eMJA: In Other Journals, 3 August 2009

Technological improvements in MP3 music player technology may make for a better listening experience, but they are also likely to lead to greater hearing loss in teenagers. Better sound quality without distortion at higher volumes, minimal sound leakage from better earphones, and the increased volume delivered by earbud-style earphones all contribute, along with newer music recordings being made with much stronger compression (which makes the average sound level closer to the maximal output level). A study of 1687 Dutch secondary school students showed that 90% used MP3 players with earphones to listen to music, 33% used them for more than an hour every day and 48% used high-volume settings. Frequent users were more likely to listen at higher volumes, and overall, teenagers were unlikely to engage in any protective actions such as taking breaks, reducing the volume, using noise limiters or heeding warnings about potential hearing loss.

Wedded bliss beats brain decline

Although some long-term partners may beg to differ, being married in mid life appears to protect people from developing cognitive impairment, say Swedish and Finnish researchers. The population-based study examined 2000 participants for cognitive impairment and other signs of dementia in mid life (mean age of 50.4 years) and again around 21 years later. People who lived with a partner in mid life were less likely, when compared with single, separated or widowed participants, to show cognitive impairment later in life. People who were widowed or divorced in mid life and still in the same situation at follow-up had three times the risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Those who were widowed or divorced in mid life and at follow-up and who carried the apolipoprotein E e4 allele, a genetic marker for Alzheimer’s disease, showed the highest incidence.

BMJ 2009; 339: b2462

Salt stumps diabetes drugs

Australian researchers have come closer to solving the puzzle of why anti-diabetes drugs are successful in some patients and not others. The answer appears to lie in the effect of high salt intake on people with type 2 diabetes. The drug telmisartan acts by protecting the kidneys from excessive protein loss. In a randomised controlled trial, the effects of sodium chloride (NaCl) supplementation on the antialbuminuric action of telmisartan ± hydrochlorothiazide were studied. Patients in the trial had type 2 diabetes and were hypertensive at baseline. A significant decrease (75%) in the antialbuminuric effect of the drugs was seen in patients who had a habitually low dietary salt intake and who were given high doses of NaCl by supplementation during the trial. The authors comment that the high levels of dietary sodium consumption in industrialised countries are a potential target of public health campaigns that could maximise the effects of anti-diabetes therapy.

Diabetes Care 2009; 23 Jun [Epub ahead of print]

HPV vaccine

The vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine) shows high efficacy against cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2+ associated with HPV types 16/18, according to the results of a multinational trial involving over 18 000 women aged between 15 and 25 years. Participants, who were seronegative at baseline, were followed up for a mean of 34.9 months after the third dose of vaccine. Cross-protection against non-vaccine oncogenic HPV types was also noted, giving coverage against the five types of HPV that are responsible for over 80% of all cervical cancers. The authors comment that the results are encouraging, and that the vaccination has been shown to potentially reduce the incidence of cervical pre-cancer and cancer in the target population.

Lancet 2009; 7 Jul [Epub ahead of print]

Dr Tanya Grassi, MJA

mja.com.au | The Medical Journal of Australia

Username:
Password:

Password forgotten? Click here What is my username?