Washington, Nov 12: Condom use among people in their 30s and 40s is low as compared to their younger counterparts, a shocking new study of heterosexual partnerships among Britons has revealed.

The study found that among people in their 30s and 40s, and in partnerships where there is an age difference of five or more years, condom use is particularly low.

In view of the rising rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the authors of the study say that condom use needs to be promoted to all age groups, and not just to young people.

Washington, Nov 12: Listening to music that makes you happy really does give the heart a lift, suggests a new study.

For the first time, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have shown that the emotions aroused by joyful music have a healthy effect on blood vessel function.

Music, selected by study participants because it made them feel good and brought them a sense of joy, caused tissue in the inner lining of blood vessels to dilate (or expand) in order to increase blood flow, the study found.

Washington, Nov 12 : Working out on a stationary bicycle or walking on a treadmill just 25 to 30 minutes daily can modestly reduce hospitalization or death risk in heart failure patients, say a new study.

The HF-ACTION trial (A Controlled Trial Investigating Outcomes Exercise TraiNing) led by Dr Christopher O''Connor, director of the Duke Heart Centre showed that exercising improved outcomes for patients who have suffered heart failure.

Medan, Indonesia  - Maftuh moans in pain as he writhes on the hot asphalt road and holds his injured leg. Latifah lies beside him, her face covered in blood.

The pair had an accident in chaotic Indonesian road traffic. Their becak, a bicycle with a sidecar for carrying passengers, was rammed by a bus.

But help is in sight: An ambulance appears within minutes. Paramedics emerge to treat the injured and transport them to hospital as bystanders applaud.

Vatican City - The Vatican's top health issues official reiterated Tuesday the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to embryonic stem cell research - a field of study supported by US president-elect Barack Obama.

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan said stem cells taken from human embryos and involving the destruction of the embryos, "served no purpose with no health cure to date" resulting from such scientific research.

The Church instead championed research on adult stem cells that, Barragan said, have been shown to have "positive value."

Washington, Nov 11 : A biological reaction within human cells which is essential to life can take almost 2.3 billion years - about half the age of the Earth – to complete if there’s no enzyme to speed up the process.

All biological reactions within human cells depend on enzymes. Their power as catalysts enables biological reactions to occur usually in milliseconds.