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A major component of soy that is found in, among other foods, soy-based infant formula disrupts the development of the ovaries in newborn female mice, according to the findings of a study conducted by researchers at the National Institute of Health of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), an arm of the National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with an investigator at Syracuse University. Results of the early study were published in the January issue of Biology of Reproduction.

The US Food and Drug Administration earlier this month approved Merck's vaccine to prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis, a leading cause of severe diarrhea in infants and young children. RotaTeq, an oral, three-dose vaccine, is given to infants 6 to 32 weeks old.

Eye on Washington

Older anti-flu meds are sidelined. New drug approvals fall off. Is "D" for "disaster" in the Medicare drug plan? Amid all, Justice Alito takes a seat.

During their physical examination of this infant who had been born at term via cesarean section, Richard W. Hartmann, Jr, MD, and J. Christiane Salansky, MD, of Halifax Medical Center, Daytona Beach, Fla, found no evidence of an external anal opening (A). A soft bulge was present at the anal site, and the external sphincter was palpable. The median raphe was thick; a drop of meconium was noted on the surface of the perineum midway from the anus to the base of the scrotum (B). The remainder of the examination findings were normal.

Two separate studies show that Merck & Co.'s and GlaxoSmithKline's human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines appear highly effective in preventing cervical cancer, vulvar cancer, and genital warts.The recently completed trials involved Merck's Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline's experimental vaccine. Earlier studies showed that Gardasil also protects against cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)-precancerous lesions that can develop into cervical cancer.

Parents' complaints about sudden mood swings of teenagers are common, but new research shows that children who experience early-life stresses such as abuse, neglect, or loss of a parent have an increased risk in adolescence of behavioral and emotional disorders. The research, conducted on rhesus macaque monkeys at the Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University and at the University of Pittsburgh, suggests that adolescents who have been exposed to early-life stress have a greater incidence of developing an attachment disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, anxiety, depression, suicide, drug abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder.