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Will there be rather warm or cold winters in Germany in the coming years? We may have a long way to go before reliable forecasts of this kind can be achieved. However, marine scientists, under the auspices of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, recently managed to successfully hindcast climate shifts in the Pacific. These shifts also have a profound effect on the average global surface air temperature of the Earth. The most recent shift in the 1990s is one of the reasons that the Earth's temperature has not risen further since 1998.

San Francisco, CA. (August 22, 2013) – A simple four-part program—including referral to a quit-smoking hotline and a free supply of nicotine patches—can increase the percentage of patients who quit smoking before undergoing surgery, reports a study in the September issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

Mountain View, Calif. –August 22nd, 2013 23andMe, the leading personal genetics company, has conducted the first genetic study of striae distensae (stretch marks). Researchers at the company identified four genetic markers significantly associated with the development of stretch marks that inform why some individuals are more susceptible to the skin condition.

Cattle contribute to global warming by burping and farting large amounts of greenhouse gases. Some of the same gases are also emitted from cow pats on pastures. But now researchers from the University of Helsinki have found that beetles living in cow pats may reduce emissions of the key greenhouse gas - methane.

In a paper published by the journal Biodiversity Conservation, the researchers also suggest that anthropomorphism is overlooked as a powerful tool for promoting low-profile species that are either endangered or require urgent attention.

At present, anthropomorphism in conservation is limited to social, intelligent animals, such as chimpanzees, polar bears and dolphins. According to the research, this would imply that other species are not worthy of conservation because they are not like humans in the 'right' ways.

Scientists have discovered that important 'good' bacteria arrive in babies' digestive systems from their mother's gut via breast milk.

Although this does confirm that when it comes to early establishment of gut and immune health, 'breast is best', a greater understanding of how babies acquire a population of good bacteria can also help to develop formula milk that more closely mimics nature.

Half of all UK seven year olds are sedentary for six to seven hours every day, and only half clock up the recommended daily minimum of moderate to vigorous physical activity, indicates research published in the online journal BMJ Open.

Girls, children of Indian ethnic origin, and those living in Northern Ireland are the least physically active of all seven year olds, the findings show.

The flu jab seems to almost halve the risk of heart attacks in middle aged people with narrowed arteries, finds research published in the journal Heart.

Those aged 50 to 64 are not currently routinely included in national flu vaccination programmes in either the UK or Australia. But the findings prompt the Australian authors to suggest that further exploration of extending the schedule may be warranted.

A study involving more than 8,000 participants has shown that people with a family history of diabetes see their risk of prediabetes increase by 26%. The research is published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, and is by Dr Andreas Fritsche and colleagues from the German Center for Diabetes Research*.

Prediabetes is a condition most often described as the 'state between normal blood sugar control and full diabetes', and indeed prediabetes progresses to full blown diabetes in up to 20% of individuals affected per year.

Smokers with more severe nicotine dependence are more likely to gain weight when they try to quit, according to research published August 21 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Koji Hasegawa and colleagues from Kyoto Medical Center, Japan.

Native Brazilian fruits grown in arid climates and poor soil have similar antioxidant activity to conventionally grown Red Delicious apples, according to research published August 21 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Sandra Fernandes Arruda from the University of Brazil and colleagues from other institutions.

In the summer of 2010, the eastern Panamanian province of Darien experienced a phenomenon that had never been seen before in Latin America: a human outbreak of eastern equine encephalitis.

The mosquito-borne virus that causes the disease is found all over the Americas, and infects horses throughout its range. Human infections are diagnosed every year in North America and are taken quite seriously; they carry a 50 percent chance of mortality, and can result in lifelong neurological damage. But 2010 marked a dramatic change in the way the virus behaved in Latin America.

An international team of scientists have demonstrated that a simple, low-cost intervention holds the potential to eradicate a debilitating tropical disease that threatens nearly 1.4 billion people in more than six dozen countries.

The researchers, including Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine professor James Kazura, MD, found that insecticide-treated bed nets reduce transmission of lymphatic filariasis to undetectable levels – even in the absence of additional medication. Their study appears in the August 22 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

An international clinical trial led by Dr. Brian Feagan of Western University in London, Canada, has found that the investigational antibody vedolizumab is an effective treatment for those suffering from ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) when other treatments have failed. The results of the study called GEMINI are published in the August 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

BOSTON -- Two oral targeted drugs approved for metastatic kidney cancer worked equally well, but one proved superior in tolerability, according to results of a large international clinical trial led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.