Children play at the Barcelona Baptist Church Center, which cares for children affected by AIDS, near Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March. 23, 2008. When the AIDS pandemic began more than two decades ago, health experts rushed to give out condoms and test for HIV in the hopes of stopping the deadly disease’s spread. [...]

LONDON (Reuters) - Parliament voted on Tuesday to keep the upper legal limit on abortion at 24 weeks, disappointing campaigners who argue survival rates have improved.

The vote blocked attempts to lower the legal limit to 22, 20, 16 or 12 weeks in parliament’s first look at abortion laws in almost two decades.
The upper limit was [...]

PARIS (AFP) - Scientists delivered a warning Tuesday about nanotechnology after tests on lab rodents found that microscopic, needle-like fibres that are already in commercial use led to lesions similar to those caused by asbestos.

In experiments, researchers led by Ken Donaldson of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, exposed the mesothelium lining that swathes the lungs, [...]

LONDON (Reuters) - MPs voted on Tuesday to remove the need for a father when women seek fertility treatment, a move that is expected to make it easier for lesbian couples to access the treatment.

In a shake-up of fertility laws dating from 1990, parliament passed a government bill that says doctors should look for evidence [...]

LONDON (AFP) - British lawmakers were set to vote Tuesday on lowering the time limit for women to terminate a pregnancy, in what would be the first major change to abortion laws here in nearly 20 years.

The evening vote was due after the House of Commons backed by a clear margin Monday the creation of [...]

- MONDAY, May 5 (HealthDay News) — New studies in the field of
epigenetics — which looks at how environmental factors can change gene
function without altering DNA sequence — are identifying new molecular
targets that may lead to improved drug treatment of depression, scientists
report.

Epigenetics plays a major role in depression and the actions of
antidepressants.

“The mechanisms that [...]

- MONDAY, May 5 (HealthDay News) — As medical malpractice premiums
increase, so do the rates of Caesarean sections, new research shows.

The study provides a small snapshot of the association, drawing on data
from the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington. The
findings, while not national in scope, could further fuel the debate about
whether higher malpractice [...]

- MONDAY, May 5 (HealthDay News) — When infants in low-income
families are watching television or videos, their mothers seldom speak to
them, a U.S. study finds.

“There has been a dramatic increase in television programming directed
toward young infants. This has occurred despite recommendations from the
American Academy of Pediatrics that children younger than 2 years should
not watch [...]

A resident does laundry in front of her make-shift tent built beside her collapsed house in the village of Renhe near Shifang city west of Chengdu, Sichuan province, May 20, 2008. (Bobby Yip/Reuters)

MIANYANG, China (Reuters) -
First they survived a
calamitous earthquake. Now they must survive the trauma.
In a country where mental health issues have traditionally
been hidden [...]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
U.S. health regulators have warned
SkyWest Inc's Atlantic Southeast Airlines unit after inspectors
found paint chips and other debris in drinking water equipment,
according to a letter from the regulators released on Tuesday.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigators inspected
the airline's Wichita, Kansas, water facility in March and
found contaminated carts used to deliver water for cooking and
drinking, [...]