NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids and teens who are born abroad and immigrate to the United States are about half as likely to have asthma and allergies as those who are born in the U.S., according to a new study.

Researchers surveyed the parents of 80,000 children in one of six languages and found that association held even after they took into account where families lived and how often they moved, as well as their race and income.

"This is definitely something we see clinically and we're trying to better understand, what is it in our environment that's increasing the risk of allergic disease?" said Dr. Ruchi Gupta, who studies allergies at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago but wasn't involved in the new research.

"Food allergies have increased tremendously," she told Reuters Health. "We do see people who come from other countries don't tend to have it, but immigrants who are maybe second generation, they're identical (to U.S.-born people)."

It's not obvious what explains that pattern, researchers said.

According to Gupta, two possible culprits are the so-called hygiene hypothesis - which suggests kids in the U.S. are too clean, and their immune systems never get exposed to common allergens - or the poor quality of American diets.

Lead researcher Dr. Jonathan Silverberg from Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York said climate, obesity and various infections might also be playing a role.

"The results of the study suggest that there are environmental factors in the U.S. that trigger allergic disease," he told Reuters Health in an email.

"Children born outside the U.S. are likely not exposed to these factors early in life and are therefore less likely to develop allergic diseases."

Surveys were completed by parents of kids and teens in 2007 and 2008. Just over 20 percent of children born outside the U.S. had any type of allergic disease - including asthma, eczema, hay fever or food allergies - compared to between 34 and 35 percent of those born in the U.S.

What's more, the risk of allergies increased with the more time foreign-born children spent in the U.S., Silverberg and his colleagues wrote in JAMA Pediatrics.

For example, 27 percent of foreign-born kids who had immigrated more than a decade earlier had any type of allergy, according to their parents' reports, versus 17 to 18 percent of those who had moved to the U.S. within the past two years.

"You acclimate to wherever you are and you pick up whatever is going on there," Gupta explained. "The findings here are very interesting - and not surprising."

Silverberg said he hoped the results would lead to further discoveries of what puts U.S. kids at risk for allergies and how to prevent them.

For now, Gupta recommended parents make sure their children eat a diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables. And allowing them to play in the mud a little bit probably wouldn't hurt, she said - with proper hand-washing afterward, of course.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/KEGTVv JAMA Pediatrics, online April 29, 2013.

Obsessively Take and Share Pictures of Food

Hey, look at this chocolate cream pie I made! And these kung pao chicken tacos! And dont forget my blueberry limoncello cooler! I love food as much as the next guy in fact, "Restaurant: Impossible" is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. But I just dont get this obsession with taking photos of eats and sharing them with Facebook and Instagram friends. The only time I want to stare at pictures of food is right before I order it off of a menu.

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Try to Settle Arguments via Texting

I dont know when this happened, but at some point humans thought it was a good idea to text a loved one or friend with their anger or disappointment instead of actually talking to them. Yes, sending a text is easier, but you lose two very critical ingredients: context and tone. (No, emoticons dont count as tone.) Ive seen way too many seemingly innocuous exchanges devolve into digital shouting matches over a texting misunderstanding. Hey, you could always Skype video call to apologize so they know you mean it.

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Use Your Smartphone as a Lighter at a Concert

The first time I saw thousands of people use their phones at a Coldplay concert as a lighter replacement I thought to myself, Thats cute. Five years later, I think its time to move on. Today, you can download all sorts of apps that look like real lighters, including a Zippo lighter that opens with a flick of your wrist and a turn of your thumb. How meta! I would rather you blow cigarette smoke in my face than witness this display of mass stupidity.

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Take Too Many Selfies (Duck Face Included)

Part of me wishes that front-facing cameras on smartphones were never invented. Thats because way too many people feel the need to take self-portraits and share them with the world. Look at me out with my friends drinking again! You know the type. For these people, the smartphone should be smart enough to cap how many selfies they take. Siri: Thats enough, Jenny. They get it. And while were on the subject, please avoid taking selfies with your . Even as an ironic gesture, its over.

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Use Your Phone as a Boombox in a Public Space

Todays smartphones can get pretty darn loud the HTC Ones dual stereo speakers come to mind. In fact, a commercial for the phone has some hipsters rocking out to the device in the middle of a cafe (or bar, I cant tell). The problem is that no human being should ever do that, unless your goal is to annoy everyone else around you.

Ive seen lots of people in New York City use their smartphones as mini boomboxes, not realizing how disturbing it can be to others. Unless youre John Cusack from "Say Anything," plug in headphones. Actually, him too.

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Taking Calls or Incessantly Checking Phone in Elevator

Think about how long you typically spend on an elevator ride, even if theres a few stops along the way. Were talking 20, or maybe as many as 40, seconds. And yet, as a society, weve become so averse to eye contact and real human interaction that wed rather stare at the same inbox or Facebook news feed thats waiting for us five feet from the elevator door.

Worse, some of us make the horrible decision to continue a call as we get on the elevator, making the obligatory announcement that I may lose you; Im getting on an elevator. I have a better idea. Wait!

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Shooting Videos in Portrait Mode

I literally cringe every time I see someone shoot a smartphone video vertically instead of horizontally. Dont you know that your video is going to look cut off? I say to myself. A lot of folks just dont know any better, but theres hope. A hilariousstarted circulating last summer from Laughing Squid that clearly illustrates the problem using puppets. Even if you know how to shoot video the right way, you need to watch this clip.

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Use Apple Maps for the iPhone

As much as I appreciate finally having free turn-by-turn directions on the iPhone, Apples Maps app should not be your go-to choice. For starters, you need to use a third-party app to get public transit directions, like Waze or Google Maps. The app also still suffers from serious inaccuracies. When I searched for Brio Tuscan Grille in my hometown of Freehold, N.J., Apple Maps displayed a location on Route 9, while Google Maps accurately showed the restaurant in the area mall.

Here's another annoyance. Oftentimes Apple Maps doesn't know where you are. For instance, after searching 550 Fifth Avenue while in New York City, the first search result that appeared in a list was in River Edge, NJ. Unless you like starting at fancy 3D flyovers, I would stick to Google Maps until Apple can work out the kinks.

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Smartphoning While Walking

Would you ever walk across a busy intersection with your head down if you didnt have a smartphone in your hand? If you answered no, congratulations, youre sane. So why is it OK to risk your life just to like your friends snarky comment about Gwyneth Paltrows see-through dress? Fortunately, some folks are working on litigating some common sense into your brain. Fort Lee, N.J., issued a ban against texting while cross the street, and Nevada has introduced a similar bill.

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Keep Notification Volume on Full Blast All the Freakin Time

I totally feel you. You dont want to miss that critical tweet about the latest Man of Steel trailer. But when youre heading into an important meeting, the last thing your colleagues want to hear is DROID screaming from your phone or that damn Samsung whistle coming from your Galaxy. Do the world a favor and drill into your settings and do what needs to be done. Or Im going to hunt you down and turn it off myself. Unless Im using Apple Maps. Then youre safe.

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This story was provided by , a sister site to LiveScience. Follow Mark Spoonauer on ,. Follow LAPTOPMAG on ,or .

After a "rough" week across the country, House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi both addressed tragedy and strategy in their weekly news conferences today, offering their condolences to those affected by the Boston Marathon bombings and the West, Texas, explosion.

"Words alone cannot console the loved ones, but we will do what we can to care for them," Pelosi, D-Calif., said. "With the investigation ongoing, we will make sure that justice is done."

"Our hearts go out to the victims and the people of Boston," Boehner, R-Ohio, added. "[I'm] glad the president's up there today, and I add my prayers to his."

As the investigations in Boston and Texas proceed, inside the beltway Congress continues battling over a series of legislative showdowns.

Pelosi and her leadership team fired off a letter today to the speaker demanding that he appoint conferees to settle differences over the House and Senate-passed budgets.

"Right now the focus is on adopting a budget that reflects our country's values, creates jobs and strengthens the middle class," she said. "The Senate has passed its budget billand we're overdue; April 15 was the deadline for us having a budget for a conference report."

When asked whether he intends to comply with Pelosi's request, Boehner encouraged bipartisan informal conversations to continue between House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray. The speaker predicted that the Democrats' approach would only lead to further political warfare because under House rules, if conferees fail to reach an agreement within 20 legislative days, the minority is able to make procedural motions to score political points.

"The minority has the right to offer motions to instruct, which become politically motivated bombs thatshow up on the House floor," Boehner said. "We're following what I would describe as regular order. These informal conversations are underway, and that's the way it should work."

Both Pelosi and Boehner also addressed ongoing immigration reform, and congratulated the Gang of Eight on creating a bipartisan compromise.

"I want to congratulate the Senate Gang of Eight for coming forward with their bill," Boehner said. "I'm sure there's parts of it I would agree with, parts that I would disagree with, but the fact is that they've worked together in a bipartisan fashion to craft this bill."

Pelosi echoed the speaker's sentiments, and admitted that while the bill was commendable, it is not a perfect agreement for either party.

"I feel very confident about how we go forward on the immigration bill. I commend the eight Senators for the work that they did," she said. "Of course, it's a compromise. Would I change things? Of course, but I do think that that's what a compromise is about."

Boehner also noted that reaching compromise legislation among a small group of members does not necessarily prepare every other lawmaker to act on the issue.

"You have to remember, about three-fourths of members of Congress have never dealt with the issue of immigration," he said. "There's a big learning curve that the members are going to have to go through."

The Louisville, Kentucky-based fast-food company also repeated its earnings forecast for the year, based on the better-than-expected first-quarter results.

Sales at established restaurants in China fell an expected 20 percent during the first quarter and Yum warned that fears surrounding a bird flu outbreak there were continuing to depress sales already struggling to recover from a previous food safety scare.

The fast-food operator reaps more than half of its overall sales in China, where most of its nearly 5,300 restaurants are KFCs.

Still, Yum expects sales to recover in China, where it is on track to add 700 new restaurants this year.

"Historically, the sales impact of Avian flu publicity has initially been dramatic at KFC, but relatively short-lived," Chief Executive David Novak said in a statement.

Yum's first-quarter net income fell to $337 million (221.16 million), or 72 cents per share, from $458 million, or 96 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, first-quarter earnings were 70 cents per share, 10 cents better than the average of analysts estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Based on that beat, the company backed its forecast for a mid-single-digit, full-year EPS decline.

DOUBLE WHAMMY

While it is not uncommon for Yum to hit bumps in the road in the world's fastest-growing major economy, it is unusual for the fast-food operator to be grappling with two sales-crushing crises in China at the same time.

The first came in mid-December after the discovery of excessive levels of antibiotics in chicken from two of Yum's suppliers prompted government food safety agencies to probe the company's supply chain. Yum was not fined by food safety authorities, but it suffered a widespread backlash in the mainstream media and on Weibo, the China equivalent of popular U.S. social media site Twitter.

In April, just as the pressure was beginning to ease, reports about a new bird flu outbreak began picking up steam.

Demand for poultry products since then has plummeted and the new strain of bird flu, the H7N9 virus, has infected more than 100 people and killed 22 in China.

Yum stock closed down $1.11 at $64.15 on Tuesday after BofA Merrill Lynch downgraded Yum shares to "underperform." The shares more than recovered in after-hours trading, gaining $3.87 to $68.02.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles. Editing by Andre Grenon)

The co-stars of "White House Down" just couldn't help but start dancing during a photo call for the 5th Annual Summer Of Sony at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Cancun, Mexico, on Friday night.

They were joined by Maggie Gyllenhaal and director Roland Emmerich.

Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Channing Tatum, and Roland Emmerich (Christopher Polk/Getty Images)Tatum and Foxx started dancing as soon as they stepped out of their car. Later, Tatum took Gyllenhaal for a little one-on-one whirl.

Gyllenhaal and Tatum dancing (Christopher Polk/Getty Images)The always suave Tatum (Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

We're sure her husband Peter Sarsgaard and his wife Jenna Dewan-Tatum wouldn't mind!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A shortage of properties could take some edge off home sales during the spring selling season, but the housing market recovery should remain intact.

The stock of houses for sale has declined rapidly in recent months as both investors and ordinary Americans rush to take advantage of near record low mortgage rates.

The surge in demand for houses, thanks to an improving labor market and the Federal Reserve's very accommodative monetary policy, is putting a firmer foundation under the economy as it deals with the headwinds from belt tightening in Washington.

In February, there were 1.94 million previously owned homes on the market, representing 4.7 months of supply. The inventory of new single-family homes available for sale during the same period was about 150,000, or 4.4 months' worth.

A six months' supply is normally considered as a healthy balance between supply and demand. With the busy spring selling season around the corner, realtors and economists are worried about the supply squeeze.

"If we don't see more people listing their properties, I don't think we will see the home sales volume increase that we are accustomed to seeing," said Glenn Kelman, chief executive officer of online real estate group Redfin, based in Seattle.

"There are far more buyers than there are sellers on the market. We would have a huge boom spurred by low interest rates if there were more inventory on the market."

The National Association of realtors expects existing home sales to rise between 7-8 percent this spring from a year ago. For the full year it forecasts sales advancing 7 percent to an annual pace of about 5 million units. Sales are currently running at a 4.98 million-unit pace.

The flow of foreclosed homes coming on to the market, which had been both a source of supply and a key obstacle to the sector's recovery, has dropped significantly in recent months.

According to Kelman, supply was now mostly coming from homeowners and that was not much, as most of the homes were still worth less than what their owners owed banks.

Data from CoreLogic last week showed so-called shadow inventory - homes either in foreclosure or being held from the market by banks - dropped 15.4 percent to 2.2 million in January from a year ago. That was well below the cycle peak of 3 million units in January 2010.

Economists said while homes were still falling into foreclosure, delays with the paper work meant those homes were not coming onto the market. Even where they had been repossessed by the banks, they were also not hitting the market.

"Banks tend to remember the experience of 2008 when they rushed to sell off properties all at once and that caused a downward spiral in house prices," said Andres Carbacho-Burgos, an associate director at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

"They are trying to be cautious about selling off too many properties all at once."

HOMES SELLING IN HOURS

The inventory crunch is most acute in areas like Washington D.C., New York, and the coastal California cities where, according to Kelman, "homes are selling in hours."

The months of supply in coastal California has dropped to 30 days from between six and eight months last year. Even in places like Atlanta and Philadelphia, where the housing market has been slow to recover, inventory is also tightening.

"The demand for properties is insane. The bidding wars that are going on, there is not enough inventory and it has become truly a seller's market again," said Neil Garfinkel, real estate attorney at Abrams Garfinkel Margolis Bergson in New York.

But in cities like Detroit, where the population is declining and vacant houses are everywhere, the housing recovery will probably not happen this year or even next year.

Despite expectations of a relatively quiet spring season, the housing recovery is not expected to step back, largely thanks to investors, who make up roughly a fifth of home sales and account for most of the cash sales.

Cash sales account for about a third of transactions. Wall Street investors, who were very active in the housing market over the past 1-1/2 years, are now competing with ordinary people looking to make money from real estate.

"They are buying whatever they can get their hands on. Before they were more selective," said Kelman.

The properties are repaired and rented out. While some of the big money has started to leave areas like Phoenix, Arizona as the foreclosure inventory gets depleted, Atlanta is seeing a jump in sales and prices because of the Wall Street investors.

"Investors will start to exit only after either foreclosure inventories are significantly depleted or sale discounts have fallen off so much that it's like buying a regularly priced home," said Moody's Analytics' Carbacho-Burgos.

Analysts and realtors saw little chance of a repeat of the housing market collapse.

"Back in 2007 we had very leveraged investors. They were buying a home that they would sell for a higher price in six months," said Redfin's Kelman. "That's not happening now, the investors we see now are coming in with cash."

(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chris Reese)