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Twenty recommendations have been formulated by the French National Expert Committee on Maternal Mortality with the aim of raising awareness among health professionals and prospective parents, in consultation with the French National College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the French Society of Anaesthetists/Obstetric Anaesthesia Club.

The epidemiological results of these studies are published in the November 2013 issue of Journal de Gynécologie Obstétrique et Biologie de la Reproduction.

TORONTO, ON - With the holiday shopping season in full swing it appears Canadians now more than ever are keeping a watchful eye on the exchange rate before heading south of the border to shop.

Even a one cent increase in the exchange rate causes a disproportionate number of Canadians to go cross-border shopping, according to a new study from a team of researchers including University of Toronto Scarborough and Rotman School of Management professor Ambarish Chandra.

Scientists have described a new family of proteins that appear to play a key role in cancer and might be targets for future cancer drugs.

A major new study in the journal Nature sets out the structure of the new family, called glutamate intramembrane proteases – the founding member of which plays a critical role in transforming healthy cells into cancer cells.

COLLEGE PARK, Md – A fossil leaf fragment collected decades ago on a Virginia canal bank has been identified as one of North America's oldest flowering plants, a 115- to 125-million-year-old species new to science. The fossil find, an ancient relative of today's bleeding hearts, poses a new question in the study of plant evolution: did Earth's dominant group of flowering plants evolve along with its distinctive pollen? Or did pollen come later?

It's historically known as 'the king of diseases and the disease of kings' and was long thought to be caused by an overindulgent lifestyle, but now scientists at The University of Nottingham have confirmed that 'gout' strongly runs in families.

Researchers in the Division of Rheumatology, Orthopaedics and Dermatology studied the whole population of Taiwan (23 million) where gout is most prevalent in the world. The findings have just been published in the leading rheumatology journal, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

In Africa, small women-owned business owners find it easier to obtain loans than their male counterparts. The reason for this distortion is that politicians and foreign aid organisations with their focus on bank loans for women encourage African banks to base their credit availability on gender. Contrary to intentions, there is thus a risk of inhibiting growth in the private sector, conclude researchers from the University of Copenhagen in the new study.

A common observation in oncology is the phenomenon that a patient with a tumor receives a drug and responds very well, but after a few months the cancer comes back and is now resistant to previously administered chemotherapy. What happened?

The three-dimensional structures of proteins determine how, when and where they bind to drugs and other compounds. In 2012 alone, thousands of structures like this were resolved. Now this mass of information needs to be translated into a biological context that can be used to extract relevant functions from these interactions, as well as significant pharmacological and disease-related effects.

In the tropics and subtropics, many evergreen conifers are endangered. Biologists at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have collected the world's largest Podocarpaceae collection. Together with colleagues from The New York Botanical Garden, they sequenced characteristic parts of the DNA of these conifers in order to generate a "DNA barcode" for each species. With the help of this genetic fingerprint, unknown individuals can be assigned to the respective Podocarpaceae species, which are often very similar in appearance.

This news release is available in German.

Researchers have identified a resistance protein that allows bacteria to survive chlorhexidine, a disinfectant commonly used in wipes, cleansers and mouthwashes in hospitals.

A study led jointly by the University of Leeds and Macquarie University in Australia showed how the superbug Acinetobacter baumannii—prevalent among soldiers treated in medical facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan—can pump the disinfectant out of its system.

The findings are critical for the design of new chemicals to combat the germ.

The association between poor oral health and increased risk of cardiovascular disease should make the reduction of sugars such as those contained in junk food, particularly fizzy drinks, an important health policy target, say experts writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Poor oral hygiene and excess sugar consumption can lead to periodontal disease where the supporting bone around the teeth is destroyed.

SYDNEY: One of the world's strangest animals – a legless, leaping fish that lives on land - uses camouflage to avoid attacks by predators such as birds, lizards and crabs, new research shows.

UNSW researchers, Dr Terry Ord and Courtney Morgans, of the Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, studied the unique fish – Pacific leaping blennies - in their natural habitat on the tropical island of Guam.

Their study will be published in the journal Animal Behaviour.

Arizona State University scientists have developed a microfluidic chip, which can sort good germs from bad.

Your intestines are home to about 100 trillion bacteria. That's more than the number of cells that comprise the entire human body. Armies of bacteria sneak into our bodies the moment we are born, uninvited but necessary guests.

For the most part, these bacteria are industrious and friendly. Some of them are even beneficial, helping with digestion and producing vitamins. A few miscreants, though, will kill us if we let them stay.

An avalanche of chronic stress — driven by concerns ranging from parenting to discrimination —disproportionately affects poor mothers and fathers, according to the first results from a comprehensive multi-state study.

"Those who are poor have much higher stress than those who are not. In fact, being poor was associated with more of almost every kind of stress," said Chris Dunkel Schetter, a professor of psychology in UCLA's College of Letters and Science and the study's lead author.