The first of December every year is observed as world AIDS day. It is observed as an effort to unite people world wide in the fight against HIV. The theme for the year 2017 is 'Lets End It', aiming to end the stigma associated with the disease.

Recent study shows that chronic illnesses might be shared with the members of a household. A team of public health professionals from from various universities in India and the USA have studied 2,574 households during 2013 and 2014, to understand the prevalence and stage of diagnosis of five chronic diseases.

Cervical cancer plagues the life of many women around the globe. Sometimes the disease can be caused by an aggravated and repeated infection by the Human papilloma virus (HPV). Researchers from the Cancer Research Program, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) in Kerala, use gene editing molecules rid the virus of the genes, which form a protein that can cause malignancy in humans.

Microbes live with us and among us. They occupy portions of our body and help us perform many daily bodily functions. Scientists call these microbes that live in our body the Human microbiome. In their latest research, scientists from the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany, study the salivary microbiome in Indians.

Venkata S. Murthy Gudlavalleti from the Indian Institute of Public Health, Hyderabad has been studying childhood blindness in the country to understand the causes, severity and extent of the disability.

From their first appearance on the academic scene as a tool for dissection to making it into mainstream medicine and cosmetics in the recent years, microneedles have an array of applications. Dr.Venuganti and a team of researchers from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Hyderabad and the US Food and Drug Administration, recount the journey microneedles have made through the years and the range of possible applications in the future.

When we think of diseases that come to us from animals, rabies and AIDS are the most common ones that pop into our heads. Rabies is one of the most common viral zoonotic infections. Some of the widely known facts about rabies are that it makes you a slobbering, aggressive madman, it’s acquired by the bite of an infected dog and that it kills you.

Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore devise a computational model to study how cooperation evolves in natural systems - from cells to large mammals. The study finds mobility, which was largely ignored before, plays a key role in the evolution of cooperation. Understanding mobility of cells in a medium could help us understand better the spread of cancer.

Captive elephants in the country are used for a range of tasks. From hauling timber in the forests to blessing devotees in the temples, they do it all. In a first-of-its-kind study by researchers at the A.V.C. College, Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu, and Dharmapuram Gnanambigai Government Arts College for Women, Mayiladuthurai, have explored how being forced out of their natural and instinctive behaviour affects these majestic megafauna.

Responsible for 1.5 to 5 million deaths per year, around the world, Diabetes mellitus is a very serious disease. India is considered the diabetes capital of the world with as many as 50 million people suffering from type 2 diabetes. This World Diabetes Day, the Research Matters team caught up with Dr. Milind Watve, a professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune and an expert in the field, to find out about the new insights into how better to treat the disease.