ABC News is reporting that “brain scans have provided the most compelling evidence yet that being gay or straight is a biologically fixed trait.”

The researchers say that the brain scans they performed revealed that in gay people, key structures of the brain governing emotion, mood, anxiety and aggressiveness resemble those in straight people of the opposite sex.

MedPage Today reports that the FDA has approved duloxetine (Cymbalta), an SNRI (serotonin-norepinphrine reuptake inhibitor), for fibromyalgia (FMS).

This is only the second drug to be approved for FMS. Last year the the FDA approved the anti-seizure drug pregabalin (Lyrica) for FMS.

MedPage Today is reporting a study finding that many obese children with pre-diabetes will NOT be recogninzed using current testing technique – a fasting plasma glucose only.

Even scarier is the fact that nearly a quarter (24.3%) of the 173 obese children screened positive for pre-diabetes according to fasting plasma glucose AND a two-hour oral glucose tolerance test. While only 8.7% of the obese children were found to be pre-diabetic using fasting plasma glucose alone.

An AP story is reporting, “Many people do not get … straight talk” about cancer “from doctors, who often think they are doing patients a favor by keeping hope alive.” 

The study, presented at an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference, reports that oncologists who believe this “are wrong.”

HealthDay News is reporting a story saying that erectile dysfunction could be an indicator of testosterone deficiency and the metabolic syndrome, a set of factors that may indicate an increased risk of heart and vascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

HealthDay News is reporting a story that should be read by every parent. A new online tool is avialble that helps parents and the doctors who care for children adjust childhood immunization schedules when one or more vaccinations are missed.

LifeNews is reporting that the nation’s Catholic bishops followed through on their desire to put forward an initial statement opposing embryonic stem cell research. They voted almost unanimously — 191 to 1 — to approve the statement at their annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.

As with abortion, the statement makes it clear to Catholics and non-Catholics alike that embryonic stem cell research is immoral.

LifeNews is reporting that The American Medical Association is coming under criticism for attacking pro-life pharmacists and others who want to opt out of dispensing objectionable drugs.

This is the first part in a series excerpted from my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Teen.

Parenting Style Makes a Huge Difference

I’ve closely followed the research of Diana Baumrind and other child development researchers who have studied the highly healthy characteristics of children. Here’s a list of traits parents would love to see in their children: