Body

Plants 'talk' to each other through mycorrhizal networks, but can we eavesdrop on what plants are talking about? They can sense chemicals through their roots, but can we sensibly talk about how they 'search' for food? While a lot is already known about plant perception, our ecological understanding of plants has largely focused on seeing plants as the sum of a series of building blocks or traits.

Bacteria use a form of "social media" communication called quorum sensing to monitor how many of their fellow species are in the neighborhood, allowing them to detect changes in density and respond with changes in collective behavior. Because of the importance of quorum sensing to the behavior of disease-causing bacteria like Vibrio cholerae, the cause of the deadly disease cholera, understanding how it works has the potential to allow us to disrupt it for therapeutic purposes.

More than half of Europeans now think that e-cigarettes are harmful--a proportion that has nearly doubled in two years--show the latest results of a European Union (EU)-wide survey, published online in the journal Tobacco Control.

Yet use of these devices across member states has continued to surge within the same timeframe, the findings show.

Offering DIY sampling kits for HIV using online dating apps and social media targeting gay men, successfully unearths previously undiagnosed cases of the infection, reveals an evaluation of the first large-scale dedicated service in the UK, published online in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Furthermore, this approach catches most men before their infection has reached an advanced stage, so making it easier and potentially cheaper to treat effectively.

There is 'suggestive evidence' for a link between air pollution and a heightened risk of stillbirth, indicates a summary of the available data, published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

An estimated 2.6 million children worldwide were stillborn at 28 weeks or more in 2015, with the wide geographical variation in prevalence suggesting that most of these deaths were preventable, say the study authors.

Passed in 2016 in the United Kingdom and due to come into force on 26 May, the Psychoactive Substances Act bans all new psychoactive substances (NPS) except those specifically exempted, such as alcohol and tobacco. The Act has attracted much criticism from scientists and experts. But what better alternative exists? The scientific journal Addiction has today [25 May] published the opening statement in a debate by leading addiction researchers from around the globe.

Urine tests should not be used to measure dehydration among the elderly - according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Water-loss dehydration happens when people don't drink enough fluid. Urine tests are widely used by medics, nurses and other health professionals to screen for water-loss dehydration among older people.

But new research published today reveals that the diagnostic accuracy of urine tests is too low to be useful and that the tests should not be used to indicate hydration status in older people.

A group of leading academics from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London says the UK must remain in the EU in order to protect the health of UK residents. Also at risk following a vote to leave the EU, says the group, would be the recruitment of doctors and healthcare workers to the NHS, medical research and teaching and the continued world-leading status of the top UK universities.

According to research published today in the International Journal of Epidemiology, health is at risk for those who live within five kilometres of a landfill site.

Researchers in Italy evaluated the potential health effects of living near nine different landfills in the Lazio region, and therefore being exposed to air pollutants emitted by the waste treatment plants. 242,409 people were enrolled in the cohort from 1996 to 2008.

The number of people in the UK who have tried e-cigarettes has almost doubled in just two years, according to a new study.

The research, from scientists at Imperial College London, examined e-cigarette use - and attitudes to the devices - across Europe between 2012 and 2014.

The paper, published in the journal Tobacco Control, found that the proportion of people in the UK who had tried an e-cigarette had increased from 8.9 per cent to 15.5 per cent - higher than the European average.

May 24, 2016 - Survey reveals few GPs use alternatives to face-to-face consultationsDespite policy pressure on GPs to offer consultations by email or internet video programmes such as Skype, few GPs do and most have no plans to introduce them in future, according to a new study.

The study, published today in the British Journal of General Practice (BJGP), was conducted by researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Oxford, Edinburgh and Exeter.

A relationship that has lasted for 100 million years is at serious risk of ending, due to the effects of environmental and climate change. A species of spiny crayfish native to Australia and the tiny flatworms that depend on them are both at risk of extinction, according to researchers from the UK and Australia.

There is insufficient evidence to know whether dressings reduce the risk of wound infection after surgery and, in some cases, leaving a wound exposed may be better, say researchers in The BMJ today.

A recent Cochrane review of trials on the use of dressings to prevent surgical site infection found insufficient evidence to conclude which type of dressing reduced infection or whether dressings were needed at all.

MADISON, Wis. -- Bottles of dilute hydrogen peroxide sit on shelves in medicine cabinets across the world, yet synthesizing the chemical at the large scale requires a surprisingly complicated process that is economically unfeasible for all but a few industrial facilities.

Chemists and engineers have long been working on simpler approaches. A significant challenge can be stabilizing hydrogen peroxide once it forms, because yields are limited by the molecule's propensity to break down over the same materials utilized for its synthesis.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - May 24, 2016 - Acupuncture treatments can reduce the number of hot flashes and night sweats associated with menopause by as much as 36 percent, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The findings are published in the June issue of the journal Menopause.