Washington, Apr 28 : Smoking, high blood pressure and being overweight—these are the top three preventable risk factors for premature mortality in the United States, according to a new study.

Led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), the collaborative study found that smoking is responsible for 467,000 premature deaths each year, high blood pressure for 395,000, and being overweight for 216,000.

The effects of smoking work out to be about one in five deaths in American adults, while high blood pressure is responsible for one in six deaths.

Washington, Apr 28 : Researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a protein which, when over-expressed, leads to the formation of senile plaques that cause Alzheimer’s disease.

It can be a potential new therapeutic target to block the accumulation of amyloid plaque in the brain.

"The role of the multi-domain protein, RANBP9, suggests a possible new therapeutic target for Alzheimer''s disease," said Dr David E. Kang, assistant professor of neurosciences at UC San Diego and director of this study.

Washington, Apr 28 : Researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology have found flu vaccine delivered through skin patches containing microneedles as effective at preventing influenza in mice as intramuscular, hypodermic flu immunization.

The researchers claims that the microneedle skin patch method could improve overall seasonal vaccination as it is simpler, safer and painless.

The patches contain an array of stainless steel microneedles coated with inactivated influenza virus.

London, Apr. 28 : A woman has described how an Indian-origin doctor stroked her hair and massaged her breasts during a visit to his surgery with her young child.

According to The Telegraph, the woman told the General Medical Council (GMC) hearing that she had visited Dr Krishnan Prasad at the Springwell Medical Group surgery in Sunderland because her three-year-old son was unwell and had been experiencing pain and deafness in his ears.

Washington, Apr 28 : Children''s short sleep duration even without sleeping difficulties increases the risk for behavioural symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), says a new study.

The study, led by researchers at the University of Helsinki and National Institute of Health and Welfare, Finland, examined whether decreased sleep leads to behavioral problems similar to those exhibited by children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Washington, Apr 28 : Kids, who are born first or have had breech births or whose mothers are 35 or older at the time of birth, face a greater risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder, according to a new study.

Autism is a complex brain disorder that impairs social, communicative, and behavioural development and often is characterized by extreme behaviour.