Obesity of mother directly affects the child. Previous studies have shown that an overweight mother has a higher chance of giving birth to a plump baby. Obesity increases the risk of many diseases.

The recent study found that slightly undernourished rat pups were healthier adults, while overfed babies were fatter.

A separate UNSW study showed that pups from obese mother rats fed more milk were almost twice as heavy as those born to lean mothers feeding normally.  
 

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence agent, 56, is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103. This plan crash took lives of 270 people, including all 259 passengers on board and 11 residents of Lockerbie, the Scottish town, where the plane crashed. He was convicted in 2001 since than he is fighting a legal battle to overturn the guilty verdict.

Dr Geoffrey Hackett from the Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham said that erectile dysfunction is not taken seriously despite the fact that erectile dysfunction is the best predictor of cardiovascular risk in men.

ED gives a two to three year early warning of a heart attack. Erectile dysfunction is a symptom of vascular disease in the smaller arteries, doubles the risk of heart disease, a risk equivalent to being a moderate smoker or having an immediate family history of heart disease.

Recent study has shown a better way to diagnose tuberculosis (TB). Traditional methods to test TB sometimes result in showing wrong people in need of treatment of TB whereas people with TB infection are diagnosed healthy. Researchers claim that that new blood test will equip doctors to more accurately pinpoint patients likely to develop the symptoms of tuberculosis.

Traditional testing method involves injecting the subject with components of the TB bacterium; a resultant swelling of the skin can signal dormant tuberculosis.  

Tokyo - Japan's trade surplus in the six months from April to September hit the lowest mark in more than 26 years as high energy prices pushed up import costs and slowed exports amid the global financial crisis, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

Davao City, Philippines - One pro-government militiaman and one communist rebel were killed Thursday in a clash in the outskirts of a southern Philippine City, a military spokesman said.

Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres said the fighting erupted before dawn when about 50 communist rebels attacked a pro-government militia outpost in Davao City, 990 kilometres south of Manila.

Torres said three other militiamen were wounded in the fighting that lasted for several hours.

"We suffered one killed in action and three others were wounded," he said. "But the rebels suffered undetermined number of casualties and they were repulsed. One of the slain rebels was recovered."