Claiming that genetic changes which happen after birth can determine whether a man is straight or gay, scientists have recently found out that homosexuality may be triggered by environmental factors during childhood.

Researchers revealed that the finding of the study is highly controversial because it suggests that some men are not born gay, but are turned homosexual by their surroundings and it also raises privacy concerns that medical records could reveal sexuality, reports the Telegraph.

Dr. Tuck Ngun said that he hopes this research helps them to understand themselves better and why they are the way they are.

During the research, the scientists found out that it was possible to tell whether a man was gay or straight by monitoring tiny changes in how his DNA functions after birth, a field known as epigenetics.

Epigenetic changes are known to be triggered by environmental factors such as chemical exposure, childhood abuse, diet, exercise and stress.

Talking about their research done on identical twins, researcher Tim Spector said that it has always been a mystery why identical twins who share all their genes can vary in homosexuality.

He added epigenetic differences are one obvious reason and this study provides evidence for this.

As many as 90 percent of the people in low income countries lack access to radiotherapy treatment, an inseparable part of cancer care, new research has found.

"Radiotherapy is a crucial and inseparable part of cancer care," said study co-author Timothy Hanna from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada.

"Globally, there is a major shortfall in access to radiotherapy. Our report found that expanding radiotherapy access in low and middle-income countries would not only save millions of lives, but also result in substantial economic benefits to nations," Hanna noted.

The researchers estimated that optimal radiotherapy access in low and middle-income countries by 2035 could save an estimated 26.9 million life years for patients who currently lack access to care.

Hanna and colleagues developed a method to measure the treatment benefits of guideline-based radiotherapy programmes.

They found that globally in 2012, with optimal radiotherapy access, more than 580,000 people would derive a survival benefit from radiotherapy.

By 2035, projections suggest substantial increases, with over 950,000 people deriving a survival benefit from global access to radiotherapy.

Improving access to radiotherapy in low and middle-income countries could be achieved by 2035 with an investment of $184 billion, the report projected.

Despite the high estimated cost, the predicted net economic benefits reaped from the lives saved could reach between $278 billion and $365 billion, said the study published in the journal Lancet Oncology.

Adults consume more food when it comes in bigger packages or is served on larger plates, a review of past research has found.

The study team analyzed 58 studies with a combined 6,600 participants that examined how the size of things like cereal bowls and snack bags influences the number of calories people take in.

Combined, these brief experiments suggest that smaller containers, dishes and cutlery might help adults consume up to 16 percent fewer calories in the U.K. and 29 percent less in the U.S.

"It provides the most conclusive evidence to date that people consistently consume more food and drink when offered larger-sized portions, packages, or tableware than when offered smaller-sized versions," said lead study author Dr. Gareth Hollands, a behavioral health researcher at the University of Cambridge in the U.K.

The results, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, highlight the important role of environmental influences on food consumption and suggest that actions to limit exposure to larger serving sizes may be effective tools for getting people eat less, Hollands said by email.

Globally, 1.9 billion adults are overweight or obese, according to the World Health Organization. Obesity increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, joint disorders and certain cancers.

The effect of smaller sizes for dishes and packages didn't vary by gender and was similar for normal-weight, overweight and obese people, the researchers found. Only children appeared unaffected by size when deciding how much food or drink to consume.

Most of the studies reviewed didn't follow people for long periods and researchers lacked data to assess whether sustained changes in container and plate sizes over time might contribute to weight loss or maintaining a healthy weight, the authors acknowledge. They also note that they lacked data on the impact of bottle, can or glass size on alcohol consumption.

Still, when it comes to plate size, reducing the diameter by even an inch or two can make a difference in calorie consumption, said Dr. David Sharp, a nutrition researcher at Kent State University School of Health Sciences in Ohio.

Ideally, adults should use 9-inch or 10-inch plates, and children should have 7.5-inch plates, Sharp, who wasn't involved in the study, said by email. But this isn't an easy message to convey in a culture with a "supersize" mentality, he said.

"Hunters try to kill the deer with the largest antlers, fishermen tell stories of their biggest catch, and we sensationalize even the act of dieting by hosting reality TV shows such as The Biggest Loser," Sharp said. "When we are bombarded with the appeal of getting things bigger or larger, it creates a bit of dissonance that the message for our most intimate choices such as our meals, our plates and our bodies runs opposite to our culture of plenty when considering long-term health and wellness."

While plate size may matter, downsizing dishes alone may not be enough to help people lose weight, sad Dr. Donald Hensrud, medical director of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program in Rochester, Minnesota.

"The obesity epidemic is a result of a number of different and complex influences," Hensrud, who wasn't involved in the study, said by email. "Recommending smaller plates is just one piece of a very large puzzle."

Exercise and weight loss improves ovulation in women who have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a common hormone disorder that often causes infertility, a new study says.

"The findings confirm what we have long suspected - that exercise and a healthy diet can improve fertility in women who have PCOS," said one of the study authors, Richard Legro, a professor at Penn State College of Medicine in Pennsylvania.

Polycystic ovary syndrome is the most common cause of female infertility. The condition occurs when a woman's body produces slightly higher than normal amounts of testosterone and other androgens, sex hormones associated with male traits.

The resulting hormone imbalance can cause irregular or absent menstrual periods, weight gain, acne, excess hair on the face and body, or thinning hair on the scalp.

Women with PCOS often take birth control pills to regulate the menstrual cycle and reduce the level of androgens in the body as past research has indicated that pretreatment with a short-term course of birth control pills can raise pregnancy rates among women with PCOS.

The latest study examined the differences in pregnancy outcomes among 149 women with PCOS who either took birth control pills, underwent lifestyle modification or a combination of the two interventions for a four-month period.

The participants were between the ages of 18 and 40.

The researchers found that women who participated in the lifestyle modification intervention and took birth control pills were more likely to ovulate than women who were assigned to take birth control pills.

"The research indicates preconception weight loss and exercise improve women's reproductive and metabolic health," Legro said.

The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

People who have problems with their sense of smell may be at increased risk for dying sooner than those who don't have trouble smelling, a new study suggests.

Researchers analyzed information from more than 1,100 adults in New York City whose average age was 80. The participants took a "scratch and sniff" test in which they attempted to identify 40 common odors. People who scored less than 18 points out of 40 were said to have anosmia, or an inability to smell.

The study found that the people with scores in the low range (zero to 20 points) were nearly four times more likely to die over a four-year period than those with scores in the high range (31 to 40 points). About 45 percent of participants with scores in the low range died during the study period, compared with 18 percent of those with scores in the high range. [7 Ways the Mind and Body Change with Age]

The results held even after the researchers took into account factors that could affect people's risk of death, such as age, alcohol use, head injury, smoking or having dementia.

Therisk of death "increased progressively with worse performance in the smell identification test and was highest in those with the worst smelling ability," study co-author Dr. Davangere Devanand, a professor of psychiatry and neurology at Columbia University, said in a statement.

The results agree with those of a study published last year, which also found a link between smell loss and an increased risk of dying in older adults.

People tend to perform worse on smell tests as they age, and impairments in sense of smell have been linked with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. But the new study suggests that dementia and other medical conditions, by themselves, are not enough to explain the link between problems with smell and increased risk of death.

The researchers noted that a loss of sense of smell could put people at risk for certain hazards, such as ingestion of spoiled food or an inability to smell a natural gas leak or a fire.

A loss of a person's sense of smell may also mean that the cells in the individual's body are not able to regenerate as well as they used to (since the cells responsible for smell detection regenerate throughout life). This could put a person at higher risk of death from other causes.

There remains a need for larger studies looking at whether other factors may explain the link, the researchers said. More work is also needed to determine if the same link can be found in younger populations, the researcher said.

The study is published in the journal Annals of Neurology.