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New research conducted by a team of conservation scientists provides the first systematic examination of the social information polar bears may glean from scent left in the paw prints of other polar bears. The authors also suggest that scent communication in polar bears may be compromised if climate-change driven sea ice losses in the Arctic intensify. This research was undertaken by the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, Polar Bears International and U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — In an international study, Mayo Clinic researchers and collaborators have identified genetic markers that may help in identifying individuals who could benefit from the alcoholism treatment drug acamprosate. The findings, published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, show that patients carrying these genetic variants have longer periods of abstinence during the first three months of acamprosate treatment.

New research provides details on how gut bacteria turn a nutrient found in red meat into metabolites that increase the risk of developing heart disease. Publishing in the November 4th issue of the Cell Press journal Cell Metabolism, the findings may lead to new strategies for safeguarding individuals' cardiovascular health.

Consumers often complain that alcohol-free beer is tasteless, but some of the aromas it is lacking can be carried across from regular beer. Researchers from the University of Valladolid (Spain) have developed the technique and a panel of tasters has confirmed its effectiveness.

This news release is available in Spanish.

Elderly people are regarded as traditional consumers, but the AZTI study reveals that there are more and more elderly people who are happy to accept new foods. However, these consumers insist that the new proposals should be similar to or evoke traditional products and flavours and, at the same time, be health-enhancing, have the right nutrient profile for their age, and be flavoursome.

By swabbing oil from a gland located at the end of a seabird's tail and analyzing the sample with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, researchers have developed a way to measure wildlife's exposure to plastics.

The minimally invasive technique will prove useful for detecting plastics exposure at population and species levels. Such monitoring is increasingly important as annual plastics production continues to rise—production has increased from less than 2 tons per year in the 1950s to nearly 280 million tons in 2011.

Across Europe, the population of common birds has declined rapidly over the last 30 years, while some of the less abundant species are stable or increasing in number.

The findings, which come from a 30-year data set of 144 bird species, are worrisome because the most common species of birds provide most of the benefits for humans, for example by controlling agricultural pest species, dispersing seeds, and simply providing beautiful birdsongs.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Whooping cough, a highly contagious bacterial infection, can be serious and even fatal in newborns, but less than half of birthing hospitals in Michigan included prevention information on websites, says a new University of Michigan analysis that appears in the American Journal of Infection Control.

The majority of Michigan birthing hospitals (64%) had no information about Tdap vaccination to prevent whooping cough in babies; among those that did have information, it typically required searching for the term pertussis or whooping cough.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) appear to have a lot in common. They share risk factors such as obesity and they often occur together. If they also share the same genetic underpinings, then doctors could devise a way to treat them together too. With that hope in mind, scientists applied multiple layers of analysis to the genomics of more than 15,000 women.

A global research effort has resolved a major biosecurity issue by determining that four of the world's most destructive agricultural pests are one and the same.

A new study found that 43% of nursing students indulge in hazardous alcohol consumption, with 14.9% of men and 18.7% of women meeting criteria for hazardous drinkers.

Hazardous drinkers were more likely to be young, to smoke, and to live outside the family nucleus.

"Alcohol-prevention activities should envisage greater protection of university settings, particularly where future health professionals are involved," wrote the authors of the Journal of Advanced Nursing study.

The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa has grown exponentially since May, indicating inadequate global response. A new analysis indicates that the outbreak's fatality rate is over 70%—rather than 50% as previously claimed by the World Health Organization—and that the total number of affected individuals could exceed 1 million by early next year.

As long as the number of infected people rises exponentially, the likelihood of exporting Ebola to other countries does as well.

A new study of 63 women with varied infant feeding experiences reveals that breastfeeding mothers may feel shame if they breastfeed in public due to exposure, while those who do not breastfeed may experience shame through 'failing' to give their infant the 'best start.'

Breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding mothers may also experience shame through inadequate support, judgment, and condemnation, leading to feelings of failure, inadequacy, and isolation.

New research is challenging the decades-old belief that smoking cigarettes helps keep you slim.

A BYU study published in the American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism finds that exposure to cigarette smoke can actually cause weight gain. But here's the kicker: Secondhand smoke is the biggest culprit.

"For people who are in a home with a smoker, particularly children, the increased risk of cardiovascular or metabolic problems is massive," said author Benjamin Bikman, professor of physiology and developmental biology at Brigham Young University.

A new analysis illustrates the robust ways that social media can be employed to inform and improve disaster operations, and it provides a framework that could help standardize and organize disaster social media uses.

Disaster social media users in the framework include communities, government, individuals, organizations, and media outlets. Fifteen distinct disaster social media uses were identified, ranging from providing and receiving disaster preparedness information to (re)connecting community members following a disaster.