Washington, April 9: Suffering from constipation? Well, help is on the way – a team of researchers has identified a potential drug target to make it a lot easier to go to the bathroom, especially when all other methods fail.

They have discovered a group of nerve ending receptors, which, when stimulated, causes the bowels to pass waste, and the specific receptor needed to activate bowel clearance.

Also, they tested chemicals that work with those receptors, providing a blueprint for the development of new laxatives.

London, Apr 9: Heartburn medications are often prescribed to people with poorly controlled asthma, however, the treatment has been found ineffective in reducing asthmatic symptoms, say researchers.

The study led by the American Lung Association''s Asthma Clinical Research Centres has shown that heartburn medications do not help control asthma symptoms prescribed to those without significant heartburn.

The researchers found that participants who took esomeprazole (Nexium) had as many asthma episodes as participants who were given an inactive pill, or placebo.

Washington, April 9 : Low levels of vitamin D in patients with autoimmune disease may be a result rather than a cause of the disease, and supplementing with this nutrient may worsen a patient's condition, according to a review.

Researchers at the California-based non-profit Autoimmunity Research Foundation, who have authored the review, say that vitamin D may provide short-term relief by lowering inflammation, but it may exacerbate disease symptoms over the long-term.

Washington, April 9 : A novel therapy for metastatic prostate cancer has shown considerable promise in early clinical trials by reducing signs of the disease in patients with drug-resistant cancer.

Of 30 men who received low doses of one the drugs in a multisite phase I/II trial designed to evaluate safety, 22 showed a sustained decline in the level of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in their blood.

New York/Toronto  - The parents of a two-month-old baby wanted to donate the heart of their severely brain-damaged daughter for another baby, but physicians in Toronto cancelled the transplant at the last minute.

The reason was the strength of Baby Kaylee's heart and lungs. The baby continued to breathe without the respirator, the Toronto Star reported on Wednesday.