In the Short Term, Quitting Smoking Increases Type 2 Diabetes Risk Due to Weight Gain

From the Annals of Internal Medicine:

Cigarette smoking is a well-established risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes. Therefore, quitting smoking should reduce the risk.

However, smoking cessation can be associated with weight gain, and being overweight is a significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

To test the hypothesis that smoking cessation increases short term diabetes risk, researchers conducted a prospective cohort study of 10,892 middle-aged adults who did not have diabetes. In 9 years of follow-up, patients who smoked had a higher risk for diabetes than those who never smoked. Smokers who recently quit had higher short-term risk for diabetes than ex-smokers and continuing smokers for about 3 years. This excess risk disappeared by 12 years.

Researchers conclude that smokers who quit should receive advice about avoiding weight gain and about diabetes prevention and early detection.

References:
Smoking, Smoking Cessation, and Risk for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cohort Study. Annals of Internal Medicine, 5 January 2010 Issue.
Image source: Wikipedia, Tomasz Sienicki, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License.

Health News of the Day

Health News of the Day is a daily summary made from the selected links I post on Twitter. It is in a bullet points format with links to the original sources which include 350 RSS feeds that produce about 2,500 items per day:

EMR incentive payments can top more than $40,000 for a single doctor over several years, $20 billion nationwide http://bit.ly/8kwiCA

Limits on medical malpractice can reduce the federal budget deficit by $54 billion over the next decade http://bit.ly/8lZA8q

American Academy of Neurology: Transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation, or TENS, does not work for low back pain http://bit.ly/78agEl

Women who take long time (years) to get pregnant are more likely to give birth to unhealthy babies for various reasons http://bit.ly/8SIB0S

‘Avatar’ Fails Antismoking Test: Environmental scientist played by Sigourney Weaver smokes a cigarette in the film http://bit.ly/5SWiLD

Update on gout: new therapeutic strategies and options - Nat. Rev. Rheumatology (PDF) http://bit.ly/7DhRxE

Should Patients And Doctors Be Facebook Friends? http://bit.ly/4XnKnH - I don't think so but I could be wrong.

Medical news tweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source, links, etc. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support. Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

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Health News of the Day

Health News of the Day is a daily summary made from the selected links I post on Twitter. It is in a bullet points format with links to the original sources which include 350 RSS feeds that produce about 2,500 items per day:

Youngsters in the study whose parents set bedtimes of midnight or later were 24% more likely to suffer from depression http://bit.ly/679r2Q

Cheap Eyeglasses for the Poor: race is on to distribute glasses on a huge scale in world’s poorest countries http://bit.ly/88qqmp 

Walking on New Year's Eve is Risky Business: more pedestrians killed on January 1 than any other day of the year http://bit.ly/4LEeFe

Women who started having menstrual periods before age 12 may be at higher risk of developing or dying of heart disease http://bit.ly/5AfBee

Be sure to cover your eyes when hanging around with your pet tarantula: a man had spider hairs stuck in his cornea http://bit.ly/7AVDUj 

Top Empowered Patient tips for 2010 - CNN http://bit.ly/8QYs0u

Medical news tweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source, links, etc. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support. Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

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The mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518: Seldom pausing to eat or drink, many died from exhaustion

From PubMed:

In 1518, one of the strangest epidemics in recorded history struck the city of Strasbourg. Hundreds of people were seized by an irresistible urge to dance, hop and leap into the air.

In houses, halls and public spaces, as fear paralyzed the city and the members of the elite despaired, the dancing continued with mindless intensity. Seldom pausing to eat, drink or rest, 400 of them danced for days or even weeks. And before long, the chronicles agree, dozens were dying from exhaustion.


Video: "Chorea. The dancing lady."

References:

In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518. Waller JC. Endeavour. 2008 Sep;32(3):117-21. Epub 2008 Jul 7.
Link via NCBI ROFL: Dance till you can't dance till you can't dance no more http://bit.ly/2qi0Jf
Enigma solved: Mona Lisa doesn't smile; she wears an expression common to people who have lost their front teeth, PubMed http://goo.gl/G60B9

Social Media Related Tweets and Insights

From my Twitter account:

Why Twitter Will Endure: “Twitter is looking more and more like plumbing, and plumbing is eternal” - NYT http://bit.ly/4ohSCA

Daring to Live Your Life Offline - Refusing to Use the Internet - WSJ. "I don't understand this thing nowadays where people in the same room send each other emails instead of talking" http://bit.ly/6Pqxed 

"Many users probably spend more time in their web browser than they do in their car" and Google Chrome is faster http://bit.ly/7GtCJ7

History of Fad Diets: William the Conqueror devised an alcohol-only diet in 1087 http://bit.ly/8p8RDo

8.7% of people in the U.S. over the age of 18 have a specific phobia of some kind or other http://bit.ly/5Iubgl

Stephen Fry quits Twitter, bids farewell to his one million followers http://bit.ly/8muUyF

If you spend too much time on Twitter or Facebook, please read this: No Twitter for a week by Matt Cutts http://bit.ly/51nhPL    

Tweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source, links, etc. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support. Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Memorable Quotes from Twitter

Memorable quotes and useful links from my Twitter account:

g24khamr 

  

Predicting trends is a great gig -- when you're right you're a genius, and when you're wrong you're "ahead of your time."12:39 PM Dec 30th, 2009 from Tweetie

sacca 

  

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger... until you Google the symptoms and become certain you must be dying.11:30 AM Dec 29th, 2009 from Tweetie

g24khamr 

  

2010 prediction: people will realize that breaking the news is not the same as covering a story (at least I hope they do.)8:38 PM Dec 27th, 2009 from Tweetie

paulocoelho 

  

26/12: An interesting life is full of questions. A boring life is full of answers.1:39 PM Dec 26th, 2009 from web

aaronwatkins 

  

Sign that times are changing: My dad and brother sitting in the living room having long conversation comparing their minivans2:46 PM Dec 25th, 2009 from TweetDeck

Tweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source, links, etc. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support.

Social Media Related Tweets and Insights

From my Twitter account:

The Big Picture: Welcoming 2010 Around the World http://bit.ly/5bnfl5

People now ask ChaCha a million questions a day via SMS http://bit.ly/5vLPls

How E-Books Will Change Reading And Writing - NPR http://bit.ly/7bhR3z

"Twitter and Me! Why It’s The Only Social Media Tool I Use." http://bit.ly/6cbzt6

RT @kevinrose: "My 2010 New Year's Resolutions - what are yours?" http://bit.ly/6CM6Fh - Looks like a good start :) 

Tweets are not research articles - they are 140-character messages - please always go to the original source, links, etc. Tweets and links do not represent endorsement, approval or support. Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.