Canadian researchers are reporting that children with asthma are more likely to develop severe cases of H1N1 flu than seasonal flu.

"Asthma has been identified as a significant risk factor for admission with pandemic H1N1 influenza, present in 21 percent to 30 percent in the larger samples," wrote Dr. Upton Allen and fellow researchers from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Some areas of the United States are seeing declines in H1N1 swine flu activity, a federal health official said Friday, and while the disease remains widespread in 43 states, that's down from the 46 states reported last week.

"We are beginning to see some declines in influenza activity around the country, but there is still a lot of influenza everywhere," Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during an afternoon press conference.

FRIDAY, Nov. 20 (HealthDay News) --The ancient dwarfs known as "hobbits" weren't humans shrunk down by disease, scientists now say, but instead, they were a distinct human species.

The researchers came to their conclusion by statistically analyzing a female skeleton. They report their findings in the December issue of the journal Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society.

Most smokers around the world support workplace smoking bans, according to a new study.

Researchers surveyed more than 3,500 employees who smoke and more than 1,400 employers (smokers and nonsmokers) in the United States and 13 other countries. They found that 74 percent of employees who smoke and 87 percent of employers said the workplace should be smoke-free.

New research suggests it may become possible for pre-pubescent boys stricken by cancer to prepare for the future when they may be infertile but still want to become natural fathers.

Scientists in the Netherlands found that testicular stem cells can be cultured and multiplied, potentially creating sperm. This raises the prospect that men made infertile by childhood cancer treatments could impregnate women by having the cells implanted in their testicles.