The research from Mattel Children’s Hospital University of California, Los Angeles, and of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA was based on a review of data gathered on more than 120,000 kids from 1997 to 2006, according to a UPI news report.

Researchers looked at how many of the children had three or more ear infections in a year and compared it to statistics on how many had respiratory allergies. The results were then cross-referenced to air-quality data from the Environmental Protection Agency, which measures pollutants including carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, and tiny particulate matter.

They found that as overall air quality has improved across the U.S., the number of ear infections in children has significantly decreased.

“We believe these findings, which demonstrate a direct correlation between air quality and ear infections, have both medical and political significance,” the researchers said in a statement, according to UPI.

The research findings are published in Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery, UPI reports.

Of course, we wonder if what the company has come up with really is an effective way to prevent the problem, or just a case of corporate public relations and spin doctoring in an attempt to limit damage to Toyota’s image and reputation?

Toyota says it has worked with CTS Corp., the company that supplies the car maker with accelerator pedals, to fix the problem of sticky gas pedals in more than a dozen Toyota and Lexus models, including the popular Camry and Carolla.

Officials had said it could take more than a year to make enough new replacement pedals to outfit the more than four million vehicles affected worldwide. However, Toyota now says it has come up with a “modified pedal” that will use a “selective spacer” to repair the faulty gas pedals, rather than replacing them all, according to a report on Automobilemag.com.

The car maker said it is “working closely with our pedal supplier CTS on a revised design that effectively remedies the problem. These pedals are now in full production at CTS to support Toyota’s needs. At the same time, we continue to work with CTS to test effective pedal modifications for existing vehicles on the road that will be available to our customers as quickly as possible.”

But Toyota’s approach to this scandal begs the question: Is using a Band-Aid type fix rather than a total replacement of the defective pedals really the way to go, when the risks from out-of-control speed in millions of popular vehicles around the world are so high?

It is, if you believe Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez. The leader recently told a gathering of her nation’s pork farming industry that she has heard that eating a piece of grilled pork is better in the bedroom than taking the popular erectile dysfunction drug.

“I’ve just been told something I didn’t know; that eating pork improves your sex life,” the President confided in a recent speech, according to a Reuters news report. “I’d say it’s a lot nicer to eat a bit of grilled pork than take Viagra.”

Her evidence that eating pork works better than Viagra? A recent romantic getaway with her husband that included a diet of barbecued pork, she said.

“Things went very well that weekend, so it could well be true,” the President said in a speech televised across her South American country.

Argentines eat more beef per person than any nation in the world, but the government reportedly is trying to boost the popularity of pork due to rising steak prices.

So, will the President’s shockingly unconventional endorsement of the alleged sexual health benefits of eating pork cause people in Argentina and around the world to eat more pork? We’ll have to wait and see.

In the past few months, Toyota Motor Corp. has issued recalls of more than 7.5 million Toyota and Lexus models because of problems with the accelerators. In some cases, the problems have been blamed on floor mats that slide out of place, pinning the gas pedal to the floor and causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

Also, in an unprecedented move, Toyota announced it would temporarily halt making and selling some of its top-selling vehicles due to concerns about the gas pedals.

So far, the following Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been recalled:

• 2007-2010 Toyota Camry

• 2004-2009 Toyota Prius

• 2005-2010 Toyota Avalon

• 2005-2010 Tacoma

• 2007-2010 Toyota Tundra

• 2007-2010 Lexus ES 350

• 2006-2010 Lexus IS 250 and IS 350

• 2008-2010 Highlander

• 2009-2010 Corolla

• 2009-2010 Venza

• 2009-2010 Matrix

• 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe

• 2009-2010 RAV4

• 2009-2010 Corolla

• 2009-2010 Matrix

• 2005-2010 Avalon

• 2007-2010 Camry

• 2010 Highlander

• 2007-2010 Tundra

• 2008-2010 Sequoia

Toyota is offering to repair or replace defective gas pedals in the recalled vehicles. The company also plans to replace floor mats for some of the recalled vehicles.

The company has agreed to pay $18 million to wireless customers who say they were unfairly charged high fees when they ended their service contracts with the company. The agreement settles legal claims brought by former and current AT&T users and applies to customers as far back as 1998, according to an Associated Press report.

AT&T customers who were charged an early-termination fee from the company after they cancelled a two-year service contract just before it was to expire stand to get back as much as $140, the AP reports. Customers who terminated their contracts earlier in their contract periods would get less money back.

Even former AT&T customers who were never charged an early termination fee can benefit from the settlement. Those customers can get an AT&T long distance phone card with up to 200 minutes, or if they currently have a service contract with AT&T, they may choose to have the fee amount changed from a $175 flat rate to one that is prorated, according to the AP.

AT&T used to charge a flat-rate early-termination fee of $175, regardless of how long the customer had left on the contract. The company started prorating those fees in 2008, meaning customers who cancelled their service after a year paid less money to get out of the deal.

Other telecommunications companies have agreed to similar legal settlements with customers over early-termination fees. In August 2009, Sprint Nextel Corp. agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle the same kinds of claims from its customers.

This week, the Federal Communications Commission asked AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Communications Inc., T-Mobile USA Inc., and Google Inc. to reconsider whether they are giving customers enough notice about the fees they will be charged.

For its part, AT&T said it denies any wrongdoing in the handling of its early-termination fees, but said it agreed to pay the settlement in order to avoid future litigation, according to the AP.

The department unveiled an initiative that urged food companies to voluntarily reduce the salt levels in their products. New York has teamed up with cities, states and national health organizations to gradually cut the salt in packaged and restaurant foods by 25 percent, reducing the nation’s intake of salt by 20 percent.

The average American consumes 3,400 to 3,500 milligrams of sodium a day, although most only need 1,500. Pre-packaged foods and restaurant meals often account for about 80 percent of a person’s daily sodium intake.

The department has a history of groundbreaking health initiatives. In 2006, the city required restaurants to get rid of trans fats. They also raised awareness of high-calorie fast foods and beverages, urging consumers to choose alternate products.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs for short, have been used for about 40 years as flame retardants in foam furniture, electronics, fabrics, carpets and plastics, according to a Los Angeles Times report. Health concerns about the chemicals have led to bans in some states and a general decline in their use.

However, PBDEs are still used and now are being blamed for causing infertility in women exposed to the chemicals, according to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley. PBDEs have been linked to reproductive and other health complications before, including a 2008 study which found a link between the chemicals and thyroid levels in men and a more recent study which concluded they can cause neurodevelopmental delays in young children.

Pregnant Women Studied

For the study, the researchers measured PBDE levels in blood samples from 223 pregnant women, mostly Mexican immigrants living in an agricultural community, the Times reports. The women were asked how long they had been trying to get pregnant by being sexually active without using birth control.

The researchers found women with the highest concentrations of the chemicals in the blood were more likely to have difficulty becoming pregnant. For every 10-fold increase in blood concentration of PBDEs, there was a 30 percent decrease in the likelihood of becoming pregnant each month, the study found.

“It’s a pretty strong effect,” Kim Harley, associate director of the Center for Children’s Environmental Health Research at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and a lead author of the new study, told the Times. “They can all become pregnant, but they all had very different amounts of time it took them to become pregnant.”

Most People Have PBDEs in Their Blood

PBDEs are so widely used in various consumer products and foods that an estimated 97 percent of Americans have detectable levels of the chemicals in their blood. Household products sprayed with the chemicals to make them flame resistant are the leading way people are exposed to the chemicals.

However, researchers said it is still unclear why exposure to PBDEs causes infertility in women.

Suspended high above the street, the Kolelinia consists of a gutter in which you ride and a guide cable that runs alongside the rider at handlebar height. Bikes are connected to the safety line with a tethering device. With these safety measures in place, the bikes pass over the cable. Should you fall off, a safety cable prevents you from hitting the pavement.

The device is intended to be used only at high-traffic junctions, rather than being a freeway in the sky. But critics point to the difficulty of making turns on the track and the fixed handlebars as dangers of the system. For the time being, it looks like bicyclists are safer by brushing up on road safety—the kind that takes place on the ground, rather than above it.

A combination of the cancer agent DFMO and the arthritis drug sulindac has been found to lower the risk of developing colon polyps, which can lead to colon cancer, according to a WebMD report. However, the same researchers who found the benefits of the drug cocktail now say it may only work in people who limit their intake of polyamines.

Polyamines are chemicals found in food which have been shown to increase the risks of colon cancer. Red meat and other foods which are high in polyamines appear to interfere with the drugs’ ability to fight cancer, the scientists said.

In patients who consumed large amounts of polyamines in their diet, the mix of DFMO and sulindac “clearly had no benefit,” the study found.

Colon cancer is a leading killer of Americans, claiming about 160,000 lives in 2009. About one in 19 people in the United States will contract colon cancer.

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine examined data on about 200 people who participated in their original study of DFMO and sulindac. All of the patients had at least one colorectal polyp, also known as adenomas, removed in the past year.

The study participants were categorized depending on their level of polyamine intake. The study team found people with the highest consumption of polyamines had larger polyps and more advanced polyps with greater odds of going on to cancer compared to people with lower levels of the chemicals.

PTSD is a disorder that causes someone who has experienced a trauma to keep reliving it and the fear it caused Researchers at the U.S. Naval Health Research Center led a study of about 700 troops injured in Iraq from 2004 through 2006. About 70 percent of the troops were given morphine, most within an hour of injury. Two years later, 147 of them had developed PTSD. Of the 203 not given morphine immediately after injury, 96 developed PTSD.

Researchers speculated that morphine’s pain-relieving effects put military personnel at a reduced risk of developing the disorder later on. Previous studies have identified associations between lower pain levels after a serious injury and a lesser chance of PTSD.

About 53,000 troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have been treated for PTSD. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A new study conducted by the Archives of Internal Medicine followed 1,506 female soccer players aged 16 to 19 for nine months while they participated in a training program or a control group. The training group concentrated on motor skills and body control, as a means to prepare the young women for sports-specific stresses. Sessions consisted of warm-up, balance, muscle activation, strength and core stability. The other group did its training and warm-up routine as usual.

Among the players who took part in the special training program, three sustained injuries. Although the injuries were serious, all three returned to the field within six months of being hurt. Thirteen players in the control group had knee injuries, most of which were severe. Only four returned to full activity within six months.

The researchers concluded that the training program was linked to a 77% lower frequency of any knee injury, and a 90% lower rate of non-contact knee injuries. Study authors emphasized that the program requires no special equipment and is easy to incorporate into regular sports practices.

Mothers-to-be who allow oral bacteria to go unchecked can cause their babies to be born with low birth weight or prematurely, a new study finds. In one case, bacteria from a mother’s gums led to an infection in a full-term baby that was stillborn, according to an MSNBC.com report.

The dangers of gum disease bacteria to unborn babies have been reported before, but the new study from researchers at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio is the first to connect a mother’s gum infection to a stillborn birth, officials said.

Earlier studies of the oral bacteria Fusobacterium nucleatum in mice found the bacteria could spread from the bloodstream to the placenta. The university study was designed to determine whether the same was possible in people.

The researchers said bacteria from a mother’s mouth can easily enter her bloodstream once her gums are open and bleeding. From there, the bacteria can be quickly passed to the fetus through the placenta.

The California woman whose baby was stillborn reportedly experienced heavy bleeding from her gums associated with gum disease during her pregnancy. About 75 percent of pregnant women develop the condition due to normal hormonal changes and mild gum disease can be treated simply by brushing and flossing more often, researchers said. However, more serious cases of bloody gums during pregnancy may require dental surgery.

While the study’s findings and the report of the stillborn baby may scare many expectant mothers and drive them to obsessively brush and floss, physicians caution against feeling overly alarmed, MSNBC.com reports.

“This is just one case,” said Dr. Richard H. Beigi, an obstetric infectious disease specialist and an assistant professor of reproductive science at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “Most pregnant women have bleeding gums and most don’t have dead babies. This can happen, but it’s rare. And this finding doesn’t mean that it’s increasing.”

Researchers tracked 8,800 adults with no history of heart disease for over six years. The study subjects who watched four hours or more hours of TV per day were 80 percent more likely to die from heart disease, as compared to those who watched less than two hours per day. Each additional hour spent in front of the TV raised the risk of dying from heart disease by 18 percent and the overall risk of death by 11 percent.

Lead study author David Dunstan said that the real problem can be attributed to too much sitting. “Prolonged television watching equals a lot of sitting, which invariably means there’s an absence of muscle movement,” he wrote.

If you’re planning to make up for movie marathons with more exercise, think again: Dunstan and his colleagues incorporated into their study how much participants exercised. Adults who exercised but still watched more TV were still at higher risk of dying than those who watched less and exercised the same amount.

Although no illnesses associated with the products have been reported, the FDA advises pet-owners not to handle or feed them to their pets. A routine testing of the dog treats in December turned up a positive finding for salmonella. Follow-up investigations found deficiencies in the packaging and manufacturing process.

The affected Merrick Beef Filet Squares were packaged in a 10-ounce green, red and tan re-sealable plastic bag. The “best by” date is printed on the top portion of the bag, which is usually torn off when the bag is opened. If you are unable to determine the “best by” date, discontinue use of the product.

Salmonella can affect both humans and animals. Infected pets may become lethargic and have diarrhea, fever and vomiting. If your pet has consumed the recalled product or exhibits any of the above symptoms, contact a veterinarian immediately.

Conair Corp. and the Consumer Product Safety Commission said there have been 14 reports of hot water forcefully spilling out of the water reservoir on the mops. Two consumers have suffered minor burns that required medical attention, officials said.

Conair’s Lysol Steam Cleaning Mops with model numbers SM10L or SM10LR are included in today’s recall. The model number is printed on the bottom of the mop under the microfiber cloth, officials said.

The recalled cleaning products were sold at department, drug, hardware and home improvement stores and mass merchandisers across the United States as well as on the Internet from September 2006 through September 2009 for about $40. They were manufactured in China.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled Lysol mops and contact Conair to receive a free replacement steam cleaning mop, the CPSC said.