The apparent relaxing effect of smoking is a coping mechanism for young people who may have experienced physical maltreatment or abuse during their younger days. In coming up with that conclusion, a research team from the Duke University Medical Center trailed 15,000 youths between 15 to 22.

The exposure to physical violence need not be a personal assault, it could include witnessing beatings and other forms of body abuses. Such incidents often spurs a young person to start smoking within a year

The United States joined the government of Tanzania, the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria by funding the distribution of 5.2 million mosquito nets to Tanzanians. The financial assistance was announced by U.S. President George Bush after he visited on Monday a bed net factory and a hospital with malaria patients.

Funding for the mosquito net project will come from a five-year $1.2 billion program initiated in 2005 to reduce by 50 percent malaria deaths in 15 African nations. Bush said vouchers were distributed for 5.2 million mosquito nets to be sold with hefty discounts, aimed at providing protection to pregnant Tanzanian women and their infants and young children

At least 15,000 human kidneys a year are sold and obtained through organ trafficking and many medical professionals are turning a blind eye (and hand) on the practice.

At a United Nations Forum in Vienna, Austria, University of Berkeley Professor Nancy Scheper-Hughes accused surgeons and top medical professionals of being in league with criminal elements in targeting desperate transplant patients

During a 24 hour period, domestic violence programs helped more than 53,000 adults and children. However, more than 7,700 were turned away because there was not enough funding or staff to meet the demand.

In a report "Domestic Violence Counts" released Thursday, the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) conducted a 24-hour census on Sept. 25, 2007, of shelters and services across the United States. Of the 1,949 programs identified, 69 percent participated in the census

Parents want doctors to discuss sex, drugs and diet with children.

On the top of a wish list that parents want health caregivers to talk over with children during routine checkups are diet and nutrition, and exercise and sports, according to a report released Monday by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital