Diabetes drugs tied to pancreatic cancer risk

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study links the diabetes drug metformin to fewer cases of pancreatic cancer -- at least in women -- but finds other diabetes medications are associated with a higher risk of the disease. The differences in medication history among people who did or didn't get pancreatic cancer were small, researchers said, and it's unclear why the drugs might affect cancer risks in men and women differently. Still, the new finding is in line with previous research suggesting that metformin may decrease the risk of multiple cancers, said Dr. Peter Butler, a diabetes researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, who wasn't involved in the new study. "One theme...

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Posted in: HEALTH

Second exam important in child sex-abuse cases

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When a child is thought to have been sexually abused, a second medical exam may be key to picking up injuries and sexually transmitted infections, a study published Monday finds. The American Academy of Pediatrics already recommends that kids being examined for sexual assault have a follow-up exam in the weeks afterward. But until now, no studies had looked at the benefits of doing that. For the new report, researchers reviewed the records of 727 children and teenagers who were evaluated for sexual abuse or assault over a five-year period. They found that almost one-quarter of the time, the patients' second exam changed the findings of the first. In 18 percent of cases, there was a shift in the...

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Posted in: HEALTH