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

Asian Nations Fail to Agree on Bird Flu Plan

Health ministers from 13 Asian nations meeting in Thailand to consider a plan to stem the bird flu epidemic that's sweeping the continent failed to agree on a course of action, the Associated Press reports.

"Each country will have to find its own way to end this problem," Thai foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai told the wire service after the meeting.

While the World Health Organization has insisted that the mass slaughter of chickens and other prone fowl is the best way to stem the epidemic, other experts say such a plan could boost the risk to humans. The critics contend that people involved in the slaughter could acquire a mutated form of the virus that might combine with ordinary human flu to pose a real danger to people.

So far, 10 human deaths from bird flu have been reported in Vietnam and Thailand, while cases among chickens and other birds have been reported in 10 Asian countries. Millions of birds have been killed in government-ordered slaughters.

Most human cases have been traced to direct contact with infected birds and most victims have been young children, the AP reports.

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Bowflex Machines Recalled for Faulty Bench

Nautilus Direct is recalling 420,000 Bowflex fitness machines to address two safety issues that have led to at least 73 injuries, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says. While being used in the incline position, the backboard bench can unexpectedly collapse. Also, the "Lat Tower" -- which attaches to the bench and has a metal bar that is pulled down to strengthen the upper body -- can rotate forward and fall. The company has 70 reports of the backboard benches breaking, resulting in 59 back, neck and shoulder injuries. And there are 18 reports of the "Lat Tower" falling, causing 14 back, neck, shoulder, teeth, nose and head injuries, some of which required stitches.

The recalled machines are the Bowflex Power Pro XL, XTL and XTLU systems with the "Lat Tower" attachment. The name "Bowflex" and the model name are printed on the front of the machines.

They were sold via TV infomercials and at specialized retail stores nationwide from January 1995 through December 2003 for $1,200 to $1,600.

Consumers should stop using the machines immediately and contact Nautilus Direct at 1-888-424-3020 to request a free repair kit.

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Defibrillator Patient Set Afire

Paramedics who tried unsuccessfully to save the life of a 47-year-old Connecticut woman say a spark from the heart defibrillator they were using apparently set her on fire, reports The Day of New London newspaper.

A defibrillator is a device that delivers an electric shock to jump-start a person's heart.

The woman, Brenda Jewett of New London, had been placed into an ambulance when the incident occurred. The flames were quickly extinguished, but she died at a nearby hospital. The state chief medical examiner says natural causes -- not the fire -- caused her death, the newspaper reports.

Police investigators are treating the incident as an accident. The maker of the defibrillator, Massachusetts-based Phillips Medical Systems, says it's assisting authorities in their probe.

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Sweden May Outlaw Cosmetic Surgery on Genitals

Sweden may make illegal an increasingly popular form of plastic surgery in which women want to change their genitals.

The country has banned genital mutilation, which is performed on 2 million women every year worldwide, often against their will, for cultural reasons. Cosmetic surgery is not mentioned in the law, but the country's National Board of Health believes the voluntary operations should be outlawed as well, according to an Agence France-Presse account.

Surgeons have seen a big rise in requests for cosmetic surgery on female genitals, according to AFP. Some seek labia changes for esthetic reasons, others want tighter vaginas for more sexual pleasure, and some Muslim women seek to reconstruct their hymens because they expect to be virgins when they are married.

"We are looking into the legal aspects of this kind of surgery and we will present a report to the government sometime this year," Per-Anders Sunesson, a lawyer who is in charge of the board's legal department, told the wire service.

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Testosterone Therapy Not Linked to Cancer, Heart Disease

An analysis of studies finds no hard evidence that men who are on testosterone therapy are likelier to get prostate cancer or heart disease.

Researchers have known since the 1940' that severe reductions of testosterone can cause shrinkage of metastatic prostate cancer. As a result, there has been a concern that raising testosterone levels might help any hidden prostate cancers grow.

But a review of 72 studies, appearing in the Jan. 29 New England Journal of Medicine, didn't see a connection.

The researchers found "no compelling evidence that testosterone replacement therapy increases the incidence of prostate cancer or cardiovascular disease," Dr. Abraham Morgentale, a urologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a study co-author, says in a statement.

The notion that testosterone is linked to heart disease comes from the fact that men have more testosterone and also more heart trouble, but the researchers found no strong evidence there, either.

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Study: Grapefruit Works as a Diet Aid

Grapefruit has been a staple among dieters for years, and a new study says that that's not without good reason.

Not only did a steady diet of grapefruit help obese people lose weight, it also protected them from getting diabetes, the BBC reports.

The study was conducted on 100 obese people, with an average weight of 218 pounds. Researchers at the Scripps Institute in San Diego had one group eat half a grapefruit before each meal; a second had a glass of grapefruit juice before each meal; the third, control group had no grapefruit.

After 12 weeks, those who ate grapefruit lost an average of 3.6 pounds, and some lost 10; the grapefruit juice group shed an average of 3.3 pounds; and the control group lost an average of about a half a pound, according to the BBC.

The grapefruit consumers also had lower insulin levels.

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