Vitamin B12 research takes 20 years, yields gene
MONTREAL — MUHC and McGill scientists have announced the discovery of a gene that causes a serious disease and makes it difficult for the body to deal with vitamin B12. The research, published in December's Nature Genetics, identified the gene responsible for combined methylmalonic aciduria (MMA) and homocystinuria , a crippling illness which contributes to dementia, heart disease and stroke. The breakthrough, which took more than 20 years of research, will make it possible for doctors to diagnose the condition earlier, assess possible carriers and will lead to new treatments for the disease.

Your mother was right: milk's good for you after all
CAMBRIDGE, MA — Despite there being no apparent link between hypertension and whole milk consumption, people who drink a great deal of skimmed milk may reduce their chances of developing the disease by a whopping 50%. A study published in the November edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at 6,000 subjects over two years and compared heavy milk drinkers to those with low or no consumption of skimmed milk products. Earlier studies had shown a possible role of lactose products in staving off hypertension, but this is the first study to demonstrate the connection in adults.

Prodigious posteriors render jabs ineffective
CHICAGO — Bigger backsides — particularly in women — are becoming a veritable barrier to inoculation say Irish-based researchers. Dr Victoria Chan and her team looked at 50 patients in a Dublin hospital. They found that in jabs to the buttock only 56% of men and 8% of women properly absorbed the antibody. The solution — and this is going to hurt your patients more than it's going to hurt you — says Dr Chan is longer needles. The standard needle length of 16mm should be upped to 25mm for average-sized women and all men, and larger ladies will require a 38mm needle. The findings were presented on November 28 at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of America.

Brits charge doctor with shielding grossly incompetent colleague
LONDON — One of Britain's top obstetricians, Dr James Owen Drife, has been called before the General Medical Council (GMC) to defend his seemingly indefensible decision to vouch for now-disgraced gynecologist Dr Richard Neale. Dr Drife is accused of providing unduly rosy references for Dr Neale despite the fact he was well aware of the gynecologist's incompetence. If found guilty, Dr Drife could be removed from the medical register. The GMC itself is under fire for failing to notice that Dr Neale was barred from practising medicine in Canada way back in 1984.

Study suggests link between creativity and promiscuity
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE — What do Pablo Picasso and Henry Miller have in common? They made their living in creative fields and were legendarily licentious. Now British researchers have found that creative sorts tend to have a greater number of sexual partners than the general population. What's more, researchers found these creative types are more likely to display "schizotypal" traits than the population at large. Meanwhile, full-blown schizophrenic patients had fewer-than-average sexual partners. Investigators feel the randy artists might help explain how schizophrenic characteristics remain in the gene pool. The study was published November 29 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

How the body rebels against dieting
NEW YORK — Science now has a good explanation as to why, after successfully losing weight, dieters so often pile the avoirdupois back on like it's nobody's business. New research out of Columbia University suggests the hormone leptin plays a starring role in fat's unwelcome comeback. It seems dieting leaves the body in a leptin-starved state. Investigators looked at 10 subjects on strictly controlled liquid diets. One group was fed enough to maintain normal weight, another fed to maintain a 10% weight loss and the final group was also fed enough to maintain 10% weight-loss but also given low doses of leptin. The leptin group didn't display the metabolic, neuroendocrine and autonomic changes that set the stage for weight regain. The study appears in the December 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Caffeine sets short term memory banks alight
CHICAGO — The world's favourite stimulant, caffeine, can influence short term memory say Austrian researchers. Dr Florian Koppelstètter and his team at the Medical University Innsbruck used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on 15 subjects in order to measure the influence of caffeine on short term memory tests. Each subject was scanned once while on 100mg of caffeine and another time with a placebo. Among the experimental group, the investigators saw increased activity of both the memory-regulating frontal lobe, and the attention-grabbing anterior cingulum. "We were able to show that caffeine modulates a higher brain function through its effects on distinct areas of the brain," said Dr Koppelstätter to the press. He also cautioned that we "still need to learn more about caffeine's effect on mental resources."

UK bawdy houses surge in popularity, prompting health concerns
LONDON — In a span of only 10 years the number of British men courting prostitutes has doubled say researchers in the November edition of Sexually Transmitted Infections. In 1990 a survey found 5.6% of men had paid for sex at one time in their lives, and 2% said it had been within the past five years. In 2000, these numbers shot up to 9% of men having paid for sex at least once of whom 4.2% had done so within the past five years. The men who paid for sex were a risk-taking lot — a third of them had 10 or more sexual partners in the past decade and over half had had sex abroad. Chillingly, only one out of seven British Johns bothered to get tested for HIV.

Doctor testimony clears sexsomniac in sexual assault rap
SCARBOROUGH — In a decision that has women's groups across the nation in an uproar, Jan Luedecke was cleared of sexual assault charges this week in an Ontario court after testimony from sleep experts and psychiatrists confirmed the man suffered from sexsomnia. The disorder, which is relatively new, is a type of parasomnia in which sufferers engage in involuntary sexual behaviour during sleep. Sexsomnia is real, Dr Harvey Moldfosky, director of the University of Toronto's Centre for Sleep and Chronobiology, told the Toronto Sun.

New procedure shakes off persistently clammy hands
CHICAGO — A new, minimally invasive procedure can permanently cure patients of the awkward and embarrassing symptoms of palmar hyperhydrosis. No longer will they have to avoid handshakes and other forms of basic human contact: CT-guided percutaneous thoracic sympathectomy will dry up those sweaty hands in a snap. The treatment is a 20-minute procedure that requires no anesthesia and carries no risk of the nerve damage, bleeding or paralysis that plagued older therapies. An astonishing 94% of the 50 patients treated in the study were immediately cured, according to results presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America on November 29.

Bacterial meningitis dusts for 'metabolic fingerprints'
SYDNEY — A team of Aussie researchers have developed a quick and accurate method for detecting bacterial meningitis. The test uses metabonomics — the study of the chemical composition of body tissue and fluids. By comparing the metabolic fingerprints of spinal fluid from patients who presented with meningitis-like symptom, researchers were able to easily distinguish between viral and bacterial strains. At the moment, most hospitals don't have the technology required to do the test. But the authors are hopeful that this test will become more widely available as costs go down. The study appears in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Infection and Disease.

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