Cambridge, Massachusetts - Scientists are interested in using gels to deliver drugs because they can be molded into specific shapes and designed to release their payload over a specified time period. However, current versions aren’t always practical because must be implanted surgically.

Cambridge, Massachusetts - Our susceptibility to disease depends both on the genes that we inherit from our parents and on our lifetime experiences. These two components - nature and nurture - seem to affect very different processes in the context of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study published today in the journal Nature.

Dallas, Texas - Smoking marijuana may increase your chances of having a stroke, according to a review of 34 different studies published in the American Heart Association’s journal Stroke.

Washington, DC - Unemployment can change peoples’ core personalities, making some less conscientious, agreeable and open, which may make it difficult for them to find new jobs, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

Dallas, Texas - Middle-aged women who are physically active a few times per week have lower risks of heart disease, stroke and blood clots than inactive women, according to research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation. Surprisingly, more frequent physical activity didn’t result in further reductions in risk, researchers said.

Washington, DC - A clinical trial called HVTN 100 has been launched in South Africa to study an investigational HIV vaccine regimen for safety and the immune responses it generates in study participants. This experimental vaccine regimen is based on the one tested in the U.S. Military HIV Research Program-led RV144 clinical trial in Thailand the first study to demonstrate that a vaccine can protect people from HIV infection.