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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Too Many Carbs May Raise Cancer Risk: Study

Carbohydrate-laden diets may raise a woman's risk of breast cancer, Harvard University researchers concluded from a new study.

New Mexican women who got more than 62 percent of total food calories from starches and sugars were more than twice as likely to contract breast cancer as those who ate fewer carbs, the researchers report in the Aug. 6 edition of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

According to an account by the Associated Press, scientists believe carbs may be linked to cancer by prompting the body to secrete a surge of insulin. In turn, this causes cells to divide and prompts the release of more estrogen in the blood, both of which can promote cancer.

Study participants who ate significant amounts of insoluble fiber, which is found in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, had a somewhat lower risk of contracting breast cancer, the researchers found. Fiber can aid the body's absorption of carbohydrates, the AP reported.

Because the study relied on the women's recall of what they ate, experts said future research should require participants to keep journals instead, the AP said.

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Latest Stent Recall Worries Regulators

Boston Scientific Corp. said it is recalling its drug-coated heart stents for the third time in a month, a move that has drawn criticism and scrutiny by the FDA.

The Boston Globe reported that the company, based in Natick, Mass., was recalling about 3,000 potentially faulty stents manufactured in Ireland. These devices weren't part of the 85,000 stents recalled in the last month, because the company said it thought the problem had been ironed out by changes in the manufacturing process.

The latest recall has doctors and regulators concerned, according to the newspaper. "This additional recall adds additional concern to our feeling that we and the company need to have total control over what's going on," Dr. Daniel Schultz, director of the office of device evaluation at the FDA, told the Globe.

Stents are scaffold-like devices placed in arteries once blocked by fatty deposits. The newest generation of stents contains drugs that prevent fatty tissue from building up again in the vessels.

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School Kids Need More Sleep, Survey Finds

With a new school year just around the corner, experts are advising that kids must go to bed earlier if they're to get enough sleep.

A new survey commissioned by the National Sleep Foundation found that 3-to-6-year-olds get about 10.4 hours sleep nightly, while experts recommend 11 to 13 hours. And 1st graders to 5th graders who should be getting 10 to 11 hours of shuteye are averaging just 9.5 hours a night, the NSF said in a statement.

"Children are simply going to bed too late for the time they must awaken in the morning," said Dr. Vipin Garg, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Trinitas Hospital, the Elizabeth, N.J., institution that co-sponsored the study.

The poll found that children who didn't sleep the recommended number of hours were twice as likely to have behavioral problems at school. And there was an association between the number of hours kids slept and their interest in participating in after-school activities like sports or music lessons, the researchers said.

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Most Mothers Ignore Breast-Feeding Guidelines

A new U.S. government study finds that only 14.2 percent of American mothers met experts' recommendations by feeding their babies breast milk only for the first six months of life.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released the first state-by-state statistics on breast-feeding, which found that mothers in some Southern states were less likely to follow the recommendations.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says babies should be fed breast milk exclusively until age 6 months. The government's 2010 objectives call for 75 percent of new mothers to breast-feed at the very start; 50 percent to breast-feed for six months; and 25 to nurse for 12 months. Only Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington state met those guidelines, the CDC report found.

According to the survey, fewer than 10 percent of mothers in Arkansas, Delaware, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia fed their babies breast milk only for the first six months.

The study "will help [state] agencies concentrate their efforts where they are most needed and develop targeted programs to promote breast-feeding," Donna Stroup, acting director of the CDC's Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, said in a statement.

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Avoiding Crashes With Animals Can Be Deadly

A new report finds that motorists who try to avoid hitting an animal crossing a road can create a dangerous and deadly situation, especially if the animal is a large one.

Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that, in 2001 and 2002, approximately 200 occupants of motor vehicles were killed and another 26,600 were injured in crashes related to animals in the road.

Deer accounted for the vast majority (87 percent) of these accidents, followed by domesticated animals like horses and cows, the report released Thursday said. Crashes involving moose and bear accounted for fewer than 1 percent.

The researchers discovered that younger drivers, those between the ages of 15 and 24, were at the highest risk, in part because they swerved to avoid the animal. One-fourth of the accidents occurred in October and November, during the hunting and migrating seasons.

Many of these accidents are avoidable if motorists pay attention to warning signs and speed limits and are not driving while drinking or distracted.

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Hepatitis B Outbreaks in Jails Common But Preventable

U.S. government researchers have found that incarcerated people are at a higher risk of developing the liver ailment hepatitis B, but that vaccinating offenders can prevent the disease.

Researchers write in the latest issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publication Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that 57 acute cases of the viral disease were identified among inmates at correctional facilities in Georgia. Almost three in four of those cases were acquired in prison. The same problem is probably nationwide, the researchers said.

But the disease can be prevented with a vaccine. The state of Texas had a campaign between 2000 and 2002 to inoculate incarcerated people. Researchers found that vaccination is feasible and can prevent 30 percent of hepatitis B cases in jails and prisons.

According to the reports, prisoners are more than happy to comply with the programs; 96 percent of those jailed for at least four months received all three doses of the vaccine.

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