Head of the hospital bed raised? Check. Patient's teeth brushed? Check.

Those simple but often overlooked steps can help protect some of the most critically ill patients — those on ventilators — from developing deadly pneumonia. And if they knew about them, family members could ensure the steps weren't forgotten.

The European rights court Tuesday condemned Italy for its ban on screening embryos for genetic conditions, saying its laws leave couples wanting to avoid passing on diseases little room for maneuver.

The condemnation from the European Court of Human Rights relates to the case of an Italian couple, both carriers of cystic fibrosis, who were blocked from using in vitro fertilization (IVF) to select embryos that were not affected by the condition.

One of New York's most expensive neighborhoods will be sprayed this week with pesticide to combat the West Nile virus, officials said Tuesday.

The city regularly sprays against the mosquito-borne disease, which has seen a surge in outbreaks in the United States this year. Friday's spraying is notable because it will target Manhattan's prestigious Upper West Side neighborhood and parts of the famed Central Park.

A second person has died of a rare, rodent-borne disease after visiting Yosemite National Park earlier this summer and park officials warned past visitors to be aware of some flu-like aches and symptoms.

Health officials learned this weekend of the second hantavirus death, which killed a person who visited the park in June, spokesman Scott Gediman said in a statement.

A new pill to treat HIV infection -- combining two previously approved drugs plus two new ones -- has been approved for adults living with the virus that causes AIDS, U.S. regulators said Monday.

The single daily dose of Stribild provides a complete treatment regimen for HIV infection, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a statement, and is meant for people who have not already received treatment with other HIV drugs.

A deadly Islamist insurgency in northern Nigeria has harmed efforts to eradicate polio in the region, the WHO says, with a resurgence of the potentially paralyzing virus reversing gains.

Nigeria, one of only three countries still considered to have endemic polio, alongside Pakistan and Afghanistan, has accounted for 72 of the 123 polio cases recorded so far this year, a World Health Organization report said.

To ensure there is no cheating at the Paralympics, officials will be testing not just for the usual banned drugs, but for a practice called boosting, where wheelchair athletes do things like break a toe to cause a blood pressure spike to enhance performance.

In able-bodied athletes, intense physical exercise automatically raises the heart rate and blood pressure. Athletes with a severe spinal cord injury, however, don't get that natural boost.

The United States' most influential pediatricians group says the health benefits of circumcision in newborn boys outweigh any risks and insurance companies should pay for it.

In its latest policy statement on circumcision, a procedure that has been declining nationwide, the American Academy of Pediatrics moves closer to an endorsement but says the decision should be up to parents.

Raj Kumar Pun took in HIV-positive orphans no one wanted, and when no one wanted to teach them either, he created a school in the shelter. But now they are running out of money, support and time.

Ten children ages 3 to 10 live in the Saphalta HIV Shiksya Sadan School — the Successful HIV Home and School — in a pink two-story house just outside the capital of this Himalayan nation. But Pun has had to sell the building — his own house — and they must be out by the end of October.

About 300 AIDS patients and their relatives have torn down the main gate of a government office in central China during a protest over unmet demands for financial assistance.

Protester Li Xia says police in Zhengzhou city beat some of the patients with batons after the group gathered outside the Henan provincial government office Monday and blocked the main gate to demand a meeting with officials.