BEIJING (Reuters) - Evening exercise classes at the Nirvana fitness centre in Beijing are in high demand these days as young professionals whose mothers once counted ration cards seek to stay svelte despite lavish lunches.

LONDON (Reuters) - Providing free AIDS drugs to people in northern Malawi has slashed adult mortality rates, vindicating a recent ramp-up in treatment in poor parts of rural Africa, researchers said on Friday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Getting the cool kids to talk to their peers about the dangers of smoking cut the number of young people who started using cigarettes in one study by nearly 25 percent, British researchers said on Friday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - People with diabetes are twice as likely to have arthritis, putting them in a double bind as the pain in their joints keeps them from getting the exercise they need to keep both diseases at bay, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Fewer than half of Americans can recognize the top five warning signs of stroke, information that could help save thousands of people from death and disability, the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. advocacy group is urging the Food and Drug Administration to pull Johnson& Johnson's birth control patch from the market after studies found an increased risk of dangerous blood clots.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study suggests that firefighters face higher-than-average risks of several types of cancer, adding to evidence that the job carries hazards beyond the fires themselves.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Incontinence and other disorders of the pelvic organs can take a toll on a woman's sex life, a new study suggests.

BOSTON (Reuters) - The diabetes pill metformin is just as effective as insulin injections in treating women who develop diabetes during pregnancy, researchers in New Zealand and Australia reported on Wednesday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A drug from a new class of weight-loss treatments disrupted wiring needed for brain development in young mice, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday, raising concerns about using such medications in children.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The risks of developing Alzheimer's disease differ between the sexes, with stroke in men, and depression in women, critical factors, according to a French study.

LONDON (Reuters) - Five percent of breast cancer tumors appear to double in size in just over a month, Norwegian researchers said on Thursday in a study underscoring the potential benefits of more frequent screening.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Medtronic Inc said on Wednesday it was voluntarily recalling some disposable devices used during cardiac bypass surgery because they have been found to be coated with contaminated traces of the blood-thinner heparin.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Doctors should try a new type of prescription -- being a little more polite -- if they want to connect with their patients, a U.S. psychiatrist suggested on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is more common in people who suffer from chronic migraine headache than in those with episodic migraine headache, research suggests.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Exercise can cause structural changes in the heart, and these changes vary depending on the type of training an athlete is engaged in, new research shows.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Pregnant women with gum disease and high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) -- a marker of inflammation in the body -- are at increased risk of developing preeclampsia, a potentially serious complication involving high blood pressure that often leads to premature delivery.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Suicide victims who were abused as children have clear genetic changes in their brains, Canadian researchers reported on Tuesday in a finding they said shows neglect can cause biological effects.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many Africans are getting substandard malaria drugs, with more than a third of the pills tested failing quality tests, according to a report published on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Intrauterine devices are not only among the most effective contraceptives, but they also can help protect women from a cancer of the uterus called endometrial cancer, researchers reported on Tuesday.

FAIZABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Jam Bigum, a drug addict in Afghanistan's impoverished northern province of Badakhshan, feeds her three-month-old son opium three times a day to keep him quiet.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Blocking a single brain enzyme helped short-circuit a key hunger signal in mice and made them eat less, lose weight and have better blood sugar control, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - "I am not a monster. I'm also not a God. In the best case I'm an angel," muses a doctor in a Dutch play about euthanasia, before delivering a lethal injection to an old friend, a cancer patient.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A type of fat that accumulates around the hips and bottom may actually offer some protection against diabetes, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Giving B vitamins and folic acid supplements to reduce high levels of a blood protein that is a marker for heart disease did nothing to protect women from heart trouble, according to a study released on Tuesday.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada has banned all smoking in federal prisons because a partial ban was largely ignored, the government said on Tuesday.

BETHESDA, Maryland (Reuters) - An experiment that went wrong may provide a new way to treat multiple sclerosis, a Canadian researcher said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - There have been marked increases in alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence among U.S. women, particularly among white and Hispanic women born in the U.S. after World War II, new research shows.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Fears of a virus that has killed at least 26 children in China gripped parents in Beijing as officials on Tuesday temporarily closed two kindergartens amid a spreading outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease.

FORT DRUM, New York (Reuters) - Fort Drum, a bleak U.S. Army base in upstate New York, is a test case for how the military is handling a looming mental health crisis.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The risk of a human influenza pandemic remains real and is probably growing as the bird flu virus becomes entrenched in poultry in more countries, health officials warned on Tuesday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese officials said on Tuesday a Chinese-made blood thinner was not to blame for fatalities linked to the product, and accused U.S. drugmaker Baxter International Inc of obstructing the investigation into the cause of the problem.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Philippines and Peru are doing the best job of vaccinating children and treating them for critical diseases compared to other developing nations, Save the Children reported on Tuesday.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's worst outbreak of bird flu has spread to the capital with agriculture ministry officials saying on Tuesday four dead birds raised at a Seoul district government office had tested positive.

KABUL (Reuters) - The gutted, hollow shell of the Ali Abad training hospital in Kabul is a symbol of the state of Afghanistan's medical system, battered by decades of war.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Health care companies said on Monday they had sued to stop some $1.3 billion in California cuts to state medical and dental programs.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc expanded its low-priced drug program, saying on Monday that it is now offering more than 1,000 over-the-counter items for $4 or less and selling some 90-day generic prescriptions for $10.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new needle-free device that delivers a local anesthetic to the skin promises to help make delivering drugs and drawing blood less painful for children.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A one-day snapshot of emergency room conditions at 34 U.S. hospitals shows they are all overwhelmed and none is prepared to handle a big event like a disaster or attack.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older people with low blood levels of vitamin D and high blood levels of parathyroid hormone are more likely to be depressed, Dutch researchers report.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new study provides some of the best evidence to date that breast-feeding can make children smarter, an international team of researchers said on Monday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Having short arms and legs may raise a person's risk of developing memory problems later in life, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - People who took the painkiller ibuprofen for more than five years had a 40 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Monday said it has expanded its low-priced drug program, and will now offer certain 90-day generic prescriptions for $10 and sell more than 1,000 over-the-counter medicines for $4 or less.

BEIJING (Reuters) - An outbreak of a virus that has killed dozens of children across China may be yet to reach its peak, but will not threaten Beijing's Olympic Games in August, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - In another sign pointing to an inherited component to autism, a study released on Monday found that having a schizophrenic parent or a mother with psychiatric problems roughly doubled a child's risk of being autistic.

KABUL (Reuters) - The anti-platelet drug cilostazol is as effective as aspirin at preventing recurrent stroke and appears to be linked to fewer bleeding events, a study in China has shown.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A province in eastern China recorded 622 new cases of the intestinal virus known as enterovirus 71 on Saturday alone, the official Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Nearly a third of U.S. parents know surprisingly little about typical infant development, and this lack of understanding can rob their babies of much-needed mental stimulation, researchers said on Sunday.

DENVER (Reuters) - The sharply contrasting health care visions of Republican John McCain and his Democratic presidential rivals offer the promise of a grand campaign debate -- if the candidates find room on a crowded agenda.