A new study on risk factors of new-onset diabetes mellitus (NODM) following liver transplant found that a history of obesity, impaired fasting glucose and hepatitis C infection (HCV) paired with the use of a particular immunosuppressant are associated with an increased risk of NODM. Since all of these factors can be detected prior to undergoing a transplant, treatment should be tailored to the patient's risk.
Kidney transplant recipients are typically required to take daily steroids as part of their anti-rejection medications. However, long-term steroid use has significant side effects. A new study in Clinical Transplantation explored a combination of steroid-free medications that resulted in excellent patient outcomes and a very low rejection rate.
Although some Americans gain five to seven pounds with a diet of big meals and sweets between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, most people only gain a pound or two during the holidays, according to a UT Southwestern Medical Center registered dietitian.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recently conducted a nationwide study of obesity, identified fast food, which is high in calories and fat, as a significant factor in the nation's obesity epidemic. It found that 45 percent of a typical family's budget is now spent on food consumed outside the home. Those who choose the drive-through lanes don't even have to walk to the counter to get their fattening hamburgers, deep-fried chicken, sugary sodas, and donuts.
Physicians who once treated mainly elderly patients for health problems such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke are seeing increasingly younger patients who have the same ailments.
Regular exercise can help obese children shrink more than just their waistlines, new research shows. The activity also can help them to reduce - and even reverse - their risk of developing cardiovascular disease, including hardening of the arteries.
