Hundreds of thousands of babies around the world are born each year with HIV–more than half a million in 2006 alone. Caring for these children is complicated by the fact that their immune systems are not fully developed in the first year of life, which makes them especially susceptible to rapid HIV disease progression and death. [click link for full article]

The capacity to resist peer pressure in early adolescence may depend on the strength of connections between certain areas of the brain, according to a study carried out by University of Nottingham researchers.New findings suggest that enhanced connections across brain regions involved in decision-making may underlie an individual’s ability to resist the influence of peers. [click link for full article]

Mummies that have recently been unearthed in South Korea may provide clues on how to combat hepatitis B, according to Prof. Mark Spigelman of the Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.This is the first time that samples of hepatitis B have ever been found on a mummified body. [click link for full article]

Cancer patients who receive a drug that stimulates the growth of infection-fighting white blood cells may be significantly less likely to die from a chemotherapy-related complication characterized by fever and low white blood cell levels, according to a multi-institutional study led by researchers from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center. [click link for full article]

Kids asked to physically gesture at math problems are nearly three times more likely than non-gesturers to remember what they’ve learned. In the journal Cognition, a University of Rochester scientist suggests it’s possible to help children learn difficult concepts by providing gestures as an additional and potent avenue for taking in information. [click link for full article]

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have developed a fast and accurate way to measure a major hormone released by the thyroid gland–an advance they say may help in the treatment of many women who have overactive or underactive thyroid glands. [click link for full article]

The use of steroid medication to treat bronchiolitis — a common viral lower respiratory infection in infants — does not prevent hospitalization or improve their respiratory symptoms, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The findings by the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) resolve controversy from prior research and are expected to help guide treatment for the most common cause of infant hospitalization. [click link for full article]

People wondering about excessive weight gain might look to their relationships with family and friends for one clue, suggests new research reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. The study showed that obesity spreads within social networks and that the closer the social connection–even if people live in different households many miles apart–the greater the influence on developing obesity. [click link for full article]

Four months into the present crisis triggered by a major wave of violence in Somalia’s capital city, Mogadishu, most of the 400,000 displaced people from there (398,000 according to the United Nations) have been unable to return to their homes and remain highly dependent on assistance provided by the few aid organizations present, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said. [click link for full article]

UNICEF provided the Ministry of Lands, Mines, and Energy, Water Quality Testing Laboratory equipment and reagents for use at the Liberian Hydrological Service in Monrovia. The supplies, worth $62,500, include thermometers, volumetric flasks, autoclave, microscopes, graduated pipettes, portable balances and reagents. [click link for full article]