in large "leafy" and "branching" lichens.

ST. LOUIS -- The combination of two plant compounds that have medicinal properties - curcumin and silymarin - holds promise in treating colon cancer, according Saint Louis University research published in the June 23 issue of the Journal of Cancer.

Curcumin is the active ingredient in the spice turmeric, which is present in spicy curry dishes, and silymarin is a component of milk thistle, which has been used to treat liver disease.

Scientists have identified three types of vaccine-induced antibodies that can neutralize diverse strains of influenza virus that infect humans. The discovery will help guide development of a universal influenza vaccine, according to investigators at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), both part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and collaborators who conducted the research. The findings appear in the July 21st online edition of Cell.

A new scientific study has characterized a checkpoint protein that allows certain brain tumor cells to avoid the immune system. Tumors regularly avoid detection by decorating themselves with proteins that mimic those found on healthy cells. This protective shield allows them to grow undetected, often with deadly results. Brain tumors contribute to approximately 17,000 deaths annually with over 4,600 children newly diagnosed each year, according to the American Brain Tumor Association.