Europe's most homophobic countries may be paving the way for a rise in HIV cases among gay and bisexual men, according to new research published in the journal AIDS.

An international team of researchers from Europe and the US looked at HIV-related service use, need and behaviours among 175,000 gay or bisexual men living in 38 European countries with differing levels of national homophobia.

They found that men in homophobic countries had fewer sexual partners and were less likely to be diagnosed with HIV. However, they also found those men knew less about HIV, were less likely to use condoms and are at greater potential risk of getting HIV when they do have sex.

New research shows that surface waters of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas could reach levels of acidity that threaten the ability of animals to build and maintain their shells by 2030, with the Bering Sea reaching this level of acidity by 2044. 

"Our research shows that within 15 years, the chemistry of these waters may no longer be saturated with enough calcium carbonate for a number of animals from tiny sea snails to Alaska King crabs to construct and maintain their shells at certain times of the year," said Jeremy Mathis, an oceanographer at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and lead author. "This change due to ocean acidification would not only affect shell-building animals but could ripple through the marine ecosystem."

Metabolism experts are increasingly convinced that obesity and many of the pathogenic changes it entails, such as Metabolic Syndrome and type 2 diabetes, are a result of chronic inflammatory processes in fatty (adipose) tissue. The adipose tissue of obese people exhibits higher-than-normal quantities of almost all types of immune and inflammatory cells.

New recommendations by EULAR for women's health and pregnancy in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and/or antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) were presented last week at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2015).

Developed by expert consensus, these evidence-based recommendations provide crucial guidance to support family planning, assisted reproduction, pregnancy and the menopause in these patients.

After this year's legalization of powdered alcohol, some states have already banned it -- a move that the majority of the public supports, according to a new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

Adults across the country share the same top concern about the new alcohol-on-the-go product: potential misuse among underage youth.

Packaged in travel-friendly pouches, powdered alcohol will be available in flavors of distilled spirits like vodka and rum and also mixed drinks. One packet of powdered alcohol mixed with six ounces of liquid creates an instant cocktail.

The worldwide demand for legumes, one of the world's most important agricultural food crops, is growing; at the same time, their production has been adversely affected by drought. In an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis research paper published today in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers provide information that could help agricultural planning and management to minimize drought-induced yield losses.