The prevalence of obesity and diabetes in the U. S. is rather higher in the South and Appalachian region than in most areas of the West Northeast as per the CDC.

The CDC, in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, estimates obesity and diabetes prevalence for all 3,141 countries in the U. S. and found distinct geographic patterns for both conditions.

Mild asthma raises the risk of being hospitalized with more severe H1N1 flu according to researchers in Toronto.

Doctors from the Hospital for Sick Children reviewed the charts of 58 children admitted with H1N1 pandemic between May 8 and July 22.

During the course of an interview at Sony Corp's Tokyo headquarters, the company's Executive Vice President Kazuo Hirai said that the introduction of the company's new online service, which will link its wide array of gadgets as well as downloadable content like movies and games, will help in building brand loyalty.

Following the footsteps of Microsoft and Google, who have already announced their intentions to include Twitter messages in their respective search results, Yahoo Thursday said that 'tweets', photos and video clips have been added to enhance its search news "shortcuts."

The health care expenses in Canada are expected to shoot up to $183 billion for 2009 or $500 million a day.

The projection released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information means per capita health expenditures will touch $5,452.

The payment to doctors will be the largest growth factor and is expected to rise by 8.8% this year than the last one.

This holiday season may witness a shift in the way retailers handle 'Black Friday' - the day after Thanksgiving; when buyers queue up outside stores throughout the night to grab the early- morning door-buster deals!

With the holiday shopping season round the corner, retailers like Amazon and Wal-Mart have slashed the price of the newest Palm smartphone, the last-week released Pixi, by 75 percent - and are selling it for $24.99! However, the offer entails a two-year contract with the Pixi carrier, Sprint, which sells the Pixi for $99.

Health officials in Papua New Guinea’s East Sepik Province confirmed that the spread of cholera has reached a critical stage.

As a result five people have lost their lives in the province and a further 90 have been infected with the disease.

The neighboring province Madang was affected by cholera about a month ago after being detected earlier in Morobe.

The increasing of the drinking age to 19 has been ruled out by the federal government as a way of reducing binge-drinking during the week celebrations in schools.

The commonwealth has been called on by health advocate Ian Hickie to increase the legal age from 18 to rule out the link between graduating from school and drinking.

Voluntary recall of 120,000 bottles of Vicks Sinex nasal spray has been ordered by Procter & Gamble Co. after finding bacteria B. cepacia in a small amount of the product made at its plant in Gross Gerau, Germany, and sold in United States.