Actress Mayim Bialik, author of "Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way," has been part of the attachment parenting discussion since well before TIME's already-infamous Mother's Day cover.

Now, as Bialik's personal parenting philosophy is in the spotlight, she is voicing her opinion on the controversial cover image of Jamie Lynne Grumet breastfeeding her 3-year-old son.

In a CNN interview, Bialik talked about attachment parenting as she understands it -- and explained why she is frustrated by TIME's "sensationalized" portrayal of fellow attachment parenting devotees.

"Just to clarify: attachment parenting takes no stance on how long you should breastfeed. The notion is to educate people about breastfeeding," she told CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

"I breastfeed my 3-year-old because he's not done breastfeeding, and I'm not ready to tell him not to. ... [I]t is still a tremendous source of discipline, and of bonding, that occurs between a mother and a child."

Although Bialik posted a picture of herself breastfeeding 3-year-old son Fred on the subway last fall, the actress notes that she no longer breastfeeds Fred in public.

Bialik added that she fears the TIME cover will give outsiders the misguided sense that all people who subscribe to attachment parenting think of themselves as superior.

"That's why I wrote 'Beyond the Sling.' ... [This is] the way mammals and primates parent, period."

Bialik also told Access Hollywood: "When I saw the cover, I thought that that's not the image of attachment parenting that I think anyone in attachment parenting would like to have used."

Imagine proposing live on stage to your girlfriend at a Train concert while the band sings their classic hit wedding song "Marry Me".

Well that's just what happened last week at a Train gig at Manchester Academy in the U.K. when Matt Wood was invited on stage halfway through the song to pop the question to his unsuspecting girlfriend Karen Hadgraft.

Lead singer Patrick Monahan stopped the song and invited the couple up, when Matt proposed. Karen said "Yes!", and Monahan then hugged the happy couple and invited them to stay on stage and dance while he finished the song.

Click here to get the new issue of 2 For Couples!

SEE: Stages aren't the only unique spot for proposals. Check out these marriage proposals in mid-flight:

* At least 500 deaths thought to be caused by Mediator
* Drug pulled in France years after other countries
* Case put health authorities and industry under scrutiny
By Thierry Lévêque
NANTERRE, France, May 14 (Reuters) - French drugmaker Servier and its founder went on trial on Monday accused of misleading patients and authorities about a diabetes drug often prescribed for weight loss that officials blame for at least 500 deaths.
The case, one of France's worst health scandals, has put authorities under scrutiny for allowing the sale of Mediator long after the medicine had been pulled in other European countries.
Although licensed as a diabetes treatment, the drug was widely prescribed, with a state subsidy, as an appetite suppressant to help people lose weight.
It is now suspected of causing heart valve disorders and was withdrawn in France in November 2009, around a decade after being pulled in Spain, Italy and the United States.
Several hundred civil plaintiffs who have joined the criminal case argue that Servier intentionally misled doctors about the drug, even though the dangers had been known since the 1990s.
State health inspectors also say the drug should have been withdrawn in France a decade earlier, and the plaintiffs are seeking damages and interest of 100,000 euros ($129,000) each.
"Servier let people use a toxic product for years. There is no debate about it," said Charles Joseph Oudin, one of the presumed victims' lawyers.
The focus of the Nanterre trial is on whether Servier made misleading claims, while a second, broader trial in Paris is due much later after an investigation that will examine allegations of manslaughter and corruption.
The defendants in Nanterre deny the allegations against them and are seeking to stop the trial on grounds that they should not be tried in two separate cases.
Servier's founder and president, 90-year-old Jacques Servier, and four other executives risk custodial sentences of up to four years plus fines. The privately-owned Servier and its subsidiary Biopharma also face fines and the possibility of being banned from some activities.
Mediator - designed as an add-on treatment for diabetes patients who were overweight - was sold to as many as 5 million people in France between 1976 and November 2009.
However, many of those were not diabetics but simply seeking help to lose weight.
The offices of the Afssaps healthcare regulator were searched by investigators in February in connection with the case.
Concerns about the agency - whose head resigned over the case - have grown following a scandal over defective breast implants manufactured by the now-bankrupt French company PIP.
The Mediator case has also drawn attention to pharmaceutical companies' influence in France's public health system as well as their sway over politicians.
It has also triggered a push at European Union level to step up monitoring of drug safety.
According to the health ministry, at least 500 people died of heart valve trouble in France because of exposure to Mediator's active ingredient, benfluorex. Other estimates based on extrapolations put the death toll closer to 2,000.
Less than a year before the drug was pulled, Servier was awarded France's national merit medal, the Legion d'Honneur, by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had previously served as his lawyer. ($1 = 0.7726 euros) (Writing by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

By Sarah Fecht
(Click here for the original article)

NEW YORK--At a small gathering in Times Square today, actor Amanda Peet teamed up with the United Nations Foundation* to launch a vaccination public service announcement. The Shot@Life ad is now airing on the square's iconic Toshiba screen.

In the past, Peet has worked with organizations such as Every Child By Two to advocate for child immunizations in the U.S. The Shot@Life campaign, timed for Mother's Day, is meant to highlight how Americans can help save the lives of children in developing countries by donating money for vaccinations.

"If we take all of the children [in the U.S.] who are entering kindergarten this fall, a little fewer than half of that number is how many children die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases," Peet said, referring to measles, polio, pneumoccocal disease and rotavirus, which are the world's leading causes of death for children younger than five years. "What moves me about this cause is the fact that we have a cure. We have the medicine--we just have to get it to the children."

More than 50 bloggers from to the World Moms Blog network have dedicated themselves to the campaign. These Moms stand in contrast to "anti-vax" parents who mistakenly believe that vaccines cause disorders such as autism and ADHD. "I understand their concern," said Paul Offit, a University of Pennsylviania professor and pediatrician who specializes in infectious diseases and co-invented the rotavirus vaccine. "But when studies show that vaccines aren't associated with that concern, and people still don't believe it, that's what gets frustrating. It's not scientific illiteracy, it's scientific denialism."

When posts on Shot@Life blogs draw comments from anti-vaxers, the community rallies behind science, as demonstrated in this blog post's comment section.

But it's a different debate in developing countries, said Jennifer Burden, editor and founder of the World Moms Blog. "Here in the U.S., we don't have to worry so much, because if our child gets severe diarrhea, we can take them to the hospital and they can get an IV and survive. Whereas in remote areas or places that don't have access to those things, a vaccine is the lowest-cost way for these kids to have a shot at life."

In the U.S., growing pockets of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children are suspected of weakening "herd immunity" in some parts of the country. Vaccine campaigns rarely can reach every single child, but widespread vaccination breaks chains of infection. When parents resist getting their children inoculated, outbreaks of such diseases as whooping cough and measles are more likely to occur.

"When we make a choice not to vaccinate ourselves, we're also making a choice to put others who come in contact with us at risk, including those who can't be vaccinated," Offit said. "We have a social responsibility for our neighbors." Including, it seems, our neighbors in other parts of the world.

*An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Peet teamed up with the World Health Organization.

Smoking medical marijuana could help relieve some symptoms of multiple sclerosis, a small new study suggests.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, found that people with MS who smoked cannabis had decreased pain and muscle tightness, called spasticity. However, the researchers warned that smoking the cannabis also led to problems with focus and attention.

The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, included 30 people -- 63 percent of them women -- with an average age of 50. More than half the participants needed aids for walking, and 20 percent of them were in wheelchairs. Some of the study participants were randomly assigned to have the cannabis, while others received a placebo.

At the end of the study, researchers found that people who smoked the cannabis had lower numbers on a spasticity scale, as well as a 50 percent decrease in pain scores.

But researchers found that the people who smoked the cannabis had decreased cognitive functioning, in that they scored lower on a test that measured their focus. This effect was only seen for a short term.

"Smoked cannabis was superior to placebo in symptom and pain reduction in participants with treatment-resistant spasticity," researchers wrote in the study. "Future studies should examine whether different doses can result in similar beneficial effects with less cognitive impact."

Just last year, a study in the journal Neurology also showed that multiple sclerosis patients who smoked medical marijuana have a doubled risk of developing cognitive impairments.

"Whatever benefits patients feel they might be getting from smoking marijuana might come at the cost of further cognitive compromise," the researcher of that study, Dr. Anthony Feinstein, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Toronto, told WebMD.

Marijuana use is currently legal for medical purposes in 16 states and Washington, D.C., the New York Times reported.

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the brain and spinal cord, according to the National Institutes of Health. It occurs when the myelin sheath, which is responsible for protecting nerve fibers, is damaged, causing symptoms of cognitive problems, muscle weakness, disturbed vision, strange touch sensations and balance and coordination problems.

While there's no cure for the condition, current treatments for multiple sclerosis attacks include taking drugs called corticosteroids and undergoing plasma exchange (where blood cells and plasma are mechanically separated), according to the Mayo Clinic. Other drugs and even physical therapy can help reduce symptoms or even slow the disease down.

When six-month pregnant Jenny Wright was called a ‘selfish cow’ while out for a run in Leeds’ Roundhay Park, she assumed she’d misheard.

But as she told the Mail On Sunday earlier this month, she wasn’t hearing things.

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” the woman, who was smoking a cigarette, while pushing her own child along, bellowed in Wright’s direction.

“Putting your own vanity before your unborn baby.”

Too stunned to say anything, the wife of a personal fitness trainer, ran faster to get away.

As a woman who loves exercise, Wright had been exercising under the guidance of her doctor, and never expected her actions to raise an eyebrow, let alone public outrage.

Yet, after telling her story in the Daily Mail, a vociferous minority accused her of ‘feminism and an unrealistic obsession with women’s rights’, starving her baby of oxygen and risking her child with ‘shaken baby syndrome’.

All nonsense, of course, but a demonstration of how some women become divorced from their bodies’ natural needs during pregnancy and assume common sense isn’t good enough.

“Since my bump became obvious at about four-and-a-half months, countless people have been unable to hide their incredulity at the sight of me jogging – I stopped at 39 weeks, when it became uncomfortable,” Wright wrote in the Daily Mail.

On April 22, Wright gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Heidi, weighing 7lb 6oz after a 16-hour labour, during which she needed no pain relief.

“My midwife commented on how physically and mentally strong I still was,” said Wright. And her baby girl was equally strong, topping the charts in terms of her personal health.

According to Wright, advice from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists states that far from harming mother or unborn baby, being physically active is beneficial to both.

It recommends making activities such as walking, cycling, swimming, low-impact aerobics and gardening part of everyday life, and keeping sedentary spells to a minimum.

A Zimbabwean politician has sparked outrage by suggesting the spread of HIV can be curbed if women shave their heads, stop bathing and deliberately make themselves look unattractive.

Morgan Femai, an MDC-T senator for Chikomo said the measures were required because men were finding it difficult to resist well-dressed, attractive women.

While addressing a parliamentary HIV awareness workshop in Kadoma on Friday, he said: “What I propose it that the government should come up with a law that compels women to have their heads clean-shaven like what the Apostolic sects do,” ZimEye reports.

He added: “They should also not bathe because that is what has caused all these problems.”

Senator Femai also appeared to suggest female circumcision would help stop the spread of disease.

He told the workshop, which was organised in conjunction with the National Aids Council: “Women have got more moisture in their organs as compared to men so there is need to research on how to deal with that moisture because it is conducive for bacteria breeding. There should be a way to suck out that moisture.”

According to Unicef figures from 2009, more than 14 per cent of the adult population in Zimbabwe have HIV/Aids.

Deborah Jack, chief executive of NAT (National AIDS Trust) told Huffington Post UK: "These suggestions of how to fight the spread of HIV are totally misleading and potentially really damaging.

"They also unfortunately shift focus away from the proven ways to prevent HIV transmission - being aware of the facts of how HIV is passed on, using a condom during sex and ensuring you are tested for HIV when you've put yourself at risk."

You can find out all you need to know about HIV by visiting HIVaware.

According to All Africa, another MDC-T Senator, Sithembile Mlotshwa (Matobo), recently suggested men be injected with drugs that reduce their libidos. She also called for prisoners to be given sex toys to satisfy their sexual desires.

The number of people in their 50s dying prematurely from cancer in the UK has reached a record low, new figures have revealed.

Statistics published by Cancer Research UK show that cancer deaths in people aged between 50 and 59 dropped from over 21,300 in 1971 to under 14,000 in 2010.

For men, the cancers which have seen biggest fall in death rates are stomach, Hodgkin's lymphoma, testicular and lung, while for women the biggest drop has been for cervical, stomach, Hodgkin's lymphoma and bowel cancers.

The charity found that 185 in every 100,000 cancer sufferers in their 50s now die - compared to 310 four decades ago.

It said that the dramatic drop in death rates has been down to a combination of factors including better chemotherapy, radiotherapy and drugs, falling smoking rates, the introduction of screening and better delivery of cancer diagnosis and treatment by the NHS.

Professor Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician said: "Our latest figures show that for the first time in the last four decades cancer deaths among people aged 50-59 have dropped below 14,000 a year.

"The reduction in people smoking has been a big help, and we are also better at diagnosing cancers early and better at treating them whether by surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy."

Eating eggs for breakfast is more effective at preventing hunger for overweight people than having cereal, according to new research.

The study, funded by the American Egg Board, found that the consumption of eggs reduced hunger and boosted hormones that made people feel full.

A group of 20 people were split in two, with half given an egg breakfast and half given a cereal breakfast. Three hours later they were given lunch to test their hunger.

Dietician Dr Carrie Ruxton said: "This study adds to a growing evidence base which suggests that eggs may indeed be nature's appetite suppressant.

See Also

• Sleep Diet Best For People With 'Fat Genes'
• Diets Rich In Omega-3 ‘May Lower Alzheimer's Disease Risk'

"Previous studies have found that eating eggs at breakfast or at lunch reduces feelings of hunger and helps people to eat fewer calories at a later meal.

"The new research provides information on hormone levels for the first time, showing that consumption of eggs boosts PYY, a potent satiety hormone, while reducing levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin.

"The high protein level of eggs, combined with their low fat content, means that eggs are a great choice for those trying to manage their weight."

The study was carried out at the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Louisiana, USA.

"Re-mode, reduce and re-time". That's the catchy phrase used by Transport Secretary Justine Greening to describe how we need to change our commuter behaviour ahead of the Olympics - aka Operation Step Change.

And as The Spectator nicely points out the Department Of Transport video has a 'The Thick Of It' quality.

Particularly when Francis Maude MP suggests, vaguely, that... erm... civil servants could work 'a bit more at home sometimes'. A ringing endorsement for the progressive working arrangements at Westminister already in place?

Diabetes care in England is in a "state of crisis" with less than half of people with the condition getting the basic minimum care, a report warns.

According to the State of the Nation 2012 report, published today by Diabetes UK, there are some areas where just 6% of people with diabetes are getting the regular checks and services recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

The report details how not getting these checks has helped fuel a rise in rates of diabetes-related complications such as amputation, blindness, kidney failure and stroke.

These complications account for about 80% of NHS spending on diabetes and are one of the main reasons that treating diabetes costs about 10% of the entire NHS budget, Diabetes UK said.

The report also shows that a National Service Framework for diabetes - setting out the healthcare which diabetes patients should get - has been in place for 11 years but has not become a reality.

Diabetes UK is calling on the Government to urgently deliver a plan to implement these standards.

Barbara Young, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: "We already know that diabetes is costing the NHS a colossal amount of money, but this report shows how in exchange for this investment we are getting second rate healthcare that is putting people with diabetes at increased risk of tragic complications and early death.

"Whether showing the number of children with Type 1 diabetes who are only diagnosed at accident and emergency or highlighting the thousands of preventable diabetes-related amputations performed every year, the report shows that diabetes healthcare has drifted into a state of crisis.

"It is a compelling case for change.

"Above all, the wide variation in standards of care shows the need for a national plan to be put in place for giving people with diabetes the kind of healthcare that can help prevent complications, as well as a greater focus on preventing Type 2 diabetes."

She added: "This kind of approach is the only way to prevent what is a looming national health disaster.
"With the number of people with diabetes rising so rapidly, unless urgent action is taken now, this rising tide threatens to sink the NHS."

Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said: "There is still much to be done to help tackle diabetes and root out poor care.
"That is why we are working on a new long term conditions strategy with diabetes as an exemplar.

"Our focus is on prevention and education, with more done to get earlier diagnoses and to help people manage their conditions themselves.

"This report and our new strategy will help local NHS services act so that diabetics get the care they need and deserve."

President Obama’s announcement that ‘health plans will be required to cover maternity care’ during the first National Women’s Health Week in America is a positive step for millions of US women.

Until Obama’s Affordable Care Act, signed into law two years ago, many women were also forced to pay extra for access to recommended preventive services such as mammograms, cervical cancer screenings and contraception.

Women's health has emerged as such a major theme of the 2012 elections that President Barack Obama has dedicated a week-long celebration to it. The president proclaimed on Monday that May 13 through May 19, 2012, will now be known as National Women's Health Week, reports The Huffington Post.

See Also

• Parenting: The Most Important Job You'll Ever Have


• Gay Marriage Strengthens Families, Says Obama

In a statement, President Obama said: I have made advancing gender equality in health care a top priority. Through the historic Affordable Care Act, we are reversing many of the worst abuses of the health insurance industry."

From 2014, insurers will no longer be allowed to charge women higher premiums simply because of their gender, he states. It will also be illegal for most insurance companies to deny coverage to women because they have a pre-existing condition, including cancer or pregnancy.

Academies are making money out of selling junk food which the government has banned in other schools, it has been claimed.

An independent study published by the School Food Trust (SFT) charity reveals a quarter of academies are selling crisps and savoury snacks while one in six is selling confectionary. One third of the academies described school catering as a "burden", according the SFT.

The academies selling the junk food are making as much as £15,000 a year, while state-maintained schools were given a blanket ban on offering children the food in 2006.

According to Department for Education legislation, academies and free schools do not have to follow the national school meal standards education.

The SFT said its research showed a "mixed picture" for food in academies - something which will no doubt come as an embarrassment to Michael Gove, who has been accused of "forcing" schools to convert to academy status.

Public health nutritionist Dr Michael Nelson, said: "What concerns me here is the inconsistency. On the one hand we still have some academies doing a great job; on the other we have some academies telling us that they are selling confectionary and crisps – which don’t provide any nutritional benefit to children and are ruled out under the national school food standards – and that they are choosing not to follow the standards."

Foods banned under the national school meal standards legislation include:

• Burgers and sausages
• Sweets including chewing gum, toffees and mints
• Chocolate and chocolate biscuits
• Snacks such as crisps, chips, onion rings and rice crackers

SFT chairman Rob Rees, said: "If we want schools to be places where children’s minds and bodies are nourished; if we want children to be fuelled to meet their potential in class and to grow into healthier adults, the standards should be the minimum we expect for food in all schools. Otherwise, we’re failing today’s generation and the next on one of the real basics for giving them the best start we can."

A spokesperson for the DfE dodged the claims, saying: "We trust teachers to do what is best for their pupils. Many academies go over and above the minimum requirements and are offering their pupils high quality, nutritional food.

"The School Food Trust's own research on all secondary school food shows that even with food standards in place, many maintained schools – far from being paragons of nutrition – are not meeting all the standards and are still offering cakes, biscuits, confectionery and noncompliant drinks to their pupils. Clearly there is room for improvement in all schools – maintained schools as well as academies."

Symptoms of grief could be diagnosed as depression, rather than as normal reactions, states an article on The Lancet.

In the past, the American Psychiatric Association has recommended the need to consider, and usually exclude, bereavement before diagnosis of a major depressive disorder - but in its forthcoming fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, there is no such exclusion for bereavement.

Deep sadness, loss, sleeplessness, crying inability to concentrate, tiredness and a loss of appetite, which continue for more than two weeks after the death of a loved one, are all symptoms that could be diagnosed as depression, rather than as normal reactions to grief, writes The Lancet.

The medical journal states: "Medicalising grief, so that treatment is legitimised routinely with antidepressants, for example, is not only dangerously simplistic, but also flawed. The evidence base for treating recently bereaved people with standard antidepressant regimens is absent. In many people, grief may be a necessary response to bereavement that should not be suppressed or eliminated."

Just 22% of people manage to eat the recommended "five a day" portions of fruit and vegetables, research suggests.

Only 17% of people in low income households eat the suggested amount compared to 27% in higher income groups, the poll conducted by World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has found.

Consumption varied slightly around the country with 18% of people in the north of England meeting the quota, compared to 26% in the south, the survey of 2,128 adults found.

The figures show that many are still finding it difficult to eat healthily, a spokeswoman for the charity said.

WCRF head of education Kate Mendoza said: "Getting at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day is the building block of a healthy diet.

"A diet based on plant foods, such as whole grains and pulses as well as fruit and vegetables, can reduce cancer risk as research shows they protect against a range of cancers. Recent research has confirmed that foods containing fibre reduce the risk of bowel cancer.

"A lot of WCRF's work focuses on raising awareness of the importance of diet, physical activity and body weight in relation to cancer risk. Although people are more aware of the significance of eating 'five a day' than they used to be, it is clear that there are still barriers to incorporating plant foods into our daily diets."

A spokeswoman for the charity said it commissioned the survey to coincide with Cancer Prevention Week, which starts today.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We know we need to do more to encourage people to eat their five a day and help prevent diseases like cancer.

"That is why, through our Change4Life campaign, we invested around £10 million last year on encouraging healthier lifestyles.

"This included things like the Supermeals campaign which promoted five a day by giving recipe ideas and money-off fruit and vegetables in retail stores.

"We are also encouraging children to get their five a day through the scheme which gives them a free piece of fruit or vegetable at school every day. Over 2.1 million children benefit from the scheme."

When Tara Mann took her daughter Eliana, now 10 years old, to her local GP, the young girl was promptly sent to have further tests, which revealed a massive benign tumour in her stomach, reports the BBC.

Three years ago, Eliana's parents were concerned their daughter was not growing properly (her feet had not grown for a couple of years), not eating well and tired all the time. In addition, her dad, Paul, had noticed her tummy felt quite hard.

In BBC2 documentary series Great Ormond Street, airing on Tuesday, May 15 at 9pm, the parents describe how Eliana's life has since been transformed by an operation to remove a tumour that was "absolutely enormous" and "took up 50% of her abdomen".

Mum, Tara, told the BBC that if the young girl hadn't had the tumour removed it would have continued to grow, and killed her daughter "just by its size".

"We didn't really have much option - it was a life-saving operation," she explained.

Although Eliana's like a "new girl" now, according to her mum, the operation was a real risk - as there was a one in 10 chance of surgeons not being able to remove the tumour.

During the nine hour-operation, several pieces of tumour were removed - including one that weighed in at more than 3kg and was the size of a small football.

Luckily, the operation was a success, but Eliana - who has since put on weight and gained energy - still needs scans every three months to see if the tumour has returned.

Men's sperm count could be reduced by exposure to chemicals in the environment, according to research.

A rise in IVF treatments could be down to the effect of chemicals such as cosmetics, detergents and pollutants.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow, in collaboration with academics in Edinburgh, the James Hutton Institute, the University of Aberdeen and INRA in France, think the chemicals affect a certain subset of men.

The researchers looked at the testicles of sheep that had been exposed to a range of chemicals that humans encounter in everyday life. They found abnormalities that could result in low sperm counts in the testicles of 42% of the animals.

The changes were not the same in all affected individuals and they were not obvious from the size of the testicles or from the concentration of male hormones in the blood.

The year-long experiment saw 12 sheep grazed on land that had solid human waste applied to it. The animals' mothers were also grazed there, meaning the sheep were exposed throughout their life cycle.

The treatment was at a low concentration and in line with regulations.

Twelve control sheep also took part in the experiment.

The animals were then euthanised and their testicles examined.

Three sheep had smaller testes than normal, with a reduction in the number of sperm-producing germ cells found in the tissue of the testes. Two other sheep's testes looked normal but also showed the same reduced germ cells.

Professor Neil Evans, from the University of Glasgow, said it was unclear why five of the sheep were affected and the others were not. He said it could be because of genetic factors or because of the way they had been exposed to the chemicals.

He said: "These findings emphasise that even when the concentration of single chemicals in the environment may be very low, it is hard to predict what the health effects are when an individual is exposed to a mixture of chemicals.

"This finding adds to previous work conducted by this group that has shown effects on male and female reproductive organs, and some of the systems within the body that regulate reproduction, in young animals born to mothers exposed to this environmentally relevant mixture of chemicals."

The results could suggest that a rise in the need for in-vitro fertilisation in humans is due to exposure to chemicals in our environment, the team said.

Figures released last year showed a 5.9% rise in IVF treatments between 2009 and 2010, with 45,264 women being treated with either IVF or intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

The research, published in the International Journal of Andrology, was funded by University of Aberdeen-coordinated grants from the Wellcome Trust and the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme.

Jessica Alba has posed in plenty of glamorous photo shoots, but the movie star has stunned fans by revealing that she felt "objectified" earlier in her career.

The 31-year-old U.S actress, who’s appeared in blockbusters such as Sin City and Fantastic Four, told Marie Claire: “I had a show [Fox’s Dark Angel] that premiered when I was 19. And right away, everyone formed a strong opinion about me because of the way I was marketed.

“I was supposed to be sexy, this tough action girl. That’s what people expected…I felt like I was being objectified, and it made me uncomfortable. I wanted to be chic and elegant!”

These days, she’s much more content to blend in.

She told the magazine: “I like to get positive attention. But if I have a choice between someone noticing in a negative way what I’m wearing and going, What was she thinking? or someone not noticing what I’m wearing, I would rather not make a statement at all and just have a good conversation instead.”

When Ms Alba does dress up, she explained that she does it for herself, not any male admirers.

She added: “Now that I’m older, I’ve learned how to own it, but I’m still not very overt. There are some women who dress for men. I dress for myself.

"It took me some time to get here. Being a mom and feeling grown-up have helped. Now if I’m going to wear something short, it has to have a high neck or a little sci-fi toughness to it, an edge.”

Jessica Alba appears on the cover of the June issue of Marie Claire, which hits newsstands on Tuesday, May 22nd.

Britain would need to put a 20% "fat tax" on unhealthy food and drink to improve the numbers of people suffering diet-related conditions such as obesity and heart disease, medical experts warn.

Such a move should be combined with subsidies on healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables, say experts on bmj.com today.

Dr Oliver Mytton and colleagues at the University of Oxford released their findings ahead of the 65th World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 21 to May 26, where prevention and control of non-communicable diseases will be key issues for discussion.

The group said evidence suggests taxing a wide range of unhealthy foods is likely to result in greater health benefits than "narrow taxes" - although the strongest evidence related to taxing sugary drinks.

They said one American study found a 35% tax on sugar-sweetened drinks in a canteen led to a 26% decline in sales.

Studies extending VAT on unhealthy foods in the UK could cut up to 2,700 heart disease deaths a year, the researchers said.

After reading a few pages of Jane Austen, I often find myself craving cups of tea, making a mental note to enquire about my neighbour's health and worrying about the women I know who aren't married.

And that’s because I'm experiencing what a team of psychologists at Ohio State University call ‘experience taking’ - brought on by reading.

In their study, researchers found that readers of literature (particularly first-person) begin spontaneously assuming the thoughts, behaviours, goal and traits of fictional characters, as if they are their own.

Days before the 2008 presidential election in the United Stares, 82 student were asked to read one of four versions of a short story about a person trying to vote and enduring a number of obstacles (such as rain, queues, or car breakdowns), reports Wired.

Some versions were written in the first-person, others in the third-person, and occasionally the voter was also attending the same university as the participants in the study. After finishing the story, the readers were asked to complete a questionnaire.

As Medical Daily reported, the results showed that participants who read a story told in first-person, about a student at their own university, had the highest level of ‘experience-taking’.

Days later, the volunteers were polled on their election day activity.

Almost two thirds (65%) of those who read a story about a student at their own university voted, in comparison to 29% who read the alternate version.

The research also highlighted how ‘experience taking’ could influence social attitudes.

In stories where the central character identified themselves as gay early on, readers were less likely to identify with them.

As lead researcher, Geoff Kaufman, explained to Wired: "If people identified with the character before they knew he was gay, if they went through experience-taking, they had more positive views - the readers accepted that this character was like them."

"Experience-taking changes us by allowing us to merge our own lives with those of the characters we read about, which can lead to good outcomes."

The findings, Wired suggest, could be used to increase election turnout and even address homophobia and racism.