Nature Medicine | Spoonful of Medicine

The Daily Dose – When good news is bad news

In today’s dose, we see the nefarious side of nicotine, learn about some unrecognized effects of Chagas and Chikungunya, and hear why some wish to remain mum on maternal mortality.


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— The smoke hasn’t quite cleared in the debate over cigarettes and Alzheimer’s disease. Some studies have suggested a protective effect from nicotine, but experiments in rats now hint that nicotine might promote the development of brain plaques associated with this type of dementia in humans. Meanwhile, a genome-wide association study points to a variation in the gene MTHFD1L on chromosome 6 that might increase the risk of Alzheimer’s. (New Scientist, BusinessWeek)

— The finding that maternal mortality has dropped by more than 35% over the past decade came as welcome news. But The Lancet, which published the study, says that it was pressured to delay the release of the paper ahead of a UN meeting this week on public health funding. According to the Associated Press: “The more people who are dying, the more money UN officials can raise, making some experts not keen to announce success or acknowledge that a problem is not as bad as they once thought.” (AP)

Chagas disease, which is endemic in Latin America and thought to contribute to heart disease, is an underappreciated cause of stroke, researchers reported. In their review of previously published studies, they suggest that some people infected by the parasite that causes Chagas disease should receive blood thinners as a prophylactic measure against stroke. (BBC)

Chikungunya is a disease that’s hard to pronounce — and it seems that the joint pain it produces is even harder to treat. A new study finds that the joint pain caused by mosquito-borne viral infection has a different root cause than that seen in rheumatoid arthritis, suggesting that the steroids traditionally prescribed to address such pain won’t work. More reason to investigate potential vaccines, perhaps. (SciDev.net)

Image by Morning Theft via Flickr Creative Commons

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