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A new study examining the impact of a series of gender quotas passed by Mexico to ensure equal representation in government shows no drop in the qualifications of women in office after two election cycles, and also refutes the widely held perception that women rely on personal connections more than men to get elected.

The Spanish conquest of the Americas was devastating for native peoples. Many native men died in conflicts with the invaders. Male Spanish colonists often came without their wives and took native women as partners. A new genetic analysis of Panamanian men by a team including a Smithsonian scientist shows this historical legacy: only 22 percent had Y-chromosomes of native origin, even though most Panamanians are of female indigenous ancestry.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Parents who do not get their children flu shots rate the flu vaccine less favorably than other childhood vaccines, a national poll finds.

Fifty-nine percent of parents whose child did not receive the flu vaccine this season say it is less important than other childhood vaccines - compared to only 14 percent of parents whose child got a flu shot, according to today's report from the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

New research reveals that the evolutionary history of glyptodonts -- huge, armored mammals that went extinct in the Americas at the end of the last ice age -- is unexpectedly brief. The work, published this week in the journal Current Biology by an international team of researchers, confirms that glyptodonts likely originated less than 35 million years ago from ancestors within lineages leading directly to one of the modern armadillo families.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, more than 300,000 total hip replacements are performed in the United States each year. The procedure reduces pain and restores mobility. However, for younger, more active patients, an artificial hip has a limited lifetime and usually requires restricted activity. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine have tested a new biological technique that may provide better and longer-lasting joint function.

If you could travel back in time to South America thousands of years ago, you might have caught a glimpse of an animal known as a glyptodont living alongside giant ground sloths and saber-toothed cats. Glyptodonts looked like gigantic and fearsome armadillos; one of the largest species, Doedicurus, weighed as much as a ton and had a powerful club-shaped and spiky tail.

Those who struggle with obesity, take heart. Losing as little as 5% of your body weight is enough to reap significant health benefits, according to a study published February 22 in Cell Metabolism. The randomized controlled trial of 40 obese men and women compared, for the first time, the health outcomes of 5%, 10%, and 15% weight loss. While additional weight loss further improved metabolic health, 5% weight loss was sufficient to reduce multiple risk factors for type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.

Scientists have sequenced the entire mitochondrial genome of the ancient glyptodont, a giant, strange mammal and ancestor of the modern-day armadillo, which first appeared approximately 4 million years ago, roaming the Earth until its extinction during the Ice Age.

Roughly the size and weight of a Volkswagen Beetle, the glyptodont was distinguished by its massive, heavy shell of armor, and a club-shaped, armored tail.

Cancer cells don't live on glass slides, yet the vast majority of images related to cancer biology come from the cells being photographed on flat, two-dimensional surfaces--images that are sometimes used to make conclusions about the behaviour of cells that normally reside in a more complex environment.

Macrolide antibiotics such as azithromycin, clarithromycin and erythromycin are commonly used to treat respiratory tract infections worldwide, with more than 57 million outpatient prescriptions written in 2010 in the United States.

Previous studies show conflicting evidence as to whether these antibiotics increase the risk of a serious heart rhythm disturbance (ventricular arrhythmia) and death. Nonetheless, in 2013, the FDA issued a warning about these risks with macrolide antibiotics.

Physicians should screen for colorectal cancer in asymptomatic, low-risk adults aged 50 to 74 years every two years using fecal occult blood testing (FOBT), or flexible sigmoidoscopy every 10 years, rather than colonoscopy, according to a new Canadian guideline from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Flexible sigmoidoscopy inserts a flexible scope to view the lower portion of the colon and rectum rather than the entire tract.

For patients with obesity trying to lose weight, the greatest health benefits come from losing just 5 percent of their body weight, according to a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Researchers found that the relatively small weight loss markedly lowered patients' risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease and improved metabolic function in liver, fat and muscle tissue.

The study is published online Feb. 22 in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Oriol Sunyer, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, has described fish as "an open gut swimming." Their mucosal surfaces -- their skin, digestive tract and gills -- are in constant contact with water, including any pathogens that that water may contain.

February 22, 2016 - The antiretroviral (ARV) drug atazanavir--sometimes included in treatments to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission during pregnancy--may have small but significant effects on infant development, reports a study in the journal AIDS, official journal of the International AIDS Society. AIDS is published by Wolters Kluwer.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Atrazine exposure during embryonic development could cause later reproductive problems for female zebrafish, as well as physical deformations in their offspring, according to new research from Purdue University.