What’s new in medicine

1. Added sugar proves toxic in mice: When mice ate a diet of 25% extra sugar, which for a healthy human diet equates to an extra three cans of soda daily 

•         Females died at twice the normal rate over 32 weeks.

•         Males were a quarter less likely to hold territory. 

•         Males also produced 25% fewer offspring than control males

 

•         Females had higher reproduction rates than controls initially but then had lower rates as the study progressed.

 

The findings are published in Nature Communications.

2. Surgeons implant lab-grown blood vessel into dialysis patient: Researchers have developed a bioengineered blood vessel and successfully implanted it into the arm of a dialysis patient, as per Duke Medicine. The procedure was part of a 20-patient phase I trial designed to test the vessel’s safety. The new vein is an off-the-shelf product with no biological properties that might cause rejection. Investigators engineered it by cultivating donated human cells on a tubular scaffold to form a vessel. They then cleansed the vessel of the qualities that might trigger an immune response. In preclinical tests, the veins have performed better than other synthetic and animal-based implants.

3. Eating a healthy diet and drinking a moderate amount of alcohol may be associated with decreased risk or progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, according to a report published by JAMA Internal Medicine

4. Performance anxiety: A person may become so worried about sexual performance that sex is not enjoyable, or even possible. Performance anxiety becomes more common for both men and women as they move into their 50s.