Chicago - A simple blood test taken before surgery may predict how quickly patients recover from their procedure, suggests a new study in the December issue of Anesthesiology, the official medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). According to the study, identifying a patient's immune state from blood samples taken before surgery, revealed patterns that may predict speed of recovery from postoperative pain and dysfunction.

Immune states are patient-specific immune responses to "stressors" that are released by cells during surgery, injury or trauma.

Though the open ocean leaves few places for fish to hide from predators, some species have evolved a way to manipulate the light that fills it to camouflage themselves, a new study finds. The study's insights could pave the way to improvements in materials like polarization-sensitive satellites. Underwater, light vibrates in way that "polarizes" it. While humans cannot detect this vibrational state of light without technology, it is becoming increasingly evident that many species of fish can; lab-based studies hint that some fish have even adapted ways to use polarization to their advantage, including developing platelets within their skin that reflect and manipulate polarized light so the fish are camouflaged.

Ever wonder why that diet didn't work? An Israeli study tracking the blood sugar levels of 800 people over a week suggests that even if we all ate the same meal, how it's metabolized would differ from one person to another. The findings, published November 19 in Cell, demonstrate the power of personalized nutrition in helping people identify which foods can help or hinder their health goals.

Roundworm infection can increase the reproduction rate in Amazonian women, while hookworm infection can decrease it, a new study finds. Parasitic worms infect two billion people globally; while it's known that some parasites can cause cognitive and nutritional impairment, this study suggests that reproduction rates can also be affected by parasitic organisms. Furthermore, the authors propose an intriguing mechanism behind this correlation: the immune system. To gain a better understanding of the effects of parasites on reproduction rates, Aaron Blackwell et al. used data collected over nine years from Tsimane women in the lowlands of Bolivia, a population with an average birth rate of nine children per woman.

ROANOKE, Va., Nov. 16, 2015 - Scientists from the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and clinicians from Carilion Clinic have discovered how to sensitize drug-resistant human glioblastoma cells to chemotherapy.

They published their results in Cancer Research, the scientific journal of the American Association of Cancer Research.

Glioblastoma accounts for almost half of all brain cancers. Fewer than one in 20 patients survive five years after their diagnosis, and treatment involves surgical removal of the cancerous tissue, followed by chemotherapy.

A team of Belgian researchers has shown that the yeasts used to ferment cocoa during chocolate production can modify the aroma of the resulting chocolate. "This makes it possible to create a whole range of boutique chocolates to match everyone's favorite flavor, similar to wines, tea, and coffee," says Jan Steensels, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Leuven, and the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, Belgium.