Governments and international donors have not met their pledges to support family planning programs in developing countries, according to a World Bank report released on Wednesday, Reuters reports. [click link for full article]

Reps. Charlie Wilson (D-Ohio), Marion Berry (D-Ark.) and Mike Ross (D-Ark.) on Thursday introduced a measure that would delay implementation of a law that will require physicians to write prescriptions for Medicaid beneficiaries on tamper-proof pads, CongressDaily reports (Edney, CongressDaily, 7/20). Pharmacist groups in a recent letter to lawmakers wrote that millions of Medicaid beneficiaries might not be able to obtain their medications after Oct. [click link for full article]

At very young ages, children’s defiant behavior toward their mothers may not be a bad thing. This defiance may in fact reflect children’s emerging autonomy and a confidence that they can control events that are important to them.Those are the findings of a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan. The study is published in the July/August 2007 issue of the journal Child Development. [click link for full article]

The six Bulgarian medics, five nurses and a Palestinian doctor who was naturalized Bulgarian recently, convicted of deliberately infecting about 438 children at a Libyan hospital with HIV have been freed. A few weeks ago they had been sentenced to death by a Judicial Council, last week the death sentences were lifted, and now the medics are free - they were released at 5.45am today, local time. The six medics have had to endure over eight years in prison. [click link for full article]

The striking tissue-specific expression patterns of microRNAs (miRNAs) suggest that they play a role in tissue development. These small RNA molecules (~22 bases in length) are processed from long primary transcripts (pri-miRNA) and regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. There are hundreds of different miRNAs, many of which are strongly conserved. [click link for full article]

Children’s memories of events that occurred long ago may be more accurate than their recollections of events that took place recently. These findings may have implications for cases of child sexual abuse, when children are often the only witnesses. In the past, it has been assumed that because memory tends to fade with the passage of time, children’s reports given a long time after an event are less accurate than reports given soon after the events took place. [click link for full article]

Behavior problems in the early grades appear to lead to peer rejection and a lack of friends in elementary school. This, in turn, can lead to early adolescent depression and loneliness.Those are the findings of a new study by researchers at the Universities of Montreal and Oslo; the study is published in the July/August 2007 issue of the journal Child Development. [click link for full article]

CMS and state child welfare officials are failing to provide adequate access to physical and mental health services to children in foster care, witnesses on Thursday said at a House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support hearing, [click link for full article]

A unique study found that adolescents’ emotional skills were strengthened through a high school theater program. The study appears in the July-August 2007 issue of the journal Child Development.Adolescents face formidable challenges in emotional development. To become functional adults, they must learn to manage the emotions that unfold in complex social interactions, including those in collaborative work groups. [click link for full article]

The European Committee for Human Medicinal Products has recommended GlaxoSmithKline’s experimental human papillomavirus vaccine Cervarix for sale and marketing in the European Union, the company announced Wednesday, [click link for full article]