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Fast food linked to lower test scores in 8th graders

The amount of fast food children eat may be linked to how well they do in school, a new nationwide study suggests.

Researchers found that the more frequently children reported eating fast food in fifth grade, the lower their growth in reading, math, and science test scores by the time they reached eighth grade.

Students who ate the most fast food had test score gains that were up to about 20 percent lower than those who didn't eat any fast food, said Kelly Purtell, lead author of the study and assistant professor of human sciences at The Ohio State University.

Disabled, ethnic men more likely to do 'women's work' - paper

New research has revealed that men who are disabled and from an ethnic minority are significantly more likely to do jobs traditionally associated with women.

The work, led by the University of Exeter Business School, analyzed the workforce across the lowest grade in a very large FTSE company, focusing on the lowest paid, low skilled and often part-time jobs.

The study found:

Trophic Coherence: Ecosystems need human math, not random nature, to survive

A previously unknown mathematical property has been found to be behind one of nature's greatest mysteries - how ecosystems survive.

Found in nature and common to all ecosystems the property, Trophic Coherence, is a measure of how plant and animal life interact within the food web of each ecosystem - providing scientists with the first ever mathematical understanding of their architecture and how food webs are able to grow larger while also becoming more stable.

Cakes, cookies and pies purchases decline by 24 percent

Ready-to-eat grain-based desserts (RTE GBDs) are pre-packaged consumer baked goods such as cakes, cookies, pies, doughnuts, and pastries. These types of products contribute a significant amount of energy, sugar, and saturated fat to Americans' diets, making them a strategic target for researchers looking to pinpoint ways to lower consumption of empty calories.

Concerns raised about variable performance of some UK personal use breathalyzers

The ability of some breathalyzers widely sold to the UK public to detect potentially unsafe levels of breath alcohol for driving, varies considerably, reveals research published in the online journal BMJ Open.

The findings call into question the regulatory process for approving these sorts of devices for personal use, say the researchers, particularly as false reassurance about a person's safety to drive could have potentially catastrophic consequences.

Steroid-based treatment may answer needs of pediatric EoE patients

Bethesda, MD (Dec. 19, 2014) -- A new formulation of oral budesonide suspension, a steroid-based treatment, is safe and effective in treating pediatric patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Eosinophilic esophagitis is a chronic immune system disease caused by a buildup of white blood cells in the lining of the esophagus. This build up, which is a reaction to food, allergens or acid reflux, can inflame or injure esophageal tissue.

Tooth loss linked to slowing mind and body

The memory and walking speeds of adults who have lost all of their teeth decline more rapidly than in those who still have some of their own teeth, finds new UCL research.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, looked at 3,166 adults aged 60 or over from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and compared their performance in tests of memory and walking speed. The results showed that the people with none of their own teeth performed approximately 10% worse in both memory and walking speed tests than the people with teeth.

Don't be tempted to buy your teen a cheap (old) car, parents warned

Almost half of teen drivers killed on US roads in the past few years were driving vehicles that were 11 or more years old, and often lacking key safety features, reveals research published online in Injury Prevention.

Parents, who are usually the ones stumping up for a car, could be putting their children's lives at risk by focusing on cost, warn the researchers.

The Lancet: Most commonly prescribed glaucoma drug reduces risk of vision loss by more than 50 percent over 2 years

Prostaglandin analogue eye drops, the most commonly prescribed treatment for glaucoma, can greatly reduce risk of vision loss in people with open angle glaucoma (OAG), one of the leading causes of blindness, according to the first placebo-controlled trial to assess their vision-preserving effect published in The Lancet.

People with blood groups A, B and AB at higher risk of type 2 diabetes than group O

A study of more than 80,000 women has uncovered different risks of developing type 2 diabetes associated with different blood groups, with the biggest difference a 35% increased risk of type 2 diabetes found in those with group B, Rhesus factor positive (R+) blood compared with the universal donor group O, Rhesus factor negative (R-).

Science magazine's top 10 stories of 2014

The editors of the journal Science have chosen their favorite science stories of the year and their top-10 list for 2014 appears in the December 19th issue.

Resistance to anti-viral drug may be more likely in cystic fibrosis patients

MAYWOOD, Ill. - A drug called ganciclovir is given to lung transplant patients to protect against a life-threatening virus that is common after transplantation.

Ganciclovir reduces mortality due to the virus from 34 percent to between 3 and 6 percent. But between 5 percent and 10 percent of patients infected with the virus have strains that are resistant to the drug.

Core hospital care team members may surprise you

Doctors and nurses are traditionally thought to be the primary caretakers of patients in a typical hospital setting. But according to a study at the burn center intensive care unit at Loyola University Health System, three physicians, a social worker and a dietitian were documented as the most central communicators of the patient clinical team.

Public opinion in Russia: Russians' attitudes on economic and domestic issues

Chicago, December 17, 2014--A poll of the Russian public, conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, was released today. The poll, which includes a nationally representative in-person survey of 2,008 Russian adults taken between November 22 and December 7, 2014, found that President Vladimir Putin is extremely popular. Few say the economy is in good condition and most say that sanctions are hurting the Russian economy. Despite economic woes, most Russians believe their country is headed in the right direction.

Self-reported daily exercise associated with lower blood pressure, glucose readings

PASADENA, Calif., December 18, 2014 -- Self-reported moderate to vigorous exercise was associated with lower blood pressure and blood glucose levels in a Kaiser Permanente study published in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease. Data collected from Kaiser Permanente's Exercise as a Vital Sign (EVS) program, in which medical office staff asks patients about their exercise habits at every health care visit, revealed associations between moderate to vigorous exercise and improved measures of cardiometabolic health for both men and women.