Harvard Health Content API

A newer type of surgery for the back problem sciatica doesn’t speed recovery, a study has found. Sciatica is a painful condition. It is caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve. Sometimes the source of pressure is a bulging disk in the spine. The older procedure to repair the disc is called microdiskectomy. The newer one, tubular diskectomy, uses a smaller incision. Researchers divided 328 people with sciatica into two groups. Half had the older surgery, and half had the newer one. People who had the older procedure actually recovered a bit faster and with less pain. The study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association. HealthDay News wrote about it July 8.

Measuring cholesterol may get easier. That’s the conclusion of a new study. The study looked at blood tests for more than 300,000 people. They had taken part in 68 previous studies. None had heart disease at first. Their blood was tested for LDL (“bad” cholesterol), HDL (“good” cholesterol), total cholesterol and triglycerides. Researchers also looked at non-HDL cholesterol levels. They found that this number predicted future risk of heart attack or stroke as well as LDL levels. Fasting before the blood test made no difference in how well the results predicted risk. Also, triglyceride levels did not predict heart attack or stroke risk. Researchers said this means that tests could be simpler and done without fasting. The study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association. HealthDay News wrote about it November 10.

Lung cancer risk among people who don’t smoke has stayed the same since the 1930s. And of the nonsmokers who get this disease, men are more likely to die. Those are among the findings of a large international study. It included information from nearly 2 million people around the world. Men who had never smoked had a 1.1% percent risk of lung cancer death. The risk was 0.8% for women. HealthDay News wrote about the study September 9. It was published in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Getting more sleep may help prevent colds, a new study suggests. More than 150 adults were asked about their sleep habits. Then researchers sprayed cold viruses up their noses. They stayed in a hotel for five days. In that time, 135 became infected with the virus. But only 54 got sick. People who slept less than seven hours a night were three times as likely to get sick as those who slept eight hours a night. Sleep quality also mattered. People who tossed and turned at least 8% of the time they were in bed got 5 times as many colds as people who slept better. The Associated Press wrote about the study January 13. It appeared in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

A Mediterranean diet appears to reduce the risk of early death and several diseases, a study has found. Researchers combined data from 12 studies. They included 1.6 million people. Their diets were compared with the Mediterranean diet. This diet emphasizes olive oil, grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables and fish. Researchers created a 9-point scale to measure how well people followed this diet. If adherence rose 2 points, death rates dropped 9%. Deaths from heart and artery disease fell 9%. Decreases were 13% each for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, and 6% for cancer. HealthDay News wrote about the study September 12. It was published in the British Medical Journal.

Many rich countries have large supplies of medicines to treat flu. However, most poor countries do not. Roche, maker of the antiviral medicine Tamiflu, offers a discount price to poor countries. But Roche has not said how many countries ordered it. Roche also has allowed two companies in China and one in India to make generic versions of Tamiflu at an even lower cost. The World Health Organization (WHO) has its own supplies of Tamiflu. But critics say WHO also should order generics to pass on to poor countries. They say this would help tremendously if pandemic flu occurs. Critics also say Roche should let more companies make a generic product. The Associated Press reported on these issues May 11.

New blood tests can diagnose heart attacks sooner and a bit more accurately than older tests, two new studies conclude. All of the tests look for a protein called troponin. High levels are a sign of heart muscle injury. The newer tests can detect troponin earlier. This allows doctors to begin treatment and perhaps prevent heart muscle damage. Researchers in one study took blood samples from 718 emergency room patients who had heart attack symptoms. Doctors tested their blood with four newer tests and an older test. The other study included 1,818 emergency room patients. It compared one new test to an older one. In both studies, the older tests were 85% to 90% accurate. The new tests’ accuracy was 94% to 96%. The studies appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Associated Press wrote about them August 27.

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.