Top medicine articles for February 2014

A collection of some interesting medical articles published recently:

In US, obesity is going to be the most common cause of liver transplants by 2025 http://bit.ly/1aAs2ag

Fat-rich nuts or dairy are not associated with weight gain and might even be helpful for preventing weight gain http://bit.ly/1aAsANf

Galen: life lessons from gladiatorial contests http://bit.ly/1aAtyZW - Apparently, Galen never bothered to learn Latin. The author's conclusion: Galen, though “not necessarily a good man”, could still be “a good doctor”. Perhaps this has been true of many of the greatest physicians, ponders the author in The Lancet.

Physical and cognitive functioning of people older than 90 years (study) http://bit.ly/1aAqgWD

Medical students drawn to eastern Europe - The Lancet http://bit.ly/1aArSjl

How to cope with an ageing population: By 2050, more than 20% of global population will be older than 60 years http://bit.ly/1aAujlS

Are We in a Medical Education Bubble Market?, asks NEJM http://buff.ly/1bSzpeq

Children seem to be born with an innate distrust of plants - Evolutionary psychology http://buff.ly/1aHEqW2

Study linked a daily handful of any nut to 20% reduction in death risk over 30 years http://buff.ly/1bSBR4G -- Nut consumption was inversely associated with mortality, independently of other predictors of death - NEJM http://buff.ly/1bSFbwx

Human genome can be sequenced in just 24 hours for $5,000 (cost will keep dropping) http://buff.ly/1bSFszB

The global dominance of diabetes: 80% of those affected are in developing countries, and age of onset is falling. Popularity of Western behaviors encourages an obesogenic environment. In China, the number of people with diabetes has climbed from 2% in 1995 to 9·6% in 2013 http://buff.ly/IjcrSr

Past: Statins for primary prevention in patients with over 20% heart risk over 10 years. Now: for those with over 7.5% risk http://buff.ly/IjcA8x

When tobacco first arrived in Elizabethan England, it was prescribed to combat the plague http://buff.ly/1i0MzeG

The articles were selected from Twitter and my RSS subscriptions. Please feel free to send suggestions for articles to clinicalcases AT gmail.com and you will receive acknowledgement in the next edition of this publication.