European lawmakers Tuesday vote on a long-fought and divisive anti-smoking bill that aims to ban "slims" and menthol cigarettes while tightening legislation on increasingly popular e-cigarettes.

If adopted as stands in an afternoon vote, the legislation before the European parliament will also force tobacco firms to print large health warnings covering 75 percent of packets.

Vesicles, the bubble-shaped vessels that transport molecules within cells, may hold the secret to halting viruses or even combating Alzheimer's, say experts who hailed Monday's Nobel awarded to three leaders in the field.

Thousands of these sac-like cargo vehicles reside in every human cell.

We all live longer when times are good, right?

Not so, according to a new study which says that in developed countries, the elderly have a higher mortality rate when the economy goes into higher gear.

British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said on Tuesday it hoped to get the green light for a prototype vaccine against malaria after trials showed it offered children a partial shield against the disease.

Results for the Phase III stage of the closely-followed RTS,S vaccine were unveiled at a conference in Durban, South Africa, gathering experts on malaria in Africa.

Little Amelia Sloan is a pioneer: Shortly after her birth, scientists took drops of the healthy baby's blood to map her genetic code.

Amelia is part of a large research project that is decoding the DNA of hundreds of infants. New parents soon can start signing up for smaller studies to explore if what's called genome sequencing — fully mapping someone's genes to look for health risks — should become a part of newborn care.

A U.N. conference to sign a historic treaty aimed at reining in the use and emission of mercury began Monday in Kumamoto, near Minamata, the site of Japan's worst-ever industrial poisoning.

Delegates from some 140 countries and regions are scheduled to attend the five-day conference in the country's southwest, organizers said.

Lebanese doctor Gabriel Gharib has been chosen as the best cardiologist in France, the state-run National News Agency announced on Saturday.

“Gharib was chosen as the best cardiologist among 200,000 doctors in the country,” French magazine Capital revealed in its October 2013 issue after conducting a thorough investigation.

Lots of women suffer from postpartum depression, but violence in new mothers is incredibly rare, and when it happens, it typically is linked to a different condition. Experts caution against assuming that post-pregnancy mental health problems explain a woman's bizarre police car chase in the U.S. capital that ended with her death in front of her toddler.

And they worry that such headline-grabbing cases can discourage women from getting needed help if they are experiencing problems after the birth of a child.

India on Friday launched an indigenous vaccine against Japanese encephalitis as part of a national program to fight the virus.

Nineteen states, including the two most populous ones of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, are hit by the disease each year as malnourished children succumb to the virus which is transmitted by mosquitoes from pigs to humans.

In a city plastered with images of stick-thin models, New York is waging a new campaign to boost self-esteem among girls as young as seven.

Adult women the world over struggle with poor body image, but a publicly funded body-beautiful campaign is trying to tackle the problem, targeting girls as early as elementary school.