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London, Los Angeles CA (09 December, 2013). Flexible workplaces may seem attractive when considering work-life balance but new research being published shows it's not unusual for firms to cash-in, profiting from our "free" time and non-professional aptitudes, experts warn.

This news release is available in German.

An international team of scientists supported by the Helmholtz Zentrum München has now discovered how this complex interaction functions and how lymphotoxin controls the production of immunoglobulins in the gut. The results are published in the latest issue of the specialist journal Science.

From tomatoes to pumpkins, most fruit and vegetable crops rely on pollination by bees and other insect species – and the future of many of those species is uncertain. Now researchers from North Carolina State University are proposing a set of guidelines for assessing the performance of pollinator species in order to determine which species are most important and should be prioritized for protection.

To build and maintain muscle strength, it is best for older breast cancer survivors to follow an ongoing exercise program of resistance and impact training. This advice comes from Jessica Dobek of the Oregon Health and Science University, lead author of a study published in Springer's Journal of Cancer Survivorship. Dobek is part of a research team, headed by Dr. Kerri Winters-Stone, that found that the bone benefit from one year of such training could be maintained, even with less exercise, up to a year later, which could help prevent bone fractures in the long run.

London, December 9, 2013 – The world is still underfunding health: so what kind of new development paradigm will succeed in ensuring comprehensive and equitable health care for all, and where will sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and gender equality fit in?

NEWARK, N.J. -- With winter's arrival comes the kind of news that may give New Yorkers the creeps. A species of cockroach never found in the United States before has been positively identified in Manhattan.

Bumblebees look cute. They have a thick fur, fly somewhat clumsily and are less aggressive than honeybees or wasps. They are very much appreciated by farmers as keen pollen collectors. Particularly in the context of the crisis-stricken honeybee populations, the buff-tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, is being bred on an industrial scale for the pollination of fruit and vegetable crops both inside and outside greenhouses.

Swedish researchers in Umeå and Uppsala have found that residues of the influenza drug Tamiflu in our environment can make the influenza virus in birds resistant. This can have serious consequences in the event of an influenza pandemic. With more than 14 million SEK from the Swedish Research Councils Formas and VR, the research team will now continue their studies with a focus on alternative antiviral drugs.

High-density lipoprotein (HDL), known colloquially as "good cholesterol", protects against dangerous deposits in the arteries. An important function of HDL is its anti-inflammatory properties. An international research team at the Institute of Innate Immunity at the University Hospital of Bonn and the LIMES Institute at the University of Bonn has identified a central switch by which HDL controls the inflammatory response. The results are presented in the current issue of "Nature Immunology".

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, have discovered the decisive biological stimulator for the accumulation of defensive substances in leaf beetle larvae used by the insects to fend off predators: ABC transport proteins, which are found in large quantities in glandular cells of the larvae.

Singapore, December 9, 2013 – Researchers at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) and California's IBM Research – Almaden (IBM) have discovered a new, potentially life-saving application for polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is widely used to make plastic bottles. They have successfully converted PET into a non-toxic biocompatible material with superior fungal killing properties.

Advanced paternal age has been associated with greater risk for psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism. With an increase in paternal age, there is a greater frequency of certain types of mutations that contribute to these disorders in offspring. Mutations are changes in the genetic code. Recent research, however, looks beyond the genetic code to "epigenetic effects", which do not involve changes in the genes themselves, but rather in how they are expressed to determine one's characteristics.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy or prion disease is triggered by the conversion from cellular prion protein to pathogenic prion protein. Notably, C-transmembrane form of prion protein and cytosolic prion protein can result in neurodegenerative diseases in cases of error location,aggregation tendency, failure of signal peptides, body stress or incomplete removal of topologic prion protein.

An international team of researchers has zeroed in on a protein that plays a key role in many lung-related ailments, from seasonal coughing and hacking to more serious diseases such as MRSA infections and cystic fibrosis.

The finding advances knowledge about this range of illnesses and may point the way to eventually being able to prevent infections such as MRSA.