A lone Sentinel cell monitors and coordinates the defense of the entrance to the colon's most sensitive parts. The Sentinel cell detects nearby bacteria and signals to a line of defensive cells to send out a cascade of mucus to push away the invaders. As a final self-sacrificing action the cell commits suicide and ejects itself into the intestinal lumen.

Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, have discovered a new group of cells that can wash away the bacteria that have penetrated through the protective mucus barrier. The discovery, published in the journal Science, may be important in understanding how inflammatory bowel disease, e.g. ulcerative colitis, occurs.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham have found that exposure to social-based messages promoting healthy eating can increase consumption of fruit and vegetables and reduce consumption of high-calorie snacks. It has been known for some time that people adapt their behavior to what they think is socially expected for that situation and food choices are no exception. If we are told that other people in our social group eat lots of fruit and vegetables then we may try to do the same.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (JULY 12, 2016). Abusive head injury, sometimes referred to as shaken baby syndrome or non-accidental trauma (NAT), is the third leading cause of head injuries in small children in the US. For children under the age of 1 year, it is the cause of the majority of serious head injuries. Outcomes often result in severe, permanent disability and sometimes death.

July 14 2016, Porto, PORTUGAL. Obesity may ultimately be a disease of the brain, involving a progressive deterioration of various cognitive processes that influence eating. Researchers at Macquarie University have now shown that memory inhibition - the useful ability to 'block out' memories that are no longer useful, which depends on a brain area called the hippocampus - is linked to dietary excess. Usually, food-related memories should be at the forefront during hunger but then inhibited during fullness, so that thoughts of food are set aside when eating is no longer top priority. Prior animal studies have shown that a Western diet - one high in fats and sugars and low in fruit, vegetable and fiber - impairs the memory inhibition abilities of the hippocampus.

Outdoor learning can have a significant and positive impact on children's quality of life but needs to be introduced more formally into global school curricula in order for its potential benefits to be fully realised, a new report suggests.

Cancer centers promoting their services dramatically increased their advertising spending from 2005 to 2014, and  9 of the 20 that accounted for the bulk of the spending were National Cancer Institute-designated centers, so they were using taxpayer funding to advertise to taxpayers to get taxpayers to come to their centers.  Five were for-profit institutions.