Sydney, March 29 : Researchers in Sydney are struggling to find volunteers for a study to determine the effect of binge drinking on the teenage brain, and also to find whether alcohol affects its development.

Professor Lindy Rae, who is leading a team at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Unit at Randwick, says that animal studies have already shown that young rats are more sensitive to alcohol-induced damage than adult rats, with substantial deterioration in the frontal lobe, which underlies planning, impulse control and reasoning.

Washington, March 29 : Cumulative exposure to lead at levels likely to be experienced in community settings may have adverse consequences for women’s cognition in their later years, according to a study.

The study, supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, was conducted with a view to examine biomarkers of lead exposure in relation to performance on cognitive tests given to older women.

Lead exposure is measured in two ways—blood lead level, which is a reading of recent lead dosage; and bone lead level, which is a cumulative measure of lead exposure over many years.

Washington, March 29 : Scientists at the University of Michigan have come up with a new method of detecting nitric oxide in exhaled breath, elevated levels of which are a telltale sign of diseases like lung cancer and tuberculosis.

The researchers say that their work may prove useful in diagnosing illness and monitoring the effects of treatment.

Washington, Mar 29 : Drug-eluting stents are much safer and superior to bare metal stents in preventing death and heart attacks among cardiac patients, according to researchers from Duke University Medical Center.

For their study, the researchers tested drug-eluting stents among 262,700 "real-world" patients enrolled in a nationwide registry of cardiovascular disease.

The study is the largest of its kind to date, and may finally put an end to years of controversy over the safety of the devices.

London, Mar 29 : British scientists are on their way to provide double bonanza to women looking for boob-jobs: a stem cell therapy that offers "natural" breast enlargement - and cuts stomach or thigh fat in the process.

The treatment, which can enhance cup size, involves extracting stem cells from spare fat on the stomach or thighs and growing them in a woman's breasts.

Taipei  - Fish pedicures are becoming hot in Taiwan, but authorities are pouring cold water on the practice by questioning the effect of the treatment, a newspaper said on Sunday.

Some spa operators in Taiwan, like those in Japan, South Korea and other countries, have imported a special kind of toothless fish to nibble the feet of bathers in their pools, claiming the fish remove dead skin, give a pedicure and treat psoriasis and other ailments.