Diabetes and obesity can affect male fertility in a negative way, new research has found. The findings, presented Wednesday at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference here, could mean that men need to keep tabs on their weight when planning a family.

Researchers from the University of Aberdeen found that men of average weight have healthier sperm in higher volumes than those outside the normal range. The research follows reports made by doctors earlier this week that male fertility begins to decline when men reach their mid-30s

A possible vaccine against meningitis B has shown "encouraging" results when tested on 150 babies in Britain in the preliminary trial. Pharmaceutical giant Novartis had successfully concluded phase II trials and had moved on to large-scale trials that will show whether the vaccine is protective in everyday life.

In the phase II trials, the babies were injected with the new vaccine at two, four and six months of age, with a booster at 12 months. Blood samples taken a month after the third dose and again a month after the booster showed the children had developed good immune responses against certain strains of meningitis B bacteria

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched National Infant Immunization Week with events being held April 21-April 28 throughout the country.

The CDC in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stresses the importance to parents to immunize their infants in a timely fashion to prevent childhood diseases

The numbers of reported cases of the mumps continues to rise in the Midwest United States, spreading now to Colorado.

Iowa is currently at the center of the outbreak, where the state's Department of Public Health says there are 1,120 confirmed, probable and suspect cases, coming from 69 out of Iowa's 99 counties