Use of cannabis extract helps ease painful muscle stiffness among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a large trial published on Tuesday in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

The "Phase III" test -- the final stage in a process to vet a new drug or medical process -- took place among 22 centers in Britain.

Almost half of U.S. children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder wander away from safe places, and about half go missing long enough to alarm their parents, a new study out Monday found.

The study published in the journal Pediatrics on research by the Kennedy Krieger Institute that looked at more than 1,200 families highlighted how significant a concern the issue is, the authors wrote.

Beijing authorities have completed a network of monitors that will more accurately measure air quality in the smog-ridden city after being pushed into it by public pressure and pollution reports from the U.S. embassy.

The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center said Saturday that another 15 monitoring stations had begun releasing real-time data on small particulates known as PM2.5. The tiny pollution particles that may result from the burning of fuels in vehicles and power plants can penetrate deep into the lungs, so measuring them is considered a more accurate reflection of air quality than other methods.

At least seven people have died and 91 have fallen ill in the United States in a worsening meningitis outbreak tied to a contaminated drug, updated figures showed Sunday.

Cases have been identified in nine states, with the hardest-hit being Tennessee, where 32 people have been diagnosed with the fungal infection and three have died, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The 2012 Nobel Prize season opens Monday with the award for medicine, marking the start of a week of announcements and speculation over who will collect the literature and peace prizes.

The medicine prize will be announced in Stockholm at 11:30 am (0930 GMT) at the earliest.

The South Korean government on Monday designated an area hit by a toxic chemical leak as a "special disaster" zone, after more than 3,000 people were treated for ailments ranging from nausea to chest pain.

The September 27 incident at a chemical plant near the southeastern city of Gumi resulted in the leakage of eight tonnes of hydrofluoric acid that caused widespread damage to crops and livestock.

A man has died of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever after flying home to Scotland from Afghanistan, in Britain's first case of the deadly disease, health officials said Saturday.

Two passengers who sat close to the 38-year-old man on a plane are undergoing daily health checks, although they have not yet shown signs of the tick-borne tropical illness.

Authorities say a single batch of deep-frozen strawberries appears to have been behind an outbreak of gastroenteritis in eastern Germany that hit more than 11,000 people, mostly children at schools and day-care centers.

The national disease-control center, the Robert Koch Institute, said late Friday that studies showed a strong connection between eating food prepared with the strawberries and the cases of vomiting and diarrhea.

Canada's Supreme Court on Friday decriminalized the non-disclosure of HIV status prior to sex where no realistic possibility of transmitting the potentially deadly virus exists.

The ruling clarifies a 1998 decision that set a threshold for criminality by requiring persons to tell partners of their HIV status before having sex with them or face possible charges of aggravated sexual assault, which carries a maximum life sentence.

U.S. drug giant Pfizer said Friday it will appeal against an Indian ruling overturning a patent for a cancer drug, saying the decision raises questions about intellectual property protection in India.

Indian generics heavyweight Cipla opposed the granting of the domestic patent for Prizer's Sutent, which is used to combat liver and kidney cancer.