LONDON (Reuters) – Middle-aged men from disadvantaged backgrounds are 10 times more likely to commit suicide, often because they have lost a sense of identity and masculine pride, researchers said on Thursday.

In a report commissioned by the British helpline charity the Samaritans, health experts explored why men in their 30s, 40s and 50s are at such a substantially higher risk of ending their own lives.

LONDON (Reuters) – British scientists have identified biological markers in the blood which should help doctors match patients to the best type of treatment for depression.

The aim is to end the “trial and error” prescription of antidepressants, which is often the only way depressed patients can find the most effective treatment, said researchers regarding what they described as a small but promising study.

LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) – In a study that prompted
criticism from other experts, French scientists said on
Wednesday that rats fed on Monsanto’s genetically
modified (GM) corn or exposed to its top-selling weedkiller
suffered tumours and multiple organ damage.

Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen and
colleagues said rats fed on a diet containing NK603 – a seed
variety made tolerant to dousings of Monsanto’s Roundup
weedkiller – or given water with Roundup at levels permitted in
the United States, died earlier than those on a standard diet.

LONDON (Reuters) – Cuts in global funding for Eastern Europe and Central Asia are undermining the fight against tuberculosis (TB) and the AIDS virus, threatening to push already high rates of disease and drug-resistance even higher, experts said on Wednesday.

In a report by leading European non-governmental health organizations, the experts called on the European Union to step in to fill the gaps left by global donors to countries within and neighboring its borders.

LONDON, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Britain launched a public
consultation on Monday to ask whether controversial
“three-parent” fertility treatments should be available to
families hoping to avoid passing on incurable diseases.

The potential treatments, currently only at research stage
in laboratories in Britain and the United States, would involve
implanting genetically modified embryos into women for the first
time.

LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have found the answer to why female killer whales have the longest menopause of any non-human species – so that they stick around long enough to care for their grown-up sons.

In a study published in the journal Science, researchers found that for a male whale over 30, the death of his mother means an almost 14-fold increase in the risk he will also die within the following year.

LONDON (Reuters) – As many as 200 million children across the world fail to reach their full potential because their early brain development is held back by poverty, disease and malnutrition, global health experts said on Thursday.

Announcing backing for several projects aimed at “saving brains” as well as lives in poorer countries, they said global health and development efforts should focus not only on keeping children alive, but on improving their first 1,000 days.

LONDON (Reuters) – Countries across the world are making rapid progress on child survival rates, showing it is possible to bring down child mortality significantly in two decades, the United Nations Children’s Fund said on Thursday.

In its latest report on child survival, UNICEF hailed a sharp drop of about 40 percent in the number of children under the age of five dying, with the estimated global toll falling from nearly 12 million in 1990 to 6.9 million in 2011.

LONDON, Sept 13 (Reuters) – National breast screening
programmes in Europe save more lives by catching tumours early
than they harm through over-diagnosis and women should be made
more aware of benefit-risk balance, researchers said on
Thursday.

In the first comprehensive review of European breast cancer
screening programmes, scientists found that for every 1,000
women aged 50 to 69 screened every two years, between seven and
nine lives are saved.

LONDON (Reuters) – An experimental drug that blocks certain brain receptors can reduce nicotine cravings in addicted rats and baboons – a finding researchers say could lead to new medicines to help people stop smoking for good.

The candidate drug, called GSK598809, belongs to a class of compounds that block a specific type of dopamine receptor in key areas of the brain linked to tobacco addiction.