Today's Globe: indicted doctor, workplace dieting, biotech overload, Cirque du Soleil, AIDS gene variants, and a pack of Newports

A Harvard-affiliated obstetrician has been indicted on a manslaughter charge after an abortion he performed last year on Cape Cod ended in the death of a 22-year-old woman, prosecutors said yesterday.

Low-carbohydrate and so-called Mediterranean diets may be more effective than low-fat diets, according to a major new study published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., a Worcester biotech firm, said it was the first to clone an endangered species, an Asian bovine. Executives said they pioneered research that could one day be used to reverse the aging process and grow replacement body parts. And ACT said it cloned the first human embryo, a discovery that sparked headlines worldwide. But all the publicity likely backfired.

Suspension training offers something different. With legs or hands hooked into the straps, users get to channel their favorite Cirque du Soleil acrobats. Inka classes, offered at Equinox gyms in Boston, New York, Darien, Conn., and Los Angeles, pipe in Andean flute music to create an otherworldly workout atmosphere.

A gene variant that emerged thousands of years ago to protect Africans from malaria may raise their vulnerability to HIV infection but help them live longer once infected, researchers said yesterday.

Hoping to lure a new generation of smokers, tobacco companies routinely manipulate levels of menthol so that their cigarettes prove more appealing and less harsh to novice users, Boston researchers reported yesterday.