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A voluntary recall of North-Sportif boys' jackets and vests has been announced by the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission due to entrapment and strangulation hazards.

About 360 jackets and 360 outdoor reversible vests were imported from China by North-Sportif Inc. of New York, N. Y., and sold at Burlington Coat Factory outlets from October 2002 through January 2010 for about $13 apiece.

It has designed a kit for doctors to reduce respiratory tract infections by accurately diagnosing lung secretions, claims a U. S. medical device company.

Its AirLife Diagnostic Catheter relies on advanced "mini" bronchial-alveolar lavage technology, a diagnostic procedure of washing a sample of cells and secretions from the bronchial airspaces, to obtain a specimen from the lower respiratory airway at a patient's bedside, CareFusion has said in San Diego.

Researchers in Germany have found that Easter eggs, the dark chocolate kind, in small quantities can lower blood pressure and reduce heart disease risk.

19,357 people, ages 35-65 were tracked by study leader Dr. Brian Buijsse of the German Institute of Human Nutrition and colleagues, for at least 10 years.

The study participants, part of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer, had their blood pressure checked, height and weight measurements taken and they answered questions about diet, lifestyle and health.

U. S. researchers have concluded that given a choice, between a quick payoff and a longer-term benefit, people with complete information pick the instant reward.

The findings better explain the decisions people make financially, physically and emotionally, said Bradley Love, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and graduate student Ross Otto.

78 subjects had been given two options by the researchers through a computer program that allowed them to accumulate points. For each choice, one option offered the subject more points. But choosing the other option could lead to more points further along in the experiment.

It has been suggested by the U. S. researchers that teaching students in schools in the developing world about hygiene helps the whole household reduce illness.

Poor sanitation and a lack of access to safe water contribute to an estimated 1.87 million deaths per year from devastating diseases worldwide, mostly among children age 5 and younger in the developing world, said the lead study investigator Elizabeth Blanton of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

German researchers have found that not only do painful memories and associations put the brain on alert and verbal stimuli also lead to pain reactions in the brain.

The findings explains why a physician giving a vaccine and saying, "This will only hurt for a second," offers no solace at all, say Dr. Thomas Weiss of the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena and his team.