January 2007

Children of Formerly Overweight Women
A study was carried out of children born to (formerly) overweight women who had had obesity surgery. All the women were no longer obese at the time of the study. Children born to these women were more than half less likely to become obese than children whose overweight mothers did not have this procedure. Lamark-able, wouldn't you say.

Want to Lose Weight? Change Your Intestinal Bacteria
Most gut bacteria are either Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. Both break down food as part of digestion, but Firmicutes generate more energy for the body. Studies are underway to see if reducing the proportion of Firmicutes in the gut can lower weight.

Vitamin E Won't Help You Read Medical Intelligence
Vitamin E supplements were found not to prevent cognitive decline. Sorry.

Reducing Infections from Vein Catheters
Simple precautions taken when putting in a venous catheter (for angioplasty, for example) has been found to reduce bloodstream infections from 3% to none. The precautions are hand-washing, using full barrier precautions during insertion of the catheter, cleaning the catheter insertion site with chlorhexidine, avoiding femoral vein catheter sites, and removing unnecessary catheters. Don't forget to remind your doctor before your next catherization.

Have Your First Post Partum Check Up Within The First Month
Post-partum depression rates were found to peak at one to three weeks after delivery. This is earlier than most women are seen for post-partum care and suggests that women should be seen earlier than they commonly are. Post-partum depression is most common after the first child, less after second, and uncommon following subsequent births.

Thyroid Nodules Found on CT Scan
A substantial portion of thyroid nodules detected incidentally on CT scan were found to be malignant. All should be further evaluated.

In Uncommon Cases, Testosterone May Help with Erectile Function
In a study of erectile dysfunction (ED), researchers measured 600 men's testosterone levels, leutinizing hormone (LH) levels (LH stimulates the testes), and self-reported ED. Overall there was no correlation between testosterone level and ED. However, a higher rate of ED was found in men with a low level of testosterone and a high level of LH. It may be that in the latter cases the body is secreting more LH because the testes are not responding to normal levels. While, in general, testosterone doesn't help with ED, it is possible that in these cases that testosterone supplementation may be helpful in treating it.

Tennis Elbow Anyone?
One of three interventions were randomly assigned to 198 adults with tennis elbow of at least 6 weeks duration. Interventions were physical therapy (manipulation and exercise), local steroid injection, and observation. While the steroid treatment gave the best results at six weeks and the physical therapy next best, at the end of the year those who had steroid treatment were significantly worse off than those in the other two groups, whose results were about equal.

Diagnosis by Google
Symptoms entered into Google produced a correct diagnosis in 58% of cases.