Nicotine may be addictive, but it can help boost memory and learning, a new study suggests.

In a research done by scientists from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, the findings showed that the increase in concentration felt by smokers could help fight dementia

A nationwide ban on smoking tobacco in enclosed places began here Tuesday, but Dutch cafes and restaurants will permit patrons to smoke marijuana inside their premises.

Some 200 inspectors of the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority will ensure compliance to the ban by cafes across the country. The inspectors have been trained to detect tobacco and marijuana, which is allowed in licensed coffee shops

- A new law will go into effect on July 1 banning smoking tobacco indoors throughout the Netherlands. What this means for Amsterdam's historic coffee shops, where smoking tobacco laced with marijuana is more of the main draw, remains up for debate.

According to reports, coffee shop owners say the new ban should not effect them because 'coffee shops' are a place where people go to smoke. They say it is preposterous for the ban to extend to their shops, just as it would be for food to be banned from restaurants, or alcohol from a bar

Cuban health authorities have approved the use of what is believed to be the world's first registered therapeutic lung cancer vaccine.

Unlike chemotherapy, the prevalent treatment for cancer, the new vaccine CimaVax EGF has no side effects. Though the vaccine does not prevent lung cancer, it has been shown to boost survival rates by an average of four to five months, and in some cases much longer

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