Researchers think they have found a way to stop the bacteria that cause gastroenteritis, tularemia and severe diarrhea from making people sick.

"What we have here is a completely novel approach to combating illness," Dr. Vanessa Sperandio, associate professor of microbiology and biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern and senior author of a study, said in a statement released Thursday

A draft report from the federal inspector general belied a 2006 Medicare claim that it prevented the filing and payment of fraudulent billings, which it said saved the government billions of dollars.

To compute Medicare's rate of wrong payments, Medicare officials instructed auditors to set aside government policies that accurately measure fraud. One example was sales invoices for claims that were not compared against physicians' records

The Canadian Medical Association warned air pollution-related deaths in the country may total 800,000 by 2031.

A majority of the victims will be senior citizens who are more vulnerable to heart ailments, the CMA said. According to the CMA study released Wednesday, this year 21,000 Canadians will die from short- and long-term exposure to air pollution. By 2031 the annual death toll could rise by 83 percent to 39,000 fatalities. A majority of the elderly victims will expire from heat and lung conditions brought by decades of inhaling dirty air

For some people the first puff of smoke they tried felt repulsive while for others those puffs came with a rush of pleasure. Researchers have identified a gene variant that may help explain why some smokers get addicted from their first cigarette while others seem immune to the addictive properties of tobacco.

The paper published online in the journal Addiction reports an association between a variant in the nicotine receptor gene CHRNA5, initial smoking experiences and current smoking patterns. This gene is far more common among smokers than in those who have the occasional cigarette

An anticipated rise in health problems among Canadians, caused by climate change, has motivated Health Canada to urge the government to take immediate action.

In a 500-page report released Friday, the health agency forecasts more incidents of heat-related ailments, deaths due to outbreaks of infectious diseases unknown to the medical community, respiratory and cardiovascular disorders