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

Vitamin E May Cut Risk of Prostate, Bladder Cancers

An extra helping of vitamin E-containing nuts or seeds could help prevent cancers of the bladder and prostate, two separate studies conclude.

The bladder cancer research conducted by the state of Texas found that people who consumed the nutrient naturally or through vitamin E supplements were up to 40 percent less likely to contract the disease, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

In a separate study, Finnish men who took the recommended daily amount of 15 milligrams were up to 53 percent less likely to contract prostate cancer, the Sentinel reports.

While both sets of results show promise, experts say more research is needed before a scientifically proven link between vitamin E and cancer prevention is established. Other foods rich in the nutrient include whole-grain breads, beans, peas, and canola oil.

Both studies were released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Orlando, Fla.

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Suits Begin Challenging Abortion Ban

A trio of lawsuits is set to begin Monday challenging the late-term abortion ban signed in November by President Bush.

The cases challenging the law banning so-called "partial-birth" abortions are to be heard in San Francisco, New York City, and Omaha, Neb. While the law's supporters argue the practice is inhumane, opponents say the law is so broadly written that it outlaws such procedures that are necessary to protect a woman's health, reports Newsday. They also allege that the law undermines the landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case, which legalized abortion nationwide.

In the now-outlawed procedure, generally performed in the second and occasionally the third trimester, the fetus is partially delivered before it is destroyed.

Late last week, two federal courts refused Justice Department requests for abortion records from hospitals in Chicago and Philadelphia. The department had sought the data to make sure that the institutions were adhering to the four-month-old law, officially called the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

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CDC: Stretching Won't Prevent Injuries

Athletes who stretch before they play may feel more limber, but the practice won't help prevent injuries, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concludes from a new study.

"We could not find a benefit," Steven Thacker, director of the CDC's epidemiology program, told the Associated Press.

In analyzing combined results of five studies that explored ways to prevent training injuries, Thacker and four colleagues concluded that pulled muscles and similar injuries were just as likely to affect people who stretched as those who didn't.

Possible exceptions, Thacker told the wire service, might include gymnasts and dancers, whose activities require greater muscle flexibility.

Thacker said gentle stretching still isn't a bad idea, in case future research does find a benefit, the AP reports. However, he discouraged use of so-called "ballistic stretching," which involves sudden fast movements that could actually be harmful.

The CDC report appears in the March issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, published by the American College of Sports Medicine.

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Lack of Money Thwarts U.N. Effort to Combat AIDS

Ambitious plans to combat AIDS in poor countries are failing due to shortages of money and patent fights that have prevented antiretroviral drugs from reaching more than 90 percent of the people who need them, The New York Times reports.

That assessment comes three years after the United Nations announced a worldwide offensive against AIDS, the newspaper says.

The drugs have helped to dramatically cut death rates in the United States and other Western countries. But the campaign to distribute the medicines to needy nations has been hampered by a lack of financial contributions from wealthier nations, including the United States, to the U.N. fund created to finance the effort, the Times says.

The result: Only an estimated 300,000 people in the world's poorest countries are getting the drugs, while 6 million people need them, the Times says, citing World Health Organization figures.

The delays are likely to continue unless wealthy nations contribute much more money to the fund, the paper says.

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Texas Girl Is First to Get New Child Heart Pump

A 6-year-old Houston girl has become the first child in the world to receive a DeBakey child heart pump, named after famed heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey.

Surgeons at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston implanted the tiny pump on Friday into Ann Grudziecke. She was recovering but still in critical condition on Friday night, the Houston Chronicle reports.

"The idea of having an implantable pump for children is really a giant step forward," said Dr. Charles D. Fraser Jr., chief of cardiovascular surgery at Texas Children's Heart Center. "We hope this is the first step for developing even smaller devices for children."

The 45-pound girl needed the pump to help circulate blood through her heart. She will remain hospitalized until she receives a heart transplant, a wait that could last several months, according to the newspaper.

The pump is manufactured by MicroMed Technology of Houston. It is a smaller version of the company's regular heart pump, which measures 1 inch by 3 inches and weighs just 4 ounces, the paper says.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month gave heart transplant centers the option to use the DeBakey children's device on an emergency basis, the Chronicle reports.

Until the arrival of the DeBakey pump, surgeons were limited to pumps that worked outside the body, the newspaper says.

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