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USA Today: Cholesterol-lowering drugs may avert Alzheimer's
A study conducted at BU's School of Medicine has revealed that people who take cholesterol-lowering drugs, called statins, may reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by nearly 80 percent, reports the April 18 USA Today. At the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in Denver on April 18, Robert Green, a MED assistant professor of neurology, presented findings of a study conducted by him and his colleagues. An earlier, smaller study had suggested that the drugs might offer some protection against Alzheimer's; Green and his colleagues did a larger study that included 912 people with the disease and 1,669 healthy family members who acted as controls. They found that 12 percent of the control group had taken statins at some point, compared with just 3.5 percent of those who developed Alzheimer's. Green and his team speculate that statins may reduce the brain's production of beta-amyloid, a protein thought to cause Alzheimer's.
Journal of the American Medical Association: Crack baby controversy continues
The findings of a study at Case Western Reserve University
have reignited the crack baby controversy. Its conclusion that cocaine-exposed
children have significant mental deficiencies and twice the rate of developmental
delay during their first two years of life is at odds with a study published
last year by researchers at BU. Led by Deborah Frank, a MED associate
professor of pediatrics and a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center, the
BU study concludes that the crack baby phenomenon has been overblown and
there is no consistent negative link between prenatal cocaine exposure
and physical growth, developmental test scores, or language development.
Frank and two other BMC pediatricians, including Barry Zuckerman, a MED
associate professor and chairman of pediatrics, question the Case Western
study in the Journal of the American Medical Association on April 17.
"Children with a history of prenatal cocaine exposure, so-called
crack kids, have been portrayed in the media as not only inevitably and
permanently damaged cognitively, but also as morally and emotionally troubled,"
they say. "These inaccurate stereotypes of socially disabling brain
damage following in utero cocaine exposure continue to be promoted."
CNN.com Health: Career vs. baby book sparks controversy
A new book by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Creating a Life, says that too many working women in their 20s put their careers first, figuring they can have babies later on, and often end up disappointed as they "subject themselves to humiliating medical procedures, shell out tens of thousands of dollars, and derail their careers. Mostly to no avail." Not everyone appreciates her message, reports CNN.com Health on April 16. Caryl Rivers, a COM professor in the department of journalism, who writes on women's issues, says that the book, and the media buzz it has created, can be misleading. She says, "The message that is coming across from the media is clearly, 'Watch out, women, if you're ambitious. If you don't get married and have kids right away, you're gonna be miserable for the rest of your life.'"
26
April 2002
Boston University
Office of University Relations