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June 30, 2016 Los Angeles--In a report released today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), an Independent Panel formed to review HHS's response to Ebola made several recommendations on how the nation's federal public health system should strengthen its response to major public health threats, both internationally and domestically.

An experimental vaccine against Zika virus developed by Brazilian and US researchers has been tested successfully in trials with mice.

The results were published on June 28, 2016 in Nature and according to the authors suggest a vaccine can be produced for humans in the near future.

Sports fans are about to get a whole new way of experiencing the upcoming Tour de France and select endurance sports at the Rio 2016 Olympics thanks to a start-up out of CSIRO's Data61 group.

This year, spectators through doarama.com will be able to access customised 3D interactive map visualisations of the routes which will be used for the Tour de France (July 2 to 24).

Fans will be able to interact with the maps by controlling how they view the route in a 3D virtual world.

Since the completion of the human genome an important goal has been to elucidate the function of the now known proteins: a new molecular method enables the investigation of the function for thousands of proteins in parallel. Applying this new method, an international team of researchers with leading participation of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) was able to identify hundreds of previously unknown interactions among proteins.

A new analysis of UK workers reveals that certain occupations may increase the risk of bladder cancer.

After analyzing 25 articles, investigators found that the greatest risk of developing bladder cancer occurred in workers within the chemical, rubber, and dye industries. In contrast, the greatest risk of death from bladder cancer was in electrical, chemical, and transport workers. Such deaths were also higher in the North of England, probably reflecting smoking patterns and industrial distributions.

The latest comprehensive analysis of national plans to address climate change after 2020 shows the world will not reach its target of keeping warming to below 2C off pre-industrial levels.

Instead, the globe could suffer a median rise of between 2.6 and 3.1C by 2100 according by the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted in preparation for the 2015 climate talks in Paris.

While it is an improvement from current policy and no-policy scenarios, it still falls short of the 2C target, not to mention the hopeful goal of 1.5C warming.

A new study found that certain factors affect cervical cancer screening among lesbian and bisexual women and transgender men. Some of these factors overlap with the general female population, whereas others are specific to the lesbian, bisexual, or queer identity.

Patients who were screened routinely felt more welcome in the health care setting, while nonroutine screeners reported more discrimination related to their sexual orientation and gender expression. Routine screeners were also more likely to 'out' to their provider.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) is made up of exons and introns, that is, portions of genetic information that are "switched on" and "switched off", respectively. In order to reach maturation and be sent to the cellular "machine" that deals with protein synthesis, the non-coding fragments contained in the mRNA, the introns, need to be removed, whereas the coding sequences, the exons, have to be linked together. In humans, this "snipping and stitching" process, known as splicing, is governed by a huge machinery consisting of proteins and RNA, the spliceosome.

Antibiotics and the immune system are the two forces that cope with bacterial infections. Now, two studies from Isabel Gordo's laboratory, at Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC, Portugal), show for the first time that resistance to antibiotics and to the immune system is interconnected in bacteria.

La Jolla, Calif., June 30, 2016 (embargoed until 5:00 A.M. EST) -- A research advance from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) and Stanford University could lead to new drugs that minimize the damage caused by heart attacks. The discovery, published today in Nature Communications, reveals a key control point in controlling the formation of new blood vessels in the heart, and offers a novel approach to treat heart disease patients.

Philadelphia, PA, June 30, 2016 - Fruit and vegetable availability is often assumed to be a purchase barrier, yet fruit and vegetable availability does not necessarily result in frequent purchases. Rather, in-store marketing of less-healthy foods may be a major influencing factor in consumer spending habits regarding fruits and vegetables. A new study, in which in-store marketing focused attention on fruits and vegetables, resulted in an increased proportion of produce purchases keeping overall food spending the same.

ARLINGTON, Va. - New therapies are improving care, but early diagnosis remains critical in the effective treatment of invasive, a potentially deadly fungal infection, according to new guidelines released by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The updated guidelines focus on the diagnosis and treatment of the major forms of aspergillosis: allergic, chronic and invasive, the latter which kills 40 percent to 80 percent of those with widespread infection.

ANN ARBOR--Free radicals cause cell damage and death, aging and disease, and scientists have sought new ways to repel them for years.

Now, a new University of Michigan study outlines the discovery of a protein that acts as a powerful protectant against free radicals. Ironically, the protein is activated by excessive free radicals. Human mutations of the gene for this protein are previously known to cause a rare, neurodegenerative disease.

TORONTO, June 30, 2016 - Fruit flies may seem simple, but these common visitors to the fruit bowl can drastically alter their gene expression and metabolism to respond to temperature changes in their environment, an international team of researchers have shown.

DALLAS, June 29, 2016 -- Patients who experience high cholesterol due to an inherited genetic disorder from one of their parents -- heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia -- are much more likely than those with average cholesterol levels to have diseases caused by hardening of the arteries, including an accelerated onset of coronary heart disease by up to 30 years, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.