Washington, Apr 24: Changing bad habits such as smoking, even at an older age, could positively impact a senior''s health later in life, a new study has found.

The research linking bad habits such as smoking and the direct impact on a senior''s health, was conducted on over 2,000 seniors who were current smokers, past smokers and had never smoked.

All three groups were compared to show a link between smoking and the speed at which participants walked.

Washington, Apr 24 : Researchers from A. O. U. in Cagliari Sardegna, Italy have found a link between increased carotid artery wall thickness (CAWT) - which can cause heart attack and stroke- and diabetes and hypertension.

During the study, the researchers looked at 186 patients with the help of multidetector row CT and sought to determine association between CAWT is associated with cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia and a history of smoking.

Washington, April 24 : A research team has found a novel drug that reduces the growth of neuroblastoma, a childhood brain cancer, by more than 75 percent.

A study, conducted with human neuroblastoma cells transplanted into mice, showed how 3-BrOP, a glycolysis inhibitor, starved the cancer cells to death by shutting down their main energy source, glucose.

Washington, Apr 24 : Liver disease is responsible for most of the alcohol-related deaths and illness, according to a Portugal study.

The new research showed that liver disease is the most prevalent cause of alcohol-related deaths, followed by car accidents and cancer.

Its showed that 3.8pct of all deaths in Portugal were related to alcohol consumption and account for a death toll of 4,054 people every year. 28.3pct of the people died of liver disease, followed by 26.2pct of the car accidents and 21 pct from different type of cancers.

London, Apr 24 : Breast milk has less protein than formula, a new study has claimed.

It has been believed that formula-fed babies, who tend to be bigger, are "programmed" to store fat and so have a higher risk of childhood obesity.

Now, an international study of 1,000 babies, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, has suggested that protein levels in formula should fall.

The study, which was carried out in Belgium, Italy, Germany, Poland and Spain, included babies born between 2002 and 2004.

Washington, Apr 24 : Stem cells derived from a patient''s own fat tissue can offer an effective treatment against multiple sclerosis (MS), say researchers from University of California San Diego.

The researchers demonstrated the possible effectiveness of stromal vascular fraction (SVF) cells in MS treatment.

"All three patients in our study showed dramatic improvement in their condition after the course of SVF therapy," said lead researcher Dr. Boris Minev, from the Division of Neurosurgery, University of California San Diego.