A 5-year-old Kentucky girl with a rare disease was refused by two airlines to board a plane from Canada to China for her treatment, saying she was too sick to fly. The girl was to receive stem cell treatments for a rare fatal disease at a Beijing hospital.

After being treated at a Vancouver hospital for seizures, Miranda Goranflo and her daughter Hailey were forced to fly home to Shepherdsville, KY, when the airlines, Air China and Air Canada, decided during a layover in Vancouver, British Columbia, that she was not fit to fly for 11-hour trip

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has awarded a nearly $5 million grant to the Johns Hopkins Children's Center for the establishment of a basic and translational research center that will consolidate research, treatment and care of adult and pediatric patients under one roof, speeding up the time between research and treatment.

"This center will be a marriage of all aspects of science and treatment, from basic science and clinical research to patient care and public health research, all part of the quest to treat and ultimately cure sickle cell disease," said lead investigator Dr. James F. Casella in a statement

The controversial anti-obestity drug rimonabant, marketed as Acomplia, has been approved for National Health Service (NHS) use in the England and Wales. The National Institute for Healthcare and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has approved use of this diet drug in people who are clinically obese or people who are seriously overweight with complications such as diabetes.

The drug, made by Sanofi-Aventis, is approved for sale in Britain and elsewhere in the European Union but was rejected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel in June 2007 because of concerns the drug increases the risk of depression and suicidal thoughts

Researchers say they've discovered a gene that may make it easier for people for developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease and could become a target for drug treatments.

Called calcium homeostasis modulator 1 (CALHM1), the gene controls the flow of calcium in and out of cells, influences the formation of "plaques" composed of clumps of a protein, beta-amyloid, which is believed to damage brain cells in the disease

The German cabinet has earmarked 30 million euros ($46.7 million) until the end of 2010 to combat mounting obesity in the general population. The national program is intended to improve the well-being, productivity and quality of life of Germans, the health ministry said.

The "In Shape" program, prepared by Health Minister Ulla Schmidt in cooperation with Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Minister Horst Seehofer, aims to cut disease related to obesity noticeably by 2020. The national level program will aim to achieve the target by educating the youth on healthy eating and sports, as well as tougher standards for school lunches