Wurzburg, Germany  - Unless you're allergic to it, birch trees are one of the godsends of spring, according to scientist Johannes Gottfried Mayer.

Drinking birch juice is a great way to detoxicate the body. "The leaves have a diuretic effect," explains Mayer, of an herbal medicine research group at the University of Wurzburg.

He attributes the affect to flavonoids, as well as the birch's high levels of Vitamin C.

While modern practitioners of herbal medicine focus almost exclusively on the birch's leaves, people used to use the bark, buds and tar.

Berlin  - Vaccinations can alleviate the symptoms of hay fever when conventional methods such as nasal sprays, eye drops and antihistamines fail, according to Germany's Berlin-based Professional Association of Dermatologists.

This form of treatment is called immunotherapy and should be initiated weeks in advance of pollination.

Those who are allergic to the pollen of the hazel and alder trees, which blossom in early spring, should begin a course of immunotherapy in autumn.

Wiesbaden  - Impaired sexual potency can be an early sign of cardiovascular disease, according to the Wiesbaden-based German Society of Internal Medicine (DGIM). Possible causes are damaged or clogged arteries throughout the body.

Men with potency problems should therefore consult a cardiologist, who can usually cure erectile dysfunction without prescribing potency pills, experts say. Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, which inhibit the build-up of plaque in the blood vessels, have proven helpful.

Mainz, Germany  - Be it lovesickness, a troubled relationship, anxiety or depression, emotional problems can have many causes. Therapy may help. But how do you find the right therapist?

The various occupational descriptions themselves are confusing. A psychotherapist may be a psychiatrist, psychologist or other mental health professional. There are also different kinds of therapies. They include psychoanalysis, during which the patient talks about childhood experiences, and behaviour therapy with practical training, as in cases of anxiety.

Washington, April 5 : Obese people are at higher risk of developing periodontal disease than normal-weight individuals, according to a new study.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Puerto Rico, evaluated the link between different measures of obesity and risk of periodontal disease.

They analyzed data from 36,903 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study who were free of reported periodontal disease at the start of follow-up, and we followed them for up to 16 years (1986-2002).

London, Apr 5 : The seat of human wisdom has been identified by researchers at University of California in San Diego.

Using sophisticated brain scanning techniques, scientists were able to pinpoint parts of the brain that guide people when they face difficult moral dilemmas.

Boffins have found that humans respond by activating areas associated with the primitive emotions of sex, fear and anger as well as their capability for abstract thought, reports The Telegraph.

The findings are to be published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.