Washington, Nov 24 : Adolescents are at greatest risk of smoking if their parents began smoking at an early age and quickly reached high levels and persisted over time, according to a new study.

The findings are based on the long-running Indiana University Smoking Survey and builds on previous research that suggests smoking behaviour is influenced by both genetics and the environment.

"This particular study focuses more on the genetic influence in the specific case of a parent''s smoking behaviour impacting a teenage son or daughter''s smoking," said Jon Macy, project director of the IU Smoking Survey in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

London, Nov 23 : Feeling irritated, tired and having low sex drive? Well, if you''re a male, then chances are that you could be hitting the ''Manopause'', says health researchers.

Yes, you heard it right. Just like women, men too could have ''male menopause''.

According to an earlier American study, as many as one in five males over the age of 65 could be experiencing symptoms of this condition, which include low libido, irritability, tiredness, weight gain, sweating, aches and pains.

Medically, the male menopause is referred to as andropause - which implies the decline in the sex hormones (androgens) of men - namely testosterone.

Washington, Nov 23 : Neuroscientists at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) have made a major breakthrough in brain research by uncovering a mechanism vital to the development of the hippocampus—the most important region of the brain.

Hippocampus is crucial to the formation of memories, and the lifelong production and integration of new nerve cells.

QBI''s Associate Professor Linda Richards said that there wasn’t much known about the early development of hippocampus.

In the study, the researchers were trying to find out how the brain forms during embryonic and foetal development.

Washington, Nov 17: Long term vitamin E or vitamin C supplementation has no significant effect in protecting against cancer, according to a new study.

The Physicians'' Health Study II is a large-scale, long-term, randomised clinical trial, which was conducted by 14,641 physicians who were at least 50 years old at enrollment.

All the physicians participating in the study were given 400 IU of vitamin E every other day or its placebo, or 500 mg of vitamin C daily or its placebo.

The subjects were followed for up to 10 years for the development of cancer with high rates of completion of annual questionnaires, and the confirmation of reported cancer endpoints.

Washington, Nov 16 : Researchers at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have found that a protein, known to inhibit the growth of ovarian cancer, works in part by forcing cancer cells to eat themselves until they die.

Senior author Naoto T. Ueno, M. D., Ph. D. associate professor of breast medical oncology, said that the researchers also found that expression of the protein, known as PEA-15, is an independent indicator of a woman''s prospects for surviving ovarian cancer. 

An analysis of ovarian cancer tumours from 395 women showed those with high expression of the PEA-15 had a median survival time of 50.2 months compared with 33.5 months for women with low levels of the protein in their tumours.

Washington, Nov 16 : The irritating pain in your legs after climbing the stairs could reveal more than just your age—it could indicate that you might be suffering from peripheral vascular disease (PVD) – a disease of the blood vessels outside of the heart and brain. 

PVD occurs when fatty deposits known as plaque build up in the inner lining of artery walls, causing a narrowing of the vessels that carry blood to the legs. 

Symptoms of PVD include pain, numbness, aching or heaviness in the leg muscles when walking or climbing stairs. Symptoms may also include cramping in the legs, buttocks, thighs, calves and feet.