The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri has ruled that state inmates have the right to an abortion.

The unanimous ruling issued on Tuesday, the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion in the landmark Roe vs. Wade case, stopped the Missouri government and the state corrections department from restricting inmates' access to abortion

More Britons are turning away from the deadly vices of smoking and drinking, according to the Office for National Statistics. The ONS said only 22 percent of Britons still lit, down from 27 percent in 1999. Another 66 percent said they want to give up the habit.

The growing global trend towards a healthier lifestyle is also reflected in the downward trend in alcohol consumption. On Monday, the JD Wetherspoon pub chain said it placed on hold its expansion plan because of a dip in sales of beer and wines, linking the drop to the smoking ban in public places

Shift workers may suffer higher risks of disability as compared to permanent day workers, according to a new study conducted by a team of researchers at the National Research Centre for the Working Environment in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The same study involving some 8,000 regular and irregular working males and females however confirmed that women are more prone to health risks as compared to men

A survey has found that when it comes to depression in women, the issue is viewed differently by male and female doctors.

"The beliefs of female and male doctors about women and depression are pretty consistent," Jo Parrish, vice president of communications for the Society for Women's Health Research said. "But our survey does reveal a few areas where female doctors may be more in tune with the changes women undergo and the feelings they experience, which is not unexpected

A threefold increase in new cases of self reported post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms has been observed among combat-exposed military personnel since 2001, according to a study.

New onset of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms or diagnosis were reported by up to 87 per 1000 combat-deployed personnel and up to 21 per 1000 non-combat deployed personnel, according to the study. Researchers analyzed the effect of deployment on more than 50,000 military personnel who were taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study, a large 22-year study of the health of US military personnel