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Religion is good for business

If you are looking for honest companies to invest in, check out businesses based in more religious communities, suggests a new paper.

The paper says that businesses with head offices in places with high levels of "religiosity" were less likely to experience stock price crashes as a result of not disclosing bad financial news. And it didn't matter whether those at the top were religious or not. Just being in a town where social norms are influenced by religious codes of behavior was enough to rub off on the companies operating there.

Climate change denial efforts have organized backers, just like environmentalists do

A new paper by sociologist Robert J. Brulle, PhD, of Drexel University details the organizational underpinnings and funding behind the powerful climate change counter-movement. He says it is the first comprehensive analysis ever conducted of the sources of funding that maintain the denial effort, though they are well known by now.

UNL research raises concerns about global crop projections

LINCOLN, Neb. — About 30 percent of the major global cereal crops – rice, wheat and corn – may have reached their maximum possible yields in farmers' fields, according to University of Nebraska-Lincoln research published this week in Nature Communications. These findings raise concerns about efforts to increase food production to meet growing global populations.

Half of National Lottery in Spain sold at Christmas

Sales of the National Lottery have fallen for the last five years, which shows that even the most traditional games have been affected by the economic crisis. In 2012, it collected 5.0163 billion euros, down 4.8% from 2011 and 12.2% compared to 2007. The preliminary data from the report on 2013 suggests that this decline is increasing, when this underlying trend is added to the impact on buyers of the 20% tax that was placed on lottery prizes bigger than 2,500 euros at the beginning of the year.

Greater dietary fiber intake associated with lower risk of heart disease

In recent years, a decline in both cardiovascular disease (CVD) and coronary heart disease (CHD) has been seen in some European countries and the United States. However, it still remains a significant issue accounting for almost half (48%) and a third (34%) of all deaths in Europe and the United States.

Many studies have examined the relationship between dietary fibre or fibre-rich foods and CVD risk factors.

Government's voluntary approach to improving hospital food is not working, argues expert

In an article published on bmj.com today, she says the government has wasted more than £54 million of taxpayers' money on twenty one failed voluntary initiatives to improve hospital food since 1992 - enough to pay for thirty four new hospital kitchens.

It is clear that the voluntary approach to improving hospital food is not working, and that the government "should set mandatory standards for hospital food without exception," she writes.

Most women on dialysis -- even those who lack interest in sex -- are satisfied with their sex lives

Washington, DC (December 19, 2013) — Among women on long-term hemodialysis, many are sexually inactive, but sexual dysfunction is considerably less common than previously reported, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). The findings suggest that efforts to assess and treat sexual dysfunction among women on dialysis likely require one-on-one discussions between physicians and patients to identify those women who truly suffer from this problem and who wish to consider treatment options.

Ancient cranial surgery

Cranial surgery is tricky business, even under 21st-century conditions (think aseptic environment, specialized surgical instruments and copious amounts of pain medication both during and afterward).

However, evidence shows that healers in Peru practiced trepanation — a surgical procedure that involves removing a section of the cranial vault using a hand drill or a scraping tool — more than 1,000 years ago to treat a variety of ailments, from head injuries to heartsickness. And they did so without the benefit of the aforementioned medical advances.

Many people with diabetes still lose vision, despite availability of vision-sparing treatment

Despite recent advances in prevention and treatment of most vision loss attributed to diabetes, a new study shows that fewer than half of Americans with damage to their eyes from diabetes are aware of the link between the disease and visual impairment, and only six in 10 had their eyes fully examined in the year leading up to the study.

The research, described online on Dec. 19 in JAMA Ophthalmology, also found that nearly half of those with diabetes and eye damage had not visited a clinician charged with managing their disease in that same time period.

The black-white infant mortality gap: Large, persistent and unpredictable

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The unobservable factors that underpin the infant mortality gap between blacks and whites have persisted for more than 20 years and now appear to play a larger role than the observable factors, according to a new study by Michigan State University researchers.

Published in the American Journal of Public Health, the study is the first to investigate long-term changes in both sets of factors, providing vital context of the scope of the problem as medical experts around the world try to solve the mystery behind the gap.

Telecoupling science shows China's forest sustainability packs global impact

As China increases its forests, a Michigan State University (MSU) sustainability scholar proposes a new way to answer the question: if a tree doesn't fall in China, can you hear it elsewhere in the world?

In this week's journal Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, MSU's University Distinguished Professor Jianguo "Jack" Liu dissects the global impact of China's struggle to preserve and expand its forests even as its cities and population balloon.

Cancer Immunotherapy tops Science Magazine's breakthroughs of 2013

The cancer research community experienced a sea change in 2013 as promising results emerged from clinical trials of cancer immunotherapy, in which treatments target the body's immune system rather than tumors directly. The new treatments push T cells and other immune cells to combat cancer—and the editors of Science believe that such approaches are now displaying enough promise to top their list of the year's most important scientific breakthroughs.

The cost of antibiotic drugs for children -- a comparison of 2 countries

(Boston) – The 2009 costs of antibiotics covered by private insurance companies in the U.S. for children younger than 10 years old were estimated to be more than five times higher than the costs in the United Kingdom (U.K.), which are covered by a government universal health plan. These results, from Boston University's Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, are a follow up of an ongoing comparison of prescription drug costs between the U.S. and U.K. The initial results reported on relative drug costs in 2005.

Chewing gum is often the culprit for migraine headaches in teens

Teenagers are notorious for chewing a lot of gum. The lip smacking, bubble popping, discarded gum stuck to the sole give teachers and parents a headache.

Now, Dr. Nathan Watemberg of Tel Aviv University-affiliated Meir Medical Center has found that gum-chewing teenagers, and younger children as well, are giving themselves headaches too. His findings, published in Pediatric Neurology, could help treat countless cases of migraine and tension headaches in adolescents without the need for additional testing or medication.

Monthly appointments with pharmacists improve medication adherence

Patients are more likely to take chronic medications when they meet monthly with pharmacists to coordinate medication schedules and treatments, according to a Virginia Commonwealth University study.