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Researchers have identified a gene that, when modified, causes the eye disease Duane syndrome. Importantly, by identifying this gene the team has discovered how the visual system develops which may lead to new ways to treat other vision disorders.

Outbreaks of measles in developing countries may be reduced by vaccinating infants at 4.5 months of age as well as at the World Health Organization's recommended routine vaccination at 9 months, according to a new study.

A type of device called a "lab-on-a-chip" could bring a new generation of instant home tests for illnesses, food contaminants and toxic gases. But today these portable, efficient tools are often stuck in the lab themselves. Specifically, in the labs of researchers who know how to make them from scratch.

Researchers found that adults with chronic illness who received interventions focused on behavior-changing strategies significantly increased their physical activity levels. In contrast, interventions based on cognitive approaches, which attempt to change knowledge, beliefs and attitudes, and are most commonly used by health care providers, did not improve physical activity.

CD4+ T lymphocytes, or simply CD4 T cells, are the "brains" of the immune system, coordinating its activity when the body comes under attack. They are also the cells that are attacked by HIV, the devastating virus that causes AIDS and has infected roughly 40 million people worldwide. The virus slowly eats away at CD4 T cells, weakening the immune system.

In the life of a cell, the response to DNA damage determines whether the cell is fated to pause and repair itself, commit suicide, or grow uncontrollably, a route leading to cancer. Scientists have now identified a way that cells respond to DNA damage through a process that targets proteins for disposal. The finding points to a new pathway for the development of cancer and suggests a new way of sensitizing cancer cells to treatment.

Researchers have, for the first time, found that angiotensin receptor blockers -- a particular class of anti-hypertensive medicines -- are associated with a striking decrease in the occurrence and progression of dementia.

For the first time, next-generation DNA sequencing technologies have been turned on typhoid fever -- a disease that kills 600,000 people each year. The study sets a new standard for analyzing the evolution and spread of a disease-causing bacterium: it is the first study of multiple samples of any bacterial pathogen at this level of detail. The results will help to improve diagnosis, tracking the disease and could help to design new strategies for vaccination.