Did You Know

July 2006 : Some of the most important weight-loss drugs work by enhancing the effect of the brain chemical serotonin. These include sibutramine (trade name Meridia) and fenfluramine, which was recalled after the combination with dexfenfluramine, called fen-phen, was linked to potentially fatal heart valve abnormalities.

July 2006 – A major study has added weight to the theory that environmental factors such as common infections may be a trigger for diabetes in children and young adults.

July 2006 : UCLA researchers report that thousands of genes behave differently in the same organs of males and females ? something never detected to this degree. Published in the August issue of Genome Research, the study sheds light on why the same disease often strikes males and females differently, …

July 2006 – While obesity has generally been viewed as a single significant health concern, a University of Pittsburgh study suggests that not all obese women share the same health risks. This multi-center study of more than 90,000 women published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows …

The objective of this cross-sectional study of 111 consecutive patients admitted to the maternity care unit of a small community hospital in the US was to determine whether maternal pre-pregnancy shoe size can be used to reliably predict infant birth weight. Data collected included pre-pregnancy height, maternal weight, maternal shoe …

July 2006 – Researchers from the UCLA AIDS Institute and the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine have demonstrated for the first time that human embryonic stem cells can be genetically manipulated and coaxed to develop into mature T-cells, raising hopes for a gene therapy to combat AIDS.

July 2006 – Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that the acute loss of a protein called menin can cause the proliferation of pancreatic islet cells, which secrete insulin to regulate blood sugar. The menin gene (Men1) mutation in humans causes an inherited disease called …

July 2006 – A study of the sleep characteristics of 669 middle-aged adults found that people sleep much less than they should, and even less than they think. Published in the July issue in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the study also found that blacks sleep less than whites, men …

July 2006 – A growing number of cystic fibrosis patients are battling a second, often deadly complication: a unique form of diabetes that shares characteristics of the type 1 and type 2 versions that strike many Americans.

Obesity is under-diagnosed in people with diabetes overall and especially in African-Americans, even though both conditions are more prevalent in African-Americans than whites, a new study finds.