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The Zika virus epidemic was not anticipated, and the world was not prepared. At the beginning of January 2016, a volunteer assembly of industry experts, infectious disease outbreak specialists, academics and thought leaders was assembled to assess current knowledge and provide non-affiliated recommendations. Key findings and discoveries include currently marketed drugs that appear to have anti-Zika virus activity, risks and obstacles to rapid vaccine development, initial epidemiologic analyses, and pragmatic actionable recommendations.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- University of California, Riverside researchers may have found a better, more environmentally friendly way to stop the procession of Argentine ants, which have been spreading across the United States for the past few decades, despite pest control efforts.

• Lack of sun, dark skin or diet can make men vulnerable
• Low vitamin D may guide men about whether to monitor prostate. cancer or have surgery
• Men should get D levels checked and supplement if low

CHICAGO --- A new study provides a major link between low levels of vitamin D and aggressive prostate cancer. Northwestern Medicine research showed deficient vitamin D blood levels in men can predict aggressive prostate cancer identified at the time of surgery.

People who see God as a "secure base" for intimacy and attachment are more likely to be emotionally committed to their workplace and satisfied with their jobs. They also tend to see their work as a calling from God, which correlates to higher levels of job commitment and satisfaction, according to a Baylor study of working American adults.

URBANA, Ill. - With over $3.4 billion spent in international conservation funding to protect biodiversity and stop tropical deforestation in Africa since the early 1990s, it makes sense to ask if the funding is effective. A recent study finds that conservation aid alone has not been able to counteract deforestation pressures, and in some cases may have even exacerbated forest loss.

Could a cheap molecule used to disinfect swimming pools provide the key to creating a new form of DNA nanomaterials?

A study published in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports from the Nature group demonstrates, for the first time and using computational tools, that polyunsaturated lipids can alter the binding rate of two types of receivers involved in certain nervous system diseases. The work was led by members of the Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics at the IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) and Pompeu Fabra University as well as researchers from the University of Tampere (Finland), and also involved scientists from the University of Barcelona.

Chicago - New research suggests older patients should not feel reluctant to have quality of life enhancing surgeries due to concerns that undergoing anesthesia may boost their risk of developing cognitive issues. In a study of more than 8,500 middle-aged and elderly Danish twins published in Anesthesiology, the official medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), researchers found no clinically significant association between major surgery and general anesthesia with long-term cognitive decline.

East Norriton, Penn., March 1, 2016. A study measuring the impact of pharmaceutical commercial operations on company performance finds that strategic investment in commercial innovation linked with an aligned and responsive culture of execution can produce positive results. The study, "What Makes More Better? An Exploratory Study on the Effects of Firm-Level Commercial Operations Attributes on Pharmaceutical Business Performance," appears in the current issue of the Journal of Medical Marketing.

New research published in the March 2016 issue of The FASEB Journal, shows that a commonly prescribed class of high blood pressure drugs may have the potential to slow the growth of triple negative breast cancer tumors. These drugs, called "beta blockers" work by counteracting the pro-growth effect caused by adrenaline by affecting the the beta2-adrenoceptor.

Move over diet and exercise, a new weight control method is in the works and it involves manipulating the production of fat cells at their source. A new research report published in the March 2016 issue of The FASEB Journal shows that at least some human fat cells are actually produced from stem cells that originate in bone marrow.

A team led by Prof. Tae-Woo Lee (Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering) at POSTECH have fabricated highly-efficient, solution-processed fluorescence organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) using pure-organic thermally-activated delayed-fluorescence (TADF) emitters. The research was published in Advanced Materials journal. This research is selected as a most significant paper and open to the public as a "Layman's abstract".

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 1, 2016 - Biopsies are a gold standard for definitively diagnosing diseases like cancer. Usually, doctors can only take two-dimensional snapshots of the tissue, and they're limited in their ability to measure the protein levels that might better explain a diagnosis.

The first gene identified for greying hair has been discovered by an international UCL-led study, confirming greying has a genetic component and is not just environmental.

Published today in Nature Communications, the study analysed a population of over 6,000 people with varied ancestry across Latin America to identify new genes associated with hair colour, greying, density and shape, i.e. straight or curly.

In a study appearing in the March 1, 2016 issue of JAMA, Douglas O. Staiger, Ph.D., of Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., and colleagues examined the prevalence of physicians with highly educated spouses and whether having such a spouse was associated with working in rural underserved areas.