Washington, Mar 26 : Researchers at Medical College of Georgia have found that circadian clocks that set the rhythmic motion of our bodies for wakeful days and sleepy nights can also set us up for vascular disease when broken.

During the study, they found that mice with mutated or missing ‘clock’ genes were prone to thick, inflexible blood vessels with narrow passageways, unhealthy changes typically associated with risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol.

London, Mar 26 : Sarcosine, an N-methyl derivative of the amino acid glycine, can distinguish between slow-growing prostate cancers and those likely to spread and become lethal, playing a major role in cancer detection, according to scientists at the University of Michigan.

Led by Dr. Arun Sreekumar, the study not only proves that sarcosine is a marker of cancer aggressiveness, but also that it is highly associated with tumour development as well.

For the study, the researchers looked at more than 1,000 small molecules in tissues associated with prostate cancer.

London, March 26 : DNA tests on Alfie Patten, the 13-year-old boy who was alleged to have become a father when he was just 12, show that he not the baby girl’s actual dad.

The 300-pound test was conducted on him after half a dozen boys claimed to have slept with schoolgirl pal Chantelle Stedman, 15.

Although Alfie was convinced he was the dad after a single night of unprotected sex with Chantelle, the DNA test proved the 4ft-tall pupil was not the father of her seven-week-old tot Maisie Roxanne.

Washington, Mar 26 : People who consume cannabis on daily basis are likely to show episodes of psychosis and schizophrenia, according to a doctoral thesis.

Miguel Ruiz Veguilla, from the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Granada in Spain, also claimed that the episodes of psychosis because of marijuana intake present certain specific characteristics, both before their appearance and in the clinical presentation of the psychosis.

London, Mar 26 : Circumcision not only protects heterosexual men from HIV, but it also helps prevent two other sexually transmitted infections - herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), the cause of genital herpes, and human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cancer and genital warts, says a new study.

However, the New England Journal of Medicine research found that circumcision had no effect on the transmission of syphilis.

Washington, Mar 26 : Energy drinks may prove harmful for people with hypertension and heart disease, says a new study.

The Henry Ford Hospital research, which will be published online in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy, found that healthy adults who drank two cans a day of a popular energy drink experienced an increase in their blood pressure and heart rate.