See "Hormone replacement therapy can reduce the incidence of diabetes by over a third (35%) in postmenopausal women with coronary heart disease, according to a large randomised trial (Annals of Internal Medicine 2003;138:1-9). During the four year follow up, 6.2% of women taking hormone therapy and 9.5% of women taking placebo developed diabetes. Hormone replacement therapy prevented the rise in serum concentrations of glucose seen in the placebo group.
Just in case you haven't enough to do in the morning, researchers from Texas suggest weighing your children's backpacks and removing unnecessary items before sending them off to school (Archives of Disease in Childhood 2003;88:18-9). Ninety six per cent of parents don't, putting their children at risk of musculoskeletal injury. You'll need to weigh the children too—they should be carrying less than 20% of their body weight.
The mysterious bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans can survive radiation doses 3000 times higher than humans, a trick that has intrigued scientists for years. Organic chemists from Israel have discovered how it's done (Science 2003;299:254-6). Deinococcus radiodurans packs its DNA in a tight ring. When radiation damages its DNA, the broken bits stay within the ring and eventually re-form in their original order. When radiation damages human DNA, the bits float off and are lost forever.
Profitable nightclub and brewing industries should pay for urgent measures to reduce the injury toll on clubbers in inner cities, write emergency medicine doctors. Their study of club related injuries in Liverpool found that over half were due to assault (Emergency Medicine Journal 2002;19:542-5). Alcohol is still the drug of choice, and violent encounters usually result in lacerations to the face, scalp, and hands. The researchers want clubs to invest in unbreakable glass and to have staffed and equipped emergency medical areas. They also suggest restricting the promotion of cheap drinks.
If you're planning to camp out this summer, remember to put out your campfire with water, not sand, writes a firefighter from Brisbane, Australia (Medical Journal of Australia 2003;178:30). Alarmed by the increasing incidence of campfire burns in children, he and a team of paediatricians measured the temperature inside campfires extinguished with sand or water. Sand may look effective, but it leaves the embers hot enough to cause a full thickness burn, even after eight hours. Young children attracted by the sand are most at risk.
Average American adolescents aged between 12 and 15 consume over 60 mg of caffeine a day, mostly in fizzy drinks, according to a study in Pediatrics (2003;111:42-6). A fifth of them consume more than 100 mg a day. Not surprisingly, the caffeine interferes with their sleep patterns, making them sleepier during the day. Caffeine consumption waxes and wanes during the week, peaking on Saturdays, when bedtimes are delayed until nearly midnight.
Young and groovy readers, or at least the young and groovy patients of older and crustier readers, should be aware of a new health hazard associated with hip-hugging jeans. Hip-huggers can trap the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve as it goes under the inguinal ligament, causing tingling or burning on the lateral aspect of the thigh. One Canadian doctor reports three cases in “mildly obese” young women (Canadian Medical Association Journal 2003;168:16). The treatment? Wear dresses that are one size too big, not “low rise” trousers that are one size too small.
Dietary supplements aren't always as harmless as they sound, but research on their risks and side effects is patchy. The worst offenders in a recent analysis of data from 11 poison control centres in the United States were ma huang, guarana, ginseng, St John's wort, chromium, melatonin, and zinc (Lancet 2003;361:101-6). More and better information is urgently needed, however. A comprehensive register of dietary supplements and mandatory reporting of adverse events would help, say the authors.
American doctors, patients, health policy makers, and even journalists may caricature the NHS as dreary, unfashionably left wing, run down, and chronically short of everything—but at least one commentator urges them to look again. Congratulating Tony Blair on his new health service (including reworking the new consultant contract, and setting national quality standards) he devotes five closely typed pages to the lessons that could be learnt by discerning American politicians (American Journal of Public Health 2003;93:25-30). They include the strength of primary care, funding by taxation, and the fact that all specialists are paid the same.
The latest data on drinking and heart disease show that male health professionals who drink alcohol on at least three days a week (and up to seven) are a third less likely to have a heart attack than colleagues who drink only once a week (New England Journal of Medicine 2003;348:109-18). Any kind of alcohol will do, including beer, spirits, red wine, and white wine, although the strongest associations in this analysis were for beer and spirits, the two most popular drinks among American male health professionals.
