A research team led by Cardiff University's Professor Stephanie van Goozen analysed youngsters' biological response to scary situations and compared results to future behavioural outcomes.

The scientists used electrodes on one-year-old participants' feet in order to compare sweat response, measured by skin conductance activity (SCA), before and after exposure to a unnerving event.

Children who had the lowest levels of SCA after encountering a loud noise or a scary robot were more likely to be physically and verbally aggressive when they reached age three.

Professor van Goozen said: "These findings show that it is possible to identify at-risk children long before problematic behavior is readily observable."

The link may exist since youngsters with a weaker fear response are less likely to be targeted by others, and thus have a higher chance of engaging in hostile conduct themselves.

Parents who are concerned about their child's behaviour and temperament may be advised to get in touch with a counsellor or psychotherapist.

A research team led by Oklahoma State University's Dr Edralin Lucas recruited 20 adults in order to investigate the effects of increased uptake of this fruit on blood glucose.

Each of the subjects, who had a body-mass index (BMI) score of 30 kg/m2 or above, consumed ten grams of freeze-dried mango on a daily basis for 12 weeks.

After cross-referencing data concerning blood sugar levels before and after the dietary change, researchers found evidence of mango's significant health benefits.

Further investigation is required to support the findings, but this study did show that consumption of the fruit was associated with significantly lower blood glucose.

Hyperglycemia can result in significant damage to vessels and organs, so measures to regulate the quantity of sugar present in blood is vital to preserving good health.

Research conducted by University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine scientists reveals that, despite the growing trend for expensive and innovative promotions, arguments are more important than flashy editing when it comes to influencing smokers' habits.

A team led by Dr Daniel D Langleben, a psychiatrist in the Center for Studies of Addiction at Penn Medicine, recruited 71 smokers into an investigation concerning the effects of anti-smoking ads on the consequent behaviours of smokers.

Experimenters utilised functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, which give an indicator of brain activity by analysing blood flow to different regions, in order to analyse the effects of these promotions on the participants.

They discovered that the part of the organ known as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC) responded to persuasive communications, and played a vital role in triggering future behavioural changes in humans.

After exposing the subjects to different types of ads, the researchers cross-referenced data from the fMRI scans in order to identify any contrasts between consequent brain functioning. Their results were published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Investigators also took urine samples from the subjects before the experiment and one month afterwards, so that they could measure the levels of cotinine – a metabolite of nicotine which is an indicator of smoking habits.

Findings revealed that a strong argument was key to promoting dMPFC activity and tuhs future reductions to tobacco intake. Focussing on clever editing tricks, storytelling and other sensational aspects of film was less important.

Dr Langleben said: "If you give someone an unconvincing ad, it doesn't matter what format you do on top of that. [...] In terms of effectiveness, content is more important. You're better off adding in more sophisticated editing and other special effects only if it is persuasive."

Many of the campaigns launched by the Department of Health focus on delivering a shock factor, with the latest ads showing a cigarette develop a cancerous tumour, but it seems that presenting a solid argument for giving up the habit is the essential aspect.

Investigators recruited 300 18 to 30-year-old participants in order to assess whether providing this sort of material on food menus would alter people's decisions when it came to ordering and consumption.

The subjects were split into three different groups: all of the food options were the same, but one group was provided with no additional information, another was shown calorie content, and the final was presented with calorie and the associated exercise information.

Many people may underestimate the exertion required to counteract the consumption of high-calorie foods. According to the British Heart Foundation, a 25-year old who weighs ten stone burns just 445 calories in a one-hour jog – not enough for a McDonald's Big Mac.

The researchers cross-referenced data concerning the diners' consumption habits in each group and found that provision of exercise information was linked with consumption of 100 fewer calories.

It seems that increasing awareness of the physical exertion required to burn off a particular meal is encouraging eaters to make more careful choices. Providing calorie content alone is inadequate to motivate significantly healthier decisions.

The could be because the number of calories is relatively abstract, with many people potentially unaware of the recommended daily allowance and how this should be distributed in meals, drinks and snacks throughout the day.

Translating this figure into something more concrete that anyone can comprehend increases the average person's understanding of the impact of their dietary choices. Adopting this technique on food packaging and in restaurants could therefore help to fight obesity.

However, senior dietician at the BHF Victoria Taylor told the BBC: "While displaying the amount of exercise needed to burn calories is an interesting idea, there's more to a heart-healthy diet than calorie counting."

Diners are also encouraged to take other aspects of nutritional content into account. Keeping within daily guideline amounts for things like salt and saturated fat and consuming adequate vitamins and minerals is vital to maintaining good health and tackling obesity.

Researchers have found a combination of drugs which could lead to more effective treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Published this month in the journal Leukemia, the study is hoped to help address a basic problem of treating CLL.

The CLL which lives in the blood in circulation is relatively easy to kill, however when it occurs in lymph nodes and bone marrow it can be more likely to recur due to resistant CLL cells.

This latest drug combination if gossypol plus navitoclax is designed to target the stubborn CLL cells, inhibiting the protein, BCL-X, allowing the navitoclax to work more effectively to kill the cancer cells.

Commenting on the results, Alan Eastman, senior researcher on the team and professor pharmacology and toxicology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, said: "Both drugs have been given to patients, but never in combination, because no one had the mechanistic rationale for doing that.

"Now we have what we think is the most promising drug combination so far for the treatment of CLL."

In a study published in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it was reported that cancers physically alter the cells in the lymphatic system to promote the spread of disease through metastasis.

Around 90 per cent of all cancer deaths occur due to metastasis, which is the process in which the disease spreads from the original tumour site to multiple, distant tissues before overwhelming the patient's body.

One of the most common paths of transmission is through the lymph vessels and circulating tumour cells can lodge in the lymph nodes.

Researchers, led by principal investigator Dr Judith A Varner, professor of medicine at UC San DiegoMoores Cancer Center, discovered that a protein growth factor expressed by such tumours, namedVEGF-C activates the integrin α4β1 receptor on lymphatic vessels within lymph node tissues.

This results in them being more attractive and sticky to the metastatic tumour cells.

Dr Varner explained: "One of the most significant features of this work is that it highlights the way that tumours can have long-range effects on other parts of the body, which can them impact tumour metastasis or growth."

She added that the receptor in question could prove to be a valuable biomarker in the measurement of cancer risk, as any increase in the levels of the activated lymph tissue protein is an indirect indicator that an undetected tumour may be nearby.

In order to identify problem areas relatively quickly and effectively, Dr Varner said that whole-body imaging scans of the lymphatic network could prove helpful.

"The idea is that a radio-labelled or otherwise labelled anti-integrin α4β1 antibody could be injected into the lymphatic circulation, and it would only bind to and highlight the lymphatic vessels that have been activated by the presence of a tumour," she went on to say.

A paper published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shows that university students, who are often prone to adopting unhealthy drinking habits, could be putting their health at risk and significantly increasing their chance of developing medical problems.

Investigators analysed the healthcare records of two groups of non-smoking students aged between 18 and 25, who had no pre-existing conditions. While one set of young adults abstained from alcohol consumption, the other admitted to binge drinking.

Men who frequently consumed five or more standard alcoholic beverages within a two-hour timeframe were classified as binge drinkers, whereas women who had four drinks in this period would be categorised in this way.

The binge-drinking students involved in the trial typically engaged in this unhealthy practice six times per month for four years. The NHS recommends that men and women do not drink more than one standard beverage per day on a regular basis.

So that they could account for confounding factors in their calculations, the researchers also questioned the participants about aspects such as diet and medical history. They then cross-referenced the data to see whether any trends were apparent.

They found that binge drinkers were far more likely to exhibit signs of cell impairment, with those involved in blood flow likely to be damaged. Older adults who have drank heavily over a long period of time demonstrate similar symptoms.

This issue can increase the risk of cardiovascular ailments, with poor blood flow potentially a contributory factor in the development of atherosclerosis, heart attack and stroke. These conditions can be life threatening.

Co-author Dr Mariann Piano said: "It is important that young adults understand that binge drinking patterns are an extreme form of unhealthy or at-risk drinking and are associated with serious social and medical consequences."

A research team led by Boston Children's Hospital's Informatics Program (CHIP) investigators Dr Rumi Chunara and Dr John Brownstein utilised information readily accessible by the social networking site in order to determine whether any link between the factors could be evidenced.

The provision of comprehensive data in such large samples lends itself extremely well to scientific analysis – official Facebook figures show that the site had 618 million daily active users in December 2012.

In order to gain an understanding of the members' habits, the analysts looked at statuses and other contents that they has posted to their timeline, looked at the pages that users had 'liked' and categorised the relevant interests with regards to health and lifestyle practices.

Analysts were then able to cross-reference information garnered by these means and compare it to regional information concerning body-mass index (BMI) readings. A high score is an indicator of being overweight or obese, since it represents a height-to-weight ratio.

The data they used had been accumulated as part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System-Selected Metropolitan/Micropolitan Area Risk Trends (BRFSS-SMART), and New York City's EpiQuery Community Health Survey (CHS).

Geographic relationships between obesity rates and Facebook activity were apparent, with increased BMIs in a particular area linked to prevalence of television-based interests.

On the other hand, regions in which Facebook members had a profile which suggested they were fit and healthy, perhaps because they had statuses about going to the gym or 'liked' cycling, tended to have lower obesity rates.

Dr Brownstein said: "The tight correlation between Facebook users' interests and obesity data suggest that this kind of social network analysis could help generate real-time estimates of obesity levels in an area, help target public health campaigns that would promote healthy behavior change, and assess the success of those campaigns."

Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) used atomic-level imaging techniques so that they could analyse the biological composition of the virus particles and learn more about the fusion glycoprotein.

This region adapts once the virus finds a host – a human cell – to latch onto. The area is particularly vulnerable to neutralisation from infection-fighting immune cells, and so understanding its structure is crucial.

Increasing understanding of the shape of this area before fusion facilitates the development of vaccines which promote the production of complementary antibodies. These are proteins that lock onto sites on a pathogen in order to break it down, destroy it and prevent infection.

Rapid immune response to a virus invasion is vital for the prevention of serious infection, and preparing the body to attack via means of a vaccine is extremely important. Exposing the body to a weakened form of the virus promotes production of relevant antibodies and increases preparedness and the chance of favourable outcomes in the event of future infection.

Targeting medical problems prevalent in childhood can be particularly effective, since the immaturity of youngsters' immune systems means they are more prone to serious side-effects when a virus enters the body.

According to the researchers, the vast majority of children under the age of three are infected by RSV at some stage. It is most harmful in those under one, often causing hospitalisation and serious health problems.

When older children and adults are infected, they usually suffer with symptoms associated with the common cold. However, the virus is responsible for 40 to 50 per cent of bronchitis cases in infants, according to the NHS.

Approximately 20,000 of these youngsters are admitted within a year of developing the condition due to complications. Implementing a vaccination scheme could, therefore, have a hugely beneficial impact on youngsters' health.

Around one million youngsters in England who have not had the MMR jab are set to receive the treatment, in a bid to eliminate the threat posed by the current epidemic.

MMR is an acronym for the conditions against which it protects the patient – namely, measles, mumps and rubella (German measles). They are all highly infectious and can have extremely serious – even fatal – consequences should they be contracted. These include meningitis, pneumonia, deafness and swelling of the brain, known as encephalitis.

For pregnant women, they can be especially dangerous as the diseases can also cause problems for the unborn child, which could even result in miscarriage for the expectant mother.

The jab was introduced in 1988, since when it has been rare that children have developed these illnesses. However, when there is a measles outbreak – such as there is at the moment, with almost 1,000 cases in Swansea, for example – it is arguably vital that children at risk are up to date with their immunity.

On this occasion, the vaccination rollout will focus on youngsters aged ten to sixteen, with authorities claiming to already have 1.2 million jabs ready to be administered. It is hoped the rollout will be completed by September.

Professor David Salisbury, director of immunisation at the Department of Health, has urged parents to make sure their children are protected from developing the illnesses. He said: "If you think your child has not had one or even two doses of MMR, for goodness sake contact your GP and get it sorted out."

Official statistics from Public Health England reveal there has been 587 confirmed cases of measles in the first three months of this year.