Science and Health News

If you’ve been following Vasalgel for some time, you already know that the contraceptive worked well in rabbits. But now it’s official! The results of the rabbit efficacy study were published this morning in Basic & Clinical Andrology, a peer-reviewed journal. The study revealed that rabbits had no sperm in their semen as early as 29 days post-injection and the contraceptive effect was durable throughout the 12-month study.

For most people, the culmination of a good life is a «good death," though what that means exactly is a matter of considerable consternation. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine surveyed published, English-language, peer-reviewed reports of qualitative and quantitative studies defining a «good death," ultimately identifying 11 core themes associated with dying well.

Abnormal cells in the early embryo are not necessarily a sign that a baby will be born with a birth defect such as Down’s syndrome, suggests new research carried out in mice at the University of Cambridge. In a study published today in the journal Nature Communications, scientists show that abnormal cells are eliminated and replaced by healthy cells, repairing — and in some cases completely fixing — the embryo.

Some people infected with HIV naturally produce antibodies that effectively neutralize many strains of the rapidly mutating virus, and scientists are working to develop a vaccine capable of inducing such «broadly neutralizing» antibodies that can prevent HIV infection.

Smoking increases an individual’s risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) — and makes the infection worse — because it causes vital immune cells to become clogged up, slowing their movement and impeding their ability to fight infection, according to new research published in the journal Cell. TB is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis that primarily infects the lungs, but can also infect other organs. It is transmitted from person to person through the air. The disease can cause breathlessness, wasting, and eventual death. While treatments do exist, the drug regimen is one of the longest for any curable disease: a patient will typically need to take medication for six months.

Exercise in older people is associated with a slower rate of decline in thinking skills that occurs with aging. People who reported light to no exercise experienced a decline equal to 10 more years of aging as compared to people who reported moderate to intense exercise, according to a population-based observational study published in the March 23, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

In a proof-of-concept study, NC State University researchers show that genetically engineered green bottle fly (Lucilia sericata) larvae can produce and secrete a human growth factor — a molecule that helps promote cell growth and wound healing.

Scientists have revealed that a key molecule in breast and lung cancer cells can help switch off the cancers' ability to spread around the body.