Manila - The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Tuesday that unprotected male-to-male sex was fuelling the spread of HIV and AIDS in Asia, where the epidemic could worsen amid a lack of services to gays.

"Men who have sex with men have been identified as one of the most at-risk populations for HIV/AIDS," the Manila-based WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific said in a statement ahead of a meeting in Hong Kong.

"Asia is believed to have the world's largest number of men having sex with men, estimated at 10 million," the office added.

London, Feb 17: Tried everything, from long walks to Atkins diet, but still not able to squeeze into your college pants? Well, take heart, for it has been claimed that eating two bowls of cereal a day could help obese people lose weight.

According to a new study carried out by experts at Oxford Brookes University, which consisted of 41 people, suggested that people who eat cereal for two out of their three daily meals could lose more than 4lb in six weeks.

Washington, Feb 17: A catheter-based closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO)-a slight opening in the wall between the right and left atria-can help reduce the frequency and severity of disabling migraines in sufferers.

The new finding support previous studies that demonstrated that when a PFO is closed, whether it''s following a stroke or decompression illness, migraine also tends to improve in almost 75 percent of cases.

Washington, Feb 17 : "Doctor conservationists" say that there''s a need to save Jaguars and other big cats from hunters because these animals can protect humans from the rise of future pandemics akin to HIV and bird flu.

A new collaboration between a wildlife-protection non-profit and a teaching hospital has adopted the above message to protect jaguars, which are often labelled as "cattle killers" and are slaughtered on sight in Central and South America.

The species is also at risk of declining genetic health as its habitat contracts and populations are cut off from each other.

Washington, Feb 17: People with a family history of melanoma are two times more likely to develop Parkinson''s disease, according to a new study.

During the study, researchers recruited nearly 157,000 people who did not have Parkinson''s disease. They were asked if their parents or siblings had been diagnosed with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

The participants were tracked for a period of 14 to 20 years. During that time, 616 of the people were diagnosed with Parkinson''s disease.

Washington, Feb 17 : A new study has found that shedding extra pounds can significantly help patients reverse fatty liver disease known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

The research team from Saint Louis University Liver Centre has suggested that weight loss of at least 9 percent can help improve condition of patients with fatty liver disease.

"It's a helpful study because we can now give patients a benchmark, a line they need to cross to see improvement," said Dr Brent Neuschwander-Tetri, a hepatologist at Saint Louis University Liver Centre.