Moderate or heavy smokers who quit tobacco get a boost in mental wellbeing that, for people who are anxious or stressed, is equivalent to taking anti-depressants, a study said Thursday.

British researchers examined 26 published investigations into the mental health of smokers.

Baby talk is more than just bonding: chatting with your infant spurs important brain development that sets the stage for lifelong learning, researchers said Thursday.

And while high-pitched, sing-song tones may capture your baby's attention, the best way for them to learn is to be spoken to like adults. At least when it comes to vocabulary and sentence structure.

Researchers in Japan will trawl through huge amounts of data to search for possible precursors to Alzheimer's Disease in a bid to identify who might develop a condition affecting millions around the world.

The study, which involves the healthcare arm of General Electric, will be based on a health survey that Hirosaki University in the northern prefecture of Aomori has been conducting for years.

There may be a link between weather and the risk of suffering a stroke, say researchers who analyzed climate trends and hospital records on millions of Americans.

Cold weather, high humidity and big daily temperature swings seem to land more people in the hospital with strokes. As it got warmer, risk fell — 3 percent for every 5 degrees, the study found.

Hong Kong Wednesday confirmed a new human case of the deadly H7N9 avian flu, the fifth to be discovered in the city.

A 65-year-old man who had underlying medical conditions was hospitalized Tuesday after developing a fever and a cough and was in critical condition, the health department said in a statement late Wednesday.

A Canadian study that many experts say has major flaws has revived debate about the value of mammograms. The research suggests that these screening X-rays do not lower the risk of dying of breast cancer while finding many tumors that do not need treatment.

The study gives longer follow-up on nearly 90,000 women who had annual breast exams by a nurse to check for lumps plus a mammogram, or the nurse's breast exam alone. After more than two decades, breast cancer death rates were similar in the two groups, suggesting little benefit from mammograms.

Worldwide, one woman in 14 has been sexually assaulted by someone other than a partner, according to the first global estimate of the problem, published on Wednesday.

Its authors said that despite important gaps in data, the overall picture was clear: sex attacks on women are a big and widely overlooked problem.

A drugmaker working to develop a pill to boost sexual desire in women says regulators are demanding more studies on the experimental drug.

Sprout Pharmaceuticals said Tuesday that the Food and Drug Administration wants to see more data on how the company's drug, flibanserin, interacts with other medications and how it affects driving ability. Nearly 10 percent of women studied in company trials reported sleepiness while taking the daily pill.

Women diagnosed with breast cancer caused by a notorious gene have a much better survival chance if they have both breasts removed instead of one, a study said Wednesday.

Out of 100 women with a BRCA gene mutation who have a double mastectomy for early breast cancer, 87 will be alive after 20 years, it said.

Belgium, one of the very few countries where euthanasia is legal, is expected to take the unprecedented step this week of abolishing age restrictions on who can ask to be put to death — extending the right to children for the first time.

The legislation appears to have wide support in the largely liberal country. But it has also aroused intense opposition from foes — including a list of pediatricians — and everyday people who have staged noisy street protests, fearing that vulnerable children will be talked into making a final, irreversible choice.