London, Mar 12: Besides ballooned waistlines, a fat neck may also signal possible trouble for the heart, warns a new study.

According to researchers from the Framingham Heart Study, the thickness of an individual''s neck may provide clues to their risk of developing heart problems.

The boffins said that even those with relatively trim waistlines appeared to be at greater risk if they had larger necks.

In the study, risk was defined as having lower levels of "good" cholesterol for instance, or higher levels of blood glucose.

Washington, Mar 12 : A new study has suggested that steroid doping tests currently used in international sport are ''not fit for purpose'' because they ignore vital ethnic differences in hormone activity.

According to the World Anti-Doping Agency, testosterones, and other hormones that boost testosterone levels, are commonly used as illicit performance enhancers in a number of sports.

Washington, Mar 12: Long-term exposure to ozone-one of the most widespread pollutants in the world and a key component of smog-significantly increases the risk of dying from lung disease, says a new study.

The study found that the risk of dying from respiratory disease is more than 30 percent greater in metropolitan areas with the highest ozone concentrations than in those with the lowest ozone concentrations.

Washington, March 12 : Health problems like smoking or weight gain may sometimes persist because they preserve stability in a vital close relationship, according to a new study.

Michael J. Rohrbaugh and Varda Shoham, of the University of Arizona, say that close relationships can perpetuate individual health problems because one person's behaviour can set the stage for what another does.

Washington, Mar 11 : Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have identified a handful of proteins in incredibly tiny amounts that may one day help doctors distinguish between a harmless lesion in the pancreas and a potentially deadly one.

According to the researchers, these protein biomarkers, if confirmed in subsequent studies, could represent reliable indicators of pancreatic cancer or precancerous pancreatic lesions, which would allow for earlier, perhaps more successful, treatment.

Washington, Mar 11 : Researchers from Hasbro Children''s Hospital and Children''s Hospital Boston have identified risk factors for the severity of asymmetrical head shapes, known as deformational plagiocephaly (DP), or more commonly as flat head syndrome.

Many researchers have published reports of risk factors for the development of DP, which include supine positioning, firstborn infants, prematurity, developmental delay and others.