Scientists on Monday reported new evidence that copper can lead to the plaque buildup in the brain that causes Alzheimer's disease, fueling fresh debate over the mineral's role in dementia.

The scientific community is divided on the question of whether copper -- found in red meat, vegetables, dairy products as well as pipes that carry drinking water in much of the developed world -- causes or prevents Alzheimer's disease.

Tiny brain lesions are vastly more common in U.S. Air Force pilots who fly at high altitudes than in non-pilots, according to a study released Monday.

The findings in the journal Neurology describe an analysis of 102 pilots who fly U-2 reconnaissance aircraft at an altitude of some 21,000 meters (70,000 feet).

A 9-year-old boy has become the 10th person this year to die of bird flu in Cambodia, the World Health Organization announced Monday.

The U.N. agency said the boy from a village in northeastern Battambang province came down with fever and vomiting on July 26 and was diagnosed with the H5N1 avian influenza virus on Aug. 9. In stable condition at first, he died late Sunday.

A federal judge approved a request from California and federal officials on Monday to force-feed inmates if necessary as a statewide prison hunger strike entered its seventh week.

Officials say they fear for the welfare of nearly 70 inmates who have refused all prison-issued meals since the strike began July 8 over the holding of gang leaders and other violent inmates in solitary confinement that can last for decades.

An Australian woman has lived to tell the tale after being brought back to life from being clinically dead for 42 minutes, doctors said on Monday.

Mother-of-two Vanessa Tanasio, 41, was rushed to Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne last week after a major heart attack, with one of her main arteries fully blocked.

A nine-year-old boy has died from bird flu in Cambodia, the 10th victim this year, the World Health Organisation said Monday, warning that the kingdom's deadliest outbreak of the virus could continue.

The boy, from the northwestern province of Battambang, died in a children's hospital in the nearby tourist hub of Siem Reap on Sunday night after falling ill last month, the WHO in Cambodia said in a statement.

A new contamination scare hit New Zealand's multi-billion dollar dairy industry on Monday after it was revealed a milk product with excessive nitrate levels had been exported to China.

Both New Zealand's Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) and the company at the centre of the latest scare, Westlake Milk, insisted the product called lactoferrin did not pose a safety risk.

Young Australians have a reputation for being fit and enjoying a sporty, outdoorsy lifestyle, but research released Monday found they are stacking on more weight than any other age group.

The alarming findings of the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study have raised concerns that by putting on so much weight in their 20s and 30s, Australians are at more risk of developing diabetes in middle age.

The British government said Thursday it would lift a ban on staff with HIV working in the state-run National Health Service from carrying out certain procedures on patients.

Staff who are undergoing treatment for HIV will be able to carry out all procedures from which they are currently banned, including surgery and dentistry, provided they are having effective anti-retroviral drug therapy.

Nepal's government on Thursday ordered health workers to cull half a million chickens to combat a major bird flu outbreak on the outskirts of the capital Kathmandu.

The orders come after tens of thousands of birds have already been killed in what government officials describe as one of the Himalayan nation's worst outbreaks of avian flu.