Health Highlights: Jan. 17, 2008

Mar. 23 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

U.S. Student Murders Decline

Overall rates of school-associated student murders in the United States declined from 1992 to 2006, says a study released Thursday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study looked at public and private elementary and high schools.

An analysis of data from the School-Associated Violent Death Study found that during the seven school years from July 1999 to June 30, 2006, there were 116 students murdered in 109 school-associated incidents. That works out to an average of 16.5 per year and an average annual murder rate of .03 cases per 100,000 students.

The study also found that:

• School-associated murders account for less than one percent of overall murders of school-aged young people.
• Gunshot wounds were the leading cause of death (65 percent) in school-associated murders, followed by stabbing or cutting (27 percent), and beatings (12 percent). Because deaths may result from multiple causes, the total exceeds 100 percent.
• Males, secondary school students, and students in central cities were most likely to be murdered.

"The decline in episodes of school-associated violence is promising and encouraging," Dr. Ileana Arias, director of the CDC's Injury Center, said in a prepared statement. "However, we are still facing challenges to build on the improvements that schools have made and continue to implement effective prevention strategies to keep our children safe."

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U.K. Approves Human-Animal Stem Cell Research

U.K. authorities have given scientists permission to create human-animal embryos for stem cell research, BBC News reported.

The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority decided to give one-year research licenses to King's College London and Newcastle University after public consultations showed people were "at ease" with the idea. Further licenses for this kind of research would be granted on a case-by-case basis.