The cigarette packs piled into prominent displays behind store counters and supermarket checkouts in England can't be missed. They occupy prime retail real estate, helping to keep addicts hooked and quitters tempted.

But the government announced a ban on them Wednesday, a move that will keep cigarettes hidden away and make it just a tad more difficult for smokers to find their fix.

When people do not get enough sleep, they tend to make overly optimistic decisions and may be more prone to risky gambling, U.S. researchers said.

The study published in the journal Neuroscience provides scientific evidence for what casino managers have long known -- that flashing lights and ringing slot machines encourage gamblers to keep going until their money is gone.

The treatment beating back 9-year-old Dylan Hanlon's cancer may also be destroying his chances of fathering his own children when he grows up.

Upset that doctors didn't make that risk clear, his mother, Christine, tracked down an experiment that just might salvage Dylan's future fertility. Between chemo sessions, the pair flew hundreds of miles from their Florida home to try it.

Scientists in Europe report they were able to diagnose Down syndrome prenatally by giving a simple blood test to pregnant women, an approach that might one day help them avoid the more extensive procedure used now to detect the condition.

The preliminary report published online Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine is the latest of several recent studies that suggest scientists can spot Down syndrome through fetal DNA that has been shed into the mother's bloodstream.

Patrick Hetzner tried diets and exercise, just about everything short of stomach stapling to lose weight. Nothing worked. Five months ago he tried something new: a stomach pacemaker that curbed his appetite.

Since having it implanted, Hetzner, a 20-year-old Munich mailman, has knocked off more than 10 kilos (22 pounds) from his earlier weight of 104 kilos (229 pounds).

Adults who take the anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen may reduce their risk of getting Parkinson's disease by about 27 percent compared to those who do not, said a study published Wednesday.

"There is no cure for Parkinson's disease, so the possibility that ibuprofen, an existing and relatively non-toxic drug, could help protect against the disease is captivating," said senior author Alberto Ascherio of the Harvard School of Public Health.

Teenagers and young adults who use cannabis face increased risk of psychosis, research published in the British Medical Journal showed Wednesday.

Experts from Germany, the Netherlands and London's Institute of Psychiatry studied 1,900 people aged between 14 and 24 over a period of eight years.

A gel that has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection in women during vaginal sex has also shown promise toward preventing transmission during anal sex, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

"HIV was significantly inhibited in tissue samples from participants who used tenofovir gel daily for one week compared to tissue from participants who used the placebo gel," the study said.

Spine surgeon Anders Cohen puts a lot of stock in patients' expectations of pain relief. He prefers to operate only on those who "grab you by the collar and say, `I can't take it anymore.'"

New brain research proves doctors like Cohen are onto something: Pessimism can override the effectiveness of even powerful treatments.

The more advanced degrees a person has, the lower their blood pressure, a study published online has found.

An analysis of some 4,000 patient records from the 30-year Framingham Offspring Study found that, controlling only for age, women with 17 years or more of education -- a master's degree or doctorate -- had systolic blood pressure readings 3.26 millimeters of mercury lower than female high school drop-outs.