The “New & Interesting” series is a biweekly compilation of select research findings, news articles, and random tidbits in bullet-point format. The entries are highly abbreviated, but provide links to the original articles or abstracts if you desire to read further.
General Articles
- Antibiotics can be purchased online without the need for a prescription. The danger of making this freely available is the indiscriminant use of antibiotics to treat infections inappropriately. Moreover, this leads to the progressive selection of organisms resistant to current drug therapies. (Ann Fam Med)
- AIDS vaccine reduces rate of new infections by 31%. Although modest, this is the first time a vaccine has shown any efficacy against the spread of HIV since the discovery of the virus 26 years ago. (LA Times)
- Do mobile phones cause brain tumors? A meta-analysis performed by a team led by Dr. Seung-Kwon Myung of South Korea’s National Cancer Center found a mild increase in risk of benign brain tumors in people who have used cell phone for over a decade. Larger studies are still needed to answer this question. (Reuters)
Technical Articles
- Risk of hyperkalemia is small with use of ACE inhibitors in nondiabetic patients with hypertensive CKD (chronic kidney disease) (Arch Intern Med)
- Glucocorticoid use associated with increased risk of atrial fibrillation or flutter (Arch Intern Med)
The “New & Interesting” series is a biweekly compilation of select research findings, news articles, and random tidbits in bullet-point format. The entries are highly abbreviated, but provide links to the original articles or abstracts if you desire to read further.
General Interest Articles
- Caffeine may lower Alzheimer’s risk … in mice. More studies are however necessary to evaluate whether these findings translate to humans. The news report also poses the question of how many cups one would need to drink in a day (CBS News)
- The first ever 16-patient “domino donor” kidney transplant takes place between June 15 and July 6, 2009. The kidney paired donation (KPD) system involves multiple incompatible donors and recipients, and matching them in a way to accommodate all participants. This system maximizes the chances of being able to donate and receive a kidney transplant (Johns Hopkins Medicine)
- Obesity is linked to the behavior of same-sex their parents and not due to genetics. That is, obese mothers were more likely to have obese daughters. Sons take after their fathers. This study was performed on 226 families by researchers at the Peninsula Medical School. (BBC)
- Heavy drinking is associated with an increased of developing prostate cancer, according to scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (Reuters)
Technical Articles
- Withdrawal of proton-pump inhibitors (PPI) after at least 8 weeks on therapy can result in rebound acid hypersecretion (RAHS) (Gastroenterology)
- [FAMOUS trial] Famotidine is effective in preventing gastric and duodenal ulcers, and erosive esophagitis in patients on chronic low-dose aspirin (Lancet)
- NIH publishes their final guidelines on human stem cell research (NIH)
The “New and Interesting” series features short compilations of select research findings, news articles, and random tidbits in bullet-point format.
- Housing homeless adults with chronic medical conditions shortens hospital stays and reduces ED visits (JAMA)
- Hypothyroidism linked to HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma) (Hepatology)
