As they grow older, teenagers are spending more time in front of the computer and television and less time participating in physical activities, according to researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.Research published in the journal Pediatrics found that moderate to vigorous physical activity among teenage girls and boys dramatically decreased from early to late adolescence. [click link for full article]

Recent research at the University of Haifa School of Social Work revealed a connection between father-child relationship and the ability to achieve interrelation intimacy in adulthood. The research, conducted by Dr. Nurit Nahmani, examined the quality of father-child relationships among three groups: orphans, children of divorced parents and children of intact families. [click link for full article]

While running and jumping are some of the best ways to maintain or improve bone strength and help prevent fractures, they aren’t the safest activities for the frail, elderly or physically impaired.Dr Belinda Beck, senior lecturer at Griffith University’s School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, said there was some evidence that low intensity loading performed at a sufficiently high frequency may also improve bone mass. [click link for full article]

It has been known for decades that heart attacks and strokes occur most frequently in the early-morning hours. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have provided the first evidence for the role of our body’s internal molecular clock in controlling blood pressure and a mechanism by which this occurs. [click link for full article]

The Indian government plans to set up orphanages in each regional district for female infants in an effort to curb sex-selective abortions, Renuka Chowdhury, minister of women and child development, said, the PTI/Hindustan Times reports (PTI/Hindustan Times, 2/18). [click link for full article]

Prof. Ron Grunstein, Head of the Woolcock’s Sleep Research Group, Sydney, Australia, said, “There is a large body of evidence suggesting that a vicious cycle exists between sleep apnea and Metabolic Syndrome (a predictor of future diabetes and heart disease in people with obesity). It appears that sleep apnea worsens aspects of metabolic syndrome and metabolic syndrome may worsen sleep apnea. [click link for full article]

The Medical Knowledge Institute (MKI) - a non-profit healthcare education and healthcare information organization and UN Associate Member - announced today that the first MKI seminar dedicated to Screening programmes for cancers of the uterine cervix, breast and colorectum will take place on February 23 and 24, in Oostvoorne, the Netherlands. [click link for full article]

The “diabetes clock” may start ticking in women years in advance of a medical diagnosis of the disease, new research has shown.Epidemiologists at the University at Buffalo have found that newly identified risk factors for diabetes found in the blood, such as markers of endothelial dysfunction, chronic sub-acute inflammation and blood clotting factors, are present early on in women who eventually progress from normal glucose status to the pre-diabetic condition. [click link for full article]

The AP/Boston Globe on Monday examined how increased demand for egg donations and compensation for donors in the U.S. has prompted more young women to donate their eggs. According [click link for full article]

Results of the TOwards a Revolution in COPD Health (TORCH) study, the largest of its kind have been published today in the New England Journal of Medicine1 and represent a landmark in COPD, a disease which kills more people each year than breast cancer and lung cancer combined.2,3 The results show important benefits of Seretide in the treatment of patients with COPD. [click link for full article]