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Camden, UK, December 12, 2013 - The Journal of Hospital Infection (JHI) has just released the awaited epic3 guidelines on infection prevention and control for a range of healthcare professionals. They are freely available online on ScienceDirect and on the journal's website.

The guidelines were commissioned by the UK Department of Health and have been developed after a systematic and expert review of all the available scientific evidence. They update and supersede the previous guidelines on this topic published in 2007.

Age is not just the number of years one has lived, argue IIASA population researchers. A new study from the group provides a set of tools for measuring age in all its dimensions.

A groundbreaking study published today in the journal Population and Development Review by IIASA population researchers Warren Sanderson and Sergei Scherbov reorients the way demographers study population aging, providing a new toolbox of methodologies for demographers to better understand the impacts of an aging population on society.

Today, December 12, JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, has published an environmental research technique that could turn the age-old task of watering crops into an exact science.

A collaboration of scientists from the US Department of Agriculture and the University of California Davis, among others, has introduced a precision instrument that can determine the water loss, or surface renewal, of agricultural systems that are threatened by water scarcity and climate change.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The more leave time from work that a woman takes after giving birth -- up to six months -- the better protected she will be from experiencing post-partum depression, according to a study led by Dr. Rada K. Dagher, assistant professor of health services administration at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.

Pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant can make use of the holiday season to adjust their diets and reduce the risk of gestational diabetes, according to researchers at the University of Adelaide's Robinson Institute.

The recommendation comes at a time when there is increasing evidence to suggest that red meat is linked with a higher rate of gestational diabetes in pregnant women, which poses risks to the health of both the mother and the baby.

Bethesda, MD – A new analysis published in The FASEB Journal describes the declining participation of physician scientists in biomedical research. The article, "NIH research funding and early career physician scientists: continuing challenges in the 21st century," cites several indicators of this decline.

Would you let other people's ethical preferences determine whether you act unethically on their behalf? Or would you instead rely on your own set of ethics?

While small-scale horticulture is a relatively recent addition to the human repertoire of food provisioning, hunting has deep evolutionary roots. In practically every society, hunting ability correlates with reproductive success — the better the hunter, the more children he is likely to father.

The bacterium that's the most important pathogen in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) has genetically evolved and adapted to survive in CF-infected lungs and evade antibiotic treatments, scientists from the University of Ottawa and the University of Calgary have shown.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is called an "opportunistic pathogen." While the microorganism is widespread in the environment and is harmless to healthy people, it infects those who are ill or have compromised immune systems.

(PHILADELPHIA) – Genomic tests that determine the molecular subtype of a woman's breast cancer provide a more precise prognosis and valuable guidance about the best treatment, according to new research led by Massimo Cristofanilli, M.D, Director of the Jefferson Breast Care Center at the Kimmel Cancer Center (KCC) and Thomas Jefferson Univ

SAN ANTONIO — Women with breast cancer characterized by high levels of the protein HER2 and hormone receptors gained much less benefit from presurgery treatment with chemotherapy and HER2-targeted therapies if their cancer had one or more mutations in the PIK3CA gene, according to results presented here at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 10-14.

SAN ANTONIO — Breast cancer survivors taking aromatase inhibitors (AIs) such as anastrozole, letrozole, and exemestane experienced a reduction in joint pain if they exercised while on treatment, according to results presented here at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 10-14.

SAN ANTONIO — Adding the drug dasatinib to a standard antihormone therapy, letrozole, doubled the time before disease progressed for women with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer, according to results of a phase II clinical trial presented here at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 10-14.

SAN ANTONIO — Breast cancer incidence among postmenopausal women at high risk for developing the disease was significantly reduced by the antihormone therapy anastrozole, indicating that the drug may be an effective new option for breast cancer prevention for this group of women, according to initial results of a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial presented here at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 10-14. The study is being simultaneously published in the The Lancet.

PHILADELPHIA (December 12, 2013)—A study done by researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center shows that many relatives of patients who undergo testing for a gene linked to breast and ovarian cancers misinterpret the results, and less than half of those who could benefit from genetic testing say they plan to get tested themselves—despite the fact that knowing your genetic status may help catch the disease in its earliest stages. The study results will be presented on Thursday, December 12 at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.