MEDICINE

The World Health Organisation will convene its emergency committee later this month to examine whether the H1N1 flu pandemic has peaked, its top influenza expert said on Thursday.

Research published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences has examined the risks of herbal medicines, finding some can be dangerous and even lethal.

According to national guidelines, the best care for acute lower back pain is simple: stay active, avoid bed rest and take regular simple analgesics such as paracetamol.

Researchers at Deakin University believe their recent findings may lead to a better understanding of why peanuts trigger life-threatening allergic reactions and could lead to reactions being prevented in the first place.

'Ouch' moments are common when you're young and learning to ride a bike or climb a tree but some children also experience pain that is much more complex.

Research by Britain's Medical Research Council (MRC) found that lower intelligence quotient scores were associated with higher rates of heart disease and death, and were more important indicators than any other risk factors except smoking.

Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and billionaire investor Warren Buffett, from different sides of the political spectrum, expressed support on Tuesday for the U.S. government's aggressive steps in 2008 to keep the nation's banks and economy from a complete meltdown.

Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and billionaire investor Warren Buffett, from different sides of the political spectrum, expressed support on Tuesday for the U.S. government's aggressive steps in 2008 to keep the nation's banks and economy from a complete meltdown.

Women who took GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil while taking tamoxifen at the same time were more likely to die of their breast cancer, the researchers found. The longer the overlap between Paxil and tamoxifen, the more likely the patients were to die, they reported in the British Medical Journal.

In a new study, the researchers report that using a standard 1-inch needle to immunize obese adolescents against hepatitis B virus produced a much weaker effect than using a longer needle.

LONDON (Reuters) - Estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may increase the risk of developing asthma after the menopause, scientists said on Monday.

People who drank mostly fruit juice instead of sodas did not have the same risk, the study of 60,000 people in Singapore found.

According to the researchers in Australia, there is a strong link between omega-3 fatty acids and the level of zinc in the brain.

Soy contains isoflavones, which act similarly to the hormone estrogen, and may have anti-cancer qualities in hormone-related cancers of the breast and prostate, the researchers note in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The H1N1 strain is the dominant form of influenza globally, but some seasonal strains are starting to emerge in China and Africa, the World Health Organization reported.

Researchers from Britain's Cambridge University tested the device on 17 children with type 1 diabetes during a series of nights in hospital and found it kept their blood sugar levels within the important normal range for 60 percent of the time.

Only about a third of seniors were vaccinated in 2008 against pneumonia, a complication of seasonal flu, according to the report released by the Trust For America's Health, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Actress Brittany Murphy died of a combination of pneumonia, an iron deficiency, anemia and multiple drug intoxication, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said Thursday.

Economists at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, known as CMS, said in a new report that the national healthcare spending will grow an average 6.1 percent a year over the decade to $4.5 trillion in 2019, about 1.7 percent faster than the overall economy.

British and Belgian researchers used a brain scanner called functional magnetic resonance imaging to show the man, who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in a road accident in 2003, was able to think yes or no answers to questions by wilfully changing his brain activity.

In a study published in Science Translational Medicine, the scientists said they found 25 different stretches of DNA that were especially active in the leukemia cells. Each one has the potential to become a target for a new drug.