Washington, Apr 6: Scientists have successfully used the African frog Xenopus as a tool to identify important clues about the effects of maternal consumption of alcohol in early pregnancy.

As the Xenopus embryos are large, easy to work with and very responsive to environmental cues, they make for ideal instruments to understand early vertebrate development.

Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and Foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) cause malformations in babies, including facial defects, short stature, and mental and behavioural abnormalities.

Melbourne, Apr 6 : Modern women''s penchant for high heels is putting them at a higher risk of acute and chronic problems.

With the increasing popularity of high heels shortening of the Achilles tendon, heel pain, pain in the balls of the feet, bunions, calluses, soft corns between the toes, fractures, and sprains have also become quite common.

Podiatrist and spokesperson for Australian Podiatry Association (NSW), Brenden Brown said that wearing stiletto heels brings a raft of acute and chronic problems.

Wellington, April 6: Suffering from sleep apnoea? Well, the humble banana may prove to be your ultimate saviour, according to a study.

Obstructive sleep apnoea sufferers experience recurrent choking when the throat closes during sleep. Therefore, it is a potentially life-threatening disorder.

However, an Australian research team has found that downing an unconventional nightcap of a banana smoothie may help keep sufferers'' throats open and reduce the risk of choking.

Washington, April 6: Boston University scientists say that they have discovered a new family of biologically active products of omega-3 fatty acids, which can resolve periodontal inflammation and restore the gums to health.

The researchers point out that oil from fish contains eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), both of which are omega-3 fatty acids.

They underscore the fact that these omega-3 fatty acids are often used to help people with various inflammatory conditions.

Washington, April 6: Three-day-old broccoli sprouts, a widely available human food, could prevent stomach cancer by suppressing Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infections, according to a new study.

H. pylori infections are one of the most common bacterial infections worldwide and can lead to stomach cancer.

For the study, researchers enrolled 48 Helicobacter-infected Japanese men and women and randomly assigned them to eat 70 grams of fresh broccoli sprouts daily for eight weeks or an equivalent amount of alfalfa sprouts.

London, Apr 6: Itching brings with it that ever-increasing urge to scratch, which always works wonders, but not much is known about the physiological mechanisms behind this phenomenon.

University of Minnesota scientists have found that nerve cells play a key role in soothing that tingling sensation.

The researchers have shown that scratching helps relieve an itch by blocking activity in some spinal cord nerve cells that transmit the sensation to the brain.

However, the above-mentioned phenomenon only works during itchiness because scratching at other times doesn’t make much of a difference.