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To safely use bacteria in agriculture to help fertilize crops, it is vital to understand the difference between harmful and healthy strains. The bacterial genus Burkholderia, for example, includes dangerous disease-causing pathogens — one species has even been listed as a potential bioterrorist agent — but also many species that are safe and important for plant development.

Can the microbial good and evil be told apart? Yes, UCLA life scientists and an international team of researchers report Jan. 8 in the online journal PLOS ONE.

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have made an important step towards greater availability of hand transplants, face transplants and other transplants involving multiple types of tissue. In their report in the American Journal of Transplantation, the team describes how a procedure developed at the MGH to induce immune tolerance to organ transplants also induces tolerance to a model limb transplant in miniature swine.

Researchers have previously observed that certain insects -- especially crickets, cockroaches and grasshoppers -- tend to grow faster when they live in groups. However, no research has ever been done on group living among bed bugs until now.

PHILADELPHIA—A new study from Penn Medicine epidemiologists that looked at four years of bed bug reports to the city of Philadelphia found that infestations have been increasing and were at their highest in August and lowest in February. The findings, published ahead of print on January 8 in the Journal of Medical Entomology, point to two possible peak times to strike and eliminate the bugs.

A major UK-wide study (The CHiP trial) led by Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, has found that the NHS could reduce the length of hospital stay for critically ill children and save around £12 million a year, by changing the way paediatric intensive care units (PICU) commonly control blood sugar levels for some patients.

Shark research scientist, Dr Jonathan Werry, has undertaken a four year study tracking the migratory patterns of tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) across the Southwest Pacific.

The research, in collaboration with the French government, followed the movement of 33 tiger sharks (1.54 to 3.9 m total length) across the Coral Sea between New Caledonia and the Great Barrier Reef.

DURHAM, N.C. – A high presence of bacteria at the site where fetal membranes rupture may be the key to understanding why some pregnant women experience their "water breaking" prematurely, researchers at Duke Medicine report.

The findings, published online Jan. 8, 2014, in the journal PLOS ONE, suggest that the bacterial presence is associated with thinning of the fetal membranes. More research is needed to understand whether bacterial presence is a cause or consequence of fetal membrane weakening.

Great white sharks—top predators throughout the world's ocean—grow much slower and live significantly longer than previously thought, according to a new study led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

In the first successful radiocarbon age validation study for adult white sharks, researchers analyzed vertebrae from four females and four males from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. Age estimates were up to 73 years old for the largest male and 40 years old for the largest female.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Global tourism has increased fourfold over the last 30 years, resulting in human-induced seashell loss that may harm natural habitats worldwide, according to a University of Florida scientist.

A University of Adelaide study has shown that the risk of serious complications such as stillbirth, preterm birth, low birth weight and neonatal death is around twice as high for babies conceived by assisted reproductive therapies compared with naturally conceived babies.

In the US but not in England, patients on low incomes with high blood pressure have their condition managed poorly compared with those who earn more.

A new study comparing blood pressure management in the US and England found that although there is little difference between the two countries overall, the level of socioeconomic inequality is much higher in the US, with wealthier Americans more likely to meet targets for bringing their blood pressure under control than poorer patients.

Working with a nearly 200-year-old sample of preserved intestine, researchers at McMaster University and the University of Sydney have traced the bacterium behind a global cholera pandemic that killed millions – a version of the same bug that continues to strike vulnerable populations in the world's poorest regions.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Researchers at the University of Louisville have confirmed that using the heat profile from a person's blood, called a plasma thermogram, can serve as an indicator for the presence or absence of cervical cancer, including the stage of cancer.

The team, led by Nichola Garbett, Ph.D., published its findings online today (Jan. 8, 2014) in PLOS ONE.

A new study , published today in the online journal PLOS ONE, looks at the association between tree nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts), metabolic syndrome (MetS) and obesity in a population with a wide range of nut intake ranging from never to daily.

Aggressive infections are a growing health problem all over the world. The development of resistant bacteria is rampant and, in the United States, resistant staphylococci cause more deaths than AIDS on an annual basis. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen are studying a new form of treatment based on marine bacteria. The results have been published in PLOS ONE.