GAINESVILLE, FL - Producers of container-grown landscape plants often use fertilizers to ensure that consumers take home healthy, vigorous plants. This "residual fertilizer" adds value to plants by extending the benefits beyond the greenhouse. A new study recommends the best fertilizer strategies to give plants staying power and add value for consumers.

In a study of older women with newly diagnosed stage I to III breast cancer, approximately one in five lost the ability to complete some of the basic tasks necessary for independent living within one year of initiating treatment. The study also found that a simple survey can help identify which women are at risk of such functional decline. The findings are published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

Washington, DC-- Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars. They're stars' dim, low-mass siblings and they fade in brightness over time. They're fascinating to astronomers for a variety of reasons, but much about them remains unknown. New work from a Carnegie-led team reports the distances of a number of brown dwarfs, as well as low-mass stars, in The Astronomical Journal.

Brown dwarfs are too small to sustain the hydrogen fusion process that powers stars. Their temperatures can range from nearly as hot as a star to as cool as a planet, and their masses also range between star-like and giant planet-like. They are of particular interest to scientists because they can offer clues to star-formation processes.

Artificial intelligence (AI) developed by a University of Cincinnati doctoral graduate was recently assessed by subject-matter expert and retired United States Air Force Colonel Gene Lee - who holds extensive aerial combat experience as an instructor and Air Battle Manager with considerable fighter aircraft expertise - in a high-fidelity air combat simulator.

The artificial intelligence, dubbed ALPHA, was the victor in that simulated scenario, and according to Lee, is "the most aggressive, responsive, dynamic and credible AI I've seen to date."

Vaccination with the anthrax capsule--a naturally occurring component of the bacterium that causes the disease--completely protected monkeys from lethal anthrax infection, according to a study published online this week in the journal VACCINE. These results indicate that anthrax capsule is a highly effective vaccine component that should be considered for incorporation in future generation anthrax vaccines.

Philadelphia, PA, June 27, 2016 - Sudden deaths in young, seemingly healthy competitive athletes are tragic events, often with wide media coverage and high public visibility. There is substantial interest in establishing the cause of these deaths and the roles that race and gender may play. In a new study published in The American Journal of Medicine, investigators report that more than one-third of recorded cardiovascular deaths were caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the majority in young male minority athletes. Sudden deaths due to genetic and/or congenital heart diseases are uncommon in females, but relatively common in African-American and other minorities compared to whites.

Wide-ranging species may have different levels of bacterial immunity than their rarer relatives, new research suggests.

The study, conducted by Plymouth University PhD student Rebekah Cioffi and supervised by the University's Dr John Moody, Professor David Bilton and Dr Richard Billington, examined the physiological and immune properties of Deronectes diving beetles, species of which are found living across Europe.

Scientists collected samples of widespread and restricted species and then assessed temperature tolerance, metabolic flexibility and immunity.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Electronic cigarette makers and sellers are making all kinds of health claims, many of which likely won't stand up to scrutiny under recently announced FDA regulation, a new study has found.

Regulatory oversight of those claims, announced in May, brings all tobacco products, including liquids used in vaporizers and e-cigarettes, under the same government oversight. All products must now carry warnings they contain nicotine, which is addictive.

Sales of e-cigarette products are rising about 25 percent a year.

Now that electronic devices fall under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, manufacturers will have to submit applications to the FDA, which must review and authorize health-related claims.

In one of the largest, most representative health surveys conducted to date, lesbian, gay and bisexual adults reported substantially higher rates of severe psychological distress, heavy drinking and smoking, and impaired physical health than did heterosexuals.

The National Health Interview Survey, one of the nation's leading health surveys, collected responses from approximately 68,000 adults. The results were reported today in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine by researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Exercise boosts kids' and young people's brain power and academic prowess, says a consensus statement on physical activity in schools and during leisure time, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Time taken away from lessons for physical activity is time well spent and does not come at the cost of getting good grades, say the 24 signatories to the statement.

The Statement, which distils the best available evidence on the impact of physical activity on children and young people, was drawn up by a panel of international experts with a wide range of specialisms, from the UK, Scandinavia, and North America, in Copenhagen, Denmark, in April of this year.