Premature or preterm births are defined as live births before a woman completes thirty-seven weeks of pregnancy. A new study found that about fifteen million babies were born prematurely around the world in twenty-ten. The study was the first of its kind, and shows that the problem exists in poor countries as well as in […]
Researchers estimate that more than two billion people a year get diseases spread by animals. More than two million of them die. Delia Grace is a veterinary epidemiologist — an expert in the spread of diseases involving animals. She is also a food safety expert. She works at the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya’s […]
We recently told you about a study which found that more than 10 percent of all babiesworldwide are born too early. A common problem in preterm babies is respiratory disease. The lungs are the last organs to develop. But a medicine called surfactant can save babies struggling to breathe. The story of this lifesaving medicine begins […]
Programs that teach young people how to avoid abusive relationships are generally for high school or college age. But new programs are being created for younger students because they too experience abusive dating relationships. Earlier this year the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a study done in the United States. Fifteen percent of seventh graders in the […]
People have been using herbs and spices for thousands of years. Generally, herbs come from the green leaves of plants or vegetables. Spices come from other parts ofplants and trees. For example, cinnamon comes from the hard outer cover of cinnamon plants. The spice ginger comes from the part of the ginger plant that grows underground. Some herbs and spices are […]
Today we take another look at teaching young people how to build healthy relationships. Last week we told you about a new study in the United States. Fifteen percent of seventh graders in that study said they had experienced physical violence in a relationship with the opposite sex. Seventh graders are about twelve years old. Concerns about […]
In 1928 a British scientist made a “chance observation.” He noticed that some mold had grown in a bacterial culture plate in his laboratory. Molds can do that. But this mold had the ability to kill the bacteria around it. The scientist, Alexander Fleming, found that the mold was a member of a common group known […]
Watching the Olympics probably made some people feel a little guilty about not exercising. The truth is, if physical inactivity were a sport, a lot of us could give a gold-medal performance. To mark the London Olympics, the Lancet, a British medical journal, published a series of papers about the problem of inactivity. Public health experts say physical inactivity is […]
An American program called the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief helps millions of people infected with HIV. PEPFAR is considered one of the most successful programs created during the presidency of George W. Bush. Its goal was to change HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a disease that could be treated. And for millions […]
The Australian High Court ruled in August to support a law barring tobacco companies from putting their advertising logos on cigarette packages. The European Union is considering a similar ban. But a recent international study showed that some countries do little to control tobacco use. It found that the tobacco industry still has strong influence around […]