ScienceDaily: Living Well News

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• Passive smoking causes irreversible damage to children's arteries
• Mother's diet linked to premature birth: fruits, vegetables linked to reduced risk of preterm delivery
• Opening a casino linked with lower rate of overweight children in that community
• Moving out of high poverty appears to affect the mental health of boys, girls differently
• Young children form first impressions from faces
• Female fertility: What's testosterone got to do with it? Research shows male hormones may enhance IVF therapy
• Drinking buddies deny copying alcoholic drink orders
• New evidence confirms link between IQ, brain cortex
• Meat and cheese may be as bad for you as smoking
• Youngest kindergarteners most likely to be held back, study finds
• Screening does not shift breast cancer to earlier stages
• Prevalence of allergies the same, regardless of where you live
• New school meal standards significantly increase fruit, vegetable consumption
• Female doctors spend more time than male doctors on parenting, household tasks
• International research project: The more available alcohol is, the more likely that people will drink heavily
• Hangovers do not seem to have much influence on the time to next drink
• Do bedroom televisions contribute to youth obesity?
• Yoga regulates stress hormones, improves quality of life for women with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy
• We want to save water, but do we know how? Toilets have greatest impact
• Race relations affected by where you live
• In academia, men more likely to cooperate with lower-ranked colleagues

Passive smoking causes irreversible damage to children's arteries Posted: 04 Mar 2014 06:54 PM PST Exposure to passive smoking in childhood causes irreversible damage to the structure of children's arteries, according to a study. The study is the first to follow children through to adulthood in order to examine the association between exposure to parental smoking and increased carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) -- a measurement of the thickness of the innermost two layers of the arterial wall -- in adulthood. It adds further strength to the arguments for banning smoking in areas where children may be present, such as cars.

Mother's diet linked to premature birth: fruits, vegetables linked to reduced risk of preterm delivery Posted: 04 Mar 2014 06:01 PM PST Pregnant women who eat a 'prudent' diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains and who drink water have a significantly reduced risk of preterm delivery, suggests a study. A "traditional" dietary pattern of boiled potatoes, fish and cooked vegetables was also linked to a significantly lower risk. Although these findings cannot establish causality, they support dietary advice to pregnant women to eat a balanced diet including vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and fish and to drink water.

Opening a casino linked with lower rate of overweight children in that community Posted: 04 Mar 2014 01:20 PM PST The opening or expansion of a casino in a community is associated with increased family income, decreased poverty rates and a decreased risk of childhood overweight or obesity, according to a study. The authors speculate that the association found in this study between casinos and childhood overweight/obesity may be from both increased family/individual and community economic resources, but emphasize that further research is needed to better understand the mechanisms underlying this association.

Moving out of high poverty appears to affect the mental health of boys, girls differently Posted: 04 Mar 2014 01:20 PM PST For families who moved out of high-poverty neighborhoods, boys experienced an increase and girls a decrease in rates of depression and conduct disorder, according to a study. The authors speculate that the sex differences found in this study "were due to girls profiting more than boys from moving to better neighborhoods because of sex differences in both neighborhood experiences and in the social skills needed to capitalize on the new opportunities presented by their improved neighborhoods."

Young children form first impressions from faces Posted: 04 Mar 2014 12:46 PM PST Just like adults, children as young as 3 tend to judge an individual's character traits, such as trustworthiness and competence, simply by looking at the person's face, new research shows. And they show remarkable consensus in the judgments they make, the findings suggest. Overall, children seemed to be most consistent in judging trustworthiness. This suggests that children may tend to pay particular attention to the demeanor of a face -- that is, whether it is broadly positive or negative.

Female fertility: What's testosterone got to do with it? Research shows male hormones may enhance IVF therapy Posted: 04 Mar 2014 11:19 AM PST The use of testosterone to improve outcomes in women undergoing in vitro fertilization is taking hold across the country, but data on its use is slim and mixed. A new study suggests that the male hormone might actually be doing something good by helping drive the development of follicles -- structures that contain and ultimately release an egg that can be fertilized by a man's sperm. The authors believe the study provides potential biological targets to enhance fertility in women with diminished ovarian reserve, who produce few or no follicles in response to IVF drugs designed to boost follicle development.

Drinking buddies deny copying alcoholic drink orders Posted: 04 Mar 2014 11:18 AM PST People who copy their friend's drinking behavior will deny that their decision has been influenced, researchers have shown. In a new study, conducted in a lab designed to imitate a bar, pairs of friends were brought together. One of the friends was made aware of the experimental aims and was told to drink alcoholic drinks throughout the session or to stick to soft drinks. While most people were strongly influenced by peers -- they mimicked their friend and drank more heavily when their friend did -- the majority of participants were unaware of this influence on their behavior and were adamant that their friend's choice did not have anything to do with their decision to drink.

New evidence confirms link between IQ, brain cortex Posted: 04 Mar 2014 11:17 AM PST Rate of change in the thickness of the brain's cortex is an important factor associated with a person's change in IQ, according to a collaborative study by scientists in five countries. The cortex is the thin, outermost layer of nerve cell tissue of the brain, typically measuring a few millimeters in thickness. The cortex contains nerve cell bodies and is critical for cognitive functions such as perception, language, memory and consciousness. The cortex begins to thin after the age of five or six as part of the normal aging process. This study is the first to show the association between cortical thickness and development in full scale IQ, and has potentially wide-ranging implications for the pedagogical world and for judicial cases in which the defendant's IQ score could play a role in determining the severity of the sentence.

Meat and cheese may be as bad for you as smoking Posted: 04 Mar 2014 09:56 AM PST A high-protein diet during middle age makes you nearly twice as likely to die and four times more likely to die of cancer, but moderate protein intake is good for you after 65. But how much protein we should eat has long been a controversial topic -- muddled by the popularity of protein-heavy diets such as Paleo and Atkins. Before this study, researchers had never shown a definitive correlation between high protein consumption and mortality risk.

Youngest kindergarteners most likely to be held back, study finds Posted: 04 Mar 2014 08:35 AM PST The youngest kindergartners are about five times more likely to be retained, or held back, compared to the oldest students, resulting in higher costs for parents and school districts. In general, children must be five years old to be eligible to be enrolled in kindergarten. However, the developmental differences between a young kindergartener who barely qualifies for the state-mandated age cutoff date compared to a child who is almost year older, may have implications.

Screening does not shift breast cancer to earlier stages Posted: 04 Mar 2014 08:34 AM PST New research suggests that screening for breast cancer results in increased diagnoses of early stage cancer -- but without a similarly sized decrease in the more serious and aggressive cases. "The idea of screening is that the cancer should be detected as early as possible so that the woman can be treated and cured. So when you introduce screening women should be transferred from having cancer in advanced stages to having cancer in an early stage. That is, if the screening works according to plan," says the lead author.

Prevalence of allergies the same, regardless of where you live Posted: 04 Mar 2014 07:21 AM PST In the largest, most comprehensive, American nationwide study to examine the prevalence of allergies from early childhood to old age, scientists report that allergy prevalence is the same across different regions of the United States, except in children 5 years and younger.

New school meal standards significantly increase fruit, vegetable consumption Posted: 04 Mar 2014 04:10 AM PST New federal standards launched in 2012 that require schools to offer healthier meals have led to increased fruit and vegetable consumption, according to a new study. The study, the first to examine school food consumption both before and after the standards went into effect, contradicts criticisms that the new standards have increased food waste. "There is a push from some organizations and lawmakers to weaken the new standards. We hope the findings, which show that students are consuming more fruits and vegetables, will discourage those efforts," said the lead author.

Female doctors spend more time than male doctors on parenting, household tasks Posted: 03 Mar 2014 06:12 PM PST A new study finds gender differences in parenting and household labor persist among a group of highly motivated physician-researchers in the early stages of their career. The finding could shed light on why female academic physicians in general do not have the same career success as their male colleagues. "We are seeing a growing appreciation of the need to facilitate work-life balance for both men and women, but it is important to recognize how this continues to challenge women more than men in our society," the lead author states.

International research project: The more available alcohol is, the more likely that people will drink heavily Posted: 03 Mar 2014 01:36 PM PST The bulk of knowledge about alcohol consumption and problems comes from high-income countries. The International Alcohol Control study was established to collect and compare data from both high- and middle/low-income countries. New results focused on New Zealand show that heavy-drinking in this country tends to be influenced by drinkers that buy cheaper, off-premise alcohol, and purchase it at later times.

Hangovers do not seem to have much influence on the time to next drink Posted: 03 Mar 2014 01:36 PM PST Many people believe that hangovers can either delay subsequent drinking due to pain and discomfort, or hasten drinking to relieve hangover symptoms. A new study investigates if a hangover that follows a drinking episode can influence the time to next drink. Results indicate that hangovers appear to have a very modest effect on subsequent drinking.

Do bedroom televisions contribute to youth obesity? Posted: 03 Mar 2014 01:31 PM PST Does having a television in the bedroom contribute to youth weight gain? In a recent American national study, researchers found that having a bedroom television was a significant predictor of adolescent weight gain. "This study suggests that removing bedroom TVs is an important step in our nation's fight against child obesity. We found that adolescents with a TV in their bedroom gained about 1 extra pound a year, compared to those without one, even after accounting for hours of TV watched each day and socioeconomic factors," said study's first author.

Yoga regulates stress hormones, improves quality of life for women with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy Posted: 03 Mar 2014 01:31 PM PST For women with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy, yoga offers unique benefits beyond fighting fatigue, according to research. Researchers found that while simple stretching exercises counteracted fatigue, patients who participated in yoga exercises that incorporated controlled breathing, meditation and relaxation techniques into their treatment plan experienced improved ability to engage in their daily activities, better general health and better regulation of cortisol (stress hormone). Women in the yoga group were also better equipped to find meaning in the illness experience, which declined over time for the women in the other two groups.

We want to save water, but do we know how? Toilets have greatest impact Posted: 03 Mar 2014 12:41 PM PST Many Americans are confused about the best ways to conserve water and have a slippery grasp on how much water different activities use, according to a national online survey. Experts say the best strategy for conserving water is to focus on efficiency improvements such as replacing toilets and retrofitting washing machines. However, the largest group of the participants, nearly 43 percent, cited taking shorter showers, which does save water but may not be the most effective action. Very few participants cited replacing toilets or flushing less, even though toilets use the most volume of water daily.

Race relations affected by where you live Posted: 03 Mar 2014 12:41 PM PST People's racial prejudices are influenced by where they live, reports a new study by psychologists. The researchers found that levels of racial prejudice among white people drop significantly when they live in ethnically mixed communities, even when they do not have direct contact with minorities. Simply seeing white strangers interacting positively with ethnic minorities is enough to reduce racial prejudice.

In academia, men more likely to cooperate with lower-ranked colleagues Posted: 03 Mar 2014 11:01 AM PST Women of different social or professional 'ranks' cooperate less well with each other than men do, according to a new study. With those they see as equals, the study found no difference between the sexes. Cooperation among women was as frequent as cooperation among men.

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