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

Hair Dye May Cause Cancer, Study Says

Researchers say they've uncovered more evidence that women who have been coloring their hair a dark color for years may run a greater risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system.

A study involving more than 1,300 Connecticut women found that those who began coloring their hair before 1980 increased their chance of developing the disease by 40 percent. But the risk only appeared in women who used permanent rather than nonpermanent dyes; chose dark colors -- browns, reds and black; and dyed their hair eight times a year or more for at least 25 years, The New York Times reports.

The study was led by Dr. Tongzhang Zheng, an epidemiologist at Yale University, and appears in the new issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

"For those who used light colors, there was no such increase in risk," Zheng said.

The study also found no increased risk for women who began using dyes after 1980. One possible explanation: Hair dye makers stopped using certain "coal-tar ingredients" in the late 1970s that had been found to cause cancer in laboratory rodents, the newspaper reports.

The finding about the heightened risk might explain the reasons behind the doubling in the number of cases of the cancer since the 1970s.

The average woman in America has a 1-in-57 chance of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; for a man, the risk is 1 in 48, according to the American Cancer Society.

Cancer experts note, however, that a person's chances of developing the disease are low. So doubling the risk still means a woman who colors her hair would be unlikely to develop the disease, according to news reports.

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Vietnam's Bird Flu Death Toll Now at Six

Human cases of bird flu have now killed six people in Vietnam.

Thailand, the other country with human cases of the disease, is reporting at least one suspected death and two confirmed cases.

The Thai health minister said the disease has been detected in two boys in provinces west of the capital city, reports the French wire service Agence France-Presse (AFP). Other wire reports say a Thai man may have already died from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

In addition to the two boys, several other Thais are being tested for the virus, and people who may have been exposed to the confirmed human cases have been ordered quarantined for 10 days, AFP says.

The country has ordered an immediate halt to its billion-dollar poultry export business. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra denies claims the government covered up the human cases for several days, saying he wanted to be sure the cases were confirmed and wanted to avoid public panic, AFP reports.

Meanwhile, Asia is on a region-wide health alert, with governments in six countries -- Cambodia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam -- slaughtering millions of chickens to contain the outbreak.

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West Nile More Common, Less Deadly in 2003

The West Nile virus struck more than twice as many Americans in 2003 as it did the year before, but the disease caused fewer deaths and cases of serious brain damage.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 9,000 people caught West Nile last year, the largest outbreak since the virus was first identified in the U.S. in 1999.

The Associated Press says that CDC officials still consider 2002 to be the most virulent year for West Nile. Although the nation registered 4,146 cases -- a far cry from 2003 -- it caused 284 deaths and 2,944 cases of serious brain damage.

In 2003, West Nile claimed 220 lives and caused 2,695 cases of neurological disease, the CDC says.

In 2004, "we are fully prepared to have another large outbreak," the AP quotes Dr. Lyle Petersen, acting director of the CDC's division of vector-borne diseases, as saying. "We can't predict what will happen, so we need to be prepared."

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Disease Confirmed in 2nd Wyoming Herd

The highly infectious bacterial disease brucellosis has been confirmed in a second herd of cattle in Wyoming, meaning that cattle there will have to undergo extensive and costly tests before they can be shipped out of state.

Those restrictions will remain in effect for at least a year, assuming no further new cases are found, the Associated Press reports.

Brucellosis causes spontaneous abortions in cattle and chronic, flu-like symptoms in people.

This second infected herd was in Worland, in north-central Wyoming. The first infected herd was found on a ranch near Boulder in the western part of the state.

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Bar Ventilation Systems Fall Short Against Smoke

Restaurant and bar ventilation systems don't protect people from the health dangers of secondhand smoke, says an American physicist.

James Repace, a former Environmental Protection Agency official now in private practice as a health physicist, found that indoor air pollution levels in bars and restaurants in Boston and Wilmington, Del., declined as much as 95 percent when sweeping smoke bans were enforced, CBC News Online reports.

Repace also measured air quality in a Toronto pub with a nonsmoking section. In the pub, air is drawn from outside, pumped through the nonsmoking area and then directed through the smoking area before it's exhausted to the outside.

While the air quality in the nonsmoking section of the Toronto pub was better than in the smoking section, it was much worse than the air in the smoke-free Boston and Wilmington bars.

In order to achieve an acceptable level of air quality in the Toronto pub's nonsmoking section, Repace said the ventilation system would have to make at least 34,000 air changes each hour -- a tornado-like level, CBC News Online reports.

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Atkins Widow Demands Apology From N.Y.C. Mayor

The widow of the late diet guru Dr. Robert Atkins is demanding an apology from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg over comments he made about Atkins.

During a dinner at a firehouse, television cameras recorded Bloomberg's remarks that he didn't believe the reported details of Atkins' death, ABC News reports.

"I don't believe that bull----, that [Atkins] dropped dead slipping on the sidewalk," Bloomberg said.

He also called Atkins "fat" and made disparaging comments about food served by Atkins at a fundraiser a few years ago.

Atkins, who became famous for his high-protein/low carbohydrate diet, died last year at 72 as the result of head injuries he suffered when he fell on an icy sidewalk.

"His arteries were clear. He died from severe trauma to the head," Veronica Atkins told ABC about her late husband.

Bloomberg won't offer an official apology over his comments, his spokesman says.

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