Medical Bulletin 13/November/2023

Here are the top medical news of the day:

Your education and income level may affect your survival, recovery from stroke

People with low education and income levels may have a 10% increased risk of death or being dependent on others to complete daily tasks three months after a stroke compared to people with high education and income levels, according to new research published in the online issue of Neurology.

For the study, researchers identified 25,846 people in the Swedish Stroke Register who had a stroke during a two-year period, and who prior to their stroke were able to live independently with no assistance with daily activities such as walking, dressing, bathing or eating. Three months after stroke, 6,798 people died or needed assistance with daily activities.

Reference: AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY

JOURNAL: Neurology

Study links gene network and pancreatic beta cell defects to Type 2 diabetes

A comprehensive study that integrates multiple analytic approaches has linked a regulatory gene network and functional defects in insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells to Type 2 diabetes. The study, lays the foundation for identifying additional early disease-driving events for Type 2 diabetes, and it also provides a template for identifying regulatory networks that drive other diseases.

The Vanderbilt team used an integrated, multimodal approach to study pancreas and islets from donors with early-stage Type 2 diabetes and controls. They analyzed islet function ex vivo and in vivo (in a mouse model), performed comprehensive transcriptional (gene expression) analysis using RNA-sequencing, and assessed islet cellular architecture using multiplex imaging.

Reference: VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

JOURNAL: Nature

Gender-neutral HPV vaccination best at preventing cervical cancer

The most effective way to prevent cervical cancer is to give HPV vaccines to both boys and girls, reports a collaborative study involving researchers from Karolinska Institutet. Beside personal immunity, such use of the vaccine also induces herd immunity that will help to eradicate the carcinogenic virus types more quickly.

The HPV vaccine has been around since 2006. Initially, it was given exclusively to girls around the age of 12, but since August 2020, the HPV vaccine has been offered to both boys and girls in the year-five general vaccination programme.

Reference: Ecological diversity profiles of non-vaccine-targeted HPVs after gender-based community vaccination efforts, Cell Host & Microbe

DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2023.10.001