Medical Errors Now The Third Leading Cause Of Death In The US, Study Indicates.

reports that the study authors “wrote that strategies to reduce death from medical care should include making errors ‘more visible’ when they occur, having remedies available to ‘rescue patients,’ and making errors less frequent by following principles that take ‘human limitations’ into account.” According to the Washington Post (5/3, Cha), “in 1999, an Institute of Medicine report [pdf] calling preventable medical errors an ‘epidemic’ shocked the medical establishment and led to significant debate about what could be done.” The institute, “based on one study, estimated deaths because of medical errors as high as 98,000” annually. The new research, published in the BMJ, “involves a more comprehensive analysis of four large studies...that took place between 2000 to 2008.” http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/05/03/second-study-says-medical-errors-third-leading-cause-death-us/83874022/

Dieting May Help Improve Health, Mood, Sex Drive, And Stress Levels Among Normal-Weight People.

reports in “Science Now” that a study indicated “normal-weight people who ate 25% less than they wanted for” two years appeared to be “happier and less stressed, slept better and had more robust sex drives,” compared to “healthy adults” who ate whatever they wanted during that same time frame. The findings were published in JAMA Internal Medicine. HealthDay (5/2, Thompson) and Endocrinology Advisor (5/2, Foster) also cover the story. http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-eat-less-feel-better-20160502-story.html

Body Fights Back Against Weight Loss, Study Suggests.

reports on how contestants on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” program struggle to retain their lower body weights in the months and years after the program. After following 14 former contestants for six years “after they had lost large amounts of weight with intensive dieting and exercise,” researchers found “just how hard the body fights back against weight loss.” The Times adds the research shows the participants’ resting metabolism plunged during the program, but did not recover in the period afterward. the research, which was published online in Obesity Biology and Integrated Biology, revealed that 13 of 14 contestants “regained weight within six years and four are even heavier than they were before the competition began.” One contestant did sustain weight loss despite a slower metabolism, the study found. Also covering the story are the NPR (5/2) “Shots” blog and “All Things http://abcnews.go.com/Health/extreme-weight-loss-linked-slower-metabolism-explaining-hard/story?id=38826362 "Long-term weight loss requires vigilant combat against persistent metabolic adaptation that acts to proportionally counter ongoing efforts to reduce body weight," the authors concluded. So let's say you've lost a lot of weight, let's say you lost 100 pounds and now you're 150 pounds. Another person who is 150 pounds — they can still eat the calories they want, right? But you've got to eat less to maintain that level. That is correct. You must eat less than a person who weighs exactly the same as you. But you'll be hungrier, right? Because the research is also talking about another way your body fights against it. Absolutely. All of the hormones that your body produces that regulate appetite are also altered disproportionately. So you're hungrier than that person. You're more susceptible to highly rewarding foods, to snacking. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/05/02/476498729/biggest-loser-lessons-why-the-body-makes-it-hard-to-keep-pounds-off

Researchers Identify Zika In More Common US Mosquito.

reported that “for the first time in the Western Hemisphere, researchers have detected the Zika virus in Aedes albopictus...a finding that increases the number of U.S. states potentially at risk for transmission of the disease.” The Post added that “albopictus are more ubiquitous than the Aedes aegypti that have been the primary vector of the spread of Zika elsewhere in the Americas.” The mosquito “has a range as far north as New England and the lower Great Lakes.” The discovery was reported recently by the Pan American Health Organization “after researchers in Mexico confirmed the presence of Zika in Asian tiger mosquitoes captured in the state of San Luis Potosi and sent them to government labs for testing.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/new-discovery-means-more-us-states-will-face-a-risk-from-zika/2016/04/29/497ffa98-0d59-11e6-bc53-db634ca94a2a_story.html

Estrogen May Help Protect The Kidneys, Study Suggests.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/sex-differences-menstrual-cycle-kidney-failure-384251 "This result suggests that cyclical changes of female hormones might affect renal cell homeostasis, potentially providing women with an increased resistance against kidney damages,” Lechner said. Homeostasis helps regulate temperature and balance acidity and alkalinity levels. “Thus, recurring changes of sex hormone levels, as brought about by the natural menstrual cycle, might be involved in periodic tissue remodeling not only in reproductive organs, but to a certain extent in the kidneys as well,” she added. Lechner hypothesizes that estrogen might help to replace damaged cells. During cycle phases of high estrogen exposure, kidney cells might be induced to grow, she explained, “while at time points of decreasing estrogen levels damaged or simply older cells might be discarded into the urine.” That said, the study is not saying that estrogen is the sole reason fewer women develop kidney disease and failure. Their enzyme levels match men’s once they go through menopause, which definitely argues for the importance of the female hormones — but this could also be a matter of age.

Study Uncovers Potential Shared Genetic Source Between Psoriasis And Obesity.

reported that a study published online in JAMA Dermatology “has uncovered a potential shared genetic source between psoriasis and obesity, which could also address a connection among psoriasis, type 2 diabetes, and body mass index (BMI).” After examining “health records of 33,588 twins, 4.2 percent of whom suffered from psoriasis and 1.4 of which were diabetic,” researchers found that “only 4.1 percent of people without diabetes exhibited psoriasis, but 7.6 percent of those with diabetes had the skin condition.” What’s more, “the average BMI of people with psoriasis was higher than those without the condition: 25 compared to 24.4.” http://www.medicaldaily.com/psoriasis-type-2-diabetes-genetic-risk-factor-health-problems-384289

Testosterone May Help Men Regulate Blood Sugar Levels, Study Suggests.

reported that in a study published April 29 in Cell Metabolism, scientists from Tulane University “suggest that testosterone helps men regulate their blood sugar levels by activating insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.” The study’s findings may “help identify new treatments for type 2 diabetes in men with low testosterone caused by old age or prostate cancer treatment.” The study’s senior author is Endocrine Society member Franck Mauvais-Jarvis, MD, PhD, who heads “the diabetes research program at Tulane’s Health Sciences Center.” http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2016/04/testosterone_diabetes_risk_men.html#incart_river_home