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Taking steroids more than doubles a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a new study warns. Patients taking steroid pills, injections or infusions are 2.6 times more likely to develop diabetes than those not on steroids, researchers reported Sunday in a presentation at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Madrid. The results of this large-scale study confirm suspicions that the effects of steroids on blood sugar levels can boost diabetes risk, researchers said. “Existing information on how much more common new diabetes is in patients treated with glucocorticoids is based on small studies including patients with one or a few conditions,” said lead researcher Dr. Rajna Golubic, a lecturer in diabetes and endocrinology with the University of Oxford. “We wanted to expand the data to get a more accurate idea of how likely it is that people could develop diabetes while being treated with these drugs.” Steroids are used to treat a wide range of medical problems by helping quell inflammation. These include asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and cancer. Unfortunately, the drugs also increase blood sugar levels by reducing insulin sensitivity and interfering with cells’ ability to absorb glucose, according to Diabetes UK. To see whether this effect on blood sugar could cause diabetes, the research team analyzed data on more than 450,000 people treated… read on > read on >

People with type 2 diabetes are nearly twice as likely to develop asthma, a new review has concluded. Type 2 diabetics are 83% more likely to develop asthma, compared to those without diabetes, researchers found. The relationship also works the other way around — people with asthma are 28% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, researchers report. “This relationship emphasizes the need for greater awareness among patients with type 2 diabetes or asthma and their healthcare providers,” said lead researcher Dr. Nam Nguyen with Taipei Medical University in Taiwan. For the study, researchers pooled data on 17 million people from 14 prior studies examining the link between asthma and type 2 diabetes. The results also showed that the more severe a person’s asthma is, the higher their risk of type 2 diabetes, researchers report. These findings suggest that asthma and diabetes might have some of the same underlying causes, or have other factors in common, researchers said. Nguyen said future studies should look into the potential links between asthma and type 2 diabetes. Researchers presented the study Monday at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting in Madrid. Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. “Preventive strategies should be considered to lower the risk of type 2 diabetes in individuals with asthma,” Nguyen… read on > read on >

Brain changes that signal Alzheimer’s disease even before symptoms appear are linked to an increased vulnerability to financial scams, new research shows. “Assessing financial vulnerability in older adults could help identify those who are in the early stages of mild cognitive impairment or dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease,” said study lead author Duke Han. He’s a professor of psychology and family medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Unscrupulous con artists can reach out to seniors via phone or email with various scams that, in some instances, can wipe out retirement savings. In many cases, early-onset dementia has rendered these seniors more vulnerable, Han’s group said. The USC team conducted two types of tests in a group of 97 people over the age of 50. None had obvious signs of cognitive troubles when they joined the study. In one test, all participants underwent high powered MRIs to look at the thickness of a brain area called the entorhinal cortex. This region helps foster communication between the hippocampus (a center for learning and memory) and the the medial prefrontal cortex, which regulates emotion, motivation and other cognitive functions. Prior research has shown that pre-symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease often manifests as a “thinning out” of the entorhinal cortex, which progresses as the disease becomes more apparent. All of the 97 participants also took a test gauging… read on > read on >

A form of psychotherapy can help women whose libidos have suffered as they go through menopause, a new study finds. Cognitive behavioral therapy significantly improved sexual desire and satisfaction in a small group of middle-aged and older women, researchers said. “To our knowledge, this is the first study that has examined the efficacy of a cognitive behavioral therapy protocol specifically aimed to improve sexual concerns experienced during peri- and postmenopause,” said lead researcher Sheryl Green. She’s associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences with McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. Declining estrogen levels cause sexual concerns in 68% to 87% of women in the midst of menopause or postmenopause, researchers explained in background notes. Treatment options for sexual problems like a loss of desire or pain during sex are limited, researchers said. For this study, researchers asked women to participate in four sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy aimed at managing sexual issues that accompany menopause. Cognitive behavioral therapy works by helping people recognize ways of thinking or patterns of behavior that are causing them problems with their mental and physical health. The therapist helps people come up with new thoughts or behaviors to replace the ones that are causing harm, as well as methods of meditation and problem-solving. Following the therapy, study participants experienced significant improvement in multiple areas of sexual function, body image and sexual… read on > read on >

Beginning Jan. 1, Americans with private health insurance coverage should gain better access to mental health care, as well as care to help ease substance abuse, federal officials announced Monday. “Like medical care, mental health care is vital to the well-being of America’s workers,” U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said in a statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “The final rules issued today make it easier for people living with mental health conditions and substance use disorders to get the lifesaving care they often need,” Su said. The bottom line is that, beginning in 2025, private insurers must offer coverage for mental health ills just as they would for issues of physical health, “without imposing greater restrictions on mental health or substance use disorder benefits as compared to medical and surgical benefits,” the HHS said in its statement. The new rules are aimed at easing restrictions on care that insurers often subject policyholders to, including high out-of-pocket costs. Other restrictions include requirements that limit the scope or duration of mental health care benefits (such as prior authorization requirements), the use of “step” therapy, as well as standards that might keep providers from being admitted to a particular network. The changes have been a long time coming: Congress passed the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act back in 2008.… read on > read on >

Key Takeaways A man who received the world’s first combined whole-eye and partial face transplant is doing well His body has not rejected either his new face of his new left eye However, vision has not returned in the donated eye The recipient of the world’s first combined whole-eye and partial face transplant is doing well more than a year out from his groundbreaking surgery, NYU Langone doctors report. Aaron James, a 46-year-old military veteran from Arkansas, says over the past year his new face has allowed him to enjoy things others take for granted. No more stares from strangers. The ability to taste and enjoy solid foods again. The simple pleasure of smelling. Trading in his old driver’s license, which displayed his injured face, for a new one. James is now back to daily life in Arkansas and focused on sending his daughter, Allie, off to college. “I’m pretty much back to being a normal guy, doing normal things,” James said in an NYU Langone news release. “All in all, though, this has been the most transformative year of my life. I’ve been given the gift of a second chance, and I don’t take a single moment for granted. James was maimed in June 2021 when his face touched a live wire on the job as a high-voltage lineman in Arkansas. The deadly 7,200-volt… read on > read on >

Folks who like to stay up late are nearly 50% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who go to bed earlier, a new study finds. However, it’s not just because they have an unhealthy lifestyle, according to findings presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Madrid. An increased risk of type 2 diabetes among night owls remained even after researchers accounted for other unhealthy lifestyle factors like poor diet, lack of exercise, drinking, smoking and poor sleep, researchers said. “A likely explanation is that the circadian rhythm or body clock in late chronotypes is out of sync with the work and social schedules followed by society,” said lead investigator Jeroen van der Velde, a postdoctoral researcher with Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. “This can lead to circadian misalignment, which we know can lead to metabolic disturbances and ultimately type 2 diabetes.” For the study, researchers analyzed health data on more than 5,000 people participating in an ongoing study on the influence of body fat on disease. The data included typical bed and waking times for each person, as well as lifestyle factors that could increase a person’s risk of diabetes, researchers said. “Previous studies have indicated that a late chronotype — preferring to go to bed late and wake up later… read on > read on >

Losing weight can help a person with obesity — especially those with diabetes — fend off serious infections, new data shows. It’s an important finding, since “up to one in three hospitalizations in people with diabetes are for infections and people with diabetes are twice as likely to be hospitalized with infections than the general population. They are also at high risk of readmission,” said study co-lead author Rhian Hopkins. She’s at the University of Exeter Medical School in the U.K. Hopkins presented the research Saturday in Madrid at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). The new study used data from the ongoing UK Biobank, a database that includes health info on almost 500,000 Britons. According to the data, about 64,000 had been hospitalized for a bacterial infection (such as a urinary tract infection or pneumonia); almost 15,000 had been hospitalized with a viral infection (such as the flu), and about 408,000 had never been hospitalized for infection. Obesity seemed linked to a higher risk for severe infection, the team found. Every 5-point increase in BMI — for example, from a BMI of 30 (the threshold for obesity) to 35 — incurred a 30% rise in the risk of a serious bacterial infection and a 32% rise for severe viral infection. These associations were for all people, regardless… read on > read on >

In exercise bike tests, twentysomethings who’d been vaping for at least two years had much lower exercise capacity than those who didn’t, and the losses were equal to those of folks who’d spent a similar amount of time smoking. The vaping young adults “found it harder to breath, their muscles became more fatigued, and they were less fit overall,” said study lead author Dr. Azmy Faisal of Manchester Metropolitan University in the U.K. “In this regard, our research indicated that vaping is no better than smoking,” said Faisal, who presented the findings Sunday in Madrid at the annual meeting of the European Respiratory Society (ERS). According to Faisal, it’s long been known that the use of e-cigarettes “is linked to lung inflammation and damage, and harmful changes to the blood vessels.” But for young smokers, could a switch to vaping still be healthier? In an ERS news release, he said the jury is still out on that. “We don’t yet know what longer-term vaping use does to our bodies,” he explained. To help find out, the Manchester team recruited 60 people in their 20s, all of whom appeared to have normal lung function based on standard tests. Twenty neither vaped nor smoked, 20 had vaped for at least two years and 20 had smoked for at least 2 years. Each participant was subjected to exercise… read on > read on >

Diabetics who fly with an insulin pump could find themselves with lower-than-normal blood sugar levels, a new study says. Altitude appears to affect the ability of insulin pumps to deliver a steady supply of the hormone, researchers reported Sunday at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting in Madrid. “Individuals who use insulin pumps should be aware of the potential impact of changes in the cabin air pressure on insulin delivery,” said lead researcher Dr. Ka Siu Fan, with the University of Surrey in the U.K. For the study, researchers tested 26 insulin pumps in a hypobaric chamber programmed to mimic the atmospheric changes during a normal commercial airline flight. The chamber was depressurized during a 20-minute ascent, maintained the air pressure of an 8,000-foot altitude flight for a half-hour, then re- pressurized during a 20-minute descent to the ground. Researchers found that pumps over-delivered insulin during the ascent, but not enough to cause hypoglycemia. At the same time, the pumps under-delivered insulin during descent, which could cause blood sugar levels to spike but not enough to cause health problems. “The drop in cabin pressure during ascent may lead to a slight increase in insulin delivery as a result of the formation of air bubbles which displace excess insulin out of the cartridge,” Fan said in a meeting news release. “A slight… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Chronic Steroid Use Could Raise Diabetes Risk

Asthma Risk Doubles in People With Diabetes

Falling for Financial Scams Could Be Early Alzheimer’s Sign

Libido Can Drop After Menopause, But This Therapy Can Help

Biden Administration Issues Rules Making Mental Health Care More Accessible

He’s Doing Great a Year After World’s First Eye and Partial Face Transplant

‘Night Owls’ More Prone to Type 2 Diabetes

Obesity Raises Risk of Severe Infection, Especially in People With Diabetes

Vaping Could Make Young Adults Physically Weaker

Flying Could Upset Insulin Pump Function for Type 1 Diabetics