Washington, April 24 : Smoking to relieve stress is nothing new. But a new study has shown just how nicotine calms people down.

The study, conducted by a team of researchers at the University of California, suggests that nicotine may alter the activity of brain areas that are involved in the inhibition of negative emotions such as anger.

The research team, led by Jean Gehricke, studied the effect of nicotine patches on the subjects'' tendency to retaliate in response to anger provocation.

Ferozepur (Punjab), April 23: While Guru Baba Ramdev has revolutionized the concept of living a healthy life through Yoga across the country, a Punjab village has made it an integral part of its daily life.

Residents of Begawali village in Punjab’s Ferozepur District are confident of staying healthy and protected from various ailments since they have taken to practicing yoga everyday.

Everyday, at dawn, villagers practice yoga. But it all started with a man named Lal Chand who first showcased the villagers the joy of practicing yoga and its effects in anyone’s life.

Washington, Apr 23: A drug, currently under development, has been found effective in providing protection against damaging effects of radiation exposure.

The research team from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine has found that experimental drug JP4-039 protects cells from being damaged by radiation exposure.

Lead researcher Dr Joel Greenberger, professor and chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Pitt revealed that JP4-039 assists the mitochondria, the energy generator of all cells, in combating irradiation-induced cell death.

London, April 23 : Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have identified potential therapeutic targets to fight dengue fever.

By painstakingly silencing genes one at a time, they have identified dozens of proteins the dengue fever virus depends upon to grow and spread among mosquitoes and humans.

Washington, Apr 23 : Vitamin D deficiency can exacerbate asthmatic symptoms in children, says a new study.

They study led by Dr Juan Celedon, Dr. P. H. and Dr Augusto Litonjua, of Harvard Medical School has shown that children with lower vitamin D levels were significantly more likely to have been hospitalized for asthma, tended to have airways with increased hyperreactivity and were likely to have used more inhaled corticosteroids, all signifying higher asthma severity.

Washington, Apr 23 : Type 2 diabetes, obesity and hypertension are associated with overall and liver related mortality in hepatitis C (HCV) infected patients, a new research has claimed.

The specific impact of metabolic syndrome on mortality in hepatitis C patients has been revealed by new research to be presented on Sunday April 26 at EASL 2009, the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver in Copenhagen, Denmark.