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Botox May Soon be Used in UK to Treat Migraine

Botox may soon become an NHS-approved remedy for chronic migraine in England and Wales, following a recommendation by the health watchdog.

The toxins known as Botox are famous for their use in cosmetic treatments, to fill soft tissue and remove wrinkles.

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Study: Preventable Diseases still Ravage Children

Preventable diseases like pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria claimed the lives of nearly five million children younger than five in 2010, a paper in The Lancet medical journal said Friday.

A total 7.6 million children died in the first five years of their life that year, the authors said, and warned the world was not on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015.

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Japan Population Clock Shows 'Extinction' in 1,000 Years

Japanese researchers on Friday unveiled a population clock that showed the nation's people could theoretically become extinct in 1,000 years because of declining birth rates.

Academics in the northern city of Sendai said that Japan's population of children aged up to 14, which now stands at 16.6 million, is shrinking at the rate of one every 100 seconds.

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Reduced Sleep Could Make You Fat

A lack of sleep could make you fat, scientists said on Thursday.

Not getting enough shut-eye may inhibit a hormone which controls hunger satisfaction and boost an appetite-stimulating hormone, said a paper presented to the European Congress on Obesity in Lyon, France.

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New Obesity Drug Gets Thumbs Up from U.S. Panel

A panel of experts on Thursday urged U.S. regulators to approve what could be the first new anti-obesity drug on the market in more than a decade -- Lorcaserin, made by Arena Pharmaceuticals.

The committee voted 18-4 in favor of the drug, which works to control the appetite through receptors in the brain, after trial data showed it helped nearly half of patients studied lose up to five percent of their body weight.

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U.S. Experts Urge Approval of First AIDS Prevention Pill

U.S. health advisers on Thursday urged regulators to approve Truvada, made by Gilead Sciences, as the first preventive pill against HIV/AIDS instead of just a treatment for infected people.

The favorable vote came after clinical trials showed Truvada could lower the risk of HIV in gay men by 44 to 73 percent, and was hailed by some AIDS advocates as a potent new tool against human immunodeficiency virus.

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FDA Wants Child-Size Radiation Doses from Medical Scans

The government is taking steps to help ensure that children who need CT scans and other X-ray-based tests don't get an adult-sized dose of radiation.

Too much radiation from medical testing is a growing concern, especially for children, because it may increase the risk of cancer later in life.

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Study: Testosterone Injections Can Aid Weight Loss

Obese older men with low testosterone levels can lose weight by taking supplements of the male hormone, according to the findings of a study released Wednesday.

In a test group of 115 testosterone-deficient men with a mean age of 61, hormone injections over five years yielded an average weight loss of 16 kilograms (35 pounds), said the study presented to the European Congress on Ovesity in Lyon, France.

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FDA Panel Backs New Pfizer Arthritis Drug

An advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday urged U.S. regulators to approve a new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis made by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

Tofacitinib, tsaken orally, could serve as an alternative approach to treating moderate to severe patients who did not respond to one or more traditional therapies, said the advisory committee.

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Niger Is Worst Place to Be Mother

The African nation of Niger has ousted Afghanistan as the worst place in the world to be a mother, largely due to hunger, according to an annual report out Tuesday by Save the Children.

In contrast, Norway is the best according to the group's "Best and Worst Places to Be a Mom" ranking which compares 165 countries in terms of maternal health, education, economic status and children's health and nutrition.

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