PLoS medicine
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Maggini and colleagues examine the evidence on cholinesterase inhibitors for treating dementia. "What seemed a biologically plausible intervention," they say, "has not led to a proven, real improvement in patients' well-being."
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Meta Analysis
Five glutathione s-transferase gene variants in 23,452 cases of lung cancer and 30,397 controls: meta-analysis of 130 studies.
Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are known to abolish or reduce the activities of intracellular enzymes that help detoxify environmental carcinogens, such as those found in tobacco smoke. It has been suggested that polymorphisms in the GST genes are risk factors for lung cancer, but a large number of studies have reported apparently conflicting results. ⋯ The risk of lung cancer is not strongly associated with the I105V and A114V polymorphisms in the GSTP1 gene or with GSTM3 intron 6 polymorphism. Given the non-significant associations in the larger studies, the relevance of the weakly positive overall associations with the GSTM1 null and the GSTT1 null polymorphisms is uncertain. As lung cancer has important environmental causes, understanding any genetic contribution to it in general populations will require the conduct of particularly large and comprehensive studies.
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Healy analyzes the surge in diagnoses of bipolar disorder and the evidence on the effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs and anticonvulsants in prophylaxis against the disorder.
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A major NIH meeting led to recommendations for conducting better clinical trials.
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Berhane discusses a new study in PLoS Medicine that evaluated the effect of improved water access in rural Ethiopia upon birth rate and child malnutrition.