Breathing in second-hand tobacco smoke in early infancy boosts the risk of developing allergies, suggests research published ahead of print in the journal Thorax. The findings are based on parental survey responses from more than 4000 families about their children’s allergies and the environmental factors to which they had been exposed before and after birth. These included parental smoking, pet dander (animal hair and dead skin), and foodstuffs. [click link for full article]

Lack of sunlight may increase the risk of lung cancer, suggests a study of rates of the disease in over 100 countries, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Lung cancer kills over a million people every year around the globe. The researchers looked at the association between latitude, exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) light, and rates of lung cancer according to age in 111 countries across several continents. [click link for full article]

A paper in the latest issue of Menopause International argues that women with cardiovascular disease (CVD) have a worse outcome and are more likely to die than men once diagnosed. CVD is the most common cause of death in women, yet there is a tendency to assume that it is a disease more likely to affect men. Women are undertreated even though they appear to do at least as well - and sometimes better - with treatments as men. [click link for full article]

In discovering the genes responsible for storing fat in cells, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have answered one of biology’s most fundamental questions. Their findings, which appear in the December 17 to 21 “Early Edition” online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could lead to new strategies for treating obesity and the diseases associated with it. [click link for full article]

Short legs are linked to an increased risk of liver disease, suggests a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The research contributes to a growing body of evidence on the link between leg length and health. The findings are based on almost 4300 women between the ages of 60 and 79, who had been randomly selected from 23 British towns. [click link for full article]

A study published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine presents convincing evidence that intracellular bacterial communities (IBCs) commonly exist in women with bladder infections and may contribute to the recurrence of these infections. [click link for full article]

European health authorities have supported changes proposed by Novartis to prescribing information for Galvus(R) (vildagliptin), opening the way for the formal regulatory approval of these changes as well as the launch in the European Union of this new oral treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes. [click link for full article]

Patients with locally advanced breast cancers whose tumours contain high numbers of copies of the gene for the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2), as assessed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), are more likely to have a complete response to treatment with an antibody to the receptor than patients with fewer copies of the gene in their tumours. [click link for full article]

HIV/AIDS has become a “forgotten disease” among young people in the European Union, Markos Kyprianou, the European commissioner for public health, said on Wednesday in an address to members of the European Parliament, Inter Press Service reports. Kyprianou said that visiting a school to mark World AIDS Day on Dec. [click link for full article]

The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Thursday voted 15-0 to approve retired Army Lt. Gen. James Peake, President Bush’s nominee for Department of Veterans Affairs secretary, CQ Today reports. A Senate vote on Peake’s confirmation is expected later this week or early next week, Senate aides said. [click link for full article]