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A multidisciplinary team from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is the first in the world to genetically engineer a clone of the Zika virus strain, a development that could expedite many aspects of Zika research, including vaccine and therapeutics development.

Cloning the virus unlocks scientists' ability to more quickly develop countermeasures and explore whether or how the Zika virus has evolved to spread more quickly and cause more severe diseases in people. This study is now available in Cell Host and Microbe.

BOSTON - Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have identified an enzyme that is significantly elevated in mouse models of systemic lupus erythematosus and in blood samples of patients with lupus. Published online today in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, the new findings demonstrate that inhibition of the SHP-2 enzyme can significantly diminish lupus symptoms - including skin lesions, enlarged spleen and kidney failure - and suggest that development of a SHP-2 inhibitor drug could offer a new therapeutic approach for this often debilitating disease.

CORVALLIS, Ore. - SAR11, the most abundant plankton in the world's oceans, are pumping out massive amounts of two sulfur gases that play important roles in the Earth's atmosphere, researchers announced today in the journal Nature Microbiology.

"Everyone knows these gases by their smells", said Steve Giovannoni, a distinguished professor of microbiology in the College of Science at Oregon State University, and corresponding author of the study.

A new study by the University of Liverpool's Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease has identified food stuffs that can help prevent chronic inflammation that contributes to many leading causes of death.

Inflammation occurs naturally in the body but when it goes wrong or goes on too long, it can trigger disease processes. Uncontrolled inflammation plays a role in many major diseases, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

Research published today shows the wide regional variation in the incidence of stillbirth and neonatal deaths in the UK.

The MBRRACE-UK report focuses on rates of stillbirth and neonatal death across the UK. MBRRACE-UK focuses on babies born at 24 weeks of gestation or more. The report found that in 2014 there was a slight fall in both the stillbirth and neonatal death rates (4.161 and 1.772) compared to 2013 (4.201 and 1.842) although this pattern was not uniform across the UK.

Statins could protect the hearts of babies in the womb from the adverse effects of their mother's stress, research suggests.

Scientists have discovered that the widely-prescribed drugs help to counteract the negative impact of stress hormones on fetal growth and heart development in mice.

The therapy could lower the chances of babies being born underweight and reduce their risk of health problems in later life, including heart disease, researchers say.

In an editorial published in the current issue of Cardiology, professors from the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University have evaluated the totality of evidence and conclude that regular physical activity bears the closest resemblance to a "magic bullet" to combat the worldwide epidemic of obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) accelerate the loss of lung function especially among patients with mild disease, according to researchers at National Jewish Health and other institutions. Barry Make, MD, professor of medicine at National Jewish Health and his colleagues in the COPDGene study presented their findings at the 2016 American Thoracic Society International Meeting in San Francisco.

Proposed rule changes by Major League Baseball, designed to speed up the game by reducing time between pitches, could lead to a spike in arm injuries as players have less time to recover between throws, say researchers who have analyzed the impact of fatigue.

Scientists looked specifically at the effect of using a 'pitch clock', a controversial concept currently being tested in the minor leagues.

Similar to a shot clock in basketball, a timer counts down between pitches, allowing pitchers just 20 seconds to throw. If the pitcher is too slow, the umpire calls a ball.

Australian scientists may have found a way to stop deadly bacteria from infecting patients. The discovery could lead to a whole new way of treating antibiotic-resistant "superbugs". The researchers have uncovered what may be an Achilles heel on the bacteria cell membrane that could act as a potential novel drug target.

Almost every second woman suffers from a urinary tract infection during her lifetime, mostly caused by the intestinal bacterium E. coli. It travels along the urethra to the bladder where it triggers painful infections.

Sawflies and wood wasps form a group of insects that feed mainly on plants when immature. Field work by Dr. Michael Skvarla, which was conducted during his Ph.D. research at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, USA, has uncovered 30 species of these plant-feeding wasps that were previously unknown in the state.

Canine Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) is a neurodegenerative disease in dogs with similarities to ALS in humans. Scientists at Uppsala University, SciLifeLab and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Missouri, have discovered a modifier gene that affects the risk of developing DM in Pembroke Welsh Corgis (PWC). The study is published in PNAS this week.

Australian researchers have raised fresh concerns that a major shipping disaster could harm the Great Barrier Reef, with new research revealing coal dust in seawater can kill corals and slow down the growth rate of seagrasses and fish.

"Corals exposed to the highest concentrations of coal dust died within two weeks," says author Kathryn Berry, who led the experimental research.

"Corals exposed to lower concentrations of coal lasted longer, but most of them also died after 4 weeks of exposure.

A team of surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), led by Curtis L. Cetrulo, Jr., MD, and Dicken S.C. Ko, MD, announced today that they have performed the nation's first genitourinary reconstructive (penile) transplant. The 15-hour operation, which took place earlier this month, involved surgically grafting the complex microscopic vascular and neural structures of a donor organ onto the comparable structures of the recipient.

WASHINGTON, DC -- Emissions from farms outweigh all other human sources of fine-particulate air pollution in much of the United States, Europe, Russia and China, according to new research. The culprit: fumes from nitrogen-rich fertilizers and animal waste combine in the air with combustion emissions to form solid particles, which constitute a major source of disease and death, according to the new study.