ATS 2016, SAN FRANCISCO - Home-based pulmonary rehabilitation may be equally effective in improving fitness and quality of life as a traditional center-based program for COPD patients, according to new research presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.

"We know that pulmonary rehab is a highly effective treatment for COPD because it improves exercise capacity and symptoms and keeps people out of the hospital," said Anne Holland, PhD, professor of physiotherapy at Alfred Health and La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. "But less than 10 percent of all COPD patients in developed countries enter a pulmonary rehab program."

For the first time, scientists are looking at real data -- not computer models, but direct observation -- about what is happening in the fascinating region where the Earth's magnetic field breaks and then joins with the interplanetary magnetic field.

They don't know exactly what this new window of science will open to us -- that's the thrill of discovery and, for some, the scary part, too.

But enormous amounts of data now are arriving daily -- and publicly accessible -- from NASA's $1 billion Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, called MMS for short, which was launched in March 2015.

Compared to their surroundings, cities can be hot -- hot enough to influence the weather. Industrial, domestic, and transportation-related activities constantly release heat, and after a warm day, concrete surfaces radiate stored heat long into the night. These phenomena can be strong enough to drive thunderstorms off course. But it isn't only about the heat cities release; it's also about their spatial layout. By channeling winds and generating turbulence hundreds of meters into the atmosphere, the presence and organization of buildings also affect weather and air quality.

Visitors to the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics Summer Games (5-21 August and 7-18 September 2016) in Rio de Jan, Brazil will be most at risk of gastrointestinal illness and vector-borne infections. Consequently, travellers are advised to pay attention to standard hygiene measures and protect themselves against mosquito and other insect bites using insect repellent and wearing long-sleeved shirts and trousers. It should be noted though that the Games will take place during the winter season in Rio de Janeiro when the cooler and drier weather will reduce mosquito populations, thus lowering the risk of mosquito-borne infections.

Scientists from KU Leuven, Belgium, present a new therapeutic approach that may make it possible for HIV patients to (temporarily) stop their medication. The findings shed a completely new light on the search for a cure for HIV.

Existing antiviral inhibitors can suppress the replication of the HIV virus, but they cannot fully remove it from the human body. As a result, HIV patients have to take inhibitors for the rest of their lives. HIV researchers worldwide are currently developing new methods to eliminate the virus.

The HIV virus uses the cellular protein LEDGF as a kind of grappling-hook to attach itself to specific locations in our genetic material. Once its DNA is inside the cells of its human host, the virus can multiply and make the patient sick.

In a study appearing in the May 17 issue of JAMA, Andrew M. Ibrahim, M.D., of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues compared the surgical outcomes and associated Medicare payments at critical access hospitals vs non-critical access hospitals.

Critical access hospital designation was created to help ensure access to the more than 59 million people living in rural populations. Previous reports suggest these centers provide lower quality of care for common medical admissions. Little is known about the outcomes and costs of patients admitted for surgical procedures.

Reading the headlines on Gen Y, Gen X and millennials it’s clear many people believe distinct generational categories exist, that there are very real differences between them, and that organizations must manage these differences.

For the first time, the genomes of the giraffe and its closest living relative, the reclusive okapi of the African rainforest, have been sequenced -- revealing the first clues about the genetic changes that led to the evolution of the giraffe's exceptionally long neck and its record-holding ranking as the world's tallest land species. The research will be published in the scientific journal Nature Communications on May 17, 2016.

Decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant just got one step closer. Japanese researchers have mapped the distribution of boron compounds in a model control rod, paving the way for determining re-criticality risk within the reactor.

To this day the precise situation inside the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant is still unclear. "Removing fuel debris from the reactor contaminant vessel is one of the top priorities for decommissioning," says lead author Ryuta Kasada of Kyoto University.