Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.health From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: health Thu, Jul 30 1992 Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 04:32:02 EDT Message-ID: 07-30 0000 DECISIONLINE: Health USA TODAY Update July 30, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network OBESITY GENE LINKED TO DIABETES: The risk for the most common type of diabetes appears to be strongly linked to having a gene for obesity plus an imbalance of sex hormones, new research suggests. Finding a way to correct sex hormone imbalances could lead to new ways to prevent non-insulin-dependent diabetes, which affects about 13 million in the USA and comprises more than 90% of diabetes cases. (For more, see special Diabetes package below.) MILK LINKED TO DIABETES: A new study points to cow's milk as a factor that can trigger the development of juvenile diabetes in those prone to getting the disease. But these new findings need confirmation and shouldn't cause "widespread concern about cow's milk," says study collaborator Dr. Hans-Michael Dosch of The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. IMMUNE SYSTEM GETS CONFUSED: The study of 142 Finnish diabetic children, reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, found an unusually high immune response to a tiny protein fragment in cow's milk. The immune system attacks the protein as a foreign invader, but also mistakenly attacks insulin-producing cells, which resemble the protein. These cells weaken with each immune response. CAUTION FOR YUTODAR USERS: A drug commonly used to stop preterm labor doesn't enhance infant survival and may be a risk for mothers. A seven-year study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine found the drug Yutodar can postpone delivery for up to 48 hours. But it doesn't increase the infant's chance of survival or health up to 18 months. Mothers who took the drug were more likely to suffer chest pains. SMOKING ADDS YEARS TO FACE: A recent study at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center found that smokers are more likely to have facial wrinkles than those who don't smoke. According to Dr. Donald Kadunce, director of the study, smoking decreases the blood flow to the skin, which can alter the repair process, and the toxins in cigarette smoke may activate enzymes that damage the supportive tissue in the skin. YO-YO DIETING IS DANGEROUS: People who gain weight, lose it, and gain it back, may be considered yo-yo dieters - and that can be dangerous. Yale University conducted a study involving 3,130 men and women who were observed over a 32-year period. The researchers found that with high levels of weight fluctuation, death rate increased and the risk of dying of heart disease nearly doubled. SCHIZOPHRENIA LINKED TO CITIES: Men from cities are more likely to be schizophrenic. Researchers reporting in The Lancet linked databases of Swedish psychiatric and army records on 49,191 men. Finding: Country-raised men faced the least risk of becoming schizophrenic, while men from small towns were 17% more likely; men from large towns, 24% more likely; and men from large cities, 38% more likely. MORE STRANGE CASES SEEN: A Louisiana doctor has reported three cases in which patients show AIDS-like symptoms but test negative for HIV. The cases were reported by Dr. Newton Hyslop, chief of infectious diseases at Tulane Medical Center. The federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta have asked health officials in all states to begin tracking any cases that fit the description of the unknown virus. CELLS DEFEND AGAINST ATTACK: Muscle cells in the heart can sense conditions of a heart attack and drop into a protective shutdown for short periods. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University report in a recent issue of Science that the shutdown is triggered when a heart attack blocks the flow of oxygen-carrying blood. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON DIABETES: OBESITY IS MAJOR RISK FACTOR: Obesity is the major risk factor for non insulin-dependent diabetes, also known as type II, but it has been a mystery as to why just being obese is not enough to cause the disease, researcher Edward Leiter said Tuesday at a meeting of the world's leading geneticists here at the Jackson Laboratory. SEX HORMORES PLAY A PART: Studies in mice suggest that type II diabetes develops: In women who have an obesity gene and an imbalance between levels of estrogen and testosterone; in men who have an obesity gene and an imbalance between levels of testosterone and a substance called sex hormone binding globulin; and in obese men and women who have big tummies and small bottoms. TREATMENT SUGGESTED: Possible treatment for women: Correcting the imbalance with estrogen replacement therapy or a sex hormone called DHEA. Studies also may be done with the breast cancer drug tamoxifen, which acts as a weak estrogen. In men, human growth hormone is showing promise as a means of correcting sex hormone imbalances, Leiter says. (End of package.) Health Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. 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