Body

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital have designed a new type of pill that, once swallowed, can attach to the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and slowly release its contents. The tablet is engineered so that one side adheres to tissue, while the other repels food and liquids that would otherwise pull it away from the attachment site.

There is a well-described association between UV radiation exposure from the sun and the development of melanoma. The development of melanoma independent of sun exposure has only recently been described in mice.

So what is the association between melanocortin-1 (MC1R) receptor and melanoma risk in humans after controlling for sun exposure?

The results of the ground-breaking SALOME research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry, show chronic heroin addiction now has another effective treatment tool - hyrdomorphone, a licensed pain medication.

WASHINGTON, DC - Biological diversity makes human life on Earth possible. Unfortunately, we are at a time in Earth's history when an increasing number of species are at risk of extinction. Despite the significance of this issue, the scientists and institutions at the forefront of efforts to understand biodiversity are ringing alarm bells about inadequate investments in this scientific research and infrastructure. Poor communication within the biodiversity collections community and between the community and decision-makers has been identified as a contributing factor.

Argentinian researchers from the Centro de Investigaciones de Plagas e Insecticidas have developed a new trap that can be used to effectively monitor and control the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is the primary transmitter of Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever. The trap is described in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

While sharing toys and fighting with each other, kindergarten children helped researchers understand the patterns and qualities of interactions in social groups. The results were much more complex than the scientists originally predicted.

The immature stage of the drone fly (Eristalis tenax) is known as a "rat-tailed maggot" because it resembles a hairless baby rodent with a "tail" that is actually used as a breathing tube. Rat-tailed maggots are known to live in stagnant, fetid water that is rich in bacteria, fungi, and algae. However, despite this dirty environment, they are able to avoid infection by these microorganisms.

It's easier than ever to sequence our DNA, but doctors still can't exactly tell from our genomes which diseases might befall us. Professor Fritz Roth is setting out to change this by going to basics -- to our billion-year-old cousin, baker's yeast.

Thousands of loggerhead turtles are killed annually in areas of Syria, Libya and Egypt and Tunisia where they travel to find food, a new study led by researchers at the University of Exeter has highlighted.

WASHINGTON (April 6, 2016)-- The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine released a statement on the use of antenatal corticosteroids during the late preterm birth period for women at risk of preterm birth. The statement, is currently available online and will be published in the July issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Great progress has been made in the understanding of the genes and molecular pathways that contribute to the pathogenesis of bone and muscle diseases. As a result of these advances, several new molecular targets have been identified for drug design - knowledge which is being harnessed for the development of new treatment options for sarcopenia and metabolic bone diseases such as osteoporosis, hypophosphataemic rickets, and hypophosphatasia.

While young, less educated males are those who share a greater amount of discriminatory content on Facebook, young university females share the least. According to a study conducted by sociologists at the University of Rovira i Virgili (Spain), there is a feminine way as well as a masculine way to behave on the Internet: males tend to directly allude to ethnic and cultural issues whereas females are less obvious in doing so. The study is part of a European project that aims to fight these behaviours.

Older American male customers of sex workers pay for more sex as they age. These findings are reported in a study which surveyed older American men who frequent sex work websites and discussion boards. It was conducted by Los Angeles-based psychotherapist Christine Milrod and sociologist Martin Monto of the University of Portland in the US and published in Springer's journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.

Severe gum disease known as periodontitis can lead to tooth loss, and treating it remains a challenge. But new approaches involving silicon nitride, a ceramic material used in spinal implants, could be on the way. The surface of silicon nitride has a lethal effect on the bacteria that commonly cause periodontitis. Now scientists, reporting in ACS' journal Langmuir, are examining why this happens. Their findings could help inform future efforts to treat the disease.

With the future of coral reefs threatened now more than ever, researchers have announced the release of a new global database that enables scientists and managers to more quickly and effectively help corals survive their many challenges.

In a paper describing the database, published recently in Scientific Data, Professors Andrew Baird and Sean Connolly from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) say the Coral Trait Database will assist scientists working on coral reefs answer a multitude of questions.