Bird flu death toll rises to five with the death of an Indonesian woman in October, reports Reuters. Hariadi Wibisono, a senior Health Ministry official, says that the woman's nephew has also tested positive for the disease.

The number of confirmed Indonesian cases has now gone up to nine. The boy is now being treated in a Jakarta hospital. The tests have been carried out by a Hong Kong laboratory. However, Wibisono rules out the notion that he virus has mutated and infected one to the other, as the woman and the boy used to live in the same house

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and The Christopher Reeve Foundation (CRF), applaud Governor Jim Doyle for vetoing AB 499, a state bill that would restrict stem cell research in Wisconsin.

"Historically, Wisconsin has been a leader in promoting aggressive avenues to advance promising new technologies, but in a thoughtful and measured manner," states Michael Manganiello, Senior Vice President of Government Relations for CRF

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center find patients with shortness of breath may have a higher risk of dying from cardiac disease than patients without symptoms, and even with patients that suffer from typical cardiac pain.Daniel Berman, M.D., senior author of the study and the Director of Cardiac Imaging at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center says, "Patients often do not interpret shortness of breath as a serious symptom, but particularly in patients who have cardiac risk factors and in patients without lung disease, it may be the only sign of the presence of serious coronary artery disease that may need treatment."

In the retrospective study, patients without diagnosed coronary artery disease who had shortness of breath were four times more likely to suffer death from a cardiac cause than a symptomatic patients and twice as likely as patients who had chest pain that is considered to be typical cardiac pain

A tamoxifen-like drug developed by UC Davis and Finnish researchers may help to prevent breast cancer according to a preliminary study.

"These reports indicate that prevention of breast cancer may be another benefit of the use of ospemifine," says Michael W. DeGregorio, a professor of medicine at UC Davis. "The findings are very encouraging

An AARP report reveals prices for brand name prescription drugs most commonly used by older patients has risen nearly twice the rate of inflation during the second quarter