Starting to diet seems to double the odds a teenage girl will begin smoking, a University of Florida study has found.UF researchers, who analyzed the dieting and smoking practices of 8,000 adolescents, did not find the same link in boys, who were also less likely than girls to diet, according to findings in the American Journal of Health Promotion. [click link for full article]

A neonatologist at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters (CHKD) is leading the clinical trials of a $750,000 study funded Friday, Aug. 31, to develop a device to measure the precise temperature of a newborn’s brain.The National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant stems from recent studies showing that cooling of the brain of oxygen-starved newborns dramatically reduces the incidence of Cerebral Palsy, other neurological damage, and death. [click link for full article]

The past decade has witnessed an explosion of information regarding the role of the central nervous system (CNS) in the development of obesity and the influence of peripheral, hormonal signals that regulate CNS function to regulate food intake and metabolism. A symposium held recently in Washington, DC, organized by The Journal of Physiology, focused on recent work in talks by leaders in the field. [click link for full article]

Responding to the Healthcare Commission’s survey looking at community mental health services, Kathryn Hill, Director of Mental Health Programmes at the charity, said: “It is disappointing that year after year, we see little improvement to the level of care provided to some of the most vulnerable people living in our society. [click link for full article]

Using a mouse model of acute respiratory distress syndrome, Duncan Stewart and colleagues report that rescue with mesenchymal stem cells expressing human angiopoietin 1 can avert lung injury from lipopolysaccharide. Citation: Mei SHJ, McCarter SD, Deng Y, Parker CH, Liles WC, et al. (2007) Prevention of LPS-induced acute lung injury in mice by mesenchymal stem cells overexpressing angiopoietin 1. PLoS Med 4(9): e269. [click link for full article]

The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa on Tuesday launched a strategy aimed at controlling the spread of HIV/tuberculosis coinfection on the continent, Panapress/Afriquenligne reports. [click link for full article]

A patient who has had a massive heart attack faces a more than four-fold higher risk of death if doctors use drug-coated stents on him/her, compared to a patient who received the older stent (bare metal), according to research presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress, Vienna, Austria. [click link for full article]

Cardiac patients could have their own or donated cells engineered into heart valve or muscle replacements and implanted within six weeks from donation. This could be possible in as little as three to five years say top heart surgeons in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - published recently. [click link for full article]

The number of children achieving their 5 A DAY target has increased by 13% in 2 years according to a report out by the Department of Health. The Further Evaluation of The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme, launched in the week when millions of children are about to begin a new school year, shows that the scheme is working and could contribute to a reduction of heart disease, stroke and cancer later in life. [click link for full article]

Many people will experience an itchy rash at some point during their lives…and often their first thought is, “I must be allergic to something!” Undoubtedly, their next thoughts are about…