Washington, April 20 : A study conducted at the Baylor College of Medicine has revealed that drinking at least one glass of low sodium vegetable juice daily may help overweight people with metabolic syndrome lose weight.

Researchers found that participants who drank at least 8-ounces of low sodium vegetable juice as part of a calorie-controlled DASH diet lost four pounds over 12 weeks, while those who followed the same diet but drank no juice lost one pound.

Washington, April 20 : Eating tart cherries could significantly boost antioxidant activity in the body, according to a new study.

Researchers at University of Michigan found that healthy adults who ate a cup and a half of frozen cherries had increased levels of antioxidants, specifically five different anthocyanins - the natural antioxidants that give cherries their red colour.

They randomly assigned 12 healthy adults, aged 18 to 25 years, to eat either one and a half cups or three cups of frozen tart cherries.

Washington, Apr. 19 : The Obama administration has decided to boycott a UN racism conference beginning on Monday, criticizing the language used for Israel and the West in the meeting''s final document.

US State Department Spokesman Robert Wood announced that despite improvements from an earlier draft, the changes in the final text do not address US concerns about anti-Israel and anti-Western bias.

The administration had lobbied hard for more revisions so that it could participate.

Washington, Apr. 19 : President Barack Obama is "deeply disappointed" by Iran''s sentencing of a US journalist, the White House has said.

An Iranian court has held Iranian-American freelancer Roxana Saberi guilty of spying, and awarded her an eight-year jail term.

The United States is demanding Saberi's release, and her lawyer will appeal against the sentence, Sky News reported.

The former beauty queen holds citizenship of Iran and the United States. Tehran, however, does not recognize dual nationality.

Washington, Apr 19 : University of Virginia researchers are developing wireless body sensors that monitor gait - a development that will reduce fall risk in elderly.

A new consortium of researchers from U. Va.''s School of Engineering, School of Medicine and Department of Psychology, in partnership with the U. Va. Institute on Aging''s Translational Research Consortium and AFrame Digital, Inc., a health monitoring and medical alert products company, will soon be providing the wearable sensors to residents of some area long-term care facilities.

Washington, Apr 19 : Scientists at University of Virginia have developed a computational model to examine the role of certain proteins in the development of Familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD), which affects people as young as 30.

Biomedical engineers Lydia S. Glaw and Thomas C. Skalak, Ph. D., of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, constructed the model to measure plaques and tangles and their influence in causing FAD.