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Since the start of the HIV epidemic, there have been speculations as to why HIV and the immunodeficiency syndrome it causes have spread so much more in Africa than in other countries around the world. Scientists from the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) have now, for the first time, confirmed one reason for this: in a cohort study conducted in Tanzania, they discovered that an infection with the filarial nematode Wuchereria bancrofti increases the risk of HIV infection by two to three fold. The study has recently been published in the Lancet.

The glow of fireflies at dusk is a welcome sign of summer. The same enzyme that helps give these familiar bugs their characteristic flash of yellow, yields red light in acidic conditions. Similar enzymes are responsible for red and green lights in other beetles. Despite years of study, however, scientists still don't know the molecular details of how the enzyme works. Now, in the ACS journal Biochemistry, one team reports new insights into this mystery.

The first ever satellite tracking study of one the world's endangered seal species has revealed new information about their migration habits and hunting patterns.

Using satellite trackers, scientists humanely tagged and followed 75 Caspian seals for up to 11 and a half months, as part of a four year study into their behaviour. The species is found only in the land-locked waters of the Caspian Sea.

They uncovered surprising variation among individuals for when and where they migrated, how far they travelled and how they went about finding food.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - More than 36 million people worldwide, including 1.2 million in the U.S., are living with an HIV infection. Today's anti-retroviral cocktails block how HIV replicates, matures and gets into uninfected cells, but they can't eradicate the virus.

People are more likely to delegate decisions--or "pass the buck"--when faced with choices that affect others than when those decisions affect only themselves, according to new research from Mary Steffel, assistant professor of marketing in the D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University.

GALVESTON, Texas - In a normal full-term pregnancy, signals from the mature organs of the fetus and the aging placental membranes and placenta prompt the uterus' muscular walls to begin the labor and delivery process. It's still unclear how these signals accomplish this goal or how they reach from the fetal side to the maternal side.

A team from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has unlocked key clues in understanding what triggers the birthing process, according to research findings recently published in PLOS ONE.

Philadelphia, PA, August 3, 2016 - Estrogen occurs naturally in cow's milk. Recently, there has been concern that consuming milk containing elevated amounts of estrogen could affect blood levels of the hormone in humans, leading to an increased risk of some cancers. A new study published in the Journal of Dairy Science® investigated cow milk's effects on blood hormone levels in adult mice and found that naturally occurring levels, and even levels as high as 100 times the average, had no effect on the mice.

Every day, more than 3,000 new abstracts are uploaded to PubMed, the main biomedical literature reference database. Even in a researcher's narrowly-defined field, it is impossible to stay on top of the ever-evolving webs of interconnections between these papers. For example, a new gene is described - might it be relevant to a researcher's specialty? It could take many painstaking hours of searching to discover the answer. Now a new tool developed in the A.C.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and their colleagues identified the genetic cause and a possible therapeutic target for a rare form of pediatric progressive neuropathy. Neuropathy, damage or disease affecting the peripheral nervous system, can range from rare conditions linked to a patient's exome to more common causes like diabetes and viral infections. Neuropathies can affect both motor and sensory neurons, producing muscle weakness, numbness, pain, and a wide range of symptoms.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease) is a progressive disorder that devastates motor nerve cells. People diagnosed with ALS slowly lose the ability to control muscle movement, and are ultimately unable to speak, eat, move, or breathe. The cellular mechanisms behind ALS are also found in certain types of dementia.

Excess nitrogen from agricultural runoff can enter surface waters with devastating effects. Algal blooms and fish kills are a just a couple of possible consequences. But riparian buffer zones - areas of grasses, perennials, or trees - between farmlands and streams or rivers can help.

In July, the fatal police shootings of Alton Sterling--a black man in Louisiana--and Philando Castile--a black man in Minnesota--went viral on social media.

The bat-killing fungus recently detected for the first time in western North America is genetically similar to strains found in the eastern United States and did not likely originate in Eurasia, according to a study published today in the journal mSphere.

The findings have implications for resource managers battling the spread of the devastating disease white-nose syndrome (WNS) in North American bats.

FORT COLLINS, COLORADO - When we reach the end of a ketchup bottle, there's always a little left, stuck to the sides. A Colorado State University lab offers a fix: a nontoxic, nonstick coating that lets loose every last drop.

Materials scientists led by Arun Kota, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Biomedical Engineering, have created a "superhydrophobic" coating that easily slicks away viscous liquids like syrup, honey and ketchup. That's right - never waste ketchup or maple syrup again.

BOSTON - Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths, accounting for about a third of all tumor-related deaths. Adenocarcinomas, a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), account for about 40 percent of cancer diagnoses, but few treatments are available for the disease.