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Collaborative research at the University of Guam has people asking: "What IS a species" and entomologists wondering about the relationship between an insect species and the host plant or plants it feeds on.

A University of British Columbia study shows that there are enough pharmacies situated throughout Ontario communities to absorb many closures without negatively affecting geographical accessibility for residents. The research suggests concerns that reducing generic pricing could result in pharmacy shortages are unfounded.

A team of wildlife experts led by UC Davis called today for a national fight against a new fungus that has killed more than 1 million bats in the eastern United States and is spreading fast throughout North America.

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association has proposed metrics that healthcare professionals can use to monitor the diagnosis and treatment of patients at stroke centers to help improve the quality of care stroke patients receive. The recommendations are published in a scientific statement in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

There is not enough evidence to recommend the widespread use of statins in people with no previous history of heart disease, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review. Researchers say statins should be prescribed with caution in those at low risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Antioxidant supplements may benefit couples who have difficulty conceiving naturally, according to a new systematic review published today in The Cochrane Library. The review provides evidence from a small number of trials that suggest the partners of men who take antioxidants are more likely to become pregnant.

A European study investigating the links between diet and disease has found that people who consume more fruit and vegetables have a lower risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease – the most common form of heart disease and one of the leading causes of death in Europe. However, the authors point out that a higher fruit and vegetable intake occurs among people with other healthy eating habits and lifestyles, and that these factors could also be associated with the lower risk of dying from IHD.

A series of denials and a failure to formally investigate allegations of misconduct in Andrew Wakefield's MMR research meant the public was misled about the credibility of the paper for six years.

Dr Fiona Godlee, BMJ Editor in Chief, says the UK has consistently failed to take research misconduct seriously. She calls on the UK government to establish mandatory oversight of clinical research integrity within the NHS, as happens for publicly funded research in the USA.

Travel websites, especially those that offer 'last minute' deals, should inform people about the risks of malaria and the need to take preventative medication before travelling, say experts in infectious diseases today.

Their warning, in a letter to this week's BMJ, follows three recent cases of malaria in UK citizens returning from 'winter sun' holidays to the Gambia, where malaria is highly endemic.

While every cell of an organism contains the same genes only a proportion are expressed in any tissue at a given stage in development. Knowing the extent of gene transcription is valuable and a team of European researchers has generated an atlas of gene expression for the developing mouse embryo. This will be a powerful resource to determine co-expression of genes and to identify functional associations between genes relevant to development and disease. The findings will be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology.

• Drinking in teens, especially binging, is a large problem within the Netherlands and European Union
• A new study explored the relationship of drinking to remove or supress negative emotions (known as drinking to cope) with two different genes: DRD2 and SLC6A4
• These results indicate that binge drinking and alcohol-related problems were strongly associated with drinking to cope and the presence of DRD2

There has been an abundance of research on the associations between drinking behavior and marital status, but many questions remain regarding the timing of when an individual gets married and divorced and if there is any relation to alcohol use. A new study released in the April 2011 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, which is currently available at Early View, explores that subject in detail and found that alcohol dependence was a strong predictor of both delays in marriage and early separation.

DALLAS, Jan. 18, 2011 – The American Heart Association has, for the first time, published a statement, "American Heart Association and Nonprofit Advocacy: Past, Present, and Future," that documents the association's longstanding commitment to improve heart and stroke-related public policy.

Women who were either in the transition to menopause or postmenopausal experienced a reduction in the frequency and severity of menopausal hot flashes with the use of the antidepressant medication escitalopram, compared to women who received placebo, according to a study in the January 19 issue of JAMA.