WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A hormone thought to encourage bonding between mothers and their babies may foster social behavior in some adults with autism, French researchers said on Monday.

They found patients who inhaled the hormone oxytocin paid more attention to expressions when looking at pictures of faces and were more likely to understand social cues in a game simulation, the researchers said in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Alarmed that nearly a third
of U.S. children are obese or overweight — and likely to stay
that way all their lives — President Barack Obama launched an
initiative on Tuesday to roll back the numbers and put his wife
in charge of promoting it.

“I have set a goal to solve the problem of childhood
obesity within a generation so that children born today will
reach adulthood at a healthy weight,” Obama said in signing the
order at the White House.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Dimebon, a pill being developed for Alzheimer’s disease, helped people with Huntington’s disease improve their thinking, learning and memory skills, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Dimebon, made by Medivation Inc. under the generic name latrepirdine, appears to be safe for Huntington’s patients and has minimal side effects, the researchers reported in the journal Archives of Neurology.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Glaucoma drugs appear to reduce the likelihood of death among patients using them compared with those patients receiving no treatment but it is not clear why, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

A four-year study involving more than 21,000 Americans found an association between all types of glaucoma medications and a lower death rate, the researchers wrote in the journal Archives of Ophthalmology.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of American adults die each year from pneumonia, influenza and other infectious diseases that could be prevented by routine vaccinations, according to a report released Thursday.

Only about a third of seniors were vaccinated in 2008 against pneumonia, a complication of seasonal flu, according to the report released by the Trust For America’s Health, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. space agency on Tuesday awarded $50 million in grants to five private firms in a first step to implement President Barack Obama’s vision of turning over space transportation to the commercial sector.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden also deflected criticism by some U.S. lawmakers that Obama’s proposal would topple the United States from its preeminent role in space exploration.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Taking ginkgo biloba, St. John’s wort and other widely used herbal supplements may be risky for people on heart disease medication, especially the elderly, according to a medical review released on Monday.

Some herbal remedies may increase the potency of prescription drugs for heart disease or make them less effective, a team of experts concluded.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Employer-provided group health plans must offer the same level of coverage for mental illness and drug abuse treatment as for other ailments, according to federal regulations issued on Friday.

The measures, known as mental health parity, ban group health plans from applying different coverage standards for mental health disorders or substance abuse treatment than those for general medical treatment or surgery.

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) – U.S. health officials have leveraged the star power of first lady Michelle Obama to roll out a new campaign against obesity, a preventable condition that drains billions of dollars from the economy.

Obama, who plans to take on childhood obesity as a cause, headlined the launch on Thursday of Surgeon General Regina Benjamin’s blueprint for what can be done at home, school and work to reverse the epidemic.

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) – U.S. health officials have leveraged the star power of first lady Michelle Obama to roll out a new campaign against obesity, a preventable condition that drains billions of dollars from the economy.

Obama, who plans to take on childhood obesity as a cause, headlined the launch on Thursday of Surgeon General Regina Benjamin’s blueprint for what can be done at home, school and work to reverse the epidemic.