A prototype vaccine for dengue that two years ago yielded lukewarm results has proved more effective after wider trials and is a potential arm against the disease, researchers said Friday.

Devised by the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur, the so-called CYD-TDV vaccine provided only 30 percent protection against the dangerous fever when first tested among children in Thailand.

A glass or two of booze is good for your heart, according to long-standing medical advice that drinkers are often fond of citing.

But, according to a study published on Friday, this cherished invitation to say "cheers" is well off the mark.

The World Health Organization on Friday urged men who have gay sex to consider taking antiretroviral drugs, warning that HIV infections are rising among homosexual men in many parts of the world.

"We are seeing exploding epidemics," warned Gottfried Hirnschall, who heads WHO's HIV department.

As police sergeant Casey Stidham heads out on patrol, he carries a pistol, handcuffs, a Taser gun -- and a dose of naloxone, should he come across a heroin overdose case.

In this semi-rural corner of Maryland, as in so many other parts of the United States, such cases are more and more frequent, as heroin abuse makes a nationwide comeback.

General Mills hopes a pinch of cinnamon and a dash of fiber will be a recipe for stronger sales.

The Minneapolis-based company is doing things like adding more cinnamon to its Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and rolling out fiber-packed "better for you" cookies to boost the performance of its brands, which include Pillsbury dough, Betty Crocker baking mixes and Progresso soups.

England and Wales has seen an eighth straight annual rise in the number of patients benefiting from organ transplants, new NHS figures show, in a sign that donation is becoming increasingly acceptable.

There were 4,655 transplants carried out across the UK in the 2013/14 financial year - a 10 percent rise on the previous year and the first time the number has topped 4,600, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) said in a statement.

Bad reactions to psychiatric drugs result in nearly 90,000 emergency room visits each year by U.S. adults, with anti-anxiety medicines and sedatives among the most common culprits, a study suggests.

A drug used in some popular sleeping pills was among the most commonly involved sedatives, especially in adults aged 65 and older.

Asian countries should keep their guard against the deadly Middle East respiratory virus, although it is unlikely to spread to the region, a World Health Organization expert said Thursday.

The Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) appears to be less infectious than originally thought even though it has already killed 287 people, said Mark Jacobs, WHO's director for communicable diseases in the Western Pacific.

A vaccine that protects against four strains of the human papillomavirus, which can lead to cervical cancer, does not increase the risk of blood clots in women, researchers said Tuesday.

The findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) are based on 500,000 girls and women aged 10 to 44 who received the HPV vaccine between 2006 and 2013.

Twenty-five percent more children are falling ill with TB than the U.N. had thought, with more than 650,000 hit by the disease each year in the 22 worst affected countries, specialists said Wednesday.

Reporting in The Lancet, they said that about 53 million children under 15 are living with latent TB infection, a condition that can develop into active TB at any time.