PHILADELPHIA - Reprogramming of the molecular pathways underlying normal metabolism is essential for T cell infection-fighting function and for the immune system to form a "memory" of the microbes it has already encountered. But exactly how metabolism in exhausted T cells is maintained in chronic infections and cancer is a missing element in this line of research. Now, a new study suggests that tweaking metabolic steps in combination with checkpoint blockade drugs may improve some cancer therapies, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The team published their findings this week in Immunity.

Excess nitrogen from agricultural runoff can enter surface waters with devastating effects. Algal blooms and fish kills are a just a couple of possible consequences. But riparian buffer zones - areas of grasses, perennials, or trees - between farmlands and streams or rivers can help.

"Riparian buffer zones are nature's hydraulic shock absorbers," says Deanna Osmond, a soil scientist at North Carolina State University. They can reduce pollution and provide habitat for wildlife. Trees can hold stream banks together and provide food for animals. These buffer zones can also dampen the flow of agricultural runoff. This can lead to lower amounts of nitrogen reaching streams and rivers.

BOSTON - Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths, accounting for about a third of all tumor-related deaths. Adenocarcinomas, a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), account for about 40 percent of cancer diagnoses, but few treatments are available for the disease.

In work that aims to protect soldiers from biological and chemical threats, a team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists has created a material that is highly breathable yet protective from biological agents.

This material is the first key component of futuristic smart uniforms that also will respond to and protect from environmental chemical hazards. The research appears in the July 27 edition of the journal, Advanced Materials.

Coral Gables, FL (August 3, 2016) - The alert is out and South Floridians are taking heed. With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issuing a warning for visitors and locals to avoid a neighborhood in Miami after more than a dozen individuals contracted Zika, a team of University of Miami researchers have presented a new study that shows how the flow of visitors through a popular place, such as the affected Wynwood area of Miami, determines the eventual severity and duration of such an outbreak.

The study entitled, "Anomalous contagion and renormalization in networks with nodal mobility," was published in the journal Europhysics Letters on August 1 while a related paper by the same team will appear shortly in Physical Review E.

August 2, 2016 -- Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health with collaborators at the Federal University of Sao Paulo studied the relationship between psychiatric symptoms and patterns of substance use among high school students in Brazil and found that respondents with clinically significant scores on a behavioral screening questionnaire were more likely to use alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana in the past month compared to those without symptoms. The study is among the first to highlight the link between psychiatric symptoms and substance use among teenagers in a middle-income country with high levels of social inequalities. The paper is published online in The American Journal on Addictions.