A third of UK girls and a fifth of boys aged 11 to 19 have tried to harm themselves, a survey suggests.

Poor communication is blamed for people ending up in hospital as a result of "medication errors".

The US Senate passes legislation forbidding discrimination against people because of genetic details.

Nventa Biopharmaceuticals Corporation (TSX: NVN) announced the completion of the safety and tolerability assessment of the fourth and final cohort of patients in its Phase 1 clinical trial of HspE7, its lead therapeutic candidate, in women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Findings from the fourth cohort safety review demonstrated that HspE7 was safe and well tolerated with no serious adverse events being reported.

Benign prostate enlargement affects most of the elder men and often compresses the urethra resulting in voiding symptoms. Dutch researcher Tim Idzenga has found a way to measure the resistance of the urethra using sound: via a microphone placed behind the scrotum. The sound spectrum of the recorded sound depends on how much the urethra has been compressed.

Widespread vaccination likely will be the cornerstone of public-health measures for controlling an H5N1 bird-flu pandemic, say Andrea Gambotto, M.D., assistant professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and his colleagues, in this week's edition of The Lancet. However, any vaccines must be broadly protective and rapidly producible to be effective against H5N1, which is devastating in humans, the authors write in a journal Seminar.

Photo Credit: Artem There's troubling news regarding regarding health care services for elderly nursing home residents. Many seniors residing in long-term care facilities fail to receive routine vision care services, even though they are eligible to receive such services.

The risk of suffering depression increases 41% in smokers, in comparison with non-smokers. This was the conclusion of a study undertaken with 8,556 participants by scientists of the University of Navarra, in collaboration with the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the Harvard School of Public Health (USA), and which demonstrates, in a pioneering way, the direct relationship between tobacco use and this disease.The article, whose first author is Prof.

Women of childbearing age in the US are disproportionately more likely to not have health insurance, resulting in serious consequences to their personal health and endangering their ability to manage the health of their families, according to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). "Over 17 million women in the US have no health insurance, and approximately 13% of pregnant women are uninsured," says ACOG President Kenneth L. Noller, MD, MS.

Nearly three in 10 parents failed to agree to their children receiving a new cervical cancer vaccine during a trial.

Chronically ill adults cared for by "virtual" interdisciplinary healthcare teams -- teams including physicians, pharmacists, social workers and other professionals linked via phone, fax and email -- made fewer visits to Emergency Rooms than patients who didn't get this kind of coordinated team care, finds a study that will be presented at the American Geriatrics Society's Annual Scientific Meeting, on May 2. The meeting is the premier conference on aging research.

Older adults using an interactive, multi-drug electronic pillbox that beeps when it's time to take each medication, and announces the number to take and how, were significantly less likely to miss prescribed doses than when not using the box, according to a study that will be presented here at the American Geriatrics Society's 2008 Annual Scientific Meeting on May 1.

Cancer Immunotherapy Reduces Risk Of Relapse After Surgery, Study ... Science Daily (press release) - 10 hours ago

It seems that every time that I decide to go on a trip, like a vacation, something happens. We are leaving for a long drive to Mexico tomorrow. Last week, my dreaded irrigation system went on the brink (again), so I am in the process of putting in a new one at considerable expense (Have you priced copper wire lately? I need about 3000 feet.), and with considerable headaches. Right now, I am watering all of my beloved plants, trees, flowers, and landscaping with precious well water. Because I have a deep and relatively-low flow well, the pressure is like watering with a squirt gun. The irrigation system went out two years ago, too, when we were at our youngest son’s wedding. We planned on staying a week in a rented beach house, but I had to come home and deal with the water problem; the rest of the family enjoyed the seashore.

India will account for 60% of heart disease cases worldwide within two years, says a new research.

Today's allegation by the Office of Fair Trading that British tobacco companies have been involved in a price cartel follows a recent study conducted for ASH showing that the tobacco prices have risen considerably higher than inflation in recent years due to tobacco industry price increases. [1] For example, in the years under investigation from financial year 2000-03 the Retail Price Index (on which the tobacco tax increase is based) increased by 6.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday debated the effectiveness of abstinence-only education, as well as if the federal government should continue funding such programs, the Los Angeles Times reports. The federal government has provided more than $1.

The House on Wednesday voted 349-62 to pass a bill (HR 5613) aimed at blocking seven new Medicaid regulations, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports (Abrams, AP/Houston Chronicle, 4/23).

The United Nations marks the first World Malaria Day with a campaign to eliminate deaths from the disease.

CMS on Thursday added to the Nursing Home Compare Web site a searchable database with the names of nursing homes that rank in the lowest 5% to 10% in quality based on state inspection results, the Wall Street Journal reports.