A Saudi man has died of MERS in the western city of Jeddah, where authorities have sought to calm fears over the spreading respiratory illness, the health ministry said Wednesday.

The ministry said five more people were infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, including two medics, all in Jeddah.

A small study of casual marijuana smokers has turned up evidence of changes in the brain, a possible sign of trouble ahead, researchers say.

The young adults who volunteered for the study were not dependent on pot, nor did they show any marijuana-related problems.

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it approved a new injectable drug from GlaxoSmithKline plc for adults with Type 2 diabetes.

The agency cleared the company's drug, Tanzeum, to help patients control their blood sugar levels, in combination with diet and exercise.

A high-tech screening tool for cervical cancer is facing pushback from more than a dozen American patient groups, who warn that the genetic test could displace a simpler, cheaper and more established mainstay of women's health: the Pap smear.

The new test from Swiss drug maker Roche uses DNA to detect the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer. While such technology has been available for years, Roche now wants the Food and Drug Administration to approve its test as a first-choice option for cervical cancer screening, bypassing the decades-old Pap test.

A hi-tech scanner can help tell whether a brain-injured patient who appears to be in a vegetative state has a chance of regaining some consciousness, a study said Tuesday.

In an unprecedented trial among comatose patients, Belgian researchers said the scanner, an expensive tool not routinely used for this purpose, could identify those who were unresponsive but showed consciousness.

The General Director of the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, Dr. Wassim Wazzan, resigned on Tuesday following several sit-ins held by employees, who are demanding reforms, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Health Minister Wael Abou Faour announced that Wazzan handed his resignation over to the ministry for consideration, the NNA said.

Low blood sugar isn't good for marital bliss because it makes spouses more prone to anger and aggression, says a new study out Monday.

The findings are based on experiments with 107 married couples asked to monitor their glucose levels before breakfast and bed every day for 21 days.

U.S. lawmakers want electronic cigarettes to be treated just like tobacco products when it comes to barring the sales and marketing of the controversial devices to children.

Senate and House Democrats said Monday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency responsible for protecting public health in the United States, has the legislative authority it needs to step in.

Japan has finished slaughtering 112,000 chickens after confirming its first bird flu infections for three years, with authorities stepping up efforts to swiftly contain the latest outbreak, officials said Tuesday.

Workers on Sunday started culling 56,000 chickens kept at a poultry farm in Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, where DNA tests confirmed the H5 strain of the virus after owners reported sudden deaths in the flock on Saturday, a Kumamoto prefectural government official said.

A foreigner has died from MERS in the western Saudi city of Jeddah, where authorities have sought to calm fears over the spreading respiratory illness, the health ministry said Monday.

The death of the 70-year-old man brought the toll of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in the most-affected country to 69 fatalities. Four new cases of infection were registered, bringing the kingdom's total to 194, the ministry said.