According to a recent study, Vitamin D deficiency can be linked to asthma. This makes the populations of sunlight deficient regions more prone to this disease of the respiratory tract.

In the study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Dr. Juan C. Celedon at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital and co-investigators examined the association between vitamin D levels and markers of asthma severity and allergy in 616 asthmatic children between the ages of 6 and 14 from Costa Rica. They found that 175 had insufficient levels of vitamin D.

According to a WHO report, Cervical cancer claims lives of around 300,000 women worldwide every year and around 130,000 new cases are reported in India every year out of which some 8,000 are from West Bengal alone.

"This makes cervical cancer the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in India and represents approximately one-fourth of the world's total cervical cancer cases and mortality," said a paper released by Qiagen, the German global market leader in sample technology and CNCI, a state-run Cancer Research Institute here on Tuesday.

According to the findings of a study by the researchers from HSPH - Harvard School of Public Health -, the height of the mother has a significant bearing on the health of a child. The study said that children born to women shorter than 4'9" are 70 percent more likely to die, mostly before attaining the age of five.

According to a study from Harvard, universal healthcare coverage could reduce many health disparities in the general population.

The results are a part of the national debate on revamping healthcare to cover uninsured Americans and they showed that health coverage in the form of Medicare eligibility narrowed the health gaps between Americans of different races, ethnicities, and education levels. Previous studies had shown that the people most likely to lack coverage were black, Hispanic, and those with less education.

According to a survey published on Tuesday about 5.6 million people in the U. S. have some form of paralysis and nearly a quarter of them have suffered spinal cord injuries.

The survey by Anthony Cahill of the University of New Mexico and colleagues reported that the largest group of 29 % were paralyzed or partly paralyzed by stroke and spinal cord injuries affected 23 %.

The study was funded by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, which was set up by the actor who was paralyzed in a horse-riding accident in 1995 and died in
2004 while Dana Reeve died from lung cancer in 2006.

According to the findings of the researchers of the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, mothers-to-be who exercise during their pregnancy term give birth to healthy babies, with their lungs and nervous system strengthened in the womb.

In addition, exercise during pregnancy also helps women reduce the chances of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or cot deaths. Researchers say that, if pregnant women remain physically active, the babies in their wombs not only have lower heart rates but also show improved breathing.