A major Canadian-led global study has found all forms of tobacco exposure, whether that be smoking, chewing or inhaling second hand smoke, increase the risk of heart attack.

Ribbon rendering of the structure of AC-IV in Yersina pestis as determined at NIST. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have solved the structure of a key enzyme from the bacterium responsible for plague, finding that it has a highly unusual configuration. The results may shed light both on how the bacterium kills and on fundamental cell signaling processes.

Naturally occurring CD4+CD25+ Tregs are a specialized subpopulation of T cells that function to prevent other T cells destroying self-tissues. But harnessing the therapeutic potential of Tregs -- for example, to treat autoimmune diseases such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis -- is hampered by problems generating sufficient cells to be therapeutically effective. This is because, unlike non-regulatory T cells, Tregs do not proliferate in vitro when stimulated through either their TCR or IL-2 receptor alone.

A young elephant steps out at Whipsnade Wild Animal Park while cameras record the movement of the disc shaped markers on its legs and back.If an elephant is thundering towards you at 15mph you are probably not too concerned with the finer points of biomechanics or the thorny question about whether they are truly running or not. But for researchers, understanding these points and getting a clearer picture of how elephants move their seven tonnes of bulk at speed offers the potential to improve animal welfare, inform human biomechanics and even help in the design of large robots.