Their numbers are dwindling at such a rate that our food supply may be in jeopardy - and that decline may continue as their educational debt continues to rise. These are just two of the challenges facing food animal veterinary medicine, one of the bulwarks of our food safety system...

Children and adolescents who refuse to attend school should not be given doctors' sick notes. In the current issue of Deutsches -rzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107[4]), child and adolescent psychiatrist Martin Knollmann and colleagues explain the causes of school avoidance and describe measures to tackle the problem.

Writing in a leading medical journal, the Health Commissioner for the City of New York argues in support of taxing sweetened beverages, suggesting that a "penny per ounce" excise tax could reduce their consumption by more than ten per cent, a much bigger change than could be achieved by education alone, in the fight to tackle the rising problem of obesity.

A typical characteristics of children's linguistic development are early signs of the risk of developing reading and writing disabilities, or dyslexia. New research points to preventive exercises as an effective means to tackle the challenges children face when learning to read. The results achieved at the Centre of Excellence in Learning and Motivation Research were presented at the Academy of Finland's science breakfast on 21 August.