Drug-maker Sanofi-Aventis has developed a new medication that extended the lives of men with advanced prostate cancer in clinical trials and could become a last-chance medication for certain patients, according to a recent news article.

It is good news for African American men. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of death among black men after lung cancer. When compared to all causes of death, it is the fourth leading cause for men over 45, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Nap much? If not, you need to get on that.

Young adults who slept for 90 minutes after lunch increased their "learning power,'' apparently readying their memories to soak up new facts, according to an article in The New York Times, which cites new research presented at the the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego.

"You need to sleep before learning, to prepare your brain, like a dry sponge, to absorb new information,'' Matthew P. Walker, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Califorinia, Berkeley, said in the article.

Black women have the highest rate of genital herpes infections in the nation at a time when about 16 percent of Americans between the ages of 14 and 49 have contracted the viral disease, new statistics show.

Overall, women are nearly twice as likely as men to be infected with genital herpes, one of the most commonly sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S., according to Reuters, citing recently released statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 21 percent of women are infected with genital herpes, compared with 11.5 percent of men, the statistics show. And 39 percent of blacks are infected, compared with an estimated 12 percent of whites.

Women over the age of 40 who give birth have a 51 percent chance of having an autistic child compared with those who bear children between the ages of 25 and 29, according to a recent news report.

The father's age also is a factor, but only if he is older and the mother is under 30, according to an article published by CNN. The piece cites findings by researchers at the University of California, Davis, which first appeared in the February issue of the journal Autism Research and examined 10 years of data from births in California. It is unknown why the mother's age is more influential than the father's on a child's chances of developing autism.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges, occur in all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups and are four times more likely to occur in boys than in girls, according to the Web site for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The image of a black baby and the words: "Black Children Are an Endangered Species" are prominently displayed on an ad in Atlanta as part of a campaign conducted by anti-abortion advocates.

The campaign comes at a time when statistics show that black women account for 37 percent of abortions, compared with 34 percent of non-Hispanic white women and 22 percent of Hispanic women, according to Mary Mitchell, the Chicago Sun-Times columnist, who cites a study by the Guttmacher Institute.

Single women who have never been married receive two-thirds of all abortions, and the age range of those more likely to receive one is between 18 to 24. Most are either separated or unmarried and have annual incomes of less than $15,000 or have Medicaid, Mitchell writes, citing statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In what promises to be good news for African American diagnosed with HIV/AIDS -- an epidemic that continues to be a major health crisis for the United States -- scientists may have found a new development after 20 years that could lead to better treatment, British and U.S. researchers announced at the beginning of the year.

Researchers from Imperial College of London and Harvard University say they have grown a crystal that reveals an enzyme structure known as integrase, which is found in retroviruses like HIV and is a target for some of the newest HIV medicines, according to Reuters. That means researchers can gain a better understanding of how the integrase inhibitor drug works to prevent HIV from developing a resistance to them.

Bill Clinton's recent health scare underscored the importance of maintaining good heart health. The former president had been eating well, exercising and keeping his blood pressure and cholesterol under control since his quadruple bypass surgery in 2004, according to recent news reports.

In spite of all of their efforts, sometimes patients like Clinton still need to have blocked arteries repaired up to a decade after bypass surgeries, according to the Associated Press article. Genetics and prior eating habits may play a role in the necessary repairs. Clinton was famous for indulging his cheeseburger habit.

Indeed, heart disease can be a lifetime struggle and even deadly. It is the leading cause of death among men and women in the United States, and accounts for 26 percent of deaths among African Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That is why the CDC encourages prevention of heart disease. Methods include following a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly and not smoking.