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Current training and assessment in curbing common pitfalls in medicines prescribing for children is inadequate in the UK, suggests new research. Children pose particular prescribing problems, because the absence of formulations designed specifically for them means that doses have to be individually calculated, increasing the chances of error. And they are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of a mistake, say the researchers.

An elderly person's risk of falling is too often overlooked when trying to prevent them from getting serious fractures, for instance of the hip or wrist, according to a new article.

Large numbers of certain cells in the lungs of patients diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis may increase their chance of death, researchers have discovered.

Applying state-of-the-art protein screening techniques to samples taken from 84 asthmatic volunteers, researchers have made the first proteomic identification of different subtypes of asthma.

Eighty-one percent of Americans believe that in order to help reach the goal of health insurance for all, employers should either provide health insurance to their workers or contribute to the cost of their coverage, according to new survey data. Nearly nine of 10 (88 percent) Democrats, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of Republicans, and nearly four of five (79 percent) Independents would support such an employer "play or pay" requirement.

Researchers have made a breakthrough in breast cancer treatment that could help save the lives of women who become resistant to breast cancer drugs such as tamoxifen. While drugs such as tamoxifen have been a huge success in treating breast cancer, for a significant proportion of sufferers the drugs either fail to work, or after an initial successful response the patient relapses as the cancer acquires or possesses resistance to the drug.

Millions of Americans make the New Year's resolution to stop smoking, but far too many break ranks before Jan. 2. Their dismal success rate has health officials scrambling to come up with easier ways to quit, and many have toyed with the idea that smokeless tobacco could ease the transition off cigarettes. But research suggests that tactic would be a catch-22, especially in younger smokers.

MONTREAL -- Immunotec Inc. announced today the successful completion of a multi-center randomized, double-blind clinical trial on cancer-related weight loss (cachexia) in lung cancer patients which was performed in collaboration with various Canadian clinical centers*. The research concluded that patients treated with IMN 1207 showed significant increases in body weight (Tozer et al. Antioxidants & Redox Signaling (2008) 10:395-402). Immunotec also announced the initiation of a follow-up study to confirm the positive results.

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico -- U.S. medical tourists are headed to Latin American health clinics to receive a controversial prostate cancer treatment not approved in the United States. High-intensity focused ultrasound, or HIFU therapy, uses isolated bursts of high-intensity sound waves that produce temperatures 80-90 degrees Celsius to attack cancerous tissues in the prostate through a rectal probe, The New York Times reported Friday. U.S.

A new study from Danish researchers has found that childless men have a lower risk of developing prostate cancer than fathers, and that, paradoxically, the more children a father has, the lower the risk of the disease. The study appears in the February 15, 2008 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Whether fatherhood can affect the risk of prostate cancer remains controversial.