HEALTH & WELLBEING

Australia announced a new passport system that includes indeterminate as a gender option. Aside from male and female, the country now allows people to choose the indeterminate option without having a need for surgery to prove sex change.

Once upon a time, doing it was allowed in airplanes. Then came a time when passengers were allowed to do so in certain sections of the plane or on selected flights. Then people started doing it in lavatories, but such act was later deemed a sin. Then a total ban on all flights and public transportation was enacted. Then a replacement was provided, offering to simulate the sensation without the risks. No I'm not talking about the mile-high club.

Laughter is like a contagious disease, more contagious compared to the different diseases that brings threat to our health. The difference is laughter is way too good. It has good effects to our body like boosting our immune system, increases our energy level and shields us from stress. The kind of medicine that is free and natural.

Breast cancer and cervical cancer are among the most common cancers all over the world. Though it continuous to spread in all parts of the globe, there were higher number of cases recorded to poorer countries.

The green-eyed monster strikes! Even in jealousy, there is a striking difference between men and women. Men would typically deal with questions about the sexual issues of an affair while women would ask about the emotional infidelity.

The increasing cases of kidney disease in Australia are very alarming. Forecasts have been made by Australian Institute of Health and Welfare that the need for dialysis or kidney transplant will soar by 84% by the year 2020. According to the said institution, 11 out if 100,000 people in Tasmania go through the process of transplantation of kidney and dialysis in 2009.

Employees who walk 10,000 steps a day and work out in the gym three times a week tend to be more productive, an Australian clinical trial has found.

Yoga is one of the best alternative treatments that can clear people’s mind, body, and soul. And because people encounter different types of stressors every day, yoga is becoming popular all over the world especially to women.

The Sarah Palin book, The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, by Joe McGinniss is out. The book oozes with salacious allegations. McGinniss apparently moved next door to Palin to write a book about her. The book is packed with stories that could make a blockbuster movie. It exposes stories about cocaine, a one-night stand with a basketball hero and a love triangle, the atlanticewire.com reports.

A 30-year old Chinese farmer from Gonyi, central China, went on an axe rampage on Wednesday and killed six people.

Middle aged men who are looking after their health and are living healthy lives can have better sex lives too. A new analysis of an existing research claims that men can still have an amazing sex life even at their 40s if they know how to take care of their health and diet.

Environment and health authorities in New Mexico, USA recalled cantaloupes sold by local produce retailers on Tuesday after three people who consumed the fruit suspected to be contaminated with listeria died from listeriosis.

WHO's Regional Director for Europe, Zsuzsanna Jakab, warned that dangerous and drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis are spreading at an alarming rate in Europe. WHO is launching a new regional plan to find, diagnose and treat cases of the airborne infectious disease more effectively.

A New Jersey man who seemed to be dying of leukemia is the first patient to get an experimental cancer treatment that uses a defanged form of HIV. The result was a stunning success.

More Australians are expected to be added to the number of patients suffering from chronic kidney ailments. According to an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) forecast released Wednesday, the proportion of diabetics who would require kidney transplants or dialysis would shoot up to 64 per cent in 2020 from 45 per cent in 2008.

Japan has hit a new high record for having the most centenarians for 41 consecutive years.

As crowned Miss Universe 2011, Miss Angola, Leila Lopes hopes to push for several causes especially the fight against HIV, which has yet to be abated in Africa and is now raging in Asia.

By disregarding posture and overusing gadgets, people are at greater risk of eye strain, tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome, to name a few conditions. The hands, shoulders, neck and back are most prone to muscle aches resulting from misuse and abuse of electronic devices at improper posture.

A litter of glow-in-the-dark kittens must be taken seriously, as they may just shed light on a potential AIDS cure.

A new study in the most recent Australian Health Review has revealed Australians are paying more out of their own pockets for medicines than citizens in many other countries.

Steven Sonderbergh's star- studded film "Contagion" premise is about a lethal species-jumping virus that spread rapidly around the world. Director Steven Sonderbergh has said in interviews that he aimed for scientific and medical realism in the film going so far as to retain a panel of leading virologists and epidemiologists as consultants in the film. But just how realistic is the film? Could such a scenario really happen in real life?

Back in 2005, SpongeBob attracted controversy when a Christian evangelical group accused the popular cartoon of promoting a gay agenda. Now a new study says watching the bright yellow sponge could negatively affect schoolchildren's minds.

Athletes who compete in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London will face tougher anti-doping tests next year. For the first time, a new test to catch blood dopers and users of human growth hormone will be used, the BBC reports.

A U.S. study blamed popular cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants for learning problems among 4-year-olds.

The effectiveness of popular diet shakes for weight-management programs continues to divide opinion. Whilst celebrity testimonials and marketers claim the effectiveness of these products, health professionals contrive to challenge their efficacy in losing weight.

The Cancer Council of New South Wales has renewed calls for tighter regulations on using promotional characters on food packaging. It claims that nearly 75 per cent of promotional characters on Australian food packets spruik products that are high in fat, salt, and sugar.

Tobacco companies and industry groups from Europe and Kenya have issued fresh warning against a bill requiring plain packaging of cigarettes in Australia. The country targets to amend the trademarks law to support the bill pushing for plain packaging for cigarettes.

Cochlear announced a voluntary recall of its unimplanted Nucleus CI500 cochlear implant range but assures that in case of failure, the implant will not result to injuries.

A Minnesota-based food company recalled about 185,000 pounds of ground turkey products on Sunday for testing positive to salmonella. Further investigations are due to be conducted on the plant in Arkansas