Medical Bulletin 13/February2023

Here are the top medical news for the day:

Study finds cocaine use disorder to alter gene networks of neuroinflammation and neurotransmission in humans

Cocaine use disorder is a chronic, relapsing brain disorder for which there are currently no FDA-approved medication treatments. While it is hypothesized that regulation of gene expression in the brain’s reward and motivational centers plays a critical role in the persistent behavioral changes that define addiction, knowledge remains limited of the maladaptive gene activity that chronic cocaine use causes in these circuits in humans and that underlies cocaine use disorder.

Individuals with cocaine use disorder exhibit gene expression changes in two brain regions: the nucleus accumbens, a region associated with reward, and the caudate nucleus, a region mediating habit formation, according to research conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published February 10 in Science Advances.

Reference:

Convergent abnormalities in striatal gene networks in human cocaine use disorder and mouse cocaine administration models, Science Advances

FDA-cleared device to treat postpartum hemorrhage highly safe and effective, finds study

In a new study to be presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting - published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology - researchers will unveil findings that suggest a new tool to manage postpartum hemorrhage is safe and effective in treating hemorrhage after both vaginal and cesarean births.

Postpartum hemorrhage - severe bleeding after childbirth - is a leading cause of maternal deaths worldwide. There have been few innovations in treatment in recent years.

Reference:

Dena Goffman et al, MEETING SMFM 43rd Annual Pregnancy Meeting

Pregnant people who deliver large babies are at increased risk of developing diabetes later in life: Study

LGA is defined as infants who weigh more than 90 percent of all babies of the same gestational age. LGA babies are more likely to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit and develop health complications later in life, including obesity and Type 2 diabetes themselves.

Studies show that diabetes in pregnancy - also known as gestational diabetes - puts a pregnant person at greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life. Gestational diabetes is also a common cause of babies who are large-for-gestational age (LGA).

What has not been studied, until now, is whether someone who does not have gestational diabetes but gives birth to an LGA baby is also at risk of developing diabetes later in life.

Reference:

Kartik K. Venkatesh et al,American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology,MEETING SMFM 43rd Annual Pregnancy Meeting