(Vienna, 23 June 2016) Four new papers, co-published by an international consortium of biomedical researchers, mark the feasibility of epigenetic analysis for clinical diagnostics and precision medicine. Epigenetic analysis addresses key limitations of genetic testing, helping to ensure that patients are accurately diagnosed and treated with the right drug at the right time.

Epigenetic changes occur in all cancers, and in various other diseases. Measuring these changes provides unprecedented insights into the disease mechanisms at work in individual patients, which is important for better diagnosis and patient-specific treatment decisions.

A team of scientists has uncovered the global, evolving, and historic make-up of Plasmodium vivax, one of the five species of malaria that infect humans. The research, which links the spread of the parasite back to colonial seafaring, among other phenomena, underscores the challenges health experts face in controlling the parasite.

"Plasmodium vivax is going to be the last malaria parasite standing," observes Jane Carlton, a professor in New York University's Department of Biology, who led the study. "Our findings show it is evolving in response to anti-malarial drugs and adapting to regional differences, indicating a wide range of approaches will likely be necessary to eliminate it globally."

Washington, DC-- It turns out that forests in the Andean and western Amazonian regions of South America break long-understood rules about how ecosystems are put together, according to new research led by Carnegie's Greg Asner and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Their findings could help scientists understand how tropical forests will respond to global climate change.

One of forest ecology's fundamental undertakings has long focused on how tree growth is influenced by a host of environmental factors ranging from soils and elevation to hydrology and climate. These factors create an economy of resources that the trees must exploit through different strategies, some of which are optimized for quick growth while others favor slow growth.

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.