Washington, Feb 17: People with a family history of melanoma are two times more likely to develop Parkinson''s disease, according to a new study.

During the study, researchers recruited nearly 157,000 people who did not have Parkinson''s disease. They were asked if their parents or siblings had been diagnosed with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

The participants were tracked for a period of 14 to 20 years. During that time, 616 of the people were diagnosed with Parkinson''s disease.

Washington, Feb 17 : A new study has found that shedding extra pounds can significantly help patients reverse fatty liver disease known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

The research team from Saint Louis University Liver Centre has suggested that weight loss of at least 9 percent can help improve condition of patients with fatty liver disease.

"It's a helpful study because we can now give patients a benchmark, a line they need to cross to see improvement," said Dr Brent Neuschwander-Tetri, a hepatologist at Saint Louis University Liver Centre.

Washington, Feb 17: Traffic-related air pollution affects asthma severity in kids, resulting in repeated hospital encounters, says a new study.

The research has been published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).

To reach the conclusion, Ralph J. Delfino, M. D., Ph. D., from the University of California, Irvine, and colleagues, studied records for 2,768 children from two hospitals in northern Orange County, California.

Washington, February 17: A group of American scientists have set out to determine whether a gene variant may affect the link between migraine and stroke or heart attacks.

Dr. Markus Schurks, of the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women''s Hospital in Boston, revealed that the study on 25,000 women look at the genetic variant called the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) D/I polymorphism.

The study's author said that the women answered a questionnaire about their history of migraines and migraines with aura.

London, Feb 17 : Paralytic patients often end up losing control of many facial features, including the movement of eyelids, but now scientists have found the solution to this problem- artificial polymer muscles.

Influenced by the success of bionic limbs, surgeons Craig Senders and Travis Tollefson of the University of California, Davis, have got the idea of using artificial polymer muscles to reanimate the facial features of people suffering from severe paralysis.

"The face is an area where natural-appearing active prosthetics would be particularly welcome," New Scientist magazine quoted them as writing in a recent patent application.

Recent study has revealed the first common gene variants associated with an elevated risk of hypertension. Research team led by Christopher Newton-Cheh of the Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Human Genetic Research studied the DNA of nearly 30,000 people.

The research team studied variants of two genes for these peptides -- atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP). Study showed clear relationship between three variants and higher levels of the peptides and, therefore, to lower blood pressure.