University of Michigan researchers have found a chemical in bananas they believe can prove helpful in protecting women from HIV infection.

The chemical, a lectin known as Ban Lec is present in plants as a sugar binding protein, and which was found to be as as strong as two top HIV drugs in laboratory tests. Researchers found lectin successfully recognizes and attaches itself to foreign invaders in the body. Ban Lec by connecting to the HIV-1 envelope protein high in sugar content, gp120, can prevent HIV from entering the body.

Prosecutors say a former Fall River dentist who has had his license to practice suspended in three states repeatedly billed for work using the information of other dentists, leading to him being charged with Medicaid fraud.

According to the Medicaid Fraud Unit, Friday Michael J. Clair who operated Harbour Dental in Fall River, was indicted on five counts of Medicaid fraud, two counts of assault and battery, three counts of larceny over $250, and illegally prescribing two types of drugs.

In a special edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, commentators say the US health system is under strain from the rising cost of cancer research and care, which has reduced death rates by 16% over 40 years.

Since 1971, it has cost the US government $100 billion for cancer research, with the price of care more than doubling to $90 billion since 1990.

In its letter released Tuesday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) informs Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. to have sold nitroglycerin tablets in the market, without first getting its approval.

In its letter FDA said there were no approved applications on file and has ordered pharmaceutical major Glenmark Generics to stop marketing unapproved nitroglycerin tablets, which coming in 0.3 milligramme, 0.4 milligramme, and 0.6 milligramme doses, are placed under the tongue to relieve chest pain or stop a heart attack.

In an exciting win for gene testing and personalized medicine, doctors say it is possible to get a tricky dose right and keep patients out of hospital by checking their DNA, before they starting them on a warfarin, a popular blood thinner.

Warfarin also sold in its generic form as Coumadin, is used for preventing blood clots after surgery or other medical conditions, with about 2 million Americans started on it each year.

According to US researchers, while younger people with colon cancer are more likely to receive chemotherapy after surgery than older patients, it is the latter who experience fewer serious side-effects when they do receive treatment.

According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, older patients when treated receive a less toxic dose over a shorter period than younger patients.

Adopting a controversial plan the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene proposed 14 months ago, the New York City Board of Health will rate cleanliness in the city’s 24,000 restaurants with publicly posted letter grades.

Under a system approved Tuesday, New York City’s restaurants from its internationally known eateries to its most modest pizza counters will be required to post large letter grades near their entrances indicating how clean they are.

Law enforcement officials and marijuana advocates for Washington State have been called upon to change how pot is regulated and how those who grow and use it are protected, after a shooting and a death by beating was linked to medical marijuana.

Last week, a man from Orting, Wash., near Tacoma, died after being beaten for confronting people trying to steal marijuana plants from his property. In another incidence Monday, a prominent medical-marijuana activist who grows and distributes marijuana plants, shot an armed man accused of breaking into his home in a suburban area near Seattle.