According to scientists, a chemical released in the brain during sex and other social interactions could be turned into a cure for shyness, autism, depression and anxiety. The feel-good chemical, called oxytocin, has long been used by doctors for other uses including inducing labor and stimulating milk production in new mothers.

Oxytocin promotes romantic feels, makes people more socialable, and helps mothers bond with their babies. Researchers however, wonder if it might also be able to treat a wide range of personality disorders.

There are currently several researchers studying the affects of oxytocin on different disorders.

Dr. Eric Hollander, a leading autism expert from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, has found that giving oxytocin to autistic adults improves their ability to recognize emotions in a person's tone of voice. This is something they usually find very difficult to do.

An intravenous infusion of oxytocin, he has found, triggers improvements that last for up to two weeks. Previous autism research revealed that autistic children have lower than normal levels of oxytocin in their bloodstreams.

Dr. Markus Heinrichs of the University of Zurich, another autism researcher, is studying the use of oxytocin as a therapy for social phobia, an anxiety disorder characterized by extreme self-consciousness. 

Long-term exposure to the tiny, dirty particles in polluted air seems to increase the risk of deep vein thrombosis, which are blood clots in the thighs or legs, an Italian study finds.

"It is well-established that air pollution causes myocardial infarction [heart attack] and stroke," said Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, who led the study while at the Harvard School of Public Health. "This is the first time that anyone has connected air pollution with deep vein thrombosis."

Previous studies have suggested such a connection, said Baccarelli, who is now an assistant professor of environmental health at the University of Milan. "Several studies in animal models and in humans have shown that particulate matter, inhaled into the lungs, causes inflammation in the lungs," he said. "The inflammation can expand the cell body, so that the incidence of coagulation is increased."

Coagulation is the formation of clots that can block blood vessels.

Baccarelli and his colleagues assessed the effect of air polluted with particulate matter smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter about one-40th the width of a human hair. Such particles come from the exhaust of vehicles, especially those with diesel engines, and burning of fossil fuels, the researchers said.

The scientists compared the exposure to such pollution on 870 residents of the Lombardy region of Italy who had been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, and 1,210 residents who did not have deep vein thrombosis. The researchers used the average concentration of particulate matter measured by monitors at 53 sites.

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Today the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy sent out a clear message on teen pot use and depression: They're a bad combination. Issuing a report that analyzes around a dozen studies about marijuana use and mental health, the policy office warned that teens who use marijuana to "self-medicate" may worsen their underlying depression or other mental health issues. The intention of the report, says John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is to "try to correct two misunderstandings: That teen depression is not a problem and that teen marijuana use is not a problem marijuana use is not safe." He advises parents to talk to their kids' pediatrician if they see signs of depression and suspect drug use.

The report, entitled "Teen Marijuana Use Worsens Depression: An Analysis of Recent Data Shows 'Self-Medicating' Could Actually Make Thing Worse," cites statistics to support its warning message, but experts are quick to note that it should be interpreted with caution. For example, the report's statement, "One 16-year study showed that individuals who were not depressed and then used marijuana were four times more likely to be depressed at follow-up," suggests marijuana might cause depression. That data from a 2001 study in the American Journal of Psychiatry was only statistically meaningful after the researchers adjusted for variables including age, gender, and antisocial symptoms, suggesting a weaker relationship between depression and marijuana before adjustments were made.The study also showed that those who were not depressed when first surveyed and then used opioids were 228 times more likely to be depressed at follow-up without any adjustments. That statistic was not mentioned in the Drug Control Policy's report today. "Adolescent marijuana use may be a factor that triggers psychosis, depression, and other mental illness," says Walters, acknowledging that "research about causality is still ongoing."

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Marijuana is one of the world’s most commonly used illegal drugs. There are approximately 300 million users worldwide and 28 million users in the United States alone.

Marijuana comes from a plant called “Cannabis sativa.” The chemical found in this plant that produces the altered states of consciousness is called “delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol” or “THC.” Whether smoked as a cigarette, or cooked into baked goods like brownies or cookies or brewed like a tea, marijuana use causes: relaxation, reduced coordination, reduced blood pressure, sleepiness, disruption in attention, an altered sense of time and space. In high doses, marijuana can also cause hallucinations, delusions, impaired memory and disorientation.

Now, according to a new White House Office of National Drug Control Policy report, teens using marijuana put themselves at higher risk for serious mental problems including worsening depression, schizophrenia, anxiety and suicide.

The report, called Teen Marijuana Use Worsens Depression: An Analysis of Recent Data Shows “Self-Medicating” Could Actually Make Things Worse, sustains that teens using marijuana increase their risk of developing a mental disorder by 40 percent. Teens who use marijuana at least once a month over a yearlong period are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who don’t use the drug.

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More than half of Indian children under the age of five do not get the health care they need, according to a report by Save the Children.

It ranks India alongside Ghana when it comes to providing basic health care to its children under five years of age.

The annual report looks at whether developing countries are delivering health care effectively to children.

It found the Philippines was performing best with almost 69% of children able to get access to health care.

Ethiopia ranks last - only 16% of children under five get health care when they need it.

'Basic measures'

The report, called State of the World's Mothers, says girls die at much higher rates in India than most countries.

Although India has cut child its mortality rate by 34% since 1990, Indian girls are 61% more likely than boys to die between the ages of one and five.

Inequity of health care among male and female children is responsible for this situation, the report says.

The report says experts predict that over 60% of the nearly 10 million children who die every year could be saved by delivering basic health services through a health facility or community health worker.

"A child's chance of reaching its fifth birthday should not depend on the country or community where it is born," said Jasmine Whitbread, Save the Children's chief executive.

"We need to do a better job of reaching the poorest children with basic health measures like vaccines, antibiotics and skilled care at childbirth,"

Women who stop smoking can enjoy major health benefits within five years, but it can take decades to correct respiratory damage and shed the added risk of lung cancer, researchers reported on Tuesday.

Those who stopped had a 13 percent reduction in the risk of death from all causes, including heart and vascular problems, within the first five years, the study found. After 20 years, the risk of death from any cause was the same for those who quit as for those who had never smoked.

For deaths due specifically to respiratory diseases, there was an 18 percent reduction within 5 to 10 years of quitting, reaching the level found in nonsmokers after 20 years.

But while there was a 21 percent reduction in the risk of lung cancer death within five years, it took 30 years for that excess risk to disappear.

The findings are the latest to emerge from a study of more than 121,000 American women in the nursing profession whose health histories were recorded in 1976 and followed during the ensuing years. While the study involved only women, other research has found benefits for men who stop smoking.

“Our findings indicate that 64 percent of deaths in current smokers and 28 percent of deaths in past smokers are attributable to smoking,” Stacey A. Kenfield of the Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues wrote in the report, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Quitting reduces the excess mortality rates for all major causes of death examined,” they added.

The report also found that women who started smoking later in life had a lower risk of many lung and heart diseases. The researchers said this was troubling, given recent studies showing that people are taking up cigarettes at early ages. 

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.

"This is particularly disturbing because women with alcohol problems face more severe health-related consequences and possibly more years of life lost than their male counterparts," researchers write in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Dr. Richard A. Grucza, of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, and colleagues analyzed two national surveys about alcohol use that were conducted 10 years apart in age-matched adults.

Compared with women born between 1944 and 1953, women born between 1954 and 1963 were much more apt to drink alcohol and those who drank had a higher risk of alcohol dependence, the researchers report in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

"We found that for women born after World War II, there are lower levels of abstaining from alcohol and higher levels of alcohol dependence, even when looking only at women who drank," Grucza said in a written statement.

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Spring is here, legs have been reacquainted with the razor and women are buying lots of shimmery lip gloss on impulse. But have you heard the buzz that cheap, fun, non-SPF gloss can possibly increase your skin cancer risk?

Here's the theory: Some dermatologists have said that the translucent sheen helps ultraviolet rays penetrate the already fragile skin of the lips -- thereby increasing your risk. These dermatologists may be on to something, according to some of the top experts in the field.

Dr. Jessica Fewkes, a face and neck skin cancer specialist at Harvard, draws a cautious analogy between wearing non-SPF (sun protection factor) lip gloss in the sun and using baby oil to promote tanning. "You might be able to infer that they both enhance UV exposure," she says.

Dr. Kevin Cooper, chairman of the dermatology department at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, explains that any increased penetration of ultraviolet rays would be due to "enhanced optical passage" of the dangerous rays. But the increase, he qualifies, would be small.  

Inflation in the 15 countries sharing the euro eased in April off a March record but confidence in the economy sank anyway to a the lowest point in two-and-a-half years, EU data showed Wednesday.

Annual inflation in the eurozone cooled to 3.3 percent from 3.6 percent in March when consumer prices rose at the fastest rate on record in the bloc, according to a first estimate from the European Union's Eurostat data agency.

Private sector economists had expected inflation to ease in April to 3.4 percent after hitting the March peak, driven by soaring oil and food prices.

Despite the lower rate, inflation remained far above the European Central Bank's comfort level, which it defines as close to but just below 2.0 percent on an annual basis.

Unlike some other major central banks like the US Federal Reserve, the Frankfurt-based ECB has so far opted not to cut interest rates in the face of weakening growth, concentrating instead on keeping a lid on inflation.

Despite the lower inflation, confidence in the European economy fell more sharply than expected in April, slumping to the lowest point in two-and-a-half years, according to an EU survey.

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A newly published study links the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, or HPV, to lung cancer, adding lungs to the list of organs scientists say are susceptible to cancer as a result of contracting the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States.

 Recent studies have found connections between HPV and cancers of the mouth and throat, but the University of Louisville study released late last week is the first to associate the infection with lung cancer.

HPV has long been known to result in cancers of the sex organs, particularly the cervix, and a vaccine targeting young women and girls was introduced in the United States in 2006.

Conservative parents and activists have condemned the vaccine, marketed under the name Gardasil, since it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year, claiming it would like easily available condoms encourage young people to engage in promiscuous sex.

Those same parents and groups say the news showing a link between the virus and lung cancer, which means it could affect not only their daughters but also their sons, does not change their opposition to the drug.

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