Newborn infants who are cup-fed as at least part of their feeding regime, are more likely to be exclusively breast-fed when they leave hospital, but are no more likely to be breast-fed three or six months later, a team of Cochrane researchers have found. Moreover, cup-fed babies stay an average of 10 days longer in hospital. The lack of clear benefit, combined with the additional cost of the extended hospital, stay means that cup feeding cannot be recommended. [click link for full article]

Legislation that requires people to wear bicycle helmets appears to increase use and decreases injury rates, according to the results of a Cochrane Review.Cycling is a popular pastime and a mode of transport for children, but it also leads to many injuries that are frequently sufficiently severe to require hospitalisation. This is a global problem, and particularly effects low-income countries where the proportion of cycle-users is high. [click link for full article]

An older type of long-acting insulin is as effective in treating type 2 diabetes as newer and more expensive kinds, according to the results of a recent systematic review. However, the newer medications may cause fewer problems with low blood glucose while patients are sleeping.People with type 2 diabetes who need insulin take once-a-day insulin for longer-lasting or “basal” control. [click link for full article]

Paul Tergat, the current world record holder is dedicating his participation in the Flora London Marathon to the plight of hungry children all over the world. Tergat who is an “Ambassador Against Hunger” for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) was a beneficiary of food aid as a child growing up in rural Kenya. [click link for full article]

Resistentia Pharmaceuticals AB, a biopharmaceutical company developing immunotherapeutic products for allergic asthma and inflammatory disorders, announced today the start of a Phase II clinical trial to evaluate safety and efficacy of a novel anti-IgE immunotherapy, RP01, in allergic individuals. RP01 is designed to induce the immune system to produce antibodies that block Immunoglobulin E (IgE), the key mediator of an allergic response. [click link for full article]

A unique tissue bank at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center has received a $1 million boost from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Research Grants and Awards Program. The funding supports the expansion of a local tissue bank into a national respository for tissue from women without breast cancer. It is made available to scientists who are seeking to identify risk factors and biomarkers by comparing normal and cancerous tissue. [click link for full article]

Every hospital patient should have their own risk assessment for VTE that will improve patient safety and help save thousands of lives each year, says an expert working group whose report was launched by the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) today. Venousthromboembolism (VTE) is a set of complications that includes blood clots in veins that can break off. In England around 25,000 people a year die from VTE in hospitals alone. [click link for full article]

Results of the COURAGE trial, presented today at the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session, are unlikely to alter the approach that interventional cardiologists take in treating most patients with chronic stable angina, say leaders from the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), the leading professional society for interventional cardiologists in the United States. [click link for full article]

Four-year-old girls are six times more likely to have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 30 than they were 20 years ago and ten-year-olds are five times more likely, according to research published in the April issue of Acta Paediactrica. [click link for full article]

We have usually quite strong memories of past events like an exciting holiday or a jolly birthday party. [click link for full article]