Harvard Health Content API

A recent study of people with type 2 diabetes adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests a lower LDL cholesterol level increases cancer risk. Researchers in China studied the relationship between cancer risk and LDL cholesterol level in people with type 2 diabetes. People with a concentration of LDL cholesterol in the blood above a certain amount had a greater likelihood of cancer, but so did people with a LDL cholesterol level below a certain amount. The study indicates that balancing the risks and benefits of treating high LDL cholesterol may not be as simple as doctors once thought. It was reported in the Canadian medical Association Journal on August 26, 2008.

A coating used on nonstick pans also could protect pancreas cell transplants, a study in mice suggests. The study used pancreas precursor cells. These cells develop into beta cells, which make insulin. People develop type 1 diabetes when the immune system attacks and destroys the beta cells. Researchers coated mouse precursor cells with the chemical used in Teflon coatings on pans. Then they transplanted the cells into mice. The immune system did not attack the cells. The precursor cells turned into beta cells that began to make insulin. Researchers say the study could lead to a new approach for treating type 1 diabetes. It was published in the journal Transplantation. The website medindia.com wrote about the study April 11.

President-elect Barack Obama wants medical treatment to become more personal, the Associated Press (AP) says. This approach adapts care based on a person’s genes. For example, a medicine may not work well for everyone. Gene differences may be one reason. Obama believes more personal treatment should be part of health care reform, experts told AP. As a senator, he introduced a bill to have U.S. agencies work together on the issue. It also would support research with a data bank and tax credits. AP wrote about the issue November 28.

Adding a new drug to standard treatment may improve the outcome for people with hepatitis C, two new studies have found. The studies included a total of 584 people. In each study, people were divided into groups. Some took standard treatment, which is peginterferon and ribavirin. Others received these drugs plus a new one, telaprevir. Six months after the end of treatment, about 2 out of 3 people who took telaprevir had no signs of the virus in their blood. By comparison, fewer than half of those who got only standard treatment had the desired response. But people who took telaprevir were more likely to quit because of side effects. The New England Journal of Medicine published the studies. The Associated Press wrote about them April 30.

Women with psoriasis are 63% more likely to develop diabetes than women without this skin condition, a new study finds. The research included about 78,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study. None of them had diabetes at the start of the study. Women with psoriasis were more likely than others to develop it during the next 14 years. They also had an increased risk of high blood pressure. But the increase was smaller: 17%. The study authors pointed to one possible reason for the link. They noted that all three conditions are related to long-term inflammation in the body. The study appeared in the journal Archives of Dermatology. HealthDay News wrote about it April 20.

Check-ups for kids are a regular part of parenthood, but a new study explored what parents thought about well-child visits. Parents use the visits to establish a relationship with their child’s doctor, as well as to ask questions and get information. The study included more than 100 parents. It was published in the September issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Hormones given in a patch or gel may be safer than pills for women’s hearts, a study suggests. Researchers used Danish databases of prescriptions and heart attacks. They looked at these numbers for 700,000 older women in the years 1995 to 2001. Overall, women who took female hormones had the same heart attack risk as women who didn’t take hormones. But the risk was 35% higher for those who took estrogen plus progestin in pill form. Researchers said hormone patches and gels may not affect clotting or inflammation in the same way as pills. USA Today wrote about the study October 1. It was published in the European Heart Journal.

About 1 in 5 U.S. adults is disabled, a new study has found. The most common cause was arthritis. Government researchers used data from a survey done in 2005. They found that about 48 million Americans are disabled. That’s up from 45 million in 1999. This change was caused mainly by an increase in the number of older adults. In the 2005 survey, about 8.6 million people were disabled with arthritis. Another 7.6 million had back or spine problems. Heart disease disabled 3 million. The study was published April 30. It appeared in the journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

A diabetes drug sold outside the United States may help to prevent the disease in people at risk, a study suggests. The study included 1,780 people in Japan. All had high blood sugar, but not as high as people with diabetes. This is called pre-diabetes. People with pre-diabetes are more likely to develop diabetes. People in the study were randomly divided into two groups. One group took voglibose three times a day. The other took fake pills that looked the same (placebos). Fifty people in the voglibose group developed diabetes within three years. This compares with 106 in the placebo group. People taking voglibose also were more likely to reduce blood sugar to normal levels. The journal Lancet published the study online. Reuters Health news service wrote about it April 21.

A study using mice offers some new clues about the pneumonia infections that often occur after flu. These second infections greatly increase the risk of death. First, researchers injected mice with flu virus. Later, they injected Haemophilus influenzae bacteria. These bacteria are a common cause of pneumonia. Mice were most likely to die if they were injected with the bacteria soon after the flu virus. Pneumonia quickly caused severe damage to the lungs. This damage often led to death. This happened in mice with both normal and weak immune systems. The study appeared January 22 in The American Journal of Pathology.