OAK BROOK, Ill. - A single oral dose of methylene blue results in an increased MRI-based response in brain areas that control short-term memory and attention, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.

Methylene blue is used to treat methemoglobinemia, a blood disorder in which oxygen is unable to release effectively to body tissues, and as a surgical stain.

Animal studies have shown a single low dose of methylene blue enhances long-term contextual memory--the conscious recall of the source and circumstances of a specific memory--and extinction memory, a process in which a conditioned response from stimuli gradually diminishes over time.

PISCATAWAY, NJ - Misuse of prescription pain medications remains a major public health problem -- but programs to prevent it may be underused, according to a study in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

The study comes out of Maine, one of the U.S. states hardest hit by the "epidemic" of prescription painkiller and heroin abuse. Researchers say that although there have been some positive trends recently, there are also troubling ones.

In 2014, a high percentage of women in their 80s -- 38 percent -- had prescriptions for powerful painkilling medications known as opioids.

"That's very concerning," said researcher Stephanie Nichols, PharmD, BCPS BCPP, of Husson University School of Pharmacy in Bangor, Maine.

Stable flies and house flies are a concern in livestock and poultry farming because they can transmit harmful pathogens, and animals can harm themselves while trying to avoid bites from the flies. Researchers at the University of Florida found that a commercial formulation of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum was effective at reducing house fly and stable fly egg-laying and inhibiting house fly development. Formulations of another fungus called Beauveria bassiana were also found to be effective, albeit less so. The findings of the study are published in the Journal of Insect Science.

Rising sea temperatures in the Mediterranean are encouraging alien lionfish species to invade and colonise new territories with potentially serious ecological and socioeconomic impacts.

Evidence collated from divers and fishermen reveals that in the space of a year, the poisonous predators have colonised Cyprus - and these may be at the vanguard of a pan-Atlantic Ocean invasion following the widening and deepening of the Suez Canal.

UPTON, NY-Lignin is a natural component of plant cell walls, the scaffolding that surrounds each cell and plays a pivotal role in plants' ability to grow against gravity and reach heights ranging from stubbly grasses to the sky-scraping splendor of redwoods. But lignin is a problem for scientists interested in converting plant biomass to biofuels and other sustainable bio-based products. Lignin makes it hard to break down the plant matter so its carbon-rich building blocks can be converted into forms suitable for generating energy or running automobiles.

A simple solution might be to engineer plants with less lignin. But previous attempts to do this have often resulted in weaker plants and stunted growth-essentially putting the brakes on biomass production.

Biologists from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have discovered that the evolutionary history of a hormone responsible for sexual maturity in humans is written in the genes of the humble starfish.

The onset of puberty and sexual development in humans is triggered by the release of a brain hormone known as gonadotropin-releasing hormone or GnRH. Scientists at QMUL's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, working in collaboration with teams at the University of Warwick and KU Leuven in Belgium, have found that the history of this important sex hormone is a tale of loss.