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

Major HIV Drug Trial Stopped

A major HIV human vaccine trial in Cambodia has been shelved amid claims it violated people's human rights.

The trial was supposed to be one arm of an international study to see if Tenofovir, which is used to fight HIV, can also protect uninfected but sexually active adults against the virus that causes AIDS.

Some 960 sex workers were slated to take part in the trial, partly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but they boycotted it, saying they wanted medical insurance for side effects for up to 40 years after the study, according to wire service reports.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has now stopped the trial, saying his country is not a test bed for "out-of-date" technologies. He also suggested that the drug should be tested on animals before any human trial was launched.

Family Health International, the U.S. organization that is spearheading the trials, expected to involve 8,000 people, rejected claims that they violate human rights. Trials have already started in Botswana, Ghana and Malawi. Plans are also under way to test the drug on people in the United States, Thailand and Nigeria.

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Newlywed's Public Plea for Liver Donation Pays Off

A Texas newlywed's very public plea -- on huge freeway billboards and on the Internet-- for a liver donation has succeeded.

Todd Krampitz, 32, was recovering Saturday in the intensive care unit of Houston's Methodist Hospital after undergoing transplant surgery with a donated organ, the Associated Press reported.

Krampitz was diagnosed in May with liver cancer and by July his doctors said only a transplant would save his life. His family mounted a media campaign, including two billboards along a Houston freeway and a Web site that detailed his plight and raised awareness about organ donation.

In a statement, his wife, Julie Krampitz, said that "a generous family" donated the organ, and that it was given specifically for her husband.

The donor was from out of state, but no other information was being released, said Catherine Graham, a spokeswoman for the organization that coordinated efforts to bring the liver to Houston after it became available Thursday morning.

Graham did not know when the donor died. "The donor is not seeking publicity. The family is in mourning at this time," she said.

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Cancer Drug Raises Risk of Heart Problems

Avastin, a drug used to treat colorectal cancer, increases the risk of heart problems such as stroke, heart attack, chest pain, and mini-strokes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and drug manufacturer Genentech, Inc., warned Friday.

A company spokesperson said that some patients taking Avastin had died from heart problems, but couldn't give a precise number, the Associated Press reported.

The FDA and Genentech sent letters to doctors warning them that the risk of serious heart problems was doubled in cancer patients who took Avastin with their chemotherapy.

The drug received FDA approval early this year. Avastin works by blocking new blood vessels in order to deprive cancer cells of the nutrients and oxygen they need to survive.

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Sighs Reset Babies' Breathing Patterns

Sleeping babies' sighs seem to help them reset their breathing patterns, says a study by Swiss and Australian researchers.

The sighs, which occur every 50 to 100 breaths in healthy babies, reopen tiny lung airways that are prone to collapse, the study found.

The researchers studied the heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and other measurements of 25 healthy, month-old infants as they slept, CBC News Online reported.

The study found that the babies sighed when their breathing became too regular. That suggests that sighing creates healthy changes in their breathing patterns, the researchers said.

The findings appear in the online issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology.

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Man Claims Wal-Mart Mistakenly Gave Him Estrogen

A Washington state man charges that his local Wal-Mart pharmacy mistakenly gave him estrogen instead of testosterone, an error that resulted in the growth of breast tissue, shrinking genitalia, and heart problems.

Longview resident Keith Sabey, 63, was prescribed testosterone injections after blood tests showed his body wasn't producing testosterone. He bought his first round of testosterone injections at a Safeway pharmacy but then switched to Wal-Mart, where the drug was cheaper, reported The Daily News in Longview.

Sabey said the Wal-Mart pharmacist made an error and gave him an estrogen-based product instead of testosterone. Sabey didn't notice the mistake until he'd already started injecting the estrogen product.

In order to correct the error, Sabey had to take drugs to stabilize his lipids, cholesterol, and blood pressure. Wal-Mart originally agreed to pay for those drugs and for Sabey's testosterone injections but then reneged on the deal, Sabey claimed.

He's hired a lawyer but hasn't yet decided whether to sue Wal-Mart. The company is working closely with Sabey in order to resolve the situation, a Wal-Mart spokesman said. However, the spokesman added that Sabey cut off contact with the company, and will proceed through the courts if it has to.

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U.S. Posts Fewest Measles Cases in Nearly a Century

Just 44 cases of measles were tallied in the United States in 2002, the lowest number in the 92 years since records have been kept, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Only 216 cases of the virus were recorded in the three years from 2001-2003, compared with more than 55,000 cases between 1989 and 1991, the Associated Press reported.

Thanks to preventive vaccinations and other public health efforts, the CDC declared the U.S. measles-free in 2000, meaning that virtually every case reported since then has been traced to people visiting the U.S. from places like Europe and Asia, the agency said.

For that reason, measles shots among Americans are still a must, the CDC warned. Among people who aren't immunized, the virus can cause pneumonia, diarrhea, encephalitis, and death, the wire service said.

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