LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) – Babies born prematurely have a
much higher risk of developing severe mental disorders including
psychosis, bipolar disorder and depression, according to a study
to be published on Monday.

Scientists in Britain and Sweden found that people born very
prematurely – at less than 32 weeks’ gestation – were three
times more likely than those born at term to be hospitalised
with a psychiatric illness at aged 16 and older.

LONDON (Reuters) – The number of people with cancer is set to surge by more than 75 percent across the world by 2030, with particularly sharp rises in poor countries as they adopt unhealthy “Westernised” lifestyles, a study said on Friday.

Many developing countries were expected to see a rise in living standards in coming decades, said the paper from the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France.

LONDON (Reuters) – Behind every suicide in crisis-stricken countries such as Greece there are up to 20 more people desperate enough to have tried to end their own lives.

And behind those attempted suicides, experts say there are thousands of hidden cases of mental illness, like depression, alcohol abuse and anxiety disorder, that never make the news, but have large and potentially long-lasting human costs.

LONDON (Reuters) – Bans on drugs like ecstasy, magic mushrooms and LSD have hampered scientific research on the brain and stalled the progress of medicine as much as George Bush’s ban on stem cell research did, a leading British drug expert said on Thursday.

David Nutt, a professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London and a former chief adviser on drugs to the British government, said the international prohibition of psychedelics and other mind-altering drugs over the past half century has had damaging and “perverse” consequences.

LONDON (Reuters) – An international team of scientists has cracked the genetic code of the domesticated tomato and its wild ancestor, an achievement which should help breeders identify the genes needed to develop tastier and more nutritious varieties.

The full genome sequence of a tomato breed known as Heinz 1706, and a draft sequence for its closest wild relative Solanum pimpinellifolium, were published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

LONDON (Reuters) – If someone’s stomach is churning and cramping after eating a burger or club sandwich from a pop-up vendor at the London Olympics, Brian McCloskey plans to be among the first to hear about it.

As the man in charge of disease surveillance during the Games, he says the greatest risk will be food poisoning from people eating street snacks in warm weather, failing to wash their hands and using the same toilets as millions of others.

LONDON, May 30 (Reuters) – If someone’s stomach is churning
and cramping after eating a burger or club sandwich from a
pop-up vendor at the London Olympics, Brian McCloskey plans to
be among the first to hear about it.

As the man in charge of disease surveillance during the
Games, he says the greatest risk will be food poisoning from
people eating street snacks in warm weather, failing to wash
their hands and using the same toilets as millions of others.

LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have for the first time succeeded in taking skin cells from patients with heart failure and transforming them into healthy, beating heart tissue that could one day be used to treat the condition.

The researchers, based in Haifa, Israel, said there were still many years of testing and refining ahead. But the results meant they might eventually be able to reprogram patients’ cells to repair their own damaged hearts.

LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) – The United States sees drug abuse
as a public health problem as much as a crime issue and is
seeking to learn from countries in Europe and elsewhere about
how to treat addiction as a disease, Barack Obama’s drugs policy
chief said on Tuesday.

Gil Kerlikowske, the U.S. president’s director of national
drug control policy, said the United States is taking a more
balanced approach to substance abusers rather than fighting a
“war on drugs” centred mainly on law enforcement.