New, highly curative hepatitis C therapy is both safe and effective as a treatment option for people who inject drugs,  the major population affected by the virus, according to a paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--With a trick of engineering, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes improved a potential weapon against inflammation and autoimmune disorders. Their work could one day benefit patients who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease or organ transplant rejection.

The Body's Natural Defense

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) reside in bone marrow and have been found to secrete anti-inflammatory proteins that help regulate the immune system. More than 500 clinical trials are trying to use these cells to fight diseases, but so far, many have failed.

Bright light combined with caffeine can improve driving performance and alertness of chronically sleep deprived young drivers, according to a Queensland University of Technology road safety study.

Dr Shamsi Shekari, from QUT's Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q) presented her findings at the 2016 International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology held in Australia this month.

CARRS-Q and Griffith University co-hosted the event which brought together international experts from across the globe to share the latest in road safety research with the aim of reducing road trauma.

Malignant cancers strike certain organs, such as the colon or breast, more often than others. In an Opinion publishing August 9 in Trends in Cancer, researchers propose that this vulnerability in some organs may be due to natural selection. Humans can tolerate tumors in large or paired organs more easily than in small, critical organs, such as the heart, and so the larger organs may have evolved fewer mechanisms to defend against cancerous cells.

People who live in provinces with policies that allow pharmacists to administer influenza vaccines are more likely to be vaccinated, according to a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal)

"Individuals living in provinces with a policy allowing administration of publicly funded influenza vaccines by pharmacists were more likely to report receipt of a seasonal influenza vaccine in the year before survey participation than those living in jurisdictions without a pharmacy policy," writes Dr. Jeffrey Kwong, Public Health Ontario and Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), with coauthors.

Teenagers who regularly play online video games tend to improve their school results, according to new research from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

But school students who visit Facebook or chat sites every day are more likely to fall behind in maths, reading and science.

Associate Professor Alberto Posso, from RMIT's School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, investigated the results of testing by the globally recognised Program for International Student Assessment.

PISA tested more than 12,000 Australian 15-year-olds in maths, reading and science, as well as collecting data on the students' online activities.

Posso said video games could help students to apply and sharpen skills learned at school.