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Drinking alcohol before age 15 a risky habit

Researchers at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) have found that drinking alcohol before 15 years of age is risky and increases a child's risk of becoming a heavy drinker later on.

30 Sep 2008

Kids' hectic activity programs stress out parents

In an age when many parents are struggling to find a balance between their offspring's out of school activities and their own needs and pleasures, new research has found that as far as middle-class children are concerned, these organized activities are linked to positive outcomes in school, emotional development, family life and behaviour.

30 Sep 2008

Second-hand smoke may trigger nicotine dependence symptoms in kids

Parents who smoke cigarettes around their kids in cars and homes beware - second-hand smoke may trigger symptoms of nicotine dependence in children. The findings are published in the September edition of the journal Addictive Behaviors in a joint study from nine Canadian institutions.

29 Sep 2008

Fish oil brain study slammed as 'laughable'

The study carried out by a local council in Britain which found that children who took omega-3 fish oil supplements during the school year performed better in exams, has been slammed as unethical and "laughably incompetent".

29 Sep 2008

States see rising enrollment in Medicaid as economy falters

With states confronting a weakening economy, enrollment in Medicaid began to rise last year with states expecting even larger increases for fiscal year 2009, according to a new 50-state survey released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation's Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU). With the increased enrollment, Medicaid spending is also rising more rapidly than in the recent past, raising the potential for program cutbacks as states confront the combined impact of more enrollees and fewer available resources.

29 Sep 2008

$3 billion announced for global malaria action plan to eradicate malaria by 2015

Government leaders, philanthropists, international organizations, not-for-profit groups and corporations on Thursday announced a combined $3 billion in contributions to implement the Global Malaria Action Plan -- aimed at eradicating malaria worldwide by 2015 -- during the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on the U.N. Millennium Development Goals in New York, the Wall Street Journal reports.

29 Sep 2008

Breast feeding lowers breast cancer risk

Experts say women who breastfeed for a year over the course of their lifetime are less likely to develop breast cancer.

29 Sep 2008

Infants who focus on mouths rather eyes could be autistic

Researchers in the United States say young children who focus on mouths rather than on eyes could be autistic and they believe the extent of such behaviour indicates the severity of the Autism Spectrum Disorder.

28 Sep 2008

New way to control protein activity could lead to cancer therapies

Investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found a way to quickly and reversibly fine-tune the activity of individual proteins in cells and living mammals, providing a powerful new laboratory tool for identifying - more precisely than ever before - the functions of different proteins.

28 Sep 2008

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide $168.7 million for malaria vaccine research

Bill Gates announced today that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide $168.7 million to PATH for its Malaria Vaccine Initiative to develop vaccines for malaria -- a disease that kills thousands of African children every day.

25 Sep 2008

Social class dictates cancer risk

Cervical and lung cancer are more common in poor people while rates of breast cancer and melanoma are higher in the wealthy. A detailed analysis of the incidence of these four different kinds of cancer, carried out on more than 300,000 English cancer patients and published today in the open access journal BMC Cancer, describes the effects of socioeconomic group, region and age.

25 Sep 2008

New pig model of cystic fibrosis provides better understanding of human disease

For the first time, researchers have developed a genetically altered animal model for cystic fibrosis (CF) that closely matches the characteristics of the disease in humans. By studying the complex and multi-organ disease process in the pig model, researchers can now better understand how the complications of CF develop, an advancement that may lead to new avenues for research in prevention and treatment.

25 Sep 2008

Antidepressants can affect male fertility

Researchers in the United States have linked commonly used antidepressants to a reduction in some men's fertility.

25 Sep 2008

Weak bladders stop many women doing sport

New research has revealed that many young women avoid participating in sporting activities because of weak bladders.

25 Sep 2008

Out of Iraq emerges hope for those with the severest of head injuries

There may be more hope than has been recognized for some people with severe brain injuries, according to a U.S. neurosurgeon who earlier this year spent four months in Iraq treating soldiers and civilians. Jason Huang, M.D., this week presented his results from his experience in Iraq at the annual meeting of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons in Orlando, Fla.

24 Sep 2008