Bacterial vaginosis is a condition that occurs when the typical mix of microbes in the vagina is knocked off-kilter, sometimes resulting in a change in the consistency of vaginal fluids and an unpleasant odor. Bacterial vaginosis is diagnosed through examination of the vagina and tests of the vaginal fluids and then typically treated with antibiotics. 

The condition affects as many as one in every three women, making it more common than yeast infections. But bacterial vaginosis often does not cause significant symptoms, leaving many women unaware they have it, but it has been linked to preterm birth and increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases. New research points to a common species of bacteria as an important contributor to bacterial vaginosis.

On March 24th, 1993, astronomers David Levy and Carolyn and Eugene M. Shoemaker discovered the first comet observed orbiting a planet rather than the Sun.  Named Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9), it was found to be composed of 21 fragments. Soon after that, orbital studies showed that the comet had passed within Jupiter's Roche limit in July 1992. Inside this limit, the planet's tidal forces are strong enough to disintegrate a body held together by its own gravity, thus explaining SL9's fragmentation.  

Results from "Aviator," AbbVie's phase IIb clinical trial of its investigational direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, continue to demonstrate high sustained viral response (SVR) rates against genotype 1 HCV, across patient types.

Data show greater than 90 percent SVR were achieved in patients new to treatment and in patients who had previously failed treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin (null responders).

At least when it comes to an analysis of malpractice lawsuits, diagnostic errors - not surgical mistakes or medication overdoses - accounted for the largest fraction of claims, the most severe patient harm, and the highest total of penalty payouts. Diagnosis-related payments amounted to $38.8 billion between 1986 and 2010, they found.  

The new analysis looked only at a subset of claims, those that rose to the level of a malpractice payout, but they estimate the number of patients suffering misdiagnosis-related, potentially preventable, significant permanent injury or death annually in the United States ranges from 80,000 to 160,000.

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Statistics show that 38 percent of suicidal adults and 90 percent of youths had visited their primary care physicians in the 12 months prior to committing suicide.  

An evidence review finds that while there are screening tools to help physicians identify adults at risk for suicide, there's no evidence that using these screening tools in primary care will actually prevent suicides. In adolescents, there are no proven primary care-relevant screening tools to identify suicide risk.  

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force reviewed evidence for upcoming recommendations on suicide screening and treatment for adults and adolescents and issued a paper. 

Researchers have found a way to turn bone marrow stem cells directly into brain cells, bypassing current cumbersome techniques and bringing about the possibility of simpler and safer methods. Stem cell therapies derived from patients' own cells are widely hoped to one day treat spinal cord injuries, strokes and other conditions throughout the body, with no immune rejection.

"These results highlight the potential of antibodies as versatile manipulators of cellular functions," said Richard A. Lerner of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI, principal investigator for the new study. "This is a far cry from the way antibodies used to be thought of—as molecules that were selected simply for binding and not function."

Blanket stereotypes are bad but they often come into existence for a reason; the problem becomes when everyone is labeled with the same brush. There is a common belief that some schools, high school and college, are giving athletes an easier time because they have physical skills but not academic ones, for example, and so all athletes become considered "dumb jocks".

Are college athletes victims of stereotype threat the way sociologists contend women and minorities in science classes are?

Thermoelectric power plants interact with climate, hydrology, and aquatic ecosystems while rivers serve as "horizontal cooling towers"  — but at a cost to the environment, says a new analysis.  

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is when our sun sends billions of tons of solar particles into space. A CME can affect electronic systems in satellites and NASA recently saw three.

Humans navigate complex social situations in deciding who to befriend or to abandon - a "frenemy" is someone who is both friend and enemy while the old military saying is that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'.

Animal social networks also use sophistication in judging social configurations and a new paper in Animal Behaviour applied a long-standing theory in social psychology called "structural balance."