Issue 523

Letter from the Editor #523

Sometimes you like to take credit for things that you had no effect on but happened anyway. That's the case with a bill now in front of the United States House of Representatives. Three weeks ago our intern, Issak Smith, broke the story:

Test Your Knowledge #523: A Woman with Type 2 Diabetes and Hyperlipidemia, Part One of Three

Mrs. Carmend is a 42-year-old Hispanic woman who presents for an annual physical exam.  She states:

Keep it Simple

Keep it Simple (pdf file) Stanley Schwartz, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, gives this simple list to his newly...

BEWARE: McDonald's McCafe Mocha Frappe

BEWARE: McDonald's McCafe Mocha Frappe Nutritional Value:...

Nanotech Breath Sensor Prototype to Detect Diabetes and Potentially Serious Complication

Nanotech Breath Sensor Prototype to Detect Diabetes and Potentially Serious Complication: Scientists are reporting development and successful testing of a sensor that can instantly tell whether someone has Type 1 diabetes. It could also be used by...

Weight 'key' in kidney transplant success

Weight 'key' in kidney transplant success: Matching up the weight of donors and recipients boosts success in kidney transplants, suggest French researchers. A study of over 1,000 transplant patients found those receiving a small kidney in...

Diet May Cut Alzheimers Risk by 38%

Diet May Cut Alzheimers Risk by 38%: Eating a diet high in vegetables, fish, fruit, nuts and poultry, and low in red meat and butter may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, new research finds. Researchers asked more than 2,100 New York City...

Europeans Stop their Escalators for Three Days

Europeans Stop their Escalators for Three Days: Escalators in some of the largest Bulgarian shopping centers were stopped for three days and people had to use stairs, as the country marked the first European Obesity Day on Saturday, May 22. The aim...

Type 2 Diabetes Increases Risk of 24 Cancers

Kari Hemminki in Sweden has carried out the largest study ever on cancer risks of people with Type 2 diabetes....

Debate Rages on HbA1c for Diabetes Diagnosis

An international expert panel's recommendation last year that glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) should be the primary test for diagnosing Type 2 diabetes has met considerable resistance, with some researchers and...

Ranibizumab Reduces Vision Loss Due to Diabetes

Study shows around 40% of ranibizumab patients substantially improved vision by 10 letters or more on an eye-chart, compared to 16% with laser therapy alone.... 

Hearing Loss with Viagra

Men who took drug twice as likely to report hearing loss, study finds....

Eating Processed Meats Can Raise Risk of Heart Disease and Diabetes

Eating bacon, sausage, hot dogs and other processed meats can raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes, U.S. researchers said in a study that identifies the real culprits at the meat counter.... 

Statins Plus Fibrates Show No Benefit

The combination of fenofibrate and simvastatin did not reduce the rate of fatal cardiovascular events, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke, as compared with simvastatin alone....

Microalbuminuria Can Predict Renal and Cardiovascular Disease

Microalbuminuria may predict renal and cardiovascular disease in patients with hypertension but without diabetes, according to the results of a study....

Diabetes Costs More than $218 Billion and Expected to Rise

Medical costs and reduced work productivity associated with diabetes cost the U.S. over $218 billion in 2007, researchers said....

Aerobics Trumps Walking for Health Benefits

When it comes to selecting the best exercise for fitness, aerobic exercise provides better health benefits than walking, according to a new study.... 

Nocturnal Hypoglycemia Frequent & Prolonged with Intensive Treatment

Nocturnal hypoglycemia occurred during 8.5% of nights during 12 months of continuous glucose monitoring for children and adults with Type 1 diabetes, leading researchers to conclude that the occurrence of nocturnal hypoglycemia is frequent...

Common Diabetes Drug Linked to Vitamin Deficiency

Patients treated over long periods with metformin, are at risk of developing vitamin B12 deficiency which is also likely to get worse over time, according to a study....

Weight Watchers Meetings Reduce Risk for Type 2 Diabetes

The 57 million Americans currently living with "pre-diabetes" could benefit from a group weight loss program, like Weight Watchers, according to a new study published in American Journal of Lifestyle...

GFR Associated with Carotid Intima-Media Thickness

The estimated GFR, but not the stage of diabetic nephropathy graded by the urinary albumin excretion, is associated with the carotid intima-media thickness in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study....

Fifty Percent of Hypertensives in Control, Prevalence Not Decreasing

About 50 percent of patients with hypertension have adequate control of their blood pressure, meeting a goal of Healthy People 2010, but the rate of hypertension in the U.S. has not decreased in recent years, according to a recent...

Leisure-Time Physical Activity Benefits Some More than Others

It may seem intuitive that greater amounts of exercise lead to less obesity, but an Indiana University study has found that this conventional wisdom applies primarily to white women....