A hereditary autoimmune disease that was thought to be exceedingly rare may have a less severe form that affects one in 1,000 people or even more.

The results suggest that a number of different autoimmune diseases and syndromes may be tied to mutations in a single gene. Among other things, these findings, combined with other research in the Weizmann lab, may help provide new means of diagnosing and treating autoimmune disorders.

The recent commitments by the leaders of G7 nations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide to 40-70% below current levels by 2050, and to eliminate the use of fossil fuels altogether by 2100, have raised several questions.

Are these objectives feasible? Are they consistent with national commitments? Are they sufficient to stabilize the global climate without dangerous rates of warming? And are they anything new?

Stem cells are especially sensitive to oxygen radicals and antioxidants shows new research from the group of Anu Wartiovaara in the Molecular Neurology Research Program of University of Helsinki.

Mitochondria are cellular power plants that use oxygen to produce energy. As a by-product they produce reactive oxygen. Excessive oxygen radicals may cause damage to cells but they are needed in small quantities as important cellular signaling molecules. One of their main functions is to control function of stem cells. Antioxidants are widely used to block the damage caused by reactive oxygen. To enhance their effect some new antioxidants are targeted to accumulate into mitochondria.

A new study in Addiction finds that in England, children's exposure to second-hand smoke has declined by approximately 80% since 1998. 

Also, an emerging social norm in England has led to the adoption of smoke-free homes not only when parents are non-smokers but also when they smoke. The proportion of children living in a home reported to be smoke-free increased from 63% in 1998 to 87.3% in 2012.

Blue Bell Creameries has been battling a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak for the past five years. The potentially killer bacteria was found in ice cream served at a Kansas hospital and sold by retailers. Reports most recently are blaming plants in Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas.

Randomized controlled trials must be simplified to sustain innovation in cardiovascular diseases, which are still the biggest killer in Europe, according to the Cardiovascular Round Table (CRT), an independent forum established by the European Society of Cardiology and comprised of cardiologists and representatives of the pharmaceutical, device and equipment industries. 

The paper outlines barriers to investing in cardiovascular research and the authors recommend new ways to conduct clinical research to make investment more attractive and bring drugs to market sooner.

The ancient oceans of Jupiter's Europa and Saturn's tiny Enceladus are hidden beneath an ice sheet kilometers thick. They may have ET microbes, even multicellular swimming creatures around hydrothermal vents. Or they could have imperfectly reproducing "protocells"; a window into the first stages of evolution. 

These conditions, which make them so habitable, and interesting for astrobiology, may also make them especially vulnerable to invasive species. Cassini orbiter found geysers at the south pole of Enceladus, continually venting sea water from its ocean into space, as ice particles. This may give us a wonderful opportunity to look at ET life in our solar system without interference from Earth life.

A team of researchers from Brazil and Canada has found a South American example of interactions between a group of flies and the mushrooms they feed on as larvae. Though this group of flies has more than 1,100 species known from South and Central America, this is the first report of a species from the family being reared from, and associated with, a host fungus from the South America.

Even with the large amount of recent research on South American biodiversity, there are still large areas of study that remain unexplored. The natural history and diversity of the mushroom eating fauna (i.e., fungivores) in the region falls into this category.

The increasing use of video games is often blamed for children's lack of interest in physical activity and for obesity, but a study in the Games for Health Journal suggests that active video games may actually be a source of moderate or intense physical activity in children five to eight years old. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that children participate in at least 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity each day.