A new study by researchers in the UK examining the activity of hormones in male foetuses suggests that the health of male reproductive organs could be established before birth. The findings may help to explain the development of common genital disorders that increase the risk of testicular cancer, and the risk of having a low sperm count and other reproductive problems.

Efforts to keep middle schoolers from consuming alcohol are more effective in rural areas than inner city ones, according to a study carried out by researchers at the University of Florida.

Summaries of recent news coverage about the state budgets of Maine, Maryland and New Jersey appear below.Maine: Gov. John Baldacci (D) last week proposed cuts to the state’s two-year general fund budget that would address a $190 million shortfall in part by eliminating prescription drug coverage for Medicaid beneficiaries who have annual incomes up to 100% of the federal poverty level and have no children living at home, the

The House and Senate on Thursday approved similar $3 trillion fiscal year 2009 budget resolutions (H. Con. Res. 312 and S. Con. Res.

The Christian Science Monitor on Thursday examined challenges faced by advocates attempting to curb female genital cutting, also known as female genital mutilation and female circumcision, as well as adolescents attempting to avoid the practice in places where it is common.

Africa is facing the “worst TB epidemic since the advent of the antibiotic era,” Richard Chaisson, director of the Center for Tuberculosis Research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Neil Martinson, deputy director of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, write in a

The Oklahoma House on Wednesday voted 51-50 to reject a bill (HB 2628) that would have required parental consent before children could receive sex education in public schools, the AP/Muskogee Phoenix reports.

Asthma is the reason that in 2006, there were an estimated 12.8 million lost school days in children and 10.1 million lost work days in adults. It is the cause for two million annual emergency room visits, and it costs Americans almost $20 billion in healthcare costs every year. It currently affects 23 million Americans, and about 7 million children are among those.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday approved by voice vote bills related to the reauthorization of the Healthy Start program and a second measure related to Down syndrome, CQ HealthBeat reports. The Healthy Start program directs federal funding for prenatal care to areas of the country with high infant mortality rates. The reauthorization bill (

It is expected that women will experience urinary tract infections (UTIs) at least twice during their lifetime. If a test existed that could predict UTIs, health care providers and patients would benefit. In the February 2008 issue of Urologic Nursing, Deborah Kuklinski and Sumana Koduri explore using urine dipsticks, an in-office test, to predict UTI.