Hong Kong  - The number of people seeking psychiatric help in Hong Kong has risen by around one quarter since the onset of the economic crisis, a leading public doctor said Monday.

Patient numbers have risen by between 20 and 30 per cent since last October, mental health specialist Dr Lee Wing-king told government-run radio station RTHK.

Separately, a survey by the Democratic Alliance political party found that 80 per cent of people in the wealthy city of 7 million had suffered from insomnia or mood disorders because of the downturn.

Munich  - Women should not casually decide whether to give birth by Caesarean section, said gynaecology professor Birgit Seelbach-Goebel, director of a women's clinic in Regensburg, Germany.

Many clinics' websites advertise Caesarean section on demand as a service. However, there are disadvantages to the procedure. Following a Caesarean section, the risk of serious complications is far greater for the mother than the risk involved in a vaginal delivery.

Nuremberg, Germany  - Parents who discover their teenager is smoking cannabis should not overreact, but remain cool and collected, a German child guidance specialist advised.

Andreas Engel from Germany's Bundeskonferenz fuer Erziehungsberatung, an association that groups together the country's child guidance councillors, says parents should also inform themselves about marijuana's main active ingredient, THC.

Sydney  - We already know that smoking in pregnancy results in babies that are around 250 grams lighter than those born to mothers who did not smoke.

And we also know from the statistics that infants in homes where there are smokers are up to four times more likely to succumb to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) - more commonly called cot death.

Researchers in Australia believe they can explain how exposure to tobacco smoke impacts on the brains of babies.

Hamburg, Germany  - Contrary to conventional wisdom, fish oil supplements are not particularly helpful to cardiac patients who are already receiving optimal medical care, according to a team of German researchers.

Dr. Jochen Senges of the Heart Centre in Ludwigshafen and the University of Heidelberg in Germany said that omega-3 fatty acid supplements had no additional protective effect for heart attack patients receiving treatment.

Sydney  - Two Australians recently returned from a trip to Mexico are in a Queensland hospital with symptoms similar to the deadly swine flu, officials said Monday.

"We do have two cases overnight of people checking into hospital whose symptoms are being tested," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told reporters in Brisbane. "Clearly, this is a very serious disease, and we are taking it very seriously."

In Sydney, two people checked into hospital to have flu-like symptoms checked after returning from Mexico.