Washington, February 21 : A new study by Uppsala University scientists shed new light on the injuries that the males' mating organs cause in females.

The researchers suggest that such injuries are the side effects of the benefits the males reap from their mating organs.

"One especially tricky case involves species where the males have mating organs that are supplied with hooks, barbs, and flukes that cause internal injuries in females during mating. This is extremely common among insects, but it also occurs in many other animal groups," says Professor Goran Arnqvist, at the Department of Ecology and Evolution.

Washington, Feb 21 : ''Brain Storming'' sessions often see people talking of a variety of topics, but how a person''s brain quickly processes the meaning and understands what other people are saying at the same time is an ability that has always intrigued researchers.

Psychologist Jos J. A. Van Berkum from the Max Planck Institute in The Netherlands has now described how the brain turn seemingly random sounds and letters into sentences with clear meaning.

New Delhi, Feb 21 : The United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) says that most rural Indians are victims of malnutrition, despite the introduction of several government schemes to end the problem.

A UNWFP with MS Swaminathan Research Foundation report released here said that 40 per cent of children under the age of three are underweight and a third of all men and women suffer from chronic energy deficiency.

It also stressed nutritional outcomes and the associated factors which influence them.

Washington, Feb 21: Youngsters who start smoking before age 17 may increase their risk for developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new research.

The study is being presented at the American Academy of Neurology''s 61st Annual Meeting in Seattle, April 25 to May 2, 2009.

The study involved 87 people with MS who were among more than 30,000 people in a larger study.

Kathmandu  - Nepalese authorities Saturday confirmed the second outbreak of bird flu in the eastern part of the country.

The new cases of the deadly strain of H5N1 virus were discovered after 149 chickens died at a poultry farm in Saranamati village of Jhapa district, about 450 kilometres east of Kathmandu, government officials said.

Officials sent samples of the dead fowl to England for tests.

New Delhi - Twenty-nine people have died of hepatitis in Sabarkantha district of India's Gujarat state in the past fortnight, officials said Friday.

Sabarkatha district collector M Thennarasan said the disease was a mutant form of the hepatitis B virus. He said more than 40 people had been hospitalized with suspected infection.

The hepatitis B virus is usually transmitted through body fluids and, therefore, rarely occurs in very large numbers. It can be transferred through blood transfusion, infected needles or unprotected sex.