Children who undergo surgery before 3 years and are exposed to general anesthesia, have a double risk of behavioral or developmental problems than other children.

According to lead author Charles DiMaggio, an assistant professor of clinical epidemiology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons' Mailman School of Public Health in New York City,"There really is no hard evidence that there is any causal association between anesthesia and developmental outcomes in children, though research in rat models indicates that there may be some association between the types of anesthesia and neuronal [brain cell] level changes. The early concern is, could these data be extrapolated to humans?"

A recent study has said that suicide rates in the U.S. have shown an increase largely due to an increase in suicides among middle aged white men and women. This increase has come about after a decade long decrease in suicide rates.

The study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine said white people in the age group of 40 to 64 have "recently emerged as a new high-risk group for suicide." White women constituted the largest increase in suicides with a 4 % increase although white men still make up the largest number of people who kill themselves though there rate has increased by 3 %.

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.  
 

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.  

Patients who are taking beta-blockers before and at the time of undergoing non-cardiac surgery appears to have the highest risk of heart attack and death within a month of their surgery, a new research reveals.

“Prevention of these perioperative [around the time of surgery] cardiac complications continues to be the goal of intense research and investigations,” quote the author