One of every 10 clinical trials for adults with cancer ends prematurely because researchers can't get enough people to test new treatments, scientists report.

The surprisingly high rate reveals not just the scope and cost of wasted opportunities that deprive patients of potential advances, but also the extent of barriers such as money, logistics and even the mistaken fear that people won't get the best care if they join one of these experiments.

Saudi health authorities announced Wednesday a new MERS death, bringing to 59 the number of people who have died from the coronavirus in the country with the most fatalities.

The Saudi national, aged 60, died in hospital in the Riyadh region, said the health ministry on its website, adding that he had suffered from chronic disease.

Three members of the same Chinese family have contracted H7N9 bird flu in the province worst-affected by the current spike in cases, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

A couple and their daughter in Hangzhou, the capital of the eastern province of Zhejiang, were infected one after another, Xinhua said late Tuesday, without giving further details.

People with Alzheimer's disease may have higher levels of a chemical left behind by the pesticide DDT than healthy elderly people, suggested a U.S. study out Monday.

The pesticide, DDT, was phased out in the United States in 1972, but is still used elsewhere in the world and global health authorities consider it an important tool against malaria.

Women are often in the dark when it comes to basic facts about sex, fertility, pregnancy and their own reproductive health, according to a U.S. study Monday.

The research was conducted by Yale University via an online survey of 1,000 women aged 18-40 from across the United States.

Taking his first faltering steps since his left leg was blown off by a landmine, Sergeant Muneer Ahmad is grim proof that the Afghan army is paying a heavy price in its war against the Taliban and struggling to care for its wounded.

Ahmad, 23, trod on a mine while fighting in the southern province of Kandahar six months ago as Afghan forces assume control of the anti-insurgent campaign after 12 years of well-funded U.S.-led NATO operations.

Scientists say two of the deadliest pandemics in history were caused by strains of the same plague and warn that new versions of the bacteria could spark future outbreaks.

Researchers found tiny bits of DNA in the teeth of two German victims killed by the Justinian plague about 1,500 years ago. With those fragments, they reconstructed the genome of the oldest bacteria known.

Hong Kong began a mass cull of 20,000 chickens on Tuesday after the deadly H7N9 bird flu virus was discovered in poultry imported from mainland China, authorities said.

Fears over avian bird flu have grown following the deaths of two men in Hong Kong since December. Both had recently returned from mainland China.

One in four nursery school children caught up in Japan's 2011 tsunami disaster has psychiatric problems, a report said Monday, with experts warning the effects could last a lifetime if left untreated.

Researchers found 25.9 percent of children aged between three and five suffers from symptoms including vertigo, nausea and headaches, with some exhibiting worrying behavior such as violence or withdrawal.

Russia on Monday imposed a ban on Australian beef byproducts such as offal over the use of a growth stimulant allowed in some nations but that Moscow considers unsafe.

The temporary restrictions also affect Belarus and Kazakhstan -- two ex-Soviet nations that are part of a Moscow-led Customs Union.