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Leading scientists have identified an important gene that is associated with cleft lip and palate.

Experts say the discovery is a step closer to understanding how this birth defect arises, and will help in the development of medical approaches to prevent the disfiguring condition.

An international team, led by Newcastle University, UK, and the University of Bonn in Germany, has found that variants near a gene called GREM1 (Gremlin1) significantly increase the risk for cleft lip and palate.

New research at the University of Kent has highlighted the potential for the emergence of a new form of Ebolavirus.

A team from the University's School of Biosciences examined the differences between Ebolaviruses that cause severe disease in humans and the Reston virus that does not.

The Reston virus, which is known to circulate in domestic pigs in Asia and occasionally infect humans, is currently the only member of the Ebolavirus family not to have been reported as causing life-threatening disease in humans.

EAST LANSING, Mich. - A microbial protein fiber discovered by a Michigan State University scientist transports charges at rates high enough to be applied in manmade nanotechnologies.

The discovery, featured in the current issue of Scientific Reports, describes the high-speed protein fiber produced by uranium-reducing Geobacter bacteria. The fibers are hair-like protein filaments called "pili" that have the unique property of transporting charges at speeds of 1 billion electrons per second.

A group of researchers led by Tomoji Mashimo, Associate Professor, Institute of Experimental Animal Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University and Kazuto Yoshitomi, Assistant Professor, Mouse Genomics Resource Laboratory, National Institute of Genetics, Research Organization of Information and Systems developed two new gene modification methods: lsODN (long single-stranded oligodeoxynucleotide) and 2H2OP (two-hit two-oligo with plasmid).

Despite the rates of hospital deaths in England declining, nearly two-thirds of people aged 85 and over, and more than half of people aged 95 and over still die in hospital, new research has found.

In the first study of its kind, researchers from the University of Bristol and Public Health England used routinely-collected data taken from hospital admissions and death certificates for more than 670,000 deaths of people aged 85 and over, from 2008 to 2012.

A team of scientists at Sweden's Linkoping University have developed a molecular probe that can detect an array of different amyloid deposits in several human tissues. This new probe is extremely sensitive and was used at very low concentrations to correctly identify every positive amyloidosis sample when compared to the traditional clinical tests. The probe also picked up some amyloidosis signals that the traditional methods were unable to detect.

In December, negotiators at the Paris climate meeting adopted insurance as an instrument to aid climate adaptation. Earlier in the year, the leaders of the G7 pledged to bring climate insurance to 400 million uninsured individuals in poor countries by 2020.In a new article in the journal Nature Climate Change, experts from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Deltares and International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis welcome these developments, but also lay out the difficulties that policymakers will face in turning the ideas into action.

New fossils from Kenya suggest that an early hominid species -- Australopithecus afarensis -- lived far eastward beyond the Great Rift Valley and much farther than previously thought. An international team of paleontologists led by Emma Mbua of Mount Kenya University and Masato Nakatsukasa of Kyoto University report findings of fossilized teeth and forearm bone from an adult male and two infant A. afarensis from an exposure eroded by the Kantis River in Ongata-Rongai, a settlement in the outskirts of Nairobi.

Mountain View, CA (March 24, 2016): A normal, predominant bacterial species of the healthy vaginal microbiota can be engineered for potential use as a novel protective agent against HIV-1 transmission in women, according to a new publication from scientists at Osel, Inc. and their collaborators.

This news release is available in French.

New research by Dr. Sylvie Lesage, scientist at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital (CIUSSS- East Montreal) and associate research Professor at University of Montreal, just published in the prestigious international scientific journal Nature Genetics, has discovered that a common genetic defect in beta cells may underlie both known forms of diabetes.

SAN FRANCISCO - A diet rich in vitamin C could cut risk of cataract progression by a third, suggests a study being published online today in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The research is also the first to show that diet and lifestyle may play a greater role than genetics in cataract development and severity.

Higher dietary intake of vitamin C has been found to have a potentially preventative effect on cataract progression in the first twin study of cataracts to examine to what degree genetic and environmental factors influence their progression with age.

Cataract is a common condition in which the lens of the eye becomes cloudy as a result of oxidation over time. Whilst this is a natural part of ageing for many, for others it is more severe and causes blurred vision, glare and dazzle that cannot be corrected by glasses or contact lenses.

Refugees traveling across countries in Europe must have better access to Tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics and treatments in order to prevent a rise in new cases of the disease, according to experts writing in the European Respiratory Journal today.

Boston, MA - Botswana appears to have achieved very high rates of HIV diagnosis, treatment, and viral suppression--much better than most Western nations, including the United States--according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and colleagues in Botswana. The findings suggest that even in countries with limited resources where a large percentage of the population is infected with HIV, strong treatment programs can help make significant headway against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The study will be published online March 23, 2016 in The Lancet HIV.

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