So-called “smart drugs” meant to enhance brain performance are more likely to leave users ineffectually spinning in place, a new study has found. These stimulants, typically used to treat ADHD, increased study participants’ motivation in solving problems. But the subjects also took much longer to complete tasks because they acted in a more erratic, scattershot manner while they worked, researchers reported in the journal Science Advances. For example, participants on the ADHD drug methylphenidate (Ritalin) took around 50% longer on average to complete a “knapsack task” than they did when they took a placebo, results showed. In this task, subjects are asked to figure out the most efficient way to fill a knapsack to a certain capacity, using a selection of items with various weights. “Although the use of these kinds of stimulant drugs in people without ADHD may be increasing their motivation in complex problem-solving tasks, they decrease the quality of the solutions, so their productivity is decreased,” said lead researcher Elizabeth Bowman, a neuroscientist at the University of Melbourne Centre for Brain, Mind and Markets in Australia. Students and white-collar workers have increasingly turned to prescription stimulants in an attempt to increase their productivity, said Pat Aussem, vice president of consumer clinical content development for the Partnership to End Addiction. Essentially, they are a modern-day spin on the caffeine pills that college students…  read on >  read on >

Weight-loss surgery can have a lot of benefits for obese teens and young adults. But a new study finds a concerning side effect. Young people who had sleeve gastrectomy, the most common obesity surgery, also had weakened bones. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get the operation, said lead author Dr. Miriam Bredella, a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School. Rather, the research could lay the foundation for new therapies to target this bone issue, while teens continue to help preserve their bone strength with supplements, a healthy diet and weight-bearing exercise. Although weaker bones can mean higher risk of fractures, obesity is tied to diabetes and heart disease, Bredella said. “Knowing what we know now and in the studies on hormones, maybe this will represent a target for new therapies that can improve bone health,” Bredella said. A growing problem Obesity is a growing problem in the United States, where 22% of 12- to 19-year-olds are obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The American Academy of Pediatrics, a leading medical group, recommends that teens with severe obesity be evaluated for metabolic or bariatric (weight-loss) surgery. Also, starting at age 12, kids can be offered weight-loss medication, in addition to recommended lifestyle changes, the academy says. Sleeve gastrectomy works by removing between 75% and 80% of the stomach, restricting how…  read on >  read on >

Some might think masturbation is all about self-pleasure, but scientists now claim it’s far more significant than that. Their new findings suggest it could serve an important role in evolution. An ancient trait in primates, masturbation — at least for the males of the species — increases their reproductive success while also helping them avoid catching sexually transmitted infections (STIs), investigators from University College London discovered by using a huge set of data on primate masturbation. Information came from nearly 400 sources, including 246 published academic papers, as well as 150 questionnaires and personal communications from primatologists and zookeepers. The investigators used this data to track masturbation habits among primates, to better understand it. They discovered that masturbation has a long evolutionary history in primates. It was even most likely present in the ancestor that all monkeys and apes, including humans, share. The research team came up with several ideas for why evolution would involve something that seems as non-functional as masturbation. They proposed that masturbation helps with successful fertilization, increasing arousal before sex, which could be helpful for low-ranking males who might be interrupted quickly. The study authors also suggested that masturbation with ejaculation could help shed substandard semen, leaving the better swimmers for when they actually have something to fertilize. The researchers found support for this hypothesis, showing that male masturbation evolved along…  read on >  read on >

Kids with poor impulse control — a common characteristic of ADHD — may be at higher risk for health, social and criminal problems as adults, a new study indicates. Researchers found that having attention and behavior problems in childhood was linked to less money, lower educational achievement and poorer health in adulthood when compared to those who could regulate their behavior as kids. “The ability to control one’s attention and behavior is a fundamental life skill, which supports well-being and adjustment in a range of areas,” said lead researcher Andrew Koepp, from the human development and family sciences department at the University of Texas at Austin. “These findings reinforce the idea that characteristics and experiences of individuals in childhood affect them well into adulthood, and that skills learned in childhood are foundational for success in life,” Koepp added. The study is a “conceptual replication” of a New Zealand study published in 2011 that obtained similar results. For the new study, Koepp and his colleagues collected data on over 15,000 people who took part in the U.K. National Child Development Study. Participants lived in England, Scotland or Wales, and were born during one week in 1958 and followed through age 42. The researchers also collected data on nearly 1,200 participants in the U.S. Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development, who were born in 1991 at…  read on >  read on >

There is no cure for nearsightedness, but medicated eye drops can slow down its progression in children, a new trial finds. The study tested the effects of eye drops containing a very low dose of the drug atropine — the same medication used to dilate the pupils during an eye exam. Researchers found that when children with nearsightedness used the drops every day for three years, their vision worsened more slowly — and was more likely to stabilize — versus kids given placebo drops. That does not mean the drops will reverse vision problems or liberate kids from glasses, experts stressed. “The real point here is the longer term,” said lead researcher Karla Zadnik, dean of Ohio State University’s College of Optometry, in Columbus. Nearsightedness, she explained, arises when at some point during childhood, the eyeball “grows too long” and becomes more oval-shaped than round. That alters how light hits the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye — turning far vision into a “big, blurry mess,” Zadnik explained. Glasses or contact lenses can clear up that mess, but the underlying nearsightedness typically keeps progressing until at least the mid-teens. That matters, Zadnik said, because more severe nearsightedness can lead to problems for some people in adulthood. That elongated eyeball can raise the risk of conditions like retinal detachment, glaucoma and cataracts.…  read on >  read on >