Bird Flu virus has spread to two more regions including Barpeta and Nalbari in lower Assam.

The fresh outbreak prompted the State Veterinary department to start the culling of thousands of chickens in these regions.

The samples, which were sent to laboratories in Bhopal, have tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza.

The State Government has ordered culling operations and Rapid Response Teams (RRT)s have already begun going from house-to-house asking the habitants to give away their poultry birds to them.

The United Nations help the rural communities in western and southern Nepal suffering from serious food insecurity caused by increasing food and fuel prices, the effects of long-term conflict and the destruction of food stocks and crops by the recent floods. Around 1.5 million populations in the remote areas also require urgent help, the U.N. said in a statement late on Wednesday. The United Nations Central Emergency Response fund (CERF) has allocated NPR 247 million (US $3 million) to help them.

Researchers have found a new drug, which could ease jet lag and reset the body's natural sleep rhythms. According to Shantha Rajaratnam from Monash University's School of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, the drug testimelteon works on melatonin receptor in the brain and helped troubled sleepers nod off quicker and stay asleep for longer.  

According to an Italian research, obesity among children may damage their thyroid as it creates a vicious cycle of metabolism and overweight. Researchers conducted the study on 186 obese children who were overweight. They tested their thyroid hormone levels, thyroid antibodies and imaging the thyroid gland by using ultrasound for about three years. These tests suggested that their weight might be linked to structural changes in the thyroid.

A new research claims that too much exercise in pregnancy may cause dangerous high blood pressure. For study, more than 85,000 women were enrolled at the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) between 1996 and 2002. The researchers found that due to intense physical activity oxidative stress induces in the mother and contributes to the development of pre-eclampsia. 

A new study carried out by Dr Coren Apicella, an anthropologist at Harvard University, U.S, found that females preferred males with deeper voice and males preferred higher pitched women. The researchers conducted the study on a remote tribe of hunter-gatherers in Africa, involved playing two versions of the same voice to the Hadza tribe in Tanzania.