Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are a group of environmental contaminants that were banned in industrialized countries decades ago, but sut since they accumulate through the food chain and remain for a very long time in the human body, especially adipose tissue, they can still be found in a majority of people in most countries.

The most commonly known of these compounds is the pesticide DDT, which has gotten  a renewed look due to mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus.  Though DDT was banned in the US due to public concern, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows countries with mosquitoes related to malaria - which also carry Zika - how to effectively spray DDT inside homes.

A new study indicates that younger female gynecologic oncologists are less productive scholastically and that is why they are poorly represented in the higher academic ranks compared to male contemporaries.

There are obvious differences in gender make-up in the higher levels of academia. The reason for that is obvious: tenure. More women than ever are choosing to remain at universities but older males are not just going to be fired to achieve gender parity. And academia is far harder on women than the private sector, so women with childbearing and family responsibilities get penalized more than scientists at corporations do.

Sometimes synonymous mutations, which do not lead to a change in the protein sequence but which may still have major negative effects on the ability of bacteria to survive, occur in DNA.

New research in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution shows that an organism can efficiently compensate for the negative effects.  

For a long time it has been believed that synonymous mutations are 'silent', i.e. that they have no effect - positive or negative - on the gene product (protein) or on the growth and survival of the organism. However, in recent years several studies have shown that these mutations still often cause problems for the organism even though they do not change the protein sequence.

A recent global analysis indicates that more than half of coral reefs are located less than 30 minutes from the nearest human settlement, but these reefs are receiving less protection than reefs located farther away from people. This suggests that conservation efforts are targeting reefs that may already be receiving protection due to their isolation.

"This suggests that conservation efforts are disproportionally targeting reefs that may already be receiving natural or de facto protection due to their isolation," said Dr. David Mouillot, senior author of the Ecology Letters article.

Denver, CO. (February 17, 2016) - U.S. children are not consuming enough vegetables, resulting in an inadequate intake of key nutrients, including potassium and dietary fiber, which are important for growth, development and overall health. Research published (January 2016) in a special supplement of the peer-reviewed journal Advances in Nutrition demonstrated that children ages 1-3 years of age consumed just 67 percent of the dietary reference intakes (DRI) for potassium and 55 percent of the DRI for fiber.

• 5 billion to be short-sighted (myopic) by the year 2050

Adults who use marijuana are five times more likely to develop alcohol abuse or dependence compared with adults who do not use the drug. Adults who already have an alcohol use disorder and use marijuana are more likely to see the problem persist, finds a paper in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Collaborating with spiritual organizations may help health professionals reach Black women who have heart disease and stroke risk factors and little health knowledge, according to research presented at the Nursing Symposium of the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2016.

Compared with other women, Black women have higher rates of illness or death related to stroke, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, overweight and obesity. To assess factors related to the ability of women to reduce their risk factors and utilize healthcare effectively, a researcher surveyed 132 black women, average age 45, living in midtown Manhattan in New York City.

The researcher discovered that:

Chinese cultural values underlie the willingness of family members to care for stroke survivors at home, so interventions to support caregivers should consider incorporating these values, according to research presented at the Nursing Symposium of the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2016.

Each year, an estimated 22.5 million people in China survive a stroke and 78 percent of them require home care. This study probed stroke caregivers' perceptions of this responsibility within the Chinese culture.

Researchers interviewed 14 stroke caregivers, average age 58, seven tending a spouse and seven a parent. Eleven were women. All were first-time caregivers who provided an average of 14 hours of care each day.

The evolution of the menopause was 'kick-started' by a fluke of nature, but then boosted by the tendency for sons and grandsons to remain living close to home, a new study by Liverpool scientists suggests.

Menopause is an evolutionary puzzle, as an early end to reproduction seems contrary to the laws of natural selection, where passing on genes to the next generation is the main purpose of life. Yet female humans, and some other mammals, spend up to a third of their lives unable to reproduce.

Now, for the first time, researchers from the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University have used a phylogenetic approach to evaluate the most common evolutionary hypotheses for why females outlive their fertility.