There's metal in my maki!
NEW YORK CITY — Bluefin tuna from 20 sushi bars in New York City tested so high in mercury that a 70kg man should eat no more than six pieces every three weeks. Five of the restaurants had levels so high (over 1.4 parts per million) the FDA could take legal action. Canned tuna and fish sold in food stores contain much lower levels than that that sold as sushi, which comes from much larger fish who live longer and whose bodies accumulate more of the deadly metal.

Helpful plants under threat
SURREY, UK — Hundreds of medicinal plants are at risk of extinction, largely due to human activities that threaten the very species more than half of prescription drugs are derived from, researchers from Botanic Gardens Conservation International reported in a global study released last month. The endangered plants include magnolias, Hoodia and the Yew tree, from which the cancer drug paclitaxel is made. Overcollection and deforestation may also destroy potential cures "before they are ever found."

Bone help may hurt heart
AUCKLAND — Calcium supplements may increase the risk of heart attack and stroke in healthy postmenopausal women, according to a University of Auckland study published January 15 in the British Medical Journal. Of the 1,471 healthy postmenopausal women with a mean age of 74, there were heart attacks among 36 women in the calcium group of 732 and 22 similar events in the 721 women receiving a placebo. Researchers caution that the risk of vascular event must be weighed against the benefits of increased bone density.

MD-penned torture flick hits screens
HOUSTON — US orthopedic surgeon Mark R Brinker has branched out from his trauma and reconstructive work — now he's trying his hand at screenwriting. His first credit, Untraceable, an internet crime thriller starring Diane Lane, was just released in the US. It's getting mixed reviews (the venerable New York Post calls it "a putrid little scab of a torture movie") but he's already at work on a horror flick called Fatal Frame.

Sepsis studies shock MDs
JENA, GERMANY — Contrary to what many believe and often employ, intensive insulin therapy and hydrocortisone don't help, and may even harm, severe sepsis cases, according to the results of two clinical trials published in NEJM January 10, one from Germany and one from Israel. Hydrocortisone sped up septic shock reversal in some patients but didn't affect four-week mortality rates, and intensive insulin therapy actually made patients worse off by causing hypoglycemia.

Girl switches blood types
SYDNEY — An Australian teenager on immunosuppressants since a liver transplant six years ago has become the world's first person to switch blood types. An NEJM report published January 24 said Demi-Lee Brennan, 15, was type O negative before the transplant but the new liver's blood stem cells invaded her bone marrow and changed her blood to type O positive. Doctors have called the case a "one-in-six-billion miracle" and now want to try to replicate the phenomenon.

Make the pill OTC: Lancet
LONDON — Oral contraceptives are so beneficial that they should be sold over-the-counter, urged the journal The Lancet in a January 26 editorial. The commentary accompanied a new systematic review published in the same issue that proved oral contraceptive use reduces lifetime ovarian cancer risk by up to 29%, preventing 100,000 deaths. "Very little is said in the press about the health benefits," wrote the editorialist. "A strong message about the overall cancer preventing benefits of oral contraceptives would be a positive public-health message."

Ezetimibe's benefits in question
ROCKVILLE, MD — Simvastatin work just as well as the cholesterol combination therapy of ezetimibe plus simvastatin — and even better on some measures — according to surprising new data released in January by Merck/Schering-Plough. Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Steven Nissen called the results "stunning." In response to the uproar, the US Food and Drug Administration announced it will conduct a review of the combo therapy. The American Heart Association, however, insists the data are too limited to draw a conclusion from.

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