Washington, April 4: University of Florida researchers say that it is possible to predict a person’s risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) by looking at his/her partner’s behaviour.

The researchers have even charted five specific characteristics that can help gauge how risky certain partners are.

The characteristics include whether the partner has a problem with marijuana or alcohol, was at least five years older or younger, had been in jail, had sex with other people in the past year, or had an STD in the past year.

Washington, Apr 3 : A special region of the brain''''s visual cortex, which is in charge of distinguishing between background and foreground images, called V2, is what makes brain cells remember things, according to a new study.

Neuroscientists at The Johns Hopkins University have demonstrated that nerve cells in V2 can "grab onto" figure-ground information from visual images for several seconds, even after the images themselves are removed from our sight.

Washington, Apr 3 : Preschoolers who snore are at an increased risk of developing mood disorders, and are likely to have language and attention problems, say researchers.

"The results of our study bring out snoring as a possible risk factor for mood problems and cognitive impairment in children," said lead researcher Eeva T. Aronen, M. D., Ph. D., of Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.

During the study, the researchers looked at 43 preschoolers aged five, who snored and 46 children who did not snore.

Washington, Apr 3 : Have an anorexic teen? Try feeding him or her high-calorie meals like milkshakes and macaroni and cheese until they regain a healthy weight.

Known also as the Maudsley Approach, this treatment under the behavioural family therapy (BFT) approach is being compared with a more established treatment known as family systems therapy (FST) as part of an ongoing study for kids aged between 12 and 18, at the New York Presbyterian Hospital Westchester Division and five other centres in the US.

Washington, Apr 3 : Patients awaiting heart transplant surgery can be supported with an artificial pump to keep their heart beating, according to a new study.

The device, called a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), is the latest generation of heart assist devices.

London, Apr 3: Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) can help smokers kick the habit even when they don’t think they are ready, says a new study.

The British Medical Journal study is the first of its kind to focus on sustained smoking abstinence using NRT for smokers who have no immediate plans to stop smoking.

To reach the conclusion, University of Birmingham researchers carried out a systematic review of seven randomised controlled trials that compared the outcomes of using NRT gum or inhalators to placebos.