Health | WPN World People News

Nearly 73,000 children in Kenya are severely malnourished and at risk of dying from drought-related hunger unless urgent aid is made immediately available.

National Institutes of Health scientists have filled a research gap by developing a laboratory model to study ticks that transmit flaviviruses, such as Powassan virus. Powassan virus was implicated in the death of a New York man earlier this year.

A new study has shown that consuming fortified rice can significantly reduce anaemia and zinc deficiencies among the poorest women in Bangladesh. Conducted by the research centre icddr,b and on behalf of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the study measured the impact of providing rice enriched with micronutrients to women participating in the Government’s Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme. The study also found that fortified rice, when combined with training and cash grants for investment, can also contribute to women’s empowerment.

The normal female mouse embryo (top) contains only the female reproductive tract, highlighted in pink. The female mouse embryo without COUP-TFII (bottom) has both male, in blue, and female reproductive tracts.

More than 6 in 7 adolescents (85 percent) who wear contact lenses report at least one habit that increases the chance of an eye infection, according to a report published today in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Eye infections can lead to serious problems, including blindness.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have identified a class of sensory neurons (nerve cells that electrically send and receive messages between the body and brain) that can be activated by stimuli as precise as the pulling of a single hair.

After decades of relative neglect, star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes are finally getting their due. To gather insight into a critical aspect of brain development, a team of scientists examined the maturation of astrocytes in 3-D structures grown in culture dishes to resemble human brain tissue. The study, which confirms the lab-grown cells develop at the same rate as those found in human brains, was and funded in part by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

A United Nations representative in Sierra Leone said Wednesday he is losing hope that rescuers will find survivors after deadly mudslides in Sierra Leone's capital killed more than 300 people.

At the Al Sab’een Hospital in Sana’a, Yemen, a doctor checks on a girl suffering from cholera.

The number of U.S. adults and children with epilepsy is increasing, with at least 3.4 million people living with the disorder, according to data released in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, on August 10th. It’s the first time epilepsy estimates have been available for every state.